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The New Consumer Protection Act, 2019
The Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan, on July 20th, 2020 introduced the amended Consumer Protection Act, 2019 with the idea of empowering consumers and helping them protect their rights in a better way.
The Consumer Protection Act, 2019, brought in the following changes:
1) Now E-Commerce Companies will fall under the ambit of a structured consumer redressal mechanism, which will be empowered to conduct investigations into violations of consumer rights. It will also give teeth to the authorities to punish unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements.
2) E-commerce platforms will now have to acknowledge the receipt of any consumer complaint within 48 hours and redress the complaint within a month from the date of receipt.
3) Unlike earlier, a consumer can institute a complaint from where he resides and not at the place where the transaction took place.
4) There will be no fee for filing cases up to Rs 5 lakh. There are provisions for filing complaints electronically, credit of amount due to unidentifiable consumers to Consumer Welfare Fund (CWF).
5) The State Commissions will furnish information to central government on a quarterly basis on vacancies, disposal, pendency of cases and other matters, the release said.
6) Every E-Commerce Entity is required to provide information relating to return, refund, exchange, warranty and guarantee, delivery and shipment, modes of payment, grievance redressal mechanism, payment methods, security of payment methods, charge-back options, etc., including country of origin, which are necessary for enabling the consumer to make an informed decision at the pre-purchase stage on its platform.
7) E-Commerce Platforms have to acknowledge the receipt of any consumer complaint within forty-eight hours and redress the complaint within one month from the date of receipt under this Act.
8) Introduces the concept of product liability and brings within its scope, the product manufacturer, product service provider and product seller, for any claim for compensation.
9) The new provisions ensure a timely disposal of cases and appeals.
10) Stricter Rules i.e. Protecting Consumer’s rights through its various notified Rules and provisions like Consumer Protection Councils, Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions, Mediation, Product Liability and punishment for manufacture or sale of products containing spurious goods.
11) Rules for prevention of unfair trade practice in E-Commerce
12) Simplifying the consumer dispute adjudication process in the consumer commissions, which include, among others, empowerment of the State and District Commissions to review their own orders, enabling a consumer to file complaints electronically and file complaints in consumer Commissions that have jurisdiction over the place of his residence, videoconferencing for hearing and deemed admissibility of complaints if the question of admissibility is not decided within the specified period of 21 days.
13) Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanism of Mediation has been provided, simplifying the adjudication process.
14) A complaint will be referred by a Consumer Commission for mediation, wherever scope for early settlement exists and parties agree for it. Mediation will be held in the Mediation Cells to be established under the aegis of the Consumer Commissions. There will be no appeal against settlement through mediation.
15) Besides general Rules, there are Central Consumer Protection Council Rules, Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Rules, Appointment of President & Members in State/District Commission Rules, Mediation Rules, Model Rules and E-Commerce Rules and Consumer Commission Procedure Regulations, Mediation Regulations and Administrative control over State Commission & District Commission Regulations.
16) The Central Consumer Protection Council Rules are provided for constitution of the Central Consumer Protection Council, an advisory body on consumer issues, headed by the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution with the Minister of State as Vice Chairperson and 34 other members from different fields.
17) The Central Consumer Protection Council, which has a three-year tenure, will have Minister-in-charge of consumer affairs from two States from each region- North, South, East, West, and NER. There is also provision for having working groups from amongst the members for specific tasks.
The new provisions in the new Act are a step towards betterment of the consumer legal fraternity and strengthens the grips of law towards the consumers while filling up the gaping gaps of the Act of 1986. A lot will now depend on its implementation by the authorities as well as litigants.


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sales-i, the real-time sales intelligence solution for frontline sales people has been shortlisted as a finalist at the 2012 Midlands Business Awards. The awards provide the opportunity for businesses in the Midlands to showcase their outstanding contribution to the local region and celebrate their products and services.
Following hundreds of entries from businesses across the region, ranging from financial services to manufacturing companies, sales-i has been selected as a finalist in the Exporter of the Year category
sales-i, the real-time sales intelligence solution for frontline sales people has been shortlisted as a finalist in two categories at the esteemed 2012 Software Satisfaction Awards (SSA).
The awards, supported by the Business Application Software Developers Association (BASDA), recognize outstanding contribution and achievement within the British software industry.
As software providers compete for the coveted awards, sales-i is excited to be a finalist in two categories: Intellect Innovation and Software Exporter of the Year
sales-i, the real-time sales intelligence solution for front line sales people has been shortlisted as a finalist at the coveted UK IT Industry Awards in the category for Business IT Innovation of the Year.
The 2012 winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on Wednesday 14 November, bringing together some of the major players in the British IT industry.
The UK IT Industry awards, hosted by the British Computer Society are a platform for the entire profession to celebrate best practice, innovation and excellence

domain: news


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Twitter suffers revenue decline as advertisers retreat
Twitter’s Q2 results have been released, showing a company paying the price of transition. The social media company made some baby steps towards stability in revenue and audience retention, but was stymied by the ongoing chaos about its delayed purchase by Elon Musk and advertisers cutting budgets.
The company reported its Q2 2022 results on Friday 22nd July
In the wake of Snap’s disappointing results, Twitter followed suit in announcing its overall revenue for the three months to 30 June was £986m, representing a decline of 1% ($270m), on the same period last year. It, too, blamed an ongoing slowdown in ad spend in key sectors for its poor showing, saying “advertising industry headwinds associated with the macroenvironment" was one cause of its cash-flow problem.
It also noted that the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Elon Musk’s takeover and subsequent operation of the company was a factor in the reduced revenue. As advertising represents around 90% of Twitter’s overall revenue base, that destabilisation has had a significant impact on the company’s bottom line.
Despite that Twitter has made some inroads into countering some of its fundamental issues around user growth and revenue diversification. Its key metric of monetisable daily active users (MDAUs) grew 16% to 237.8 million, narrowly missing analyst expectations.
Engagement has been a major priority for Twitter since last year. " Its then-chief exec Jack Dorsey had said: "As we enter the second half of 2021, we are shipping more, learning faster, and hiring remarkable talent. For example, our increased shipping cadence contributed to reaching 206 million average monetizable DAU in Q2, up 11% year over year and 3% quarter over quarter. There's a tremendous opportunity to get the whole world to use Twitter."
As a result much of its focus since has been about pushing for better performance from the audience it does have. Ned Segal, Twitter's CFO, stated: "We delivered better-than-expected performance across all major products and geographies while growing our audience. We continued to make significant progress on our direct response and brand products with updated ad formats, improved measurement, and better prediction. We are driving more value for advertisers with our strong push into performance-based advertising and expanded offerings for small and medium-sized businesses."
Insider Intelligence principal analyst Jasmine Enberg noted that, from an investor perspective, the longer-term outlook for Twitter is stabilising, with an increasingly engaged user base: “One bright spot was engagement. Twitter is a platform that thrives on news and controversy, and there was plenty of that to go around in Q2. In the US, monetizable daily active users (mDAUs) grew more than twice as fast year-over-year in Q2 than they did in Q1. But user growth may not be enough to convince advertisers to spend on Twitter, especially at a time when many advertisers’ budgets are tightened.”
Twitter is understandably seeking to wrap up its legal dispute with Elon Musk in the immediate future, though the billionaire seeks to drag out the court case. The preponderance of expert opinion backs Twitter in terms of having fulfilled its terms of the acquisition; but the damage from Musk’s botched takeover deal is nevertheless hurting Twitter.


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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Some stores and businesses are closing early Sunday night as a result of a group of protests, with one group committing vandalism.
A group of protesters broke a window at Choffin Career and Technical Career Center and at the United Way after a largely-peaceful protest in the city earlier this afternoon.
The Shops at Boardman Park is closing early, as well as the Boardman and Liberty Walmart stores.
The Hermitage Walmart is also closed until 7 a.m. Monday. According to a viewer, the store was evacuated.
Other stores in the plaza by the Boardman Walmart, like Applebee’s, have also closed.
We’ve received reports that other stores in the area are closing early as well for safety precautions.
Youngstown State University sent out an alert asking people to avoid campus and the downtown area, though there is no immediate threat to campus.
As of 10 p.m., both St. Elizabeth Health Centers in Youngstown and Boardman had their lockdowns lifted.


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Google is continuously looking for more and more ways to boost it’s e-commerce business. In a series of those efforts, now company is acquiring Channel Intelligence Inc, a company which provides marketing services to clients and also provides technologies to boost online and offline sales. Channel Intelligence is a subsidiary of Internet Software and Services firm ICG Group. Orlando based Channel Intelligence is second recent acquisition of Google for improving it’s e-commerce business. Last year in November it acquired delivery service BufferBox.
Google is acquiring Channel Intelligence in a $125 million all-cash deal. Basically Channel Intelligence helps retailers, advertisers and manufacturers in making their products and services available for sale easily in both places – online stores and offline stores. Company has been very successful in the business from long time and right now is working with 850 clients including many big and well recognized clients like Best Buy and Target. It has also been a partner of Google Shopping from years now. For Google Shopping company has been working on improving it’s Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) through it’s Product Listing Ads (PLAs).
Channel Intelligence also provides several Facebook widgets which can be integrated nicely with websites and can help in boosting the Facebook fan base of a page. Company is globally active in 31 countries and has a very high customer satisfaction rate. The company is in business since 1999 and right now tracks 15% of all online transactions in U.S., driving nearly $2 billion in sales through referrals.
The deal was announced by Channel intelligence on it’s official website. Company said on it’s homepage,
“All CI services will continue to offer the excellent client service and great performance that our clients have come to expect over the years.”
ICG Group, the major stakeholder of Channel Intelligence, provided some more in-depth details about the deal. ICG said that it will get $60.5 million in the deal from Google and a portion of company’s proceeds will be held in escrow for identification claims. Remaining amount will go to Aweida Capital Management, the second stakeholder of Channel Intelligence. Deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2013.
After the announcement of news, ICG’s shares went 3% higher in the day trading on Nasdaq and opened at $12.41 mark on Wednesday. On the previous day ICG’s shares were closed at $12.04 per share mark.


