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Shares for Capri Holdings were down more than 4% by markets close on Wednesday after the company announced a downgraded outlook for fiscal 2023.
The fashion house, which owns Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo and Versace, reported an 8.6% revenue increase to $1.41 billion in Q2. Net income was $224 million, or $1.63 per diluted share. Adjusted net income was $245 million, or $1.79 per diluted share. Gross profit was $951 million.
While Q2 earnings and revenues beat the expectations of analysts, Capri chairman and CEO John Idol said the downgraded outlook for fiscal year 2023 represented an “increasingly uncertain macroeconomic environment, foreign currency headwinds and the ongoing impact of COVID-related restrictions in China.”
For fiscal year 2023, Capri now expects total revenue of about $5.7 billion and diluted earnings per share of close to $6.85. Despite the downgrade, Idol said he is confident in the company’s ability to meet its longterm targets, which include a goal to reach $8 billion in annual revenue. This target, outlined at the company’s investor day in July, involves growing Michael Kors’ revenues to $5 billion, Versace revenues to $2 billion and Jimmy Choo’s revenues to $1 billion.
In Q2, Versace revenue was $308 million, up 9.2%. Jimmy Choo revenue was $142 million, up 3.6%. And Michael Kors revenue was $962 million, 9.2% compared to the prior year.
When it comes to Capri’s own direct-to-consumer channels, Idol said in. call with analysts that business in North America and Europe has been robust. However, sales have slowed down in China over the last month and a half.
“Things have actually gotten a little more difficult,” Idol said. “And that’s predominantly because of the Covid restrictions, and we are having various cities or malls open and close and it’s been causing a great deal of difficulty.”
He added that a slowdown in internal and domestic travel in China is also causing the company to take a more cautious approach as it awaits recovery in the region.
Idol said wholesale channels have also slowed down across the board, which has contributed to the company’s more cautious outlook as well.
As of Oct. 1, 2022 Capri inventories were $1.18 billion, up 36% from last year, which executives said puts the company in a good position to meet demand for the holidays.
“This compares to last year when we really didn’t have the inventory that we wanted or needed,” said CFO and COO Thomas Edwards in a call with analysts. “So we feel like we’re in a much better position.”


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Digital Order-Ahead Beating Delivery on Restaurant Mobile Payments Front
While many of us have been focused on the notion of delivery in restaurants—especially as it connects to mobile payments—another development in the restaurant market has slipped in and taken over the top focus for many users. A recent report issued by The NPD Group reveals that delivery isn’t nearly the powerhouse in the field that order-ahead is.
Delivery is a growing market, the NPD Group reports, but it’s only three percent of industry traffic. By next year, however, digital orders will comprise eight percent of industry traffic, nearly triple the delivery market.
Already restaurant digital orders have grown 23 percent over just the last four years, making up a combined total of 3.1 billion visits and $26.8 billion dollars. In fact, NPD expects double-digit growth in the order-ahead segment to continue through 2020, and for all versions—carryout, on-premises and even delivery—to gain ground accordingly.
Reasons behind these gains vary; convenience is, not surprisingly, top of the list, but customers also enjoy a vastly reduced wait time and the ability to not only order in advance, but also pay in advance, meaning that the food is ready when they arrive. With mobile apps making up 60 percent of digital orders, the use of mobile payments factors in here as well, and the ability to customize orders and gain access to rewards programs also help.
As noted by NPD food industry advisor David Portalatin, digital ordering has made the overall customer experience a lot more convenient and thus improved substantially over its past. With digital orders, Portalatin notes, consumers now have a “path-to-market…on a one-to-one basis” and with that a thoroughly customized experience.
There’s likely another good reason for the discrepancy: availability. Delivery isn’t available just anywhere, after all; just ask someone living in some rural Podunk how many options they have for delivery. If they can cite more than one or two pizza places, it’s something of a minor miracle. Order-ahead, though, is available just about anywhere because it most often depends on the customer to do the driving him- or herself.
Customers like order-ahead for a lot of reasons, and businesses are often more willing to provide it than much more expensive delivery options. It’s little surprise, therefore, to see order-ahead doing much better.

domain: news


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All In The NPD Group
Global semiconductor shortages caused TV prices to go haywire in 2020, but now display panel pricing fluctuation is narrowing the gap between 4K and 8K TV costs.
Andrew Nichols · June 14, 2021
The Women in Consumer Technology organization will host its first-ever virtual awards to honor six women who have worked tirelessly to improve the consumer tech industry.
CE Pro Editors · March 28, 2021
Data from The NPD Group shows consumers have a heightened interest in smart security, smart lighting, and home automation technology, leading to boosted adoption rates nationwide.
CE Pro Editors · February 23, 2021
A new study announced by The NPD Group predicts the technology market will experience prosperity for the next several years.
Robert Archer · February 10, 2020


