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Texas, USA: Michael Dell, founder and CEO – Dell Technologies has penned his thoughts on coronavirus, the new normal and business in a letter to employees.
In his letter, Michael Dell said that he’s been grounded for nearly five months and waiting to get everything normal but is not going to happen anytime soon.
“…like everyone, I’ve been grounded for nearly five months — riding out the pandemic and waiting for everything to get back to normal. But what we’re all coming to realize is that whatever or whenever normal happens, it isn’t going to be anytime soon,” Dell wrote in his letter.
While coronavirus has been termed as a novel, Dell said that ‘novel virus’ came with ‘novel ways to live and work and communicate.’
“When this started, there was a sense of novelty. The novel coronavirus also came with novel ways to live and work and communicate…”
“Now, the novelty is wearing thin. We’re all done with coronavirus, but unfortunately, the virus isn’t done with us.”
He compared this virus led situation with a ‘marathon’ — calling it ‘uneven and frustrating at times.’
“This is going to be a marathon and it’s going to be uneven and frustrating at times. Some of our sites are opening… others are not. Some schools will start in person and others will not…”
The New Normal
The 55 year- old American entrepreneur said that the new normal requires ‘to be incredibly flexible, agile and patient’ and need to take a ‘longer-term view.’
“…as hot spots flare up and down over the coming months, local situations will quickly change. We are all going to have to be incredibly flexible, agile and patient,”
“Patient with each other and patient with ourselves and our families. And we are going to have to take a longer-term view of the new normal,” he wrote.
Michael Dell informed that since March his company has kept its business running, delivering essential services and solutions to customers. But now it is focusing on ‘reorienting business towards new customer priorities.’
“Now we’re reorienting our business toward new customer priorities, aligning with our customers’ needs to continue to do it fast and to also to do it right for the long-term transformation of their businesses. Our work and family situations also need to be secure and sustainable,” he wrote.
Flexibility and working remotely
The billionaire businessman and philanthropist also touched upon the significance of flexibility and working remotely during COVID-19.
“COVID-19 has made one thing clear – work is something you do, an outcome, not a place or a time. We want you to have the flexibility to weather this storm safely and productively, however long it lasts.”
“In many cases, we’ve seen that you can be more productive working remotely. I encourage you to talk with your managers about what flexibility you and your families may need. It will likely look different for each of us, and that’s OK,” he wrote.
Dell said that the next phase will rely on ‘resilience and grit’ and imbibing human values is more important than in the past.
“This next phase will be all about resilience and grit – and we’re going to have to dig deeper into that well of goodwill and kindness and generosity, which are going to be more important than ever.”
Dell ended his letter expressing his gratitude towards his company’s employees and remained optimistic on ‘collective spirit and culture to over this pandemic phase.
“I’ve never been prouder of you, of this company and our collective spirit and culture. Thanks to everyone for staying safe, remaining flexible and delivering for our customers during this unique period. We will get through this together,” concluded Michael Dell.


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Houston expert shares top tech trends impacting real estate
Technology continues to rapidly advance across the board and the real estate industry is no exception. However, it’s critical that the housing space welcomes online innovation and the upgrades that it brings to homebuyers with open arms.
As 2024 unfolds, I expect to see online homebuying, smart home features and online interior design options continue to become more prevalent. Being adaptable and providing these resources will only become increasingly important as younger generations move into their homebuying years.
Online Homebuying Gaining Momentum
As homebuyers are often overwhelmed when they begin their new home search online, it’s vital that the process is as seamless as possible. Utilizing technology that shows 3D views of homes for online tours, being able to text an online sales manager for real-time assistance, and offering virtually staged homes to help buyers get a better sense for how their new home will look, are among top trends to emerge. These technologies make the homebuying process efficient and transparent, which ultimately benefits consumers with more informed buying experiences. Taylor Morrison is a leader in the industry with its online reservation system, which allows customers to not only reserve an inventory home already in progress, but also choose a lot, floorplan, elevation, and structural options. The Houston Division was among one of the first housing markets to roll out the online reservation system and has seen firsthand that local homebuyers continue to opt for online resources when purchasing homes as it makes for a low-pressure experience. Since introducing the online reservation system, Houston reservations have a 42 percent conversion rate, while the national average is 31 percent.
Smart Home Features Becoming a Non-Negotiable
Smart home features like Ring doorbells, smart thermostats, electronic door locks, Wi-Fi garage door openers, carbon monoxide detectors, and LED disc lights are another technology trend that homebuyers will expect to have readily available in their new homes. While some might view these features as bells and whistles, they play a significant role in homebuying decision process as they directly correlate to safety and health. In the coming years, I foresee safety and wellness focused home technology becoming an industry standard and something on which many homebuyers won’t budge. In fact, according to a Taylor Morrison survey, more than one-third of home shoppers said they seek to purchase a new home rather than a resale for better in-home health and wellness features. Now, Taylor Morrison has TM LiveSmart, which is a standard offering for all new construction and provides healthy home features at no additional cost for safer and cleaner living.
Online Interior Design Offerings
Gone are the days of spending hours in home improvement stores searching for the right paint color or hardware option. Online design resources will become more sought out in 2024, allowing homebuyers to review available design selections right at their fingertips. Younger audiences are captivated by viral home décor styles seen on social media, so it’s important to tap into trends (like Coastal Grandma) and provide simple, online tools to help them recreate trends in their own homes. Taylor Morrison currently offers an online portal where buyers can draw inspiration from before their in-person Design Studio meetings, making for a more efficient and personal experience when crafting their new home’s aesthetic.
From online homebuying to smart home features, 2024 and beyond is going to be an exciting time for homebuyers and the homebuilding industry alike. While we’re only at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to technological advancements in housing, I’m eager to see how online innovation continues to develop and how we can bring new experiences to homebuyers.
Todd Rasmusen is the Houston division president at Taylor Morrison.

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The daily business briefing: December 13, 2016
Lockheed Martin stock sinks after Trump criticism, Asahi to buy five Anheuser-Busch InBev brands, and more
Trump criticism of F-35 jet hurts Lockheed Martin shares
Lockheed Martin shares dropped by 2.5 percent on Monday after President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that the cost of the F-35 stealth jets built by the aerospace giant had gotten "out of control." Trump added: "Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th." Jeff Babione, general manager of the company's F-35 program, said the company had "invested hundreds of millions of dollars" to reduce the aircraft's cost, and that Lockheed Martin welcomes "the opportunity to address any questions the president-elect has about the program." Last week Trump vowed to scrap a Boeing contract to build two new Air Force Ones, also due to the price tag.
Asahi to pay $7.8 billion for five Anheuser-Busch InBev beer brands
Asahi Group Holdings has agreed to buy five Eastern European beer brands from Anheuser-Busch InBev for $7.8 billion in the biggest acquisition ever by a Japanese brewer. A formal announcement is expected Tuesday. The brands include popular Czech beer Pilsner Urquell, as well as Tyskie and Lech from Poland, Dreher from Hungary, and Ursus from Romania. Anheuser-Busch InBev agreed to sell the brands in order to boost its chances of getting approval from regulators for its $100 billion takeover of SABMiller, which it completed in October. Asahi also has bought SABMiller's Italian brand Peroni and the Dutch beer Grolsch. Asahi shares dropped by as much as 6.4 percent on the news of the Tuesday deal.
Trump taps Goldman Sachs executive as top economic adviser
President-elect Donald Trump on Monday officially nominated Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn to be his top economic adviser as head of the National Economic Council. Trump said Cohn would "help craft economic policies that will grow wages for our workers, stop the exodus of jobs overseas, and create many great new opportunities for Americans who have been struggling." Critics noted that Cohn is the third current or former executive from the elite investment bank named to a leading role in the Trump administration, suggesting Trump was falling short of his campaign promise to reduce Wall Street's influence and "drain the swamp" in Washington.
Trump postpones announcement on handling business conflicts
President-elect Donald Trump is postponing until next month a scheduled announcement on how he plans to handle his business empire while president. Trump had said he would hold a news conference on Dec. 15 to reveal his plans as he faced mounting pressure to divest in order to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest. Trump tweeted Monday night that he would hand over control of his business empire to his adult sons, Don and Eric, and that they would do "no new deals" during his presidency. He did not indicate that he would sell his stake in his global real estate and branding businesses. Trump has assets worth about $3.6 billion and $630 million in debt held in more than 500 companies, with ties to businesses and governments in 20 countries.
Redstones call off study of merger between CBS and Viacom
Shari Redstone and her father, Sumner Redstone, on Monday put a halt to explorations of a possible merger between CBS and Viacom. The family strongly advocated the proposal three months ago, but said in a letter to both company boards that after reviewing the matter and discussing it with both companies' leaders they "concluded that this is not the right time" for a merger. The Redstones control 80 percent of the voting stock in CBS and Viacom through their private theater chain National Amusements.


