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With visitors looking for bargains and the management aiming to make billions of rupiah in revenue, the annual Jakarta Fair can hardly be regarded as a folk festival.
As the biggest and longest-running fair in Southeast Asia, the Jakarta Fair showcases over 1,500 stands from 2,700 companies, offering huge discounts for various goods from clothing to automotive products.
Since its opening on May 22, this year’s event has seen people shopping or enjoying themselves with rides and attractions.
One visitor, Aisyah, 39, told The Jakarta Post recently that it was much cheaper to buy good quality products during the fair compared with supermarkets and other outlets.
Another visitor, Anissa, 18, agreed that while she came to look around and enjoy the attractions, the discounts available at the annual fair were what drew...
Starting from IDR 55,000/month


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Samsung may be taking a bet by releasing the Smartphone with the biggest screen on the market yet, even bigger than the Streak 5 model from Dell. If a news report from Yahoo Korea is to be believed, the project which carries the name Galaxy Q will see Samsung launch a 5.3-inch Smartphone at the IFA event in Germany in September.
Although it's definitely not an iPad 2 slayer, the Arnova 8 from French company, Archos, comes with a few interesting features at a very competitive price. At £99, the Arnova 8 costs around a quarter of what you'd have to shelf for the cheapest iPad 2. But comparing the two tablets is a futile exercise because of the performance and feature gap between the two.
UK retailer Sainsbury’s has dished out a mobile version of its website for customers, offering more than 15,000 of its products for sale. The mobile website has been developed using a platform built by Usablenet, which also powers mobile websites belonging to Asos, Fedex Mobile and retailer Marks and Spencer.
Google added a new feature, dubbed Google Badges to its Google News platform last week, the company announced. The new feature according to the company, will grant badges to users when they read a substantial amount of stories on a given topic. The more you read further, more will be your reputation, said Google.
LG Electronics has launched a pair of budget Android-based Smartphones that will target the entry level of the market with prices likely to be under £200. Surprisingly, even if they might seem underpowered, they will feature Android Gingerbread 2.3.3, which shows that LG, unlike one well known rival, has been able to utilise the limited hardware resources of the phone judiciously.

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More than 10 million consumers already have requested $40 coupons from the federal government to help them make the transition when television broadcasts will switch from analog to digital on Feb. 17, 2009.
You know the drill. You talk to one customer service representative and she tells you one thing while another rep gives you entirely different information. Consumers Union last month tried out this mystery shopping exercise: Call 12 AT&T Wireless salespeople and ask about the company’s early termination fees.
A colleague recently got her Qwest phone bill and found a charge for $14.95 listed under “enhanced telecommunications.” The charge was billed on behalf of Orbit Telecom, a voice mail service that allows people to call your 800 number and leave a message for you without incurring long distance charges.
If you have an analog television set, you’ll likely need a converter box in order to watch TV after February 2009. The government is kicking in $40 per box, two per household, to help low-tech saps like me update rabbit-ear dependent sets.
Major retailers including Best Buy, Target, Sears, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, RadioShack, Kmart, Circuit City and others will soon be selling government-approved digital converter boxes to help consumers with the transition to digital television, the NTIA announced today.
Ahhh, silence. For the past several years, it’s been nice not getting calls from telemarketers interrupting us at dinner time with pitches.
On Feb. 17, 2009, all television broadcasts will switch from analog to digital signals. What does this mean for you?


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Kissimmee, FL— SOHO Expo, the largest independent tradeshow, is celebrating its 45th anniversary at Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center from December 1-4, 2016 by hosting 20 education programs for retail attendees.
“We are very excited about the speaker line up for this year’s SOHO Expo,” said Frances Drennen, President of Southeast Natural Products Association (SENPA) — SOHO Expo producer — and Co-owner Manna Grocery & Deli. “The SENPA Board of Directors combined the right mix of Business, Wellness, and Food to engage our audience.”
Saturday evening’s program will be hosted by sponsor Enzymedica — the digestive enzyme supplements — and will feature Dr. Steven Lamm.
“Enzymedica is excited to host Dr. Steven Lamm at our sponsored dinner Saturday night” says Ryan Sensenbrenner – Marketing Manager, Enzymedica. “Dr. Lamm has been known to millions as the ‘house doctor’ for ABC’s The View and is a practicing internist and a medical director at NYU, where he works with a variety of patients to support their health and wellness. This should offer our retailers a unique insight into many of the common digestive challenges faced by their customers.”
SENPA is a nonprofit trade association. All proceeds go back into the industry to educate independent retailers and their staff.


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Connect with top gaming leaders in Los Angeles at GamesBeat Summit 2023 this May 22-23. Register here.
At $60 each at retail, that means the Wild West game that took nearly eight years to make generated $1.38 billion in revenues in its first quarter, not counting any money made from Red Dead Online. That blows some of the estimates on sales out of the water, but Take-Two’s stock price has fallen 13 percent today ($93.72 a share at this writing) because the company warned the current quarter could be weak.
Take-Two also said it sold-in more units in its first eight days than its predecessor, Red Dead Redemption of 2011, sold in its first eight years. And Red Dead Redemption 2 was the best-selling game in the U.S. in 2018, according to market researcher NPD. Red Dead Redemption 2 got a 97-out-of-100 on review aggregator Metacritic, tying the score for Rockstar’s previous giant hit, Grand Theft Auto V. Grand Theft Auto Online continues to generate revenue more than five years after its launch.
The numbers are “sell-in” numbers to retailers, as opposed to “sold-through” numbers where retailers sell to consumers. But that difference is increasingly narrow as more games are sold directly through digital downloads now.
GamesBeat Summit 2023
Join the GamesBeat community in Los Angeles this May 22-23. You’ll hear from the brightest minds within the gaming industry to share their updates on the latest developments.
But the stock fell in part because of a mix up in interpreting the numbers and because Take-Two said it expects fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of 67 cents to 77 cents a share on net revenue of $530 million to $580 million. Analysts were looking for profit of 84 cents a share on sales of $609 million. The new guidance was above Take-Two’s previous guidance, but investors were expecting more.
During the days after Red Redemption 2 launched on October 26, Take-Two had previously said that Red Dead Redemption 2 had sold $725 million worth in its first three days of sales. That indicated roughly 10 million copies sold at the outset (and if you consider average game prices, 12 million units at $60 each), according to analyst Ben Schachter at Macquarie Research. And it means that game sales could have hit 15 million or 20 million copies sold by the end of the holidays, he said.
I previously did some calculations that suggested the game could be profitable in its first quarter. (The company itself doesn’t disclose these kinds of details). The company reported overall GAAP net income of $179.9 million, or $1.57 a share, on revenues of $1.25 billion.
“Take-Two delivered better-than-expected results in the fiscal third quarter,” said Strauss Zelnick, chairman and CEO of Take-Two, in a statement. “Our outperformance was driven primarily by the record-breaking launch of Red Dead Redemption 2 along with strong results from NBA 2K19. In addition, consumers engaged significantly with our offerings, and recurrent consumer spending grew 31 percent to a new record. We generated strong cash flow and ended the period with $1.6 billion in cash and short-term investments, after deploying $109 million to repurchase 1 million shares of our stock.”
He added, “As a result of our outstanding third quarter performance, we are raising our outlook for fiscal 2019, which is poised to be a record year for Net Bookings and Adjusted Operating Cash Flow. Looking ahead, as our industry continues to embrace new technologies that enhance consumers’ experience with, and access to interactive entertainment, we remain focused on broadening the reach of our content and expanding further globally. Take-Two is exceedingly well-positioned – creatively, strategically and financially — to capitalize on the vast opportunities that will shape the future of our business, and to deliver long-term growth and margin expansion.”
Given where the sales are, Red Dead Redemption 2 could keep pushing onward. But it’s a long game, with one report saying only 22 percent of players had finished the entire game’s 105 missions in the single-player campaign. (I am one of those who finished it).
Even so, as I noted, the stock price fell. In an email, analyst Michael Pachter (a speaker at our upcoming GamesBeat Summit 2019) at Wedbush Securities said today, “Sympathy with EA [which missed earnings targets] is the biggest reason. I think that expectations for RDR2 were higher, and they said that they had shipped 23 million and didn’t expect a large number of reorders this quarter, so people spooked that overall number not higher.”
Now we can come to some of my own analysis. With a $60 price, about $43 (based on an estimate from Baird Research’s Colin Sebastian) comes back to the publisher Take-Two Interactive and its studio Rockstar Games. That’s because digital stores take a chunk of revenue, and retail distributors also take their share. At 23 million copies sold, overall revenue for Rockstar Games would be $989 million in revenues.
As for costs, most of it is related to how many developers worked on it and for how long. Rockstar listed more than 2,800 contributors to the game in its thank-you note, but obviously it was only handful at the beginning of the project more than eight years ago.
Take-Two’s capitalized software costs — the measure of how much it has invested in software that hasn’t launched yet — gave us a clue in the previous quarter. Take-Two’s balance for those costs is $733 million. That’s the amount invested in all software at the company, which has about 4,200 employees across 17 studios, according to Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two.
If Red Dead Redemption 2 only had a 17th share of the costs, that would be $43 million. But we know that’s impossible for a game this big, with 2,800 contributors and an eight-year development span. Last fall, Pachter previously said that a good rule of thumb to use is about 200 people working for 8.5 years, at maybe $100,000 in cost per person. That equals about $170 million in development costs, or about 23 percent of the overall costs of games in development at Take-Two.
We know, however, that Rockstar’s costs were probably higher. Rockstar shared some details as it tried to defend itself from allegations that it forced employees to work overtime in order to finish the game. Jennifer Kolbe, head of publishing at Rockstar, said in a statement to GamesBeat last quarter that the company logged 67,000 employee weeks this year, and only 20 percent of the people had to work more than 60 hours in a week, and only 0.4 percent of the time was for people who worked more than 80 hour weeks.
So 67,000 divided by 52 weeks leaves us with 1,288 employee years worked on Red Dead Redemption 2 during 2018. That sounds reasonably accurate, as Rockstar has said it doubled the size of its previous team and the number was over 1,000 people, or double the size of the 2010 original game, Red Dead Redemption. That gibes well with the notion there were 2,800 contributors. But, obviously based on the fairly low capitalized software costs, that Rockstar doesn’t spend a ton on its people and it also didn’t have them working for a full eight years. So I’ll take Pachter’s estimate and beef it up some, so that maybe 300 people worked for eight years at $100,000, on average. That gets us to $240 million in development costs for the game. (Here’s something that muddies the picture: Companies can decide what software development costs to capitalize, or take out of expenses, and which costs to simply expense).
I’ve also heard different estimates as well on the marketing costs for the game, which could run $200 million to $300 million. Let’s take $300 million, giving us a total cost of $540 million, which is lower than my previous estimate in the DeanBeat column by a large margin.
So we take revenue estimated at $989 million, and then costs of $540 million, and this game itself could have had a profit of $449 million by December 31. Add to that revenues from Red Dead Online, which are likely to be good. The breakeven point would be about 12.5 million games sold, and clearly Take-Two nearly doubled that target.
Pachter estimated that Take-Two gets $100 million in revenue per quarter from GTA Online, which has been out for five years. That’s been a huge success, with the peak quarter at maybe $125 million. It will take Red Dead Online some time to ramp up its revenues. But it’s a conservative bet to say it could generate $50 million per quarter for Take-Two, or an additional $200 million a year. It will have costs as well, but not nearly as much as it took to create the game.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings.


