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Cruise lines have made quite a few changes and cancellations to cruises this week. Cruise lines that have made changes include Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Disney, Norwegian, and MSC Cruises.
Hurricane Dorian currently has maximum sustained winds of 165 mph and is expected to to begin moving north this evening and early tomorrow morning. Since the forecast for the storm continues to shift, cruise lines have been making daily adjustments to cruises that were scheduled to depart over the weekend and early this week.
Although we will do our best to keep this page updated with the latest information, it is always best to check with the cruise line on the status of your cruise. We have linked to each cruise line’s website where they have a list of all changes so you can get the most updated information.
Here is the latest on changes to cruises from cruise lines that are currently sailing to the Bahamas from Florida.
Carnival Cruise Line
Carnival Cruise Line has issued updates for cruise itineraries along the East Coast. While some cruises have a change in itinerary and have had their cruise shortened, at least one Carnival ship has had to cancel a cruise.
To see all of the latest changes from Carnival Cruise Line, visit Carnival.com.
Royal Caribbean has made changes to itineraries on seven cruise ships and no cruises have yet to be canceled. Some cruises has been shortened while others have been extended. The cruise line has also made several changes to ports that will be visited during these cruises.
To see all of the latest changes from Royal Caribbean, visit RoyalCaribbean.com.
Norwegian Cruise Line
Norwegian Cruise Line has made changes to itineraries on three cruise ships, Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Sky, and Norwegian Sun. The September 1 sailing on Norwegian Breakaway has been canceled due to PortMiami closing. Norwegian has also canceled the September 2 sailing on Norwegian Sun.
To see all of the latest changes from Norwegian Cruise Line, visit NCL.com.
MSC Seaside returned to Miami one day early to stay ahead of the storm. MSC Armonia’s itinerary was shortened to a five day cruise and will now depart on September 4, 2019.
To see all of the latest changes from MSC Cruises, visit MSCCruisesUSA.com.
Disney Cruise Line
Disney Cruise Line has made changes to sailings on just one of their cruise ships so far. Disney Dream will arrive back in Port Canaveral a day late on September 5.
Disney also gave the following update about their private island in the Bahamas, Castaway Cay:
“Many of our guests have asked questions about Castaway Cay. Some of our Crew remained on the island and their care and safety is our highest priority. We are in regular contact with island leadership, who is making sure our Crew is well taken care of in our storm shelter, which is designed for these types of situations and has restrooms, power and is well stocked with food and water. Castaway Cay remains south of the more significant weather and is currently experiencing tropical storm force winds, which based on the current forecast, are expected for the next several hours before gradually diminishing. Our thoughts are with the people in areas of The Bahamas that are being impacted by this storm and we stand ready to contribute to recovery efforts.”
To see all of the latest changes from Disney Cruise Line, visit Disney.Go.Com.
Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line
Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line has canceled the September 1 and 3 sailings on Grand Celebration. Both cruises were two day trips to the Bahamas.
For the latest on changes to cruises on Bahamas Paradise Cruise, visit BahamasParadiseCruiseLine.com.
Princess Cruises and Holland America Line currently have no cruise ships sailing in the affected areas.
It is rare for cruise lines to cancel cruises due to tropical storms and hurricanes. They will often modify itineraries and sail away from storms so the cruise can go on. For more information about cruises and hurricanes, read “What happens if there is a hurricane during my cruise?“.
For the latest on Hurricane Dorian, visit the National Hurricane Center.


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Plural Media Partners MARKETING EDGE On Real-Time Industry News
Plural Media, a digital-out-of-home advertising company, has launched a partnership with MARKETING EDGE , a leading marketing and advertising focused print and online magazine in the country with a view to delivering top industry news on her digital billboards network pan-Nigeria.
The collaboration, which is considered to be groundbreaking in the industry, the companies said would provide fresh relevant content and news on-the-go along with commercial adverts on the Plural Media digital billboard network to keep the audience engaged.
Speaking on the partnership, Uduak Bassey, Managing Director, Plural Media said: “We have been a proud partner of MARKETING EDGE in many spheres and, therefore, find it worthy to come together again using our leading-edge LED Screens powered by Robust Content Management Software to achieve this feat. This development ties into our mantra about continuous improvement to make DOOH hard to ignore in the media mix.
“The development in the OOH industry in Nigeria vis-à-vis other channels of communications is amongst the most impressive we have experienced in the last few years and we are very excited to be teaming up with an industry renowned brand like MARKETING EDGE that has proven its mettle and remained relevant in its own space to start this landmark initiate”
According to Mr. Bassey, the feat was made possible using the most
advanced and reliable LED hardware and intelligent content management
system that the company had invested in over the years to power her
billboards’ infrastructure from the clouds in real-time. The digital
development has continued to delight the audience with relevant daily
communication and information such as Traffic Dwell Time on key routes
in Lagos metropolis, to aid commuters in planning their daily journeys;
Exchange Rates of major currencies as well as weather/breaking news
The marketing communications industry news will appear on a ten-second per news feature rotation within each cycle updated in real-time from the clouds.
“As one of the leading innovative Digital Billboard providers in the
country with high quality screen resolution, we strategically offer our
clients additional features to make their campaign command attention
through our media platforms. On top of this, Plural Media provides
advertisers with all the benefits of digital, including minimal lead
times, immediacy of posting, day-part messaging and mobile/social media
convergence,” Mr. Bassey explained.
Speaking in a similar vein, Publisher of MARKETING EDGE, Mr. John Ajayi
disclosed that the new partnership with Plural Media, a leading OOH
digital out-of-home advertising agency is another radical way of
pro-actively repositioning the marketing publication for market
leadership and pre-eminence.
The Publisher who hinted that the new partnership was further inspired
by MARKETING EDGE’S current innovation with a DAILY NEWSLETTER tagged MARKETING EDGE NEWSLETTER which now keeps regular tabs on exclusive industry news as it breaks. “We are now more news savvy as regards keeping tabs on regular local and global news event. At MARKETING EDGE, we keep setting the pace, we keeping setting the agenda while promoting the brand idea as well as expanding the frontiers of marketing and advertising knowledge”, he stated.
MARKETING EDGE which began operations 16 years ago has remained an avant-garde media group with print, broadcast and online platforms, all geared to promoting the brand idea.

domain: news


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Spotify responds to stream padding and fraud allegations
A headline this week made waves in the rapidly evolving streaming industry when Vulture claimed Spotify has been paying producers upfront for their services whilst placing fake artist alias’ on premium playlists to maximize profit for the streaming service and minimize artist payouts.
The article written by Adam K. Raymond included the following allegation: “This upfront payment saves the company from writing fat streaming checks that come with that plum playlist placement, but tricks listeners into thinking the artists actually exist and limits the opportunities for real music-makers to make money.”
A Spotify spokesperson has denied the allegations in an email to Billboard, saying:
“We do not and have never created ‘fake’ artists and put them on Spotify playlists. Categorically untrue, full stop. We pay royalties — sound and publishing — for all tracks on Spotify, and for everything we playlist. We do not own rights, we’re not a label, all our music is licensed from rightsholders and we pay them — we don’t pay ourselves.”
In response to Raymond categorizing Spotify individuals gaming the system, the spokesperson said the following, “As we grow there will always be people who try to game the system. We have a team in place to constantly monitor the service to flag any activity that could be seen as fraudulent or misleading to our users.”
Raymond has since revealed he cited an article from 2016 published on Music Business Worldwide for background on Spotify’s practice. According to his article, Spotify did not initially respond to his questions about the allegation.