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Gang of 80 ransacks California Nordstrom store in quick 1-minute raid
Gang of EIGHTY crowbar-wielding looters in ski masks ransack California Nordstrom and fill 25 cars with designer goods in raid lasting less than one minute
- Approximately 80 thieves wearing ski masks stormed the Nordstrom store in Walnut Creek, California around 9pm Saturday night
- Witnesses say the large group raided the Bay Area store in under a minute
- Two employees were attacked by looters who punched and kicked them while another was pepper sprayed
- All three were treated for their injuries on scene
- At least three suspects were arrested in connection to the raid, with one even taken into custody at gunpoint
- Police say the raid is not connected to the string of nationwide riots that took place over the weekend in wake of the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict
Eighty looters ransacked a Nordstrom store in California’s Bay Area on Saturday night, injuring at least three employees in a raid that lasted less than a minute.
The large group,wearing ski masks and carrying crowbars, rushed the Walnut Creek store, stole an undetermined amount of merchandise and fled in their vehicles.
During the theft, two Nordstrom workers were punched and kicked, while another was sprayed with pepper spray. All three individuals were treated for their injuries on scene.
Walnut Creek police have arrested three people in connection to the incident and they are facing various charges including robbery, conspiracy, burglary, possession of stolen property and a weapons charge.
The brazen robbery comes as Bay Area businesses reduce their hours due to a spate of brazen shoplifting incidents. Locals are also slamming woke San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin over his failure to prosecute thefts.
San Francisco has also seen an uptick in property theft since a local law downgraded the theft of property less than $950 in value from a felony charge to a misdemeanor in 2014. Store staff and security now tend not to pursue or stop thieves who have taken anything worth less than $1,000.
Eighty looters ransacked a Nordstrom store in California’s Bay Area on Saturday night, injuring at least three employees in a raid that lasted less than a minute
The large group, reportedly wearing ski masks and carrying crowbars, rushed the Walnut Creek store, stole an undetermined amount of merchandise and fled in their vehicles
Dozens of officers responded to the scene around 9pm after Walnut Creek police received reports that approximately 80 people had run into the Nordstrom store and began looting and smashing shelves.
NBC Bay Area reporter Jodi Hernandez, who witnessed the raid, shared several videos of the incident on Twitter.
She said approximately 25 cars were blocking the street as the gang of thieves stormed the store, some brandishing weapons.
Video shows the looters running down the street with bags and boxes holding presumed stolen goods before entering their getaway vehicles.
‘There was a mob of people,’ Brett Barrett, who works at a nearby P.F. Chang’s restaurant, told CBS San Francisco. ‘The police were flying in. It was like a scene out of a movie. It was insane.’
Approximately 25 cars were blocking the street as the gang of thieves stormed the store
An officer is shown pointing their weapon at what appears to be a car of suspected looters
Although most of the raiders managed to flee, police managed to arrest at least two of the suspected looters. The suspects are facing various charges including robbery, conspiracy, burglary, possession of stolen property and a weapons charge
He continued: ‘I had to start locking the front door. Locking the back door. You never know, they could come right in here. It was crazy…All the guests inside were getting concerned. It was a scary scene for a moment.’
Although most of the raiders managed to flee, police managed to arrest at least two of the suspected looters. Video even shows an officer pointing their gun at one of the drivers.
Walnut Creek Lt. Ryan Hibbs told said his officers stopped one vehicle, recovered stolen property and arrested the man and woman occupying the automobile.
The man was charged with robbery, possession of stolen property, conspiracy to commit burglary and possession of burglary tools.
The woman was arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm.
Police also arrested a man who fled on foot. He was charged with robbery, possession of stolen property, conspiracy to commit burglary and possession of burglary tools.
Video shows officers conducting the arrest of a suspected looter
Witnesses have described the incident as being ‘insane’ and like something from out of a film
Police said the incident at the Walnut Creek Nordstrom (pictured) is not connected to the string of riots that took place over the weekend in wake of the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict
Walnut Creek told NBC the incident did not appear to be connected to the series of nationwide protests taking place in response to the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, who was on trial after he killed two people and injured another in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The protests have erupted in several major cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland.
Although most have appeared to be mainly peaceful demonstrations with marching and chanting, law enforcement in Portland declared a riot Friday night as about 200 protesters were breaking windows, throwing objects at police and talking about burning down a local government building.
Saturday’s looting comes after the Louis Vuitton store in San Francisco’s Union Square was targeted and ransacked by a group of more than a dozen thieves.
Police responded to the store shortly after 8pm Friday where they ‘observed several suspects involved in criminal acts.’
Witnesses recorded video of masked thieves running through the streets with their hands full of clothing items and bags.
Officers were seen chasing a thief to their parked getaway car and bashing in the windows with batons, dragging the culprit out of the car and restraining them on the sidewalk
Footage shows the decimated Louis Vuitton storefront with shattered glass all over the sidewalk and totally empty shelves (left) as masked thieves running through the streets with their hands full of clothing items and bags (right)
The shattered glass at a San Francisco Louis Vuitton store was ransacked by more than a dozen thieves, eyewitnesses said
Law enforcement officers are seen chasing after a thief to their parked getaway car and bashing in the windows with batons, dragging the culprit out of the car and restraining them on the sidewalk.
Footage also showed the decimated storefront with shattered glass all over the sidewalk and totally empty shelves.
Police confirmed they had arrested multiple suspects and that the Louis Vuitton store may have not been the only one targeted.
Last week, San Francisco’s ‘woke’ District Attorney Chesa Boudin – who will face a recall election next year amid fury over his soft-on-crime policies – finally charged a ‘prolific’ female shoplifter, 41, who stole $40,000 in merchandise from the same Target in 120 incidents over a one-year period.
Aziza Graves was arrested Tuesday for her alleged shoplifting spree about two weeks after voters forced Boudin into a recall election, with a petition yielding 83,000 signatures – far above the 51,000 required by the city.
The push to hold Graves responsible only came after Target demanded that Boudin launch an investigation, which revealed that the store, at the Stonestown Galleria shopping mall, was hit by the same person more than 100 times between October 2020 and November 2021.
The push to arrest Aziza Graves, the ‘prolific’ shoplifter, only came after a request to the district attorney’s office by the Target being looted, at the Stonestown Galleria shopping mall
Graves carried out her scheme by using self-checkout kiosks to appear as though she were paying for her merchandise. She would scam the machine by scanning the items, but only submitting cash payments of $1, or sometimes even one cent
Graves carried out her scheme by using self-checkout kiosks to appear as though she were paying for her merchandise. She would scam the machine by scanning the items, but only submitting cash payments of $1, or sometimes even one cent.
She would then waltz out of the store without completing the rest of her transactions, officials said. Boudin said that Graves stole home goods like laundry detergent that are frequently stolen and resold for profit just a short walk from the looted store.
‘I am proud of our office’s leadership, meticulous investigation, and cross-agency coordination with the San Francisco Police Department,’ Boudin said Thursday in a statement sent to DailyMail.com. ‘We are committed to stopping those who participate in organized retail theft, including by dismantling the fencing networks that make this type of crime profitable.’
It is unclear how much Graves stole in each incident, though she is only being charged with a felony in eight cases, along with 120 misdemeanor counts of petty theft. This is because, in San Francisco, charges of property theft less than $950 in value was downgraded from a felony to a misdemeanor in 2014.
Authorities have also reported a wave of thefts in the San Francisco Bay Area.
As of October 31, San Francisco police have received reports of 810 burglaries or attempted burglaries this year in the jurisdiction of the Mission District Police station, marking a 13 percent increase from the same time last year.
Walgreens has already closed at 17 of its 70 San Francisco stores because of constant shoplifting. One of the stores closing, pictured above, was subject of a viral video showing a man filling a garbage bag full of goods as security guards watched and let him go
The surge in shoplifting arose after a local law downgraded the theft of property less than $950 in value from a felony charge to a misdemeanor in 2014
Businesses throughout the city have reduced their hours or closed entirely because of the uptick in property theft, and Boudin has been lambasted by local critics for ‘destroying the fabric of our city.’
A Safeway grocery store became one of the most recent business to suffer from the rampant shoplifting, citing it as the reason for scaling back its round-the-clock service to just 6am to 9pm in an announcement made last week.
Walgreens has already closed at 17 of its 70 San Francisco stores because of constant shoplifting by thieves who waltz past security guards and sell the items outside the drugstore chain’s doors.
Boudin faces a recall election next summer after a petition launched in March collected more than 83,000 signatures, far above the 51,000 needed to launch an electio
Many locals of the famously liberal City by the Bay blame Boudin for the spiraling crime statistics and shocking anecdotal evidence of serious and often avoidable crime committed on his watch.
Boudin’s office has only been charging people of theft in 46% of all cases since taking office. In comparison, his predecessor George Gascon made such charges in 62% of all cases in 2018 and 2019, according to city data.
Boudin has an even lower rate in petty crime and has only made charges in 35% of all cases, compared to Gascon’s 58%.
Boudin has also convicted far less people of both crimes than Gascon, only convicting thieves in 79% of thefts and 62% of petty thefts. Gascon has an 82% conviction rate for theft and a 77% conviction rate for petty theft.
Overall, Boudin has charged people with crimes in 48% of all reported cases, while Gascon has a charging rate of 54%.
Boudin has had two upticks in charging rates: rape and narcotics. Another promise he made was to take more alleged rape and narcotics perpetrators to court, even if he loses the case.
Crime in San Francisco has been climbing steadily, with larceny theft outweighing any other infraction
Boudin has been charging people for theft in less than 50% of all cases throughout his tenure, new data reveals
He has also convicted far less people of both crimes than Gascon, only convicting thieves in 79% of thefts and 62% of petty thefts
He has charged 63% of people with rape in reported cases, while Gascon has only charged 53%, and Boudin has charged 60% of people with narcotics-related arrests as compared to Gascon’s 47%.
However, such cases have had less success in court as Boudin has only convicted 70% of those he charged with rape as opposed to Gascon’s 81%. Meanwhile, Boudin has only convicted 62% of all perpetrators in narcotics arrests as opposed to Gascon’s 75%.
Boudin previously argued that the pandemic is to blame for the drop in his charging rate, citing the reduced operation of San Francisco’s court system caused by COVID-19 restrictions.
Source: Read Full Article


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NEW YORK — Target will open three new small-format stores in New York City, each in a different borough, the company announced Tuesday.
Locations are planned for the Upper East Side, Staten Island and Astoria. Each store will be designed to specifically meet the needs of the community it's in, Mark Schindele, a senior vice president at Target, said.
“As we continue to expand our footprint with small-format stores throughout New York, we strive to provide a convenient, one-stop shopping experience customized for locals, commuters and visitors in each unique neighborhood," Schindele said. "All three of these new stores will offer the best of Target in that borough, yet curate the assortment to meet the needs and preferences of the nearby community."
Target’s Staten Island store, which will be the borough's first small-format Target, will include a CVS Pharmacy and Starbucks. It's planned to open in 2019 in the Elm Park section of Staten Island.
The Upper East Side store will feature a broader beauty assortment and convenient food options near the intersection of E. 70th Street and 3rd Avenue. It will be Target’s seventh location in Manhattan, joining existing stores in Harlem, Tribeca and Herald Square. Target also plans to open Lower East Side and East Village stores in late 2018, and a Hell’s Kitchen location in 2019.
The chain is on track to operate 130 small-format stores by the end of 2019.


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Hideo Kojima has shed some light on the mysterious logo for his new studio.
The logo was revealed alongside the new studio late last year. Called Kojima Productions, the studio was formed after the famed Metal Gear Solid creator left Konami. The logo for the newly formed studio showed a skull encased in a helmet. Fans immediately took to photoshop and began to speculate about the meaning. But today, Hideo himself took to Twitter to reveal that the helmet is actually called Ludens, and sits on top of a set of highly technological armor. He specifically called the armor the “extra-vehicular activity suit or EVA.
He went on to say that the studio would “deliver THE NEW PLAY in THE NEW FUTURE with the cutting-edge equipment, technology, & the frontier spirit.” This sounds very vague, but we can’t help but be excited at the very idea of Hideo Kojima creating a new series.
The suit itself looks like something that would fit in the world of the Metal Gear Solid series, which seems to hint that the developers new projects may bear similarities to his previous franchises. We don’t know when we’ll next see Kojima, but he could make an appearance at Playstation’s E3 conference given his partnership with them.
The biggest news out of his new studio is the around the world technology tour he recently embarked on with Playstation’s Mark Cerny, in order to see the newest, most cutting edge tech available in video games at the moment.
Stay tuned to The Nerd Stash for any new news on Kojima Production’s first title.


