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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - In South Korea’s capital of Seoul, there’s a waste problem. In April, the metropolitan area had an overabundance of plastic and vinyl waste because companies charged with recycling those materials refused to collect them because of low returns.
As a result, the untreated recycled goods were piled throughout Seoul’s residential areas. Discussions and consultations were held between officials and the companies, and after roughly two weeks the refuse was removed. But longer term, the problem remains unsolved, despite some innovative efforts to deal with the waste.
Officials have turned to “upcycling” to resolve the situation and address future concerns.
Limits to recycling
The Seoul Upcycling Plaza (SUP), a five-story building in Seongdong-gu, is home for the process of collecting, sorting, breaking down products into reusable raw materials and selling “upcycled goods.” There are 35 upcycling social enterprises that have been chosen after a competition to begin this process.
“There is a certain limit in recycling; break, grind the material and recycle it,” said SUP director Yoon Dayyoung. “It is necessary to upcycle that creates new value to the disposal so people can take benefits.”
Seoul plans to recycle more than 70 percent of its plastics by 2030. To this end, the official said, “We will supply dismantled raw materials that can be used for producing upcycle goods to the citizens via Material Bank. People can find more than 400 [types] of materials and be able to purchase it for their purpose.”
New business opportunities
The majority of companies moving into the upcycling business are craft studios that produce specialty items with the collected materials. These include origami kits made from used milk packs, plates derived from flattened wine bottles and accessories using discarded banners. Visitors can buy products or, if they choose, participate in producing the items.
An onsite service center also repairs broken electronic devices with components taken from other machines that are no longer functional, thus extending the life of original materials and reducing waste. Onlookers in this area will see not only local brands, but also well-known imports.
Is it enough?
Despite the efforts of those in the upcycle sector, the concept does not yet appear to have enough momentum to be sustainable. Many of the studios and suppliers produce the upcycled products manually and don’t have enough manpower for production on a large scale. In addition, some people are disappointed by the fact that upcycled products are not as inexpensive as initially hoped.
But at Touch4Good, which upcycles banners and billboards into fashionable handbags and accessories, Park Mi-hyeon says it’s important to think about the process properly. She says that upcycling is more akin to creating craft or custom goods rather than mass producing items.
Park has been running various upcycling projects since 2008 and operates the material research institute for upcycling. According to Park, most upcycling material has to be manually sorted, and the procedure to refurbish it is also done by hand.
“If you consider upcycling simply as a commodity, you cannot fully appreciate its value. This process enhances the value of the goods,” Park said.
She asserts there is a great deal of potential in the upcycling market in South Korea and points to the more than 200 companies operating in the sector.
?Stop the waste
However, environmental experts suggest it is more significant to reduce the amount of plastic being used than to develop upcycling. Even the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency has a web page devoted to reducing, reusing, and recycling waste.
In Seoul, to encourage reducing waste, Starbucks, the American coffee chain, has eliminated the use of plastic straws and replaced them with paper alternatives. Other restaurants have also done away with plastic straws and have encouraged patrons to bring in their own or are using metal or bamboo straws instead.
In terms of reducing waste, other eateries have banned plastic straws and are encouraging the use of personal mugs instead of disposables. Single-use plastic bags are also banned in supermarkets.
“Korea has too many people for its limited land space; hence disposal, incineration, and landfill, those measures cannot be the alternative option in Korea,” said Hong Su-yeol, the head of Resource Recycling Consulting. “Moreover, even in the case of upcycling, it still less than perfect as the processing capability is limited.”
Hong added, “It is hard to raise the rate of recycling more than 90 percent in near future. For the pending issues, we need to introduce some means like usage ban and regulation.”
Seoul also plans to regulate the use of disposable products in the public sector from 2020 to cut the consumption of disposable products.


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There seems to be a lot going on with the blockchain remittance company Ripple, and recent job openings at the organization have revealed that the company might be working on a next-generation trading platform that supposedly provides real-time access to crypto markets.
Ripple is currently looking to hire a senior software engineer for liquidity who’ll be required to “build an enterprise-grade, distributed trading platform that provides real-time access to crypto markets.”
Besides the development of the platform, the candidate would also have to source and aggregate liquidity while handling “execution algorithm modeling and implementation.”
The listing also highlights Ripple’s On-demand Liquidity (ODL) product, the company’s XRP-based remittance technology, hinting that the new platform might be leveraging ODL.
The company describes ODL as “a product that leverages digital assets and blockchain technology to improve the cost, speed, and transparency of cross-border payments. This highly strategic product for Ripple is powered by the superior speed, low transaction cost, and scalability of the digital asset XRP.”
ODL is Ripple’s most popular blockchain product and is leveraged by several of its partners across the globe. The network tripled its transaction volume over Q1 2020, while the USD value transacted using ODL increased by more than 294%.
However, the connection between ODL and this new platform seems to be much broader in this case because the job post mentions the overall crypto markets and not just XRP.
The listing doesn’t, however, mention which class of users this new platform is targeting whether it is retail traders, institutions, or just financial institutions that are part of RippleNet.
The company has posted similar job advertisements earlier this year, suggesting that it is currently expanding the team that is working on this project.
RippleNet continue to expand
Meanwhile, the company continues to expand its operations with new partnerships. The latest partnership has been inked with UK based payments operator Guava Pay.
Guava Pay has now joined RippleNet and will be leveraging Ripple’s platform to facilitate faster and cheaper cross-border remittance services for its customers.
On the other hand, the SBI group, one of Ripple’s biggest backers, announced that its subsidiary SBI e-sports will be paying the salary of its players in XRP, further promoting its use in a new market.

domain: news


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NEW DELHI: The number of Internet
users in India rose 32% last year, to reach 302 million, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India, which includes members such as Google
, Microsoft, eBay, IBM, Flipkart, Ola Cabs and LinkedIn.
The Internet in India took more than a decade to move from 10 million to 100 million and three years from 100 to 200 million. However, it took only a year to move from 200 to 300 million users, noted the Association.Mobile Internet
in India also grew significantly last year. The mobile Internet user base reached 213 million by June 2015. The country had 159 million mobile Internet users by October 2014, out of which 119 million users were from urban users and the rest 40 million were from rural India.
With the growth of the Internet, digital commerce, digital advertising, payments and social media have also seen steady growth over the past year.IAMAI
has also said that increase in local language content on the Internet will lead to a growth of 39% in the current Internet user base, with rural India being the primary driver of this growth (75 per cent) while in urban India will grow at 16 per cent.
The local language user base grew at 47 per cent to reach 127 million in June 2015. IAMAI believes that the next set of internet users will come from rural India and the availability of local language content on internet will be the key for the growth of Internet industry in India.


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Scottish businesses have reported a decrease in profits, sales and market share in the three months to July according to a new Business Distress Index report from insolvency trade body R3.
Its survey of more than 500 small, medium and large business owners and finance directors found almost half - 44 per cent - of Scottish and Northern Irish businesses said they were experiencing a decrease in profits; with 40 per cent stating they had reduced sales and 17 per cent saying their market share had fallen.
And eight per cent of businesses surveyed said they are only able to pay the interest on their debts without reducing the debt itself, which R3 says equates to around 14,000 ‘zombie’ businesses in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Eight per cent of those surveyed also reported they are struggling to pay their debts when they fall due, and five per cent are having to negotiate payment terms with their creditors.
R3 measured four ‘zombie indicators’, any of which could indicate that businesses are nearing the point of insolvency, but are still able to hang on, neither failing nor thriving.
The indicators are those businesses who are only managing to pay the interest on debt without reducing the principle, struggling to pay debts when they fall due and having to negotiate payment terms with suppliers and those unable to pay their debts at all were interest rates to rise.
R3 issued a dire warning for Scotland's high street in July, predicting more than a quarter of shops and a fifth of hotels could go bust in the next 12 months.
It said 274 retail outlets and as many as 30 hotels are currently at “high risk” of failure, with a further 1,238 shops and 137 hotels in Scotland “vulnerable to failure” in the next 12 months.
The estimates put more than 26 per cent of Scotland's retailers and nearly 18 per cent of hoteliers at risk of insolvency.
Official figures published in July by the Office of The Accountant in Bankruptcy for the second quarter of 2012 revealed the rate of corporate insolvency in Scotland rose by 22.4 per cent year-on-year and by 9.1 per cent on the previous quarter.
Accountants PKF said 420 Scottish companies went bust between April and June - representing a rate of 32 a week – with second quarter corporate insolvency rates now the highest ever recorded.
Commenting on the latest survey results, Scottish R3 council member, John Hall, said: “Our survey indicates that enormous numbers of Scottish businesses are simply treading water financially, hoping for an upturn in the market to rescue them.
“Unfortunately, the indications are that this will not happen for some and that they may face closure in the months and years to come.
“Essentially, a zombie business is one that is on the edge of insolvency but has been holding on, often for a prolonged period of time.
“An insolvent business is one that is unable to pay its debts when they fall due, or a business that has debts greater than the value of its assets.
“The danger for businesses that are teetering on the edge is that any change of circumstances, such as a rise in interest rates, the loss of a major customer, or suppliers upping their prices, will mean that they will not be able to hang on any longer.”
Nationally, the retail sector featured most prominently across three out of the four zombie business indicators.
It has the highest proportion of businesses that will be unable to pay their debts in the event of a rise in interest rates – 18 per cent - which R3 says equates to around 31,000 businesses.
However, the construction sector has the largest proportion of businesses that are only able to pay the interest on their debts – 16 per cent- which it says works out at around 37,000 businesses.
Hall added: “Devastation on the high street is well recorded.
“Since the start of 2011, over 21,000 jobs have been lost from the failures of major high street names, but we are yet to see the volume of construction failures that we would expect.
“Despite the Scottish government’s investment in capital expenditure projects such as the second Forth Road Bridge, the expectation is that construction companies will continue to struggle as there is little indication of an improvement in the commercial or residential property markets.
“Our conclusion is that construction may well be the next big casualty from this recession.”


