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Monster Hunter World is a new game that was banned by the Chinese censorship just a few days after it went on sale.
The company that created it, Tencent, said there were "a huge mass of complaints" following the restriction, but did not detail what they were about.
Earlier this year, company representatives said that over a million players had already pre-ordered the game well before its release on August 8th.
I don't know what Monster Hunter World is?
In Monster Hunter World , the main goal for the player is to chase, fight and kill many fantastic beasts in their native habitat. These beasts have nothing to do with horror monsters, but they are strong as rivals, so it is quite difficult for players to compete with them. By defeating beasts, you get the raw materials you need to create more powerful weapons and sturdier armor, and they will be needed in battle with even more dangerous creatures.
This game was originally developed by the Japanese company Capcom and was the final version of a long series. Capcom had an approach to the gaming world as a vast ecosystem, which made the virtual world alive and unpredictable.
In Europe, this game has been given an age limit of 16 due to moderate blood counts and low levels of profanity.
Capcom said it had sold 8.3 million copies of the game by July, despite being available only to PlayStation 4 and XBox One users. Monster Hunter World was named the best selling game in Capcom history this March.
It's all about the name, but it's not accurate
Tencent said it has already tweaked the title to be able to pass the Chinese market censorship, and local regulators have authorized the release of this version for sale in March.
Tencent has now offered all pre-order customers a full refund if they submit a request by a specific date.
Those who intend to continue playing the game have been warned that there is no guarantee that the game will continue to function fully after updates to this company's WeGame platform.
China likes to ban
Dozens of video games have been banned in China in the past, usually for excessive violence, drug use, or sex in the game. Plots and some titles also became the reason for censorship restrictions.
Tencent shares dropped 3.4% in one day on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
The South China Morning Mail reported that the ban on Monster Hunter World will come into effect once the local market has stopped issuing gaming licenses, and the Chinese authorities have not approved any new titles for the game since late March. p>
Great battle with mobile games
The company has already released two mobile survival games for the Chinese audience, but has not yet been allowed to launch the sale of in-game items for real money.
Tencent also ran into trouble last year when their previous game, Honor of Kings, was criticized by state media for being addictive.
In one of the articles, the game was compared to "poison".
The company has responded by imposing limits on the amount of time players under 18 can spend a day playing.
The Topic of Article: China vs. Monster Hunter World.


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Every month, as part of the service benefits, PlayStation Plus members get access to download a bunch of titles for free. In March 2021, games like Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Maquette, Remnant: From the Ashes, and Farpoint are on offer. Next month, the free game bundle is going to get even more exciting – Oddworld Soulstorm, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Quarantine and Far Cry 5 are expected to be available for free. Sony will officially announce the free games for PlayStation Plus for April 2021 on 31 March.
Far Cry 5
Launched in the year 2018 as a shooting role-playing game (RPG), Far Cry 5 is also expected to make its debut on PlayStation Plus in April. The game involves a host of elements expected to be a part of role-playing games like side quests, a competitive multiplayer mode among others.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Quarantine
Coming as a successor of the version launched in 2020, this game too is fairly new to be floated on PlayStation Plus. Packing in amazing graphics, the game was an instant hit last year.
Expected to roll out on 6 April, Oddworld Soulstorm will come as the latest offering on PlayStation Plus. The game is a part of the 22-year-old series which first made its entry for the original PlayStation console and will particularly cater to the latest Playstation 5 console.
Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison.
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November 12, 2018
NorCal-based Placer.ai recently launched a platform that allows retail landlords to monitor foot traffic and their patterns, understanding where they came from, where they went after leaving a particular center and much more. By harnessing mobile data from tens of millions of devices, Placer.ai applies the latest in AI, machine learning, and big data analytics to generate accurate insights and behavioral predictions for any location, store, or geographic area.
Connect Media asked Noam Ben-Zvi, CEO & Co-founder of Placer.ai, to share how they developed the platform, and why this information is key to success of a retail center.
Q: How did you come up with this idea?
A: We’re data guys trained to make data-driven decisions. In my previous two startups, I was an App Annie addict. At some point, it dawned on me that the retail industry is lacking similar tools for the physical world, and movement data is the key to truly understanding what’s happening in the real world. The challenge was to build an easy-to-use tool, that provides accurate, dependable and actionable insights that could lead to data-driven decision-making for the entire retail economy. That was an exciting challenge, two years in the making.
Q: What are the key features of the platform?
A: Placer.ai is the world’s most advanced foot traffic analytics platform, allowing anyone in the retail industry to instantly generate insights into any physical place for a deeper understanding of audiences and competition. Placer.ai enables its customers to make data-driven decisions based on precise human movement analytics.
Q: What impact will this technology have on the retail real estate industry?
A: This technology is going to completely change how real estate professionals do business and make decisions. Up until now, they’ve only had access to inaccurate, generalized data. These professionals now have access to valuable data as it pertains to their properties and their competitors. For the first time, it’s possible to know where customers work, reside, and frequent with specificity. Ultimately, these insights help create compelling stories to drive leasing interest, analyze new acquisitions, add property management value to tenants, and focus marketing efforts.
For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dennis Kaiser


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Researchers at the University of Tsukuba investigate a new method for generating coherent signals in silicon chips using laser-induced vibrations which may greatly accelerate the development of new quantum computers with superior performance
A team at the University of Tsukuba studied a novel process for creating coherent lattice waves inside silicon crystals using ultrashort laser pulses. Using theoretical calculations combined with experimental results that were obtained at the University of Pittsburgh, they were able to show that coherent vibrational signals could be maintained inside the samples. This research may lead to quantum computers based on existing silicon devices that can rapidly perform tasks out of the reach of even the fastest supercomputers now available.
From home PCs to business servers, computers are a central part of our everyday life, and their power continues to grow at an astounding rate. However, there are two big problems looming on the horizon for classical computers. The first is a fundamental limit on how many transistors we can pack into a single processor. Eventually, a totally new approach will be needed if we are to continue to increase their processing capacity. The second is that even the most powerful computers struggle with certain important problems, such as the cryptographic algorithms that keep your credit card number safe on the internet, or the optimization of routes for delivering packages.
The solution to both problems may be quantum computers, which take advantage of the rules of physics that govern very small length scales, as with atoms and electrons. In the quantum regime, electrons act more like waves than billiard balls, with positions that are “smeared-out” rather than definite. In addition, various components can become entangled, such that the properties of each one cannot be completely described without reference to the other. An effective quantum computer must maintain the coherence of these entangled states long enough to perform calculations.
In the current research, a team at the University of Tsukuba and Hrvoje Petek, RK Mellon Chair of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh used very short laser pulses to excite electrons inside a silicon crystal. “The use of existing silicon for quantum computing will make the transition to quantum computers much easier,” first author Dr. Yohei Watanabe explains. The energetic electrons created coherent vibrations of the silicon structure, such that the motions of the electron and the silicon atoms became entangled. The state of the system was then probed after a variable delay time with a second laser pulse.
Based on their theoretical model, the scientists were able to explain oscillations observed in the charge generated as a function of delay time. “This experiment reveals the underlying quantum mechanical effects governing the coherent vibrations,” says senior author Prof. Muneaki Hase, who performed the experiments. “In this way, the project represents a first step towards affordable consumer quantum computers.”
The Latest on: Consumer quantum computers
via Google News
The Latest on: Consumer quantum computers
- Quantum computing research helps IBM win top spot in patent raceon January 12, 2021 at 3:16 am
IBM secured 9,130 US patents in 2020, more than any other company as measured by an annual ranking, and this year quantum computing showed up as part of Big Blue's research effort. The company ...
- 10 trends predicted to shape 2021’s tech industryon January 10, 2021 at 8:16 pm
Alibaba’s DAMO Academy, the global research initiative by Alibaba Group, provides its forecast of the top 10 leading trends that will shape the tech industry in the year ahead. 1. The application of ...
- Alibaba DAMO Academy's top 10 trends for 2021, from 'post-quantum-supremacy', to brain computer interfaces, AI R&D acceleration and moreon January 10, 2021 at 5:32 pm
Alibaba's global research initiative has compiled its must-read forecast of the fascinating leading trends that will shape the tech industry in the year ahead. From the application of third-generation ...
- Pioneering university startups on show at the world’s biggest tech showon January 10, 2021 at 4:37 am
Tech startups from the University of Southampton will unveil revolutionary AI and quantum technology products at CES 2021 – as the UK’s only university representative. Innovative technology ...
- CES 2021: Fraunhofer IOF showcasing quantum technologies for communication and microscopyon January 8, 2021 at 11:17 am
Highly secure communication and the latest microscopy for medicine: leading-edge technologies from the world of quanta will be presented by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision ...
- 10 exciting tech industry trends to look out for in 2021 according to Alibabaon January 8, 2021 at 2:20 am
Alibaba's DAMO Academy has released a forecast of the top 10 trends that will shape the tech industry in the year 2021.
- More HDMI® 2.1 Enabled Products Reach The Market Bringing Advanced Consumer Entertainment Features To A Wide Audience
- Project Natick: Microsoft's underwater voyage of discoveryon January 5, 2021 at 8:18 am
Microsoft’s underwater data center experiment employed wave energy and post-quantum cryptography on the seabed off Scotland. But the big lessons could be learnt on land ...
- Legal Tech’s Predictions for Tech Regulation in 2021on January 5, 2021 at 4:08 am
From the impact of Brexit to online advertising and net neutrality, here's what attorneys and tech experts are watching in tech regulation over the next 12 months.
- How Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chipsets Market Booming Worldwide? Fortune Business Insightson January 5, 2021 at 1:09 am
The global artificial intelligence (AI) chipsets market size is expected to reach USD 108.85 billion by 2027, exhibiting ...
via Bing News