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Google makes data security assurances as it acquires Fitbit
According to figures released by th...
Fitbit, the health and wellness wearables technology company, is to be acquired by Google for approximately $2.1bn.
According to figures released by the company, Fitbit has sold more than 100 million devices. Its Smartwatches and fitness trackers feature capabilities such as workout tracking, pedometers, heart rate sensors alongside other health and wellness related capacities. Intriguingly, its Fitbit Versa 2 features integration with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant – it remains to be seen whether it will be replaced by Google Assistant. Despite the acquisition by Google, steward of the Android operating system, Fitbit committed to remaining “platform-agnostic” and available on both Android and iOS.
“We have built a trusted brand that supports more than 28 million active users around the globe who rely on our products to live a healthier, more active life,” said James Park, co-founder and CEO of Fitbit in a press release. “Google is an ideal partner to advance our mission. With Google’s resources and global platform, Fitbit will be able to accelerate innovation in the wearables category, scale faster, and make health even more accessible to everyone. I could not be more excited for what lies ahead.”
Google is set to pay $7.35 per share in cash for Fitbit, a competitor in the fitness space considering the former’s Google Fit platform and Wear OS smartwatch operating system.
"Fitbit has been a true pioneer in the industry and has created terrific products, experiences and a vibrant community of users," said Rick Osterloh, Senior Vice President, Devices & Services at Google. "We're looking forward to working with the incredible talent at Fitbit, and bringing together the best hardware, software and AI, to build wearables to help even more people around the world."
Both Fitbit’s press release and Google’s blog post stressed the continuing focus on user privacy, with transparency about the data collected and user control over what it is used for. In a blog post, Osterloh, who recently made headlines by saying he always told guests there were active smart devices in his home, confirmed that Google wanted to bring its own wearable devices to the market, but also that Google “will never sell personal information to anyone” while “Fitbit health and wellness data will not be used for Google ads”.
The transaction is said to be expected to close in 2020, subject to the usual closing conditions such as stockholder and regulator approval.
Microsoft: Building a secure foundation to drive NASCAR
Microsoft is a key partner of The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) and together they are driving ahead to create an inclusive and immersive new fan experience (FX).
These long-term partners have not only navigated the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic with the use of Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365, but are now looking to a future packed with virtual events to enhance the FX, well beyond NASCAR’S famous Daytona racetrack.
“Together, we've created a secure environment that's allowed for collaboration, but the future is all about the fans”, said Melinda Cook, General Manager for Microsoft South USA Commercial Business, who cited a culture of transparency, passion, adaptiveness, and a growth mindset as to why this alignment is so successful.”
“We've partnered to create a fluid, immersive experience for the users that is supported by a secure foundation with Microsoft in the background. We are focused on empowering and enabling customers and businesses, like NASCAR, to reach their full potential. We do this with our cloud platform which provides data insights and security.”
“Our cloud environment allows NASCAR to move forward with their digital transformation journey while we are in the background,” said Cook who highlights that Microsoft is helping NASCAR
- Empower employees productivity and collaboration
- Improve fan engagement and experience
- Improve environment security and IT productivity
- Improve racing operations
Microsoft Teams, which is part of the Microsoft 365 suite, enabled employees to work remotely, while staying productive, during the pandemic. “This allowed people to provide the same level of productivity with the use of video conference and instant messaging to collaborate on documents. Increased automation also allows the pit crews, IT, and the business to focus on safety, racing operations, and on the fan experience,” said Cook.
“We have started to innovate to create a more inclusive fanbase, this includes using Xbox to give people the experience of being a virtual racer or even leveraging some of the tools in Microsoft Teams to have a virtual ride along experience.”
“These environments are how we create a more inclusive and immersive experience for the fans. We're working on a virtual fan wall which allows people from new locations to participate in these events,” said Cook, who pointed out Microsoft was also helping bring legacy experiences alive from NASCAR’s archives.
“At Microsoft we can take it one level further by letting fans know what it's like to see the pit crew experience, the data and all the behind-the-scenes action. We will continue to improve automation with machine learning and artificial intelligence, from marketing to IT operations to finance to racing operations,” said Cook.
Christine Stoffel-Moffett, Vice President of Enterprise Technology at NASCAR, said: “Microsoft is one of our key partners. They have been instrumental in helping the NASCAR enterprise technology team re-architect our Microsoft systems to ensure an advanced level of security across our environment, contribute to our business outcomes, and focus on fan experience.”


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On November 14, Huawei India announced that it will bring the new wearables chipset – Kirin A1 as early as next month. And we expect that this launch includes several wearable products such as a smartwatch, smart eyewear, smart speaker, wireless headphones/headband/neckbands.
“As a consumer-centric brand, Huawei has always been at the forefront of technology innovation driven by deep-rooted consumer insights,” said Tornado Pan, Country Manager, Huawei Consumer Business Group, Huawei India
“The Kirin A1 is a very powerful chipset and is anticipated to bring in a paradigm shift in India’s wearable market. In line with our legacy of eliminating consumer pain points- Products powered by this chipset will provide unparalleled performance, power efficiency and connectivity”.


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When gaming chip maker Nvidia announced a decade ago that it planned a strategic shift to data center AI, there were many questions: Could they build a full-stack, enterprise-grade offering? Was there even a market for AI?
After the company’s latest earnings report, the question is whether anybody can challenge Nvidia as the preeminent AI platform provider for both enterprise and hyperscale data centers.
Through clever acquisitions, internal hardware/software development, and strategic alliances, Nvidia positioned itself perfectly to take advantage of the generative AI frenzy created by the release of ChatGPT late last year. Neither industry-wide chip shortages, nor the collapse of its proposed $40 billion purchase of chip rival Arm Ltd. had any noticeable effect on Nvidia’s phenomenal growth.


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InterContinental Hotels Group and Muscat Golf
Course Project LLC have signed a 20-year management agreement for
the InterContinental Muscat Hills Golf Resort in Oman.
during the 2012 Arabian Hotel Investment Conference in Dubai, the
hotel will form part of the Muscat Hills Golf and Country Club – a
1.2 million square metre development set in a unique hillside
location with spectacular panoramic mountain and sea views over
the Gulf of Oman.
Muscat Hills is a mixed use development with
upscale residential villas and apartments, an 18-hole championship
golf course, country club and hotel.
InterContinental Muscat Hills Golf Resort will
have a total of 250-rooms and four food and beverage outlets, a
fitness centre, spa and swimming pool.
The InterContinental team
will also manage the golf Club House located next door to the
hotel. The hotel and Club House are due to open in 2015 and the
project is projected to be worth a total of $90 Million (35
million Omani Riyals).
Jan Smits, IHG’s
Chief Executive for Asia, Middle East and Africa, said, “The
Muscat Hills development is already proving a great success and we
were eager to become a part of it. InterContinental Muscat Hills
Golf Resort will be a new type of resort for Muscat, offering
guests a range of sporting facilities in a spectacular setting.
This hotel will be a fantastic addition to our growing portfolio
in Oman and we look forward to its opening in 2015.”
IHG currently has four hotels in
Oman: InterContinental Muscat, Crowne Plaza Muscat, Crowne Plaza
Sohar and Crowne Plaza Salalah. The company has three further
hotels in the development pipeline, which when opened will nearly
double the number of rooms in the country under IHG’s brands.
See other recent news regarding:
InterContinental Hotels Group,


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News of the deal has leaked to the press and is all the more surprising because the price tag that Dell's own company was only $24.9 billion last year.
Dell clearly has to borrow a dollar or two from his banker mates. He has been seen wearing his best shirt and tie with freshly polished shoes talking to one or two of them to get them interested in the deal.
Owning EMC would be good for Dell. It would give him access to more corporate clients which he needs if he is going to be a complete provider of enterprise computing services like HP and IBM.
EMC might have some good technology, but is suffering a bit as its activist investor and shareholder Elliott Management wants the company to spin off its majority-owned VMware unit.
The Dell deal has been on the boil for a while. In fact it was first rumoured in September 2014. Now it seems that the rumour has legs. However with this sort of money involved it will be one of the largest technology company buy-outs in ages and will certainly change a lot of the industry. To think, many people were writing Dell off three years ago.


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Carmelo Anthony, forward for the New York Knicks is no stranger to working hard to prepare for winning the game. Now, Anthony will be spreading the word about his beverage of choice as he refuels his body after an intense workout.
The beverage he turns to isn’t a sports drink or water. Instead, it’s chocolate milk.
Anthony will promote the drink in a new “Got Chocolate Milk?” advertising campaign by the Milk Processor Education Program. He will sport a chocolate milk mustache and discuss chocolate milk’s role in his postexercise routine, which he calls his “after.”
“’Cause you’re not only refueling from the game you just played,” he says in the commercial, “you’re preparing for the next event.”


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The Microsoft Store doesn't have the most user-friendly layout, and the company has been hard at work to address that. Today, select Xbox Insiders can access new pages which are compact and more visually-appealing on their consoles. The new design resembles the changes made to the store website over the past few weeks.
The company issued the following statement on Xbox Wire.
Hopefully the updated layout will roll out to everyone soon on Xbox One.
Keep an eye on WindowsCentral.com/Gaming for all the latest in Xbox and Windows 10 gaming, accessories, news, and reviews!
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All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards.
Asher Madan handles gaming news for Windows Central. Before joining Windows Central in 2017, Asher worked for a number of different gaming outlets. He has a background in medical science and is passionate about all forms of entertainment, cooking, and antiquing.


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Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) has revived a completely paperless online registration process through its website www.amfiindia.com for obtaining fresh AMFI Registration Number (ARN) and Employee Unique Identification Number (EUIN) for Mutual Fund distributors and their employees, using One Time Pin (OTP) based Aadhaar authentication. The Online registration facility comes as a great boon and relief to new applicants seeking fresh ARN /EUIN in the current lock-down situation in many parts of India in the wake of resurgence of covid19 pandemic.
In 2017, AMFI had introduced a completely online facility for applying for ARN/EUIN using Aadhaar, as well as for ARN & EUIN renewal. However, the online registration facility for fresh ARN using Aadhaar had to be withdrawn pursuant to Supreme Court order in September 2018 on usage of Aadhaar. With UIDAI now allowing Aadhaar-based authentication service and Aadhar Based e-KYC, using OTP that can be availed by requesting entities, AMFI has been able to revive the online ARN and EUIN registration, making it possible to register ARN/EUIN online from the safety and comfort of one’s home or office, without having to step-out in these difficult times.
The Aadhar-linked OTP based online ARN and EUIN registration process is simple and convenient and can be completed in a matter of few minutes and with a few clicks.
AMFI has already enabled Online renewal of ARN & EUIN facility on its website and the same is working efficiently since last four years. AMFI has now added new features like change of email ID and change of mobile number to the online module.
AMFI urges the mutual fund distributor fraternity to opt for online registration and renewal of ARN and EUIN.


