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Chrysler will offer certified status to rival vehicles. Certification will only be available on vehicles from the 2008 model year and newer with fewer than 48,000 miles.
Chrysler Group LLC is aiming to help its dealers sell more new Jeeps, Dodges, and Fiats by offering company-backed warranties on used cars from the competition.
The Detroit automaker rolled out a program this week that will let dealers award certified pre-owned status and the associated warranty to select cars from rival manufacturers. Chrysler first made the "Diversified Certified" program available to its Fiat dealers, but it is expected to expand to all dealerships within 60 days.
"It's a good time to do this because Chrysler is growing so fast on the new-car side. We're finding from our dealers we're taking in a lot of competitive-make vehicles," said Eric Swanson, Chrysler's head of certified pre-owned vehicles.
Chrysler has been increasing its market share in recent months, and officials are hopeful the program will help dealers earn even more "conquest sales," the term for an auto company luring a loyal buyer away from another company.
According to data from the National Automobile Dealers Association, Chrysler's market share rose to 11.6 percent in February. That's up from 11 percent in January and from 9.5 percent in February, 2011.
Although the label should help dealers sell used cars, the real target is new-car sales. Knowing they'll be able to sell a potential trade-in as certified pre-owned will allow dealers to offer more money for trade-ins and seal more deals, Mr. Swanson said.
Industry followers say the strategy makes sense.
"In theory, what Chrysler is saying is absolutely correct. If a Chevy comes in and the [dealer] knows he can sell it as Chrysler-certified on his used sales lot, he would be willing to spend a little more money on it," said Stu Zalud, director of dealer services for the NADA Used Car Guide.
Though many individual dealers have offered extended warranties on their used cars, Chrysler says it's the first manufacturer to give rival makes company-backed, certified pre-owned status. Mr. Zalud predicts other manufacturers will eventually follow suit.
The certification will only be available on vehicles from the 2008 model year and newer with fewer than 48,000 miles. Nearly all common makes -- Honda, Toyota, Ford, and Chevrolet -- are included, although there are exceptions for diesels and hybrids and some higher-end luxury models. Certified cars will carry a five-year, 60,000-mile full-mechanical warranty.
Dealers have the option of participating, but Ralph Mahalak, Jr., owner of Monroe Dodge Chrysler Jeep Superstore in Monroe, called it a "no-brainer."
"We really need it right now because we've been taking in some tremendous trade-ins -- all kinds of off brands, Fords, GMs, imports," he said.
Mr. Mahalak's auto group includes a Fiat dealership in Florida, which started the program Monday.
Officials at Yark Fiat in Sylvania Township, the only Fiat dealership in metro Toledo, said Tuesday they're still weighing the program.
"The program is so new, we haven't really had a chance to mull it over and the advantages for our facility," sales manager Travis Dupont said.
Many buyers like certified pre-owned cars because they get vehicles that have met a certification process and are backed by manufacturers' warranties.
Dealers like them because certified pre-owned cars typically sell for more than similar used cars without the certification.
Mr. Zalud said consumer interest in them seems to be growing.
"The perception is, and rightfully so, it's a car that is likely to have less exposure for some kind of catastrophic problem," he said.
Although Chrysler would rather see buyers put themselves in new or certified pre-owned Chrysler products, officials feel confident that building relationships with buyers who chose other manufacturers will eventually net new-car sales from within Chrysler Group.
"We get that customer to come back to our service department, we'll get them back to sell them a new car," Mr. Swanson said.
The automaker would not give any projections on how many dealers it expected would participate or how many vehicles it expects to certify.
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Event: Tusshar Kapoor at 'Yamla Pagla Deewana' screening by Rumi Jaffrey
Guest List: Tusshar Kapoor, Prem Chopra, Shammi Aunty, Helen, Salim Khan, Rumi Jaffrey
Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma was snapped at the airport.
Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty Kundra was snapped at the airport with husband Raj Kundra and mother.
Bollywood actress Shabana Azmi, fashion designer Manish Malhotra among others snapped at the airport.
Bollywood actress Kriti Sanon was spotted outside her residence.
Bollywood's 'HASEENA' Shraddha Kapoor was spotted at Hakkasan.

domain: news


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White Labs introduces better vials
For a visual look at how strong these vials are, click here.
White Labs Inc. has introduced new leakproof vials
for homebrewers that could set new industry standards for durability,
functionality, and sales.
The company recently unveiled the vials after a
two-year search that involved negotiations with major suppliers in the
United States and other countries as well as rigorous testing.
While the new vials cost considerably more both to
acquire and to ship, homebrew shops neednt worry. White Labs is
picking up the additional cost.
"We believe this is the best possible holding
vessel available anywhere, by any company," said Christopher White,
president of White Labs. "We think customers will agree."
The new vials represent a dramatic shift for the
company, which had used polyurethane tubes since its founding in 1995.
While the tubes held up considerably well under even extreme pressure,
the company lately had received calls that some of the vials had leaked.
When they heard of these concerns, company officials accelerated their
search for a long-term solution.
The vials they eventually settled on are made by a
company that has many years of experience producing packages for
industrial and commercial users.
Customers who have already received the new packages
say they are pleased.
"I just got our shipment in and am very
impressed with your improvements," Phil Mathis of Homebrew
Adventures (www.homebrew.com) wrote recently.
"I'm glad to see you listen to your customers
and worked to solve a problem that we were having. I looked forward to
all of us making some money on a quality product!"
Customers may soon have more things to be pleased
about. The company believes the vials will contribute to greater yeast
viability and health and could lead to longer "use before"
And unlike the previous vials, the new ones can be
recycled like normal soda bottles. But they are much more durable than
the average Coca Cola bottle.
The companys rigorous testing of the vials included
running them over with a car, throwing them against a wall and creating
new pressure in the vials by adding sugar. Despite the added pressure, the
vials still did not leak.
Like the previous vials, the new versions are two-ounce
containers that are packaged with a little more than one ounce of liquid
Settling on a new package leaves White Labs officials time
to do what they do best.
"We can now focus 100 percent on making the worlds
best yeast," White said.


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Blizzard Entertainment has announced that it is delaying the launch of its highly anticipated StarCraft II title until 2010. They cite reasons of wanting to make sure that Battle.net is ready for the launch and indicate that they are meticulously combing through every aspect of the game to make sure that it is perfect once it hits store shelves. This is probably good news for gamers simply because the expectations for Blizzard’s latest title are that it be nothing short of perfect.
Here is what the Blizzard PR team had to say:
Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service.
Our mission is to develop games that deliver an epic entertainment experience. As part of that commitment, we will always take as much time as needed to ensure that our games and services meet the expectations of our players and the standard for quality that we set for ourselves as developers. As we work to make Battle.net the premier online gaming destination, we’ll also continue to polish and refine StarCraft II, and we look forward to delivering a real-time strategy gaming experience worthy of the series’ legacy in the first half of 2010.
We will share more details about the beta, Battle.net, and StarCraft II’s launch in the future. Keep an eye on the official website at www.starcraft2.com for updates, and as always, thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support for StarCraft II and all of Blizzard Entertainment’s games.


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Person pal Finder, an informal dating site using tagline “hookup, select gender or see anyone hot today,” has actually suffered another huge data breach, but this time around really a lot even worse compared to the this past year.
Over 300 Million AdultFriendFinder accounts posses reportedly become subjected in an enormous information violation that hit sex online dating and entertainment company Friend Finder system.
Pal Finder community is the planet’s biggest intercourse and swinger area who has a number of property and the tool apparently subjected the content from above 412 Million accounts across the business holdings, such as matureFriendFinder, cameras, Penthouse, and Stripshow.
412,214,295 Customer’s Profile available for sale!
Breach notification site LeakedSource smashed the story, reporting that nearly 339 Million profile from intercourse hookup site personFriendFinder, over 60 Million reports from cameras, 7 Million from Penthouse and a small number of reports from Stripshow and iCams are compromised, for a total of 412,214,295 affected consumers.
“Over 400 million profile representing 20 years of consumer data got compromised, rendering it definitely the largest breach we’ve ever seen,” stated LeakedSource.
Harmful Or No Encoding for Passwords
In accordance with the violation notification service, the databases containing email addresses, effortlessly crackable (or in some instances, exposed) passwords, usernames, IP address contact information and browser details, more than 412 Million consumers has been created offered to using the internet unlawful marketplaces.
LeakedSource more reveals that Friend Finder community decided not to precisely encrypt the usersa€™ facts. The business kept consumer passwords in clearly visible structure, or using inadequate protected Hash Algorithm 1 (SHA1) hash purpose, basically not seen as protected.
Dealing with passwords, here are some typical passwords that have been employed by pal Finder community people to log on to the web sites: 123456, 123456789, code, qwerty, and pussy, fuckme, fuckyou and iloveyou.
Scores Of Deleted User Reports In Addition Uncovered
What exactly is tough? If you should be experiencing alleviated and thanking goodness which you currently removed your bank account on the mature web site in the past and you’re on better part, my apologies to declare that you as well come into fantastic dilemma.
The released databases also includes details of over 15 Million consumers who currently had “deleted” their own accounts, along with people for assets the company don’t possessed, like Penthouse.
When it comes to cheat partners, the tool, which occurred final thirty days, isn’t as bad as latest yeara€™s information breach that exposed key intimate dreams more than 3.5 Million cheat individuals.
Conversely, the Ashley Madison facts breach subjected the last seasons also more painful and sensitive compared to current one because violation uncovered confidential records like intimate preferences, fancy, fetishes and others such information of around 32 Million consumers.
Discover how Adult community possibly have Hacked:
Per CSO on line, a security specialist with the internet based moniker, Revolver uncovered Local File introduction vulnerabilities from the AdultFriendFinder website latest period. The specialist considered that alike flaw was exploited to crack the person circle.
Buddy Finder community mentioned the firm had been familiar with the safety incident and ended up being looking at the problem to find out set up claims had been legitimate.
“We are familiar with states of a safety experience, and we are presently exploring to ascertain the credibility associated with the states,” http://besthookupwebsites.org/quickflirt-review/ Diana Lynn Ballou, pal Finder community’s vp and Senior advice of business conformity & court told CSO on the web. “When we make sure a security incident did occur, we are going to work to deal with any problems and notify any customers that could be impacted.”
Thus, the firm neither verified nor denied the hack against its system, though acknowledge the business have not too long ago got a few reports of safety issues.
Pal Finder Network keeps yet to offer added details on the hack and just why the company was still saving facts of usera€™s records erased long since.


