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Just because the wedding’s over doesn’t mean the fashion parade is.
Jennifer Lopez has been making major headlines in recent months, thanks to her and Ben Affleck’s surprise Vegas nuptials in July and subsequent honeymoon in Paris, followed by another, grander wedding in Georgia in August. Along the way, she’s been showing off A LOT of chic looks, from her multiple bridal gowns to her honeymoon ensembles.
And just when we thought the fashion fever is cooling, more photos are now coming out from her wedding weekend in Georgia and a second honeymoon in Italy. See them below.


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Tariffs on 87% of UK imports cut to zero to avoid £9bn shock to consumers and business
Tariffs will be slashed to zero on 87% of imports to the UK as part of a temporary no-deal plan to prevent a £9bn price shock to business and consumers, the government has announced.
But tariffs will apply to certain goods including beef, lamb, pork, poultry and some dairy products to “support farmers and producers who have historically been protected through high EU tariffs”.
The announcements were made in a last ditch attempt to concentrate the minds of MPs who will be voting later on Wednesday to reject a no-deal Brexit after Theresa May’s humiliating 149-vote defeat.
The government described the announcement as a “modest liberalisation” of tariffs designed to minimise disruption to business and price shock in the supermarkets.
The measures also raised immediate concerns about Northern Ireland being turned into a smugglers’ paradise after it was revealed that tariffs would not apply to goods crossing from the Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland.
The Irish European affairs minister, Helen McEntee, said the prospect of tariffs on beef and dairy exports to the UK from the republic would be “absolutely disastrous for Irish agriculture”.
Goods from the EU are currently tariff free but in case of a no-deal Brexit, World Trade Organisation taxes would have been the default position without this intervention.
Wednesday’s announcement on Northern Ireland did not include any disclosures about security on the border but it is known that the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Garda in Ireland are concerned there could be a lucrative “Brexit dividend” for existing criminal networks in the country.
Recent reports have shown criminal gangs involved in smuggling of cigarettes and other goods in Ireland come from all over the world including Asia and the Baltic states.
The government also announced it would “not introduce any new checks or controls on goods moving to Ireland or Northern Ireland” including no customs declarations for “normal goods”.
The new tariff schedule would apply from 11pm on 29 March in the event of a crash out of the EU and would be in place for up to 12 months.
The headline rates published on Wednesday by the government represent a percentage of the existing EU rate. They include 53% of the existing EU rate on beef, which equates, for example, to 6.8% on boneless beef plus €160.10 (£138) per 100kg and 6.8% on unboned beef and €93 per 100kg.
Other rates announced on Wednesday include 60% of the existing EU rate on poultry, butter 32%, cheddar cheese 13%, fish/seafood 11.9%, and 83% on milled and semi-milled grain. The existing EU tariff applied to non-EU lamb will be applied in the UK.
A tariff of 11.3% of the existing EU rate would apply to finished motor cars and trucks with 8% on certain textiles and 8.2% on footwear.
The trade minister, George Hollingbery, said the measures would protect the poorest families in Britain against price rises. “If we leave without a deal, we will set the majority of our import tariffs to zero while maintaining tariffs for the most sensitive industries.”
He said the approach would “help to support British jobs and avoid potential price spikes that would hit the poorest household the hardest”.
Responding to the announcement, Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, described the prospect of no deal as a “sledgehammer for the economy”.
“This tells us everything that is wrong with a no-deal scenario. What we are hearing is the biggest change in terms of trade this country has faced since the mid-19th century being imposed on this country with no consultation with business, no time to prepare,” she told the BBC’s Today programme.
“This is no way to run a country. What we potentially are going to see is this imposition of new terms of trade at the same time as business is blocked out of its closest trading partner. This is a sledgehammer for our economy.”
In relation to Northern Ireland, the government said its reason for waiving the regime in the region was to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. It added if it crashed out of the EU without a deal, the government will “enter discussions urgently with the EU and Ireland” over longer term border arrangements.
The no-checks approach, which has been dubbed an “honesty-box system” in Northern Ireland, would be a “strictly temporary, unilateral approach it would take to avoid a hard border if the UK were to leave the EU without a deal”.
A “small number” of checks would apply on the border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, however, the government insisted this would not entail any controls down the Irish Sea.
To protect animal, human and plant health, food products from non-EU countries would “enter Northern Ireland through a designated entry point”.
In addition, “regulated plant material from outside the EU and high-risk EU plant material will require certification and pre-notification” before arriving in the UK including Northern Ireland.
It is understood there will be little incentive for legitimate exporters to shift operations from Dublin port to the “backdoor” tariff-free Northern Ireland ports and airports because they will have to register their goods in any event with a customs declaration.
Documents would also be needed for goods such as endangered species and hazardous chemicals but this would not involve any infrastructure or checks at the border in Northern Ireland, the government said.

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German-based Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) conducted a study titled ‘Feasibility study on scaling up the production of Technical Textile (TT) including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in Bangladesh’ concluded that Bangladesh, still in the primary phase of technical textiles, and has a vast perspective to grab the big technical textile markets of EU and USA.
GIZ study identified five key reasons behind this:
- Lack of awareness of market requirements,
- Inadequate technical expertise,
- Difficulty in sourcing high-performance raw materials,
- Compliance and certification requirements
- Need for capital investment.
The report said, “Most apparel manufacturers in Bangladesh tend to be medium-sized companies. Even large apparel groups are not known by international procurement agencies for TT/PPE products. The sourcing supply channel for medical PPE products is far more complex than that of apparel. Comprehensive details regarding performance, testing and certification requirements for the EU and the US are provided.”
According to various surveys, the technical textile market is expected to rise by $224.4 billion by 2025 at an average annual growth rate of 4.2%. While the total PPE market is expected to pass $93 billion by the end of 2025.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data, in the FY 2020-21, Bangladesh exported $618 million worth of PPEs and masks, which grew by 23% more than the previous year.


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CBS 2’s Emily Smith headed over to 99th and Broadway for a tour of ‘the Ariel’ and you can see it all in tonight’s edition of Living Large.
The money has to go a little further this year. Here are some of our favorite sites to visit for deals on Cyber Monday and throughout the holiday season.
The company unveiled the iPad Mini on Tuesday, with a screen about two-thirds the size of the full model, and half the weight. Customers can begin ordering the new model on Friday.
Are you as excited as we are that apples are back in season? The crisp is in the air and this year’s fresh crop of apples has begun flooding the market. That means it’s time for apple-filled sweet treats. Here’s a round-up of New York’s best.
A lighthearted look at news, events, culture and everyday life in New York. ______________ By Nina Pajak Oh, Apple. You are very sneaky indeed. You already got me once. I resisted for as long as […]
Whether thieves target iPhones, iPads or personal computers, the crime spike is outpacing the rise of the city’s overall crime rate.
“I’m breathless,” said Keenan Thompson of Jackson Heights. “I don’t have words to explain how happy I am right now.”
Hey Apple fanboys and fangirls, CBS New York needs to know which color handset you’ll be walking out of the store with. Take our poll and make your wisecracks inside…
The iPhone 5 won’t be available in stores until Friday, but that hasn’t stopped die-hard Apple fans from lining up early outside the flagship store on 5th Avenue.
Thanks to new technology that eliminates a separate touch-sensing layer in the screen, the phone is 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter, said Apple marketing head Phil Schiller
Whenever you download an app, do a search on Google or even play a game on your cell phone, you’re putting your personal information at risk.
Education and technology are becoming increasingly integrated, and keeping up on all of the new educational applications for kids is important. One of the biggest struggles is not finding an app; it is finding the appropriate app.
An audit by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office charges that the MTA allowed Apple to make it difficult for rivals to get in a bid by requiring that potential tenants be willing to front $5 million in cash within a 30-day window.
A man who stole a laptop at Tampa International Airport has been arrested at LaGuardia, the Federal Transportation Security Administration reports.
The U.S. government filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple Inc. and book publishers on Wednesday. It says the publishers conspired with Apple to raise retail electronic-book prices to limit competition.


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Karen Chupka will succeed Chris Brown as leader of the conventions arm of the National Association of Broadcasters.
She was with the Consumer Technology Association for 34 years, most recently as chief strategy officer and executive vice president of CES. She left in January of this year to start a consultancy, with CTA as her first client, according to Trade Show News Network.
“In her new role at NAB, Chupka will set the strategy, manage the business and inspire the people that produce NAB Show, NAB Show New York and NAB Amplify,” the NAB said in the announcement. Her title will be managing director and executive vice president, Global Connections and Events.
She starts Jan. 1. Chris Brown announced in July that he plans to transition out after the 2024 NAB Show, after 25 years with the organization.
President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt noted Chupka’s “long track record of exemplary leadership managing and growing one of the largest trade shows in the world.”
Chupka called the spring NAB Show “a widely respected and unrivaled marketplace of innovative products, services and ideas that are driving the future of the media industry.”


