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Two iconic brands, Triumph Motorcyles and Harris Tweed Hebrides, have teamed up to create a video which charts the spectacular journey between their respective headquarters – all in aid of the fight against prostate cancer.
In advance of Sunday’s Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, when motorcyclists around the world - many wearing tweeds - take to the open road in aid of men’s health charities, Triumph commissioned a special bike called The Dapper Bonnie which incorporates Harris Tweed into its design.
They gifted the bike to Phil Green, who continues to fight prostate cancer and provides a commentary for the journey from the Harris Tweed mill at Shawbost on the Isle of Lewis to the Triumph base at Hinckley in Leicestershire. The video has gone viral aided by Triumph’s 3.2 million followers around the world.
Phil speaks of the common features of craftsmanship that make Triumph and Harris Tweed an ideal combination and how, with the sense of freedom which riding the bike through magnificent scenery brings, “I can forget I’ve got cancer”.
Tomorrow, according to the organisers: “120,000 distinguished gentlefolk in over 650 cities worldwide will don their cravats, tustle their ties, press their tweed, and sit astride their classic and vintage styled motorcycles to raise funds and awareness for cancer and men’s health”.
The event was founded by Mark Hawwa in Sydney six years ago and was inspired by a photo of Mad Men’s Don Draper astride a classic bike, wearing his finest tweed suit. Riders will gather in many British cities from Aberdeen to London and close to £1 million has already been pledged in the UK alone.
Harris Tweed Hebrides creative director, Mark Hogarth, said: “We’ve been delighted to work with Triumph on this project which not only combines two great British brands with world-wide recognition but also chimes perfectly with the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride ethos”.
The video, which will be edited in various forms for different channels, was made by Glasgow company BLK29, and includes the spectacular scenery of Harris, the Uig area of Lewis and the Lake District.


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India can now buy another Alexa-enabled device with high-end sound quality. The Harman Kardon Allure with Alexa is now selling..
Conversational analytics solution Dashbot has a new feature that analyzes Alexa skill reviews. Voicebot conducted the first comprehensive analysis of..
Amazon Echo Show is no longer has YouTube, once again, but it does have a new discount offer. Early Tuesday,..

domain: news


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Vladivostok Fish Port reports surge in seafood handling
In the first quarter 2021 Vladivostok Fish Port has sharply increased seafood turnover year-on-year, reports Megafishnet.com.
According to the Port’s Authority, in the first quarter, the cargo turnover of JSC Vladivostok Sea Fish Port in its main activity of transshipment of fish products exceeded the results of the same period last year by 56%. For 3 months, the business handled 85 thousand tons of fish-an absolute record for this period in the entire history of the enterprise.
The port says that the implementation of plans to increase cargo turnover was made possible thanks to a comprehensive modernization and the use of modern logistics methods. In particular, in 2021 the one-time fish cold storage capacity reached 47 thousand tons. Since the beginning of the year, the port's infrastructure has also allowed to receive 79 vessels with fish cargo to display a rise of 43% versus the first quarter of 2020.
The convenient format of customer service under the "one window" system has contributed to the growth of the port's competitiveness. The principle of integrated service includes a full cycle from the mooring of vessels with fish products to shipment to the final consignee.


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Are you scam aware?
Scamnesty 2010 was launched on February 1 in partnership with 129 trading standards services across the country.
The OFT campaign is calling on consumers to drop scam mailings they have received into designated Scamnesty bins or boxes at local libraries and public areas across the country.
The campaign is also highlighting the damaging emotional impact that scams can have on victims.
This echoes the work done by the TSI-backed Think Jessica campaign which has been fighting to raise awareness of the damage caused by scam mail and how for many silent victims it can spiral out of control.
Ron Gainsford, chief executive of the Trading Standards Institute, said: ’TSI is delighted that this year so many local authorities have signed up to Scams Awareness Month.
‘Local authority Trading Standards Services play a vital role in bringing scammers to task and protecting those preyed upon.
It is vital that we remind the public that in amongst the post can be scam mails sent by not only unscrupulous criminals but people who are prepared to sell your details onto a wide international web of criminal activity. What can seem like an innocent announcement that you have won money can turn into a nightmare of unsolicited mail and financial ruin.'
Scamnesty lasts until 26 February.


