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Ferrari is adding not only serious game but also a shock to its new cars for sale line up with the announcement of their hybrid SUV.
Since the brand is so tied to motorsports, avid fans never thought they would see the day where a Ferrari SUV came into being. But due to high profitability in the sport-utes department, it is finally launching its Ferrari Purosangue. Rumoured to unveil in 2022, the latest addition to Ferrari’s offerings start at prices as high as $350,000.
The name – Purosangue – is Italian for “thoroughbred” or “pure blood.” The vehicle will house a new front-engine GT platform as well as take some features from the conventional Ferrari vehicles.
Michael Leiters, Ferrari’s Chief Technical Officer, comes with exciting news for Ferrari fans. What is known as the 175 within Ferrari’s internal workings, the Purosangue serves as a thoroughbred SUV. He says,
“I think we’ve found a concept and a package which is on one side a real SUV and will convince SUV customers to buy it, but on the other side there’s a huge differentiation of concept to existing SUVs.”
Even though it is too soon to state the exact features, the Purosangue might employ turbocharged V-6, V-8 or V-12 engine like the mighty Ferrari SF90 Stradale. It is likely that an array of options will be offered to the customers, but the fierce V-12 engine will dominate the public purchase.
It will also house three fully electric motors, all at varying axles: two at the front axle and one at the rear transaxle.
There is no doubt that the Purosangue will be powerful. By 2022, it will enter into the ultimate competition for the best horsepower. It will rival against the 600 hp Bentley Bentayga, the 641 hp Lamborghini Urus, and the Aston Martin DBX with a V-8 engine.
Its brake body design will not be anything like the Ferrari GTC4 Lusso. Instead, it will be Ferrari’s turn of the generation engine platform cars.
It will definitely be an All-Wheel Drive (AWD) with an electrified hybrid system.
Pictures of the interior have not been revealed yet, so the cabin of the Purosangue can not be imagined. However, fans can expect a driver-centred layout with seats for four adults and a medium-sized cargo bay.
With steep competition in the car world, it is very likely that the SUV will have touchscreen infotainment, leather seats, and real carbon-fibre trim.
It is important to remember that all these specifications are merely a reach and fans will just have to wait for the reveal to see the final product. There will be more information on the SUV as the time for Purosangue’s launch comes closer.
CarSwitch.com offers pre-inspected and quality assured used cars in Dubai. Our inventory includes a variety of high-quality vehicles that you may enjoy. If you plan to upgrade your car, you can do so through our website. Happy shopping!


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While Millions Of Texans Are Suffering Ted Cruz Goes To Cancun
Cruz acknowledged that this past week was an “infuriating” one for Texans.
Patrick Mahomes Avoids Near Disaster From A Haircut
The Kansas City Chiefs had to isolate two players this week when it was revealed that a barber with COVID-19 had cut their hair. But it could have been much worse.
Texas DPS Accidentally Sends Out AMBER Alert for Chucky
The Texas Department of Public Safety generated some attention when it accidentally issued AMBER Alerts for two fictional Child’s Play movie characters.
Texans May Get Another Stimulus Check From Biden Soon
The Biden plan is the first of two major spending initiatives The President Elect will seek in the first few months of his presidency, according to Biden officials.
Red Lobster Says Good Riddance To 2020 With A Year Of Free Eats
Red Lobster is helping everyone put 2020 behind us and kicking off 2021 on a positive note with the launch of the Say Goodbye to 2020 event.
Starbucks To Give Away Free Holiday Cups Here’s How To Get Yours
Starbucks is kicking off the holiday season by giving customers a red collectible holiday cup when they order a signature holiday beverage of any size.
Walmart Orders All Stores To Restock Guns And Ammo To Shelves
Walmart ordered all of its stores to remove all gun and ammo from floor displays to a secure unseen location om premises, then abruptly did an about face ordering all stores to restock them on their sales floors
Texans Behind On Rent May Be Able To Avoid Evicition Again
The Texas Department of Housing along with the Texas Supreme Court has established “The Texas Eviction Diversion Program”
Whataburger Has A Lotería Set For Hispanic Heritage Month
With Hispanic Heritage month here Whataburger is celebrating with a Lotería set and is giving them away for free.
Governor Abbott: Texas Bars Can Open At 50 Percent
Governor Abbott has declared that bars will be allowed to open at fifty percent capacity effective October 14.
McDonald’s Debuts Another Celebrity Meal
Now another celebrity meal has been added to the menu board until November 1.
Local Groups Sue Gov Abbott Over Ballot Drop Off Rules
Greg Abbott’s order allowing Texas counties no more than one drop-off location for voters casting absentee ballots, calling the proclamation an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote that will impact voters of color in Texas cities state wide.

domain: news


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State sales tax revenue totaled $2.4 billion in July
Published 9:14 am, Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said today that state sales tax revenue totaled $2.37 billion in July, 1.5 percent lower than in July 2015.
“State sales tax collections continue to be down, largely due to depressed spending in the oil and natural gas-related sectors,” Hegar said. “By contrast, collections from the construction and retail trade sectors rose compared to the previous year.”
Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in July 2016 is down 3.3 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Sales tax revenue is the largest source of state funding for the state budget, accounting for 56 percent of all tax collections. Motor vehicle sales and rental taxes, motor fuel taxes and oil and natural gas production taxes also are large revenue sources for the state.
In July 2016, Texas collected the following revenue from those taxes:
• motor vehicle sales and rental taxes — $441.9 million, up 1.0 percent from July 2015;
• motor fuel taxes — $297.4 million, up 0.2 percent from July 2015; and
• oil and natural gas production taxes — $201.8 million, down 33.9 percent from July 2015.


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Best Buy Co. Inc. didn’t exactly rise from the ashes, but its name and marketing strategy were spun out of a tornado 30 years ago Tuesday.
Best Buy founder Richard Schulze called his company Sound of Music when a tornado whipped through Roseville on June 14, 1981, destroying the store and littering the area with merchandise. (See the photos to the right).
Employees recovered the scattered inventory and stacked it on tables in the store’s parking lot. Sound of Music slashed prices and advertised a “Tornado Sale.” The sale also was promoted as a “Best Buy,” and people stood in long lines to buy the discounted goods.
The event’s success led the company to develop a strategy of heavy advertising, steep discounts and stores with expanded selling space. Two years after the tornado, the company’s name was changed to Best Buy, and it opened its first big-box store in Burnsville.
Today, Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) has more than $50 billion in annual sales, 180,000 employees, and nearly 4,200 locations worldwide.
email@example.com | 612-288-2107 | Twitter: @stych


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November 22nd, 2010
This Friday is Black Friday, but there's a lull on the home market with not a whole lot of great releases.
(This is the usual pattern for Thanksgiving.)
The biggest hit coming out is The Expendables, which should top the chart, while there are a number of smaller releases that are in contention for Pick of the Week. The best of these is Metropolis: The Complete Metropolis, which comes out on Blu-ray this week after being released on DVD last week.
November 21st, 2010
For quite a while, most Tyler Perry films have been released on the home market, in standard definition with no Blu-ray release. This week, the studio is rectifying that situation and releasing his entire back catalog on High Definition. That's five titles, starting with...
March 3rd, 2008
There were a number of new releases to chart this week, including the new number one, American Gangster, which sold 2.63 million units for $44.54 million in revenue. After one week, it is already the best selling DVD of the year. This isn't surprising as the film was the first $100 million hit to be released on the home market this year, but is an impressive start nonetheless.
February 25th, 2008
There were eight new releases to reach the top 30 on the sales chart this week, and this includes Why did I get Married? with 842,000 units sold for opening week revenue of $14.78 million. In comparison, it missed the top 10 on the rental charts by quite a margin, which is the sign of a serious Fanboy Effect.
February 25th, 2008
Like on the sales chart, there were eight new releases to chart this week, but not the same eight releases, nor did they finish in the same order. For instance, Gone, Baby, Gone topped the charts with $8.87 million.
February 12th, 2008
It is still early in the year, and, once more, most first run releases this week come from the second tier. That is not to say there are no quality releases, but there are no big box office hits. For instance, Gone, Baby, Gone is certainly the best movie on this week's list, and the DVD is certainly worth picking up, as is the Blu-ray to a lesser extent. However, the best of the best and the DVD Pick of the Week is the Warner Brothers Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection - Winners & Nominees.
October 29th, 2007
We finally had a massive box office hit at the box office this week as Saw IV lived up to expectations. This helped the overall box office grow to $102 million, which is 6% more than last weekend. However, it was weaker than the same weekend last year by 3%, which stretches the losing streak to 6 weeks.
October 25th, 2007
It's the last chance for October to make a splash at the box office.
On the one hand, Saw IV is opening, and it should be the biggest hit of the Fall so far.
On the other hand, it is tracking more weakly than Saw III, which opened this weekend last year.
October 22nd, 2007
It's been more than a month since we've seen the weekend box office numbers top last year's figures. This time around the overall box office was $97 million, which was down 2% from last weekend and 8% from the same weekend last year. So far this fall is behind lasts year's pace by more than 6%, 10% if you are using tickets sold and not dollars. Year to date, on the other hand, is still showing a 6% growth, and up more than $400 million on last year's pace. Even ticket sales are still up a strong 1.4%, so there's no reason to panic just yet, but the recent weakness is still a cause for concern.
October 18th, 2007
I miss September. Sure, the box office was weak, but everyone expected it to be weak so it wasn't depressing like it is now. The overall box office has been in a slump the past few weeks, and so has my prediction record. To make matters worse, there are six films opening wide, or semi-wide, which complicates matters when you are trying to predict opening weekends. This level of competition will also hurt the individual films and it is very likely that at least four of them will fail to live up to potential.
Which four those are is the question.
October 16th, 2007
Blade Runner climbed into first place on the Per Theater Chart with an average of $32,681 in two theaters during its second week of re-release. Control debuted in second place with $27,674 in its one theater. Lars and the Real Girl opened with just over $90,000 in 7 theaters for an average of $12,917. This is a good start, better than most limited releases can hope for, but less than I was expecting. The Darjeeling Limited continues to perform marvelously as it expands as it earned an average of $11,425 in nearly 100 theaters. The overall box office leader, Why Did I Get Married? opened with an average of $10,618.
October 15th, 2007
October is turning into a nightmare at the box office as all but one new release failed to reach modest expectations. The overall box office did take in $100 million, which was a health 19% increase from the last week. However, that was still 10% lower than the same weekend last year. 2007 is still up 7% from last year, but the fall season is down 5% and if things don't turn around, and soon, it could cast a gloom on the important holiday box office market.
October 14th, 2007
Quite a few full sites launched this week, but as is the case most times, there were pretty Spartan at the moment and it will take a few more updates before we can tell if they are award-worthy or not. That said, it was a site for a movie that opens this week, Lars and the Real Girl - Official Site, that won the top prize as it finished adding all the material marked coming soon this week.
October 11th, 2007
At least it feels that way at the box office.
No one film seems destined for box office glory.
For that matter, no film is opening in 2,500 or more theaters, although one film, Michael Clayton is expanding that wide. Without one powerhouse film, there's a wide-open race for first place with three films in the running.
At least that should keep people interested in the numbers.
October 1st, 2007
October means one thing: Free candy. ... Oh yeah, and the unofficial start of Award Season.
And Halloween brings us a few horror films as well.
Unfortunately, this year October is rather weak, with no film looking like a strong contender for $100 million and most of the films with early Oscar buzz having performed poorly with the critics.
The only good news is last October was also weak at the box office, meaning there's at least a reasonable shot at 2007 maintaining its box office lead over 2006.
August 23rd, 2007
This week's round of new cast information contains updates for Day Zero, The Fighter, He's Just Not That Into You and more!
July 21st, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Big Stan, Valkyrie, Monsters vs. Aliens and more.
May 20th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for The Game Plan, Prom Night, Ice Age 3 and more.
March 4th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for The Wendell Baker Story, Made of Honor, Star Trek XI and more.