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Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty Brand to Open Stores in 2022
Savage X Fenty, the direct-to-consumer lingerie brand founded by Rihanna, will open its first brick-and-mortar retail location in Las Vegas later this month, according to an Instagram post by the entertainer-entrepreneur published on Friday. Savage X Fenty, a lingerie brand that emphasizes confidence and inclusivity, is a joint venture between Rihanna and TechStyle Fashion Group. The brand also plans to open stores in Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. in early 2022.
“We coming in HOT!," Rhianna wrote in the caption, "we bout to bring you a whole new #SavageXFenty experience with the launch of our brick-and-mortar retail stores!” The Savage X Fenty Instagram account posted the same picture with the announcement as well.
Total Retail's Take: It's not surprising that the lingerie brand is opening its own stores. In fact, in a late September interview with Bloomberg, Savage X Fenty’s co-president and chief merchant, Christiane Pendarvis, said that the $1 billion brand would open stores in 2022 throughout the U.S., and plans to open up stores in Europe in the future. Brick-and-mortar stores is a logical next step for the growing brand, which launched in 2018. As many digital-native direct-to-consumer brands have found, physical stores are important customer acquisition and brand-building tools.
Melissa Campanelli is Editor-in-Chief of Total Retail. She is an industry veteran, having covered all aspects of retail, tech, digital, e-commerce, and marketing over the past 20 years. Melissa is also the co-founder of the Women in Retail Leadership Circle.


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After a four-year slog, the Federal Trade Commission has succeeded in extracting $1.63 million from a 'scareware' marketer, finally closing its first such case.
Facebook's struck a deal with five major security vendors allowing it to offer their anti-virus products for free.
Somewhat belatedly, perhaps, Apple has admitted that its OS X operating system is being targeted by the MacDefender fake security software, and is taking steps to combat it.
Well, this is embarrassing! It seems as if Kapersky was recently pwned and owned by a mysterious team of cybercriminals who managed to briefly hijack the security company’s anti-virus website.
Intel sold its anti-virus software division to Symantec in 1998. 12 years later the chip giant acquired McAfee for a whopping $7.68 billion. Why?
Free is always a good price. How about free anti-virus software? How about free anti-virus software that works in the cloud?!
BitDefender has acknowledged that its anti-virus software update may have caused the crash of an unspecified number of 64-bit Windows machines.


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Nike Dunk Coming Back To Nike By You?
Before the Nike Dunk made a comeback in 2020, this silhouette sat everywhere and even could be bought at discounted rates. NikeiD had to remove Nike Dunk Lows and Highs from their DIY customizable platform due to slow interest among the sneakerheads. This scenario accounts prior to half a decade and things have completely flipped in 2019/2020 year. The unthinkable collaborations and Travis effect have shot up the resale prices on Dunks and is impossible to cop them at retail now.
Some screenshot leaks have revealed that the the very least, the Dunk Lows could make a return to customization for $120 price tag. But as of now there are no strong sources who have confirmed the same. The picture show Dunks in a variety of color options and one more detail to be noticed is that even though Nike has transitioned from iD to By You, the dunks can return as Nike Dunk Low By You.
If the Nike Dunk Low makes a return to By you platform then for sure the prices on Dunks are going to fall rapidly. It might be too early for making them customisable as there are many plans for the Nike Dunk moving forward.
For more updates
Hype Ryno is set to Re-define Indian Sneaker Market as we know it
At a time when the sneaker game is rapidly gaining popularity, and more and more resellers and collectors are becoming a part of this ecosystem, The lack of a proper Authentication system and resale forums have caused inconvenience to a lot of enthusiasts; but not…
Upcoming Yeezy Releases For 2022
As we step into 2022, the past year hasn’t exactly been a cakewalk. The virus continues its presence with habitual lockdowns and strict norms all over the country. Despite this, the sneaker culture slowly but surely experienced a good number of new collaborations, album releases,…


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Thinkhouse has developed a new brand positioning as well as a new advertising campaign for Life Style Sports, Ireland’s largest independent sports retailer.
The campaign is currently running across TV, outdoor, digital and social as well as in-store and across the brand’s owned channels.
Following research by Core, Life Style Sports commissioned Thinkhouse to develop the brand’s new positioning to help make it distinctive in what is a busy and competitive market. Having worked with Life Style Sports for over four years, Thinkhouse worked in partnership with the company’s go-to-market team to develop ‘Fit With Benefits’, the brand’s first major through-the-line ad campaign, born out of its new positioning.
“The research unlocked a truth that we built the creative idea on – performance has more than one meaning. We also wanted to dramatise the benefits of being fit – something that’s important to the Life Style Sports customer,” says Jane McDaid, head of creative innovation, Thinkhouse.
“This campaign is stripped right back to the essence of how it feels to be fit, and the benefits that come with that. Fit with Benefits is courageous in the simplicity of its message, the minimalism of its creative and the cheekiness of its tone. It gives clear standout in a category that is awash with hard-to-differentiate players. As this campaign unfolds, it also highlights the benefits that come with shopping with Life Style Sports – reinforcing important functional messages such as next-day-delivery; the best brands and new releases,” she says.


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SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd flagged improved second-half outcomes on expectations of a decide up in reminiscence chip and smartphone gross sales, after posting its weakest revenue in additional than two years within the first quarter.
The world’s high maker of semiconductors, nonetheless, warned of extra short-term ache within the second quarter, with reminiscence chip costs prone to decline additional earlier than a rebound in demand as information centres re-stock later within the yr.
“For the second half of 2019, the corporate expects reminiscence chip demand for high-density merchandise to extend, however uncertainties within the exterior surroundings will persist,” the tech large mentioned in a press release.
Hit by falls in chip costs and slowing demand for show panels, Samsung posted working revenue of 6.2 trillion received ($5.four billion) within the quarter ended March, smallest since late 2016 however in step with the corporate’s steering.
Income fell 13.5 % to 52.four trillion received, additionally in step with its earlier estimates.
Samsung’s core semiconductor enterprise booked a 64 % fall in working revenue to four.1 trillion received, whereas the show enterprise logged 560 billion received in losses.
Reminiscence chip makers have been hit by a downturn within the world smartphone market and a fall in demand from information centres behind cloud computing companies amid a broader financial slowdown.
Samsung’s smaller rival, SK Hynix, final week posted the slimmest quarterly working revenue in over two years. But it surely was assured chip demand would get well later this yr, a sentiment echoed by Samsung on Tuesday.
Samsung mentioned its server DRAM chip prospects would begin rebuilding inventories from the tip of the second quarter, whereas new smartphone fashions would help gross sales of cell DRAM.
For NAND flash reminiscence chips that suffered large value falls since final yr, Samsung mentioned market circumstances would stabilise within the second half as high-density chip adoption for cell units drives up demand.
An easing in China-U.S. commerce tensions may additionally unlock some demand for client electronics and encourage Chinese language cloud service suppliers, which had stockpiled chips in anticipation of a protracted commerce battle, to decrease their inventories to extra regular ranges, analysts mentioned.
“On the macroeconomic aspect, China might toughen its IT business to help the economic system and if there’s a commerce settlement signed between China and United States, these will drive up demand for Samsung’s merchandise, like chips,” senior analyst Tune Myung-sup at HI Funding and Securities mentioned.
The world’s high smartphone maker mentioned its cell enterprise posted a 40 % drop in working revenue to 2.three trillion received within the first quarter.
The Apple Inc rival and provider is hoping to revive flagging progress in its cell enterprise with its newest handset, that includes a giant, bending display screen.
However in a blow to its renewed deal with innovation, Samsung delayed world gross sales of the foldable cellphone after reviewers found issues with the show.
Samsung, which provides screens for its personal folding telephones, forecast weak second-quarter earnings within the show enterprise as demand for versatile screens was anticipated to stay weak.
But it surely mentioned demand for versatile show panels would probably decide up and gross sales for its smartphones have been additionally anticipated to rise within the second half, led by new fashions in all segments together with the low-end Galaxy A collection.
There’s “no change” within the firm’s push towards foldable telephones, mentioned Lee Jong-min, vice chairman of the corporate’s cell enterprise.
“Samsung Electronics have been making ready Galaxy Fold for a protracted interval and there’s no change to our course to supply premium experiences for purchasers wanting innovation,” Lee mentioned, reiterating Samsung will discover the explanation behind the issues with the show.
Reporting by Ju-min Park and Heekyong Yang; Modifying by Stephen Coates and Himani Sarkar


