text:
Apple reported last week another record quarter in terms of revenue and profits, but the markets were not too impressed, causing the share price to head south and slip into correction territory.
Key reason for the disappointment was the iPhone sales figure, as it showed a one percent decline in volume terms in the three months to December compared to the same period a year ago.
The company sold 77.3 million iPhones in its fiscal first quarter, falling short of analyst expectations for the crucial holiday period. Meanwhile, the tech giant also gave lower-than-expected revenue forecast for the current quarter.
The news prompted fresh speculation among industry observers that Apple may be witnessing a significant slowdown in demand for its smartphones, particularly for its latest flagship iPhone X.
Such talk is not surprising, given that media reports had suggested recently that the US tech giant was scaling back iPhone X production plans due to not-too-hot demand.
One analyst wrote in a report that he believes Apple could suspend iPhone X production altogether in the second half this year after the firm rolls out newer models.
Now, what seems to have gone wrong with the iPhone X and why have sales of Apple’s anniversary edition gadget not been up to the mark?
Looking back, it appears Apple may have miscalculated on several aspects as it rolled out the X model late last year.
From the user perspective, iPhone X failed to offer any great surprise despite its new-high premium pricing.
With the gadget costing more than US$1,000, many people chose to give it a miss. Meanwhile, some consumers simply opted for older models that didn’t burn too-big-a-hole in the pocket.
Though Apple insists that iPhone X remains the top seller, with CEO Tim Cook saying the device “has been our top-selling iPhone every week since it shipped in November”, the overall phone sales volume in the last quarter and the forward revenue guidance suggest things aren’t too hunky dory.
Starting from late December, many analysts and media outlets have reported that Apple was cutting down on orders for components for making the iPhone X.
In late January, the Nikkei published a report that said Apple had notified suppliers about a cut in its production target for the first quarter of this year to 20 million units, after previously telling them to expect to produce 40 million units.
The output cut was due to the weaker-than-expected sales in the holiday season in key markets such as US and Europe, according to the report.
Meanwhile, analyst Ming Chi Kuo of KGI Securities has predicted in a note that the iPhone X will be discontinued once a successor model or models — rumored to include larger-screen versions — hit the market in 2018.
That’s in contrast to Apple’s standard retail strategy, which is to leave the earlier iPhone model on sale at a reduced price.
If the iPhone X is really popular, as the company claims, there should be no reason for Apple to reduce the number of orders as well as suspend its production later this year.
But the December quarter overall figures do tell a different story, with the company suffering its first year-on-year decline for iPhone in the holiday season since the smartphone was launched a decade ago.
Some may argue that the iPhone X was launched only in November, which led to the company missing out on full-quarter sales.
That may be so, but the fact is demand for iPhone X cooled quickly before Christmas, as several market observers have pointed out.
While Apple’s die-hard fans were willing to pay the high price for the anniversary edition of iPhone, many consumers looked at other cheaper options.
Some people who were switching from the Android camp preferred to buy the cheaper iPhone 8 series or even the iPhone 7 models, rather than the X.
The cheaper version of iPhones did contribute a lot in keeping iPhone shipments buoyant in the holiday season. According to some reports, more iPhone 7s were activated recently than the iPhone 8 and iPhone X.
iPhone X is no doubt a great product with advanced technology and components, but the premium set on it was just too high in the eyes of many consumers.
The new features of iPhone X, such as Face ID and full screen without Home button, failed to convince users for the upgrade.
Many iPhone Plus users complained that the X screen is “smaller” than their old phone, even though the technical specifications show the new gadget has a 5.8 inch screen versus 5.5 inch screen for iPhone Plus series.
A change in design led to the screen appearing smaller than it is actually, making it an issue for some people.
The device size may well have one of the key factors behind the stagnant iPhone X sales, especially in the Asia Pacific region where people love big-screen phones to enjoy videos and mobile games.
Apple should learn some lessons from the market response to iPhone X and adjust its product features and pricing strategy going forward to give fresh momentum to its main growth engine.
Given the high stakes involved, Apple can’t afford to make any mistakes.
Originally published at www.ejinsight.com on February 6, 2018.


text:
The Truth About Coffee: Harmful or Harmless to Our Health?
Nov 27, 2015 08:10 PM EST | By Pao Uychiat
Coffee is everyone's friend. When people need a perk-me-up at work, this is their go-to drink. For some it is what they take to calm down. It varies really on how the person reacts to the caffeine boost. The Federal Panel concluded earlier this year that drinking five cups of coffee every day is part of a healthy lifestyle, adding that coffee is good for people. This prompted headlines all over the country where it became a national habit.
An article in the National Post is asking people whether coffee is harmful or harmless. The coffee enthusiasm was set off by the federal advisory committee that helps write the government's Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The panel reported that there is strong and consistent proof that shows the consumption of three to five cups of coffee is in moderate range and thus not connected with the high risk of chronic diseases. Moderate coffee consumption can actually be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle.
However, some scientists disagree to this report. There is a finding from genetics that suggest a different result on everybody's favorite perk-me-up drink. They said that it may be beneficial for some people but may be very harmful for others. To sum it up, the effect of coffee may depend on the person.
They have identified at least one specific location in the genome that determines whether the person can break down caffeine quickly or not. With the gene variant for breaking down caffeine slowly, more coffee now has been connected to a separate study to a higher risk of hypertension and heart attacks.
The data that the federal advisory panel got is actually supported by a lot of studies that shows an average person who drink coffee are no worse than people who don't. Several studies suggest that people who drink coffee are more resistant to heart diseases and other health troubles. However, in this case, the study didn't explain in detail whether the person process caffeine faster or not or how genetics affect how people handle the effect of stimulant.
Ultimately we can conclude that the effect of coffee depends on the genetics and the normal notion of people that it has different effects on people. Some can sleep well after a cup of coffee while others are up all night long.

domain: news


text:
Nestle’s batch cost is removing a outrageous boost from an romantic sidestep fund.
Daniel Loeb, famous for being a successful romantic financier in companies like Yahoo and Sony, has set his sights on a consumer firm Nestle.
Loeb’s sidestep fund, Third Point, expelled a note Sunday disclosing a share in Nestle. The account now owns roughly 40 million shares, value about $3.5 billion.
“The difficulty and geographic brew of [Nestle’s] portfolio is glorious and offers a association a prolonged runway for expansion as rising marketplace business boost expenditure and grown marketplace consumers trade up,” a account wrote in a letter.
“However, notwithstanding carrying arguably a best positioned portfolio in a consumer finished products industry, Nestlé shares have significantly underperformed many of their US and European consumer staples peers on a 3 year, 5 year, and 10 year sum shareholder lapse basis,” it added.
Nestle jumped scarcely 5% on a news of Third Point’s holding. The proclamation also gave a boost to L’Oreal, that Nestle owns a 23% interest in.
One of Third Point’s ideas for improving Nestle’s financials involves offered a vast interest in L’Oreal. Third Point called a investment in L’Oreal “superb” though pronounced that it was time to sell. Nestle’s interest in a association is value about $24 billion, or 10% of Nestle’s marketplace cap.
L’Oreal was adult 4.5% on Monday and is now trade during 196.10 EUR.
Nestle is adult 17.88% this year including Monday’s move. L’Oreal is adult 12.65% including Monday’s move.
Click here to watch Nestle’s batch cost live…


text:
Data shows that Amazon India had 23.6 Mn unique visitors, followed by Flipkart with 23.5 Mn visitors and Snapdeal, which had 17.9 Mn visitors in the month of May.
Further, the annual comparison shows that Amazon witnessed 142% jump in the number of unique visitors since May 2014 and on the other side, Snapdeal witnessed 90% rise followed by Flipkart with 80%.
Industry experts caution that unique visitors are just another metric for ecommerce companies, and the ‘loyalty and stickiness’ of customers are a more reliable measure to go by. According to Arvind Singhal, chairman of retail consultancy Technopak says “A better metric to speak about a company’s performance would be the number of repeat customers an online retailer gets.
According to another report by Morgan Stanley which was released in March this year, in India, in terms of market share, Flipkart still leads with 44% share, followed by Snapdeal, which takes the second place with 32% share and Amazon stands at 15%.
Welcome to Flash Feed, your essential source for breaking news and innovation from around the web – bite-sized and updated all day.