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First, the FDA was urged to upgrade to modern data systems. The review found that the agency utilized outdated technology that lacked coordination– which may have contributed to the FDA’s delayed response to the baby formula safety complaints.
Additionally, the FDA was encouraged to “optimize its emergency response capabilities”– including the clarification of command structure– as well as “focus on industry accountability.” The recommendations ultimately reveal that the FDA needs additional authorities and resources to ensure consumer protection. And Califf claims the administration is already working on it.
“The agency has already updated some existing processes and procedures that will allow the agency to respond more quickly during a public health emergency,” he said.
Some of these “immediate changes” include streamlining how community members can contact the FDA about food product concerns and improving the FDA’s emergency response structure.
However, Califf also underscored how the FDA is not suited to tackle the baby formula shortage alone– and he called on industry leaders to review the latest report and lend a hand.
“The situation at the Abbot Sturgis facility has highlighted just how little authority the FDA has to compel many companies to ‘do the right thing’ without intervention. The long-term resiliency of the infant formula supply chain will rely on greater diversification of manufacturers,” Califf said.
This includes new stakeholders entering the U.S. marketplace and the investment in new manufacturing facilities by infant formula producers.
“I encourage those who have an interest in strengthening the U.S. food supply and supporting the agency’s ongoing efforts to read this report,” Califf added.
In the meantime, the statement underscored the FDA’s commitment to doing everything possible to avoid future shortages and ensuring that caregivers have access to infant formula. To read the FDA’s complete statement, visit the link here. Or, to view the agency review, visit the link here.
If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe


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Cool Cats 'Plushies' Forward With Toys Partnership Following Cooltopia Launch
After weeks of persistent chatter from the Cool Cats community about when Blue Cat plushies will be released to the public, the moment has finally arrived. Today, Cool Cats announced its official partnership with Toikido, a toy manufacturing and distribution company, to launch plushies, other toys, and merchandise around the world.
This comes days after the months-delayed release of Cooltopia, the project's gaming ecosystem. Toikido will help bring the Cooltopia metaverse to the physical world.
"Toys, plushies, and premium merch have been a continual ask from the community since early on," Cool Cats co-founder Evan Luza (ELU) told Business Wire. "We're stoked to be able to work with the right partner who can ensure we're delivering the caliber of goodies to our community that they deserve."
The new line of Cool Cats toys and merchandise is expected to debut at NFT.NYC, an annual non-fungible token event hosting its fourth community gathering since 2019 this June.
Due to the company's "internal capabilities, proprietary technology, and tooling," Toikido is able to avoid supply chain and warehousing delays and bring toys and merchandise to market three to six months faster than most competitors.
And Cool Cats is not its first major endeavor. Toikido has worked with industry giants Disney, Netflix, Pixar, BBC, Universal, and more to design toys for shows like Back to the Outback and games like Among Us.
"NFTs are a passion of mine, and Cool Cats has been a favorite right out of the gate," Toikido founder and CEO Darran Garnham told Business Wire. "People absolutely love these characters, and I know that Toikido is the right company to inject the essence of Blue Cat into product designs that will delight the community and increase awareness of the very special creature that are Cool Pets."
The Cool Cats team is expected to exclusively reserve certain toy drops for Cool Cats and Cool Pets holders only.
Cool Cats recently partnered with Creative Artists Agency (CAA), an American talent and sports agency that manages celebrities like Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Zendaya, and Reese Witherspoon and athletes like Devin Booker, Paul George, Shohei Ohtani, and Dwyane Wade. CAA brokered the deal with Toikido.
This marks the beginning of Cool Cats effort to become the cool, fun, family-friendly brand in the NFT space.
In recent town hall meetings, the Cool Cats team has eluded to, but refused to confirm, work on a television show or movie. They've also indicated many new branding opportunities are in the works.


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Iceland has increased the number of delivery slots it can offer as demand has rocketed during the UK's lockdown.
The supermarket says it has added 3,000 new staff since August 2019 after demand for home delivery rose 300% in the past 12 months. It says the Christmas period will mean that demand is unlikely to drop in the next few months.
Recruiting extra staff means Iceland is delivering a quarter of a million orders every week, according to the supermarket.
David Devany, Chief Customer and Digital Officer at Iceland Foods, said: “We’ve been blown away by the demand for deliveries over the past six months with a four-fold increase in online orders since the beginning of lockdown. We see no sign of a slowdown in the demand for deliveries in the run up to Christmas, so a recruitment drive for more permanent staff was essential."
The news comes just in time as a deals website has launched a big discount on the supermarket. Deals website Topcashback is offering to give any new member £15 in cash when they spend £35 or more at Iceland, cutting the price of a £35 shop to just £20.
The deal works with click and collect and home delivery when you sign up here and follow the instructions. Head to Iceland and complete the shop using the store's best deals to take the value over £35.
You will then receive £15 in cashback to help towards the cost of your shop.
The deal can be stacked with a voucher code to get an extra £5 off on the Iceland website. If you spend more than £40 in an online shop the supermarket is offering £5 off when you use the code ICEFIVE. It is available for all new customers to Iceland making their first order.
Spending £40 and using the voucher code, and then adding in the cashback deal, means a £40 shop will cost just £20 when you stack the deals.


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TRENDING ON ONEINDIA
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- Free OnePlus 6T On Upcoming Black Friday Sale — Here's How
- Jawa Vs Royal Enfield — A Brief Comparison
- Salman Khan's Bharat Movie, Hoists Pakistani Flag In Indian Soil; Locals Upset
- The Health Wonders of Arugula: The Mediterranean Wonder Plant
- Did You Know That Cashback On Shopping Is Taxable?
- Winter Destinations In Uttarakhand
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In an effort to come down on unhealthy practice in retail loans, the Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to refrain from offering 0% Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) schemes on consumer products bought through credit cards. This move comes ahead of the festival season, a time at which manufacturers see their highest volumes of sales.
Ban to hurt mobile sales, especially of high-end phones
This ban is bound to hurt the mobile phone sales in India because many consumers buy expensive smartphones using these schemes. Shoppers are comfortable with paying for products in installments as opposed to large, one time payments. Currently, companies like Apple, Samsung, Nokia and others offer such schemes on select credit cards.
Why 0 % schemes are vital for sales
Customers have an option of paying for the products over long periods of time through installments. You can choose to pay for the phone over 3 months to a year. Another important aspect is that consumer don't have to pay a down payment while purchasing these products. Owing to all these benefits, manufacturers have been able to sell their high-end phones with ease through 0 % EMI schemes. The EMI plans allow customers to overlook the high costs of premium handsets and splurge immediately.
The truth behind 0 % schemes
The government wants consumer to understand that in the 0 % EMI schemes offered on credit card purchases, the interest element is often camouflaged and passed on to the customer in the form of a processing fee.
How will things change after the ban comes into place?
There will be uniform processing charges and interest rates, product and segment-wise regardless of sourcing channel.
How it will benefit the consumer
Also, the move is good for the economy, since the government wants the consumer to avoid stacking up debts. Instead, it wants to bring back the good old habit of saving up for expensive things. The move makes sense since zero percent EMI schemes cause people tp spend money that they don't have.


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SHENZHEN, China–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Malong Technologies, an artificial intelligence startup and international provider of product recognition technology, was named winner in the “Olympics of Startups” held at the G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance, in Berlin.
Malong Technologies’ breakthrough ProductAI® platform is a high performance ‘intelligent eye’ that enables machines to have human-like visual perception of products, including non-rigid objects such as fashion and fabrics, which have historically been infeasible for computers to recognize accurately without barcodes.
Malong Technologies beat startups from every nation at the G20, which represents the 20 major economies of the world. Judged by officials of the European Union and other international organizations, the competition, run by the “Get in the Ring” foundation, led participants through a series of six rounds held over two days, and included ‘head-to-head’ oratory matchups inside a replica boxing ring.
The three winning nations include China, represented by Malong Technologies, Canada, and France. As winners, Malong Technologies will benefit from the international visibility which can help open doors to more global customers for its product recognition technology.
Matthew Scott, Malong Technologies’ co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, explains: “We are immensely proud to represent China at the highest level of international competition for emerging companies. It’s incredibly rewarding that the judges recognized the potential for ProductAI® to help transform traditional industries around the world by becoming significantly more efficient through AI integration.”
Launched in 2016, ProductAI® has successfully answered over one billion image requests from users in China. It enables retailers and manufacturers in sectors such as fashion, textiles, furniture, wine, stock photography and automotive industries to improve efficiency, product quality and create new value-added features for their customers.
Its technology offers human-like visual search through 100 million scale product catalogs in less than a second to find items taken from images in the physical world, connecting it to their digital counterparts. The technology, offered as an API or as embedded hardware, can be applied to real-time camera-based retail apps, large-scale product image analysis, microscopic-level product quality detection, and security scenarios such as automatic product detection in baggage scanners.
For more information about ProductAI® click here.
The Honey Partnership
+44 117 942 1997


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The new “Local Trade” update gives Blue Wallet users a way to privately trade Bitcoin from their smartphones.
Want to buy and sell Bitcoin without revealing your identity? There’s a mobile app for that.
The team behind Blue Wallet, an open source and Bitcoin-focused mobile wallet, released “Local Trader” on Friday, an integration for private peer-to-peer trading through Hodl Hodl. Blue Wallet users on iOS and Android are now able to browse P2P offers for Bitcoin directly in the Blue Wallet app, meaning they no longer have to go on seperate desktop browser exchanges to trade.
Check out the first version of our “Local Trader” feature, powered by @hodlhodl
This is an alpha release for feedback and violent reactions. Leave yours!
What do you want to see next? pic.twitter.com/kLSigZagVf
— Blue Wallet (@bluewalletio) April 3, 2020
“BlueWallet has 60k+ downloads,” Hodl Hodl CEO Max Keidun told Decrypt. “So with this one integration we will be able to bring thousands of new people to KYC-free, non-custodial P2P trading.” Keidun further stated that adding the service to the mobile app is “a next step in BTC mass-adoption and next step in adoption of P2P trading.”
With Blue Wallet, users can trade on Hodl Hodl with just an email address that doesn’t have to be linked to their identity. Users can then search or post offers by country, type, payment option, and currency for exchange. Hodl Hodl also said it’s working with Blue Wallet to add new features like in-app contracts and more advanced trading features.
This is another step in Blue Wallet’s “preparation for war” to give users a “hedge against all regulated exchanges going bad” with know-your-customer and anti-money laundering surveillance. Most big exchanges now require buyers and sellers to reveal their identity. Other formerly private P2P exchanges like Paxful and LocalBitcoins have succumbed to pressure from authorities to do identity checks on users.
As for concerns with how authorities might react to this, Hodl Hodl said it has a backup plan, if needed. “We are non-custodial, thus we don’t hold or process any funds, and by that we are not subject to regulation,” Keidun said. “There might be problems in the future but we have Plan B, Plan C and other plans to tackle these issues and create censorship-resistant and efficient trading.”


