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On Nov. 22, students from Humber College and the University Guelph-Humber gathered in the North Campus E-Concourse for the sustainable thrifting event of the season. The Humber Eco Closet event had clothing racks filled with everything from jeans to blazers!
Eco closet team
Hosted by Humber’s Fashion Arts and Business program for the Event Management class, second-year students learned to work as a team in various roles to put on this event. The program first started the Eco Closet in 2018, but due to Covid-19 lockdowns, this was it’s first time back since 2019.
Weeks before the event, donation boxes were scattered across Humber and Guelph-Humber campuses for students and staff to donate clothes. During this time, Humber fashion students had different team sectors setting up social media posts, venue spaces and sponsors to get the event ready.
Yasmin Gomes is a second-year fashion business student who led the event as the project manager. During her role, Gomes says she spent a lot of time ensuring proper communication among all the teams.
As students, she said the team understood that many don’t have a large budget for buying clothes.
“We all have job interviews and internship opportunities, so reducing prices gives students equal opportunities to get nice clothes,” said Gomes.
They made the prices range from $5 to $12 to ensure affordability. In addition, the event supported the local charity, Youth Without Shelter, by donating all its revenues to the charity. Finally, by promoting thrifting, the team could teach better spending habits and promote sustainability.
This project was essential to Gomes, and she understands the environmental impacts of the fast fashion industry.
“Sustainable fashion is the future. Without it, there are 10.5 million tonnes of clothes and textiles that end up in landfills yearly, just by North Americans. So it’s scary to think about, for example, the company Zara has a thing called “Z Day ” where they drop new clothes every two weeks. Where does that go after the trend? The landfills,” said Gomes.
Avery Romanelli is another fashion student that worked as the graphic design team lead. She says that students should implement sustainability in all areas of life.
“It’s important to be as sustainable as possible in all our lives. Fashion is one of the biggest industries in the world, so it’s imperative to try our best to be sustainable because of the impact on the environment,” said Romanelli.
Office of Sustainability and other projects
One of the event sponsors was Humber’s Office of Sustainability. The Office of Sustainability works with Guelph-Humber and Humber to provide education and lead sustainable initiatives on campus.
During the Eco Closet event, the Office of Sustainability had a mending booth to teach students and staff how to patch up tears in garments. In addition, the booth had take-home sewing materials as well as instructors to help teach basic sewing tips.
Gabby Penske is the communications & engagement coordinator for the Office of Sustainability; part of her job is organizing events for students and staff to raise awareness on sustainability topics. Penske says one of their initiatives this year was implementing fair trade Indigenous-owned coffee on campus.
“This year, we were delighted to introduce a new fair trade coffee to campus and catering. Although it’s called Birch Bark, it is not only fair trade but also Indigenous-owned. Part of the profits of the coffee sale go towards purchasing water purification units for Indigenous households in Canada,” said Penske.
One example of their climate initiatives is the Humber North campus NX building Retrofitting Project.
“We renovated the building as a whole, making it more energy efficient in terms of energy usage and heating” said Penske.
“A key thing is to seek out information and have an open mind and enough humility to learn more. This is important as we address climate change and collaborate with others,” said Penske.
Penske says that the first step for students to implement sustainability is to become educated.
The Office of Sustainability also has a Climate Action Plan, which aims for the campus to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Net-zero means cutting greenhouse emissions to close to zero, with the remaining emissions to be re-absorbed by the environment.
We can’t wait to see more sustainability initiatives on campus in the future!
Here are IGNITE tips to start making sustainable changes today.


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Taiwan chip designer Elan Microelectronics Corp. said it has filed a suit against Apple Inc. aapl +0.23% Apple Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq $101.66 +0.23 +0.23% Sept. 12, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 61.49M AFTER HOURS $101.60 -0.06 -0.06% Sept. 12, 2014 7:59 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 2.61M P/E Ratio 16.31 Market Cap $608.73 Billion Dividend Yield 1.85% Rev. per Employee $2,214,380 09/14/14 Proceedings: Highlights From t... 09/14/14 Don't Underestimate Smartwatch... 09/14/14 French Cable Operator Tries to... More quote details and news » in a U.S. court, alleging the company infringed two patents in the production of its MacBook, iPhone and iPod Touch products.
Elan, which makes touch pads for computers, said it owned the rights to touch-screen technology that allowed Apple's products to detect the position of fingers on a screen or touchpad.
The so-called multitouch technology is a key feature of Apple's iPhone, allowing users to zoom or rotate images.
Elan, which in 2006 filed a similar lawsuit against Synaptics Inc., SYNA -2.99% Synaptics Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq $83.33 -2.57 -2.99% Sept. 12, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 803,314 AFTER HOURS $83.40 +0.07 +0.08% Sept. 12, 2014 4:55 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 18,167 P/E Ratio 59.52 Market Cap $2.96 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $1,112,130 More quote details and news » said it would be seeking an injunction that would forbid Apple to produce, use and sell products that had infringed on its patents.
Jill Tan, a spokeswoman for Apple in Asia, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Write to Jessie Ho at email@example.com

domain: news


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This week's topic in the Bankrate 52-Week Savings Challenge is saving on cellphone service. This is apparently a bigger item in most people's budgets than I realized; according to a financial firm cited in the article, "the nationwide average bill is $90 per phone." Another source puts the number even higher, saying the three biggest carriers all charge upwards of $140 a month. That's more than we pay for our home phone, Internet, and cable service combined.
The personal story linked to this challenge is a bit different from the others I've read so far. While most Bankrate reporters are only trying out a given challenge out for the sake of the article, reporter Barbara Whelehan had a genuine need to trim her budget after a whopping 50 percent drop in household income, and she saw their equally whopping $160 monthly cellphone bill as a likely spot to cut. She'd already managed to negotiate her personal bill with T-Mobile down to $55 a month from $87, so she tried them again and took advantage of a special deal: "two lines with unlimited talk, text, and data for $100 a month." The process of switching was a hassle—not on T-Mobile's end, but getting her husband's former "Ma-Bell company" to unlock his phone—but it ended up cutting their bill by 60 percent.
According to the mobile editor at Bankrate, Mike Cetera, Whelehan is getting a "very nice deal" paying just $100 for two phones with unlimited talk, text, and data. However, he says they could have paid even less by going with a "discount carrier" such as Ting, which works on a "pay-what-you-use" basis. Given that Whelehan says she generally uses her phone "to call, text and occasionally scan the news if I'm stuck on the road," this would probably be a good deal for them, as they're currently paying for a lot more plan than they need (at least for her phone). With Ting, according to the carrier's website, an average 2-phone family pays just $42 per month. Republic Wireless, another discount carrier, offers plans with unlimited talk and text (plus data over wi-fi only) for as little as $10 a month.
If Whelehan and her husband were willing to accept some limits on talking and texting as well as data use, they could potentially lower their bill even more by switching to a prepaid plan. Their current carrier, T-Mobile, charges only $3 a month for a bare-bones pay-as-you-go plan that includes 30 minutes of talk or 30 text messages. Additional minutes or messages are billed at 10 cents apiece, and you can tack on a data pass when you need it for $5 per day or $10 per week. Admittedly, this isn't nearly enough phone time for most people, but for users like us, who truly do want a cell phone only for emergencies, it's plenty. We switched to this plan a few months ago, and we've never gone over the 30-minute limit. And since we have only one phone between the two of us, that means our phone bill comes to $3 per month total—not exactly an overpriced luxury that's ripe for budget cuts.
So I guess the moral of the story here may be that the best way of all to cut your cellphone bill is to use the phone less. Keep it down to half an hour, and you can get by with a $3 prepaid plan, whittling your bill to just one-thirtieth of the average. (If, on the other hand, you really need that unlimited talk and text because your cell phone is your primary phone, maybe you should just drop your landline instead.)


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Pegan diet: It’s trendy and all about the organic veggies
There’s a new trendy diet in town, folks – the pegan diet.
The word pegan has seen a 337 percent increase in searches on Pinterest since last year and has seen a steady climb in searches within the last six months.
It was born when Dr. Mark Hyman, New York Times best-selling author, coined the term – a mashup of paleo and vegan – in a blog post that detailed his own diet.
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HT Guys, do you know if this will be available to US PS3 owners?
BBC Sport app brings Olympics and more to Sony Bravia TVs, PlayStation 3 and Blu-ray players
While Sony was busy launching its HX8 TVs over in the UK, it let slip another nugget of televisual goodness. That extra BBC Sport coverage that's planned for summer, and available as a TiVo app, will also be coming to UK owners of Bravia TVs (2011 and onwards,) PS3s, and even some Blu-ray players (at a later date). Those 24 channels of HD Olympic action will be translated into live streams, and there will be the usual array of catch-up options to...
no plus ones


