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The audience for online news has grown rapidly over the past few years, but it’s large technology platforms such as Google and Facebook that have reaped most of the rewards while traditional news-gathering operations have suffered.
That’s one of the key arguments raised in a new report released Thursday by News Media Canada, a trade group representing hundreds of print and digital titles of various sizes across the country, which calculates that the market structure for online news and advertising, left unchecked, will deprive traditional news businesses of $500 million to $600 million in revenue each year through 2023.
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It is a tale of two industries, and the forces that have pushed many news outlets into a cycle of losses and cuts are causing governments and regulators in Australia, Europe and North America to take a serious look at whether and how to level the playing field.
Unpacking the 'Australia precedent' for rebalancing power between Big Tech and news publishers
U.S. government files antitrust lawsuit against Google
Absolutely huge': Media groups optimistic after Liberal pledge to make internet giants pay for content
This week, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Google to stop the tech giant “from unlawfully maintaining monopolies through anticompetitive and exclusionary practices in the search and search advertising markets.” The action, joined by 11 state attorneys general, is also intended “to remedy the competitive harms” of Google’s behaviour.
While internet-based advertising revenue in Canada has nearly quadrupled in less than a decade — to $8.6 billion in 2019 — Google and Facebook’s share of the advertising pie grew while the share for traditional media such as newspapers shrank, according to News Media Canada’s report.
Combined digital advertising revenue for Google and Facebook grew to $7.5 billion by 2019, up from $2.8 billion five years earlier, according to data included in the report. Over the same period, traditional publishers’ revenues declined by 43 per cent. Newspaper revenues are expected to be $1.7 billion in 2020, with 60 per cent coming from advertising.
Traditional media companies such as Torstar Corp., owner of the Toronto Star, and National Post owner Postmedia Network Canada Corp. — both of which are members of News Media Canada — have responded to market trends and revenue losses over the past few years by cutting staff and other costs, including through buyouts and layoffs.
“Demand for news content from Canadians remains strong. Nonetheless, Canadian publishers have made significant reductions to their news-generating capacity by reducing the size of staff and of newsrooms,” News Media Canada says in the report, titled The Sustainability of Journalism in Canada.
The organization contends that the situation was created not by the publishing industry’s failure to act as news consumption shifted online, but rather, as the result of a duopoly established by the tech giants through their dominant positions in online search and social media.
While there are other factors at play, such as the shift of readers away from print products, the report points to Google and Facebook’s dominance in the marketplace, including a monopoly over services that match advertisers with available space on web pages and the tech giants’ exclusive access to consumer data.
“Publishers have few alternative choices of distribution besides Google and Facebook,” the report says, adding that the “duopoly has an overwhelming audience scale” and a network that is so ubiquitous and interconnected that it is “unsurmountable” to potential challengers.
Google and Facebook’s share of the digital advertising market in Canada is estimated to be more than 75 per cent, the report says, giving the tech giants outsized power.
“This asymmetry in market power results in unfair terms imposed on news publishers who develop original journalism, engendering a decrease in the quantity and quality of the same and threatening the supply … to the Canadian people,” the report contends.
In response, Meg Sinclair, head of communications for Facebook Canada, told the Financial Post that the report “misrepresents the way that some of our products work.”
“News organizations in Canada choose to post their content on Facebook to reach prospective subscribers, monetize their content and sell more advertising,” Sinclair said. “There are many ways to approach these complex issues and we want to work with news publishers and the Government on a solution.”
News Media Canada surveyed responses to these trends around the world and is recommending that the Canadian government adopt the model undertaken by Australia, where the government and competition regulator are imposing a mandatory code of conduct to rein in the market power of the tech behemoths. This is being accomplished through beefed up copyright protection for domestic news organizations and compelled negotiations for use of their content.
The Canadian report says publishers in this country could add $620 million in annual revenue and shore up struggling operations if the government were to follow Australia’s lead.
The Canadian government has recently indicated plans to study ways to support the domestic media industry over the longer term and level the playing field with the big tech platforms, but there is no concrete plan in place.
In the meantime, the tech firms have been taking steps to forge commercial agreements with publishers, at least in part to address the growing wave of government and regulatory interventions in jurisdictions including the European Union, Australia and the United States.
For example, Google has earmarked a $1 billion global fund to pay publishers for news content, but struck deals in Canada this month with only a pair of online publishers: Narcity, which targets millennials, and Village Media, a local news operation in Ontario.
John Hinds, chief executive of News Media Canada, said at the time that Canada’s per-capita share of Google’s global fund would be about $9 million, much less than the pool of money expected to come through compelled arrangements such as the one underway in Australia.
Sarah Ganter, an assistant professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Communication, said there are “several limitations” to one-off programs launched by Facebook and Google as compared to “regulatory frameworks” such as the ones being established and implemented by Australia and France.
“These initiatives that Facebook and Google are implementing right now … will run only for a few years and will then have to be re-established, (plus) they include only some select publishers and they are built to support very specific products that are being launched right now, such as Google Showcase,” she said.
“These initiatives can work apart but not instead of regulatory frameworks if the aim here is to support a diversity of news publishers to be sustainable and continue to exist over a long period of time.”
• Email: firstname.lastname@example.org | Twitter: BatPost


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Call it an end of an era or a move that was long overdue, but no matter how you label it, Gateway will soon stop selling PCs through its website. Instead, the company will transition to a 100 percent indirect sales model focusing exclusively on brick and mortar stores, e-tailers, and channel partners.
Gateway had struggled in previous years to compete with Dell and other OEMs, but their fortunes looked to change after Acer acquired the company last year for $710 million. The acquisition turned Acer into the world's third-largest PC vendor overnight, while also giving both companies a boost in the North American market.
In a press release, Gateway claims the change in its business model will "deliver significant cost savings, ultimately resulting in an improved value proposition for consumers." Exactly how much the company thinks it will save wasn't disclosed, nor was the amount of job cuts that would result from the shift away from online sales.
How much time each day do you spend playing TF2? Do you find yourself stumbling through the web when you should be working instead? If so, you may have an affliction that requires professional attention, or so claims Professor Joseph Ferrari of DePaul University in Chicago.
"The subject is seen as a joke," said Ferrari. "But the social and economic implications are huge. These people need therapy. They need to change the way they act and think."
According to Ferrari, chronic procrastination has become such a big problem that it needs to be recognized by clinicians. By his own estimates, 15 to 20 percent of people fall into this category, and he says it doesn't matter the person's age, sex, or background because everyone is equally susceptible.
Ferrari isn't alone in his beliefs, and research by Professor Piers Steel from Calgary University claims chronic procrastination has risen sharply in recent decades and now affects one in four people. He says even email notifications are part of the problem, costing the economy $70 billion a year.
Has technology really pushed people to procrastinate more than they ever have before? Post your thoughts below, and do it now - your work will wait.
One of the greatest inventions to come to the PC is that of the Universal Serial Bus (USB). It doesn't matter whether you're in the market for a spiffy new keyboard or a digital camera, because nearly every gadget today plugs into any of the many USB ports found on any modern computer. Why can't all digital devices be as easy to work with?
If Doug Palmer's vision ever comes to fruition, they will be. Palmer, an engineer at the UC San Diego division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), wants to eradicate wall warts. No, he's not referring to unsightly growths on your home's walls, but the many different external power adapters for all of your gizmos and gadgets.
Sun can lay claim as the first company to release a one terabyte tape drive with its StorageTek T10000B, but the company didn't have long to celebrate. Raining on their parade, IBM has released a one terabyte tape drive of its own, only this one runs 33 percent faster than Sun's.
The new IBM TS1130 tape drive can store up to one terabyte of uncompressed data per cartridge at 160MB/sec, or 40MB/sec faster than the T10000B, allowing the new model to complete backups up to 54 percent faster than the previous generation drive.
IBM describes the tape drives as being able to hold the text of one million books, and to keep that data from becoming corrupt, the TS1130 uses a special head overcoat technology IBM claims will lengthen the overall life expectancy of the drive. The TS1130 also utilizes a "Giant Magnetoresistive (GMR) head design that leverages IBM's world-record achievement of developing a more sensitive read-write head for the magnetic tape system." In other words, expect fewer data read errors.
The new drive uses existing 3592 rewritable and WORM (Write Once Read Many) cartridges, offering backwards compatibility with Gen 1, 2, and 3 formats supporting both read and write for Gen 2 and read only for Gen 1. And backwards compatibility is a good thing too, as IBM says the TS1130 will carry a starting price of $39,050, with an upgrade option from existing drives for a more manageable $19,500. Ouch.
Intel’s dual-core Atom will see the light of the day in Q4 and is slated to be released on September 21, 2008, according to Fudzilla. It will be the first dual-core processor in the power efficient Atom family that has emerged as a popular powerplant for netbooks. The dual-core Atom 330 will set you back by $43, which is quite reasonable as the Atom 230 single-core processor is priced $29. The Atom 330 with its 1.6 GHz clock speed, 533 FSB and 1 MB L2 cache will be ideal for budget rigs. Once the Atom 330 release is out of the way, all eyes will be on the launch of 1.87 GHz Atom processors.
OS X has remained an Apple fiefdom and any attempts at liberating the OS have been frowned upon by the company. Earlier this month, Apple initiated legal proceedings against Psystar that sells a Mac-clone. However, the law suit seems to have had very little deterrent value as yet another manufacturer has announced plans to launch its own Mac-clone, though, with a difference – not an endorsement.
Open Tech Inc. has announced the Open Tech Home and the Open Tech XT open PCs that will easily allow users to run OS X. The similarity between Psystar’s outright Mac-clone and Open Tech’s upcoming PCs ends here as the latter’s offerings won’t come with OS X pre-installed, instead, users will have to install it on their own using a meticulously crafted set of instructions. Open Tech believes that this move will shield it from any legal action. But Apple's legal department might hold a different opinion.
I hate it when I am wrong…except this time. Being wrong means I get to have SLI when Bloomfield ships. It seems that Nvidia will be ready for the Bloomfield launch after all with the nForce 200 SLI processor, the older brother of the nForce 100 that was so successfully with the launch of the Skulltrail.
Bryan Del Rizzo with Nvidia says, “some vendors will be incorporating more than one nForce 200 processor for even more advanced configurations and flexibility for multi-GPU configurations. Both 2-way and 3-Way SLI configurations will be fully supported with our latest GPUs, including the GeForce GTX 280 and GeForce GTX 260 GPUs."
I certainly can’t wait to see what the nForce 200 CPUs can do. The part about “more advanced configurations and flexibility for multi-GPU” really sparks my interest. Maybe some sort of GPU cluster across different Nvidia GPUs? I’ll be keeping an eye on that.
Perhaps even more interesting than that, was when Bryan said, “We are not doing our own native chipset for Bloomfield.” What? That’s right, no native Nvidia chipset for Bloomfield CPUs. The reason for not doing a QPI (Quick Path Interconnect) chipset is because of the quick transition to DMI (Desktop Management Interface) and the short-lived nature of QPI. Picking up an X58 Chipset Board with an nForce 200 SLI processor will be the only way to get SLI.
This is a pretty big shift considering Nvidia puts out a very popular chipset for enthusiasts, not that Intel chipsets are any slouch.
It looks like the sluggish economy is affecting LCD panel revenues, they dropped 11% in June, but they still represent a 12% on-year growth. Samsung Electronics remains the worldwide leader in terms revenues, followed by LG Display and AU Optronics, according to DisplaySearch.
There was $6.9 billion in total LCD revenues for June. No matter how you look at it, that is a lot of LCD panels.
Panel makers however see the price drop as a possible stimulant to boost demand. They believe prices will stabilize in August, and stand a chance of rising in September, driven by back to school demand.
That means look for your bargins now to complete your 3 or 4 monitor setup!
TomsHardware.com is reporting that the originally scheduled launch of Nehalem based Bloomfield processors will be moved up to September. Imagine that, a hardware launch ahead of schedule! The X58 chipsets will launch along with it.
Some early tests of samples of Nehalem show it beating out current processors by 20 to 30 percent. It appears to like overclocking as well with some overclocking tests going to almost 1Ghz over stock. Nehalem ditches the traditional front-side bus (FSB), and instead uses an external multiplier to control the link between CPU core, memory controller, and north-bridge.
This is only going to further mash AMDs toes as their next CPU, Shanghai, doesn’t look promising for catching up to Intel. Unless AMD has a hat trick waiting, we’ll have to wait until San Paolo and Magny-Cours come out in 2010 to see if AMD can catch up. A year and a half is a long time and a lot can happen in the CPU world. With Nehalem looking to come out early, Intel stretches its lead.
Is Nehalem seductive enough to get you to upgrade?
How many times have you laid awake late at night trying to figure out why no one has come up with an MP3 player sporting a mosaic keypad? Probably none, but to ensure you never do, Creative just announced its new Zen Mozaic music player, which the company describes as "a striking sight to behold." And striking it is, but you can form your own interpretation on that one.
The Zen Mozaic replaces Creative's Zen V line, and along with a new look, the "trendy and distinctive" music player increases the screen size from 1.5 to 1.8-inches. Other features include:
2GB or 4GB capacities (8GB and 16GB to be available at a later date)
Built-in FM radio with up to 32 preset stations
Up to 32 hours of continuous audio playback
Oh, and it comes with a built-in speaker, so not only can you surprise passerbys with its 'unique' looks, but you can make sure no one dares comes within listening distance by blaring out crummy music if you so desire.
Pricing and Availability
The Zen Mozaic coms in black or pink for the 2GB model at $99, or black, pink, or silver for the 4GB model at $129. Towards the end of August you'll also be able to pick up an 8GB or 16GB model in black for $249. Plan on getting one?