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Meme-centric cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE) has broken the psychologically crucial mark of 20 cents as of press time late Thursday, hitting an all-time high of $0.2457.
What Happened: Doge received a shoutout from Conagra Brands Inc (NYSE:CAG) the makers of Slim Jim, a smoked meat stick snack, preceding it spiraling to never-before-seen highs.
Comparatively, the apex cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) has risen 8.99% for the week and traded at 0.5% higher at $63,423.54 at press time.
Connolly touched on how DOGE and Dogecoin were a “natural fit” for the company’s Slim Jim brand in Conagra’s third-quarter earnings call on Thursday.
The executive said that joining the “online conversation about the Do Good Everyday sentiment of Dogecoin” has allowed it to tap into another channel to engage with the community.
“We’ve seen a market uptick in audience interaction, including direct engagement and advocacy from the person that created Dogecoin,” said Conolly.
Why It Matters: The shoutout by Connolly marks the first time ever DOGE has been featured in an earnings call, CoinDesk reported.
Conagra has built the Slim Jim community around memes, as per the executive.
GET READY TO GO TO THE MOON TOGETHER! 1 WEEK TO GO!!!
R S E & SPREAD THE WORD! pic.twitter.com/GdPAX6y3qt
— Slim Jim (@SlimJim) April 13, 2021
— Slim Jim (@SlimJim) April 16, 2021
While Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk often tweets about Dogecoin and these tweets sometimes have an impact on the price of the cryptocurrency, he has yet to mention the cryptocurrency in his official capacity.
The social media buzz around Dogecoin has sent it hurtling upwards in the last few days. DOGE topped the list of the ten most trending tickers on Stocktwits.com at press time.
Price Action: Conagra shares closed nearly 0.9% higher at $37.58.
© 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights


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The financial services industry is currently amid a profound transformation as banks and other financial institutions experience an ongoing digital evolution. However, with these advancements come specific challenges, such as fierce competition for business and increased costs for providing fast and efficient customer services. These companies are exploring various fintech solutions for banks to keep pace, enhancing internal and customer-facing digital functionality.
Five Key Fintech Solutions for Banks
The pace of change in financial services technology leaves very little time for institutions to respond. Therefore, banks and other financial institutions need to quicken and scale their fintech transformation.
To accomplish this, all financial institutions might consider incorporating recent and innovative digital solutions for providing more effective mobile and online banking services.
Five of these features are as follows:
1. Online Account Opening
The COVID-19 pandemic corrected the misconception that many standard banking services require a physical branch location, such as new account openings.
With people tucked away in their homes for the majority of 2020, traditional brick-and-mortar companies of all kinds needed to adapt to survive. These changes included a rapid expansion of online features that provide potential customers with online transaction options.
The situation for financial services companies was no different, and with a chunk of the workforce suddenly unemployed and struggling to make ends meet, fewer and fewer funds found their way into bank accounts.
One way to combat the shrinking cash inflow was by attracting new customers. The only way to do that during a pandemic-driven “shelter in place” order was by offering online account opening features. As more consumers began to leverage this option, it became clear to banks that requiring in-person account openings was not only unnecessary but potentially a hindrance.
Now, financial services companies of all sizes – ranging from institutional banks to local credit unions – expect to augment (or add altogether) online account opening systems soon.
2. Security and Fraud Protection
As financial services technology advances, so too do malware capabilities. Hackers continue to maneuver their way into checking and savings accounts, releasing private data into a digital world where exposed information is replicated and reused almost instantaneously.
Standard anti-fraud efforts, such as enhanced password encryption and EMV chips on credit cards, have reduced unlawful account access and cloning, respectively.
However, there is still a long road ahead.
Fintech companies are currently working to make mobile and online banking safer. Many provide front-to-back anti-fraud solutions that protect banks and credit unions from account entry and transaction fraud using enhanced risk management tools.
3. Video Collaboration
In 2020, the pandemic rendered in-person business transactions challenging if not impossible, which precipitated a hastened deployment of video collaboration solutions. Banks and credit unions quickly found that video conferencing is multi-functional, capable of simulating face-to-face meetings with minimal (if any) inefficiencies.
Like their findings with new account openings, banking executives concluded that branches are not crucial for several other functions such as:
- Corporate meetings
- Internal branch meetings
- Marketing presentations
- Other external customer-facing engagements
Instead, bank members’ continued use of branches has little to do with their desire to visit a physical location and more to do with their need to contact a bank representative.
That being the case, financial institutions now plan to invest significantly in advancing these remote video capabilities.
4. Artificial Intelligence
While mobile banking is already convenient and streamlined, customers will always demand shorter response times. Meeting that challenge is complex, and many financial institutions are investing heavily in virtual assistants to make the mobile experience faster and easier. These virtual assistants improve mobile banking in many ways, ranging from text and voice-enabled payments to automated fraud alerts.
These assistants are equipped with both text and voice capabilities, allowing customers to speak or text with the assistant to complete most daily financial tasks.
Those tasks include (but are not necessarily limited to):
- Making payments
- Information requests
Virtual assistants can also send customers notifications via messaging apps of account changes that may warrant verification.
Those notifications could include:
- Receiving fraud warnings
- Verifying changes in account balances
- Verifying transactions
- Alerting to changes in available credit
The virtual assistant communicates similarly to humans while keeping data safe and accessible. It also allows users to submit simple queries and obtain rapid answers without connecting to their mobile app.
5. Managing Big Data
Financial institutions collect vast amounts of data daily. Much of that information is unstructured, and firms must use complex algorithms to sift through the mess to identify current trends and potential risks.
However, this sector also collects a significant amount of structured data such as mortgage applications, tax filings, and financial statements. These structured documents provide considerable data insights that firms may utilize to make more educated and informed decisions.
Fintech apps that can pull and process data from these structured forms are crucial for enhancing the performance of current analytics tools. Features such as document realignment, image cleansing, and form recognition technologies improve fintech solutions, providing more efficient and precise data collection.
Skeps Can Help You Meet the Challenges Ahead
While most financial institutions are aware of the need for more robust online platforms driven by increasingly popular fintech solutions for banks, they have a ways to go before meeting increased customer demand for streamlined digital services.
The good news, however, is that Skeps can help.
Our digital solutions offer many features that help banks and other financial institutions meet the challenges of implementing the fintech solutions mentioned earlier. Those features include:
- Everything necessary to launch a white label BNPL program from origination to servicing and collections
- A comprehensive suite of digital and in-store connectors for merchant partners
- Pre-approval technology to present offers to consumers before they begin shopping
- A fully customizable UI/UX
- Self-service portals and a digital collections platform.
Our platforms provide you with the financial technology necessary to meet customers’ ever-increasing demands for improved digital solutions. To learn more, request a demo, or email us at email@example.com.


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LightPath Adds Managers at Shanghai Facility
ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 10, 2010 — Optical components and assemblies manufacturer LightPath Technologies Inc. announced Tuesday it has hired two managers for its Shanghai, China-based business, LightPath Optical Instrumentation Co.
Frank Yuan joins LightPath Optical as its quality assurance manager. A certified ISO auditor to quality management systems, he has worked with many multinationals, assisting them in manufacturing components and utilizing process control.
Joe Wang was hired as materials manager; he has spent the past 15 years in supply chain management, inventory control and customs positions for multinational corporations.
“By shifting approximately 95% of our total production to Shanghai, along with making key process improvements, we have significantly reduced our costs and increased our gross profit margins for 2010,” said Jim Gaynor, CEO of the US-based company. “The recruitment of a strong leadership team is indicative of the continued growth we foresee on a global basis.”
For more information, visit: www.lightpath.com


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Thai Netizens have been criticizing a Big supermarket with branches across Thailand. One of the branches located in Ubon Ratchathani province have put out a campaign announced on their Facebook page where the grand prize is a puppy.
The Facebook page posted on the 20th of this month that they will be giving away a cute pomeranian puppy to the winner. Customers can join the lucky draw by purchasing any items at the supermarket and then using their receipt as the ticket to join the game.
The post went viral on Facebook and netizens have helped point out why the supermarket is wrong for hosting such activity. The main point is that a living animal should not be used as an item that can be given out to anyone. Unlike normal prizes, a dog requires knowledge and special care to look after for years to come. Such prize can lead to more stray dogs being thrown away onto the streets after the owner becomes bored of the dog, if the dog is too playful or becomes ill.
Another comment stated that raising a dog requires money, time, and patient until it grows old. The dog will be your friend in life so if you can’t give the same back to the animal then you shouldn’t have a pet.
A netizen even called the supermarket to inform the headquarters about the campaign at one of their branches, instead of taking care of the issue the supermarket told her to call the manager of the branch and then the manager then told her to contact the Facebook page admin. No one seems to be acknowledging why the lucky draw is wrong and instead passing the issue along and not taking any responsibility.
The specific branch decided to cancel the campaign after facing backlash and announced the decision on their page on the 26th of this month.
After some time, the branch manager stated that it’s not their fault as the activity was hosted by an outsider having no connections to the supermarket, they were simply helping by promoting the activity. Other netizens have mentioned that this company has been doing similar campaigns for a while by using puppies as the grand prize, pomeranians and siberian huskies seem to be popular breeds given away as new toys.


