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In September, California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed legislation that would have eliminated sales tax on feminine hygiene products.
So one of the sponsors of ill-fated Assembly Bill 1561 came up with what she thinks is a viable alternative: End the “tampon tax” — while raising taxes on liquor to make up for the revenue loss.
“Common sense is that liquor is a choice and a luxury and human biology is not,” state Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) said in a statement Thursday. “There is no happy hour for menstruation. Our tax code needs to reflect the fact that it’s not okay to tax women for being born women. No one can claim liquor is a basic necessity of life. It’s basics before booze and ladies over liquor.”
Garcia introduced AB 1561 last year. Lawmakers say it would have saved California women about $20 million a year in taxes.
The new Assembly Bill 479, dubbed the Common Cents Tax Reform Act, would exempt tampons, pads and other feminine hygiene products from taxation. To offset the loss of revenue, the bill would impose a $1.20 increase in excise tax per gallon on hard liquor. That would increase the liquor tax from $3.30 per gallon to $4.50.
The increase would affect liquors that are less than 100 proof or are less than 50 percent alcohol. Lawmakers estimate it would be equivalent to an additional 1.5 cents per serving.
“I challenge anyone, Democrat or Republican, who wants to say it’s not worth 2 cents per hard alcoholic drink to pay for these very basic necessities,” Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego), the bill’s co-sponsor, said Wednesday at a news conference, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Garcia’s first attempt to nix sales tax on feminine hygiene products sailed through the Assembly and the Senate last year, but Brown vetoed the bill, along with several others that called for tax breaks.
“As I said last year, tax breaks are the same as new spending — they both cost the General Fund money,” Brown wrote in a veto message in September. “As such, they must be considered during budget deliberations so that all spending proposals are weighed against each other at the same time. This is even more important when the state’s budget remains precariously balanced.”
California’s sales tax rate is 6 percent.
Garcia has long been a vocal opponent of the tampon tax. She argues that feminine hygiene products should not be taxed, just as food and prescription medications aren’t.
“I just want people to realize this is not insignificant — especially if you’re on a tight budget,” Garcia told The Washington Post last year.
Garcia said she had been thinking about the “gender injustice” for a while.
“I think a lot of women have at some point thought about it, you know?” she said.
Garcia’s bill also would exempt diapers. According to her office, diapers cost at least $80 per child per month, and the Common Cents Tax Reform Act would save each family about $100 every year.
The governor’s office has not made any public statements about the bill.
Although sales taxes don’t specifically target feminine hygiene products, only a handful of states, including Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, give an exemption. Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire and Oregon don’t have any sales tax.
Last year, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) signed a bill that eliminated sales tax on feminine hygiene products. The savings for women is expected to be about $10 million a year.
“This is a regressive tax on essential products that women have had to pay for far too long and lifting it is a matter of social and economic justice,” Cuomo said in a statement.
Washington, D.C., did the same in November. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) signed legislation that supporters say ended a 5.75 percent tax on diapers and feminine hygiene products, The Post reported.
In Florida, a Tampa woman filed a lawsuit to repeal the state’s sales tax on tampons. Carlee Wendell, who sued the Department of Revenue and several retailers, including CVS, Target and Walgreens, argued that taxing feminine hygiene products is “irrational and discriminatory,” the Tallahassee Democrat reported. She also pointed to an alleged double standard: Rogaine, which treats baldness for men, is exempt from sales tax, while tampons aren’t.
“The ‘tampon tax’ is patently discriminatory against women and it’s wrong,” Wendell said, according to the Tallahassee newspaper. “Women should not be forced to pay sales tax on a product that is necessary not only for their health but for public health and safety as well.”
President Barack Obama also weighed in on the debate last year.
“I have no idea why states would tax these as luxury items,” he told lifestyle blogger Ingrid Nilsen in a YouTube interview. “I suspect it’s because men were making laws when those taxes were passed.”
“I don’t know anyone who has a period who thinks it’s a luxury,” Nilsen replied.
“Michelle would agree with you on that,” Obama said.
State tax codes don’t single out tampons as “luxury items,” but they’re often taxed as nonnecessities, The Post reported.
Garcia and Fletcher aren’t the only female lawmakers who’ve introduced bills this year to try to drive conversations about women’s issues.
In Texas, state Rep. Jessica Farrar (D-Houston) recently introduced a satirical bill that would penalize men for “unregulated masturbatory emissions” and would require men to wait 24 hours after an “initial health care consultation” to receive an elective vasectomy, colonoscopy or Viagra prescription, The Post reported.
Farrar knows that the bill, called “Man’s Right to Know Act,” will never be enacted; but she said she hopes it would start a conversation about “unnecessary” and “invasive” antiabortion legislation, the Texas Tribune reported.


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Following the opening in October of their first Ground Round Grill & Bar in Rochester Minnesota, Franchisees Andy Chafoulias, Joe Powers and their team at GR Minnesota, LLC have executed a multi-unit Development Agreement with territory and rights to open 8 more Ground Round franchises over the next 10 years in the markets of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. “We’ve assembled a deep, experienced team to meet these development needs and believe in the strength and loyalty of the Ground Round brand in these prime markets,” notes Andy Chafoulias, whose group also owns an AmericInn hotel, the Rochester Event Center, and the well known Canadian Honker restaurant near the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. “Ground Round is a brand everyone knows and it’s unique structure offers franchisees an ownership stake in the brand, and input in the company’s direction.”
The Minneapolis/St. Paul deal follows a recent signing of another multi-unit agreement in New Jersey with Recreation Centers LLC, and there are new projects also under construction in Oshkosh, WI opening in April and a new prototype design opening in late January in Waconia, MN. These developments have strengthened the new unit pipeline to 15 signed Franchise restaurants, with as many as five of these restaurants expected to open in 2013.
Same Store Sales Growth
Unit growth is not the only story about this emerging Ground Round brand, as Average Per Unit Volume has grown each year since Franchisees bought the brand in 2004, and Ground Round has posted 11 straight quarters of system wide comp sales growth dating back to April 2010. “The brand is well known across the U.S. and our franchise owners are motivated to expand, as they not only own their restaurant, but they have the option to purchase a membership/ownership share in our company for each restaurant they open. That share provides a preferred royalty rate, a stake in the brand, and direct, partnership input in the future and growth of our company,” says Jack Crawford, President & CEO of Ground Round.
“As a brand we are debt free and driven by the leadership and direction of our franchise owners and Board of Managers, who are passionate and push the bar to continuously improve our image, menu offerings and competitiveness,” states Crawford. “These efforts have led to the positive sales results and unit growth we are experiencing.” Included in these initiatives are new restaurant designs, upgraded plating and menu offerings, and a second brand called Ground Round Sports Grille, for non-traditional development in smaller spaces like airports, bowling and entertainment centers.
Ground Round IOC
Ground Round IOC represents a group of independent franchise owners who purchased the Ground Round Franchise Rights and Trademarks, and have owned and led their own brand since 2004. Ground Round IOC operates 27 restaurants in 12 states spread across the Midwest and Northeast areas of the U.S., with a pipeline of 15 new locations under development at this time. Headquarters are based in Freeport, Maine. For more information, www.groundround.com.

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The country’s retail inflation in April accelerated to an eight-year high of 7.79 per cent, on continued high food prices. Inflation in the food basket rose to 8.38 per cent in April, from 7.68 per cent in the preceding month and 1.96 per cent in the year-ago month.
The latest inflation rate in April remains above the RBI’s comfort zone of 2-6 per cent. This is the fourth consecutive month when the Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation is beyond the central bank’s target limit.
The CPI-based inflation in March this year stood at 6.95 per cent, and was at 4.23 per cent in April last year. Inflation in the food basket rose to 8.38 per cent in April from 7.68 per cent in the preceding month and 1.96 per cent in the year-ago month.
Suvodeep Rakshit, senior economist at Kotak Institutional Equities, said: “The April CPI inflation print of 7.79 per cent is in line with our estimate of 7.78 per cent. The increase in a sequential basis as expected was led by food (mainly cereals, edible oils, fruits, and spices), fuel products, and components of household-related goods and services. Rural inflation continued to outpace urban inflation for the fourth consecutive month and will add to the concerns on rural demand.”
Rakshit added that core inflation continues to increase and the April print around 7.3 per cent will be a concern for policy formulation. April headline inflation print is likely to be the peak for the year. “However, we do not expect inflation to go below 6 per cent for the rest of the year with prints over the next few months remaining around 7-7.5 per cent.”
PHDCCI President Pradeep Multani said, “Escalation in CPI inflation to 7.8% in April 2022 is stocked by high energy and food prices viz-a-viz uncertainty caused by geo-political conflict. We look forward to calibrated policy measures by the Government to address the supply constraints.”
The retail inflation has remained above 6 per cent since January 2022. The inflation level of 7.79 per cent in April is the highest since September 2014.
After the off-cycle Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of RBI last week, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das had said the adverse effects of the unprecedented high global food prices due to the ongoing geopolitical situation are reflecting in the domestic market as well, and going forward inflationary pressures are likely to continue.
Index of Industrial Production Rises 1.9%
Meanwhile, the country’s industrial production rose 1.9 per cent in March this year, according to the latest Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data released on Thursday. The industrial production had grown 24.2 per cent in March 2021.
According to the latest IIP data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the manufacturing sector’s output grew 0.9 per cent in March 2022. Mining output rose four per cent and power generation jumped 6.1 per cent.
The Index jumped 11.3 per cent in the full financial year 2021-22, compared with an 8.4 per cent decline in 2020-21. The industrial production had declined 57.3 per cent in April 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic-induced lockdown, which had stopped almost all economic activities in the country.
Vivek Rathi, director (research) at Knight Frank India, said, “In March 2022, IIP grew by 1.9 per cent, indicating at the economy’s resilience despite intensifying price pressures. Industrial production growth was led by sharp sequential recovery across all the categories. The sooner the geopolitical tension on account of war and trade sanctions ease, better it will get for global economic growth and price stability.”
Read all the Latest News , Breaking News and IPL 2022 Live Updates here.