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It’s no secret by now that workers in Asia, particularly those at Foxconn, have a rough work life. Actually, work is basically their life. Technology companies from all forms of communication, personal electronics, and other genres of consumer-driven markets have all had products made overseas for the cheaper labor, but up until the last few years, the conditions in which workers face when building these complex gadgets has mostly went under the media radar.
Companies such as Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Amazon, Nintendo, Sony, Dell, Motorola, Intel, IBM and many more all show up on Foxconn’s list of clients, producing a vast majority of popular electronics components to be shipped all around the globe. It’s no surprise that, with a bad situation now in the open, there would be protestors trying to call out the corporate giants to help stop the inhuman treatment in overseas sweatshops.
One company, for whatever reason, gets the most media attention about these issues: Apple, Inc. With the extreme level of popularity that has come to Apple in the last six years, they’ve developed just as many fans as they have enemies. Whether it be their business practices, the cult-like surrounding that follows them, or the simplicity of their products being marketed to the common person, it seems one can either love Apple, or hate them. In this issue, it’s a hate trend.
Media has been covering the story for a while: Workers who slave on the iPhone overseas are treated bad. Although it isn’t Apple directly that puts the people into sweatshops and packs multiple people into dormitories too small for a single college student in America, they are viewed as supporters of such treatment due to their continued business with Foxconn. Apple has performed annual audits of the company for a while, and recently appointed an independent organization, the Fair Labour Association, to take over inspections. Despite these audits, and their competition doing it as well, they are called out on it more than anybody, and protestors have finally started raising their voices.
The scheduled delivery of petitions asking Apple for better treatment of workers in factories that produce their iDevices occurred on schedule in New York City Thursday morning. The observers at the scene stated there were far more press in attendance than actual protestors. Even so, their mission was accomplished all the same, because aside from the goal of rallying support, the main goal of a protest is to raise awareness on a more macro scale, which the reporters were happy to do for them.
Their mission was to hand deliver the signatures of more than 250,000 people, a goal they easily reached. The handoff of such petitions took place at the new Grand Central Terminal store, which is only a few months old.
Roger Cheng of CNET was on the scene as well, also reporting that Apple “was ready” for the representatives of two organizations, Change.org and SumOfUs.org, who were responsible for organizing the event. The turnout was only a few dozen people, who were holding signs up in the air depicting what could be interpreted as an “ethical iPhone” but there were still a quarter of a million signatures on paper. Upon delivering the petitions to Apple’s new Grand Central Terminal store, the representative of Change.org stated that the employees at the store “were very polite” when receiving them.
Apparently, this isn’t the end of it either. Sources in the petition claim there are also petitions of similar fashion scheduled to circulate and be delivered to stores in San Francisco, Washington D.C., London, and Bangalore. Similar to the Occupy movement, there is a potential to create a popular trend of protests around the country in support of better worker treatment, which I for one, and totally in support of. It’s no secret these human beings do not have the same opportunities and freedoms as us in America, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve decent treatment, including proper housing, adequate breaks and meals, and time off.
Some would argue “fair wages” as well, which would be nice to see, however the reality of the situation overseas, is that the workers are generally happy with the wages, earning far more money per day than most other jobs they can work. The treatment should be improved, but you likely won’t see anywhere close to wage increases resembling those of the United States.
What I’m most interested in, is what this will end up doing to the situation. Will these petitions change anything? Let us know in the comments below. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what the future of workers could be, or should be. Thanks!
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The Nigerian naira suffered a loss at the official market on Monday against the US dollar.
According to a report by Premium Times, at the close of business on Monday, FMDQ securities exchange window, also known as the Investor and Exporters (I&E) window where forex is officially traded showed naira closed at N414.40 per $1.
This implies a N0.1 or 0.02 per cent depreciation from N414.30 it exchanged in the previous session on Friday last week.
The currency’s performance became evident as forex turnover increased by 48.22 per cent with $184.31 recorded as against the $124.35 million posted on Friday last week.
Naira hit an intraday high of N404.00 and oscillated to a low of N420.50 before closing at N414.40 per $1 on Monday.
At the black market in Abuja, dealers exchanged the naira at N575.00 per $1 on Monday, while dealers in Uyo said the currency exchanged at N570.00 to a dollar in the morning.
At noon, the dealers said they were sceptical to purchase the hard currency because the price was fluctuating.
“Dollar had no fixed price as of the close of business today in Uyo, because we are afraid that the currency might crash.
We are waiting to know how much it would trade tomorrow, but we sold in the morning at N570.00 to a dollar today,” a dealer who does not want his name mentioned told PREMIUM TIMES via telephone.


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and cockroaches. No matter what happens in these uncertain times, you can count on both to survive.
Which is why you should be stocking up on Raid and shares of Microsoft.
I'm not going to argue here that the new version of its ubiquitous operating system, called Windows XP, will save the world and the computer industry from the current spending slump. Truth is, I don't know, and neither does anyone else.
Consumers will either buy more PCs after the attacks of Sept. 11, or they won't. They'll buy a new PC to run Windows XP or to stay connected at home in lieu of traveling, or they won't buy a new PC in order to hoard cash. We just don't know.
Oh, and the Xbox? Sorry, but one thing I learned from the Internet bubble was
to invest in a business based on the premise that the more product it sells, the more money it loses. For every Xbox video-game console Microsoft hawks after its launch this November, it will lose more than a hundred bucks. By the end of the year, it says it wants to have 1 million to 1.5 million units available. You can do the math easily enough.
Whether Microsoft makes that money back later by selling the software that goes along with the console -- video games to you and me -- also remains to be seen. Again, we just don't know, and that's not a reason to buy the stock.
Cold, Hard Cash
know is that Microsoft has more of what is most important in the capitalist game than anything else: cold hard cash, and the ability to spend it.
With more than $30 billion in cash, Microsoft has one of the best balance sheets of any company in the world. With that much cash, Microsoft can afford to fund its businesses through good times and bad, and defend itself no matter what a changed world throws at it, or us. Go figure: the monopolist has somehow managed to amass the biggest pile of money.
It doesn't matter whether the attacks come from the U.S. legal system, some cagey competitor or even radical extremists. Microsoft has the biggest wad on the block, and that's why it will survive and thrive.
Consider just last week, when the company said it would invest an additional $30 million in its MSN Internet portal. While many start-ups and established firms scrounge these days to get just a fraction of that from investors or their own boards, Microsoft can afford to put that much money behind MSN and not even miss it. After all, $30 million isn't even a drop inside a drop in its cash bucket.
At one-tenth of 1% of its available cash, Microsoft's investment in its MSN portal amounts to a rounding error. Any time you've got $30 million to throw around and have it amount to a rounding error of your remaining resources, you know you've got a lot to work with.
What's more, unlike a mega-global corporate giant like
-- which is no slouch itself when it comes to healthy balance sheets -- Microsoft's most valuable assets can't be destroyed. It doesn't have big engine-building factories or appliance-producing plants to attack. In fact, it would be easier for the U.S. and the world to eradicate terrorism -- or cockroaches, for that matter -- from the face of this planet than it would be to get rid of the Windows operating system and the billions in revenue it generates.
Fact is, Microsoft deals in intellectual property, in ideas. Even with illegal software pirates siphoning off perhaps billions more of the company's potential sales each year, Microsoft is still making a ton off those ideas, ideas that haven't really changed in the last 25 years. That's because again, like cockroaches, ideas are hard to kill. And once they get a toehold somewhere, they tend to multiple and thrive.
Not that folks won't try to put the kill on Bill and his idea-brimming boys. The Justice Department, rightfully goaded by Microsoft's enemies, might be able to mortally wound the giant if it can convince a U.S. court to require that Microsoft open up the source code for Windows to its competitors. That, in my mind, is the only realistic way to break the company's monopoly in operating systems; it would be a worse fate than breaking up the company itself.
But from following the case over the past three years, I don't think Microsoft will let that happen. It has played the legal game extremely well, and will likely press for the most it can get up to the very end. If faced with the possibility of losing the keys to its code, though, I think the company would settle.
Now, at 27 times 2002 earnings, Microsoft's not cheap, especially when you consider earnings are expected to grow only 4% in the coming year. That means the shares could face pressure, especially if Windows XP and Xbox don't generate the amount of sales investors would like, a scenario that has a good chance given the sudden fear that consumers have about spending money.
So don't think that just because shares are down 30% from their 52-week high, they can't drop lower. They can, and probably will. That, too, is an unknown.
But there is one thing I am sure of, although I know it doesn't take a heck of a lot of courage to say it, and that is that this thing ain't going to zero. Not if Bill and his $30 billion bundle have anything to do with it.
In times like these, that's one of the better investment arguments around.


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Apple Black Friday deals: $101 savings on Macs, $41 off iPad
Apple has posted a long list of discounts that will be available during Black Friday. The company is offering a $101 savings on iMacs, MacBook Pros and the MacBook Air. The basic iPad is also on sale, with a savings of $41 that brings the overall price down to $458. Minor discounts are also available on the iPod touch, Nano and a variety of accessories.
Apple's Black Friday discounts apply to the 16GB iPad with Wi-Fi connectivity, along with the 13-inch 2.4GHz MacBook Pro. The deals also include the 21.5-inch iMac with a 3.06GHz processor, along with the 13-inch MacBook Air with a 1.86GHz processor and 128GB SSD.