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More than nine out of ten Brits say the traditional Post Office is still an “essential” or “important” element of the high street, research shows.
Two Post Offices shut every week on average last year and, while there were around 25,000 in the 1960s, there are thought to be only around 11,000 in the UK today.
Despite the reported “death of the high street”, Brits still value a vibrant local high street when looking for somewhere to live.
Supermarkets (89 per cent) and healthcare establishments (GPs, dentists and opticians – 87 per cent) are the second and third most sought-after high-street features in the poll conducted by Market Financial Solutions today.
Conversely, at the bottom of the list, just over a third of people (36 per cent) said that gyms and fitness studios are essential or important, while boutique shops for fashion or home décor and furniture (40 per cent) came only one place higher.
Experts say the research shows practicality is still important for Brits despite the impact of the pandemic.
In fact, 27 per cent of the Brits surveyed are willing to a pay premium when buying or renting to live near a traditional high street.
Paresh Raja, CEO of Market Financial Solutions, said: “Forget flat whites or Fitness First, our research shows that practicality trumps all else when Britons are envisaging a great local high street.
“Crucially, we can see that, despite all the conjecture over the ‘death of the high street’, they remain a critical factor when people are choosing where to live. And the post office clearly reigns supreme, with supermarkets and healthcare services close behind. Hospitality and retail outlets come some way down the pecking order, which may reflect the ways that ecommerce and takeaway platforms have affected consumer habits.
“Moreover, during the pandemic when people were confined to the shops and highs streets near to them, there was clearly an attitude shift towards shopping more locally which has remained as society has reopened. Indeed, 31 per cent of people are shopping on their local high street more now than they were pre-pandemic, with 71 per cent wanting to see greater government support for these businesses. Amidst all the turbulence of the past three years, let’s hope the future is brighter for high streets across the UK.”
BBC Breakfast: Dan Walker says he ‘loves’ going to post office
Here is the top 10 in full:
- Post office (91 per cent said they are essential or important on a great high street)
- Supermarkets, including mini and local supermarkets (89 per cent)
- GP, dentists, and opticians (87 per cent)
- Convenience stores that are open late (78 per cent)
- Hairdressers and barbers (73 per cent)
- Restaurants and takeaways (70 per cent)
- Cafés and coffee shop (68 per cent)
- Pubs (61 per cent)
- Boutique shops for fashion or home décor and furniture (40 per cent)
- Gyms and fitness studios (36 per cent)
Source: Read Full Article


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Faced with an increased demand for more local products, Rice wanted to know, "Why can't they change the rules?"
"These requirements are all established with the intent to protect the safety of the public" said county spokeswoman Jessica Donald. "Beyond that, the county and development services staff have always been open to working with impacted groups to explore ways the code can be modified or enhanced to help provide for productive and safe environments."Wow that's some impressive weasel-wording.
So buying local products from a local farmer who knows the other producers is somehow inherently less safe than going to the grocery store where my produce got flown in from South America?
What's worse is I actually think these people might actually believe their own bullshit, and that farmers are somehow out to poison their friends and neighbors.


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Zink, a company that has developed a portable inkless printer, will today announce the finalists for its Zero Boundaries design contest. People and companies have been competing to find the best way to make use of Zink’s inkless printing technology–we’ve written about Zink here and here–and I had the opportunity to participate in judging the competition.
As a judge, I got to see all of the 75 entries. Many designers proposed laptops and tablets with integrated printers, business and flashcard printers, and instant cameras with integrated printers. A number of participants thought that small Zink printers would be useful for making large-scale images, such as wallpaper designs and posters. Some concepts included a function that allowed the printer to crawl over a space, heating the surface coated with the same heat-sensitive crystals found in Zink paper. By far, the most unexpected submission was an acrylic nail printer in which fake nails are coated with Zink’s heat-sensitive crystals.
Polaroid might have stopped making its instant film, but Zink, a spinoff of the company, is trying to find its place as a maker of portable instant printers. The challenge isn’t straightforward: today, most people share photos digitally, on the Web or via e-mail and Twitter, and they print pictures only when a special reason warrants it.
Zink launched its competition in April with hopes of spurring interest in its technology, highlighting up-and-coming designers, and inspiring Zink partners to create interesting products. The contest had two components: one called for a product that would appeal to youth, and the other called for a product that rethinks printing completely. All of the finalists can be viewed here, and the public can vote on a favorite. The winners will be announced on July 15.
A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet. How did screenshots end up on Facebook?
Robot vacuum companies say your images are safe, but a sprawling global supply chain for data from our devices creates risk.
A startup says it’s begun releasing particles into the atmosphere, in an effort to tweak the climate
Make Sunsets is already attempting to earn revenue for geoengineering, a move likely to provoke widespread criticism.
10 Breakthrough Technologies 2023
These exclusive satellite images show that Saudi Arabia’s sci-fi megacity is well underway
Weirdly, any recent work on The Line doesn’t show up on Google Maps. But we got the images anyway.
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The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) says the ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) by Ghana will expose the country to a flood of foreign goods from African countries.
It, therefore, questioned why Parliament was swift to approve the agreement which could dwindle revenues from import duties, because imports from Africa would not be liable to pay duties.
“Every revenue Ghana is getting from imports from Africa is going to be eroded, because importers could bring in anything to Ghana. Even if they are made in Europe, you just take them to any African country and bring them to Ghana to avoid the payment of duties,” it stated.
The agreement, signed in Kigali, Rwanda on March 21, 2018, is a trade agreement among 44 African Union (AU) member states with the goal of creating a single market and a single currency union.
At a breakfast meeting organised by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Accra last Thursday, the President of the AGI, Dr Yaw Adu-Gyamfi, said: “We know the white people are smart in bringing goods through other African nations, and that is what is going to happen to Ghana.
“Even the small revenue the government is making is going to reduce as soon as the 22 African countries ratify the CFTA,” he added.
The meeting allowed representatives from the TUC, Ghana Employers’ Associations (GEA), AGI and the Ghana Chamber of Mines to discuss ways labour and the private sector can form bipartite relations to address unemployment and the poor quality of existing jobs in Ghana.
Dr Adu-Gyamfi indicated that the CFTA had been approved by Ghana and Rwanda, adding that: “We did so because we want the secretariat of the CFTA to come to Ghana, but having the secretariat does not create jobs.”
He argued that Nigeria, a country with a population of more than 150 million, refused to ratify the agreement and rather blocked its market to imports of foreign goods such as rice and fruit juices, a measure that had led to the closure of nine rice factories in Thailand.
“The Nigerian government insists that those who want to import rice must find their own dollars to bring in rice to Nigeria and as a result, 95 per cent of rice eaten in Nigeria is home-grown.
The Secretary-General of the TUC, Dr Yaw Baah, reiterated the union’s call for Ghana to end its dependence on the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which he blamed for contributing to the economic woes of the country.
He called on industry and labour to join forces to help Ghana end its IMF programme, pointing out that until “we show our muscle together to get IMF out, the IMF officials are the only people our government will listen to and not the private sector, which is the engine of growth.”