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NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Analyst George Strachan at Goldman Sachs cut his rating on Sears, Roebuck S, -0.31% to "underperform" vs. "in-line" on concerns about competitive pressure in the company's core business. "With the important credit business sold, investor attention should now focus more sharply on the retail prospects of this company," said Strachan. "Despite the health and durability of some of Sears' hardline businesses, we continue to believe that the company is at a severe competitive disadvantage in most softlines categories and in such hardlines categories as small electrics and consumer electronics." Strachan and his colleagues also upgraded Federated fd to "outperform" vs. "in-line" and said recent efforts to improve operations should bear fruit. Sears ended Monday up 7 cents at $43.11, while Federated gained 2.2 percent at $51.62.
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P&O Cruises has announced plans for an extraordinary cruise that will give its guests the chance to see one of nature’s most spectacular events - a rare solar eclipse.
Departing Fremantle on April 17, 2023, the once-in-a-lifetime five-night cruise will track over the North West Cape of Western Australia near Exmouth, the only location on mainland Australia where the event can be viewed as a total solar eclipse.
Also known as the ‘king of eclipses’, this solar eclipse will take place at 11.27am on April 20, 2023 and promises to be an unforgettable experience as the moon completely covers the sun for one minute and 16 seconds, creating darkness and making the sun’s fainter corona visible to the naked eye.
There were only five total solar eclipses visible from Australia last century and it has been almost 50 years since Western Australia has experienced one. The 2023 total solar eclipse is particularly special as it will occur as part of a rare hybrid eclipse, a form of eclipse which has not been visible from Australia for almost 1000 years.
P&O Cruises Australia President Sture Myrmell said the ‘Ningaloo King of Eclipse Cruise’ would give Australians the chance to experience a significant moment in time, with Pacific Explorer positioned off Exmouth to enable guests to enjoy a prime position for the eclipse.
“As the home grown cruise line, we’re always looking to create new and interesting sailings to iconic events around the country and we think this cruise will be next level,” Mr Myrmell said.
“Not only is North West Cape the only location on mainland Australia where the 2023 ‘king of eclipses’ will be visible, it’s one of only four accessible points worldwide where the phenomenon can be viewed, so we’re very excited to be offering our guests the opportunity to be part of this event.
During the cruise, guests will enjoy special talks from experts on the eclipse and will also be able to take in the beauty of the Western Australian coast, which is known for its unspoilt beaches and dramatic red ochre coastline.
P&O has partnered with the Astronomical Society of Australia, the epitomous professional body representing astronomers in Australia, to create a truly enlightening experience.
Astronomical Society of Australia Vice President John Lattanzio said he was thrilled that P&O Cruises Australia was offering a once-in-a-lifetime experience for seasoned or budding umbraphiles – people that love eclipses and often travel to see them.
“The 2023 Ningaloo King of Eclipse will be a unique spectacle and to view it from a cruise ship will be a magnificent experience. Our members look forward to sharing their expertise on the subject of eclipses and astronomy with P&O’s guests while they sail the west coast."
The unique cruise headlines P&O’s new season of Western Australia sailings which will feature six round-trip itineraries from Fremantle between April 8 and May 18, 2023.
Guests can register their interest for the Ningaloo King of Eclipse Cruise by visiting
pocruises.com.au/eclipsecruise, with tickets on sale from 9am on April 7, 2021.


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It seems like Samsung is more focusing on its budget friendly and low entry smartphones. Earlier we have told you that Samsung has launched two mid-range smartphones A8 and A8 Plus. Now Samsung is working to launch Galaxy J2 (2018). Samsung Galaxy J2 (2018) Price, Design and Specifications Leaks show the glory of the phone.
Samsung Galaxy J2 (2018) Price, Design and Specifications Leaked
According to the rumors, the smartphone will come with a 5-inch Super AMOLED display with qHD (540 x 960 pixels) resolution. Furthermore, Samsung included a 1.4 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor. Galaxy J2 (2018) will have 1.5 GB RAM and 16 GB expandable storage. Moreover, the Galaxy J2 (2018) comes with dual-SIM support and LTE Cat.4.
Samsung Galaxy J2 (2018) will run Android 7.1.1 Nougat operating system. For photography lovers, the phone will feature an 8-megapixel rear camera, as well as a secondary 5-megapixel selfie camera. Moreover, the smartphone will be powered by a 2,600 mAh battery that should be enough to keep you going for more than one day of average usage.
As per as its price is concerned, the phone will cost €115. However, Samsung has not revealed any information about the phone yet. We are also not still clear when the company will launch this smartphone. But we will update you when we will get more information about the phone.
Recently, Samsung has announced Mid-Range Galaxy A8 and A8 Plus. Both smartphones have almost same specifications but with a slight difference. Major differences between these phones are the screen size and the battery capacity. A8 Plus has larger screen and battery capacity as compare to A8.
For More Details Also Read: Samsung Announces Mid-Range Galaxy A8 and A8 Plus


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Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the startups have been hit hard but have managed to emerge successful in attracting investments this year. According to data from consultancy firm Tracxn, Indian startups received investments to the tune of $9.3 billion in 2020 despite the coronavirus challenges. The report reveals that fortunes for the Indian startups turned significantly in the second half of the year. The study reveals that startups raised just $4.2 billion in the first half of the year from about 461 deals while the year saw 11 Indian startups including RazorPay, Glance and Unacademy becoming a unicorn.
According to a report by IANS, the figure is much lower than the record $14.5 billion raised by Indian startups last year as the number of deals this year reached 1,088 from 1,185 last year, TechCrunch reported on Monday. Reports inform that there were 20 funding rounds with dealsize $100 million or larger in 2020 compared to 26 in 2019. Similarly, rounds with dealsize $50 million to $100 million fell to 13 in 2020 from 27 last year. Moreover, the figures exclude the funds rasied by Jio Platforms, which alone bagged over $20 billion investments this year.
The Tracxn report further adds that global technology giants like Google, Microsoft and Facebook wrote checks for Indian startups, while Chinese giants such as Alibaba and Tencent made fewer investments amid border tensions with India.


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Aafaq Islamic Finance rewards corporate clients
Cars and prizes can be won with the “Sahobat” product
Aafaq Islamic Finance”, the leading institution in the financial sector that provides financial products and services compliant with the provisions of Islamic law throughout the UAE and the region, revealed its intention to provide more profit opportunities for participating companies in a special Sahobat, which offers them an opportunity to save in an investment deposit system that is compatible with Islamic Sharia in the form of a wakala.
The initiative contributes to spreading awareness of financial responsibility among members of the UAE community, and helps them achieve their financial goals, as well as provides companies with more opportunities to win valuable cash prizes.
After announcing the names of the winners of the fifth Sahobat draws, Aafaq decided to give the participants in this product additional opportunities to win rewarding prizes, including TVs, smart phones and cars, extending to December 31 of this year.
Rashid Mahboob Al Qubaisi, CEO of Aafaq Islamic Finance, said: “After the huge demand for participation in the Sahobat product, we decided to offer more opportunities to win by adding valuable prizes that include cars, TVs and smart phones, with an increase in the number of winners every two months resulting in two additional draws to the scheduled monthly and quarterly draws.”
Al Qubaisi added: “Aafaq seeks to create opportunities for small companies to deposit investments in the form of wakala and earn at competitive profit rates. They can earn additional cash for expansion of projects “.
Mohammed Al-Dosari, Head of Business at Aafaq Islamic Finance, recalled that once companies invest in the “Sahobat” product, they automatically qualify for monthly and quarterly draws, as long as the investment deposit is active, as there will be 10 winners per month in the “draws” prizes. And three additional winners every quarter with cash values up to 10 times the invested value.
Al-Dosari said: “Aafaq decided to add 3 draws from July 1 to December 31, 2021, to be held on the following dates:
First Draw: September 9, 2021
Second Draw: November 11, 2021
Third Draw: January 6, 2022
The new prizes are:
First Prize: 2021 Mitsubishi Attrage
Second prize: Apple iphone 12 64 GB phone
Third Prize: Samsung Galaxy Tab 8 Tablet
About Aafaq Islamic Finance:
Aafaq Islamic Finance PJSC was established in 2006 and provides a wide range of high-quality Sharia-compliant banking products and services to corporate and retail clients. It stands out to be one of the most independent financing companies in the UAE. Moreover, the company’s strategy focuses on exploring opportunities within different business sectors to achieve the highest levels of happiness for all stakeholders including shareholders, customers, employees, strategic partners and the community.
Aafaq depends on the strength of its strategic partnership with leading institutions in the UAE, such as the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization, Dubai Economy, Emaratech, Trakhees, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and many Tas-heel, Amer and Business centers and others. aafaq provides the customers of these entities with services like E-dirham, Labour Guarantees, Wages Protection System, payment services for Dubai Economy and topping up of Noqodi wallets. In addition, aafaq offers a wide range of financing solutions and smart payment tools for companies and individuals.
453 total views, 23 views today