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Although hybrid fiber-coaxial telephony services are just beginning to make an impact in the consumer market, how those services are marketed and bundled could push the needle to extremely lucrative heights, panelists told attendees at the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing's CTAM Summit last week.
By employing an aggressive mix of marketing and service bundling, The Strategis Group vice president Michael Krier said, the cable industry could approach $2.7 billion in circuit-switched and Internet-protocol telephony service revenue by 2005.
But cable has a long row to hoe before that figure is reached: The industry will pull down a mere $133 million in circuit-switched revenue this year, rising to $339 million by the end of 2001, he added.
One company that has trained its sights on that market is AT & T Broadband, which expects its cable-telephony-subscriber rolls to top 400,000 by year's end.
Even with MediaOne Group Inc.'s HFC-telephony markets and subscribers in the mix, AT & T Broadband plans to employ an aggressive marketing regimen to reach that goal, said vice president of marketing and sales for telephony Nancy McGee, who also filled a similar role at MediaOne.
That diet will continue to include heavy doses of media advertising and "personal marketing" strategies, such as direct door-to-door sales. "We usually do traditional tactics, then sweep in with direct sales," McGee said. "We have to tell a story before we can switch customers."
Earlier this year, AT & T Broadband said direct sales will ultimately account for between 30 percent and 35 percent of telephony sales.
McGee said AT & T Broadband's aggressive HFC-telephony plan is to drive penetration levels to roughly 10 percent in marketed areas.
If all goes according to plan, the company's ambition is to serve as much more than just a thorn in the sides of incumbent local-exchange carriers. "Our goal is to win market share from competitors," and not to become merely a niche service, McGee added.
While aggressive marketing will aid cable's moves into the telephony arena, service bundling is expected to build a following, as well.
Indeed, 84 percent of consumers want local phone in their bundle, Krier said, citing a recent Strategis Group study.
And more consumers consider cable as a viable telephony option. For example, 27.7 percent of the respondents said they were "extremely interested" or "very interested" in receiving local phone service from their local cable operator. About 39 percent were "somewhat interested," and 32.8 percent were "not too interested" or "not interested."


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Elevated view of downtown Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI.
Prospective business investors will get an inside look into the benefits of doing business in the U.S. Virgin Islands along with an invitation to consider a United States territory in the Caribbean as a prime destination for business development during the virtual 2021 SelectUSA Investment Summit, the V.I. Economic Development Authority said in a release issued Friday.
EDA CEO Wayne Biggs will lead the EDA's economic development team for the authority's participation in this summit, which takes place June 7–11, according to the release. The EDA is also a diamond sponsor of the summit.
The authority will be among several U.S. economic development organizations, along side international and domestic investors, senior White House officials, and state and local government representatives that will participate in the summit.
The EDA's economic development team will promote the U.S. Virgin Islands’ tax incentive program and USVI business opportunities to attract new investors to the USVI. The team will include Margarita A. Benjamin, director of applications for economic development at the V.I. Economic Development Commission (EDC); and Shanell Petersen, managing director of marketing, all of whom will engage in several networking activities including speaking engagements and one-on-one business meetings, according to the release.
EDA representatives will also host a virtual exhibitor booth to engage with international and domestic investors and high-level corporate decision makers as they promote the U.S. Virgin Islands as an attractive destination for business investment, the release stated.
The SelectUSA Investment Summit “draws more than 3,000 attendees and historically attracts more than 1,200 business investors from approximately 80 international markets,” according to a description of the event.
The EDC — an entity of the EDA — offers 90 percent reduction in corporate and personal income tax, 100 percent exemption on business property tax and excise tax payments and a reduction in the customs duty from the standard 6 percent to 1 percent. The EDC also administers the Small Business Tax Incentive Program, the Eligible V.I. Suppliers Program and the Hotel Development Program, according to the release.
As the umbrella authority for three other entities, the Enterprise Zone Commission (EZC), Economic Development Bank (EDB), and the Economic Development Park Corporation (EDPC), the EDA also offers tax exemptions & tax credits through the EZC to rehabilitate properties in enterprise zones which are distressed areas that were once vibrant communities. It also offers low-interest loans to small-to-medium sized businesses and an incubator program through the EDB. Additionally, the EDA provides affordable commercial spaces for lease at the EDPC.
To learn more about SelectUSA, go here.


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A Fenton-based pharmaceutical company has sold four of its most popular brands, including Ocean nasal spray, to a subsidiary of a Canadian drug company.
Fleming Pharmaceuticals, a privately held company, announced Wednesday that it has sold the rights to Ocean, Nephrocaps, Magonate, and ProBarimin QT products to a unit of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., a publicly traded company that is headquartered in Ontario.
The sale, which was completed in late December, is the first step in the family's decision to sell Fleming Pharmaceuticals, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.
The company was founded by Tom Fleming, a chemist and entrepreneur from the St. Louis area who died several years ago. Fleming's family took over a majority share of the company.
Fleming's president, Phill Dritsas said the family's decision to sell the company was "a harmonious decision, but a difficult one . . . They wanted to do the right thing for the products that their father and the Fleming team brought to market."
Dritsas said the company's success arose from brands that its founder "thought of in his living room" and developed by working closely with St. Louis area physicians.
Ocean, the first saline nasal spray of its kind in the market, still maintains a leading share of its market segment, he said.
"There's heightened competition (in the cough and cold category)," Dritsas said, "and the idea of having a company with Valeant's expertise to take the products into the future was appealing to the family."
For the time being, Fleming has retained the rights to manufacture and market ThyroShield, one of two Food and Drug Administration-approved potassium iodide medicines used in nuclear emergencies to combat radiation sickness. The medicine is designed to block the thyroid gland from absorbing radioactive iodine to avoid thyroid cancer.
The company has also retained its headquarters and contract services business that develops, tests and manufactures of specialty pharmaceutical companies. And it continues for now to make products for Valeant.
Dritsas said he did not know whether Valeant plans to move production from the Fenton facility.
Fleming Pharmaceuticals, however, has hired the Douglas Group, a St. Louis-based private investment bank, to facilitate the potential merger or sale of Fleming's remaining assets and operations.
"My job is to help the family, the shareholders, maintain and increase shareholder value," Dritsas said. "At the end of the day, the shareholders have to make a decision as what they do with the company and I support the path that they choose."


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iQOO’s new mid-range smartphone, the iQOO Z1 has been doing the rounds on the internet lately. The brand had confirmed that the smartphone would be launched on May 19th, as the world’s first phone to be powered by the new MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ 5G chipset. More recently, iQOO revealed renders of the handset through its official Weibo handle.
The smartphone has now been officially unveiled in China. It features a punch-hole display with 144Hz refresh rate, triple camera setup, 5G connectivity and more as its highlights.
iQOO Z1 specifications and features
The iQOO Z1’s window to the world is a 6.57-inch IPS display with FHD+ resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, HDR10 and a punch-hole cutout in the top left corner. The smartphone is also the second device to offer a 144Hz display after Red Magic 5G. There’s an auto mode, which switches refresh rates automatically for a smoother experience. Driving the performance of the smartphone is the Mediatek Dimensity 1000+ 5G chipset backed by a Mali-G77 MP9 GPU. iQOO is offering the handset in three configurations – 6GB + 128GB, 8GB + 128GB and 8GB + 256GB, with support for microSD cards.
Coming to the back panel, the rectangular camera island houses a 48-megapixel primary camera accompanied by an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle sensor and 2-megapixel macro lens. The punch-hole cutout on the front is housing a 16-megapixel selfie snapper. For security, there is a side-mounted fingerprint scanner embedded in the power button as well as face unlock. Connectivity options on the handset include 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, USB-C, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The phone boots Android 10 but with the proprietary iQOO UI garnished on top. Powering the smartphone is a 4,500mAh battery with support for 44W fast charging. iQOO claims that the device charges to 50 percent in just 23 minutes.
iQOO Z1 price and availability
iQOO is offering the Z1 in two colour options, namely Space Blue and Galaxy Silver, along with a bright yellow special edition One Piece variant that features the One Piece skull and bones logo on the back. The smartphone price starts at RMB 2,198 (~Rs 23,400) for the 6GB model, RMB 2,498 (~Rs 26,600) for the 8GB + 128GB model and RMB 2,798 (~Rs 29,800) for 8GB + 256GB variant. The phone is already up for pre-order on Vivo’s official website in China, with sales beginning from June 1st.


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Convious, a leading eCommerce platform for the leisure industry, will be opening a UK office in 2021. This means that the company, whose AI-driven cloud platform is in use at over 100 locations across Europe, will have a base where it can engage with UK clients.
This move will help UK visitor attractions access the tools that they need to fully embrace new technologies, allowing them to enhance the visitor experience and transform their business. After its UK launch later this year, the company will be ready to deliver its disruptive AI-powered solution across the country.
Optimising business processes
Since its inception in 2017, the company has fast become known for its simple, seamless platform, which enables attractions to manage marketing, sales and service strategies all in the same place. The Convious platform offers crowd control tools, dynamic pricing, and real-time insights. In a difficult time for the industry, when COVID has presented extra challenges, these functions have proved to be more necessary than ever before.
The pandemic led to a 66% drop in visitor numbers to top attractions in the UK, so operators have had to adapt, optimising their processes in order to survive. This is where Convious, which helped to sell over 8 million tickets through partner channels over the last 12 months, can prove its worth.
Continuing to support the industry
“The past year has been unusually challenging for so many businesses, but those that have embraced digital transformation and direct-to-consumer (D2C) models have generally fared best,” says Camiel Kraan, CEO at Convious.
“Convious is proud to have played a part in fostering this business resilience through our innovative AI-powered solutions. We will continue to support the industry in any way we can and look forward to developing a closer relationship with our UK customers following the launch of our new office.”
Attendees at IAAPA Expo Europe in Barcelona this week will be able to meet the team, as they announce new developments from booth #2-270. Later this year, UK customers can also explore the company’s digital offerings in-person at the Family Attraction Expo at the NEC in Birmingham, from 10 – 11 November.
This summer, Convious announced the launch of its Mobile Food Ordering technology, which allows guests to order food and beverage options directly from their own mobile device and avoid queues.