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KimberTravel assists with vacation planning
Published 11:23 am Thursday, November 2, 2017
For Kim and Bryan Howard, travel has become just a little bit more than a summer event for their family.
Kim Howard, a teacher at Harlan County High School, has started Kimber Travel, turning her passion for traveling into a business.
“My family and I love to travel. I love to plan travel. We have been doing our own family traveling for years and have seen many beautiful and exciting places,” she said. “Being a family of five, we are well versed in the art of knowing when and where to get the best travel deals, as well as the ins and outs of traveling with kids.”
Howard said the experiences that come with vacations provide lifetime memories.
“Families bond during vacations. They can focus more on having fun with each other rather what needs to be done around the house, or rushing off to run errands. Some of our most memorable family times have been during a family vacation,” she said. “I love to have the opportunity to help other families plan their getaway and make those priceless lasting memories.”
Howard said an extended vacation isn’t as expensive as many believe.
“The travel industry is growing. More and bigger cruise ships are built each year, and tour companies are building exciting itineraries in all parts of the world. Cruising is growing in popularity due to the all inclusive price which incorporates all meals and entertainment on board as well as being able to tour exotic destinations,” she said. “Many people think that they can’t afford a cruise or an all inclusive vacation. However, when you factor in the costs of an a la carte vacation with hotel stay, food and entertainment, an all inclusive vacation like a cruise is a good value because of all that is included and the wonderful destinations you will visit.“
Kimber Travel can help with the planning of cruises, Disney Packages, Adventures by Disney, Universal, river cruises, all inclusive resorts, international tours and more. You can go to their Facebook page — kimbertravel@kimbertravelagency for deals and specials or call/message for a quote on your next vacation, at Kimbertravel5@gmail.com, or call 606-505-7652.


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Daily deal sites made a big splash on the national scene a few years ago. By merging the social networking aspect with deep discounts, marketers believed they could connect with more customers and generate more revenue, though they needed the help of a deal site company to pull off these promotions. Utpal Dholakia, Rice University, has periodically issued research results on this topic and his latest study shows that restaurants will be proceeding carefully in the daily deal industry.
Nearly 100% of the restaurant operators in this most recent daily deal study are aware of Groupon, an industry operator, and over 90% know about competitor LivingSocial. To date, about 60% of restaurants owners or managers say they have run a daily deal promotion. The results are mixed on whether they will do so again:
- Likely 36%
- Unsure 36%
- Unlikely 28%
To maximize any profit earned from daily deals, restaurants have tweaked their offerings. Most, over 60%, limit the coupons to one per party. Over 50% require the party to dine-in. And 25% make certain that the deal does not apply to alcohol sales which are typically high-margin.
Operators noted that 60% of customers using the deal coupons are existing clientele, a statistic which suggests that they are cannibalizing their business. Researchers say that one way to counter the trend is to limit deals to new customers. This study also revealed that operators are underestimating how many clients are likely to recommend a restaurant to a friend as a result of a deal. This is an opportunity for operators to encourage clients to share their enthusiasm on social networks and act as promoters.
These researchers noted that up to 30% of consumers purchase daily deals and for many, restaurant offers are particularly attractive. With this industry still struggling to recover from the steep drop that took place during the recession, creative deal options can help an operator get noticed and subsequent deals can entice diners to return.[Source: Dholakia, Utpal. Et al. Restaurant Daily Deals. Cornell Hospitality. December 2012. Web. 22 Jan. 2013]


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Stick Your Job!
Among Japan’s younger generation, the once-traditional virtues of persistence and fortitude are disappearing rapidly. Of 569,000 graduates of universities and occupational training schools who were hired by firms in the spring of 2010, 199,000 have already resigned. Until not so long ago, the equation sannen-sanwari (three years on, 30% will have left) had applied, but the process of giving notice quickly appears to be speeding up.
In March, reports Nikkan Gendai (22 May), the Cabinet Office released the results of a survey showing that, currently, about one out of three new hirees leaves the firm within two years.
And in a separate survey of 250 newly hired employees, as opposed to some 44% of respondents who said they intend to stay with their firm until retirement, 29% said they expected to be around for from four to six years, 25% said two to three years, and 6% said they would probably move on “within the first year”.
“According to corporate personnel staff and mentors involved in training new hirees, the most common complaint voiced by newcomers has shifted from ‘I can’t get along with my boss or superiors’ to ‘I’m not suited for this kind of work’”, says Kazutoshi Uchida, a human resources consultant.
“If they aren’t a good fit for the work assigned them, they have the option of putting in for a transfer to a different department”, Uchida continues. “After all, management is nurtured at companies by letting staff seek their own way. But today’s young people are overly fixated on being a good match for their job, and doing the kind of work they want to do. They bring this mindset with them when they join a company. If the gap between reality and their expectations is too great, they make a snap decision that the job is not for them”.
The research arm of the Mitsubishi UFJ financial group noted that, in its “Survey of New Employee Awareness” for 2012, the 34% who responded that they were working at boosting their own abilities was up by five percentage points from the previous year—an indicator of preparations to seek new employment. But this determination to keep searching for the best suited job, the writer suggests, may just lead them into another maze.
Foreign Visitors Return
Following a sharp drop in foreign visitors after the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami, tourism to Japan is making a comeback. The 781,000 arrivals in April, reports the Sankei Shimbun (25 May), marked a 2.6-fold year-on-year increase, 10–20% of which comprised arrivals from mainland China.
Part of the recovery is attributed to relaxed entry visa requirements for individual travellers. The article also reports that foreign patronage at nationwide department stores in April showed a 4.6-fold year-on-year increase, thereby realising a slight (4.1%) gain over the 2010 figures. That month, the Fuji-Hakone one-day tour offered by the JTB travel agency attracted some 3,000 foreign tourists, while bookings for bus tours in Hokkaido this summer are said to be steadily materialising.
In addition to ordinary sightseeing and shopping, the recovery has boosted optimism that more Chinese will combine sightseeing and shopping with a complete physical check-up. Masayasu Amano, president of the Chuo Ward-based medical service Prevent, tells the Sankei Shimbun that his organisation has brought aboard 15 new medical services to conduct high-tech ningen dokku (comprehensive medical check-ups) for foreign visitors.
Exchange Rate Blues
Despite the yen attaining historical highs, prices for imports have been rising, in some product sectors by as much as 15% year on year. Writing in Shukan Economist (29 May), senior researcher Naoko Ogata, of the Japan Research Institute, Limited, reports that while some 80% of respondents to an October 2011 consumer survey expected to benefit from the increased value of the yen, a survey this spring shows that 60% of respondents thought otherwise and, when they did benefit, the bargains were confined to a small number of categories, such as certain food products, DVDs and furniture. This, Ogata concludes, is evidence that efforts at en-daka kangen (passing on foreign exchange benefits to consumers) appear to be reaching their limits.
One thing that has changed, however, is overseas manufacturing costs; they are higher. In the case of China and other newly developing economies, prices have risen more than 5% due to wage increases and local inflation. Local domestic demand has pushed up the mid- to long-term prices of basic materials. Ogata points out that Japan is the only advanced economy in which prices have been in decline; in Europe and North America, prices have been increasing at a 2–3% annual clip.
With the recovery of world economic growth, there is likely to be a resumption in the rise of commodity prices (temporarily halted by the market crashes of 2008). Should that occur, Japan may suffer the double blow of a decline in the yen’s value and a rise in the cost of imports. To avoid such a situation, it will be necessary for Japan to secure stable supplies of resources while promoting conservation and bolstering domestic primary industries, Ogata said.
In April, Seiko Holdings conducted a nationwide survey of 1,240 people employed by firms (620 from each gender), of whom 65.8% said they looked forward to enjoying the London Olympics. People in the 50–59 age bracket were particularly enthusiastic with a 76.5% response. The top five popular events, in descending order, were given as swimming, football, track and field, gymnastics and judo, with 63.7% of the respondents saying that the overwhelming motive for watching is “to see Japanese garner medals”.
It should also be noted that 42.1% of males and 34.4% of females responded correctly that the time difference between London and Tokyo is about eight hours.
On another note, only 23.5% of males and 15.8% of females surveyed showed support for holding the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, with the biggest reason for opposition being that funds earmarked for Japan’s social pensions would likely be siphoned off to build new sports infrastructure.
Incidentally, 10 June, 1932 is the date on which Seiko Holdings’ forerunner, the Hattori Watch Shop, opened at the Ginza 4-chome intersection. The firm is planning a variety of events to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the completion of the Wako Building.
Last year, 365 book retailers went out of business in Japan. That, notes Yukan Fuji (25 May), still leaves 14,696 around the country, but their future does not look good. In March, the Junkudo megastore in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district closed, reportedly due to its inability to agree on terms with its landlord.
Osaka topped the list of 47 prefectures with 56 bookshops that went under, followed by Tokyo (48 bookshops), Aichi (32), Hyogo (20) and Hokkaido (18). During 2011 a total of 25 bookshops filed for bankruptcy, with total liabilities of ¥3.53bn. The failure rate has been fairly consistent over the past three years.
“People can easily obtain information from the internet”, said a data-research firm source, who added that stores’ revenues have also been negatively impacted by businesses that rely on secondary distribution, such as large used book chains and manga coffee shops. “There’s a strong trend for individual owners of small shops to get out while the going is good. There’s nothing to stop the decline”.


