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There are various steps users can take to help keep your iPhone charged for longer and maintain the condition of the battery.
Antonio Villas-Boas says there is a right way and a wrong way to charge our smartphones.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you might be reducing your phone battery’s lifespan with certain charging behaviors.
Specifically, if you often charge your phone overnight or keep it plugged in for hours after it’s reached 100%, you’re accelerating the aging process of lithium-ion smartphone batteries.
I don’t think this is entirely correct though. Most smartphones have something called trickle charge, which helps extend the battery life by slowing the charge rate and pulsing the electric current on and off to reduce battery load once it reaches 80%. Apple explains here.
Sure, it sounds a lot like what Apple would use for a wireless charging effect, but this wouldn’t be the first time that hidden resources discovered in beta software turned out to be nothing.
LAS VEGAS – More than anything else, the question I’m most asked regarding not-yet-existent technology is, “when are we going to get wireless charging?” The answer, thanks to Energous, is “likely this year.” Energous has developed a technology that supports three ranges of wireless charging: near-field contactless, two-to-four feet, and ten-to-fifteen feet. We’ve all seen contactless charging with (some) cell phones and the Apple Watch, but anything beyond that seems like magic. In this video, that’s exactly what you’ll see. I also got to experience the same remote control charging from ten feet away. That’s because devices with Energous’ WattUp receivers can be charged by transmitters of any of the three distances. Contactless is available for manufacturers to use now, and Energous is working to have the remaining distances approved and available within the next year. Power is only sent to the device when a charge is needed and Bluetooth is used to allow the transmitter and receiver to negotiate the connection. The future appears to be right around the corner.
2017 is the year the iPhone finally gets wireless charging. That’s the word, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who says Apple plans to bring inductive charging to the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models with next fall’s refresh.


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Slovenia has demonstrated how a country can develop its tourism industry sustainably, but it doesn’t solve the persistent problem of slow hotel action. Without getting hotels on board, the capacity to tackle urgent sustainability issues like climate change will remain formidable.
Slovenia’s tourism board created a green certification scheme for destinations, hotels, parks and other stakeholders back in 2015 that has become a global model for how to sustainably develop a national tourism industry. Yet it comes up short when it comes to the industry problem of hotel participation.
Under the Green Destination certification process, destinations fill out an application, are audited, given a report then have to create a one year action plan, budget for it and present it to their municipality board, according to Jana Apih, managing director of GoodPlace, a nongovernmental organization that works with the Slovenia Tourism Board on the certification process.
Destinations report back on their action plan progress annually and are re-evaluated every three years.“They really need to go into it and say ‘This is where I’m not performing well. This is what I need to do in the next year,’ ” Apih said.
Slovenia has historically been a green country. More than 61 percent of the land area of Slovenia is covered in forests, making it one of the wooded countries in Europe. Over a third of the country is under the environmental protection of the European Union’s Natura 2000. In 2014, the tourism board wanted to develop its industry sustainably.
Instead of developing their own from scratch, Slovenia used the Green Destinations Standard, which is recognized by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. “We looked at each criteria and adapted it to Slovenia,” said Slovenia Tourism Board Research and Development Project Manager Maša Klemenčič. The Slovenia Tourism Board labels each destination as a gold, platinum, silver or bronze based on their fulfillment of the criteria.
The tourism board added a greater focus on community input. Destinations must survey locals, visitors and tourism businesses every three years. “We want our destinations to think very closely about the local communities,” Apih said. “What they actually benefit from and what is the burden on a destination.” Every destination also must have a green team composed of a destination site manager and local public service providers like water management.
Some of the original criteria have been difficult to implement. Carbon tracking is one example. “Carbon emissions and carbon footprint are still problematic. We didn’t have a tool, but we had to keep to the standard,” Klemenčič said. “Every destination that got their audit report always had negative marks on these two criteria. We couldn’t give destinations any concrete tools as to how to measure it.” Destinations have to rely on a carbon tracking tool developed by Breda University of Applied Sciences.
Fast forward to today, 58 destinations have a green label. Almost all of the 35 leading destinations, which produce 98 percent of all overnight stays in Slovenia, have a green label, according to Klemenčič. About 90 percent of all overnight stays are at certified destinations. The Green Scheme has also expanded beyond destinations.
Slovenia’s small destinations are using the green scheme to build their tourism industries, according to Klemenčič. The European Travel Commission and Travel Foundation has leaned on Slovenia’s experience for crafting sustainable tourism development frameworks.
For the record, winning over destination participation wasn’t a challenge for the Slovenia Tourism Board. “Destinations and businesses were very eager, especially destinations. We didn’t have any problem in how to recruit them,” Apih said.
But there’s an essential stakeholder group still missing: hotels. To participate, hotels have to go through a green accommodations certification process or receive a certificate from a recognized third-party like Green Key. “At this point, our bigger challenge is still to attract more hotels and accommodations,” Apih said. Only 7.7 percent of accommodations are green certified, according to Klemenčič.
Big hotel chains like Sava Hotels and Resorts, which own 17 hotels in Slovenia, are moving very slowly. “We have a few big hotels and those are the problems,” Apih said. Hotels are committed to the sustainability philosophy, but they are moving at a sluggish pace to finish the whole certification process and the required follow-ups. She attributes it to the lack of “human capacity” caused by the industry labor shortage.
Sava Hotels & Resorts is “taking it step by step,” said Ana Praprotnik, director of marketing. The chain’s Hotel Park, Rikli Balance Hotel and Hotel Histrion have received the Green Accommodations label. Four more accommodations are in the process of receiving a Green Key label, which will allow them to qualify for the Green Accommodations label. “We, at Sava Hotels & Resorts, are extremely committed to sustainability concepts and practices,” she said.
Still, hotels in general are not the fastest movers on sustainability issues. Most hotels around the world have not taken action on the urgent issue of climate change, a takeaway from the Skift Sustainable Tourism Summit. Less than 20 percent of any hotels worldwide have taken any serious steps toward reducing carbon emissions, said Skift Senior Vice President of Research Haixia Wang at the summit.
To bring hotels onboard, the tourism board has attached the top green labels to hotel participation. “No destination can have the gold or platinum label if they don’t have one accommodation provider with the Slovenia green label,” Klemenčič said. The hope is that destinations can educate and guide hotels toward certification.
“Our next step is to motivate more hotels and business in general, “Klemenčič said. ”We can’t transform Slovenian tourism without them. They are the ones carrying tourism on the terrain and reality.”
Correction: The carbon tracking tool destinations use was developed by Breda University of Applied Sciences, not Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam as initially reported.
Have a confidential tip for Skift? Get in touch
Photo credit: Lake Bled, Bled, Slovenia Johnny Africa / Unsplash

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Swiss watchmaker Breitling is taking the smartwatch concept to new heights with its flight-ready B55 Connected timepiece.
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Danish audio and video brand Bang & Olufsen is celebrating its ninetieth anniversary by creating a “live illustration” of a love affair spanning from the 1920s and into the future.
As the development of wearables has continued to move forward there have been ample opportunities for Swiss watchmakers to enter the space through collaborative efforts.
Technology manufacturer Apple has unveiled the first advertising effort for its Apple Watch in Vogue magazine’s March edition.
German automaker Porsche is keeping up with the times by providing a new high-tech navigation system that is compatible with the brand’s classic sports cars.
Swiss watch manufacturer Ulysse Nardin is branching out in a new direction with the release of a powerboat in collaboration with extreme-performance boat maker Midnight Express.
Brands took advantage of the approaching holiday and used romance and special Valentine’s Day offers to promote purchases.
British smartphone manufacturer Vertu is flaunting the “jewel-like” qualities of its latest Signature Touch Clous de Paris mobile device to compete with jewelers this Valentine’s Day.
While overall spending in China is back up to where it was in 2013, spending on gifts has decreased 30 percent over the past two years, according to a report by Hurun.
British smartphone maker Vertu is helping its consumers stay digitally connected on select devices with a complimentary WiFi subscription.


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Decade after decade, the SILMO continues to evolve, develop, and grow, thanks togenerations of enthusiastic, hard-working professionals who rally the entire optical and eyewear industry, and thanks to the organising teams who endeavour to deal with market fluctuations, technological progress, social changes and ethical sensibilities, among much more. With each new generation, humanity and the […]Read Article
MIDO 2023: THE INTERNATIONAL EYEWEAR SHOW OPENS A NEW CHAPTER
Milan, 7 February 2023 – MIDO 2023 marks the beginning of a new era for the eyewear show with numbers that confirm its leadership position as it closed its doors yesterday on the 51st edition. The next MIDO will take place Saturday February 3rd to Monday February 5th 2024, at Fiera Milano Rho. Attendance peaked […]Read Article
Nomination SILMO d’OR
Companies nominated at the 29th Silmo d’OrRead Article
After an edition with results that exceeded all expectations, with 22 thousand visitors in 3 days, MIDO is warming up for the 2023 edition, the number 51 in person. The appointment for all eyewear professionals is from 4 to 6 February 2023 at Fiera Milano Rho.Read Article
SILMO PARIS 2022
An overview of the highlights not to be missed throughoutRead Article
New CircumEye design marks the start of a new era!Read Article
SILMO Istanbul 2019, a trade fair that’s here for the long haul
Bringing innovation, dynamism and unity to the Turkish optical industry, SILMO Istanbul welcomed optical professionals from the MENA region to the Istanbul Expo Center, from 21 to 24 November 2019.Read Article
If you love eyewear, avant-garde design, independency, networking in a relaxed atmosphere and good vibes, then CircumEye is the trade event to visitRead Article
The International SILMO Istanbul Optical Fair proved, last year, that it has become an indispensable exhibition of the optical sector in a short time. With its geographical location, Istanbul showed to be an indispensable part of the optical trade with its role as a bridge between Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa.
This Year, the 6th of the fair strengthened its position sector with confident steps, by growing, and put a signature to many innovations !
Christophe Pillet – Chairman of the Jury SILMO D’OR 2019 awards
A French designer and interior architect of international renown, Christophe PILLET is appreciated for his “clear expression, pursuit of simplicity and essential design.”Read Article


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Shares in model railway manufacturer Hornby jumped more than 30 per cent this morning as it was announced the collectables group signed an agreement to create products using the Harry Potter and DC superheroes franchise.
The agreement with Warner Bros will allow the company to release model railway and slot car sets under the Hornby Railways, Scalextric and Corgi brands using a selection of Warner Bros' and DC's franchises, which includes characters such as Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman.
Shares jumped to 48.46p at midday, up from 30.77p, before settling to 40p when the market closed.
Hornby Hobbies Limited's chief executive officer Lyndon Davies said: "Having access to these perennially popular franchises will provide Hornby with the opportunity to apply our ability in developing and delivering a desirable range of products that will appeal to fans of the many Warner Bros. characters and DC Super Heroes."
The first products to be released under the partnership will be on display at the London Toy Fair in January next year and at Hornby Hobbies previews.