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A crisis can begin with one disregarded email from a low-level manufacturing employee and it can be significantly exasperated by a company’s lack of existing infrastructure for internal communications; especially if there’s a disconnect between management and lower-level employees. Poor internal communications can cause a larger degradation of communications which, in the case of Takata, resulted in the loss of life, a government investigation into negligence and a multi-billion-dollar company going bankrupt.
The Takata airbag recall is one of the largest and most widespread recalls to date, with its effects still being felt by car owners all over the United States. Almost 40 million cars were affected by faulty airbag inflators, with almost 50 million inflators having to be replaced, originally, with more Takata airbag inflators that would eventually have to be replaced, again. 21 major car companies were affected by this recall and had to issue massive recalls.
Manufacturers in Mexico noted concerns about the inflators’ quality directly to managers and with a lacklustre internal communications infrastructure, concerns about the product were destined to get lost in a seemingly endless chain of command. It’s suspected that employees were aware of safety concerns with the inflators up to five years before the company came forward.
Had a company like Takata and the subsequent car companies that were affected by the recall listened to and had existing open and honest lines of communications with their employees, deaths could have been prevented. Internal communications was late to the game with an April 2011 email from a Takata senior vice president to employees noted that “Global safety audits had stopped for financial reasons for last 2 years.”
This was three years before the first New York Times article came out with research that corroborated reports that Takata knew of the defects with the airbags for years before filing safety reports with government safety regulators.
Employees’ concerns about the state of the faulty inflators were further disregarded when the first recall began. Car companies began replacing faulty inflators with other Takata brand inflators, that were created in the exact same way and had the exact same production issues.
Internal communications must go beyond Email in 2019. The digital landscape is changing every day and people demand factual and informative content, instantly. Companies need to put an emphasis on internal transparency with open, direct, and efficient ways to communicate. While Takata was slow to acknowledge the airbag concerns, they were also negligent when, instead of issuing a recall, they began replacing affected inflators with more faulty inflators.
Companies that communicate frequently and often have higher rates of employee retention. These same companies also report higher levels of employee happiness and are more engaged with their work. Ensure that your employees feel heard and understood with corporate intranet updates, newsletters and more. Some companies have even adopted workplace phone apps that send information and allow employees to communicate internally in an efficient and secure manner.
Analyzing your existing internal communications on a business-as-usual basis is step one for any crisis response plan or exercise.
Read part 2 of this blog which will analyze the effects that poor internal communications can have on reputation and your employees’ ability or inability to proactively and efficiently respond.


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This time, Bridgestone Corporation and Bridgestone Cycle Co., Ltd. developed the next generation tire for bicycles using "Air Free Concept" technology which makes air filling of tires unnecessary.
Announced that it is aiming for commercialization in 2019.
The air-free concept is a technology that supports the load by special shaped spokes on the side of the tire and eliminates the need to fill the tire with air.
Using that technology, I developed a bicycle tire without concern about puncture. In addition, since we are using resin for spokes, we have a high degree of freedom in design, making it an unprecedented tire design.
Moreover, by using recyclable resin and rubber for the material of the spoke part, it seems that resources can be used efficiently.
Trial experience will be held at the event "Bridgestone x Olympics x Paralympics a GO GO!" Held in Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture on April 30, 2017, in Yokohama City on Sunday, June 4 (Sun) .
Based on the opinion of those who actually got on it, it is said that examination for practical use will proceed.
A bicycle that can run anywhere without worrying about puncture. It seems that it will soon be a reality thing.


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OPINION: It’s been a big week for the technology industry, with MWC 2023 seeing a number of exciting smartphone reveals, from the Realme GT 3 that can be completely recharged in less than 10 minutes to the foldable Honor Magic Vs.
But just like we saw back in 2022, a few laptop announcements snuck into the MWC spotlight this week, with Lenovo making the biggest splash.
Lenovo’s new IdeaPad Duet 3i looks to be a worthy rival to Microsoft’s Surface Pro, while the ThinkPad Z13 Gen 2 uses an innovative eco-friendly Flax material to help improve the company’s sustainability efforts. But my personal favourite laptop announcement of MWC 2023 was Lenovo’s rollable laptop concept.
This remarkable device looks like your average laptop at first glance, but flick a switch on the side and you’ll start to see the screen expand upwards.
Seeing the screen grow in size looks like a magic trick at first, and yet there’s nothing fictional about this device. While it looks like the extra screen space is appearing out of thin air, in reality, the screen is actually being pulled from a hidden compartment under the keyboard.
Those with a keen eye may spot a crease mark on the screen when fully extended, highlighting that Lenovo is using bendy screen technology to allow the screen to curve into the main chassis without the screen shattering.
Aside from being a party pleaser that will have Starbucks onlookers spitting out their coffee in shock, Lenovo’s rollable display actually has a helpful use case. At default, Lenovo’s laptop has a conventional 12.7-inch display, but activating the rolling mechanic will see it transform into a 15.3-inch panel.
With an 8:9 aspect ratio, Lenovo’s 15-incher essentially looks like two 16:9 displays that have been melded together. That means you could have two apps or web browser windows stacked on top of each other, proving an excellent opportunity for multitasking.
As someone who loves working with a multi-monitor setup, this laptop design really appeals to me. It’s difficult to establish such a work setup at both my home and in the office and I don’t really fancy lugging a second monitor with me whenever I travel. Lenovo’s rollable concept provides the best of both worlds, featuring an ultra-portable design with enough screen space for multitasking.
But this rollable concept isn’t the first time Lenovo has created a unique laptop design that aims to resolve our multitasking woes. Back in 2020, Lenovo unveiled the X1 Fold, a foldable PC that can be bent into the form of either a laptop or tablet.
And just a couple of months ago during CES 2023, Lenovo showcased a dual-screen laptop called the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i. This provided similar benefits to its foldable device but used a hinge instead of a bendy screen to reduce the cost and avoid logistical headaches.
But as impressive as both Lenovo’s foldable and dual-screen laptops are, they have a number of drawbacks. Firstly, they lack an integrated keyboard, so you’ll need to use the bundled Bluetooth keyboard instead which doesn’t feel quite as comfortable and tactile. Secondly, such unique designs may not well play nicely with Windows.
Microsoft has been promising to update its operating system to improve the experience for foldables and dual-screen devices for years, but it’s still not quite there yet. Maybe such updates will arrive alongside Windows 12, although that’s at least a year away. And even then, it would take years to iron out all of the software kinks.
This is why I think Lenovo’s rollable laptop concept makes a lot more sense to me. While seeing a laptop’s screen expand in size is certainly a new trend, it won’t actually change the way we interact with laptops and so won’t require any Windows-based software tweaks. When expanded into a larger screen, the Lenovo concept should simply work just like a normal large-screen laptop.
That doesn’t mean such a concept won’t have its own drawbacks. Lenovo hasn’t mentioned the weight of the device just yet, and I’m willing to bet it’s going to be noticeably heavier than a standard 13-inch laptop.
I’m also concerned that this rollable screen could be fragile. If the rollable mechanism breaks, then you’re going to be in a lot of trouble. And there’s still plenty of scepticism surrounding the long-term reliability of foldable screen technology, especially if you’re not a fan of crease marks.
And it’s clear that foldable technology drives up the cost of a laptop considerably. For example, the ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is priced at a mighty £3299, despite sharing similar internal specs as laptops that are half the cost.
With so many hurdles to overcome, it’s not surprising to see Lenovo reveal its first rollable laptop as a concept device rather than a product that’s ready for release. With no guarantee of an official launch, it’s possible that the rollable laptop will never see the light of day. But I personally think Lenovo’s onto something with this unique form factor and will be shocked if we don’t see a more polished iteration arriving in stores within the next few years.
Ctrl+Alt+Delete is our weekly computing-focussed opinion column where we delve deeper into the world of computers, laptops, components, peripherals and more. Find it on Trusted Reviews every Saturday afternoon.


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Product Environmental Footprint – what is green?
The “Mid-term conference on the Environmental Footprint pilot phase”, held on the 3rd and 4th November in Brussels, will be the occasion for the companies involved to present the preliminary results of their projects so far, after that more than 2 years have already passed.
TEPPFA, the European Plastic Pipes and Fittings Association, is in the first line for what concerns environmental sustainability and it is strongly committed in contributing to the elaboration of a common set of standards and rules to reach an European unique method among construction products.
During the conference TEPPFA will report the status of its project, one of the 25 on-going pilots: “PEF Pilot Hot & Cold Water Supplying systems in building”, carried out together with the European Copper Institute, Plastics Europe and the Flemish Institute for Technological Research. The method described, whether implemented, has been proved to boost the circular economy, cutting down companies’ costs and promoting comparison among products. TEPPFA is also aiming and confident to find a common ground for a future alignment between PEF and EN15804.
Furthermore, the agenda will address the theme of raw materials, commodities and environmental footprint and the environmental footprint applied to the food sector, energy driven product and chemistry driven products. Another important point which will be discussed, crucial for TEPPFA as well, is the stakeholders’ reaction at the prospective of a common benchmarking. This last one could in fact be scaring on some extend, since it would ended up to show how not all the products are equally good, as well as all industries and sectors. It is not by chance that TEPPFA has decided to further address this topic in the next TEPPFA Forum 2016.
Following the conference, on both days, a political debate will give an occasion to stakeholders belonging from different industries to express their ideas and future developments around the Product and Organization Environmental Footprint.
For more information about the topic and for the detailed programme of the conference, please visit the dedicated page on the European Commission website at this link
 In April 2013 the European Commission lunched a three-year testing period to develop product and sector specific criteria with the purpose of reaching a single market for green products.