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October 1, 2019
Lightweight, single use plastic bags will be banned in Victoria from November 1 – following an announcement in June from the State Government preparing retailers for the ban1.
Plastic production generally is increasing around the world, but with it comes a global issue of it being discarded incorrectly, with Australia only recycling around 11%2.
It is estimated that at least 8 million tonnes of plastic will enter the world’s oceans each year3.
A crucial step in protecting Victoria’s rivers, water ways, oceans and wildlife, the upcoming plastic bag ban aligns with legislation already in place in South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory who have already banned single use plastic bags.


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It’s in New York and it’s billed as Retail’s Big Show, so I didn’t need to be asked twice! And along with more than 27,000 other delegates at the 102nd National Retail Federation conference, we helped to make Retail’s Big Show the biggest ever.
Because we get caught up in the day-to-day so much at home, getting away to NRF is a great opportunity to have a look around and gauge what’s happening now – and what’s coming in the near future. With such a large event, it’s impossible to see everything, but there were some things that really caught my eye:
One curious feature of the event was that omni-channel was everywhere – and no-one mentioned it. It seems that it’s now a given that we’re all working in an omni-channel world. The recent Christmas results, building on a record-breaking ‘Mega Monday’ showed quite a stark two-speed market – split by those who offer a credible omni-channel offer and those that don’t. (Of course, there are always exceptions to this rule and Primark are a shining example!)
But we wouldn’t be retail technology geeks if we didn’t conjure up a few new buzzwords. This year it was all about ‘frictionless transaction’ and ‘reduced effort’ (explained by BT’s futurologist, Nicola Millard as covering emotional, physical and intellectual effort as well as the time it takes to complete a shopping journey for the consumer).
Your future journey starts here
The eBay stand had the best demonstration of what this might look like – with stories to illustrate an effortless shopping journey across mobile, store, web and TV, all wrapped by a completely frictionless e-wallet managing loyalty, e-vouchers, gift cards and traditional cards and bank accounts.
Combining what’s here now with what’s coming soon, the demo incorporated geo-location/geo-fencing (as I walk past the mall), personal location-based vouchers (in the mall), clienteling to provide better assisted selling (in the store), seamless anywhere, everywhere stock availability, context-relevant recommendations (on my mobile) and a smart e-wallet to ensure I clock up loyalty points when I pay. We’ll definitely be working on something like this with eBay/PayPal to bring it to our customers as soon as it’s available in the UK.
E-wallets: taking the pain out of payments
There was a lot of debate in the breakouts about e-wallets and the future of payments – with card providers, banks, payment service providers and retailers all proposing very different approaches.
As using cards is fairly frictionless already, my view is that the e-wallet has to add value for the customer if it’s to challenge the current card process. That means it needs to work across all channels and bring payment, loyalty, vouchers and gift cards together in one place – rather than the current jumble of bank cards, gift cards, loyalty cards and vouchers.
But the debate about whether an e-wallet is best delivered through NFC (via a mobile) or the cloud (available across all channels) is set to rage for some time yet, while retailers sniff out ways to bypass intermediary service providers and reduce costs.
If you go down to 5th Avenue today
On our last day in NYC, we visited the Build-A-Bear Workshop flagship store on Fifth Avenue. We were officially there on business, although one or two (who’ll remain nameless) couldn’t resist trying out the full build-a-bear experience (aimed primarily at the 4-14 age group).
Build-A-Bear has just sold its 100 millionth bear – and shows no sign of slowing down. During the tour, the store manager gave us a glimpse of the company’s ‘store of the future’ which has been trialled in a number of sites with impressive results.
The technology they are introducing includes virtual fitting rooms, Microsoft surfaces for 3D interaction, Epicor advanced CRM to build ongoing relationships with customers and a seamless blending of the real and virtual worlds.
Customer feedback was that the children loved the virtual and digital interaction and often preferred it to the ‘old hat’ physical world – a scary example of the next generation absorbing new technology as soon as it appears.
All in all it was a really invigorating event. We had the chance to spend some quality time with our customers away from the pressures of the day-to-day environment; we caught up with Epicor, our software partner; we tapped into some of the latest trends and thinking; and we rounded things off with a glimpse of what’s coming next from our BT technology scout and futurologists. Oh, and the office has a new bear.
Posted by Jason Shorrock, Product Director, BT Expedite


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Persona 4 Arena Ultimax will be region free for North and South America, Atlus USA has announced.
Atlus also revealed that Evo attendees will have the opportunity to go hands-on with the game, as well as compete in a Person 4 Arena side tournament.
Pre-order and first-run copies will include a collectible Teddie bop bag and Set #1 of the Persona Tarot Cards. Atlus previously announced that the playable DLC character Tohru Adachi will be free for one week following the game’s launch.
We came away excited after some hands-on time with Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, which is set to release this fall for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
Jordan Sirani is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter to discuss everything from games to goats.


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Buy it Direct Group continues to expand with acquisition of Outdoor Living
Online consumer goods retailer Buy it Direct Group has acquired hot tub and swim spa specialist Outdoor Living as part of its ongoing expansion strategy.
The owner of Appliances Direct, Laptops Direct, Better Bathrooms and Furniture 123, said the purchase will strengthen its existing lifestyle offering and will provide Outdoor Living with the ability to scale rapidly as it benefits from Buy it Direct’s nationwide infrastructure and expertise in ecommerce, the supply chain and logistics.
Established in 2003, Outdoor Living sells a range of hot tubs, swim spas, saunas and gazebos out of two premium showrooms in Yorkshire. Following the acquisition, founder Paul Margerison and his team of 42 staff members will remain with the business to oversee its next phase of development.
Nick Glynne, chief executive of Buy it Direct Group, said: “We are really pleased to be adding Outdoor Living to our growing lifestyle offering. We were really impressed by Outdoor Living’s customer-focused approach which has seen it become one of the UK’s leading hot tub retailers.
“Outdoor Living’s product range perfectly complements our existing brands and it is very easy to see how our infrastructure, combined with Paul’s ambition, expertise and knowledgeable team, will quickly unlock its full potential.
“Our focus now is to scale the business together, building on its strong supplier relationships and maintaining its excellent reputation for customer service.”
Buy it Direct Group increased its turnover by more than 20% to £436 million in the year ending 31 March 2021. The company has previously acquired a number of retail businesses and grown them significantly, including Better Bathrooms which was rescued from administration in March 2019.
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(La Porte, IN) - It looks, drives, and is just as roomy as other mid-sized cars burning gasoline. That's what LaPorte Mayor Tom Dermody and other city officials are learning about an electric vehicle being tried out on police patrols for the past week.
Dermody on Wednesday began using the four-door car displaying the city's logo on his work-related runs for the next couple of days. He said the only difference was the electric car runs much quieter than traditional vehicles.
“It moves quickly. Fast,” said Dermody during a test run on Wednesday.
The electric 2020 Nissan LEAF is on loan from Crown Point-based South Shore Clean Cities, Inc. The organization, which promotes alternative fuels and other earth-friendly practices, allows many municipalities throughout northern Indiana to use the car for two weeks.
SSCC Project Manager Ryan Lisek said the idea is to change public perception that electric vehicles lack the power, size, and luxury of cars and trucks burning fossil fuel. The vehicle in LaPorte, for example, appeared to be the spitting image of a similar-sized gas-powered vehicle inside and out.
“It’s going to change the way Americans are going to start thinking about electric vehicles,” he said.
LaPorte Police Chief Paul Brettin said the car has the horsepower required for police work. Brettin believes that a slightly larger model with room for people arrested would probably be needed for patrols, but he can see the not too distant future just from his brief time behind the wheel.
“The wave’s coming. It’s going to happen,” Brettin said.
After being parked outside in the cold for hours, the car also doesn't have to warm up before producing heat through the vents in the dashboard.
Sarah Nimetz, the city's Sustainability Program Manager, said the car travels up to 200 miles on a full battery charge. The battery can be plugged into an electrical outlet at home, just like a television set or other appliances. Nimetz said it takes about 10 hours for a low battery to be fully charged in a 110-volt outlet, but just a half-hour or so at an electric vehicle charging station. She said the car has been impressive enough that the city might purchase several electric vehicles.
The sticker price for the car was about $36,000. However, the city could spend less money in the long run from not purchasing gasoline. She said electric vehicles also are known for requiring less maintenance.
All public transportation buses in LaPorte already run on cleaner-burning propane, and the wastewater treatment plant operates on solar energy. In addition, Nimetz said the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions locally were recently identified. Most emissions in LaPorte come from the commercial and industrial sectors, followed by residential and transportation-related sources.
Nimetz said the findings would allow the city to positively impact climate change by developing and implementing strategies that work best here. Dermody said the city is doing other research in areas like water flow and tree canopies to further contribute to the fight against global warming.
“We’re constantly looking at new ways to do things. This is no longer the La Porte of old,” he said.