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October 30, 2009 BY Aaron Hope
Last year’s ‘triple black’ Nike Zoom LeBron VI (6) was dubbed ‘Batman’ because of its dark look coinciding with a wave of support for the modern classic The Dark Knight. It’s only natural to see the Air Max LeBron VII (7) in black especially considering King James himself pushes a dark-as-night Rolls Royce Phantom, just as natural to nickname these the ‘Phantoms’.
These drop the metallic gold accents we saw on an earlier preview in favor of a mix of metallic silver and a darker, pewter-like metal. Then again, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to see both hit retail shelves, especially considering the overwhealming similarities of the various City Pack releases. As for the joints above, they’re going to drop on Thursday, December 17th at Foot Locker and House of Hoops stores, so you’ll have just enough time to get em wrapped up and under the tree.


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Monthly Archives: November 2013
POPE: “Money must serve, not rule”
So it turns out the new Pope is just like me, but infallible! Or at least he thinks like me when it comes to money issues. I read parts of his latest exhortation, and I was overjoyed to hear his … Continue reading
BLACK FRIDAY: IS NOTHING SACRED?
What? Prices at retail are rigged, too? Even on Black Friday, that most holy of all shopping days? Heaven forfend! Yes, turns out it’s not just the price of oil, financial products, gold, etc. that are outright rigged or at … Continue reading
Posted in "supply and demand", Debt, fiat currency, Price, Price-fixing Tagged Bretton Woods, Everything Is Rigged, fiat currency, ISDAfix, JC Penney, LIBOR, LIBOR rigging, Minutemen, Nixon Shock, price-fixing, prices, Shit From An Old Notebook, Strawberry Fields, supply and demand, Wall Street Journal Leave a comment
VERRRY INTRIGUING US BANK PDF
Been quite ill the past week…trying to get back into the swing of things, so check this out: Big-Time Vindication for Neil Garfield from US Bank (don’t know if this has already been posted, I’ve been ill all week): http://foreclosuredefensenationwide.com/?p=533 … Continue reading


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Interest Rate Roundup
Find the best credit card offers available.
- 13.02% (all fixed)
- 15.15% (all variable)
Credit card rates remained unchanged this week, according to Bankrate's latest survey of interest rates. The average annual percentage rate, or APR, for variable-rate credit cards sat at 15.15 percent. The APR for fixed-rate cards stayed steady at 13.02 percent.
The rate of credit card defaults decreased to 3.37 percent in February from 3.41 percent in January, according to the SandP/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices released Tuesday. The rate is well below the 4.41 percent seen in February 2012.
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A new generation of men’s care products and services are now available to help women feel better about their beauty, hair and comfort.In the latest issue of The Wall St Journal, we look at the latest from men’s health, gender equity, and care products.
The word “feminine” comes up a lot when it comes to car brands.There are many brands that are marketed toward women and the female consumer, but the majority of those brands are made by men.That’s because a woman’s needs and preferences are not often as well-suited for the same car or truck as a man’s.ThatRead More
We all have our favourites femdom partners, whether it’s our own children, a loved one, or even our loved ones in the industry.And we all have a few favourite femdom companies, too.And while many companies have grown up around their femdom niche, there’s still plenty of room for growth in the femdom sector.And it’s theRead More
TESCA is the second-largest brand in the United Kingdom after Asda and is widely considered one of the most feminine brands in the country.The company is headquartered in London, England.They recently unveiled a new feminine care product called the Nourishing Face, which is made of a blend of ingredients.It is a lot more feminine lookingRead More
A new cosmetics trend is breaking out in Britain, and it’s going to take your beauty routine to the next level.A new brand called Just feminine Care is offering an all-natural, organic, non-pigmented moisturiser for women who want to take their beauty routine a little bit further.The brand says the product is the result ofRead More


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Taiwan Excellence’s second edition, the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup (TEGC) which took place at Infinity Mall, Malad on September 18th and 19th. More than 500 gamers took part in the competition. The tournament was challenge DOTA 2 gamers to battle for the revered cup, winners take home a cumulative cash prize of INR 4,00,000.
After a two day insane DOTA 2 battle, The winner team ‘Team Neck Break’ won DOTA 2 Gaming Championship and walked away with a whopping INR 1,70,000 as a cash prize. ‘Team Elunes’ won the second place and took home INR 90,000, and ‘Team Bad Xcuse’ secured the third spot and received INR 40,000 as prize money.
The second edition of Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup double the prize money and even bigger fun than the last year. This year, a total of 203 teams registered for the event out of which 64 participated in the elimination rounds held in Mumbai and Delhi each. The number of teams registered was almost double from that of last year with players coming in from Shillong, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Bangalore to participate in the contest in Mumbai. This year the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup expanded to Delhi, previously it had been held only in Mumbai.
Speaking of the tournament, Mr. Micheal Lin, Director of the Taipei World Trade Centre Liaison Office in Mumbai, said, “The popularity of the maiden edition of the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup was so high that this year we scaled up the event to include even Delhi in the venues. The response we received for our second edition too has been massive. We are glad to bring in this championship for passionate gamers because we believe it gives them an opportunity to showcase their skills as well as offer them a chance to win big money.”
A total of 8 teams, 4 from Mumbai and 4 from Delhi qualified for the grand finale which saw an impressive display of high-end gaming gear as well as some of the latest lifestyle products from Taiwan Excellence, including sleek tablets, smartphones, gaming technology, leisure-related and travel products.
The event attracted 11 of the most popular brands from the digital world as sponsors including ACER, ADATA, ASUS, BenQ, D-Link, FSP, Gigabyte, GX, MSi, Thermaltake and Transcend.
ACER showcase their high end gaming monitors at Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup.
ASUS showcase gaming laptops/notebooks at Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup. Including the X555L we covered few days before.
BenQ also showcase 3 gaming monitors at Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup. Displayed products from left to right XL2430T, XL2730Z and RL2455HM LED monitor models.
Rajeev Singh, Country Head of BenQ, another sponsor, said, “We do need more events like the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup because in India.The gaming industry is still in its nascent stages. Especially competitive gaming, is yet to pick up because of a lack of good tournaments. We are happy to be associated with the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup because it is a great opportunity for gamers.”
D-Link showcase WiFi security Camera, Tri Band router, Smart Plug and many more.
FSP showcase high quality modular, semi-modular & non-modular power supply required for Gaming PC. Available from 450W, upto 1000W.
MSi showcase high-end laptops dedicated for pure gaming at Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup.
And many other sponsors showcased Keyboards, Mouse, Headphones, etc which are solely designed for gamers in mind.
Mr. Rounak Sen, Captain of the winning team Neck Break, said, “Winning felt good, as it had a good prize pool. It felt great to be a part of TE Gaming Cup. The entire set up of the event was very grooving. We are looking forward for TE Gaming Cup 2016”.
Mr. Bari Anwar Nasir, Captain, Team Elunes, 1st Runner Up, said, “The event was one of the best gaming event in India. Our team participated last year too but this year the amount of brand pool was very nice. Such events helps the gaming enthusiastic to sharpen their skills and showcase their gaming talents. Looking forward for TE Gaming Cup 2016”.
Mr. Rohan Gokhale, Captain, Team Bad Xcuse, 2nd Runner Up, told, “The event was very well organized and we look forward for more such events in India. Besides the case prize there were also other prizes which were really very good”.
Taiwan is the 19th largest economy in the world, with a well-developed capitalist economy. Taiwan not only has developed into a hub for tech, but is also more familiar than Japan and Korea with classic martial arts themes and the aesthetics favoured by the 100 million online gamers. With events like the Taiwan Excellence Gaming Cup, Taiwan is looking at finding a firm footing in the Indian gaming market.