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In a landmark ruling, the Parliament recently passed the Competition Amendment Bill, 2023, that brings in new changes India’s competition law regime. This is significant as it is the first amendment since its enforcement in 2009. It has been met with great anticipation from industry experts, who foresee a major transformation in the way business is conducted in India.
The passage of the new bill is expected to further attract investment as it allows for efficient and effective competition by removing anti-competitive practices and market distortions. This will ensure a smoother and more cost-effective doing of business for all businesses. Additionally, this is also aimed at bringing in closer oversight on digital companies and combinations to ensure a level playing field in the digital sector.
The current changes are in line with global trends and are expected to help a great deal in improving the ease of doing business in India. The efficiency and timely manner in which the new bill has passed through both houses of Parliament is a testament to the importance and significance of the amendment.
Furthermore, the introduction of the tribunal system by the new bill is also likely to reduce timelines in pending cases and minimize the burden on existing courts. The introduction of the tribunal system could go a long way to provide timely relief to litigants and litigants with grievances. The government too has made the commendable move to seek the opinion of experts and stakeholders to arrive at these decisions. This will help ensure that the best interests of businesses, consumers and stakeholders are taken care of.
This historic moment was celebrated by Niranjan Arora, the Chairman of the Competition Commission of India, who lauded Parliament for their swift decision and said that these changes will lead India on the path of ‘growth, prosperity, healthy competition and global integration.’
It is expected that such laws with support of the government will lead to increased trust amongst investors and better enforcement of the law. The competition within the local industry too has been a critical factor in India’s economic growth and development. As the competitive landscape evolves, it needs a robust and efficient competition framework along with effective enforcement and enforcement mechanisms.
With the proclamation of the new bill, India is expected to experience a dramatic shift in the competitive environment which in turn will open up pathways to better use of resources and propel the economy to new heights.
It would be safe to say that these changes mark a new era for businesses in India and will potentially open up new opportunities for progress and development. It is a positive move that is set to revolutionize the existing competition law regime in India and make the business environment more attractive.
Parliament is to be commended for their swift and timely decision to ensure that businesses continue to thrive and India continues to ascend the path of growth. It is certain that these amendments are about to completely alter the competitive landscape in the country and businesses have a lot to gain with such historic changes.


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With rising studies of crypto fraud, the European Fee (EC) of the European Union (EU) has proposed a rule banning nameless transactions, according to remarks from EC Government Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis printed on Tuesday, July 20. Per the remarks from Dombrovskis, any crypto transactions must “be accompanied by the main points of sender and beneficiary.”
“Specialists estimate that round 1% of the EU’s annual GDP [gross domestic product] is linked to suspect monetary exercise. Whereas the size of laundering is tough to evaluate, we’re speaking about many billions of euros in soiled cash that’s extremely cell and infrequently invisible,” wrote Dombrovskis.
He cited a specific cash laundering case that ended up hitting a number of banks in 2019. He mentioned there have been nonetheless loopholes in anti-money-laundering guidelines.
Dombrovskis introduced that they’d create a brand new EU Anti-Cash Laundering Authority (AMLA) and indicated that extra coordination is required to verify the principles are accurately enforced.
The corporate is now valued at $18 billion.
With the brand new funding, FTX will probably be increasing its international presence and total progress. It additionally comes as one of many largest raises for a crypto firm up to now.
FTX may also be trying to develop its community of partnerships to assist it broaden its progress for its merchandise.
Greater than 60 traders participated within the spherical, together with Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, Thoma Bravo, SoftBank, Ribbit Capital, Perception Companions, Third Level, Lightspeed Enterprise Companions, Altimeter, BOND, NEA, Coinbase Ventures, Willoughby Capital, 40North, Senator Funding Group, Sino International Capital, Multicoin, the Paul Tudor Jones household, Izzy Englander, Alan Howard, VanEck, Hudson River Buying and selling and Circle.
Based on the Fidelity Digital Assets 2021 Institutional Investor Study, 7 in 10 institutional traders assume they’ll be shopping for or investing in digital belongings sooner or later.
Over 90 % of institutional traders fascinated with digital belongings additionally expressed curiosity in allocating digital belongings of their shoppers’ portfolios inside the subsequent 5 years.
The forecast, in response to the examine, exhibits a continuation of the adoption of digital belongings. Roughly half of traders in Asia, the U.S. and Europe at the moment spend money on digital belongings.


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The well-performing ship-breaking industry in Bangladesh has paved the way for the shipbuilding industry. Since 2008, the shipbuilding industry has been an area of focus as the locally made ships began to be exported. The global ship recycling industry has been mainly concentrated in Asia and Bangladesh has been a prominent ship-recycler and emerging ship-builder. According to a study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Bangladesh appeared as the primary destination for ship demolition in 2019.
Although demands for vessels were on a decline in the global market, the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh amounted to around USD 1 billion and aimed at steady growth backed by domestic demand from megaprojects and rising construction. However, developing a backward linkage industry remains a prerequisite for establishing a prominent ship-exporting industry. Therefore, the industry requires strong policy support to utilize its potential to the maximum level in the post-COVID-19 era.
Due to lower labor costs and a high proportion of usage of steel from recycled ships in domestic manufacturing, the ship scrapping segment of the maritime supply chain is dominated by the developing countries. By dismantling 236 ships in 2019, the country took the lead position in shipbreaking. 47.2 percent of the ocean-going vessels were dismantled by Bangladesh, followed by India with 25.6 percent, Pakistan with 21.5 percent, Turkey with 2.3 percent and China with 2 percent.
The following figure for the period 2014–2018 suggests that China and India, and to a relatively lower extent, Turkey, illustrate a reduction in scrapping activity while Bangladesh displays a steeply rising trend. China and India have limited the number of imports of scrapped vessels due to environmental concerns.
The trends are influenced by such regulatory advances and voluntary initiatives by industry associations to make ship recycling more environment-friendly which have put Bangladesh in a favorable position.
Oil tankers, bulk carriers, and container ships are related to most of the tonnage sold for demolition. While previously bulk carriers were the most frequent vessel type sold for demolition, the type was replaced by oil tankers in 2018. Bangladesh was reported to sell 5,980,000 gross tons of oil tankers and 1,115,000 gross tons of bulk carriers. Despite the progress made in 2019, the Bangladesh shipbreaking industry has surely faced mention-worthy disruptions in its operations due to COVID-19.
The adverse impact of COVID-19 on the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh steered spillover effects on associated industries including shipbuilding and steel. Owing to lockdowns imposed in March 2020, the shipbuilding industry has faced order cancellation issues, paralleled with the readymade garments sector. According to the Association of Export Oriented Shipbuilding Industries of Bangladesh (AEOSIB), the exporting companies have witnessed the cancellation of export orders worth USD 120 million.
Global shipbuilding giants were not immunized from the dire impact of COVID-19 as well. Chinese yards and South Korean yards have seen plunging orders, 50 percent and 81 percent of falls respectively. The number of orders is predicted to decline by 26 percent throughout the year. In tune with the global scenario, FMC Dockyard, a shipbuilding company encountered postponement of 52 sale orders with 12 for exports.
Meanwhile, the ship-breaker companies employing 0.2 million people could not supply scraps, the vital raw materials for steel, to the steel mills. In April 2020, the industry insiders had demanded a BDT 3000 crore cash incentive with 2 percent interest for keeping the shipyards functional. However, given the economy gradually reopening, both the shipbuilding and shipbreaking industries are expected to resume their operations and recover from the crisis in the near future.
As the evolving shipbuilding industry had attracted a strong focus from the government, a draft of the Shipbuilding Industry Development Policy 2019 was prepared by the Ministry of Industries. Being provided with necessary fiscal support, the industry is projected to earn USD 4 billion over the next five years by exploring its export potential. Moreover, the policies are designed with high hopes of generating employment for 0.1 million people.
The policy suggested forming a national council of 24-members to supervise implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of shipbuilding. Public-private partnerships for building futuristic shipyards, guidelines of backward linkage industry, and lowering the bank interest rate to 4 percent with a repayment period of 20 years are also proposed in the policies. The government should fine-tune the policy as early as possible and enact the regulations for the quicker development of the industry.
In January 2020, the Ministry of Industry signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with two foreign companies, Damen Group of the Netherlands and Gentium Solutions of Australia to collaboratively establish a shipbuilding and ship recycling industry in Bangladesh. The state-of-the-art shipbuilding yard along with a backward linkage industry is about to be built on 105 acres of land at Patuakhali with an investment of USD 1 billion. If the Shipbuilding Development Policy 2019 can maintain international standards of compliance, more foreign investments can be attracted.
Quality control along with human and environmental safety issues are also rising concerns in the shipbuilding nations. High-quality professionals are needed to ensure the quality of the ships for which exclusive training programs should be arranged by the government. In January 2020, the PHP Ship Breaking & Recycling Industries Limited was certified by ClassNK, verifying that the yard is in line with Hong Kong Convention for safe and environmentally friendly recycling of ships. The shipbuilding policy should be inclusive of environmental compliances for greener and safer ship recycling practices.
Bangladesh currently builds smaller vessels of 10,000 DWT (deadweight tonnage). To increase the capacity of building larger vessels in the future, alongside foreign investment and public sector assistance, major infrastructural changes and a highly skilled workforce are imperative. To conclude, finalizing the policy and translating it into reality should be prioritized to establish sustainable shipbuilding and ship repairing industry in the country.
Ishrat Jahan Holy, Content Writer at LightCastle Partners, has prepared the write-up. For further clarifications, contact here: [email protected].
The LightCastle team has been analyzing the macro and industry level picture and possible impacts wrought about by the Covid-19 crisis. Over the following days, we’ll be covering the major sectors shedding light on the possible short and long-term ramifications of the global pandemic. Read all the articles in the series.
Stay up-to-date with our Thought Leadership and Insights