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Teva Pharma, P&G sets up OTC plant in Gujarat
Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals, an $18 billion generic drug maker will set up OTC medicine facility in Gujarat in collaboration with Procter & Gamble.
Imagineering 2015: Let's be bold this year
India is facing a near perfect storm of domestic and global goodwill. Corporate India must seize t...


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(Read More: LinkedIn's Changes Are Working, Price Hikes Planned)
The business network has overhauled Recruiter's look—streamlining it and cleaning it up. It's taking a page from the success of its revamped profile pages, with easy access to a search bar, wherever users are on the page, as well as just one quick motion to see saved searches. Based on the results of the redesigned profile pages, the new emphasis on search is expected to drive user engagement.
LinkedIn's Senior Director of Product management, Parker Barrile, said the goal is to make the new software "simpler and cleaner than the old version, with powerful new features." The inbox is moved to the top of the page, allowing users to jump to messages from anywhere on the site.
(Read More: Where Do LinkedIn's Biggest Influencers Work?)
And perhaps most important for LinkedIn's push to add more recruiters and get them to spend more time on the site, the new service automates a lot more of the process. A suggestion engine recommends people you may want to hire, prompting recruiters to "dive right into profiles that you wouldn't find by searching," Barrile said.
The new system has been piloted by a handful of customers. Starting Wednesday, 10 percent of customers will have access. By the end of April, it will be rolled out to 100 percent of English speaking customers.
(Read More: What's Social Buzz Worth? Twitter & Coke Weigh In)
—By CNBC's Julia Boorstin; Follow her on Twitter: @JBoorstin


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Samsung Officially Introduces Exynos Modem 5100 – Industry’s First 5G Modem With up to 2Gbps Download Speeds Capability
Samsung is greatly involved in 5G deployment and has pledged to inject a ton of money for the expansion of the next-generation connectivity standard. That expansion will begin starting today, with the announcement of the Exynos Modem 5100, which is the industry’s first 5G modem that is fully compatible with 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 15 (Rel.15), which is the most up-to-date standard specification for 5G New Radio (5G-NR).
The Samsung Exynos Modem 5100 Is Based on the 10nm Technology and Supports Ratio Access Designed Into a Single Chip
According to the company’s press release, Samsung successfully managed to conduct an over-the-air 5G-NR data call test under a wireless environment utilizing a 5G base station and 5G end-user equipment prototype embedded with the newly introduced Exynos Modem 5100. Smartphone and future tablet manufacturers will be able to feel at ease with the latest test because it was simulated under real-world cellular network conditions. As a result, this will ensure faster development and commercialization of 5G mobile devices that adopt this new modem.
To make 5G connectivity a ubiquitous element, Samsung is working closely with a number of global mobile carriers and partners to quickly bring 5G mobile communications to the market. Coming to the specifications, the Exynos Modem 5100 supports both sub-6GHz and mmWave spectrums specified in 3GPP’s 5G standard as well as legacy networks, including 2G GSM/CDMA, 3G WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, HSPA, and 4G LTE, with a single chip solution.
What this means is that the latest modem will be backwards compatible to work with carriers that have still yet to adopt the 5G standard. As 5G is expected to be first deployed over existing network infrastructures, commercial implementation will benefit from the single-chip design that maximizes data transmission efficiency and reliability between other communication networks.
The Exynos Modem 5100 can deliver a maximum downlink speed of up to 2Gbps in 5G’s sub-6GHz settings and 6Gbps in mmWave settings, which are about 1.7 and five times the data transfer speeds of its predecessor, respectively. On 4G networks, that speed comes down but is still at a very respectable 1.6Gbps.
The press release states that the latest solution from Samsung will be available for OEMs and its partners by the end of 2018. Unfortunately, the Exynos Modem 5100 might not officially debut with the announcement of the Galaxy S10 or Galaxy S10 Plus.
You might also like to check out:
- Samsung Betting Huge on 5G Connectivity and AI With a Whopping $160 Billion Investment to Prop up Its Mobile Business
- Lenovo Planning to Launch the First 5G-Capable Smartphone That Will Also Sport a Snapdragon 855
- What is 5G Connectivity? Here Is Everything You Want to Know About the Next Wireless Networking Standard
News Source: Samsung


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MILAN — Continuing the piecemeal disposal of its remaining retail assets, PPR said its Redcats division has reached an agreement to sell two Nordic brands for an enterprise value of 275 million euros, or $362.7 million at current exchange.
Nordic Capital Fund VII is to purchase the Ellos and Jotex businesses, which sell apparel and home wares respectively in the Scandinavian market.
PPR is exiting retail to focus on apparel and accessories in the luxury and sports-lifestyle segments. Last year, it revealed plans to demerge and float Fnac, a struggling retailer of books, music and home electronics.
The French group said the Nordic transaction should be finalized in the coming months.
Assets remaining in Redcats’ sprawling portfolio include La Redoute and Daxon.
PPR’s stable of brands includes Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Stella McCartney, Bottega Veneta, Puma, Volcom and its latest additions, London designer firm Christopher Kane and the Chinese jeweler Qeelin.
Etro’s show, titled “The Tree of Life,” was a celebration of the house’s 50th anniversary. “My father founded the company in 1968, which was the year of counterculture and psychedelia. It’s really a show that celebrates that and the paisley design of India and its origin,” said Veronica Etro. #wwdfashion #mfw #ss18 (📷: @delphineachard)
For @msgm’s spring 2018 show, creative director @massimogiorgetti said “Words, sounds, colors. Synthesis and therapy of a collection,” were the inspirations behind the collection, showing today. Read the rest of Milan spring 2018 inspirations on WWD.com. #mfw #wwdfashion #ss18
For her first solo album in over 10 years, Fergie tapped Carine Roitfeld, Mert and Marcus, Giovanni Bianco and more to create a fashion-focused video approach for the record, Double Dutchess. "Giovanni really helped me get back in touch with my tomboy side, my hardside," said the singer. #wwdeye #wwdfashion ( : @slovekinpics)
“Volumes and Graphic Art of the Nineties are the main inspirations of the new Aquilano.Rimondi SS 2018 collection,” said cocreative directors Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi. #wwdfashion #mfw #ss18


text: From $25 mln in Atlanta to $220,000 in tiny Zanesville, Ohio, local advertisers have begun to spend larger amounts on paid search advertising, according to Borrell Associates. Smaller local businesses are doubling their expenditures in 2006, up from $420 mln in 2005. Local advertisers were buying 36% of all text ads on Google and Yahoo results pages. When Borrell conducted this research 18 months ago, the figure was 5.6%. The highest users were local real estate agents, who were buying nearly half the links on city keywords. In some markets like Tampa, local agents occupied as much 80% of the sponsored links.


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adidas also releases the Yeezy BOOST 350 V2 Black
We took a quick break yesterday, but as you all know by now, all hell broke loose with the info regarding one of the more anticipated colorways of the adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2 is set to drop this weekend. Do note that this is different from the previous Yeezy posted last Monday. This Friday, June 7th, adidas is releasing the Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Black (aka Static Non-Reflective).
Tracing back this 4-year old silhouette, this will be the first time in a long while (actually, since the Pirate Black 350 V1) that adidas is releasing a tonal black colorway. Although the re-engineered Primeknit does feature a post-dyed monofilament side stripe on the upper, this will be one of the colorways anticipated by the masses. There is however a tinge of reflective material on the threads used for the shoe’s laces to add some more flare to the low-key colorway.
The adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Black drops tomorrow, June 7th, via the adidas Online Store, adidas Originals Neighborhood Store (BGC), Sole Academy (via Online Raffle), and Commonwealth (Copdate runs today). The shoe retails for Php 11,495.