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Every couple of years, the Oregon Manifest launches a contest designed to surface new ideas in bike design from teams across the country. San Francisco’s entry into the contest is EVO, a collaboration between HUGE Design, 4130 Cycle Works, and PCH International’s Lime Lab. The team built a bike that took into account new 3D metal printing techniques, while also creating a flexible system for adding modular accessories. Ryan Lawler takes a look at the San Francisco entry into the Oregon Manifest Bike Design Competition.
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See also __________________
- FASHION WEEK
Valeur Absolue have found the secret to wellness in a bottle, with their new line of six innovative perfumes that release a feel-good effect with every spray.
Backstage at the Victoria's Secret 2016 show in Paris, the most sculpted supermodels in the world revealed the tunes they have on repeat during their grueling gym sessions, to get them through the toughest workout with ease.
From Lily-Rose Depp’s party-girl eyes, to Gigi Hadid’s braided ponytail and Kendall Jenner’s 3D lashes, the Vogue girls’ hair and make-up looks we’ll be trying this weekend, courtesy of Instagram.
A face of Estée Lauder for 15 years, Carolyn Murphy is healthier and happier today than she has ever been. Beyond taking conscientious care of her skin since she was young, what is the secret behind the 43 year-old’s fresh glow and infectious energy? Vogue interviewed the model in New York, to celebrate 60 years of Re-Nutriv.
Escape the crowds this festive season with a website offering stress-free shopping and unique products you won't find on the drugstore shelves.
The latest fad for stressed-out statesiders? Bathing in tree essence with a stroll through the forest – or a cosmetic equivalent. It’s a natural quick fix to fight off the winter blues and give the immune system the boost it needs, to face the chilly days ahead.


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A TARGET shopper has been left underwhelmed after she tried on a vibrant skimpy bikini.
Heather Nicole has claimed that the popular retailer “did her dirty.”
In a TikTok clip, she sarcastically claimed that she didn’t know “saggy” was the new fashion trend.
Heather showed viewers what the back of the pants looked like.
They looked baggy and she claimed they made her bottom look “flat.”
Heather was less than impressed as she said the swimwear didn’t make her body look flattering.
But, dozens of viewers seemed to have a different opinion.
One fan said: “Looks just fine to me.”
Another commented: “As far as I can see there is nothing sagging.”
A third person joked: “I think you’re using reverse psychology on us.”
Most read in Fashion
Some TIkTokers suggested that Heather should’ve bought a smaller-sized bikini.
But, she said that the swimwear was extra small, adding that it would be going back on the shelves.
She joked that she would start doing some squats following the fashion fail.
The U.S. Sun has reported how dozens of Target fans have been left thrilled after they snapped up a jumpsuit that’s gone viral.
The JoyLab bodywear has flown off the shelves after dozens of influencers reviewed the clothing on social media.
Interest in the item has exploded and the retailer seems to be struggling to keep stocks high.
Influencers have said they were concerned about “feeling exposed” but have been left pleasantly surprised.
The bodywear cost just $40 and has been branded an Aritzia dupe.
But some shoppers have claimed that the bodysuit is slightly impractical when it comes to making trips to the bathroom.
And, we have also reported on the craze surrounding a pair of sweatpants that cost just $25.
Shoppers have claimed that the loungewear looks professional enough to work in the office.
The trousers, part of the “A New Day” label, come in different colors and styles including gray, navy, and checked.
Target revealed that the pants are made from a stretchy fabric and have an elasticated waist.
But, taller shoppers have said they’ve struggled to find a pair that suits them.
Read More on The Sun
One person said: “I wish they had an option for tall people.”
A second woman commented: “As a tall person, I wish they sold different lengths. I have a few of them and they are only good for summer. Too short otherwise.”


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1. Guggenheim to buy $500 million in Bitcoin via GBTC. The investment giant will allow one of its funds to buy nearly $500 million in Bitcoin with Grayscale.
2. Hamster-powered marble races come to Ethereum. The new platform will allow wagering on marble races. The company developing the project sees it as a way to ensure fair gaming.
3. Saudi Arabia working with UAE on joint CBDC project. The two political entities are working to find the advantages of working with decentralized technology.
4. London’s Blockchain.com and CoinShares extend partnership to support “Wrapped” gold backed crypto token.
5. Pizza Huts in Venezuela will now accept crypto for food. The retail pizza chain will be accepting Bitcoin, as well as other popular tokens.
6. Ukraine introduces cryptocurrency and blockchain TV series. The nation is working to create better digital awareness for its population.
7. 'Basis Cash' will launch stablecoin. The project is taking a long forgotten token and forking it, to create a new stablecoin.
8. VMware announces availability of enterprise blockchain platform. The new platform is built for companies that want to adopt blockchain.
9. Facebook's Libra to launch in January of 2021. The token that is backed by Facebook should be available early next year.
10. Opinion: US state of Wyoming has created great environment for crypto and blockchain developers.