text:
Apps4Africa is bringing their global challenge to Cape Town, by hosting a launch event for their latest challenge. The winners of this year’s challenge stand the chance to win $15000 for their winning idea! This year the competition is built around the theme of climate change.
This year, participants are invited to propose a technological solution to the climate challenge currently threatening the welfare of our planet. By attending the event you will have the opportunity to hear the insights of thought-leaders and be further briefed on how you can participate in this exciting competition!
Apps4Africa is a global initiative, which encourages individuals to develop technological solutions to environmental challenges.
If you think this will interest people you know, invite them to come along too.
When: 11th February 2011, 9am – 1pm
Where: Umbono Offices, 6 Beach Road, Cape Town
Tickets: Click here to register for this FREE event
For more information about Apps4Africa visit their website here.
Since Windows 95, Microsoft has been using the Start button, which eventually became a Start “orb” button in Windows 7. Leaked screenshots from the upcoming Windows 8 Customer Preview build shows that the familiar Orb button is missing this time round. Users will be expected to simply hover their mouse over any corner of the screen (almost like hot corners in Mac OS X), which will then bring up the new Metro-infused Start menu screen.
Touch screen users will also just hold their screen over a corner of the screen (or use a swipe action). Windows fans might be peeved at the lack of the Start Menu in Windows 8, but it should be pointed out that in future the Start Menu is now being replaced by the “Start Screen”, which uses Metro style apps that look very similiar to Windows Phone 7, and also share a lot of the code base. This will make future cross-platform development between Windows 8 and Windows Phone a lot easier.
Cape Town based startup, Quicket, has entered into the online ticketing market to provide individuals and companies with an easy to use platform that makes it possible for them to manage their own ticketing for an event as well as providing them with a database of all attendees. All of this, Quicket claims, will cost less than booking with dominant ticketing company, Computicket and aims to generate substantial competition for the likes of Webtickets, Tixsa and Ticket Break.
The self-funded Quicket, that launched on 1st September 2011, was founded by four friends Tim Church, James Tagg, Michael Kennedy and James Hedley and was originally intended to be an accommodation booking site. The guys noticed that planning a group weekend away usually results in one person taking responsibility for it including the payment which can be challenging. They wanted to find a way for people to pay separately for accommodation, but when they started going down that path they realised how difficult it would be.
Marketing manager, James Hedley explains that “There were several problems with the idea, which was intended to drive traffic to the events website. The problem with payment collection from groups is that we would essentially become a payment processor like Payfast which entails masses of fraud problems and, we also felt that many people would not be prepared to pay the commission of 4.9 % to collect money from their friends.”
Co-founder, Tim Church continues, “Although the idea of a group booking accomodation site was exciting and potentially had legs, we felt that the model would take longer to turn a profit than an online ticketing site. We have ambitions of taking another look at this in the future.”
In the spirit of their original concept, Quicket hopes to eventually be the go-to site that involves collecting money for a group project or event such as birthday present, a holiday with friends, shared celebration or a charity.
Infamous hacking group Anonymous has hacked into and defaced the cached version of the Greek Ministry of Justice’s website apparently in protest against the signing of the controversial ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trademark Agreement) treaty by the Greek Government.
The website with both a written and video message warns authorities that it will take down over 300 media and ministry websites if it doesn’t reverse its course. The treaty has come under criticism due to the secretive way in which it was drafted and the effect it could have for users online.
Following the attack, the sight indicated that it was “Under Construction” but then was changed to display the warning message stating that its next target would be “all the media in Greece” which it would easily access with the correct usernames and passwords it has obtained.
The Greek police have since confirmed the incident and updated their Twitter account to say that its cybercrimes division’s investigation into the incident is already in progress.
In October 2011, Anonymous who is known mostly for their attacks on corporate and big business sites, targeted a web host that knowingly hosted child pornography.
Watch Anonymous’s video message after the jump.
Pocketnow.com has learned new details about the new Windows Phone 8 that include a number of features and themes that were accidentally revealed by senior vice president and Windows Phone manager Joe Belfiore in a video intended only for partners at Nokia. The Windows Phone 8 codenamed “Apollo”, is the next version of Microsoft’s mobile operating system that is scheduled for launch after the upcoming Tango update.
According to Belfiore, the overall theme of the Windows Phone 8 hardware ecosystem will be scale and choice in order to address one of the platform’s shortcomings in competing with Android and iPhone based devices’ specifications. More specifically, Windows Phone 8 will have support for multi-core processors and microSD card support will also be added.
NFC (Near Field Communication) will also be supported, with emphasis placed on the phone’s push into contactless payments. The “wallet experience,” as he calls it, will have the capability to be carrier-branded and controlled, either by a secure element on the SIM card or utilizing hardware. In addition, NFC will allow desktops, laptops, tablets, and phones to share content.
Rather than just share a UI with the next generation desktop and tablet OS, Windows Phone 8 will use many of the same components as Windows 8, allowing developers to re-use most of the code when porting an app from a desktop to the phone. Belfiore specifically mentions that areas of heavy overlap include the kernel, networking stacks, security and multimedia support.
The Xbox Companion app, currently found on Windows Phones, will see a partner client on Windows 8 with Skydrive support promising seamless sharing of data between devices.
With the launch of the Vodacom App Store in September 2011, the first multiple platform mobile operator application store in Africa, Vodacom is now giving local developers the opportunity to create applications of their very own and benefit from the Vodacom apps eco-system with the Vodacom Developer Programme.
Vodacom’s objective in creating its Developer Programme is to partner and collaborate with the South African developer community and give them the opportunity to actively participate in the service provider’s applications development and gain maximum access to consumers enabling the link between the two.
Once registered, the programme will provide the developer community with technical and commercial support, including training, workshops and innovation incentives. The local developers will have access to distribute their apps to South Africa’s largest mobile network customer base as well as their partners’ international presence . The exposure to international markets aims to increase the revenue potential for the developers through advertising and in the future, app sales revenue shares. It encourages local developers to develop new apps that are relevant to the South African market as well as the global environment.
Developers will receive commercial support with the placement of the app in the ‘featured’ section of the app store, a competitive revenue model, marketing support and app monetisation support. Further technical support will include training workshops, device lab support, onsite coaching, tools for app creation and mentoring for local startups.
Following the implementation of its Developer Programme, Vodacom Digital Media has also launched a competition in which developers are challenged to create the Coolest New App of the Month whereby one developer will be rewarded every month for achieving the Most Downloaded App.
For more info on the Vodacom Developer Programme and the competition click here.
Sony Corp’s newly appointed CEO, Kazuo Hirai is promising to forge a new path for a company that once dominated the business of “filling free time with the creation of wildly popular consumer products” including Walkman music players and PlayStation game consoles.
The selection of the 51-year old Hirai on Wednesday marks the end of the leadership of Howard Stringer who as a British national was selected in 2005 as the first non-Japanese CEO of Sony. During his seven year reign, Stringer was unable to turn around Sony’s deteriorating electronics business. The leadership change has come at a critical moment with the combination of its market share being squeezed by the manufacturing accomplishments of Samsung Electronics Co., the unstoppable innovation and success of Apple Inc. and the steep ascent of the yen, which rose 30% against the dollar during Mr. Stringer’s time which hindered profit goals. Clearly, Sony needs someone to step in and make some drastic changes and Mr Hirai claims to be the man to make it happen.
Hirai, who will take up his position as CEO in April says that he wants to cut costs and shake up the corporate structure that he currently blames for preventing product innovations and keeping Sony anchored in the past in the wake of Apple and Samsung’s product development innovations. He rose up the corporate ladder with a record of tough cuts, most notably squeezing profits out of the company’s PlayStation game division four years after it reported a $2 billion loss. “I thought turning around the PlayStation business was going to be the toughest challenge of my career, but I guess not,” Hirai told The Wall Street Journal.
Unilever’s offices in Switzerland are an example of what is known as ‘agile working.’ Agile working, based on the concept of ‘hot desking’, is a more expansive version of the office organization system where multiple employees share working stations in shifts. Agile working allows staff to work where and when ever they want as long as they get the job done. As you can imagine, in order to ensure that staff remain diligent, the space in which they work needs to be motivating, inspiring, varying and with ample room for productivity.
The brilliant work of award winning architectural and design firm Camenzind Evolution achieved just that. The large expansive space accomodates meeting rooms of different sizes and themes. Every area is adorned with a variety of seating styles in the working and recreational spaces including, tables and chairs, cubicles, large couches, benches and bar stools. Every space is completely different showcasing a sense of fun, innovation and creativity.
Some of the conference spaces are adorned with company brands like Ragu, Omo, or Heartbrand, while other spaces are given company mottos for inspiration.
All in the attention to detail, bright colours and boundless creativity, the Unilever offices are something to be admired and envied.


text:
May 30, 2009
Uncertainty over bottle deposit law
Judge's order seems to indicate that handling fees could be frozen
Redemption centers and retailers who collect millions of bottles and cans returned by consumers were suddenly on edge on Friday with word that the handling fees they expected to increase on Monday could be frozen.A copy of a written order from U.S. District Court Judge Thomas P. Griesa, who struck down two other portions of the state's expanded bottle deposit law in an oral decision from the bench on Wednesday, now seems to put the entire law on hold until next April.
It was unclear late Friday, however, whether the order had been filed.
Griesa's oral ruling last week already made clear that parts of the new law that expanded the state's nickel-deposit system to water bottles and required state-specific UPC bar codes on all containers sold in New York would be delayed for at least one to four months.
But none of the parties in the lawsuit expressed any doubt that the scheduled hike in the current 2 cent handling fees to 3.5 cents would take effect on June 1.
Laura Haight of New York Public Interest Research Group said she was fielding panicked calls from owners of small redemption centers who were counting on the handling fee hike to keep their businesses viable.
"Businesses absolutely will shut down if there is an extended delay in the handling fees," she said late Friday afternoon.
The chief executive officer of Connecticut-based Nestlé Waters North America, which was part of a coalition of bottlers and distributors who challenged the law, issued a statement endorsing a delay until April 2010.
CEO Kim Jeffery said the delay will provide time to address broader problems with the law, which the company claims damages community-based recycling programs.
"Now is the time for the state Legislature and the governor to address the environmental weaknesses of the new law," Jeffery said.
A spokesman for state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was not immediately able to clarify the status of the judge's order and the handling fees.


text:
Walker Glass Earns Type III Environmental Product Declaration
Walker Glass has earned Type III Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) verification and registration in conformance with certification requirements of ISO standard 14025:2006. The company has also published a third-party verified Health Product Declaration (HPD) on acid-etched glass and mirror products based on HPD collaborative standards.
Under the LEED v4 program, both EPD and HPD declarations also help building owners earn points under the materials and resources category for building product disclosure and optimization. They can also contribute to other green building evaluation systems such as WELL, Green Globes and BREEAM.
In an effort to best inform interested parties, Walker Glass has also published environmental data sheets that consolidate into one document all product environmental attributes, declarations and certifications.
AkzoNobel and Black Bear Team up to Make Powder Coatings from Old Tires
Tires that have reached the end of the road are being harvested for carbon black and used to produce powder coatings in a new cooperation between AkzoNobel and Dutch company Black Bear. The coatings will help protect metal surfaces in applications, such as window and door frames.
The Cradle-to-Cradel certified carbon black supplied by Black Bear, which is obtained from end-of-life tires, is being used as pigment in the eco-premium products developed by AkzoNobel’s powder coatings business. With this cooperation, AkzoNobel not only uses carbon black, traditionally obtained from fossil fuels, with a vastly lower carbon dioxide foot-print, but is also helping to solve the global waste tire problem.
“This partnership is a great example of how the supply chain can con-tribute to [carbon dioxide] savings,” says André Veneman, AkzoNobel’s director of sustainability. “We encourage more suppliers to work with us and collectively contribute to develop more sustainable product solutions.”
Powder coatings are an inherently sustainable product as they contain no volatile organic compounds and produce virtually no waste, according to the company. The majority of products supplied through AkzoNobel’s Interpon brand also qualify as eco-premium.
“We are pleased to have partnered with an innovative company like Black Bear,” says Klaas Kruithof, AkzoNobles chief technology officer for paints and coatings. “We selected their product based on technical performance and environmental footprint, in line with our own Planet Possible agenda of doing more with less.”
To view the laid-in version of this article in our digital edition, CLICK HERE.