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We’ve already heard of wireless charging with accessories like the Powermat and the out-of-the-box Nokia Lumia 920 with its “pillow charger” but this is the first Android device to be released with this feature. The induction coil chargers are not as efficient as the regular USB-to-wall chargers but they’re still hella cool to watch. There will come a day, of course, when these charging plates will be a mainstay in every home, which means, like, your work desk is also a huge charger.
The Google Nexus 4 is a 4.7 inch device running on a quad core processor and Android v4.2 Jelly Bean. It also comes with the new Photo Sphere feature for the camera which allows you to take 360-degree photos of objects. It also features Gesture Typing which allows you to hover over the letters of the virtual keyboard to input text.
8GB for $299; 16GB for $349; available unlocked and without a contract on 11/13 on the Google Play store in the U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain and Canada. The 16GB version will also be available through T-Mobile for $199, with a 2-year contract (check here for more details).
Google has been working closely with Samsung to unveil the latest iteration of its ‘Nexus’ line. Simply put, whenever you see a phone tagged as Nexus, it means that it was made with direct collaboration with Google, not just through the regular Android licensing agreement for hardware manufacturers. So what does this mean?
Exciting. This news is so exciting, I decided to post the full press release. Thanks to Aileen Apolo, Ms. Google Earth Philippines for sending this over. If you own an Android phone, this is all the more reason to keep it. I can finally buy the full license of ROBO DEFENSE!!!!
TL;DR: Paid Android apps can now be bought in the Philippines via VISA and Mastercard
FULL PRESS RELEASE:
Google expands support for paid Android apps to consumers in the Philippines
(Manila, Philippines, May 12, 2011) – Today Google announced that Android Market will increase consumer access and developer support for paid applications in several new countries, including the Philippines. Consumers from 99 new countries will be able to purchase apps from Android Market. This latest expansion of Android Market means more applications — including games, social, and productivity apps — for consumers.
The number of countries where Android users can purchase priced apps will increase to 131 including the addition of the Philippines. Consumers from these newly supported countries will now have access to over 200,000 free and paid apps in Android Market, which they can access directly from their Android-powered device. Apps will be priced in US Dollars, and can be bought through Google Checkout, which supports local Mastercard and Visa credit cards.
Android Market was launched to help developers distribute mobile applications on a level playing field, while enabling users to find and download apps that leverage the unique capabilities of the Android platform. Google is pleased to announce the expansion of Android Marketâ€™s offerings in these additional countries to deliver more apps for more people.
About Google Inc.
Googleâ€™s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top Web property in all major global markets. Googleâ€™s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall Web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.ph.
If you’re a fanboy like me, you’re probably still awake waiting for the live stream. Have you read the fine print at the bottom of the announcement? You need to be running on Safari or using iOS to view the stream. WTF! Sure, they’re doing a stress test of their new datacenters but they just shut out everybody running Windows from viewing the stream. From the other side of the coin though, the live stream quality is amazing.


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As Patek Philippe’s own advertising says, “You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation.” Or in the equally apropos words of Goldman Sachs Elevator, you merely look after it for your dickhead son. So why has a Patek Philippe 5711, one of the brand’s hottest watches, come up for auction only three months after it was first released?
The watch in question is the Patek Philippe Nautilus Ref. 5711-1A-010, a newly added model to the Nautilus collection with a beautiful olive green dial. This week, the auction house Antiquorum listed the first example of the watch for sale since its initial release back in early April – a sale that will effectively set the market price for this model in the future.
Featured in Antiquorum’s upcoming Monaco sale, estimates have placed the watch’s value between US$60,000 and US$120,000, which seems almost laughably low. For reference, the same model has been listed by a grey-market dealer with an asking price of US$363,600 (more than ten times the RRP). That’s nearly half a million Australian dollars for a watch that retails for less than $50,000.
What’s even more special about the watch offered by Antiquorum is that it’s still in the original factory sealed bag. This guarantees that the watch has never been worn, despite the fact Patek Philippe banned the sale of its watches with factory seals intact four years ago. This means whichever Patek Philippe Authorised Dealer sold the watch is likely to be blacklisted by the Genevan watchmaker from ever selling their wares again.
Yet another possibility is a now-blacklisted customer has made the sale through Antiquorum. Patek Philippe is renowned for selling their most desirable watches exclusively to clients who actually admire both the craftsmanship and history of the timepieces – not those simply looking to flip it for a massive profit. There are rumours of brands such as Patek Philippe and Rolex buying back their own watches at auction, in order to trace the owner through the serial number, and prevent them from buying watches from the brand ever again.
Antiquorum is understandably thrilled to be able to offer the watch, with CEO of Antiquorum Romain Réa stating:
“The Patek Philippe Nautilus continues to be one of the biggest bestsellers in watchmaking. An incredibly coveted and sought-after model, we are honoured and proud to offer for the first time at auction a Ref. 5711/1A in fantastic condition, which since its introduction in 2021 by the brand is already sold out everywhere.”
The green dial Nautilus was released on the back of the announcement that Patek Philippe would discontinue the same reference with a blue dial, news which caused prices to skyrocket on a watch that was already selling for multiple times its RRP on the second-hand market.
But how much will the olive green dial Patek Philippe Nautilus Reference 5711-1A-010 sell for at auction in Monaco later this month? It’s impossible to know until the hammer finally comes down, though you could confidently speculate that it’ll sell for more than its unsealed sibling, which has a price tag of US$363,600. Is US$400,000 out of the question? When it comes to the Patek Philippe Nautilus, absolutely not.
Check out the Antiquorum catalogue listing below and if you’ve just received a raise, maybe even register to bid.


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The share of information and communication technology (ICT) in India's services exports "declined marginally" between 2006 and 2016, contrary to the trend in nations like China, Brazil, Russia and the Philippines, indicating rising competition for India from such countries, the Economic Survey
The Economic Survey, tabled in Parliament, cited World Bank
database as on January 19, 2018, to say that ICT accounted for 67 per cent of India's services exports in 2016, compared with 68 per cent in 2006.
"The share of ICT in total services exports for India declined marginally during the decade (2006-2016), while the ICT share in total services exports has increased in economies like China, Brazil, Russia, Philippines, Israel and Ukraine...," it said.
This indicated "increasing competition" for India from these countries, it added.
ICT share in China's service exports grew from 22 per cent to 40 per cent in 2006-2016, while Brazil saw this contribution increase from 43 per cent to 55 per cent, during this period.
Referring to RBI data, the Survey said "software exports registered a growth of (-)0.7 per cent in 2016-17".
However, during the first half of the financial year 2017-18, it grew by 2.3 per cent, the Survey said taking note of growth in "software returning to positive territory".
While the prospects for India's overall service sector looks "bright" on the back of good performance of sub-sectors like tourism, aviation, and telecom, the "downward risk...lies in the external environment for software and business services", it cautioned.
The US, the UK and the European Union
account for around 90 per cent of India's total IT & IT enabled services exports.
"While there are new challenges surfacing in these traditional geographies, demand from APAC (Asia Pacific), Latin America and Middle East Asia is growing and new opportunities are emerging for expanding in continental Europe, Japan, China and Africa," it said.
Offering a snapshot of the country's IT-BPM sector, it said the industry
employed nearly 3.9 million people in 2016- 17, adding about 1.73 lakh people over 2015-16.
The industry comprises over 16,000 firms that offer complete range of services, and over 4,750 start-ups, it added.


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On today's Pocketnow Daily, we talk about the new iPhone 11 Pro, the new color variants for the Huawei P30 series and more
The upcoming ASUS ROG Phone 2, according to a recent teaser posted by the company on Weibo, will feature a 120Hz refresh rate display.
If you like the Surface Pro, you'll LOVE the ASUS ROG Mothership. It's like a Surface Pro on steroids, for the gamers out there.
ASUS has finally made the announcement that the ROG Phone will be launching in the US on October 18. Check out the details!
Hardcore gamers will no doubt appreciate the unique design of the hot new Asus ROG Phone, as well as its slew of optional accessories and pretty much unbeatable specifications.


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Lagos Trade Fair
As the Lagos International Trade Fair commences, the Federal Government has expressed optimism about improved value-chain development between Nigerian businesses and foreign exhibitors, thus enhancing economic growth.
Dangote Industries Ltd said that customers desiring to become distributors of its products would have the opportunity at the 2021 Lagos International Trade Fair.
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), has announced its preparedness to host the 35th edition of the Lagos International Trade Fair themed ‘Connecting Businesses, Creating Value’.
5 Nov 2019
Four days into the 31st edition of the Lagos International Trade Fair, exhibitors have decried low patronage of their wares.The traders also criticized the lackadaisical attitude of the organisers towards their plight.
1 Nov 2019
The atmosphere of the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos, was different yesterday with last-minute preparations as the 31st edition of the Lagos International Trade Fair begins today. The fair, which is being promoted by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), will hold from November 1 to 10
12 Nov 2018
The 2018 Lagos international trade fair ended yesterday with mixed feelings among exhibitors and customers, as there was low turnout and sales.Products and services were on offer, ranging from fast-moving goods to household items, electronics, and vehicles.


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A Queenstown tour operator says they're in a heartbreaking situation, with many in the region still awaiting payment for pre-lockdown tours.
The company which passes on the payments has frozen its operations, leaving small businesses tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket.
Glenorchy High Country Horses is one of the companies now facing an uncertain future, previously an experience people come thousands of kilometres to enjoy.
"I have had to drop down to nine staff but once this relief package ends, it will go down to five," boss Deana Insley told 1 NEWS.
"It's heartbreaking. I have all the horses and winter feed paid for but I don't have the wages there to pay my employees."
It's a problem many in the area are facing after Australian-based payment processing company, Website Travel, stopped paying out.
"I know of half a dozen that are owed more than $1 million, they've performed the service," Clusta-Southland MP Hamish Walker says.
"I know of one helicopter [company], they've had this huge cost of putting helicopters in the air now they're not getting it paid."
Companies like Website Travel take care of the transaction between tour agents and operators.
A tourist pays for an activity with the agent, that money is then held until the activity is done, and then the operator applies for the cash.
But last month, Website Travel told its creditors it needed to raise $12 million both here and in Australia.
It aimed to have all outstanding payments made by early May, but Ms Insley is still waiting.
"The staff I have, which I consider our family - they're not corporate, they're family - they've had to look at having to move and to find other jobs to support their families elsewhere," she says.
In an email to operators, the group which owns Website Travel says its funding model has unwound during lockdown, and it needed to raise capital to repair the balance sheet.
It says it's trying to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
"This is not their money to spend so my argument is, where is it?" Ms Insley says.
Lawyer Graeme Todd says it's a significant problem in an area like Queenstown.
"It seems strange, obviously a very large sum of money has gone missing."
It's another blow for a tourism sector that is already struggling.