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In 2017, the Bitcoin project and its community split in two. Perhaps the least controversial way to refer to each side is simply by their respective ticker symbols, BTC and BCH. Bitcoin Cash is usually represented by the BCH ticker symbol and is considered by its supporters to be the legitimate continuation of the Bitcoin project as peer-to-peer digital cash.
Welcome to the Investopedia Bitcoin Center, where you can find the current price of Bitcoin as well as real-time updated news on the world’s most important cryptocurrency. For good or for ill, Bitcoin is being explored by every major world bank and may very well be the backbone of our global financial system in the near future. Use charts, watch videos, learn new Bitcoin related terms, and get all of your questions answered about Bitcoin here at Investopedia.
In January 2012, bitcoin was featured as the main subject within a fictionalized trial on the CBS legal drama The Good Wife in the third-season episode "Bitcoin for Dummies". The host of CNBC's Mad Money, Jim Cramer, played himself in a courtroom scene where he testifies that he doesn't consider bitcoin a true currency, saying "There's no central bank to regulate it; it's digital and functions completely peer to peer".
David Golumbia says that the ideas influencing bitcoin advocates emerge from right-wing extremist movements such as the Liberty Lobby and the John Birch Society and their anti-Central Bank rhetoric, or, more recently, Ron Paul and Tea Party-style libertarianism. Steve Bannon, who owns a "good stake" in bitcoin, considers it to be "disruptive populism. It takes control back from central authorities. It's revolutionary."
Charts can be a very useful tool for those looking to trade or invest in Bitcoin. Prices are available on numerous time frames, from as little as a minute to monthly or yearly charts. Short term traders may use shorter-term charts to try to profit from buying and selling of Bitcoin. Long-term investors may use charts to try to identify areas f support and resistance. When the market declines into support levels, investors may see that as a solid buying opportunity and look to buy Bitcoin on dips.
On 18 March 2013, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (or FinCEN), a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury, issued a report regarding centralized and decentralized "virtual currencies" and their legal status within "money services business" (MSB) and Bank Secrecy Act regulations. It classified digital currencies and other digital payment systems such as bitcoin as "virtual currencies" because they are not legal tender under any sovereign jurisdiction. FinCEN cleared American users of bitcoin of legal obligations by saying, "A user of virtual currency is not an MSB under FinCEN's regulations and therefore is not subject to MSB registration, reporting, and recordkeeping regulations." However, it held that American entities who generate "virtual currency" such as bitcoins are money transmitters or MSBs if they sell their generated currency for national currency: "...a person that creates units of convertible virtual currency and sells those units to another person for real currency or its equivalent is engaged in transmission to another location and is a money transmitter." This specifically extends to "miners" of the bitcoin currency who may have to register as MSBs and abide by the legal requirements of being a money transmitter if they sell their generated bitcoins for national currency and are within the United States. Since FinCEN issued this guidance, dozens of virtual currency exchangers and administrators have registered with FinCEN, and FinCEN is receiving an increasing number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) from these entities.
Since its launch in 2009, Bitcoin has proven to be a profitable investment for those who owned it initially. Having bought it for only $50 back then, one can now earn high revenues, as now its price has grown hundreds of times larger. Observing the popularity of BTC to USD exchange operations, there are immense opportunities to gain benefits from the Bitcoin trade. After the coin was launched, it cost $0.003 on April 25, 2010, at BitcoinMarket.com, which was the first cryptocurrency exchange. Starting at that time, the Bitcoin to dollar exchange rate has increased dramatically, and some of the initial owners gained earnings of over thousand percent. Now, while some users may be simply attracted by the potential of growing prices, many buyers believe that the currency itself has a high level of volatility. According to some financial specialists, it is even more volatile than gold. And some individuals believe that Bitcoin has the potential to replace fiat money in the future.
Bitcoin continued to decline during early 2018, before eventually stabilizing at around $7,000 per coin. It has remained in the $6,000 to $7,000 range since June, and the volatility that characterised the market in 2017 and early 2018 has all but evaporated. On its 10-year anniversary, bitcoin is trading at $6,305 per coin, according to Markets Insider.
More recently, at a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill, global economist and New York University professor Nouriel Roubini said, "Crypto is the mother or father of all scams and bubbles." He called out "swindlers" who tapped into investors' fear of missing out and took them for a ride with "crappy assets that went into a bust and crash — in a matter of months — like you have not seen in any history of financial bubbles."
The simplest way to approach the model would be to look at the current worldwide value of all mediums of exchange and of all stores of value comparable to bitcoin, and calculate the value of bitcoin's projected percentage. The predominant medium of exchange is government backed money, and for our model we will focus solely on them. The money supply is often thought of as broken into different buckets, M0, M1, M2, and M3. M0 refers to currency in circulation. M1 is M0 plus demand deposits like checking accounts. M2 is M1 plus savings accounts and small time deposits (known as certificates of deposit in the US). M3 is M2 plus large time deposits and money market funds. Since M0 and M1 are readily accessible for use in commerce, we will consider these two buckets as medium of exchange, whereas M2 and M3 will be considered as money being used as a store of value.
Bitcoin turns 10 — how it went from an abstract idea to a $100 billion market in a decade CNBCBitcoin is 10 years old today — here's a look back at its crazy history Business InsiderFactbox: Ten years of bitcoin Reuters10 years later, we still don't know what Bitcoin is for Telegraph.co.ukIt's Bitcoin's 10th Birthday. Here's What People Are […]
In May 2013, Ted Nelson speculated that Japanese mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki is Satoshi Nakamoto. Later in 2013 the Israeli researchers Dorit Ron and Adi Shamir pointed to Silk Road-linked Ross William Ulbricht as the possible person behind the cover. The two researchers based their suspicion on an analysis of the network of bitcoin transactions. These allegations were contested and Ron and Shamir later retracted their claim.
Though transaction fees are optional, miners can choose which transactions to process and prioritize those that pay higher fees. Miners may choose transactions based on the fee paid relative to their storage size, not the absolute amount of money paid as a fee. These fees are generally measured in satoshis per byte (sat/b). The size of transactions is dependent on the number of inputs used to create the transaction, and the number of outputs.:ch. 8
To heighten financial privacy, a new bitcoin address can be generated for each transaction. For example, hierarchical deterministic wallets generate pseudorandom "rolling addresses" for every transaction from a single seed, while only requiring a single passphrase to be remembered to recover all corresponding private keys. Researchers at Stanford and Concordia universities have also shown that bitcoin exchanges and other entities can prove assets, liabilities, and solvency without revealing their addresses using zero-knowledge proofs. "Bulletproofs," a version of Confidential Transactions proposed by Greg Maxwell, have been tested by Professor Dan Boneh of Stanford. Other solutions such Merkelized Abstract Syntax Trees (MAST), pay-to-script-hash (P2SH) with MERKLE-BRANCH-VERIFY, and "Tail Call Execution Semantics", have also been proposed to support private smart contracts.
Volatility. This very reason many speculators are attracted to Bitcoin is the same reason many potential users are hesitant to get involved. Users that look at Bitcoin as a speculative investment option are essentially gambling on the process, and the future price of Bitcoin is largely unknown. There are estimates that Bitcoin will both be worth pennies in a few years, while some predict that a single bitcoin will be worth $500k in three years. As new investors continue to invest and the market cap grows, Bitcoin’s price could become more stable.
After Bitcoin nearly reached $20,000, it was not able to maintain those figures. January did see a high of over $17,500 around the 7th, but this was short-lived and followed by a steady drop. By the end of January 2018, Bitcoin was at just over $10,000. By Feb. 5, it was under $7,000. It rallied again, getting over $11,000 in early March, but this was followed by a drop back below $7,000. The largest recent high for Bitcoin was in early May, when it was above $9,500. By late June, it was under $6,000. Following a rise to more than $8,000 in late July, Bitcoin has remained around $6,000 to $6,500, other than a brief spike up over $7,300 in September.
In 2014, researchers at the University of Kentucky found "robust evidence that computer programming enthusiasts and illegal activity drive interest in bitcoin, and find limited or no support for political and investment motives". Australian researchers have estimated that 25% of all bitcoin users and 44% of all bitcoin transactions are associated with illegal activity as of April 2017. There were an estimated 24 million bitcoin users primarily using bitcoin for illegal activity. They held $8 billion worth of bitcoin, and made 36 million transactions valued at $72 billion. A group of researches analyzed bitcoin transactions in 2016 and came to a conclusion that "some recent concerns regarding the use of bitcoin for illegal transactions at the present time might be overstated".
Mining is a record-keeping service done through the use of computer processing power.[e] Miners keep the blockchain consistent, complete, and unalterable by repeatedly grouping newly broadcast transactions into a block, which is then broadcast to the network and verified by recipient nodes. Each block contains a SHA-256 cryptographic hash of the previous block, thus linking it to the previous block and giving the blockchain its name.:ch. 7
If you are considering investing in cryptocurrencies, think of it like a trip to Vegas, self-made millionaire and best-selling author Tony Robbins suggests. In his own portfolio, Robbins directs a certain amount of money to risky ventures, but he doesn't rely on them to work out. For those investments, he said, "I know it is just for fun I'm investing, I know I could lose."
It’s decentralized and brings power back to the people. Launched just a year after the 2008 financial crises, Bitcoin has attracted many people who see the current financial system as unsustainable. This factor has won the hearts of those who view politicians and government with suspicion. It’s no surprise there is a huge community of ideologists actively building, buying, and working in the cryptocurrency world.
In early February 2014, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges, Mt. Gox, suspended withdrawals citing technical issues. By the end of the month, Mt. Gox had filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan amid reports that 744,000 bitcoins had been stolen. Months before the filing, the popularity of Mt. Gox had waned as users experienced difficulties withdrawing funds.
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Privakey is excited to announce that we will be exhibiting at the 2018 RSA Conference in San Francisco, April 16-20. Our exhibit will be located at Booth #1143 in the South Expo Hall.
Attendees visiting our booth will have the opportunity to test drive Privakey’s new software solution that companies can embed into their existing mobile applications. They can also meet with Privakey’s customer identity experts to speak about the future of identity and other topics like our membership in the FIDO Alliance and roadmap for FIDO certification.
“Privakey’s presence at the RSA Conference will provide attendees with a tangible example of a security solution that actually improves the customer experience,” said Charles Durkin, CEO of Privakey. “We envision a world where customers can interact with a company the same way across all channels. No more over the phone interrogations, no more passwords entered through browsers, no more SMS messages customers have to respond to. Just seamless, convenient customer identity.”
Privakey’s offerings include a cloud service and an embedded technology, both of which eliminate passwords and knowledge-based interrogations from the customer experience while greatly improving security. With just a device-based biometric or a PIN, Privakey’s solutions enable users to securely assert their identity anywhere. Whether they’re online, on the phone, on a mobile app, or using a voice connected device, Privakey provides customers with the same seamless authentication and authorization experience.
Privakey improves many user interactions which we will demonstrating at our booth. Come talk with us and let us know about a use case at your company where Privakey might be a good fit. We’ll be giving away some great prizes to attendees who come up with the best ideas!
Want to schedule a meeting or just let us know you’ll be at RSAC? Fill out this form.
For more information about Privakey visit our homepage.
About RSA Conference
The annual RSA Conference in San Francisco brings together the world’s top information security minds for a week of discussion and learning. The conference draws more than 45,000 attendees making it the largest security event in the country.
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text: Olin The alkali products company reported last month fourth-quarter earnings of $18.7 million, or 23 cents a share, an increase from year-earlier earnings of $2 million, or 2 cents. "Although OLN continues to enjoy a cost advantage due to a steep global chlor-alkali cost curve, we see rising freight costs as a risk given that ECU (chlorine + caustic) pricing could stagnate," Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts wrote in a Jan. 31 report. Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 3.5% Rated "A- (Buy)" by TheStreet Ratings: The company's fourth-quarter gross profit margin increased from the previous year. Olin has average liquidity. Its Quick Ratio is 1.36, which demonstrates it can technically meet its short-term cash needs. In the fourth quarter, stockholders' net worth increased 19.01% from the prior year. TheStreet Ratings' price target is $25.91. The stock closed Monday at $22.67. The stock has increased 15.37% year to date.