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New Tesco boss likely to sell assets to fund recovery plan
By Kate Holton, Simon Jessop and James Davey
LONDON (Reuters) - Just six weeks into his job, Tesco (TSCO.L: Quote) boss Dave Lewis must look at selling assets in Britain and abroad as he battles to raise funds to pull the world's No.3 grocer out of the deepest crisis in its 95-year history.
Trading at the British retailer has deteriorated to such an extent that its debt and ballooning pension deficit mean it could do with more cash. And that's even before it starts to consider the cost of a plan to revive sales.
Some analysts and investors think Lewis should take advantage of his status as a new arrival to ask shareholders for money, rather than selling off valuable businesses such as its stores in Thailand or customer data specialist Dunnhumby.
But a rights issue, which some think should top 3 billion pounds ($4.8 billion), could prove a hard sell when Tesco is in the midst of investigations into the discovery of a 250 million pound black hole in its accounts.
Plus, several investors want to see the recovery plan first.
"No rights issue without a detailed strategy and without first trying to sell non-core assets at good prices," said David Herro of investors Harris Associates, which recently cut its stake in Tesco to 1 percent from 3 percent.
Harris, which has $130 billion of assets under management, is not convinced Tesco will need a rights issue at all, unless UK operating profitability totally collapses.
Yet pressure is building on Tesco's finances. Its adjusted net debt of 6.6 billion pounds is now 3.2 times operating cash flow, way ahead of a company target of 2.5 times and likely to rise, according to Morgan Stanley. Its debt-to-equity ratio is 0.76 versus an industry median of 0.53, Reuters data show. Continued...


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Xbox’s E3 2019 press conference kicked things off big, showcasing the upcoming FPS-RPG from one of the many new acquisitions this year. The Outer Worlds, a sci-fi FPS-RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, will release on October 25, 2019, with full Xbox Game Pass support at launch.
We finally get got see a bit more of the upcoming sci-fi shooter that Obsidian has been working on, and boy does it give off massive Fallout New Vegas vibes. According to the trailer, the people of the galaxy have found themselves underneath the iron thumb of the mega-corporations who hold all power. In the voice-over commentary, we learn that for years, everybody has played by the rules, doing what the corporations say, until now.
Enter the player character. Though not much is known about the rest of the story in The Outer Worlds, it does appear that players will be able to make choices that will impact the overall reflection of the main character to those they meet. In the trailer the voice-over commentator implies that the player can choose whether they want to be a hero or a villain, even going so far as to mention the player becoming a psychopath if they so choose.
The Outer Worlds is set to release on Xbox One, PC, and is supposed to launch with support on the PlayStation 4. The game is being developed by Obsidian Entertainment, one of many studios that Microsoft picked up over the year. Private Division will publish the title. For more news from the show floor, make sure you head over to our E3 2019 hub. We’ll have plenty of coverage of the latest announcements, new releases, and game updates you need to know about. You can also follow Shacknews on Twitter to keep up with all our latest coverage.


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Newly formed company RaceMakers aims to strengthen the future of Challenge Denmark by increasing the number of international competitions.
“More to come” is promosied following Challenge Tønsberg 2016
RaceMakers is founded by Race Director of Challenge Denmark, Claus Vesterby, and the owner of triudstyr.dk, Jacob Sonne-Schmidt.
RaceMakers is based in Herning and will be responsible for the daily operation of Challenge Denmark and Challenge Norway, as well as other triathlon related activities. One of the most significant parts of the new company will be selling race supplies and merchandise to other Challenge Family events around Europe.
The cooperation between Claus Vesterby and Jacob Sonne-Schmidt began with the conduct of Challenge Billund-Herning 2015.
RaceMakers has already announced Challenge Fredericia and Challenge Tønsberg in Norway for August 2016 and the company is committed to activities with an international perspective.
“Right now our race supply and merchandise initiatives is being presented to rallies around Europe, and we have several international initiatives for later this year,” stated Jacob Sonne-Schmidt.


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Facebook's first earnings report as a public company on Thursday is getting nearly as much attention as its historic IPO in May, but few expect a repeat of that really good news/unbelievably bad news story.
The 24 percent drop in its stock price has taken much of the wind out of inflated expectations for earnings from CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the world's biggest social network.
Facebook just needs to get through the day without any major bombshells.
Facebook is still a work in progress, after all, but have expectations ever been higher for a public company at this stage of its development?
Even after its big two-month slide, the Menlo Park company's stock is trading around 73 times what analysts expect for earnings this year. Google, a company with 10 times Facebook's revenue and 11 times its annual net income, only trades at about 18 times its expected 2012 profit.
Wall Street expects Facebook to say it earned about 12 cents a share in the quarter, after subtracting one-time charges, on about $1.15 billion in revenue.
Zynga's big shortfall in earnings on Tuesday made investors a bit more apprehensive since the social gaming company kicked in about 15 percent of Facebook's first-quarter revenue.
But Facebook was reportedly advised by its bankers to make sure it beats estimates on its first reporting day. Then again, we know how well Facebook's bankers' advice has worked so far, don't we?
In addition to the usual earnings and revenue numbers, here is what else is being watched from Facebook's report and the analyst call afterwards:
—Sales growth: Even if it hits the targets set by analysts for this quarter, Facebook's top line will be increasing at a much slower rate of about 28 percent, compared to year-to-year growth of 45 percent in the previous quarter. Much attention is focused on how it plans to improve on that.
— Mobile: It's not like Facebook didn't warn everybody that is still trying to find the formula to make money from the growing legions of smartphone and tablet users. But if it doesn't actually do it, Facebook could be the next Yahoo in the annals of Silicon Valley underachievers.
— Facebook phone? One way the company could get into the mobile revenue game is with the much-rumored smartphone that it reportedly is developing with handset maker HTC.
— Who speaks? Zuckerberg hasn't scored many points with his "whatever" approach to the suits on Wall Street, but he could change that with a good showing on Thursday. Then again, he could stick to character and make a brief remark before turning the show over to Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman.
More on all of this after the market closes and the show begins.