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ShopRite Recognized for Sustainability Efforts
ShopRite is proud to be the recipient of EarthShare New Jersey’s 2019 Environmental Leadership Award, just in time for Earth Day.
EarthShare New Jersey, a 25-year-old organization that works with 400 environmental groups across the state and country, recently recognized ShopRite for its commitment to sustainability through key initiatives with customers and associates, recycling, waste reduction and the supermarket’s support of dozens of
ShopRite leads with sustainable initiatives that include:
- Reducing Food Waste, Increasing Food Donations
ShopRite stores donated 5,000 tons of fresh food to community food banks last year while composting and diverting another 10,000 tons of food waste from landfills.
- Associate ‘Green Teams’ Pitching In
More than 100 Green Teams in place at ShopRite stores are made up of associates who volunteer their time both in-store and in the community to improve the environment.
Green team members recently partnered with volunteers and Clean Ocean Action to help clean up Sandy Hook National Recreation Area.
- Supporting Friends of the Environment
ShopRite sponsors nearly 30 regional environmental organizations including EarthShare New Jersey, Clean Ocean Action and The Audubon Society.
- Relying on Reduce-Reuse-Recycle Formula
ShopRite operates its own recycling center in Elizabeth, NJ, which has recycled over 2.5 million tons of material, including cardboard and plastic, since first opening in the late 1970s. ShopRite stores also promote bag reuse and provide recycling bins in stores for customers to return used plastic bags.
- ShopRite’s Annual Earth Day Challenge
ShopRite inspires customers and communities to clean parks, beaches and town centers by donating gloves and trash bags for the ShopRite Earth Day Challenge. This year, another 3,000 associates and ShopRite customers participated in ShopRite Earth Day Challenge community cleanups.
“Over the last decade, ShopRite stores have helped more than 50,000 people conduct community cleanups while at the same time looking for new ways to reduce our environmental footprint, and we are proud of our results on this front,” said ShopRite Spokesperson Karen Meleta. “We’ve significantly reduced our food waste by increasing our donations to area food banks and expanding our composting program. Several ShopRite stores have also received Grocery Stewardship Certification, and more stores are working toward that certification.
ShopRite stores also works with Manomet, a nonprofit organization, to help stores get grocery stewardship certification, the nation’s only grocery sustainability certification program. And many new and renovated ShopRite stores are designed to help reduce energy and water consumption through the use of energy-efficient glass doors, conservation lighting and low-flow faucets.
To find out more about ShopRite’s environmental efforts, visit https://shop.shoprite.com/sustainability
ShopRite is the registered trademark of Wakefern Food Corp., a retailer-owned cooperative based in Keasbey, NJ, and the largest supermarket cooperative in the United States. With more than 270 ShopRite supermarkets located throughout New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland, ShopRite serves more than six million customers each week. Through its ShopRite Partners In Caring program, ShopRite is dedicated to fighting hunger in the communities it serves. Since the program began in 1999, ShopRite Partners In Caring has donated $48 million to food banks that support more than 2,200 worthy charities. As a title sponsor of the ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer, ShopRite has donated $31 million to local organizations, hospitals and community groups. For more information, please visit www.shoprite.com.


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The official Twitter account of Signal, @signalapp tweeted a few hours ago that they were “barely able to register our excitement” as new users signed up in big numbers. “Verification codes are currently delayed across several providers because so many new people are trying to join Signal right now (we can barely register our excitement). We are working with carriers to resolve this as quickly as possible. Hang in there.” Since then, Signal has confirmed that registrations are now happening without delay and thanked carriers for helping users sign up quickly.
Apple, after they rolled out the new Privacy Labels on the App Store for the iPhone, iPad and Mac, now mandate app developers to clearly state what user data they collect or don’t collect from users. The App Store Privacy Labels will have three sections—Data used to track you, data linked to you and data that is not linked to you. Under each section will be bullet points listing the exact specifics about the data being collected, including contact info, health and fitness data, financial info, usage data, browsing history, location data, personal identifiers and search history. With this information available at a glance, a user can potentially make a more informed decision about whether they want to download a specific app on the iPhone or iPad or Mac, without falling down the data collection and privacy blackhole that became the norm over the years.
In the subsequent revelations, it turns out that WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger collect significantly more user data in comparison with similar instant messenger apps such as Signal and Apple’s own iMessage. This includes health and fitness data, financial info, search history, user content, browsing history and location data. Signal app does not collect any user data, as per the App Store Privacy Labels.
As authorities and the global community took stock in the aftermath of yesterday’s violence at the US Capitol in Washington at a time when the joint session of the Congress was certifying Joe Biden as the President-elect, Elon Musk tweeted an image with the caption “This is called the domino effect”. He did not name Facebook or WhatsApp at any stage in his tweets, but the image of the dominos referenced what Facebook started out as—a campus website to rate women. Facebook has been at the receiving end of a lot of criticism for allowing content to remain on the platform that has led to serious societal divisions within the US with regards to supporting or not supporting outgoing US President Donald Trump. The tweet that followed, which said “Use Signal” also didn’t name WhatsApp.
Earlier today, Elon Mus surpassed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest man and is now valued around $188 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He has been quite nonchalant about it on social media though, with tweets saying, “How strange” and “Well, back to work…”


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When Henry Royce was designing his first vehicle, he was advised by a friend to create “a reliable car at a low price”. He rejected the idea, opting to produce “the best motor car in the world regardless of cost”, according to company folklore.
That same Rolls-Royce spare-no-expense strategy appealed to Chinese tycoons – so much so that by 2014 China had become the firm’s second biggest market.
However, that ranking slipped last year, with Rolls-Royce’s China sales plummeting 54%. Sales for Bentley also dropped 36.9%; Jaguar Land Rover 24%; and even Audi – Volkswagen’s perennial top peformer – sold 1.4% fewer vehicles (the first decline since VW started in China 26 years ago).
Rolls-Royce’s chief executive Warren East attributed the drop to the ongoing crackdown on corruption and wasteful spending, drawing comparison with the declining fortunes of other luxury goods such as watches, China Business Journal reports.
Yale Zhang of consultancy firm Automotive Foresight says that flaunting one’s wealth has become less appealing too. “It’s become meaningless to spend Rmb10 million ($1.52 million) or Rmb20 million on a car,” he told China Daily.
Growth in car sales in general decelerated last year in China, dropping to a three-year low of 4.7% (as recently as 2013 revenues rose 13.9%).
But sales of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) raced ahead of the average, accelerating a little over 50%. Customer demand has been shifting away from sedans towards smaller SUVs, many of which are made by domestic producers. (WiC first noticed the surge in SUV sales in issue 148).
Hebei-based Great Wall Motors is the market leader, selling 699,000 SUVs last year, and Nikkei Asian Review reports that seven of the 10 top-selling SUV brands last year were homegrown (Chinese brands haven’t competed as well against foreign ones in most other segments of the market; see WiC242). Much of that success is based on lower prices, with Chinese SUVs often costing half as much as their international competitors.
Some of that impetus may be lost by the end of the year, when a tax break on cars with engines smaller than 1.6 litres comes to an end. Moreover, a researcher with Mizuho Bank told Nikkei Asian Review that some of the local carmakers could be risking their reputations by “sourcing low-priced parts from local suppliers that foreign automakers might avoid due to quality concerns”.
In the longer term, this low-cost strategy might backfire, especially as the more trusted foreign brands introduce more SUV models of their own.
Meanwhile even in the higher-end of the market there is a growing appetite to satisfy China’s taste for SUVs. Bentley has just launched the first SUV model in its history, the Bentayga, and Rolls-Royce will introduce one of its own in 2018. Fiat delayed plans to launch a new Maserati sports car model last year, citing the slowdown in the Chinese market as a major factor. But it says that the moratorium has allowed it to focus on its new SUV, due to be showcased in April at the Beijing Auto Show, ThePaper.cn reports.
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers expects SUV sales to grow a further 36% this year, well above the 6% growth predicted for car sales in general.
But the SUV strategy may not be appropriate for all the luxury carmakers, it seems. Asked this month how he was going to address the slowdown in sales in the Chinese market, Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne ruled out an SUV makeover for another of his marques: Ferrari. “I don’t think it’s going to recover this year,” said Marchionne, “but we won’t make a Ferrari SUV. You’ll have to shoot me first.”
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There are so many reasons to love seafood. It's delicious and versatile — throw it on the grill, add it to a pasta dish, use it in tacos, or toss it in soups. Plus, the high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids found in some types of fish help reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke and protect your brain.
Linda Cornish, president of the Seafood Nutrition Partnership, joins Amanda Buckle and Lorin Castiglione on the latest installment of the Seafood News Podcast.
Health experts understand the nutritional importance of promoting the consumption of seafood, but retail dietitians also know that consumers have seafood questions that pertain to more than dietary recommendations.
More millennials are dining on seafood as they seek healthy, sustainable proteins, according to recent statistics from a prominent U.S. television network.
Mia Syn, MS, RDN was recently on ABC-4 in Charleston talking about how she uses seafood to recover from a workout.
Former Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics President Brings Expertise and Leadership
After an exciting first year, SNP's second annual State of the Science Symposium will take place on September 14th.
SNP partner and registered dietitian Mia Syn shares some delicious and nutritious ideas to celebrate Independence Day.
Why go frozen? “It is a major win for sustainability,” says Barton Seaver, the Maine-based chef and seafood educator.
Intimidated by the fish and seafood market? Here's how a fishmonger can help you eat more economically and sustainably.
Today.com // May 7, 2018 Fishing for better health? Look no further than the seafood counter at your local supermarket....
From the trees to the breeze, Seafood Nutrition Partnership offers recommendations to make picnics a fun way for families to...