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December 6, 2000 |
Top scooter maker Razor USA on Tuesday won round two of a battle against its competitors when a Los Angeles judge barred six rivals from shipping any more Razor-like products during the critical holiday selling period. The ruling won't have much effect on consumers. The order doesn't affect scooters already in stores and retailers say they have plenty on hand for the holiday season. U.S.
March 4, 2000 |
They whiz down congested sidewalks, turning a mundane walk into an urban romp. They collapse and cuddle under an arm in the crowded subway. They can jump, slalom or merely stroll. They turn heads, induce giggles and, in this shy nation, supply a pretext for conversation. A fusion of scooter and skateboard, these scooterboards have become the hottest form of transportation in Tokyo.
January 3, 1988 |
Four years after winning gold and silver medals at the 1984 Winter Olympics and retiring shortly after, Phil and Steve Mahre are still trying to get away from the ski slopes. But the greatest slalom racers in U.S. history know that skiing is still their meal ticket, even though they're no longer threading gates at 80 m.p.h. The twins, now 30, spend time on skis each year to fulfill their endorsement, personal appearance and ski camp commitments, but not for pleasure.
June 28, 1999 |
At one of nature's grand intersections, where the northern Great Plains roll up against the soaring battlements of Glacier National Park, the federal government is paving the way for an industrial development of potentially dominating proportions.
April 30, 1989 |
In some quarters, Maxxam Inc. wouldn't rate as anybody's favorite corporation. The Los Angeles-based real estate development company has a history of attracting negative publicity, including a loud chorus of condemnation over the accelerated cutting of redwood trees after its move into California's lumber industry in 1986. But investors applauded last year when Maxxam bought KaiserTech, the parent of Oakland-based Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical. Maxxam's shares rose 225% in the past year, showing the greatest stock price appreciation of all California companies surveyed by MZ Group of San Francisco.


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Microsoft has just released Office 2003 SP2. One key new feature is the addition of anti-phishing tools to Outlook 2003.
SP2 contains a new Phishing Protection feature to be used with the Outlook Junk Email Filter. Phishing is the luring of sensitive information through e-mail, such as passwords and other personal information, by an attacker masquerading as someone trustworthy. Phishing attacks can result in a user divulging sensitive information, including financial information, that can result in a loss of privacy or money. Phishing e-mail is hard to identify, because attackers make their e-mail appear genuine and often mimic recognizable e-mail sent out routinely by legitimate organizations such as banks and credit card companies.


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MISSISSAUGA — Collette has launched a New Year Savings Deal that includes 10% off your client’s next tour.
Travellers can book their 2019-2020 travel between Jan. 2-14, 2019 to receive the discount. This offer applies to an extensive variety of tours and departures.
“This amazing offer allows guests to travel to incredible destinations while also saving on our plethora of brands, including our new Explorations line,” said Courtney Iannuccilli, Vice President of Marketing. “Our goal is for past and prospective guests to utilize this savings deal, giving them the opportunity to travel somewhere new.”
To redeem the offer, use code NYSALE19. For more information visit gocollette.com.


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Young Master Ales owner Rohit Dugar discusses his products on Wednesday last week at Beertopia, Hong Kong’s International Craft Beer Festival. Dugar opened his microbrewery late last year, joining a growing number of breweries in the territory.
Warning: Excessive consumption of alcohol can damage your health.Mar 17, 2014 FULL STORY
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Listing from 2016-02-04 to 2016-02-11
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1Tainan reels after 6.4 quake
2Earthquake Aftermath: Quake death toll in Tainan rises to 29
3Donations flood in after Tainan disaster
4Earthquake Aftermath: Tainan prosecutors launch probe into fallen building
5Toxic loans in China weigh on growth


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Pulp and Paper Industry Fosters Local Entrepreneurship
Jakarta. Despite Indonesia's pulp and paper industry having experienced ups and downs, affected by challenges from both within and outside the country, one thing that is certain is that the industry's supply chain remains supportive of livelihoods and brings prosperity to communities in surrounding areas.
Government data shows that the pulp and paper industry contributes 6.7 percent of national manufacturing industry gross domestic product (GDP) and last year, it contributed US$ 3.9 billion (non-oil export) to the country's exports.
As part of this economic benefit, the government data shows that the industry has created jobs for 260 thousands direct jobs and 1.1 million indirect jobs throughout the value chain.
The benefits of the industry's presence have also been felt by Sulaiman, who established his own company, Rifky Pratama Sanjaya, which supplies 200 tons of cocopeat per month to Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) – one of the biggest pulp and paper producers in Indonesia that uses technologically advanced and efficient processes.
"I became [part of the] RAPP supply chain in 2012. I used to work as a contractor on a government project before this," said the resident of Pangkalan Kerinci in Riau Province's Pelalawan district.
The father of two explained that as a producer of cocopeat, which is made from coconut husks and used as a planting medium to grow the seeds of Acacia and Eucalyptus trees, he employs 40 staff members, spread out in Pangkalan Kerinci and Lampung Province, from where he gets his material.
Most residents of Pangkalan Kerinci, a previously small village in the Sumatran rainforest, used to rely on the farming sector, or were fishermen working on the nearby Kampar River.
With the presence of major pulp and paper companies, including RAPP, the area has grown and become the district capital, which is now home to more than 150,000 people.
Sulaiman, who left his job to focus on supplying cocopeat to RAPP, has deep appreciation for the opportunities the company has given the local community.
"RAPP doesn't give the capital for investment, but it made a recommendation to Bank Mandiri and Bank Rakyat Indonesia," Sulaiman said. He added that he secured up to Rp 1 billion ($75,000) in loans from the two banks, which he used to buy machinery to produce cocopeat, build a warehouse in Pangkalan Kerinci and for working capital.
"It is not bad, I can pay my staff a living wage, plus some incentives if they work overtime or the job requires additional effort," he said.
"One of my staff members used to work odd times, helping his father, who is a fisherman and they barely earned Rp 1 million per month. Working here, they can earn more, and some can even earn up to Rp 4 million per month," the 38-year-old businessman said.
In Lampung, a few kilometers from Pangkalan Kerinci, his company provides jobs for 30 people who make use the remains of coconuts to produce various products.
"I had to locate my operation there, as Lampung is one of the biggest coconut producers in Indonesia. Every week, we send the 70-percent finished product to Pangkalan Kerinci for completion," he said.
RAPP community development manager Sundari Berlian told Antara news agency that the company has registered 190 partners who work directly with the company in a wide range of businesses. This includes building contractors, labor and transportation suppliers, water truck operators (who spray the roads to prevent dust), and seedling suppliers.
Sulaiman's cocopeat plays a vital role at four of RAPP's central nurseries and two satellite nurseries that are located near the company's main operational area in Pangkalan Kerinci. RAPP uses the cocopeat to develop the seeds of Acacia and Eucalyptus trees that are later harvested and transformed into pulp and paper products. PaperOne is APRIL Group’s paper brand.
RAPP community development manager Sundari explained that the company's 190 partners employ around 3,300 people, which she said is a notable example of the positive multiplier effect the business creates in the community.
Just a few kilometers from Sulaiman's warehouse, RAPP operates a 1,750-hectare manufacturing complex where it produces various types of high-quality paper.
RAPP employs 5,800 workers directly and 20,000 indirectly in its forest plantation and the company claims that it has had a multiplier effect on Riau's employment rate, having so far created 90,000 job opportunities in various areas.
People like Sulaiman hope such partnerships will be sustained and expanded.
"I am glad that RAPP chose to empower the locals by providing them with good business. We contribute to the region’s economy as a growing business rather than as bystanders” he said.Tags:


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Tesla is down 1.58% on Wednesday as investors prepare for its second-quarter earnings report to be released after the bell.
The electric automaker is expected to lose $2.34 a share on revenue of $2.51 billion, according to data from Bloomberg.
Analysts are mixed on the company. 44% of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg are neutral while 32% are bullish and 24% are bearish. The company’s high valuation is one of the primary criticisms from investors. Even CEO Elon Musk recently suggested shares are overvalued.
Bullish investors are pricing in a successful launch of the company’s newest car, the Model 3. The company delivered its first round of Model 3s at the end of July, and is starting to ramp up its production schedule to meet the 500,000 cars in its preorder backlog.
The Model 3 is widely viewed as Tesla’s path to profitability. The company has lost money in nearly every quarter since its 2010 initial public offering. The mass-marketed Model 3 is the first car to be priced at the lower end of the auto market, at $35,000 before tax incentives.
Tesla hopes to be producing 20,000 vehicles a month by the end of the year. Customers who order a Model 3 today will be looking at a mid-to-late 2018 delivery date, according to the company.
Bearish investors find it hard to see past the company’s history of losses. David Einhorn, the hedge fund billionaire who is perhaps the loudest bear on Tesla, has said the company has only enough cash to survive for the next three quarters. Tesla is expected to burn through $2 billion this year, according to Einhorn.
Short sellers have been taking it on the chin as of late. Tesla has risen 44.75% this year, while maintaining its status as the most shorted stock on the market. Investors are growing tired of waiting for the Tesla hype to cool, though, and short interest is at its lowest point in years.