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Fourth new market expansion in the last nine months
Fair Oaks, CA, 2016-Jun-15 — /EPR Retail News/ — Raley’s is proud to announce a new store in in the Town of Truckee in Nevada County. Raley’s, in partnership with JMA Ventures LLC, plans to develop a new retail center at the corner of Highway 267 and Soaring Way, adjacent to the Truckee Airport.
The new retail center will be designed to fit the Truckee community with natural wood elements and inspired by lodge-style architecture. The new 35,000 square foot flagship store will serve residents and those visiting the area. Consistent with Raley’s commitment to sustainability, this store will incorporate leading technology in energy conversation and water management.
Customers will experience a full-service store with an extensive assortment of fresh, healthy and high-quality food, including natural and organic offerings. Special emphasis on specialty services, including restaurant-quality grab-and-go options.
“As we move forward on our journey of health and wellness, Truckee is an important location to enhance our vision,” said Michael Teel, President, CEO & owner, Raley’s. “We are looking forward to serving the Truckee community with an exceptional shopping and food experience, all four seasons of the year.”
In addition to the Raley’s store, the first phase of the center will include an additional 15,000 square feet of retail space. The new retail space will create an estimated 140 jobs to the local community.
“We are very proud and excited about our partnership with Raley’s and the Town and this investment further cements JMA’s confidence in and commitment to the Truckee-Tahoe region,” said Todd Chapman, CEO, JMA Ventures LLC.
Subject to Town of Truckee approval, the new retail center plans to begin construction in late 2017 with a targeted completion of mid-2018. This new location is Raley’s fourth new market expansion in the last nine months.
For information about our stores, please contact Chelsea Minor, Director of PR and Public Affairs at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Miami, FL, USA /PRNewswire/ — Carnival Cruise Lines has launched “The 5D Challenge: TRIVIAL PURSUIT Edition” – a Facebook promotion designed to highlight the new Thrill 5D Theater set to debut on the Carnival Breeze in June 2012. The contest can be found on Carnival’s Facebook page under the Carnival Breeze tab at www.facebook.com/carnival.
In addition to the Thrill 5D Theater, Carnival Breeze will be the first ship to feature all of the new entertainment options introduced as part the Fun Ship 2.0 enhancement program, a $500 million initiative that will completely transform Carnival’s on-board guest experience.
With Carnival Breeze’s Thrill 5D Theater, guests will enjoy an exhilarating, multi-dimensional experience that will make them feel like they are actually in the movie. The theater combines a high-definition 3D projection system with 4D elements such as squirting water and bubbles, and original special effects that will tickle guests’ legs, blow air on their necks and poke them in their seats. Seats within the theater will shift back and forth, move from side to side and also vibrate, creating an exciting “fifth-dimensional” element. Guests will receive special 3D glasses that deliver a truly immersive movie-going experience.
To excite fans about Carnival’s new Thrill 5D Theater and to get them into the “movie-viewing” mindset, the company under license from Hasbro, Inc. has created “The 5D Challenge: TRIVIAL PURSUIT Edition” on Facebook. Contest participants are asked to answer movie-themed trivia questions from Hasbro’s popular TRIVIAL PURSUIT brand.
“We are delighted to continue our collaboration with our brand partner Hasbro on this unique contest showcasing Carnival Breeze’s new 5D Theatre, which will be part of the ship’s many exciting on-board features designed to thrill, captivate and entertain our guests,” said Jim Berra, Carnival’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer.
Carnival Breeze will be the first ship to feature all of the new entertainment offerings that are part of the line’s Fun Ship 2.0 enhancement initiative. Among the exciting options is Hasbro, The Game Show, a series of larger-than-life productions and entertainment activities based on the popular Family Game Night television series produced by Hasbro Studios and seen on The Hub, a network for children and their families. Hasbro, The Game Show will put guests right in the middle of their favorite Hasbro games. Six main games are to be featured: Sorry! Sliders, which involves a giant shuffleboard court; Simon Flash, where two teams of four guests wear giant light-up color boxes and must shuffle themselves quickly to repeat a color sequence; Yahtzee Bowling, with a giant ball and larger-than-life-sized bowling pins; Operation SAM DUNK, which is set up like a skee-ball board where contestants try to get the balls into different slots on the “patient’s” body, and Connect 4 BASKETBALL, which uses a basketball setup rather than the traditional checkers to play.
Carnival Breeze will also be the first ship to offer Playlist Productions which will combine captivating live performances with high-tech LED staging and special effects to set a new standard in seagoing entertainment. These exhilarating revues are set to widely popular and memorable music encompassing a variety of styles, genres and eras. Playlist performances will have guests singing along and dancing in their seats during the hit-packed, 30-minute shows created by leading producers, directors and choreographers who have worked on critically acclaimed productions for Broadway, London’s West End and some of the world’s most popular musical acts.
Also featured on Carnival Breeze will be the new “Punchliner Comedy Club Presented by George Lopez” through a partnership with the popular comedian and TV personality. Lopez is serving as Carnival’s “curator of comedy,” acting as a consultant on the vetting and hiring of comedic talent for the line’s hugely popular comedy program. Additionally, DJs on the Carnival Breeze will be trained under the new “DJ IRIE Spin’iversity” led by the award-winning DJ IRIE, a highly talented disc jockey widely known in Miami and Las Vegas.
Other features on the Carnival Breeze will include Guy’s Burger Joint, which will offer burgers custom-created by renowned chef and Food Network star Guy Fieri, a Red Frog Pub, featuring Carnival’s own private-label draft beer – ThirstyFrog Red, Cucina del Capitano, a family-style Italian eatery and a wide variety of other fun and exciting dining, bar and entertainment options. ABOUT CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES
Carnival is a proud member of World’s Leading Cruise Lines. Our exclusive alliance also includes Cunard, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Costa Cruises and Seabourn. Sharing a passion to please each guest and a commitment to quality and value, World’s Leading Cruise Lines inspires people to discover their best vacation experience. Together, we offer a variety of exciting and enriching cruise vacations to the world’s most desirable destinations. Visit us at www.worldsleadingcruiselines.com
Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) is a branded play company providing children and families around the world with a wide-range of immersive entertainment offerings based on the Company’s world class brand portfolio. From toys and games, to television programming, motion pictures, video games and a comprehensive licensing program, Hasbro strives to delight its customers through the strategic leveraging of well-known and beloved brands such as TRANSFORMERS, LITTLEST PET SHOP, NERF, PLAYSKOOL, MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE, MAGIC: THE GATHERING and MONOPOLY. The HUB, Hasbro’s multi-platform joint venture with Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) launched on October 10, 2010. The online home of The HUB is www.hubworld.com.


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By Pat Soldano, published in the Seattle Times.
It is unlikely you will see the worry on their faces. Yet, they know something is coming for them.
It came for people like Casey Roscoe, a former marketing executive for family-owned Seneca, a lumber company in Oregon, and Mark Peters, son of the founder of Butterball Farms in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It specializes in products made from butter.
You would never know they faced the fear of existential threat, but it’s inside them, and yet they are the lucky ones. Hard work, a lifetime of risking their savings and some smart decisions allowed them to make it in America. So, why worry?
You could ask George Bartell the same question, the former chairman of Seattle’s own Bartell Drugs, the iconic 67-store chain founded in the Central District in 1890 by George’s grandfather.
The common thread between these three people is they own, or owned, a family business. Bartell’s was sold to Rite-Aid two years ago.
It could be a drugstore company, a coffee shop chain, a machine parts firm or even a newspaper. And, equally, they all know one day this family livelihood, often multigenerational, will likely have to be sold off and vanish forever. Why? It’s a complicated and old story, but it often comes down to death and taxes. And, selling is often the only logical answer.
Research shows that family enterprises make up $7.7 trillion of our annual GDP and represent 59% of the country’s private workforce. Family businesses in America consist of 23.7% in manufacturing, 10.4% in construction/facilities and 9.75% in real estate.
Since 1995, Policy and Taxation Group has been the leading advocacy group working to reduce and eliminate estate tax, gift tax, and generation skipping transfer tax while blocking increased income tax and capital gains taxes, the creation of a wealth tax, and other hostile tax policies that punish hardworking taxpayers and success.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this article. While you’re here, we have a small favor to ask…
As we prepare for what promises to be a pivotal year for America, we’re asking you to consider becoming a supporter.
The need for fact-based reporting of issues important to family offices and successful individuals and protecting a lifetime of savings has never been greater. Now more than ever, family offices and successful individuals are under fire. That’s why Policy and Taxation Group is passionately working to increase the awareness of issues important to family offices and successful individuals, while continuing to strengthen our presence on Capitol Hill.
@FamilyEnterpriseUSA @PolicyAndTaxationGroup @DitchTheEstateTax #FamilyBusiness #Business #SmallBiz #EstateTax #Deathtax #CapitalGainsTax #StepUpInBasis #Taxes #gifttax #Generationskippingtax #InheritanceTax #repealestatetax #promotefamilybusinesses #taxLegislation #AdvocatingForFamilyBusinesses #incometax #Generationallyowned #Multigenerationalbusiness


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By Ethan Jakob-Craft, Ad Age
Skyy Vodka has tapped Mono to be its first global agency of record as the Campari Group-owned spirits brand prepares to relaunch later this year.
Mono’s selection as the brand’s lead agency follows a five-month creative review process that consolidates its primary U.S. creative duties, previously handled by VMLY&R, with its international marketing efforts that once fell to a range of agencies.
“In this pivotal moment for Skyy, where we will deliver the next generation of growth on our storied brand, we are excited to announce this partnership with Mono,” said Marina Santos, Campari’s senior global director of white spirits. “In this new role, Mono will start by developing a fully integrated global campaign.”
The agency’s first task is to develop a worldwide creative platform that can run across all media in multiple international markets beginning in the first half of 2021—something it can do with a largely clean slate. The brand’s owner confirmed last year that it plans to overhaul Skyy’s packaging, brand claims and even the alcohol itself.
After reporting 2020’s results last week, which posted a full-year sales decline of 16.2% that Campari attributes to pre-launch de-stocking in the U.S., group CEO Bob Kunze-Concewitz told analysts that Skyy is poised for a new positioning that includes an improvement in what he calls “premium-ization,” Just-Drinks reports.
Campari’s results also acknowledged that its advertising and promotion spending across all brands—including Aperol, Grand Marnier and Wild Turkey bourbon—was down 3.1% year-over-year on a reported basis.
There’s no word yet on what Mono’s debut campaign for Skyy might look like, though if history is any guide, some creative elements may lean into the progressive identity of San Francisco, the city in which Skyy was founded 29 years ago.
Previously a sponsor of New York City and Los Angeles’ Pride parades, Skyy has long embraced the LGBTQ+ community in its American advertising and prioritized the support of social justice groups following the police killing of George Floyd last summer. It’s also a cause the brand has pushed internationally. In 2017, it teamed up with competitor Absolut in 2017 to champion same-sex marriage rights in Australia via a social campaign from TBWA/Sydney.
“We’re excited to develop a new breakthrough and enduring communication platform for such an iconic brand as Skyy,” said Jim Scott, founder and managing partner at Mono, adding that “the chemistry and collaboration we have with the whole Skyy team is very special.”
Coinciding with its latest brand partnership, Minneapolis-based Mono has announced that it plans to expand its office footprint in Lower Manhattan to expand their relationship with Campari’s North American headquarters, located near Bryant Park in Midtown.


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LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD)- Just in time for back to school, it's Tax Free Weekend. Shoppers will get a break from state and local sales taxes from Friday through Sunday.
The Texas comptroller's office says the law exempts most clothing and footwear priced under $100 from sales and use taxes, which could save shoppers about $8 on every $100 they spend.
The agency says backpacks under $100 and used by elementary and secondary students are also exempt.
The 2009 Legislature expanded the list of items qualifying for tax exemption during the three-day weekend. Texas families get a sales tax break on most school supplies priced at less than $100 purchased for use by a student in an elementary or secondary school.
Other changes have been made to what qualifies for tax free. For the entire list of what qualifies and the guidelines, click here.
The mall will have extended hours for the weekend, open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 22.
Among the mall's anchor stores, JC Penney will be open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Dillard's will open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 22.
Copyright 2010 KCBD. All rights reserved.