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RIM is working hard to bring the BlackBerry 10 operating system as soon as possible. While we eagerly wait for RIM to launch the BlackBerry 10 OS, the company’s Advertising Agency has been given some mock images of the user interface.
CrackBerry grabbed the pre-release images of the BlackBerry 10 OS from a presentation of RIM’s Ad Agency working on future campaigns. We know that these images are mere mock ups but certainly represent some of the new and core improvements in the operating system.
The images obtained from Ad Agencies might just be a mock design or concept art of what the BlackBerry 10 might look like. So take this piece of information as a grain of salt. The images might not be official but certainly hint to the number of features RIM plans to implement in the OS.
From the leaked images, RIM appears of giving in to the widgets and will come with its own set of widgets for the home screen. From the mock up image, the design cues appear to be heavily inspired from the Android OS widgets and the Windows Phone’s Live Tiles.
In the Application drawer, RIM is looking to use square icons and also integrate the option of creating folders to stock up the applications. There’s a bar at the bottom with three icons – Phone, Search (magnifying glass) and camera icon.
Most interesting feature of all is the home screen widgets that would be usable with full touchscreen BlackBerry devices such as BlackBerry 9380 and 9860.
RIM is expected to introduce the BlackBerry 10 operating system based smartphones later this year. It would be interesting to see whether the BlackBerry 10 OS plays ‘catching up’ game with features already offered in rival operating systems (iOS, Android and WP7.5) or will bring something new to the market.


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Although the overall stock market looks reasonably valued, there are pockets of extraordinary risk where stocks with 2000-bubble-like valuations lurk.
Specifically, there is a “micro bubble” in certain tech stocks, where valuations reflect expectations for future cash flows that would require unrealistically high margins, growth, and market share. These expectations might not be so “bubbly” if not for the fact that the current margins and cash flows of these companies have trended at very low or negative levels for years.
5 tech stocks in a micro bubble
Figure 1 lists the five tech stocks we put in our first micro bubble. They share a few key characteristics:
• Unrealistically high valuations: all 10 companies either have negative economic book values, or they have a PEBV above 20
• Expectations that they achieve heretofore unseen dominant market shares
These are five of the largest micro-bubble companies. Briefly, here’s what makes each of these companies part of the micro-bubble.
Fun fact: Amazon’s
Amazon has finally shown an ability to earn a profit, but it still must grow net operating profit after tax (NOPAT) by 30% compounded annually for 19 years to justify its current valuation. See the math behind this dynamic DCF scenario. For comparison, only six companies in the S&P 500
Amazon prefers to point investors to free cash flow, but its reported free cash flow numbers are an illusion. In reality, the company continues to experience significant cash outflows.
Investors who focus on understanding true cash flow and fundamentals know the disconnect between actual cash flow and the market’s expectations for future cash flows borders on the absurd.
Felix Salmon of Slate recently published a piece titled “Netflix Can Either Become the Dominant Media Monopoly of the 21st Century or Go Bust.” The market values Netflix as if it will be that dominant monopoly when, frankly, there’s a very good chance it goes bust. Risk/reward for this stock is so bad that no investor with any respect for fundamentals can own this stock in good conscience.
Even if this strategy does work, which is far from certain, the company is currently valued at 10 times revenue, or double the valuation of Oracle. This hasn’t dissuaded bulls, as Salesforce generates classic tech bubble-style headlines like “Ignore Salesforce’s Valuation.” In other words, they want investors to ignore fundamentals.
Elon Musk keeps promising that Tesla will revolutionize the auto industry, but so far Tesla hasn’t shown an ability to navigate the manufacturing logistics that the established auto makers figured out decades ago. The company’s valuation is blind to fundamentals and seems entirely focused on the cult of personality that has built up around Musk.
Spotify’s leverage against the record labels is further weakened by the rapid growth of competitors like Apple Music
Again, we see a company where the valuation reflects the best-case scenario with little to no tether to fundamentals.
How to bet against the micro bubble
Investors that want to bet against these micro-bubble stocks can short them directly, but that can be expensive and risky for these momentum-driven companies. As the saying goes, the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.
Another way to profit from the busting of this micro bubble is to invest in the incumbents from which these companies must take major chunks of market share. When these micro-bubble stocks fall back to earth, a great deal of capital should be reallocated to the incumbents.
Macro bubbles vs. micro bubbles
Today’s market has some micro bubbles, or smaller groups of overhyped stocks trading at ridiculous valuations.That makes it very different from the tech bubble, which was a macro bubble, a marketwide phenomenon that distorted the valuation of the entire market.
A few new features are shaping the market now and explain why today’s bubbles are unlikely to spread to the entire market, at least for the foreseeable future:
• Politicians and policy makers are focused on preventing macro market crashes. Today’s politicians and policy makers are heavily shaped by both the housing bubble of the mid-2000s and the tech bubble of the late 1990s. They will likely do everything in their power to prevent recurrence of such cataclysmic events on their watch.
• Rising influence of noise traders. Noise traders, who make investment decisions based on noise and have no regard for fundamentals, are an increasingly influential force in today’s market. Roughly a quarter of all U.S. adults with internet access are retail online traders. That’s around 50 million investors who don’t have professional trading (much less investing) experience and might be more susceptible to buying into “story” stocks without understanding the fundamentals. There’s power in those numbers.
• Overhyping “transformative” technology. The splintering of online media has led journalists to overhype nearly every new technology and trend in a relentless competition for clicks. For example, despite the “Retail Apocalypse” narrative, brick-and-mortar sales still account for 90% of retail sales, and Walmart earned nearly three times more revenue than Amazon last year. In reality, very few new technologies are as transformative as we like to imagine.
• Value transfer vs. value creation. Too many investors overestimate the value-creation opportunities for new technologies. Even when technologies are transformative, predicting who will reap the benefits of these technologies is difficult. Often, most of the value accrues to end users/consumers and not corporations. When it does accrue to a company, it’s usually at the expense of another company. During the tech bubble, bulls believed the internet would make our economy radically more productive and allow the GDP growth rate of around 5% in the late 90’s to persist for many years. When this utopian future failed to materialize, the market collapsed. By contrast, today’s micro-bubble companies compete against firmly established incumbents from which they must take large chunks of market share to survive. Instead of adding value, these companies aim to take value from existing players. Even if they succeed, we think much of that value will eventually pass to consumers.
This last point is key. In 1999, investors gave Microsoft
These modern-day micro bubbles reflect the zero-sum nature of today’s crowded and more mature competitive landscapes.
Why we’re not in a macro bubble
Figure 2 sums up the difference between the tech bubble and today’s market pretty clearly. It shows the price to economic book value (PEBV) of the largest 1,000 U.S. stocks by market cap going back to 2000. PEBV compares the current valuation of a company compared to the zero-growth value of its cash flows, i.e. NOPAT, so a higher PEBV means the market expects more future cash flow growth.
While the market’s PEBV has more than doubled since 2012, from 0.7 to 1.5, it’s nowhere close to its tech bubble level of 5.7.
There are definitely some outrageously valued companies out there, but those high valuations haven’t spread to the rest of the market. People forget that high valuations weren’t confined to tech stocks in the late 90’s. At the height of the tech bubble, Walmart had a P/E ratio of 46 and a PEBV of 5.1. Currently it has a P/E of 30 (artificially inflated by a $3 billion loss on debt refinancing) and a PEBV of 0.9.
Bubble alarmists are hyping up the valuations of a subset of stocks while ignoring the rest of the market.
David Trainer is the CEO of New Constructs, an equity research firm that uses machine learning and natural language processing to parse corporate filings and model economic earnings. Kyle Guske II and Sam McBride are investment analysts at New Constructs.