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Access Partnership publishes Tech Policy Trends in 2021 report
15 Jan 2021 01:07 PM
Access Partnership, the global public policy consultancy for the tech sector, has released its Tech Policy Trends in 2021. Following the accurate predictions of their previous Trends publications, the report focusses on issues germane to the moment, including protecting an open Internet, competition with China, COVID-19’s acceleration of digital transformation, and optimizing data governance, security and privacy.
The ten topics framed in Access Partnership’s Tech Policy Trends in 2021 include:
- COVID-19’s effects on accelerating digital transformation across industries
- Rapid and sustained innovation that drives climate action to achieve net zero emissions
- Testing social justice commitments for sincerity
- Collaboration and leveraging multilateralism to address the China challenge
- Frictionless data storage
- Shaping competition processes as global antitrust takes centre stage
- Shifting the intermediary liability regime through the Digital Services Act and Section 230
- Regulators eye e-commerce giants, as they extend their reach into more markets
- OpenRAN goes mainstream with the rollout of 5G
- Network virtualization’s scalability drives a new era of telecom frameworks
The full report, with detailed analysis on each of these 10 topics, can be read here.


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September 25, 2019 By Closed Loop Partners
Contact: [email protected]
The NextGen Consortium, a pre-competitive collaboration managed by Closed Loop Partners in partnership with Starbucks and McDonald’s, accelerates towards a more circular cup system.
September 25 – NextGen Consortium Partners, investors, and other stakeholders convened during Climate Week in New York City for a Demo Day in which six participants in the NextGen Circular Business Accelerator showcased their manufacture-ready prototypes and pitch-ready business plans for growing their sustainable cup solutions.
The Accelerator follows Closed Loop Partners’ announcement of 12 NextGen Cup Challenge winners in February 2019. Six winning teams entered the NextGen Circular Business Accelerator, launched in partnership with global design firm IDEO to help companies further refine their cup solutions through rapid learning and iteration. The diverse solutions include cutting-edge plant-based materials, new innovative liners for cups, and reusable cup systems that redesign the fiber to-go cup so that it is more widely recoverable or remains in circulation for multiple uses. The six teams participating in the Accelerator are Colombier, CupClub, Footprint, Muuse, RECUP, and SoluBlue.
During the rigorous, six-month Accelerator program, companies accelerated their learnings through live in-context prototyping across four distinct Google campus locations, each housing multiple cafes. Progress for each cup solution was measured across four key categories: customer experience, server experience, performance, and disposal. Companies were able to see first-hand how customers and servers interact with their cups in a restaurant-like environment, capturing real-time feedback in a low-risk setting and identifying areas for refinement.
Companies also visited materials recovery facilities and explored the recovery side of the cup value chain, learning about the systems and infrastructure in place to ensure that their solutions are in alignment. Additionally, companies studied the value of materials recovered post-processing of their cups in order to make the economic case for more circular approaches.
Throughout the Accelerator, companies gained invaluable feedback through direct engagement with NextGen Consortium Partners, including founding partners Starbucks and McDonald’s, supporting partners The Coca-Cola Company, Yum! Brands, Nestlé, and Wendy’s, advisory partner WWF, and innovation partner IDEO. Feedback included insight into what it would take to roll out their solutions at a large scale.
“We are proud of the NextGen collaboration underway with so many companies championing greener cup technologies,” says John Kelly, senior vice president, Global Public Affairs & Social Impact at Starbucks. “We applaud Closed Loop Partners’ continued, on-track progress to determine what’s most viable, and we are excited for our own customers to try greener cups in our stores in the near future.”
The companies were also welcomed behind the scenes of a McDonald’s restaurant to better understand how cups work within a store’s layout and staff operations. “We were thrilled to have participants in the NextGen Circular Business Accelerator experience. Having these next gen solutions in our restaurants to see first-hand how our crew members manage through our restaurant operations is an important step,” says Marion Gross, Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer, McDonald’s USA. “Compatibility with the fast pace of a QSR setting is critical, and it was great to see Accelerator teams jump at the opportunity to better understand these in-restaurant conditions. These cup solutions are helping shape the future of packaging, and we want to set them up for success while keeping valuable materials in circulation and, importantly, out of landfills and our oceans.”
“Seeing how far participants in the NextGen Circular Business Accelerator have come is truly rewarding,” says Kate Daly, Managing Director of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “The NextGen Consortium will continue to work with winning teams to ensure that when their solutions do enter market at scale they’re set up for success and recoverability. “
The other six winners of the NextGen Cup Challenge, which are later-stage in their development, are working with the NextGen Consortium to identify in-market piloting opportunities in regions across the globe. Some participants in the NextGen Circular Business Accelerator are also expected to announce in-store pilots as early as 2020.
The Cup Challenge and the NextGen Circular Business Accelerator are just one part of the NextGen Consortium’s efforts to address single-use food packaging waste globally by advancing the design, commercialization, and recovery of food packaging alternatives. The Consortium is also focused on infrastructure and consumer engagement, supported by stakeholder collaboration across the value chain. “Watching the aggregation of innovative ideas turn into real progress has been exciting to watch,” says Erin Simon, Director, Sustainability R&D, World Wildlife Fund. “Now we’ll look to the members of the NextGen Consortium to take these solutions into the marketplace and watch real change happen.”
Each year, an estimated 250 billion fiber to-go cups are distributed worldwide. Most of these are not recyclable or compostable. The NextGen Consortium and Cup Challenge launched in 2018 to bring together entrepreneurs, industry, and recyclers to identify and commercialize the next generation of recyclable and/or compostable cups. Closed Loop Partners, Starbucks, McDonald’s, The Coca-Cola Company, Yum! Brands, Nestlé and Wendy’s invite the industry to join this effort to identify a global solution to this shared challenge.
About Closed Loop Partners
Closed Loop Partners is an investment firm that invests in sustainable consumer goods, recycling, and the development of the circular economy. Investors include many of the world’s largest consumer goods companies and family offices interested in investments that provide strong financial returns and tangible social impact. In 2018, Closed Loop Partners launched the Center for the Circular Economy, a New York City-based collaboration center for innovators to commercialize products, services, and technologies that are leading the transition from a linear take, make, waste economy to a restorative one in which materials are shared, re-used, and continuously cycled. Learn more at www.closedlooppartners.com.
McDonald’s is the world’s leading global foodservice retailer with over 37,000 locations in over 100 countries. Over 90 percent of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local business men and women. This year McDonald’s announced a series of commitments demonstrating how it will use its Scale for Good to positively impact the planet and the communities it serves. You can read more about McDonald’s Scale for Good initiatives here.
Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting high-quality arabica coffee. Today, with stores around the globe, the company is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. Through our unwavering commitment to excellence and our guiding principles, we bring the unique Starbucks Experience to life for every customer through every cup. To share in the experience, please visit us in our stores or online at http://news.starbucks.com or www.starbucks.com.
NextGen Consortium Partners


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Zhao's research focuses on improving the energy efficiency of LED and solar-powered batteries. A breakthrough in analyzing the Perovskite compound - used to make solar cells more simply and inexpensively than with silicon - led Zhao to be named to MIT Technology Review's 2019 list of 35 Innovators Under 35 in China. In 2020, she received the DAMO Academy Young Fellow award, which was set up by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to support young scientists.
About Zhao Baodan
Nov 30, 2023
John Hyatt, a senior wealth reporter for Forbes, joins Rosemarie Miller on ‘Forbes Talks’ to discuss how Changpeng Zhao’s plea deal will affect Binance’s operations moving forward.
Nov 29, 2023
Cristiano Ronaldo is facing a class action lawsuit from investors for his promotions and NFT collections for crypto exchange Binance.
More from Forbes 30 Under 30 - Asia - Healthcare & Science 2021 ListView Full List


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Yeasty Brews to Feature Local Homebrewers on Tap
By Joe Pye
This Saturday, a 5-gallon keg from The Craft Lyfe will be on draft.
Daniel Pfaffenbach may own and operate Yeasty Brews but he still considers himself a homebrewer at heart.
So much that Pfaffenbach invites a local homebrewer to brew a batch every month and put it on tap at the Lauderhill tasting room. All proceeds go to a local charity of the homebrewer’s choice.
“Some breweries highlight homebrewers once a year,” Pfaffenbach told Broward Beer. “We do it 12 times.”
On Saturday, April 17 from 3:30 to 8 p.m., Yeasty Brews will host Sam Phanor and James Walsh of the Craft Lyfe and tap a keg of their “Hazy Lyfe,” a 7.2% ABV hazy IPA.
All profits from the beer will go to The One Lyfe, Phanor’s local campaign to support and rehabilitate human trafficking survivors.
The money goes to what Phanor – a Margate City Police office by day – calls “Strength Packs,” which include:
- Three One Lyfe tees
- One $75 Marshals or TJ Maxx gift card for clothing
- One Lyfe backpack
- Stationery items
- One prepaid cell phone
- One $100 Walmart gift card
- One $75 UBER gift card
Yeasty Brews is located at 3944 NW 19th St, Lauderhill, FL 33313.