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Total 6 Posts
Memories are an important part of our identity and we increasingly entrust them to the cloud – with potentially serious consequences.
Some of the most popular online videos are of people whispering, turning book pages or gently tapping computer keys. What is going on? A researcher explains the quest for 'brain tingles.'
Every day, it seems, new ultra-high-resolution video games are released, syncing with players’ social media accounts and ready for virtual reality headsets. Yet old games from the 1970s and 1980s are still in high demand. The Nintendo Corporation has moved recently to both quash and exploit that popularity, shutting down


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Hybrids not so promising a panacea
Retired General Motors vice-chairman Bob Lutz claims that the high production costs of hybrid vehicles is pushing up the sticker price of non-hybrid cars.
“GM will lose money on hybrids,” he said recently. “We will continue to build them — and the cost will be spread across other cars.”
Lutz also believes hybrid cars will never make up more than 10 per cent of the U.S. market — now the market share fluctuates between a lowly one and two per cent in North America.
Toyota — the biggest hybrid manufacturer — disagrees. In response, a Toyota release revealed, “We will strive to make a million hybrids a year and as we achieve economies of scale, hybrid prices will come down.
“Hybrid vehicles are more complex, so there is a premium over non-hybrid vehicles, but we believe the overall cost of ownership, with the lower running costs, outweigh the initial purchase costs over non-hybrid cars.”
Hate to be a party pooper, but I think both are optimistic projections. There’s much talk about the eco-desirability of hybrids by people in my circle but when it comes down to actually buying one, few do. Hybrids have been around for more than 10 years and there are more available now than ever before yet the technology struggles to crack the two-per-cent market-share barrier.
The difference in CO2 emissions between hybrids and cars powered by conventional gas engines can be significant. However, costs to the consumer are what drive most purchase decisions, not eco-friendliness.
The BC Automobile Association 2009 Hybrid Cost Study is not encouraging. The Honda Civic Hybrid was the only success story in pure cost savings. After five years of driving, the savings were calculated to be a measly $1,771 when compared with the regular Civic. The Toyota Prius was ranked against the Toyota Matrix, as it exists only as a hybrid, which maybe a fair comparison but not a favour-able one. Though the former spewed out 51 per cent fewer emissions than the latter, the Prius cost $4,732 more to operate.
It was a much worse story with most other hybrids currently produced. You would likely have to own most hybrids for at least seven or eight years to get into the break-even territory, which, I wager, is just not practical for most people. And the numbers will get worse after the new Harmonized Sales Tax wipes out the current Provincial Sales Tax Exemptions on hybrid purchases.
Plug-in hybrids are on the horizon, which will enable limited all-electric propulsion for short distances, thus reducing operating costs. However, we have no indication what premium will be tacked onto the already expensive hybrid car sticker prices.
For urban use, the greatest hope seems to lie with all-electric cars. In the case of extensive highway travel we will likely look to such cars as the Chevy Volt, which is essentially an electric vehicle drawing energy from a gas driven generator once the battery has drained. In 10 years, just maybe we will be driving fuel cell vehicles, but don’t hold your breath.
One last observation. It seems most taxi companies in these parts are operating fleets dominated by Toyota Prius hybrids. The way I see these vehicles driven around town — accelerate, brake, accelerate, brake — I doubt they are achieving anywhere near the fuel economy or emission reductions attainable when operated in a more judicious manner.
Photograph by: Handout, Automobile Journalists Association of Canada


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Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei announced that he has changed his mind about executing people for having gay sex.
"I am aware that there are many questions and misperceptions with regard to the implementation of the SPCO [Syariah Penal Code Order]," the oil-rich billionaire said in a speech. "However, we believe that once these have been cleared, the merit of the law will be evident."
The sultan's decision might have had something to do with the fact that businesses around the world are boycotting Brunei-owned businesses.
Banks, including Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Citi and Nomura, have banned staff from using [nine hotels owned by the sultanate], which include the Dorchester in London and the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, while numerous organizations have canceled events.
Transport for London (TfL), which is responsible for London's transport system, removed adverts promoting Brunei as a tourism destination from the city's public transport network last month.
STA Travel, a global travel agency, stopped selling flights on Royal Brunei Airlines, while Virgin Australia Airlines ended an agreement that offered staff discounted tickets on the national carrier.
An article in Prolific London examines the "cynical," "groveling" message posted on the Dorchester hotels' website:
In what many will view as a cynical attempt to distance itself from the outrage over the new laws in Brunei, the Brunei Investment Agency posted a groveling message on its Dorchester Collection website.
The unsigned message on the site's home page claims that "Inclusion, diversity and equality are the foundation of the Dorchester Collection. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination, we never have and we never will. We understand people's anger and frustration but this is a political and religious issue that we don't believe should be played in our hotels and amongst our 3,630 employees. We are deeply saddened by what's happening right now and the impact it is having on our employees, guests, partners and suppliers in particular."
The company then appears to make what some might interpret as a veiled threat to other global brands: "Our values are far removed from the politics of ownership. We are aware that many other brands have ownership with similar backgrounds in this increasingly global world" it wrote, before finishing by saying they hope to welcome guests back soon.
PR Week reports that most of the sultan's hotels have taken down their Twitter and Instagram accounts:
The Dorchester Collection has dialed down its social media presence, with eight of its nine hotels removing their Twitter accounts, and six hotels either deleting or deactivating their Instagram accounts.
Here are the hotels owned by the sultanate's Brunei Investment Agency:
- The Dorchester (London)
- 45 Park Lane (London)
- Coworth Park (Ascot, UK)
- The Beverly Hills Hotel (Los Angeles)
- Hotel Bel-Air (Los Angeles)
- Le Meurice (Paris)
- Hotel Plaza Athénée (Paris)
- Hotel Principe di Savoia (Milan)
Image: Byron W.Moore/Shutterstock


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If you were expecting Wednesday to see the first photos of the Hyundai Genesis Coupe from its New York Auto Show debut, the problem has been fixed, because a whole batch of high resolution photos leaked on the web. The Genesis Coupe is scheduled to go on sale at the start of 2009 and, because there’s no official press release so far, all we know is that the Genesis Coupe will be offered with a 300 hp 3.8 liter V6 engine, mated to a six-speed manual gearbox. Equipped with this engine, the car accelerates from 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) in under 6.0 sec. So, what do you think about the car?
Check out all the leaked photos after the jump.
Full Photo Gallery: Hyundai Genesis Coupe


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Consumers across the United States disputed $83 billion of credit card charges in 2023, with each cardholder averaging nearly six chargebacks, each of them valued at $76, according to a report issued last week by Chargebacks911.
By The Numbers: Digital wallets, like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, are gaining in popularity, representing about 10% of all payment transactions in 2023, but are still dwarfed by credit and debit card transactions, according to the report. The digital wallets are less an alternative payment method and more just a different way to pay with a card.
- More than half of consumers who filed a dispute over a credit card transaction did so over the phone by speaking with a live customer service representative, according to the report. About 40% used a mobile banking app and significantly fewer did so via email, text message, traditional mail or fax.
- The most popular reason why a transaction was disputed or called out for being potentially fraudulent is because they didn’t recognize the transaction when reviewing their billing statement. Being overcharged or double charged was the next most common complaint, followed by the allowed time limit had lapsed and the return process was too confusing or too much work.
- Consumers are more likely to dispute a transaction with their bank rather than request a refund from a merchant because their bank resolves disputes faster, according to the report.
The Takeaway: Consumers are using their banks to dispute charges more often than they should, according to the report, usually because they don’t understand how the process works. Consumers are becoming comfortable disputing charges beyond what the process was originally intended for — fraud. Not recognizing a name on a statement is not necessarily grounds for a dispute.
- Nearly 87% of consumers say that they are more likely to dispute a charge after successfully doing it once.


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Commenting on the Chancellor’s Spending Review today, David Borland, EY’s UK Automotive Leader, said:
“The UK can be a long-term competitive player in automotive manufacturing if there is significant investment in battery development, production and the associated supply chain. The investment confirmed in the Spending Review is a welcome step in the right direction for both the UK automotive sector and consumers.
“The consumer grants will reduce the impact of the higher purchase price of electric vehicles, and will be an important factor in the shift to zero emission vehicles.
“Investment in the energy sector and charging infrastructure is also a critical step forward, alleviating the concerns of many potential EV buyers around ready access to charging at home, charge time and range anxiety. But given recent estimates of the number of charging points needed across the UK to support mainstream EV adoption by consumers, further investment may still be needed.”


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This year, it won't cost that much more to buy your true love three French hens, four calling birds, seven swans-a-swimming, eight maids-a-milking, nine ladies dancing, 10 lords-a-leaping or a partridge in a pear tree.
Pittsburgh-based PNC, which has local branches in Schererville, Merrillville, Munster, East Chicago and Michigan City, released its annual Christmas Price Index in the spirit of the holiday season for anyone who wants to buy their true love everything mentioned in the classic Christmas carol "The 12 Days of Christmas." It's been a light-hearted holiday tradition for the bank for the last 36 years after a branch in Philadelphia included it in a holiday client letter in 1984.
In 2019, PNC estimates it would cost $38,993.59 to buy all the items mentioned in the song. That's $67.56, or 0.2%, more than last year, but less than the 1.8% inflation in the Consumer Price Index.
“Despite the stock market hitting record highs recently, it is a welcome gift for the holidays that the PNC Christmas Price Index stayed relatively flat this year,” said Amanda Agati, chief investment strategist for The PNC Financial Services Group. “However, the scrooges of the season are the gold rings, which saw the biggest year-over-year price increase in the index, and prices for some of our fowl friends, which are truly foul.”
Gold rings rose 10% this year, and geese-a-laying are up 7.7% "largely due to an increase of interest in backyard farming."
But turtle dove prices plunged 20% in the first decrease since 2004.
And the prices of three French hens, four calling birds, seven swans-a-swimming, eight maids-a-milking, nine ladies dancing, 10 lords-a-leaping and a partridge in a pear tree were largely flat year-over-year.
The cost of all the “The Twelve Days of Christmas” gifts has risen 95% since PNC started the tradition more than three decades ago.
The business news you need
With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history.