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text: Nerval's Lobster writes Is the tablet market rapidly collapsing? Mobile-analytics firm Flurry doesn't come to quite that stark a conclusion, but things aren't looking too good for touch-screens that don't qualify as "phablets." According to Flurry's numbers, full-sized tablets accounted for only 11 percent of new devices in 2014, a decline from 2013, when that form-factor totaled 17 percent of the new-device market; small tablets experienced a smaller decline, falling from 12 percent to 11 percent of new devices between 2013 and 2014. (Meanwhile, phablets expanded from 4 percent of new devices in 2013 to 13 percent this year.) Boy Genius Report, for its part, looked at those numbers and decided that the tablet market is doomed: "Consumers happy with compact smartphones are not switching to larger iPhones for now, but former tablet buyers are." That's not to say people will stop using tablets, but the onetime theory that they would one day cannibalize all PCs looks increasingly nebulous.


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Pizza Factory has inked a deal for a location in Washington. The restaurant, whose location has yet to be announced, will be an Express model, and the 12th location in the state.
Behind the deal are Jatin Patel and Jyoti Bhatta, new franchisees to the brand. The pair hope to open their location by summer.
“Pizza Factory has been a part of our lives for years,” Patel said in the press release. “We’ve bonded over our love for the pizza in the past, and when we were looking for investment opportunities in the restaurant industry, Pizza Factory was the clear choice. Not only is the food delicious, but the corporate support has been incredible.”
“As newcomers to franchising, Jatin and I especially value the open line of communication between corporate and the franchisees, and we’re happy to be investing in a proven concept lead by an all-star team,” Bhatta said in the release.
Pizza Factory has both a fast-casual model and an Express version.
“After a few decades in business, we know exactly what our franchisees need to succeed,” MJ Riva, CEO of Pizza Factory, said in the release. “A significant portion of our model’s growth has been achieved through our strong bonds with our franchisees, and we’re thrilled that this has hit home with Jatin and Jyoti. Our recipe for success includes our delicious food, dedicated franchisees and Awesome model, and we can’t wait for our newest franchisees to experience this success firsthand with their location.”
Pizza Factory operates in more than 100 hometowns.


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Payment provider Square enters cannabis market in Canada through partnership with Jane
Payment processing for cannabis operators has been an issue since the dawn of legalization. However, financial tech firm Square is seeking to make things a bit easier—at least in Canada.
Today, Square announced a partnership with Jane, a top online ordering platform in the cannabis industry, to provide payment solutions for the legal marijuana market in Canada. Dispensaries can add online ordering to their business plans, enabling customers to order and pay for pick-up or delivery. The move is intended to help brick-and-mortar businesses supplement income through e-commerce.
Licensed cannabis retailers in Ontario will also have the chance to beta-test in-person payment processing through Square, with a broader roll-out expected in the coming months.
Roshan Jhunja, head of retail at Square, pointed to the company’s forward-thinking history in various industries when explaining the decision to enter the cannabis space.
“With cannabis representing such a huge emerging market in Canada, the US, and globally, we’re committed to being at the forefront of providing the tools and services necessary to help cannabis sellers succeed,” Jhunja said in an email.
Companies like Mastercard have shied away from servicing the growing cannabis market in the U.S. due to the plant’s Schedule I status. Square’s decision to embrace the industry is something Socrates Rosenfeld, CEO and co-founder at Jane, sees as a groundbreaking moment.
“We deeply respect Square and their team for being true pioneers,” Rosenfeld told GreenState. “Many tech giants talk about it but hesitate to be first. Square has shown the courage to lead, and we’re honored they chose Jane as their digital infrastructure partner to enter into cannabis.”
Cannabis is federally legal in Canada, but until federal marijuana legalization hits stateside, Square will be sticking to solely servicing their neighbors to the north. However, Jhunja did state the company would be open to working with American operators if regulations change.
As legislators in Washington debate SAFE Banking, the announcement from Square opens the door to future endeavors in the cannabis market.
“This partnership marks a significant milestone for the Jane team and a positive advancement for the cannabis industry as we strive to expand accessibility for all,” Rosenfeld added.


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Assam government is committed to provide more exposure to its eri, muga and other silk products and the outreach mission will work towards promoting silk products, according to media reports.
Trees are being planted so that muga cocoons can grow on them, said Ranjit Dutta, Assam handloom and sericulture minister. He also said that yarn banks have already been established in 9 districts in the state and the rest of the districts will be covered soon.
Dutta added that silk entrepreneurs will receive government’s support. A handloom park is also slated to come up in the Nagaon district that will benefit over 20,000 people. He will also appoint a brand ambassador soon to promote the state’s silk products. (KD)
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In recent years, fintech’s revolution has felt like a rising tide.
Behemoths like Stripe and Square edged out banks while newbies like Brex nonchalantly raised nine-figure rounds. Today, however, the state of the financial technology industry feels more wobbly — some healthy startups in the genre are faring better than ever, while others are feeling the strain as consumers tighten their wallets and change their spending patterns.
It’s clear that we’re going to see some fintech startups struggle in the near future, but venture capitalists claim not to think in a short-term manner. We ran our last fintech VC survey in November 2019, so we wanted to get their take on where fintech is today. We turned to eight top VCs to better understand the state of the industry, which market signals they’re tracking and where opportunities still exist within the already-crowded pool of financial services:
- Matt Harris, Bain Capital Ventures
- Charles Birnbaum, Bessemer Venture Partners
- Jackson Gates, Manresa Ventures
- Rob Moffat, Balderton Capital
- Hope Cochran, Madrona Ventures
- Brendan Dickinson, Canaan
- Yann Ranchere, Anthemis
- Cherry Miao, Accel
Next week, we’ll publish the other findings we received from these investors, focusing on fintech’s future in a post-COVID-19 world.
What follows is a collection of themes we noted from the investors, followed by their at-length responses.
Investing pace, flight to quality, varied impacts and uncertainty
Our first theme deals with investing pace. More investors than we expected were willing to note that their investing pace into fintech companies was slowing for one reason or another. While it’s become a cliché for private investors to state that they are open for business as a market signal, that doesn’t appear to mean that investments into fintech won’t slow.
The reasons why investors are slowing their pace of deals is varied, with some noting issues on their end (difficulty to reach conviction while operating remotely, etc.), and some detailing that some fintech companies are more internally focused today than reaching out to raise new capital. Investors also noted an expectation for fundraising to take longer and lower valuations. While that’s not great for founders, it’s also not the worst news; there is still money out there to be raised, and many investors claim they are writing checks of the same size as before.
The second theme deals with an expected flight to quality, with investors stressing that startups in the space should curtail spend that isn’t core to survival (marketing spend around branding was raised, for example), focus on key business metrics (unit economics, aggregate profitability), and monitor leading business indicators more closely. This is not a surprising set of advice, per se, but it is one that matters. If founders will listen remains to be seen, but investor are clearly signaling a return to more sober business operations.
Our third theme deals with how varied the impact of COVID-19 has been on fintech companies. As TechCrunch has reported, fintech companies have seen a distributed set of results since the pandemic closed much of the U.S. economy. However, when reading through investor responses, the true scale of this divergence became clear. The new reality is not merely that some fintech companies are doing a bit better or a bit worse. Instead, it’s that some are sharply down, some are flat, and some are soaring. This is perhaps a good argument for tightening what fintech means, or perhaps dealing with the category on a more tailored basis; fintech may have become too broad a bucket to treat as a group.
And finally, our fourth theme is uncertainty. Our investor group this morning isn’t expecting the economy to snap right back. But when it will return, and in what form, are far from clear. 2020 could be a lost year, said Brendan Dickinson from Canaan. The market recovery will not be swift, said Matt Harris of Bain Capital Ventures. And Charles Birnbaum from Bessemer Venture Partners said that “economic shocks” all “play out quite differently from one another.”
With that collection of notes, let’s begin. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Matt Harris, Bain Capital Ventures
What portion of your fintech portfolio companies is thriving? What portion is struggling?
Recently, we’ve started to look at our portfolio along two dimensions. The first dimension is the vulnerability of the company in general, considering things like cash balance and level of burn, fundraising needs and durability of revenue. The second dimension is the impact of COVID-19 on that company. Fortunately, a good portion of our portfolio fell into the positive end of both dimensions, and we were quick to focus our attention on companies with either high vulnerability or high COVID-19 impact.
Businesses that relied more on transactional revenue and exhibited urgent need for capital that couldn’t be solved by cost-cutting measures are the most vulnerable, while businesses centered on consumer investing and spending, or those companies serving highly affected sectors like restaurants and travel tend to be most impacted.


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“We are joining other retailers by implementing a face covering policy for customers, and will continue to follow the guidance of health officials and adjust our practices to help keep our customers and team members safe,” said Shane Wharton, president of Love’s. “We want to thank our customers who continue to adapt to these protective measures implemented at Love’s.”
According to the CDC, face coverings help decrease the spread of COVID-19. Customers who don’t have their own face mask or covering can purchase them at Love’s.
Love’s is continuing to prioritize the health and safety of customers and team members by performing vigorous and frequent cleaning and disinfecting measures, practicing social distancing and requiring all team members to wear face coverings.