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Makeup.com is as the name implies: an online provider of â€œexclusive, hard-to-findâ€ cosmetics, perfumes, skin care and other beauty products. The company today announced its year-end financial results for the 12 months ended December 31, 2008, reflecting solid growth and improvement.
Revenues for the year increased $176,998, or 35 percent, to $683,185, as compared to $506,187 for the 2007. Gross profit surged 116 percent to $242,968, up from $112,374 reported for the year ended December 2007. Net loss for the year ended 2008 was $1,195,894, as compared to a net loss of $1,470,145 for fiscal 2007, representing a $274,251 improvement.
“We are very pleased to report another year of strong growth and improved financial results. Although 2008 had many economic challenges, we were able to increase revenue, improve profit margins and lower expenses.” Robert Rook, CEO and president of makeup.com stated in the press releases.
Rook accredits the gains to efficient advertising and increased brand awareness, as well as an enhanced online presence and customer newsletter.
“The increase in our sales was primarily due to more effective promotional programs, additional product selection, navigational improvements to the Web site and better product branding,â€ Rook stated. â€œWe expect programs we presently have in place such as search engine optimization, which is designed to increase traffic to our Web site, Web-related advertising, customer purchasing incentives, informative beauty tips and bi-monthly customer newsletters to contribute to a steady increase in our revenues over the next year.”
The company also announced efforts to better serve its shareholders and to attract new investors, recruiting the service of Barwicki Investor Relations, which has a database of 73,000 money, fund and portfolio managers and hedge funds, as well as 92,000 stock brokers and 54,000 individual investors.
“I am pleased to announce we are initiating an investor relations program. The objective with respect to our investor relations efforts will be to increase public awareness of Makeup.com among institutional and individual investors. During the past few years, we have built a business and have expanded the products and services we can provide, all of which makes this the right time to send our message to the investment community. We have retained Barwicki Investor Relations Co. to handle our investor relations efforts,” Rook concluded.


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In less than a month now you’ll be able to get your hands on some brand new and shiny next generation consoles (that is, if you were able to pre-order them and/or get lucky and find some in the stores). With new systems also will be coming a slightly new look with a Dashboard update.
As detailed on the official Xbox site, a new update will be rolling out throughout this week. Included in it is the latest Dashboard overhaul. While the new look isn’t significantly different than what we have now, you can customize your profile with themes. There’s also tweaks to game library and store menus. This will be the dashboard layout for the Series X and S when they launch, but it will also come to current Xbox One consoles and is pretty well in line with the PC Xbox app look.
The Xbox Series X/S will both launch on November 10th with the update rolling out throughout the remainder of this week. It’s been said there’s a lot more to come for the systems before launch, so stay tuned.
Share Your Thoughts Below (Always follow our comments policy!)


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An interesting public policy debate is happening across the country right now that runs across industries as diverse as cell phones and John Deere tractors. In fact, those two examples are the subject of cases that have been in the news recently, presenting this question:
Do we have a right to repair the goods we buy?
My instinctive response to that is, of course, yes. And thank goodness, right? I'm at the tail end of what is likely the last generation (for a while) of consumers who are willing to fix things that break or wear out rather than running to the store for a new one. In fact, even my own inclination often follows the latter path when it comes to technology gadgets. But my oldest brothers (born in the 70's), and certainly my parents (born the in 30's and 40's) nearly always prefer the former.
It also strikes me that this policy ground should be already well plowed. Third-party (vs. manufacturer) repairs are not new. Think of your car. The Advance Auto Parts of the world wouldn't exist if we weren't allowed to be our own shade tree mechanics. So why is this debate stirring up now?
Here are three stories of note worth checking out. The third is particularly interesting (and troubling) because it's about an internet-of-things manufacturer taking an affirmative step to remotely halt a device from functioning out of spite. What do you think? Do we have a right to repair?


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Beer was legally classified as an alcoholic drink in Russia in 2011, after former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the bill. Until then, anything containing less than 10% alcohol was considered foodstuff in Russia. The new law allowed ministers to control the sale of beer in the same way that spirits are controlled.
by Sanira Mediratta
on 18 Mar


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Porsche Cayman and Boxster Get Racy New Names
The turbo Cayman and Boxster will have a “718” moniker, after a 1950s Porsche race car.
Seeking to rekindle some racing history and forge a link between its street-legal sports cars and its successful Le Mans sports car racing program, Porsche has decided to label forthcoming Boxster and Cayman replacements the “718 Boxster” and “718 Cayman.”
These new models will be powered by turbocharged four-cylinder engines rather than the six-cylinders used in today’s versions. The pair of new cars, slated to arrive in 2016, will bear even more similarity than the outgoing duo, according to Porsche.
Porsche’s earliest models were four-cylinder machines, and the 550 Spyder James Dean famously drove was a mid-engined four-cylinder Porsche. The later 914 was a less successful mid-engined four-cylinder effort.
The new cars borrow their numeric designation from the 718 race car of 1957, and Porsche hopes buyers will connect the dots between these new 718s and its 919 LMP1 race car that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015.
Until now, Porsche has positioned the Cayman as the slightly more premium, and costly, car. But in 718 guise, the Cayman will now be a closed-roof base car, while the Boxster will be the drop-top upgrade, with a slightly higher price, as is currently the case with the company’s 911 line.
We suspect that enthusiasts won’t much care what either car is called, so long as they both continue to provide the most direct connection to Porsche’s minimalist roots of any cars in its lineup.
Photos by Porsche Cars, North America


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Apple likely won’t launch a new pair of its Bluetooth AirPods until sometime this fall, according to frequent leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer.
Hemmerstoffer shared the rumour in a tweet on Tuesday morning. While noting that his information comes from a new but “seemingly reliable” source, he added that Apple will launch a new AirPods wireless charging case “soon,” and that the case will eventually ship with the current generation AirPods.
This would appear to suggest Apple plans to launch its long overdue AirPower inductive charging mat in the near future, as well.
Some #AirPods2 details I got from a new and yet unconfirmed but seemingly reliable source. Thus, I can't vouch these at 100%…
– New wireless charging #AirPods Case to be launched soon BUT shipped with current AirPods
– Brand new AirPods + new color(s) likely unveiled this fall pic.twitter.com/eNYom3Xys6
— Steve H.McFly (@OnLeaks) February 12, 2019
Hemmerstoffer’s information contradicts a MySmartPrice report from earlier in the week which said Apple planned to launch the AirPods 2 and a new AirPods wireless charging case at the same time sometime this spring.
For what it’s worth, Hemmerstoffer, unlike MySmartPrice, has a strong record when it comes to recent Apple leaks. For example, he correctly predicted the new form factor of the iPad Pro.


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Friedrichshafen, Germany — Plastics processing is a capital-intensive industry, but leasing injection molding machines can help processors ramp up quickly — or add new technology for a specific job — without tying up too much money, officials of KraussMaffei Group said.
The leasing packages cover KraussMaffei and Netstal injection molding machines with up to 300 metric tons of clamping force.
A broad leasing plan marks a change in the sales of injection molding machines and even the idea of a physical asset, according to Nadine Despineux, KraussMaffei's vice president of sales for injection molding machines.
"We believe that, in the future, the business model is much, much more belonging to total life cycle considerations and not just on buying and selling a product," she said.
"What's important is that, in times when high flexibility is necessary, because markets are changing fast, that's the way you can address that because you see a product more from a life cycle perspective, not anymore from just a single sales transaction," Despineux said. "And we believe the business is changing and that's our answer."
Munich-based KraussMaffei is starting machine rental in its home country first.
"Currently, it's Germany. But we will step-by-step roll this out to all our major business countries," Despineux said.
KraussMaffei is working with banks and leasing firms, she said. Each country has its own regulations for leasing agreements, so the broader introduction will take time.
Other machinery companies already can provide leasing as an option, but KraussMaffei appears to be the first major injection press maker to trumpet a comprehensive leasing program. KraussMaffei unveiled its leasing program at the company's Oct. 18 news conference at the Fakuma show in Friedrichshafen.
"Generally, in our industry, this is something which can be offered if a customer asks for it. But it's nothing currently, with any other competitor, something which you proactively use as a business model. And this has totally changed with KraussMaffei," Despineux said.
She said KraussMaffei leaders are looking at the big picture and toward the future. Molders often receive orders for a defined period, say from four to seven years, she said. If a molder buys an injection molding press — a major capital investment — and the work goes away, the processor still has the machine. That can cause a hit on the balance sheet, even more so if the press has highly specific technology for a given job.
Despineux said molders might be in a disruptive business model — for example, molding for an automotive industry that is transitioning to car sharing or driverless cars.
"Their current business is growing, so they have pretty high investments, high [capital expenditure]. It's a negative impact on their financial figures," she said.
Product life cycles keep getting shorter. Leasing gives flexibility to roll with the tide.
"The products are not anymore in a production for 15 years. Products are changing very fast and sometimes, you then have to run machines and get invested into that. And with such a concept [leasing], you can change it fast. And say now I need a bigger one, or I need a smaller one," Despineux said. "It's all about flexibility. It's all about addressing this world of changing from different angles. And not just staying with this transaction approach, saying that's it, and then I'm out."
At the Fakuma news conference, Hans Ulrich Golz, president of KM's injection molding machinery segment, said machines returned after a four-year lease period would find buyers on the secondary market. There is a big demand for late-model used injection molding machines, he said.
But machines coming off a lease won't necessarily physically come back to KraussMaffei in Munich, Despineux said. KM may arrange to ship the machines directly to the next owner.
"At the end of the day, it's about connecting offers on the markets to persons who need machines," she said. "I think we need to go beyond the normal thinking that you always have to have a hardware transaction from A to B. These things nowadays can be organized differently, and that's important."
Despineux spelled out some of the nitty-gritty details in an interview after KM's news conference. Lease customers pay a set fee each month. They can pay just for the machine or pay a higher fee that includes insurance for things such as breakage, operating errors and lack of lubricants.
At the end of the rental term, the customer can decide to buy the machine, extend a longer lease period or turn it back in.
"It's more like the car model, which everybody knows," she said.
KraussMaffei is offering two types of leasing arrangements, initially to its German customers. The Speed & Standard package, with covers orders for machinery valued at up to 250,000 euros, is done on a fixed contract — Despineux said KM officials are discussing a range of three or four years. The credit check and transaction are quick, using standard forms.
For orders costing more than 250,000 euros, the company offers customized options under the Flexible & Tailored plan. Despineux said this is aimed at key-account customers.
"This is where we can really discuss individual needs of the customers. And you can discuss different terms. You can discuss different models. And there, we're pretty flexible. It takes a little bit more time," she said. The length of this lease is negotiable, and it can be extended.
For this new distribution channel, KraussMaffei will keep an inventory of its line of modular CX ClassiX injection molding machines in stock so customers can get quick delivery, another part of the flexibility of leasing.