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Aldi proved plenty of soothsayers wrong today, hitting back at the weekend’s gloomy headlines by grabbing plenty of positive column inches with its best-ever Christmas.
While some analysts predicted a sales slump, the discounter gave experts a festive feast of food for thought, revealing that total sales actually grew 15% in December.
Although it declined to divulge a like-for-like figure, sources close to Aldi told Retail Week that same store sales were “strongly positive”, suggesting that it wasn’t just new supermarket openings that contributed to growth.
With a slew of updates due this week – most notably on what has been dubbed ‘Super Thursday’ – does Aldi’s performance point to 2016 being the discounters’ Christmas?
After all, value operator B&M has already unveiled a healthy 7.2% spike in like-for-likes, while Iceland boss Malcolm Walker told Retail Week just before Christmas that its festive trading had been “f**king amazing”.
Elsewhere, Superdrug and Maplin also posted positive Christmas trading updates, but trade will not be so brisk in London today, with footfall expected to tumble around 10% as a result of the Tube strike.
Quote of the day
“We’ve got to think differently about the future to make sure we continue to compete in an incredibly competitive marketplace”
– Waitrose managing director Rob Collins.
Today in numbers
The number of drones Maplin sold in the six weeks to December 24.
The jump in footfall recorded at Intu shopping centres from November 20, 2016 to January 2, 2017.
Luke Tugby, deputy news editor


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February 23, 2023
Sales value during the festive season in late 2022 was 2.5 times higher compared to the previous year
The organised retail sector is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 25%
The Indian retail sector as a whole attracted around US$ 1,473 million between 2019 and 2022
The top cities have over 51 million sq ft of mall stock across India
India’s retail market size is expected to reach US$ 2 trillion by 2032, compared to US$ 690 billion in 2021, according to a joint report by Anarock and the Retailers Association of India (RAI).
According to the report, nearly 25 million square feet of new mall space across seven major cities are to be added by real estate developers over the next 4-5 years. Last year, these seven cities added over 2.6 million sq ft of mall space, up by 27% from 2021.
Experts said that the estimated sales value during the festive season in late 2022 was 2.5 times higher compared to the previous year, standing at INR 2.5 trillion. They further mentioned that the organised retail sector is expected to grow 25%, and the Indian retail sector as a whole attracted around US$ 1,473 million between 2019 and 2022. Additionally, the sales volume of the organised retail segment in FY22 was estimated at US$ 52 billion and is projected to reach US$ 136 billion by 2028 with a growth rate of 17%, the report said.
As per the report, the top cities have over 51 million sq ft of mall stock across India, and over 62% of that space is accounted for the National Capital Region (NCR), Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Bengaluru. Last year, average rentals in malls appreciated by nearly 15% over 2021, with Bengaluru registering the highest increase in rentals by 27%, followed by Kolkata at 20% in 2022 compared to the previous year.
Regarding industry estimates, the report mentioned that over the next five years, the e-retail market is expected to reach US$ 120-140 billion by FY26 increasing at 25-30% annually.
Source: Business Standard


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Sony has revealed a bumper crop of games, including Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Marathon, a new shooter from Bungie.
Sony has kicked off the long summer season of game reveals with its PlayStation Showcase, which was packed with a fair few surprises. We’ve already covered the intriguing reveal of Project Q, a handheld streaming device for the PS5, and below we’ve listed every game shown in the PlayStation Showcase. There are a lot!
That said, only a few of these games are PS5 exclusives – something that Microsoft has been quick to point out. Even Marathon, from Sony-owned studio Bungie, is coming to Xbox and PC. That said, Sony does have a rather desirable exclusive in the form of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which we’ll get to in a minute. Now, onwards, we’ve got a lot to get through.
First is Fairgame$, with its tacked-on dollar sign which will surely annoy games journalists across the world every time they have to type it. It’s a heist-based shooter, where the aim is to break into rich people’s flashy penthouses and steal their stuff in the name of wealth redistribution. Sort of like Robin Hood but with guns and attitude. This one is a PlayStation exclusive, and it’s from Sony-owned Haven Studios, the developer set up by Jade Raymond after she left Google’s Stadia.
Then we have Helldivers 2 from Arrowhead Game Studios, which is a sequel to the 2015 top-down shooter. Think Starship Troopers and you’re basically there. This one is also coming to PC.
Next is Immortals of Aveum, a magic-based first-person shooter from Ascendant Studios, which was set up in 2018 by a group of former Electronic Arts developers. This is being published by EA, and will be making its way to Xbox and PC, too.
Ghostrunner II is a sequel to the speedy action-platformer from 2020, and it’s due out later this year on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Joe Parlock praised the fluid, exciting platforming of the original Ghostrunner in his review, but was disappointed by the mediocre combat. Hopefully that aspect will be improved in the sequel.
Phantom Blade 0 is a new reveal from Chinese studio S-Game. The trailer shows some fast-paced wuxia sword combat in what could be described as Ghost of Tsushima crossed with Dark Souls. No release date for this one yet, but it’s also coming to PC.
Now this is quite lovely. Sword of the Sea is the new game from Giant Squid, makers of the wonderfully serene Abzu. It takes place in a realm where the terrain flows like waves, and you can surf across it using your Hoversword – sort of like Journey crossed with a skatepark. It’s due out on PS5 and PC, but there’s no release date yet.
Fans of fourth-wall breaking and thought-provoking puzzles, rejoice! The Talos Principle II has been confirmed for release on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC later this year, some seven years after developer Croteam announced it was working on a sequel to the original 2014 game.
More good news! Nomada Studio, the developer of Gris – cover star of the first ever issue of Wireframe – has revealed a new game called Neva, due out next year on PC, PS5, Xbox and Switch. The theme is the environmental problems, and it looks simply gorgeous.
Cat Quest: Pirates of the Purribean is the third game in the cutesy Cat Quest action-RPG series, and it’s due out in 2024 on PS5, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
Foamstars from Square Enix is basically Splatoon, but with foam, and the trailer has unwittingly resurfaced some long-repressed memories of nightclub foam parties in the early 2000s that I’d hoped I’d forgotten. Foamstars is a 4v4 shooter that’s due out on PS4 and PS5 at some unspecified point in the future.
The wonderful-looking storybook adventure The Plucky Squire has been shown off in a new trailer, which has only piqued our excitement for this charming game even more. It’s due out on Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC later this year.
Teardown gives you a lovely, blocky, voxel-based world that you can cheerfully destroy to your heart’s content. It was released on PC last year, but now it’s coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
As was heavily rumoured ahead of the PlayStation Showcase, there’s a remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater on the way. In another blow for games journalists across the world, it’s called Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater, which has sent harried writers scurrying to Google to ask where they can find a delta symbol on their keyboard. Metal Gear Solid Δ is due out on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, and will be a full remake of the 2004 game. But interestingly, Konami has also announced Metal Gear Solid Master Collection: Volume 1, which will feature Metal Gear Solid 1, 2 and 3 in their original form. The ‘Volume 1’ certainly hints that there are more Metal Gear rereleases to come.
Towers of Aghasba is an “open-world experience where players can build vast settlements and grow sprawling ecosystems on their fantasy island”, according to its Steam description (yes, it’s coming to PC as well as PS5). It’s from indie studio Dreamlit, which was formed in 2020.
There’s a new trailer for Final Fantasy XVI! Watch this CG loveliness, then read Jon Bailes intriguing thoughts on where all this is going.
A fresh trailer for Alan Wake 2 reveals some gameplay footage along with a release date of 17 October 2023, which we kind of knew already thanks to the loose lips of a certain voice actor. Alan Wake 2 will be headed to Xbox and PC as well as PS5.
Ubisoft is betting big on Assassin’s Creed after racking up some huge losses last year, and the new trailer for Assassin’s Creed: Mirage is very pretty indeed. The Baghdad setting looks gorgeous. It’s due out on PC, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and Amazon Luna (which I bet you’d forgotten was a thing) on 12th October.
Revenant Hill is a new title from The Glory Society, a studio set up by two of the three creators behind the brilliant Night in the Woods.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a console and PC spinoff of the long-running and ridiculously popular (in Japan, at least) mobile/browser-based RPG Granblue Fantasy. It was previously being developed by PlatinumGames, but development was taken over by Cygames in 2019, and it’s finally due out this year.
There’s a new trailer for Street Fighter 6 which focuses on the intriguing new story campaign, which Alan Wen wrote about here. In short, he loved it.
Ultros is a psychedelic sci-fi game that’s coming to PS4, PS5 and PC.
Tower of Fantasy is another visually arresting title, this time an open-world exploration game featuring dream-like cities and post-apocalyptic wastelands. Plus lots of numbers flashing up whenever you hit things. It’s being published by Perfect World, and it’s already out on PC and mobile, but will hit PS4 and PS5 this summer.
Dragon’s Dogma II, Capcom’s long-awaited sequel to the cult-hit 2012 action RPG, was announced last year, but now we’ve finally got our first trailer. Still no release date, however, although we know it’s coming to PC and Xbox Series X/S as well as PS5.
Now, onto the PSVR2 reveals. There’s yet another Five Nights at Freddy’s game on the way – this one is called Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2.
Next we have a trailer for the upcoming VR mode for the Resident Evil 4 Remake. There is not a chance I’m going to be trying this after my terrifying experience of playing Resident Evil VII in VR. Not. A. Chance.
There’s a sequel on the way for the popular VR shooter Arizona Sunshine.
Crossfire: Sierra Squad is another upcoming VR shooter, which marks the latest entry in the long-running Crossfire first-person shooter series from South Korean developer Smilegate.
And here’s another VR shooter: Synapse from UK studio nDreams.
The brilliant rhythm-action game Beat Saber is out now on PSVR2, and there’s a new Queen music pack.
OK, that’s the end of the PSVR2 stuff, and now we’re onto the big one – a new game from Halo creators Bungie. They’ve gone back to their roots with what seems to be a remake of Marathon, a first-person shooter that they made for the Apple Mac way back in 1994. The art style for this is nothing short of phenomenal, all neon caterpillars and seventies-style spaceships, although we aren’t shown any gameplay footage and there’s no hint of a release date. However, we do know that it will launch on PC and Xbox Series X/S as well as PS5.
There’s more visual loveliness from Bungie in the form of a trailer for the latest Destiny 2 chapter, The Final Shape, which marks a surprise return for Cayde-6 and promises an end to the Light & Darkness Saga.
Concord is a new PvP shooter from Firewalk Studios, which was founded in 2018 by the former head of Bungie, Harold Ryan, and bought by Sony in 2023. There’s a strong retro sci-fi look to this one, and what looks like a nod to the rainbow-hued stargate in 2001: A Space Odyssey, but otherwise little hint as to how the game will play.
And finally, we get a look at the long-awaited Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which is set to launch as a PS5 exclusve this autumn. First, we’re introduced to Kraven the Hunter:
Then we’re treated to a lengthy, ten-minute slice of gameplay footage, featuring the symbiote suit which is the source of so much trouble in Spider-Man’s world:
And that about wraps it up. For more, read Dan Cooper’s thoughts on the PlayStation Showcase, which he reckons is a bit of a missed opportunity. What do you think? Let us know what piqued your interest in the comments.