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Apple today shared further details about what will be the company’s first online-only WWDC. Kicking off on June 22, the event will include a keynote, Platforms State of the Union, and more than 100 engineering sessions.
The week will kick off with that keynote, with Apple likely to announce iOS 14, iPadOS 14, macOS 10.16, and more. Apple says that the event will be streamed from Apple Park via a number of sources.
Discover exciting new innovations and updates coming to all Apple platforms later this year. The keynote address will stream directly from Apple Park via apple.com, the Apple Developer app, the Apple Developer website, the Apple TV app, and YouTube, and will also be available for on-demand playback after the conclusion of the stream. For viewers in China, the keynote will also stream on Tencent, iQIYI, Bilibili, and Youku.
Moving on, the engineering events will be available to those with Apple Developer accounts via the Apple Developer app on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Everything will also be available via the Apple Developer website, too.
Beyond that, there will even be the option for 1-on-1 developer labs. Developers can request an appointment with developers available to answer questions that might not be covered in other group events.
Apple will also celebrate student developers the week before WWDC via a different event.
On June 16, Apple will celebrate student developers from all over the world with the announcement of finalists in the Swift Student Challenge, an opportunity for students of all ages to showcase their love of coding by creating their own Swift playground.
Apple normally holds a huge WWDC event in San Jose, but this year’s event will be online due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. How Apple handles everything via this new setup will be interesting. And it may inform how WWDC looks for years to come, too.


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For new car care operations, there are a number of mistakes that can lead to failure. Statistics show that 50 percent of small businesses fail in the first five years, according to Entrepreneur.com. Of these 50 percent that fail in the first five years, 30 percent survive only two years.
Though all businesses are different, the website offers new business owners five mistakes to avoid when starting their own operations.
How to start a carwash tip #1: Thinking all you need is an idea.
A good work ethic is the most important thing a new business owner will need, the article says. Details need to be framed, 'what-ifs' must be planned for and a solid foundation for the business must be built.
How to start a carwash tip #2: Not having a good lawyer and a good accountant.
Starting a business is complicated, and there are a number of laws that must be followed. There are many moves that can land a new business owner into some real trouble. "Retaining a lawyer and an accountant with an expertise in your specific type of business cab save you from a serious crisis," the article states.
How to start a carwash tip #3: Spending too much money too soon.
Even if a new operator has plenty of capital, overspending is not required. According to the article, owners should learn where the money should be best spent. Starting slow is important as many businesses have sabotaged growth by trying to grow too fast.
How to start a carwash tip #4: Trying to launch while still working elsewhere.
A business will require an owner's full attention to develop and grow. Planning and savings can be done while still employed elsewhere, but a new business owner will need to devote 100 percent of his or her time to the operation once it opens, the story notes.
How to start a carwash tip #5: Having someone else run things.
The article states that new owners need to be hands-on and have daily involvement with their new business, especially at the start. It is up to the owner to create agendas and schedules. Further, structure is important as is the relationships with different vendors.
Read the entire article on Entrepreneur.com here.


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Fly Communications Inc., announced Tuesday that it has been hired by Amazon.com to develop campaigns for three of the e-commerce companys recently launched businesses.
The Manhattan-based interactive advertising agency has been retained to create campaigns and purchase online media for Amazon Grocery, a consumer products online retail store, Amazon Unbox, a video-on-demand Web site, and Amazons Endless.com, a shoe and handbag online retailer. Fly did not disclose the value of the deal.
We are proud and excited about working with Amazona leading e-commerce site and innovator in marketing, says Larry Rowen, co-founder of Fly.
The six-year-old agency has created traditional television and print ads, pre-roll online videos and rich media banners for the three Amazon businesses. Fly is also buying spots on major consumer and media Web sites as well as smaller niche and blog sites that Amazon can place ads on. The agencys work will include Amazon Grocery TV commercials that will appear during PBSs morning programming.
Flys clients include the alcohol manufacturer Pernod Ricard and publishing giant Time Warner Inc. The ad agency recently worked on the creative for the outdoor and print ad campaigns for the re-launch of Times Money magazine. It is also the agency of record for Global Cash Access of Las Vegas, a financial services provider for the gaming industry. Amazon has retained Fly for an indefinite time period.
We have been able to generate excitement for the brands with cutting edge creative campaingns, says Mr. Rowen, adding that consumers are clicking to the Amazon sites after viewing online video ads.
Fly, a privately-held agency with about 60 employees and satellite office in Los Angeles, specializes in creating campaigns that combine branding and direct marketing.


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When it comes to cotton wool, the price is really an issue.
The average price of a cotton wool garment is about $2,400, according to a recent study by the American Wool Association.
That’s up about 40% from $1,600 a decade ago.
The higher price has driven up demand, which has been driven by a shortage of cotton.
The number of cotton factories in the United States has shrunk since the recession.
But cotton wool isn’t the only thing going for it.
The industry is in a bit of a turnaround as well.
Cotton prices have been rising since the late 1980s.
The world market has also been booming, which in turn has created an even bigger demand for the fibers.
But the industry hasn’t recovered yet.
“When we look at the raw materials, cotton wool is the king,” said Robert Ruhle, the executive director of the American Council on Science and Health.
He said the price of the cotton yarn is still far higher than the industry would have liked.
Even when cotton prices are up, the industry is struggling to make a profit.
The textile industry is responsible for about $6 trillion in U.S. jobs, and the cotton industry employs more than 4.6 million people.
It’s not just cotton that’s being hurt by the downturn in the cotton price.
Another commodity, corn, is also in decline.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of workers in the agriculture and related industries dropped from 2.5 million in 2007 to 1.8 million in 2013.
The overall U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that the price for corn has fallen by almost $100 per bushel since 2006, and that the global price of corn has dropped by about 50%.


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The finance department isn’t always regarded as being at the forefront of digital business transformation. But as artificial intelligence (AI) technologies continue to mature, one of the biggest drivers of AI adoption when it comes to accounting will be the fiduciary responsibilities of the chief financial officer (CFO).
Accountants spend a lot of time laboriously matching invoices with other various statements of work to determine whether a payment should be made in, for example, 30, 60 or 90 days. Given the fact that these activities are largely an exercise in pattern recognition, it’s only a matter of time before tasks such as these are more efficiently accomplished by machine learning algorithms capable of visually inspecting documents and determining what actions need to be taken based on rules defined by the CFO.
In fact, SAP is already predicting that the days when organizations hire large numbers of accountants just to process documents are near an end.
“Machines will soon handle most routine accounting processes,” says Christian Pedersen, chief product officer for SAP S/4 HANA Cloud.
AI Transforming Accounting Processes
Examples of accounting processes that can be automated using machines include everything from processing expense reports to accounts payable. Even risk assessments will be made by machines taking advantage of advanced analytics to assign risk scores.
There are already instances where machine learning algorithms have been inserted into accounting applications to automate a task. Most of those uses cases are still rudimentary at best. But this is only the beginning. AI applications will soon be able to predict not only when an organization will exceed or miss financial targets based on sales data analyzed in real time but gauge the accuracy of sales projections based on projections individual sales representatives have historically made, says Elliott Yama, chief data analyst for APTTUS, a provider of an order-to-cash application infused with AI.
That’s a critical requirement because it’s not uncommon for salespeople to be either overly optimistic or simply make promises they can’t possibly deliver. In other cases, salespeople try to minimize their quota requirements by under promising what they know can be delivered as part of a process known as “sandbagging.” AI applications will be able to spot those instances in a way that will enable the finance department to generate more accurate forecasts.
Because every member of the senior leadership team is held accountable for the accuracy of those forecasts, being aware that a forecast is not going to be met gives the organization precious time required to potentially reverse that outcome by, for example, deciding to make additional sales incentives available. Alternatively, the AI application could reduce cost by automatically reducing the amount of materials being ordered via integration with a digital supply chain system.
“Ultimately, it’s the job of the CFO to create value,” says Yama. “AI enables them to do more with less.”
New ERP Applications, New Reliance on Quality Data
Creating those kinds of systems will require deploying new classes of ERP applications capable of learning. In fact, Yama notes that before too long, competition among rival vendors will occur between rival AI models that are constantly being tuned as algorithms absorb more data. Those AI models will naturally span everything from accounting to supply chains and customer service. But it may very well turn out to be CFOs that drive the initial adoption of those AI models as part of a digital business transformation that begins in the finance office.
None of this necessarily means accountants will be put out of work. But it does mean the role of accounting professionals will need to be redefined. The days when accountants spend most of their time manually matching documents will soon be over. In its place, many accountants will have a new speech-enabled digital assistant that not only handles all their tedious tasks, but also makes “helpful” suggestions concerning where the latest accounting discrepancy might lie hidden.
In fact, a survey of 3,000 accountants conducted by Viga on behalf of Sage, a provider of accounting software, finds two-thirds of accountants expect AI and other forms of automation to help reduce repetitive tasks in a way that frees their time to provide valued consulting and advice to their clients. Specifically, the survey finds almost half (49 percent) would like to automate number crunching, data entry, email and diary management, and 66 percent say they would invest in AI if it automated repetitive and time-consuming tasks. Clearly, accountants for now at least don’t view AI as an existential threat to their existence. In fact, 55 percent of accountants said the plan to employ AI to run their business better.
AI, of course, won’t just be limited to internal accounting. Chances are high that audits will soon be largely conducted by machines as well. Accounting professionals may soon find their every move being scrutinized by machines capable of discovering the relationships between thousands of electronic and paper documents in a matter of minutes.
The ultimate impact that AI will have on accountants is still unclear. The chair and the president and CEO of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), last year did warn members of the association that up to a million accounting jobs could be lost because of advances in IT. For now, however, it would appear most accounting professionals are more focused on the benefits that AI will bring to them personally versus the potential impact it might have on demand for their services.
Of course, the single biggest impediment to implementing AI is a lack of quality data. Machine learning algorithms require access to lots of data to improve their accuracy. Right now, only large organizations tend to have the discipline required to enforce the high levels of data quality required for AI models to effectively learn how to automate a process.
There’s no doubt accounting at this juncture is about to be transformed utterly. Most CFOs will be eager to at the very least experiment with AI in the months ahead. It may be years before they fully trust AI systems. But once an AI system learns something, it never forgets it. Nor does it take sick days, quit to take another job, or make errors because personal issues are getting in the way of the task at hand. For CFOs tasked with maximizing the value of investments, those benefits alone will make AI too hard to ignore.