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RIM chief a suspect in phone stampede
Andreas D. Arditya
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta Police have named Andrew Cobham, president director of the Indonesia branch of BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion (RIM), as a suspect in the recent BlackBerry sale stampede.
South Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Imam Sugianto told The Jakarta Post that Cobham was named a suspect on Tuesday last week.
The police have named three other suspects in the case, none of which have been detained.
Imam said all suspects were charged with Article 360 of the Criminal Code for negligence that caused injuries to others.
“The article warrants a jail term of less than five years, so an arrest would be unnecessary,” Imam said on Sunday.
Other suspects in the case are event organizer Edwin, mall security officer Markus and RIM security consultant Terry Burki.
On Nov. 25, RIM organized a promotion granting a 50 percent discount for its latest model BlackBerry Bold 9790, also known as “Bellagio”.
Event organizers planned to allow the first 1,000 people in line to buy the smartphone at a discounted price of Rp 2.3 million (US$253), well below the recommended retail price of Rp 4.6 million.
A scuffle broke out when customers, some of whom had been queuing from the day before, began to complain on hearing rumors that the smartphone had sold out.
At least 90 people fainted and a number of others were hospitalized with broken bones.
University of Indonesia crime expert Adrianus Meliala said that he could understand why the police had targeted the head of RIM Indonesia.
The police, Adrianus said, could hold one person accountable for the actions of another, or in this case, for the actions of a subordinate.
Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Baharuddin Djafar said RIM officials were directly involved in the event.
In a statement, RIM Indonesia said that it was actively cooperating with the authorities in investigating this incident.
“We are also undertaking our own investigation to prevent any reoccurrence of this sort of situation,” RIM said.
- N.Sumatra dispatches assistance for Aceh earthquake victims
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- Indonesia over the moon after $9.4 million win against Churchill
- Public faith in Jokowi remains high despite anti-Ahok movement
- Muslims lambast Christmas service raid in Bandung
- FUI forces Christian university to drop billboard with hijab-clad student
- Rachmawati says meetings, cash transfer not evidence of treason
- Jokowi meets Kofi Annan to discuss Myanmar
- Indonesia juggles globalism and nationalism


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Bravo, Bob Evans among 5 local restaurants ranked highly in Consumer Reports survey
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Central Ohio restaurant chains appear to know a thing or two about pleasing customers.
Consumer Reports’ August issue rates 102 sit-down dining chains and five with local ties fared well.
The publication singled out nine chains for “especially high marks” in all four rating categories. Columbus-based chains Bob Evans Farms Inc. (NASDAQ:BOBE) and the Bravo Cucina Italiana division of Bravo Brio Restaurant Group Inc. (NASDAQ:BBRG) were among those nine.
According to information from the publication, 47,565 readers were surveyed covering 110,517 meals where participants were asked to grade the restaurants in four areas — taste, value, service and mood. The range of chains started at the lower-cost family dining segment and ran to upscale steak and seafood houses.
Consumer Reports didn’t reveal individual scores in each area but did share the cumulative reader scores. Anything over an 80 is considered “very satisfied.”
More good news for Central Ohio-based operators. No area chains were among the 27 singled out for having an above-average number of complaints about noise, dirt or bad service.
Subscribers to Consumer Reports can view the full survey findings.
To see where the Central Ohio chains landed, click the slideshow.
Dan Eaton covers retailing and restaurants for Columbus Business First.
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Unsurprisingly, Samsung (KRX: 005930) has reported the dispatch of more modest form of its lead cell phone — Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini. Company will start selling the device ahead of schedule one month from now. According to a source familiar with this matter, the Galaxy S5 Mini will be available worldwide from the middle of the month.
According to few reports flashing online, the Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini is going to be on the similar line of HTC One Mini 2. Both the smartphones are speculated to give tough competition to each other. The Galaxy S5’s more modest sibling has a significant number of the same features as its greater partner, and incorporates a couple of striking upgrades on earlier S4 Mini, especially with its screen.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini will sport a 4.5-inch 720p Super AMOLED display with 1280 x 720 resolution. It is powered by a 1.4GHz Quad-core Cortex-A7 processor with yet to be announced Exynos 3 chipset, and Mali-400 GPU. It has 16GB storage and a slightly higher capacity battery at 2,100 mAh.
The device comes bundled with 1.5GB RAM. It has got an 8MP rear-facing camera, and 2.1MP front-facing camera. This device is running Android 4.4.2 operating system and the latest version TouchWiz UI. The good news is that the Galaxy S5 Mini is also being tipped to house features including a fingerprint scanner, hearing rate monitor and water and dust resistance of its bigger brother.
The S5 Mini will go marked down first in Russia, where it will be accessible from right on time July. It will then be taken off all around, as per the organization, however there’s no statement on price and when the gadget will land in different markets.


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By Tim Weber
Business editor, BBC News website
The new front page makes room for content and services from rivals
Internet giant Yahoo has relaunched its web portal, supported by a $100m global advertising campaign.
The company hopes the website refresh will boost both traffic and revenues.
Yahoo will also open its home page to rivals, allowing users to integrate third-party web services like Facebook or Hotmail into its portal.
Yahoo has been struggling to turn its position as the world's most popular website into profits. The portal is the first move of new boss Carol Bartz.
From openness to profit
When Yahoo first announced its relaunch plans, many analysts derided the idea, arguing that most web users now ignore portals and use search engines to go directly to the page they want.
Rich Riley says Yahoo can remain at the centre of the web experience
However, the vast majority of Yahoo's customers still go to the portal first, insists Yahoo's senior vice-president for Europe, Rich Riley. That also makes it the most attractive place for Yahoo to sell advertisements.
"Frontpage adverts are incredibly powerful," said Mr Riley, and can cost millions of dollar for a single day of global advertising.
At the same time, Yahoo believes that a new openness to rival brands will actually increase its profits.
The new "customisable applications" allow users to see a snapshot of their favourite websites and services within the Yahoo portal - whether it is a social networking site, a rival web mail service, or their favourite website.
This is supposed to make the Yahoo portal "stickier" and the centre of web users' internet experience.
Fittingly, the advertising campaign has the catch phrase "It's Y!ou", featuring the exclamation mark that is part of the Yahoo brand.
"The [new] home page is a powerful way to get a view into your life on the internet," said Mr Riley, quoting surveys that suggest that 60% of Yahoo users in the UK want a one-stop shop to organise their life on the internet.
In the United States and the United Kingdom, a majority of users have already been testing the new website, but from 23 September the new look will be the default worldwide.
"We expect more traffic, the number of unique users to go up... an increase in audience engagement and more repeat visits," which in turn will drive advertising income, said Mr Riley.
The new portal, however, also has an unprecedented number of links to non-Yahoo websites, potentially taking traffic away from Yahoo's sprawling network of news, weather, finance, email, messaging, and picture services and more.
In the UK, for example, the Yahoo website features top headlines from the Telegraph, Guardian and Daily Mail newspapers.
Since the beta version of the Yahoo website was launched in the UK, Yahoo has become the second-largest source of online traffic to the Telegraph's website, said Mr Riley.
Yahoo is getting a share of the advertising revenue generated by this traffic to partners.
Ten focus markets
The $100m advertising campaign accompanying the relaunch is global, but will focus on 10 key markets: United States, United Kingdom, India, France, Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Canada.
The strong emphasis on emerging markets reflects Yahoo's belief that it is "where the next billion people are coming online", according to Mr Riley.
The portal's relaunch is accompanied by an overhaul of the user interface of Yahoo's search engine, which does not yet profit from Microsoft's new search engine Bing.
The results page of Yahoo's search engine will show not just the usual list of search results and sponsored links, but also a left-hand navigation that helps users to narrow down their search further.
In July, Microsoft and Yahoo agreed a deal that will see Yahoo's websites use both Microsoft's search technology and search advertising.
Yahoo in turn will become the sales team for banner advertising for both companies. However, the deal still awaits regulatory approval and is not expected to be finalised before spring 2010.
Unlike rival and erstwhile suitor Google, Yahoo has been struggling to turn its dominant position on the web into comparable profits.
During the three months to June, Yahoo made a mere $141m profit on revenues of $1.57bn.
The change of direction is driven by new chief executive Carol Bartz, who replaced co-founder Jerry Yang in January this year.