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The final weeks of June and early half of July ushered in a new era of the pandemic, as southern and western states that had largely evaded the worst of Covid-19 became new virus hotspots. The rising number of confirmed cases and hospitalizations forced many states to order restaurants shutter their dining rooms – again – and meant fewer drivers on the road as other businesses wound down operations.
Despite the setback, Paytronix data shows that the restaurant industry’s recovery has slowed, but not reversed. In late March and into early April, restaurant sales dropped to 30% of pre-COVID levels. Starting in the middle of April we saw sales recover at a rate of 0.4% – 0.5% per day, reaching 70% of pre-COVID levels by the July 4th weekend. […]
Kowloon Restaurant in Saugus, Massachusetts has been a regional staple for decades. Founded as a Chinese restaurant in the 1950s, the family-owned eatery has added cuisines and themes over the years to keep up with changing trends, from Thai, to sushi, to an outdoor tiki bar.
So it’s no surprise that now, in the midst of a global pandemic, Kowloon is shapeshifting again. On Thursday, the restaurant will host the grand opening of its car hop and “drive-in” movie theater, located on-premise in the business’ massive parking lot.
Bob Wong, who owns and operates the restaurant with his siblings – the third generation of the family to do so – said that when he hatched the idea, he knew he needed a smart solution for taking orders.
“Just looking at the site, I was like, there’s no way I can put POS computers out there,” he said. He decided to put the ordering power directly in the guests’ hands. “I thought, why reinvent the wheel?”
What Wong envisioned was an early version of the new Paytronix Contactless Dining platform: a digital menu that would enable guests to place orders from their outdoor table and sync those orders seamlessly with the POS system. Wong was already using Paytronix Online Ordering to keep the business running during the shutdown, so he simply adapted the system to the new drive-in setup. […]
Justin and Cynthia Loeb, owners of Elote Mexican Kitchen and Oliva Italian Eatery in Fort Worth, Texas, know a thing or two about getting through tough times.
Justin graduated college and headed into the telecommunications field around the turn of the millennium, just as the telecoms crash hit the stock market. He moved to New York City and opened a
wine shop instead, where he met his wife, a restaurant professional.
The pair moved to Fort Worth to be closer to Cynthia’s family and bought a local, struggling full-service restaurant – right as the financial crisis devastated Texas in 2008.
Despite the economic downturn, the Loebs built themselves a stellar reputation at Oliva Italian Eatery, and a few years later expanded their local footprint with Elote Mexican Kitchen, a fast-casual restaurant. The secret, according to Justin Loeb, is to anticipate what guests want and provide it before they demand it.
“You can’t wait for people to come to you, you have to go to them. Whether it’s social media or the email blasts, whatever you can do, it’s being proactive instead of reactive,” Loeb explained.
The Loebs themselves got into online ordering at Elote when a large fast food chain opened nearby. The couple anticipated competition for younger guests’ business, and quickly saw the need for technology solutions, which led them to launch online ordering and email marketing with Paytronix Online Ordering.
It was Taco Tuesday when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced that the state would temporarily allow restaurants to sell alcohol to-go. Almost immediately, the phones at Local Cantina’s seven open Columbus-area locations started ringing with callers asking one thing: how quickly could they get a margarita?
Leanna McKenney Heath, one of the group’s operations managers, asked for just a few hours, and soon had a new section for alcohol available on the Paytronix online ordering platform.
“Now I have a whole section on there dedicated to margaritas,” McKenney Heath said. “The ID verification that the customer gets, letting them know at least three times they’re going to have to show their ID to pick it up, is really great.”
This is just one of the ways the restaurants have adapted to operate under the new normal that the novel coronavirus has ushered in. […]


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Southeast Asia’s start-up scene is heating up.
This yr alone, two of the area’s greatest names — on-demand platforms Seize and GoTo — introduced their plans to go public in what buyers see as a significant milestone that might spawn additional entrepreneurship.
And now’s the proper time for brand new entrepreneurs to get began, in keeping with the co-founder and CEO of Indonesian ride-hailing big Gojek — a part of the newly-merged GoTo Group.
“I feel we’re about to enter the golden age of expertise firms in Indonesia and the remainder of Southeast Asia,” Kevin Aluwi informed CNBC Make It.
Lots has modified within the decade since Aluwi set out with two associates to disrupt Indonesia’s motorcycle taxi market.
Valued at greater than $18 billion following its merger with Tokopedia, the corporate is one in all a number of billion-dollar unicorns to have emerged from the area, together with Sea Group, Bukalapak and Carousell.
But, the huge alternative Aluwi and his friends recognized all these years in the past nonetheless stays at this time, he mentioned.
Southeast Asia is residence to a big, youthful inhabitants wanting to embrace new applied sciences. Indonesia alone boasts the world’s fourth-largest inhabitants with a median age of 29.7.
However greater than that, with a lot of the area nonetheless in its growth stage, there are enormous alternatives for start-ups to create real-life options for society, mentioned Aluwi.
“What’s actually distinctive and nice about Indonesia and Southeast Asia [is] there’s really a deep alignment between what’s good for enterprise and in addition what’s good for society,” he mentioned.
As such, when beginning Gojek, Aluwi sought to help Indonesia’s tens of millions of beforehand marginalized motorcycle taxi drivers — often known as ojeks — by connecting them with frequent, on-demand jobs resembling ride-hailing, meals supply and courier providers.
“The very fact of the matter is, the most important alternative is within the casual economic system; very completely different from possibly extra developed economies,” he added.
It is an remark that has seen the corporate, underneath the broader GoTo umbrella, set up itself as a key participant in Indonesia’s economic system. Immediately, the group says it contributes 2% to Indonesia’s $1.1 trillion GDP by means of its on-demand, e-commerce and monetary providers merchandise.
“It speaks to the chance in Indonesia and the remainder of Southeast Asia that we get to construct these very massive, fast-growing platforms. However, on the identical time, it creates a ton of affect for tens of millions of individuals on the backside of the pyramid,” mentioned Aluwi.
But, Aluwi acknowledged that firms like his personal have additionally benefited from the area’s preliminary delay in digital adoption, permitting them to capitalize on the smartphone period.
“What we see in growing economies is that there’s a possibility to leapfrog,” he mentioned. “When there is not as established services and habits that may have been extra ingrained in additional developed economies, there’s a possibility to leap straight into higher and newer applied sciences.”
It is a idea Aluwi’s counterpart at Tokopedia refers to as “time journey.” Having began his e-commerce firm in 2009, in the course of the creation of the web in Indonesia, William Tanuwijaya was in a position to look to profitable web pioneers in superior economies and observe their lead in his residence market.
“We get pleasure from rising a expertise firm in an rising market, so we form of have this time journey machine; you may study and draw inspiration from around the globe,” he mentioned.
But, regardless of the burgeoning alternatives for Southeast Asia’s enterprise homeowners, Aluwi warned towards the “attract” of entrepreneurship, which may entice individuals to it for the improper causes.
“There are all this stuff that entice individuals to it,” he mentioned. “However, to me, these are the outcomes of truly determining and specializing in particular issues and delivering nice merchandise to unravel these issues.”
Constructing an organization is difficult and sometimes irritating, he mentioned, and aspiring entrepreneurs have to be certain they’re prepared to take care of the failures, in addition to the wins.
“Not falling in love with the issue and obsessing over the answer implies that the ups and downs of constructing an organization are most likely not one thing that most individuals will persevere by means of,” he added. “And perseverance is de facto essential.”
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The original Monster Rancher was confirmed to launch on Switch sometime this year in Japan, according to the latest issue of Nintendo Dream.
We know almost nothing, other than it’s confirmed for the Switch. Since Nintendo Dream is dedicated to Nintendo consoles, Monster Rancher could be coming to other platforms. Since Monster Rancher relied on inserting other discs into your PS1 and PS2, it will be interesting to see how this port works.
Monster Rancher originally released on the PlayStation and even though there have been 14 different games since it’s release. We haven’t seen a game in the series see the light of day since Dec. 15, 2011.
No mention if we’ll see Monster Rancher on the Switch see a Western release as of yet.


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Mibe, who took office April 1, described the new goal in a press conference on Friday, pitching it to attain companywide carbon neutrality by 2050.
Honda will attain the aim in steps, first deriving 40% of its earnings in significant markets in pure electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in 2030. It needs the talk of EVs and fuel cells to achieve 80% in primary markets in 2035 and 100% in most niches by 2040. Japan’s No. 3 automakers also put out lofty 2050 to achieve carbon neutrality in all goods and company actions and comprehend zero traffic fatalities within its bikes and automobiles. Additionally, it wishes to produce products from 100% sustainable substances.
“The barriers are huge,” explained Mibe, previously head of Honda’s R&D branch. “But I believe we could get them. The simple fact that we’ve set goals is your first step toward this objective.” A part of this plan is your rough electrification roadmap. Honda, a firm that helped pioneer gasoline-electric hybrid technologies, now sells just 1 EV, the low-volume small Honda electronic hatchback.
The organization had wanted to derive two-thirds of its international volume from regular hybrids, plug-in hybrids, battery-electric automobiles, and fuel cell vehicles by 2030. It aims 40 % from pure EVs and fuel cells from that year.
Mibe said breakthroughs in battery technologies would be essential to make good on the drive to phase out conventional combustion and gasoline-electric hybrids by 2040 completely.
One of those inventions will likely be solid-state batteries. Honda will begin confirming the creation of solid-state batteries onto a demonstration line this financial year, Mibe explained. The business intends to deploy pre-assembled batteries in brand new versions in the second half of the 2020s.
“The battery is going to be the primary,” Mibe explained.
In the next half of the decade, Honda will roll out a brand new dedicated electric car called e:Architecture. It is going to be deployed in North America, then internationally initially. North America figures prominently in Honda’s electrification program, though the Honda manufacturer sells just a small number of hybrids, for example, CR-V, Accord, and Insight. Mirroring its international objectives, Honda aims at an EV-fuel mobile revenue ratio in North America of 40% in 2030, 80% in 2035, and 100% by 2040. A partnership with General Motors can help Honda arrive by providing Honda using just two large-size EVs for your 2024 model year.
One of these models will probably be to the Honda brand, one for Acura, Mibe explained. Mibe outlined comparable timelines for both China and Japan but didn’t detail strategies for Europe. The new Honda boss declined to supply an overall long-time volume goal, stating that the target was great product and profitability, not earnings. However, he explained that Honda would like to accomplish a sustainable operating profit margin of 7%, despite electrification.
Mibe surrendered his firm hasn’t figured out just how to achieve its aims. But with hard work and technological innovation, he explained, they’re achievable. He noticed that Honda would spend 5 trillion yen ($46.29 billion) in R&D during the next six years to encourage the driveway.
“We do not have the ideal alternative, however,” he explained. “However, we’ll make fantastic efforts.”