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GlobeCast Australia Launches OTT Streaming Service
GlobeCast Australia has launched GlobeStream, a comprehensive new ‘Over The Top’ (OTT) Internet streaming service. Complementing its existing portfolio of content delivery solutions, GlobeStream is supported by GlobeCast Australia’s state-of-the-art broadcast facilities. GlobeStream will be one of the most all-inclusive services in the market, allowing customers the benefit of a consolidated OTT service alongside the company’s Direct to Home, Fiber Distribution, and Satellite News Gathering services.
Giving customers the flexibility they require to meet clients’ evolving content delivery requirements, GlobeStream offers full-time channels and ad-hoc services, as well as the option to ‘Live Stream’ or deliver ‘Video-on-Demand’. The service is also time and cost efficient, enabling customers to encode content at the source, to any modern file format.
“Globestream is an exciting new chapter for Globecast Australia,” says Simon Farnsworth, CEO of GlobeCast Australia. “For many years leading media organizations have trusted Globecast Australia to deliver their content via satellite and fiber. We see IP delivery as a natural evolution to our existing services and I am delighted to continue to offer our clients cutting edge technology and an even greater variety of content delivery solutions.”
With GlobeCast Australia providing broadcast quality services for web, GlobeStream offers 24/7 Master Control Room monitoring and support, and the added benefit of the company’s worldwide media and satellite network, as well as access to Akamai’s global Content Delivery Network at highly competitive rates.
“While we continue to innovate, Globecast Australia maintains its commitment to service quality,” says Paul Suters, Director of Engineering & Operations of GlobeCast Australia. “Our new Globestream service leverages many of our existing areas of expertise, providing our clients with the confidence in delivery they have come to expect from Globecast Australia.”


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By Julia Eskins
Photography courtesy of eBay Canada
Whether hunting for a pair of Margiela for H&M plexi wedges or scoping out vintage Chanel, Canadian shoppers are increasingly turning to the one thing they would never leave home without: their smartphones. Add seasonal traffic and the ability to source, pin, share and shop on-the-go, and you’ve got a few more reasons to go mobile.
According to an eBay Canada survey, 45 per cent of Canadians plan to shop online or via their mobile devices this holiday season. The top reasons? Convenience, avoidance of in-store hassles and the potential to save time and money. Out of 1,005 Canadians surveyed on Nov.9, a third said they shopped whenever the inspiration struck. Suffice to say, this could happen at any time.
eBay Canada has long been a fashion trading post. But now, the online shopping hub is becoming more than just a mecca for those pedaling designer handbags. Recently, eBay Canada hit the trendy mark with a three-day pop-up Holiday Market in Toronto. From Nov.15 to Nov.17, customers were able to browse eBay’s curated collection of inspired gift ideas and shop right from their phones and tablets.
Brands like Burberry and Forever 21 are also leveraging mobile use by incorporating everything from apps, Instagram promotions and QR codes into the shopping experience.
Like every holiday season, shoppers need all the convenience they can get. With the informed (and multi-tasking) consumer on the rise, the competition to be inventive, informative and interesting is heating up among retailers.
On average, Canadians surveyed said they plan to buy gifts for nine people, spend $586 on those gifts and take 11 hours to shop for them. Looking at those numbers, the pressure is on to tackle holiday shopping in the most efficient way possible and most likely with a mobile device in hand.
Editor’s note: today is Cyber Monday 2012, the Monday after Black Friday. Expect many great deals!


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TRAT — Director-General of the Department of Agricultural Extension, Mr. Olan Pitak has urged local farmers in Trat province not to export premature Durians or risk adverse effects on market prices of the fruit.
Mr. Olan visited local Durian fields in Trat province in order to receive updates from growers and Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives officials on the situation of the Durian exports.
Although the fruit had earned fairly good prices over the past 5 years, Mr. Olan urged growers to refrain from exporting premature Durians as the action could negatively affect the overall market price.
The Director-General also went on to say that farmers should be well advised that exporting premature Durian into the international market will tarnish the image of Thai Durians as a whole — raising a chance for Thailand’s competitors, like Malaysia and Vietnam, to take over more market shares.
Source: Thai News