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Yuga Labs seller bags $1.5 million in rare virtual land piece sale on Otherside
The Yuga Labs Otherside metaverse project’s Otherdeed #59906, the eighth most rare virtual land piece, was purchased for a record 625 ETH ($1.5 million) on the NFT marketplace X2Y2 earlier in May 2022.
An enthusiast of NFTs purchased “n0b0dy.eth,” a coveted NFT. The seller, known as “brickandmorty.eth,” made a profit of nearly $1.49 million after purchasing the NFT for 305 Apecoins (about $6,000 at the time).
A Summary of Otherside
Yuga Labs revealed its gaming metaverse project: Otherside. The game will have plots of land in the world called Otherdeeds.
Otherside is a metaverse project that is being developed by Yuga Labs. The project is still in its early stages, but the team has already created a functioning virtual world that can be explored by anyone with an internet connection.
The world of Otherside is made up of a series of interconnected “islands” that are each owned by a different user. Users can buy and sell these islands, and they can also build on them, creating houses, businesses, or other structures.
In conclusion, the sale of Otherdeeds generated almost $320 million for Yuga. It was the most successful NFT project to date in terms of gross revenue.
45,000 Otherdeeds were also found, with 10,000 set aside for Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) owners, 20,000 for Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) holders, and 15,000 reserved for Yuga and other project developers who helped to build Otherside.
In the future, there will be 200,000 Otherdeeds available in total. “Voyagers” who own Otherdeeds and contribute to its growth will receive the final 100,000.
Otherdeed NFTs Making Records
Otherdeed is in the top 10 NFT collections, earning more than $833 million within days of launching, according to CryptoSlam data. The Block Research reports that the most significant sales range from $700,000 to $1.5 million. It also refers to numbers from Dune Analytics.
The lowest price for Otherdeeds is 3 ETH ($7,200), according to the current floor price. That means no one else was willing to pay a premium of that magnitude for the Otherdeed #59906 NFT.
As a result, the high premium paid implies that n0b0dy.eth has faith in the project’s long-term success.
The specifics of the project are limited. According to Yuga Labs, it is collaborating on the project with game companies Animoca Brands and Improbable.


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Discover Unique Local Experience, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)’s theme for 2017 is set woo visitors with memorable experiences of personal touch.Mrs Srisuda Wanapinyosak, TAT Deputy Governor, International Marketing (Asia and the South Pacific) said at a press conference announcing the 2017 theme campaign in Mumbai recently that: “To make Thailand as a preferred destination, we like to focus on quality. We have so many stories to tell and have lot of local activities that tourists can try. Even in the city centre of Bangkok, they can go for local cuisine tour on tuk tuk, a walking tour or a bike tour at night or even a Thai herbal massage.” Tuk tuk food tour starts at 7pm and ends at midnight and also involves visits to temples and local cooking experience.
Anusha Dandekar, Bollywood Actress, said: “Thailand has great food options in whether vegetarian or otherwise, with same style of cooking and variety. The country makes fantasy real with affordable luxury. Thai massages are a best way to relax after a busy day and one of the best Thai foot massages I had was at a corner place at Bangkok Airport for just 250 Baht. I’ve travelled alone in Thailand and the country scores on safety, one of the key points.”
Soraya Homchuen, Director, TAT Mumbai office, actress Anusha Dandekar and Srisuda Wanapinyosak, TAT Deputy Governor, International Marketing (Asia and the South Pacific).
Ms Dandekar is the Brand Ambassador for Thailand in India. Ms. Soraya Homchuen, Director, TAT Mumbai Office said that the actress was especially chosen to attract women travellers.
Mrs Wanapinyosak said: “This year we want to promote Thailand as a destination for women travellers. We welcome women all the time but August is special for women since it has the Queen’s birthday. A special app for women travellers, 10 kilograms of extra baggage allowance, lady immigration line and discount at hotels are some of the privileges provided in August.”
Thailand is Indian travellers’ favourite shopping destination. Ms Dandekar admitted that one of her favourite places to shop in Bangkok is outside Maya mall, to pick many local products.
Indian weddings in Thailand are a big business with 300 of them taking place in 2016. Indians also gather in Thailand for birthdays, family reunions, kitty parties, anniversaries and many other events. The NTO is planning to conduct an e-learning course- ‘Thailand Wedding & Honeymooners Specialist’ in India for wedding planners and handlers. Qualifying agents will get incentives on packages.
1.18 million Indians visited Thailand in 2016. This was an 11 percent growth in arrivals with 14 percent additional revenue over 2015. The South East Asian country is targeting 1.2 million Indian travellers in 2017. Waiver of visa fee and halving of Visa-on-Arrival fee till August is expected to attract more travellers to Thailand in the upcoming summer holiday season. 2017 is also celebrated as the 70th Anniversary of diplomatic relations between Thailand and India.
Mrs Wanapinyosak said: “India has always been a significant market for us with increase in footfalls every year. This year, we are happy to give our guests the experience of local tastes and culture that holds Thailand to its roots and also plan to introduce new destinations and activities. We’d like to have more of sport enthusiasts, including women, to participate in sports in Thailand.” Pattaya Marathon 2016 winner was an Indian. Thailand has 250 international standard golf courses.
Written by Anand & Madhura Katti


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WHEN the government allowed businesses to resume operations back in May following the imposition of the movement control order (MCO), many in the retail industry expected to see a recovery for the sector by the fourth quarter of this year.
With small and medium enterprises (SMEs) still grappling with the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, the question of survival remains up in the air as they seek to enter the recovery phase in an environment that has seen a drastic paradigm shift.
REALITY seems to be sinking in among Damansara Heights owners with regards to their asking prices after the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
PETALING JAYA: The price war in the domestic telecommunications scene is about to turn even fiercer as industry players up their game to capture a bigger market share, experts say
WITH the domestic economy at an early stage of recovery, albeit unevenly across sectors and businesses, accommodative monetary policy and fiscal support are incredibly important to ensure that the economic rebound and recovery will not turn anemic amid increasing concerns about an occurrence of a second wave of virus and the availability of vaccines.
Business as usual is dead. What shaped economic analysis and policy over the last forty years has failed us. We need urgent structural rather than incremental reform.
COPENHAGEN: Denmark has long sought to brand itself as one of the world’s greenest countries. So it may come as a surprise that it’s also one of the most expensive places on Earth to buy Teslas and other electric cars.
Public-listed group’s subsidiary HS Bio Supplies partners with eMedAsia
LONDON: The collapse of mall landlord Intu Properties Plc is about to send shockwaves through a sector that’s already reeling.


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By Ishaan . July 26, 2012 . 12:02pm
Sega have released a new trailer for Hatsune Miku Project Diva f, showing off more footage of the recently announced songs for the game, including Freely Tomorrow, Unhappy Refrain, Summer Idol and more. You can watch the trailer below:
Hatsune Miku Project Diva f will be released on August 30th in Japan for the PlayStation Vita.


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ACDi will be exhibiting at the PCB Carolina show on November 8, 2017 at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.
In addition to the keynote address by Susan Sanford, executive director for the Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster (RTCC), there will be 16 technical sessions, an exhibition hall and soldering workshops.
ACDi’s exhibit is at table 21 and will be staffed by Kim Boykin, Plant Manager, ACDi Nashville, NC location. “We’ve been a supporter of this show for a number of years,” said Mr. Boykin. “There’s consistently increased turnout year after year and we’re very excited to be an ongoing key electronics manufacturing services provider of the PCB Carolina community.”
Based in Frederick, MD and Nashville, NC, ACDi is an integral resource to companies who need a trusted partner for dynamic electronics manufacturing, engineering and design expertise to successfully bring their electronic products to market. Our product engineering services, PCB layout, NPI, electronics manufacturing services, testing, systems integration and product lifecycle management solutions enable OEMs to focus on their business while we focus on product realization and optimization. ACDi clients gain a hands-on extension to their business as we turn their concepts into functional product. For more information, click here.


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Publisher Riot Forge and developer Choice Provisions have announced Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Storya brand new rhythm game set in the world of League of Legends.
MORE: Borderlands 2’s Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Continues to Get a Standalone Release
The game is a mix between a fast-paced title and what’s called a “runner,” a genre that sees characters running across the screen for the duration of the game. The game will be released on November 16, 2021 for $9.99 , along with a video showcase that will also go live that day that will contain more information about the title.
You can check out a trailer for the new game below:
“In this fast-paced runner, every action has an explosive reaction and no amount of mayhem is too much. Play as yordle and explosives expert Ziggs as you go wild through the neighborhoods of Piltover,” the game’s official description reads, “Bomb, bounce, and bop to the beat of the music to dodge obstacles, disarm enemies, and ignite fuses for maximum mayhem. Cause musical mayhem as you outrun Heimerdinger in your quest to build the biggest bomb the world has ever seen!Use the Freestyle Mayhem system to create spontaneous explosions and earn bonus points…while dodging the fun cops and showing them what they’re really missing.
MORE: Pinocchio-Inspired Soulslike Lies of P Gets First Frenzied Gameplay Trailer
Hextech Mayhem: A League of Legends Story will launch on November 16, 2021 on Nintendo Switch, PC and the Netflix mobile app.


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Just Bare Chicken has named the winner of its Just 5 Cooking Challenge and released a new online cookbook.
Lindsey Bjorge of Spring Lake Park, Minn., submitted the winning recipe, Marsala chicken with roasted garlic and caramelized burst tomatoes, chosen among a field of more than 250 cooks with nearly 11,000 voting. It will be featured in the January/February 2013 issue of Whole Living magazine.
Just Bare Chicken, a brand of all-natural American Humane Certified chicken, has also released its online cookbook. Twenty recipes from the 2012 finalists are included.