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Muglia will join other pioneering minds in data, including the first Chief Data Scientist of the U.S., the founder of the data mesh, and the creator of Apache Airflow at Monte Carlo’s Data Observability Summit.
SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, Monte Carlo, the data reliability company, announced that Bob Muglia, entrepreneur, board member, and former CEO of Snowflake, and DJ Patil, the first U.S. Chief Data Scientist, will speak at IMPACT: The Data Observability Summit. Muglia’s fireside chat with Monte Carlo CEO Barr Moses will cap off the event, and touch on such topics as the rise of data in the cloud, challenges and opportunities in the current tooling landscape, and his vision for the future of data engineering and analytics.
Muglia joins an all-star lineup, including DJ Patil, the first Chief Data Scientist of the U.S., Zhamak Dehghani, the founder of the data mesh, Reynold Xin, the co-founder of Databricks, Maxime Beauchemin, the creator of Apache Airflow and Apache Superset, Neha Narkhede, the creator of Apache Kafka and co-founder of Confluent, and Amit Agarwal, the Chief Product Officer at Datadog. IMPACT is the first-ever Data Observability event, and an opportunity for data leaders across industries to share best practices and discuss how to drive business impact with their data at scale.
IMPACT: The Data Observability Summit will also bring together the leaders and visionaries responsible for some of the most impactful data movements to-date, from cloud data lakes and warehouses to the mainstream evangelism of data science as a profession.
“Five years ago, the move to the cloud made analytics more accessible than ever before. In 2021, we’re on the verge of even more progress when it comes to making data-driven insights more reliable and actionable. I’m excited to speak at IMPACT: The Data Observability Summit and discuss some of the biggest opportunities and challenges in today’s data landscape,” said Bob Muglia, entrepreneur, investor, and former CEO of Snowflake.
To register, please visit http://montecarlodata.com/impact and RSVP today. Follow conference updates at @montecarlodata on Twitter.
The first 100 RSVPs from this link get a chance to win an Oculus Quest 2 – Advanced All-In-One Virtual Reality Headset.
About Monte Carlo
As businesses increasingly rely on data to drive better decision making and power digital products, it’s mission-critical that this data is trustworthy and reliable. Monte Carlo, the data reliability company, solves the costly problem of broken data through their fully automated, SOC-2 certified data observability platform. Billed by Forbes as the New Relic for data teams and backed by Accel, Redpoint Ventures, GGV Capital, and ICONIQ Growth, Monte Carlo empowers companies to trust their data.


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The world’s best burger apparently contains no meat, this is according to GQ who recently published their annual list of the The 50 Best Thing sot Eat Now.
At number 22 on their list they crowned the vegan patty from the Superiority Burger in New York as the year’s best burger.
They say the burger recipe isn’t exactly known and that the chef isn’t let it out but that it’s packed with roasted nuts and tomato to add umami and that people can’t stop raving about the texture of the vegan patty.
Describing the dish, GQ’s Nick Marino said: “Brooks Headley’s raved-about Superiority Burger—better even than the nutty patty, the roasted umami-bomb tomato, the fact that no cows were harmed in the creation of this sandwich—is the texture. The bun squishes. The lettuce crunches. The pickles snap. That patty, made from ingredients Headley won’t divulge and miles beyond whatever your vegan friends use to assault your grill during barbecues, has genuine heft. Who knew that in the perfectly proportioned Platonic ideal of a burger, beef isn’t even necessary?”
Here’s a look.
A photo posted by DR (@david_reyer) on Sep 9, 2015 at 6:21pm PDT
FOOD: SUPERIORITY BURGER @superiorityburger - VEGETARIAN / VEGAN Looks like a delicious burger, tastes like a delicious burger and HAS NO MEAT. Pretty amazing little slider they do there, full of flavour, not full of animals. Inside is MUENSTER CHEESE ICEBERG TOMATO DILL PICKLE. #superiorityburger #nyc #burger
A photo posted by NYC x NYC (@nycbynyc) on Sep 17, 2015 at 3:52pm PDT


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The Olympics may be over, but its impact will be felt in the online video business for years to come. With 159 million streams delivered, the Games were a huge success digitally. Naturally, that means other live events will look to imitate the success.
Disney-ABC has been an online video leader since back in 2005 when it struck the first network deal with iTunes. Since then, ABC has continued to innovate with its video player, and has also won awards for the user experience, so I always pay extra attention to its online video initiatives. Just this week, ABC Family launched a weekly Web series for its hit show "Pretty Little Liars," and the first episode logged more than 250,000 views in less than 24 hours, the network said.
So you've sold all your pre-roll inventory. Or maybe your viewers are tired of pre-rolls. What's a Web publisher to do? Be like AdSense. Make the content the ads, and don't charge unless someone is into you. That's the premise of a new video monetization platform from analytics firm Visible Measures that the company has been quietly rolling out for a year, but just officially announced last week.
By many counts, mid-rolls are among the fastest-growing online video ad formats, but consumers might not be so fond of this style of marketing. Mid-rolls are increasing at a rate more than double a year ago, according to the latest quarterly report from online video technology provider FreeWheel, which analyzed billions of videos from premium programmers. But there's some evidence that viewers might not care for this ad format.
Who's going to be the next startup to succeed in online video? That's the big question, and I won't promise to have any answers, but I can share with you a video report from Beet.TV commentator Ashley Swartz that has me now keeping an eye on two companies in the metadata arena -- Veenome and Watchwith.
About 159 million homes will have smart TVs by the end of this year, but gaming consoles and set-top boxes are more likely to win the long-term connected TV battle than smart TVs themselves. That's the finding of a new report from The Diffusion Group predicting that TV set makers who eagerly showcased their new connected capabilities at the CES show will not be the ones to benefit from the money that's expected to flow through broadband connections to the TV.
Hulu has always done well at luring advertisers, and its new makeover may help bring in more money. The online video content site introduced a new look this week that features larger graphics, better visuals, easier browsing capabilities, more intuitive show pages and more personalized discovery tools. The site intends to surface more "hidden gems," it says, as well as deliver what each viewer wants -- like Amazon does with its personalized recommendation.
Ah, have the dog days of summer gotten online video ads down? ComScore's monthly report on online video viewing and advertising revealed that the number of video ads viewed in July dropped to 9.6 billion -- down from 11 billion in June, and the lowest amount of ads viewed since April.
Despite their relatively modest reach, connected TVs offer a highly engaged base of viewers, new research has found. Connected TVs are still a small portion of the ad marketplace, but they're growing quickly, and users seem to pay attention to the ad messages. Nearly 90% of connected TV users notice ads on the platform and half have interacted with the ad, according to research just released from video ad technology provider YuMe in partnership with research firm Frank N. Magid Associates.
Last week we talked about how online retailers can improve the view rates for their videos, as well as how some retailers are finding that online video is significantly boosting sales. To add to the conversation, here are some additional tidbits on how retailers can drive even more revenue using online video ads and content, according to a survey of online video viewers conducted by video ad technology company Videology.


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Virtual globalization has expanded the internet and connected it to our lives. Over the last ten years, as the internet has become more prevalent within our social and financial affairs, we have become more susceptible to cyber-attacks and data breaches. As a result, the internet has made us more vulnerable than ever before. Across sectors, data breaches and online security issues are commonplace.
More specifically, due to the covid-19 pandemic, cyber-attacks have seen a 600% increase across industries. Anything that can make the attackers money is on the table for cybercriminals, even our medical records. The health care industry has seen a 58% increase in cyberattacks, and it is likely to worsen in the future.
Similarly, developing markets such as cryptocurrency and NFTs are also being attacked, with criminals seeing these digital assets as lucrative opportunities. Yesterday alone, over three NFT projects were hacked, including the Solana NFT project Fractal, the victim of a malicious Discord attack, costing the project’s supporters over $100,000.
Likewise, hackers stole $1.5 million from NFT project Phantom Galaxies last month. As a result, cybercrime is everywhere, becoming more prevalent. This issue of DDIntel
covers how to protect yourself against cybercrime and how the healthcare industry has been hit hard by cyber attacks, alongside other interesting topics.