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TOKYO—The University of Tokyo, long considered a breeding ground for Japan’s political and business elite, is venturing into new terrain: entrepreneurship.
The nation’s most prestigious university, known as Todai, has produced more than a dozen prime ministers and most of the top officials at government ministries. But in recent years, the 138-year-old school has been working to shake its conservative image and bring some Silicon Valley spirit to its campus, in line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s hopes to transform educational institutions into centers of innovation.
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The public toilet block on Marine Parade opposite Victoria Street has been demolished and new amenities have been constructed. The new facility services the whole foreshore area, which includes the beach, boat ramp, playground and the nearby shopping strip.
The new amenities include unisex ambulant toilets/change facility, unisex accessible toilets/change facility, and outdoor shower facilities. Also included are a footpath, landscaping and street furniture around the toilet block.
Works are now complete, and the facility is open to the community.
Update: February 2023
34A Marine Drive, Safety Beach 3936 View Map
34A Marine Drive ,
Safety Beach 3936


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Published 5 years ago.
About a 3 minute read.
In the past year, we’ve seen more and more bold and potentially risky moves from brands, taking stands on pertinent societal and environmental issues: Airbnb, Google and other tech giants against the US’ immigration ban; Target supporting individuals’ right to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity; Heineken’s and other brands’ vocal support of
In the past year, we’ve seen more and more bold and potentially risky moves from brands, taking stands on pertinent societal and environmental issues: Airbnb, Google and other tech giants against the US’ immigration ban; Target supporting individuals’ right to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity; Heineken’s and other brands’ vocal support of LGBT rights; Dick’s Sporting Goods and a host of other brands against the NRA after the Parkland school shooting; Patagonia calling out the current administration for exploitation of public lands; and most recently, Nike rallying behind embattled NFL star Colin Kaepernick with its latest campaign.
Yet many companies are still struggling with if and how to use their voice, scale and reach to engage — and risk alienating — the public on issues.
“We believe it is important that companies lean in and take a stance on these issues but do so in a way that aligns with their purpose, core values, business and their stakeholders,” says Brad MacAfee, global CEO and senior partner at Porter Novelli. “PN STANCE takes the emotion and personal passions out of the equation. It gives companies confidence that they have taken a strategic, thoughtful approach to addressing pressing societal issues quickly and effectively.”
PN STANCE is a four-step process that includes a working session with experts from Porter Novelli’s Purpose Practice, as well as a proprietary, real-time diagnostic tool. The tool guides organizations through a series of questions around three categories: Business Impact, Stakeholder Impact and Connection to Business. After the process, organizations will receive a score that directs them on the level of action they should take regarding an issue. Since many of these issues are timely and often arise after an event, announcement or tragedy, the offering can be fully implemented in a 48-hour period, if needed, to respond in the moment.
Truly sustainable businesses address the many interconnected social and environmental challenges that brands and their customers face — and strive for net-positive outcomes and impacts, in addition to growth. SB's latest guidebook can help your company navigate the path toward enhanced brand sustainability with key insights, actionable steps and a holistic framework that defines a roadmap for good growth.
“Over the last year, we have seen many companies take risks around public-facing, often divisive issues with varying degrees of success or failure,” says Alison DaSilva, EVP of CSR and Purpose at Cone Communications, which merged with PN in 2017. “We developed PN STANCE to help companies navigate this space and be able to create a plan of action that is authentic to their business.”
Organizations interested in learning more about PN STANCE are invited to join a complimentary webinar, “When Staying Silent Isn’t an Option: If, When and How to Take a STANCE on Divisive Issues” on Tuesday, October 23.
Published Oct 8, 2018 3pm EDT / 12pm PDT / 8pm BST / 9pm CEST


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New Jersey’s largest technology expo is set to take place on Friday, Sept. 9 and Saturday, Sept. 10 at the Garden State Expo Center in Somerset.
In its first year, IT Connect Expo is a two-day event featuring more than 60-plus exhibitors, interactive technology exhibits, a “Start Up for Success” competition, and a variety of seminars and panel discussions designed to highlight industry trends and educate tomorrow’s technology leaders.
One such panel, hosted by NJ Advance Media, will focus on how technology and marketing are intertwined. How Tech, Data and Software Drive Marketing Strategy, will be held at 3 p.m. Friday. It will explore how businesses can achieve growth when technology, software and data are applied to areas such as CRM (customer relationship management) segmentation, search marketing, video, social marketing and data management platforms.
“It can be overwhelming to keep up with all of the new technologies that are constantly emerging in the marketing space. For our clients, we take on that responsibility and help businesses find the right audience and ultimately new customers,” says Steve Alessi, vice president, Advertising, Operations and Business Development for NJ Advance Media. “We are excited about the opportunity to participate in IT Connect and share insights with the community. We hope that attendees will walk away with useful knowledge that they can apply to their businesses”.
Alessi will moderate a panel of five veteran marketers who hail from NJ Advance Media and affiliated partners, Advance Local and Advance Digital Inc.
Meet the Panel
IT Connect Expo “will have something for everyone – from business leaders to techies, entrepreneurs, investors, and casual tech users to students,” says Nimish Kadakia, chairman of the event. “We carefully selected topics, speakers, exhibits and partners to ensure a great experience for our attendees and all involved. The end result is an excellent event, which is ready to launch, after almost two years of dedicated work. I could not have done it without the great team we have.”
IT Connect Expo is free for attendees and is supported by Partners including NJ Advance Media, NJ Tech Council, Big Data Alliance, NJ Community College Consortium for Workforce & Economic Development, NJ Small Business Development Center, SAP, Nimble to the Health Care and Technology Talent Networks. The full list, event details and registration are available on the organization’s website, it-connect-expo.com.


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In April last year, Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom Kenya launched merchant interoperability on their mobile money networks as an industry-led initiative to ease the cost for subscribers transacting across networks.
The partnership dubbed Till ni Till allows customers on Airtel Money and T-Kash to make payments to any of Safaricom’s Lipa na M-Pesa Till numbers or paybills in what was also anticipated as a step towards breaking M-Pesa’s dominance.
However, data from Safaricom’s latest financial results indicate that the wallet-to-wallet interoperability platform launched by the three telcos last year is struggling to break the hold of M-Pesa among subscribers.
The value of transactions through the merchant interpretability platform stood at Sh1 billion recorded from 69,400 merchants for the year ended March 2023.
This is a fraction of the total value of customer-to-business (C2B) and business-to-business (B2B) payments which stood at Sh6.5 trillion.
The slow uptake of merchant interoperability in the first year of the partnership indicates that Airtel Money and T-Kash are still struggling to grow market share in the lucrative sector despite regulatory interventions.
Last year, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) welcomed the move by the operators to launch a single payments wallet terming it the first step towards lowering cross-network payment costs for subscribers.
“The lack of full interoperability has increased the complexity, time and costs associated with making payments,” stated the CBK.
“Without merchant interoperability of mobile money services, customers were forced to use alternative payment methods, including making transfers across networks, when making payments to merchants that are on different networks.”
The CBK was responding to growing calls by Airtel Kenya and Telkom that M-Pesa’s dominance on the mobile money network gives Safaricom an unfair advantage and that introducing interoperability would be levelling the playing field.
Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) indicates that the value of customer-to-business transfers on M-Pesa stood at Sh1.3 trillion in the second quarter of the 2021/2022 financial year.
This dwarfed payments made on Airtel and T-Kash which stood at Sh1.3 billion and Sh86 million respectively over the same period of time.
In 2021, Airtel Kenya told the Senate Committee on Communication, Information and Innovation that regulators should fast-track agent and merchant interoperability and make it mandatory through the National Payments System law.
“This will allow customers of one mobile money platform to make payments directly through merchants in another mobile money platform,” stated Airtel Kenya in submissions to the Senate.
“The advantage is that it will ensure seamless movement of payments between Mobile money platforms and merchants irrespective of the platform hosting the merchant account.”
Airtel said the industry tradition where each service provider holds their separate floats was cumbersome for agents and a drawback for consumers.
“Currently, float for each provider such as M-Pesa float, Airtel Money float, Equitel Float and T-Kash float is held separately,” stated the firm.
“This is cumbersome for agents and due to M-Pesa dominance, the agents end up underfunding the float for smaller mobile money players like Airtel, and discourage consumers from transacting with Airtel Money.”
The low uptake of merchant interoperability further indicates that Airtel Money and T-Kash are struggling to grow the number of subscribers on their respective mobile money networks.
The Communications Authority of Kenya, CA has since stopped publishing industry numbers for mobile money services per operator. Statistics however indicate that Airtel Kenya and Telkom reported 277,143 and 249,754 active subscribers respectively, and 22,197 and 9,058 mobile money agents respectively as at June 2021.
Last year, Telkom Kenya CEO Mugo Kibati said the telco was revamping T-Kash as one of its pillars in a turnaround strategy for the business following the collapsed merger with Airtel Kenya in 2020.
“We have decided that we are going to ramp up and enhance our mobile money product T-Kash which we relaunched robustly,” said Kibati during an interview. “We will be integrating our T-kash service to as many merchants and financial service providers as well as launching an app that will make it even easier to use,” he said.
The recent performance indicates that mobile money interoperability is likely to suffer a similar fate as number portability launched in 2011.
The feature that allows users to migrate from one network to another while retaining their mobile numbers was introduced by the CA at the behest of other operators as a remedy to Safaricom’s market dominance.
Twelve years down the line, the number of subscribers who have migrated is negligible, averaging 300 in the first quarter of 2021.