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Advanta says it conducted the millionth user session on its Web site for small business credit card holders after launching the site eleven months ago. In honor of the millionth user session milestone, Advanta will donate $5,000 to The Rise School, an early education center focused on children with Down syndrome.Details
CyberNet Inc, the Korean POS manufacturer, and its Surrey,
England-based subsidiary, CyberNet EMEA Ltd, have created a new
subsidiary in Poland. The new company, CyberNet Poland Ltd, is based in
Warsaw, is 100% owned by CyberNet, and will provide consulting, sales,
marketing, application development and customer support services to its
clients within the country. The new Managing Director of CyberNet Poland
Ltd is Wladyslaw Slebodzinski. CyberNet Poland estimates over 6 million
cards per year will be issued and 380,000 POS terminals deployed in
Poland in the next 5 years.
Providian has selected Fair Isaac’s “TRIAD” adaptive control system at TSYS to manage the risk exposure of its portfolio of 12 million consumer cards. TRIAD adaptive control system enables the world’s leading lenders to automate and improve credit account management. It facilitates the process of developing and implementing different credit and marketing strategies, using predictive analytics to forecast future performance in decision areas such as credit line management, delinquent collections, authorizations management, and performance pricing.Details
Munich-based Giesecke & Devrient has selected Teradyne’s “J750k VLSI Test
System” for design verification and electrical qualification of contacted
smart cards. The small footprint of the “J750k” enables G&D to perform
design verification and qualification test up to 32 sites in parallel in an
engineering laboratory. The “J750k” features IG-XL test software. The basic
configuration starts with 64 pins at 50MHz and can be expanded up to 256
pins at 100MHz.
TN-based Concord EFS has landed the McDonald’s credit and debit card processing contract. The world’s largest QSR chain recently announced plans to begin selectively rolling out card-based payments by mid-2003. Under terms of the deal, Concord will provide transaction routing, authorization, and settlement for all credit and debit cards. McDonald’s says it select Concord after the company offered several options to improve the speed of the transaction, a critical factor for quick service restaurants. McDonald’s has more than 30,000 local restaurants serving 46 million people daily. Two weeks ago McDonald’s announced it will broaden card acceptance next year, and may top 10,000 locations by the end of 2003. KFC introduced card acceptance last year in most of its outlets. Burger King and Wendy’s have pilot programs underway with decisions on full-scale deployment set for early next year. Jack in the Box was the first fast-food firm in the USA to take credit cards. A recent VISA study found the average transaction for credit customers was 20% to 30% higher than for cash customers. (CF Library 11/13/02)Details
CA-based ISO U.S. Merchant Systems, Inc. says it has signed an LOI to partner with Global Links Corp. The objective of the strategic partnership is to introduce new proprietary electronic products and expand the sales force for both companies. US Merchant Systems is a Merchant Service Provider for VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and Diners Club. USMS’s customer base accounts for 11,000 businesses and a 170 member sales team.Details
After reluctantly opening credit scores to consumers, the industry has gone to other end of the scale offering consumers the option of gifting credit scores. Fair, Isaac announced Monday that U.S. consumers can purchase now “myFICO” products such as “Score Power” and the “myFICO Credit Advantage” subscription service, as gifts for other consumers. Once a gift purchase is made on Fair, Isaac’s consumer Web site, the company sends a digital gift certificate to each recipient with instructions for redeeming his or her gift. Customers also have the option of printing a paper gift certificate in their choice of themes to present to the recipient directly. The recipient can register on myFICO.com at any time to gain immediate access to the credit information gift. The “Score Power” service carries a $12.95 fee and the “myFICO Credit Advantage” has a $59.95 fee. Both services incorporate consumer credit data from Equifax. Equifax reported it has generated $27.5 million in direct-to-consumer sales so far this year. More than one million consumers purchased “Score Power” reports in the first year of the service, which was launched in March 2001. (CF Library 4/15/02)Details
A federal district court has temporarily halted the business practices of a Toronto-based company charged by the FTC with promising consumers a major credit card, and charging an advance fee for it, but never delivering the credit card. According to the FTC, the defendants, operating under several names, targeted U.S. citizens representing that they would provide consumers with a VISA or MasterCard credit card that had an interest rate of 3.9% or 6%, credit limit of $2,500 to $5,000, and no annual fee, in exchange for an up-front “processing” fee ranging from $175 to $199. The fees were collected by debiting the customers bank account. The FTC estimates the scam produced $5 million in sales. The FTC’s complaint names Pacific First Benefit, LLC; Key Nation Benefit, LLC; First Federal Benefit, LLC; Federal Credit Services, Limited; and Alex Orphanou.Details
CA-based Electronic Clearing House reported revenues for the quarter ending September 30th of $8.6 million, a 9.5% increase from $7.8 million in the same period last year. The net loss for the quarter was $207,000, as compared to a loss of $37,000 in the same quarter of 2001. The net loss was attributable to a combination of factors, including a write-down of $80,000 in inventory, increased expenses related to the development of the “Visa POS Check Services” program, higher net interest expense and lower gross margin. The processor also announced that it named Alex Seltzer as CIO and COO. For complete details on ECHO’s 3Q/02 report visit CardData ([www.carddata.com]).
American Express has launched a new online giving portal to link cardholders with more than 800,000 charities. According to a new American Express survey of 800 general consumers, 76% of Americans plan to make a charitable contribution this holiday season. And, despite the economy, 84% plan to contribute the same or more this year than last. The average charitable donation this year is expected to be $125.Details


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Shropshire-based Maiden’s of Telford has added 16 MANs to its fleet, and plans to double its warehouse’s capacity this year as business confidence continues to soar in the local area. Maiden’s, which covers the SY postcode for Palletforce, moved to its current headquarters at Dee Park Court, Donnington Wood in 2010. However with business booming in the region, MD John Maiden intends to expand operations further. “Businesses here are very optimistic about 2014,” said Maiden. “The local market is buoyant.” […]
Abbey Logistics made it a double whammy at last night’s MT Awards, picking up Haulier of the Year and Business Excellence Awards – also joining an exclusive club of just three other firms who have won Haulier of the Year twice. Innovations included the development of a twin-cargo trailer, capable of carrying liquid and palletised goods, and encouraging young people into the industry via their MD’s Think Logistics initiative. The judges said: “This company has a clear vision and knows […]
NFT has revealed more details in regards its plan to venture south and open a substantial new facility, in its bid to take a larger slice of the UK’s £38bn imported food market.
DPD is to open three new depots in London, Southampton and Dundee to handle the expected increase in parcel volumes this Christmas. The expansion – an investment of £4.3m by DPD – is expected to create 150 new jobs across its new depots at Southwark in London, Hedge End in Southampton and the West Pitkerro industrial site in Dundee. The new £2.3m Hedge End depot is set to replace its existing site at Chandlers Ford and will become fully operational […]


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Tech's next big thing: Augmented reality
Back when Google Glass appeared in 2013, Americans may not have been ready for augmented reality, and one could argue that AR wasn't ready for Americans.
But a lot has changed in just a few years, including how companies are approaching AR and the applications they're developing for the field, which is related to virtual reality but has some significant differences.
For one, virtual reality blocks people from actual reality, thanks to headsets like Oculus Rift. Gamers love VR because of its immersive experience. Augmented reality differs by overlaying digital information on top of what people are actually experiencing.
"Today's devices are capable of very cool things. They can be used in various fields, for instance education," said Yoni Nevo, the chief executive of Cimagine, which creates augmented reality products for the retail industry. "If you are studying anatomy, then you can look at the book and the image turns into 3D, and you can manipulate it."
He added, "Augmented reality will change everything in our lives in a few years, but it's starting now."
That isn't lost on investors, who have poured $3.5 billion of venture money into augmented and virtual reality companies during the past two years, according to a recent report by analysts at Goldman Sachs. The opportunity is much vaster, especially for augmented reality, according to Nevo, who cites a forecast from Digi-Capital that AR will be a $120 billion market by 2020, compared with $30 billion for VR.
While virtual reality has received much of the hype, that market may remain the province of gamers. On the other hand, AR may eventually reach everyone who has a smartphone or tablet. Nevo's company, for example, works with retailers to create augmented reality applications for shoppers.
"I had an issue with a Kitchen-Aid mixer. It was hard to image what it would look like in my home: Is it too big, too small, is the color right?" Nevo said. "If I could see the product in my home before I buy it, if i could click a button and see that, it would be great."
With augmented reality, a shopper interested in buying a Kitchen-Aid might rely on AR software and their camera-enabled tablet to see how the appliance will look on their counter. The tablet, in video mode, can overlay an image of the mixer into the kitchen, and the shopper can walk around while holding the tablet, getting a view of the mixer from different angles.
In another example, Cimagine is working with Coca-Cola (KO) on using AR to help their salespeople sell vending machines, signs and other equipment.
"So far they have been only able to speak about it," Nevo said. "Now with augmented reality, they can click a button and show the customer in 3D what it'll look like. In the pilot, the results were that the salespeople with augmented reality were able to sell 20 percent more and three times faster."
AR also has applications for education, health care, real estate and fields such as engineering, according to Goldman Sachs. Applications are already developed in the health care industry, such as AccuVein, which uses a scanner to help medical professionals who are drawing blood find veins in patients' arms.
One problem with Google Glass were concerns over privacy: People worried that Glass wearers would take photos or videos of them without their knowledge. Of course, almost every consumer today is armed with a smartphone with that same capability. Because of that, the future of AR might lie in smartphones and other devices, rather than glasses, Nevo noted.
As Goldman Sachs predicts: Augmented reality and virtual reality may grow from "niche use cases to a device as ubiquitous as the smartphone."
for more features.


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Movie & TV
Glassdoor: VMware’s Pat Gelsinger is CEO of the year, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg drops 39 spots
Career website Glassdoor today released its latest report highlighting the top 100 chief executive officers, and once again ...
Taco Bell’s Tuesday giveaway was so popular it briefly crashed the website and mobile app
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Glassdoor says this Bay Area boss is tops in the country
Since Pat Gelsinger is chief executive of VMware, he is, in effect, the No. 1 person at the Palo Alto-based virtualization ...
The Mercury News
India Bullies Twitter Into Banning Accounts of American, British Students Thousands of Miles Away
A Texas college student is among other Westerners to be banned after a crusade against Pakistani trolls went terribly ...
The Daily Beast
New bill makes Section 230 protections contingent on tech platforms’ “political neutrality”
Republican Senator Josh Hawley introduced a bill on Wednesday requiring that big tech platforms to be certified as ...
Breath Of The Wild Sequel Exists Because Nintendo Had "Too Many Ideas" For DLC
One of Nintendo's biggest surprises at E3 2019 was the reveal of a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Now, ...
Samsung's Galaxy Note 10 launch reportedly planned for August 7th
While we're waiting for news on the foldable Galaxy phone, Samsung is still planning its usual big event to launch the next ...
This Garlic-Peeling Hack Is Taking Over The Internet. Does It Work?
None quite took the internet by storm quite like the most recent iteration posted to Twitter on Sunday, involving what looks ...
Huawei Confirms $30 Billion Revenue Hit As Smartphone Sales Drop 40-60% (Updated)
The impact Huawei's blacklisting at the hands of the U.S. will have on its smartphone business has been a hot topic for weeks ...
Top 10 Best-Selling Games Of May 2019 Revealed, As Switch Outsells PS4 And Xbox One
The NPD Group has released its monthly report for May 2019, revealing which games and consoles sold the best in the United ...