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Don't-Miss Business & finance software Stories
At its press event Wednesday, Apple took the wraps off the next version of the iPad, which is slated to ship on March 16. The company also announced a new Apple TV, iPhoto for iOS, updates to GarageBand, iMovie, and iWork for iOS, and more.
For more than a year, Square has been on the leading edge of a revolution in commerce with its app that lets merchants use iOS devices as credit card readers. On Monday, it expanded its efforts with a new app, Square Register, that turns an iPad into a fully-functioning cash register.
Microsoft dips its toes in the *coy* pond over a supposed iOS version of Office, a roundup of uninteresting iPad 3 rumors flounders, and Apple may be swimming upstream in its Chinese trademark case.
At Macworld | iWorld, a panel of experts looks at their favorite apps, focusing on ways they're flawed and how those flaws could be fixed.
Office 2 HD's developers say that the app offers the best document editing on the iPad, second only to Pages. But the company still thinks its own app is the better choice.
It's not all art, music, and fun at this week's Macworld | iWorld exposition: Vendors are releasing business apps for the Mac and iPad, too.
WatchDox’s secure document reading and sharing iOS offering now includes new collaboration features for enterprise users.
Adobe on Tuesday patched six vulnerabilities in the newest version of its popular Reader PDF viewer, making good on a late-2011 promise when it shipped an emergency update for an older edition.
Lion has its fair share of both converts and critics, but none so unhappy as those left in the cold with programs which no longer open in Mac OS X 10.7. Now, it seems that Quicken users may once again be able to use their crippled software, according to an email and a support document from Intuit.
Adobe's EchoSign, the company's online digital signature service, is now available as a free iOS app.
Acclivity is ringing in the new year early with the release of AccountEdge 2012, the latest version of the company's small business accounting software.
Adobe is working on a patch for a newly discovered Adobe Reader vulnerability that is currently being exploited in the wild to infect computers with malware.
Earlier this week, Macworld unveiled the winners of its 27th annual Editors' Choice Awards. In this podcast, we explain the reasoning behind some of our Eddy selections.
PhoneFactor, an authentication system that uses mobile phones as a second factor for improved security, is now available as an app for Apple's iPhone and iPad.
Microsoft Office may be bound for the iPad, Apple's painted a bull's-eye on Target, and Consumer Reports says that the Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire are the best tablets that aren't the iPad.


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Cryoserver are pleased to announce an update to our popular mobile app, which brings it into line with Apple’s latest OS, iOS7, and introduces some new features.
Mobile Email with Cryoserver
Until recently there’s been a clear distinction between work and personal devices, but times have changed. Now it’s increasingly likely that your personal device will be smarter, faster and more powerful than the technology provided by your work, so businesses are bringing in Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies.
However, these policies can leave data at risk if users download sensitive emails to their personal devices – and that’s where Cryoserver comes in.
Features of Cryoserver’s Mobile App
By installing Cryoserver’s Mobile App on your iPad, iPhone or Android device, you can have fast, easy access to your emails at any time, while businesses can be confident that any sensitive data is managed carefully and has controlled access.
The software used by Cryoserver has the capability to access any email that’s ever been sent from a user’s phone – a vast improvement on the 30-day restriction on most smart phones. Of greater benefit are the lightning fast searches Cryoserver can run, enabling users to find emails based on a keyword, sender, recipient or date sent.
The biggest benefit to businesses is that no data is stored on the device. A selected email can be opened, read and answered via the Cryoserver API, but once the app is closed, the user is logged out and the archive data remains securely stored.
The New Version
The new version has fixed some compatibility issues with iOS7. In addition, a New Message feature has been added, allowing users to compose a message without leaving the app. This is especially useful in BYOD environments when businesses need to ensure that sensitive emails aren’t sent from a personal email by accident.
Cryoserver’s Mobile App offers a number of benefits to users and organisations alike, and is an essential addition to the BYOD working environment offered by an increasing number of businesses today.


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Readers, last week we updated you on Blackberry to soon offer BBM voice (and more) to Android & IPhone users, and today we have some confirmed good news for Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread users (including myself).
Till now BlackBerry’s popular messenger – BBM was only available to Android version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and up. Per Android Developer Dashboard published on January 8, 2014, Android Gingerbread represents about 21% of the total Android platforms in use. Therefore, around 21% of Android users were deprived of this excellent messenger application, who are still on Android version 2.3.3 Gingerbread.
Jeff Gadway, head product and brand marketing for BBM, announced in a blog post that Blackberry will soon be launching BBM for Android 2.3.3+ Gingerbread devices.
We’ve got some exciting BBM news for Android Gingerbread users – you’ve been asking and we’ve heard you loud and clear. We’re now pleased to announce that BBM will soon also be available on Android Devices running Gingerbread(v2.3.3+).
This move by Blackberry seems to be yet another effort by the erstwhile Smartphone King to lure more Android users to their side. It is definitely going to increase BBM's market share in comparison with other instant messaging services.
Jeff further stated that, The team at BBM has been busy in the kitchen over the last few months cooking up this special release of BBM for Android Smartphone's running Gingerbread and are now moving into an external beta ahead of the launch in February. We couldn’t be more excited, too! Supporting Gingerbread will allow millions more Android users to download the popular BBM instant messaging app.
Right said Jeff, even we - Gingerbread users - are also excited and waiting for the much awaited BBM application.
Readers, what do you think on this move by Blackberry? Are you excited too? Do let us know (through comments, Face book, Twitter, G+).
Image & Source Credits


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Muthoot Fincorp CIO, Nilakantan Krishnan, adopted a combination of technologies like IoT, mobility and cloud to secure its branches and brought down pending issues from 40 percent to 26 percent.
Shalimar Paints has launched an application for its field sales force to improve real time visibility and grease their business wheel.
Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals has launched an application for its field force to improve real time visibility and grease their business wheels.
Digital stylus, large display, strong Samsung brand all cited as reasons customers are replacing their Note7 devices post-recall
With tablet sales tanking, you could get an iPad or Amazon Fire on the cheap
Open source gear might be one way to get around LED pollution on wireless access points, routers, etc.
A key Evernote feature is finally coming to iOS.
The ability to deliver Telco-grade quality even in the excessively-noisy unlicensed spectrum, with affordable pricing to boot, is what Cambium believes is its success mantra.
Red Hat’s think tank has always sworn by open-source, and believes that it’s the key to unleashing next-gen technologies. With IoT storming the enterprise, the pitch remains the same. Here’s why Red Hatters believe open-source is where you ought to put your money.
Venkat Maroju, CEO, SourceTrace Systems, says that producing food for a growing population, minimizing environmental impact and ensuring equitable treatment of farmers is a major challenge for our generation.
Apple improved almost everything about the iPhone 7, from the processor to the camera. Then they took away the headphone jack. Do the iPhone 7’s drawbacks ruin the experience?
Network World chats with John Hurley, CEO of SmartFile, about how enterprise IT departments can embrace "rogue users" and "Shadow IT" instead of shutting them down.
Cloud, convertible detachable and hyper-converged solutions to keep us ahead of competition, says Rahul Agarwal, MD & CEO, Lenovo India.
Bug can end navigation before you reach destination
With Google betting on artificial intelligence, Allo could prove its plan
The Wi-Fi Alliance has released its test plan for coexistence of Wi-Fi and LTE in unlicensed spectrum
Reviews are mixed on Google's latest communication app. Here's what the reviewers aren't telling you.
How Apple could apply the lessons of its wireless AirPods to the next iPhone, Apple Watch, and even the car.
Innovating on technology and business models won’t be enough. App economy players should learn to work around regulation.
With the country’s mobile economy hurtling along at breakneck speed, the e-commerce industry has emerged as a lucrative career destination for mobile developers. The 2016 India Mobile Talent report, conducted by Belong, gives us a dekko at what the mobile talent in India looks like, and weren’t we surprised.
On April 1, 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer Inc. to sell a personal computer kit. 40 years later, the company, now called Apple, is the largest IT company by revenue in the world. How did it happen?
NASSCOM 2016’s round table discussion focused on thoughts of leaders who have gone through digital transformation and understood that the digital age requires a new mode of collaboration between traditional vendors-clients as well as between competitors and partners.