text:
Plans to convert a former bakery into a 130-seater seafood restaurant have been submitted to planning chiefs.
Castle Bakery was established in Beaumaris in 1885 and, over the next 131 years, built up a chain of shops in the area which served more than a million customers a year.
But, in February 2016, workers were given the news that its shops in Caernarfon, Bangor, Menai Bridge and Holyhead, along with the flagship Beaumaris outlet, were all to shut.
Almost three years on, the historic bakery could now be given a new lease of life after an application was submitted for the former Beaumaris shop at 9 Castle Street.
The plans involve joining it up with a vacant unit next door to create a new restaurant, which has been described as a long-standing ambition of the applicants Justagin Ltd.
According to the company, the plan is to showcase Welsh suppliers while preparing seafood in the style found in Boston and New England in the United States.
The design and access statement accompanying the application says: "Our company, Justagin Ltd, currently operates three thriving restaurants on Anglesey, a delicatessen and recently opened patisserie in Beaumaris, and a fourth restaurant in the nearby town of Menai Bridge.
"Our experience of local trading patterns has allowed us to identify a gap in the market for this concept, which has been a long-standing ambition of ours and has been in development over the past 10 years."
The development would also include a takeaway area, and the applicants say it would create a number of local jobs.
Their statement said: "A fishmonger by day would help prepare the seafood we offer in the restaurant and be open as a retail outlet which is much wanted in the area."
There is currently only a partition wall separating the former Castle Bakery with the next door unit which used to house Ruby Mae's Pop-up American Diner but is also now empty.
If approved, this wall would be removed, with the new restaurant taking up the entire building.
The move comes just weeks after Gwynedd Council planners approved a change of use for the former Castle Bakery on Pool Street in Caernarfon to three residential units and a smaller ground floor shop.
Management from Castle Bakery have never explained the reason for the sudden closure of the business.
They did, however, place a message in the window of the Bangor and Caernarfon stores thanking customers for their support.
It's expected that Anglesey Council planners will make a decision in due course.


text:
This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense, and which ones investors should act on. Today, our headlines feature a pair of bankers — First Horizon National Corporation (NYSE:FHN) and SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE:STI) that one analyst thinks you should buy, and also a telecom equipment maker that a second analyst thinks you should not buy. Let’s start with that one.
Alcatel-Lucent: Worth more than you think, but still not a buy
Shares of Franco-American tel-equip-maker Alcatel Lucent SA (ADR) (NYSE:ALU) are hopping this afternoon, up nearly 4% on news that: (1) the company has just completed testing of a potential 400 gigabyte-per-second fiber optic line in Canada for local operator SaskTel, and (2) it’s received a boost in price target of more than 44% from analysts at MKM Partners.
Don’t get too excited, though. In its SaskTel press release, Alcatel Lucent SA (ADR) (NYSE:ALU) didn’t say anything about how much money it expects to make from the project, or if indeed it expects to make any money at all (Alcatel Lucent SA (ADR) (NYSE:ALU) remains deeply unprofitable).
As for the price hike, despite raising its target, even MKM still doesn’t think you should actually buy Alcatel Lucent SA (ADR) (NYSE:ALU). This is more a case of an analyst acknowledging that Mr. Market has bid Alcatel Lucent SA (ADR) (NYSE:ALU)’s price up, forcing MKM to either maintain its $2.60 price target — and switch its recommendation to the logical: sell — or else stick to its advice on not buying the stock, and admit the price might rise a bit higher.
MKM chose Door No. 2 today, raising its price target to $3.75 per share, but maintaining a neutral rating on Alcatel.
If it were me, though, I’d have stuck to my guns. Burning cash, in debt to the tune of $1 billion more than cash on hand, unprofitable, and expected to still be losing money as far out as 2016 (aside from a brief period of profitability in 2015, for reasons unexplained), Alcatel stock still looks like a dog to me. The fact that the shares have nearly tripled over the past year just means it’s picked up some overoptimistic fleas for the ride.
Cloudy outlook for First Horizon
And speaking of optimists, this morning we saw analysts at Compass Point turn very sunny indeed on a couple of regional bankers. Let’s start with First Horizon National Corporation (NYSE:FHN), upgraded this morning to buy.
Compass Point notes that this Memphis-based banker has “dramatically underperformed peers over the past year,” a fact the analyst attributes to “heavy run-off of the company’s nonstrategic portfolio and legacy credit overhangs.” Compass thinks the company will come out of its troubles just fine, however, and that it deserves to be valued at something closer to 15 times fiscal 2014 earnings — which analysts estimate will be about $0.88 per share. Compass, therefore, posits a $13 share price for the stock.


text:
U.S. Specialty Printing Consumables Market is Expected to Reach USD 28.1 Billion in 2018: Transparency Market Research
Albany, New York (PRWEB) February 20, 2013
Among the product types, specialty substrate is expected to see a significant growth primarily due to increased ownership of digital cameras which results in higher in-house printing. The U.S. demand for toners is expected to reach USD 13.6 billion in 2018. Among the applications, the consumer and packaging industry is expected to witness strong growth owing to the stabilizing economy and increasing income levels which would see an increased demand from the food & beverage packaging industry.
Printing consumables demand for office and professional applications is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2013 to 2018.
Related Report : Geotextiles Market
Printing consumable demand is primarily expected to be driven by the improving U.S. economy and business environment over the next five years. Specialty printing consumables are used across a host of businesses requiring paper documentation such as law firms, supply chain management companies and advertising and print media companies.
Related Report : Welding Products Market
The increasing number of offices and businesses, including SMEs in the region has expanded the consumer base for printers, subsequently boosting market revenue. In addition, the increasing ownership of digital cameras has led to higher demand for in-house printing that further spurs the demand for these consumables. However, the shift in preference to electronic media coupled with volatile raw material costs are expected to be a major hindrance for the growth of the market.
Also, the "Go Paperless" movement across the region has increased consumer environment awareness, resulting in a dip in sale of these printing consumables.
Key participants operating in the U.S. specialty printing consumables market include DIC Corporation, Canon Incorporated, Xerox Corporation and Hewlett Packard among others. This study provides a detailed competitive landscape with company share analysis and detailed profiles of companies mentioned above.
Browse Full Report With TOC : http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/us-specialty-printing-consumables.html


text:
With total holiday spending expected to reach $656 billion this year — up from nearly $631 billion in 2015 — the personal-finance website WalletHub conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s Best Stores for Black Friday.
WalletHub surveyed 8,000 deals from 35 of the biggest U.S. retailers’ 2016 Black Friday ad scans to identify the stores offering the biggest discounts in various product categories, such as “Appliances,” “Jewelry” and “Toys.”
|Best Black Friday Retailers (Avg. % Discount)|
|1||Macy’s (63.35%)||6||Kohl’s (58.15%)|
|2||Stage (62.81%)||7||Shopko (55.55%)|
|3||JCPenney (62.79%)||8||Fred Meyer (49.70%)|
|4||Harbor Freight (62.58%)||9||Craft Warehouse (45.03%)|
|5||Gordmans (61.59%)||10||Sears (43.89%)|
- Macy’s has the highest overall discount rate at 63.35 percent, whereas Big Lots has the lowest at 23.52 percent.
- The overall average discount for Black Friday is 39 percent. Consumers should aim for this discount amount or higher to avoid Black-Friday traps.
- The “Toys” category has the biggest share of discounted items, 28.26 percent of all offers, whereas the “Books, Movies and Music” category has the smallest at 0.93 percent.
Buzz60 Video: Major retailers like Costco, Home Depot and REI announced they won’t be open Thanksgiving Day, and will instead open on the actual Black Friday. Sean Dowling (@seandowlingtv) has more.


text:
While rehabbing from an ankle injury, LeBron James came home to a special gift from JAY-Z on Tuesday night (May 4) and he opened up the package while letting the world see what was inside. Hov sent King James one of the 285 rare diamond-shaped bottles of D’USSE 1969 Anniversaire.
“I just got back to the crib and I got a package from my brother Jay and I’m gonna open it up with y’all,” he began. “It looks crazy, I wonder what’s inside. 1969 D’USSE Cognac — crazy packaging.”
James continued impressed with what was inside, “I don’t wanna break the damn thing that’s for sure. Damn! Sheesh! They do say diamonds are forever. I guess the same goes for cognac is forever. 1969 anniversary — big homie, love and appreciate you!”
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) May 5, 2021
A signed bottle of the D’USSE 1969 Anniversaire by JAY-Z featuring a 24-karat gold foil was auctioned by Sotheby’s for $52,000 in March.
In February, Hov sold 50 percent of his Armand de Brignac company, which holds his popular Ace of Spades champagne line to luxury goods giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
LeBron James’ greatness is being passed down to the next generation. Drake posted a clip of his three-year-old son Adonis on Tuesday (May 4) in awe of some of the best highlights the Lakers superstar had to offer throughout his career.
View this post on Instagram
LeBron and Jay’s friendship dates back to when James was just a rookie on the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003. During a joint interview with Sway on the Roc The Mic Tour, Hov knighted the young star as an extended member of the Roc family.