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The economic crisis caused by the pandemic has left its mark on many sectors, including banking. In Spain we are seeing a consolidation among banking entities that seek to maximize their profits. For this, many are entering the online options.
An example is BBVA, which knows that the future, and part of the present, passes through mobile devices. Thus, it has signed an agreement with Xiaomi in Spain.
Xiaomi mobiles will have the BBVA app pre-installed
As announced by the Chinese manufacturer in a press release, the company’s mobile phones sold in Spain will have this bank’s application installed as standard. In addition, the models that have already been sold will see it implemented in future OTAs, so the vast majority of users will have this app on their mobiles.
Among the models that will receive it are the Mi Note 10, Redmi Note 9, Redmi Note 8, Mi 9T, Mi 10 Lite, Mi 9 Lite, Redmi 8 and some more not specified.
The positive part is that, as Xiaomi herself has made clear, users who do not want to use it will be able to uninstall it easily as it will not count as a system application.
The aggressiveness of the banks is affecting other sectors such as consumer technology and hopefully this is not a common practice. Users had already complained about having applications pre-installed on their mobile services that they might not use, as for now having to deal with bank applications on a mandatory basis.
Xiaomi has indicated that this agreement has an initial duration of twelve months, and that it is the first collaboration of the brand with a bank in Europe, so if it is successful we may see more.
In addition to Spain, the collaboration will also take place in Mexico. It is possible that in the future it will expand to other subsidiaries of the BBVA Group later on.
The entry Xiaomi mobile phones in Spain will have the BBVA app pre-installed appears first in El Android Libre.


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Addis Ababa November 21/2020 (ENA) Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services has started Trans-Pacific routes extending from Incheon to Atlanta via Anchorage early this month.
According to a press release of the airline, Ethiopian operates B777-200F, one of the most technologically advanced aircraft on the route, offering a remarkable freight service to cargo forwarding customers worldwide with reduced flight hour, seamless connectivity and better payload.
In connection with the service launched on November 9, 2020, Ethiopian Group CEO Tewolde Gebremariam was quoted as saying that “ our new cargo service will cut total air transport time significantly between Asia Pacific and North America facilitating fast and efficient global trade.”
The press release recalled that Ethiopian Airlines has been a key enabler in the global effort to conquer COVID-19 by facilitating the shipment of life-saving medical supplies to different parts of the world.
Housed within the largest trans-shipment terminal in Africa, the state-of-the-art Pharma Wing of Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services, has been central to the airline’s effective handling and shipping of medical supplies across the world, it was learned.
Furthermore, it is in full readiness with all its required capabilities for the distribution of potential COVID-19 vaccine during the forthcoming global distribution.
Operating next generation freighters and with Africa’s largest trans-shipment terminal, Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services, facilitates the export of perishables, garments, mining products, and the import of high value industrial products and inputs, pharmaceuticals, among others, across its global network.


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In partnership with Korn Ferry, FORTUNE asked 3,820 executives, directors, and securities analysts to select the 10 companies they admired most. They chose from a list made up of the companies that ranked in the top 25% in last year’s surveys, plus those that finished in the top 20% of their industry. Anyone could vote for any company in any industry.
Apple came in first place, followed by Amazon, Microsoft, Walt Disney, and Starbucks.
After a year in which humanity leaned more heavily than ever on tech giants—to connect, entertain, and even feed us in a time of isolation—it’s fitting that Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft hold the top three spots in Fortune’s ranking of corporate reputation. Apple, the premier personal-tech provider, tops the roster for the 14th year in a row, based on our poll of some 3,800 corporate executives, directors, and analysts. Elsewhere on our All-Stars list, companies that became even more essential during the pandemic were among the biggest movers. Streaming juggernaut Netflix returned to the top 10. Big-box giant Walmart (No. 11) and Target (No. 17) earned their highest rankings since 2011 and 2008, respectively. And chipmaker Nvidia, medical supplier Abbott Laboratories, and fintech pioneer PayPal each made their Top 50 debut.
Hit the link below to check out the full list!


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Physical stores are still preferred to online channels among Gen Z Aussies when it comes to shopping for fashion.
Despite the ongoing growth of e-commerce, more than 70 per cent of Gen Z said they will buy clothes at physical boutique stores or thrift stores instead of buying across e-commerce sites and marketplaces, according to a survey of Yubo, a Gen Z social media platform.
Only 7.5 per cent of respondents said they want to buy clothes on online marketplaces such as Depop or Facebook.
Meanwhile, the survey also touches on the attitude of Gen Zers towards sustainability. Almost three in four of respondents said they would pay more for sustainable and/or ethically made clothing, knowing that it’s helping a brand to make a difference.
More than half of respondents learn if a fashion brand is sustainable or ethical before making a choice to purchase by checking brands’ websites and social media channels, or word of mouth.
In addition, influencers or content creators inspire half of Gen Z Aussies on their fashion decisions, with just over half purchasing new clothes or accessories on a weekly basis.


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Ten years ago, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that evidence of the primary cause of a car accident cannot be used in a product liability case. But now the Florida House has passed a bill that would overturn that ruling.
The bill, which has already been passed by the Florida Senate, would allow evidence of the primary cause of a crash to be introduced in product liability lawsuits. This makes it more difficult for car crash victims to receive compensation from car manufacturers even if injury resulted from defective car equipment.
This heated topic, also known as the issue of “crashworthiness”, has sparked debate over whether the bill limits the liability of auto makers. Those who support the bill believe that it would make the process fairer by allowing a jury to make determinations with all the details of the crash.
But those who are hesitant about the new legislation are afraid that it would significantly limit the liability of the car manufacturers. There would be less accountability when a defective product causes harm or injury if it was not the primary cause of the crash.
One question is whether the driver’s condition should be considered when the jury makes a final decision. A defective product is a defective product. Shouldn’t the manufacturer be liable for damage caused by their faulty product?
We mentioned a Florida Supreme Court ruling that was overturned by this bill. In that case, a young man was seriously injured after his vehicle crashed and then caught on fire. His mother sued the car company because there was a defective fuel pump that caused the injuries. The jury ruled that the fire was the result of the crash. However the Supreme Court found that the jury should not have been told that the driver was intoxicated behind the wheel and reversed the decision.
If that same case were to come before a jury now that the bill has passed, the initial verdict would hold and the car company would not be liable even if there was a defective piece of equipment.
Source: MSNBC online, “Fla. Lawmakers limit lawsuits against auto makers,” James L. Rosica, 04 May 2011


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By Kimberlee Kruesi, Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho State Tax Commission is refusing to disclose details about an online sales tax deal with Amazon, which went into effect over the weekend.
The agreement allows the giant e-commerce company to start collecting sales tax for the state on internet purchases shipped to Idaho.
However, according to the commission, state law bans discussing specific information about an individual taxpayer even though the agreement will impact nearly all Idaho taxpayers.
A commission spokeswoman also declined to discuss how much sales tax revenue the state is expected to receive from Amazon and what the state offered Amazon to begin collecting the taxes.
"All we can say is that Amazon has a seller's permit effective April 1, 2017. Any information beyond that is protected by the Idaho taxpayer confidentiality laws," commission spokeswoman Renee Eymann wrote in a statement provided to the office of Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter.
State Tax Commissioner Rich Jackson told Eye on Boise on Tuesday that he's heard the same estimates that lawmakers discussed late in their session this year, $15 million to $30 million a year. "It's an unknown, but most of the estimates I've heard have been in that general range," he said.
Jackson said, "We were pleased to see Amazon do it, because we didn't want to be the last state. That's proactive for the taxpayers of Idaho and Amazon and everybody."
Amazon confirmed it had brokered a deal with the state on March 16. Otter's office then praised the deal.
"We consider this a matter of fairness," Mark Warbis, Otter's spokesman, said in a prepared statement.
Emails obtained by The Associated Press under a public records request show the commission did talk media logistics with Otter's office before the deal was made public.
Amazon now collects sales taxes in all 45 states that have a state sales tax. It reached agreements with the final four states - Idaho, Hawaii, Maine and New Mexico - to start collecting the tax April 1.
Idaho shoppers have always owed state sales taxes on purchases they made online, but the rule has been widely ignored because it requires consumers to self-report and pay the taxes on their own.
Idaho and other states have spent years examining ways to capture the lost tax dollars, but their options are limited when the retailers are not based in the state.
A 1992 Supreme Court decision said retailers must have a physical presence in a state before officials can make them collect sales tax.
It's unclear if the Amazon deal in Idaho will prompt a larger effort to collect sales taxes from all online retailers.
Lawmakers in Arkansas and Utah failed to finalize a tax collection proposal during their legislative sessions this year despite securing separate deals with Amazon.