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Climate change is arguably the greatest threat to the world today, with our reliance on petrol and diesel guzzling cars a key concern. Indeed, as part of its commitment to a greener transport future, the UK government has recently pledged that by 2030 the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans will be phased out. New plug-in and hybrid cars will still be allowed to be sold until 2035.
It’s not just the government and the British public who are trying to make changes. Ride hailing businesses such as Uber are also making important moves in this area. For example, Uber has announced that within 10 years 100% of rides through its app in the UK will take place in electric vehicles.
With such ambitious targets, these government and business moves have sparked a surge in online searches for electric cars by taxi drivers keen to get ahead of the competition.
However, unlike finding the right taxi insurance with Taxi Insurer, buying an electric car in the UK today is not a simple thing to do. Price, range, charging, location, running costs, your driving habits and even the weather all come into play.
So, if you’re an Uber taxi driver should you buy an electric car? Environmentally speaking, it’s a 100% yes. But, when you take other factors into account, it’s more complicated. Read our quick guide to the issues to help you decide.
In the past, electric cars were considered to be high-end, luxury vehicles, with big price tags to match. This made them unsuitable for Uber drivers looking for a more affordable option.
However, recent developments in the market have made the idea of using a battery-powered car for Uber a clear possibility. For example, a quick search of car auction websites will find a second-hand Peugeot ION or Nissan Leaf for under £5,000.
While if you’re in the market for a new set of wheels, you could get the 145-mile Mini Electric for £25,100 (including the government Plug-In Car Grant of £3,000), or £26,995 for a 245-mile Renault Zoe.
Both are small cars, so depending on your taxi business you may want something a bit larger like the 165-mile Hyundai Ioniq Electric for £30,000.
If you’re one of the 45,000 Uber drivers operating in London then you could also benefit from a deal signed with Nissan to help drivers switch to fully electric vehicles. Nissan is making 2,000 of its electric Leafs available to Uber drivers at a special discount which they can rent or buy outright.
London drivers can also use money accumulated from Uber’s clean air fee, which charges riders 15p per mile on all London journeys. This is intended to help pay for an electric car and ongoing running costs. Launched in January 2019, it has raised an impressive £100m so far.
According to Uber, a driver using the app for an average of 40 hours per week could receive around £3,000 towards an electric car in two years’ time and £4,500 in three years. While a driver who averages 20 hours per week could apply for around £1,500 in two years and £2,250 in three years.
Even those working outside London can benefit from the lower running costs of electric vehicles compared to non-electric equivalents. A recent report from Europe’s leading clean transport campaign group made some interesting findings.
Looking at costs over the whole use time of an electric vehicle for a typical ride-hailing driver, the European Federation for Transport and Environment found a clear result. A medium electric vehicle such as a Nissan Leaf was, on average, 14% cheaper to run than an equivalent diesel vehicle.
Taxi insurance is a vital cost of a driver’s business. Call Taxi Insurer today and see how much you could save.
Many earlier electric vehicles had limited appeal to professional drivers because of their short driving range.
However, recent technological developments mean all that is changing. Most of today’s affordable electric cars have a real-world range of more than 150 miles or more, which could be workable for a taxi driver that does short city journeys every day.
However, remember that range is dependent on many factors. For example, while the Renault Zoe has a 245-mile range, the average real-world driving figures are 233 miles in summer and 150 miles in winter.
These figures are also affected by the starting charge of the battery, accessories fitted after registration, weather conditions, driving styles and vehicle load.
Having reliable, accessible charging near where you live is an important factor when deciding whether to invest in an electric vehicle.
If an Uber driver doesn’t have their own private driveway or ability to charge from home, then they’ll be almost completely reliant on the public electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the UK.
While this is improving all the time, there is still a long way to go before you don’t need to worry about where to get a top-up of charge.
For example, in London the concentration of chargers is far higher in affluent boroughs like Kensington and Westminster than in boroughs such as Newham and Tower Hamlets where Uber drivers are more likely to live.
While Uber is investing in the charging infrastructure in these places, there is still much work to be done.
Making your business ready for future challenges is a key part of success in the competitive taxi industry. That’s why the specialist team at Taxi Insurer are always looking to come up with ways to help you stay ahead.
For example, our interest-free payment plans are here to make your payments more manageable alongside other expenses.
Our taxi insurance comes in a variety of different forms, from third party, fire and theft to comprehensive cover. Public liability insurance and employers’ liability insurance can also be added on.
Policyholders can also benefit from no claims bonus protection, a UK-based call centre, and a 24-hour claims management service. Arranging cover through Taxi Insurer couldn’t be easier.
Get a quote for taxi insurance today.
Policy benefits, features and discounts offered may very between insurance schemes or cover selected and are subject to underwriting criteria. Information contained within this article is accurate at the time of publishing but may be subject to change.


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How Algae Is Making Food Production More Sustainable
This year the Biden administration established national sustainability goals to limit environmentally degrading commercial activities. The agricultural and food production industry has long-standing ecological challenges interfering with the country’s carbon-neutrality objective. Professionals are searching for eco-friendly alternatives in hopes of reducing the sector’s environmental effects.
Researchers identified algae as a potential solution. It can replace ecologically degrading protein and nutrient sources, shrinking consumers’ and companies’ carbon footprints. Before exploring the environmental benefits of algae, we must assess the challenges it counters.
Ecological Challenges With Protein Sources
A significant environmental complication with meat production is land use. Farmers use nearly 60% of their land for cattle development. About one-quarter of the global meat consumption derives from beef and consumes 30 million square kilometers of land.
Beef production is also the leading cause of deforestation in tropical regions. It is fueling over two-thirds of all habitat loss in the Amazon rainforest. Additionally, meat development creates potent greenhouse gas emissions, limiting atmospheric conservation.
Cows produce methane and release it into the environment through belching. When the pollutant reaches the atmosphere, it alters Earth’s conventional temperature control process.
Naturally, the atmosphere absorbs sunlight, produces heat, warms Earth’s surface, collects unnecessary energy and sends it to space. Methane has a high sunlight-to-heat conversion rate, overproducing global heat. It also traps excess energy in the atmosphere and raises Earth’s temperature over time.
The agricultural industry produces about 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions. It is a significant driver of climate change, enhancing environmental degradation.
Another protein source affecting the industry’s sustainability is soy. This is a nutrient and water-intensive crop, also fueling deforestation and freshwater exploitation. Many vegetarian and vegan consumers look to soy as a protein substitute.
Researchers recently discovered the health and environmental benefits of replacing plant-based proteins and meats with algae, supporting global sustainability.
Algae’s Sustainability Properties
Many microalgae strains contain high counts of protein. Some are up to 60% protein and contain essential vitamins and minerals. They also reduce land and resource exploitation, using natural water to produce the food source.
Algae grow in salt, fresh and wastewaters. Professionals are combating two environmental challenges at once by producing edible algae at wastewater treatment plants. The plant matter naturally filters out toxins, nitrogen, phosphorus and heavy metals in the water, reducing surface-level pollution.
Removing algae from lakes, rivers and the ocean also increases ecological conservation. Naturally, algae develop from polluted runoff in major water sources. During its development, the plant matter depletes aquatic oxygen levels and fuels eutrophication.
Collecting excess algae for food protects organic oxygen levels and marine habitats. It also provides various health benefits for consumers. Society can replace most protein-rich foods with the highly abundant resource.
Algae consumption increases an individual’s vitamin and nutrient intake levels. Blue-green algae (BGA) are high in B vitamins, which many vegetarians and vegans lack. They are also rich in amino acids, helping consumers access adequate protein levels.
Additionally, BGA contains antibacterial, antiviral, antioxidant and antidiabetic properties, holistically protecting an individual’s well-being. Environmentalists evaluated the human health and environmental advantages of algae consumption and produced various food products. Individuals can increase the sustainability of their diets, replacing meat and soy protein with algae. If you eat sushi and seaweed salad, you are already consuming algae.
Food scientists are taking this to the next level by developing lines of microalgae-based products. Researchers developed an algae-based sourdough crostini from dried and flaked biomass and discovered an increase in the bread’s protein levels and antioxidant properties. Companies evaluated this and other studies, sparking their interests in the eco-friendly superfood’s uses.
Today, companies produce BGA pasta that is vegan, non-GMO and kosher. They also sell dried algae in capsules and power, making it easy to increase your plant-based protein consumption. Environmental scientists predict algae will dominate the food industry’s future.
Increasing Your Diet’s Sustainability Today
Consumers can adopt eco-conscious diets by first measuring their carbon footprints. If a significant portion of your emissions derive from meat consumption, it may be time to try a flexitarian diet. Rather than consuming beef or other animal products as your main form of protein, you can swap out some products with algae-based foods.


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For all the spectacle and furor that it has caused throughout this year, there was only really one choice for Footwear News to name for their “Shoe of the Year” Achievement Award: Kanye West’s Yeezy Boost. The rapper took to the stage in New York City tonight to receive the award at Footwear News’s Achievement Awards ceremony, which honors the footwear industry’s cream of the crop.
It was only in February that Kanye revealed the 750 Boost at the Grammys, but sneaker culture has been fixated on them ever since, helped in no small measure by the fact that Kanye threw his (and his family’s) entire celebrity behind promoting the shoe. Sparking unparalleled demand that crashed servers and drove resale value to astronomical heights, the commotion was sustained throughout the whole of this year, with strategically timed releases for the 350 Boost in June, and subsequent “Black” and “Moonrock” colorways in August and November ensuring that the silhouette never left the spotlight. Scenes of organized chaos became regular occurrences at their in-store releases worldwide. The sheer dominance of Kanye’s influence throughout multiple cultural spheres was fully felt through the Yeezy Boost, which became a staple choice of footwear among the top tier of pop stars, fashionistas and sneakerheads, with Kanye gifting two pairs to President Obama as well.
This is adidas’ second time in winning the honor, the first time being awarded to the iconic Stan Smith last year, when the man himself stepped up to the stage to receive the award.