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If It Ain’t Broke, Break It
Black Diamond has made a name for itself by dreaming up ways to abuse your gear well before you do. This fall the company releases its latest graduates from the class of suffer.
Back in the early 1990s, some engineers and quality-assurance specialists were standing inside Black Diamond’s Salt Lake City QA lab around a machine designed to rip apart things that you hope never actually rip apart—at least not when your life depends on them. Carabiners. Ice screws. Harnesses. This machine, an Instron 3300 tensile tester, can apply upwards of 18,000 pounds of tension, roughly the same as dangling three Toyota Tundras off whatever you put inside it. The reason you’d rip apart climbing gear is simple: make it fail, find its weaknesses, build it better.
Relatively speaking, most things fail pretty handily when faced with the awesome power of the Instron. Carabiners might pop at around 6,000 pounds. The wires in some of the smaller Camalots—removable cam devices that expand in cracks and anchor climbers to vertical rock walls—might go at half that, which is still a lot higher than anything a windmilling human might generate in the worst possible fall. On this particular day, however, the Instron had met its match. Up and up the power went: 10,000 pounds, 12,000 pounds, 14,000 pounds. The machine began to whine. Everyone took a step back.
Inside the machine, pinched between two vise-like clamps, was the most ridiculous-looking ice tool you’ve ever seen. The shaft was maybe six inches long, about the length of a pint glass, colored bright orange and made of extruded aluminum. Attached to one end was a pick and an adze, just like you’d expect, but at the other end, where you’d normally find a much longer shaft and a spike for puncturing hard snow, was another pick and adze. It was a double-headed ice ax—if you will, a dumbbell of complete impracticality.
“The guys back there in quality assurance are Dr. Doom guys,” says Kolin Powick, who oversees Black Diamond’s climbing division. “They’re always thinking, How are people going to use our gear, how can they damage it, what’s going to fail? We can put five years of use on a piece of equipment in five hours.”
The men standing around the machine that day were not interested in wear and tear, and never in a million years would they try to sell such a silly tool. Rather, at issue was what Powick calls a “classified glue,” an adhesive so strong, you could probably use it to stick wings to airplanes. Designers wanted to use the glue to hold the head of an ice tool to the shaft in place of rivets, which require holes that weaken the materials. If the secret stuff was as strong as they hoped, it would open up new designs and new materials that would make Black Diamond’s ice tool the strongest by weight the climbing world had ever seen. It was a difficult question to answer, though, because the riveted spike on the standard tools kept failing before the glue on the head, so workers pieced together the two-headed version instead.
At a whopping 17,000 pounds of tension, the glue finally gave out. Even in the face of such enormous forces, there was no explosion of parts. Shrapnel did not pierce the room. “It was just the slightest pop,” shrugs Douglas Heinrich, VP of equipment and a former X Games ice climber. Yet that tiny snap would lead to the world’s first carbon-fiber ice ax, the Black Prophet. A later version, the Cobra, would one day hang in the Smithsonian as a testament to just how far ice axes have evolved.
[quote]“If we’re not willing to try things like that, then what are we doing?” Heinrich asks. “If we don’t, then we are just another consumer company, and that’s not where the magic is.”[/quote]
THAT EXPERIMENT lies at the heart of what has made Black Diamond one of the most respected outdoor-gear manufacturers on the planet, a company that has grown from a crude forge producing buck-fifty pitons in Yvon Chouinard’s California garage to a $200 million publicly traded juggernaut in the heart of some of the country’s most beautiful mountains. Few if any outdoor companies in its class have more engineers (32 out of 296 employees) or have spent more time and resources ripping, bashing, and tearing apart their own gear to discover what works and what doesn’t.
As a result, climbers and skiers around the world now have ice axes that fit on ski poles and powerful headlamps that weigh almost nothing. Backpacks embedded with something called JetForce Technology can inflate with 200-liter bladders to about seven times their size at the yank of a handle to help keep avalanche victims from being buried and suffocating beneath the snow. Look in the gear closet of any climber or backcountry skier and you’re almost guaranteed to find something that has survived a round in the Instron or some other torture device the company’s engineers have dreamed up.
As cool as the Black Prophet was, that was more than 20 years ago, and a lot of magic has happened since. People ski Everest. Two guys climbing two of Yosemite’s biggest walls in a day is no longer such a big deal when one guy, Alex Honnold, can climb three of them, alone and unroped, in the same amount of time. There is no doubt that the scientists at Black Diamond have played a crucial role in pushing those boundaries by building gear their friends can trust.
“Innovation happens in that space between where a sport is and where it’s going,” says Peter Metcalf, the company’s CEO. One day last summer, Metcalf sat in his office surrounded by old carabiner dies, the wood-shaft ice ax he used during a 1970 NOLS course, and a page torn from Outside magazine that offered a less-refined reminder of what his company is all about: “Pain is temporary. Suck is forever.”
“There are a lot of branches that go nowhere in that space for innovation,” he adds. “The trick is to find the ones that do lead to great gear, but doing that requires people who are out there doing the sports.”
Like any company looking to improve the quality of its wares, Black Diamond has a robust team of professionals providing feedback. They are out there climbing gneiss walls in Greenland with new magnetic carabiners or skiing unexplored Antarctic peaks with prototypes of skis and skins that will one day make it to market. Yet, on any given day, the employees in Salt Lake City are themselves out roaring around the Wasatch with their own prototypes. Everyone here is a “user.” Designers are up at dawn, skiing backcountry runs like Scotties Bowl or Pink Pine, while the marketing guys might be picking their way up a sun-warmed crag that afternoon.
Feedback from users all over the world finds its way into an elaborate online system. If something isn’t working right, it’ll come up multiple times. Armed with that feedback, engineers and designers can get to work in the quality-assurance lab to try and re-create the failure, which sometimes means building unique machines to cripple the gear. Once they know exactly what’s happening, teams can fix it.
THIS FALL, Black Diamond expands its war against suck with a raft of new offerings that have all benefited from the “use, design, engineer, build, repeat” ethos that defines the company. All these items have been put through the wringer, though two stand out.
To be fair, one of these items isn’t a single item at all but rather a whole line of them. A few years ago, Black Diamond took the same engineering and testing methods it employs on its hardware and applied them to a set of men’s apparel. This fall the company will introduce a women’s technical line that is the result of years of fabric testing and statistical modeling and countless hours of both lab and field testing. To get the right fit, designers used full-body scans of more than 400,000 women and studied the data to tweak the garments’ dimensions for active, athletic builds. “It takes the emotion out of fit,” says Tara Latham, a designer. “This is true for everyone, like our CEO. He likes to think he’s a medium, but really he’s a small with big lats.”
The women’s ProShell and Active Shell outerwear collections include pieces like the Sharp End Shell, a Gore-Tex Pro jacket designed for hardcore expedition use. Others in the Windstopper Active line, like the Convergent Down Hoody, are meant for cold and tough, “done in a day” activities like a long ice climb or a big day of skiing. The Convergent is a windproof, highly water-resistant insulated jacket with a new synthetic-fiber-and-down blend from PrimaLoft that doesn’t wet out as fast and retains 95 percent of its insulating ability even when it does get soaked.
Coolest of all, most items in the line include simple but effective touches, most notably a new cinch-tab system developed by a small embedded-components company called Cohaesive that’s being launched in partnership with Black Diamond. The discreet system—a souped-up, drastically refined pull-tab setup—allows easy, one-handed microfit adjustments even with gloved hands and is the first non-Gore product that the notoriously protective W. L. Gore & Associates has allowed to be laminated directly into its waterproof-breathable membranes.
Other items, like the Induction Shell jacket, include fully taped Windstopper membranes and specially designed Swiss Schoeller fabrics that help blur the line between hard and soft shells. Gore has forbidden anyone from divulging exactly what a fully taped Windstopper membrane can withstand, but Black Diamond designers and engineers spent three days at Gore’s testing facilities in New Jersey, hosing down garments and collecting data, and the results are indeed impressive, especially if you’re ever caught in a horizontal downpour.
Of course, all these items have gone through the Instron and myriad other machines that tear, abrade, and wash fabrics in, say, salt water. Before the company would commit to the Cohaesive tabs, engineers at Black Diamond built a comical but highly effective four-arm robot that would pull the drawstring over and over, as many as 2,000 times, to see how it would wear out over its lifespan. “I can go over to the lab and say, ‘Hey, can you figure out a way to test this fabric or this part of a jacket?’ and they can do it,” says Lauren Deuser, a textile engineer. “They have such varied backgrounds. They’re like mad scientists.”
For the men, a new line of Gore and PrimaLoft technical wear comes out this fall, and next spring Black Diamond plans to release women’s crag wear. But soft goods aside, in the end it all comes full circle with the hardware. This winter, ice climbers will have a long-distant cousin of the Black Prophet in their hands, the Fuel.
Built on Black Diamond’s previous ice tool, the Fusion, which was designed to help elite climbers like Will Gadd win World Cup competitions, the Fuel is more of an everyman’s tool—lighter, easier to swing, and more forgiving all around. Engineers opened up the pick angle to help it sink better into ice, shortened the shaft a little, and shaved the weight to a respectable 638 grams. Instead of the Black Prophet’s carbon-fiber shaft, the Fuel uses hydroformed aluminum, the same stuff employed in high-performance road bikes and sports cars. It even has some of that special glue.
[quote]“You can dissect almost anything we make and see a story of BD at its best,” says Bill Belcourt, director of R&D, who led the Fuel’s development. “If you only feel alive when you’re outside pushing it, you only feel alive when you’re pushing it at the office, too.”[/quote]
Speaking frankly, Heinrich, the equipment VP and a former X Games ice climber, says ice tools like the Fuel are “halo” products, things that appeal to a passionate but highly specialized consumer. These are not the iPhones of the world (though Apple designers apparently keep Black Diamond products on hand for inspiration) but the deep-space life-support systems—the tools that drive exploration and allow a generation of climbers to push the limits of what can be done. But even a layman can hold the Fuel in his hands, marvel at its balance and precision, and feel the undeniable urge to sink it into something, even if it’s just the desk of the guy who envisioned it.