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Independent publisher Tiny Owl, which specialises in diverse picture books for children, is launching an emergency crowdfunding campaign to survive the pandemic.
Revealing it needs to raise £25,000 to help it through the next few difficult months, the publisher said that in spite of its successes since 2015 it was "hit hard by the knock-on effects of Covid-19", and costs are growing, with a lot of projects scheduled for this year having to be put on hold.
Donations will go towards ensuring Tiny Owl can continue to publish its "beautiful books that reflect the diversity of our world and the people in it", with the publisher explaining how important such books are: "Indeed, now more than ever, access to diverse and inclusive books for children is essential in developing tolerance, acceptance and empathy, and building bridges to new experiences."
Tiny Owl is launching its Crowdfunder page on Wednesday (11th November 2020) at 10 a.m., via its website and social media.
The £25,000 raised through Crowdfunder.co.uk will be used to cover Tiny Owl’s basic expenses over a three-month period, including designing, printing, marketing and warehouse costs.
Delaram Ghanimifard, Tiny Owl publisher, said: "Your donations will ensure that Tiny Owl can continue to soar! We’re a small indie publisher but we think globally, often matching authors and illustrators from different countries to form unique collaborations. The money we hope to receive through Crowdfunder.co.uk will enable us to continue producing high-quality, beautifully illustrated picture books that reflect the vibrant world we live in."
Rewards for donations span signed books, exclusive and limited-edition artwork prints – from artists such as Piet Grobler, Nicola Davies, Sarah van Dongen and Nazli Tahvili – as well as school workshop opportunities led by Tiny Owl authors and illustrators.
Tiny Owl was initially set up in response to the lack of children’s books that reflected the culture of its co-founder Ghanimifard. It aims to promote under-represented voices and cultures in children's literature, and to produce "beautiful picture books for everyone to enjoy".


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The Apple vs Samsung iPhone-copying lawsuit is finally over
28 June, 2018, 14:45 | Author: Camille Rivera
The two sides mercifully signalled a truce this week in a filing to the US Northern District Court of Lucy Koh, the US District Court judge unfortunate enough to have presided over the entire seven-year legal ordeal.
Smartphone rivals Samsung and Apple have been locked in a vicious court battle over allegedly stolen patents. How much, if anything, Samsung must pay Apple under Wednesday's settlement could not immediately be learned. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed in the court filing.
"This case has always been about more than money", the statement read.
"We believe deeply in the value of design", Apple said recently, "and our teams work tirelessly to create innovative products that delight our customers".
The case dates back to 2011, when Apple, under the direction Steve Jobs, vowed to launch the legal equivalent of "thermonuclear war" against Samsung and other Android phone vendors Apple was convinced were ripping off designs it had patented for the iPhone.
In 2012, a United States jury awarded California-based Apple $1.05bn in damages for the copied features, which included design elements like the screen that displays icons in a grid. It was ordered to pay the U.S. tech giant more than $1 billion for infringing on three of Apple's design patents related to mobile devices - the quick links to phone numbers, the slide-to-unlock feature and the auto-correct function.
The three design patents in the case apply to the shape of the iPhone's black screen with rounded edges and a bezel, and the rows of colorful icons displayed.
Harley-Davidson said Monday that the E.U.'s action increased the tariffs on its motorcycles "from 6 percent to 31 percent". Some analysts expect to see more instances of company shifts when the second-quarter earnings season kicks off next month.
The world No 1 was unseeded at Roland Garros due to her absence to give birth to daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian last September. Her defeat in Paris, against Halep, was hard but not unexpected despite her having played great tennis in the first set.
In this May 22, 2018, file photo, New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addresses Parliament in Wellington , New Zealand. Jacinda Ardern has cancelled a planned Friday media appearance with her newborn daughter after a rough first night as a mum.
Colombia's win resurrects their World Cup campaign after defeat in their opener against Japan threatened an early exit. Colombia led 1-0 at half-time thanks to Yerry Mina's towering header following a well-worked short corner.
The dad looks pissed , and people can be heard remarking "no no no", "sir, he is scared" and "that's not allowed". In the video, the priest can be seen making a shape of the cross over the baby's body before he begins to cry.
Utah’s Rudy Gobert wins NBA Defensive Player of the Year
Backstage, Robertson commended the activism of today's players, although he wondered why more white athletes aren't speaking out. Robertson is the career leader in triple-doubles and was the first player to average one for a season.
Japan, Senegal share the points in draw
A similarly attritional contest could be on the cards on Sunday against the Central Americas who are making their World Cup debut. He played a number of minutes in the last match , giving him confidence, and there were a number of things we had to fine tune.
Parliament passes the Cannabis Act
Statistics Canada estimates that the marijuana market in Canada was worth C$5.7 billion ($4.28 billion) in 2017. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said marijuana will become fully legalized in Canada on October 17, 2018.
Japan tops Colombia 2-1 in latest World Cup surprise
Japan knocked off Colombia, becoming the first Asian team to beat a squad from South America in the tournament's history. Group H also features Poland and Senegal and is one of the more open of the tournament.


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No change from the European Central Bank conference. Interest rates were left unchanged
There was little change from the European Central Bank press conference yesterday. Interest rates were left unchanged
There was little change from the European Central Bank press conference yesterday. Interest rates were left unchanged, as widely anticipated, and President Mario Draghi chose to avoid talks surrounding more easing, stating that the ECB policies should be allowed more time to work. On a more positive note, the ECB will be pleased to see that the euro fell, and ended the day lower against the US dollar and the pound.
The ECB remained dovish yesterday, and the single currency area outlook remains skewed to the downside, with interest rates expected to remain at present, or lower, for an extended period of time. However, Draghi noted that on the bright side, broad financing conditions improved, with low oil prices supporting domestic demand.
Initial jobless claims falls in the US
Away from the ECB and over in the US, the latest initial jobless claims fell to 247k against a market consensus of 265k, marking a positively fresh low for the first time since 1973. Further data from the US disappointed, with the Philly Fed manufacturing survey falling back into the red.
Disappointing retail sales data from the UK
Over in Europe and away from ECB focus, retail sales data from the UK disappointed for March. Excluding auto fuel, sales were down sharper than expected to -1.6% MoM (vs. -0.3% expected), while including fuel, sales were also down heavily to -1.3% MoM (vs. -0.1% expected).
Reported by our suppliers Currencies Direct.


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Instagram is banning likes – how could this affect you?
Published: October 2019
Instagram is making preparations to hide likes from posts on the platform.
Users will be able to see how many people have liked their posts, but they won’t be able to see the number of likes on other user’s posts. Instagram have gone through a trial period already in several countries, including Ireland, and now they’re even considering conducting the same testing on Facebook.
Influencers, brands and businesses have voiced their concerns about the change. They have already been through a number of algorithm changes this year, affecting their engagements rates, follower count and more.
Let’s take a closer look at Instagram’s plans and see how it might affect you.
Why hide likes?
Instagram have grown increasingly concerned with the amount of fake accounts on the platform. For a fairly small sum, anyone can buy likes, followers and engagement on Instagram. The social media platform began to tackle this earlier in the year, purging the network of any bots and fake accounts. This seems to be the next move in a strategy to encourage authentic interactions. By being unable to see likes, content on Instagram will be judged by how engaging it is, rather than by how many likes it has.
What is Instagram hoping to achieve
They’re hoping to see authentic connections and relationships develop between users. It’s a great move for the social media platform as a whole, especially for those of us who use Instagram as ‘real people’ rather than as brands, businesses or influencers.
Deleting posts that don’t get ‘enough’ likes is a common tactic by users. This will hopefully no longer occur once the change is implemented, removing the ‘highlight reel’ Instagram feed we’re so used to.
A study into mental health showed that for 14 – 25 year olds, Instagram is the social media platform with the worst impact on mental health. Other research has shown that whilst likes encourage dopamine, not receiving likes (or as many likes as you’re used to) has a profound negative effect. Hopefully, hiding likes will reduce the negative impact on its users.
How could this affect you and your business?
Whilst individual users are likely to benefit from this change, those of us who use Instagram as a marketing or selling tool may find this to be unsettling. For many influencers, Instagram is a large contributor to their income. Brands often choose influencers to represent them based on the number of likes and engagements their posts get. Now that that information is hidden, many influencers are worried that brands may not choose to include them in their marketing strategy. Similarly, brands and businesses are concerned about what this change will do to their Instagram following and if they can still rely on Instagram as a marketing tool. Brands may find that they have to rely on Instagram ads more than they do currently.
What can you do?
First of all, don’t panic! If you find that hidden likes has a negative impact on your Instagram profile and engagement, it is worth remembering that this is happening to everyone – not just you. The whole point in this change is to stop users getting hung up on likes. So embrace that and focus more on content instead. Bear in mind that Instagram does need businesses and brands on board in order to stay relevant and make money. So they won’t alienate you completely.
Once the shock has worn off, you can start to reassess your position on Instagram.
Pop in to see us at Urban River HQ and we can start reviewing your social media strategy with all of the new changes in mind.


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Eleven financial institutions from Italy, France and Luxembourg are lined up to participate in the live launch of MyBank, a new online payments service from EBA Clearing which will open for business on 25 March 2013.
EBA Clearing's ambition for MyBank is to create a pan-European electronic payments service for online shopping, enabling buyers and sellers to complete transactions through their e-banking portals.
Nine of the banks participating in the first phase switch over are from Italy, with France's BRED Banque Populaire and an un-named bank from Luxembourg providing an international flavour.
EBA Clearing says payment service providers and e-merchants who wish to join the programme will be able to rely on the support of 16 integrators who are committed to delivering off-the-shelf packages for direct bank connections from day one.
Giorgio Ferrero, chairman of EBA Clearing, says: "This first joining window marks only the first step towards rolling out MyBank to e-merchants and retail customers all across Europe and we are confident that more payment service providers in other European countries will join the solution throughout 2013."
The March 2013 go-live follows the successful completion of the MyBank pilot in November 2012, and the transmission of the first cross-border test transaction at Finextra and EBA's annual EBAday
event in May earlier this year.
In the first phase, MyBank will support the initiation of Sepa Credit Transfers via browser-based applications. A mobile application and functionality supporting the creation or modification of e-mandates for Sepa Direct Debits are planned to follow in the course of 2013.