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The tech startup sector is disrupting the post-Covid era with innovative products and existing technologies in new ways. Tech startups are capitalizing on the growing demand for big data, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), cloud, mobility, internet of things (IoT), and cryptocurrency. Investors and venture capitalists are also keen on investing in early-stage tech-driven startups with the hope of making profits. Let us delve deeper into which tech startups are churning profits and can turn out to be the next big thing:
Airtable is a California-based tech startup that allows everyone to experience software and not just use the software. Airtable is a relational database that is often described as a souped-up version of Excel or Google Sheets. Airtable is currently valued at $5.77B and has attracted $1.4bn from the investors due to its many use cases and potential customer base. The funding will help the company to accelerate the enterprise product and expand the team.
MoonPay founded in 2018 in Miami is a financial technology company that has developed a payments infrastructure for cryptocurrency where customers can purchase cryptos. MoonPay has tapped into the interest around cryptocurrency by building a crypto trading platform. MoonPay has successfully raised $555M in funding and is currently valued at $3.4bn with a customer base of more than 7 million customers.
Another California-based tech startup making on our list offers seamless access to data in real-time by leveraging open-source technology. Confluent has received $455.9M funding from leading investors which include Sequoia Capital and Franklin Templeton Investment. Confluent recorded a $388M revenue in the financial year 2021 which saw an increase of 64% over the year.
4. Prime Medicine
This early-stage startup is making gene editing a reality that was once considered a distant future. Prime Medicine has created gene-splicing technology that enables identifying and replacing the genetic source of disease through its ” search and replace” feature. The startup has successfully raised $315M in funding with Google Ventures investing in the startup.
5. Mythical Games
Heard of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, Marvel Strike Force, and Skylanders? These franchises have one thing in common, that is they are all developed by Mythical Games- a next-gen game tech startup. The special feature of Mythical Games is that they use blockchain to improve the experience and quality of the games. Mythical Games is valued at $1.25B and has raised $260M in funding.
This California-based startup initially offered storage using a single cloud platform for secondary data and has expanded into other areas including analytics, security, and other forms of enterprise data management. There are lots of reasons why Cohesity is being called promising and profitable: unique technology, $250M funding from Softbank, and a total valuation of $2.5B.
Hey Pandora, play my party music. The next startup on our list is headquartered in Delaware, United States uses conversational intelligence to add interfaces in cars, apps, software, hardware, and services which makes interactions more natural and humane. SoundHound has raised $191M with its estimated revenue of $70.9M at a growth rate of 26.98%.
8. Landing AI
How can one fix potential breakdowns in supply chains? This startup founded by Google’s brain co-founder, Andrew Nag can help you address the problems. Landing AI deploys artificial intelligence and computer vision to monitor and detect supply chain problems by streamlining factory automation and generating business value. Landing AI has secured $57mn from leading investors including Samsung and Intel.
Can I automate my warehouse? Yes, Photoneo can help automate logistics through robotics. Photoneo is one of the fastest-growing AI startups based on robotic intelligence and industrial 3D vision that helps solve business problems and improve performance in fields including manufacturing, automotive, logistics, pharma, and e-commerce. Photoneo has garnered $33.6M from 11 leading investors such as AI Capital with strong financials including $8.5M revenue and a valuation of $84-126M.
10. QuEra Computing
QuEra is a new era quantum computing startup in Boston, Massachusetts USA built by leading researchers at Harvard and MIT attracting $17mn from big investors including Rakuten Inc., the Japanese e-commerce giant, and Day One Ventures. What is special about QuEra? QuEra is different from other startups as it uses neural atoms in a vacuum chamber and lasers to control the temperature. QuEra has already generated $11M in revenue and was felicitatedS with a DARPA award.


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According to :
Android has overtaken iOS on Smartphones ….
According to the estimates there are about 61.5 million smartphone owners in the U.S. during the three months ending in November, up 10 percent from the preceding three-month period. RIM still leads them all with around 33.5 percent market share of smartphones. But after several months of strong growth, Google Android captured no.2 spot from Apple iPhone and now holds nearly 26 percent of U.S. smartphone market share.
Apple accounted for 25.0 percent of smartphone subscribers (up 0.8 percentage points) and is now a close third next to Google Android in terms of subscriber numbers which then is followed by Microsoft with 9.0 percent and Palm with 3.9 percent.


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Welcome to The Grid, R&T’s quick roundup of the auto industry and motorsports news you should know this morning.
UAW Believes Early May Production Restart Is Too Soon
The coronavirus crisis has ground auto manufacturing in the U.S. to a halt, costing the automakers huge sums every day. Many automakers—including the U.S. big three and Toyota—are targeting early May to restart production, but the United Auto Workers believes that’s too soon. “At this point in time, the UAW does not believe the scientific data is conclusive that it is safe to have our members back in the workplace,” UAW president Rory Gamble said in a statement. “We have not done enough testing to really understand the threat our members face.”
Reuters reports that Gamble’s statement could derail the May 4th production restart date targeted by the big three. The UAW doesn’t represent workers at other automakers, so the statement has less sway over, say, Toyota. In any case, all automakers have said that production restarts will be slow at first, and enhanced safety protocol will be but in place. Gamble said that the UAW is “happy with the auto companies’ response and cooperation on working through the health and safety protocols we will need in the workplace when it is appropriate to restart.”
More Monterey Car Week Cancellations
On Wednesday, the organizers of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance decided to postpone the legendary car show until August 2021. Now, the Monterey Car Week dominoes are falling. The local NBC affiliate serving the Monterey area reports that following the Pebble Beach cancellation, auction houses RM Sotheby’s, Russo and Steele, and Mecum all called off their Car Week events. Gooding & Company cancelled as well, and last night, the organizers of The Quail announced that their event was off, too. As a result, Bonhams is now looking to hold its Quail Lodge auction somewhere else in California.
Not all Car Week events are officially off yet, though—WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is reportedly still seeing if it can host its annual historic races. But, it’s hard to see how Car Week continues this year with so many of its marquee events setting their sights on 2021.
Polestar 2 Priced Competitively to Tesla Model 3
Yesterday, Volvo’s electric offshoot, Polestar, announced that the U.S. MSRP for its upcoming 2 sedan is set at $59,990, around $3000 cheaper than what originally forecast when the car debuted last year. That price makes the Polestar slightly more expensive than a Tesla Model 3 Performance—which currently carries an MSRP of $56,990 before taxes and fees—and eligible for a $2000 tax rebate in certain states. Polestar is cranking out 2s at its factory in China, and deliveries are expected to begin this summer.
Source: Read Full Article


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According to the latest information, a total of 3,768 RMG units have been inspected by the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, and National Initiative.
The remaining inspected factories are at different stages of repair works and improvements in safety – encompassing fire, electrical and structural safety – and compliance. Some have made significant progress and others are at the final stage, awaiting approval from the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE).
Of the 31 factories that completed remediation works, 24 manufacture products for Alliance signatory brands and 7 for Accords signatory brands.
Of the inspected factories, 49.5% of RMG units that produce clothing for signatory brands of Alliance and approximately 60% of Accords have completed all required repairs.
However, remediation works in factories under the National Initiative is very slow. As of yesterday, only 50 RMG units placed Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) before the DIFE.
BGMEA vice president Mahmud Hassan Khan Babu has said: “Remarkable progress has been made in safety standards as the initiatives taken by the government and other stakeholders are going on in full swing.”
“If low cost of financing, especially for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), technical support, and enough engineering firms for Detailed Engineering Assessment (DEA) are ensured, we will be able to end the process before the stipulated timeframe,” he said.
“Our factories are safer now than they were three years ago, and they get safer every day as we continue to work with factory owners through the remediation process,” managing director of Alliance M Rabin told the Dhaka Tribune.
“In fact, a majority of our factories have fewer than five high-priority safety risks left to address. We are redoubling our efforts to stress the importance of factories, prioritising progress on them, and other issues that are most critical to the safety of lives,” said Rabin.
“The government is serious about taking reform initiatives to make the RMG sector safe and secure. But we remain concerned about the government’s current capacity that is crucial to complete the process and maintain the sector in the years to come,” he added.
“Fire, electrical and structural safety in the RMG factories, producing for the Accord signatory companies, in general, have improved significantly. Approximately 60% of the findings from our initial inspections have been reported as corrected,” said executive director of Accord Rob Wayss.
The RMG owners need to complete the remediation work, and to do so in a much more timely manner. “Having a functioning and capable labour-management safety committee at each factory is a very important next step in achieving a safety compliant RMG sector,” said Rob.
“The biggest issue right now is to simply achieve the will and commitment to complete the remediation at inspected factories. Almost all of the technical and capacity challenges faced earlier in the execution of the Accord with the inspected factories have now been overcome,” he added.
“Initiatives taken are enough to ensure safety and workers’ rights, but the owners have to mentally prepare to adopt it,” Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) Assistant Executive Director Sultan Uddin Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune.
“The process of remediation should be a part of culture, and the issue of safety is now a matter of adoption,” Sultan said.
“If safety improvements are made only to please people, then the safety works will not be sustainable. The stakeholders and the government should continue to make the issues of progress and safety a sustainable one. The inclusion of workers and all stakeholders in safety awareness and raising their voices in concern is a must for safety,” he added.
Labour and Employment Senior Secretary Mikail Shipar cited five challenges, including shared factory buildings, rented factory buildings, insufficient technical assistance, continuous monitoring of the remediation process, and remediation financing. He also said the government is working earnestly to face the challenges and end the remediation process in time.
The issue of safety in the country’s apparel sector came under the spotlight after the Rana Plaza building collapsed, killing more than 1,135 workers three years ago.
In the aftermath of the incident, the tripartite initiatives were taken to improve safety standards in the country's RMG sector.