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That is to say, it’s been historically difficult for shippers that need warehousing capacity in a particularly area to find that capacity in an organized, digital format. And conversely, there’s been few means for contract logistics providers to sell their space to shippers outside of traditional sales channels.
With marketplace technology permeating nearly every facet of logistics in the past few years – to what degree that penetration has occurred is still up for debate – this scenario is changing.
But another technology-backed model that’s making waves in freight transportation has now appeared on the scene in contract logistics. Stord is an Atlanta-based startup that’s aiming to provide logistics companies and shippers access to on-demand contract logistics space, but not via a marketplace.
The company’s concept is to tap into excess, unused capacity from contract logistics providers. But it doesn’t want that to happen in an impersonal exchange, where buyers and sellers transact without a true relationship.
Henry took part last summer in the first cohort of the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based logistics technology accelerator program Dynamo and has set out to create a market for standardized, flexible procurement of on-demand warehousing.
“We’re the Flexport instead of the Loadsmart,” Henry said in an August interview with American Shipper, referencing two of the better known technology-oriented companies to emerge in recent years. Flexport is a digitally-empowered freight forwarder while Loadsmart provides an automated trucking capacity marketplace.
“We want to be your logistics partner,” Henry said. “There are a large number of warehouses with excess capacity. We want to lock in standard procedures and rates and turn that around and sell it to our clients.”
Stord works with contract logistics providers to create a digital catalog of available capacity, and standardizes the specifications of that capacity and rates across providers. It then sells the capacity on to its customers - i.e. other logistics companies and shippers - providing inventory dashboards and a platform to organize orders to schedule distribution more effectively.
Stord may sound a bit like another warehousing technology to emerge in recent years, Flexe, but the model for that provider is more strictly around a platform for unlocking latent warehousing capacity. Though Flexe is now offering ancillary fulfillment services, it’s not trying to be the more integrated logistics partner that Stord is.
“We don’t want seasonal demand,” Henry said. “We want to be someone’s partner. We want to be their single source of warehousing and logistics, to be the scalable partner.”


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Pearl Starch Announced at COSME Tech
Tokyo ー Japan Corn Starch Co., Ltd., the parent company of Evercorn, inc., announced and exhibited Pearl Starch the latest product in its line-up at COSME Tech 2018 Tokyo. COSME Tech 2018 Tokyo is the largest cosmetics exhibition in Japan and was held this year from January 24th until January 26th.
Pearl Starch was developed by Japan Corn Starch Co., Ltd.'s Research and Development department as a texture enhancing additive for cosmetic products. The Product is an all-natural ingredient which can serve as an environmentally friendly replacement to microbeads.
Japan Corn Starch Co., Ltd. at COSME Tech 2018 Tokyo held an informational seminar with Ms. Yuka Matsuyama as the lead presenter. During the presentation to a full house, Ms. Matsuyama introduced the different qualities of Pearl Starch, along with its possible applications in cosmetic products. The seminar attendees, while listening to her presentation were also given the chance to actually touch Pearl Starch and products that use Pearl Starch.
Japan Corn Starch Co., Ltd. was honored to receive a warm reception to the announcement and exhibition of Pearl Starch at COSME Tech 2018 Tokyo. Both Japan Corn Starch Co., Ltd. and Evercorn, Inc are looking forward to bringing Pearl Starch to the forefront of the cosmetic industry.


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BasiGo, the Kenyan e-mobility start-up spearheaded by visionary entrepreneur Jit Bhattacharya, who is disrupting Africa’s transport sector, has unveiled an ambitious plan to revolutionize Kenya’s transportation landscape.
According to reports, the e-mobility start-up aims to establish 16 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across Nairobi by the end of this year, solidifying its commitment to the country’s burgeoning e-mobility revolution.
The announcement was made by BasiGo CEO Jit Bhattacharya during the launch of the firm’s first-ever public charging station in Nairobi’s Buruburu estate. Bhattacharya expressed his enthusiasm, stating: “We are looking to establish 16 such stations across Nairobi by December this year before rolling out the service to other parts of the country.”
The cutting-edge charging facility, valued at Ksh4 million ($29,000), has the capacity to simultaneously charge six buses.
Initially reserved for BasiGo’s fleet of 17 buses, the station will be opened to the public in December.
Bhattacharya emphasized the potential for expansion, adding: “This is a charging station with the capability of charging six electric buses simultaneously, but it also has the scope and the space for us to eventually expand to the charging of 30 electric buses at this first area.”
To ensure convenient access, BasiGo plans to incorporate the charging cost into its pay-as-you-drive subscription scheme.
Subscribers pay a daily fee of Ksh20 ($0.144) per kilometer, covering the cost of battery leasing.
BasiGo has already made impressive strides in Kenya’s e-mobility landscape. Since entering the market in March 2021, the company’s fleet has traveled 280,000 kilometers, serving 360,000 passengers while reducing carbon emissions by 120 tonnes
With a track record of remarkable achievements, BasiGo is setting its sights on a groundbreaking milestone: the deployment of 1,000 electric buses in Kenya by 2025, driving steadfastly towards its ultimate goal of attaining zero emissions.
Backed by total funding of $10.9 million from investors, the e-mobility startup is determined to scale up its manufacturing of electric public service vehicles.
Additionally, BasiGo is actively expanding its charging infrastructure network, with a particular focus on Nairobi, home to the majority of its valued clientele.


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Shepard Fairey x Kenny Scharf x Lance Armstrong for Giro d’Italia: Trek art bikes
SuperTouch gives us a look at their Trek art bikes made exclusively for Lance Armstrong for his running in the Giro d’Italia. The world’s most prestigious cycling stage race after the legendary Tour de France, the Giro is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2009, coincidentally the first year Lance has ever entered the race.
Lending their formidable creative talents to the challenge, Shepard and Kenny created two vastly different and utterly unique cycles to draw attention to Lance’s upcoming Nike-backed “Stages” anti-cancer art show benefiting LiveStrong that will debut on July 16th in Paris at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin during the TDF.
More images after the jump.


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Billionaire retail entrepreneur Mike Ashley is considering a potential bid for BHS stores and Debenhams’ Irish operation.
The founder of Sports Direct has written to BHS administrators Duff & Phelps expressing interest in taking over some of its stores.
In his letter, he said he wanted to reopen a further dialogue about saving the BHS brand and a number of jobs.
“We can confirm that we have a continued interest in BHS,” a Sports Direct spokesman told the BBC.
“We have written to the administrator seeking to re-open a dialogue about saving a number of jobs and stores along with the BHS name.”
Ashley, who owns a majority share in Irish department store chain Heatons, is also weighing up a potential bid for Debenhams’ Irish operation, reports the Sunday Business Post.
The news follows the announcement that Debenhams Retail (Ireland) has sought examinership because of consistent losses sustained since the recession in 2007 and after a withdrawal of support of its UK parent company.
Kieran Wallace of KPMG was appointed interim examiner last month, after the High Court was informed the company has a reasonable prospect of survival if certain steps are met.
Ashley is also the owner of Newcastle United after paying around £140 million for the club.


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New 1000-franc note: Currency template available nowRead more
Philadelphia bans cashless stores: further US-cities are considering similar lawsRead more
Extended Download Portal for product documentation & softwareRead more
Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney recently signed into law an amendment requiring most businesses to accept cash as a payment. The law will go into effect on July 1, 2019.
The new banknote was presented by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) on March 5, 2019. It goes into circulation on March 13, 2019. According to SNB, there were 50 million units in circulation at the end of 2017
We would like to use this occasion to thank you for your loyalty and confidence towards us and the pleasant cooperation in 2018.


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eBay on Wednesday launched the Rethink Initiative and a related Web site at the International Electronics Show here. The initiative brings together major IT companies such as Intel Corp. with government agencies and non-profits to tackle the issue of so-called e-waste.
A Rethink Web site provides information on properly disposing of old equipment, including by selling it on eBay. But the site also compiles links to partners that recycle equipment or accept donations for charity.
E-waste has become an increasing problem as consumers and businesses rapidly replace older computers and electronics. Gartner Inc. estimates that about 133,000 PCs are becoming obsolete every day in the United States.
Meanwhile, consumers will throw out about 400 million electronics each year in this decade, eBay CEO and President Meg Whitman said. When thrown into landfills, computers can pose environmental risks because they contain such hazardous materials as lead, cadmium, chromium and mercury.
"We as an industry need to do more," Whitman said. "Together we're helping to build awareness to safely dispose of used computers and consumer electronics."
The industry initiative is only a first step toward tackling e-waste, Whitman said. It focuses on education U.S. consumers and business about e-waste options by tapping into eBay's community of 125 million U.S. members.
However, the plan does not address a major economic issue surrounding computer recycling: cost. Most recycling programs from PC makers, government and non-profits require consumers and businesses to pay a fee to recycle equipment.
"We're not doing anything specifically to reduce the cost of recycling on the consumer, but we're letting them know of the options they do have," said Patrick Jabal, director of eBay's computers and networking category, in response to a reporter's question.
Legislation also has begun to address the issue of e-waste. A California law went into effect this week that requires the collection of a fee of as much as $10 on the sale of computers and TVs to help pay for recycling. A growing number of states are considering e-waste proposals, and a bill introduced in the U.S. House seeks to add a fee on computer sales to fund recycling programs.
If the computer and electronics industry does not take action, it can expect more e-waste regulation from government, Whitman said.
Intel Corp. is eBay's lead partner in the Rethink Initiative. The other founding IT members are Apple Computer Inc., Gateway Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM and Ingram Micro. Among those absent was major computer maker, Dell Inc.
Asked about Dell's absence, Whitman said eBay had approached the company and that Dell had not ruled out joining the effort.
The Rethink Initiative includes environmental groups that have criticized past industry e-waste efforts. The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition is part of eBay's initiative and is helping provide information on responsible recyclers and recycling practices.
"The way they will be able to do education is on a scale we never could do before," said Ted Smith, senior strategist for the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.
Other Rethink participants include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Cristina Foundation, United Parcel Service of America Inc. and the U.S. Postal Service.