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From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …
The politics of sport. Which is tougher, politics or footy? According to AFLW Crows player Talia Radan, politics. She would know — in addition to her football career, Radan is an advisor to Education Minister Simon Birmingham. Radan and other AFLW players were in Parliament today for the launch of the Parliamentary Friends of AFL Women’s group.
The launch brought politicians from all sides onto the field to back the up and coming AFLW professional sport, including Labor’s Terri Butler, Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie, Greens Senator Janet Rice, and NXT Senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore. Birmo and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten were on hand to lob footballs at each other before the press conference, and Ms Tips suspects that footage of the Opposition Leader passing a (literal) football particularly hard at Birmo will make the b-roll footage for news items this week as the government rushes to pass its “Gonski 2.0” schools funding package.
Better than Judge Judy. It’s not often that we recommend people watch court proceedings, but last week the Melbourne courts played host to something more like spectator sport (maybe we should have sold popcorn out the front) than arcane legalistic argy-bargy. Watching Friday’s hearing, where federal ministers Greg Hunt, Alan Tudge and Michael Sukkar were represented by Commonwealth Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue, is a good way to spend an hour of time until Games of Thrones is back on Monday nights next month. Chief Justice Marilyn Warren, Justice Mark Weinberg and Justice Stephen Kaye presided. It’s about half an hour in that we get to the back and forth between Donaghue and Warren about whether or not the ministers are retracting their statements — and the judicial fury is something to behold.
Right up to the deadline. If you’ve been involved in preparing legislation, as some of us at Crikey have been, you’ll know it can be a pretty fraught process if amendments are needed to secure passage through the Senate. That’s the grim reality if a government doesn’t control the upper house (or even, occasionally, if it does), so we don’t like to unnecessarily bag governments over legislative process. But the low-value import GST bill that was considered in the Senate this morning, and which, as of writing, looked like it was going to be delayed at least a year, has been a Barry Crocker.
After waiting for several years to cave in to the demands of our big retailers that consumers be punished for daring to buy somewhere other than Australia’s gouging, oligopolistic retail sector, the government has had months to sort this bill out. True, it was attempting a relatively novel approach (trying to make big online retailers like Amazon collect GST, rather than levy it at the border). But industry — particularly third-party sites like eBay — was flagging concerns about the exposure draft of the bill at the end of 2016. And the government sat silent even after a Senate committee recommended in May that the bill be delayed a year to sort out its problems. Now, here we are, 11 days from the notional commencement of what will be a novel system of GST collection to be applied by companies outside Australia, and the Senate is still debating it. So much for investor certainty. This could all have been avoided if the government agreed to the delay when the Senate committee proposed it, and got on with fixing the bill.
Confusion at eBay. Speaking of the plans to charge GST on all overseas retailers, including for purchases below $1000, eBay is trying to inform its sellers how the tax will work but it looks like eBay itself doesn’t really know how GST works, if an email sent to its sellers over the weekend is anything to go by.
Everyone has frenemies. Ms Tips found it interesting that on Insiders yesterday, the Australian Financial Review‘s editor Michael Stutchbury didn’t mention that Malcolm Turnbull wasn’t the only one to consider China a “frenemy”. In the segment, Stutch talked about the ABC and Fairfax reporting on concerns about political donations from powerful Chinese businesspeople but he failed to mention a “donation” of another sort — in fact it is a regular contribution from the Chinese Government’s chief propaganda arm.
Fairfax Media’s Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have been exposing links between Chinese businesspeople and Australian politicians for weeks but on Friday it was in the same pages along with China Watch, the eight-page insert paid for by China Daily, mouthpiece for the Chinese government. It has the tagline “all you need to know” and the disclaimer “This supplement prepared by China Daily, People’s Republic of China, did not involve the news or editorial departments of The Age“.


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As per the source, it’s not just the established names that are getting involved. CES 2013 also witnessed many activities around health/fitness watches from start-ups such as Leikr, Pebble, Basis and others. I’m Here and Bia Sport could shake up the GPS fitness device market in 2013 with cellular-connected GPS fitness watches.
As per the report, there is also an opportunity for smaller players to work with major application developers like Runkeeper, as a distribution channel. Device manufacturers need to accept that users now have a familiarity and bank of data with certain applications. The ability to tie in data from a device rather than migrating to a whole new analytics package will be enticing for many.
Patrick Connolly, Senior analyst, ABI Research, said: “Low cost watches rapidly emerged in 2012, and are forecast to take a significant chunk of the market in 2013. From a competitive point of view, projected GPS IC shipment estimates indicate leading watch, fitness apparel, and electronics vendors are planning to release new products in this space in 2013. In 2012, Motorola’s MOTOACTV watch was a great example of how a new entrant can instantly win market share with a strong feature set and good price point.”
Dominique Bonte, ABI research, said: “There have already been unfounded rumors around Apple in 2013, so let’s wait and see. If an Apple watch did feature integrated GPS, it would no doubt significantly boost shipment forecasts in 2013.”


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Telecom consumers in Nigeria may soon enjoy lower call tariffs across the networks of MTN, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat, New Telegraph has learnt. This came as the industry regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) slashed call termination rates between the operators by 20 per cent.
The new Mobile Termination Rate (MTR) takes effect from July 1, 2018, according to a document posted on the regulator’s website.
Under the new rate regime, mobile operators are to charge N3.90 per minute for calls within the country terminating on their networks. This represents a 20 per cent drop compared with the 2013 rate currently in operation, which was fixed at N4.90 by the regulator.
The new MTR applies the asymmetric interconnect rate method whereby new mobile operators enjoy higher termination rates than the older operators as a result of the study that show that such operators expend higher cost of termination in their networks. Under the new rate, new entrant operators are to charge N4.90 for calls terminating on their network, compared with N6.40 in 2013.
Interconnect rate is the price that telecommunications operators pay each other for calls terminating on their networks. If a call originates from network A, for instance, and ends on network B, what A pays B for terminating the call is the interconnect rate.
The rate is considered crucial in the telecommunications industry as it is one of the factors that determine what an operator charges the subscriber and no operator can charge less than the interconnect rate, no matter how cost-efficient the operator is.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the regulator’s consultant, which conducted a study on cost-based interconnect rates both in the country and across the world, since NCC moved towards cost-based interconnection rates in 2009 and its review in 2013, the market has seen strong growth, prices have fallen and the asymmetry between on-net and off-net calls has decreased. PwC added that the Nigeria telecoms market has been growing since 2013 with a cumulative average growth rate (CAGR) of around 10 per cent in subscriber terms.
Prior to the review of the 2013 rate, the Commission, in its usual consultative approach, held series of forums where it sought stakeholders’ inputs to determine the new rate. During one of the fora, the operators had expressed concerns that increasing the MTR would lead to an increase in the retail tariffs in the short to medium term and negatively impact on the growth of the industry.
Thus, the operators advised the regulator to either keep the MTR at the 2013 or decrease it so as to avoid exacerbating the cost differential already in place between large and small operators.
Speaking on the new rate, Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said the Commission carefully considered the information provided by stakeholders and has taken a view on parameters and regulatory measures in the light of that and other information – such as international experience, cost model results, the state of competition in the sector and the Nigeria macroeconomic environment.
“The process of arriving at a new MTR has been conducted in a climate of openness and with a view to providing maximum transparency to all parties without compromising the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information.
The Commission is confident that the results will make a significant contribution to the development of a thriving telecoms sector in Nigeria and hence benefit both consumers and the industry,” he said.
To arrive at the new rates, the EVC said the Commission also took cognizance of the concerns expressed by the operators on the impact that an increase in MTR may have on retail tariffs, especially in consideration of the current economic situation in the country and the pivotal role that access to telecommunications services plays in overall national socio-economic development.
“These concerns as well as the steps being taken by the Commission to reduce operating costs in the industry have been factored into the determination. Other factors pertaining to the possible impact of an increase in MTR have been addressed. Nonetheless, the Commission will continue to review the situation and will implement the necessary regulatory safeguards from time to time,” the EVC said.