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Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) would launch its five-year strategy, 2018-2023, which aims to offer differentiated services to all identified clusters and segments of enterprises that exist in Botswana.
Speaking during LEA’s annual Pitso, themed ‘Empowering Botswana SMMEs in pursuit of business development and economic diversification’ the CEO Dr Racious Moatshe said that the strategy is aimed at creating a competitive and sustainable pool of enterprises within the targeted period. “We undertake to execute this strategy which would be launched this year with utmost commitment, precision, vigor and agility that resonates with entrepreneurship and SMME demands,” he said.
Moatshe said the organisation’s strategic intention is to maintain strong alliances with the rest of stakeholders moving forward, to support their collective mandates and ultimately benefit the SMMEs and the larger economy.
He said the Pitso and seminar are important, as they accord entrepreneurs and aspiring ones an opportunity to share their views, experiences as well as proffer recommendations that could positively contribute to the success of their businesses and usher a conducive climate for SMME growth and sustainability.
The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Investment Trade and Industry (MITI) Peggy Serame used the gathering to urge SMMEs to focus on external markets and exports since the local market is small.
She assured entrepreneurs that government would play its role to help them in this regard.
“As government we will
In addition she called for the collective support from the government, private sector and various industry captains to work towards empowering the SMMEs and collectively working towards their success as they operate their businesses.
“Entrepreneurship development is not an easy task and cannot be achieved by LEA alone and for the Authority to successfully deliver on this huge mandate they need support from all stakeholders,” she said.
Further she said that it is the responsibility of government and the private sector to work collectively in the assessment of the business landscape under which the SMMEs operate, as well as identify challenges that impede their growth and together find sustainable solutions that will enable their enterprises to flourish.
The forum centres on the promotion of entrepreneurship and development of SMMEs in the country. It focuses on enhancing the business environment for the SMMEs to grow into competitive and sustainable businesses that can significantly contribute towards diversification of the economy.


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Let’s face it, home buyers in Jupiter and the surrounding communities have been frustrated. The lack of quality inventory in many neighborhoods had stalled sales over the past six months. From May 1st of last year through January 1st of this year pending home sales in the area fell a rather dramatic 31%. Interest rates are low, cash transactions continue to climb and yet sales fell. But in January all of that turned around and rather impressively.
Median sales prices of single family homes in the Jupiter area moved higher in December to the highest levels we had seen since September. While it is still a bit early to publish the January results it appears that increase was fueled by a very strong month in December and we are looking for prices to pull back in January. Pending home sales have been down for so long it is great to see buyers back in the market during December. Will the increase in sales push median prices higher. We are confident it will but we still have a 30 to 60 day lapse before that shows up in the numbers. Always interesting, always fun.
Paradise Sharks Real Estate


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Harley-Davidson is pulling out of India, the world’s biggest motorcycle market.
The iconic US motorcycle maker is stopping sales and manufacturing operations, it said.
Harley’s decision comes weeks after Toyota said it wouldn’t expand further in India due to the country’s high tax regime.
The exit is a blow for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to lure or retain foreign manufacturers.
The move involves $75m (£59m) in restructuring costs, around 70 redundancies and the closure of its Bawal plant in northern India.
The plant was opened in 2011 but Harley-Davidson has struggled to compete with local brand Hero as well as Japan’s Honda.
About 17 million motorcycles and scooters are sold each year in India.
While it is cheaper than many other developing economies, India has proven a tough market to crack for foreign automakers.
General Motors pulled out of the country in 2017 while Ford agreed last year to move most of its assets into a joint venture with Indian vehicle giant Mahindra & Mahindra.
US President Donald Trump has previously complained about India’s high taxes, specifically mentioning the levies placed on Harley-Davidson bikes.
India’s 100% import tariffs were slashed by 50% but the brand still struggled in the competitive market.
But Harley has been suffering its own problems and recorded its first quarterly loss in more than a decade between April and June this year.
It has been cutting hundreds of jobs under its new chief executive Jochen Zeitz and focusing on core markets and models.
Harley has been looking to grow the brand beyond baby boomers in the US, with smaller models and all-electric versions.
The iconic US motorcycle brand was founded in 1903 and has built a very loyal customer base. It has owners’ clubs all over the world.
It hit the global stage in 1969 thanks to the classic road movie Easy Rider starring Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson.
Its bikes, nicknamed “hogs”, are made in factories in the US, Brazil and Thailand, along with India.


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The Ghana Export-Import Bank (GEXIM) has announced a package of US$10 million to support yam export as part of the bank’s effort to develop the sector, and ensure Ghana remains the world’s largest exporter of yam.
The announcement was made by the Chief Executive Officer of GEXIM, Lawrence Agyinsam, at a Stakeholder Consultative Forum on Yam Export organised by the bank in Accra. It was under the theme: ‘Facilitating International Trade: The Role of Ghana Exim Bank in Yam Exports’.
According to Mr. Agyinsam, the bank, as part of its mandate, is to support and develop – directly or indirectly – trade between Ghana and other countries, and build Ghana’s capacity and competitiveness in the international marketplace; and approved by its Board, is ready to extend this financial support to this sector.
“The Ghana Export-Import Bank Act, 2016 (Act 911) mandates us to plan, promote, develop and finance export-oriented concerns, as well as provide support for Small and Medium Enterprises engaged in agro-processing and export trade.
In 2020, the export of yam tubers reached a record high of US$48million according to data from the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), making the country the world’s largest exporter of yam. With this financial package, we are optimistic to improve on the figures and also entrench our position as a global leader when it comes to yam export,” he added.
The GEXIM CEO further highlighted the bank’s support for the sector at various levels over the years to enhance their productivity, as well as build their capacity through technical assistance to boost international trade.
Mr. Agyinsam urged all stakeholders within the yam value chain to be abreast with global trends in the production and export of yam, and ensure they conform to the required processes and meet the globally defined standards and certification for yam export.
The Executive Secretary of Ghana Root Crops and Tubers Exporters Union (GROCTEU), Robert Taylor, called for more support from state agencies and regulators to enable their members to scale up in their operations and increase their productivity. He further urged yam exporters to strategically position themselves to take advantage of GEXIM’s financial package to increase their exports.
Representatives from other organisations were given the opportunity to make a presentation on their contribution in the value chain. They included the Ghana Standard Authority, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (Food Research Institute) CSIR, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ghana Shippers’ Council and Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA).


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Our Latest Stories
Ahead of ANCAP’s stricter stance on active safety features being key to a five-star rating, Peugeot Australia has announced AEB will be standard across its range.
Seat has revealed how it uses robots to paint its cars and how it comes up with the colours it uses…
The all-new Red Bull Holden Racing Team Commodore Supercar was revealed yesterday on Sydney Harbour… on a floating barge.
Toyota has announced its making its active safety suite standard across the Kluger range… prices jump by $950-$1400 depending on the variant.
The third-generation Hyundai i30 is billed as the brand’s best small car yet, so, will the SR Premium impress us over the coming months?
The all-new 2019 Skoda Fabia has been teased ahead of its global reveal at the Geneva Motor Show in March.
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Plenty of people will tell you what they like and don’t like about stop-start systems. But, does stop-start damage your engine?
Citroen’s global boss, Linda Jackson, sat down with Practical Motoring’s Paul Horrell to discuss the rebuilding of the brand in Australia, SUVs and the opinions of customers.
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Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG)
Chipotle Mexican Grill has fallen on hard times as of late. Starting in October, the company has been the target of an investigation into two E. coli outbreaks. However, good news recently came in with regard to the company from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Today, we’ll talk about the good news, whether or not Chipotle will be able to recover, and what we can expect to see from CMG moving forward. So, let’s get right to it…
Chipotle Gets Good News From The CDC
On Monday, CMG and its investors got the news that they wanted to hear. Finally, the investigation into the cause of E. coli cases after eating at the restaurant was over and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the outbreak has reached its end. This comes after several cases of E. coli have plagued the restaurant chain!
The problem started in October. Unfortunately people started to become ill after eating at Chipotle. All told, the first outbreak affected more than 50 people across 9 different states. However, it seemed as though after these issues, the outbreak was over. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. Soon, new cases started to emerge. This time, the cases of E. coli were secluded to one state, but more than 100 consumers became sick. To make matters worse, it was a completely different strain of the illness than what was recorded in the first breakout.
Can Chipotle Recover?
After the E. coli breakout, the big question on the minds of investors is “will CMG be able to recover?” In a statement, CMG CFO, John Hartung had the following to say in a call with analysts regarding their recovery…
“As we aggressively work to welcome our customers back, labor-management and P&L controls in general will not be a priority – instead our teams will schedule labor assuming a steep recovery because we would much rather be overstaffed and offer greater customer service than to risk being shorthanded as a result of trying to over manage labor costs…”
Based on the statement above, it’s clear that CMG is expecting a fast recovery, but will they be able to pull it off? Personally, I don’t think so. While I do think that Chipotle will recover, I don’t think that customers will be flocking to the restaurants any time soon. One of the biggest reasons for this is part of the statement made by the CDC. While the CDC did explain that the investigation into the outbreak and the outbreak seems to have come to an end, they also mentioned that they have not been able to pinpoint the starting point of the problem.
This will likely prove to be a big issue over the coming months. The reality is that without finding the source of the outbreak, it is going to be incredibly difficult to prove to consumers that they are not at risk when eating at the restaurants. This is likely to lead to an incredibly hard time for Chipotle sales in the near future.
With that said, Chipotle is a great company. Not to mention, their food is amazing. Yes, I absolutely love Chipotle burritos. Will I be eating them any time soon? No, probably not. I’d rather wait for a few months and see if anymore outbreaks happen. Nonetheless, I will be eating there again. The bottom line is that through the years, the restaurant has created an incredible name for itself, and I have no doubt in my mind that this year is going to be a year of slow and steady recovery for CMG.
What Do You Think?
Where do you think CMG is headed moving forward? Let us know your opinion in the comments below!