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Available as a pre-order exclusive bonus, 2K announced that 2015 WWE Hall of Fame inductee Arnold Schwarzenegger will be joining WWE 2K16 through two playable characters: T-800 from The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Schwarzenegger talked about being in the game:
I’ve achieved many things in my life, but I’ve always said success means staying hungry and pushing the limits. I was honored to join the WWE Hall of Fame earlier this year, and now I’ll continue my WWE legacy with one of my biggest film roles immortalized in WWE 2K16. Match the Terminator against Stone Cold Steve Austin, Seth Rollins, or Daniel Bryan, and there’s only one possible outcome: Hasta la vista, baby!
Chris Snyder, 2K VP of Marketing, added:
Arnold Schwarzenegger is a living legend with universal appeal, a perseverance for greatness and a strong relationship with WWE, including his recent Hall of Fame induction, all of which make him an incredible fit for WWE 2K16. He’s a force to be reckoned with and defines what it means to raise some hell. Through his WWE 2K16 pre-order inclusion, fans simply can’t beat the opportunity to play as the Terminator in a WWE ring.
WWE 2K16 releases on October 27 in North America and October 30 in Europe for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360. If you missed the news, Hulk Hogan won’t be appearing in the game.


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Global food prices steady in December - FAO
ROME Jan 9 (Reuters) - Global food prices were almost unchanged in December after staying flat the month before, but prices on average declined 1.6 percent in 2013 versus the previous year, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) price index, which measures monthly price changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 206.7 points in December, a slight rise from a revised 206.4 in November.
FAO said large supplies pushed down international prices of oils, sugar, and cereals except for rice. However, it said dairy and meat prices hit records in 2013.
- Search planes scour sea for missing Malaysian jetliner |
- Timeline: Malaysia Airlines flight to Beijing missing in Asia
- Missing Malaysian jet may have disintegrated in mid-air: source |
- Exclusive: Malaysia plane probe narrows on mid-air disintegration - source
- Missing jet could slow Malaysian Airline's return to profit


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The much-awaited VIP concert featuring Oliver Mtukudzi and Chiwoniso Maraire takes place at 7 Arts Theatre in Avondale tomorrow.
Promoters have priced the gig beyond the reach of many. A single ticket costs $40 for the VIP section and $30 for the rest of the auditorium.
The concert is targeting elite music lovers.
“The show is also targeting the few that have often failed to take their families out because of the unsuitability of some venues and shows.
“This will be a perfect environment for executives who want to take their families out. There will be no pushing and shoving that is often associated with live shows,” said Tawanda Chingara spokesperson for Hardcore World Entertainment, organisers of the show.
The organisers recently said a lucky winner would walk away with two return tickets for a holiday in the Seychelles boosting the hype currently characterising the show.
The tickets were made available through partnership with Ethiopian Airways. All ticket holders have the potential to win.
Chingara said they had entered into partnership with Ethiopian Airways to give Zimbabwean music lovers a Christmas present through the sponsored trip.
Euginia Kufakowadya, Ethiopian Airways sales representative, confirmed the donation and said they had made available two economy tickets to the Seychelles.
“We did donate two economy tickets and this was in line with the fact that the Seychelles is our new destination,” he said.


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The European Commission has issued a legislative proposal for a Europeancommon safety standard for electric vehicles. This proposal is part of the wider European Strategy on Clean and Energy Efficient Vehicles, and sets into action the first part of the European Commission’s roadmap on regulations and standards for electric vehicles.
The proposed legislation aims to:
- Bring EU legislation in line with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) legislation on approval of battery electric vehicles and their construction and safety requirements.
- Ensure that all vehicles marketed within the EU are constructed for a common safety standard for the electric vehicles.
- Protect vehicle users from getting into direct contact with high voltage parts of the vehicle.
- Harmonise testing requirements in order to simplify approval of electric vehicles.
Under the new type-approval system, automotive manufacturers will only need to obtain approval for a vehicle type in one Member State. The proposal should thus improve EU manufacturers’ market access to third countries which are contracting parities of the UNECE Agreement of 1958. These include: Japan, South Korea, Russia, Turkey, Australia and South Africa.
In March 2010, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) adopted a new version of the UNECE Regulation 100, introducing universal safety standards through type approval requirements for all types of electric and hybrid vehicles. The European Commission’s proposed legislation will incorporate international standards into European law.
Vehicle manufacturers are committed to improving safety standards and recognise the specific safety implications of electric vehicles. The final details of the Plug-In Car Grant, announced in February, reflect this and set high standards for all eligible vehicles under the scheme. Participating manufacturers will have to meet these new European safety standards in order to qualify.


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Have you noticed anything different in the produce department lately?
Co+op Basics have arrived!
Starting in mid-April, five organic produce items joined the Co+op Basics program: baby peeled carrots, zucchini squash, Bartlett pears, Roma tomatoes, and Fuji apples.
These five items will be on the everyday low price Co+op Basics program through the end of June. Due to the seasonal nature of produce, the produce items included in Co+op Basics will rotate quarterly.
We will still continue to offer additional discounts in the produce department via Fresh Deals, which are updated weekly and can be found on our website and featured on posters in the foyer of our stores.
When you’re shopping, simply look for the purple Co+op Basics signs to take advantage of our deepest discounts on everyday items in produce and throughout our stores.


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Africa is a vast continent, beset with a myriad of challenges only matched by the scope of its potential. Healthcare here is one particular challenge that has been a priority for public, private and multilateral institutions for decades, with so-far mixed results. Now, innovative health-tech start-ups are taking on the challenge – as 2021 saw an 81% increase in investment in this ecosystem1.
Challenges facing health-tech
After years of political instability across the continent, and constant competition between national governments, multilateral lenders, private donors, and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) which are increasingly involved, healthcare is disorderly and complex.
One of the main obstacles to progress is fragmented supply chains. Africa imports 94% of its pharmaceuticals, with local manufacturers producing only 25%–30% of pharmaceuticals and less than 10% of medical supplies2. When these extended supply chains meet national health agencies with poor infrastructure, which struggle to forecast, procure, and distribute what’s needed and when it’s needed, the ability to provide treatment or medicine is severely impacted. Competition and lack of cooperation between NGOs and national actors exacerbates this fragmentation.
A major complicating issue is that there are simply too few trained medical professionals, particularly in rural areas. As a result, Africa must tackle 25% of the global disease burden with only 1.3% of the world’s healthcare workers3. This is a monumental challenge, partially caused by ‘brain drain’ emigration of experts and made worse by underfunded and poorly managed state sectors that must co-exist with the chaotic web of NGO and charity-provided healthcare.
The third issue facing African health-tech providers is lack of quality control for medicine. Qualified laboratories are a rarity, and there are few national/ regional guidelines or labs to promote standardisation among labs. This, as well as the previous two structural issues mentioned above, makes Africa a hotbed for fake and counterfeit medicines. The World Health Organisation estimates that fake medications make up 42% of the world’s trade4 – a $200bn market. In Nigeria alone, fake malaria medication results in 12,300 avoidable deaths annually and nearly $1 billion of wasted spend.
Technological innovation is providing solutions
There is no simple or easy cure, since many problems need top-down, systemic action that no single charity or enterprise can provide. However, innovative start-ups and new technologies have already proven they can help both doctors and patients achieve better, more reliable outcomes.
Innovation in delivery provides myriad benefits to the end-user – either through consumer or provider-facing solutions. Effectively, this means delivering medicine directly to consumers or to hospitals and pharmacies – bypassing inefficient or insufficient state-led supply chains or hyper-localised NGO efforts.
New technologies are also being used to ensure medicines are of sufficient quality by providing increased oversight of supply chains and manufacturing processes – such the Internet of Things (IoT) and the blockchain. IoT can provide irrefutable and real-time information about the journey of medicines and equipment – from production to delivery. Likewise, blockchain can do the same by providing irrefutable, algorithmic proof of production, packaging, and transport.
RxAll and True-Spec Africa, for example, have both developed AI-powered scanners for determining the legitimacy of drugs. Medsaf, a Nigerian innovator, allows pharmacies to directly link manufacturers to hospitals and pharmacies to ensure legitimacy and value for money.
Innovations in distribution
Getting the drug to the person who needs it remains the central challenge. The last 12 months have seen provider-facing solutions scale rapidly – growing more than consumer-facing offerings. Of note, Mpharma has acquired Mutti’s network of local pharmacies, and provider ShelLife has now scaled to 1600 outlets throughout the continent. Investment in this ecosystem has seen substantial growth, with investment reaching $392m in 2021, which is an 81% year-on-year gain.
Funding however has concentrated on a few key companies – as mPharma, Goodlife Pharmacy, Rocket Health, and DrugStoc account for 72% of the money with the remainder shared among 23 much earlier-stage players – which hints at a varied and competitive market with it all still to play for at this very early stage.
The model in health care mirrors the broader B2B e-commerce space, where such companies as TradeDepot and Wasoko have managed to raise significant rounds and have become essential to their industries, though emerging health-tech companies are simply at an earlier stage.
Here lies the ‘existence proof’ for latent potential in this market. Fast-moving consumer goods distributors have already scaled, albeit with relatively low margins, which provides a template for the much-higher margin health-tech sector to emulate and provide clear proof points for what’s possible with a broader and broader range of potential investors.
Telemedicine is another avenue that holds great promise for health-tech in the continent. Health services and advice can be readily distributed over the phone or the internet. This allows long-distance contact, care, advice, reminders, education, intervention, monitoring, and even remote admissions. This method of care, most common in Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana has seen massive adoption in the last five years, thanks in part due to the pandemic. Today it represents a proven, viable alternative for health care delivery and can directly address the insufficient supply of medical professionals and services, particularly in rural areas.
The expansion of telemedicine has gone hand-in-hand with the growth of the consumer-facing health-tech industry and are both linked to pharmacies and dispensaries. They provide a natural mutual symbiosis as the people who need access to affordable medicine will also require access to long-distance care.
Driven by retention, provider-facing solutions have also expanded into telemedicine. A practitioner can issue a prescription which the patient can then fulfil at pharmaceutical providers owned by the same company.
How start-ups can stay ahead
With growing competition and the entry of several e-commerce giants into the pharmaceutical distribution market, it is becoming more essential that health-tech delivery companies, whether consumer or provider-facing expand their offerings – potentially through telemedicine or financing.
In the short-term, the entrance of these new e-commerce players will mainly disrupt the over-the-counter-medicine sector but could also eventually impact prescription providers. This may happen through acquisitions and partnerships; a not-uncommon trend, with Amazon buying Pillpack and Flipkart partnering with 1MG in India, for example.
However, the threat of market entry from larger e-commerce players is spurring existing players to expand more rapidly particularly post-Covid 19. For example, mpharma, a major pharmaceutical player, has set up 100 virtual clinics in seven new markets – allowing telemedicine to compliment its physical pharmaceutical provision.
However, this is not the easiest option for provider-facing distribution companies looking to concentrate their market presence. As mpharma found, it is easier for pharmacies to expand into telemedicine than it is for provider facing distribution companies – partially due to regulation, and secondly due to the fact that pharmacies have a physical presence in that area. Partnerships, and in time also acquisitions, may be the key here. In Kenya, the D2C distributor MYDAWA now offers telemedicine services powered by SASAdoctor and uses Zuri Health to deliver goods.
The bottom line
We believe the health-tech sector is set for even more rapid expansion in the coming 5-10 years. The cost of health-care delivery has come down dramatically via telemedicine. Confidence in the reliability of medication is rising as more supply chains are controlled or monitored end-to-end. Companies like mpharma are designing complete health-care networks that guarantee better outcomes for the mass population. Larger e-commerce players seeking higher margin products are already large enough to look seriously at entering the medication marketplace, as e-commerce giants elsewhere in the world have already done. While the challenges of incoherent regulation and lack of social and economic infrastructure remain as major hurdles, there is no question that the next decade will see the rise of better-funded, more broad-based health-tech players across the continent offering international investors much higher margins than nearly any other category of ecommerce.
Marion Jeng is an associate with DAI Magister.