text:
The industry needs to digitise its core businesses, cuts costs and create increased shareholder value, concludes a report from Oliver Wyman.
Deutsche Bank, HSBC, KBC, Natixis, Rabobank, Société Générale and UniCredit signed a memorandum of understanding in Brussels for developing digital trade chain (DTC).
The Swedish corporate bank’s fixed income macro strategist believes rising infltaion will see the Riksbank lift rates.
Africa’s treasury landscape is evolving apace. This article examines the challenges that corporate treasury department setting up in the continent must confront - and which determine whether they benefit from the region’s enormous business potential.
With less than 10 months to the November Go Live of the first Pan European Instant Payment Scheme, defining a successful business strategy to ensure the necessary flexibility to adapt to fast-changing scenarios is key to every Player in the Payment Industry.
ClearBank is likely to concentrate on services for fintechs, according to founder Nick Ogden who originally launched WorldPay.
This two-part article examines the development of open banking, aka application programming interface (API) banking, and the resulting benefits both for banks and their corporate customers.
Proof of Concept has been launched to determine if distributed ledger technology could help banks reconcile their nostro databases in real time.
Banks in the region face a growing range of challenges in maintaining their correspondent banking relationships. This article suggests how they are being addressed via new technologies and services.
The Postal Savings Bank of China said it has executed more than 100 business transactions via blockchain in the past three months.


text:
FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new injectable painkiller made by Becton, Dickinson and Co., the medical products manufacturer said Monday.
BD announced the FDA approval of morphine sulfate injection as part of its BD Simplist line of ready-to-administer pre-filled injectables. The drug was approved in the 2-mg-per-mL, 4-mg-per-mL, 5-mg-per-mL, 8-mg-per-mL and 10-mg-per-mL strengths.
"The launch of an FDA-approved morphine product at a time of heightened need is an important step in our plans to drive clinical practice improvements," BD Rx president Mark Sebree said. "The expansion of the BD Simplist product line demonstrates our commitment to providing our hospital and surgical center customers with drugs in high demand today."
The latest approval is the fourth in a series of 20 to 30 drugs BD plans to launch under the BD Simplist brand. The morphine sulfate injection product will hit the market in early 2014.


text:
It's a sign of the times that it wasn't too creepy for a PR person for IBM to refer to the company's new partnership with Facebook as a marriage of data "that will let retailers put a face on every customer."
"Sometimes it feels like brands are targeting people like Sapna who work at BuzzFeed instead of you, Sapna, who works at BuzzFeed," she wrote. Isn't it frustrating?
Help is on the way. IBM Commerce, which works with thousands of brands from Staples to David's Bridal, said today that it's teaming up with Facebook to help its clients serve up increasingly personalized ads to customers. IBM will pair data from its "marketing cloud," including weather, location, previous purchases, and web browsing behavior, with Facebook's user data, to give marketers more information with which to target shoppers in the relentless quest for relevant messaging.
IBM offered the following example: If a company is launching a new line of running gear, it could use Facebook's Custom Audiences and ad-targeting tools to pull users who are interested in distance running. Data and analytics from IBM will help brands go deeper on that group, identifying their preferences around running gear and the weather they tend to train in. The end result would be "highly tailored" deals and ads for the new running line on Facebook and other platforms.
"This whole trend towards personalization is gathering steam," Deepak Advani, general manager at IBM Commerce, said in an interview with BuzzFeed News. Most consumers aren't getting personalized messaging online and feel their experience is "very generic," he said, citing a recent survey conducted by the company.
Retailers, who have massive amounts of customer data, have been cautious in deploying that information in a way that's "cool," and not "creepy," as Gap's CEO put it in a presentation last year. But IBM says its own survey data shows that marketers are actually not doing enough in the way of personalization — or "relevance" as some companies prefer to call it — and may be losing customers to competitors as a result.
The openness with which IBM and Facebook are touting the new ad-targeting capabilities reflects the growing industry belief that all is forgiven among consumers so long as they're seeing something they care about, and that privacy is a lower-ranking concern than it used to be.
Tailoring ads to individual users and serving them up at the right time could help drive higher sales and also make customers more loyal to the brands delivering them, IBM's Advani said. In the future, that could mean showing consumers deals right before they're about to go on a big vacation or after they get a large bonus at work, based on knowledge gleaned from Facebook status updates and cookies, he said.
Facebook already allows businesses to target ads by location, demographics, interests, and behaviors — flower shops can advertise to people who recently got engaged, sporting goods chains can focus on those who "like" baseball-related topics, and food brands can aim for people who have purchased children's cereal.
IBM says its technology will help advertisers "more accurately identify which of their customers are among the 1.44 billion people active on Facebook and surface correlations between their interests and interactions across multiple channels," and work with them to deliver more personalized messages.
The partnership "will help top brands achieve personalization at scale," said Blake Chandlee, vice president of partnerships for Facebook, in a statement.
Advani said that one client with stores in a stadium envisioned a situation in which IBM's geofencing software notes that a potential customer is in the vicinity. Then, the potential customer opens Facebook to post about being at the stadium. Thanks to the partnership, that person might see a deal in their timeline offering 10% off at the store, which is a "meaningful" message, he said.


text:
With its rivals gearing up for inkjet sheetfed drupa launches, HP is weighing up its own venture into the market using PageWide tech.
HP senior technical specialist Ross Allen said at a media briefing the digital manufacturer ‘could be persuaded’ to produce inkjet sheetfed in the near future.
”It is an area we see as an opportunity. Logically that would make sense,” he says.
“We are always looking five-to-ten years out. We work on a lot of projects and have technology that might have been in the lab for ten years. Then when an industry is ready we can commercialise it.”
[Related: More new technology]
HP has already developed two printhead arrays big enough to use in B1 size, currently used for its T400 PageWide web press and 2.8m wide for the T1100S web press.
“PageWide has built-in flexibility from five inches to almost any width. It’s completely scalable,” Allen says.
The T1100S was developed as a joint venture with KBA for the corrugated pre-print market, which has led to speculation the two could team up for an inkjet sheetfed printer using the offset manufacturer’s sheet transport expertise.
With this component a key challenge for sheetfed inkjet and KBA one of the few offset companies without a digital dance partner as the fledgling market heats up ahead of drupa, the pairing could make sense.
“Precision paper handling, keeping the paper flat in the print zone and controlling the leading and trailing edge is a technical issue we have to address,” Allen says.
“Although you could argue that our PageWide XL printer is half sheetfed – it’s dynamically variable sheetfed inkjet web, so we have it already, in a way, in our toolkit.”
Printers going to drupa will see a host of inkjet B1 and B2 sheetfed at the show, in what is bound to be one of the biggest talking points.
Heidelberg will with Fujifilm launch its B1 sheetfed inkjet printer, as will Konica Minolta and Komori’s B2 joint venture. Landa will also launch a much-updated B1 version of Nano at the show next May.
Screen and Fujifilm already have B2 sheetfed inkjet printers on the market.
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at [email protected]
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter


text:
Apple started going after leakers and sending them warnings that if they don’t stop, they could face legal challenges and troubles for publishing copyrighted and confidential material. It seems like Samsung has seen how Apple is playing its cards, and wants to hand out some notices as well.
Reported by PhoneArena, a widely known leaker, Max Jambor has warned on Twitter that Samsung will take down leaked promotion materials, renders and any other form of images and videos of unreleased products, in an attempt to remove them from the internet. It’s an interesting move, but not very surprising, given that we’ve shown you the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 3, Galaxy Buds 2, Galaxy Watch 4, Galaxy Watch 4 Classic and even the Galaxy S21 FE in full 360-degree videos. We’ve even shared the full specification sheet for most products and even some real looking promo materials.
Samsung today started copyright striking images and videos of their unreleased products. Some of the leaked images will dissappear within the next few days
This is just the beginning ©?? https://t.co/MMpdXdJFQq
— Max Jambor (@MaxJmb) July 7, 2021
The videos of the Galaxy Z Flip 3 renders have already been removed after Samsung has started a copyright claim on the published content. More content in the form of tweets and other materials on social networks are expected to be taken down.
It's not a good idea to embed these tweets. With Samsung taking more aggressive action against leaked material, it doesn't make sense to leave the tweets up indefinitely.
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) July 7, 2021
As it stands right now, Samsung seems to be focusing on the original leak sources, the likes of Evan Blass, one of the most famous leaksters has also been hit. He has warned earlier today that his Galaxy S21 FE renders are not worth embedding onto blogs and websites, since they’ll likely be deleted within a few hours, which is also the reason why we’ve uploaded the videos ourselves. All of his recent 360-degree gifs of the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic, Galaxy Buds 2 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 have since been removed.
“PhoneArena has been told by Jambor that Samsung is considering different approaches to prevent future press asset leaks. This could involve taking legal action against publications as the leaked renders are the intellectual property of the company.” says PhoneArena.
It’s interesting to see Samsung take such steps, especially since the company’s other devices have leaked in complete detail in the past and the company did not seem to care too much. It remains to be seen what the company will do in the future, but we’ll let you know once something changes.