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“U.S. Senator Al Franken on Friday announced the witness list for the upcoming hearings of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy,” Jim Dalrymple reports for The Loop.
“The hearings entitled ‘Protecting Mobile Privacy: Your Smartphones, Tablets, Cell Phones and Your Privacy,’ will take place on Tuesday, May 10 at 10:00 am, according to the Senator’s office,” Dalrymple reports.
Full article, with the full list of witnesses, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
Apple and Google head to Washington D.C. for hearing – May 6, 2011
Apple releases iOS 4.3.3 – May 4, 2011
Apple, Google set to testify at U.S. Congressional hearing on location data to begin May 10th – May 2, 2011
Steve Jobs: Apple isn’t tracking anyone; looks forward to testifying before Congress – April 27, 2011
Apple releases Q&A on Location Data: ‘Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone’ – April 27, 2011
U.S. Senate Democrat Franken to hold mobile privacy hearing; Apple, Google summoned – April 26, 2011
Illinois Attorney General Madigan requests meeting with Apple, Google – April 25, 2011
Apple sued for privacy invasion, computer fraud over iOS location data collection, storage – April 25, 2011
Steve Jobs on iOS location tracking: We don’t track anyone, but Droid does – April 25, 2011
Apple iPhone collects location info even when location services are turned off by user – April 25, 2011
Android phones regularly transmit location data to Google ‘at least several times an hour’ – April 22, 2011
House Democrat questions legality of Apple’s iPhone, iPad location tracking – April 21, 2011
Apple’s iOS location tracking file caused by a bit of unfinished code? – April 21, 2011
U.S. Senator Al Franken demands answers from Apple’s Steve Jobs over iPhone tracking – April 21, 2011
Expert: iPhone tracking story is nothing new and Apple is not collecting the data – April 21, 2011
‘untrackerd’ jailbreak utility blocks iOS from storing recorded iPhone location data – April 21, 2011
Apple’s iPhone tracks everywhere you go; stores the info in secret file on the device – April 20, 2011


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“We listened, and we learned. We understand the inequities that were associated with the name and face of the Uncle Ben’s brand and have committed to change,” the brand said in a statement released today (Sept. 23). “We will change our name to Ben’s Original™ as well as remove the image on our packaging to create more inclusive branding. This change signals our ambition to create a more inclusive future while maintaining our commitment to producing the world’s best rice.”
Ben’s Originals revealed it will also take action to “enhance inclusion and equity” and detailed initiatives that it hopes will help give everyone a “seat at the table.”
According to the statement, the rice brand plans to fund scholarships for hopeful Black culinary entrepreneurs, help get access to fresh foods and will invest in the education of 7,500 students in the area of Greenville, Mississippi where the brand has been produced.
A new logo for Ben’s Originals is being developed, and the new packaging will be seen in stores next year.
The decision to rename Uncle Ben’s was announced back in June after the brand was criticized and forced to re-evaluate its racial imagery.
“As a global brand, we know we have a responsibility to help put an end to racial injustices,” the company said at the time. “One way we can do this is to evolve the Uncle Ben’s brand and visual identity which we will do. We’re listening to the voices of consumers, especially in the Black community, and to our associates worldwide. We don’t yet know what the exact changes or timing will be, but we are evaluating all possibilities.”
Uncle Ben’s was one of the many companies that changed their racist names and images following George Floyd’s death. His killing sparked Black Lives Matter protests and a call for the investment and support of Black-owned businesses.
Look below for the aformentioned announcement.


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Canon has announced the latest top-end compact to its PowerShot range, unveiling the Canon G3 X which boasts a 1-inch back-illuminated 20.2-megapixel sensor and a 25x optical zoom range.
Even before the Canon EOS M was announced in July it was the subject of intense speculation and interest. And as samples have become available we’ve been just as keen as all of you to test this new Canon compact system camera to see how it compares to others in its class. Our head of testing, Angela Nicholson, puts the M through its paces in her Canon EOS M review. Watch the video to hear her verdict!
After what feels like years of hype, Canon has finally joined the compact system market with its Canon EOS M camera.
Coming just a few weeks before Photokina in September, the EOS M features exactly the same sensor as the recently launched EOS 650D, one of the company’s entry level DSLRs.
Canon has announced a successor to its long-running PowerShot D10 waterproof camera, the Canon PowerShot D20
The 12.1-megapixel waterproof camera can shoot pictures at depths of 10m, and when used in conjunction with Canon’s WP-DC45 waterproof case with external flash support, the PowerShot D20 can capture images at depths down to 40m.
The S90 certainly is pocket-sized, at around half the size of the G11. But surely it’s not as good? In fact, there’s not much in it.
The PowerShot D10 is Canon’s first attempt at a waterproof compact, and straight away it looks different from the rest, with a chunky, bulbous design that certainly looks the part, but which may ha


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Drop Delivery Announces Formation of Advisory Board Amid Exponential 2020 Growth
Co-founding Board Members Bring Decades of Combined Experience in Cannabis Business Development, Technology, Software and Consumer Product Development
Board Joins Amid Explosive Growth to the Platform's Customer Base and Revenue
17 Mar, 2021, 09:00 ET
LOS ANGELES, March 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Drop Delivery, the cannabis industry's only all-in-one software suite for delivery and retail businesses, announced the formation of its advisory board and its founding members. The inaugural members of the Drop Delivery Advisory Board, Jessica Billingsley, Kristen Jordan, Cynthia Salarizadeh, bring decades of experience within and without the cannabis industry in business development, technology, software and consumer product development to the company.
"These women are world-class experts and thought-leaders in cannabis and bring tremendous understanding on how to build and scale a successful and profitable business in this space," said Drop Delivery CEO Vanessa Gabriel. "We look forward to their contributions as Drop Delivery continues to advance our suite of technologies for both cannabis delivery and retail businesses across the U.S."
"Drop's extraordinary growth over the last year is a testament to the need for an all-in-one technology solution for cannabis retailers," says Billingsley, CEO of Akerna (Nasdaq: KERN), an enterprise software company focused on compliantly serving the cannabis, hemp, and CBD industries. "I look forward to helping the company build on this strong foundation as it expands throughout the U.S. and continues to add critical capabilities to its suite of technologies."
The board joins the company on the heels of 280 percent growth in its customer base and 290 percent growth in revenue in Q1 2021 compared to Q1 2020.
About Drop Delivery
Drop Delivery is the cannabis industry's only all-in-one compliant delivery management software platform. It offers advanced technology that empowers business owners to manage inventory, dispatch and driver logistics, marketing tools, digital loyalty programs and a customized white-label, e-commerce mobile app. With Drop Delivery, cannabis businesses can launch delivery services within hours. For more information, visit www.dropdelivery.com.
Jessica Billingsley serves as Akerna's chief executive officer. In June 2019, she became the first CEO of a cannabis ancillary company to be listed on Nasdaq. She co-founded MJ Freeway in 2010, where she served as President until April 2018, and later as the CEO until MJ Freeway was acquired by MTech to form Akerna. In 2015, she was named as one of Fortune's Most Promising Female Entrepreneurs, in 2018, she was named one of Inc. Magazine's 100 Female Founders, and in 2019, she was named to Entrepreneur's inaugural list of 100 Powerful Women.
Kristin Jordan is the founder and CEO of Mannada, a woman-owned and -led cannabis educational event production company that produces the Cannabis Summit Series. She is also the Executive Director of the Asian Cannabis Roundtable, a NYC-based business organization. Previously, Kristin was the director of real estate at Acreage Holdings, where she led the company's nationwide site expansion of cultivation, processing and dispensary facilities. Her passion for advancing cannabis reform has led Kristin to also serves as a committee member of the NYS Bar Association Committee on Cannabis, the Minority Cannabis Business Association and the National Cannabis Industry Association.
Cynthia is the Founder & President of the luxury cannabis brand House of Saka, as well as the Founder of the cannabis industry's newswire and entrepreneur tech suite, AxisWire, and Co-founder to Green Market Media, which is currently most recognized for its cannabis finance news publication Green Market Report and its conference series Green Market Summit. She is also a Co-founder of the network Industry Power Women.
SOURCE Drop Delivery
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TCF Bank has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Reserve in a bid to block the upcoming rule change on interchange fees passed by Congress as part of the Dodd-Frank Act.
Under the Act's Durbin amendment, the Federal Reserve Board is mandated to limit the amount of interchange fees that banks can charge retailers on debit card transactions.
The amendment directs the Fed to measure the processing costs of authorising, clearing and settling debit card transactions and then to adopt regulations setting interchange rates based on those costs alone.
TCF says these processing costs amount to only a fraction of the total required to manage the debit card system and deliver the product. The bank also claims that amendment "explicitly mandates" the Fed to ignore other costs incurred by banks.
TCF also objects to the amendment's provision that exempts banks with less than $10 billion or more in assets. This leaves just one per cent of banks affected, leaving them in an "irrational competitive disadvantage".
William Cooper, chairman and CEO, TCF, says: "The statute makes no more sense than regulating the price of a Burger King hamburger solely to the costs of the meat and the bun. To stay in business, Burger King has to sell burgers at prices that cover more than those costs; it also has to cover costs such as paying an employee to make the hamburger and another employee to serve it, the cost of the building and maintenance, as well as the costs incurred to advertise and promote the product. Under the Durbin Amendment, TCF only gets to recover the cost of the bun!"
The bank has been backed by the Electronic Payments Coalition, which says in a statement: "From the very beginning, the interchange battle has been a blatant attempt by giant retailers to take advantage of an unstable economic and political environment to increase their own profits at the expense of their customers."