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HARTFORD, Conn. (CBS Connecticut) – People who love their pets know that medications from a vet can get expensive.
Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, along with New York Sen. Charles Schumer, would like to see a change in how pet owners get pills for their pets.
“It’s important and has to be taken care of,” Anthony Pires, who has a dog named Max, told WFSB. “So I don’t question it, I just pay for it.”
The Senators would like the vet to be able to write a prescription so an owner can get the medication cheaper.
“If you were told the medicine you were buying was 200 percent more expensive than it needs to be for yourself, you would be outraged,” Blumenthal told the station. “The same is happening for pets.”
If their bill is passed, it would require vets to write prescriptions instead of selling it themselves.
The senators want owners to know that pet medication is currently available at most pharmacies and that they have the right to ask their vet for a prescription.
“Pet owners would do almost anything for their furry, feathered, four-legged family members,” Schumer said. “But to do so often breaks the bank and the reason again is because too often they don’t get prescriptions from their vets. The vets sell them the medicine directly and it’s much more expensive.”
Experts suggest a few ways to help keep expenses down when bringing your pet to a vet. They suggest you trim your pet’s nails, clean their ears, and clean their eyes at home.
They also suggest to bring your pet in for checkups instead of waiting until something is wrong.


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Will sunny prospects of solar sector help in creating jobs?
India’s aim to grow solar power capacity to over 40,000MW in the next three years is expected to help in job creation in a big way
New Delhi: It’s sunny days for 8Minutes, a solar energy start-up based in Delhi where Arjun Srihari is brand evangelist. An economics graduate who previously worked with a multinational company, Srihari feels that his shift to the solar sector is one of the best things to have happened to him.
“Two years into operation, we as a company are now absolutely sure about the future—both in terms of professional growth and that of the sector,” he says.
8Minutes, which helps firms and individual residents adopt solar energy, has grown from three people in 2015 to 40, and represents a sector where jobs are expected to be created in big numbers in the near future.
Sanjeev Aggarwal, founder and chief executive of Gurugram-based Amplus Energy Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a firm that specializes in providing end to end capabilities including design, engineering, procurement, construction, monitoring and maintenance for solar installations in the sector, agrees. “Currently, we have around 150 people employed directly and 500 more indirectly. Three years hence, this is expected to grow to nearly 500 direct and 1,000 indirect jobs. That’s good growth we believe,” he adds. Yet, there are no hard numbers on the jobs being created in the solar power sector.
The solar power sector in India is yet to catch up with traditional sectors or retail and consumer internet, said Rituparna Chakraborty, senior vice-president at Teamlease Services, a staffing company. She added that it is early days for the sector as a job creator, and there is still some time to go before it assumes the scale of what it is doing in countries such as the US.
According to the Solar Jobs Census 2016 by Solar Foundation, a non-profit, the sector had 260,077 solar workers in the US in 2016, 51,000 more than the number in 2015. In the US, solar sector jobs have nearly tripled since the first Solar Jobs Census was released in 2010.
Chakraborty believes since renewable energy is the future, the solar sector is in the forefront of effecting this shift and it’s not the commercial but the consumer side of the business which will create jobs.
“The demand from consumers for low-cost renewable energy will be huge going forward. Since the demand is expected to be huge, this segment will hopefully create jobs. But the question remains how soon the awareness spreads among people and whether the solar energy companies convert themselves to preferable employers. Can solar become as lucrative and as acceptable as, let’s say, the e-commerce space?” she asked.
Industry insiders, though, are optimistic. As such, India aims to grow solar power capacity from 9,012.69 megawatt (MW) as of 31 December to over 40,000MW in the next three years, creating opportunities. States like Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are betting big on solar energy, and firms like Amplus and 8Minutes feel that efficient execution of the government’s plan will not only enhance solar power capacity but also create jobs in the sector.
So, what kind of jobs does the sector create? A casual check of leading job portals gives one a sense of what is on offer. From engineers to project managers, from liaison officers to sales and business development officers, demand is rising in the white-collar segment. In fact, all segments of labour force —unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled—have a place in this sector, says Aggarwal of Amplus.
“Both upstream and downstream (parts) of the sector will create jobs. From manufacturing of solar panels, to setting up of solar systems, power distribution and, finally, the maintenance of the set-up will need a lot of manpower,” he says.
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As far as acquisitions go, the recent purchase of cloud orchestration and infrastructure automation vendor Cloudify by Dell Technologies for an estimated US$100 million was devoid of any real detail, since both organizations opted to impose a virtual gag order.
In fact, news of the purchase only came to light after published reports revealed that a form known as S-8 had been filed by Dell with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that outlined shares of its Class C common stock being issued to Cloudify employees.
As of this morning, there had not been a peep from either Cloudify or its new owner. Cloudify is an Israeli-based company that explains on its web site what it specializes in by stating that “organizations scaling their cloud operations are realizing that current DevOps tooling is slowing them down significantly.
“Cloudify removes such blockers by integrating and enriching existing automation and DevOps tools while keeping the infrastructure future-proof, featuring limitless integration to API-based DevOps tools and built-in support for cloud native services.”
Confirmation of the purchase came late last week, when a Dell spokesperson confirmed the acquisition and said, “this transaction allows Dell to continue to innovate our edge offerings.”
According to an article on TechCrunch, the up to US$100 million price tag “would make it a solid exit for Cloudify.”
The story goes on to say that the startup was spun out from GigaSpaces in 2017 and that Nati Shalom, the founder and chief technology officer of Cloudify, was also a co-founder of GigaSpaces. “Since then, the start-up has raised less than US$8 million, according to PitchBook data. It has all several strategic backers on its cap table: VMware, KPN, and Intel were all investors in the company,” the story noted.
Scott Young, director of infrastructure research with Info-Tech Research Group, said in an interview that at this point, the purchase was made in order for Dell to target further edge growth on its APEX as-a-service platform.”
Cloudify, he added, has traditionally been viewed by the research firm as specifically a cloud platform and “what we are seeing out of Dell says that they’re targeting their edge growth for that. The story that we see evolving is effectively the edge – assuming that they’re talking about the APEX platform – is meant to be more cloud on-prem. Buy your hardware on-prem and pay for it in a cloud-like fashion.
“If that’s what they’re looking at doing, and targeting things like, say, manufacturing, they could deploy little clusters of effectively VxRail at different manufacturing sites and potentially a central colocation hosted Dell data centre that is APEX as well, and that would tie into the other cloud services. Cloudify could then be used to build building blocks across that whole unified platform and orchestrate everything in a clean way.
“That would be the play I would see them coming into in saying they are looking to enhance their edge platform with this, presuming again that I am right, that it is APEX they are targeting, and they are tying into the broader cloud services that we also see Cloudify traditionally playing in.”


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An Australian government agency has filed what is thought to be the first trading standards lawsuit against Google, the Financial Times reports on its Web site Friday.
The allegations take direct aim at the design of the results pages Google returns in response to a search request, accusing the company of failing to create a clear enough distinction between its "organic" search results and the adverts that run alongside them, the report says.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it had lodged the complaint against Google and one of its advertisers over sponsored links that appeared on the search engine site.
The case, brought in federal court in Sydney, was prompted by adverts that were placed on Google by Trading Post Australia, an automotive dealer also named in the suit, according to the report.
Newspaper Web site: http://www.ft.com


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Submitted by NewsJobs.Net on Tue, 03/10/2009 - 10:00.
Small kindnesses can go a long way during a job hunt. So thanks, FedEx, for offering free resume printing on Tuesday, March 10, for job seekers. The company (formerly known as Kinkos) has declared it Free Resume Printing Day.
Youâ€™ll have to place and pick up your order in-store, and you can submit your resume in printed format or as a digital file. Copies are printed single-sided on resume-quality paper.


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Target sets up Shop at E for All Expo 2008 Target has signed-on as the official retail sponsor for this year's Entertainment for All Expo (E for All) video game expo, scheduled to take place October 3-5, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, IDG World Expo...
Jun 26 2008, 7:27am CDT
E3 is back as E for All Expo IDG relaunches the defunct E3 gaming expo as E for All Expo.
The E for All Expo (Entertainment for All) will take place in the Los Angeles Convention Center from October 18th to the 20th 2007.
The new name is...
Jan 6 2007, 3:00am CST
Actroid Robot in Booth Babe Outfit AkihabaraNews has several photos of the Actroid female robot wearing plastic mini-skirt and boots - the signature outfit of Asian Trade-show Booth Babes - nice touch.
What is interesting that the robot is still called...
Nov 30 2005, 10:36am EST
Futurecast System at World Expo 2005
The Mitsui-Toshiba Pavilion at the World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan will feature a Futurecast system.
The Futurecast System scans visitors’ faces and heads within seconds to turn them into CG
characters in the sci-...
Mar 31 2005, 10:15am EST
Actroid Robot at the World Expo 2005 in NEDO Pavilion
yes this is a face of a robot.
Japanese Energy Technology company NEDO presents the amazing Actroid in their robot pavilion at the World Exposition 2005 in Aichi, Japan.
We reported about the realistic female...
Mar 25 2005, 2:02am EST
Robot Mania at 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan Expo Mascots: Kiccaro and Morizo
The World Exposition 2005 started in Japan in the Aichi prefecture today and will be open until September 25th.
The theme of the World Exposition 2005 is Nature's Wisdom. A big part...
Mar 25 2005, 1:44am EST
WPC Expo 2004 Coverage The WPC Expo 2004 in Japan is one of the biggest IT and digital shows in Asia. New gadgets and the latest technologies developed by companies in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and the United States are...
Oct 21 2004, 1:39am EST
I4U News is feeding your Geek Mind. The Geek Mind is concerned with life, in all its different forms and facets.
The geek mind wants to know about societal and financial issues, both abroad and at home. If a Fortune 500 decides to raise their minimum wage, or any high priority news, the geek mind wants to know.
The geek mind wants to know the top teams in the National Football League, or who’s likely to win the NBA Finals this coming year.
The geek mind wants to know who the hottest new models are, or whether the newest blockbuster movie is worth seeing. The geek mind wants to know.