text:
Hitting a brand new ATH and crossing $61000 inside just a few hours of breaking previous the earlier ATH, Bitcoin is hitting new highs not like the modest worth targets set for the weekend. The choices-based chance of Bitcoin exceeding $100000 by finish of March 2021 is 1% however the king coin crossing this coveted worth vary by finish of April 2021 is 8% and the tip of December 2021, is 20%. It’s thrilling now, for the reason that worth has already crossed $61000, and moved out of the rangebound worth motion earlier than the tip of March 2021, and this has pave means for Bitcoin’s worth to cross $100000 earlier than the tip of April 2021.
What’s fascinating right here is that on the identical time, the chart can be utilized to foretell the chance of Bitcoin’s worth dropping under $40000 on the finish of March 2021 is 5%, finish of April 2021 is 20% and the tip of December 2021 is 45%. Moreover, metrics like Bitcoin futures foundation crossed 30% annualized. Stablecoin influx and institutional demand on spot exchanges have elevated. Nonetheless, the present shopping for strain and the chance of Bitcoin’s worth hitting $100000 depend on exercise in Bitcoin choices and on derivatives exchanges. BTC choices open curiosity continues to stay at ATH.
It’s essential to notice that commerce quantity in BTC choices is climbing steadily, per the commerce quantity on spot and derivatives exchanges. The spot hourly volumes on exchanges have spiked on the $61000 breakout, primarily based on information offered by Skew and it might cross $63000 earlier than the tip of the weekend if there isn’t any correction or additional worth drop.
One strategy to measure if the present worth motion is according to the anticipated profitability of HODLers is the efficiency of addresses out and in of cash in Bitcoin. On March 13, 2020, 39.95% of addresses had been within the cash, and on March 13, 2021, precisely a yr later, 100% of the addresses within the cash.
The above chart primarily based on information from IntoTheBlock exhibits the transition up to now yr and the chance of Bitcoin’s worth hitting a excessive above $100000 earlier than April 2021. The chance of this additionally depends on the influx of funding from retail merchants and the altcoin rally. As soon as the altcoin season has seen extra funding influx, Bitcoin is predicted to set off a shopping for season additional, making the bull run faster and contributing to a worth surge that’s prone to take Bitcoin past $100000.
Signal Up For Our E-newsletter


text:
Test Drive Unlimited director Alain Jarniou told VG247 earlier that they are planning an open beta for the well praised driving simulator sometime this year. There was no information regarding which platform we will see this beta on, as Alain made it clear that the game is still in testing. He did elaborate on why they are going with a beta however, saying that because the game is so huge in size it would be way too big for a demo. Below is a direct quote from the man himself.
“Right now, the plan is to have an open beta of TDU2,” said the team chief.
“The difficulty of having a demo for a game like this is the fact it’s a huge island, and a huge amount of data. It’s not the best way to show the game. So yeah, for now the plan’s an open beta.”
Judging by how satisfying the first game was to driving fanatics, I am sure we are in for a real treat this time around. Test Drive Unlimited drops this autumn for PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.


text:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors announced Friday that the automaker has raised its planned production of the Chevrolet Volt electric car to 45,000 in 2012.
Originally the automaker planned to produce 30,000 Volts in its second year of production.
The announcement coincided with a visit by President Barack Obama to the Detroit auto plant where early production of the car has already begun.
GM plans to begin selling the Volt by the end of this year. GM says it will limit sales to 10,000 units during 2011, the car's first full year of production.
The car will initially be available only in California, New York, Michigan, Connecticut, Texas, New Jersey and the Washington, D.C. area.
When fully charged, the Volt will be capable of traveling up to 40 miles on purely electric power using a lithium-ion battery pack. For driving beyond 40 miles, the Volt will have a four-cylinder gasoline engine that will generate electricity to power the wheels.
GM recently announced a planned base sticker price of $41,000 for the Volt. The car will also be available at a lease rate of $350 a month, however, which is the same rate that Nissan plans to charge for its Leaf electric car. The Leaf can travel up to 100 miles on a charge, but lacks the Volt's gasoline engine for extended driving.
Volkswagen has stolen Toyota's crown to become the world's top carmaker by sales in the first half of 2015. More
Trump is on the rise, yet most Americans don't know where he stands on key economic issues. More
Apple iPhone resale value tends to drop 30% after new models launch. Here's how much you'll get for your iPhone if you resell it this year. More


text:
AS part of its ongoing innovations, Econet Wireless has introduced electronic airtime distribution to its subscribers.
“The objective is to widen our distribution channels so as to make airtime readily avail
able to our customers,” said a spokesman in a statement yesterday.
For some time Econet has been exploring alternate airtime recharge and top-up options to enhance customer convenience and widen airtime distribution channels. Company spokesperson Dakarai Matanga said electronic airtime was already available in neighbouring countries.
“The widespread use of electronic recharge systems by GSM operators around the world is testimony of its effectiveness. This technology is already in use in similar markets in the region such as Botswana and South Africa, and we are proud to implement it locally,” he said. Matanga said the programme was expecte


text:
Learn about the Creakle Library
View and find all books
Track Creakle books on the map
How to borrow a book
Simply enter the book ID Number
It's easy, free and fun
As Sarah Ferguson joins roster of authors, Mills & Boon and Bridgerton success shows there’s money in romance
It is easy to mock a fantasy world of personal assistants taming playboy princes, nurses unlocking the passions of surly surgeons, or chambermaids bedding brooding billionaires. Less easy to mock is the wild and continuing popularity of Mills & Boon when one of its romances is sold every 10 seconds in the UK.
Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, was this week revealed as the latest recruit to the publishers’ roster of authors, with a novel loosely based on the passions of her great-great-aunt, Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott.Continue reading...
Class action lawsuit filed in US claims the houses have colluded with the online giant to keep prices artificially high
Amazon.com and the “Big Five” publishers – Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster – have been accused of colluding to fix ebook prices, in a class action filed by the law firm that successfully sued Apple and the Big Five on the same charge 10 years ago.
The lawsuit, filed in district court in New York on Thursday by Seattle firm Hagens Berman, on behalf of consumers in several US states, names the retail giant as the sole defendant but labels the publishers “co-conspirators”. It alleges Amazon and the publishers use a clause known as “Most Favored Nations” (MFN) to keep ebook prices artificially high, by agreeing to price restraints that force consumers to pay more for ebooks purchased on retail platforms that are not Amazon.com.Continue reading...
Hergé’s original artwork for Le Lotus Bleu was rejected as too expensive to reproduce in 1936 and given to editor’s son, who kept it in a drawer for decades
A rejected Tintin cover illustrated by Hergé that was gifted to a child and kept in a drawer for decades has set a new world record as the most expensive comic book artwork, selling at auction for €3.2m (£2.8m) on Thursday.
Le Lotus Bleu was created in 1936 by the Belgian artist, born Georges Remi, using Indian ink, gouache and watercolour. It had been intended for the eponymous cover of his fifth Tintin title, which sees the boy reporter head to China in order to dismantle an opium trafficking ring.
This article was amended on 14 January 2021. It previously said the artwork sold for €2.6m; while that was the hammer price, it did not include premiums.Continue reading...
President decides against relocating remains of French poet to Parisian memorial
The remains of the famed French poet Arthur Rimbaud will not be moved to the Panthéon mausoleum despite a campaign to honour him as an artist and symbol of gay rights, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has decided.
A petition last year backed by a number of celebrities as well as the culture minister, Roselyne Bachelot, called for Rimbaud to be reinterred alongside his lover and fellow poet Paul Verlaine at the monument in central Paris.Continue reading...
Paignton Picture House on the English Riviera awarded £200k grant from Historic England
A lovely old cinema in Devon that once reserved a balcony for the crime writer Agatha Christie – and a second one for her butler – is to be restored to its former glory.
The Paignton Picture House on the English Riviera has been awarded a £200,000 grant from Historic England to refurbish intricate stonework and stained glass windows.Continue reading...
Neal Kirby says he was appalled to see symbols of the patriotic action man among the crowds as ‘Captain America is the antithesis of Donald Trump’
The son of Captain America co-creator Jack Kirby has strongly condemned insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol last week wearing or brandishing symbols of the Marvel superhero, saying his father would have been “absolutely sickened” by the sight.
In a statement issued to CNN reporter Jake Tapper, Neal Kirby, 72, said he was “appalled and mortified” to see Trump supporters dressed in Captain America costumes or displaying his iconic star shield on 6 January. His father Jack, along with Joe Simon, created Captain America in 1941, with the comic’s first issue famously showing the superhero punching Adolf Hitler in the face.Continue reading...
Sarah Ferguson says historical tale Her Heart for a Compass is inspired by experiences in her own life
The Duchess of York has landed a book deal with the romantic fiction publisher Mills & Boon, revealing that she “drew on many parallels from my life” for the historical tale.
Sarah Ferguson’s debut novel, Her Heart for a Compass, will be released in August and tells a fictional account of the life and love story of her great-great-aunt, Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott.Continue reading...
Beautiful World, Where Are You, set to be released on 7 September, follows four young people as they navigate love, friendship and sex
Sally Rooney’s third novel, and her first since the widely acclaimed Normal People, will be published on 7 September.
Beautiful World, Where Are You, announced by Rooney’s UK publisher Faber on Tuesday, follows Alice and Eileen, two friends in their 20s who find themselves on very different trajectories. Alice, a novelist, meets Felix, who works in a distribution warehouse and asks him to go to Rome with her; Eileen, recovering from a break-up in Dublin, begins to flirt with Simon, a childhood friend.Continue reading...
Co-written by Frank Cottrell Boyce, six-part series Pistol to star Maisie Williams as punk icon Jordan and Babyteeth’s Toby Wallace as Jones
Danny Boyle is to direct a six-part television drama about the Sex Pistols – to be titled Pistol – based on guitarist Steve Jones’s 2016 memoir, Lonely Boy. In a statement, Boyle described the Sex Pistols’ emergence in the mid-70s as the moment that British society and culture changed for ever.
“Imagine breaking into the world of The Crown and Downton Abbey with your mates and screaming your songs and your fury at all they represent,” said Boyle. “It is the detonation point for British street culture where ordinary young people had the stage and vented their fury and their fashion, and everyone had to watch and listen and everyone feared them or followed them.”
This article was amended on 11 January 2021 to correct the release date of Steve Jones’s memoir, Lonely Boy. It was first published in 2016, not 2018.Continue reading...


text:
GTA’s focused approach reaping rewards
DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, January 22, 2020
A more focused approach by the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) is being credited for the accolades the local tourism sector has received over the last two years
This is according to Deputy-Director of GTA, Carla James-Chandra.
“We have been able to reach more people worldwide and building off of that we have now moved towards a narrow and focused approach. We are targeting travellers that are interested in what we have to offer. That is authentic cultural experiences and nature-based activities,” James underscored.
Guyana copped several awards last year including World’s #1 Best of Ecotourism and a Top 10 Sustainable Destination at ITB Berlin, the world’s leading travel and trade show (March 2019).
The local tourism sector also dubbed the Best in Sustainable Tourism at the LATA Achievement Awards (June), Best in Destination Stewardship at the CTO’s Sustainable Tourism Awards Programme (August) and copped silver for the ‘Best of Adventure’ from International Travel and Tourism Awards at the World Travel Market in London in November.
The Welcome Back to Nature Video also secured first place at the Golden City Gate Awards in March.
Meanwhile, Guyana was this month featured on the US television show NBC Today as on the top 20 places to visit in 2020 where it was lauded for its natural beauty with the Kaieteur Falls being one of the stand-out attractions.
James-Chandra said marketing companies played a significant role in Guyana’s tourism sector taking off. According to the Deputy-Director, it was something they had proposed for years but only received funding for it in 2018.
“Many of the success that we have had has been achieved because of the hard work we have been putting in over the years. We were able to get that information out because of the networks that they are connected to and the contacts they have. It is relationships like that in the international market that has helped to get the word out for Guyana,” she explained.
According to the GTA official, the tourism sector is a “relationship-based industry” and much more is achieved by leveraging connections as opposed to going it alone.
James-Chandra said any fears the public may have had about the investment the GTA was putting into marketing had been allayed when they look at the value received.