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Marketers at b-to-b companies will talk about how campaign management software can dramatically boost the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns. Indeed, such software can execute super-targeted campaigns by tapping customer data already residing within the company.
Maybe more important, analysts say, the technology often allows marketers to track and analyze the results of campaigns while they’re still in progress, so smart changes can be made immediately.
Yet analysts also observe that most marketers haven’t fully embraced the potential of the software programs now available. That’s not surprising: Installing a sophisticated campaign management tool requires serious commitment from senior executives because of the hefty price tag, typically $50,000 to $250,000 and more.
Buy-in at the executive level also is needed because other departments will have to cooperate when it comes time to integrate these programs with existing data management systems that often are scattered throughout an organization.
Setting up a preliminary system can take three or four months, and it can take up to a year to have that data cleaned thoroughly and transformed into a usable format for marketers, said Kevin Scott, an analyst at AMR Research Inc. in Boston.
"Companies need to know who their most profitable customers are and how to market to them effectively," he said. "But many companies have separate databases for all kinds of clients and getting a single view of the customer is easier said than done."
In addition, some companies are carefully selecting enterprisewide programs—many using customer relationship management technology—and campaign management tools are often part of that bigger package, Scott said. The marketing department’s piece of those huge projects often is one of the first to be installed, but marketers must wait until the entire program is launched to reap the benefits of the system.
Worth the effort?
Still, the results can be worth the effort. Campaign management tools can add great value to an organization because some of the more sophisticated programs enable companies to devise a return on investment calculation that shows which piece of a campaign is providing the best results in real time.
However, these metrics aren’t easy. "ROI calculations aren’t easy to do because they require some regression and statistical analysis that many companies aren’t set up to do," said Scott Doniger, an analyst in the San Francisco office of Forrester Research Inc. "Even if a vendor has the right software, each client will need extensive customization. The architecture is the toughest part of setting up these programs."
Further complicating the task for marketers is finding a vendor that has the right mix of products and services that meet their company’s needs. There are dozens of vendors currently touting their proprietary systems that will assist in planning, delivering, measuring and analyzing any online campaign or multi-channel effort. Some vendors include E.piphany Inc., Siebel Systems Inc., Digital Impact Inc., Aprimo Inc., Delano Technology Corp. and PrimeResponse Inc.
Marketers also have to decide if they’re going to purchase the software and run it in-house—which most companies do—or outsource the function to a vendor, such as WebSideStory Inc., that can manage any or all pieces of a campaign on a hosted site. MonitorsDirect.com, a Fremont, Calif.-based company that sells computer monitors to other businesses, uses WebSideStory’s technology on a hosted basis to measure purchasing activity resulting from its marketing campaigns, said Greg Harris, VP-marketing at MonitorsDirect.
Real-time campaign feedback
When United Way of Greater Toronto installed an automated online marketing program from Delano Technology for its corporate fund-raising campaigns last year, the jump in donations from individuals working at selected corporations was evident immediately, said Philip King, VP of e-business for the United Way of Greater Toronto.
The company found that first-time donors targeted in the online campaign donated an average of $300, compared with a $200 average for first-time donors targeted in the organization’s traditional offline campaigns.
The success was attributed to the very targeted canvassing that volunteers were able to do, and to real-time access to campaign status that directed them to resend messages only to individuals who didn’t respond initially, King said. They also had the ability to alter the message and change the "from" field or subject line to increase the response rate, he said.
"The feedback we received was amazing because we’ve never had real-time views of campaign activity," King said. "In the past, we did campaign reviews once they were closed and only then could we see if it met our goals or not. No changes could be made until the next year when the campaign was redesigned and relaunched."
Marketers who can compare how one campaign measures against others can plan better for the future, said Jill Snyder, VP-corporate marketing at Aprimo, Indianapolis. Like many other vendors, Aprimo offers marketers the ability to analyze how an online campaign fared against a trade show or other marketing event.
"If I’m a marketer doing strategic planning, I have to look across all the things I’m investing in to get a global view of all the marketing campaigns in the portfolio," Snyder said. "If a marketer learns that e-mail marketing is the most productive effort, then they know to put more money into that next year."


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ST. CATHARINES, ON--(Marketwired - January 23, 2017) - Honk, North America's fastest and most convenient way to find and pay for parking, launched today in downtown St. Catharines.
Honk CEO Michael Back joined Mayor Walter Sendzik at Market Square to do a live demonstration of the technology.
Now available in various on- and off-street parking locations in downtown St. Catharines, including City Hall and Market Square lots, the Honk app lets users search, pay for and top up parking from their phone or tablet, decreasing the need to circle the block looking for a parking spot, reducing traffic congestion, pollution, and stress.
Honk notifies users 15 minutes before their time expires and allows them to buy more time from their phone, eliminating the need to rush back to the meter and helping them avoid tickets.
"Right now, in the middle of a St. Catharines winter, where everyday the weather can be frosty, mild, rainy or, dare I say, snowy, is the perfect time to launch an easier and faster way to pay for parking," said Mayor Sendzik. "With the Honk app, there is no waiting at pay stations or walking back to a vehicle to display receipts. It really is park, tap and go. We are always looking find new ways and technology to enhance city programs and services and this test is an example of that."
Honk is on a mission to make parking easier for all drivers, while also benefitting cities by reducing congestion, pollution, driver frustration and wear on roads.
"We believe in improving peoples' lives," said Honk's founder & CEO Michael Back. "By making parking more convenient, less expensive or just by simplifying the process, we make small differences daily for our users across North America. It's exciting for us to be able to make a difference in St. Catharines."
Using a single account, motorists can pay for parking anywhere Honk is accepted across North America using VISA, MasterCard, American Express or PayPal.
The Honk app can be downloaded for free on both iOS and Android at www.honkmobile.com or via the App Store or Google Play.
Honk is North America's leading provider of on-demand mobile payments for parking. Honk's cloud-based technology streamlines parking by allowing users to search, pay for, and top up parking from their mobile phone, tablet or any Internet connected device. Honk is already accepted at over 550 locations and 50,000 parking spaces across Canada and the United States.
For information, interviews and images, please contact:


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Dave Eggers has a brand new novel popping out in the fall known as “The Every.” But you received’t have the ability to purchase it in all the traditional locations — a minimum of not instantly.
The hardcover of “The Every” might be revealed by McSweeney’s, which Eggers based in 1998, and might be launched on Oct. 5, however solely in impartial bookstores. The novel could have a minimum of 32 completely different covers randomly distributed.
Six weeks later, Vintage will publish the e-book and paperback, which could have just one cowl. They might be accessible in all places, as will the audiobook version, which comes out the similar day.
But you continue to received’t have the ability to purchase the hardcover on Amazon; that model will solely be accessible at impartial shops, and on the McSweeney’s web site.
“I don’t like bullies,” Eggers wrote in an electronic mail. “Amazon has been kicking sand in the face of independent bookstores for decades now.”
The novel follows a former forest ranger and tech skeptic, Delaney Wells, as she tries to take down a harmful monopoly from the inside: an organization known as The Every, shaped when the world’s strongest e-commerce website merged with the largest social media firm/search engine.
“One of the themes of the book is the power of monopolies to dictate our choices, so it seemed a good opportunity to push back a bit against the monopoly, Amazon, that currently rules the book world,” he mentioned. “So we started looking into how feasible it would be to make the hardcover available only through independent bookstores. Turns out it is very, very hard.”
Dave Eggers, whose subsequent novel, “The Every,” won’t be accessible in hardcover on Amazon.Credit…Brecht von Maele
Eggers mentioned that even distributing the e book in a manner that excluded Amazon was a problem, as a result of McSweeney’s traditional settlement with its distributor, Baker & Taylor Publisher Services, prevented it from circumventing the retail large. Vintage, half of Penguin Random House, wouldn’t be ready to skip round them both.
“We’re retail-agnostic,” mentioned Paul Bogaards, deputy writer and govt director of communications at Knopf and Pantheon. But this association, he mentioned, is nice for all events concerned. “They go out and they’re supporting indies,” Bogaards mentioned of the hardcover plan, “and then six weeks later we get the trade paperback, which is great for us.”
“The Every” is a follow-up to “The Circle,” a serious hit that has offered 750,000 copies. But Bogaards mentioned that when the new novel publishes, Vintage hopes to see a lift in gross sales for Eggers’s older work extending past simply “The Circle.” Eggers has 15 backlist titles at Vintage, a catalog that has offered thousands and thousands of copies, and all of his books might be repackaged over the course of the subsequent yr.
Unusual as this gross sales plan is, it’s not the first time Eggers has had unorthodox publishing preparations. In 2002, he additionally labored round Amazon, distributing the hardcover of “You Shall Know Our Velocity” straight by way of about 500 impartial bookstores. “But obviously,” he mentioned of Amazon, “their reach has dramatically increased since then.”
“We’ve gotten so used to letting the algorithms and the monopolies make some decisions for us,” mentioned Amanda Uhle, the writer of McSweeney’s. “We’re not going to break the whole system here, we’re not trying to do that. But if we have opened a door for someone to walk outside and into the shop around the corner from them, and discover what’s there, that’s a win.”