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Latest UK publications
More than 15,000 reports of email and social media hacking were received by Action Fraud in the last year.
The UK’s fraud and cyber crime authority said almost nine in 10 incidents (88%) brought to its attention between February 2020 and February 2021 were from members of the public whose personal accounts had been compromised, resulting in £283,500 collectively being stolen.
Cyber fraudsters are switching from big money scams to con people out of as little as £10 on a massive scale in a phenomenon dubbed “silent stealing”, a new report warns.
Algorithms used to serve people suggested content, services and other options online can reduce competition and potentially harm consumers, a UK watchdog has warned.
UK high-performance colocation operator Kao Data has inked yet another deal with a network provider to boost cloud connectivity at its state of the art campus in Harlow, UK.
This time Kao has teamed up with Network as a Service provider Megaport to bring on-demand connectivity from major hyperscale providers including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and IBM Cloud.
UK data centre design and build company Secure I.T. environments has completed a data centre migration for Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT).


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Two of the biggest names in the smartphone industry are investing significantly in OLED display screens in order to win new orders for Apple’s highly anticipated iPhone 8. Combined, Samsung and LG are investing about $11.3 billion in flexible OLEDs, as reported by Business Korea. As for the former, it has revealed that it has a recent investment in the amount of $4.37 billion, and adding the other investments it made earlier in 2016, it would total $9.7 billion. As for LG, it is looking to invest around $3.9 billion in display screens, with roughly half of that amount dedicated to OLED displays.
Interestingly, Apple has not previously used OLED display screens for its iPhones and iPad devices, preferring instead to be content with continuously enhancing the LCD displays on its mobile handsets. But rumors that surfaced in the last few months seem to suggest that the tech giant is seriously considering going for an OLED display for its iPhone offering next year. Most of the talk has been speculation, but seeing that Samsung and LG are investing heavily more than ever in OLEDs, there may be some truth to the rumors after all.
If Apple does decide to equip its upcoming iPhone 8 with an OLED display screen, it would certainly be a wise decision. OLED displays pose several advantages over LCD displays, including better power efficiency, more vibrant color renders, and a slimness that allows space for other smartphone components. However, OLED display screens also come with cons. They are generally considered to be more costly to build, and a number of phone makers have already observed that over time, the color saturation of OLED displays seem to degrade a bit.
Still, there is no doubt that many people will still be looking forward to purchase the first OLED display iPhone ever next year. Furthermore, 2017 happens to be the year in which the iPhone will turn 10 years old. To celebrate this momentous occasion, Apple will almost certainly release an iPhone that features a major redesign, and a generous array of never before seen features and functionalities.
It is also worth noting that Apple is as determined as ever to rejuvenate its ailing sales. For the first time in its smartphone business, the company suffered its first ever year of declining sales. Quite obviously, Apple would be pulling out all the stops next year in order to make people get excited about a new iPhone device again.
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Parents are worried our increasingly cashless* society is making it harder for teenagers to learn the value of money.
A recent survey of 1000 people conducted by the Financial Basics Foundation found 67 per cent of parents with 13 to 18-year-olds were concerned about their children’s understanding of the value of money. A similar proportion were also worried about the impact Covid-19 would have on their children’s financial future.
Financial Basics Foundation chief executive Katrina Samios said one in five teenagers were learning about money and investing from the internet or social media, with only 13 per cent learning about personal finance at school.
The survey coincides with the annual Suncorp ESSI Money Challenge, a free online resource for high schools starting next week, and Ms Samios said financial literacy was more important than ever as the pandemic accelerated* a shift to a cashless society.
“The Financial Basics Foundation provides free financial literacy teaching resources to Australian secondary schools and we have been calling for some time now for financial literacy to be approached in a more systematic and consistent way within schools,” she said.
“Many young people leave school and start working with no real education about how to handle the money they are being paid.”
Kids participating in the challenge have the chance to win up to $1500 for themselves and their school, with more than 21,000 teens taking part in the past five years.
One of those set to compete is student Abigail Lowden, 16, who said she rarely carried physical cash.
Instead she uses her phone to swipe and pay, and said she was sometimes surprised by how much she had spent on home delivery and takeaway when she checked her monthly statements.
While confident she is well across her finances, Abigail was looking forward to taking part in the challenge to test just how much she knows.
“I am a bit of a saver,” Abigail said.
“When I started my part-time job, I had to set up bank accounts and things like that with the help of my parents.
“I’m hoping through the ESSI Money Challenge, I’ll get a better understanding around how to budget for costs in the future for things like everyday expenses.”
Parents also fear that kids who have lost part-time jobs, had their hours cut or fallen for online scams during the pandemic will face financial impacts for years to come.
The survey found that one in 10 teens ordered a product online that never turned up and around 4 per cent either fell for a threat-based scam or invested in something that turned out to be a scam.
These included threats to wipe computers unless $20 was paid or buying bogus crypto currency*.
The survey also raised concerns about new credit services replacing traditional lay-by, with 76 per cent of parents saying more education and regulation was needed.
Student Harrison Douglas, 16, just started a job at a fast food outlet but has had shifts cancelled due to lockdown.
He said he tried to use his banking app to put money aside and allocate some for discretionary* spending.
Harrison’s mum Christina, a careers teacher, said she used the ESSI resources for a range of classes and they were ideal for remote learning.
Suncorp everyday banking spokesman Dr Nick Fernando said teaching financial literacy was vital.
- cashless: electronic and card payments rather than notes and coins
- accelerated: moving faster; something happening at a greater rate
- crypto currency: encrypted digital or virtual currency
- discretionary: available for use, available by choice
- Instead of using cash, how does Abigail prefer to pay for her purchases?
- What does Harrison use to put money aside?
- What percentage of parents worry about their child’s understanding of the value of money?
- What proportion of teens ordered a product online that never arrived?
- What percentage of teens had been scammed?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
1. Part-time money
There are different laws regarding the age you are able to start work and they differ from state to state. For example, in Victoria, you can begin a paper or catalogue delivery round from 11 years old. If you work in a family business, you can be of any age.
If you would like to get a job around 14 years old, you can work part-time in a supermarket, cafe, shop and so forth. If you work two afternoons a week from 4-6pm and Saturday morning 9-12, you would be working 7 hours per week. If you earned approximately $70 per week, what would you do with this money each week?
Write your budget below:
Weekly budget – $70 per week ($280 per month)
Time: allow 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Mathematics
Do you know anything about buy now, pay later schemes replacing the traditional lay-by? Companies such as Afterpay and ZipPay? Explain how they work to a partner and how they differ from lay-by, which used to be used in shops and department stores but isn’t around much anymore.
Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Mathematics
Find a bland sentence from the article to up-level. Can you add more detail and description? Can you replace any ‘said’ words with more specific synonyms?
Have you outdone yourself and used some really great vocabulary throughout your writing? First, well done. Second, let’s ensure everyone can understand it by adding a glossary of terms. Pick three of your wow words and create a glossary for each word to explain what it means.


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U.S. healthcare conglomerate Johnson & Johnson became the latest company to suspend all digital advertising on Google's YouTube, over concerns that its ads may have appeared on channels that broadcast offensive videos.
Macy's owned Bluemercury is growing as its parent company stumbles in the retail game. While the department store is closing 68 of its own stores, it plans to open 50 Bluemercury shops within the year.
L’Oreal is targeting direct lenders to provide up to €650 million of leveraged loans to back a potential sale of The Body Shop, in a bid to encourage buyers to submit an offer for the business, banking sources said.
The seven days to March 18 saw some brighter weather in the UK and it turned out to be bright for John Lewis too, at least on the fashion front as warm weather clothing beat cold weather items for the first time so far.
L'Oreal's sale of British retailer The Body Shop has drawn interest from a series of private equity investors who are lining up indicative bids ahead of a mid-April deadline, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.
The Johnson & Johnson-owned beauty and personal care label is entering the U.S. market, buoyed by its French brand identity and off to a brisk start with shelf space in Target and Ulta, plus a Walmart launch in March.


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- Anam Faruqui
- May 19, 2017
A lot of buzz has surrounded the embedded SIM or eSIm. It is hoped that embedded Sim would be a part of cellular handsets. Most reports do not see the big giants like Apple, Huawei, and Samsung introduce embedded Sim anytime before 2019. Some reports even suggest that these companies won’t introduce eSims until 2021.