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Incorrect beliefs about the way consumer data breaches have an impact on identity fraud may lead to ineffective actions taken by consumers, according to a recent report published by Javelin Strategy & Research. The misunderstandings may also lead to flawed protective measures taken by corporations as well as state and local governments.
According to the report, public notifications of breaches reached into the tens of millions last year, but identity fraud only increased four percent. The large number of data breaches and the publicity they have received has created the incorrect assumption that fraud resulting from data breaches is prevalent. The Javelin report indicates that the known leading causes of ID fraud are lost or stolen wallets, checkbooks and credit cards, which account for 30 percent of ID fraud. Other known leading causes include information stolen by friends, acquaintances, relatives or corrupt employees.


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Mayonnaise isn't exactly the wildest of condiments, but the world of mayonnaise manufacturing has become something of a Wild West.
In keeping things behind the scenes of our nation's ubiquitous spread interesting, the mayonnaise hit the fan this week when Bloomberg published a report that says the vegan mayonnaise producer Hampton Creek has been employing contractors to buy up its Just Mayo product from stores to make it seem more popular.
Hampton Creek says the program that sent contractors to stores like Kroger, Costco, Walmart, Target, and Whole Foods to buy Just Mayo was first and foremost a quality control effort. The company says it was looking out for things like broken jars, askew or wrinkled labels, and ingredient separation issues that could occur from extreme temperature fluctuation while in a truck. The program cost $77,000, or about a tenth of 1 percent of its sales.
"If we spent $77,000 on it, we spent more in snacks this year than we did on the program," Hampton Creek CEO Joshua Tetrick said in an interview with CNBC. He added, however, that the company "wanted to see right in the beginning if there was any way to get any lift."
"Getting our first launch right, especially for a young company, isn't optional," Tetrick wrote in a statement provided to MUNCHIES, adding that there were problems with viscosity, labeling, and more. "After launching, and despite our previous testing, we were pissed to see these problems." He said the company then assembled a team to go buy the product from stores to study quality.
READ MORE: The FDA Says Vegan Mayo Is Not Mayo
But Bloomberg reports that the $77,000 cost of the program doesn't account for hundreds of purchases of its own products made by the company and its contractors, according to testimony from two former senior employees and five former contractors as well as receipts and e-mail correspondence.
Bloomberg says that the contractors, known as Creekers, were instructed to clear out entire shelves of product, and sometimes what they bought was simply chucked in the trash. The purchases were separate from the quality assurance program, Bloomberg says. In e-mails obtained by Bloomberg, Hampton Creek employees instructed Creekers on how they should carry out what amounted to a clandestine operation, suggesting that they use the self checkout lane to avoid awkward questions about how much mayo they were buying (been there) and to avoid wearing clothes bearing the Hampton Creek logo. Some contractors were even told to call grocers to request Just Mayo and were provided scripts to follow that had them pretending to be parents organizing back-to-school events or caterers.
It's unclear exactly how much mayo we're talking here, and Bloomberg referred to the numbers of purchases as in the "hundreds." While $77,000 could buy a hell of a lot of mayo, it's probably not enough to make or break a company that has, to date, raised more than $100 million in investment capital from Silicon Valley bigwigs like Bill Gates and Peter Thiel, who, like many others, see the food tech company as visionary. Bloomberg noted, though, that the operation was initiated before a large $90 million funding round had ended.
It's not the first controversy surrounding the plant-based food startup, but in the past, Hampton Creek has been on the receiving end of some foul play. After the company rolled out Just Mayo in 2013, the egg industry played dirty in its efforts to nip the vegan mayo in the bud, with organizations operating under the auspices of the US government—namely the American Egg Board and the FDA—going after Just Mayo. Hampton Creek received a letter from the FDA saying that they couldn't call their product "mayo" because it didn't contain eggs, and the American Egg Board ran a campaign called "Beyond Eggs" that targeted bloggers and chefs in the hopes they would promote eggs in light of the new eggless mayo darling. The fiasco led to the resignation of a senior Egg Board member as well as proposed legislation that would put limits on the actions of government-sponsored agricultural groups.
So mayonnaise, of all things, somehow continues to bring the drama, and it didn't even require any Sriracha to make it interesting. Stay tuned for what happens next in the exciting world of sandwich spreads.


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Popular social media platform Instagram is now facilitating food ordering on its application by redirecting users to Swiggy and Zomato. Instagram, a go-to platform for many food bloggers, is aiming to revive the industry by this initiative.
For supporting restaurants, Instagram has also announced that it was going to roll out a food order sticker. On clicking these stickers, users will be redirected to either Zomato or Swiggy, depending on the landing link. From there, users can complete their purchase.
These stickers can be used by restaurants which have an Instagram business or creator account. They will have to link the sticker to their products page on either Swiggy or Zomato. After creating the ‘Food Order’ stickers, restaurants can share them in their Instagram stories or can also add an ‘Order Food’ button in their profiles.
Besides restaurants, the sticker will also help other small businesses to stay connected with customers. These stickers will also redirect users to a fundraiser built on Facebook’s Fundraisers platform. Instagram has allowed users to reshare the stickers with their followers to increase the reach of the restaurants.
Instagram, owned by social media giant Facebook, had recently launched the Fundraisers programme in India to empower non-profit organisations for welfare missions running across the country.
The sticker feature was earlier launched in markets like the US and Canada in April 2020 to support the restaurant industries in these countries. These stickers are a part of Instagram’s ongoing efforts to support small businesses, which have taken a hit due to Covid-19.
In the last two months, the government had imposed a nation-wide lockdown to curb Covid-19 in India. During this period, most of the restaurants were shut, facing massive losses and seems very difficult to recover anytime soon.
In an earlier interaction with Inc42, vice president of the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) Gurbaxish Singh Kohli said that the hospitality industry was going through the roughest period and this includes both cloud kitchens and restaurants.
However, the government has now allowed all the restaurants to operate normally. This decision along with initiatives like Instagram’s stickers may now allow restaurants get back on the track in the near future.


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27 June, 2018
Indonesian players have started to receive import PP and PE offers from Southeast Asian producers with divergent pricing policies for July.
Although the regional PP markets have been weak given the softening in China’s domestic PP market driven by lower futures prices, the escalating trade war between the US and China as well as the ongoing weakness of demand; Southeast Asian producers have elected to remain firm on their offers for July.
When it comes to PE, July prices came in line with players’ initial expectations, which were calling for rollovers to decreases in the face of weak demand amid the off-season as well as the softening in China’s PE market.
A Southeast Asian producer lifted its July PP offers to Indonesia by $10-20/ton for homo-PP raffia and PPBC inj. while keeping its PPRC inj. offers stable on a monthly basis. On the other hand, the producer cut its July LDPE offers by $40/ton from June.
A different Southeast Asian producer also applied $50-60/ton increases for PP when compared to June while PE offers indicate rollovers on the month.Affirming the above, data from ChemOrbis Price Index also show that weekly average import homo-PP raffia prices in Indonesia have recently turned upward following firmer prices for July while import PE prices have extended their losses into this week.
Meanwhile, this has been the case in Malaysia as well. A Southeast Asian producer increased its July PP offers by $10-20/ton to the country while cutting its offers by $30/ton for LDPE grades this week.


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Private forex traders, whose lucrative currency changing business was rudely halted by recent closures of their outlets, have a reason to smile. Some of them will be allowed back in business if they meet tough regulations by the central bank.
“The forex business is now under strict control. Only those meeting the regulations will be allowed back,” the Prime Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa, revealed here Friday.
He said in response to repeated concerns by the business fraternity over the closures that some forex shops would be re-opened after the end of the on-going exercise.
“The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) is finalising new procedures for new licences to private operators of the bureaux de change,” he said when opening a CRDB Bank shareholders.
The Prime Ministers’ assurance followed an appeal made by the Arusha Regional Commissioner, Mr Mrisho Gambo, who admitted that suspension of the outlets had impacted the tourism sector. The RC appealed to the commercial banks, which now offered currency exchange services after the closure of the privately-owned ones, to extend the services to the night in Arusha.
He said Arusha being the gateway for foreign hundreds of tourists and delegates to meetings arriving into the country everyday was short of the forex shops to meet the high demand. The crackdown against forex shops suspected to default the central bank’s regulations started in Arusha in November last year when more than 20 of them rudely closed.
The exercise was extended to Dar es Salaam and other cities and border posts early this year, leaving currency changing business to the commercial banks which opened special windows. The central bank said then that the crackdown targeted suspected masterminds of a syndicate behind money laundering and those operating without licences or abusing their use.
Even those licensed to exchange currency generally violated a host of regulations governing the currency exchange business, mostly engaging in illegal transactions.
Mr Majaliwa did not say when the money bureaux by the private operators would be allowed back to business and new firms licensed under the new regulations.
However, he affirmed only a few of those closed are likely to be licensed to re-open but under tough regulations that would plug loopholes against illegal money transactions.
The minister for Finance and Economic Planning Phillip Mpango said the closing of the foreign exchange operations by the private people was already a blessing in disguise to the commercial banks.
“Banks are now cashing on forex business reducing the impact of liquidity problems”, he said, citing the CRDB Bank which made a profit of Sh. 30.7 billion in the first quarter of this year compared to Sh. 9bn during the same period last year.
Source: The Citizen