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…a trend for airlines to increasingly want control of the IFC running on their aircraft. They want the ability to brand the online experience, use it to build passenger loyalty and test pricing options, such as a set IFC fee per flight in “Is the Aero Market Ready for Takeoff?”
“More airlines are deploying IFC with an eye on measuring deeper down the transmission chain to ascertain value of service to passengers with a set of very refined and key performance indicators. Furthermore, IFC is becoming an enabler for what is often identified as the smart plane but in reality, is a more holistic approach.
Service Quality & SLAs Key to Enabling “Smart(er) Planes” and $37 Billion over Next Decade Cambridge, MA – September 10, 2018– NSR’s Aeronautical Satcom Markets, 6th Edition report forecasts inflight connectivity will generate $37 billion by the end of 2027 with quality of service and measuring the passenger experience as critical issues for the market.
The business jet community’s annual ‘grand mass’ in Europe held in late May this year rumbled with positivism about the status of the industry going forward. Following many years of ups and downs, observers and stakeholders held the view that the industry was well on its way to a full recovery. These good signs are.
Despite the common notion that Wi-Fi is free, there remain ‘havens’ where it is still a fee-based service. In-flight connectivity (IFC) is one such market, and recent news shows it will remain a paying service for many passengers as more airlines takes control over it. Directing connectivity and bandwidth services, with more freedom on setting.


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Chick-fil-A executive speaks to Hoover Chamber
Published 11:40 am Friday, August 18, 2017
HOOVER – The woman who literally wrote the book on Chick-fil-A’s famous “It’s my pleasure” phrase spoke to the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, Aug. 17.
Dee Ann Turner, Chick-fil-A’s vice president for enterprise social responsibility, began her presentation at the monthly Chamber luncheon with a story about the operator of a new restaurant who called a company president after the first day of operation because the business was out of chicken and its manager quit.
“I am so glad you’re there to handle that,” the president said, according to Turner, before turning out the lights and going to bed. “Can you imagine being in that situation and being able to do that?”
The story was an example of Chick-fil-A’s commitment to hiring the right people, training them for success and allowing them to do their jobs, Turner said.
Turner, a top corporate executive, was invited to speak by luncheon sponsor David Jackson, who owns Chick-fil-A restaurants in Hoover.
Turner’s career with the company began in 1985 as an administrator in the human resources department. She was selected as Chick-fil-A’s first female officer in 2001 and has led various areas of the business including human resources, franchisee selection, culture, learning and development, talent management and talent acquisition.
During her time with Chick-fil-A, the company has grown from 319 restaurants with $161 million in sales to more than 2,100 restaurants with annual sales of more than $8 billion.
Turner’s first book, “It’s My Pleasure: The Impact of Extraordinary Talent and a Compelling Culture,” became a best-seller.
Chick-fil-A’s corporate purpose—“To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A”—was developed when the company was experiencing slumping sales and heavy debt.
“Since 1982 (when the purpose was adopted), Chick-fil-A has never had a slump in sales,” Turner said.
The company’s core values are excellence, integrity, loyalty and generosity.
Chick-fil-A also has four guiding principles: closed on Sundays; make second mile second nature; privately held and family owned; and treat everyone with honor, dignity and respect.
An example of “second mile” service was a local Chick-fil-A passing out about 1,000 chicken biscuits to stranded motorists during the January 2014 snow and ice storm, Turner said.


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Food Taxi delivers restaurant fare
A new Grand Junction business delivers food from eight restaurants to homes and businesses across the Grand Valley from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.
The Food Taxi, co-owned by married couple Sean and Sharon Petty, opened July 1 in Suite 211 at Solarus Square, 2829 North Ave. Sharon, who managed a food delivery service in southern California, takes calls and coordinates deliveries, while Sean serves as one of three delivery drivers. He drives the business’ signature “food taxi,” while other drivers use their personal vehicles.
Customers call 241-1904 and pay $6.69 plus the cost of menu items to have food from Bamboo City, Boston’s, Dos Hombres, El Tapatio, Enzo’s, Naggy McGee’s, Rib City or Taco Time delivered. Schlotzsky’s is also on the menu, but the deli is temporarily out-of-service while rebuilding after a fire. Orders must be for at least $15 worth of food and service boundaries for most deliveries are between Fruita and Palisade town limits, north Grand Junction and Whitewater. Deliveries typically take 45 minutes.
The delivery price pays for vehicles, credit card processing fees, drivers and fuel, according to Sean Petty. The business makes money by charging the restaurants involved in the service a fee to market the restaurants through advertisements and a food guide available at the restaurants, online at gjfoodtaxi.com and at some area businesses. The Pettys also talk to local businesses about the service in hopes of creating long-term relationships between the restaurants and their clients and promote new menu items over the phone when customers call Food Taxi.
“For us, it’s about marketing, and delivery is the way to do that,” Sean Petty said.
Food Taxi’s most common lunch clients are businesses and sales representatives who need to feed a large group in-house. In the evenings, clientele typically switches to residential customers, some of whom either can’t leave home because of illness or responsibilities, or don’t have vehicles and don’t have the time or money to take a bus to a restaurant.
Spike Howard, owner of Dos Hombres in Clifton, said he wanted to expand his customer base through Food Taxi to reach people who can’t leave home for a night at a restaurant. He said he never considered offering delivery on his own because of the investment required to do so.
“This is the best of both worlds for us. We get our food out into the community and we don’t have to incur the costs of insurance and cars,” Howard said.
Kelly Favale, co-owner of Enzo’s, said her restaurant offered delivery for the first few months it was open three years ago and wanted to bring delivery back at some point. Providing delivery through Food Taxi has gone smoothly, she said, and she expects the service to become even more popular as word spreads.
“It’s another way to reach customers that haven’t been to the restaurant,” Favale said.
Delivery service is somewhat of a new concept in Grand Junction outside of the pizza and catering business, but not in large cities. Petty said he picked $6.69 for the service instead of jacking up menu item prices, as some big city delivery services do, because he didn’t think customers would pay that much for delivery in a town where traffic isn’t as large a deterrent as it is in more populous areas. He felt enough people would be intrigued by the opportunity to give it a try for less than $7.
“The idea of food delivery is exciting in the valley,” he said. “The novelty will wear off, so we want to build relationships.”
So far, business is good, according to the Pettys, who say calls have increased seven-fold since the first week they were in business. Their goals for the future include adding more restaurants — maybe a steak or sushi one — and expanding the menu guide to a culinary guide with articles about food. Sean said he doesn’t want to add too many restaurants so the remaining ones can stand out, and he wants to continue offer a variety of price ranges and food types.


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Sarah Personette is Facebook’s head of global business marketing and was the opening keynote speaker at Festival of Media MENA.
Sarah Personette is Facebook’s head of global business marketing and was the opening keynote speaker at Festival of Media MENA, which was held in Dubai this April. She chats with us about branded content on Facebook and how platforms like it have changed the creative approach of marketers.
Is innovation making the job of a marketer more difficult or simpler?
As a marketer, it can be really humbling to think about the speed of change occurring within the marketing industry. There are constant conversations around disruption and innovation, whether it’s in Silicon Valley or around the world. Yet, at the same time, I genuinely believe it is the golden age of media. In the past, marketers dreamed of creating personal relationships between brands and consumers and that is now possible due to the shift to mobile, the rise of video on mobile platforms and a personalized Facebook newsfeed. This combination of capabilities empowers marketers to add value to a consumer’s life.
How can brands make better use of Facebook’s offerings to personalize their campaigns?
It’s about how a brand can add as much value and utility to an individual as possible. If you think about the 1.39 billion people on the platform – 79 million in the Middle East – there is a massive shift to mobile, which has enabled us to be personally relevant to users. Moreover, video content has increased by 138 percent each year in this region alone and increases by 75 percent per year globally. Video allows for an incredible canvas for brands to tell a story. On top of that, there are targeting tools that allow marketers to think in a detailed way about who they want to talk to and why and so, they can create a message or creative that is highly relevant and personal. So when you marry scale, mobile, video and personalization through the targeting capabilities in a privacy-protected way, marketers are able to think about personalization and scale.
What does the future of marketing look like?
It is headed straight toward personalization and the development of the idea behind personalized marketing, but with more reach and depth. Marketers who are thinking about broadcasting have to reorient themselves to think about what they already know about the audience and everything that used to be in a creative brief – such as the psychographics and demographics of an audience – and then think about how they can mirror that.
The most important thing is that marketers’ thought processes should start with people and thinking about how to craft a message or how to interact or build a relationship with the audience. We are going to see more examples like Lexus, which launched a car in the first quarter of this year, where the brand looked at its target audience and developed 1,000 pieces of individual creatives, utilizing Facebook’s targeting tools to deliver the most relevant ad to that person, based on their interest, location and what car they are currently driving. So that’s personalized marketing at scale, where you are reaching millions of people, but in a way that touches their life.
How has the traditional creative process changed due to mobile?
For instance, Etihad wanted to help Indian expatriates [in the UAE] who wanted to get home to their families for Diwali. It created content on Facebook that helped them do that. The campaign ended up driving an incredible return on investment for Etihad. The challenge is to think through meaningful insights around your [brand’s] customer base, which will enable you to truly be respectful of that audience and to add utility and value to their newsfeed.
Last year and this year, specifically, at Cannes, the bar continues to be raised as people are designing for a mobile screen and for personally relevant newsfeeds. It requires the sophistication of the creative world to think about data, to understand how to articulate the insight and build around that insight so that it can be delivered through targeting capabilities. That is the future of storytelling. Every brand needs to find out what works for it. In the case of Etihad, it was a few pieces of creative that connected with a specific audience in a relevant way. For Lexus, it was a 1,000 pieces.
Moreover, today, the ability of technology to create and shoot beautiful creatives is a lot more efficient than it’s ever been and that will play a role in the future of storytelling and the gorgeous work that can be created.