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In 2020, Milan Fashion Week designed a showcase that aimed to bring inclusivity back into the Italian cultural event.
“We are made in Italy” was a showcase that highlighted five Italian designers of color. It was the result of an effort to stem issues of racism and diversity in the Italian fashion system and culture.
Italian society still deals with cultural problems like racism and xenophobia. The Italian fashion system specifically has many examples of this.
RACISM IN ITALY
Although there is still racism everywhere, Italian society has had trouble coming to terms with inclusivity and diversity.
In an interview with Vogue, one of the five designers said, “I’m not afraid of racism in Italy. What I’m afraid of is paternalism — it’s worst than racism.”
A paternalistic attitude means that in Italy as a Caucasian-European, one has the right to teach other races what to do, what’s right and what’s wrong, and that they as POC must listen to and follow the Caucasian-European’s rules, the designer says.
Shaheen Ghamari, Apparel and Merchandising Fashion major at Colorado State University, said in an interview that if you simply Google “Italian models,” you’ll only see Caucasian-European females and males. There is very little representation of people of color in Italian magazines or fashion systems.
The Guardian says there are many reasons for Italy’s continued racism, such as how it is an “incredibly provincial country.” Through the centuries Italy has been “a colony, a plaything of the superpowers. So with the exception of small parts of Somalia, no other country speaks Italian.”
There are many reasons for the stemmed growth of inclusivity and diversity in Italian culture. However, there are many efforts being made to create long-term and effective change in Italian society.
EFFORTS OF INCLUSIVITY
Racism is everywhere within fashion systems. Ghamari states it is “rampant everywhere, especially with models.”
Michelle Francine Ngonmo has helped broaden Italy’s inclusivity and fashion landscape. Ngonmo founded a nonprofit and volunteer-based organization called the Afro Fashion Association in 2015.
The platform grants access and visibility to a wider pool of talents. It is for cross-cultural exchange and gives potential to emerging designers of color.
Since being created, the association has organized workshops, exhibitions and events as well as promoted Fashion Week Milan to scout talent. Ngonmo selected five designers to showcase their art and fashion as well as receive mentorship to expand their brand and skills.
In her interview with Vogue, she said, “I thought, why not create a platform to make those talents visible and heard, a place where their work can be seen? That’s how I started my fashion scouting in Italy. It has been a rather complex process. My research has involved not only POC but people from different ethnicities and backgrounds.”
Associations and people like this that aim to broaden inclusivity in the fashion world are very important for places like Italy.
Why not create a platform to make those talents visible and heard, a place where their work can be seen?Michelle Francine Ngonmo
There is a long way to go to make effective changes in the society and fashion landscape of Italy. However, the appreciation that Milan Fashion Week gave to Italian designers of color is an amazing start to bringing inclusivity into Italian culture.
With centuries of xenophobia and racism, Italy is behind on the progress many countries have made.
The efforts being made to spread inclusivity are important in changing the entire mindset and institutionalized racism built into the Italian society and culture.
One day, these efforts will make history and hopefully bring long-term changes to the Italian fashion system and culture.


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A war rages around them and they are reminded of how close the danger is every time the warning sirens sound in the Ukrainian capital.
They describe it as a jarring sound, but they push back the fear because they say Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began almost 50 days ago on February 24, has given them a new goal: to serve their community and their country in a different way.
Prior to the invasion, these entrepreneurs ran growing startups or family businesses passed down from generation to generation. Their businesses have sold products such as custom shoes, pastries and pizzas in kyiv’s historic district, as well as e-learning tools for students, teachers and professionals.
In the midst of the war, they refocused their missions and now use their resources to provide basic necessities such as food, first aid and even combat boots for the Ukrainian army.
Pizzeria doing boxed meals in the basement kitchen
It took just four days for TC Pizza, located in downtown Kyiv, to transform from a local pizzeria into a staging center for a rotating group of volunteers preparing hundreds of boxed meals.
Anton Fursa, a Ukrainian cinematographer who is a co-owner of the business, said he closed the pizzeria on February 24 when Russia began its assault on Ukraine.
“Four days later we were open and preparing meals for anyone who needed food,” Fursa said.
“We make 500 to 600 canned meals a day,” he said.
Meals are simple – salad, potatoes and some meat. Volunteer drivers deliver them to hospitals for patients, the military, and families and seniors in need.
Fursa sometimes accompanies the drivers. The team must carefully watch for landmines hidden along the roads. Last weekend, Fursa returned from areas near kyiv which were heavily shelled.
He wants to continue helping as long as he can.
“I think the worst is yet to come, but it’s much easier to understand what’s happening to our country when we do something to help people,” he said.
Custom cobbler making combat boots
Ukrainian shoe brand Kachorovska has been manufacturing women’s shoes since 1957.
“A special story for us is that we also made a custom pair of shoes for Olena Zelenska, wife of our chairman Volodymyr Zelensky,” said Alina Kachorovska, third-generation co-owner and CEO of the company who runs the business with her husband and mother.
In its portfolio of leather and textile shoes, there is one specific item that the Kyiv-based company has never made before: combat boots.
Like other local businesses, Kachorovska did not know what impact Russia’s attack would have on her family business and its 117 employees.
“All of our market is in Ukraine,” she said. The family was finally preparing to expand the brand to other countries when war broke out.
“Everything stopped. I couldn’t believe we were at war,” Kachorovska said. As more Ukrainians joined the armed forces, her mother spotted a demand on Facebook for combat boots and other items soldiers needed.
This galvanized the family into action. Kachorovska said a few factories have joined forces to pool supplies for the boots.
“We already had the leather in our warehouse,” she said. “We used all the supplies and made 1,393 combat boots and gave them to our soldiers all over Ukraine for free,” she said. The company also made and donated belts for soldiers.
Staying busy and keeping her business alive through the turmoil is personally and professionally important to Kachorovska.
“If I don’t keep working and helping, I will be broken,” she said. “I have to be strong, support my employees and cling to a vision for the future.”
Bake bread for wartime needs
Vladyslav Malashchenko opened Good Bread from Good People in Kyiv in 2017. The bakery employs workers with special needs and provides them with vocational training.
“Before the war, we were doing very well,” said Alijona Martynenko, who handles communications for the company. The bakery sold cupcakes, cookies and pies to both commercial and individual customers.
“But when the war started, we didn’t see how we could continue,” Martynenko said.
On March 10, the bakery comes back to life. She said volunteers and some staff have come together to meet a growing need by baking bread.
“We went from being a bakery that didn’t make bread before to now making a lot of bread,” she said. The company makes up to 700 loaves a day. Last week he donated more than 3,000 loaves of bread to Ukrainian soldiers, police, hospital patients, the elderly and families with children who remained in kyiv throughout the Russian invasion.
“The community has given us flour and money to buy what we need,” she said, adding that cooking will continue until the ingredients run out.
Raising awareness of security
EdEra, an online distance education platform, wants to teach people, whether in peace or war, said co-founder and CEO Illia Filipov.
Before the war, the kyiv startup developed online courses and manuals for students, teachers and professionals.
The company had 42 employees and more than 400,000 customers in Ukraine. The war abruptly interrupted his operations.
“Our employees have moved to other parts of Ukraine and now we have around 10,” Filipov said. “Everyone wants to come back and we’re optimistic that will happen.”
EdEra has also pivoted content on its platform to wartime education, Filipov said. “We are creating information on how to administer first aid, how to find bomb shelters, how to prepare for evacuation. This education could save lives.”
Helping businesses stay alive
Alyona Mysko, co-founder and CEO of Ukrainian fintech startup FuelFinance, wants to ensure companies like TC Pizza and Kachorovska shoes remain viable and able to do the essential humanitarian work that is becoming increasingly critical in Ukraine.
“We provide Ukrainian small businesses with our services to help them for free,” she said.
FuelFinance has created a “first aid” resource kit for Ukrainian entrepreneurs with information on how to reorganize and keep working during the war. The company has created a platform to pool donations for small businesses fighting back.
“We are also advising them on how to temporarily relocate outside of Ukraine to Poland and other places so they can continue their business,” Mysko said. She also wants FuelFinance to stay active and grow during the war by adding more customers in Europe and the United States.
The Russian invasion only strengthened Ukrainian resolve, she said.
“The first week of the war we were scared. Now Ukrainians feel like fighters,” Mysko said. “There is no time to be afraid.”