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updated 11:55 pm EDT, Thu August 28, 2008
XPERIA X1 delayed
While Sony is expected to ship its XPERIA X1 touchscreen phone in October, new information seen on the UK Sony Style website hints that the release could be pushed back to January 2009. The Register reveals that a menu selection graphic contains a "January" tag, with the product page itself claiming the launch date is undecided. The information comes after conflicting news that Sony Ericsson already mistakenly delayed the device, and retailer Expansys claiming it had receive demonstration units of the phone already.
Sony Ericsson is releasing the Windows Mobile-based XPERIA X1 to combat a growing presence from Apple's iPhone, which has recently proven to counter words from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. The Microsoft chief recently blasted the device, saying that any shortage from its 20 million license estimate would be from a rounding error, not from increased competition from Cupertino-based Apple.
Sony also hopes to recover its sagging financials, which it cites the Sony Ericsson mobile division's poor sales as being the primary reason for a 47-percent loss.


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CANADA, Ottawa. The agriculture and agri-food minister of Canada, Lawrence MacAulay, has recently concluded an agricultural outreach mission to Europe. During the trip, the minister visited Spain, Belgium and Italy to showcase Canada's agricultural sector to key industry and government officials.
Trade has already increased by 10% since the implementation of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement one year ago.
In Brussels, MacAulay met with Phil Hogan, EU commissioner for agriculture and rural development, and Vytenis Andriukaitis, EU commissioner for health and food safety, to discuss agricultural opportunities.
In Spain, he had a bilateral meeting with the Spanish minister of agriculture, fisheries and food, Luis Planas, to discuss the opportunities that CETA is creating for both European and Canadian farmers, producers and exporters. While in Italy, he led three roundtable discussions on trade.
“The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is providing increased market access for a wide range of our high-quality agricultural products," said MacAulay. “There are great opportunities available for our Canadian farmers and food processors in the European markets which will help strengthen our agriculture sector, grow our economy, and create more good paying jobs for Canadians." he said.
Jim Carr, minister of international trade diversification, added: "CETA is a landmark free trade agreement that is already translating into real growth in bilateral trade between Canada and the EU. With reduced or eliminated tariffs on many Canadian agricultural products, CETA is paving the way for Canadian farmers to access the second-largest global market. Now is the time for more Canadian companies to turn that access into new customers and new markets for their world-class products."
The Government of Canada has a goal of CAN$75 bn. in annual agri-food exports by 2025.


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Google has introduced a new update to its core. This update will roll out from June through til August, with the first release on June 2. Google’s core update brings noticeable changes to its search engine results pages (SERPs). This article will examine what you need to know about the 2021 Google Core Update. We will explore what this update is about and the reasons why Google decided to update its core algorithm.
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Thursday, 22 May 2014 - 13:49
Book sales decline dramatically
Book sales tumbled nearly 11.5 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to business research group GfK. The deline in sales was largely attributed to the shuttering of mail-order firm ECI and bookselling chain stores Polare, despite many Polare locations reopening under new management. Roughly 7.8 million physical copies of books were sold across the Netherlands. The drop was slightly offset by a 29 percent increase in e-book sales. Electronic copies sold in the country edged over 426,000. Nearly five percent of all books sold in the Netherlands is in an electronic format, the researchers said. Revenue from book sales dipped 10.2 percent to 102 million euros. Top performing genres included guidebooks and theology, up 0.2 and 2.9 percent respectively. Meanwhile, fiction sales took a 14 percent hit in the first quarter of the year. The research firm anticipates a better performance in the market during the second quarter.


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A week after its email service went down Yahoo Inc. says it is still working to get service back up to 100 per cent.
“As part of the restoration process, some timestamps may not appear correctly on some messages,” Yahoo said in a post late Sunday night. “Thank you again for your continued patience through this process and we will share an update again tomorrow.”
Some users are able to use their Yahoo email accounts but as of noon Monday, the site’s status page has not yet been updated, according to a report on the online technology publication, Computerworld.com.
The email service began experiencing difficulties at around last Tuesday. Users complained that they couldn’t access their mail in their inboxes and emails they were sending out were not being delivered.
The issue prompted Yahoo CEO Melissa Mayer to issue an apology on the company’s official Tumblr blog.
“This has been a very frustrating week for our users and we are very sorry,” she wrote. For many of us, Yahoo Mail is a lifeline to your friends, family members and customers. This week we experienced a major outage that not only interrupted that connection, but caused many of you’re a massive inconvenience – that’s unacceptable and it’s something we’re taking very seriously.”
She said one per cent of Yahoo’s users experienced problems last Monday, December 9 when their messages were held in a storage system that had suffered a hardware failure.
Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) then encountered a problem when it attempted to restore the email accounts of users that were impacted by the problem.
Some industry analysts commented that the crash was a blow to Yahoo making one of the Internet’s pioneers a Web rookie that is unable to resolve a business continuity problem. Each day that the issue persists puts into question, Yahoo’s credibility as a Web services firm, some said.
Yahoo. has been working hard to regain prominence in the space. Among Mayer’s latest move was to beef up her company’s stable of journalists by hiring TV news anchor Katie Couric to lead Yahoo’s growing news department.
Last Friday, the company said it was still restoring access to some of its users but the company was having difficulties with the IMAP protocol.
Mayer said “overall uptime is well above 99.9 per cent, even accounting for this incident.”
“We can and we will do better in the future,” she added.