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Have we seen this movie before?
Fredrik Erixon and Hanna Deringer are director and policy analyst, respectively, at the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE), a policy research think tank dedicated to trade policy and other international economic policy issues of importance to Europe.
Europe is the biggest exporter of steel to the United States, accounting for almost 5 million tonnes of total annual imports of about 35 million, and Brussels has warned Trump it would impose countermeasures if hit.
While it was not entirely clear whether the threat reflected actual USA policy or merely an effort by the president to play to an appreciative crowd, he had used similar language earlier on Twitter.
She argues that since European Union companies are not state subsidised or in overcapacity, they can't be considered a source of "unfair trade" with the US.
"We believe in free trade but it has to be fair, there should be a level playing field".
The tariffs rollout has been rife with confusion and dissension in the White House.
The EU rejects Trump's argument that the tariffs are required for national security reasons.
"This thing is going to drag into the summer and into the fall", Schwebel said. "But it's consistent with what the president said not just during the campaign, but for decades".More news: MIT study finds fake news travels faster
More news: INX Media corruption case
More news: Tom Brady Says Family Considerations Will Factor into NFL Retirement Decision
The European Commission is considering a preliminary list of punitive tariff on United States products in response to Trump's adoption of protectionist tariffs under the pretext of preserving his country's national security.
"We can't even sell our farming goods in there, they totally restrict us".
Earlier in Beijing, Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said any trade war with the USA would only bring disaster to the world economy. "But we are not afraid, we will stand up to the bullies", Malmstroem said.
It buys about 60 percent of its military assets from the United States, allows Marines to rotate through Darwin every year, and swaps intelligence with Washington.
Other countries seeking exemptions from the tariffs will have to make their case through U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, but the president will make the ultimate decision, a senior administration official told reporters Thursday.
The Japanese government plans to explain to the US side that restricting imports of high-quality Japanese steel could negatively affect USA industries and employment because these products are used in oil field development and other industries in the United States.
Brussels has pushed back hard against Washington's shock measures, loudly announcing a list of U.S. products it could hit with countermeasures.
When President Trump points to examples of how the USA has lost out from previous trade deals by accepting higher import tariffs for its exports than it sets itself he is merely stating the facts.
These kinds of tit-for-tat retaliations raise the spectre of protectionism and endanger the global free trade system backed by the World Trade Organisation.


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After listening to Intel CEO Paul Otellini speak in a brief conference call this morning about the $1.45 billion fine Europe levied against the company this morning, AMD CMO Nigel Dessau has strong words for the chief executive of the world's largest chip maker:
"I think he doesn't get, or has no remorse about, what they've been doing: disrespecting the consumer,"
Otellini says the EU decision is wrong. Meanwhile, AMD is pitching its side of the story.
In a passionate chat about the European Commission's decision (Techmeme) to fine Intel after a nine-year investigation for "abusing" its "dominant position" in the market, Dessau emphasized the plight of the consumer -- in Europe, Asia and America.
"The decision isn't about AMD, it's about consumers of Europe," Dessau said. "The [EC] is saying monopolistic behavior harms consumers and should be stopped. We believe that if Intel complies, we'll get a level playing field to compete."
When asked how this affects AMD's presence on computer manufacturers' websites and brick-and-mortar retail stores, Dessau said the company only wants a fair game, and intends to rely on its portfolio of products to meet consumers' needs for success.
"The reality is, it's not about the AMD is known or not known or the Intel name is known or not known," Dessau said. "It's about whether the consumer can pick from a range of things that their suit their needs. This isn't about us versus Intel. We will compete on the merits of our products that will give our consumers the best experience."
Part of the difficulty of that strategy is working with vendors such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo, which Dessau said "are as much victims of this as the consumer."
"Their careers and businesses are being lorded over by one of their suppliers," Dessau said. "In a free market, [Intel's] ability to innovate and grow consumers will grow even more."
Dessau elaborated in a blog post on AMD's site this morning:
What the Commission is forcing Intel to do is to stop making what Intel innocently calls “rebates” but what are actually conditioned loyalty payments – or as Don Corleone in The Godfather put it, “I’m gonna make them an offer they can’t refuse.”
These payments are conditioned solely on the PC makers doing what Intel tells them to do. Or else. Where is the choice in that? What the EC is saying is, loyalty payments: “no”; volume discounts: “yes.” Intel is still free to provide volume discounts without any change to the “end price”. But they can no longer condition payments with loyalty in order to control the supply chain and block AMD’s ? or anyone else’s ? access to the open market.
Intel’s control of access to the IT market has effectively kept prices artificially higher than they would otherwise be. And remember, AMD has always – always – offered equal or better performance for less money. If you look at the data, you will see that our prices are generally 30-to-50 percent less than the competition’s. So, the “end price” to consumers most definitely will not go up at the end of this – if anything, prices will go down because Intel will be forced to compete more directly on price.
Removing Intel's leverage helps level the playing field, Dessau said.
"Seventy-one percent of people in a large retailer couldn't tell you one processor from another. They don't have a bias, they have a need," he said. "When we don't get access to those markets, [consumers] don't get that choice."
When asked about whether this will affect consumers at the cash register, Dessau said it was unlikely.
"The end price to the consumer should be the same," he said. "It's [just] the way that Intel has used rebates to control decisions within channels.
"When more choice emerges, prices tend to go down. The same behavior goes on in the U.S. The FTC will discover that Intel did the same thing they did in Europe, the same thing they did in Japan, they same thing they did in Korea.
"If you look at Intel's processor range, it's a response to competition. At the end of the day, what's astonishing is with them controlling the market, think of the choice [consumers would have otherwise].
"There is no democratic country in the world hat will except the way that Intel is operating is legal."
The EC spent nine years on this case; previous cases in Japan and Korea resolved more quickly. In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission has Intel under investigation for similar antitrust complains.
"Intel's done a great job of trying not to have this be a conversation," Dessau said. "They know that we know what a challenge it's been."
Responding to criticism on the Web that AMD and the EC had poor timing with the decision given the global economic downturn, Dessau said that enforcing the law is valid 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
"Oh, so there's a good time to break the law and there's a good time not to break the law?" Dessau asked with exasperation.
Dessau said the decision was a milestone in the making for the consumer electronics industry.
"This is the next generation of the PC market," he said. "This heralds a change we'll look back on in a few years, a turning point the way the first IBM PC was, the first multi-core processor, these seminal moments. We're watching one of them unfold."


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Soccer Followers Will Be Capable of Uber to the Tremendous Bowl
For the primary time, soccer followers will be capable of hail an Uber on the Tremendous Bowl.
At earlier Tremendous Bowls, the app had been banned as a consequence of visitors considerations. However at Tremendous Bowl 50 — which can happen at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, solely a brief journey away from Uber headquarters — the story can be totally different.
Individuals will be capable of experience an Uber into predetermined decide-up and drop-off zones, benefit from the recreation, after which Uber again to their lodges (or, as that is Silicon Valley, their Airbnb rental).
"This yr’s recreation is in our yard, and we need to make sure that Bay Space residents and followers from everywhere in the world can simply get to the motion on the faucet of a button for the smoothest Tremendous Bowl expertise but," Amy Friedlander Hoffman, head of enterprise improvement and experiential advertising, stated in a press release despatched to NBC Information.
As a Tremendous Bowl Host Committee associate, Uber is paying critical money — anyplace from $250,000 to $500,000, in accordance with Quartz — to assist with the logistics of coping with sixty eight,000 followers.
Sorry, Patriots, Broncos, Cardinals and Panthers followers who use Lyft; Uber has an unique deal, which means you’ll have to take a taxi, public transportation or drive a automotive into Levi’s Stadium.


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Financial crisis and shortage of labor have become the order of the day in Vietnam but despite these daunting circumstances, the textile and garment sector has set an export target of US $9.5 billion for this year.
Mr Le Quoc An, Chairman of Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association said at a press conference on July 7, that the sector secured $4.2 billion as turnover in the first half of this year, representing an annual increase of 20 percent.
According to Mr An, since Vietnam has already inked a number of contracts with importers, it will not be very difficult for the country to meet the remaining export target of $5.3 billion in the second half.
However, the problems of labor shortage and inaccessibility to bank loans that are eroding profits of the manufacturers, cannot be disregarded altogether. Mr Le Quoc An noted that from January to June of 2008, profits of Vietnam Textile and Garment Group stood at VND119 billion or $7 million which is only half of its set target for the first six months.
Besides, price hikes and inflation had further added to the existing problems of the workers forcing them to go either on strike or resign completely. The sector, being the largest foreign currency earner of Vietnam, accounting for about 15 percent of the total export turnover, cannot afford to carry on with these situations for long.
Presently, Vietnam has more than 2,500 textile and garment businesses in operation that employs about two million workers and creates some 100,000 jobs annually. If the sector seeks to reach its expected target this year, it will have to expand its domain from the traditional markets in US and Europe to those in Middle East, Czech Republic, South Africa and other countries.