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Through the partnership, UATP will offer its network of more than 260 airlines the ability to accept bitcoins as payment.
UATP (Universal Air Travel Plan) is a global corporate travel payment solution owned and operated by the world’s airlines and accepted by thousands of merchants for air and travel agency payments.
“We are very happy to be partnering with Bitnet to add bitcoin to our payment platform. We are always looking for skilled partners to bring additional forms of payment to the UATP processing platform and Bitnet fits the bill well,” said Ralph Kaiser, president & CEO of UATP.
Bitnet’s vice president of solutions strategy, Akif Khan, added that the implementation of the bitcoin system would be a “lightweight integration that leverages existing UATP reporting and refund interfaces”.


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Rebecca Minkoff is shaking things up this season. Rather than showing S/S 17 wares like her New York Fashion Week counterparts, the designer experimented with the industry’s see-now, buy-now trend and instead presented her fall collection. That means the full lineup you saw on the runway is already shoppable on Rebecca Minkoff’s website—how amazing is that?
Besides the new scheduling format, Minkoff also eschewed convention in another way: Instead of having exclusively models walk at her show, she tapped three major fashion bloggers to take their turn on the runway as well. Chriselle Lim of The Chriselle Factor, Arielle Charnas of Something Navy, and Gala Gonzalez were the lucky trio picked to be models for the day, and the stylish girls gave the professionals a run for their money.
Scroll down to see which bloggers walked the runway at Rebecca Minkoff, and go a bit further to see the full collection!


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The $300 million (about N60 billion) Dangote Cement plant in Dakar,Senegal has roared into life, churning out high variety 42.5 cement brand to the delight of consumers. The plant, which runs on cutting-edge technology and innovation, may have spurred a fresh wave of competition in the continent’s cement market. Assistant Editor Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie reports.
A new wave of competition may have started sweeping through Africa’s cement market. At the heart of the fresh wave of competition ignited by the inauguration of the $300 million (about N60 billion) Dangote Cement plant in Dakar, Senegal, last week, is the deployment of superior technology and innovation to deliver quality cement to consumers.
“Our edge is the technology we have brought to bear in cement production and the wealth we are creating across the board for the people and government of Senegal,” Country Head of Dangote Cement, Senegal, Mr. Luk Haelterman, said, at the inauguration of the 4, 000 Metric Tons (MT) per day plant located in Pout District of Senegal, about 75 kilometres East of Dakar, the country’s capital.
Haelterman told a gathering of excited cement consumers, distributors and Senegalese government officials in his welcome address that Dangote Cement offered the best choice for consumers, as it is the only 42.5 grade high quality cement available in the country’s cement market.
He added that the commencement of production would boost the housing sub sector of the Senegalese building industry. Besides, the plant with a total production capacity of 1.5 million tons annually, would create more than 5, 000 jobs for the locals. He was also quick to note that the entrance of Dangote cement into the Senegal market has altered the equation in the cement market. Haelterman was right. Until Dangote cement hit the market with its superior 42.5 grade cement, the cement market in Senegal was dominated by two existing cement firms, namely Sococim, a French cement company founded in 1948, and CDS. However, while the two initial manufacturers are producing the 32.5 grade cement, which is of a lower quality, Dangote cement came on board with a master stroke, introducing the higher quality 42.5 cement grade that allows for quicker drying for construction professionals. “Today, Dangote has become the biggest and best because we remain the only company producing the 42.5R, which is better than what we met on ground, which is the 32.5R”, Haelterman said.
The quality of cement introduced into the market by Dangote is not the only game changer. Despite coming into an already saturated market, the company also came in with the lowest price in the continent, approximately $5 a bag. With a combination of Damgote’s marketing edge in superior quality and pricing, experts say that the continent’s cement landscape is poised for a major positive change-one that would bring immense benefits to all stakeholders.
Already, Dangote Cement, The Nation learnt, is targeting the exportation of the product to Mali to the tune of two million tonne, while sales of the product in other neighbouring countries are currently being worked out.
An exporter, Mr. Serigne Aramine Mbacke, confirmed this much when he disclosed that he distributes about 40 per cent of Dangote Cement to Mali, Gambia, Code de Voire, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau. He said he was motivated to distribute the company’s product because of its quality and profit margin. He also said that with the massive investment, which is the single largest in the Franco-phone country by an African, Dangote has made inroads into several African countries, bringing cohesion in the process. While noting that the state-of-the-art cement plant offers huge employment opportunities for Senegal’s estimated 14 million population, he commended the Senegalese Government for being open to investment that is mutually beneficial.
A Dangote Cement distributor, Mr. Momodu Ndioye could not hide his excitement over the prospects of high profit margin. He told The Nation in Dakar that the quality of Dangote cement is better than others. Hear him: “My customers have confirmed that the quality of the new entrant into the cement market is better than others. They can mould more blocks with Dangote cement and also make more money because it dries faster. This translates to more profit for us distributors.” Another distributor, Mr. Ibrahim Dirkhabi also confirmed this, noting that because of its quality, the Dangote cement dries faster and makes
stronger blocks. “It is the toast of builders and others in the construction industry,” he said.
Apart from superior technology, innovation, and pricing, there are other factors that position Dangote Cement to play a leading role in the continent’s competitive cement sector. For instance, as Chief Operating Officer of the company, Mr. Athanasios Bampos disclosed, Dangote Cement boasts a limestone deposit that can last for 150 years.
The location of the factory is not only rich in limestone, but also in clay and laterite, which are the major components needed in cement manufacturing. ‘’The only component that we import as a company is gypsum, sold by ICS Chemical Company, a local firm, which is about 45 kilometres from the factory,’’ he added.
That is not all. The company, according to Bampos, also has captive electricity that produces 30 Megawatts of electricity through the exploitation of coal, the first in the country. He explained that the factory has two production lines though they are using one line for now. “We have 3.6 kilometre conveyor belt, three parking bay and a railway about 1.5 kilometres from the factory. We will not have to contend with the problem of transportation and other logistic problems that have to do with transporting our products to destinations where our customers are located, he added.
In his presentation, the Company’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Mr. Serigne M. Dieng said that Senegal, with 14 million people and a growing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of +4 per cent as at 2013 hasm cement market of three MT pa and consumption rate of 230kg. He expressed satisfaction that Dangote Cement has been accepted immediately it got to the market because of the aggressive awareness strategy embarked upon by the company to introduce the 42.5 grade, which was not known to the majority of customers except a few corporate customers.
An obviously elated Director of Mines and Geology for Senegal, Mr. Ousmane Cisse, said the $300million factory remains the biggest investment in his country in the last 15 years. He said the massive investment has changed the economy of his country for good. He noted that the company had met all the requirements on key issues of environmental sustainability, good business practice and compliance with regulations, adding that the Senegalese Government, on its part, had responded by offering tax holiday and other incentives to the company. He also promised that the Senegalese Government would protect the company to achieve its optimal production capacity.
While stating that the Government of the Republic of Senegal was happy with Dangote as the single largest investor in the country, Mr. Cisse urged other African entrepreneurs to emulate the business acumen of
Dangote. Nigerian Ambassador to Senegal, Mrs Katyen Jackden also commended the management of Dangote Cement for its pan-African posture in investment and the host government for its support to the firm. She explained that Dangote has through his investments in African countries built bridges of friendship across nations, fostering unity and integration among African countries.
She said Dangote Cement has done Nigeria proud with the commencement of production and that she was happy that the cement giant was instantly accepted in the market based on its high quality product and competitive pricing.
Mrs Jackden said: “Dangote Cement needs all encouragement needed to flourish and my office would be willing to help in that regard because Dangote has proven a worthy Nigerian ambassador in business.” She also thanked the people and government of the French-speaking West African country for the support and opportunity given to a foreign investor like Dangote, stressing that ‘’Dangote has been able to bring cohesion among African nations with his investments.’’


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£1 KFC chicken bags at Moy Park but at Sleaford not Grantham
Shoppers were able to bag a bargain of chicken from KFC for just a pound at a Moy Park factory shop.
National media have reported that Moy Park had to sell as much chicken as possible at its Sleaford factory shop.
The clearance deal stemmed from distributor DHL returning stocks of chicken to the supplier because it could not cope with them.
The move came as KFC outlets in Grantham and Boston, just 15 miles away, ran short of chicken, either having to close or sell limited menus.
Moy Park at Sleaford was able to sell the bargain bags of nine chicken pieces for a pound at the Sleaford outlet when 179 crates of chicken were returned to the depot from Rugby.
Similar bags of chicken retail for £7.65 in KFC outlets when coated with herbs and spices and cooked.
Some 20,000 chicken pieces were returned, newspapers reported.
A spokeswoman for Moy Park said the Grantham factory shop was unaffected as the chicken was returned to Sleaford.