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PETALING JAYA: The strong showing of the semiconductor sector is unlikely to stop anytime soon as chip demand remains robust and global digitalisation efforts accelerate further.
TA Securities Research, which remains bullish on the sector, said the demand for chips will continue to grow amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the proliferation of emerging technologies like 5G, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, Internet of Things and robotics.
The view from the research house comes as global semiconductor sales mark 18 consecutive months of year-on-year (y-o-y) growth as of July 2021.
Global semiconductor sales trended higher in July 2021 as it grew 2.1% month-on-month (m-o-m) and 29% y-o-y to US$45.4bil (RM188.32bil).
According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, sustained robust growth in July was underpinned by all major regional markets and semiconductor product categories as production and shipments reached new highs in recent months to cater to continued strong demand.
On a year-to-date basis, sales are up 24.7% y-o-y to US$302bil (RM1.25 trillion).
In a note issued yesterday, TA Securities Research pointed out that 2021 global semiconductor sales are well on track to climb towards the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics’s forecast to reach a record high of US$527.2bil (RM2.19 trillion).
The target prices for Inari, Unisem, MPI and Elsoft are RM4.25, RM11.80, RM60.85 and RM1.25 respectively.
“We continue to favour outsourced assembly and test providers, namely Inari, Unisem and MPI, for their strong sales pipeline and earnings growth prospects backed by their expansion plans.
“As for automated test equipment (ATE) provider Elsoft, we like the group for its improving order book, driven by the growing acceptance of its newer series of ATEs, particularly its flagship testers for lighting in smart devices and automotive,” it said.
Despite the positive outlook for the semiconductor sector, TA Securities said a prolonged Covid-19 pandemic weighing on economic growth and sentiment would be a key downside risk for growth.
Other downside risks for the sector would include a heightened trade war, weaker-than-expected sales and a weakening of the US dollar against the ringgit.
Looking ahead, TA Securities said the robust billings growth of the global semiconductor sector as of July underlines the industry’s endeavours to address the prevailing global chip shortage sparked by the acceleration in digitalisation.
In July 2021, the global semiconductor sector’s billings hit another record high for the seventh consecutive month.
Billings in the month rose by 4.5% m-o-m and 49.8% y-o-y to US$3.86bil (RM16.01bil).
Year-to-date, billings are higher 46.1% y-o-y to US$24.02bil (RM99.63bil).
At the current rate, TA Securities said the billings are on course to reach a new record in 2021.
“Meanwhile, equipment spending is expected to remain strong in the coming years, fuelled by the slew of upcoming fabrication capacity to cater to the strong demand for chips anticipated from emerging applications like 5G to 6G communications, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles and high performance computing.
“This is in addition to efforts by major economies like China to pursue chip self sufficiency,” it added.


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This week has been an eventful one in the FMCG sector. Take a look back on the top headlines below.
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) released images and videos of allegedly “major safety problems at Aldi”. TWU showed safety doors blocked, fire equipment restricted, poor food storage, exposed electrical wiring and flooding around a loading dock. The union indicated that these images are “evidence of how safety is being put at risk”. An Aldi spokesperson said the retailer maintains “the highest standard of compliance in all its operations”. Aldi is taking the TWU to the Federal Court over what it said is a string of false and misleading claims.
David Jones opened its first standalone food store in Melbourne. The 425sqm store is at Capitol Grand, offering a wide range of meals, including a vegan range, alongside meat, eggs, dairy, fresh produce and other groceries and pantry staples. The retailer said that roughly 60 per cent of items in the store are private labels, whipped up exclusively for David Jones by Inspired Foods, the Australian arm of Interfood, South Africa’s leading food supplier.
Aussie supermarket Coles will launch its new plant-based Christmas range in stores and online in November 2019. The new food range features Christmas desserts including Coles Finest Luxury Melting Chocolate Pudding; Coles Finest Sloe Gin Fruit Mince Pies and Coles Finest Luxury Chocolate Raspberry and Prosecco Sponge Pudding. The retailer also revealed its new specialty Own Brand products like French; Spanish and Italian premium cheeses and Italian panettone that are available at 200 Coles stores. Capitalising on the plant-based trend, the new range includes a new plant-based roast alongside garlic prawn skewers, salmon pastrami, semi-boneless crackling ham and butterflied leg of lamb.
Confectionery giant Ferrero Group has launched a new product that is a collaboration between Tic Tac and Coca-Cola. The special edition Tic Tac Coca-Cola combines the flavour of the soft drink with the popular candy. The latest innovation will be rolled out in the iconic Tic Tac boxes in over 70 countries worldwide in the next few months. Ferrero Group said that “with Tic Tac Coca-Cola, consumers will enjoy an incomparable taste experience which combines the refreshment of Coca-Cola with the iconicity of Tic Tac.” It will be available in three unique packs with the Coca-Cola logo on each sweets.
Arnott’s Shapes has brought back its ‘Flavour You Can See’ interactive game just in time for the upcoming footy finals. Consumers can play an online Shapes Flavour Battle where they can select a flavour to be pitted against a rival Shapes. The game is linked to a live leader board and rewards the highest-scoring players from Australia and New Zealand each week with a year’s supply of Arnott’s Shapes.
That’s all for this week. We will be back again with the top stories on Monday morning!


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adidas took on Snapchat to promote its new 8-BIT baseball cleats with the first ever shoppable game on the platform.
It’s MLB Playoffs season and that’s the perfect time to release a new collection of baseball cleats. And if you are targeting the younger generation of players, Snapchat could be the perfect platform for it.
Together with AvatarLabs, adidas and Snapchat launched BASEBALL’S NEXT LEVEL, an 8-BIT design Snapchat game, the first one to be shoppable directly from within the app.
Check out the game here.
And don’t forget to check out the new adidas’ 8-BIT baseball cleats here.
More from Snapchat
Snap Inc. has acquired augmented reality startup AI Factory Inc., the company that helped it develop its recent Cameos feature.
Snapchat has announced a new 'Swipe Up to Call' ad format that has been designed and built for the Middle …


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BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Louisiana revenue department said it is stepping up its checks of convenience and grocery stores to make sure they are not illegally charging state sales tax on food, a tax that was supposed to have been eliminated two years ago, the La.-based DeRidder Beauregard Daily News reported.
Revenue officials are planning to audit more tax receipts from stores selling the food items now exempt from state sales tax and are sending more instructional materials to the stores about the tax changes.
If stores still refuse to stop charging the tax, Revenue Secretary Cynthia Bridges said the department will revoke their alcohol sales permits, the report stated.
''We're going to be in their face more often. We're going to be looking at and reviewing their records,'' Bridges said.
Stores were supposed to stop charging the state's sales tax on the food items including candy bars, milk and canned soft drinks on July 1, 2003. The 4 percent tax could still be charged on lunch plates, beer, fountain drinks, bottled water and hot coffee, items not deemed for ''home consumption'' under the constitutional provision.
The tax change stems from the Stelly Plan, which did away with state sales tax on food ''for home consumption'' and residential utilities, in exchange for greater income taxes for taxpayers higher up the income ladder.
Bridges said it's hard to determine how many stores are overcharging, or if the problem is more prevalent in one area of the state.
She said the overcharging seems more common at small, locally owned convenience stores and mom-and-pop grocery stores that aren't connected to large computer systems where tax changes can be made quickly for all stores. She said some surveys indicate about one-third of the convenience stores in Louisiana aren't following the law.
Bridges said she doesn't think most of the stores are collecting the wrong tax just to pocket the extra cash. She said the owners simply don't seem educated enough about the tax repeal and that's why the department is sending out cards for cash registers that outline what items are exempt from state sales tax and planning seminars about the tax guidelines.


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Tom Ivan from CVG writes:
"Sony UK boss Ray Maguire says the games industry is carrying around a negative image that it must work to get rid of. Interestingly, Maguire says the industry itself left a "dangerous legacy" by helping give birth to negative stereotypes that persist to this day.
"Games marketing in the 1980s and '90s was anarchic and controversial, with giant poster ads featuring baths full of blood for Resident Evil and all sorts of other shock tactics. That's what the population saw. And that's what they remember," he writes on MCV."