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Jan 10, 2013
Abu Dhabi's 1,300 grocery stores had until December 31st 2012 to renovate their shops. Now many, unable to afford the changes, are shutting up shop for good.
Video: Fans get preview of F1 action on Yas Marina Circuit
Video: Jerome d'Ambrosio talks to The National
Do you have a story?


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Itella developing complete e-commerce service
Finland’s national postal operator Itella Group is developing a major new all-in-one e-commerce fulfillment service that could eventually provide same-day delivery for online purchases.
The EUR 10m project involves an investment in a new warehousing system, with automated fulfillment systems, at the company’s logistics centre at Voutila, not far from Helsinki-Vantaa airport.
The new warehouse facility should be completed next year.
Itella said the new service will offer online retailers access to “one of the most sophisticated warehousing and delivery systems in the whole of Europe”. The company said machines will help in the processing and fulfillment of online store orders.
The postal company said alongside the new facility, it will expand its parcel delivery solutions into a complete service geared to e-commerce merchants — including stock warehousing, picking and packing, delivery and returns.
Itella said that while growing online stores usually manage their own warehousing activities, its outsourced approach will be more flexible to business growth, cutting down on the amount of upfront investment an e-commerce retailer has to make to support its ambitions.
Aku Happo, the Itella e-commerce vice president, said: “For consumers — the customers of online stores — the new complete solution will translate into even shorter delivery times.
“Soon the customer will receive the goods within 24 hours of the order, or even during the same day. Online stores, in turn, will receive all services even more comprehensively from the same supplier, ranging from warehousing to delivery and returns,” explained Happo.
Itella said the value of online shopping in Finland was EUR 10.5bn last year, 9% up on the previous year after steady growth during the past decade.
The loss-making postal operator is shifting its business significantly towards e-commerce at the moment, since its revenues are being hit hard by the ongoing annual decline in letter volumes.
Itella, which operates in the Baltic states and Russia as well as its home market of Finland, said its new services will help e-commerce merchants expand their sales in international markets as well as within Finland itself.
The company sees Russia as a particularly key area for its growth ambitions, including on the e-commerce side. E-commerce in Russia has been growing at double-digit rates, leading Itella to target a doubling in its revenues in the country by 2020.
Samuli Seppälä, managing director of online electronics retailer Verkkokauppa.com, said the new Itella warehousing solution could be an answer to the issue of capacity bottlenecks as sales volumes surge at certain times of the year.
He said: “We need cost-effective ways of addressing the different logistics needs caused by seasonal fluctuations in the future, too. Itella’s new warehouse, for example, which will be completed next year, will address these needs.”


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Cardinal Security Limited, the supplier of intelligence-led security guarding and loss prevention services to the retail and logistics industries, has announced – with immediate effect – a new ownership structure designed to drive growth in the business. The management buy-in sees a group of private individuals with lengthy experience in the UK’s security industry take ownership of Cardinal Security Limited, with previous CEO and company founder Jason Trigg leaving the business to embark upon new challenges.
The new owners of the company include experienced CEO Simon Chapman (previously managing director at Lodge Service), chairman Michael Goddard (who boasts over 40 years’ experience in the FM sector) and Stuart Macy, director of strategy and finance. Graham Allison, who joined Cardinal Security only recently in the role of commercial director, has now been appointed as managing director.
Going forward, Cardinal Security Limited will remain an independent business with a focus on the retail, distribution and logistics sectors. The organisation is also expanding its existing headquarters in Great Chesterford, Essex, with the addition of a dedicated Training Academy, a state-of-the-art Security Control Room and an ‘Intelligence Centre’.
Explaining the change of ownership, Jason Trigg informed Risk UK: “When considering the next stages for Cardinal Security, it was obvious to me that the business would benefit more from a corporate structure rather than relying on my entrepreneurial skills. I was keen that Cardinal Security shouldn’t be swallowed up by a larger business or one of the big security firms as that would inevitably result in poorer and less responsive customer service, so I’m delighted that we have in place an experienced management team whose constituent members not only understand Cardinal’s ethos, but can also take the business to even greater heights.”
Specialist security service
In an industry dominated by either large-scale, multi-service providers or smaller regional operators, Cardinal Security Limited will continue to offer a specialist security service tailored to the needs of its demanding national customer base.
“As a large but independent business, Cardinal Security combines the best of both worlds,” enthused Simon Chapman. “While we’re uniquely placed to provide specialist services to the largest of retailers, we’re also able to do so with a responsiveness and agility that larger providers simply cannot match.”
Cardinal Security will continue to provide the innovation and technology that has placed the business at the forefront of the sector. Customers will benefit from ongoing access to technologies and systems in the broader Cardinal Group, including Amberstone’s electronic security technology and the Ministry of Ideas’ data solutions.
Over the years, Cardinal has supported both the National Business Crime Solution, which it founded in 2011, and ORIS Forums (which the business acquired in 2011). The company supported the growth of the ORIS Media organisation and is pleased to see these as standalone and independent businesses in their own right which are no longer part of the wider Cardinal Group. There will be no change to the way in which these businesses are operated.
‘Talking to customers, I know that they value our intelligence-led approach to security guarding,” concluded Graham Allison. “The new investment in the business will allow us to ‘change up a gear’ and deliver a more robust infrastructure to support customers’ needs on a continual basis. We’re really excited to be starting this next stage in Cardinal’s development.”
Cardinal Security Limited is a Security Industry Authority Approved Contractor placed in the Top 5% of all security providers. It employs over 1,800 personnel across the UK and Eire, and has a turnover of more than £40 million per annum. The business has received several industry awards and accreditations across the years, including the prestigious Vendor of the Year Award at the Retail Fraud Awards in both 2015 and 2016.


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The auditing firm KPMG joins the Trusted IoT Alliance. Verbund is working to link Blockchain and IoT to pave the way for Industry 4.0.
With the auditing firm KPMG, the Trusted IoT Alliance receives prominent reinforcement from a “Big Four” company. As KPMPG LLP announces in a press release, it hopes to leverage the synergy effects of the two technologies by working with blockchain industry and Fortune 500 companies.
Blockchain and IoT: Revolution in the next three years
This particularly concerns the factor of data security.
“Our membership in the Trusted IoT organization brings together key players in the business transformation and technology sectors to develop a secure and standardized block-based IoT framework that will enhance the value of these new technologies for both KPMG and Microsoft.” increase our customers while enabling us to improve data security between IoT devices and networks,
Arun Ghosh, head of blockchain at KPMG, describes the company’s expectations in the press release.
Welcome @KPMG to the @ Trusted_IoT Alliance. We look forward to working with @KPMGBlockchain and the rest of the team to advance this space with actionable innovation! Https://t.co/YUImiLokf5– Anoop Nannra (@anannra) May 1, 2019
That the customer’s interest is certainly present, a KPMG survey of industrial leaders, to which the press release relates. Between December 2018 and January 2019, 740 technology executives referred to Blockchain. Nearly one in two respondents believe that the blockchain will bring about changes in the operational business. Especially in the area of the Internet of Things (IoT) the blockchain will be used in the next three years.
KMPG blockchain boss Ghosh also skirts this notch when he says:
“The combination of IoT and Blockchain enables us to create better transparency between the parties, track service delivery using sensor data and intelligent payment automation contracts, and provide real-time traceability of products with secure data aggregation across the supply chain and several other use cases.
Bitcoin also holds potential
However, KPMG sees enormous potential not only in blockchain technology but also in crypto assets such as bitcoin. This is what the auditing company recently explained in its report “Institutionalization of Cryptoassets”. Co-authored with Bitcoin’s Coinbase, Fundstrat and Morgan Creek Digital, the Big Four company Bitcoin said it has what it takes to become a ubiquitous innovation in the global financial system.


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In the showroom so far this year,
But now the smooth sales flow may be gummed up by a different kind of problem: a new safety-related action that at least temporarily crimped Chevrolet dealers' supply of one of their best-selling models, the Cruze small sedan, even as demand continues to be strong. Any such high-profile concerns about Cruze could eat into the strong sales momentum that GM brands have maintained so far.
Cruze's new problem also may affect the credibility of an important part of GM's new narrative as it strives to transcend the recall crisis.
GM on Wednesday told dealers to halt delivery of its 2013 and 2014 Chevrolet Cruze sedans because of a potential airbag problem, at least for the time being hampering sales of the company's best-selling car just as its retail network is entering its end-of-the-month and end-of-the-model year sales push. On Wednesday afternoon, Automotive News reported that GM had lifted the stop order for general Cruze sales as it specifically investigated 33,000 Cruze units that could be afflicted with the problem.
The company also has tied dealer sales incentives specifically to selling Cruzes. Sales of the nameplate were up 18 percent through May, making it one of the best-performing vehicles in the Chevy lineup.
Some of the cars may have a "suspect" driver's side airbag-inflator module, according to a stop-delivery order sent to Chevy dealers nationwide on Tuesday and obtained by Automotive News. "The inflator module may have been assembled with an incorrect part," the notice reads. So the move could be a prelude to a recall.
Unfortunately, the stop order also linked GM to the other most-ignominious brand in the auto industry these days: Takata. The Japanese supplier was the source of the dubious air-bag inflators in the 33,000 Cruze units, and problems with similar devices have led to recalls of 10 million vehicles since 2009 for Honda, Nissan and other GM competitors in a spate of actions that crescendoed this week.
While GM already has issued 44 recalls this year covering 20 million vehicles globally as CEO Mary Barra tries to get ahead of the company's ingrained safety woes, relatively few of the recalls have so threatened current sales. At the end of May, there was a stop-delivery order on some of GM's large SUVs, but it turned out to be a short-lived hiccup without a material effect on deliveries or sales.
"We are working diligently with the supplier to identify the parts in the affected vehicles so we can resume delivery," a GM spokesman told the publication. It's too early to determine whether GM actually will issue a recall as it has with similar stop-sales notices lately, but Barra said on the Today show Thursday that the company, in general, may issue more recalls.
In March, GM initiated a recall of some Cruze models after a similar stop order. The problem in that instance was that right, front-axle shafts in 172,000 Cruzes may have fractured and separated without warning during regular driving. It was the third time in as many years that GM had recalled its best-selling car.
Also, the continued basic integrity and sales success of Cruze is important for the broader narrative being produced by GM about how it is going to leave the past behind when it comes to shoddy quality and safety problems. A big part of the problem, GM executives have acknowledged, was that the Chevy Cobalt -- the Cruze predecessor that is at the heart of the ignition-switch recall which kicked off GM's period of recall woes -- was a bad car.
But Cruze, as they put it, is a great car, which will mean much better things for GM in the small-car segment going forward.
It'll be interesting to see how far the new stop order goes in testing that narrative.