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TikTok’s new fashion strategy is attracting luxury brands to the viral video sharing app and gaining momentum just as its future in key markets is being called into question.
During the pandemic, TikTok has encouraged a pivot to fashion by recruiting established influencers to join the app and helping luxury brands launch TikTok accounts, collaborations and campaigns. Gucci, Balmain and most recently Balenciaga have launched TikTok accounts this year; others have sponsored TikTok influencer content. When the company launched a TikTok for Business service to help brands produce content in June, it was a watershed moment for fashion partnerships, says Kristina Karassoulis, who manages luxury brand partnerships at the company.
“For fashion brands, in particular, this opens an entirely new window of opportunity. TikTok allows these brands to be the epicentre of trends of where culture is born,” she says.
With 800 million active users, TikTok’s vast audience and popularity with Gen Z customers make it a competitive force to Instagram, which has long been fashion’s de facto social media platform, thanks to its focus on commerce and visual layout. But TikTok’s prospects have been clouded in the US, where privacy concerns have prompted a potential ban of the app, which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance. A pending takeover by Microsoft of TikTok’s US operations will have to be secured by 15 September, or the app will be shut down, according to President Donald Trump. The app has also been recently banned in India. With TikTok’s future up in the air, its investments in the fashion industry will be put to the test.
TikTok’s turbulence as a social player in the US comes as the app is developing its own identity in the crowded fashion online sphere.
Wisdom Kaye has an audience of 2.7 million on TikTok.
© Wisdom Kaye
Brazilian influencer Camila Coelho, who has 8.8 million followers on Instagram, joined TikTok in February 2020 after the company reached out and encouraged her to join because “they wanted more fashion content on the app”, she says. TikTok’s approach was open-ended in terms of what fashion content to post. Fashion video formats were already starting to bubble up on the app from regular users, the most common being quick transitions between outfits, usually to music. Coelho now has 672,000 followers and has since created sponsored TikTok content with Stuart Weitzman, and gifted unboxing content for Louis Vuitton. Coelho regularly posts fashion hacks or styling tips such as “how to tie a T-shirt three ways” (2.3 million views) and has found that young audiences gravitate toward educational fashion content. “Whenever you're teaching people something, your engagement is higher,” she says.
Educational videos, as well as creators’ more inclusive takes on the industry, help differentiate TikTok’s approach to fashion content from competitors. Wisdom Kaye, one of TikTok’s most-followed fashion creators with an audience of 2.7 million, posts professionally edited videos comparing cheap and expensive outfits. While Kaye believes there’s a place for luxury brands on TikTok and has recently partnered with Balmain and Zegna, he balances this high-end content with more relatable, lower-priced looks from brands like Asos. Plus-size influencer Denise Mercedes, who has 2 million TikTok followers, has found a community of highly engaged fans who follow her style tips and clothing recommendations for plus-size people. She says TikTok is better for reaching specific communities that luxury brands have previously not addressed because it better highlights individual personalities.
“Traditionally, luxury brands are used to producing highly edited, highly polished, highly produced content,” says Sarah Willersdorf, global head of luxury at Boston Consulting Group. “That’s not what TikTok is.” She says luxury brands should hand over to creators who are better placed to create authentic and unfiltered videos that engage a TikTok audience.
TikTok’s goal is not to create highly curated and aspirational content that you would see in the pages of a fashion magazine, says Karassoulis. “Now is time to add another dimension to your brand personality. The side that is bold, relevant and authentic and speaks to your customer’s values and beliefs.”
TikTok provides luxury brands with tips on posting frequency (quality over quantity is key, it advises) and highlights examples of viral fashion content on the app, like JW Anderson’s viral crochet cardigan tutorials, to inspire brands to produce educational and fun videos. Tools like TikTok for Business, which assists brands with video production, and the TikTok creator marketplace, which helps them find high-impact influencers to collaborate with on the app, are available to encourage participation. For branded content, the emphasis is on creativity.
“Any brand using TikTok must be aware that content, not followers, is the key. The power of our algorithm, along with the high quality of content that creators produce on TikTok, means anyone can go viral — it all comes down to the creativity and the power of their content,” says Karassoulis.
Luxury brands particularly like TikTok’s accessibility to Gen Z. Dior says the app offers access to a more engaged Gen Z audience than any other platform. The brand, which joined the app in November and began posting in July, has used it to promote digital fashion shows post videos, including footage of its Puglia Cruise 2021 show, Travis Scott wearing the new Dior Air Jordans and influencers like Chiara Ferragni reflecting on Covid-19. A video showing the making of the new Dior Bobby flap bag, for Autumn/Winter 2020, has garnered 2.3 million views.
There is some way to go for luxury, and TikTok luxury and fashion brands as a whole still have a lower presence and lesser impact on TikTok compared with other platforms. However, its audience is growing, and the account is seeing strong organic reach, follower recruitment and engagement, per the brand.
Popular fashion influencer Leonie Hanne joined the platform in March this year and works with luxury brands like Dior, Prada, Givenchy and Fendi. Prada asked Hanne to create TikTok content in support of their SS21 digital show and gave her total creative freedom. She highlights the importance of giving creators creative control if brands want to resonate with young users. “For luxury brands, the more free and open to spontaneity you can be with your brief, the better your results will be on TikTok,” she says.
Dior is still in the testing phase on TikTok. For now, the platform is not taking marketing spend away from others like Instagram or Facebook, the brand says. Instead, TikTok spend comes from targeted allocations for sponsorships and content creation. Other brands have invested resources in the app in the last year: Balenciaga’s shoppable Christmas campaign drove 25 million views, says Karassoulis.
A TikTok ban in the US would cut off one of TikTok’s — and luxury’s — most significant markets. With an estimated 190 million downloads since 2014 according to research firm Sensor Tower, the US is TikTok’s third-largest audience after China and India, where the app was banned at the end of June. “If [the ban] does happen, it's a blow,” says Craig Chapple, mobile insight specialist at Sensor Tower.
With more than 2.3 billion downloads globally from Google Play, TikTok would still have access to a massive audience and significant advertising revenue worldwide, Chapple adds. And TikTok’s young users are well-equipped to circumvent a ban by switching to VPNs to access communities until they “organise migration”, avoiding a major “audience collapse” for the app, says Julia Errens, pop culture and media editor at trends intelligence company Stylus.
Dior's TikTok account.
Competitors are ready to welcome TikTok’s former US audience if that migration happens. Instagram is launching TikTok-like video feature Reels in August in the US after testing it in Brazil. The social media company has already approached TikTok creators, offering financial incentives to try the new feature. Short-video platforms like Byte, Triller and Dubsmash could also take up the torch in the event of a ban. TikTok influencers who have built audiences on the app could refocus their energy on more established platforms like YouTube, which provides a more stable and profitable source of income with its straightforward pay-for-views system.
A Microsoft acquisition would maintain TikTok in its current form while making it a local competitor. The deal would put to rest some of the concerns around cybersecurity and privacy, says Mark Moerdler, senior research analyst at Bernstein. “Given Microsoft's large cash position, technology and AI capabilities, [TikTok] would be positioned to continue to become a major player in this space,” he says. A ban, on the other hand, could have a “domino effect” on other countries.
The possible US ban has influencers worried, but not too much. Influencer Addison Rae says that, if the ban happens, “it will be a sad day”, but adds that she would have “tons” of other projects to focus on, including her American Eagle campaign and her podcast. Kaye, who has his largest following on the platform but doesn’t see himself as a TikToker, thinks the app’s future is “up in the air”. “Instagram is a lot more solidified, so I would put my money on [it],” he says.
Errens agrees that brands should diversify. “I would always recommend to not focus too much of a brand’s engagement budget on a single platform, no matter how big its heyday,” she says.
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Walmart uses IoT technology for a variety of tasks — including keeping ice cream frozen and milk cold.
Get ready to hear a lot more about how Internet of Things (IoT) can improve food retail — especially now that Walmart is working harder to promote its use of the technology.
“Internet of Things,” of course, refers to how physical objects are connected via software, sensors and the internet, with the goal of providing more precise detection, communication, analysis and action — all of which can help businesses run more efficiently, at least in theory.
In a recent blog, Sanjay Radhakrishnan, Walmart’s vice president, global tech, described how the retailer is using IoT technology for a variety of tasks — including keeping ice cream frozen and milk cold.
“As part of our digital transformation, we’re using Internet of Things (IoT) at a scale unmatched across retail to improve food quality, lower energy consumption and keep costs low for our customers,” Radhakrishnan wrote. “Currently, Walmart manages more than 7 million unique IoT data points across our U.S. stores. Every day, this network of connected devices sends almost 1.5 billion messages regarding temperature, operating functions and energy use.”
The push toward more IoT capability required Walmart to build proprietary software with complex algorithms able to detect abnormal events in real time. All that work can help pay off when it comes to the quality of grocery items.
“Our customers depend on our stores to maintain food at the proper temperature, like keeping ice cream frozen and milk cold,” Radhakrishnan said. “Global Tech is helping our Real Estate team to ensure proper food quality through monitoring our refrigeration units with IoT systems. Our IoT application not only monitors the temperature of the individual unit to ensure proper food safety standards, but also looks at how the equipment is performing and takes proactive steps towards maintenance repairs to reduce the cost and down time caused by equipment failure.”
More specifically, this is how the IoT quality control process works, according to Radhakrishnan:
“If the signal received requires additional information, it is sent to the maintenance team through a cloud application where the team will triage the issue and determine the best course of action. That could include leveraging a store associate to take additional steps, repairing an IT connection issue, submitting a work order and getting a technician on-site to look at the unit or by making changes remotely to the equipment.”
The use of IoT technology also allows for better management of energy — an important issue not only when it comes to overall costs but as retailers tout their efforts toward sustainability.
“We’re able to use IoT sensors on our stores’ HVAC and energy systems to remotely monitor and respond to community energy consumption needs quickly and with minimal impact to our customers’ shopping experience,” Radhakrishnan said. “Through the use of a solution called Demand Response we can reduce energy consumption to any of our U.S. stores for a set amount of time and then have systems in place to automatically return our equipment back to the normal operating standards. What this means is that we can lower energy use anywhere in the U.S. by region or an individual store.”
Expect increasing use of IoT technology in food retail, and not only from Walmart. According to home and kitchen appliance technology company Bosch, for instance, other main use cases for IoT in food retail include automatic notification from reverse vending machines and parking lot monitoring.
“A full parking lot is an indication that there are more customers in the store,” Bosch said. “In this use case, the Bosch IoT Suite can send a notification to the store manager or the information desk so additional cashiers can be opened to reduce waiting time and improve customer satisfaction.”
Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart operates more than 11,300 stores under 56 banners in 27 countries, and e-commerce websites, employing 2.2 million-plus associates worldwide. Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer's list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, while Walmart-owned Sam's Club ranks No. 9 on the list.


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WhatsApp is issuing the warning to the users, who are using the Modded apps on their smartphone. As the modded apps provide a much better user interface and the customization options, the users are ditching the classic WhatsApp application and choosing the modded ones. As the users of such apps grew, WhatsApp is sending warning messages to those users. Most of the users who’ve received the warning also received a 24-hour ban on using the WhatsApp services. The modded version users received the popup with the message “Your phone number is banned from using WhatsApp. Contact support for help.” with the timer to count the remaining time.
WhatsApp is available on the Google Play Store and Apple App store for free of cost and without any in-app purchase. But many of the users are opting for a modified version of the same, which violates the terms of usage of WhatsApp. As these apps are prone to hacker attacks, the company is preventing users from using such risky apps. To ensure privacy and data security, the company has banned a few users and still on a spree to ban users who are found using the modified versions. Third-party developers are distributing the modified apps like GBWhatsApp, YoWhatsApp and WhatsApp Plus on the website. These apps are prone to data theft, and hacker attacks as your personal information, chat details, and contact details are prone vulnerabilities.
The users are advised to uninstall the modified application and download the official WhatsApp from the respective Application market of your smartphone OS platform. Once that’s done, the services will be restored immediately for such users. Although the company has not shared any details about the banning process and whether they will allow the users to import chat history from a modified version of the application. It is highly advised to uninstall the modified app to prevent a permanent ban on your number.