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Sensor maker Velodyne Lidar Inc said on Monday it had removed founder David Hall as chairman and his wife Marta Thoma Hall as marketing chief following an investigation into their dealings with the board and company practices.
“The investigation concluded that Mr. Hall and Ms. Hall each behaved inappropriately with regard to Board and Company processes, and failed to operate with respect, honesty, integrity, and candor in their dealings with Company officers and directors,” the company said in a statement.
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A Velodyne spokesperson declined to provide further details, while Reuters could not immediately reach the Halls for comment.
The company said it had directed both of them to receive appropriate remedial training, while they continue to be on the board. Velodyne’s shares fell about 8%.
The company named Joseph Culkin, who has been a board member since 2016, as chairman, effective immediately, while communications head Sally Frykman took over as chief marketing officer.
David Hall is the largest shareholder of the company with a 35.43% stake as of Feb. 12, according to Refinitiv IBES data, while Thoma Hall owns a 3.74% stake.
Earlier this month, Ford Motor Co dissolved its 7.6% stake in the company, which went public in September following a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
Velodyne is one of several companies vying to supply automakers with lidar, a sensor that generates a three-dimensional map of the road ahead.
Velodyne said on Monday it had also received a notice from David and Marta Thoma Hall of their intent as stockholders to nominate one candidate for a seat on the board.
The Halls plan to compensate their proposed director nominee, Eric Singer, in cash, according to the company. Velodyne said it has concerns regarding the compensation arrangement.
Last week, James Graf, the chief executive officer of Graf Industrial Corp, the SPAC that took Velodyne public, stepped down from Velodyne’s board. Graf’s decision to resign was not due to any disagreement with the company, Velodyne had said in a filing. (Reporting by Ayanti Bera in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Anil D’Silva and Shounak Dasgupta)


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As the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) prepares to make its next monetary policy decision next week, retail sales data suggests previous rate hikes are working.
Retail sales volumes have been falling for eight consecutive quarters and dropped another 1.9% in the last quarter of 2024.
Volumes are now 4% lower than a year ago and 8% below their peak two years ago.
Doug Steel, an economist at BNZ, said the data showed New Zealand’s jets have not only been cooled but are now in reverse.
“Retail sales is not all of private consumption but does equate to a bit more than half of it. And that is a big segment that has been going continuously backwards for two years,” he wrote.
Real sales per capita have dropped 6.7% from one year ago as cash-strapped households have cut discretionary spending to pay their mortgages or, at least theoretically, increase savings.
Over two years sales volumes per person have dropped 11.1% and are now at the lowest level since March 2017.
“If the RBNZ was looking for signs that demand is weakening, it seldom gets much clearer than this,” Steel wrote in a note on Friday.
Most economists expect the central bank to hold the Official Cash Rate at 5.50% on Wednesday, but ANZ’s economics team believes it could choose to start hikes again.
Steel said the weak sales volumes suggested the weaker-than-expected result could be repeated in the fourth quarter data when it comes out in late March.
It also suggests that monetary policy settings are working. Consumers are cutting spending, which is limiting retailers’ pricing power.
“It all fits with our view that interest rates do not need to be lifted any further, even though one cannot rule it out given the recent rhetoric from the central bank”.
Or, perhaps not
But the weak sales data wasn’t enough to discourage ANZ from their hawkish forecast of two more OCR hikes in the next two meetings.
Miles Workman, an economist at the bank, said retail sales volumes had fallen more than expected but there was plenty more data to factor into gross domestic product forecasts.
“It’s hard to foresee the outlook for retailers turning optimistic until the RBNZ has tamed inflation and is able to ease monetary conditions,” he wrote.
“To get to that point, we think the OCR will need to go a touch higher from here”.
International central bankers are also striking a cautious tone when discussing the outlook for interest rates.
While hikes are unlikely in the United States, policymakers are reluctant to start loosening monetary policy until it assembles stronger evidence that it has put inflation to bed.
Similarly, the European Central Bank has warned cutting rates prematurely could be more damaging than holding them high for a little too long.
The annual inflation rate in both these jurisdictions was roughly 3% in January, as measured by their monthly consumer price index data.
New Zealand’s headline inflation rate was 4.7% in the December quarter and isn’t expected to drop below 3% for another six months.


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TORONTO - The RCMP is continuing to warn consumers about a persistent telephone-based scam that's clogging its tip lines with complaints.
The vast majority of calls currently being taken at the RCMP's Canadian Anti Fraud Centre are related to a phone scam involving offers to clean a computer of viruses and bring it back up to speed.
The RCMP believes most of the perpetrators are based out of Southeast Asia and are cold calling Canadians — and others around the world — with a pitch to remotely connect to their computer and do some digital housekeeping.
If granted remote access to the computer, the thief not only charges the victim's credit card but may also install tracking software that can be used to steal banking information. The computer can also be taken over to be used as part of a botnet, a malicious network of computers used to commit online crimes.
"We're probably getting seven out of 10 calls relating to this type of scam at the centre and that's very unusual for us, (a scam) usually doesn't last that long," said RCMP Staff Sgt. Paul Proulx.
The RCMP first started getting reports of the scam last spring and has received 6,667 complaints in the first nine months of this year, an average of about 25 a day. Proulx estimated about one in five callers were actually victimized, usually in the range of $35 to $470.
And the RCMP believes that complaints they receive represent just a tiny proportion of all the scam attempts being made.
"We estimate we get just five per cent of the people who (receive a call) and actually bother to tell us about the scam. Most people don't," Proulx said.
The scam has become so prevalent globally that Microsoft — which has been associated with the trend because many callers claim to work for the company — commissioned a study this summer to assess to what extent people were being victimized.
The company surveyed 7,000 people in Canada, the U.K., Ireland and the U.S. and found that about 15 per cent had received a call offering anti-virus services. Of those, about one in five fell for the scam and victims reported they lost an average of US$875. Canadian victims reported the highest average loss at US$1,560.
The RCMP recommends that people hang up if they hear a phone pitch for computer services and report the call.
Proulx also said another prominent scam currently making the rounds involves online dating and victims being swindled out of big money by romantic suitors.
Often they say they live overseas and ask for cash to travel to Canada to visit. Or they may ask for help with a personal crisis or family emergency. The fraud centre says reported losses in romance scams in 2010 totalled $6.8 million, with an average loss of over $11,000 per victim.
"You go online and you're presented with a photo of a young lady and it all starts very innocently," Proulx said.
"And these scams may last several months, several years and after a while, when you start adding up the amounts lost, it's well into the six digits sometimes.
"It's a long-term project but it works well once the hook is set."


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By Dave Baldwin
She dreamed of being sailor as a young girl and saved her school lunch money to buy her first boat. Dame Ellen MacArthur made sailing history in 2005 when she set the solo speed record for circumnavigating the world. During the 71-day, 27,000-mile voyage, the yachtswoman experienced a powerful realisation, one that would change the course of her life.
In an interview with The Guardian, she recalled: “I remember quite poignantly writing in the log on the boat; ‘What I have got on the boat is everything’. It really struck me that you save everything, everything you have, because you know it’s finite, you know there isn’t any more. What you have on that boat is it, your entire world.”
Dame Ellen added: “The basis of my thinking was completely around resources. It was around the pure fact – stemming from what I had learned on the boat – that resources are finite. The more I learned, I just saw this as the greatest challenge I had ever come across. If we are using these resources in a very linear fashion we are going to use them up at some stage, and no one knows exactly when.”
With this acute awareness of the limitations of the widespread linear approach to resources, she launched the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to develop a sustainable alternative known as the circular economy, based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use and regenerating natural systems.
The University of Bradford has worked closely with Dame Ellen since the launch of her foundation nearly a decade ago. The foundation helps businesses and organisations to accelerate the transition to a more regenerative economic model and has published a series of seminal studies on the business case for the circular economy, winning accolades from the World Economic Forum and helping to shape government policy.
In partnership with the foundation and businesses including B&Q, BT, Cisco, Renault and National Grid, the university introduced the world’s first circular economy MBA in 2011, equipping students and their sponsoring bodies with the skills to use resources and energy more effectively, reuse products and materials and deliver increased profits. The foundation recognised Bradford’s world-leading expertise in the field with Pioneer University status, a big deal for the institution and our region.
November is Circular Yorkshire month, a new campaign to increase understanding of circular economy principles and business benefits. With Bradford’s extensive knowledge and experience of this new economic model, we are proud to support the initiative. Find out more by searching for #CircularYorkshire online.
Our business community leads the way in many areas of environmental performance, according to the latest Leeds City Region Business Survey. The survey of 2,000-plus companies across the region revealed that Bradford businesses are more likely to operate schemes to save energy, water and waste. They will tend to use environmentally friendly technologies and have formal environmental accreditations. And they will probably have taken action to clean up their supply chains. Economists say businesses undertaking at least one of these actions are more likely to report stronger growth in turnover and employment. A win-win, in other words.
Given the strength of the advanced manufacturing sector in Bradford, I am not surprised at our strong showing in this survey. Manufacturers are resourceful by nature and typically have a global outlook. They also have a business imperative; a growing number of their OEM customers have mandated environmentally friendly practices in supply chains, largely driven by regulatory and consumer demands.
One of Bradford’s largest private employers, Yorkshire Water, sees Bradford as ideal for its circular economy developments. Liz Barber, Yorkshire Water CEO, said: “The masterplan for our 32-acre site at Esholt should see it become a real beacon for sustainable development. It will retain the existing treatment works which already generates much of its own power and other developments will bring in sustainable housing and new industries which can also make use of the heat and grey water generated from the works.” This column turns full circle and returns to Dame Ellen for the close. This inspirational woman has strong links with Bradford. Her mother and grandmother were born in the city, which virtually makes her one of our own. We are enormously proud of the work she is doing and urge businesses to embrace the principles of the circular economy if they have not already done so. The circular economy supports economic growth, builds community resilience and addresses climate change, three of the most important challenges of our time.