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Network equipment vendors have been increasing their efforts to develop software-defined solutions for the changing industry, but with the many changes introduced new problems have started to surface. Considering the vendor-agnostic nature of SDN/NFV architectures, network equipment vendors that decide to adopt these flexible architectures are now finding their own services and offerings open to competition from third-party software vendors –on their own hardware!
Let’s take a recent incidence that showcases this phenomenon
The Event: Cisco removes Nutanix from Solution partnership program
Now to shed light on what lead to this turn of events:
Last year: Cisco -in a bid to acquire Nutanix- offered them a nice, even 4 billion dollars. The fast growing company was reluctant to sell for anything than less than 6B; and it was at this point that Cisco decided to look elsewhere. At the same time deciding to cut any existing OEM partnership talks with the NFVi (Network functions virtualization infrastructure) startup company. Just like their solution for SDN, they instead finally chose to go about developing an in-house solution, utilizing technologies from another company.
Fast forward a year: Nutanix issues a press release where they have independently validated their solution to run on Cisco’s UCS servers. 1 week later they are kicked off the partnership program.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to imagine the string of emotions and conversations that lead to this result. Now that they’ve got their own in-house solution, it’s only logical they would attempt to dissuade users from utilizing competing technologies on their hardware. And this is just one example of many, in which the flexibility afforded by the SDN implementations have created an environment where it’s far easier to overlap into competing NFV vendors.
One could have easily seen this coming as hardware-coupled vendor-centric solutions, and open platforms like SDN/NFV are in essence like oil and water. So why did they even open their platform up to competitors?
Between the massive scopes of network functions that compromise a modern network, and the major changes brewing in the industry, many companies haven’t had time to fully develop new viable technologies all by themselves. So by opening up the platforms to third part NFV vendors, they can easily increase the flexibility and capabilities of their systems without having to develop these new functions from scratch.
Why this signals the rise of NFV and SDN
As more and more network functions, services and hardware continue to be virtualized we will be seeing an increase in cases like these where there’s an overlap in competing technologies. One can think of it as simply function of its design, due to the fact these systems where architected from the ground up to be as flexible and open as possible. This means it will be very easy for vendors to adapt their solutions onto competing platforms. Once people are certain of SDN and NFV’s ability to replace existing infrastructure, we’ll be seeing an exponential increase in effort put towards virtualizing every single aspect of our networks.
Themodularity afforded by the SDN/NFV architecture allows people to mix /match just the right amount of services and functions for implementation as necessary, and all of this packed inside one common network appliance. After seeing this, it’s quite obvious why many business are choosing to upgrade from traditional network equipment to cheaper software-defined solutions implemented on top of comparatively inexpensive generic x86 rackmount network appliances(like the one pictured below).
Lanner’s UP-2010 a high port density x86 rackmount network appliance
The incredible power afforded by Intel x86 processors has made these appliances the number one choice as the primary work horse in programmable network computing. SDN and NFV implement numerous services and functions that when scaled up require massive amounts of computing and packet processing power. That’s where these whitebox vendor-neutral network appliances come in. Their low price, widespread adoption and availability have all contributed to the massive market share impacts. They give rise to hardware agnostic networks that make replacing a faulty appliance as simple as plugging in a new one and powering it on. One main use case is in large telecommunications companies like Verizon. Since they have massive infrastructure requirements, by using technologies like Puppet to automate the provisioning of new hardware appliances in a plug-and-play fashion they save an enourmous amount of time and money.
That’s also what has made solutions like Hyper converged infrastructure (basically NFVi) so popular. The ability to abstract hardware to the next level helps by automatically pool all the resources for greatly improved load balancing, provisioning and orchestration. being able to just plug any x86 device into the network and automatically have its resources allotted into the orchestrator, thus making it readily available within seconds is something that’s just too good to pass up in a lot of cases.
No matter which company succeeds more in this competitive landscape, ultimately the true winners will be the end users. Given the nature of capitalism, competition is one of the foremost driving forces behind innovation and price-reduction. We see the negative aspects of this effect in places where companies are allowed to have localized monopolies, almost always resulting in customers being charge ridiculous prices simply due of the fact there’s really no other alternative to turn to.
SDNs power to propagate said competition and innovation because of its design is progressively tipping scales in its favor. Expanding adoption, fast evolution, and incredible benefits have always been a recipe for success. In a modern capitalist country like ours, the prospect of separating SW from HW vendors and then being able to analyze, mix and match the different solutions based solely on their merits will undoubtedly appeal to most.


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This is a submitted sponsored story. CCN urges readers to conduct their own research with due diligence into the company, product or service mentioned in the content below.
The Czech Republic-based Miracle Tele is a blockchain-based mobile operator that looks to make mobile calling significantly more affordable and accessible through its upcoming platform and TELE token.
The token will be responsible for purchases and transactions on the platform, as well as allowing users to stake their tokens, and take shares in 40% of the profit made on a biweekly basis.
The Current Problems in the Industry
While costs have come down in the decades since the invention of the telephone back in the late 1800s, the infrastructure involved for mobile networks are still costly. These costs are passed onto the consumer, which makes the average American phone bill over $80 a month.
This number has been on the rise for the last couple of years, so despite new technology making it more accessible and reliable, increasing demand for data and international calls has counteracted any potential savings.
Furthermore, companies are offering fewer and fewer services; they would instead try to find a way to add it into the customer’s bill through a hidden fee, contract, or some other form of squeezing out more money from the customer.
As consumers demand faster and more data, costs are expected to continue to increase. Especially with networks on the cusp of integrating and trickling down 5G infrastructure, mobile providers may incite another price hike that consumers really can’t do anything about.
How Miracle Tele Is Different
Miracle Tele will forgo a lot of the traditional infrastructure thanks to their usage of blockchain technology. Expenses are massively reduced, allowing their Mobile Virtual Network (MVN) to pass along savings to the consumers.
Being a virtual network also offers other advantages, such as being usable in 163 countries. Calls from any of these supported countries to any other support country are not treated as roaming calls but instead charged with the same flat price of 0.20 EUR as a local all.
Only outgoing calls are charged, with users not being charged for incoming calls.
Data charges will also be the lowest in the industry, but these rates vary from country to country. WhatsApp and Telegram will not count against data, meaning users will always have a way to stay in touch with their friends all over the world.
The Miracle Tele system will work on a pay as you go system, with no requirement of contracts or documentation from the user. Users also have the flexibility of having as many virtual numbers as they want, with these additional numbers only costing between 2-3 EUR, with a monthly fee of 0.5 – 1.5 EUR.
The platform will initially start as a token on Ethereum’s blockchain but will at some time in the future transfer over to their own blockchain to help eliminate transaction costs and gas fees associated with Ethereum.
For more information about MiracleTele, check out their website. Social media updates can be found on their Twitter, with longer-form blog posts on Medium. To chat with the team and community, make sure to hop into their Telegram channel.


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Premium footwear retailer Kurt Geiger has announced that it has entered into an exclusive retail distribution deal in with US-based premium footwear brand Vince Camuto.
Under the agreement, Kurt Geiger will partner exclusively with Vince Camuto and its associated VC Signature and Jessica Simpson brands in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany.
Kurt Geiger also plans to open a standalone Vince Camuto store in central London in spring 2013, but did not reveal any details regarding location.
“We are very excited to be partnering with Vince Camuto across Europe,” said Neil Clifford chief executive of Kurt Geiger. “Vince is one of the rare true geniuses in the footwear world and his brands will help support our strategy of becoming the strongest footwear accessory player in Europe.”
Vince Camuto, founder and chief executive of Camuto Group added: “The team at Kurt Geiger is best-in-class; Neil’s pioneering vision and direction has led to tremendous success.
“We believe that the partnership will allow both companies to achieve significant growth within the European market.”


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The standards organization known as SAE International is announcing support for Tesla’s EV “North American Charging Standard” or NACS port. SAE’s adoption will make it easier for electric vehicle charging station manufacturers and operators to implement the port while also making charging for EV owners more consistent and reliable. Tesla’s formerly proprietary charging port was opened up last year in a bid to become the de facto EV standard in the US.
The US Joint Office of Energy and Transportation has worked with Tesla and the SAE in an effort to expedite the Tesla plug as a standard to improve the country’s charging infrastructure.
SAE is also working with the ChargeX consortium, which was put together by the Biden administration so the Department of Energy’s National Labs can help EV manufacturers create consistent tech across vehicles and chargers for items like universal error codes. SAE is lending its Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology to make charging more secure against cyber attacks.
Also today, ChargePoint announced that customers setting up charging stations with its equipment could add Tesla’s port standard to new orders of several commercial AC stations and DC fast chargers, as well as home AC charging systems later this year (via Electrek).
ChargePoint joins a handful of similar electric vehicle charging station companies that have announced support for Tesla’s charging port. The standard has been gaining momentum since major legacy automakers Ford, GM, and Rivian all announced commitments to add Tesla’s plug to their future vehicles.
Like ChargePoint, many other electric vehicle charging station manufacturers and operators have recently rallied to add Tesla’s plug as an option to their units. Some of those companies include EVgo, Tritium, Blink, and ABB. ChargePoint’s name is on about 2,184 DC fast charging stations in North America, according to the US Department of Energy, and the company claims to have more than 743,000 “active and roaming ports” available to charge cars at both AC and DC speeds.
Most non-Tesla-owned DC fast charging stations that you’d find in places like mall parking lots, including ChargePoint’s own (largely identifiable as the orange ones), use the Combined Charging System, or CCS, as the main connector. Several may also still have CHAdeMO plugs to charge Nissan Leaf vehicles, but those are slowly dwindling away.
Some EV charging companies like EVgo had added Tesla’s connector to their stations by hacking existing CHAdeMO connectors with Tesla’s official adapter. ChargePoint had also tested stations with Tesla ports in the past, but all these solutions have been insignificant due to slower charging rates when compared to Tesla’s fast (and vast) Supercharging network.
Now, with SAE supporting NACS, larger EV charging company holdouts like the Volkswagen-owned Electrify America may have an easier time making the jump.