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PepsiCo Benches Gatorade G Series Fit Line
Retooling product, packaging for 2014 relaunch
PURCHASE, N.Y. -- PepsiCo Inc. is pulling its low-calorie G Series Fit line of Gatorade products from store shelves after it failed to catch on with fitness buffs such as runners and triathletes, reported Dow Jones.
Gatorade spokesperson Molly Carter told the news agency that the brand is temporarily suspending sales of the Fit line, which was launched in April 2011 and included a pre-workout protein bar, a fruit-based protein drink and a low-calorie version of the sports drink.
The company plans to tinker with the products and packaging in 2013 and hopes to have them back on shelves in 2014, it added.
Gatorade launched the line to try to woo fitness fanatics who preferred drinking water to using Gatorade products while they worked out, said the report. Gatorade was targeting the new group, while its core customers tend to be teenagers and athletes who play team sports.
The Fit line was also more expensive, the report said. When purchasing the pre- and post-workout items, plus the drink, the suggested retail price approached nearly $6.50.
"While we made strides connecting with this athlete, the line did not perform to our high expectations," Carter told Dow Jones. "This is a new target for us, and we want to make sure we're getting it right."
Carter declined to disclose how much the Fit line contributed to overall sales of Gatorade, which is PepsiCo's fourth-largest brand globally, with more than $4 billion in annual sales.
Where the Fit line was sold, Gatorade plans to instead sell its recently launched Energy Chews, a chewable product meant to be eaten before a workout, and a new protein drink. They are being sold under its mainstream G Series line.
"We want to use our shelf space to highlight those, because they are performing so well," Carter said.
Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo is a global food and beverage leader with net revenues of more than $65 billion and a product portfolio that includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. Its main businesses--Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola--make hundreds of foods and beverages.
The company's billion-dollar brand portfolio includes Aquafina, Brisk, Cheetos, Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Doritos, Fritos, Gatorade, Lay's, Lipton, Mirinda, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Pepsi Max, Ruffles, Quaker, 7UP (outside the United States), Sierra Mist, Starbucks RTD beverages, Tostitos, Tropicana and Walkers.


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Companies and programs scale because they are successful but scale does no ensure success. In parallel OHW and OHF are both embarking on scaling up their impact. OHW has introduced "viaONEHOPE" and the OHF is working with other consumer product companies through their "Social Impact as a Service (SIAS)" program.
What happens when this innovation puts family planning decision-making where it belongs - literally into the hands of women who want to prevent pregnancy? Although there may be challenges with promoting Sayana Press this way, the concept is fairly straightforward and should not be terribly controversial.
On Tuesday, December 2, charities, individuals, schools, businesses and other community organizations will come together to celebrate the third annual #GivingTuesday, a national day of giving back that reminds each and every one of us that, whether through a charitable donation or volunteerism, we can all make a positive impact on our communities this holiday season.


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As a whole, states' revenue may clip past at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 16.6 percent in FY18 over FY16 under the GST; However, 11 of them may need an additional Rs 9,500 crore compensation from the Centre this year, says a report by India Ratings.
“All states combined will grow at a CAGR of 16.6 percent in FY18 over FY16 under the new goods and services tax regime, but since the picture at the individual state level differs, 11 states will need a Rs 9,500 crore support from the Centre this financial year,”The report says
While large states like Andhra, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal, MP, Odisha, Punjab and Tamil Nadu would need compensation from the Centre for any revenue loss under baseline scenario worth Rs 5,600 crore in FY18, smaller states like Goa, Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand would need Rs 3,900 crore compensation, the agency said.
This is needed as it expects the GST component of the states' own tax revenue for all the states to drop to 15.5 percent in FY18 with a baseline scenario of 16 percent as input tax credit is available on both goods and services under GST.
"The total compensation amount, therefore, would increase to Rs 9,500 crore in FY18 (baseline scenario Rs 5,600 crore). This is based on the assumption that in the final production of goods and services, service tax accounts for 10 per cent," it said.
It noted that unlike the value added tax (VAT), which was rolled out from April 2005 to January 2008, implementation of GST will also bring in more efficiency gains in tax mop-up.
"If we combine the 5 percent efficiency gain with 10 percent input tax credit on services tax, then only five states, namely Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Odisha, Punjab and Tamil Nadu, would need compensation from the Centre and total compensation amount would drop to Rs 3,700 crore in FY18," the agency said, adding it expects GST to have a positive impact on the states' finances in the medium to long term.
The nine state-level taxes, included in GST are state VAT, central sales tax, purchase tax, luxury tax, entry tax (all forms), entertainment tax (except those levied by local bodies), taxes on advertisements, taxes on lotteries, betting and gambling and state cesses and surcharges in so far as they relate to the supply of goods or services.
However, taxes on income, property and capital transactions, petroleum products, state excise and electricity duty are not part of the GST and the states can continue to levy and collect these in the same manner as earlier.
At an aggregate level, state taxes that are subsumed in GST account for 55 percent of the states' own tax revenue and grew at 14 percent during FY12-FY17.
"This is exactly the rate at which if state taxes that are subsumed in GST grow in FY18 over FY16 then centre will not be required to compensate states for any revenue loss. However, there are wide variations across states, with subsumed GST taxes growing at just 8.47 percent for Punjab in FY12-FY17, but 39.70 per cent for Telangana," it noted.
To be able to absorb the positive impact of GST on state finances, the report believes states will have to keep a constant vigil on the buoyancy of taxes that are outside the purview of GST as also their own non-tax revenues.
(#TalkingStalking: Have you ever been stalked? Share your experience with The Quint and inspire others to shatter the silence surrounding stalking. Send your stories to firstname.lastname@example.org or WhatsApp @ +919999008335.)


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June 23, 2011
Sony Ericsson Unveils Two New Android-Based Smartphones
Sony Ericsson unveiled two new Android smartphones Wednesday in an attempt to grab more market share.
The company plans to launch the Xperia ray and Xperia active models during the third quarter, according to Chief Market Officer Steve Walker.Walker said the new models should help the company expand its 11 percent market share of the Android segment.
"Android smartphones is a rapidly growing part of the market, and we see our share within that market growing," Walker told The Associated Press.
Sony Ericsson is moving away from cheaper phone models and seeking to take on Apple Inc.'s iPhone, Research in Motion's Blackberry and Nokia Corp.'s N9 in the higher-priced smartphone market.
Walker said by 2015, about 60 percent of mobile phones sold in the Asia-Pacific region will likely be smartphones, up from 20 percent in 2010.
"We made quite a fundamental shift in strategy and decided to focus a large part of our efforts into smartphones, to focus on the mid- and high-end part of the business," Walker told AP. "In many markets, we see a dramatic shift from feature phones to smartphones."
The company said in April that smartphones accounted for over 60 percent of its sales during the first quarter.
Sony Ericsson's latest models that run on Google's Android operating system will likely be priced below the high-end Xperia arc.
Xperia active is water resistant and works if fingers are wet or sweaty, while the Xperia ray seeks to combine a sleek design with a device that is about a third-inch thick.
According to Walker, Sony Ericsson plans to introduce a less expensive model that highlights texting service and is aimed at teenagers.
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