text:
The collaboration has expanded iMyamarHouse’s user base and catalysed cross-platform interactions, creating a one-stop digital destination for both real estate and automotive enthusiasts
The details of the deal remain undisclosed. “We can’t disclose the deal details for now due to a non-disclosure agreement,” Nay Min Thu, Group CEO of iMyanmarHouse, told e27.
The acquisition is part of the proptech company’s diversification strategies. It has expanded iMyamarHouse’s user base and catalysed cross-platform interactions, creating a one-stop digital destination for both real estate and automotive enthusiasts.
Thu said that the two firms have a combined user base of over 520,000, over 12,000 registered agents/agencies/car dealers, and 150 employees.
“The synergy between iMyanmarHouse and CarsDB has surpassed our expectations, resulting in a synergistic effect that has redefined our online presence,” he added.
Founded in 2013, iMyanmarHouse is an online real estate marketplace connecting buyers, sellers, and renters in the real estate market. To date, over US$435 million worth of properties have been transacted via iMyanmarHouse.
iMyanmarHouse claims it has 24x the monthly traffic size of its nearest competitor, based on the traffic data for July 2023 from Similar Web.
According to Thu, iMyanmarHouse has been able to maintain profitability since 2019. “We are going full steam again and have doubled our staff count. We will actively be looking for new opportunities in other verticals as well.”
CarsDB was founded in 2012 by three Myanmar friends in a Singapore apartment as Myanmar’s first online auto marketplace. It competed fiercely with Motors.com.mm — a Rocket Internet venture — in the country. Rocket Internet later left Myanmar in 2016 and shut down its auto site.
CarsDB raised several rounds from Frontier Digital Ventures (founded by Shaun Di Gregorio and Patrick Grove, formerly from iProperty in Malaysia) and Emerging Market Entrepreneurs (EME).
The company was valued at US$8.7 million when it raised its last round of funding in 2018.
According to Similar Web, CarsDB has 7x the monthly traffic size of its closest rival. – e27


text:
By Arjun Panchadar
(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday as hopes of a trade deal between Washington and Beijing as well as rising bets on a rate cut by the Federal Reserve when it meets this week boosted investor sentiment.
The S&P 500 index () came within striking distance of its all-time high on Friday after the United States said it was “close to finalizing” some parts of a trade agreement with China.
Beijing confirmed on Saturday that “technical consultations” on some parts of a trade agreement were basically completed.
The news comes as a relief to investors who have been grappling with the fallout from the trade war and its impact on the global economy.
Dismal domestic economic indicators since the beginning of October have raised the odds for a third rate cut to 94% from 49% last month. The two-day Fed policy meeting starts on Tuesday.
A largely better-than-expected earnings season has been a bright spot, with over 78% of the 199 S&P 500 companies that have reported so far surpassing profit expectations.
All eyes will now be on earnings from global heavyweights this week, including Apple Inc (O:), Alphabet Inc (O:) and Merck & Co Inc (N:).
At 6:55 a.m. ET, were up 74 points, or 0.28%. S&P 500 e-minis were up 6.75 points, or 0.22% and were up 21.75 points, or 0.27%.
Among stocks, Microsoft Corp (O:) rose 3% premarket as it won the Pentagon’s $10 billion cloud computing contract, beating Amazon.com Inc (O:). Amazon shares slipped 1%.
Tiffany & Co (N:) surged 28% after Louis Vuitton owner LVMH (PA:) confirmed it has approached to buy the U.S. luxury jeweler at a time when it grapples with the impact of tariffs on its exports to China.
Spotify Technology SA (N:) gained 6.1% after the music streaming company beat quarterly revenue estimates as it added more-than-expected paid subscribers for its premium service.
Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.


text:
Google reveals changing used car market
* Google explains how used car buying is changing * More people buying online, across all devices * Sellers must adapt or lose sales...
Google has revealed research into how online used car buyers search for vehicles and warned sellers to ignore the results at their peril.
The research reveals more people are undertaking the entire buying process across multiple digital devices.
Google is also warning that traditional opening times must be re-written, because people expect a swift response and not just during the 'normal' working day.
The search company's automotive industry manager, Alex Rose, said: '74% of people in the UK are now using the internet to find their next used car, taking on average more than three months to do so.
'While doing it, they are visiting an average of 18.2 sites, but most interestingly, under-25s are actually visiting 25 different websites on their search journey.'
Car finance is another area where the internet could help buyers and sellers alike.
Rose said: 'It's now twice as likely that someone will research and arrange their new-car finance online compared with 2010, but for used cars, it's now more like three times as likely.'


text:
The lights are on
Square Enix revised its financial outlook for the past year, downgrading its expected profits for the year by 92 percent, and that wasn't the only bad news. Deus Ex: Human Revolution has been delayed.
The game was expected to come out in March of 2011, but now it could hit store shelves as far away as spring 2012. Square Enix said the delay was being done to add further polish to the game.
In the meantime, check out this trailer for the game we got last week.
Email the author Matthew Kato, or follow on Twitter, and Game Informer.
Less Final Fantasy, more TWEWY.
Huh, after that big ole trailer too...
Kind of a bummer, but my Q1 2011 gaming schedule was a bit crowded anyway.
***... I was hoping for a 2 3 months delay... they are not seriously doing this.... the only plus side its took the load out of my march 2011 by 1 game..
The trailers are astonishing, but the gameplay clips were less than good.
And I had just pre-ordered mine! NOOOOOO!!!!
In the name of all things holy, WHY!
as long as they deliver
I am dissapoint


text:
Fewer people went shopping over the bank holiday weekend
Confidence among business in the state of the UK economy has been hit by fears that the US house price slump will have global ramifications, a report says.
BDO Stoy Hayward's latest monthly index, which measures expectations for the next six months, fell to 101.2 in August from 101.9 in July.
This marked the lowest point since November 2005.
The figures came as research firm SPSL said fewer people went shopping over the bank holiday weekend than in 2006.
The fall in confidence in the UK's economic prospects was registered across the board by small and large businesses, the manufacturing and service sectors, said BDO.
Economic conditions in Europe and America are relatively benign
Peter Hemington, partner, BDO Stoy Hayward
Confidence is expected to fall further next month, with the fall-out from the US sub-prime lending crisis set to lead to tighter conditions for bank lending.
"Our view is that the volatility in financial markets will not persist into the medium term," said BDO partner Peter Hemington.
"Economic development in China and India remains a strong driver of world growth and the economic conditions in Europe and America are relatively benign."
However, the survey suggested that businesses expect inflationary pressures to stay high.
BDO expects that the Bank of England's policy committee could raise interest rates at its November meeting, adding to the five rate rises since August last year.
In a separate report, SPSL registered a drop of 10% in the number of people out shopping on Saturday and Sunday over the weekend compared with the same point last year, as the sunny weather drove holidaymakers to enjoy outdoor pursuits. Footfall was 9.7% lower on the bank holiday Monday.
"Sales have been extended to sell off old stock, which has stimulated consumers to carry on shopping, but we foresee tough times ahead," the firm concluded.


text:
Personal health and a healthier environment will drive the big changes we’ll see in our eating habits this year.
Do you remember being a kid and imagining the future? When I was little I badly wanted a Star Trek-style machine from which we could order up whatever food we wanted and have it magically appear.
That invention hasn’t come to pass – although Uber Eats is almost as good. But what does the future of eating really hold? Here are five ways experts say we’ll change how we eat in 2019.
Ditching meat and vegging out
Around six to eight percent of people around the world are vegetarian, but many more of us say we’re “flexitarian” – trying to eat less meat and more vegetables.
International food trend expert Julian Mellentin says plant-based foods are in big demand. “Good new product development is making it easier for us to choose more plant-based meals and snacks, such as mini-beets, cauliflower rice and spiralized courgette,” he says.
We can also expect to see more plant-based protein options alongside the real meat in stores. Although they are marketed at vegetarians and vegans, meat-free meats are also becoming popular with those who want to give vegetarian eating a try.
It’s all down to a shift in how we perceive red meat. There’s something of a backlash against industrial farming (“big food”), and growing health and environmental concerns about meat production.
So this year we’re likely to look for less, better meat; meat as a comfort food or an indulgence, reserved, perhaps, for special occasions.
Beyond 2019, look for even more meat-free proteins, plus “smuggled” vegetables in foods such as ice cream, pizza crust and biscuits.
Feeding your gut
Once upon a time, discussion about what goes on in our bowels was private. Now, looking after them is a major trend. The fermented tea, kombucha, is the latest category to become super popular in the service of our intestinal health.
Mellentin says digestive wellness will drive new consumer habits. A2 milk, with its gut-friendly claims, is an example. “It was long dismissed as weird”, he says, “but A2 Milk now outsells plant milks in Australia, and it’s in mainstream stores from the US to the UK to Singapore. Its success comes from delivering a ‘feel the benefit’ effect.”
We can expect to see more gut-friendly goodies such as kimchi and sauerkraut on our plates this year. And Mellentin predicts the next gut star will be kefir, a fermented probiotic beverage made from milk or water.
Beyond 2019, IBS-friendly low-FODMAP foods will become more available. FODMAPs (“Fermentable Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides And Polyols” – a mouthful in its own right!) are types of carbohydrates that are poorly tolerated by people with IBS; a low-FODMAP diet can help with the condition.