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This Sunday Bubba Watson won his second U.S. Masters title in three years. And how did the golf champion celebrate his big win? A meal at Waffle House, of course.
At 3:52 PM on Sunday, Waffle House tweeted at Watson, “We got your grilled cheese waiting on you @bubbawatson! Way to go!!!” And lo and behold, Watson took them up on it. Later that evening at 10:39 PM, Watson tweeted out an image of himself at a Waffle House restaurant location along with the caption, “Champ dinner @WaffleHouse! #hashbrowns #covered,” to his 1.14 million followers.
— bubba watson (@bubbawatson) April 14, 2014
Watson’s tweet has gotten more than 12,520 retweets and more than 15,580 favorites so far; and unsurprisingly Waffle House is enjoying some nice social media buzz from the shoutout. Waffle House not only retweeted Watson’s tweet, but has been retweeting the outpouring of tweets praising Waffle House:
The chain has been enjoying a healthy spike in Twitter mentions and followers. According to Topsy, since just yesterday, Waffle House has gotten more than 10,000 mentions on Twitter; and according to Wildfire, the brand has gotten 200 new followers.
While this isn’t quite the same level of star-studded buzz that lucky local pizza chain Big Mama’s and Papa’s Pizza got thanks from Ellen DeGeneres’ surprise Oscars pizza stunt, it’s still every brand social media manager’s dream to get this kind of organic, unsolicited buzz thanks to celeb shoutouts.
Digiday+ Research: Instagram wins over Facebook for role in brands’ holiday marketing
Brands differ on how they use each marketing channel during the holidays -- even when it comes to sibling social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, Digiday+ Research found.
How — and why — Candy Crush is in the midst of a 10th anniversary brand refresh
In the years since Activision Blizzard acquired the Swedish game studio King in 2016, employees at the gaming giant have started to internally refer to their company as “ABK” — that is, Activision Blizzard King. But the corporation’s recent financial reports indicate that “KAB” might be a more accurate abbreviation.
Independent agency Goat invests in influencer strategy for clients as it expands in the U.S.
Everyone is after influencers to up their marketing game. But the secret to success, Goat contends, is in viewing influencers as performance media and using data to deliver clients guaranteed outcomes.
SponsoredHow brands are measuring incremental performance on CTV
Connected TV is unique among other advertising channels because it combines linear television’s storytelling capabilities with digital marketing’s targeting and measurement. As more marketers leverage CTV advertisements to reach relevant and engaged audiences, they also want to understand the real value they are generating with their investment. Incrementality reporting and measurement allow advertisers to measure […]
Marketers bring Web3 to the FIFA World Cup with augmented reality, NFTs and virtual worlds
The month-long tournament, which begins this weekend, will be the first World Cup since it took place in Russia in 2018 long before “Web3” entered the global lexicon. Now, official and non-official sponsors are hoping to harness the hype with a range of NFTs, virtual worlds, augmented reality tools and other trendy tech.
U-Haul diversifies its social strategy to tell people it’s more than moving trucks
In recent years, U-Haul's in-house agency has been working to "better leverage social media for brand loyalty."


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Nintendo has reported a problem with the newly released Super Mario Smash Bros. Brawl disc.
The company said in a recent release that “a very small percentage of Wii consoles have trouble consistently reading data off this large capacity disc if there is some contamination on the lens of the disc drive. Nintendo has specialized cleaning equipment that can resolve this problem.”
The malfunction is apparently a byproduct of the game’s double-layer disc.
Nintendo’s FAQ on the issue recommends customers fill out a form for free repair, with free expedited shipping included.
The company notes that returning the disc to the store in favor of another will not fix the problem on the user’s end.
Source: Ars Technica


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British video ad tech company Unruly will tap IBM Watson to create a new targeting tool for increasing the digital video ads’ effectiveness and accuracy. Unruly-IBM Watson integration coalesces Unruly DNA’s emotional intelligence tools with the machine learning capabilities of Watson to accurately identify and engage customers for increasing brand’s sales figures.
In coming days, Unruly-IBM Watson Integration will allow digital video ad marketers engage 1.44 billion customers. Video ad marketers will largely use effective outstream formats to improve brand outcomes for advertisers and increase sales revenues. Unruly will tap Watson’s cloud-based Personality Insights service so that advertisers can learn about customer behavior and perception towards brands from various categories. Unruly DNA analyzes digital data about consumer behavior across all digital platforms. The tool learns distinct personality traits like empathy, happiness, anger, assertiveness and so on.
According to Scott Button, the Chief Strategy Officer of Unruly, cognitive technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have evolved dramatically in the last few years. Currently, the marketing technology ecosystem is open to adopt video ad tools that can recognize subjective and human qualities.
— IBM Watson (@IBMWatson) December 21, 2016
Harriet Green, GM-Customer Engagement in IBM said, “The future of marketing lies in unlocking insight from vast amounts of digital data – from emails to tweets, to social media posts and purchase history.”
According to Green, IBM Watson will act as a dedicated analyst, assistant and reliable advisor to marketers. It will help them make better decisions based on accurate information. Consumers will also enjoy the benefits of Unruly-IBM Watson integration. They will witness an enhanced visibility of their preferred brands delivered through relevant video content.
This fresh audience targeting tool from Unruly is used for creating profiles of light buyers who have a greater likelihood of making purchases. This is because the former category of buyers has a higher capacity to buy more compared to heavy buyers. Thereafter, Unruly DNA creates a list of 3rd party segments of the audiences based on the behavioral traits to improve efficiency of consumer targeting.
Button added that Unruly is still at a very nascent stage of adopting AI and cognitive technologies in advertising. Unruly is excited about letting machines assist marketers in identifying human perceptions and desires during interaction with brands. Button is upbeat about the prospects of integration of IBM Watson capabilities into Unruly DNA tool. “It will help brands increase penetration and sales by targeting their light buyers.”
The new tool of Unruly is designed based on the studies conducted on consumer panel where more than 10,000 respondents participated along with valuable insights from participating consumers with verified social media accounts..


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Opening Delayed for Second El Paso Cracker Barrel, Eastlake Location
The new Cracker Barrel Old Country Store on the east side has had a couple of setbacks and its targeted opening has been delayed.
Originally projected to open at the Eastlake Marketplace off Interstate 10 and Eastlake Boulevard this spring, Cracker Barrel Media Relations tells me El Pasoans and those living in Horizon City, Clint, and Fabens will have to wait a little longer before they get to enjoy its brand of homestyle comfort food on their end of town.
Eastlake Area Is Booming
Anyone who lives, works or has to travel through the Eastlake area knows first-hand just how much it has grown in the last year.
Since Dollar Tree became the first retail store to open in the Eastlake Marketplace shopping center in January of 202, more and more shopping and dining establishments are opening locations or announcing plans to do so.
Dutch Bros Coffee, Crumbl Cookies, Rack Room Shoes, Ross Dress for Less, Jersey Mike’s, and Five Below are just a handful of franchises that have opened their doors since the Cracker Barrel broke ground in November of 2021.
Home grown businesses Taco Tote, AJ’s Diner, and Chopsticks are planning to join locally owned Sun City Slice in the future. Between Eastlake Marketplace and the smaller Eastlake Commons across the street, both owned and operated by River Oaks Properties, more than 50 restaurants and retail stores will call the shopping centers home.
New Cracker Barrel Opening Timeline
So, what’s keeping Cracker Barrel from the spring opening it was eyeing?
Construction and permitting delays, according to Cracker Barrel Media Relations. “We expect our new El Paso location to open doors this summer,” I was informed via email. “Although still subject to change,” they added.
It has taken nearly 30 years for a second Cracker Barrel to be built in El Paso, so I guess we can wait a few more months to have their Southern fried chicken, meatloaf, Country Fried Steak, and Old Timer’s Breakfast at the new location.


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Microsoft cost cuts reflect changing balance of power, says Karl Havers.
At first sight, Microsoft's decision to chop $1bn from its costs, announced by chief executive Steve Ballmer earlier this month in an e-mail to staff, might look like the first chill winds of a downturn in IT. When the world's biggest software business has to reach for the axe, it has to be bad news for everyone, doesn't it?
Well, no, unless you are an old-school IT salesman with a penchant for shifting boxes. In fact, this round of cutbacks from Microsoft is one of the clearest signs to date that the industry is reaching a new level of maturity. And the way the industry does business is going to have to mature with it.
As Ballmer pointed out in his e-mail, the cost cuts really involve "rethinking the way we do things". This message's relevance goes way beyond Microsoft. Over the past 10 to 15 years, the IT industry's rapid growth has been marked by land-grab and technology push. But as a technology and sales-led industry turns into a customer and service-led sector, this is set to change to customer demand-pull, and few technology companies have worked out how to do this well.
Under the old model, you could grow your business by developing the fastest or biggest product in its market and sending out a team of highly incentivised salesmen to flog it. Nowadays you have to start by examining what customers want, how you can give it to them, and what payback it will deliver to their bottom line. Then you look for the best way of delivering that proposition.
A skewed approach
At this point, it becomes clear that a skew has developed between the attributes suppliers now need to bring to bear, and the way their salesforces are organised, managed and remunerated. Direct and indirect channels have also got out of kilter, reflected by the huge number of organisations currently reviewing the way they go to market through value added resellers and examining whether they need a more direct customer relationship.
In addition, the return on many overly complex channel marketing initiatives is poorly understood, let alone managed. This shift towards greater maturity is also evident in regulation, with tighter accounting standards focusing minds on revenue recognition, financial control and sound business risk management.
So, what has changed? Two things: what the salesforce is selling and to whom.
The service element has become increasingly important, to the point where the product itself is just a building-block. The buyers have not the slightest interest in the technology itself, they only want to hear how it will improve operational processes and what its impact will be on operating as well as capital expenditure.
For a rep with a background in selling kit rather than building business cases, and the company employing that rep, this can be bad news - and a wake-up call for a rethink.
All these pressures can be seen in the way the industry is restructuring itself. Compared to selling a single product, providing services requires greater resources and support and a broader range of offerings. This calls for collaboration and, increasingly, consolidation.
The spectre of monopoly
As for the spectre of monopoly, once products get past the point of mass-usage, other factors come into play. Take soap powder: we all struggle to think of a manufacturer apart from Unilever and Procter & Gamble, but nobody cares. There is still room for niche players to tackle specific segments below the radar of the dominant players, and the same will be true of technology.
So, far from being bad news, the Microsoft announcement is an inevitable milestone in the industry's development. To draw a parallel with another industry, having begun to pass the age where we had to build the car ourselves, we are now leaving the era of the Model T. Customers are fed up with being able to get any model, so long as it is black. Now they want synchromesh gears and an individual choice of optional extras.
The good news for the IT industry is that there is massive scope for new service options. It is time to train and incentivise salesforces to sell them not on the basis of technology, but on their real bottom-line benefits to the customer. Those who do this right will win.
Karl Havers is the European head of technology at Ernst & Young