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British workers and businesses are to benefit from the "biggest tax cuts" to personal and business taxes in "two decades", says George Osborne.
He also said the benefit system will be more affordable and fairer, with Britain creating jobs faster than almost any country in the world.
More top news
Cool in the north, warmer air to the south
Police have warned the drug, known locally as "pink champagne", could be deadly.
The author said "It's been wonderful" as fans mark two decades since the children's books opened up a world of magic to millions.


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Netflix isn't shipping DVDs anymore, but it's apparently planning on opening actual physical stores soon.
However, don't get too excited about the possibility of returning to the Blockbuster golden era. The stores aren't going to be video stores. Instead, they're going to be massive merch pop-ups.
Everything we know about 'Netflix House'
Bloomberg reported that the streaming giant plans to open brick-and-mortar retail shops dubbed "Netflix House." The idea is to bring some version of Netflix to the real world. That means merch, of course, and also experiential elements such as a Squid Game-inspired obstacle courses and food from shows on the streamer.
"We've seen how much fans love to immerse themselves in the world of our movies and TV shows, and we've been thinking a lot about how we take that to the next level," Josh Simon, Netflix's VP of consumer products, told Bloomberg.
Tweet may have been deleted
It makes sense that Netflix is trying to capitalize on taking their shows IRL. After all, it's already done it before. The streaming giant has an online merch shop and it's rolled out immersive IRL experiences for Squid Game.
Details on Netflix House remain scarce, but it seems like yet another way to get money out of your pockets amid its rising prices and crackdown on password sharing. But hey, maybe you'll be able to go on a first date in the Love Is Blind pods.


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My post on Windows 8's pre-launch metrics suggested that the platform would see poor demand in the market and now, early reports seem to concur with that prediction. According to a report from Paul Thurrott, sales of Windows 8 based devices are far below Microsoft's expectations. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft has taken to blaming OEMs for their failure.
OEM Relationships Turn AdversarialI actually expected initial enthusiast driven purchases to keep PC sales afloat before a crash in mainstream demand, so this is very bad news for Microsoft. However, poor sales may just be the tip of the iceberg. Paul Thurrot had the following to say about Microsoft's OEM relationships:
My source cited to me the PC makers’ “inability to deliver,” a damning indictment that I think nicely explains why the firm felt it needed to start making its own PC and device hardware. In a related conversation with Microsoft the week after BUILD, I floated the notion that the company’s retail store expansion could one day lead to it becoming the number one in-store experience for PC makers’ wares, a not-so-subtle change in their relationships. This idea had clearly been considered as a possible future, leading me to believe that Microsoft has indeed soured on its traditional partner relationships and is looking to shake things up.
It really seems like Microsoft's OEM relationships have become more and more adversarial, as more partners have hit back at Microsoft over its decision to enter the hardware business. Transforming into a consumer marketing and retail company overnight is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Since Microsoft & Windows have become household names driven by OEM partnerships, any deterioration in these relationships poses a huge risk.
With weak enterprise demand for Windows 8, OEMs can't bank on that segment to make up for an anemic consumer market. Weakening OEM relationships have already relegated Windows RT to a minor platform and a Windows 8 driven sales crash could scare enough OEMs to rethink their partnership with Microsoft. I don't mean to suggest that OEMs have an alternative in the PC industry, but most OEMs are looking to find an alternative to the PC industry itself, at least in terms of focus (primarily enterprise services and mobile devices).
More Problems for Microsoft: Intel & Developers Cause WorryThe delay in Intel's "Clover Trail" processors has already put most x86-based Windows 8 tablet plans on ice and the entire PC supply chain in disarray at a very crucial time. With the holiday season coming up and Android tablets gaining traction, Windows 8 devices may not get much of an opportunity in the market.
In addition to this, Microsoft seems to be losing traction among their developer base as well, as more and more mainstream game developers have continued to berate Windows 8. Microsoft's entire Windows 8 strategy hinges on moving its traditional developer base to the "Windows Store", as consumers are unlikely to buy a Windows 8 tablet to run legacy (non-touch) applications.
Conclusion - Windows 8 faces an uphill challenge because of a combination of factors, led by deteriorating OEM relationships. Windows 8's failure will have grave consequences, not just for Microsoft, but for the PC industry as a whole. Driven by elongated replacement cycles, I see the Post-PC era as one in which the PC industry transforms into a niche, focused on power users and the enterprise.


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Nitto Denko Cuts Shipment Forecast on Tablet Computer SlowdownMasatsugu Horie
Nitto Denko Corp., the largest maker of optical films used in liquid-crystal displays, cut its projections for panels used in tablet computers.
Industrywide unit shipments will probably rise 22 percent in the year starting April 1, compared with the company’s earlier estimate of about 30 percent growth, President Yukio Nagira said in an interview yesterday at Nitto Denko’s headquarters in Osaka, Japan. The company also cut its industrywide growth estimate for the fiscal year ending March to 51 percent from about 60 percent, he said.
Weaker demand for materials used in smartphone displays and tablet panels contributed to the company reducing its net income forecast by 27 percent for this year, Nitto Denko said Dec. 11. It was the second revision this quarter by the supplier to Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc., sending its shares down 19 percent the next day as brokerages including Daiwa Securities Co. lowered their rating on the stock.
“The problem is in the tablet market,” Nagira said. “Demand has weakened, though the market is still growing. Our forecast was maybe too bullish, too.”
Global shipments of tablet computers will probably rise 54 percent to 221.3 million units this year, researcher IDC said Dec. 3, reducing its earlier projection of 227.4 million. The annual growth rate will probably slow to less than 10 percent by 2017, IDC said.
Nitto Denko plans to trim costs and focus on developing new materials for information devices, Nagira said. He declined to elaborate on the earnings outlook for the next fiscal year.


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Fans of Tesla Inc TSLA and pickup trucks are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Cybertruck.
While customers can’t take delivery of the vehicles yet, Tesla has shared more images of the highly anticipated electric pickup truck, including what it would look like on Mars.
What Happened: At AI Day 2022, Tesla unveiled designs it called “Cybertruck on Mars.” The designs were generated by artificial intelligence running on Tesla’s Dojo supercomputer.
The images combine two of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s favorite subjects: electric vehicles and Mars.
AI Day 2022 was technical in nature, but for those fascinated with artificial intelligence, an update on the Dojo supercomputer showed software advancements made by Tesla.
A presentation detailed Tesla’s development of the stack for the Dojo computer to quickly run neural nets.
“We expect most models to work out of the box. As an example, we took the recently released Stable Diffusion model and got it running on Dojo in minutes,” Tesla principal engineer Rajiv Kurian said.
The discussion by Kurian included “Cybertruck on Mars” images that were generated through a text-to-image learning model.
Why It’s Important: The Dojo supercomputer was unveiled at the first Tesla AI Day held in 2021. The company plans to use the supercomputer to ramp up its technology that could help power new ideas for the company.
The Cybertruck has been called the company’s best product ever by Musk. The truck has faced delays over the years and is expected to begin deliveries in the middle of 2023.
Musk has hinted the Cybertruck could be used as a boat and could also be sent to Mars in the future.
Benzinga’s Take: The images might be cool technology and a cool way to think of the future.
Customers who have reservations forf the Cybertruck are likely more excited to see images of “Cybertruck on Earth” compared to “Cybertruck on Mars” after years of waiting.
The Cybertruck will compete with electric pickup trucks already on the market from the likes of Ford Motor Company F and Rivian Automotive RIVN.
TSLA Price Action: Tesla shares were down 2.9% at $216.50 at the close Tuesday.
— Teslaconomics (@Teslaconomics) October 1, 2022
Photo courtesy of Tesla.
Image and article originally from www.benzinga.com. Read the original article here.