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Boots to slash 700 jobs at its UK offices as it looks to restructure after merger with US chain Walgreens
- About half of the cuts will be at Boots head office in Nottingham
- Job cuts follow £9bn merger with US pharmacy chain Walgreens last year
High street chain Boots has announced today it will cut 700 jobs at its UK offices as part of a restructuring, just months after being swallowed by US retail giant Walgreens.
The firm's UK head office in Beeston, Nottingham, will suffer about half of the cuts, which will include support and administrative staff but will not affect store roles.
Despite the cuts, Boots President Simon Roberts said the firm remained 'fully committed' to its presence in Nottingham as it had been the home of Boots since the very beginning.
Job cuts: Boots has announced it will slash 700 non-store roles
The announcement follows the mega £9billion merger of Boots with the American pharmacy chain at the end of last year to create Walgreens Boots Alliance, which is now based in Chicago.
Stefano Pessina has retained a 19 per cent stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance
‘Together with my leadership team, I believe this plan will make Boots even better for our customers and drive sustainable future growth,' Roberts said.
'We have not taken these decisions lightly, and understand the impact that today's announcement may have on our colleagues.
‘We are fully committed to doing everything we can to support all our people as we transform Boots and strive to be even better for our customers and patients,’ he added.
Boots said it expects to achieve the cuts through a mixture of natural attrition, redeployment, retraining and redundancies.
The chain, which employs 4,000 people at its Nottingham head office and 60,000 people across its 2,511 stores in the UK, also announced it would put additional resources into its digital unit.
Boots was founded by John Boot in 1849, who first opened a herbalist shop in Nottingham.
Walgreens Boots Alliance, which is listed on the Nasdaq exchange in the US, has said a programme of cost-cutting would target $1.5billion (£900million) of savings by 2017.
Walgreens recently reported a 33 per cent jump in profits in its first results since snapping up Alliance Boots from the private equity backed firm run by Italian Stefano Pessina, who has retained around 19 per cent stake in the new group.
The firm notched up profits of £815million for the three months to the end of February, with overall sales rising 35 per cent to £18billion.
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The battle brewing kills dreams of a merger or acquisition that might have been reminiscent of PayPal's successful acquisition of Venmo parent Braintree.
"It would have been really terrific if they merged with Square," TheStreet founder Jim Cramer said on CNBC's Squawk on the Street this morning.
Now that each company is making inroads into merchant payments, and Square's valuation continues to rise with its skyrocketing multiple, the companies look more likely to clash than converge.
Acquisition Target to Antagonist
Square's gains this year in the merchant market have helped it rise from what might have been a clear merger or acquisition target late last year to a staunch competitor. Shares of the payment processor have risen 118% year to date, bolstered by a forward-looking P/E ratio exceeding 100.
Since the valuation has blossomed and made any acquisition unlikely, the battle has only intensified.
Some see PayPal's deep pockets as the key to winning the war of attrition.
"PayPal has laid waste to what is perhaps Square's most powerful competitive advantage by entering the market at 2.70% and $0.00 [per transaction] opposed to Square's 2.75% and $0.00," Ben Dwyer, President of CardFellow, a credit card and payment processing advocate, wrote in his take on the two companies. "PayPal's deep pockets and established market presence make PayPal Here a formidable adversary, the likes of which Square hasn't yet had to deal with."
The battle is an uphill one already for Square, despite its niche in brick and mortar and point of sale businesses.
According to Datanyze, a sales and marketing research database, PayPal still dominates the payment market share with 72.7% control of the United States market.
Additionally, PayPal's new partnership with card-payment leader American Express (AXP) might only foment the issues Square faces in challenging PayPal.
"PayPal and American Express consumers will be able to use their American Express reward points to pay for their purchases at millions of PayPal merchants around the world," PayPal CEO Dan Schulman explained in the company's earnings call on Thursday. "With this agreement, we now have strategic relationships in place with all of the major card networks."
As such, PayPal can more efficiently challenge Square's on-site purchase niche.
"Not only have these partnerships redefined our competitive landscape, they have also created new and unique commerce experiences for our mutual customers around the world," Schulman said.
Not only that, but American Express is extremely popular among millennials, according to American Express CEO Stephen Squeri. That does not bode well for Square, which relies on increased adoption among millennial merchants to achieve its charted growth trajectory.
Square Still Sees Surge Ahead
To be sure, Square's uphill battle does not mean the summit is unreachable.
According to a Keybanc Capital Markets survey led by Director of FinTech Josh Beck, Square is poised to remain a leader in payments for businesses as the mode of transaction continues to transition to mobile and online from store premises.
"70%+ of sellers did not even consider a competitor when selecting Square and 45% started their first payment relationship with Square, indicating a dominant brand among small businesses," Beck explained.
He indicated that Square's underlying product line is the key story for the company's emerging opportunities.
"Square has a rich ecosystem of transaction, SKU-level, customer, and inventory data that could enable it to extend beyond payments and play a larger role in commerce, which positively ties to one of our key secular FinTech themes," he wrote in a note explaining the survey. "Most of the initiatives remain early cycle, and thus could leave room for substantial outperformance if Square is able to scale them efficiently."
Suntrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Andrew Jeffrey added to the hope by raising his price target for Square based upon the remaining growth drivers that remain in nascent stages.
"Our model reflects momentum in Square Cash, Instant Deposit and the emerging Restaurants solution," he wrote on Wednesday, outlining opportunities. "We also note EventBrite (EB) will provide a notable GPV boost."
He added that while the recent management change at the CFO position at Square is cause for concern at the young company, the momentum is enough to raise a price target.
"These tailwinds would otherwise by enough to improve SQ's risk/reward, in our opinion," he explained. "We contend investors should demand a more forgiving valuation."
Nonetheless, he maintained his "Hold" rating on the stock based upon limited available market and turmoil at the top ranks.
iZettle Tries to Settle the Score
"When you start losing market share, it's really tough to gain it back; you need the product portfolio and presence in many markets."- Verizon (VZ) CEO Hans Vestberg
The total available market for Square's expansion is further shrunk in the face of iZettle, PayPal's answer to Square's insurgence.
In attempting to curb the risk from Square CEO Jack Dorsey's upstart payment platform, PayPal has looked abroad to contain the threat.
The company's recently closed deal to acquire iZettle, a Sweden-based merchant payments platform, offers another advantage over Square in terms of global reach.
"Hailed as the European rival to Square, iZettle is a leading small business commerce platform in Europe and Latin America that offers in-store capabilities, including point-of-sale, merchant tools and an easy and automated on-boarding process," the Action Alerts Team wrote in their analysis of the transaction announcement earlier this year.
The acquisition, which closed in late September, should only add to PayPal's already breakneck pace of customer acquisition.
"PayPal just bought Square's rival in Europe at a cheaper cost," the AAP team noted on the acquisition's announcement. "iZettle's international ties accelerate PayPal's global expansion."
On paper, it would appear that PayPal has a commanding lead. However, in Silicon Valley and especially now in payment platforms, paper is rarely useful.


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There are some theories as to why this is, with the main one attributing the difference in food supply chain in the U.S. compared to Europe to be the primary culprit. While it is true that both countries have different approaches in handling food, specifically dairy, experts have explained how this is merely due to differences in risk management. Plus, there is a lack of scientific evidence validating this to be true as it pertains to dairy sensitivity, despite various personal experiences you may have heard from friends (or folks you follow on social media).
So if banned ingredients and food supply chain differences aren’t at play, then why are so many people claiming to tolerate dairy in Europe so much better than in their country? We sat down with a registered dietitian specializing in helping those with digestive disorders and dairy sensitivities as well as a food scientist to get some answers.
Why dairy can cause digestive discomfort
Before getting into why dairy sensitivities can vary, it’s important to know what about dairy can lead to an upset stomach or sudden trip to the bathroom. “The major reason dairy can lead to digestive issues is lactose intolerance, [which is when] the body is not producing enough lactase, the enzyme that breaks down lactose, which is the main carbohydrate in milk,” says Erin Judge, RDN, LDN, a registered dietitian nutritionist and founder of Gutivate, a nutrition counseling practice for digestive disorders. “The poor breakdown of lactose can lead to symptoms such as gas, bloating, cramping, pain, or diarrhea, but can vary by person.”
Judge also points out how it’s also possible to have an allergy-like response to the proteins in dairy, which can result in skin flushing, rashes, and more in addition to uncomfortable digestive symptoms.
How dairy in Europe differs from American dairy
Among the many social posts on this trend, there’s been a hyper focus on the differences in dairy and whether or not this is the cause for changes in dairy sensitivities. For one, you may see dairy on the shelves in grocery stores versus the refrigerated section in the United States. The reason for this is due to milk pasteurization methods. “Milk is pasteurized through a process called ultra high temperature (UHT) in Europe, which kills the bacteria and can lead to a longer shelf life product without refrigeration,” explains Natalie Alibrandi, a UK-based food scientist and CEO of Nali Consulting. America, on the other hand, follows a different method called high temperature, short time (HTST), which Alibrandi says kills most bacteria in dairy, but still requires refrigeration. Despite the differences in pasteurization methods, the lactose content is the same for HTST and UHT milk.
Another notable difference between milk in America and Europe (one of which has been known to cause controversy) is the allowance of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rGBH) that some believe can negatively impact humans. The main reason being is due to the fact that Europe banned the use of rBGH, while America has not. “RBGH has been approved by the FDA since 1993, however it’s been outlawed in the EU since 1990,” says Alibrandi. The concern the EU has on using rGBH is the known increase in hormone IGF-1 that can cause cells to grow which some believe is correlated with prostate cancer, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer, but the evidence of potential harm to humans is inconclusive.
It’s also important to note that 90 percent of rBGH is destroyed during pasteurization and even more can be destroyed during cooking processes. So while the use of rGBH may be concerning for some, there have been no discernible effects on humans as it pertains to dairy sensitivities when consumed through milk.
Why your dairy sensitivity may change in Europe, according to an expert
So now that we’ve touched on how European dairy differs from American dairy and how these differences probably aren’t contributing to the change in dairy sensitivities, you may be wondering what is at play.
To start, it’s important to remember that dairy can contain different levels of lactose content, depending on the level of fat in the food item. “Full-fat milk can have a lower lactose content than low-fat dairy options, so the lactose load may be more tolerable,” Alibrandi says. "Lactose-free milk is the only milk without lactose. This type of milk adds the enzyme lactase to break down lactose.” Restaurants can vary in the type of dairy used for various dishes, which can impact you differently, depending on your lactose intolerance.
Judge points out that there are other factors that have nothing to do with lactose content that may also be at play. "Other reasons for improved tolerance in other locations would be due to other digestive distress contributors, including other ingredients in dairy products, portions, movement or lack or movement, and stress levels," says Judge.
On the movement note, trips to Europe may require walking more to get around versus driving a car, which can increase your levels of movement on a trip and ultimately help with overall digestion. While walking more may not seem like the biggest difference, one study points out how over a third of Americans prefer to drive rather than walk five minutes. The extra steps you normally wouldn’t take can help with breaking down food for your body to use, especially if walking right after a meal.
Another contributing factor that can lead to an improved tolerance of dairy products is your stress levels, which can be easily overlooked. In most instances, trips to Europe act as a vacation that allow you to get away from activities and environments currently associated with stress and anxiety. The reduction in stress can not only benefit your mental health, but your digestive health as well. “I find that many people are more relaxed and have less stress on vacation since they aren’t working or around their usual stressors, and this would improve digestion overall, even with foods that are not usually tolerated well,” says Judge. Eating gelato while shopping or sightseeing sounds pretty relaxing, no?
According to the Stress in America 2020 survey done by the American Psychological Association (APA), more than three in four adults (77 percent) say the future of our nation is a significant source of stress (which is up significantly from 2019 when 66 percent of adults said the same). It’s no wonder being in a new environment, especially one we’re excited to be in, can lead to a higher tolerance of ingredients that normally wreak havoc.
The bottom line
While there’s still no clear-cut answer as to why so many people report dairy sensitivity changes when traveling, it’s important to consider the various factors that can impact our digestion. Therefore, Judge suggests paying attention to the bigger picture when on vacation, such as your stress levels, body movement levels, and the lactose levels in dairy products. That way, it’s easier to determine what factors can influence how your body reacts to dairy, regardless of where you’re located.
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THE NEUTRAL ZONE
President Trump issued an executive order Thursday evening that gives the popular social media platform 45 days to find a buyer from Chinese-owned company ByteDance Ltd. The order would ban TikTok and a chat app, WeChat, from operating in the U.S. Microsoft said Sunday it would continue with talks to buy the app, which would lift the order.
The order alleges that TikTok captures information such as location data, browsing and search histories from its users. Trump calls this a risk because it threatens to allow the Chinese government access to personal information from American users, which could lead to China obtaining information damaging to the U.S.
TikTok users were reportedly trying to find ways to get around a ban, including tricking servers to make it look as if they were using it in a different country, though it’s unsure if the order would prevent U.S. residents from using the app.
TikTok said the order set a “dangerous precedent” and said it would take all “remedies available,” including legal action. TikTok also said it does not store user information in China or shares it with officials in Beijing.
TikTok threatens legal action over Trump’s order – Politico – 8/7/2020
TikTok threatened Friday to take legal action against an executive order issued by President Donald Trump that would bar the parent company of the Chinese social media app from doing business with U.S. companies.
Trump takes aim at China’s bridge to the world by targeting WeChat – The New York Times – 8/7/2020
The all-purpose app, which the administration is restricting along with TikTok, is how many Chinese living abroad stay in touch with each other, and with people back home.
Chinese-Owned TikTok, WeChat Have 45 Days To Sell Or Leave United States – The Federalist – 8/7/2020
Both face accusations of censoring content that is politically undesireable for the Chinese Communist Party and sharing user data with the Chinese government.
The lessons of TikTok – Cato Commentary – 8/7/2020
Although there may be some legitimate concerns here, the administration’s unilateralist approach creates a bad precedent. A better way to address the concerns of data security would be for the United States and others to create a set of international rules to govern data protection, which would foster a safe, fair, and stable environment for both businesses and consumers.