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While we’ve been hearing about Google’s Project Tango for a very long time but we’re yet to see a commercial device using the technology. Lenovo unveiled the first-ever Tango-powered smartphone earlier this year, but it was quietly delayed for an uncertain period of time. But, we now have a certain date and you won’t have to wait any longer. The first device with Tango — Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, is all set to launch on November 1st.
Lenovo Phab 2 Pro is the first smartphone to feature Google’s Tango 3D imaging technology. The phone was initially slated to launch in September, but now, it is finally launching this November.
While the phone is launching in the U.S. on 1st November, whereas it is already on sale in Asian markets where Lenovo phones are sold. In U.S., the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro is also expected to be sold in Best Buy Retail stores. The company has priced it at $499 for the unlocked variant.
To power the multitude of depth sensing cameras and sensors embedded into the smartphone, the Lenovo Phab2 Pro has a large 6.4-inch Quad-HD IPS display with a pixel density of 454 ppi. It is powered by the Snapdragon 652 processor. The device is driven by 4 GB RAM and has 64 GB of onboard storage. It also houses a 4,000 mAh battery with Fast charging technology, a fingerprint reader and all the goodness that you’ve come to expect from a high-end Android smartphone.
Project Tango, a conception of Google, allows hardware to detect its own location in 3 dimensions by using advanced infrared sensors. It is a 3D positioning platform that can create a map of your surroundings. Google first announced this project three years back, with the aim to use depth-sensing cameras to sense their surrounding and create and accurate 3D-models, thus, bring Augmented Reality to the masses in the form of a tablet or phone.


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Sep 15, 2013
Join Gary, Leg and special guest Chris 'BlueWolf' Cook on this week's news show...
Sony news - new PS Vitas and Vita TV announced,
Microconsole news - have Sony shut the door? and Gamestick gets a release date,
PC news - Steam adding Family Share,
Xbox news - Major Nelson thinks 'Xbone' is...


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Britain’s market watchdog warned about four,000 small monetary companies are at larger threat of failure from the coronavirus because the nation endures a 3rd lockdown.
The Monetary Conduct Authority stated Thursday that the pandemic is pushing the companies to the brink by depleting their liquidity. The survey of 23,000 companies was carried out between June and August, earlier than the federal government prolonged its furlough packages and rolled out vaccinations, and the regulator stated it can proceed to watch the stress on corporations.
“Our position isn’t to stop companies failing,” Sheldon Mills, the FCA’s government director of shoppers and competitors, stated in a press release. “By getting early visibility of potential monetary misery in companies we are able to intervene quicker in order that dangers are managed and shoppers are adequately protected.”
The FCA’s survey doesn’t cowl the 1,500 largest monetary companies, that are regulated by the Financial institution of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority.
Retail lending and funds companies face the largest risk to their earnings, the FCA stated. About half of retail lenders have furloughed employees and greater than a 3rd took government-backed loans.
The regulator additionally stated:
1. About 44% of insurers and brokers furloughed employees and 19% acquired a mortgage, whereas 37% of retail funding companies furloughed employees and 15% took a mortgage
2. Between February and June, liquidity elevated for companies in retail investments, retail lending and wholesale monetary markets. Insurance coverage intermediaries and brokers, funds companies, and funding administration companies noticed liquidity fall
three. 59% of respondents stated they anticipated coronavirus to have a destructive affect on their internet earnings


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With China having purchased close to 3.0 million tonnes (mmt) over the past week and adverse weather threatening the Brazilian crop even at this early stage of the growing season can understand why the USDA left its 2023/24 soybean export projection unchanged at 1.755 billion bushels (bb) which is well below the year ago figure of 1.992 bb.
USDA may have been given a little more wiggle room by the fact that in a bit of a surprise, the soybean yield was raised by 0.3 from last month to 49.9 bushels per acre (bpa) vs the average trade estimate to be unchanged as this yield increase added 25 million bushels (mb) to production to 4.129 bb.
We had thought that any cut in yield was likely to be matched by a lower overseas sales projection to keep ending stocks near the "pipeline" level of 220 mb or thereabouts.
Nonetheless the current sales pace still suggests cut in this year's export projection down the road as current sales through this week's weekly export sales and shipment reports shows total cumulative sales down 26.4% vs year ago levels vs the current USDA projection of an 11.9% decline.
This chart shows U.S. export sales and shipments of soybeans in million bushels as of the first week of November on the left-hand axis and those figures as a percent of the USDA's November WASDE export projection on the right-hand axis.
We also report in the figures in blue rectangles the percent change in exports from the November WASDE projection to the final USDA estimate.
Current sales of 890.7 mb are the fourth lowest for this point in the season since the 2008/09 marketing year with sales from 2018-2020 pressured by the Trump trade wars with China and the drought-reduced crop back in the 2011/12 season.
This is just 50.8% of the November WASDE projection, the third lowest in that regard since the 2007/08 season.
The 440.6 mb shipped as of the first week of November is the third lowest since the 2013/14 season at 25.1% of the 1.755 bb export projection and this is linked to the slow sales pace and the difficulty in getting beans that had already been sold shipped given the low water level problems on the Mississippi River earlier in the fall.
Note also recent years where if sales as of the first week of November are below 52% of that month's WASDE projection likely final figure will be lower.
(c) Copyright 2023 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.


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Wednesday, July 2, 2014
MultiChoice rules out billing DStv subscribers on a pay-for-what-you view basis; can't tell when a subscriber is using or not using the service.
MultiChoice is ruling out letting DStv subscribers pay only for what they watch and for the periods that they're watching subscriber television content.
MultiChoice Africa CEO Nico Meyer says that the pan-African satellite pay-TV operator buys TV content for a monthly basis and that that is also how pay-TV subscribers have to pay for it.
Nico Meyer says MultiChoice, which operates DStv and GOtv across sub-Saharan Africa, is unable to determine - in the way that mobile cellular and electricity companies do - when consumers and subscribers are making use of the service or not.
Nico Meyer spoke and was in Mauritius last week at the six day MultiChoice Content Showcase with African artists, journalists, international content distributor executives and on-air talent, as well as guests who were flown to the Trou Aux Biches Resort & Spa.
While MultiChoice runs the DStv BoxOffice service where DStv subscribers can rent specific movie titles, the company is ruling out an pay-for-what-you-view monthly bill for individual subscribers.
DStv subscribers in several African countries like Zimbabwe and elsewhere say they struggle due to power cuts and end up paying a monthly DStv subscriber fee although there's periods during the month when the service is not accessible due to a lack of electricity.
"We procure content on a monthly basis, we don't procure it based on the time the consumer will be using it, but on an entire month," said Nico Meyer according to reports, like DailyNews.
"If you buy airtime and you consume it they will deduct it because they can tell. But we cannot tell when someone is travelling or not using it," said Nico Meyer, comparing DStv and GOtv to cellular operators.
"All I know is that someone pays on a monthly basis and we make that service available but I cannot tell if you are consuming the service".


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The BC Centre for Disease (BCCDC) is warning British Columbians of certain onions that have been linked to a salmonella outbreak, occurring across Canada.
Investigators looking into the matter have determined that potentially contaminated red onions are coming from Thomson International Inc. of Bakersfield, California, United States of America (USA).
According to the BCCDC, 69 cases of salmonella have been reported across the province since mid-June.
“Do not eat, use, sell or serve any red, white, yellow, and sweet yellow onions from Thomson International Inc., Bakersfield, California, USA, or any products made with these onions,” the BCCDC said in a statement.
The recall issued on July 31, 2020, has been updated to include additional provinces and territories and additional products. Red, yellow, white, and sweet yellow onions by Thomson International Inc., imported from the USA, is recalled due to Salmonella. https://t.co/B5XsDZD75L pic.twitter.com/LirLneAlNQ
— Canadian Food Inspection Agency (@InspectionCan) August 4, 2020
Consumers are being advised to avoid eating the products while retailers, distributors, and foodservice establishments such as hotels and hospitals should not serve or sell the onions.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has updated a food recall warning – which was initially issued on July 31 – to include the Thomson International products.
The BCCDC suggests that signs of salmonella infection include diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps that develop six hours to 7 days after exposure and usually lasts four to seven days. BC health officials also say that most people recover without treatment.
Most people recover without treatment, although the agency states that children under five years of age, adults over 65 years of age, and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to have a severe illness.
BCCDC says if you are experiencing severe or ongoing symptoms to contact your health provider.
Along with British Columbia, other provinces including Alberta, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Ontario, and Quebec have been advised about the current salmonella outbreak linked to onions.