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Online sales are shifting import flows and shrinking the middle mile for intermodal
Dan Bresolin wasn’t surprised by news from the U.S. Treasury Board in April that “non-store” or online retail sales in the United States in February had surpassed general merchandise sales for the first time in history.
“I see it in my home every day with my family,” says Bresolin, a Toronto-based assistant vice president with Canadian National’s international intermodal services. “They buy stuff all the time online. At Christmas, that’s how my wife does three-quarters of her shopping now.”
Bresolin is equally nonplussed by reports that e-commerce and the accompanying need for speed in delivery times are reportedly driving the uptick in infrastructure investment and freight traffic to ports on the demographic-heavy Eastern seaboard of the United States and Canada.
“Brick and mortar sales have changed and so has the way of getting goods to the door,” says Bresolin, who handles CN Rails’ sales and relationships with ocean carriers and port stakeholders on the three coasts the company serves. “The traditional last mile of getting in your car and driving to the mile is definitely shrinking.”
The Internet was still science fiction when the word ‘intermodal’ was coined in the 1960s to capture the need for and growth of transportation involving more than one form of carrier.
But the rising fortunes of virtual businesses like Amazon are having real-world impacts on supply chains. And no where is the potential shock greater than on the so-called “middle mile” that connects goods between ports and end consumers in Eastern North America.
Shop ’til you drop
According to an investors’ report released by Germany’s Deutsche Bank in April on the potential implications of rising e-commerce sales on U.S. transportation stocks, online sales in the U.S. doubled between 2013 and 2018 to more than US$500 billion a year.
“But e-commerce penetration is still less than 15 per cent of retail sales, implying still significant runway for growth,” reads the report. It adds that big-box retailers like Walmart are now closing stores and scrapping plans to build new ones in order to invest in omni- or multi-channel retailing and so-called fulfillment centers that enable merchants to outsource warehousing and shipping and provide consumers with a more seamless shopping experience.
The result has been a 30 per cent reduction in delivery times for e-commerce sales by traditional retailers, a performance the report predicts will only improve due to increased competition and the emergence of new and future transportation technologies, including everything from driver-less vehicles to drones.
“Faster delivery times require more fragmented supply chains, namely inventory positioning near final destination points via more fulfillment sites closer to major demand centers (including store-based e-commerce fulfillment),” reads the report. “Density and demographics make the East a natural focus for retailers in this context.”
U.S. imports into Eastern ports have increased by 56 per cent since 2012 compared to a 22 per cent increase to West Coast ports, resulting in “a more consistent share” between the two coasts.
The report notes that 15 of the 20 biggest American cities and two-thirds of Amazon’s fulfilment centres are located east of the Mississippi River, resulting in an eastward migration of port investment aimed at handling the upswing in e-commerce-driven demand for seaborne consumer goods.
According to the report, U.S. imports into Eastern ports have increased by 56 per cent since 2012 compared to a 22 per cent increase or West Coast ports, resulting in “a more consistent share” between the two coasts.
“We expect this trend to continue, driven by e-commerce and the need for faster delivery times together with port infrastructure projects (New York’s raising of The Bayonne Bridge as well as several other projects at the Ports of Savannah, Virginia and Charleston).”
“East coast volumes have growth two times faster and the largest port in Canada (Prince Rupert) has grown five times faster than the two largest West Coast ports (Los Angeles and Long Beach),” reads the Deutsche Bank report.
It adds that major ports in the Eastern U.S. and Western Canada plan to invest between three and eight times more on a dollar-per-TEU basis to expand throughput capacity than major U.S. West Coast ports.
“We believe these investments, coupled with ongoing e-commerce demand shifts, will result in the volume growth exceeding large West Coast ports. This has significant implications for intermodal vs. truck penetration vis-à-vis length of haul, as the middle mile migrates east,” reads the report.
It also predicts that the “cyclicality” of the truckload market will accelerate over the next few years “as truck supply/demand imbalances and lower length of haul allow trucking to recapture lost market share.”
Michael Broad, president of the Canadian Shipping Federation, doesn’t see any perceptible shift in investment or traffic to Canada’s East Coast ports due to e-commerce.
Instead, he credits improvements to the Suez and Panama Canals and free trade deals like the pending Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) for fueling big growth-sustaining projects like the Port of Montreal’s planned Contrecoeur container terminal.
“It’s all about the cheapest way to get it to destination,” says Broad, whose organization has 71 core members and represents some 250 shipping lines worldwide. “Money is a prime driver. Everything is cargo driven and shipping costs drive cargo. At the end of the day freight goes where it costs less.”
Phil Shook agrees that the bottom line in the movement of freight is money, especially in regards to the value of cargo and related carrying costs.
“You can’t sell it on the water,” says Shook, vice president of C.H. Robinson, one of the world’s leading third-party logistics providers with the largest network of motor carrier capacity in North America. “You want to get your freight into DCs (distribution centres) as quickly as possible.”
According to Shook, who has been with C.H. Robinson for 21 years, the slow shift eastward of freight and port investment has long been a topic of debate and conversation in the U.S. transportation industry.
“The East Coast has grown faster in recent years but the West Coast is (also) doing well,” Shook tells Canadian Shipper from C.H. Robinson’s headquarters in Aurora, Illinois.
He said ports on the U.S. East Coast have been “beefing up” since the expansion of the Panama Canal, while Long Beach and Oakland remain “intermodal friendly” because they provide significant length of haul. “It’s all about where freight lands,” he says.
He remains unconvinced that the current eastward migration of infrastructure dollars will have a ground-shaking impact on the transportation industry in the U.S. and Canada, a market in which most inbound container traffic remains intact on trains headed to Toronto or Montreal, where C.H. Robinson opened a facility 18 months ago to handle its intermodal operations.
“The concern is that it could lead to a shift from intermodal to truck,” says Shook. “But that would require a sizeable shift. I don’t see that happening. At least not to the point of having long-lasting ramifications.”
Another American trucking, intermodal and logistics expert and executive—Rob Bulick, senior vice president and general manager of First to Final Mile with Wisconsin-based Schneider National—believes that e-commerce is indeed driving the amounts of freight and infrastructure spending east.
And he thinks the need and ability to get goods straight from regional ports to consumers will drive efficiencies in networks, but only to the point where industry challenges like recruiting and retaining drivers limits capacity.
“What we feel this change in this middle-mile network will give us is a much more fluid and reliable and consistent way to move freight into (major East Coast population centres) and then ultimately closer to the consumer for the final mile of e-commerce deliveries,” says Bulick.
He added that the growing need for the faster movement of freight through Schneider’s 24 terminal networks across the contiguous U.S. (the company services Western Canada through its operations in the northwestern U.S.) was the impetus for both the company’s 2016 acquisition of Watkins & Shephard Trucking and the broadening and connectivity in April of its middle-mile configuration to include its Van Truckload and Intermodal assets, providing access to more than 10,700 trucks and 22,000 intermodal containers.
“The ability to utilize both truckload and intermodal modes to access and to move east and into end-of-lane areas is not going to diminish—on the contrary,” says Bulick.
He added that while ongoing constraints and needs for drivers and continued regulations act as brakes on capacity, those limitations will give rise to both efficiencies and disruptive solutions in the transportation network.
“Both the retail and transportation industries are working to meet those challenges,” says Bulick. “It’s all about being able to access markets and understanding lead times and delivery schedules (and) the ability to access goods and services from any customers online and being able to generate that delivery into their home or business.”
According to a report from Deutsche Bank, two-thirds of Amazon’s fulfillment centres are located east of the Mississippi River.
Whatever the reasons for the rising tides of the freight-handling business in East Coast ports, Tony Boemi, vice president growth and development at the Port of Montreal, says his facility welcomes it with open arms.
“We’re expanding and investing heavily in infrastructure because of what we’re seeing and experiencing.”
According to Boemi, the Port of Montreal has enjoyed a 17 per cent compounded increase in volume since 2017, with 12 and nine per cent jumps in January and February respectively in 2019.
The port is also investing $55 million to add six kms of track to its own 12-km, on-site railway network infrastructure and adding another 250,000 TEU capacity to its Viau container terminal—not to mention the planned Contrecoeur project, which will add 1.1 million TEUs if and when it opens as planned in 2023.
A port terminal is also now experimenting with offering trucks windows of time to come aimed at helping companies speed up delivery times and the port to better manage the number of trucks coming in to the facility.
“Our growth has taken our projects from ‘nice to have’ to ‘need to be,’” says Boemi, who credits the Port of Montreal’s location on the St. Lawrence River, 1,600 kms inland from the Atlantic Ocean, for making it a prime location as an intermodal hub.
“We’re within eight hours of trucking to 40 million consumers and we’re lucky to have two Class A railways—CN and CP—which enables us to access another 70 million consumers through the Midwest U.S.”
A growing percentage of the port’s inbound traffic, he added, comes from companies that are developing trans shipping ports in Europe where cargo from major vessels used for Asia-Europe crossings is transloaded onto smaller vessels that sail to Montreal.
“It’s mostly cargo that’s not necessarily time sensitive or major companies that readjust their supply chain to factor in the additional transit times,” says Boemi.
For his part, CN’s Bresolin believes transit times—not e-commerce—is the ultimate driver behind increased cargo movement through Canada’s East Coast ports.
When you talk about the movement of products from West Coast ports to East Coast ports, being near the population is a big factor—but so is transit time and the origin of where the goods are coming from,” says Bresolin, who works daily with the world’s largest ocean carriers on supply chain-enabling contracts to do inland transportation from ports to inland terminals.
“If it’s coming from northern China and you want to get it to Chicago, the fastest way to do it is through the West Coast. If you are dealing with Southeast Asia—and there’s a point around Hong Kong where it’s almost equidistant—on whether you come through the West Coast or East Coast ports, there are opportunities now more than ever to move goods through the East Coast versus the West Coast or through the Panama or Suez canals, which you can now get bigger vessels through,” explains Bresolin. “The cascading effect of all these vessels is really pushing a lot of larger vessels into the East Coast trade lanes.”
Though the mostly 10,000 to 14,000 TEU-range ships that visit East Coast ports are smaller than the 18,000-plus TEU behemoths than ply West Coast waters, according to Bresolin, the densely populated East Coast remains the most lucrative retail hub in the world.
“No ocean carrier is going to design strings for their business that don’t touch New York,” says Bresolin, who lauds the raising of the Big Apple’s Bayonne Bridge as a shipping game changer. “New York is such a huge local consumer market that you want to bring the biggest possible ship you can into New York.”
Geography, he adds, also allows Halifax and Montreal to be critical players in international shipping string design.
“You can drop off all your containers for Chicago and the Midwest in Halifax, then go down to New York and discharge your local cargo,” says Bresolin. “Halifax has plenty of capacity and plenty of upside to grow there. We’ve had a real good five-year stretch of growth there.”
Aiding and abetting the eastward migration of freight, he added, are warehousing costs in West Coast U.S. ports in particular and the potential for freight-blocking labour disputes in U.S. ports on both coasts.
“You’ve got bigger ships heading east (and) historical issues with strikes that have clogged up terminals in the past,” he says. “The large retailers and forwarders of the world have used Canada—namely Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Halifax—as opportunities to mitigate risk.
“Even the Gulf terminals we serve like Mobile [Alabama] and New Orleans have been successful in being part of that mitigation strategy,” he adds. “L.A.-Long Beach is a really big, big, big terminal, by far the largest centre for imports into the U.S. But, if there’s a labour disruption there, you don’t want to have all your eggs in one basket.”