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Hurricane Katrina has already brought higher gasoline prices in its aftermath, but the auto industry could be squeezed further as steel prices rise. The price of steel for auto manufacturing and industrial equipment could rise by as much as 20 percent as flooding in New Orleans has limited the supply of raw materials such as liquid hydrogen and scrap, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The newspaper said the increase would be in addition to roughly 20 percent price increases by steel makers including U.S. Steel Corp. and Nucor Corp. that became effective on September 1 for shipments of products such as hot-rolled coil.
Liquid hydrogen is used to make higher-quality steels such as galvanized or cold-rolled coils, which are used in products from auto panels to garage doors. Scrap is used to make new steel.
The newspaper said that as buyers stockpile to avoid higher prices and shortages, prices could escalate by as much as $80 a ton on such products. Currently, hot-rolled coil costs about $500 a ton. Concrete reinforcing bar, used in construction, is also expected to rise.
The report said some larger automakers may look to ship extra supplies of steel from abroad. It quoted Dave Elshoff, a spokesman for the Chrysler group, as saying the company is monitoring the situation, but “as of this time, all our suppliers have found alternate sources” of hydrogen.


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Pact Group named one of Australasia’s Most Innovative for the Fifth Consecutive Year
20 September 2017
Pact Group has been named one of Australasia’s Most Innovative Companies for the fifth consecutive year.
The Australian Financial Review’s (AFR) Most Innovative Companies list is now in its sixth year and is judged and compiled by innovation consultancy Inventium. This year the awards attracted more than 1000 nominations from Australia and New Zealand. Pact has thundered up the list over the past few years placing 49th in 2013, 45th in 2014, 38th in 2015, 23rd in 2016 and 15th in 2017.
The awards measure Innovation as “change that adds value”. The assessment process organisations must go through consists of three parts. First, entrants must describe two innovations they have implemented in the past 12 months. Second, entrants must answer several open-ended questions about how they have integrated and embedded innovation into their organisation. Finally, organisations receive Inventium’s Innovation Maturity Index, an online survey completed by a representative sample of employees to assess performance on a range of innovation drivers.
Pact’s first 2017 nomination was from our Materials Handling division that developed a bespoke RFID enabled Intellicrate® and pooling process. This initiative has enabled Australia’s largest retailer to have the most innovative supply chain solution in Australia for fresh produce and the first time in the Southern hemisphere that RFID technology has been utilised in crate pooling. Over the past 12 months, more than four million Intellicrates® embedded with RFID tags have been supplied to fresh produce growers from four world class automated wash facilities commissioned in 12 months. New sanitisation standards and centrifugal drying equipment deliver dryer, more hygienic crates than previous industry standards meeting HACCP requirements.
Pact’s other nomination was from our Contract Manufacturing division for developing an odourless and invisible Outdoor Fly and Mosquito Shield that keeps working for six hours after spraying. The product is sprayed onto a ground surface and emanates at a controlled rate for at least 6 hours, protecting an area of 25m2 and killing bugs for up to 6 hours. This offers an alternative to directly spraying onto skin or devices that spray into the air every 30 seconds that can contaminate food and beverage. No other aerosols continue to work post spraying. This innovation has created a new segment in the category, grown sales and offered export opportunities to China, NZ and Fiji which is a great opportunity for local Australian manufacturing.
To view the complete 2017 AFR Most Innovative Companies List, click here
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All Diesel and Petrol Vehicles to be Banned from 2040
By: Victoria Affleck
Last updated: 27 July 2017
In a recent plan proposed by the government, Britain is due to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2040. As part of the government’s ‘clean air plan’, ministers have backed the ban due to the unnecessary and avoidable impact the poor air quality around Britain is having on people’s health. This comes after a report suggested that nitrogen oxide is polluting the air and posing a major risk to public health.
The government have announced a £3 billion ‘clean air’ strategy in an attempt to tackle air pollution in Britain. Poor air quality is the biggest environmental risk to public health in the UK and our high levels of air pollution could be responsible for 40,000 premature deaths each year, according to a report by the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. In addition, the World Health Organisation (WHO) have claimed that air pollution causes more than three million premature deaths per year worldwide.
The report has stated that air pollution can have a damaging impact on people’s health, especially young children and unborn babies. Air pollution has been linked to many serious conditions, such as cancer, asthma, heart disease and even neurological changes, for instance, dementia. Long-term exposure to poor air quality can even lead to a decline in lung function, cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes.
Photo credit: Rasulov / Shutterstock
In a WHO report published last year, statistics show that ten towns and cities in the United Kingdom had breached air pollution levels. Cities such as London, Glasgow, Nottingham, Southampton and Oxford surpassed what are regarded as ‘safe’ levels of PM10 particles, and a further 39 urban areas also breached the ‘safe’ levels for PM2.5, including big cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool and Belfast.
However, the plan to get rid of all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040 may be difficult, with no car scrappage schemes being set. Instead, the government has planned to give local authorities direct financial support by handing over £40 million of the fund being made straightaway. The government hopes councils will use the funds for a range of measures, such as changing road layouts, implementing new technology or encouraging people to use public transport more often, in a bid to reduce the number of cars on the road. If these measures do not help the problem, the government warns that charging zones could be implemented to deter people from driving, or using petrol and diesel cars. Although, these will only be used for “limited periods” of time.
The announcement comes after signs of an increasing shift towards electric cars instead of petrol and diesel ones, in the UK and abroad. Earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron announced similar plans to phase out diesel and petrol cars in France from 2040. With Theresa May following suit, the United Kingdom are well underway to become a world leader in battery technology for electric vehicles, with the government set to invest a staggering £246 million over a four-year period. This week, BMW have also announced that a full electric version of the ‘Mini’ would be built in Oxford from 2019, and earlier this month, Volvo revealed that all new models will be fitted with an electric motor from 2019.
Photo credit: Sopotnicki / Shutterstock
The AA have said that a series of major investments will be needed to install charging points across the country to deal with the growing number of new generation of cars that will be on the roads following this new governmental policy. Although, the AA have claimed that the National Grid would be under huge pressure to cope with a mass switch-on after the evening rush hour if more resources are needed to charge electric vehicles.
According to a National Grid report, peak demand for electricity will add around 30 gigawatts to the current peak of 61 gigawatts – an increase of 50%. Currently there are only 4,500 locations with charging points around the UK, although Zap-Map.com suggests that they are on the rise, with hundreds being implemented each month. The extra electricity needed will be equivalent to almost ten times the total power output of the new Hinkley nuclear power station in Somerset.
This will unsurprisingly rise even further after there is speculation that by 2020 ‘electric’ roads will be a reality, with induction charging pads implanted underground, according to Autocar. An electrically live coil will be buried under road surfaces and when a car equipped with another coil, it induces a current which effectively charges electric cars whilst driving. Research suggests that if 250 metres of every kilometre of motorway was equipped with wireless charging pads, an electric vehicle could travel without depleting its reserves. For example, when an alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) passes over the pad buried under the road for a fraction of a second at a speed of up to 60mph, up to 20kW of energy can be pushed into the electric vehicle.
Although, despite the positive impacts this ‘clean air plan’ will inevitably bring, it has been met with backlash from ordinary citizens. Many claim that such a move will cost the economy, and consumers, trillions of pounds. Electric cars are significantly more expensive than petrol and diesel cars, and out of most people's price range - averaging at around £30,000 and above - particuarly top-of-the-range electric company, Tesla, being sky-high and unaffordable for most.
Demand for AFV’s are growing, but at a slow pace – just over 4% of new car sales last year were for AFV’s. A need for affordable cars that meet the requirements and are practical for consumers is needed. For current AFV’s, it can take up to eight hours to charge an electric vehicle, some of which can only travel up to 50 miles, and a small number can travel more than 200. This makes electric cars highly impractical for the average person.
Feature image: Orlando_Stocker / Shutterstock