text:
When a customer eats out for dinner, trying to select a healthy menu item can be a veritable dietary minefield.
A wrap can seem like a healthier choice than a burger or chicken sandwich with chips, but evaluating what choice is better than the other often goes beyond the brief description provided by restaurants.
That's why New Richmond's Vitality Initiative is working with local restaurants to scientifically evaluate menu items and give its approval to various recipes.
Teresa Kvam, who is a public health nutritionist with St. Croix County, and Mary Jo Brunner, corporate dietitian with Family Fresh Market, have spent countless hours in recent months getting the restaurant project underway.
Three local restaurants were the first to sign on for the Vitality Initiative effort. Jet's Coffee Bistro, Wild Badger Sports Bar and Rooster's Road House have identified several items on each of their menus that will soon carry the "V.I. Approved" label.
Jonathan Timm, owner of Jet's, said he was happy to take part in the community's "Eat Wisely" campaign to make it easier for customers to spot healthy choices.
Items like the bistro's veggie wrap and cucumber panini fit within the guidelines of the Vitality Initiative, Timm said, and will eventually carry the V.I. sticker so customers can quickly identify a healthy choice.
"I want to be part of promoting a healthier community," he said.
Cyndy Kastner, co-owner of Rooster's Road House, agreed. She said her establishment is known for its fish fry and burgers, which don't qualify as heart-healthy selections, but the menu also includes some items that are easy on the calories and light on the fat.
"We wanted to get the word out that we have other things on the menu," she said. "Plus I just think it's a good idea to have alternative choices for customers."
Gary Zielsdorf, executive chef at Wild Badger, said he also wants people to know that his establishment offers more than just stereotypical "bar food."
At least three things on the Wild Badger menu will be labeled as V.I. approved, including a southwest salad, a barbequed chicken flatbread sandwich and its signature pulled pork sandwich.
Zielsdorf said the restaurant only had to make a few changes to some selections in order to meet the dietary requirements for V.I. approval, but customers will not be able to tell the difference in the taste.
"We wanted to be involved in this community project," he said, "and get our name out there that we're not just a bar."
The restaurants involved in the V.I. process submitted their recipes to Kvam and Brunner, who did extensive evaluation of the menu items to see if they qualified.
To be "approved" items, an entree had to be less than 700 calories, have less than 23 grams of fat and total less than 800 milligrams of sodium. Side dishes had to be below 300 calories, 10 grams of fat and 400 milligrams of sodium in order to be considered. Appetizers had to fall below 350 calories, 10 grams of fat and 400 milligrams of sodium to be approved. Kids' meals with less than 600 calories, 15 grams of fat and 600 milligrams of sodium were approved.
The guidelines were established after Kvam and Brunner consulted various scientific studies and federal nutrition guidelines.
"I do think that the general public has little understanding about what's 'healthy,'" Brunner said. "Dietitians and the general public will have different definitions. Unfortunately the general public is fed information by the media and others who don't have the education or credentials to be giving them accurate, sound information."
Brunner said she hopes the new V.I.-approved project will help the public identify what's healthy and what isn't on local menus. She said she knows that some people will continue to select menu items that aren't as healthy, but it's important that a few alternatives are available for those wanting to eat wisely.
"I hope that people will be excited and thankful that they can enjoy going out to eat but have options for better choices," she said.
Kvam said restaurant owners and chefs had to slightly tweak some recipes to meet the guidelines, but it wasn't too difficult to identify a few items on each menu.
"Our goal is to provide healthy options that are easily identifiable for our residents," Kvam said. "They can just look for our symbol, and they'll know that we've already evaluated it as a healthy choice."
Kvam admitted that some local restaurants already have healthy choices identified on their menus, but Vitality Initiative volunteers want to standardize a sticker system that area residents can quickly understand and rely upon.
"We all eat out, and sometimes you want that special treat," Kvam said. "But other times you want to make the best choice you can. This is a quick way to know that calories, fat and sodium have been checked out."
Kvam said those working on the community effort don't tell restaurants what to do, they are simply trying to help the operators and their customers. Sometimes getting a menu item to qualify for V.I. approval simply means having to cut down on the pickles or scaling back on the mayo. Other times its grilling the meat rather than frying it.
"We are just providing the education that will help make our community healthier," Kvam said.
Now that the V.I. effort has been launched, Kvam said she hopes many other local restaurants will choose to be a part of the project in the future. Kvam and Brunner, thanks to support from their employers, are able to dedicate some of their time to continue working with local establishments.
"We really want to grow this program," Kvam said. "We aren't trying to come in and be nutrition Nazis. We want to help make the best choice the easy choice. We just want to help."
Participating restaurants will be included in Vitality Initiative promotional items related to the restaurant effort. Participating restaurants will also be identified by V.I. window clings and menu stickers.
The Vitality Initiative is a volunteer, community-interest group that has taken on the challenge of making New Richmond a healthier place to live and work. For the past three years, the group has been working to promote efforts to help area residents eat wisely, be active and get connected in the community.
Anyone wishing to join the Vitality Initiative group can contact President Tate Wheeler at twheeler30 a.m. at the New Richmond Civic Center.


text:
IDC predicts the region will become the world's second-largest investor in the technology
Europe is set to spend US$3.5 billion per year on blockchain solutions by 2022, which will make it the world’s second-largest investor in this type of technology, according to a new report from IDC.
Forecasts from IDC’s Worldwide Semiannual Blockchain Spending Guide suggest that European companies will increase their blockchain investments from around US$400 million in 2018 to US$3.5 billion in 2022 – a compound annual growth rate of 80.2 %. This will help the region to close the gap with the world’s biggest blockchain investor, the US.
The financial services sector is expected to be the largest and fastest-growing industry, quickly followed by insurance and banking, then supply-chain-related segments such as manufacturing and retail. By 2022, IDC expects that the top use cases for blockchain technology will be trade finance and post-trade/transaction settlements, identity management, regulatory compliance, cross-border payments and settlements, and asset/goods management.
IDC predicts that sectors such as utilities, professional services and government will also increase their blockchain investments, using the technology to manage transactions and supply chain quality, or to track goods and assets.
Despite predicted growth, another recent IDC survey revealed European companies still have some way to go in terms of understanding blockchain applicability and usefulness, especially smaller organisations.
“The European market is less flexible than other regions and is also more fragmented in terms of business size,” said Carla La Croce, senior research analyst for Customer Insights and Analysis at IDC. “Nevertheless, as IDC has already highlighted, 2018 is still the year of blockchain, and European companies are showing increasing interest, supported by growing investments. Companies recognise the importance of the technology and are starting to explore how it can be deployed in their business, going beyond pilots and identifying the best use cases.”


text:
Keyword Analysis & Research: jill biden dress
Keyword Research: People who searched jill biden dress also searched
Search Results related to jill biden dress on Search Engine
What Will Jill Biden Wear in the White House? | Vogue
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and Jill Biden leave the stage after the final 2020 presidential campaign debate. Photo: Alamy Jill Biden will become first lady on January 20, 2021.
DA: 59 PA: 97 MOZ Rank: 76
Dress Jill Biden wore during Joe's acceptance speech sells out
Jill Biden, who received her doctorate in education in 2007, turned to a Christian Siriano cap-sleeved dress later at the DNC. Siriano, who is also based in New York, has been a champion for size ...
DA: 87 PA: 71 MOZ Rank: 37
What Will Dr. Jill Biden Wear in the White House? Here's ...
Dr. Jill Biden will become First Lady of the United States in January, when Joe Biden is inaugurated as US president. "I'm Jill's husband," Joe famously said during his victory speech from ...
DA: 100 PA: 51 MOZ Rank: 18
Jill Biden's 2021 Inauguration Dress Carries A Special Meaning
Jill Biden's 2021 Inauguration Dress Carries A Special Meaning. By Margaret Blatz. Jan. 20, 2021. As Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, the White House also welcomes ...
DA: 80 PA: 83 MOZ Rank: 34
Jill Biden Inauguration Dress 2021 - Jill Biden ...
Dr. Jill Biden began Inauguration Day beside her President-elect husband in a turquoise tweed coat with velvet lapels paired with a matching dress and face mask by New York–based designer Markarian.
DA: 65 PA: 87 MOZ Rank: 21
The Jill Biden effect! $5,690 Oscar de la Renta dress ...
The Jill Biden effect! Incoming First Lady's $5,690 Oscar de la Renta dress worn at Saturday's victory event sells out in HOURS – as designers share a behind-the-scenes look at the finishing touches
DA: 96 PA: 42 MOZ Rank: 89
Jill Biden’s Inauguration Night Dress: The Secret ...
Dr. Jill Biden, first lady, capped off a memorable day of inauguration fashion with a white coat and matching dress designed by Gabriela Hearst. That dress, it turns out, actually has a secret ...
DA: 52 PA: 71 MOZ Rank: 10
7 times Jill Biden won hearts with her outfits: Carrying ...
Jill Biden (Getty Images) Jill spilled magic in a $2,100 knee-length light blue cocktail dress covered in blooming florals on October 22, 2020 — the day of the final presidential debate in Nashville, Tennessee. The stunning half-sleeved dress, which was just above knee-length, earned brownie points across social media.
DA: 39 PA: 91 MOZ Rank: 69
Jill Biden made a statement in a $5,690 dress from a ...
Jill Biden wore an Oscar de la Renta dress to President-elect Joe Biden's acceptance speech on Saturday. The asymmetrical, floral dress cost $5,690, and it sold out in a matter of hours despite ...
DA: 47 PA: 73 MOZ Rank: 61


text:
Many athletes have embraced cannabis and its therapeutic benefits, and now the National Football League is considering a more open-minded approach.
The NFL and NFL Players Association will provide $1 million in research funding on cannabinoids and pain relief.
While this represents a different stance by the league, it’s still conservative compared to players who use cannabis or cannabis products — particularly CBD, a non-psychoactive cannabinoid that has gained mainstream acceptance.
- Four-time Super Bowl winner Rob Gronkowski endorsed a CBD line from Abacus Health Products during his brief hiatus from playing in 2019.
- Cleveland Browns QB Baker Mayfield endorsed and invested in CBD brand Beam in October. Days later, the NFLPA warned players not to endorse alcohol, tobacco, or cannabinoid brands.
- Retired NFL players including Joe Montana, Brett Favre, and Marshawn Lynch have all publicly backed CBD or cannabis brands.
The U.S. CBD market was valued at $2.8 billion in February with expected annual growth of 21.2% through 2028.
The NFL suspended players for multiple positive cannabis tests until last year’s collective bargaining agreement. Now, the league limited the window in which it tests players and raised the threshold to trigger a positive THC test.
Players can still be fined several weeks’ salary and forced to join a treatment program for positive tests.