text: News this week that two key players in AI hardware will come together following a $40 bn acquisition could have far-reaching consequences for today’s most important tech trends. Technology developed by Nvidia and ARM is often hidden from sight but has provided the raw computing power that has led to recent advances in AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous cars, personalization, and wearables, as well as cloud and edge computing. ARM And Nvidia: What Does This Partnership Mean For Today’s Hottest Tech Trends? Adobe Stock The proud new parent is Nvidia, the world’s leading manufacturer of graphics processing units (GPUs) – processors dedicated to crunching the complicated maths necessary to create state-of-the-art computer graphics in real-time. In recent years, the same hardware ...read more...


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Apple has removed the Dash app from its Mac and iOS App Stores after discovering something shady about its popularity among users. The Cupertino tech giant is now accusing developer Bogdan Popescu of being responsible for the fraudulent reviews of the API documentation resource.
According to MacRumors, Bogdan Popescu initially did not have any idea why Dash was being removed from Apple’s App Stores, claiming that he got a “Notice of Termination” on Wednesday and his iTunes Connect was shut down on the same day. The tech giant was initially hesitant to elaborate why these happened, but later on revealed that Popescu has manipulated the reviews for his app by paying users to write positive ones.
After getting word that he’s been accused of review manipulation, Popescu denied that he paid for positive reviews. “Apple contacted me and told me they found evidence of App Store review manipulation. This is something I’ve never done,” Popescu relayed to MacRumors. Unfortunately, Apple maintained that its decision to remove Dash is “final and can’t be appealed.”
AppleInsider has learned that Phil Schiller, the tech giant’s worldwide marketing head, said that the removal of Dash was due to “repeated fraudulent activity” in an email response to a person named Matthew Els, who may have been surprised by Dash’s removal from the Mac and iOS App Stores.
Since the app has already been removed, users cannot view the reviews that were deemed questionable. Apple also did not single out which reviews were paid for by Popescu. For developers who are still interested in using Dash, however, it is still available for purchase as a direct download.
Though Apple may have informed Popescu that its decision about Dash’s removal from the App Stores is final and can’t be appealed, AppleInsider says the tech giant could still reinstate since the company is known to reverse course on removals after determining that it has committed a mistake. Nevertheless, MacRumors claims that with the executive-level involvement in this situation, it’s quite unlikely for Apple’s flagging system to have made a mistake.


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By CECILIA KANG
© 2017 New York Times News Service
The Federal Communications Commission announced Tuesday that it planned to dismantle landmark net neutrality regulations that ensure equal access to the internet, clearing the path for new experiences for consumers who could find content harder to reach or be charged more to access it.
The clear winners from the move would be telecom giants like AT&T and Comcast that have lobbied for years against regulations of broadband and will now have more control over the online experiences of American consumers. The losers could be internet sites that will have to answer telecom firms to get their content in front of consumers. And consumers may see their bills increase for the best quality of internet service.
“Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the internet,” Pai said in a statement. “Instead, the FCC would simply require internet service providers to be transparent about their practices so that consumers can buy the service plan that’s best for them and entrepreneurs and other small businesses can have the technical information they need to innovate.”
The plan to repeal the 2015 net neutrality rules also reverses a hallmark decision by the agency to declare broadband as a service as essential as phones and electricity, a move that created the legal foundation for the net neutrality rules and underscored the importance of high-speed internet service to the nation.
The proposal is widely expected to be approved during a Dec. 14 meeting in a 3-to-2 majority vote along party lines.
The actions by Pai, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, is the centerpiece of a deregulatory agenda that has also stripped television broadcasters, newspapers and telecom companies of a broad range of regulations meant to protect the public interest.


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- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced six measures to tackle slowing automobile sector
- Her announcements targetted at boosting demand and income of the sector
- She also said that many car businessmen had met with the government to seek relief
Addressing the major concerns of the slowing automobile sector, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Friday announced the government's measures to tackle its issues. She made six announcements to dispel any misconceptions in the automobile sector. Her announcements targetted at boosting demand and income of the sector. She also said that many car businessmen had met with the government to appraise the current situation and seek relief.
Home, vehicle, other retail loans to become cheaper: FM Sitharaman
Here are the major steps were taken by the government as announced by the Finance Minister:
- BS-IV vehicles purchased until 31 March 2020 will remain operational for their entire registration period.
- Revision of the one-time registration fee has differed till June 2020.
- Inventories are currently stocking up in factories. Depreciation value of all vehicles has been increased to 30% from the current 15% acquired from now till March 2020.
- Both electric vehicles and internal combustion vehicles will be registered.
- To boost demand, the government will lift the ban on the purchase of new vehicles to replace old vehicles for government departments. This will boost the income of car manufacturers and then flow into car components' manufacturers' hands.
- The government will consider various measures including scrappage policy. Since we do not have the infrastructure to implement scrappage policy to provide money to those wishing to sell their old vehicle as scraps, we are holding onto it for now.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman introduces computerised system on IT notices
Automobile sector slowdown
Leaders from the Indian auto industry had asked the government for a stimulus package, including GST reduction on vehicles. Currently, the sector which has been hit by an unprecedented slump in sales. The passenger vehicles (PVs) segment has been the worst hit, with sales continuing to decline for almost a year now. As per SIAM figures, vehicle wholesale across all the categories declined by 12.35 percent to 60,85,406 units in April-June against 69,42,742 units in the same period of last year. Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) has stated that nearly two lakh jobs have been cut in the last three months due to the slowdown.
NITI Aayog's Rajiv Kumar clarifies Economy remark: 'No need to panic'
(With PTI Inputs)


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For generations, it has been believed that regular consumption of spicy foods can help fight minor illnesses. However, it has now been revealed that they could actively promote a longer life too.
A recent study by medical experts BMJ has concluded that consumption of spicy food can lower the risk of serious illnesses. Cancer and heart disease were amongst the leading afflictions. Our generation are becoming more and more attuned with the benefits of healthy eating. Could this be a breakthrough in helping us achieve a better diet and live longer lives?
A healthy diet is central to living a positive lifestyle. Most of the population try hard to live the healthiest life possible. We’ve become increasingly aware of potentially dangerous foods. For example, further studies have shown the negative impact of fizzy drinks. In fact, petitions on the subject have even led to the removal of harmful ingredients.
Over the past few decades, public education on food has progressed greatly. Most people now understand that the human body is a well-oiled machine that requires the right fuel to function. Gaining the right nutrition can improve our bodily functions and help promote a better quality of life. This news suggests that spice might be the best way to kick our bodies into top gear and get the extra mileage.
Knowledge is indeed power. Our universal demand for higher food standards has led to many improvements in recent years. The UK’s Food Standards Agency published an updated guide for the meat industry was just the latest example. Finally, organisations and governing bodies are realising just how important this subject is.
Life is precious. Increased morals and knowledge have led to significant campaigns to stop bad health habits such as smoking. It’s only natural that we also promote positive ones like eating foods that encourage a better life. We understand the importance of a balanced diet and nutrition is rightly considered a major priority. The human body is our most prized possession and nobody wants to cause unnecessary damage.
Moreover, companies like Calibre Control have produced equipment for the average family (or food outlet) to test products for quality. We’ve progressed beyond the days of accepting any rubbish. We live in a time where millions take vitamins and supplements to improve bodily functions. Information on how to increase life expectancy would be welcomed by all.
The BMJ study of nearly half-a-million candidates could make a vast difference to modern life. Most people try to employ good habits, such as staying hydrated with at least two litres of water per day. If spicy food is genuinely going to promote a longer life, there is little doubt that people will pay attention.
While the results do make for very interesting reading, even the experts concede that a bigger sample is needed. We may have to wait a little while, but it seems inevitable that the investigation will continue.
Nonetheless, early suggestions do indicate that hot food is the spice of life. At least it gives us an excuse for a curry tonight – not that we ever needed one!