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The Wisconsin Grocers Association (WGA) will be recognizing Steve Burkhardt, Vice President of Operations Support, at Skogen’s Festival Foods, for his outstanding contributions to the grocery industry in Wisconsin with the Excellence in Operations Award. Steve was nominated by Mike Mesich, Sr. VP, Store Operations, at Skogen’s Festival Foods. The award will be part of a surprise announcement at the Festival Foods Support Center, 1724 Lawrence Dr., De Pere, on Monday, August 21st at 9:30 a.m.
This is the fourteenth year the WGA has presented the Excellence in Operations Award. “The award is intended to recognize store owners, managers and store directors in the grocery industry who are on the front-lines every day and instrumental in the success of their stores,” said Brandon Scholz, President & CEO of the WGA.
Steve Burkhardt started his grocery career in 1987, as a bagger at the Center 90 IGA Store in Onalaska, WI. In 1990, he helped open the first Festival Foods in Onalaska, WI. In 1991, he answered the open call for leaders and transferred to the Center 90 IGA store, where Steve helped turn around the struggling store and gained a reputation as a leader not afraid to take on challenges. Over the next 10 years, Steve built on his leadership skills with leadership roles in nearly every store department, and as a result, he earned many promotions over the years. From Assistant Store Director, to Store Director at several Festival locations, Steve was named Festival’s Director of Operations in 2011, a position he held until being promoted to Vice President Store Operations in 2013. Steve was recently appointed Vice President of Operations Support in 2016, where he is responsible for 28 Festival Foods stores, two support offices and a maintenance office.
It is in his recent role that Steve’s leadership and forward thinking vision has allowed Festival Foods to advance in the area of facilities innovations. Steve has reconstructed the company’s maintenance department and created a new position of Energy and Material Recovery Manager. He has championed new cost-saving ideas, such as revamping Festival Foods’ trucking program to improve logistics and transportations needs and spearheading a new cardboard recycling initiative.
According to Steve’s nomination, no one promotes the grocery industry to the public better than Steve. For over a decade, Steve has donned an Uncle Sam costume and a pair of stilts to promote Festival Foods in Fourth of July parades around Wisconsin. Since 2008, Steve has served on the board of the St. Joseph’s Food Pantry, Appleton; and a Governing Board Elder and Vice Chair at Appleton Alliance Church (AAC). Both professionally and personally, Steve is considered to be a modest, selfless leader, who is always looking for ways to help his company, his colleagues, his industry, the organizations he serves and his family and friends.
A formal award will be presented to Steve Burkhardt at the Chairman’s Banquet during the WGA Innovation Expo on October 18th at the KI Center in Green Bay.


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A few months back, Nextbit has launched its cloud-first Robin smartphone in the Indian market. Toda, the smartphone has received a huge price cut of Rs. 5,000 on the e-commerce site Flipkart as a part of Freedom sale.
Moreover, it also offers the discount for the HDFC Bank Credit Card holders up to 10%. Recently, the company has also launched the Ember variant of the Robin in India via Flipkart.
Moving on, the Robin smartphone comes with 5.2-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels and Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection. It is powered by a Hexa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor with Adreno 418 GPU under the hood.
On the storage, this smartphone has 3GB RAM, 32GB ROM, and 100GB cloud storage as well. This smartphone is shipped with Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.
This smartphone is equipped with a 13MP rear camera with PDAF, dual tone flash, 5MP front camera and a fingerprint scanner on board. Further, this smartphone supports connectivity options such as 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11a/b/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, NFC, USB Type-C Port,
The Nextbit Robin is powered by a 2,680mAh battery with Quick charging technology 2.0.


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Princess Kate was spotted out and about at a local discount store during the festive season a couple years back and the reason is rather comical.
The Princess of Wales will be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Sandringham House this year. The Royal Family has a tradition of opening presents on Christmas Eve and also showing up with a small, joke present, which Kate has been seen shopping for in the past at The Range.
The Range is a discount store known for having unique gifts, that you may not find elsewhere.
In 2018, Kate was spotted at the store just down the road from Sandringham.
But, she wasn’t alone: she brought her little helpers with her, Prince George, five, and Princess Charlotte, three.
Kate greets well-wishers on Christmas Day in Sandringham.
Local resident, teacher Sarah Daniels, was in the store at the same time, and overheard Kate speaking with her children.
Charlotte needed a little break and sat on the floor with her mother saying to her: “Get up, poppet”. And apparently George was interested in some “dinosaur slime”, but it didn’t appear to be on the shopping list, with Kate not responding to his request.
Daniels didn’t say what Kate ended up picking out – if anything – but in 2015, Prince Harry also took part in the tradition of giving a gag gift. He gave his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, shower cap that read: “Ain’t life a b***h.”
And, when Kate and William were still on speaking terms with Harry, the Waleses gave him a Grow Your Own Girlfriend Kit. And, lo and behold, he met Meghan Markle soon after, making their dating life public in October 2016.
There’s been back and forth about whether or not Harry will be invited to Christmas this year, with the answer being an unlikely “no”.
The Christmas list is made a year in advance, and last year around that time, Harry was promoting his tell-all book, Spare, which spoke of family affairs. He then went on a media tour to promote the book, which may have knocked him off the list.
Harry would accept an invite if one were to be extended, it’s being said, but King Charles will not be pressured into giving one, according to one family friend.


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The United States of America is home to one of the largest entertainment markets in the world – that’s not to say it isn’t extremely popular in other necks of the woods, though. Just last year, music and entertainment generated revenues of $17-odd billion, set only to increase with the proliferation of digital music streaming availability.That sum is only set to increase in coming years. As one can imagine, music and entertainment industry executives are commonly slammed with loads of responsibilities. Executives that can’t hang with such demands are quickly shoveled out of the mix. Those who can, however, often become extensively tenured in the industry – like Desiree Perez.Desiree “Dez” Perez has been an accomplice of Shawn Carter, better known by his stage name Jay-Z, for more than two decades. The year after his entertainment label Roc Nation was founded, Dez Perez was brought on board as Chief Operating Officer, a title she still holds today.
Roc Nation’s Activities And Dez Perez’s Involvement
Roc Nation is not only involved in the creation and distribution of music, as the company is also involved with managing sports talent, producing music, and keeping tours on schedule.Desiree Perez is deeply involved in negotiations involving Jay-Z and his record-setting company Roc Nation, including with Rihanna, today one of the biggest entertainment stars in the business.
Rihanna And Hard-Nosed Negotiation Expert Desiree Perez
Virtually every corporation seeks out deals with public figures to raise awareness of their products, services, and brand image. One such instance involved Samsung reaching out to Rihanna to promote its image on her Anti tour.Dez Perez was able to secure an agreement between the two parties worth a whopping $25 million, an incredibly large sum for anybody in the music and entertainment world.


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COPENHAGEN FASHION SUMMIT
Profits are nice, but so are people and planet.
(L-R; Peder Michael Pruzan-Jorgensen, Manuel Baigorri, Julie Gilhart, Laurent Claquin, Ros Harvey, Christian Kemp-Griffin, Vanessa Friedman.)
Does fashion ever think ‘green’? You know, the other green, not the ‘Spring 2009 daiquiri green with a touch of gray asparagus’ kind of green. The kind of green we all like to talk about – organic fibres, fair-trade cotton, sweatshop-free, vegan-wear, eco fashion. But is that really green? Or rather, what is green?
The Nordic fashion industry has come up with NICE (Nordic Initiative Clean and Ethical), a work plan to ‘lead the Nordic fashion industry towards a stronger focus on responsible, ethical, and sustainable production’. This places emphasis on water, carbon emissions, waste, chemicals and dyes, labour and ethics. NICE was introduced to a crowd of over 650 CEOs and designers of Nordic and International fashion companies, academics, celebrities, and politicians, at Fashion Summit 2009.
If that isn’t admirable enough, I was pleasantly surprised by how eco-friendly the summit was; with effort taken to ensure that items used, such as eating utensils, the green carpet (as opposed to red), the goodie bag and contents, were made of sustainable materials. I hope it doesn’t stop there, but becomes what Laurent Claquin of PPR Group coined as ‘eco gestures’.
With speakers like Vanessa Friedman of the Financial Times, to Julie Gilhart of Barneys New York, and Manuel Baigorri of Levi Strauss & Co, I was a captive member of the audience in the green discussion. Even the Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, gave an endorsing speech to the industry on their initiative to work with corporate social responsibility (CSR).
So, hoity-toity as how fashion always is, it seems that sustainable practices have been in use in the industry since its inception. Or rather, what each individual deems to be ‘green’. Tiffany has stopped its coral jewelry line in 2003, due to the environmental risk. EDUN (founded by Bono) has its roots in Africa, helping villagers move into the market economy. This sounds like new news formulated out of the old – the first time fashion attempts to backdate itself. Am I being too cynical?
Fashion has the ‘power to set trends and create change’, according to Danish model Helena Christensen. But ultimately, both Claquin and Friedman agree that it is customers who make the choice, in accordance with their own values and perceptions of ‘green’. Cognitive dissonance has never been so sweet.
Dorianne Chiang from Filippa K, insists that the public places double-standards on the fashion industry, as it is more susceptible to being ‘scandalized’, as opposed to others. She defends the industry, citing conscious attempts at being environmentally-aware, and feels that the public ‘can’t expect things to be done overnight’.
Claquin too agrees, maintaining that fashion has always been understatedly green by its definitions. Yet, greater efforts are now carried out to ensure that there is public engagement in its actions. Neon lights at certain luxury boutiques are switched off after 11pm for energy-conservation, and energy-saving lights are used. Tiny steps on the catwalk towards environmental sustainability, coming from the industry that justifies the killing of animals for fur. Not bad, if that’s even a start.
Then again, with NGOs and critics in the picture, it does make the industry freeze in the spotlight. Good is never good enough, just like how skinny is never skinny enough. For once, the fashion industry decides to stop being its harshest critic.
Similarly, perhaps we should just play NICE.
Below are some photographs from the design competition held at Fashion Summit 2009. The winner was Saara Lepokorpi from Finland – who received the prize of 50.000 DKK, sponsored by H&M judges. Judges for the design competition included: Laird Borelli – Senior Features editor of Style.com, Ann-Sofie Johansson – Head of Design for H&M, Fern Mallis – VP of IMG Fashion/New York Fashion Week, Margareta von den Bosch – Creative Advisor for H&M, Erin Mullaney – Buying Director, Browns.
Live from COP15
Eileen & Ping