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The possibility of import of dairy products from countries like New Zealand to India, the world’s largest dairy producer, is being opposed by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).
In this regard, the traders’ body has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the possible nod by the Indian state to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RECP) that would eventually allow the import of dairy products from countries like New Zealand. Until now, dairy imports were not allowed by India, which was a serious issue among the dairy industry of India.
Praveen Khandelwal, national secretary-general, CAIT, in a letter to the PM has opposed the move and asked the government to reconsider its move under which Government of India is finalising RCEP agreement and is also considering to allow import of dairy products from countries like New Zealand and Australia which are known for huge dairy exports.
He stated that under this agreement, India should not allow import of dairy products from these countries, as 10 crore farmers are associated with the dairy industry and this decision could hurt their interests.
He pointed out, “Niti Aayog’s Working Group Report (Feb 2018) on Demand and Supply Projections towards 2033 for Crops, Livestock, Fisheries and Agricultural Inputs, states that the demand for milk was 292 Million MTs against which India will produce 330 MMT milk. Thus, India will be surplus in milk products and therefore the question of imports does not arise. NDDB and even international organisations like FAO and IFCN have also expressed similar projections.”
He explained, “We fear that if India agrees for import of dairy products under RCEP agreement then it would be detrimental to Indian dairy industry and it may create huge loss to milk producers of India and the dream of “doubling farmers’ income” would be shattered completely as today more than 20% of income comes from milk for a farmer of the country,” therefore considering the threat to the dairy industry, it is requested to advise concerned ministry/department to keep all dairy products out of purview of RCEP, he added.
CAIT says that India is the largest milk producing country of the world with production of around 48 crore litre per day. Total value of milk in India is Rs 7 lakh crore per year which is more than the value of grains and pulses put together. Over 10 crore farmers are associated with milk production in India.
Further, New Zealand produces 14 times more than its domestic requirements and therefore exports more than 93% (35 lakh Million Metric Tonne) of its total milk. Also, just 10,000 dairy farmers in New Zealand or 6,300 farmers of Australia are associated with dairying.
It is pertinent to mention here that in July a meeting was held between representatives of 15 countries in Beijing to discuss the RCEP and Free Trade Agreements. And it was alleged that in this meeting the India officials agreed to the proposal of dairy import from New Zealand.
Although it was agreed to import only 5% of the total export of milk value added products into India, but experts say that it would impact 28% of the Indian market.


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“We want to engage positively with the Government, and we are committed to the principle of consumers being able to make informed choices about their food and drink purchases.
“Whilst this is a strategy aimed at targeting childhood obesity, we are concerned that some measures contained in the report will ultimately increase the burden of taxation on pubs and put up prices of soft drinks for pubgoers.
“The sugar levy will come as an additional tax on pubs, who already face very high levels of taxation, with both beer duty and Business Rates having a huge impact. Although it is good to see confirmation that pubs will not have to register under the tax, we do remain concerned that non-alcoholic beers could be caught by the levy. Whilst we appreciate that the Government is continuing to look at how these could be excluded, a sugar tax on beverages aimed at providing a low-strength alternative for adults is not within the spirit of the strategy.
“It is good to see that the Government is pursuing more of a partnership approach, in choosing not to pursue mandatory calorie information on menus. This would have been very challenging for smaller pub operators, where menus vary significantly from site to site, and even from day to day. Pub owners should be able to help provide key messages about healthy eating and lifestyle in a way most suited to their business and customers.”


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Cyber Police close an 80-employee IT company developing online casinos. Looks like it’s Soft2bet
The Cyber Police of Ukraine reported on the cessation of the company, which earned money by creating online casinos on a turnkey basis. It is reported that the minimum package of services provided by this company costs $20,000. The editorial staff of AIN.UA suggests that it may be Soft2bet.
The cyber police found that the members of the criminal group had created a company, allegedly for the development of web resources and online games in Ukraine. In fact, they provided services for the creation, technical support, and customer service of online casinos. The company has also developed bespoke gambling platforms.
The customer paid $20,000 and received the ownership of the online casino with its constant support. For an additional $100,000, the company set up Internet marketing to promote the resource on the network and attract new users. According to preliminary data, the company’s monthly income was over $ 500,000.
The police have found over 20 online casinos, the developers and administrators of which was this company. They are now blocked. The user base of their web resources consisted of about 500,000 people.
Law enforcement officers searched the office of the developer company, seized computer equipment, mobile phones, draft documents, and money for examination.
About the company
According to the law, until the investigation is completed, law enforcement officers cannot disclose any names and names of suspected legal entities. Therefore, the release does not say what company it is. It is only known that the office is located in Kyiv. The company’s staff consisted of more than 80 IT professionals.
Also, the press service of the cyber police published photos from the company’s office.
Photos: Cyber Police
Based on the photos, we can assume that this company is Soft2bet. The company bills itself as a European product tech company in the field of online entertainment, developing turnkey online casinos on its engine. In the Soft2bet portfolio, there are 7 Stars Partners (7SP), online casinos Malina Casino, YoYo Casino, and Buran Casino, etc.
Soft2bet offices are located in Bulgaria, Serbia, Portugal as well as in Cyprus and Malta. The company has employees in Kyiv (you can find them on LinkedIn), but the Kyiv office is not mentioned on the Soft2bet website.
However, it exists and is located at 14V Vasylkivska St., in the business center Stend. The company is actively hiring people in Kyiv. There are 13 job openings on DOU.
The editor of AIN.UA sent a request to Soft2bet but has not received a response at the time of publication.


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At PC Mechanic we are dedicated to professionalism, quality work, and competitive pricing. Here are just some of the services we offer:
For more information visit our Services page
- Home Depot: 56M Cards Impacted, Malware Contained September 18, 2014Home Depot said today that cyber criminals armed with custom-built malware stole an estimated 56 million debit and credit card numbers from its customers between April and September 2014. That disclosure officially makes the incident the largest retail card breach on record.
- In Home Depot Breach, Investigation Focuses on Self-Checkout Lanes September 18, 2014The malicious software that unknown thieves used to steal credit and debit card numbers in the data breach at Home Depot this year was installed mainly on payment systems in the self-checkout lanes at retail stores, according to sources close to the investigation. The finding means thieves probably stole far fewer cards during the almost five-month breach th


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Dating the business cycle in britain teen dating porn tube
It has now entered the stage of high growth and high inflation (from the first quarter of 2010 to the third quarter).The Chinese economy is expected to move into a state of low growth and high inflation from now, and then to low growth and low inflation next year, in the form of cooling inflation.While China was still a small economy in 1992 when the two events last coincided, the situation will be very different in 2012.If the United States and China, the world's largest and second largest economies, enjoy robust growth at the same time, other countries will no doubt reap significant benefits.
We will then apply this methodology to UK data to establish the relevant dates. In his responding email, the buyer explained: "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers." The frequently repeated story that e Bay was founded to help Omidyar's fiancée trade Pez candy dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager, Mary Lou Song, in 1997 to interest the media, which were not interested in the company's previous explanation about wanting to create a "perfect market".…China has adopted a tightening policy as an anti-inflationary measure, and economic growth is slowing as a consequence.In the next year, however, the downward trend in inflation will become evident, and the authorities will gradually have greater leeway to loosen monetary policy.In 2012, the Chinese economy is expected to recover strongly, coinciding with the Communist Party Congress (Party Congress) to be held for the first time in five years.


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Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy, led the UAE delegation on a visit to Samsung's headquarters in the Republic of Korea to learn about the company’s future expansion and investment plans and strengthen its partnership with the UAE market. The Minister was received by Oh-Hyun Kwon, CEO and Vice President of Samsung Electronics.
The UAE delegation was in Seoul to participate in the eighth UAE-Korea Joint Economic Committee aimed at strengthening the existing economic and trade ties and exploring new opportunities for cooperation and investment partnerships with the Korean private sector.
Bin Touq emphasised that thanks to the directives of its wise leadership and the competitiveness of its legislative and economic environment, the UAE has succeeded in establishing a stable and attractive investment climate for the technology and the new economy sectors. The country has today become a major trading and investment hub for several leading global companies, which has further contributed to the growth of its FDI balance, attracting more foreign investors from around the world.
Furthermore, Bin Touq highlighted the measures adopted by the UAE to drive investments and expansion in new economic sectors, acknowledging its importance in building the future economy and achieving sustainable economic and social development. A wide array of future-oriented economic legislation and policies were introduced to this end, most notably the issuance of new laws on cooperatives, family enterprises, business transactions and trade records, in addition to the launch of the Comprehensive Economic Partnerships (CEPA) programme to strengthen its partnership with strategic global markets.
Bin Touq said, “Korean FDI in the UAE continues to grow, totalling AED 8.1 billion (US$2.2 billion) by the beginning of 2021 with a 73 percent growth compared to that of early 2013. Today, the Republic of Korea is one of the top 20 foreign investors in the UAE. Their investments span several economic and trade sectors including insurance, mining, financial services, retail, real estate, transport, energy and technology.”
He added, “Over the past 12 months, 200 new Korean companies have entered the country's markets, taking the total number of economic licenses obtained by Korean companies operating in the UAE to nearly 1,100, up 22 percent compared to 900 in June 2022.”
During the visit, the UAE Minister was briefed on the progress of work and production at the Samsung headquarters and the modern digital technologies used in the production of electronic chips, screens and smartphones.