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Brooklyn Belle Market opened Sunday, June 2, after seven years of hoping, three months of construction and a small explosion.
Megan Carpenter, owner of the market, suffered injuries to her face and neck from a kitchen fire after the pilot light in one of her stoves sparked a small explosion that delayed the opening for two days.
“I’m very, very lucky,” said Carpenter.
Now on the way to recovery, Carpenter has fully opened the market, named after her children Audrey Brooklyn and Ava Belle.
The market is based on the concept of a diner, where families can eat and kids can play arcade games, with a convenience store on the opposite side.
“My inspiration was if Cracker Barrel had a convenience store,” said Carpenter.
Carpenter said she would like to thank everyone for their continued support in the creation and opening of the market.
“The community support has been absolutely phenomenal,” said Carpenter.
Brooklyn Belle Market is located at the former Nolen’s Grocery location in the same building as Carpenter’s first job. It has been a dream for her for over seven years.
“I just want people to come here and have a place to feel at home,” said Carpenter.
Brooklyn Belle Market, at 9335 Cranston Road, is open on Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. with no kitchen orders after 8 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. with no kitchen orders after 7 p.m.
For questions about Brooklyn Belle Market, check their Facebook page.
Daneyl Tackett can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org or by telephone at 784-4116.


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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is on a roll.
For the three-month period ending Sept. 30, 2019, sales increased 40 percent year-over-year to $16.6 million, or 119 billion Chinese yuan. Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was $10.1 million, or 72.5 million Chinese yuan.
“Alibaba Group celebrated its 20th anniversary in September, marking an important milestone on our 102-year journey to make it easy to do business anywhere,” Daniel Zhang, executive chairman and chief executive officer of Alibaba Group, said in his prepared remarks. “Our digital economy continues to thrive and prosper. We aim to serve over 1 billion annual active consumers and help our merchants achieve over 10 trillion [yuan] in annual gross merchandise volume by end of fiscal 2024. We will continue to invest in the user experience and innovative technology to create new value for consumers, as well as the millions of enterprises undergoing digital transformation in the new digital economy.”
Alibaba’s annual active consumers also grew to 693 million people, an increase of 19 million from the 12-month period that ended June 30, 2019. And, in September, Alibaba received a one-time financial gain of $9.7 billion, or 69.2 billion Chinese yuan, after being a stakeholder in Ant Financial, an online payment platform.
Still, the results may not be enough to stave off all investor fears. The stock was down slightly in pre-market hours Friday, creeping back up into the green shortly after. Some investors continue to fear the ongoing trade tensions between China and the U.S. Others worry about a potential slowdown in Chinese consumer spending. A number of retailers, including Kate Spade and Coach parent company Tapestry and Lululemon, have expansion plans in the works throughout China.
Last quarter also marks the first quarter without Alibaba founder Jack Ma — at least partially. Ma, who founded the company in 1999, stepped down Sept. 10 to make way for Zhang. Alibaba, which began in Ma’s apartment, has grown to China’s largest e-commerce company, which includes retail, digital media, entertainment, logistics, payments, marketing services, clouding computing, local services and more.
“Our mission has not changed since Day One. It is to make it easy to do business anywhere,” Zhang told analysts on the conference call Friday, his first call as the ceo. “Our consumers, merchants and partners are entering a new journey in the digital era. We will continue to create value for them by leveraging the power of data technology to make it easy to do business through them anywhere for the decades to come.”
Zhang reiterated Alibaba’s plans to serve more than 1 billion consumers with sales of at least 1 trillion Chinese yuan by 2024 and said the current geopolitical tensions with the U.S. are “both a challenge and opportunity for the Chinese economy and finding more opportunities in such an uncertain environment is the key to our business and strategy.”
The company’s next test will be Singles Day, an annual shopping extravaganza, which takes place Nov. 11. More than 200,000 brands will participate in the annual shopping event, with the debut of about 1 million new products and roughly 22,000 brands appearing on Alibaba’s Tmall, the online shopping platform. American singer Taylor Swift has been hired to headline the star-studded gala at the Shanghai’s Mercedes-Benz Arena to commence the event.
“We delivered a strong quarter,” Maggie Wu, chief financial officer of Alibaba Group, said in her prepared remarks. “With sustained consumer engagement and spending across the Alibaba economy, we have continued our revenue and profit growth, as well as strong free cash flow that enable us to invest in long-term growth.”


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A growing demand for virtualized data center infrastructures drove revenue for midrange solution provider Datalink to record levels in the first quarter of 2013, the company reported Monday.
That demand helped drive Datalink's Cisco business, and with it strong growth in its services, even as sales of many of its other products, particularly storage, softened during the quarter.
Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Datalink, one of the few publicly listed midrange solution providers, reported revenue for its first quarter, which ended March 31, of $133.6 million, up 12 percent over the $119.1 million the company reported for the first quarter of 2012 and a record for any first quarter the company has reported.
On a GAAP basis, the company reported earnings of $1.1 million, or 6 cents per share, about half the earnings of the same period last year. Non-GAAP earnings for the quarter were $3.2 million or 18 cents per share, up from last year's $2.9 million, or 17 cents per share.
The results included operations from Datalink's acquisition of Strategic Technologies (StraTech), which gave the company a solid East Coast presence.
Cisco was a big part of Datalink's growth, said company President and CEO Paul Lidsky.
Datalink's Cisco product and services sales rose 64 percent over last year, Lidsky said. "Cisco servers and networking are part of every data center solution we sell," he said.
Datalink in the first quarter signed 24 virtualized data center contracts, with an average revenue per order of about $900,000, Lidsky said.
"It shows we are doing a good job of moving from siloed storage infrastructures and moving to unified data center solutions," he said.
Focusing on Cisco and unified data center solutions has helped Datalink differentiate itself from its competition, Lidsky said in response to an analyst question during the question-and-answer period of Monday's financial conference call.
Customers don't buy Cisco unified computing by itself, but instead buy solutions, which helps eliminate competition on a price basis, he said. "This has protected the pricing, and added business opportunities," he said.
Most of Datalink's virtualized data center solutions are centered on one of two converged infrastructure solutions, either FlexPod, the Cisco-NetApp joint reference architecture, or VSPEX, the Cisco-EMC joint reference architecture, Lidsky said.
NEXT: Cashing In On A Growing Services BusinessThe company is also in discussions with VCE, the EMC-Cisco-VMware joint venture developer of Vblock converged infrastructures, and is likely to sign a contract once it works out the services opportunities, Datalink's Lidsky said.
But for now, moving customers to a reference architecture is easier than convincing them to implement a pre-built Vblock solution, he said. "Customers often want to migrate to unified data centers using existing infrastructures," he said. "And so they don't want to buy a pre-packaged solution at this point."
The other bright spot in Datalink's business is services. Datalink's managed services business rose 240 percent over last year, while its OneCall support services, which give customers the ability to contact Datalink for support on solutions consisting of multivendor products, grew 37 percent. Both these services offer Datalink recurring revenue opportunities, Lidsky said.
Services, particularly managed services, will continue to grow in the future as customers continue to essentially remain understaffed in their IT departments, Lidsky said.
"We have gained momentum at many customers by convincing them to [use our services] to let them focus on their business needs. ... We think that's going to continue because there's no sense from any of our enterprise customers that they intend to grow their IT capabilities."
Looking ahead, Datalink expects second-quarter revenue of $134 million to $153 million, up 19 percent to 27 percent over the $120 million it reported last year. The company expects GAAP earnings per share of between 9 cents and 15 cents compared to 18 cents last year, and non-GAAP earnings per share of 22 cents to 28 cents compared to last year's 23 cents.
PUBLISHED APRIL 29, 2013


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Date Posted: Wednesday 20th May 2020
Facebook and Instagram have announced the launch of Shops, a new feature that allows consumers to buy and sell products directly on both platforms, in just a few clicks and without them ever having to leave the app. It is free to set up and businesses can choose the products they want to feature and then customise their look and feel with a cover image and accent colours that showcase their brand.
Facebook Shops is now available, while Instagram Shops launches this summer with the ability to set up online stores through Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Customers can find Facebook Shops on a business' Facebook Page or Instagram profile or discover them through stories or ads.
Later in the year, Instagram will be adding a new shop tab in the navigation bar and will be launching the tab on Instagram Live videos.
Facebook has said: "We hope these tools can relieve some of the pressure small businesses are facing right now and help businesses of all sizes prepare for the future."
The DIARY directory platform provides fashion, beauty and lifestyle industry news, interviews, dates, vacancies and contacts. Our huge database of contacts includes thousands of digital influencers, media titles (UK and overseas) and their editorial teams, freelance journalists and creatives, PRs and brands and representative agencies. Live and sortable social media stats for entries allow comparative analysis and insight within filtered sections, plus additional engagement metrics for industryINFLUENCERS.
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IGT has been an online leading developer in casino gaming entertainment for over 20 years and has made significant strides in creating a brand that sets it apart from most.
In January 2011, its acquisition of Double Down Interactive gave the online and mobile gaming solutions provided another direction with Double Down being the world’s largest virtual casino and one of the top 4 social media games in 2011 as rated by Facebook.
The company recently lent support to the American Gaming Association’s 15th annual Responsible Gaming Education Week from July 30 – Aug. 3. As part of this commemorative week, IGT joined with the gaming industry across the country to increase awareness about responsible gaming among employees, casino customers and the general public.
From there IGT partnered with Casino Del Sol Resort in Tucson, Ariz, and Golden Acorn Casino & Travel Center embedding the Double Down Casino app onto its website for casino players.
So with all the recent moves from the casino gaming developer it comes as no surprise that our approved online casino operator Virgin Games has now partnered with IGT, as it was announced today that Virgin Mobile Casino has launched the IGT remote game server on their mobile devices.
Virgin Games players will now have includes the top IGT mobile games Da Vinci Diamonds® and Cleopatra®, with more games slated to be released soon via the IGT Remote Game Server. Titles set to appear by the end of this year, include Elvis® A Little More Action®, Kitty Glitter®, Wolf Run® and Cats®.
“When we launched Virgin Mobile Casino we stated that our intention was to introduce additional content suppliers into our mobile casino in a similar fashion to our internet offering, which provides a variety of games from a number of developers,” said Simon Burridge, CEO of Virgin Games. “By introducing a brand new software partner, we are moving a step closer towards our goal. For many people nowadays the mobile phone is the primary platform for entertainment, so it is therefore crucial that we continue to introduce new content to create a mobile site that allows players to experience the entertainment they get from Virgin Mobile Casino while they are on the move.”
Mobile users can access Virgin Mobile Casino from their iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Google Android handsets, Blackberry, Windows phone and most smartphones and tablet devices.
Reported by Maggie B.