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Disney’s recent announcement of plans to pull content off Netflix to start its own streaming service to launch in 2019 was not only potentially groundbreaking news for the television medium, but it may have set into motion the ending of the media giant’s “chill” with Netflix. While details were initially unclear regarding which of Disney’s properties – namely Star Wars and Marvel – would make the (presumably exclusive) migration to the unnamed streaming service, the company just clarified those details.
At a Q&A session at a communications and entertainment conference held by Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Disney CEO Bob Iger shed some light on the prospective content set for the company’s direct-to-consumer streaming service app. Addressing the Force-related, Avengers-assembling elephant in the room, Iger states (via The Wrap):
“We’ve now decided we will put the Marvel and Star Wars movies on this app.”
That, however, will be supplemental to the main attraction of the streaming service, which will apparently serve as a platform for loads of exclusive content directly distributed from the Mouse media monolith. As Iger describes at length:
“The studio will produce four to five original films exclusively for the app. The studio library will be available on app. That will be 400-500 films. On the TV side, we’re going to create four to five Disney-branded TV series for the app. And we’re going to produce three to four television movies that are Disney-branded.”
It’s rather telling of today’s state of content consumption that Disney, a megacorporation that holds a firm global grasp on the television medium, owning big-three network ABC and cable outlets Disney Channel, Disney XD, ESPN, A+E Networks and Freeform, would feel the need to make what sounds like a monumental decision to begin a transition into complete distribution independence with an ambitious sounding streaming service.
This notably leaves us with major questions pertaining to the future of Netflix’s exclusive Marvel television content. It’s a given that Disney will wait out its existing catalogue content on Netflix (including the Marvel movies and Disney’s array of animated hits), which expires at the end of 2018. However, things are far more complicated with the Netflix-exclusive side, which includes (Marvel Cinematic Universe-adherent,) shows Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and recent crossover The Defenders, soon to be joined by The Punisher. Disney subsidiaries ABC Studios and Marvel Studios may produce those series, but they are attached to the hip of Netflix’s distribution dreadnought.
Consequently, there are many angles to consider in the gestation of Disney’s streaming service and it will be interesting to see how this plays out. While fans of Star Wars and MCU movies will have a central hub to catch content, fans of Netflix’s Marvel shows are certainly hoping this move won’t jeopardize future installments of the acclaimed Marvel shows.
Read and download the full Den of Geek Special Edition magazine here!


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Byerly Wakeboards on the Web
Scott and everyone in the Byerly camp are proud to announce the launch of Byerlywakeboards.com. Almost two years in the making, Byerlywakeboards.com features the latest news from Scott and his team, riding videos, and product descriptions. Log on to learn more about the history and artists behind the Byerly look. While you're there make sure to sign up for the newsletter to be the first to hear about team trips, Byerly events, and even new product before it hits the market.
Click here for jump: Byerly Wakeboards


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- Rapidly growing global insurtech BOXX Insurance, rolls out personal cyber insurance in the USA to protect individuals and families from today’s digital risks
- The all-in-one insurance plan combines protection, access to an incident response team and ‘admitted’ coverage underwritten by HSB, a Munich Re company
- BOXX is making it easy for consumers to purchase the product online through insurance brokers and agents’ websites
Toronto, ON (Feb. 1, 2023) – BOXX Insurance, the specialist cyber InsurTech and online protection company, is pleased to announce the launch of MyCyberProtection™ by Cyberboxx HomeSM in the USA. This all-in-one product goes beyond today’s identity theft insurance plans by combining comprehensive cyber insurance, with security tools and emergency assistance to ensure that Americans can remain safe online.
BOXX also announced the launch of its platform that can be branded by brokers and enables their clients to purchase the insurance policy directly from their website. After spending a considerable amount of time listening to brokers and agents, the portal enables their clients to easily purchase cyber insurance across the US.
Built in partnership with and underwritten by HSB, the product addresses today’s emerging cyber risks for US consumers which have been driven by the digitization and dependency of online services and social activities. Since 2019, cybercrime losses in the USA tripled to $10.3 billion in 2022 as reported by the FBI, from common attack methods like social engineering and phishing. Even more, large scale data breaches can expose consumers’ personal information on the dark web — making them vulnerable to financial fraud and other forms of cyberattacks.
“Our research highlights that consumers are increasingly aware of the dangers of being online and are looking for a simple and easy all-in-one solution to keep them digitally safe,” said Hilario Itriago, US President, BOXX Insurance. He continues “With broad coverages like computer attacks, cyber ransom, online fraud and cyber bullying, individuals and families can protect themselves from the common risks of living a connected life,” he explained.
Policyholders also get preferred access to an experienced incident response and 24/7 claims team, as well as digital protection services like VPN and a password manager to help keep them cyber safe online.
“BOXX is in the business of protecting people, not just networks and devices,” said Vishal Kundi, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, BOXX. “This solution reflects that purpose by offering a simple, effortless way to protect individuals, families and valuable consumer data.”
Data security is critical and individuals need help to keep up with today’s emerging cyber risks.
“Cyber criminals are hacking into smartphones, laptops, and other personal devices in greater numbers than ever before,” said Tim Nazzaro, Cyber Product & Strategy Manager, HSB. “BOXX Insurance is providing easy access to quality coverage and more, including online cybersecurity tools and services that can really make a difference.”
- MyCyberProtection™ by Cyberboxx HomeSM
About BOXX Insurance
BOXX Insurance Inc. helps businesses, individuals and families insure and defend against cyber threats. Privately-held with headquarters in Toronto, Canada, BOXX has global offices in Miami, Zurich, Dubai and Mumbai. BOXX Insurance is an award-winning global cyber protection and insurance provider.
We’re not a typical company. That’s by design. We’re serious about making the world a digitally safer place; creating real, positive changes for our clients and partners, and building a lasting legacy, from what we create, inside the BOXX. Every day, we’re improving the digital health of businesses, families and individuals around the world who rely on BOXX’s solutions and services to predict, prevent and insure them against cyber threats. For more information, visit www.cyberboxx.ca.
Source: BOXX InsuranceTags: Boxx Insurance, Cyber Insurance, InsurTech, launch, platform, United States (USA)


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A digital marketing expert has said Manchester’s hotels must create “experiences” to attract more overnight visitors to the city.
Jamie Watson, managing partner of award-winning Manchester-based marketing agency Pixel8, said “a large proportion of visitors to Manchester are day visitors”.
Watson will speak at BusinessCloud’s business breakfast on the future of Manchester’s hotel sector on Thursday 13th October.
“A number of challenges exist within the hotel sector, and specifically within Manchester,” he said.
“Within the leisure market, how do hotels encourage more visitors to stay overnight?
“We see there being an opportunity to sell experiences rather than hotel rooms: for example, Christmas shopping weekend including a complimentary wrapping service.”
Watson, who has more than 10 years’ experience working within the sector for some of the world’s biggest and fastest-growing hotel brands, also outlined how some hotels are meeting the challenges of generating increased revenue.
Pixel8 managing partner Jamie Watson“Within the business market, there’s been a shift from the traditional meeting space to more innovative and creative meeting spaces,” he said.
“Within food and beverage, some hotels are successfully creating destination restaurant propositions, for example The French at the Midland Hotel.”
These are exciting times for Manchester’s hotel sector.
INNSIDE By Melia Manchester, Motel One, Hotel Gotham, King Street Townhouse and Hotel Football all opened last year while The Lowry underwent a multimillion-pound tranformation and Hilton Hotels, EasyJet, Travelodge and the Topland Group have announced plans for 2017.
Hotels also form a key part of Allied London’s £1 billion St John’s masterplan and Gary Neville’s and Ryan Giggs’ St Michael’s development.
Despite the glut of openings, Manchester enjoyed record occupancy rates as the city’s visitor economy continues to go from strength to strength on the back of the popularity of Manchester City and Manchester United.
What do you think the future of Manchester’s hotel sector looks like? Is the future niche or corporate? Can Manchester’s visitor economy sustain even more hotels?
These will be some of the questions discussed at BusinessCloud’s hotel breakfast discussion, sponsored by Percipient and chaired by award-winning journalist Chris Maguire.