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Lionel Messi has made over $1.2 billion in his career so far. Here are the endorsement deals that make him one of sport's richest men.
- New PSG star Lionel Messi will make more than $100 million a year, including $75 million in wages, Forbes reports.
- Messi makes $33 million a year in endorsements including Adidas, Gatorade and Pepsi, Forbes adds.
- The Argentine has made $1.2 billion across his career and is consistently ranked as the best-paid athlete in sports.
Forbes reports the Argentine will make $75 million in wages alone. It is unclear if this is a pre- or post-tax figure, as other reports have said Messi's take home pay will be roughly $35 million per year.
Messi is also due a cut of cut of jersey sales, Forbes says.
Although it isn't known how many Messi uniforms PSG will sell, when Cristiano Ronaldo moved to Italian side Juventus in 2018, the club sold $61 million worth of his jerseys in 24 hours.
Messi is one of the richest athletes in the history of sports, and is one of only a handful of players to make over $1 billion while still playing, alongside the likes of Tiger Woods and LeBron James. To date, he has earned $1.2 billion, Forbes reports.
As well as his PSG salary, Forbes reports that Messi makes more than $30 million in endorsements including lucrative deals with Adidas, Gatorade and Pepsi.
Read on to see all of Messi's many endorsement deals.
Messi has been signed to the German sportswear Adidas since 2006 and has since become the face of their brand.
In 2017, he extended his deal with the brand, which makes a line of Messi-branded soccer cleats, by signing a lifetime contract, earning him $25 million annually.
The former Barcelona captain signed with Gatorade in 2018, alongside then teammate Luis Suarez, as part of the drink company's 'Everything Changes' campaign.
Messi has long been the face of Pepsi and has appeared in commercials alongside fellow soccer players Mo Salah, Paul Pogba and Jadon Sancho.
As part of Messi's partnership with Budweiser, the beer makers sent a bottle to every goalkeeper the Argentine had scored against on his way to breaking Pele's single club goalscoring record.
When Messi scored against Real Valldolid in 2020, he registered his 644th goal for Barcelona, a record for any player at one club.
Messi has appeared in commercials for Ooredoo, a Qatari telecommunications company and has been its global brand ambassador since 2013.
Messi has advertised the chip brand Lays since 2014 and the food makers recently welcomed his arrival to Paris.
Lays tweeted a picture of a bag of chips featuring a joke new flavor 'G.O.A.T's cheese,' showing Messi's face photoshopped onto the bag.
—Lay's Football (@Lays_football) August 10, 2021
Since 2020, the 34-year-old has advertised OrCam who make artificial vision devices to help visually impaired people.
As part of the campaign, some of the affected got a chance to meet Messi.
Messi signed with Konami, which makes the video game series eFootball (previously known as Pro Evolution Soccer), in 2018. He and his team, Barcelona, were the cover stars of that year's game.
The club announced in 2019 that the deal had been extended for another four years with Messi appearing on the cover of PES 2020 alongside Ronaldinho.
Messi is the cover star of the 2021 edition of the game, the first branded as eFootball.
Dubai Auto Expo
Dubai Auto Expo employed the services of Messi to generate interest in its 2020 show.
Messi featured in the commercial juggling a soccer ball before arriving at the location for the show.
Jacob and Co.
In 2019, Messi signed a three-year deal with the watchmakers Jacob and Co.
As part of the arrangement, a Messi-branded version of the Epic X Chrono watch was created and put on sale.


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Commentary: Forget the privacy issues -- it was a long list of other shortcomings, social and technical, that doomed Glass. Can Google learn for the next go-round?
The search giant has found a new purpose in all our lives: Bringing together the various products and services we use to work together as easily as possible.
This inexpensive PC is an exciting experiment, but the tablet hardware can't quite keep up with Intel's vision of a mini-PC.
The search giant's new project aims to make phones more secure by loading a microSD card that serves as a security powerhouse.
Design firm Industry has developed a bike that demonstrates how the lines are blurring in design, engineering and manufacturing. This shift will ultimately allow companies to tailor products to individuals.
Over time, computers end up full of add-ons and random junk. It’s time to take action.
By using some network architecture that's sick, this rapping code knows the best rhymes to pick.
Ubi is a $299 voice-control gadget designed to integrate seamlessly into your SmartThings- and Belkin WeMo-connected smart home.
Pricing not available
Technically Incorrect: The famed director reportedly says he's sad that people now watch movies on tiny screens and regrets signing a deal to make a TV series for Amazon.
Jeff Williams says the Apple Watch could become Apple's single most important product.


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Bethesda Leaks New Skyrim Footage
Bethesda Teaser gets tongues waggling
With the launch date for the new Skyrim reboot just a whisker away, Bethesda has decided to wet our ravenous appetites with a sumptuous teaser from the creators of this epic fantasy saga.
Live with youtube gaming has released an exclusive taster on the 20 October showing off what’s in store with the latest installment to reach our eager, sweaty palms.
Skyrim remastered will hit our shelves on Oct 28, for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC platforms.
Bethesda have notified the swarms of its cult followers that the developmental phase of the game is now complete.
The release brings refreshing news for green- eyed console fans, who will for the first time have access to mods. Other welcome news is that PC gamer’s who already own a copy of the game and all three of its DLC content will be be entitled to a free copy, with special discounts available on the DLC packs.
What does catch the eye after studiously going over the fresh Footage, is the plethora of visual enhancements, with pop-in delay for the environmental backdrops drastically improved. In addition the graphics look sharp, well rounded and more distinctive.
Most notably the equipment and gear looks ultra realistic, with increased definition to shapes, and textures clearly re-imagined.
It is evident that the game-play mechanics have received a radical reboot too. The enemy AI in relation to speed and responsiveness is vastly improved, making those melee moments more dramatic and intense.
Finally I noticed that the art and effects have been have revived and polished with subtle tweaks to heighten the experience.
PS4 players lucky enough to experience the game on the PS4 Pro, will have the opportunity to play in 4K.


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Minecraft will likely get the Pokémon Go treatment, tune in May 17
It was only a matter of time before Minecraft joined in on the fun of augmented reality as other mobile games have already, such as Pokémon Go. Now, according to a new teaser trailer from Microsoft, it appears a Minecraft AR game is imminent.
The video teaser, which you can see below, strongly hints that a Minecraft AR app or game will launch on May 17 at the game’s official site.
In the (very poorly green-screened) video, a man accidentally takes someone else’s smartphone with him when he leaves a park bench. The woman whose phone he took grabs his (likely a taped-over Samsung Galaxy S6 or S7) and notices that there are Minecraft characters both on the phone and suddenly in the real world. She peers at the device and sees the supposed launch date.
Check it out below:
While the clearly low-budget teaser trailer fits in nicely with Minecraft’s low-graphics-quality aesthetic, it doesn’t really explain much. Is it a game? A fun app? Will it be available on Android and iOS? We don’t know the answers to any of these questions.
According to Windows Central, the announcement is supposedly for a game which has the internal codename “Genoa.” The game will launch at some point this year, according to WC’s source.
We’ll have to tune in on May 17 to find out what’s up. Coincidentally (or not?), a new Pokémon Go promotion ends that same day.


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just the Round-Up - The week in drinks
The week in drinks
The top ten stories published on just-drinks last week:
SABMiller has begun the shake-up of its beer presence in Australia following its recent purchase of Foster's Group.
Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Co (CCHBC) has announced the appointment of a new CFO.
Christie's and Sotheby's have reported strong wine auction sales for 2011, but prices for the world's top wines have cooled in recent months amid the global economic malaise.
Ratings agency Moody's is considering a second downgrade for Central European Distribution Corp in as many months, amid concern that the drinks distributor could default on debt.
Diageo is edging closer to building a new Guinness brewery at its St James's Gate site in Ireland.
Heineken UK has said that it acted responsibly on pensions following news that the UK Pension Ombudsman will formally investigate complaints made against the brewer.
Kirin Holdings has said it is overhauling Schincariol's business plan in order to help the Brazilian brewer deliver annual net sales growth of 10%.
United Spirits has said that it will use foreign currency convertible bonds to raise cash to pay down high interest-bearing debt.
India's Government is set to reduce the import duty on wine and spirits from 150% to 50%.
Baltika Breweries unit has been named as the official beer supplier for the Winter Olympics in Russia in 2014.
- Mahou San Miguel - just the Facts
- How to turn a domestic spirit into a global brand
- A game of two halves for Remy Cointreau - Analysis
- Whatever happened to binge Britain? - comment
- Britvic hits make-or-break time for US Fruit Shoot
- Beam Suntory to sell brandy & sherry to Emperador
- Former Diageo exec joins William Grant in LatAm
- A-B InBev mulls sale of Peroni, Grolsch - report
- This week in spirits & wine
- Luxury rum heads for slowdown as US growth stalls
- Global Beer Trends 2015 : Global Beer Trends and Long-term Forecasts
- Future growth opportunities for global spirits
- Global sparkling wine insights - market forecasts, product innovation and consumer trends research
- Global Beer Market 2015-2019
- Global Wine Market to 2019 - Market Size, Development, and Forecasts


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JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH)
has unveiled a $250 million off market buyback after posting weaker overall sales for the half year ending December last year.
The electronics retail giant posted a 1.6 per cent fall in sales to $4.9 billion despite soaring online sales, while net profit fell 9.4 per cent to $287.9 million. The company declared a reduced interim dividend of $1.63 a share compared to $1.80 last year.
On a brighter note, the company is off to a strong second half with elevated demand across all their sales channels.
"We continued to see elevated demand across all of our sales channels, particularly online which our customers seamlessly transitioned to during the various lockdowns demonstrating the strength and trust in our brands,” said chief executive officer Terry Smart.
The company said the off market buyback is the most efficient and value enhancing mechanism to distribute surplus capital and franking credits.
“While it remains an uncertain retail environment, we will continue to stay focused on what we can control. Our highly engaging in-store and online shopping experiences delivered by our passionate and knowledgeable team members, and our continued focus on leveraging our scale to deliver great value will ensure we meet our customers’ needs during these challenging times.”
Shares in JB Hi-Fi (ASX:JBH)
are trading 6.7 per cent higher at $52.35.


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Microsoft at its October 2019 Event unveiled a range of new Windows devices and accessories. The latest range includes generational upgrade to Surface laptop and tablet. The new line-up also includes foldable dual-screen Surface devices as well.
Some other big announcements include Surface Laptop 3, Surface Pro 7, Surface Earbuds, Surface Neo, Surface Pro X and Surface Duo.
The 13-inch Surface Laptop 3 comes with the latest 10th-generation quad-core processors from Intel, while the 15-inch model comes with a custom AMD Ryzen 7 processor, or as Microsoft calls it, "Ryzen 7 Surface Edition".
The 13-inch Surface Laptop 3 will start at $999 and will go up to $1,199 for the 15-inch model.
Microsoft has updated its Surface Pro 6 tablet with the Surface Pro 7. Like the Surface Laptop 3, it finally gets a much-requested USB-C connection.
Inside, there is an option of tenth-generation Intel Core CPUs, and storage options that run from a 128GB SSD through to 1TB. The Surface Pro 7 will launch on October 22, starting at $749.
The company has introduced their first noise cancelling wireless earbuds for $249 and these will be available later this year. There are two mics embedded in each bud and it comes with 24 hours of battery life.
They also feature touch controls and integration with Microsoft Office apps. The company unveiled the Surface Neo. It runs a new version of Windows called Windows 10X and is expected to come at the end of 2020.
It is two 9-inch tablets put together into a dual-screen machine so it looks like a notebook. Surface Pro X is the first ARM-based Surface from Microsoft since the Surface 2. It powered by a custom SQ1 processor. That chipset has "Snapdragon mobile DNA," according to Panos Panay, Microsoft's chief product officer, alongside an "integrated AI accelerator." The laptop has integrated LTE support, USB-C, and fast charging to the boot.
The 2-in-1 laptop will be available from November 5 for $999 and one can pre-order the device starting Wednesday. In addition, the tech giant also showcased a foldable Surface Duo phone that runs on Android.
The company said the two screens would make users more productive. The Duo has two 5.6-inch displays merged by a 360-degree hinge and will be available by next year.
(With inputs from HT Correspondent)
Copyright © HT Media Limited
All rights reserved.