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The End of Liberty: Jeep SUV Stops Production on August 16
The current-generation Jeep Liberty is going out of production on August 16, The Detroit News is reporting.
Once the assembly line at the Toledo North factory shuts down, Chrysler will begin preparing the plant for the Liberty's successor, scheduled to go on sale next spring. Chrysler is spending about $1.7 billion to develop the new SUV, retool the Report: Jeep Liberty Production to Shut Down August 16 imageassembly line, and expand the plant to add capacity. Workers will be temporarily laid off for a few months, but Chrysler plans to add 1100 jobs when production resumes.
Days are also numbered for the 3.7-liter V-6 currently powering the Jeep Liberty. The archaic iron-block V-6, which is also used in the Ram 1500, produced 210-215 hp and 235 lb-ft of torque. A number of reports have speculated what will power the Liberty's successor. Among them is a 3.2-liter Pentastar V-6, essentially a smaller version of the 3.6-liter already used in vehicles like the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Wrangler. The downsized Pentastar would likely be mated to the brand's upcoming nine-speed automatic transmission.
The rumor mill also suggests Chrysler is considering one of many turbocharged four-cylinder engines from parent company Fiat. The 2013 Dodge Dart, for example, is offered with a 1.4-liter turbo-four that produces 160 hp. If that's not enough then there's also the 2.4-liter Tigershark I-4, which might gain a turbocharged version. An early prototype of the Liberty's successor was photographed earlier this year, so stay tuned as more details emerge closer to the new SUV's launch.
Source: The Detroit News


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Panasonic showed a prototype of another bezzerkalnoy camera
September 23, 2008, 12:48 pm
Yesterday, the company Panasonic has arranged to show journalists the main theme of which was already known to us with your camera G1 Standard Micro Four Thirds. Read the news you can from our material that will appear shortly. In addition, the company has demonstrated the press three new lens and camera prototype, which the company plans to release next year to replace G1. We know that novelty will be able to withdraw HD Video in stereo - on the prototype is already clear that there would be stereomikrofon some hot shoe. While a prototype is clearly far from what will, over time, because the government is almost completely copied from G1. Separately, I would like to note pancake 20/1. 7, the first light-lens system. The developers say that there are currently supported avtofokusnaya work at least three cameras Olympus, about others so far no information. Actually, the booth was shown the ad page with dozens of supported lenses (via adapter), among them a series Leica D Vario Elmar/Elmarit, Summilux, Sigma, Olympus E, but which of them will be to confirm autofocus still unknown. We are waiting for new details of our special correspondent, based in Cologne.


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Update from the Wildlife Conservation Society
On the Reopening of WCS Zoos and Aquarium
Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, and Queens Zoo to Reopen
New York Aquarium Reopening Postponed Until Further Notice
Based on New NY State Phase 4 Guidelines
New York – July 18, 2020 – Based on new Phase 4 guidelines from the NY State Governor’s Office on Friday, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is moving forward with plans to reopen its four zoos but will postpone the reopening of the NY Aquarium until further guidance from the state. All outdoor exhibits and grounds at its four zoos (Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo) will be open while indoor exhibits will not open at this time.
Governor Cuomo announced Friday that NY City would move into Phase 4 but this phase for this region will now not include indoor activity in malls, restaurants, or cultural institutions.
As announced previously, all four zoos will be open Monday through Thursday this coming week, July 20-23 for WCS members only; and open to all guests beginning on Friday, July 24.
All other details, including new safety protocols, from WCS’s earlier announcement on its parks reopening will remain the same. You can find the July 9 news announcement HERE.
WCS is committed to following all guidelines from the state and city and ensuring that guests have a safe and enjoyable experience in its parks. All its zoos offer extensive outdoor exhibits and grounds that allow guests to have experiences with nature and wildlife.
All information about ticketing and exhibits can be found on the websites of each park.
As guidelines from the state and city change, we will adhere to all their mandates and keep the public informed about park operations.
Highlights of reopening guidelines for all four WCS zoos:
· Tickets must be purchased online for a specific date/time.
· No walk-up/on-site tickets will be available.
· At the Bronx Zoo, tickets will be sold for entry at 10am; noon; and 2pm. At the other parks, entry time slots will be sold on the hour all day until closing.
· Members and Healthcare Heroes must obtain tickets online and these tickets too will be date and time specific.
· The traditional free Wednesdays at the Bronx Zoo will begin Wednesday, July 29 and require advance ticketing online.
· Masks/Face coverings will be required at all zoos and the aquarium for all visitors ages 3 and up.
· Social distancing protocols will be in effect throughout the parks.
· Cleaning procedures will be enhanced, especially in high-touch areas.
· Lines, stores, and food concessions will be monitored to ensure that mask wearing and social distancing recommendations are met.
· Day camps and education programs will be available online and will be virtual.
Join more than one million wildlife lovers working to save the Earth's most treasured and threatened species.
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Seattle Boat Show organizers and exhibitors reported a strong start to the region’s premier annual boating event, with higher attendance and showgoers who were not just looking, but actually buying.
Attendance was up 23 percent over last year for the first four days of the show at Lake Union, while the indoor portion of the show at Qwest Field Event Center drew 24.5 percent more attendees than last year, including a preview VIP night held both years.
The weekend was busy at both sites, and both experienced something highly unusual: a line of people waiting to get in on Monday morning. The mood at the show is a sharp contrast from last year’s, marked by lower spending and low morale as the nation struggled through a prolonged recession. During the first three days of this year’s show, small retailers to big boat dealers noticed a more upbeat, energetic atmosphere.
“There’s definitely a different energy than there was last year,” said John Thorburn, director of communications and marketing for the Northwest Marine Trade Association. “People are excited about getting out on the water and finding their next boat or their next set of electronics.”
That excitement is reportedly translating into sales. Though dealers were characteristically reticent to talk numbers or specifics, several said they’ve sold boats during the first few days of the show, which ends on Saturday. Those included Tim Klontz at Boat Country, who would only say the company has sold several boats, including some cash sales.
“It’s been quite a bit busier than it was last year,” he said. “The buyers have been quite enthusiastic about owning boats sooner and getting out on the water quicker.”
Read the rest of the story at our boat show blog here.


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USA: Quality problems halt Ford Mustang Cobra assembly - report
Quality problems have hit yet another North American-built Ford product, according to the Detroit News. The newspaper said Ford has halted production of its high-performance 2003 SVT Mustang Cobra due to quality concerns. Ford Special Vehicle Team operations spokesman Alan Hall told the Detroit News that the company stopped building the limited-edition version of the Mustang about two weeks ago but would not specify the problems that led to the stoppage.
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Coronavirus in Crouch End: Businesses battle to survive amid anxiety over government help schemes and landlords
- Credit: Archant
Business-owners in Crouch End were pleased to see the government announce a raft of measures on Friday to support them through the coronavirus crisis, but speaking to the Ham&High, many explained they were keen to see how things would work in reality.
Greg Vukasovic, who runs the popular Habadashery in Middle Lane, told this newspaper he was also anxious their suppliers could suffer.
He said: “We as a café definitely feel better and grateful knowing there is some certainly about having had to close and that our staff will have support from the government, although we are anxious about the details.
“We are also aware there are many other businesses – including many of our local suppliers and neighbours – who will suffer but aren’t covered by the measures to date.”
Greg also criticised insurers for having “washed their hands” of responsibility, but welcomed community support.
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“We are immensely moved by the gestures of our customers and neighbours. The community is closer than before in some ways.”
Lewis Freeman, who runs Dunn’s Bakery, added: “For me, on the retail side of things it’s great to see how it is the smaller indipendent stores have been best placed to cope with the massive uplift in demand. We can respond to changes in demand in hours, not days.”
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He said he too had been reassured by the government measures, but had no plans to close just yet.
But none-food shop owners were anxious. Nicolas Peponnet from Little Paris boutique said he was set to close “indefinitely”.
Windmill Shoes is also closing, saying social distancing advice made shopping there unworkable, while House of Books is getting a delivery service up to speed ahead of shutting.
Adam Bloom who runs the latter added; “In the main I’m pleased with the help the government have offered and just hope it is easy and quick to access. We are hoping landlords will show compassion but doubt it...”
Andrew Georgiou of Broadway Dry Cleaners had a sobering opinion: “My opinion is that as business is so bad it’s actually not worth being open. The government should just order the inevitable complete lockdown and get it over with.”


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A documentary from 1999 gives a fascinating insight into Amazon.com and its founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.
The company which started with Bezos selling books out of his garage has grown into the e-commerce giant it is today.
The footage was unearthed this week by tech site GeekWire as Bezos’ net worth shot passed $100 billion.
The footage was taken five years after Amazon first launched and shows the company’s old HQ in Seattle located next to a “porno-parlour”, heroin needle exchange and pawn shop.
Once inside, the Amazon offices are noted for looking “more like a college dorm than a corporate headquarters”, complete with stained carpets and Bezos’ desk, which is made made out of an old office door.
Commenting on the makeshift desk, Bezos says: “It’s a symbol of spending money on things that matter to customers and not spending money on things that don’t.”
At the time Bezos, who described himself as “socially awkward”, was already a billionaire but in the documentary he can be seen driving a beat up old Honda. “This is a perfectly good car,” he says.
Bezos also explains how after turning his back on a career on Wall Street, he started Amazon because of his “regret minimization framework.”
“I want to have lived my life in such a way that when I’m 80 years old, I’ve minimized the number of regrets that I have,” he says.
“I think actually a lot of people do that — even if they don’t call it something as dorky as regret minimization framework, they behave that way.”
Another interesting part of the documentary shows a Wall Street analyst talking about the “frenzy” of investing in Amazon stock, as well as using other terms such as “gambling” and warns against the “huge risks” in investing in stocks of web based companies, like Amazon.
Today, the 53 year old businessman has a reported net worth of $100 billion, overtaking Bill Gates who has an estimated net worth of $90 billion, Bloomberg reported.
A picture of Bezos recently shared on social media reveals that after 20 years and many many billions of dollars, the Amazon CEO has undergone quite a transformation and is almost unrecognisable to the young Bezos in the documentary.
Jonathan is our Google Nexus and Android enthusiast. He is also fanatical about football which makes it all the more strange that he should support Stockport County. In addition to writing about tech, Jonathan has a passion for fitness and nutrition and has previously written for one the UK’s leading watch and horology websites.