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Naked mannequins huddle in one corner of the store, Christmas trees are for sale in another, and piles of Oriental rugs are 80 percent off.
This is not the Gottschalks longtime customers know. The going-out-of-business sale is in full swing, and a liquidator, not the bankrupt 105-year-old retailer, is running the show.
The stores aren't the messy madhouse of customers fighting for deep discounts that some might imagine. In fact, some shoppers might not notice much difference.
But it's clearly a liquidation: Nearly everything in the stores is for sale, from the clothing racks to the office chairs, and it's all 50 percent to 80 percent off.
The sales must be finished by July 15, with some stores facing earlier deadlines. The Gottschalks at Century Center in Modesto is expected to wind down earlier than the Vintage Faire store.
Until then, shoppers should not forget who's selling them the merchandise, said Doug Broten, chief executive of the Better Business Bureau of Central California in Fresno.
"In liquidation sales, what people need to keep in mind is they are not buying it from the store they've been doing business with for years. They're buying it from liquidators," he said. "They've been granted the right by the bankruptcy court to use that name. It's not Gottschalks."
The liquidators won that right in a bankruptcy court auction, paying Gottschalks about $100 million. Any earnings above that will be shared between the retailer and the liquidators.
Bringing in outside merchandise -- and selling Gottschalks items elsewhere -- is a common liquidation practice, said Scott Testa, a professor of marketing at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.
Signs at many entrances alert customers that tags with a blue dot on them mean the item has been brought in from outside the chain. Tags with blue dots are everywhere in the stores.
Boscov's, an East Coast department store with 39 stores, bought some Gottschalks merchandise and was touting it in advertisements, Testa said.
Unlike Gottschalks, Boscov's survived Chapter 11. The family that founded it recently brought the chain out of bankruptcy protection with the help of government loans.
"There are a number of ways liquidators use -- and retailers in general use -- to get rid of inventory," Testa said. Selling entire lots of merchandise to another buyer may be easier or more profitable than unloading it through a lengthy liquidation sale, he said.
Oriental rug sales are commonly brought in during going-out-of-business sales, Testa said. That's happening at several area Gottschalks and also at Mervyn's liquidations.
Bargain or overpriced?
How good the bargains are depends on whom you ask.
For Criselda Padron of Parlier, saving $30 on Paris Hilton perfume at the River Park Gottschalks was a good deal.
"In general, a lot of the prices are very reasonable," she said.
Others were disappointed. Bonnie Carlson of Fresno said she didn't find many deals when she stopped by the Sierra Vista Gottschalks recently with a friend.
"We think it's overpriced," she said. "No bargains."
Nonetheless, she bought nightgown for $16 and a camisole for $10, both half off their original price.
Some customers had issues with the prices.
Linda Green of North Fork bought a pair of purses before the liquidation for $19.99 each, on sale from $40. Earlier this week, they saw the same purses advertised as 50 percent off the original price, but still selling for $19.99 at the River Park store.
"I don't think it's right to do that, but what are you going to do?" Green said.
Broten of the Better Business Bureau said such situations are common at liquidations.
"It's not atypical for them to raise prices initially and then take 20 percent off an increased price," he said.
Gottschalks liquidators did not return calls. But earlier they said they don't raise prices above the original levels. Scott Carpenter, an executive vice president with Great American Group, one of four liquidators handling Gott- schalks, said in March that items on sale before the liquidation starts go back to their original full price. Discounts are then applied to that price, he said.
Since all sales are final, Broten warns customers, "Make sure you're getting a good deal and you've done a little bit of comparison shopping."
He recommends shoppers buying an appliance such as a coffee maker remember that they will have to go through the manufacturer if there's a problem covered by a warranty or guarantee.
Business is steady
A quiet but steady flow of customers made their way through the stores this week. Last week, foot traffic at Fashion Fair mall was up 8 percent from the year before, which mall senior manager Mo Bagunu attributed to the Gottschalks sale.
Some stores have less merchandise than others; the River Park store is full.
For customers who want to know when the best deals happen, there is no clear answer. The longer the sale goes on, the lower the prices get, but the selection gets smaller too, Broten said.
"It's always a trade-off between selection and price," he said. "They're in the business of maximizing how much they get out of the liquidation."


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Nikon's president confirms a 'D5' mirrorless equivalent is in the works
Japanese business publication Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun has shared a quote from a recent interview with Nikon's CEO, Mr. Toshikazu Umatate, wherein he says a flagship mirrorless camera—equivalent to Nikon's D5 DSLR—will be introduced.
The quote, translated via Google from Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun's paywalled coverage (translated), reads:
Nikon to introduce a top-end model of the mirror-less camera. Time is a non-published, but Umatate Toshikazu president was revealed in response to the interview of the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun. Top-end model of the digital single-lens reflex camera “D5.”
No specific time-frame was given for the impending release, but this marks the first time anyone from Nikon has officially confirmed a pro-style mirrorless camera designed to replace Nikon's flagship D4/D5 DSLR lineup.
|Rainbow and Truck by dalgo|
|medieval woman with sword by summicron|
from Medieval Costumed Actors in Ancient Structures
|Yellow Slicker by Billstek|
from Just a touch of color.
In a story shared on 35mmc, photographer Steve Boykin tells how he stumbled upon a Fujifilm XF 23mm F1.4 R lens he had lost four months prior during a trek in the wilderness and discovered it still works fine.
Sandmarc's new filter series combines the characteristics of polarizing and neutral density (ND) filters into one single filter.
Camrote version 1.2.0 adds new zoom and time-lapse capabilities to select Sony camera systems.
A new type of ultra-thin lens uses a large number of microstructures to focus light onto a sensor.


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Talks to take No. 3 computer maker Dell Inc private are in an advanced stage with at least four major banks lined up to provide financing, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
Buyout firm Silver Lake Partners, which is leading the deal, tapped Credit Suisse, Bank of America Merrill Lynch , Barclays and RBC late last year to finance a potential deal, the sources with knowledge of the matter said on condition of anonymity, because no details have been made public.
They said JPMorgan is advising Dell on a potential buyout of the $19 billion company, which would be one of the largest deals since the global recession.
Silver Lake is working with one of its major investors, known as limited partners, the sources said.
The sources cautioned that the deal could come soon but that the situation is still fluid.
Dell, Bank of America, RBC, Barclays and Credit Suisse declined to comment. JPMorgan and Silver Lake did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Potential buyers of Dell Inc., the struggling personal-computer maker, would have a difficult time getting enough funding to complete a deal, said Bill George, a professor at Harvard Business School.
While the cost of money is relatively cheap these days, lining up private capital for a company with a market value of about $22 billion and $9 billion in debt is a challenge, he said Tuesday on the “Bloomberg Surveillance” show.
“It’s a real stretch,” George said. “Putting together these funds is a lot tougher than people think.”
Dell, the third-largest PC maker, is discussing a leveraged buyout with private-equity firms TPG Capital and Silver Lake, a person with knowledge of the matter said Monday. Its stock had lost 43 percent over the past five years, compared with a 3.8 percent gain by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
George compared Dell’s situation with the slow efforts to take Best Buy Co. private, saying some of the same people are involved. Richard Schulze, Best Buy’s founder, has been working with three private-equity firms, including Cerberus Capital Management LP, on a takeover of the electronics chain, people familiar with the matter have said.
Shares of Round Rock, Texas-based Dell rose 7.2 percent to $13.17 at the close in New York, following a 13 percent jump Monday.
© 2013 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.


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This weekend is The BodyPower Expo at the NEC in Birmingham! I am so excited to attend this – something I never thought I would ever say!
Just a few years ago I didn’t do much working out, and definitely didn’t step inside a gym. The past year that has all changed. I am now enjoying weight training – and actually prefer it over cardio stuff.
There are still tickets available for the show if you are wanting to attend – see some amazing athletes and brands!
Here is a bit more info for you about the show and how to get tickets:
Fitness Buffs and Gym Bunnies Head to BodyPower Expo to Get Beach Body Ready
BodyPower Expo, one of the largest sport, fitness and nutrition events in the world, kicks off today at Birmingham NEC. Running all weekend from 15-17 May 2015, it is expected to attract over 70,000 visitors from over 100 countries. The turnout is not surprising considering the star-studded line up of celebrities and athletes including Carl Froch, Hulk Hogan, Phil Heath, Zoe Smith, Calum Best and Lorraine Pascale.
Nick Orton, Founder and CEO of BodyPower said, “We can’t wait to throw open the doors to BodyPower 2015. We spend all year organising the event and making sure we offer a premier experience for the international fitness industry. With three days packed full of famous appearances, professional advice, demonstrations and a chance to compete against athletes and other visitors in our amateur competitions, there is something for every fitness enthusiast.”
Fitness fans will flock to the venue to get inspired, motivated, and meet some of the faces behind the leading brands within the industry. Many visitors will be picking up training tips and advice from the many industry experts as they try to get in shape for summer. BodyPower Expo has its own beach feature area, built as a replica of LA’s Muscle Beach, where fitness enthusiasts can watch demonstrations and try out equipment and exercises for themselves in order to attain a beach ready body.
BodyPower recently came out in support of ProteinWorld after the brand’s controversial beach body campaign. The team behind the event believes there is nothing wrong with promoting a fit and healthy body, and instead criticised fast food adverts for encouraging unhealthy eating habits which lead to obesity.
BodyPower Expo has been held annually at the NEC since 2009, and has quickly become a staple event in the global fitness calendar. The exhibition will be host to a colossal selection of leading fitness brands, with stands occupying more than half a million square foot of space within Birmingham’s NEC.
Tickets have been selling online in their thousands, yet fitness fanatics who forgot to book in advance can purchase tickets on the door. Visitors can show up at the NEC and decide if they want to attend BodyPower Expo for the day or gain access for the entire weekend.
For more information visit: www.bodypowerexpo.co.uk.


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Just like video killed the radio star, it's quite possible that the Internet will help make some lesser known languages obsolete, according to a recent study by the European technological community META.
For instance, it's possible that languages such as Icelandic, Latvian and Lithuanian may suffer, as they don't have enough speakers to gain traction as popular languages on the Web. Although Iceland's population of just over 300,000 people speak Icelandic, not a lot of other people on the Internet may.
MySpace. Remember that? Once loved by musicians, teenagers and everyone in between, in the peak of its mid 2000s-era popularity this social networking giant was one of the most visited websites on the Internet.
Then, fans dropped off as Facebook came into the picture and MySpace was left as a kind of social media ghost town.
So it’s interesting to discover that this once thriving social network has had a huge make over. Or perhaps more accurately, "make under", as this mainly forgotten social media giant goes sleek and simple with design.
Anyone with the smallest tendency towards claustrophobia might have noticed that the social media scene is getting very crowded.
Last time we blogged we told you about Pinterest and the success happening there. In addition, there’s Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, MySpace, Foursquare, Bebo and countless others springing up like mushrooms on a grassy hillside in Autumn.
Before explaining what So.cl is, there’s a fair chance that this social experiment from Microsoft will polarise our readers into two camps.
Whilst scrapbooking used to be considered within the same niche as stamp collecting and badminton, a few years ago it exploded into a mainstream trend. Department stores and even supermarkets began to sell coloured paper and fiddly crafty parts in plastic and it became not uncommon for your local pub's Cheap Parmis Tuesday to include a nearby table of happily scrapbooking ladies. (True story.)
I can’t remember the last time I saw Old Spice products on a supermarket or chemist shelf, but that’s because I wasn’t looking out for them. The Old Spice guy has ensured that, like buying a new car and then seeing it everywhere you look, Old Spice products will again start floating across our radars.
Old Spice is an old brand and this marketing campaign is a clever way to update it and make it relevant to a younger market.
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“This is the Real Meaning of ‘Bipartisanship’”
Yes, so no tax internet shopping harms some local retailers. The solution? Harm the internet retailers too. That’s government in one lesson. Hobble everyone.
Associate Professor of Economics, North Carolina State Univ.
FacebookTwitterEmail Bloomberg is reporting this troubling information: As vanishing credit spurred the government-led rescue of dozens of financial institutions, Harvard
FacebookTwitterEmail First-term Democratic Congressman Debbie Halvorson (Ill., 14th District) was the recipient of $60,000 in political donations from the ethically