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New research suggested that when institutional investors could allocate a small portion of their money to Bitcoin, the.
Bitcoin Suisse has more than 6 years of expertise in crypto assets. Time-tested.
Head Operations – Swiss Crypto Vault AG.
Crypto Product Owner.
Bitcoin Cours Gecko Bitcoin – US Dollar Chart (BTC/USD) Conversion rate for Bitcoin to USD for today is $9,317.44. It has a current circulating supply of 18.4 Million coins and a total volume exchanged of $23,390,509,260 XRP – Bitcoin Chart (XRP/BTC) Conversion rate for XRP to BTC for today is BTC0.00001983. It has a current circulating supply of
27 Apr 2020.
Bitcoin Daily: DOJ Seizes COVID-19 Fraud Website As Owner Asks For Bitcoin; NYC Hospitals Use Blockchain For Supplies. By PYMNTS 60.
8 Jun 2020.
The most popular cryptocurrency price aggregator site has rolled out a new way of ranking exchanges that keeps owner Binance at the top of.
John Cantrell ensures people that Bitcoin is still safe despite the fact he successfully hacked a Bitcoin wallet.
Nakamoto reportedly handed off the site’s management to a group of entities. A controversial anonymous character named Cobra.
Bitcoin Doorbreekt Grens Van 10.000 Dollar Btc Exchange Widget MoonPay is the new standard for fiat to crypto. We are a marketplace between crypto exchanges and users, facilitating instant purchases of cryptocurrencies. Coinponent © 2020. Pages. Why add Coinponent? Crypto Converter Widget Bitcoin Price Euro Calculators. Coinponent. Our blog Features FAQ Support. Legal. Investing, sales, business deals, market research, and eCommerce
He made the network immutable, so no one can alter the value in these records (forgery) or transactions (theft). This is.
Bitcoins are issued to various nodes that verify transactions through computing.
In late August 2012, Bitcoin Savings and Trust was shut down by the owner,
12 Dec 2019.
defrauding investors of $722 million in a cryptocurrency investment club is the majority owner of CryptoWatt LLC, the bitcoin mining operation.


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SARASOTA, FL. – A Sarasota pawnbroker’s license is being revoked following an investigation by the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office.
Jim Smith, owner of Jim’s Pawn, 6526 B, South Tamiami Trail was notified by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Smith was the central figure in Operation Recommit, an investigation that resulted in the arrest of six members of an organized crime ring. Smith knowingly bought stolen property through his pawn shop and directed crime ring members to bring products to him by giving them itemized lists.


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CIFOR’s Pablo Pacheco joined a panel of experts in a live online chat on migrants and oil palm, hosted by The Guardian Sustainable Business, on 17 February.
The palm oil industry depends on migrant labor, but migrant workers are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, pointed out Pacheco, a Principal Scientist whose research examines various aspects of the palm oil industry in Latin America and Indonesia.
The Guardian live chat attracted nearly 100 questions and comments from readers, with responses from expert panelists exploring various issues.
Read up on the comments and questions here.
The state of oil palm development in the Brazilian Amazon: Trends, value chain dynamics, and business models
Managing oil palm landscapes: A seven-country survey of the modern palm oil industry in Southeast Asia, Latin America and West Africa
Social impacts of oil palm in Indonesia: A gendered perspective from West Kalimantan


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Each week, we cover all the best blogs and give an executive summary for busy CIOs. Things were shaking in the world of IT last week, with the breaking news that there’s a risk of data privacy on Skype and the very revealing study that women are considered better leaders than men. And let us not forget that the new iPad release dropped on Friday.
• As predicted when the new iPad release date was announced, throngs of Apple faithful waited in line to buy the new iPad last Friday, including the Woz. However, at least one store had more Apple employees than waiting customers.
• Are you on Google+ yet? Mike Elgan feels that after years of ineffectual social media marketing, Google+ is the best thing that ever happened to his career.
• The Sistine Chapel is now digitized and allows you to fly around examining Michelangelo’s crowning achievement. Does the Vatican have a CIO?
• In the mobile apps arena, PayPal has announced a Square competitor, PayPal Here. It’s essentially just like Square, only with the pain and anger issues from being a PayPal product.
• According to a Harvard Business Review survey, women are considered better leaders than men. However, looking at the reasons why, this is hardly a coup for women in IT.
• Think your Google Fu has what it takes? Maybe, but we bet you don’t know each of these 10 Google search tricks.
• our next Skype internet telephone call might have an unwanted visitor. Microsoft and Skype have built a backdoor into the Skype internet telephone application that allows for “Lawful Interception” — aka eavesdropping.
• If you celebrated the new iPad release with a fresh tablet device, here’s how to transfer everything from an old iPad device to the new iPad painlessly.


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Hundreds turn out for second day of Target job fair
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Jobseekers lined up in San Francisco Friday morning for the second day of a job fair for city's first Target store.
1,000 people were interviewed Thursday at the Metreon complex at Fourth and Mission streets. About 100 of them landed a job.
Target is looking to hire 300 people total to work at its new store opening at the Metreon in October. The job fair continues until 7 p.m. Friday and runs again Saturday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.
target, jobs, economy, retail, business
- BART'S top cop to have auditor assess reforms
- President Obama renews calls for nuclear reductions 57 min ago
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- Fairfield grass fire spreads to nearby motel
- Tesla Model S recall for rear seat latch issue
- South SF husband and wife charged with pimping 25 min ago
- Workers face charges after sit-in at AT&T Park
- AMA now recognizes obesity as a disease 2 min ago
- Police enforcing pedestrian safety in San Mateo Co.
- 6-year-old boy killed by dog in Union City
- Three arrested in connection with fatal E. SJ stabbing 51 min ago
- abcnews: $73,000 'Most Spectacular' dog vacation
- roundup: Fairfield grass fire; SJ baseball suit
- weather: Bay Area weather forecast for Wednesday
- President Obama renews calls for nuclear...
57 min ago


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Farming tech company Dairymaster beefs up staff by 50 in bid for expansion
Dairymaster, the Kerry-based global farming technology company, plans to hire up to 50 people in the coming months as part of its expansion plans.
The firm, whose star products include MooMonitor, the first wearable technology for cows, employs 300 people, including app developers, software engineers, industrial designers, vets, laser technicians and software developers at its state-of-the-art plant in Causeway.
“We have a whole raft of things in the pipeline, some of which should deliver this year as...
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VIDEO RENTAL SHOP Blockbuster became the latest UK retailer to go into administration today, just a day after HMV met the same fate.
Like HMV, Blockbuster has appointed Deloitte as its administrator, as it looks to seek a buyer to prevent the closure of its 528 UK stores, which employ 4,190 staff. The company has yet to release a statement, but it's believed to have been hit hard by internet based competition from services such as iTunes and Netflix.
Deloitte administrator Lee Manning spoke with Sky News about Blockbuster. "We are working closely with suppliers and employees to ensure the business has the best possible platform to secure a sale, preserve jobs and generate as much value as possible for all creditors," he said.
"The core of the business is still profitable and we will continue to trade as normal in both retail and rental whilst we seek a buyer for all or parts of the business as a going concern.
Deloitte said that unlike HMV, Blockbuster will continue to accept gift cards. Manning said, "During this time gift cards and credit acquired through Blockbuster's trade-in scheme will be honoured towards the purchase of goods."
Blockbuster's collapse comes just one day after HMV announced that it had gone into administration. The music retailer, which suspended its website today, is seeking a buyer to save its 250 stores and 4,500 staff.
The news of both HMV and Blockbuster falling into receivership administration comes just months after UK high street electronics retailer Comet also collapsed due to growing online competition.
We've contacted both Blockbuster and HMV for further information. µ
Plus the cost of ambition as moonshots eat into the coffers
Spoiler alert: it's probably VeriSign
Did we say cuts off? We meant traps them inside their own home


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Ubuntu Touch OS wins its first smartphone partner
Canonical has just signed its first deal to supply a smartphone with its mobile operating system, Canonical founder and product strategy leader Mark Shuttleworth revealed in an interview here at the LeWeb conference. He wouldn't say which company has agreed to use the Linux-based OS, but said it will be offered on high-end phones in 2014.
"We have concluded our first set of agreements to ship Ubuntu on mobile phones," Shuttleworth said. "We've shifted gears from 'making a concept' to 'it's going to ship.' That has a big impact on the team."
And, he said, Canonical is in board-level discussions with several others: "We are now pretty much at the board level on four household brands. They sell a lot of phones all over the world, in emerging and fully emerged markets, to businesses and consumers."
Wow, it feels like a variation on the Ubuntu Edge is going to become real:
I'm pretty excited for this. Android has never ever got me excited, but this has got my attention.