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As December comes to a close, tech pundits blow the dust off their crystal balls and share their predictions for the coming year. For my annual Top Tens I’ve repurposed other, smarter folks’ insights since 2012—and since you all seem to find these roundups useful, let’s do it again! Full transparency: some on the list this year don’t have a full ten predictions on their list, but are interesting, nonetheless. So, here’s my annual curated Top 10 predictions, this time for 2022…
Predictions 2022: This Is A Year To Be Bold – According to Forrester’s SVP, Research Sharyn Leaver, digital transformation can’t happen fast enough, and organizations need to make bold decisions. Why? Because consumers have much higher expectations after two disruptive years of digital living via online classes, religious services, food delivery, and other formerly in-person activities. Forty-four percent upgraded their in-home tech and 80% now envision an all-digital world. You’ll need to be bold creatively too. Emerging human-centered technologies enable innovation from within, but accessibility and privacy are critical. Approximately 10% of the workforce will stay fully remote, 30% will trek into the office again, and 60% will be hybrid. However, a third of organizations will fail on their first attempt at “working anywhere” initiatives.
You’ll Be Breaking Up with Bad Customers — and 9 Other Predictions for 2022 and Beyond – Continuing the ‘Be Bold’ theme, Gartner suggests breaking up with customers who aren’t a good fit for what you offer. Trying to appease them can be emotionally and financially draining. Focus instead on human-centeredness, resilience, and going beyond expectations. They also predict that Africa will be the next hot startup hub; that a cyberattack will lead to a declared physical attack; and that they’ll be mining our brain data. Speaking of which, AI-generated synthetic data can be a proxy for real data, potentially reducing compliance concerns and enabling greater precision with customer insights. More people will resist becoming “the product” by actively trying to devalue and manipulate data being collected about them, using VPNs, false information or opting out of data collection altogether. Both Forbes and InformationWeek also covered this story if you want to read their takes.
9 Key Security Threats that Organizations will Face in 2022 – TechRepublic pulls from a Check Point report looking at security challenges for next year; and if you thought the SolarWinds supply chain attack was a fluke, think again. Attackers will continue to plague other-party providers until governments step in with regulation to better protect vulnerable networks. Breaches will scale up, and the cyber ‘cold war’ will become hot as more nation-states and criminal gangs try to destabilize rival entities. Expect more misinformation and propaganda—especially on social media—this coming year, along with more deepfake technology. That voice on the phone asking for an urgent money transfer might not be your boss after all! There will be more cryptocurrency attacks, particularly against crypto wallets, as attackers exploit security flaws and NFTs provide yet another vector for attacks. There will be vulnerabilities (and attacks) in microservices and, as organizations continue with remote or hybrid work styles, an increase in mobile malware attacks. Do what you can to protect your systems and recognize that you’re a target, no matter how big or small.
The Future of Cloud Computing: Cloud Nationalism in 2022 – We’re data-driven at F5, so why not look at some predictions from Analytics Insight? Cloud computing had a sizeable role in keeping businesses afloat (and even thriving) during the pandemic. The major cloud providers saw huge revenue growth and continued to innovate at a rapid rate. They predict public cloud will become more important, citing IDC data showing that enterprise cloud investment climbed 34.4% year over year, while non-cloud IT spending dropped 8%. The intelligent edge will also get a boost this coming year to handle the low latency needs of IoT, sensors, AI systems, robots, and the surge of mobile devices for remote work. Frost & Sullivan says 90% of industrial firms will utilize edge computing by this time this year or next (something we’ll have to follow up on for 2023’s list). Oh, one more thing: we’ll get training via augmented reality, so get your expense report ready for that new VR headset!
IDC FutureScape: Top 10 Predictions for the Future of Connectedness – As with many others, the pandemic plays a huge role in IDC’s prognosis. There’s a new normal of digital experiences, and it’ll be the precise, seamless delivery of data across networks that’ll fuel growth, IT systems, and cloud to the people, devices, things, and applications that create them. Robust connectivity will be an investment item in 2022. Connectedness will also shift from network support operations to business outcomes like service delivery and technology innovation. This makes sense considering that technology is part of almost everything we buy, even some items that we can’t fathom, like intelligent underwear. They predict that by 2024 wireless-first will go mainstream with organizations investing in ‘untethering’ projects. And by 2025, there will still be a few systemic service provider network outages a year, further confirming the need for service resiliency and connectivity redundancy.
Top Ten Worldwide IT Industry Predictions for 2022 and Beyond – HelpNetSecurity distills IDC’s worldwide IT industry predictions for 2022 for their list; and you guessed it, the march toward digital-first, fueled by COVID, is the top trend. More than half of the global economy will be serviced via digital delivery or by using digital tools to augment physical spaces and assets. Being able to adapt to the social, economic, and technology headwinds to accelerate the digital transformation will determine your fate in this digital era. You’ll need to keep an eye on as-a-service spending for services like security, virtual workspaces, and connectivity. Service bundles are coming and could bloat your budget. Organizations will also need to consider other technologies like 5G and blockchain, as well as how those might impact technology priorities. With privacy a hot topic, confidence in data controls will enter into the equation of public enterprise valuations. Finally, sustainability becomes more relevant as additional tools, data, and analysis make it easier to reach sustainability goals. As the world continues to experience significant climate change, I hope companies can help turn the tide for this planet…otherwise, worrying about tech debt will be the least of our problems.
10 Cybersecurity Trends for 2021/2022: Latest Predictions You Should Know – With security lapses costing organizations billions of dollars in losses, Financesonline’s list focuses on many of the issues facing business and people alike. Cyberattacks are the fastest-growing crime, and phishing is the most common cyberattack companies face. User awareness and security training is their top tip since apparently, 97% of the people in the world cannot identify a phishing email and 1 in 25 click on that email. The alarming flipside is that is 80% of data breaches can be prevented by practicing proper cyber hygiene. Predictive security or identifying threats before attackers begin their move is also on the hot list. Every year there are so many areas to keep keen about and it seems like the list keeps growing rather than shrinking. Don’t get me wrong, I love all this technology, connectivity, and access to information, but there’s a part of me who wants to go back to rotary dial phones and the analogue life of my childhood. (The Analogue Kid is a great Rush song, btw.)
With three more to go, let’s move to a lightning round with a few specific insights:
Top 10 Digital Transformation Trends For 2022 according to Daniel Newman in Forbes – Hybrid work models continuing mean organizations are going to need technologies that enable collaboration regardless of location. This was perhaps the most common theme across prediction pieces, with new tools required to improve the quality of collaboration with the goal of making it easier to work from anywhere. He thinks there could be some regulatory anti-trust legislation for the big data collectors, and—coming to a cloud near you—everything-as-a-service. Another area of interest is upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics which will be a massive test for 5G mmWave for devices and networks.
10 Social Media Trends Marketers Should Watch in 2022 – The number one goal for social media going into 2022 is reaching new audiences. Look to increase brand awareness, foster relationships with customers to build brand loyalty, and improve customer service. It is critical to engage with your audience in a meaningful way. Focus on long and short form content along with audio chat rooms. Keep an eye on the demise of the third-party cookie since this will force social marketers to get more sophisticated. Capitalize on emerging trends by leveraging video, creating relatable content in a conversational tone, and using analytics to determine the right posting cadence for your own brand. (I know I’ll be putting these into practice for DevCentral and F5 Labs.)
And of course, 6 grim predictions Nostradamus made for 2022, which you can peruse at your leisure but suffice it to say, there could be some interesting developments according to the longtime soothsayer. Sidenote: He also predicted a major earthquake for California in 2021 that we’ve been fortunate enough to avoid so far.
…And that should just about do it. Nostradamus’ various geopolitical predictions notwithstanding, I foresee that I’ll be doing another Top 10 Top 10 next year. In the meantime, you can also explore these Outrageous Predictions for 2022 as a bonus. Overall, have fun, stay healthy, and enjoy 2022!
Interested to see if any of the previous year’s prognoses came true?


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Blanca Murillo’s morning routine, for the most part, would seem unremarkable to any woman: she washes her face, brushes her teeth, runs a comb through her hair and daubs on makeup. Then, as she has for the past seven years, she tugs on her girdle.
Known as a faja, from the Spanish word for wrap, it was imported from
For over 50 years, women in America have largely cast off such constrictive undergarments, which feminists criticized as symbols of repression. The nylon and Lycra underwear brand Spanx has been credited with reintroducing, and reacclimating, women to the concept of extra help for figure problems, but it may have also opened the door to a new generation of young women embracing the faja, which is far closer to the real thing — in all its organ-shifting, curve-exaggerating strength.
Such girdles are a resurgent fashion phenomenon to a growing number of women who wriggle into them each day without a thought of what
“You see the love handles?” asked Ms. Murillo, 33, a trim hairdresser who stands a doll-like 4 feet 3 inches tall, as she pinched a small fold of flesh at her midsection and lifted her shirt to reveal a well-worn faja. “With this, you hide it.”
The comeback of fajas has surprised even those in the business of selling them; they had fallen out of favor before they were adopted for medical use.Continue reading the main story
“I’m from the ’70s; we rejected it,” said Lisa Cipriani, 57, the proprietor of Caralinda Mis Fajas, one of the dozens of stores in Queens specializing in fajas.
“This is the new generation,” she said, “and this is an option.”
The demand has been soaring. Colfajas, which manufactures fajas and exports them from Colombia, raised its production by 47 percent last year and exported 60,000 items, thousands more than in past years, said Jean Pierre Velez, who helps run the family-owned company.
Y & K, a small clothing and lingerie shop on Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens, regularly sells out the roughly 4,000 fajas it ships in each year.
The fajas comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, from full-body jumpsuits to tight belly bands, for women as well as men. The effects depend on the fabric heft of the fajas; they come in Lycra, cotton, nylon and latex. The less forgiving the material, the more flattering the effect. Prices typically run from $20 to over $70, depending on the fabric and how much of the body it covers.
“There is a Spanish saying, you want to look ‘like a Coke bottle,’ ” said Lilliana Rios, 33, who reflects on the faja on her blog
Getting the look requires some grit. Tugging on a faja can become a desperate bout of woman versus fabric. Flesh must be coaxed inside, battened down by hooks and, finally, sealed with a zipper that can force the air out of your lungs.
“The first day you can’t stand it,” Ms. Murillo said. “But then it loosens it up.”
Hidden under clothes the results may be sexy, but fajas are not. Most are the color of an Ace bandage and resemble body casts. Some are configured to squeeze certain areas and leave others to jiggle.
Juan Lopez and his partner, Monica Arias, import the PonteBella brand of fajas from Colombia to Valley Stream, N.Y., on
More recently, calls have been pouring in from unexpected places: retailers in Great Neck and Garden City, also on Long Island, where the Latino populations are small.
“In the beginning, it was almost only for Latinos and black women,” Ms. Arias said. “Now the white people are asking for fajas.”
Recognizing the changing market, Ms. Arias said, the company began selling softer versions to appeal to a wider audience: some women’s ideal body might not involve the roller-coaster curves favored in Latin America. Girdles, once de rigueur, mostly disappeared during the 1960s, said Valerie Steele, the author of “The Corset: A Cultural History” and the director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
“Clothing was showing more of the body, so it wasn’t good enough to just push the fat around,” she said. “The other reason was the thought that you shouldn’t have to rely on it, you were supposed to be healthy and in good shape already.”
The feminist movement, Ms. Steele added, rejected the girdle as a symbol of repression, even as it fell out of fashion.
The newfound popularity of fajas comes at a time when skyrocketing
At Aishti, his store in Jackson Heights, Queens, Moussa Balaghi has begun carrying girdles in size “extra small,” because, to his shock, so many teenagers and even younger girls were coming in to request them. “Only chubby fat girls used to use this; now, everybody is,” he said, shaking his head. “If she has the smallest little thing at her waist, she wants to use this.”
Ms. Rios, the blogger, said new fabrics had replaced the rubberized material of the old corsets, which were often reinforced with stiff struts called boning. And implicit celebrity endorsements helped popularize the new version for a new generation.
“Fajas to me were something my mother would wear,” Ms. Rios said. “Now Spanx came along and you see
At Caralinda Mis Fajas, clients ease their way into tighter and tighter fajas. A seamstress will resize the faja once or twice as a customer’s weight shifts downward. And it often does: a faja can hold the stomach so tight, Ms. Cipriani said, the wearer loses her appetite.Continue reading the main story