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THE REMOTE island community of Fair Isle has launched a fundraising drive in a bid to secure enough cash to replace the faulty heating system at its public hall.
The campaign has a total target of £20,000 and one of the ways it is attempting to raise funds is through a series of online auctions on Facebook.
The community hall – which was built in 1980 – hosts a range of events from dances and sales to teas and sports, while it also opens to allow visiting cruise ship passengers to buy local knitwear.
Eileen Thomson, who is helping to coordinate the campaign, said the heating system was about 20 years old and needed completely replaced.
The total costs is estimated at £30,000, but £10,000 has already been secured through funding from Awards for All and more grant applications are being submitted.
“The main issue is the old boiler doesn’t function well anymore and if the wind comes from the wrong direction it blows all the fumes into the hall, making it useless,” Eileen said.
“We need to move and replace the whole system – i.e. the fuel tank, boiler and pipes.”
Eileen said the small community of around 60 people “greatly appreciates” the money raised by the public so far.
“The hall really is vital to our community,” she said. “It is used by us all for various events, dances, sports and social groups, the school use it and it’s where we hold teas and craft sales for visiting cruise ships which is where most sales of the local traditional Fair Isle knitwear come from.
“It’s our hall and we work hard to keep it running as an island, but greatly appreciate the kindness and support we have received so far.”
The first item up for online auction on the hall’s new Facebook page is a hand knitted traditional Fair Isle fisherman’s kep, with the item up to £90 by Friday morning.
An online fundraising page, meanwhile, has attracted donations from across the world.


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Remember the ten dozen WiFi hotspots London's underground said it was prepping ahead of the 2012 Olympic games? Virgin Media says they'll be free -- at least to start. By the time July rolls around, 80 stations will be rocking that sweet, sweet internet, and an additional 40 tube stops will go live by the end of the year. The service will be gratis during the summer, Virgin's press release explains, but will eventually join the outfit's broadband and mobile subscription network -- doling out only basic travel information and a pay-as-you-go option to the unsubscribed. Just make sure you finish Facebooking before your train arrives -- the tubes themselves are as dark as ever. Read on for Virgin Media's official press release.
Show full PR text
London Mayor announces digital first as Virgin Media selected to offer Wi-Fi on Tube stations
Free Wi-Fi service for millions of commuters and visitors during summer 2012
The Mayor of London today confirmed that Londoners will be able to use Wi-Fi to access mobile internet services at Tube stations for the first time from this summer. A contract has been awarded to Virgin Media to provide public access Wi-Fi at up to 120 Tube station platforms at zero cost to the fare or taxpayer.
The new Wi-Fi service will launch as a free, unlimited service for all Tube passengers from summer 2012 and will continue to offer free live TfL travel information via a new online portal after this period.
Virgin Media, in partnership with London Underground, will introduce Wi-Fi at over 80 stations ahead of the summer. By the end of 2012, up to 120 Tube stations, many of them deep-level, will be connected.
From July 2012, all Tube passengers will be able to connect to the internet at stations for free, enabling millions of commuters and visitors to access websites and online destinations and stay up-to-date with news and events listings, review the best spots for lunch and discover great London attractions from their mobile phones, tablets, laptops and other connected devices. Following this period, Wi-Fi at Tube stations will be made available as part of Virgin Media's broadband and mobile subscriptions and all Tube passengers will be able to stay up-to-date with travel information thanks to the free online portal. Full Internet access via Wi-Fi will become available via Pay-As-You-Go and other commercial models.
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, said: "It's vital that we harness the massive opportunities stemming from the digital revolution, by creating a vibrant, world class industry to attract investment and create jobs for Londoners. Millions of passengers will now be able to connect to their work, friends or access the latest news and travel information whilst on the move. This is a fabulous new and free resource which will be in place from this summer when London is being showcased on a global stage and playing host to millions."
Gareth Powell, LU's Director of Strategy and Service Development, said: "We're upgrading the Tube to make it fit for the 21st Century. This latest innovation is great news for Tube customers, who now have access to emails, web and social media underground for the first time. It's also delivered at no cost to fare payers and taxpayers.
"Today, TfL provides a wealth of free live travel information, via our website and through the many excellent travel apps now available. Wi-Fi on the Tube means our customers can now get the latest live travel information and check how services are running, on the move and underground, where and when they need it."
Neil Berkett, CEO, Virgin Media, said: "With the eyes of the world on London this summer, we'll be showing off our capital as a leading connected city on the global stage. We're putting the power of Virgin Media's fibre optic network in the hands of millions of Londoners, commuters and visitors and are delighted to be launching Wi-Fi for free throughout summer 2012 and beyond. We'll help people make the most of the city and will continue to evolve the service, ensuring everyone can benefit from a service London will be proud of."
Ian Merricks, Accelerator Academy Co-founder and White Horse Capital Managing Partner said: "We entered the early stage entrepreneurial ecosystem last year, creating the Accelerator Academy for emerging entrepreneurs. WE saw the growth potential of London's tech entrepreneurs and working with investors we now hope to deploy £35m to help these firms grow."


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This summer, the Great Outdoors is experiencing a renaissance and Americans are going outside again. With pandemic restrictions easing, people are eager to get out of the house and into the fresh air. Rather than heading to crowded indoor spaces for recreation (after all, we’re not completely out of the danger zone yet) the outdoors not only feels much safer, but offers a level of fun, freedom and excitement that has been missing after being cooped up inside for over a year.
For most, heading outside means endless possibilities. Camping, fishing and hiking take the lead, but although these are the most popular activities, they are only the tip of the iceberg. For some it’s a day of boating, biking or sports – the list is perpetual. And most of these activities require gear, equipment and clothing – and this means shopping.
A June 2021 Sezzle “Outdoor Consumer” survey of 1,330 participants found that in a typical year over half of all shoppers participate in an outdoor recreation activity during the summer, at least once a week. But this year, the numbers are even higher – a whopping 58% of survey participants are planning to spend more time than ever enjoying outdoor activities.
What does this mean, other than quality time spent with family and friends, fresh air and exercise? For consumers it means shopping for new gear, equipment and apparel aimed at these activities. In fact, this year 40% of participants intend to spend more money on gear, equipment and apparel than they did last year.
Consumer trends when purchasing outdoor gear
Knowing what customers are looking for and how they decide what to buy, where to buy it, and how much they are willing to spend can mean more, and larger purchases. In the Outdoor Consumer survey, Sezzle found that 65% of participants spent up to $200 on their last purchase of gear and equipment for their outdoor activities, and 34% spent $200 or more. Nearly 40% say they prefer to make these purchases using BNPL. Specifically, 85% of Sezzle users said they would shop an outdoor brand more frequently if they offered a Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service, and 83% of Sezzle users would spend more at an outdoor brand if they offered a BNPL option.
Of other factors considered most important by consumers when purchasing for outdoor activities, reliability was cited by 73% of participants, with 48% also wanting items that are budget friendly. 27% were factoring in whether the products are sustainable and eco-friendly. When asked whether they would go out of their way to shop an outdoor brand who is dedicated to social good, 67% answered in the affirmative.
When it comes to their online shopping experience, the most important factors for survey participants were payment options (78%) and price (77%). In the end, BNPL increases buying power, which in turn enables retailers to increase order volumes. And perhaps most noteworthy of all: 94% of Sezzlers said that they would shop their preferred brand more frequently if Sezzle were accepted!


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This story ran in a previous edition.
The sub-theme of the recently concluded MediaPost automotive conference at AutoMobility LA could have been “save the manual.”
Indeed, nearly every automaker that appeared on stage — Ford, Volkswagen, Honda, Nissan and Mini — is offering manual transmissions in upcoming models. As of January, there were still 27 new cars available with a manual transmission, according to Car and Driver, as well as a handful of SUVs.
So why “save the manual?” Isn’t the move toward technology-filled semi-autonomous vehicles the antithesis of an “old-fashioned” 5- or 6-speed transmission?
Actually, there’s absolutely no reason the two can’t go together. There is a time and a place for adaptive cruise. It is literally a godsend in stop-and-go traffic. But if you enjoy the actual mechanics of driving, a stick shift can be a lot of fun.
Besides being more fuel-efficient and better for the environment (which millennials in particular have said is important to them) manuals give drivers more control and prompt a higher degree of focus and engagement with the road.
There may be more drivers currently on the road with the ability to drive a manual than you might think. Cadillac recently hired Harris to conduct a study in preparation for the upcoming launch of the 2022 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing and CT5-V Blackwing sport sedans, both of which will come standard with a six-speed manual.
Of those surveyed, 66% reportedly knew how to drive a manual transmission, while another 55% say they have owned or leased a car with a manual transmission at least once before.
Even more encouraging is that interest in learning how to drive a manual transmission car is also high among those who aren’t currently capable of doing so. Forty percent of survey participants said they are somewhat or very interested in learning. Interest in driving or learning how to drive a manual is also higher among those with $75,000 or more in annual household income (64%) and among those in the 18-to-34 age bracket (62%).
I recently had the opportunity to test drive several models with manual transmissions, the Volkswagen Golf GTI and the Honda Civic Si. Both had great styling and exceptional power and gripped curves in the road very well.
The VW Golf GTI, with pricing starting at $29,545, has unique design features including a new plaid pattern called "Scale Paper” on seat backs and bottoms. This is reminiscent of the original “Clark Plaid” pattern in the first GTI, introduced in 1976. The shift knob has a rubberized golf ball texture for another heritage-invoking element.
The Civic Si, with pricing from $27,300, features an eye-catching intricate honeycomb pattern on both the grill and along the dashboard on the interior. Si's new upper front bumper design is more aggressive, and its rear bumper has been reshaped to reveal two large oval exhaust outlets. The Civic remains the top-selling vehicle in the industry with millennials, Gen Z, first-time and multicultural buyers, fulfilling its role as one of the primary gateways to the Honda brand
Honda is heavily banking on manual enthusiasts. The turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder in the 2022 Civic Si version of the 11th generation of the Civic is only available mated to a six-speed manual transmission.
This should be music to the ears of The Manual Gearbox Preservation Society and other “Save The Manual” enthusiasts. And models like the Golf GTI and Civic Si should be very popular among driving enthusiasts.