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Three Gold Stevies® in International Business Awards® for making mobile internet accessible in emerging markets
London, September 11th, 2020 – Leading mobile technology company, Upstream, has been awarded three Gold Stevie® Awards in the 17th Annual International Business Awards® for its deployment of Zero-D in South Africa.
A panel of more than 250 independent judges from across the world comprised of leading industry experts, analysts, journalists and academics, have selected Upstream’s Zero-D for making mobile internet access available to 250 million consumers without data in emerging markets.
Zero-D was named:
- Gold – Best New Product or Service of the Year – Telecommunications Product
- Gold – Best New Product or Service of the Year – Telecommunications Service
- Gold – Product & Service Categories – Business Technology Solutions – Mobile Operations Management Solutions
Judges’ comments for Zero-D included:
- “This unique telecommunications product supports digital integration in South Africa.”
- “The service empowers users to support their own connectivity by interacting with ads on their own terms to gain mobile data.”
- “Upstream is successfully providing digital services to under-served customers in 20 countries. Recognizing that in today’s connected world, online access is increasingly becoming a basic human right. The new Zero-D platform provides for consistent connectivity, allowing users access to important educational and government services as well as stay in touch with friends and family.”
“Despite the increasingly digital world”, said Upstream Deputy CEO, Kostas Kastanis, “41 percent of the world’s population lacks access to the Internet. Hundreds of millions of people, most of which are from developing economies and rely upon mobile devices, lose access when financial and physical restrictions limit their ability to top up mobile data when they run out. This barrier keeps mobile users offline 50 percent of the time, translating to lost revenues, decreased engagement and low brand perception for mobile network operators”.
Zero-D by Upstream, an ad-funded free mobile Internet platform, helps keep users connected to the digital world even when they have run out of data on their pre-paid accounts. The deployment in South Africa facilitates enduring connectivity for over 25 million mobile users. The portal provides a zero-rated web environment in which users can enjoy continuous access to Internet essentials including local and international news, web search, weather reports, job portals, e-school courses, and unrestricted access to Wikipedia.
It also gives users access to Facebook Flex, a low-data version of Facebook, helping customers stay connected socially. Zero-rated access to certain government websites is also included; allowing users to access important services such as home affairs, healthcare, finances and general government communication services.
When a subscriber reaches the end of their data, they are redirected to the Zero-D portal. Within the portal, they can enjoy uninterrupted access to the Internet. The portal gives subscribers the option of digitally topping up their service for increased airtime or data by watching advertisements. This method of data rewards advertising extends support beyond the portal for mobile users in need of accessible connectivity.
“Zero-D is as much a mission for us, as it is a business,” said Kastanis. “What makes it sustainable is that it is designed so that everyone benefits, at the same time as contributing something positive to the world. We are proud that the judges of the International Business Awards® have recognized that we are already making a tangible everyday difference to a huge number of people’s lives.”
The International Business Awards are the world’s premier business awards program. All individuals and organizations worldwide – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small – are eligible to submit nominations.
The 2020 IBAs received 3,800 entries from organizations and entities in 63 nations and territories. Stevie Award winners were determined by the average scores of executives worldwide who participated in the judging process from July through early September.
As the ongoing COVID-19 crisis will prevent winners from receiving their awards on stage during a traditional gala IBA banquet, 2020 winners will be celebrated instead during a virtual ceremony on Tuesday, 1 December.
Details about The International Business Awards and the lists of Stevie Award winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.
For more information please contact:
Upstream Corporate Communications


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Trump Threatens Tariffs on American Companies That Create Jobs Outside the US
Arslan Butt • 1 min read
Trump seems keen to continue his tariff wars well into his second term as President in case he gets re-elected. During his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, he stated that he would impose tariffs on American businesses that move their operations and create jobs outside the US.
In line with his last campaign make America great again, Trump remarked, “We will impose tariffs on any company that leaves America to produce jobs overseas. We’ll make sure our companies and jobs stay in our country, as I’ve already been doing. Joe Biden’s agenda is Made in China. My agenda is Made in the USA.”
He reiterated his tough stance against China on the issue of trade, something that he maintains will not be possible for his rival Biden to continue. Trump’s trade war with China has resulted in imposing punitive tariffs on Chinese imports worth around $750 billion.
Earlier this year in May, he had announced a plan to impose new taxes on American companies that manufacture their products outside the US, possibly in a bid to reduce supply chain dependencies on China. Last week at another rally, he had also broached the idea of offering tax credits to businesses relocating their operations from overseas back into the country, helping bring back more jobs stateside.


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An EU plan to label products made in illegal settlements has infuriated Israel.
The EU’s top court has ruled that goods from Israeli settlements must be labelled as produced in occupied territory.
The decision was hailed by Palestinians even as it was condemned by Israel, which said it would try to persuade countries to ignore it.
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Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katzs hit out at the ruling which it said “serves as a tool in the political campaign against Israel”. He pledged to stop the rule from coming into effect.
West Bank winery
“The ruling’s entire objective is to single out and apply a double standard against Israel. There are over 200 ongoing territorial disputes across the world, yet the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has not rendered a single ruling related to the labelling of products originating from these territories,” he said.
But Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian chief negotiator, welcomed the ruling and called on all EU countries to “implement what is a legal and political obligation”.
The Luxembourg-based ECJ said labels must not imply that goods produced in occupied territory came from Israel itself.
Labels must “prevent consumers from being misled as to the fact that the State of Israel is present in the territories concerned as an occupying power and not as a sovereign entity”, the court said.
The case focused on a winery in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, but the court referred to all territory Israel captured in the 1967 war, including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, both of which Israel has annexed, as well as the West Bank.
As well as wine, Israeli farmers grow and package herbs, fruits and vegetables in the territories, many of which have been exported to the EU and labelled as “Product of Israel”.
Palestinians want to establish a state on territory occupied by Israel since 1967. They argue that settlements on occupied land are an unlawful violation of the Geneva conventions and multiple UN resolutions. Israel denies that its settlements break international law.
In its ruling, the EU court said settlements involved the transfer of Israelis outside the state’s territory “in violation of the rules of general international humanitarian law”.
As a result, failing to inform EU consumers they were potentially buying goods produced in settlements denies them access to “ethical considerations and considerations relating to the observance of international law”, it said.
Additional reporting from Reuters.


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The costs associated with paper-based invoicing have long been well-known. They include the time it takes to process invoices manually, the potential for errors through re-keying information into electronic payment systems, and the risk of paper-based invoices being lost or damaged, making on-time payment impossible.
Many organisations are looking to digitalise the invoicing process to save time and money. Now, the New Zealand and Australian governments are working on a joint approach to create trans-Tasman standards to eInvoicing that'll make it easier for businesses in both countries work with each other and across the globe.
Statistics from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment show it costs more than $30 to process a paper invoice, nearly $28 to process a PDF invoice, and less than $10 to process an e-invoice, making it far more cost effective for businesses.
eInvoicing will be the first in a range of new digital innovations by the New Zealand Government that'll use the New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) to help businesses save time and money. The new rules around eInvoicing will help businesses send and receive invoices electronically without having to have the same accounting software as each other.
Many businesses have already begun to achieve significant savings by managing invoices entirely electronically. Until now, however, there has been no specific imperative for organisations in New Zealand to switch to e-invoices if they didn't already want to.
eInvoicing reduces deadlines and processing costs, improves productivity, and helps with cash flow control and management of working capital needs. When invoices are digital, companies can see at a glance how much is owing or how much is due, and budget accordingly.
This increased visibility is invaluable for companies looking to manage their cash flow carefully. And, with the data that can be collected, organisations can apply data analytics to gain insights into factors such as how much the business spends with each supplier. This can help provide ammunition to negotiate better pricing or payment terms from suppliers used regularly, or to identify suppliers that consistently provide the best products at the best prices. Businesses can make smarter purchasing decisions that can help drive the organisation forward.
eInvoicing can also help improve relationships between suppliers and customers by ensuring bills are paid on time. This lets businesses leverage early-payment discounts or, at least, avoid late payments that can fracture relationships.
Furthermore, e-invoices save time. For example, according to Ernst - Young's Worldwide Electronic Invoicing Survey, it takes 15 days to process a paper invoice but just three days to process an e-invoice, on average. Employees who no longer have to manually process invoices can direct their focus towards more fulfilling and rewarding tasks.
And, eInvoicing limits the risks of error and strengthens internal control systems. Reduced errors mean that there will be fewer double payments or missed payments, so staff members don't have to waste time rectifying these situations.
E-invoices also dramatically reduce the risk of falling victim to a false billing scam. These scams are relatively simple: the scammer sends a fake invoice to a company in the hopes that an overworked administrative staff member will just pay it without question. Fraudulent invoice scams are some of the most common affecting New Zealand entities and consumers, according to Spark.
Those benefits provide a compelling reason for organisations to move to eInvoicing regardless of any government mandate. However, with a government mandate potentially on the horizon, it's important for organisations to understand eInvoicing and begin to prepare.
Implementing eInvoicing isn't always as simple or straightforward as adopting an eInvoicing software platform and getting started. There are considerations such as tax compliance, international laws, and data security.
There are five steps businesses should take to ensure they adopt a multinational tax-compliant eInvoice solution:
1. Scope: Businesses need to understand what jurisdictions and stakeholders are involved, and conduct a market review of the solutions available.
2. Requirements: Some businesses will need a solution that incorporates GST or VAT requirements, for example.
3. Validation: It's essential to ensure that the chosen solution will comply with all regulations in the business's jurisdiction and won't leave the business open to non-compliance.
4. Implementation: Businesses should roll out the solution in a staged approach that includes notifying all customers and training all staff members.
5. Review: Once the solution is in place, it's important to review its efficacy regularly to ensure it still complies with all relevant legislation and remains fit for purpose for the organisation.
As a first step, businesses should start using their NZBN and the NZBNs of the other businesses they deal with. If working with a software provider or reseller, businesses should start checking about their plans to support the NZBN and eInvoicing subsequently.
There are numerous solutions available to help organisations streamline and automate their invoice processes. eInvoicing is the future of customer and supplier relationships, so New Zealand companies need to begin investigating their options sooner rather than later.