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A new drive-through cafe has been approved in the business park of an Essex seaside town – but its identity remains a mystery. A request from Associated British Foods Pension Trustees Ltd for sketchy permission for the as-yet-unnamed Car Park Brook Retail Park cafe was granted by Tendring District Council at a planning committee meeting on March 30.
Councilors said a new cafe in Clacton-On-Sea, which is expected to create 30 new jobs, could be a “bonus” for the area. However, B&Q, which shares the site which is owned by the claimant, objected to the plans, saying the resulting loss of 40 parking spaces would create traffic congestion, and noted that the KFC ride currently on the site is seeing queues cars all the way. around the site during peak periods.
Although the brand of the coffee has not yet been revealed, the claimant submitted evidence of transport taking into account theoretical queue lengths for ‘comparable’ Costa Coffee locations in Banbury and Didcot.
Read more: Clacton roads could be so overwhelmed by 180-home plan that council agrees to delay
Heather Arnell, planning officer for the claimant, told the committee her evidence showed the proposals would not have a serious impact on road safety.
She said: “This includes two surveys of car park usage at different times of the year, both of which demonstrate that there is more than enough capacity in the car park to withstand the proposed loss of parking. ” Ms Arnell also said B&Q’s objection was ‘without merit’ and ‘unsupported by evidence’.
Appearing at the meeting alongside Clacton B&Q assistant store manager Tony Baldwin, planning officer Jake Tubb said one of the surveys was carried out over Christmas, which is one of their quietest times and therefore did not accurately represent traffic peaks.
He said: “The proposed drive-thru unit will reduce the number of parking spaces available to B&Q, cause congestion in the parking lot and surrounding streets, especially during peak periods, to the detriment of B&Q’s business and road safety.”
Councilor Peter Harris (Con, Weeley and Tendring) noted the dispute between the site owner and one of its tenants. He said: “I see it as a trade dispute largely, I don’t see it as a safety issue at all, I don’t really see it as a highways issue. I think it’s internal to the site.
“I sympathize very much with B&Q and foresee some problems there, but when the details come back to the committee, that is when the agent will have to demonstrate to the committee how he would mitigate the problems that would clearly be there.
According to a board report, no public representations were made regarding the plan. The site already has a KFC, Pizza Hut, Tesco Café, and a neighboring site has a McDonalds and pub.


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A new era of Destiny 2 has been promised by Bungie, and according to the developer, the studio's vision of just what that looks like will be shared in greater detail in the near future. Destiny 2 has been quiet ever since its split from Activision early this year, a move that was mostly received positively from fans who had long contended that the publisher's restrictions on deadlines and content releases had been negatively impacting the studio's ideas for its loot shooter.
Destiny 2 remains a popular title with a thriving community, however, even if it isn't the widely-discussed phenomenon that its predecessor was now that contenders have cropped up. Destiny 2's Year 3 leaks a few months ago showcased a game that had direction in the wake of a major change for Bungie, and recent minor changes have been taken as indicators for higher quality content on the horizon. Unlike the mess EA and Bioware have created with Anthem, it appears no ill will has spilled over onto Bungie's public perception yet, and fans are mostly just anxious to see what the developer has in store for Destiny 2 now that it has full creative control of where the game will head next.
To that end, the team at Bungie has indicated that the future of Destiny 2 will be revealed soon. In the most recent iteration of the This Week at Bungie blog, the developer discussed what's coming in Destiny 2 with the Season of the Opulence, the next content that will arrive as part of the game's live service model. In that post, Destiny community lead David "Deej" Dague revealed that Bungie has plans to discuss what's next for Destiny 2 soon, just after the launch of Opulence and its first raid:
"We'll be looking deeper into the future, and sharing with you more about a new era for Bungie and Destiny 2."
The promise of a new era for Destiny 2 is exactly what most of its fans want to hear after years of being tantalized by a promising gameplay loop only to see it short-circuited by baffling decisions on expansions and quality concerns. Part of the new era will probably involve a change in how Destiny 2's PC platform is hosted: its currently available on Battle.net but, since that launcher is part of Activision Blizzard, that likely won't last. The game is now listed as developed and published by Bungie, though, which proves that the split is now very much complete and the legendary studio behind Halo is now in full control of the future of Destiny 2.
For the community's part, any news will likely be received as good news. Destiny 2 players really wanted a change, and that's what they'll get with this shift. That being said, labeling it as a "new era" carries with it a certain amount of weight, and we could see anything from a totally revamp of the game to a drastic departure from Destiny 2's yearly expansion model now that Bungie is in charge. We'll have to wait and see, but the future looks promising for one of the more popular current-gen games still going.


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Leaked photo of packaging iPhone 6SE confirms the name of the new flagship Apple
Last week Bloomberg reported that the iPhone 7 must be present 7 September this year. Later media published a clarification, stating that the device will go on sale on Friday, September 23.
Usually Apple announces their devices before they become available. Western sources say that invitations to the press will begin in late August. Prior to the event, the Network appeared photos of the packaging of the iPhone 6SE.
As you can see, the new iPhone will get rid of the horizontal plastic inserts and get a larger camera module and flash. The Communicator will not be much different in design from the current flagship iPhone 6s.
If the photos are genuine packaging, that means that Apple has refused to name the iPhone 7. It is recognized that this step would be quite logical, given that the device is really more like a further development of the line iPhone 6. Substantially updated model with edge-to-edge display and body made of glass and metal, is expected in the next year.
Will the new product be called iPhone 7 or iPhone 8, we will discuss over the next 12 months.


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2 min read
The flights from Kinshasa to Johannesburg will run three times a week, on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, on the two-year old airline which was launched in October 2016.
The new DRC-South Africa service represents Congo Airway’s first scheduled flight to South Africa, affording an opportunity to further strengthen relationships, build new economic partnerships, and enhance trade and tourism business between the two countries.
Congo Airways plans to launch flights to Cameroon, Angola and Dubai next. The airline is jointly owned by the DRC government and investors from the private sector.
The airline has an ambitious plan to operate a low-cost model, which will see it adding to its fleet of aircraft to service more destinations outside the DRC.
Congo Airways chief executive, Desire Balazire Bantu, said that it was a “proud achievement” for them to have their first international flight to South Africa as the DRC.
“With Africa fast establishing itself as one of the most promising regions for tourism and the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) estimating that Africa will receive 85 million international tourist arrivals by 2020, and 134 million in 2030, representing 6.3 percent and 7.4 percent respectively of international tourist arrivals worldwide,” Bantu said.
“My deepest gratitude goes to all of our stakeholders who have supported us towards making sure that our inaugural international flight promotional campaign as Congo Airways is a success. We hope that industry players in South Africa can work closely together with our Congolese partners to make the African Union agenda 2063 regarding the movement of our African people and goods successful.”
The launch of Congo Airway’s DRC-SA route follows the two country’s adherence to the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) which was launched last month on the margins of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.


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Yahoo! China has launched a blogging and networking service, informs Yahoo! News. This move is targeted at broadening its revenue 'as it steps up expansion in the world's second-largest Web market by subscriber numbers.'
The Yahoo! Space service comprises of blogging, photo gallery, online networking and other interactive features for Yahoo! users.
"Search is a tool for the user to get the information he wants, but it is not the final destination. Yahoo's next step will be to allow users to share their hobbies with each other so that they can expand their knowledge," Zeng Ming, Yahoo China's new president said in the emailed statement.


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Carlsberg has agreed to a three-year extension to its long-time partnership with Liverpool Football Club. The deal secures Carlsberg's role as the club's Official Beer until the end of the 2018/19 season and deepens the relationship with the club.
This new sponsorship will give Carlsberg improved pouring rights at Anfield with perimeter signage rights, access to players and improved ticket and hospitality opportunities which will help to increase the value of the sponsorship.
Mikkel Pilemand, vice president core beer, Carlsberg Group, said: "Carlsberg and Liverpool Football Club are both iconic brands and have enjoyed a very long and loyal partnership. This latest extension to our partnership is testament to the strong link between us, and further deepens the longest partnership in Premier League history."
"We already have some very promising activation ideas for 2017. At the same time, we will continue to invest in other unique elements beyond football that differentiate our brand from others, including our great beer quality and unique heritage which we will bring further to life in the second half of 2016," he continued.
The 2016/17 season will mark a 25 year long association between Carlsberg and Liverpool FC, over which an estimated 6.5 million Carlsberg pints have been served at Liverpool's home-ground, Anfield.
Pilemand added: "We're very proud of our ongoing association with Liverpool Football Club, one of the most renowned clubs worldwide with excellent global reach and strong ambitions."
Billy Hogan, chief commercial officer at Liverpool Football Club said: "We are extremely pleased to extend our partnership with Carlsberg, who we have enjoyed working with for 25 years now. Throughout that time, the relationship between the two brands has been mutually successful. Carlsberg has become part of the fabric of the club and everyone associated with Liverpool FC appreciates this unique relationship."