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Global Ceramics Market Study and Forecast, 2019-2025 - Leading Players are AGC Ceramics, Imerys Ceramics, Carbo Ceramics, 3M, Corning, and Kyocera Corporation 2019/12/12 17:45:00 Benzinga Feeds
DUBLIN , Dec. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Ceramics Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Traditional, Advanced), By Application (Sanitary Ware, Abrasives, Tiles), By End-Use; By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2019 - 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global ceramics market size is expected to reach USD 407.72 billion by 2025, according to this report. Advancement in 3D printing technology coupled with its rising application in dental implants is anticipated to drive the ceramics industry market growth. Emergence of 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the new prominence application area for advanced product segment of ceramics. The rising use of the technology in dental implants is anticipated to trigger the market growth for advanced ceramic materials such as alumina and zirconium. Alumina is anticipated to dominate the marketspace due to its excellent structural properties and compatibility with human tissues. Soda ash, kaolin, clay, silica, and sand are key raw materials used in manufacturing of traditional ceramics.
TFSA Investors: This 5.6% Yielder Pays Cash Every Month 2019/11/30 12:31:31 The Motley Fool Canada
You won't find many payouts as secure as Crombie REIT (TSX:CRR.UN) and its 5.6% yield. The stock comes with some growth potential, too.
Hong Kong investor buys menswear firm Crombie's Mayfair shop 2019/11/28 10:48:00 Evening Standard
The Mayfair flagship shop of upmarket menswear label Crombie has been sold to a Hong Kong investor, despite political turmoil in the Chinese territory and Britain.
Fracking Sand Company Sees Its Stock Almost Halve On Big Customer Loss 2019/11/12 16:10:27 Benzinga Feeds
The oil patch has become so depressed that a company that supplies frac sand saw its stock drop almost in half Nov. 11, after it said it may not be able to continue as a "going concern." Carbo Ceramics (NYSE: CRR ), a Houston-based manufacturer of proppants, the industry name for frac sand, said in its third-quarter earnings that its largest frac sand client "intends to discontinue purchase of frac sand under our current contract," Carbo President and CEO Gary Kolstad said in a conference call with investors. The identity of the buyer was not revealed. "We are in discussions with this client to determine if there's an agreeable alternative to this matter," Kolstad said, according to a transcript of the earnings call supplied by Seeking Alpha. The problem for the company is not only the loss of the revenue stream from the client, Kolstad said. It is also that the contract with the buyer "covered significant fixed costs associated with our distribution facility and railcar leases." It was in the company's press release about the earnings that the issue of Carbo remaining a "going concern" was raised.


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Mitsubishi showed a concept for its production i MiEV at the New York auto show. The launch car is expected to go 100 miles on a single charge using lithium ion batteries and a 47 kilowatt electric motor.
May 6, 2009 5:10 PM PDT
Photo by: Sarah Tew/CNET
| Caption by: Wayne Cunningham
Conversation powered by Livefyre


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Battlegrounds Mobile India Diwali offers: Here's how to get free rewards on BGMI this Diwali - Check details
Players can get extra UC on purchasing in-game currency and grab new outfits, emotes, etc.
Battlegrounds Mobile India latest update: The most popular battle royale mobile game in India, Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) is celebrating Diwali season with Krafton announcing festive offers for players in the region. The developer is providing offers on in-game credits-UC and other rewards.
WATCH | Click on Zee Business Live TV Streaming Below:
Players can get extra UC on purchasing in-game currency and grab new outfits, emotes, etc. BGMI Diwali event commenced on October 26 and will continue till November 4. The Diwali offers for the freemium BR title were announced by Krafton on the official social media handle. Here’s how to get UC vouchers, new helmets, character outfits, other Diwali rewards for free.
BGMI Diwali offers: UC vouchers and other rewards have been offered by Krafton as part of Battlegrounds Mobile India’s Diwali celebrations. Players will get extra UC on the purchase of in-game credit bundles.
TO get UC vouchers- Launch the game, tap on Events, and head to the Recommended section. Then select the Happy Diwali 2021 – Offer 2 Event. Collect the UC voucher. Krafton is also offering lucky spin rewards for players by virtue of which they can the following in-game items- Nether Aristo set, Pumpkin Cavalier set, Pumpkin Cavalier cover, Mecha Reaper set, Bonds of Blood set and Mecha Bruiser set.
Meanwhile, The smartphone brand iQOO has announced an exclusive partnership with Krafton for a first-of-its-kind Battlegrounds Mobile India series. The tournament is expected to witness close to 100l registered teams competing for prize money of Rs 1 crore.
Players registered for Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2021 will have to participate in the in-game qualifiers from which 1024 teams will proceed to Round 1. Gaming enthusiasts will be able to watch and enjoy the talent and gamesmanship of all players on social media handles of Battlegrounds Mobile India and iQOO Esports Official YouTube Channel.
“Battlegrounds Mobile India Series is a one of its kind gaming tournament which will help gaming enthusiasts channelize their gaming skills and harness their talent. We are committed to providing a seamless gaming experience to our users and this partnership with iQOO will help us strengthen our mission," Sean (Hyunil) Sohn, Head, India Division of Krafton, Inc said.
Get Latest Business News, Stock Market Updates and Videos; Check your tax outgo through Income Tax Calculator and save money through our Personal Finance coverage. Check Business Breaking News Live on Zee Business Twitter and Facebook. Subscribe on YouTube.


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Just over half (52%) of businesses have seen an increase in sales through the use of AI in marketing efforts, with many increasing their spend on the technology in the next htree years, according to a new survey.
The research, conducted by Quantcast with Forbes Insights, has revealed that 53% of marketers intend to increase spend on AI in the next three years, however, only 30% currently see it as crucial to their efforts.
Based on the research, Quantcast developed a Maturity Scorecard to classify brands as ‘leaders’ or ‘laggards’ depending on their adoption of AI. 20% of ‘leaders’ grew revenue by 15% in 2018, compared with 7% of laggards.
Other key findings can be found below:
- 52% of businesses saw an increase in sales through the use of AI in marketing efforts
- 53% of brands plan to dive enthusiastically into AI over the next three years, totalling a 25-49% increase in AI spend
- 80% of marketers say AI technology will enable them to focus their time on strategy by removing some of their day-to-day tasks
A survey of more than 500 marketing executives worldwide revealed that more than half saw an increase in sales and a similar proportion saw lift in customer retention.
Based on the results, Quantcast and Forbes Insights developed a Maturity Scorecard, classifying brands as leaders or laggards depending on their adoption of AI. Twenty percent of ‘leaders’ grew revenue by 15 percent of more in 2018, compared with seven percent of laggards.
Quantcast, which owns and operates the world’s largest audience platform for the open internet, conducted the research in partnership with Forbes Insights and has published the results in its report Lessons of 21st Century Brands. The study investigated how AI is being adopted and used by brand marketers across the world. Key highlights included:
- Greater business impact through the use of AI in their marketing efforts
- 52 percent saw an increase in sales
- 51 percent saw an increase in customer retention
- Brands plan to dive enthusiastically into AI over the next three years
- 53 percent plan to make a 25-49 percent increase on AI spend
- Almost a fifth (17 percent) promise a boost of between 50-74 percent
- Marketers are optimistic about the benefits AI will deliver
- 80 percent say AI technology will enable them to focus their time on strategy by removing some of their day-to-day tasks
- 58 percent stated it will refine the online customer experience
- Over half (55 percent) generate targeted, personalized messaging
Ben Murphy, UK managing director at Quantcast said: “Look past the hype surrounding AI and machine learning today and, as this research shows, you’ll find brands generating very real and positive results. Shifts in consumer behaviour and preferences happen too quickly for any human to possibly keep up. Machines can help identify patterns in preferences more accurately and adjust campaign targeting and activation automatically. Marketers should strive to make sure they’re among the leaders when it comes to deploying AI and machine learning technology, either in house or via specialist partners.”
About ‘Lessons of 21st Century Brands’
The research in this report is based on a survey of 504 high-level marketing executives conducted in May 2018 by Forbes Insights in partnership with Quantcast. The survey included top leaders—primarily CMOs (20%), heads of marketing (16%), heads of digital (10%), and CDOs (8%)—across a spectrum of industries, including media and entertainment (13%), technology (12%), telecommunications (11%), automotive (11%), and financial services (10%).
Survey participants work at a cross-section of traditional brands with an e-commerce presence (33%), traditional brands with little or no e-commerce presence (32%), direct brands with a physical presence (32%), and a small selection of direct brands with no physical presence (3%).