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The cost of shipping with the U.S. Postal Service will increase again in January. The Postal Service announced changes that will take effect on January 21st. According to the USPS, Ground Advantage prices will increase by 5.4%; Priority Mail service by 5.7%; and Priority Mail Express will increase by 5.9%.
A release on November 15th by the USPS says they have upfront pricing and does not add surcharges for residential and regular Saturday delivery or fuel.
Customers may also see price adjustments for post office box rentals and international mail services. The Postal Regulatory Commission is reviewing those price recommendations.


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Updated from 6:53 a.m. EDT
It's time to check what's left in
The San Jose, Calif., networking giant has been cruising on
all cylinders for the past three quarters, putting a 50% stock climb in its rear window. Now investors eagerly await Cisco's fiscal third-quarter results after the market closes Tuesday.
Analysts say the company has posted strong sales in developing markets as well as with cable and phone customers. If things go according to expectations, those revenues should be enough to balance the sluggish growth of Cisco's core business market, say analysts: U.S. IT spending.
"Those three areas of strength have been enough to offset softness in North America enterprise, which for many years had been Cisco's bread and butter," JPMorgan analyst Ehud Gelblum writes in a note Monday.
Shares of Cisco were rising 1% to $28.08 ahead of the numbers.
It's always good to have other units pick up the slack. And some even argue that there's not so much slack. Weak reports from tech titans such as
seemed to confirm suspicions that spending was going away this year.
But reports from gear peers such as
suggested that networking gear buyers
aren't quite as stingy as expected.
The main concern now is whether Cisco's stock has outrun its financial performance. Given the shares' 6% rise last week, a number of industry observers are concerned that anything short of a blowout quarter and raised growth targets from Cisco will disappoint the optimists.
Analysts expect an adjusted profit of 33 cents a share on sales of $8.76 billion in sales for the fiscal third quarter ended last month. And looking ahead to the end of the current quarter, analysts are looking for 5% sequential sales growth.
Cisco will likely continue to benefit from its solid position as the top supplier of computer networking gear. And through recent acquisitions such as
, the company could see some added growth in promising areas including cable gear and video conferencing, say analysts.
"Cisco should be able to grow at the upper end of its long-term 10% to 15% growth target over the next several years," Jefferies & Co. analyst Bill Choi wrote in a research note. "We point to favorable market share dynamics across all major product segments and a successful strategy of creating new businesses around adjacent markets."


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For the second time in three days, hackers have been able to make off with Ethereum. An exploit in digital wallet service Parity was exploited. It is unknown at this time if it was done by a team or by one individual.
Parity founder Gavin Wood issued a critical security notice to all users and said that “a vulnerability in Parity Wallet’s variant of the standard multi-sig contract has been found,” before advising everyone to “immediately move assets contained in the multi-sig wallet to a secure address.”
The White Hat Group went on to say on Reddit…
“White hat group(s) were made aware of a vulnerability in a specific version of a commonly used multi-sig contract. This vulnerability was trivial to execute, so they took the necessary action to drain every vulnerable multi-sig they could find as quickly as possible.”
Some have speculated this could be a deliberate attack on the miners from PC gamers as cryptomining has caused several mid-range GPUs to be sold out everywhere and demand double or triple their retail prices on eBay. Although CoinDesk has reported that many are quickly leaving cryptomining due to the decline of Ethereum prices. At one point Ethereum were valued at over $400, but traded for $133 over the weekend..


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A top five finish in the SEC would be major cause for celebration for the UK Football team, but according to one poll, the Cats are already there…when it comes to craft beer. SEC Country’s Nubyjas Wilborn ranked each SEC school/town by its craft beer, and Kentucky came in fourth behind Georgia, Florida, and Alabama:
4. Kentucky – Even beginning craft beer drinkers likely are familiar with Alltech’s Kentucky Bourbon Ale. It is sold in more than 20 states around the country. The beer has helped popularize the barrel age movement. While that is a good beer, the more advanced connoisseurs are sipping on West 6th Street’s beers.
Given the rate craft breweries are popping up across the country, Wilborn had a difficult — yet enviable — task, but as a beer lover, I should point out that he forget some of Lexington’s best breweries, like Ethereal and Country Boy. Also, I’m no Vandy fan, but he did shortchange Nashville by leaving out Smith & Lentz, Black Abbey, Little Harpeth, and Bearded Iris. And while we’re at it, if we’re talking Alabama beers, you have to include nearby Birmingham’s Good People, whose IPA is my favorite beer in existence. But, again, you can’t include every beer, I guess.
Check out the rest of the list for yourself, and remember, it’s five o’clock somewhere.


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Pat Brown is the founder and CEO the $2 billion Impossible Foods, best known for its plant-based Impossible Burger.
Brown is driven by his desire to combat the harmful effects of climate change through the reduction of meat in people’s diets, and believes business is the best tool for doing so.
He wants nothing less than for Impossible Foods to be “the most impactful company in the history of the world.”
This article is part of Business Insider’s ongoing series on Better Capitalism.
Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
By all means, Impossible Foods is doing well. It just raised $300 million at a $2 billion valuation, has its plant-based Impossible Burger in more than 7,000 restaurants worldwide, and will soon be in all Burger King locations across the United States (not to mention your local grocery store).
But profits for their own sake aren’t what’s motivating founder and CEO Pat Brown, a chemist and environmentalist who started his business in 2011. When he says he wants Impossible Foods to do nothing less than change the way the world eats, you believe him.
Brown recently spoke to Business Insider about the company’s rapid growth, and in the following interview excerpt, he explains why Impossible Foods’ business is inextricably tied to an environmental mission.
The following was edited for length and clarity.
Richard Feloni: It seems there’s a kind of “meat alternative” media frenzy right now. Investors are talking about it, consumers are talking about it — there’s a craze around Impossible Foods and this entire concept in general. Does it concern you that the subject is becoming too fashionable?
Pat Brown: Yeah, it’s complicated. What I like seeing is that there is a certain interest and awareness in finding solutions to our dependence on animals, both among consumers and in the business world. That’s a good thing. …read more
Source:: Business Insider


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BlueWallet, a Bitcoin wallet available for both iOS and Android devices, has announced that their custodial Lightning wallet services will be discontinued by April 30th, 2023.
The company noted in a blog post that Lndhub.io, the Lightning node where BlueWallet offers Lightning wallets for its users, is sunsetting. Users will still be able to withdraw their satoshis, but will not be able to open new or refill existing Lightning wallets on the LndHub node.
BlueWallet’s post continues by urging users to withdraw funds from their BlueWallet custodial Lightning wallets as soon as possible. Also, neither the standard BlueWallet Bitcoin wallets (on-chain) nor the self-custody Lightning wallets, which allow users to connect to their own Lndhub, will be impacted by this change.
The blog explains, “today, with the availability of more mainstream services offering scalable solutions, Lndhub has fulfilled its purpose in its current form.”
Users will still have access to Lndhub as a software and self-hosted solution, and they will be able to connect to their own LndHub using BlueWallet or other software that supports the LndHub API specification.
The post concludes that “this may sound like bad news, but this essentially means BlueWallet going forward will only support self-custody solutions. This is good for Bitcoin and BlueWallet users.”