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LONDON — European retailers are betting on the soccer World Cup to help increase sales by promising cash for goals.
Depending on which national team wins the World Cup, which starts Friday in South Africa, some retailers have offered to repay customers for purchased television sets, cars, road navigation systems and vacation trips. Nationwide, a British bank, is even offering higher interest rates on a bond if England wins the tournament.
“It’s a fun way to link our products to something rather topical,” said Anthony Hua, a spokesman for Nationwide, which is the sponsor of the England team.
The four-year “Football Bond” pays a fixed rate of 4.15 percent a year, but 4.65 percent if England wins the World Cup, the company said. Mr. Hua said there was no time limit for the bond’s availability so far, but “if England gets kicked out of the tournament it may not be available anymore.”
In France, the retailer Carrefour has offered to refund the cost of some flat-screen televisions if the national team wins. Toshiba has hired the retired British soccer player Chris Kamara to advertise the same offer for televisions and laptops in Britain, and Media Markt in Spain had a similar promotion, telling customers “if Spain wins everything, you win everything.”Continue reading the main story
TomTom, the maker of road navigation systems that is based in the Netherlands, is promising to refund money to customers on specific purchases in nine countries, including Germany, Mexico and Spain, if their respective team wins.
Most promotions end before the tournament starts and many companies hedged their risk. Rod O’Callaghan, a director at Airton Risk Management in Ireland who helps clients hedge more than 2 billion euros ($2.38 billion) in risk related to sports events each year, said demand for his service was “very, very strong.”
“Many people want to surf the wave of the popularity of the event, sell more products, boost the brand and get more footfall in their stores and online,” Mr. O’Callaghan said. Airton charges a fee to insure companies against the amount they will have to pay their customers if a specific team wins.
Spain is seen as the team most likely to win the tournament by customers of the British sports betting firm William Hill. It leads the odds with 4 to 1, followed by Brazil with 9 to 2 and Argentina with 13 to 2. The odds for France are 20 to 1 and for the United States, 80 to 1, according to William Hill.
Slovenia, with odds of 400 to 1, is using the World Cup to lure visitors. Its tourist board joined with some British tour operators to offer 25 percent, 50 percent or 100 percent refunds to anyone booking a trip depending on how far the Slovenian team advances in the tournament.
In Germany, Mercedes-Benz promises customers agreeing to a car lease a discount if Germany wins the World Cup.
“Our team gives us a title and we give you a rate,” the company’s Web site said. Currys, the British retailer, offered to pay £10 ($14) for every goal England scores to any customer who spent £599 or more on a television. England scored six goals during the last World Cup in 2006.
Promotions linked to sporting events are not new. In 2007, Jordan’s Furniture, which is located in New England, had to repay about 30,000 customers for furniture they bought worth millions of dollars. Jordan, owned by Warren E. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, had offered clients their money back if the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, which they did.
In Britain, Anina Castle, a spokeswoman for Currys, said, “Any World Cup is always as big as Christmas for us in terms of business and we wanted to stand out from the crowd and make it more fun this year. Our offer has been hugely popular.”Continue reading the main story


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Steven Rattner, the U.S. Treasury’s main advisor when it comes to the automotive industry, said today that Obama’s auto task force is avoiding bankruptcy as an option for GM and Chrysler. The news comes just days after the auto task force hired bankruptcy lawyer Matthew Feldman to advise it on its options.
“Bankruptcy is not our goal,” Rattner said in an interview with Detroit Free Press. “I”ve been in and around bankruptcy for 26 years as part of my private-sector work. It is never a good outcome for any company, and it”s never a first choice.”
Rattner said that even though bankruptcy is “sometimes necessary in order to solve problems,” the auto task force is focused on solving the auto industry problem outside bankruptcy.
He said that the auto task force is moving quickly to meet the March 31 deadline but said that decision on additional government loans for GM and Chrysler could come at a later date. Both automakers are seeking an additional $21.6 billion in aid.
– By: Omar Rana
Source: Detroit Free Press


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DEL89 BIZ-VIRUS-LD FLIPKARTCOVID-19 lockdown: Flipkart, Amazon India's Pantry suspend operations temporarilyNew Delhi: Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon India's Pantry have been suspended temporarily as India entered a 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.DEL79 BIZ-LD STOCKS-CLOSESensex, Nifty log best day in over 10 years; investors eye stimulus packageMumbai: Indian stock benchmarks Sensex and Nifty posted their best single-day rise in over a decade on Wednesday, mirroring buoyancy in global markets and anticipating a stimulus package by the government to tide over the financial turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
DEL20 BIZ-VIRUS LD PASWANGovt monitoring availability of essential commodities in market: PaswanNew Delhi: Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Wednesday said the government is monitoring the availability of essential commodities in the market amid nationwide lockdown for
DEL22 BIZ-LD VIRUS-EXPORT BANGovt bans export of anti-malarial drug hydroxycloroquineNew Delhi: Amid coronavirus outbreak, the government on Wednesday banned export of anti-malarial drug hydroxycloroquine with immediate effect to ensure sufficient availability of the medicine in the domestic market.
DEL23 BIZ-VIRUS-LOCKDOWN COSTExperts peg India's cost of COVID-19 lockdown at USD 120 bnMumbai: Pegging the cost of the COVID-19 lockdown at USD 120 billion (approximately Rs 9 lakh crore) or 4 per cent of the GDP, analysts on Wednesday sharply cut their growth estimates and stressed on the need to announce an economic package.
DCM39 BIZ-CAB-LD EXPORTSCabinet approves extension of tax rebate scheme for export of garments, made-upsNew Delhi: The government on Wednesday approved the continuation of the scheme for Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) on export of garments and made-ups from beyond March 31 till it is merged with the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products scheme.
DCM34 BIZ-ONGC-GASONGC gas output drops by one-tenth as shut factories refuse suppliesNew Delhi: With the unprecedented nationwide lockdown shutting down factories, ONGC has been forced to cut natural gas production by up to one-tenth as customers refused to take supplies because of business disruption.
DCM24 BIZ-CCEA-RRBCCEA approves recapitalisation of RRBsNew Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a Rs 1,340-crore recapitalisation plan for regional rural banks (RRB).DCM13 BIZ-VIRUS-TELECOM-COAICOAI urges subscribers to use data networks responsibly to free up infra for critical servicesNew Delhi: With the government imposing 21-day lockdown to tackle coronavirus spread, industry body COAI on Wednesday urged mobile consumers to use data networks responsibly, so that critical services can run smoothly on communications infrastructure.
DCM40 BIZ- MCAP- LD RILReliance Industries shares zoom nearly 15 pc; reclaims most valued firm tagNew Delhi: Shares of Reliance Industries Limited on Wednesday zoomed nearly 15 per cent, reclaiming the tag of the most valued domestic firm by market valuation surpassing TCS.SHWSHW
(This story has not been edited by Business Insider and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed we subscribe to.)


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‘Middlemen’ in the online used car market are adding at least an average £1,200 costs to the price a consumer pays for a vehicle. And buyers are, largely, oblivious.
The assertion comes in a YouGov survey, commissioned by Carsnip, published today and called the ‘2016 Car Buyers’ Census’.
It says: “ Car buyers often complain about vehicles losing value the minute they’re driven off the forecourt, but that’s not down to dealers’ profit. It’s the artificially high costs they’ve paid to acquire the stock in the first place.
“This practise is now commonplace.”
The survey revealed 78% of buyers were unaware of this.
Using BCA used car market figures, Carsnip calculated that ‘middlemen’ (car classified sites and sites that sell to auctions or auctions themselves) add at least £1,200 on average to the cost of each used car sale in the UK.
“Our calculation of £1,214 is a conservative estimate,” said Nik Chotai, Carsnip’s chief financial officer. “The real cost of middlemen could be as high as £1,625, and that’s just an average.
“The figure is indicative, but it highlights a growing problem with the current car sales marketplace.”
It also suggests up to 2.1 million cars could have been purchased without the use of online classified sites, meaning a potential £14 billion market remains untapped by dealers (at an average unit price of £6,500).
Jim Reid, director of Jim Reid Vehicle Sales, is quoted in the survey findings: “We have customers of all ages buying from us, and not everyone is tech savvy.
“Most people aren’t ‘car people’ either, so searching using the traditional methods can be hard for them, especially when not all of the UK’s used cars are advertised on the two big classified sites due to cost. Customers are often missing out.”
Carsnip commissioned the independent YouGov poll: 2,092 took part.