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Transactions through debit and credit cards rose by merely 7% post-demonetisation, as against a surge of over 23% in overall digital transactions, top government officials told a parliamentary panel.
Officials from various ministries gave a presentation to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance on 'Demonetisation and Transformation towards Digital Economy'.
The digital transactions in all modes increased by 23% to 27.5 million in May 2017 from 22.4 million in November 2016, according to the presentation, a copy of which is with PTI.
The highest jump was witnessed in transactions through Unified Payments Interface (UPI), from one million per day in November 2016 to 30 million in May 2017.
UPI is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application for seamless fund routing and merchant payments into one hood.
Transactions through IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), which is an electronic fund transfer service, almost doubled to 2.2 million from 1.2 million during the period under purview, according to the data shared by government officials.
The least rise in digital transactions was witnessed in the case of plastic cards, as the rise was only 7% — from 6.8 million in November 2016 to 7.3 million in May this year.
Following the move, the government pushed for digital transactions.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)


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If the creators behind the adult animated Harley Quinn series would have gotten their way, Batman would have been shown going down on Catwoman, but DC nixed the idea.
In Variety’s article titled, “How ‘WandaVision,’ ‘The Umbrella Academy,’ ‘Harley Quinn’ Subvert the Superhero Genre,” they spoke with Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker, two of the co-creators and executive producers behind the DC Entertainment-HBO Max adult animated series Harley Quinn, where the pair talked about how freeing it is to use villains and made mention of the Batman and Catwoman sex scene:
“Harley Quinn” is also unique among the current crop of comic content in that its main character and all of her closest allies are villains rather than heroes in the DC canon. That allows the show to do different things with the characters that heroes simply cannot do — at least according to DC.
“It’s incredibly gratifying and free to be using characters that are considered villains because you just have so much more leeway,” says Halpern. “A perfect example of that is in this third season of ‘Harley’ [when] we had a moment where Batman was going down on Catwoman. And DC was like, ‘You can’t do that. You absolutely cannot do that.’ They’re like, ‘Heroes don’t do that.’ So, we said, ‘Are you saying heroes are just selfish lovers?’ They were like, ‘No, it’s that we sell consumer toys for heroes. It’s hard to sell a toy if Batman is also going down on someone.’”
(In fairness to DC, both Halpern and Schumacker went on to say that the company has been remarkably supportive of their series and has allowed them to push the envelope numerous times. Still, it remains to be seen if Batman and Catwoman will be shown engaging in some bedroom antics in Season 3 or if it will simply be implied via cunning linguistics.)
*Checks why Batman is trending*
*Goes back to writing Nightwing, possibly a more… giving hero.* pic.twitter.com/U7HxaQj1lv
— Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) June 14, 2021
Not the first time Batman involved in controversy
This isn’t the first time Batman has been involved in a controversy, as I can recall a couple of years ago in an issue of Batman: Damned, Batman was shown walking around the Batcave with his penis hanging out, aka the “Batawang.”
Batman: Damned #1 now fetches upwards of a hundred bucks on eBay, the digital version has been censored, and DC Comics is not republishing the original version, with it also said to all have been approved by Jim Lee.
Worth a mention that similar to the Harley Quinn animated series, Batman: Damned was also aimed at adults as part of DC’s Black Label comic book line.


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We've been hearing about the rumoured Apple Reality Pro VR headset for what seems like years now. Like the Apple Car and the foldable iPhone, the date for its release seems to keep being pushed back – assuming the product actually exists. But the latest reported delay sounds a little worrying.
An Apple VR headset would be the world's biggest tech company's first major new product category in several years. That means Apple would have a lot riding on it, and it needs to get it right (see the best Apple deals for discounts on current products).


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TALK to any car manufacturer bigwig and they’ll use a tried and tested vocabulary. Platitudes such as ‘we’re in a good place’, and ‘the future looks bright’ have been said by car manufacturer managing directors the world over, often disguising the complete opposite. But with Mitsubishi Motors in the UK, those clichés are not clichés – they’re the truth.
This year the Japanese company is the fastest- growing car brand in the UK with year-to-date sales up 44.66 per cent. The firm’s return on sales is the highest on record, dealer profitability sits at its highest level since 2006 and the next four years are expected to reap growth figures of 20 per cent a year in car sales. Mitsubishi has even expanded its dealer franchising team to welcome new dealers to the network – and it’s this area that the company’s MD is really excited about.
‘In March 2013 the network stood at 100 dealers and it is now up to 105,’ says Mitsubishi Motors in the UK boss Lance Bradley.
‘We’re looking to expand it to between 120 and 125 because we know that our volume is going to grow. Last year our volume stood at 12,000 and this year it is going to be about 16,000. We know that it’s going to expand to somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000 – and for this volume we estimate 120 to 125 dealers and for there to be decent profitability for everybody.’
And dealer profitability has – and always will be – a major pillar of Mitsubishi in the UK. ‘We’re protective of dealer profitability,’ says Bradley. ‘Every manufacturer talks about dealer profitability but we really put our money where our mouth is. Every meeting I have, dealer profitability is discussed; even last year, when it was poor, it was still the first thing we spoke about – you can’t hide it so you might as well talk about it.
‘We are looking for dealers who have a strong focus on their local area and are great with customers’
‘In March of this year, we knew our dealers had had a poor year and we found ourselves with a little bit more money than we expected, so we gave it to the dealers. So, with less than a week to go in March, we told them there was an extra amount per unit on everything they had done in that quarter.
So what type of dealer does Bradley want to attract? Very simple – more of the same. ‘We are looking for small to medium independent dealers who have a strong focus on their local area, have a very high focus on looking after customers, and are able to sell cars and explain why our cars cost more than some rivals’ offerings. If you fit that profile, pick up the phone to a Mitsubishi dealer and ask them what they think.
‘We are looking for similar dealers to the ones we have. We have minimum standards – we need a showroom of 150 square metres, there needs to be enough used car space to achieve a reasonable mix and a reasonably sized workshop. We are not saying to our dealers we are growing and you need to spend £1m on new premises – they don’t.’ For Bradley and Mitsubishi Motors in the UK, it’s more about the dealership staff and the attitude of the people who work there than how glitzy the dealership is or the colour of the floor tiles.
‘The physical facility is not the most important thing about a Mitsubishi dealership – it’s the people and premises which need to be clean and tidy,’ he explains. ‘We don’t want rubbish but I’ve never believed in making dealers change the tiles because they’re the wrong colour. No customer ever comes in and says “I really like that car but I can’t buy it off those tiles”.
‘We are on the up and for the next five years our dealers are going to have a good time’
‘Customers don’t buy Mitsubishis because they’re cheap but because they are good and our dealerships need to match that. Some of our nearest competitors are getting their dealers to spend £1m on new premises – that’s great news for us because we’re picking up those dealers. How can you justify spending that much? You can’t.’
‘We had a poor year last year and a lot of it was on the back of poor exchange rates,’ says Bradley, candidly. ‘It got to the point where the factory was not really keen on selling us cars. The exchange rate last year got down to as low as 120 yen to the pound – before 2008 it was 280. That made things really difficult.
‘Our margins were hit massively so we couldn’t spend so much on our marketing or customer incentives – and not being able to do that affects your competitiveness.’
But Bradley believes in being honest with his loyal dealer network, and last year told them how bad it was. ‘I told all of our dealers that 2012 was going to be a tough year and told them to cut back their costs. I told them 2013 was going to be a good year, and they were going to get growth like they couldn’t imagine.
‘I said there will be a third of you who will believe me and will go back and resource up for it, there’ll be a third of you who wait and see for a bit and there will be a third of you who aren’t convinced about it. The ones that do it immediately will have an excellent year; the ones who wait and see if it will be all right and the ones who don’t will have a poor year.’


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North Korea is expected to get its own domain identity from ICANN, according to a France Press report via Inquirer.net.
Internet access in the North of Korea is strictly limited – but the award of an internet identity for the country is, at least, a stepping stone towards opening up to the rest of the world.
ICANN has recently also given a domain identity to Palestine – .ps.
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CEO at Webcertain
Andy is the CEO of Webcertain. He is a trained linguist with 20 years of experience in international marketing, having helped major brand leaders with their advertising and public relations projects on five continents. Webcertain has been operating multilingual search marketing campaigns for over 15 years and is one of few agencies which only deal with international campaigns; the company doesn't deal in single market projects. Andy speaks regularly at conferences around the world.
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Seems ICANN have been out squashing this story. As North Korea already has the KP country code it does not need any further approval from them. Whether or not this will be activated is another story.


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Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer announced the launch of Sunshine, a VC-funded consumer software start-up for launching an address book app that relies on artificial intelligence.
Marissa Mayer earlier stepped down from her role as Yahoo chief executive after the company’s $4.48 billion sale to Verizon in 2017.
At launch, Mayer’s start-up is rolling out Sunshine Contacts, an address book app that relies on artificial intelligence to find and merge duplicate contacts, fill out incomplete information and continually keep that data up to date. The app integrates with the iOS Contacts app as well as Gmail and will be free to all iOS users with an invitation, CNBC reported.
The app is also designed to make it easy to share your contact information with others, or keep that data updated for others. One feature, for example, allows users to change their contact info within the app and push it as an update to others who have their information and use Sunshine Contacts.
Marissa Mayer built her reputation within the tech industry as a product leader during her tenure at Google.
Enrique Munoz Torres is her Sunshine co-founder. Earlier, the two collaborated on a number of projects, including iGoogle, a now-defunct Google product that allowed users to turn the Google website into a customized homepage for their browser.
The two left Yahoo when the sale to Verizon was completed in June 2017.
The two have been working on Sunshine since 2018. The company is based in Palo, Alto, California, and has raised a $20 million seed round from inside and outside investors including Felicis Ventures, Unusual Ventures and WIN Ventures.
Sunshine Contacts is the first in a suite of planned consumer apps. They aim for Sunshine to release apps focused on family sharing, scheduling, event organization and small group communication down the road.