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GITEX is today considered to the number one gateway in Middle East to showcase consumer IT, printing and electronic products. The show, which started in the year 1981 attracts visitors from all over Middle East, North Africa and the South Asian region. A resounding success was recorded at the GITEX Shopper this year, which was held prior to the GITEX Technology week. According to industry experts, GITEX shopper 2012 is expected to generate more than 200 million Dhs. With the sales going up, the Government of Dubai has decided to hold GITEX shopper biannually, with an early edition scheduled to be held from April 3 to April 6, 2013.
Real business is yet to happen, as the GITEX technology week will be held from 14th to 18th October 2012. “The Middle East and Africa region is evolving with breath-taking pace, and so too is GITEX Technology Week 2012. As the organisers of the region’s premier ICT event, it is our job to stay ahead of the curve and provide the right platform for the latest innovations to flourish and take root,” said Trixee Loh, Senior Vice President at Dubai World Trade Centre, which organises GITEX.
“GITEX is proud to operate as a leader for exciting change, and this year we are once again enhancing our scope, including putting the most powerful spotlight yet on SMEs and on emerging markets such as Africa, as well as refining our ability to not only showcase technology trends, but also to help lead its influential integration across crucial vertical sectors,” said Loh.
The printing industry is also geared up to welcome GITEX Technology Week. Companies like OKI, GSS and Primera are all set to participate at GITEX and exhibit their printing solutions. We take a look at how these companies provide effective solutions for printing at this GITEX.
‘Stop Printing! We are Papering the World With Our Waste’ – OKI
Stop printing! That’s the message from printer company- OKI, which has identified that the paper waste from office printers alone could spill over into trillions of pages of print wasted around the world each day.
“We’re helping people to consider whether they should be printing at all and, if they have to print a document, what the most efficient way of doing that is. The end result is money saving for businesses, but at these volumes we’re also looking at extraordinary and unnecessary wastage,” said John Ross, General Manager, OKI Middle East, Africa & India. “So the message is to stop printing and think about that waste before you hit that button.”
Extrapolating from an Economist report detailing paper consumption per capita in 24 selected countries, a conservative figure for global printed paper usage across all forms of print would be 319 trillion A4 page equivalents per day. If we consider 10% of that is produced by PC linked printers and 10% of that in turn is wasted, we are wasting over 3 trillion A4 pages of print every day.
GSS to Present a Range of Solutions
GSS International is a Dubai based company that supplies all kinds of printing machines including large format printers from DGI Korea, ID card printers from Evolis and banking solutions. Talking about the activities of the company, Munira-Al-Khateeb, Business Manager of the company said, “We believe that excellence is the natural outgrowth of creativity, imagination & innovation. From October 14th to 18th, we are participating at GITEX Technology Week at Dubai World Trade Centre. We are located in Hall No. 4 and have 2 stands, C28 and 422. It’s our pleasure to participate at GITEX and present our range of products for printing and banking solutions.”
She added, “We will be showcasing the following products – Evolis Plastic ID card printers, which come under the model name Zenius. This printer is suitable to print ID badges, loyalty programs, banking cards, transportation passes, membership cards, driving licenses, voting cards, health cards and access badges. Zenius can be placed virtually in any environment. It can be placed on the welcome desk, sales counter or an office desk. It is the lightest printer in its category.”
Mentioning about their other product ranges, Munira said, “Other products that we would be showing include The Seac Banche RDS cheque scanner.”
“We will be displaying the I Sort money counting machine, which has a 4.3” colour touch screen, 2 pocket nonstop count, auto reject pocket, face & orientate bills, count mixed currency, count single currency, auto reject stranger, counterfeit detection and all standard.”
She added, “At our second stand, we will display the GSS White Interactive boards, which is ideal for universities and schools.”


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Business Insider has more readers than WSJ
Henry Blodget, the founder and editor of Business Insider, writes about some recent data comparing the business news site to other business news media.
Blodget writes, “Earlier this month, the folks at DLD were kind enough to ask me to give a presentation on digital storytelling. In my deck, I included some secret BI information. On the theory that you, our readers, might also be interested, I’ve published the presentation below.
“There are a lot of slides, but few words, so it should be an easy flip-through.
“Here are some highlights:
- Business Insider is now larger than the Wall Street Journal. According to Comscore, our total U.S. readership last month, desktop and mobile, was 23 million people. The Journal’s was about 20 million. Thank you very much for reading us!
- We’re reaching the next generation of leaders — the digital generation. By design, we have a younger readership than most legacy business publications. Our average readers are in their mid- to high 30s, as compared to the mid-40s and up.
- Our international readership is also growing rapidly, and BI Australia, which launched 9 months ago, is already the No. 1 business site in the country. Globally, we are now read by more than 40 million unique visitors per month. We are fortunate to already have a boatload of enthusiastic readers in Europe, and we will be opening a newsroom in London later this year.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/business-insider-2014-1?op=1#ixzz2s0VyVelp


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Talk of a Chinese takeover is now a reality for Australian herbicide maker Nufarm.
Today Nufarm announced it entered in a Heads of Agreement with the Chinese state-owned Sinochem Corporation. In July, Nufarm confirmed the Chinese company was interested a takeover.
The agreement relates to a non-binding proposal for the Chinese company to buy all of the issued ordinary shares in Nufarm for $A13 each.
Nufarm’s market value is about$A2.4 billion.
Nufarm, which has reported a slump in its farm chemicals sales, reported a 42% fall in its net profit last week to $A79.9 million for the year ending July 31. The company’s final dividend would be A15c per ordinary share.
The heads of agreement allows Nufarm to work exclusively with Sinochem until December 3 to negotiate the takeover.
Sinochem needs to undertake due diligence enquiries in the meantime and seek its own board approval, along with Nufarm’s.
Provided this happens, the Nufarm board has already indicated it would unanimously recommend the proposed acquisition.
Sinochem said earlier this year that a Nufarm acquisition was one of a number of strategies it was considering to expand its global reach.
This is the second attempt a Chinese company has attempted to buy Nufarm.
At the end of 2007, China National Chemical Corpo, backed by buyout fund Blackstone Group, ended talks to buy the company for $A3 billion. No reason was provided.
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The Business Centre Association (BCA) has announced the results of a recent study which surveyed member and non-member business centre and mail box operators across the country.
The BCA received 299 completed surveys as part of the project. Results have revealed some interesting, and positive, insights into the current state of the flexible office space industry which, overall, suggest that operators are feeling optimistic about their business prospects in 2012.
A number of highlights from the shared data include the fact that 93.7% of those surveyed selected ‘enquiry generation’ as the most ‘essential’ or ‘important’ issue from a list of pressing business concerns. The list also included ‘reducing client churn’, ‘increasing yield’ and ‘improving facilities / services’. Interestingly, ‘reducing client churn’ was voted as being ‘irrelevant’ by nearly 10% of operators, however this was far outvoted by those that considered it to be either significant, important or essential.
Operators also demonstrated a clear understanding that, in current economic conditions, the highest priority of their clients is in finding the best office deals. 72% of those surveyed said that ‘leaner pricing’ was the most important need of clients, far outranking other concerns including ‘additional services’ and ‘increased flexibility’.
In regards to the economy, 30% expected to see green roots on the horizon with 28% stating that they had already seen a pick up in conditions.
Finally, a majority vote suggested a positive industry outlook for the year; when asked if they expected their business to be more profitable in 2012 than during last year, 65% of those surveyed answered in the affirmative.
The overall results of the survey suggest that the business centre industry is identifying with their clients’ need for affordable pricing structures during a tough economy. Operators are also looking towards a positive pick up in economic conditions during this year and a subsequent increase in their own business profits.
The fact that operators are searching for more lead generation does not necessarily mean that they are seeing a drop in client interest, nor an increase in clients moving out of their premises. In fact, over 70% of those surveyed said that they were experiencing increased yields from client renewals, suggesting that existing clients are satisfied with the flexible office service they are receiving. 44% also stated that the most common reason for clients deciding to leave was due to that fact that they had Ă˘â‚¬ÂOutgrown space – moving to own / conventional space’. In the BCA’s conclusion of the survey results it was quite rightly pointed out that clients which are moving under these circumstances have been enabled to do so because of the flexibility and support that they have received from their business centre.
In keeping with the current trend for home and mobile working a substantial portion of companies opting to leave business centres were doing so to work at home. This does not necessarily spell bad news for business centres with 41% of operators reporting an increase in meeting room sales and a massive 68% reporting an increase in virtual office sales of 10% or more. A number of our blogs have shown that business centres are adapting to an increase in mobile working, as explored in our recent article The Popularity of Hot Desking: Interview with Airport House Business Centre.
Established in 1989, the BCA is a not-for-profit, member’s organisation which encourages, and helps to maintain, a high standard of professional business practice across the flexible office space sector in the UK, Dubai, Mexico and Florida. Visit the BCA at https://www.bca.uk.com/
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