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Pliva is the largest company by turnover in central and eastern Europe, while Helm AG is a leading multi-functional organisation for international marketing in chemicals, active pharmaceutical ingredients and fertilisers. Company officials said that an alliance for marketing formulations with a South African company was also on the cards. The agreement will be signed shortly, even as Kopran has already filed 14 product dossiers there, officials added.
The market for bulk roxythromycin in the European Union, according to rough estimates, is around 35 MT (metric tonne) with a growth rate of 20 per cent. Kopran expects to sell 12 MT of bulk roxythromycin in the first year, officials said.
The company has filed DMF (drug master file) for roxythromycin and the drug is scheduled to go off-patent in France by August 2003, analysts said. The company has already written off close to Rs 28 crore, which it had lent to Ketan Parekh, from its books and raised an equivalent amount by way of a rights issue.
The company has plans to enter the regulated US markets and expects to double its profit and turnover in the next three years. It is open to small acquisitions and is not depending too much on organic growth, sources said.
Company officials were silent on the proposed merger of Kopran Ltd with Kopran Pharmaceuticals, which is pending in the high court for close to 18 months.


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Oklahoma will be wearing its red alternate jerseys on Saturday against Kansas State. They will also be wearing the white alternate helmets with one modification: the red strip down the middle has now been changed to black.
The world of OU uniforms saw a bit of a commotion this week after images of the new helmet leaked. OU hasn’t debuted new uniforms of any kind in over six years, and few expected this weekend to be the one where it happened.
WOW these look icey pic.twitter.com/9EVlGjAwNq
— TURQUOISE CLASSIC (@TribeTooLive) September 24, 2020
While speculation about OU’s jersey remained in the coming days, OU has finally put those thoughts to rest and will be wearing the standard red alternate jerseys this week.
In terms of on-field performance, the red alternates seem to bring out the worst in the Sooners, and its not particularly close. Since 2014, OU’s average point differential is at least 16 in all other uniforms, but below 12 in the red alternates.


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A Samsung Galaxy Note phablet billowing smoke led to the evacuation of 75 passengers and crew members of a Southwest Airlines flight out of Louisville Wednesday morning, Natalie Chaudoin, a spokeswoman for Louisville Regional Airport Authority, confirmed. There were no injuries.
The smoke-spewing Note 7 was reportedly one of the replacement units Samsung sent out after a 7 recall spurred by faulty batteries causing first edition models to catch fire, according to the Verge, who talked to the owner of the smoking Samsung, Brian Green.
“Until we are able to retrieve the device, we cannot confirm that this incident involves the new Note 7," Samsung said in a statement. "We are working with the authorities and Southwest now to recover the device and confirm the cause. Once we have examined the device we will have more information to share."
Samsung has wrestled for the past month with the devastating launch of Note 7 as reports surfaced that the batteries were prone to catch fire. Regulators swooped in with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issuing an official recall of the device. Samsung cooperated with the agency. Soon after, Samsung began sending out replacement units using a different battery supplier. The replacement units have a green battery icon (instead of white) as well as a black square symbol on the packaging box.
It appears Green, the Southwest passenger, received one of these replacement units but that didn't make the phone much safer.
Last month, the Federal Aviation Administration sent out an advisory asking passengers to not turn on or charge Note 7 phones while on board an aircraft and to avoid storing the gadget in checked baggage. Looks like the FAA may need to clamp down on this problem further. The FAA has confirmed it was a Samsung phone that caused the smoke and is investigating the incident further.
Post updated to include comments from Samsung and the FAA.


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Recent news highlights have revealed that starting from August 1, 2023, the best-selling medications will include a QR code on their packaging. This new feature aims to ensure consumer safety and combat counterfeit drugs. By scanning the QR code, individuals will have access to essential information such as the medicine's manufacturing license and batch number, allowing them to authenticate the drug's legitimacy. These codes will be rolled out to pharmacies in the coming weeks, providing consumers with a reliable way to verify the authenticity of the medicines they are using.
As part of its efforts to combat the sale of counterfeit and sub-standard medicines and ensure better quality control, the government has introduced a 'track and trace' mechanism. The first phase of this initiative, commencing on August 1, will involve affixing QR codes on the packaging of 300 top-selling medicines. These medicines collectively account for approximately Rs. 50,000 crore of the pharmaceutical retail market. The selected medications include widely-sold antibiotics, cardiac pills, pain-relief tablets, antidiabetics, and anti-allergics. The introduction of QR codes on these medicines aims to provide consumers with a reliable way to verify the authenticity and legitimacy of the products they purchase, thus promoting safety and transparency in the pharmaceutical industry.
In the domestic retail market valued at over Rs 2 lakh crore, the top-selling medications include Anti-diabetics Mixtard and Glycomet-GP, antibiotics Augmentin and Monocef, and gastro medicine Pan. However, over the years, the pharmaceutical industry has faced challenges with counterfeit and sub-standard drugs infiltrating the market. Regulatory authorities have seized some of these counterfeit products. Notably, Abbott's thyroid medication Thyronorm was listed as "not of standard quality" and found to be counterfeit. Similarly, Glenmark's blood pressure pill Telma-H was also discovered to be fake. Moreover, instances of fake or sub-standard cough syrups, injections, and vaccines have been reported.
New Norms From This Month
Source: Times Of India


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Team up with buddies and take on waves of colorful ghosts throughout a diabolical haunted estate.
Virtual Reality arcades as well as location-based amusement places have been hit hard by COVID-19 and the occurring international lockdown. Vertigo Arcades (Arizona Sunshine POUND Virtual Reality, The Corsaire‘s Curse), a spin-off of Vertigo Games(Arizona Sunshine, Until the Fall)dedicated to location-based entertainment, responded to the following disorder by using extensive payment terms, permit expansions, and also various other kinds of assistance to
partnered venues effected by Government-mandated safety measures. As VR galleries throughout the chunk start to resume, Vertigo Arcades wants to regain the interests of brand-new as well as returning customers with a brand new free-roam co-location multiplayer VR game that pits 4 gamers versus a military of colorful ghosts scattered throughout a ghostly mansion.
Launching later this month at select location-based locations, Ghost Patrol VR is a hectic participating adventure-shooter that jobs 1-4 players with traversing enchanted hallways while zapping waves of dynamic specters utilizing their powerful Hue Blasters.
In order to browse around specific barriers, gamers will certainly require to gather strange orbs spread throughout the map; these enable groups to rearrange corridors and activate platforms to proceed. After making their way through several transcendent environments, gamers must after that interact to remove and also “breast” the huge Ghost King.
“We prepare to aid boost back up this market packed with creativity and also advancement with the right collaboration and also assistance,” stated Mário Gonçalves, Account Manager at Vertigo Arcades, in a main launch.
In addition to the cooperative element, players can likewise duke it out for the high score. Before the beginning of every video game each gamer is assigned a different tinted Hue Blaster; by firing ghosts of the equivalent color, they gain extra points towards their general rating.
Developed by CrazyBunch, Ghost Patrol Virtual Reality go for select games June 30th. According to Vertigo, the adventure lasts approximately 20 minutes as well as is made for players ages 12+.
For additional information see vertigo-arcades. com.
Image Credit: Vertigo Arcades


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If we want organizations like Equifax to be good data stewards, we, the users and consumers, must mobilize.
In October, the Internet Society explored why the dominant approach to data handling, based around the concepts of risk and compliance, does not work. To recap: “…data handlers try to adhere to regulatory requirements and minimize the risk to themselves – not necessarily to the individuals whose data they handle. For some data handlers, the risk that poor security creates may not extend to them.”
Euphemistically put, Equifax has not been an example of forthcomingness, transparency, and accountability. Users can change this paradigm. Users can shift the cost of a data breach onto the data handler by holding the accountable for their action or lack of action.
The key is to organize. For example, Consumer Reports is organizing a campaign calling on Equifax to take the next steps to address the fallout from the data breach. Their first step was to deliver a petition signed by over 180,000 individuals to Equifax’s headquarters.
The Internet Society just pledged $10k to this cause, to help Consumer Reports make sure Equifax does everything in its power to make things right for consumers in danger of identity theft.
Other actions you can take:
- Sign the Consumer Reports Petition to Equifax.
- Prepare for a breach incident with the Online Trust Alliance’s 2017 Cyber Incident & Breach Response Guide.
- Read the Global Internet Report 2016 to take a close look at the economics of data breaches and consider five recommendations for a path forward.