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Financial expert Martin Lewis has told his followers to take heed of a social media post that claims everyone can save money by using tumble driers and other heavy appliances during the night.
The viral post said appliances are cheaper to run overnight as they use Economy 7 tariffs that run roughly between 12:30am and 7:00 am and give a discounted rate. Martin said most people were unlikely to be using Economy 7 which made the post inaccurate.
Posting on Twitter to his 1.5 million followers on Tuesday (June 7) Martin said: "I've heard of a viral post telling people they can save money by using appliances overnight when it's 'cheaper.'
"This ISN'T true for most. For that, you need a time-of-use meter like Eco7 or Eco10 (you'll know if you've got one). For most though, the cost is the same regardless of time."
His tweet was "liked" more than 1,200 times and followers jumped on the debate, arguing that many people would benefit from switching to an Economy 7 or 10. Others believed there was no benefit.
One user said: "I know someone who uses (Economy 7). Electricity is cheaper at night and more expensive in the daytime. He puts hot water timer at night. Washes clothes by timer at night. Storage heaters which heats at night and store and have his flat heated whole day. I love his system. His bills are very low".
A second follower agreed, saying it lowered their bills. "I’m in the minority for who this did make a difference, my boiler's clock was massively wrong, corrected it and now it’s using most of its energy during the night when it’s 30% cheaper for me," they wrote.
Replying to the tweet, author and O.B.E Ian Dunbar asked Martin to warn people about the safety problem behind using appliances at night. He commented: "Martin, please emphasise that there is a fire safety message here too.
"Use of e.g. white goods at night increases the chance of any fault resulting in fire delaying detection and evacuation. People must have working smoke alarms!"
One agreed with the safety hazard, tweeting about their own experience; "Do not run them when your sleeping. Why, well they can easily be set on fire and not everyone has fire alarms. But take it from me the smoke damage alone from mine was horrendous and could have been fatal."


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Sony has released a new firmware update for the RX10 IV, which adds the company’s Real-Time An...
Thursday November 14, 2019
Samyang launches VDSLR MK2 range of cine lenses
How to use Nikon Eye-Detection AF on the Nikon Z7 / Z6
What shutter speed for filming moving subjects?


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Newater Technology Announces Higher Revenue, Net Income; Shares Drop
Newater Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: NEWA), a company specializing in the development, production and application of DTRO equipment and systems used in wastewater filtration, announced today its revenue increased 86 percent to $47 million while its net income jumped 177 percent from a year earlier.
The Yantai-based company attributed a large increase in project sales and the number of customers for its higher revenue.
Newater said its net income increased to $7.2 million, or 67 cents per share, last year from $2.6 million, or 26 cents per share.
"In 2018, NEWA's flexible automated production line started operation in our new facility in Yantai. With more knowledge and experience accumulated, we expect to maximize the output quality and quantity while reducing costs. " Yuebiao Li, CEO of Newater, said, "While fortifying our market leadership in our existing markets of landfill leachate and industrial waste water, NEWA also invested in technology innovation to apply DTRO technology in the municipal wastewater field."
The company said it will focus on executing its business strategy and expanding globally. In 2019, the company expects its operation results to continue to grow at the current speed, it said.
Shares in Newater dropped 8 percent to $7.65 per share today.
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The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said Wednesday that remedies offered by Vision Express (U.K.) Ltd. to satisfy the regulator's concerns over the company's acquisition of Tesco Opticians may be sufficient to allow the deal to go ahead.
The regulator now has until Dec. 7 to decide whether to accept the undertakings, but can extend this until Feb. 6, 2018, if it believes there are special reasons for doing so.
Tesco PLC (TSCO.LN), the U.K.'s number one grocer by market share, announced in April that it was selling its optical business in the U.K. and Republic of Ireland to Vision Express for an undisclosed sum, subject to CMA approval.
However late last month, the CMA said it believed the deal could lead to a substantial lessening of competition within a market or markets in the U.K. and sought remedies to address this situation.
On Oct. 5, Vision Express offered to sell a Vision Express store in each of the three local areas in which competition concerns were identified.
The CMA said Wednesday that it had considered the undertakings offered and believed there to be reasonable grounds for these, or a modified version, to be accepted to remedy the competition issues identified.
Write to Ian Walker at firstname.lastname@example.org; @IanWalk40289749


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Stellantis is looking to take more control of its outbound finished vehicle logistics through buying more freight assets.
Maxime Picat, chief purchasing and supply chain officer at Stellantis told Automotive Logistics in an exclusive interview that the carmaker had learned lessons from outbound capacity issues over the last few years.
“What we have learned is that not controlling anything was not good enough, because our capacity to react was absolutely limited,” Picat said. “We’ve identified that we cannot manage outbound logistics like we manage inbound logistics or some other commodity.”
He said that following recent supply chain crises since Covid, outbound capacity took “far longer” to return to normal levels in fact, he said the capacity is still not back to pre-crisis level, although costs are starting to reduce.
The carmaker has since made some moves to acquire more direct vehicle logistics capacity. Back in December, Stellantis announced that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with a view to acquire a majority stake in French transport and logistics services firm 2L Logistics. The planned transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of this year.
Picat confirmed that such moves are part of wider moves to gain capacity in Europe. “In outbound logistics – the final step to our final customer which is very critical to our revenue – to be blind and not to have the capacity is an issue,” Picat said. ”We have started to fix it and look at where there are some inefficiencies, or lack of capacities or risk, maybe in countries where we’ve got big business, but less assets available. That’s where we made some moves to ensure that it’s part of the business that we can better control.”
Stellantis already did own some direct logistics capacity. In Italy, its i-Fast division has a fleet of car carrier truck for finished vehicle distribution, which belonged to FCA prior to the merger with PSA that would form Stellantis. However, Stellantis had largely unwound assets and access to more direct control of logistics assets that it used to have in Gefco, which used to be owned by PSA Group. Gefco had a mix of inbound and vehicle logistics assets, as well as logistics engineering capabilities. PSA sold a major stake in the logistics company in 2012 to Russian Railways, and maintained exclusivity contracts with the logistics providers for around a decade.
In April 2022, however, after the exclusive contract ended, Stellantis sold the remaining 25% stake that it had in Gefco to CMA CGM Group, which has since merged the logistics company with Ceva Logistics.
Picat added that Stellantis would not try to acquire or directly manage its full capacity requirements for logistics, but would seek more control. “It doesn’t mean we want to control everything and verticalise everything, but there are some elements that cannot be 100% out of our reach,” he said. ”We need to have a minimum level of control, and that’s what we try to size up and optimise and do it wisely on a case-by-case basis.”


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We’re delighted that Whyte and Mackay will be showcasing their whisky wares at this year’s Fife Whisky Festival. And what a showcase it’s shaping up to be!
When James Whyte and Charles Mackay set up in partnership in 1882, it was shortly afterwards that they released their own blended whisky under their names: Whyte and Mackay Special. Initially a big seller in export markets, after the Second World War efforts focused on the UK market and Whyte & Mackay became, and remains, a household name.
In August last year, the decision was made to relaunch Fettercairn. The new range of single malts from this Highland distillery carry 12, 28, 40 and 50 year age statements.
Just a few months earlier, the company replaced its then current range of Jura single malts with five new expressions; the non-age statement bottlings of Journey and Seven Wood as well as three age statements (10, 12 and 18 years).
We think Scott and the team are going to be pretty busy on 9th March. Make sure you drop by their stand; you’ll have plenty to choose from!


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Ucrania: Potato exports from Ukraine in 2023 are record high
According to EastFruit analysts, in the first half of 2023 Ukrainian farmers managed export record volumes of fresh potatoes, despite Russian aggression against Ukraine.
Yet, these records have bitter aftertaste and indicate serious problems for the sustainability of this industry.
Let’s start with facts and figures. Exports of commercial potatoes from Ukraine in the first half of 2023 amounted to 19.8 thousand tons – an absolute record. The last time Ukraine exported more than 10 thousand tons of potatoes in the first half of the year was 10 years ago, i.e. in 2013, when exports amounted to 14.7 thousand tons.
In addition, potato exports in the first six months of 2023 were 2.3 times higher than in 2022 for the same period and 3.8 times higher than the average over the past five years. The numbers look great, so what’s the problem?
And the problem is what we have already mentioned many times. High potato exports from Ukraine usually coincide with huge problems for growers. The price chart for potatoes in the first half of the year says it all.
Only US $0.16 dollars per kg was the wholesale price of potatoes at the end of March 2023 in Ukraine. For any farmer who has ever grown potatoes, it is obvious that such a low price cannot possibly cover the costs of growing and even the costs of high-quality seed material.
The second bad news is that 91% of the record volume of potato exports from Ukraine went to one country; Moldova. Why? The answer is low quality.
“In Ukraine most potato growers do not see the difference between raw materials and finished products. Products dug from the field could get to the store’s shelves without any further cleaning, sorting, sizing, and packaging. At the same time, those who invest in potato post-harvest handling often find that after potatoes look even worse than before. This means we need to start with a complete revisit of approaches to cultivation, as Thomas Carpenter, a potato grower from Ireland, very clearly demonstrated through personal example at one of our conferences."
"Alas, the industry’s response to comments regarding product quality is usually completely unconstructive, and this leads to the fact that for many years in a row, producers continue to fall into the trap of low quality, which makes Ukrainian potatoes “unexportable.” Consequently, the absence of export possibilities causes prices to fall below the production cost,” says Andriy Yarmak, economist of the Investment Centre of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
For more information: east-fruit.com


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Commercials don' t make kids fat, food makes kids fat. But a new study aims to draw a correlation between childhood obesity and television advertising.
So far, it hasn’t been proven. But with the help of a $2.2 million federal grant, researchers at the U of I at Chicago are about to find out if the constant barrage of food advertisements flooding the airwaves impacts kids at all.
The study is expected to last four years and is unique in that it’s the first to attempt to measure the influence advertising has on eating habits.
Other studies that have only looked at what happens when kids spend too much time sitting around in front of the tube. but this one will look at the consequences of the message.
The project's findings could have far reaching consequences for the messenger says UIC lead scientist Lisa Powell. According to Powell, the research could prompt policy makers to regulate advertising in order to improve children’s health.
Powell and her scientist team at UIC previously proved that 98 percent of food ads watched by children ages 2 to 11 were for food high in fat, sugar or sodium.