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NAW Urges Congress to Exercise its Authority and Prevent a Disastrous Railroad Strike￼
Washington, DC – The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW), which represents the voice of the 7.4 trillion-dollar wholesale-distribution industry and employs more than 5 million U.S. workers, has signed on to a letter urging Congress to take immediate action to prevent a rail strike from occurring and further disrupting the supply chain. The following statement has been issued by NAW CEO Eric Hoplin.
“A rail strike would be a supply chain disaster for our entire industry and devastating to our nation and our citizens. We ask labor unions to get to work and secure a deal that would keep America’s supply chain moving and avoid unnecessary damage to our fragile economy and prevent further inflationary pressures. We urge the Democratic Congress to exercise its authority to mandate that the recommendations worked out by the Presidential Emergency Board (PEB), be agreed to as soon as possible to avoid catastrophe.” said NAW CEO Eric Hoplin
NAW is one of America’s leading trade associations, representing the $7.4 trillion wholesale-distribution industry. Founded in 1946, NAW is comprised of national, regional, and state employers of all sizes, industry trade associations, partners, and stakeholders spanning all sectors of distribution. Our industry employs more than 5 million workers throughout the United States and accounts for 1/3 of the U.S. GDP. There are 35,000 Wholesale-Distribution companies, that operate nearly 150,000 places of business across North America, including all 50 states.
NAW’s mission is to deliver world-class programs and services, designed to help the most dynamic companies in Wholesale-Distribution succeed. Our programming is tailored for the CEOs, senior executives, and rising leaders at our member companies and associations. Members engage with NAW through our offerings in Thought Leadership, Networking, Executive Education, Benchmarking/Research, Shared Resourcing, Partnerships, Government Relations, and Public Affairs.


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Asos is raising £80 million from shareholders and borrowing £275 million from Bantry Bay Capital, the specialist lender which recently bailed out troubled retailers Superdry and Matalan, as it struggles to secure a turnaround after falling nearly £300 million into the red.
The founders of fast fashion retailer Boohoo doubled their pay to about £1m each last year as they were handed hefty bonuses despite missing financial targets.
A group of TikTok creators have sued to block Montana’s ban of the platform, arguing that the new law violates their first amendment rights.
THG has ended talks about a possible takeover bid by Apollo, saying the private equity company’s offer is an inadequate valuation of the online retail tech company.
The owner of a historic newsstand in a Tuscan city said he was “delighted” the business has been saved by one of his old customers — Patrizio Bertelli, the chair of the Italian fashion house Prada.
The advertising watchdog is banning growing numbers of advertisements that exaggerate the benefits of health and beauty treatments such as Botox, lip fillers and diet aids.
Campaigners are calling on the cosmetics company L’Oréal to withdraw its hair-straightening products that are largely used by black women after research linked it to an increased risk of cancer.
No casualties from the Tuesday morning blaze have been reported yet. Shop owners and fire officials told reporters that the Bongo Bazar market and three adjacent commercial precincts had been almost completely gutted.


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DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. reported a record quarterly loss yesterday of $8.7 billion and announced plans to overhaul two North American plants to build small cars.
Because of buyers' shift away from low-gas-mileage pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, Ford it plans to begin selling six European small cars in the United States.
The loss, equal to $3.88 a share, was mostly the result of $8 billion in write-downs because of falling demand for and resale values of pickups and SUVs in the United States.
Ford took charges of $5.3 billion charge related to lower asset values in North America and $2.1 billion on the lease portfolio at its financing arm, Ford Motor Credit Co.
Excluding the write-downs and other charges, the company lost $1 billion from continuing operations, down from a profit of $483 million a year ago. It lost $1.3 billion in North America.
In the year-ago quarter, Ford had a profit of $750 million, or 31 cents a share. In April, the company surprised Wall Street with a $100 million first-quarter profit, but the market for its most profitable vehicles has deteriorated swiftly since then.
Revenue fell to $38.6 billion in the second quarter from $44.2 billion a year ago, in part because the company has sold European brands Jaguar, Land Rover, and Aston Martin.
Ford executives said they expect the U.S. market to remain sluggish through next year. Don Leclair, chief financial officer, said Ford has $26.6 billion in cash on hand, down $10.8 billion from a year ago but enough to sustain its restructuring.
Ford said it will cut production for the rest of the year by an additional 105,000 vehicles, for a total reduction of 26 percent compared with the second half of 2007.
The company identified only three of the European small vehicles it will bring to North America: the Transit Connect small van, the European Focus, and the subcompact Fiesta.
A factory in Wayne, Mich., that now assembles Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition large SUVs and one in Louisville that builds Explorer midsize SUVs will be retooled to build small cars on the European Focus frame starting in 2010 in Wayne and 2011 in Louisville.
Navigator and Expedition assembly will shift to another plant in Louisville.
Additionally, a St. Paul, Minn., factory that builds the Ranger small pickup will stay open to 2011, a two-year delay in Ford's plan to close it.
The company has already announced plans to build the Fiesta subcompact at a former truck factory in Mexico.
The Transit Connect will be imported from Turkey.
Ford also plans to double its capacity to build fuel-efficient, four-cylinder engines in North America by 2011.
Gasoline-electric hybrid models will double to four models in 2009 from two now, Ford said. Hybrid production will double to 50,000 units annually, spokesman Mark Truby said.
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In the past decade, products made with plant proteins have evolved to include a wide variety of flavors, textures and formats for every eating occasion. A broader range of consumers now seeks plant-based protein goods, particularly consumers under...
Meet Tespo. Buh-bye, Mr. Coffee.
The nearly US$3 trillion food and beverage market is experiencing phenomenal growth. Co-packers provide an attractive option for food and beverage brands to quickly launch products in the market. These food processors often offer additional...
Hygiene equipment provider raised enough money to help 50 malnourished children during SupplySide West campaign.
Want a look over the horizon? Check out what industry sage Scott Larkin sees ahead.
Jan 09, 2019
Founder Dr. Mohamed Majeed speaks about a continued vision for growth, as Sabinsa serves health and nutrition needs globally by cultivating trusted partnerships and maintaining focus upon the customer’s needs. It’s never easy to start a new...
Jan 07, 2019
Download this white paper to learn how customized solutions are reshaping the functional food and beverage category.
Some long-held probiotic ideas have been recently debunked by research, but other notions have stood up to scientific rigor.


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| Mar 23, 2014
| 5:05 PM
Travelers protested when airlines began charging bag fees in 2008, saying the extra charge was a blatant money grab.
But a new study concludes that the nation's airlines quietly lowered airfares slightly to make the bag fees more palatable to those...
| Nov 20, 2013
| 7:38 AM
Early forecasts for the busy pre-Thanksgiving travel days call for cold rain or a wintry mix of precipitation possible to further disrupt the chaos.
The Weather Channel is calling for a 90 percent chance of rain Tuesday and a 100 percent chance of rain,...
| Dec 24, 2013
| 11:32 AM
WASHINGTON -- The State Department on Tuesday cautioned travelers about the risks of visiting Honduras, known as the “murder capital of the world,” saying that killings of Americans are frequent and almost never solved.
In a travel warning,...
| Nov 1, 2013
| 3:16 PM
As thousands of travelers dealt with delayed and canceled flights in the wake of Friday morning’s LAX shootings, several airlines loosened their rules for rebooking. But their offers varied.
Here’s a round-up of what Alaska, American, Delta,...
| Dec 4, 2013
| 9:12 AM
The Learjet 35 that crashed after takeoff from Fort Lauderdale last month, killing all four onboard, had a good chance of returning safely to the airport if it had made an immediate U-turn, aviation experts say.
Now, investigators are trying to figure...
| Feb 11, 2014
| 2:53 PM
South Florida travelers frustrated by the limited and often expensive flight options to Orlando and Tallahassee could soon have another option for getting there.
Florida Express Jet Travel announced Monday that it plans to launch daily nonstop flights...
| Oct 9, 2013
| 6:28 AM
For nature lovers it is paradise: Ecuador's Archipiélago de Colón, islands better known as the Galapagos. Located in the proverbial "middle of nowhere" in the Pacific Ocean, 600 miles from the coast of Ecuador, these remote islands of volcanic origin...
| Dec 18, 2013
More than 25 million people have left their coats and shoes on their bodies, their laptops and 3-ounce liquids packed away and walked through a metal detector rather than a body scanner since the 2011 launch of the Transportation Security Administration's...
| Nov 7, 2013
| 9:04 PM
The head of the National Transportation Safety Board chastised federal regulators Thursday for lax oversight of the tour bus and commercial trucking industry, citing in particular a deadly San Bernardino County bus crash in which the driver lost control,...
| Oct 21, 2013
| 8:23 AM
Thinking of taking a cruise soon? If so, you're in luck, as many cruise operators are now offering discounts and incentives to woo travelers into cabins for holiday cruises or early 2014 sailings.
Starting Sunday, consumers will find bargains aplenty...
| Jan 7, 2014
| 7:53 AM
Industry specialists say world cruises are gaining in popularity among well-heeled travelers who no longer want to hold off on bucket list trips and once-in-a-lifetime vacations until the economy fully recovers.
These extended cruises, which typically...


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Eminem Tops U.K. Year-End Chart With ‘Love the Way You Lie’December 24, 2010
The Rihanna-assisted single has been crowned song of the year after selling a massive 820,000 copies since its release.
Eminem and Rihanna’s duet and Take That’s latest album have dominated the U.K. charts this year – they’ve been named the best sellers of the last 12 months. “Love the Way You Lie” peaked at number two in the singles rundown over the summer, and it has been crowned the song of 2010 after selling a massive 820,000 copies since its release.


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The electric automaker is slated to unveil its highly anticipated Model 3 Thursday evening. People camped out as early as Tuesday outside of Tesla dealerships in hopes of being among the first to pre-order the new vehicle. On Thursday, Apple launched new products outside of its typical cycle, but to less fanfare.
The traders argued whether this product release hype will be a successful predictor of Tesla's stock performance. Trader Tim Seymour had his doubts.
"I think this is the time that Tesla really has to figure out, are they going for the luxury, high-end, or are they really trying to be the masses; and I'm not sure they get the masses," he said.