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When Walmart met with executives from FoodStory Brands in 2014, the Arkansas retailer was looking for help to revitalize its refrigerated salsa business.
After talking with officials from the world's largest retailer, FoodStory Brands' CEO quickly dispatched a team from its Arizona headquarters to create a whole new brand. Within 45 days, the team developed Fresh Cravings Salsa, subjected it to a blind taste test, trademarked it and found a co-packer to produce it.
Pleased with the early results, Walmart rolled out Fresh Cravings Salsa to 900 stores as a test, before expanding sales to 1,500 locations within six months and more than 4,000 in a year. Today, Fresh Cravings is the top refrigerated salsa at Walmart and the third best selling brand nationally in the category behind Garden Fresh and La Mexicana.
"Several of the opportunities that we have been able to successfully connect on are at the burden of Big Food being unable to answer the need as quickly as we can. We don't have big company bureaucracy and red tape," Jay Whitney, president of FoodStory Brands, told Food Dive. "We continue to go where the white space leads versus being restricted to specialists in one category."
For FoodStory Brands, the creation of Fresh Cravings marked an opportunity to not only help Walmart, but freshen the salsa category. Sales of shelf stable and jarred salsa were flat at $1.3 billion in 2017, according to Nielsen, while growth in the refrigerated segment was more upbeat, rising 7.7% to $349 million.
"Several of the opportunities that we have been able to successfully connect on are at the burden of Big Food being unable to answer the need as quickly as we can. We don't have big company bureaucracy and red tape. We continue to go where the white space leads versus being restricted to specialists in one category."
President, FoodStory Brands
Of the fresh ones available, none of the more than 260 brands dominated the category like Sabra in hummus or Wholly Guacamole in its category, giving Fresh Cravings the opportunity to become synonymous with the offering. The other refrigerated salsa brands also didn't prioritize fresh ingredients, textures and tastes increasingly popular with consumers, the company said.
As FoodStory Brands looks for places where it can develop new products, it has focused on areas popular with shoppers, including transparency and cleaner ingredients. It developed Cocktail Artist in 2017, a line of mixes and bar ingredients created in collaboration with mixologists that used premium ingredients and lacked high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors or flavors. It also licensed the right to make Jurassic World Chicken Nuggets with all white meat, no antibiotics and whole grain breading.
"Underneath all of that there is a lack of trust in Big Food, which has given rise to boutique and smaller brands," Whitney said. "This has paved the way for FoodStory Brands."
The company has employed a two-pronged approach in bringing foods to market: tapping into designing a new product from the ground up internally, and licensing an existing idea or brand that already has a connection with consumers in the marketplace.
In the case of its Jurassic World Chicken Nuggets, there were other dinosaur nuggets on the market, but FoodStory Brands was looking to create a more authentic product that could stand out.
For its Tres Leches cake, the company wanted a mainstream celebrity who had crossover appeal to promote the brand. Actress Eva Longoria, who liked to cook and had been on TV discussing the topic, was contacted about a branding agreement that incorporated her own family recipes — giving the product instant credibility, according to Whitney.
FoodStory Brands has the added benefit of doing everything but the production in-house, Whitney said, using a team of 25 people who not only develop and test the products but focus on selling, marketing and designing the packaging. By having more control over the item throughout the process, FoodStory Brands is able to get a product to market in about 60 days compared to a year to 18 months for bigger manufacturers.
The fast-growing company is aiming to sell its products at 20,000 stores, up from 14,000 today, behind sales of $200 million by 2021. Its products have or currently are being sold in Walmart, Publix, Kroger, Costco and Target.
FoodStory Brand's rapid growth and product niche catering to trends that are popular among today's consumers has attracted the interest of Big Food companies who have offered to buy its Fresh Cravings and Cocktail Artist brands.
"We don't design brands to sell them, we design them to build them and have them be successful and connect meaningfully with consumers," Whitney said.


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The convenience retailer will launch over 65 stores new and extended stores, with more than 100 further outlets receiving major makeovers as part of a £130m store investment programme creating up to 1,000 local jobs.
New convenience stores fit-outs generall cost around £500,000 for the Co-op with the work spread nationally.
Co-op will be able to pick and choose its new sites taking advantage of the glut of vacant properties caused by lockdown and the impact on the high street.
Further, up to 12 new Co-op franchise stores are set to launch this year, including at Oxford Brookes University and Stirling University – with more university locations planned for 2021.
More than 50 of the new stores will open by the end of the year, in areas including Wrexham, London, Poole, Leeds and Guildford.
David Roberts, Managing Director, Co-op Property, said: “We continually look for new locations, sites which are definitively convenient in their community – closer to our Members and customers with proximity shopping a key consumer consideration.”
Association of Convenience Stores chief executive, James Lowman, said: “Convenience stores have firmly established themselves as a place that local communities can rely on, not just for groceries but for a growing range of services that have kept the nation going during the last few months.
“This commitment to investing in stores in the coming months is testament to the importance of the convenience sector and the role that local shops play in people’s everyday lives.”
Co-op operates over 2,600 food stores, and is owned by around 4.6m active members.


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Electric cars are a hot item in Atlanta.
How hot? How about second only to San Francisco according IHS Automotive via the Wall Street Journal. 2nd place on the list had been occupied by Seattle.
C'mon Seriously Atlanta?
Top 5 EV markets in America (via IHS) through the end of March:
San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose - 3.33%
- Atlanta - 2.15%
- Seattle-Tacoma - 1.83%
- Honolulu - 1.71%
- Monterey-Salinas - 1.51%
(Check out a listing of...well, all markets here)
The researcher says that on average Georgia contributes more than $4,000 to each electric vehicle purchase in the state - and that is on top of the $7,500 federal credit.
The combined credits on electric vehicle purchases make short term leases on an EV such as the Nissan LEAF almost cost neutral. The LEAF's top selling market has been Atlanta in 8 of the past 10 months.
The multiple incentives have far over-stimulated the market...and the state knows it as legislators attempted to end the credit this past March by passing House Bill 257 on the last day of the Georgia Senate's session for this year.
Republican Rep. Chuck Martin in an interview with CBS46 Atlanta at the time of the bill passing the House:
“My personal view on the policy is it shouldn’t be so rich for the taxpayers to allow someone to buy a car for free,” said the representation reacting to recent Nissan Leaf lease deals.
Nissan LEAF Has Been Selling Like Crazy in Atlanta, But Eliminating the Georgia's $5,000 Ev Incentive Will Certainly Change That
And the bill would have easily passed had it not been for Representative Martin deciding to soften the bill's effect on the plug-in market in the state by introducing an amendment that would have seen both BEVs and PHEVs get an overall credit of $2,500 (with a $10M cap) during the Senate's last 2 hours of doing business for the year.
In the end, they ran out of time and it never got to a vote...meaning the uber-credit in Georgia would live on another year.
Ain't democracy great?
Tesla's VP of Business development Diarmuid O'Connell had this to say about the effects of strong incentives (via WSJ) "If you have strong incentives it can move the market. People buy a car, they share the experience with their friends and then you have this virtuous cycle."
Assuming that the credit powering sales in Atlanta only has a shelf life until the Georgia Senate reconvenes, it will be interesting to see if that "virtuous cycle" Mr. O'Connell speaks of holds true in 2015. In fact, it will be a good gauge of what happens to EV sales overall when someday the $7,500 federal credit is muted or removed.
Wall Street Journal (sub), hat tip to Michael!


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Oppo has had a decidedly difficult time keeping its currently unannounced R11 from leaking all over the place and now a photo has surfaced that reportedly show off the various colors it will be available in. While the image itself is a bit on the fuzzy side, it clearly shows the R11 in three different colors. In addition to the standard black and gold variations of the handset, the pic appears to confirm reports that it will also have a more bronze-hued rose gold variation in the snapshot. If the photo and other leaks surrounding Oppo’s upcoming device are accurate, there really isn’t a whole lot left to discover about it. With that said, it is also worth bearing in mind that any leak or series of leaks could be incorrect regardless of how official they look. It’s also important to remember that even if the image is an accurate portrayal, it may not cover the full gamut of colors the R11 will be available in.
Aside from the newly discovered color variations, the R11 is expected to arrive near the upper end of mid-range Android devices when it releases. That’s based on previously leaked benchmark results that showed the device to be packing a 64-bit Snapdragon 650 octa-core processor, 64GB of storage, and 4GB of RAM. Other specifications for the device are said to include a dual-camera setup, with a pair of 16-megapixel shooters at the back and a 20-megapixel shooter at the front.
If those numbers are correct, the front-facing camera likely has a better sensor because Oppo’s ‘R’ series of devices are often marketed as great selfie-focused phones. That aside, all of the hardware is expected to be pushed by Android 7.1.1 (Nougat) out of the box and packed into a premium metal body. From the new image leak to the previously reported TV ad leak, Oppo’s R11 is looking more and more like a very solid offering. It bears repeating that the leaks aren’t necessarily representative of anything until Oppo says otherwise, so for now anything is really subject to change. This means that the colors may be different than what’s presented in this image and there could even be more colors available.