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UK Stocks and Shares and Investment tips
of the Tips: Share Recommendations at 22 6 2007
publisher United Business Media are currently focusing on
improving margins and cutting costs, especially in their
CMP Technology unit, which is increasingly focusing on the
exhibition market. With shares at 14.7 times forecast earnings
and falling costs, UBM currently looks good value. Buy,
says The Independent.
Consulting were originally part of Welsh Water but underwent
a management buyout in 2001. The company provides engineering
consulting services all over the world. Full-year results
show underlying profits up from £7m last year to £9.6m,
and analysts are confident that next year will be better
still. Buy, says the Mail on Sunday.
agency Hays has seen a 19 per cent rise in total fee income
in the year just ended, reflecting a 35 per cent improvement
in the permanent market. Hays overseas expansion is continuing
successfully and the current discount in its share price
is undeserved - buy, says The Independent.
well-known high street travel company has just agreed a
merger with German company TUI, owners of Thomson Holidays.
The merger will create the world's largest travel company
and has been approved by the regulators. Happily, First
Choice CEO Peter Long will remain at the helm - a good omen
given his track record at First Choice. Buy, suggests The
Oxford University spin-off has the technology but has not
always had the commercial approach needed to generate strong
sales. That's changing with products that are much more
market-friendly and OI has now swung back into the black.
Although the company's shares look expensive at 30 times
2008 earnings, the potential is there and investors should
buy, reckons Questor in The Telegraph.
To Let Go
do most of their work for government bodies in the UK and
Europe, and their twin focus on energy and the environment
is a good match for current political hot potatoes. However,
at a price/earnings ratio of 25 time forecast earnings,
they don't look cheap. Time to take profits, says The Times.
dependency on set-top boxes for digital TV makes them seem
a little vulnerable in such a competitive market. They are
trying to diversify into personal video recorders and HD
TV products, but with their fortunes so closely tied to
sole customer BSkyB they still look vulnerable. Amstrad's
last full-year results showed pre-tax profits down 16 per
cent and sales down nearly 20 per cent - sell while the
price holds firm, suggests The Independent.
to Best Buy Tables UK
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KCP&L customers and employees can qualify for a $3,000 discount on a new 2018 Nissan Leaf through a partnership with the KCP&L Clean Charge Network and Nissan.
The rebate was extended from earlier this summer and is available through September 30 at Kansas City area Nissan dealers. Additionally, EV buyers are eligible for up to a $7,500 federal tax credit.
According to the Clean Charge Network, plug-in electric vehicles (EV) can cost two-thirds less than gas-powered vehicles to operate, They have zero tailpipe emissions, which accounts overall for 26 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
In Kansas City, KCP&L has installed more than 1,000 EV charging stations, which is the more than any other city in the United States. Over the past few years, EV manufacturers have reduced “range anxiety” by increasing the distance that each EV will go on a charge. The 2018 Leaf is rated for 150 miles on a single charge.
Learn more about the $3,000 Nissan Leaf discount from the KCP&L Clean Charge Network and the $7,500 federal tax credit from the U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy.
To compare EVs on mileage range, charging times, passenger/cargo space and pricing, go to the Clean Charge Network.


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Welcome to the redesigned Cirencester News:
We have recently revamped the Cirencester News website. The site still brings you the latest Cirencester news and events, but we have made it mobile and tablet friendly so you can now get Cirencester news on the go!
Latest Cirencester News :
The HELP Appeal, which is the only charity in the country dedicated to funding hospital helipads, has announced it is holding its third star-studded Christmas concert, following the sell-out success o...[more →]
A budding local photographer, Gary Cox, has won a national Wild Bird photography competition with one of Britains best-loved value homes and garden retailer, wilko. Local photography enthusiast, ...[more →]
Organisers of Cirencesters Advent Festival are delighted to announce that the Cotswolds Nell Gifford, founder of Giffords Circus, will be Cirencesters special guest this year to switch on the Chri...[more →]
Cirencesters second Fleece Fayre, a fun filled community May Day festival, celebrating Cirencester and its rich history of the wool trade will be returning to the Market Place on Monday 7 May 2018. ...[more →]
The Waterloo car park will be closed for 1 day on Monday 9th April for essential repairs. Motorists with parking permits may use the Brewery and Forum car parks. If using the car park on Sunday ...[more →]
The Cirencester News website brings you news and events from in and around Cirencester. Please get in touch if you have a news item or event you think we should be covering.
For computer services in the Cirencester area, try Cirencester Computers or telephone 0845 2608452
Cirencester Website Design - Web design in Cirencester and the Cotswolds


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Consumers and local patrons of famed Gardenia Bread will soon avail of cheaper prices of its high quality bakery products after Nutrimax Fresh Baked Inc., a subsidiary of Singapore-based Gardenia International Pte. Ltd. recently broke ground last August 14, 2017 of its bread manufacturing plant inside Phividec Industrial Estate specifically at Sta. Cruz, Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.
In an article from BusinessWeek Mindanao, this will be Gardenia’s 3rd production facility in the country and first in Mindanao. Gardenia established its first state-of-the-art facility in Binan, Laguna in 1998 and added its second facility in Cebu in 2011.
Products will be cheaper because of reduced delivery and transport costs.
Accordingly, the plant will be within a 2.5-hectare lot inside Phividec and includes a manufacturing and distribution facility. The company is investing some P855.7 Million for the facility. Construction is set to start in the 4th quarter of 2017 and the first bread and bakery products will be made in 14 months.
Photo below shows the façade of its Laguna plant.
Read the full details on page 6 of this online edition of BusinessWeek Mindanao below.


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Your search for "NZ Māori Tourism" found 13 results
New Zealand Māori Tourism chief executive Pania Tyson-Nathan has been inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame for services to tourism.
The new public holiday is an opportunity for Māori operators to tell their stories to the world.
NZMT’s CEO joins motorsport legend Bruce McLaren and billionaire Graeme Hart as a 2022 laureate for the NZ Business Hall of Fame.
Government agencies are better prepared to help Māori tourism businesses during this lockdown, says Willie Jackson.
New Zealand Māori Tourism will hold a webinar today to outline the financial, social and wellbeing support available to operators.
NZ Māori Tourism has acknowledged the contribution made by outgoing tourism minister Kelvin Davis.
Strong international demand for Māori tourism product meant the sector did not really needed to consider altering its products.
An experience that aligns tech, tradition and manaakitanga has won the top gong at the inaugural Māori Tourism Dragons’ Den.
Māori tourism leader Pania Tyson-Nathan will be among the people whose achievements will be celebrated at investiture ceremonies at Government House in Wellington this week.
New Zealand Māori Tourism is welcoming a high profile Chinese delegation, led by Mr Li Shihong, Vice Chairman China National Tourism Administration, to Wellington today.
Tourism has been hailed as a leading opportunity for investors looking to enter New Zealand’s thriving Māori economy, according to a new government report.
Two tourism industry leaders have been appointed to a ministerial advisory group as part of a new trade strategy that places a focus on services exports.
Take-up of Maori tourism activities jumped by almost a fifth to over 3.82m visits for the year ended 30 June 2016.


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One of North America’s largest intermodal rail providers has partnered with a leading North American supply chain solutions provider to launch an intermodal service to meet highway freight needs.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. and BNSF Railroad have partnered to create a new transportation service model called Quantum. The new model promises to provide an optimized transportation system for “service-sensitive highway freight,” per J.B. Hunt’s webpage.
On November 7, both entities announced the launch of the new Quantum intermodal service. Operators from both entities are working together at the Intermodal Innovation Center located at the BNSF headquarters in Fort Worth.
The Quantum program provides personalized solutions for customers based on their operational procedures, service expectations, and transit requirements.
Officials anticipate that Quantum customers will receive “up to 95 percent on-time delivery service approximately a day faster than traditional intermodal service,” according to a press release. Pricing will vary based on the needs of the customers. Representatives from the companies also claimed the new system will reduce carbon emissions.
“Converting over-the-road highway freight to rail intermodal is the most widely available ground transportation solution for cutting carbon emissions, reducing a shipment’s carbon footprint by an average of 60 percent compared to over-the-road truck transportation,” reads a press release.
“Quantum allows customers with service-sensitive freight to benefit from the cost savings of intermodal while reducing their carbon footprint and maintaining the level of service and consistency needed in their supply chains,” said Darren Field, president of intermodal at J.B. Hunt.
“Our joint service and capacity are unmatched. When combined with J.B. Hunt’s broad range of flexible solutions, there’s no provider in the industry who can match Quantum’s ability to move your most important freight,” he said.
Tom Williams, group vice president of consumer products at BNSF, said he and the company are excited to initiate the new program.
“Built on a long-standing strategic partnership foundation and decades of intermodal capacity expansion investments, Quantum will provide a faster and more consistent intermodal solution to customers,” said Williams, per the press release.
“Our new Intermodal Innovation Center will foster continued collaboration between our companies to continue evolving with our customers’ supply chain needs and create the intermodal solution of the future,” he said.