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We turn up the heat on June Intelligent Oven inventor Matt Van Horn (co-founder of Lyft).
Jane Chen’s MBA project helped create a low cost incubator that saved hundreds of thousands of lives
Fieldwire CEO Yves Frinault on San Francisco’s construction boom
Mortgage processor Ellie Mae moves to automate the home buying process. CEO Jonathan Corr.
A startup CEO’s unexpected path from West Africa to big data.
Cloudera director of cybersecurity Sam Heywood on the Internet of Things
Former Yahoo president Sue Decker launches social app Raftr.
Decker sits on the board of Berkshire Hathaway, Costco, Vox Media and Vail Resorts.
John Deere’s Ganesh Jayaram helps feed the world with technology.
Legacy Republic CEO Brian Knapp on jobs, family memories and his MMA connections.
Lighter Capital’s BJ Lackland joins USA Today’s Jon Swartz and The NY Times’ Quentin Hardy to prognosticate.
Successful venture capitalist Bipul Sinha tries his hand at CEO for the first time.
An academic study finds some Uber and Lyft drivers discriminate. Study co-author Stephen Zoepf of Stanford.
Nick Weaver sets out to change your Wi-Fi. And then along comes Google.
Forter’s Liron Damri is a fraudster’s worst enemy.
What do President Trump’s policies mean for high tech? Straight talk from VC Hemant Taneja.
Economists warned of a recession. We got a new record on the Dow. Behavioral finance expert Dr. Meir Statman discusses.
SpaceX alum Jim Cantrell launches Vector Space Systems to lob small satellites into orbit.
Big thinker Tim O’Reilly returns to Press:Here to talk about augmented reality and AI.
The founder of O’Reilly Media previews his Next:Economy conference.
Palo Alto mayor Pat Burt has a challenge most mayors cannot imagine.
The longtime entrepreneur and cofounder of Siebel Systems knows where he’ll make his next billion: the Internet of Things.
In the second half of our interview, the CEO of C3 IoT talks about whether the bubble is bursting.
The Nasdaq vice chairman discusses new private markets and the dearth of IPO’s.
Mozilla chief legal officer Denelle Dixon-Thayer explains tech’s amicus briefs in support of Apple.
Rocket Lawyer CEO Charley Moore says all good startups need this magic formula.
Troy Wolverton of the Mercury News and Jon Swartz of USA Today predict Apple’s next products.
Can big data and careful measurement help college and pro sports teams prevent injury?
Author Robbie Kellman Baxter on the benefits of the subscription model
The modern roller coaster was born before computers. Documentarian Kris Rowberry.
Andy Weir wrote a bestselling book-turned-movie about an astronaut stranded on Mars.
Verifone CTO Alok Bhanot explains new chip technology.
No more contractors: Shyp CEO Kevin Gibbon makes all workers employees.
Siva Power CEO Brad Mattson on the challenges expiring incentives pose for solar.
Livionex says its toothpaste is a hundred times better. Amit Goswamy tries to disrupt the dental industry.
“If you don’t have enough homes, why not build new ones?” asks housing activist Sonja Trauss.
Johnson & Johnson’s head of innovation is a surgeon and venture capitalist.
Libin wants to turn our favorite app into a 100-year startup.
Bare-wristed reporters from Fortune and USA Today weigh in.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a great new idea emerge from Silicon Valley. Stanford’s Tina Seelig weighs in.
Millennials are much less willing to spend money on sports tickets. What can teams do?
How is it possible no one over age 12 has heard of this blockbuster company?
Professional contrarian Andrew Keen is not so sure this “Internet thing” is a good idea.
Six months after the Sony attack, businesses still seem woefully vulnerable to hackers. Elastica CEO Rehan Jalil.
Leena Rao debriefs us on the PayPal founder’s latest venture.
An app that takes all the work out of owning a car.
One of the longest-serving women in venture capital says there’s progress in the boardroom.
One of Steve Jobs’ closest confidantes tells a little-known story about the first time Jobs left Apple.
Venture capitalist Jason Green says the next hot thing is startups valued at $10,000,000,000.
Former designer Mark Kawano on the Apple watch, product announcements and his new startup Storehouse.
SF Chronicle travel editor Spud Hilton uses social media to pressure airlines into cracking down on carry-ons.
Macy’s, the San Francisco 49ers and Apple stores all use beacons to track customers. How do they work, and what can they learn?
Can a high tech founder create an app company without knowing how to code? Bindle CEO Chris Toy.
Dual authentication – your password plus a phone – can keep your data safe. TeleSign CEO Steve Jillings.
USA Today’s Jon Swartz chats with the world’s most famous scientist.
Peter Thiel and Elon Musk invest heavily in Collison and his brother. What do they see that’s worth millions?
Minerva School founder Ben Nelson sheds the football team and granite columns for traditional learning.
Ecommerce expert and Reflektion CEO Sean Moran predicts seasonal shopping on mobile.
A mom creates a new sort of juice box and gives advice to other kitchen entrepreneurs.
The director of civil liberties for the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School discusses net neutrality, privacy and the NSA.
Between December 8-14, tens of thousands of teachers around the world will teach their kids computer code. You can too.
AnchorFree’s David Gorodyansky is helping oppressed people get access to information. Why are you working on a dry-cleaning app?
Jon Swartz, USA TODAY’s award-winning technology reporter (more)
(March 2013) Giants CEO Larry Baer runs the finest sports organization in the world.
Invest by theme: China Internet, Gas Glut or Obamacare. CEO Hardeep Walia shows us how.
Why does a billionaire want to help your kid understand The Great Gatsby?
We continue our talk with storied investor David Siminoff
Julie Samuels tries to explain Silicon Valley to those stuck inside the beltway.
Washington wakes up to patent trolls. More with Engine’s Julie Samuels.
Stewart Butterfield - now CEO of Slack - joins the crowded effort to replace work email.
USA Today’s Jon Swartz urges tech CEOs to speak up
Theo Schwabacher pushes for more women in the boardroom. Is legislation the answer?
California’s legislature debates a non-enforceable quota for women on boards.
Three economists walk into a bar… to discover what American knows about business.
Anand Kulkarni’s MobileWorks seeks to bring employment to veterans and other groups in need


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NEWBERRY — This week President Donald Trump approved recommendations to impose safeguard tariffs on imported large residential washing machines.
Last year the U.S. International Trade Commission recommended that the President impose the tariff.
“These cases were filed by American businesses and thoroughly litigated at the International Trade Commission over a period of several months,” said Ambassador Robert Lighthizer. “The ITC found that U.S. producers had been seriously injured by imports and made several recommendations to the President. Upon receiving these recommendations, my staff and I conducted an exhaustive process which included opportunities to brief in person and through public comments, public hearings, and meetings with senior representatives. Based on this information, the Trade Policy Committee developed recommendations, which the President has accepted. The President’s action makes clear again that the Trump Administration will always defend American workers, farmers, ranchers and businesses in this regard.”
The President approved applying a safeguard tariff-rate quota for three years with the following terms, on large residential washers: First 1.2 million units of imported finished washers, 20% year one, 18% year two and 16% year three. All subsequent imports of finished washers, 50% year one, 45% year two and 40% year three. Tariff on covered parts, 50% year one, 45% year two and 40% year three. Covered parts excluded from tariff, 50,000 units year one, 70,000 units year two and 90,000 units year three.
“Today’s announcement is a great loss for American consumers and workers. This tariff is a tax on every consumer who wants to buy a washing machine. Everyone will pay more, with fewer choice,” a Samsung representative said. “Samsung greatly appreciates the support of the many South Carolina and other officials who have advocated on our behalf. We already have hired more than 600 U.S. workers at our new South Carolina factory, and we began U.S. production of our high-quality washing machines on January 12. Consumers are choosing Samsung premium washing machines for their innovation and design.”
Samsung celebrated their official grand opening in Newberry on Jan. 12 where it was announced that they plan to produce more than one million washing machines in 2018 and create over 1,000 jobs by 2020. Ninety percent of the employees at the Newberry Samsung plant are from the Newberry County area.
Rep. Rick Martin, who advocated for the President to reject the tariff, said this was not the outcome we were hoping for and he is truly disappointed and somewhat heartbroken about the decision.
“I do not know what led to the President’s ultimate decision on this. I do know that Samsung is truly 100% committed to Newberry and South Carolina, and I know the people of Newberry are truly committed to Samsung, we are one big family unit,” he said. “Samsung is going to stand by us and we are going to stand by Samsung.”
Martin said he has been working with Samsung to see how this is going to affect Newberry, if it will at all.
Reach Andrew Wigger at 803-276-0625 ext. 1867 or on Twitter @ TheNBOnews.


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If you're looking for more space to store your personal content on the 16GB Nook Tablet, just head into a B&N store.
Dish's Sling TV stole the show with its $20 alternative TV package, but PlayStation Vue is coming soon, Netflix is certifying TVs and just about everybody is streaming. Here are the big home video trends of CES 2015.
CNET's 4G And The Connected Car panel is making its debut at the International CES 2015. Join us for industry leaders talking about what's in store for the next generation connected cars.
Here are seven things we could see from Apple in the coming year, ranging from services to new, bigger iPads.
To make up for a lackluster 2014, we're expecting tablets in 2015 to bring it up a notch.
Some consumers accused Apple of unfairly boosting iPod prices because it banned music from services other than the iTunes store. They're asking for $350 million, and even Steve Jobs will make an appearance in court, via taped deposition.
Skipping the Black Friday crowds doesn't mean you have to miss out on the best deals. Lots of hot tech products are going on sale on Cyber Monday. We're tracking them all here.
We're tracking all the tech deals you'll want to know about for Black Friday this year. Keep coming back to this page to see the latest discounts you'll be able to snag.
CEO Jeff Bezos, hoping to lock consumers into its store through services, adds a new cloud service perk for all Prime service subscribers. Up until now, the free storage deal had only been available to owners of Amazon's Fire devices.
The iTunes Store raked in more revenue overall in fiscal 2014 than in the previous year, but digital music sales have declined, according to Apple's annual report filed with the SEC.