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The Food and Drug Administration plans to sharply restrict the sale of most flavored pod-style e-cigarettes, effectively pulling them from most convenience stores and gas stations and requiring strict age verification controls for online sales, according to senior FDA officials.
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A wise woman once said: "There is no such thing as bad publicity: ALL publicity is good publicity."
H&M is the latest retailer to use creative advertising gimmicks to drive traffic to their online store.
H&M came under fire over the weekend for using a black boy model to advertise a “coolest monkey in the jungle” hoodie. The advertisement appeared on H&M's UK website.
Many outraged Twitter users who don't even shop at H&M threatened to boycott their stores.
But, in the end, H&M got what they wanted: tons of press and more traffic to their websites in Europe and in the U.S.
H&M, which is based in Sweden, apologized and removed the advertisement on Sunday.
"This image has now been removed from all H&M channels and we apologise to anyone this may have offended," the company told the NY Daily News.
Two other hoodies from the same company featured white boy models, including one labeled a jungle "survival expert."
Racism in advertising as PR stunts has worked well in the past for other corporations, including Dove Soap, whose ad featuring a black woman turning white sparked outrage -- and drove more traffic to the website.


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We’ve all done it. You sit down to lunch at your desk, click on the Internet icon and surf over to your favorite retail site, where you place an order for the Pokemon figures your son wants for Christmas. No harm done, right?
Believe it or not, that’s what most companies said in a recent survey. Despite the rash of horror stories about how much personal Internet use is costing companies in lost productivity, those surveyed and others interviewed by Computerworld said they just aren’t very concerned about it.
Instead, they’re publishing flexible policies on how computer assets can and should be used during work hours. And for the most part, the policies seem to be working.
In a recent survey conducted by the Santa Clara, Calif.-based Saratoga Institute, only 4.5 per cent of the 244 companies that responded said they were “extremely concerned” about employees surfing the Net for personal reasons. Some 15.2 per cent said they weren’t at all concerned, and about 50 per cent said they were “somewhat or more concerned.”
“Everyone is aware of [the issue of Web-shopping at work], but very few companies are doing anything about it,” said Michael Kelly, the study’s author. “The legal scouts have not sent back much useful information on the right to privacy.”
The Medstat Group Inc. in Ann Arbor, Mich., is one company that has never had productivity problems among its 700 employees as a result of Internet use, said Michael J. Karaman, vice-president and chief technology officer for product development.
“At the same time, we recognize and tolerate a small amount of personal use,” Karaman said. “This flexibility has become more important as the workday extends beyond the workplace and into the home.”
At minimum, Kelly advocates that organizations whose employees have Internet access create acceptable-use policies, and many said they have already done so.
Of the companies surveyed by the Saratoga Institute, 82.6 per cent said they have a written Internet use policy, and 62.9 per centsaid they include it in their employee handbooks.
One such company is Las Vegas-based law firm Barker, Brown, Busby, Chrisman & Thomas PC. Jeremy Brummett, who manages the firm’s IT systems, said he published an acceptable-use policy primarily because of liability concerns.
“We didn’t want to find out down the road that there was reason to have [a policy] when we didn’t,” said Brummett. Employees must sign the policy, which says they agree not to visit objectionable Internet sites or use company e-mail assets to send objectionable or harassing information, he said.
Joy Harris, a spokeswoman for Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Best Buy Co., said Best Buy’s policy allows “reasonable” use of company systems for informal or personal purposes, such as during lunch periods or breaks.
“It is the responsibility of each employee to comply with the policy and of managers to monitor and ensure compliance,” said Harris.
And that’s just the way it should be, said Jill Frankle, an analyst at Gomez Advisors Inc. in Lincoln, Mass. Although there is plenty of evidence that people are shopping online at work, measuring productivity losses from it is very difficult, she said.
And despite personal use, the Internet and e-mail give employees more flexibility to balance a productive career with their personal lives.
“Companies are empowering their employees with these tools and empowering them to be responsible employees,” said Frankle.
But not everybody sees it that way. “The person making their [online] purchase is not necessarily doing their work, and they could be affecting other people’s work as well by soaking up bandwidth,” said Kevin Blakeman, president of U.S. operations at SurfControl PLC, a Scotts Valley, Calif.-based firm that develops Internet usage-monitoring tools that can alert companies when their employees are visiting objectionable Web sites.
SurfControl recently completed a study that found that 30 per cent to 40 per cent of worker productivity is lost due to personal use of the Internet, and nearly three quarters of workers with Internet access acknowledged that their personal use slows down their company’s network.
The Saratoga Institute also acknowledges that personal usage that gets out of control can cost companies a lot in lost productivity.
In fact, a company with 1,000 Internet users who do personal Web surfing for one hour per day can lose more than $35 million in productivity costs each year, according to the institute.
Sam Asher, president of Sam Asher Computing Services Inc., a 30-person custom software development firm in Rochester, N.Y., said he sees his employees using the Internet for non-work-related reasons all of the time.
“I don’t have a problem with it. This is no different than using a phone, photocopier or other office items for personal use,” said Asher. “My sense is that . . . those that abuse their opportunities abuse all of their opportunities. For those who do a good job, I am happy to make the service available to them.”
Karaman agreed draconian monitoring isn’t the answer.
“No amount of policing will ever eliminate inappropriate behavior,” said Karaman. “Companies should hire people who fit the corporate culture, spend the time to adequately orient and train them, then get out of the way and let them do their job.”


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Android developers are getting a new update for the Google Play Console that will make tracking user acquisition figures and other actionable metrics both easier and more comprehensive. The new update centers around enabling developers to optimize their store presence in order to grow organic traffic and garner more installs by providing more insight into their applications' traffic and installations. To that end, the company has begun by introducing a much deeper breakdown of the data shown to developers. First, the Play Console will now show developers not only how many users are arriving at a Play Store listing but whether they got there by searching or by exploring. Those are categorized separately from user actions such as clicking through to the listing on the storefront's homepage, through a category list, or a related app. Each also shows metrics for conversion rates and installs.
Under the search category, developers will also be able to click through to see which search terms are landing Android users at an app's page. That's in addition to more information about which search terms typically led to more installations after the user arrived. Moreover, the overall breakdown will now count users who saw an app preview – an expanded listing with screenshots and other media as well as ratings and reviews – and how many installed an app afterward. Those will be counted in 'listing views' however, so Android developers should note that any changes to that count this month could be influenced by the change.
Developers will be able to use the new metrics offered by the Google Play Console to make several key adjustments and optimizations. First, the update will provide a better idea of how users are finding their application, allowing searchability and other similar aspects of their app listings to be optimized. Seeing which search terms lead to installs, on the other hand, will enable developers to put more focus and emphasis on the terms users actually associate with the application. Meanwhile, data about user preview visits may deliver insights into whether or not an app's media or description needs to be updated or are appropriately representing the app. Taken in combination with other information delivered by the Google Play Console, the newly added breakdown should make it much easier for developers to target an audience and increase both sales and installs.


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As the 2012-year drew to a close, Catherine Reynolds and Erin Brittain were named the co-winners of the Anytime Fitness Challenge.
The yearlong challenge gave six selected participants a free gym membership and trainer at locations in Oro Valley and Marana. Of those six, Reynolds and Brittain managed to endure, and their results have proven to be the ultimate payoff.
Reynolds, who joined to feel more comfortable with her body, lost 45 pounds, and has dropped from a size 16 to an eight.
“This challenge has definitely changed my life, but more than that, it has changed my family’s,” said Reynolds. “My children now recognize the importance of diet and an active lifestyle. And now I will be able to experience it with them.”
Reynolds said she will continue to pursue fitness, and will set small goals as she goes along.
“I will never again buy a larger size,” she said. “If something doesn’t fit, I will focus on my diet and exercise again to fit back into it.”
Brittain, a stay-at-home mother of seven, lost 74 pounds, 54 inches, 20 percent body fat, and is down from a size 20 to a size 12.
“This challenge changed my life because it helped me be successful in an area that I had failed in for 20 years, which is getting healthy and fit,” said Brittain. “I had been overweight for so long and had tried many, many years to eat healthy and exercise with no success. Having a trainer and the accountability and education he provided was the key. It is still difficult at times, but now I am feeling so good that I will never go back to my old habits.”
Mike Urbanski, owner of the Anytime Fitness on Oracle Road where Reynolds and Brittain worked out, was so impressed with the duo’s efforts that he decided to go above and beyond in rewarding them.
“When we first started, we were going to give the winner a $500 Visa gift card to buy a new wardrobe, but because we selected two winners who both worked so hard, we split that $250 each,” he said. “We also gave them another free year of membership. We’re very proud of what they’ve done. They’ve been so self-motivated and self-disciplined. It was a nice celebration, and they deserved it.”
Reynolds and Brittain recognize their accomplishments didn’t come without the support of the Anytime Fitness staff.
“It is incredible how supportive the entire gym, especially the Urbanski family, has been,” said Reynolds. “I truly believe the Anytime Fitness on Oracle is the best gym in Tucson and it is