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AT&T quietly announced it would begin capping data use for its wireless subscribers — a move that would affect some HBO Max subs from unlimited streaming. The telecom cited recent legislative action California supporting statewide net neutrality for the decision.
“California has enacted a ‘net neutrality’ law banning ‘sponsored data’ services that allowed companies to pay for, or ‘sponsor,’ the data usage of their customers who are also AT&T wireless customers,” the company wrote in a blog post. “Unfortunately, under the California law we are now prohibited from providing certain data features to consumers free of charge.”
After President Trump’s FCC rescinded a federal net neutrality law that treated the Internet as a utility prohibiting ISPs from charging for higher bandwidth and streaming speeds, California, among other states, enacted its own net neutrality law. A federal judge last month upheld the move.
Prior to California’s law, AT&T said sponsored data subscribers were able to browse stream apps (i.e. HBO Max) from devices without using their monthly data allowance. The telecom said video providers utilized sponsored data enabling subscribers to stream movies and TV shows over their wireless service without it counting against their wireless data plan.
“Since it began, our sponsored data service, and competing offers from other wireless providers, have delivered significant benefits and saved consumers money,” AT&T wrote. “Consumers also have enjoyed an explosion of video streaming services.”
AT&T said the Internet does not recognize state borders, and thus the new law not only ends its ability to offer California customers free data services, but also similarly impacts customers nationwide.
AT&T is calling Congress to adopt federal legislation that would provide “clear, consistent and permanent” net neutrality rules for everyone to follow.
“A state-by-state approach to ‘net neutrality’ is unworkable,” wrote the telecom. “A patchwork of state regulations, many of them overly restrictive, creates roadblocks to creative and pro-consumer solutions. We have long been committed to the principles of an open internet. We deliver the content and services our customers want because it’s what they demand, not because it’s mandated by regulation.”


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Airbnb rentals have doubled in the past two years, pushed up property prices, and the majority of long-term listings are not legally registered as such. This information was brought to light in a new report from the Housing Financial Fund (HFF).
Ólafur Heiðar Helgason (shown above), an economist for HFF, presented his findings at a meeting for the fund yesterday. According to his research, there are about 6,000 Icelandic properties registered on Airbnb, about double the amount from just two years ago. The number of registrations on the site has, in fact, surpassed the number of people who register their Airbnb properties with local authorities. As a direct result, this has contributed to apartment prices increasing by 5% to 9% from 2015 to 2017.
The effect on the rental market is even more severe. Last March, about 30% of Airbnb properties in Iceland were apartments and rooms located in downtown or westside Reykjavík; only in Lisbon can one find a greater percentage of apartments registered on the site, of any western European city. In a separate interview with RÚV, Ólafur added that landlords can often make twice the amount on Airbnb that they would make renting their properties out to locals, undercutting incentives to provide housing for people who actually live here.
Even more disturbing, despite there being laws which limit the length of time someone can rent out a property on Airbnb to 90 days and requiring longer-term landlords to register their properties as a business, 60% of landlords using Airbnb beyond these limits did not register their properties in this way. This has not only deprived Reykjavík of millions in revenue — all these factors combined, it makes renting out properties through Airbnb far more lucrative for local landlords than providing housing for the already-choking rental market.
The Icelandic government recently voted to allocate 64 million ISK to enforcing Airbnb laws, but in the meantime, locals on the rental market will continue to face great difficulties finding housing.
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Speaking to Reuters, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, has said it is
unlikely the company will produce the much-rumoured next Game Boy any
time soon, because of the runaway success of its dual-screened
handheld, the DS. "I would have second thoughts about using our
resources on the next generation of GBA considering the strong support
DS is now enjoying," said Iwata. "The Japanese game market is now
evolving around DS. We don’t need to do something that will pour cold
water on the situation."
Read all the latest gaming news on
sister-site Games Digest.


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Sunshine Coast is officially the best for one-night stands
ONE tourist, spending one day on the Sunshine Coast can make all the difference to the local economy.
The latest report by Tour ism Research Australia revealed $544 million was spent on the Sunshine Coast in one year by day-trip domestic visitors.
The Coast reaped the rewards of the highest regional expenditure from day visitors in the nation. This was up by 10% from the same time last year.
Visitors spent $92 per day at Coast restaurants, retail and accommodation houses.
The report also showed overnight domestic visitors spent $1.8 billion on the Coast on things such as tours, accommodation, car hire, meals and shopping.
Sunshine Coast Destination Limited chief executive Steve Cooper said domestic visitors accounted for 92% of tourists to the area.
"We are pleased to see a 6% increase in overall visitors to the end of September 2012 from the previous year and also an increased in spending," Mr Cooper said.
"The Sunshine Coast benefited from increases in holiday and visiting friends and relatives travel from our largest and most important source market down the road, Brisbane.
"Travelling close to home is reflective of consumer confidence."
Tourism Queensland said domestic travel reached a record high in the report period in all states, with day trips being more popular.
Tourism industry leaders across the Coast echoed a sentiment of a successful Christmas and New Year period.
Caloundra Chamber of Commerce tourism and events chair Bill Darby said Caloundra accommodation providers were almost fully booked two weeks out from Christmas.
"You can tell with the mood of tourism operators in general, that people seem to be having a bit more of a positive outlook of the whole Christmas season and every one is happy," Mr Darby said.
Mooloolaba Business and Tourism president Bernie Sullivan said it was a similar story in his area.
"Everyone in Mooloolaba is holding their head proudly in repeat and referral business," Mr Sullivan said.
Boosting coffers Sunshine Coast ranked sixth in Australia for visitor expenditure, ahead of some capital cities such as Canberra and Adelaide
Among regional areas, domestic overnight visitors spent the most on the Sunshine Coast in one year ($1.8 billion).
$544 million was spent by day trippers to the Sunshine Coast in one year.
Most of the visitors are coming from Brisbane, regional Queensland and Melbourne


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Wasap Bro! sebelum tue meh kita usya petikan dari laman sesawang paultan..
ext Bike Sdn Bhd, official distributor for Ducati in Malaysia, has been given the honour of launching Ducati’s latest model for the Asian market. The unveiling will happen on 20 October.
In the meantime, they have set up a “Ducati Sneak Peek Box” placed outside the Lot 10 Mall on Jalan Bukit Bintang, KL. As its name suggests, members of the public can take peeks at the new model placed inside the box.
“The new Monster is expected to further contribute to the growth of Ducati in Malaysia, this year alone the company has grown its sales volume by 100% where we expect to retail more than 200 units of Ducati. The introduction of Ducati Diavel in December 2010 had significantly increase our market share as we enter new market segments and with this new Monster, we expect to further capture more market share within the naked bike category,” said Naza Group Joint Executive Chairman, Datuk Wira SM Faisal Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin.
It’s more than just the box. Lot 10 is also hosting the Ducati Brand Experience Roadshow from now till 23 October. On show are Ducati bikes and merchandise. Visitors can also purchase MotoGP tickets (Malaysian GP happens on 23 October) from the Sepang Circuit booth at the roadshow. Next Bike says that roadshow visitors can earn themselves an opportunity to party with Valentino Rossi at the “Monster Party”.
Semalam masa yang di tunggu2 telah tiba.. Pengeluar motosikal berkuasa tinggi dari Itali, Ducati Motor Holding Spa telah melancarkan model terbarunye Ducati Monster 795 di KL. Kalinie Malaysia dipilih sebagai lokasi pertama pelancaran. Pelumbe terkenal Valentino Rossi diberi penghormatan untuk melancarkan `Monster' tersebut.. Motor ini dijual pada harga RM 59,999 termasuk insurans dan dijangka akan menarik minat dan memberi saingan kepada jenama2 popular dari Jepun..