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Apple is beginning mass production of the 4.7–inch iPhone 6 this month, with the larger 5.5–inch model rolling off production lines from August. That’s the word from Reuters, which says it’s had word from local media about the tech giant's plans.
The smaller model is entering production next week, according to insiders. It'll be followed by the more capacious version in the second week of August. Foxconn is set to assemble both devices on Apple's behalf.
The controversial Chinese company is also set to take on an extra 100,000 staff, as the launch date of the two handsets looms.
There was no word on whether the two iPhone 6 models would launch together, or if Apple was planning to release the larger phone later in the year, or even in 2015, owing to issues with mass producing sapphire displays.
A launch event for at least one of the iPhone 6 iterations is expected to take place during September.
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Data captured from before and during the UK's lockdown period reveals that consumers are looking for a 'feel good' factor while spending more time at home
The outbreak of the coronavirus quickly forced consumers to prioritise when it comes to spending.
After a shaky start, wellness has come into its own. While sales of . . .
This is a small extract of the full article which is available ONLY to premium content subscribers. Subscribers sign-in (top right) to read the article.
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Inside Secure said it is integrating its near field communication (NFC) chipsets into a smartphone from “a leading mobile phone manufacturer” scheduled to be introduced by mid-year.
The smartphone will run on “one of the most widely used mobile operating systems under license”. It will use the firm’s MicroRead NFC controller chip and Open NFC protocol stack software.
According to Charles Walton, general manager and EVP for INSIDE Secure, the firm’s Open NFC software along with MicroRead and SecuRead devices have already been deployed in millions of smartphones.
“We are very pleased to be providing this NFC implementation for this advanced smartphone, and to have earned the confidence of major OEMs and operators in this industry,” said Walton.
Embedding NFC in smartphones will allow people to use their mobile phones to pay when they shop or pair Bluetooth devices and Wi-Fi networks more quickly.
The company said it has shipped 20 million MicroRead and SecuRead NFC devices since February 2011, with 10 million of those shipments taking place in the past three months.


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Customers free to sue department stores for fake sales that make shoppers think they're getting a bargain after judge backs suit against Kohl's
Stores cannot be sued if they hide the fact that an item isn't actually discounted as much as they have advertised.
The new ruling came in California where a judge overturned a class action suit against Kohl's department store.
Now, if consumers find out that they paid more than the advertised discount price on something that they thought was on sale, they can sue the retailer for a sizable payout.
Targeting customers: A California judge ruled that Kohl's cannot show false 'original' prices in hopes of getting customers to think that they are receiving a better deal on the item
The Los Angeles Times reported the change, which only applies in California at the moment.
The issue stems from the legal complaint made by Antonio S. Hinjonos, who argued that he would not have purchased as many items from Kohl's if he knew that there was not as significant of a discount as advertised.
According to the paper, he bought Samonsite luggage because he thought that it was 50 per cent off it's original $299.99 pricetag and he thought he was getting a 39 per cent markdown on polo shirts from the higher price of $36-per-shirt.
In both cases, those original prices were determined not to be the case, so the discount was not a fair reflection given the true full market value.
Courthouse News Service cites the court filings where Mr Hinjonos said he 'would not have purchased (these) products at Kohl's in the absence of Kohl's misrepresentations.'
Victims: The case came up because one California man (not pictured) argued that he would not have bought certain items if he thought that he was not getting as much of a deal as was advertised
Rights: The judge ruled that customers should expect to be given the full information before their purchase
'Price advertisements matter,' presiding judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote in the finding made by himself and two other judges.
'When a consumer purchases merchandise on the basis of false price information, and when the consumer alleges that he would not have made the purchase but for the misrepresentation, he has standing to sue.'
'Here, Hinojos specifically and plausibly alleges that Kohl's falsely markets its products at reduced prices precisely because consumers such as himself reasonably regard price reductions as material information when making purchasing decisions,' the judge wrote.
Originally the case was dismissed but that ruling was overturned by the 9th Circuit on Tuesday.
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Bolt, the ride-hailing and micro-mobility firm, has raised €600 million in a round that pushes its valuation to over €4 billion.
Sequoia Capital has backed the company as part of the round alongside other new investors Tekne and Ghisallo. Existing backers also participated including G Squared, D1 Capital and Naya.
Bolt is fashioning itself as a ‘super app’ for transport and deliveries, bringing a model popular in Asia to Europe.
Bolt’s services run the gamut from ride-hailing and scooter and bike rentals to food delivery. Most recently it entered the rapidly growing 15-minute grocery delivery business with Bolt Market, which will be launching in 10 countries initially, drawing from its existing food delivery infrastructure.
This significant capital injection will be used to accelerate the expansion of all of these services in Europe as well as a number of African markets where Bolt has a presence.
“Bolt’s mission is to make urban travel affordable and sustainable,” chief executive Markus Villig said. “We are building a future where people are not forced to buy cars that cause traffic and pollution, but use on-demand transport when they actually need it.”
“After seven years of relentless execution, Bolt’s mobility and delivery products offer a better alternative to almost every use case a car serves. I’m thrilled to bring these products to millions of customers around Europe and Africa, taking the emphasis off cars and giving cities back to the people.” Markus added.
Femi Akin-Laguda, Country Manager, Bolt Nigeria also said: “We remain committed to simplifying mobility and providing the best value for our customers in more than 25 cities in Nigeria. Bolt will continue building solutions that alleviate everyday mobility challenges with our safe and affordable services while we also remain committed to providing market-leading earnings for our drivers. With this investment, we will keep introducing effective solutions, features and products that are important to all our customers while having a positive socio-economic impact on the economy.”
According to the company, it now had 75 million customers across the markets it is active is.
Competition in all the verticals that Bolt operates in is fierce. In particular, the rapid grocery delivery space has seen several players emerge in the last year, jousting for market share in major European cities. Meanwhile food delivery by the likes of Deliveroo remains highly competitive and Bolt continues to lock horns with Uber when it comes to ride-hailing.
Andrew Reed, partner at Sequoia, said: “Bolt is redefining urban transportation in much of the world. Markus is a driven founder who has built an operationally excellent business spanning Europe and Africa and a mission-driven culture that forms the foundation of an enduring company. Bolt helps customers, cities, and the environment. We’re delighted to partner with them.”
SeamlessHR, Nigerian HR-Tech Startup Secures $10M in Series A Funding Round
SeamlessHR, a Nigerian-based HR-Tech startup announced it has secured $10 million in a Series A funding round to expand operations to East African countries and surrounding markets.
The funding round was led by TLcom Capital. Other participants are Capria Ventures, Lateral Capital, Enza Capital, Ingressive Capital, and some private investors.
According to the company, the secured fund will take SeamlessHR closer to achieving its vision of helping African businesses become more productive and successful through its cloud-based human resources (HR) and payroll software.
The company also intends to launch products with functionalities around Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Human Resources (HR) Data Analytics, this will strengthen the company’s position as Africa’s leading cloud HR and payroll platform.
SeamlessHR CEO, Emmanuel Okeleji said, “We are fanatical about customer success, and this funding will enable us to invest in the continuous optimisation of customer experience across all touchpoints, adding new features and functionalities to empower our customers even more.
Speaking on the new funding and SeamlessHR operations, Andreata Muforo, Partner at TLcom Capital said, “over the last few years, SeamlessHR has consistently demonstrated its ability to deliver a robust HR and payroll platform for Africa’s medium and large businesses”.
“The strong execution shown by Emmanuel and his team is a vital ingredient required to build a successful business, and as they expand their products to include embedded finance and launch their solutions to new markets, we’re proud to partner alongside them and strengthen their push to unlock more value within Africa’s B2B space.
“At TLcom, we believe SeamlessHR can be the preferred platform for businesses to digitise workplaces and support their personnel.”
Will Poole, co-founder & managing partner at Capria said, “SeamlessHR is addressing the needs of African enterprises in ways that the global giants can’t compete with by building customer-centric SaaS designed from the ground-up to address complexity unique to the continent.
“Now that they’ve proven they can address the needs of disparate countries across Africa, we are confident that they will be the solution provider of choice to support their customers that are expanding globally.”
SeamlessHR was founded in 2018 by Emmanuel Okeleji (CEO) and Deji Lana (CTO), the company presently has presence in Nigeria and Kenya.
Speaking on future plans, the CEO, Emmanuel Okeleji said, “we are building software solutions to optimize HR now, but in the future, we’ll go to other areas beyond HR. And we are positioned to build a global SaaS company because SaaS products can travel the world faster than, say, fintech. We’re beating global players in our local market and while we are not distracting ourselves now, we know we can play this game globally.”
Bolt Secures $711M To Expand Transport and Food Delivery Operations, Valuation Hits $8.4 Billion
Bolt, Estonia ride-hailing startup, has secured $711 million or €628 million funds from investors to expand its transportation and food delivery operations. The new funding pushes Bolt’s valuation to $8.4 billion or €7.4 billion from over $4.5 million or €4 billion it was valued in August 2020 when it raised $679 million or €600 million in funding.
According to the company, the secured fund will be used to expand operations to new cities/countries, onboard more customers on its super app and new line businesses such as its 15 minutes grocery delivery options.
Participants of the fund round are, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management and Research Company LLC, Whale Rock, Owl Rock (a division of Blue Owl), D1, G Squared, Tekne, Ghisallo, and other unnamed backers investors.
Markus Villig, the founder and CEO of Bolt in an interview, said, “we are expanding all the five product lines extremely quickly, developing product R&D and rolling out in new cities”. He affirmed that all the company’s business units are growing, the ride-hailing business “is seeing double-digit growth,” and the new businesses are growing even faster.
Compared to 75 million customers reported in August, Bolt now has more than 100 million customers in over 400 cities in 49 countries subscribed to its services.
Speaking on the challenges the company faced at the advent of COVID-19, Markus said there were “short-term fluctuations” in demand, however, Bolt launched a strategy to attract and keep drivers by focusing on better commission between 10 percent and 20 percent better than competitors.
“There is a massive lack of supply on these platforms, so we have focused on taking the most partner-friendly lowest commission,” he said.
Speaking on the company’s expansion to developed countries, Markus said, “We started off in Eastern Europe and Africa because those markets had a bigger need. They had lower car ownership, higher unemployment [making for a market with many freelance drivers], It made sense. But now we’ve learned that this model works everywhere, and it’s actually easier to grow in Western Europe because they are developed markets. We found if you can make this model work in really cheap, frugal markets, then once you go to London or Stockholm, it’s materially easier. And the unit economics are definitely better because the prices are higher.”
Andrew Reed, a partner at Sequoia said, “We’re excited to deepen our partnership with Markus and Bolt to further their mission to make urban travel affordable, sustainable and safe. At Sequoia, we believe in the global potential for technology and entrepreneurship and have been inspired by Bolt’s growth from Tallinn, Estonia to over 400 cities and 100 million customers across Europe and Africa. We’re eager to help them expand their footprint, increase their product offering and improve the quality of life in cities for the long term.”
Nigerian Debt Recovery Startup, Bfree Raises 1.7M Pre-Series A Funding To Drive Growth and Expansion
Bfree, a Nigerian Debt Recovery startup that leverages ethics and technology to lead customers out of debt has secured $1.7 million in Pre-seed funding to drive growth and expand operations across Africa and other continents.
4Di Capital, Octerra Capital, VestedWorld, Voltron Capital, Logos Ventures, and other angel investors participated in the Pre-series A fund round. So far, Bfree has raised a total sum of $2.5 million in funding, this included the $800,000 raised in a seed round in May 2021.
According to the company, the unsatisfied approach on the credit collection options and constant humiliation of customers is one of the problems Bfree is solving. The company’s co-founder and CEO Julian Flosbach said, “inefficiency and lack of transparency of collections are not unique challenges to digital lenders and also not peculiar to Nigeria. We see significant use cases among other customer verticals with digital products such as commercial and microfinance banks, embedded finance solutions, like buy-now-pay-later, credit cards, and even tax payments at some point. Basically, everywhere where value is owed, our solutions can be deployed. Here, we also don’t just build a solution for Nigeria, but a solution that can be potentially used in every emerging market with a challenging infrastructure for collections”.
Bfree was founded in 2020 by Juliana Flosbach Co-founder/CEO, Chukwudi Enyi co-founder/COO, and Moses Nmor co-founder/CPO.
Following the fund raised, Bfree plans to embark on massive recruitment as it expands to new markets in Ghana, India, Uganda, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Russia, Poland, Pakistan, and Indonesia.
Speaking on the company’s expansion, Julian said, “We are going into markets with large populations, credit deepening and an underdeveloped regulatory environment, where a behavioral collection approach is likely to work.
“We saw that there was like a little bit of a breach in the value proposition of lenders — they are good at giving out loans, but the aftersales services of the credit market didn’t work as collections processes were inefficient and not user friendly.”
Bfree currently handles over 800,000 customers compared to 300,000 customers the company reported in May 2021.
Yohan Theatre, Bfree head of decision sciences & financial engineering said, “Lenders in the U.S. or in Europe have the opportunity to sell significant chunks of their debt portfolios to third parties. This means they only carry a portion of the risk of the loans they issue. In emerging markets, this is typically not the case. Lenders have to carry the entire credit risk on their own. A key driver for this difference lies in higher transaction costs and contractual uncertainties.
“The arrival of DeFi (decentralized finance) is a game-changer: transaction costs can be slashed while contractual certainty is increased by smart contracts. These are some of the risk-sharing instruments that we are now actively providing to lenders and borrowers”.
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text: Bank earnings season is under way. The reports so far have offered a frosty picture of the outlook for the U.S. economy.\n\nIn bank-specific news:\n\nJPMorgan's revenue is up 10%, but it took a nearly $1 billion loss on securities--and it is setting aside more money for a potential recession. Its investment-banking fees, meanwhile, were crushed.\nMorgan Stanley misses. Profit is down 29%. A dearth of deals knocked investment banking revenue down 55%.\nWells Fargo's profits missed expectations but revenue beat them. Net interest income rose. The bank also took a $2 billion charge executives haven't said much about yet.\nCitigroup profit fell 25% but revenue rose 6%, beating expectations. The company has set a timeline for exiting Russia.\n\nMeanwhile, more broadly:\n\nJPMorgan executives contrasted looming signs of a recession with a current environment they said has shown little sign of serious financial problems.\nBank profits are down--but not bank headcounts.\nConsumers are leaning more on their credit cards.\nBank loans are growing. What will that mean in a recession?\nRising rates hurt mortgage-lending volumes.\nIs trouble brewing in auto lending?\nData from Morgan Stanley indicates that retail investor enthusiasm has waned.\n\nAnd from the Journal's Heard on the Street team: Banks have been pocketing the extra money they have made from higher interest rates. Now investors will see if they built up enough for tougher times ahead.