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January 11, 2018Trabolgan €2 million invested as part of our continual upgrade and investment programme!
All our Chestnut and Alpine accommodation across the park is being updated and refreshed for the 2018 season. And in addition to this, there will be a new spectacular covered plaza at the heart of our main centre. Boasting an expansive skyline roof, the Village Plaza will bring together amazing entertainment and a host of dining experiences, all under one roof!
This high tech engineering project will link together buildings in Trabolgan’s main centre, providing an all-weather facility at the Village Plaza. The expansive and spectacular 18,000 sq. foot roofing structure, made from transparent polycarbonate materials, will shied visitors from the unpredictable Irish weather, without blocking the light shining in. It will bring together outdoor adventures, live entertainment and casual dining in a spacious and comfortable environment where weather is never an issue! Connecting all venues in the main centre from our Shops to our Pool Paradise, the Village Plaza is the perfect place to unwind and watch the world go by.
So don’t delay, book your 2018 family break TODAY and
get up to 33% off selected breaks
when you book and pay in full by the 31st January 2018.
Call our team TODAY on 021 4661551 or
book online at trabolgan.com
fEast Cork 2019, the East Cork Food & Drink Festival which takes...read more
Ring Of Cork have published the new and improved Ring Of Cork Heritage...read more
The marketing team at Fota Island Resort are still celebrating after...read more
Funding of €8 million has been approved and allocated to the development...read more


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Five new regional US carriers will join C Spire Wireless on April 20 and begin offering the iPhone to customers. The complete list includes nTelos in Virginia, Appalachian Wireless in Kentucky, Cellcom from Wisconsin, and two Alaskan carriers, GCI and Alaska Communications.
GCI is the only carrier with a GSM network, so they will be the only ones launching the iPhone 3GS alongside the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. iPhone fans looking for options besides wireless giants AT&T, Verizon and Sprint will find pricing will come in below the big players, too.
The iPhones will be sold for a subsidized (two-year contract) price of $50 less than the major carriers, putting the iPhone 4S 16GB model starting at $150. For more storage, the 32GB comes in at $250 and fo 64GB the price will be $350. To pick up an 8GB iPhone 4 from one of the regional carriers will run $50. Money can also be saved on data plans with the smaller carriers.
Alaska Communications offers nationwide unlimited talk plans to Alaska residents including 2GB of data for $90 per month. Add unlimited texting and make the data plan 5GB and you're looking at a total of $101 per month. nTelos will launch the iPhone with unlimited everything plans for a flat $99.99 per month. You can go even cheaper if you limit voice minutes to 600 per month, with unlimited data and texting for only $79.99.It remains to be seen if these regional carriers will be able to compete against the largest wireless providers in the country. Bringing the iPhone to as many carriers as possible now that the exclusive deal between Apple and AT&T is over will give consumers more choice.


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BERLIN (Reuters) - German ecommerce firm Rocket Internet said it was on track to make three of its start-ups profitable by the end of 2017 as it reported revenue rose 69 percent in 2015 to 2.4 billion euros ($2.70 billion).
While all of its start-ups are still loss-making, Rocket said it saw an improvement in their adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin of an average 6 percentage points in 2015.
It reiterated that 2015 should represent the peak of the losses of its major start-ups and repeated a target that three of those firms should be profitable by the end of 2017.
Founded in Berlin by brothers Oliver, Alexander and Marc Samwer in 2007, Rocket has set up dozens of ecommerce sites, aiming to replicate the success of Amazon and Alibaba in new markets in Africa, Latin America and Russia.
Rocket Internet has seen its stock sag since it listed in Frankfurt in October 2014 on investor concern that all its leading start-ups are still making heavy losses.
But it was buoyed this week by news it has sold a stake in one of those making the heaviest losses - Southeast Asian online retailer Lazada Group - to Alibaba.
Among its 14 biggest start-ups, Rocket Internet highlighted Middle East online fashion site Namshi and home furnishings retailer Westwing as making big strides toward profitability.
It also noted strong revenue growth at "ready to cook" meal delivery firm HelloFresh, seen as a likely candidate for a possible stock market listing, as well as at African online retailer Jumia, up 338 percent and 118 percent respectively.
It added that it had a cash balance of 1.8 billion euros at the end of 2015 and access to co-investment capital from a fund it set up in January, which it said now had commitments of $742 million, up from a previous $420 million.
(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Victoria Bryan)


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Looks like it started moving subtly on Friday. Interesting to watch big blocks line up on the bid as well as take out big blocks in the ask all day. With no news and no pump none-the-less.
I saw a play last week go from .20 to $2.20 on MJ related news. Someone suggested that such news might be in store here as well. Whatever the reason, it's been 'activated'.


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The Food Standards Agency said new priority testing would take place across the UK from next month and businesses could face prosecution if food is found to have been deliberately mislabelled.
Local authority sampling data from July to December 2013 found 43 out of 145 samples of lamb takeaway meals contained meat other than lamb.
Without rigorous monitoring programmes, cheats will always try to take advantage of consumers
And consumer watchdog Which? tested 60 lamb curries and kebabs from restaurants in Birmingham and London and found 24 contained other meats. No samples were found to have horsemeat, however.
Food safety expert Prof Chris Elliott said: “Without rigorous monitoring programmes, cheats will always try to take advantage of consumers.”
Richard Lloyd of Which? said: “The Government, local authorities and the FSA need to make tackling food fraud a priority.”


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Daimler's $49 billion issue: Settling Mercedes-Benz brand rights
Daimler AG’s blockbuster breakup plan has created a small quandary that lawyers will spend time resolving sometime in the coming months: rights to the company’s $49 billion Mercedes-Benz brand.
The German manufacturer is working on a legal framework for how Mercedes and trademarks such as its famous three-pointed star logo will be used after spinning off its truck unit later this year, Chief Executive Officer Ola Kallenius said in an interview last week.
“It has to be absolutely clear who can use the brand," said Kallenius, who plans to change the carmaking entity’s name to Mercedes-Benz from Daimler.
The issue is significant because Mercedes is the world’s eighth most valuable brand, just behind Toyota and ahead of archrival BMW, according to consultancy Interbrand Corp. The ranking is led by technology giants Apple, Amazon and Microsoft.
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Daimler’s marquee brand was first registered in 1902 after the Mercedes 35 hp model won the Nice racing week. The car was commissioned by businessman Emil Jellinek and named after his daughter Mercedes. The three-pointed star has meanwhile graced Mercedes vehicles ranging from coveted luxury cars to more utilitarian sets of wheels since 1910. The sons of founder Gottlieb Daimler came up with the idea.
“With the Daimler Truck spinoff, it is critical to govern and define the respective Mercedes brand rights in an unambiguous way," said Roman Mathyssek, a consultant at Arthur D. Little GmbH.
Daimler long argued it needed to keep the Mercedes brand under one roof when investors pressured the company to separate the trucks business. The growing technological divide between the car and commercial-vehicle industries forced management to rethink this. They plan to address the trademark rights issue before distributing a majority of the Daimler Truck unit to shareholders later this year.
The brand’s cachet could help stoke investor interest in the two manufacturers, which likely will both feature in Germany’s DAX Index, according to Kallenius.
Keeping tabs on brands and trademarks can be a convoluted exercise. Daimler had to pay $20 million to Ford Motor Co. in 2007 to buy back the rights to its name when it shed DaimlerChrysler following the sale of Chrysler LLC. The name had been used for some Jaguar models, a brand Ford owned at the time.
That issue stemmed from Gottlieb Daimler licensing his engine to an entity in the 19th century named Daimler Motor Company, which was later bought by the British luxury brand.


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To respond to the unprecedented demand in medical supplies amid the current global COVID-19 pandemic around the world, and in order to help countries speed up the cross-border movement of these critical products, the WCO and the World Health Organization (WHO) joined hands to strengthen their cooperation by establishing a coordinated approach in their response to the pandemic.
As a result of this joint effort of the two organizations, the HS Classification Reference for COVID-19 Medical Supplies was updated, in a more structured and user-friendly format, to reflect more of the products that would be required in the professional opinion and experience of the WHO in public health. The first HS classification reference for COVID-19 medical supplies, published by the WCO at the dedicated section of its website two weeks ago, was an initial response of the Secretariat to help countries in their fight against the spread of COVID-19. The initial list contained the classification of essential products needed such as COVID-19 diagnostic test kits and masks, certain protective personal equipment and medical devices such as ventilators and ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), consumables and disinfectant products that may be used for the prevention and treatment of the disease. The latest edition expands this list to cover a greater range of medical equipment and supplies that are required as critical items by the WHO, such as oxygen concentrators and sample collection sets.
The list of HS-coded medical supplies was widely appreciated by stakeholders and taken into consideration by governments when preparing their responses to secure and facilitate trade in these supplies. It serves as the basis for identifying the cross-border movement of the products needed during the pandemic, applying contingent tariff and non-tariff relief policies, monitoring and combating falsified supplies, and even for taking responsive actions to address shortages.
The updated list is provided as an indicative list with a view to facilitating the classification of COVID-19 medical supplies at the international level (6 digit of the HS). Economic operators are kindly advised to consult with the relevant Customs administrations in relation to classification at domestic levels (7 or more digits) or in the event of any discrepancy between their practices and this list.
The Second Edition of the HS Classification reference list for COVID-19 medical supplies can be found in the WCO COVID-19 dedicated page.
Source: WCO, 9 April 2020


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October 14, 2003
Dell Rejects AMD Opteron, But Why?
Kelly McNeill writes "Is there a secret war going on over which manufacture will carry what CPU? osViews editorial contributor Alex Alexzander noticed that Dell doesn't carry AMD and remains an intel inside only company. With AMD's new 64 bit processor already in production, one would assume that Dell would be forced to carry the processor due simply as a result of customer demand."