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ARMADA, Mich. – A new, limited release cider from Blake's Hard Cider in Armada will benefit bees.
Blossom Eater, an apple blossom honey, jasmine, and bergamot hard cider for the spring will be released Friday at the Blake's Tasting Room and will be available at other locations in the coming weeks.
For every pint sold at Blake's until July, $1 will benefit bees by going to The Honeybee Conservancy and Detroit-based Bees in the D, both non-profits that focus on education and advocacy of bees.
“It’s a toast to the hardest workers on the farm,” marketing manager Chelsea Iadipaolo said. “Blossom Eater is the perfect balance of crisp apple and sweet apple blossom honey, foraged from hives located around our orchard.”
The orchard has worked with local organizations to have hives to help pollinate its crops, including fruit trees and a lavender field.
“Honeybees seem to have the deck stacked against them. We owe these tiny workaholics a toast for their tireless pollination of millions of apple blossoms that result in the delicious apples which Blake’s crafts into Blossom Eater," Brian Peterson, of Bees in the D, said.
The spring limited cider will be tapped at 6 p.m. March 30 at the tasting room, located at 17985 Armada Center Road in Armada. The first 50 guests will receive commemorative glasses.
There will live music from 7-10 p.m. and a honey entree that will be available this weekend only. Reservations can be made by calling 586-784-9463. The tasting room will be closed April 1, Easter Sunday.
Find Blossom Eater on the Blake's cider locator after April 9.


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Mahindra zooms past Tata Motors as most valuable auto firm
20 August 2011
Mahindra & Mahindra, India's largest maker of utility vehicles, on Friday shot past Tata Motors as the country's biggest automaker by market value, after slumping passenger car demand dragged down Tata's shares.
Mahindra shares increased 0.27 per cent to close at Rs 719.10 on Friday, giving it a market capitalisation of Rs 44,100 crore. In contrast, shares of Tata Motors fell 5.28 per cent to Rs713.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, eroding its market capitalisation to Rs38,402 crore, pushing it to the fourth spot among the auto makers after Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp.
Tata Motors' Jaguar deliveries have declined this year as the European debt crisis and signs of slowing economic growth in the US eroded demand for luxury vehicles. Overseas sales, mainly of the Jaguar and Land Rover, account for about 63 per cent of Tata Motors' total revenue.
Tata Motors, which continues to be India's biggest company by revenue, saw an erosion of 15.63 per cent in its stock value over the last one week or six trading sessions. M&M stock, during the same period, saw a fall of 1.1 per cent.
India's second-largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto's market cap stood at Rs41,414 crore, the second biggest in the auto pack, while two-wheeler market leader Hero MotoCorp's market valuation stood at Rs39,810 crore.
With nearly 52 per cent of JLR's volume being sold in the US, the UK and Europe (excluding Russia), the two brands have very high exposure to these economically-troubled markets.


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Any accountant worth their salt should offer you far more than a basic service provider. Unlike your office stationery supplier or your telecoms provider, your accountant should act more like a trusted business partner.
Join us for a refreshing take on the latest news and views from Ireland and around the world
Updated: 2 hours 12 min ago
'>Last month, there was a 1% decrease when compared to November 2018.
The company has exclusive rights to produce and sell the kingdom’s energy reserves.
'>The UK is the third-largest export market for Irish goods but plays a key role in terms of agriculture and food products, official figures show.
'>British pub group JD Wetherspoon is to invest €30m boosting its Irish pub and hotel portfolio next year.
'>As many as 34,000 new homes will need to be built each year through the next decade to meet a growing population boosted by inward migration, Central Bank research has revealed.
'>Confidence is an intangible, but powerful, agent in the economy.
Three other non-executive directors, Lord Dobbs, Sir Michael Peat and Lorna Tilbian, also stepped down.
'>The firm that operates the National Car Test last year clocked up weekly revenues of €1.52m.
'>Low-interest rates will weigh on the profitability of Irish banks even as the Brexit risk to their loans looks “modest”, Moody’s Investors Service said as it lowered its outlook to stable from positive.
Alister Jack appeared to contradict Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a confused interview with ITV reporter Gregory Hoare.
Philip Green said Mr Price will leave his role at the end of December due to ‘personal reasons’.
The United States is the main recipient of Ireland's exports, with over €39 billion of goods being exported to the USA last year.
The ONS also said year on-year growth in October was the weakest since 2012.
The online media business is already more than two months late and risks fines unless it files its 2018 financial information soon.
The move is in relation to compensation for Nissan’s former chairman Carlos Ghosn.
'>In January 2018, the minimum wage increased from €9.25 per hour to €9.55 per hour.
'>The shortened GAA championship season last year hit sales of O’Neill’s replica jerseys, as pre-tax profits at the main company behind the O’Neill’s brand fell 18% to €1.3m.
'>Sterling held its gains against the euro and the dollar as currency markets surveyed polls suggesting Boris Johnson’s Conservatives were on course to secure a comfortable Commons majority in Thursday’s election.
'>Tullow Oil’s acting chief has said the company is open to takeover offers in light of its shares plummeting by nearly 72% on it cutting its production outlook, suspending dividend payments, and parting company with its CEO and exploration director.
'>A surge in the numbers using the Dublin Port Tunnel last year contributed to pre-tax profits at the company which operates and maintains the tunnel increasing by 2.4% to €1.88m.


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STOCKHOLM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:
Björn Borg AB: (STO:BORG)
1 JANUARY – 31 MARCH, 2016
· The Group’s net sales increased by 21 percent to SEK 158.1 million (131.1). Sales were not affected by exchange rates.
· The gross profit margin was 50.0 percent (53.6).
· Operating profit amounted to SEK 13.9 million (12.8).
· Profit after tax amounted to SEK 6.5 million (14.9).
· Earnings per share before dilution amounted to SEK 0.28 (0.61) and earnings per share after dilution amounted to SEK 0.28 (0.61).
QUOTE FROM THE CEO
“The performance of our own stores remains good and sales for comparable units increased by over 15 percent compared with Q1 2015. Our own e-commerce continues to post strong growth, +103 percent. In total, Björn Borg’s sales rose during the first quarter 2016 by 21 percent versus the comparable quarter of 2015,” noted CEO Henrik Bunge.
Björn Borg is required to make public the information in this interim report in accordance with the Securities Market Act. The information was released for publication on May 19, 2016 at 5:30 pm (CET).
This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com


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A report recently published by the Centre for Digital Democracy argues that interactive television has some insidious privacy-infringing potential.
A report recently published by the Centre for Digital Democracy (CDD) argues that interactive television (iTV) has some insidious privacy-infringing potential.
"To advertisers, the development of a technology that combines the Web's interactivity with television's element of dedicated spectatorship is a dream come true," argues the report. "With iTV they will have access to a new breed of couch potato, one that both enjoys the warm glow of the tube and craves the personal touch of the Internet."
What worries the CDD are alleged plans by the cable industry to target specific viewers with "one-to-one" ads based on personal viewing habits. Purportedly schemes are in the pipeline amongst cable companies to monitor the reaction of iTV viewers to ads and adjust personal content accordingly.
"As you watch television, over time a psychological profile could be developed," the report says. "There's real potential for manipulation...and the goal is to encourage impulse buying."
A trade organization for companies involved with iTV, the Association for Interactive Media (AIM), denied that any sinister privacy-infringements were afoot and claimed that no personal information would be collected without subscriber permission.
"The industry plans are to collect aggregate information for advertising, but not to collect information without user knowledge and consent," said Ben Isaacson, AIM's executive director. "Profiling opportunities abound, but it will be from the vantage of opt-in strategies."
With industry analysts predicting that iTV could reach over 50 million households in the US alone within the next five years, the CDD claim that immediate action by the public is crucial.
"The public should decide if this kind of system should be deployed at all...we need safeguards now before intrusive practices become embedded in the system."
Bill McCloskey is the founder and chief evangelist for Email Data Source, a competitive intelligence resource for e-mail marketers. He was named one of online advertising's 50 most influential people by "Media" magazine and one of the 100 people to know by "BtoB Magazine." He's been a recognized pioneer in interactive advertising for over 10 years.
2015 Holiday Email Guide
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December 2, 2015
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A report by Citi Research says merchant adoption of credit card payments via UPI will have to be observed as merchants are required to pay MDRs.
BNPL is also expected to witness some competition. Even though, Buy Now Pay Later involves fewer clicks while paying, credit card payments through UPI are also expected to have a similar degree of ease for the consumers.
The shift from debit or bank account to credit cards may help Paytm monetization of its UPI payments. Paytm’s BNPL services may face competition but since MDR for PostPaid is expected to remain lower than those of credit cards, merchant adoption of Paytm Postpaid can be more than that of credit cards on UPI.
The report said that Paytm shares may see a drop below its expected target price due to competition from players such as PhonePe and Google Pay, zero MDR from UPI and due to RBI’s related MDR regulations.