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Heathcote seniors can now access their Seniors and Seniors Savers Card digitally via the Service NSW app for the first time since its introduction in 1992. The Seniors and Seniors Saver Cards have been incredibly important for easing the cost of living in NSW for 30 years.
This will make life easier for our seniors today and our seniors tomorrow, who are growing more accustomed to using technology rather than using a physical cards. The digital Seniors and Seniors Savers Cards join a raft of other digital initiatives like Dine & Discover NSW and the Digital Driver Licence, and this digital option provides them with greater choice and flexibility.
The rollout follows a successful pilot with 4,000 participants, with the vast majority giving it the thumbs up.
The program has been providing savings since its inception in 1992, including on gas and electricity. When this initiative was first introduced by the then Premier of NSW, John Fahey, 250,000 seniors had access to discounts and rebates from 320 goods and service providers. Now, it is one of the largest programs of its kind in Australia, with 1.8 million seniors able to access discounts and rebates at more than 6,500 shops, travel, entertainment and professional services.
The digital cards will be opt-in only and customers will continue to receive a physical card.
For more information, please visit the Service NSW app or service.nsw.gov.au/campaign/nsw-seniors-card-program.


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We're embarrassed to say that, despite all of the online shopping, we have been pronouncing one famous clothing brand's name wrong this entire time - but we're not the only ones.
It turns out, one of the most commonly mispronounced brand names is that of online retailer ASOS.
For the avoidance of any doubt, here's Leigh-Anne Pinnock showing us the correct way to pronounce ASOS:
Yes, according to online language platform Preply, ASOS is among some of the most commonly Googled brands when it comes to pronunciation.
And ASOS have even come out to make sure that their customers were pronouncing the name correctly.
Back in 2019, the brand tweeted: "#UnpopularOpinon It’s pronounced AY-SOS not A-S-O-S."
Had you been saying it right, or did you just learn something new today too?
Preply's findings listed ASOS alongside other names like Adidas, Ellesse, Shein, Ikea, Nutella, Porshe, and Stradivarius as one of the most commonly mispronounced brands.
Let's all just quietly do a Google search to make sure we weren't pronouncing these names wrong too...
If you were pronouncing 'ASOS' wrong, don't feel too bad - it wasn't always called that.
When the fashion brand first launched back in 2000, it was called AsSeenOnScreen and advertised exact copies of clothes and accessories that were seen in film and TV series.
Just two years later, they shortened the name down to ASOS and massively expanded their range, eventually becoming the shop we all know and love today!
In other fashion news, we told you last week about a plus size mannequin that caused quite a stir on social media after it was spotted in the window of a Fabletics story on Regent Street, London.
When a photo of the mannequin was posted online, it sparked a tense debate about inclusivity and body positivity.
You can read more about that here.Featured Image Credit: Alamy


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Duty free shops in South Korea have seen three months of sales increases since May, even though the number of Chinese tourists has decreased sharply since the implementation of THAAD, compared to last year. Analysts speculated that this unexpected outcome may have to do with Chinese daigou, the independent travelers who purchase large quantities of products and resell them to China. The business practice is considered illegal in China.
According to data compiled by South Korea Duty-Free Association, July’s sales came to US$637 million, an 8.8 percent increase from last year’s $693 million.
Even though the increased percentage is not a huge number, the positive gain is surprising considering the loss of traffic caused by the implementation of THAAD. Ever since Beijing halted group tours to Korea on March 15, tourist traffic has fallen sharply, hurting duty-free business. According to Global Times reporting, in February, sales from foreign customers were close to $900 million but fell to less than $600 million in April.
Because the increase is mostly seen from the number of foreign tourists per capita consumption, one possible explanation of this phenomenon is the increase of daigou.
The ban on tourist groups allowed independent daigou shoppers to dominate the gray market, many of them leveraging social media to take requests online and travel to duty-free stores with a specific purpose in mind.
Besides commissioning fees for daigou, the implementation of substantial discounts and a large number of marketing activities also leaves the duty-free shop with little profit.
Alternatively, it’s reported that duty-free shops are also willing to pay a high cost to work with KOLs in China to maximize those marketing messages. But fearful of the political impact, many of the KOLs turned down the tempting offers, leaving daigou to become the last straw for duty free stores.
Even though the practice of daigou is illegal, it still counts as a profitable channel for duty-free shops to carry out sales in such difficult times, many of which have to pay high commission fees to work with daigou.
“[The daigou tour specialists] are now getting hefty commissions and discounts – up to 30 percent – more than double what they got before the THAAD row,” one industry source told the Korea Herald. “They are the only option for now, and duty-free stores need to maintain a certain level of revenue lest major brands decide to ditch the store.”
Though not all brands are willing to put up with being pushed to the corner by daigou, some duty-free companies “are increasingly concerned about how the market is evolving in the face of crisis,” one leading brand representative told Moodie Davitt Report, and are in the process of shutting down commissions to be removed from sales of its products.
Some companies decided to take action against the illegal daigou practice, though with a lack of an alternative profit-making approach, it’s doubtful that sales of the duty-free shops will remain positive until the group tourism ban is officially lifted.


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Seen in HD returns from a week off and falls right in the midst of Apple and Microsoft news. The New iPad is available for public consumption as is Windows 8, both of which offer Phil a chance to speak out. Netflix is trying to partner themselves with various cable companies in a deal that could benefit both sides, and it seems like it’s a strange bedfellows scenario. Wal-Mart is pushing $30 million into UltraViolet marketing, yet we can’t seem to really figure out why.
After that, there’s a review of a demo disc Blu-ray with Tintin, and ranting about the latest Capcom video game release, Street Fighter x Tekken.
Check it out at the Digital Media Zone!