text:
Yuasa has announced the launch of a free snack pack scheme for the trade.
Workshops and technicians will be able to get their hands on a pack full of treats every time they purchase Yuasa batteries from participating distributors.
The scheme has been launched to encourage workshops to stock up and beat the winter rush, as well as provide technicians with a much-needed snack supply to help them get through the busy period.
As the world continues to get back on the road, servicing, repairs and MOT demand has been surging. Add to this the approaching winter, and the requirement for batteries, it is expected that this demand will be higher than ever before.
At the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, it is estimated that around 70% of the UK’s cars remained immobile. Many of these vehicles will have suffered battery damage due to reduced usage so testing, replacement and charging services have never been more important.
Available now from participating Yuasa distributors nationwide, each Yuasa-branded snack pack contains a selection of confectionary favourites including a can of soft drink, packet of crisps, chocolate bar and bag of sweets.
James Douglas, Marketing and Product Manager at GS Yuasa Battery Sales UK Ltd, said: “We are excited to launch our free snack pack promotion to workshops. The coronavirus lockdown has had a massive effect on vehicles, causing many non-start, battery related problems. Combine this with the winter season around the corner, we are expecting the demand for batteries to be higher than ever.
“We are encouraging all workshops to act now and test every battery on every vehicle to ensure they make the most of the opportunity this winter, but more importantly, so they can enjoy a free snack pack on us during these busy periods!”


text:
Looks like TikTok can’t take a break. YouTube is about to enter the social game. The online video sharing and social media platform owned by Google announced its newest feature, YouTube Shorts. Shorts is a new short-form video experience for creators and artists who want to shoot short, catchy videos using nothing but their mobile phones, which is its competitor to TikTok. An early beta … Continue reading YouTube Shorts: A New Way to Watch & Share Content
It’s official: YouTube’s coming for international creators. The giant long-form video-based platform will start taxing creators outside the U.S. from June 2021 onwards. The amount will be deducted based on revenue generated from creators enrolled in the YouTube Partner Program who earn money from U.S.-based viewers, i.e. any U.S.-based AdSense, YouTube Premium, Super Chat, Super Stickers, and Channel Memberships will be taxed at U.S. rates. … Continue reading YouTube To Tax International Creators
YouTube’s always been a popular platform for video creators and consumers – and now its rolling out a range of new features that its over 2 billion monthly users are going to enjoy. First up – more robust analytics about the most important time in a video’s life cycle: the first 24 hours. This was never available to creators previously, who had to rely on … Continue reading YouTube Creators! Check Out These Exciting New Features!


text:
From the Internet of Things to voice interface: how ecommerce directors plan to invest
Cuvinte cheie: research, trends @en
Some 35% of ecommerce, multichannel and digital directors questioned for a study by commerce consultancy Salmon, quoted by Internet Retailing, said enabling the Internet of Things was a priority as they looked to drive sales and improve the customer experience. The research, which also questioned directors at wholesale and manufacturing companies, found that 61% were currently investing in the IoT, 69% in robots and 60% in machine learning.
More than half (53%) said they planned to invest in voice interface technology over the next five years, while almost three in five (59%) wanted to take advantage of virtual/mixed reality, 69% in robots and 60% in machine learning by 2022.
Salmon says it seems many ecommerce businesses aren’t ready for the future just yet: 29% don’t have the technology in place to cope with emerging trends in the next five years and 20% lack the tech to keep up with the niche players. Some are also fighting against the tide while trying to implement new technology with 30% saying that a major pain point when implementing an ecommerce platform is the businesses resistance to change.


text:
Revealed via Resident Evil's Twitter, this showcase will be hosted by What's Good Games' Brittney Brombacher, and Capcom shared a short teaser video of what fans can expect next week.
Don’t miss the #REShowcase on January 21st at 2:00 PM Pacific! Join Resident Evil producers and our host, Brittney Brombacher (@BlondeNerd), on a guided tour of Resident Evil Village, including a new trailer, first-ever gameplay, and more Resident Evil news! pic.twitter.com/aaZGPfE9cA— Resident Evil (@RE_Games) January 14, 2021
Resident Evil Village was first announced at the PS5 reveal event in 2020, and it is scheduled to be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC in 2021. Capcom has said it is "looking into" Xbox One and PS4 versions.
Capcom has since revealed a bit more about Resident Evil Village, including that it takes place in a desolate, snowy village and that players will once again play as Resident Evil 7's Ethan Winters.
Fans of the horror franchise can look forward to a much more open space than Resident Evil 7 as they will face off against gruesome creatures including werewolves. Resident Evil Village made our list of all the big games coming in 2021, including Halo Infinite, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Horizon Forbidden West.
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to email@example.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Killers of the Flower Moon Review
12h ago - Martin Scorsese’s Native American epic is unapologetically vicious by design.
Game Developers Say Tears of the Kingdom Is Inspiring and Overwhelming
18h ago - IGN spoke with game developers about what the industry can learn from Nintendo's latest masterpiece.
Fans Crack Tears of the Kingdom's Secret Experience Scaling System
19h ago - Variety is the spice of life.


text:
Nov 20, 2020, 1:36 pm104 ptsAs news spread of an important ruling in a lawsuit over California's statewide cannabis delivery policy, industry executives' initial impression of a victory gave way to the reality that more legal battles are likely. Industry reacts to California cannabis delivery lawsuit outcome: ‘It’s not a…
Trending Today on NewsBudz
NewsBudz is a marijuana and medical cannabis news app. The site delivers a daily feed of the latest cannabis news. We aggregate over 30 of the web's best sources for news about marijuana, hemp and legalization to keep you informed.
Stay on top of the latest news headlines, trends and developments worldwide around recreational and medical marijuana. Sit back and relax, while you read learn and share. On the web or your mobile device, NewsBudz is your cannabis news stream.


text:
Shortage of toys, holiday gifts, Halloween costumes, and Christmas decorations are threatening to steal the joy from Christmas this year.
A report from the Daily Mail claims that some of the CEOs from large manufacturers are facing the tough calls on filling their stores with supplies, while the continuous backlog of cargo ships have been waiting to dock in one of the many large ports along the coast of the United States:
The cost of shipping is reaching exorbitant heights as a result of the kinks in the normally-functioning system. Last month, the median average cost of shipping a metal container from China to the West coast soared 10-fold from $2,000 to a high of more than $20,000 and the cost of shipping from Europe to the North Coast of America also soared.
As of Monday morning, 63 ships were anchored off LA and Long Beach Ports with wait times of up to four weeks.
There are two cargo ships sitting off the coast of Long Island, waiting for port entry and there are 23 ships at anchor near Savannah, Georgia, with 80,000 shipping containers stacked at the city’s huge port – 50% more than usual.
Mega-chains in the United States such as Walmart, Home Depot, Costco, and Target have reportedly chartered their own ways to transport some goods stuck on cargo ships waiting to dock.
“Walmart chartered a ship that normally transports grain to retrieve some of the goods from a backed-up ship at the L.A. port and move it to a nearby dock,” Daily Mail reported, noting, “Home Depot has chartered its own ship, filled with Halloween and Christmas decorations.”
Ed Desmond, executive vice president of the Toy Association, said during an announcement last week that parents should be going out now to buy Christmas gifts for their children while there are plenty of supplies instead of waiting till the last moment.
“Get out and buy toys now. If you see toys you think the kids are going to want for Christmas, pick them up now and tuck them away to make sure you have them,” Desmond said. “Right now, stores have a pretty healthy supply. We just don’t know what’s going to happen when we get down the road closer to Christmas,’ said Ed Desmond, executive vice president of the Toy Association during an announcement last week.”
“We’re certainly hoping that more containers come in both for the major retailers and to help some of these small stores,” he added. “But one issue that we do fear is you may not see the same breadth of selection.”
Jay Foreman, the CEO of Basic Plus! toys claimed that he has eight million dollars worth of goods sitting in a warehouse but cast doubt over the toys being able to dock in time for the holidays. “I got Tonka trucks in the south and Care Bears in the north. We’ll blow last year’s numbers away, but the problem is we don’t know if we’ll get the last four months of the year shipped.”
Foreman told Bloomberg, “The supply chain is a disaster, and it’s only getting worse.”
Follow Jacob Bliss on Twitter @jacobmbliss.


text:
[credit provider=”By Brent on Flickr” url=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/brent_nashville/6424278149/sizes/l/in/photostream/”]
Coca-Cola tried to revive its polar bear mascot with a wintry white can design for Coca-Cola Classic, but just one month after launch, it’s abandoning the project and reverting to red, reports Mike Esterl at the Wall Street Journal.Why? Three reasons:
1. Some consumers are confusing the packaging with Diet Coke’s similar silver cans.
2. Others swear that the drink tastes different when in a white can.
3. Coke’s most ardent fans find the change in colour blasphemous.
Coke frequently features special edition holiday cans, but this was the first time it had ever strayed from its usual red for Coca-Cola Classic. It probably won’t ever try it again.
This change wasn’t anything near the New Coke debacle back in 1985, yet it evoked the same sort of strong feelings among the brand’s fans. They don’t approve of change, and to appease them, Coke must taste and look like Coke always has.
And it goes to show that packaging — especially for such a massively powerful brand like Coke with such fanatical followers — matters deeply.
NOTE: Coke has reiterated that it is not abandoning its entire campaign — it is halting production of the white cans (they’ll still be on shelves until they run out), and distributing the new red cans. Also, Coke is continuing to encourage donations to its campaign to protect polar bears.