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The Waikato District Board Hospitals will see a ban on wearing any signs, patches or colours as gang regalia in the hospitals. Dean Ria, the Security Manager of the Hospital, said that this ban has been imposed to help the nurses to work with more attention to the patients as there will be no intimidations from such interference.
The reluctance to going to a General Physician among the people has made the hospital emergency departments to flood with patients beyond the adequacy. District Health Boards (DHB) is concerned at the practice and asking people to visit their GPs where possible.
The deluge is primarily due to a tendency to avoid the high bills to be paid to a GP during the holiday seasons which attract various other expenses.
Jared Lee Loughner, The suspect in the weekend shooting at an Arizona political meet-and-greet, will appear before a Federal Magistrate in a Phoenix, Arizona, courtroom at 2 p. m. on Monday (4 p. m. ET), report said.
According to an analyst, Microsoft has taken a decision to make its new operating system go on Arm chips. It would become equal in the growing tablet computer market.
Horace Dedlu, a former manager at Nokia has alleged that it is quiet impossible and these actions confirm the end of the PC era.
Chinese network supplier Huawei Technologies has considered itself as the winner with its Ideos smartphone brand. Now it has been looking forward to release another device under that name in the universal market.
The Ideos X5 has features of Android 2.2 OS like the previous model, which was called simply the Ideos.
This week in Las Vegas, the Xperia Arc has been exposed by the Sony Ericsson (SE). This has been revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) by the company.
Xperia Arc is a new flagship smartphone which has been powered by Google's Android mobile operating system. Moreover the device comprises of some persuasive hardware characteristics and there has been the use of the SE's deep user interface customizations.


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Buoyant Upholstery has cushioned itself against poor service after plumping for four new Renault T440 4x2 Evolution tractor units.
Delivered with sleeper cabs and supplied by JDS Truck and Van, the vehicles join the furniture manufacturer’s 20-strong mixed fleet and will be in operation three nights a week, delivering sofas and chairs to retailers across the country.
Hans Jansen, commercial director at Buoyant Upholstery said: “Business has been particularly good over the last few years and we are very busy.
“We need delivery vehicles that perform well, are reliable and keep the drivers happy; the three T380s we’ve been running for the last four years have ticked all of these boxes and we’ve had very few problems with them.
“We have also been very satisfied with the service from JDS too so when we were looking for new replacement vehicles, Renault Trucks was the natural first choice.”


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Rental kiosk service Redbox is apparently trying to move in on the streaming video market. The company has just announced a joint venture with Verizon that will combine the Redbox DVD and Blu-ray rental business with "video on demand streaming and download service." The service is expected to launch in the second half of 2012, and more information will be forthcoming. So far, we haven't been given any details about how the service will work, but the announcement hints that Verizon will be managing the streaming content, possibly leveraging the well-known Redbox brand to build loyalty. Despite being provided by Verizon, the streaming apparently isn't tied to using the company's mobile or broadband service. We'll have to wait and see whether the move to streaming places Redbox, which recently broke with Warner Bros. over rental policies, under the same negotiating constraints as competitors like Netflix.
Redbox and Verizon will offer streaming video through joint venture
Redbox and Verizon will offer streaming video through joint venture/
Redbox and Verizon have announced a joint venture that will offer the traditional Redbox rental service along with streaming video through Verizon.


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Franchise PlayerNovember 1, 2012 – In The News
According to the International Franchise Association’s 2012 Third Quarter Franchise Business Economic Outlook Report, the number of franchise establishments in the United States will increase by 1.5 percent this year, which means about 11,000 new businesses for the country.
With more than 2,000 franchises in 80 industry categories to chose from when franchising, navigating and deciding when to invest can be difficult. Fox Rothschild attorney, John Gotaskie, provides legal advice to many clients interested in opening a franchise.
“I advise people to really investigate the business, exercise due diligence, go to business expos, and make sure you actually like the business. If you don’t like cleaning, it might not be a good idea to open a janitorial franchise,” said Gotaskie.


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World Bank has updated its global economic growth outlook for 2021. The bank has projected rapid economic growth due to the increasing use of vaccines against COVID-19 and rich countries spending heavily on government assistance. According to the bank, this growth will be the highest in the last five decades. In 1973, the world’s economic growth was 6.6 percent.
The Global Economic Prospects report released on Tuesday projected global economic growth to be 5.6 percent in 2021. Last January, the bank had projected 4.1 percent economic growth this year. The world economy shrank by 3.5 percent last year. The coronavirus epidemic has had a negat
Read the full article:
In 2021, global economic growth is expected to be 5.6 percent.


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Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved has been making headlines since the time of its inception especially its noodle brands but the brand has come under the scanner of Food Security officials yet again.
October 20, 2016 as manufacturing date
According to a news daily, officials of the Food Safety and Drug Administration department of Lucknow came across a two 1 kg package of Aawla Murabba that is manufactured by Patanjali Ayurved which mentioned the date of manufacturing the products as October 20, 2016 while its expiry date has been mentioned as October 19, 2017.
The product has already reached the market shelves in Lucknow’s retail store. The FSDA officials told the new daily that since the product is an ayurvedic medicine, hence it does not qualify as a food product. The officials have collected the samples from five different shops of the city to ascertain the quality of the food products.
The sealed sample of the murabba is being sent to the laboratory for testing and information has been sent to the director of Ayurvedic services in Uttarakhand.
According to the daily, Dr Shiv Kumar Verma, drug inspector (headquarter), directorate of Ayurveda, UP said, “Furnishing wrong information about the product ultra vires the provisions of the Drug & Cosmetic Act.”
To know more, click here
About Patanjali Ayurved Ltd
Patanjali Ayurved Ltd is an Indian FMCG company which, according to a recent survey by two banking and investment companies, is a fast moving consumer company with an estimated value of around 13000 crore. It has nearly 4000 retail outlets and sells its products online, at railways and airports and proclaims health and safety from its ayurvedic products.


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Sacramento is at the top of the list when it comes to the number of entrepreneurs filing for bankruptcy.
According to Experian, Sacramento’s business bankruptcy rate is the highest in the nation as 2.41 percent of all entrepreneurs go belly up.
That’s a figure you might expect during the 2008 recession, but why are there so many five years later?
One bankruptcy attorney feels that "A lot of them held on simply because they cashed out retirements, 401(k)s, IRAs, that type of stuff just to keep the doors open, thinking, 'It would turn around.'"
The Sacramento region's economy is still heavily reliant on government jobs, and unemployment still hovers at about 8 percent.
While the bankruptcy rate is already the highest in the nation, some anaylts think it could go higher, and say small business should be ready to hang on another three years before it could really improve.


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But the shiny new icon was not the ice thawing between the search company's frosty relationship with Steve Jobs. Nor was it an attempt to play nice the day before Google takes another shot at Apple with its new phone.
Instead Google was celebrating the 367 birthday of Sir Isaac Newton, who realized that gravity is universal when he saw an Apple fall to Earth.
The animated "Google doodle" is a first for the company. While the Mountain View, Calif.-based company often plays with the look of its logo to reflect the season or an event, it has never had an animated icon great searchers.


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The personalized luxurious car or truck of the future may not be a roadster, but a passenger drone. Tech journal Engadget studies that luxurious motor vehicle-maker Porsche has begun design and style work on an unmanned air car or truck.
It is no surprise. “Urban Air Mobility” is the newest excitement in the drone field, as engineering businesses attempt to remedy a single of the most annoying problems of the age: website traffic.
Although the eyesight of traveling autos brings back memories of “The Jetsons” (and you may keep in mind that George’s commute was just as difficult as any in modern-day working day L.A.) passenger drones are additional than just science fiction. The initially drone taxi assistance was implemented in Dubai very last 12 months. Although continue to a thing of a vacationer attraction, the drones verify the concept from a protection standpoint: and Dubai, arguably the most forward-pondering city in the world, states that they hope that 25% of passenger transportation will be unmanned by 2030.
The drone taxis in issue are developed by Volocopter – a business which acquired a $thirty million expenditure from luxurious car or truck business and Porsche competitor Daimler very last 12 months. Chinese motor vehicle company Geely – who owns luxurious motor vehicle business Volvo – ordered “flying car” business Terrafugia very last 12 months. And drone business Ehang – the types who initially demonstrated the passenger drone at CES a several decades in the past – are reportedly continue to hanging close to, so to talk.
Although passenger drone engineering already exists, popular use – urban air mobility – is continue to decades absent in most areas. The implementation of a robust UTM system is desired to combine drones absolutely into an active airspace. Security restrictions will have to be made. Licensing methods put in place. The methods that work for autos simply cannot be transferred specifically to the air, and methods that work for passenger planes don’t translate effectively when each relatives owns a single.
But in the meantime, car or truck businesses close to the world are chaotic building their branded air autos – so that when the day by day commute will take place at four hundred ft or so, you will be capable to trip in fashion.


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One of the nation’s largest electric vehicle charging networks to date was discussed today as various interested parties convened in Tennessee to put their heads together on a very ambitious plan. Those behind this network, which will serve as a national pilot for connecting three metropolitan areas with an electric vehicle charging network, include the Tennessee Valley Authority and Ecotality.
This network, which will provide nearly 425 miles of connected electric vehicle infrastructure around the state, will consist of approximately 2,500 residential, commercial and DC fast charging stations tied to Ecotality’s EV Project. It is hoped to have this network in place by 2013, serving the electric charging needs for 1,000 Nissan Leaf plug-in electric cars, among other electric vehicles. The three major cities to be tied into this grid include Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga.
“Tennessee is the first state to take the electric vehicle beyond its 100-mile radius. With these plans completed, the state of Tennessee will emerge as a leader in EV adoption, and serve as a critical blueprint for how best to connect major population areas with EV infrastructure,” said Jonathan Read, CEO of Ecotality, in a statement. “We are thankful for the input TVA and our partners in each city have provided throughout the planning process. We are taking a smart and strategic approach to the deployment of EV infrastructure so as to best create a connected, highly functional EV charging network.”