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Emerging Tech Shaping the Future of Logistics | T-Hub Innovation Summit
Tune into this panel discussion that sheds light on the future of logistics through IoT, AI, 3D Printing, Big data and networking etc., during the T-Hub Innovation Summit, Hyderabad.
The participating panelists, Amitava Saha (Xpressbees), Rajesh Yabaji (BlackBuck), and Sandeep Varaganti (Reliance Retail) emphasised on making #entrepreneurs prioritize #tech and consider it to be a key element in supply chain & #logistics. Vamshi Reddy (Kalaari Capital) moderated the session.
The panel discussion was a part of the ‘T-Hub Innovation Summit’ held on June 28.
Video Source: T-Hub
Watch the full video here:


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Paga, Nigeria’s foremost mobile money transfer firm has raised $13 million in new capital.
The Series B financing was led by Adlevo Capital, a Mauritius-based private equity fund manager, with participation from Omidyar Network, Goodwell West Africa, Acumen Fund, and Capricorn Investment Group. Jeremy Stoppelman, a co-Founder and CEO of Yelp also invested in the new round.
According to Tayo Oviosu, Paga’s founder and CEO, the new funds will be used to improve on its peer-to-peer payment platform.
“Our recent financing will help us continue to build towards our vision and support the strengthening of our agent network,” Oviosu said in a press statement.
Previous investors in Paga include Jim O'Neill, a former Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and venture capitalist Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
Stanford-educated Oviosu founded Paga in 2009 as a mobile money transfer service in response to his frustration with having to carry cash around in Nigeria. Paga leverages the ubiquity of the mobile phone to bring great value to customers. Customers can use Paga to send money to anyone in Nigeria either from their mobile phone or Internet-enabled device, or via any Paga agent across the country. Recipients get the money instantly, without necessarily having to be registered Paga users. Customers can also use Paga to pay for a variety of goods and services at various online or offline merchants such as electricity bills, cable TV subscriptions and prepaid mobile airtime top-ups.
Paga now has over 3.4 million users and 3,600 SME clients and over 8,850 agents across Nigeria. In September Oviosu announced on
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U.S. retail gas prices are still dropping, but they are falling much more slowly this week, dropping only 2 cents. Monday saw U.S. gas prices as $1.98. The 27-week average price is now $2.91.
The Midwest region saw prices increase this week. Prices increased 2 cents, bringing the average price to $1.92, still one of the lowest across the U.S.
The Central Atlantic region saw the largest decrease in prices at 9 cents. Prices in the region average $2.31, still the highest in the U.S. The West Coast region also saw a larger drop this week, falling 8 cents.
New York saw the largest drop in prices as a state with prices falling 11 cents to $2.38. Seattle, Wash., saw a 10 cent price reduction, with prices landing at $2.27.
|Retail Gasoline Prices (Mon)|


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Futures fell after Trump said the U.S. will raise tariffs on more than $500 billion worth of Chinese imports, increasing trade tensions.Marketsread more
Clouding the G-7 gathering, which represents the world's major industrial economies, are the tit-for-tat tariffs between Washington and Beijing.Politicsread more
Hours after President Trump said Sunday he had "second thoughts" about escalating the trade war with China, the White House sought to explain his remark because it was...Politicsread more
President Donald Trump said that he would have a major trade deal with U.K. after it leaves the European Union.Politicsread more
Carl Medlock used to work at Tesla. Now he's one of the few people in the U.S. that can fix the company's original Roadster electric vehicles.Technologyread more
Despite Kudlow's expectations, China said on Saturday that it strongly opposes Trump's decision to levy additional tariffs on $550 billion worth of Chinese goods, and warned...Politicsread more
President Donald Trump said Sunday he was not happy after North Korea launched short-range ballistic missiles over the weekend.Politicsread more
Bryn Mawr Trust CIO Jeffrey Mills lists where to put money to work as Wall Street copes with trade war and recession jitters.Futures Nowread more
The announcement for Target also comes on the heels of a strong quarterly earnings report, where it showed it drove more people to stores and got them to spend more money...Retailread more
The Goldman Sachs technology M&A team, led by Sam Britton, has cashed in on its software focus and decades of experience to dominate 2019's biggest deals.Technologyread more
American small and medium-size companies that rely on China are scrambling to adjust their business plans in response to the escalating trade war.Traderead more
In its 2018 annual report, which was published on Tuesday, Alphabet tweaked a line about competitors, removing Microsoft while keeping Amazon and Apple. The deletion suggests that, in the digital assistant market, Google is seeing Amazon Alexa and Apple Siri continue to gain adoption, but not Cortana.
Microsoft introduced Cortana in 2014 and incorporated it into Windows in 2015. Google announced the Google Assistant in 2016 and started making it available in Android phones later that year.
Google Assistant is now available on more than 1 billion devices, a Google spokesman said in an email. In June Microsoft said Cortana had more than 150 million users.
In addition to the Google Home, Google's voice-powered technology is baked into devices from other hardware makers like JBL, and speaker maker Sonos is planning to bring Google Assistant to its products. Microsoft has not introduced a Cortana-enabled speaker of its own, although Samsung subsidiary Harman Kardon has released a speaker with Cortana inside.
Microsoft's head of Cortana, Javier Soltero, left in November. Andrew Shuman, a corporate vice president who has been at Microsoft for more than 25 years, is now in charge of the company's assistant.
Google is aggressively promoting the Google Home, just as Amazon dramatically steps up its ad spending, including for the Echo. Alphabet's sales and marketing costs rose rose about 12 percent to $16.3 billion in 2018, in part because of increased spending for marketing related to Google Assistant, Tuesday's filing said.


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AlgaEnergy will become exclusive worldwide distributor of Laboratoire M2 biocontrol products and will collaborate with the Quebec company’s scientists on new disease-control products for agriculture.
AlgaEnergy, global leader in microalgae biotechnology, has signed global product distribution and product development agreements with Laboratoire M2 Inc., a Quebec-based biotechnology company that develops natural and sustainable disinfectant products, including THYMOX CONTROL® fungicide and bactericide.
AlgaEnergy formulates and produces powerful, sustainable, microalgae-based crop inputs for the world’s growers. Laboratoire M2’s THYMOX® products, derived from the antimicrobial power of thyme oil and other natural oils, are used in crop and indoor agriculture, as well as in turf and garden markets.
Under the agreements, AlgaEnergy will gain exclusive global rights to distribute the THYMOX crop protection product line through AlgaEnergy’s business units in key agricultural markets in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific. The two companies also signed a license and collaborative product development agreement under which their scientific teams will together work to create new, value-added biocontrol products.
“As with our partnership with Concentric Ag announced last fall, Laboratoire M2’s THYMOX CONTROL products will be available soon through AlgaEnergy’s worldwide distribution network,” said D. Ry Wagner, AlgaEnergy N.A. CEO and president of AlgaEnergy’s international agribusiness. “Laboratoire M2 has developed some of the most innovative natural biocontrol solutions in the market today. These agreements mark AlgaEnergy’s entry into the rapidly growing biocontrol sector and also sets the stage for future innovations coming from our scientific collaboration.”
“AlgaEnergy is excited not only by the near-term opportunities with the THYMOX CONTROL natural and organic products, but also by the possibilities of using our world-class microalgae platform and the products of the Concentric Ag platform to create best-in-class products that improve agricultural productivity and sustainability around the world,” he said.
Frank Palantoni, executive director of Laboratoire M2, sees tremendous game-changing potential in the new products that will result from these combined technologies.
“Our substantial investments in a new technology platform for our Crop Protection business unit have paid off,” Palantoni said. “Our highly flexible advanced nanotechnology has been engineered to be applied in many other biocontrol ingredients and actives.”
“This partnership with AlgaEnergy will give the world’s growers access to our THYMOX technology, which has been proven in field tests to offer effective protection against some of the most difficult pathogenic problems faced by growers,” he added.
AlgaEnergy had the privilege to share its disruptive vision and strategy that will define its commercial track for the next several years, as well as present the results of recent studies.16 December, 2021
Augusto Rodríguez-Villa, President of the biotechnology company, will continue as a member of the Board of Directors of the Spanish Bioindustry Association (AseBio).15 December, 2021
Carlos Rodriguez-Villa, General Manager of the biotech company, joins the Board of Directors of the European Biostimulants Industry Council (EBIC).25 November, 2021
Carlos Rodríguez-Villa, General Manager of AlgaEnergy, will participate in the panel ‘The rise of Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) in Europe: New trends’.17 November, 2021
The project is promoted and coordinated by AlgaEnergy, with top-level partners.04 November, 2021
The initiative seeks to actively help build a better world, not only by providing education, but also a safe and healthy environment for children in schools in Africa.26 October, 2021
With a large professional community and participant pool consisting of over 1600 delegates and 800 companies from 72 countries, it is one of the most important events of the year for AlgaEnergy.25 October, 2021
Hinarejos brings nearly 25 years of experience in the chemical and biological industry.21 October, 2021
AlgaEnergy, the biotechnology-based company participated for the seventh time in a row in this trade fair of international reference for the fruit and vegetable industry.20 October, 2021
The company actively participates in this benchmark event in the biotechnology sector, which it also supports as a prominent sponsor.22 September, 2021


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Rob joined The Grocer in 2010 as features editor. Since January, 2013, he’s been overseeing The Grocer’s weekly category reports and annual Britain’s Biggest Brands, Biggest Alcohol Brands and Top Products features as Category Reports Editor. He also looks after our monthly digital features.
With a particular interest in consumer trends, much of Rob’s role involves analysing sales data to pick out stories about how Brits are eating, drinking and shopping differently today. He regularly appears on radio and TV as a commentator and his stories are often picked up by the national press.
Having previously worked for a magazine covering the global brewing industry, Rob is particularly interested in the alcoholic drinks market. He also takes a keen interest in environmental issues facing the grocery industry. In 2012, he travelled to Singapore for an exposé of the growing global surplus of sustainably produced palm oil.
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