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Despite missing sales and profit projections and providing disappointing third-quarter outlook, Pinterest shares rose on higher-than-expected user counts. The largest shareholder in Pinterest, according to activist investor Elliott Management, who also expressed “confidence in the value-creation opportunities” at the business. According to Pinterest, 433 million monthly active users are now worldwide, down 5% from a year ago. Although that kind of fall is concerning for a social networking service that depends on users to draw in advertising, experts had anticipated a more drastic drop to 431 million.
The company’s Financial Results were depressing, as was typical in the social media industry. As a result of a sluggish online advertising market, Facebook parent company Meta, Twitter, and Snap all posted second-quarter earnings that underperformed on both the top and bottom lines. Pinterest’s statement about what was anticipated for this quarter was more concerning than its second-quarter numbers. The business stated that it anticipates third-quarter revenue to increase by “mid-single digits on a year-over-year percentage basis,” falling short of analysts’ expectations for sales to increase by 12.7%.
According to a letter from Pinterest to investors, economic difficulties are forcing marketers to rein their expenditure. According to Pinterest’s message, “the macroeconomic situation has generated considerable uncertainty for our advertisement partners.” The business reported that large box retailers and mid-market marketers in the United States had “lower than projected demand, who scaled back ad expenditure owing to fears about deteriorating consumer demand.” According to Pinterest, its third-quarter projection accounts for “slightly more foreign exchange headwinds” than it did in the second quarter. Ben Silbermann, a co-founder of Pinterest, retired in June and was succeeded as CEO by Bill Ready, a former head of Google’s commerce division.
Ready’s hire by Pinterest indicated a stronger push towards online retail and e-commerce. The Wall Street Journal reported on Elliott’s engagement with the company in July and stated at the time that the fund had amassed a stake of over 9% in it. Following the publication of Pinterest’s Financial Results on Monday, Elliott revealed it is the largest stakeholder in the business and expressed satisfaction with Ready’s development.
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Health Advocates Steamed About Bill Preempting Local E-Cig Rules
One bill that some say would preempt local rules has anti-tobacco groups demanding it to be killed. The health advocates say the measure banning the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors also undoes local restrictions in more than 50 cities and counties.
Protesters in Tallahassee last week say the bill heading to the full House would undo the work 28 counties and 28 cities have done in passing restrictions on cigarette sales that go above and beyond federal FDA rules. On the Historic Capitol steps, American Lung Association CEO Brenda Olsen said local preemption is “a page out of big tobacco’s old playbook.”
Olsen added, “We have seen what preemption has done to our Clean Indoor Air Act: We cannot restrict smoking in parks where our children play, nor can we protect workers from the hazards of secondhand smoke in places like bars.”
Tallahassee City Commissioner Gil Ziffer was at Olsen’s side to oppose the bill. He says local preemption means the city can’t stop people from smoking at a popular downtown park.
“We just opened Cascades Park. And we have that wonderful place called Discovery where kids can play, includes a place for kids. But if you were so inclined to go over there and smoke a cigar, you could do it because we can’t restrict that,” he said. “And so that’s a problem for me.”
Ziffer says he’s not OK with the state preventing local governments from enacting future mandates dictating where e-cigarettes can be sold or barring their sale altogether. But like many opponents speaking out against the bill, he says although he disagrees with the local-preemption provision, he agrees with its sponsor’s stated intention.
Frank Artiles (R- Miami) says his goal is simple.
“We are making it illegal for a minor to have the device, whether or not it has nicotine inside of it, and putting e-cigarettes not being able to be purchased by a child, which is right now—they could go to a convenience store, and a 12-year-old, 10-year-old could buy a pack of Blu or a pack of e-cigarettes right now,” Artiles told the House Regulatory Affairs Committee. “So we’re just trying to get in front of technology.”
Artiles says electronic cigarettes sales have exploded in recent years, but the FDA has failed to regulate them. Several cities and counties have passed rules, including requiring stores to sell them behind the counter. Artiles says he intends to allow existing rules to stay in place while preventing future local rules from being passed. It’s a compromise, he says, to ensure chain retailers don’t have to keep adjusting for potentially hundreds of different restrictions in different places.
But questioning Artiles in that committee, Rep. Jim Waldman (D- Coconut Creek) said the grandfathering in of existing rules is not clear from the bill’s wording.
“You just made a statement about that this doesn’t affect any ordinances already in place, but the specific language says the preemption supersedes any municipal or county ordinance on the subject,” Waldman said.
That language is headed now to the full House after passing its final committee on a vote of 12-to-5. Among those supporting it was Jose Diaz (R- Miami). He says he likes that it keeps children from getting electronic cigarettes without affecting adults.
“You know what I think this bill does? It’ll stop little kids the age of my mom when she started smoking from being introduced to nicotine. And I think what it’ll do is allow people like my mom and her twin sister to have the ability to stop smoking using e-cigarettes without having to worry about being taxed higher or [insert crazy law X here].”
The Florida Senate has already passed a bill banning e-cigarette sales to minors. But that chamber’s version does not say it preempts all local laws.


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If there is already a tense trade situation between the United States and China following sanctions by the Trump administration on Chinese imports into the country, now a new crisis has erupted with the news of hundreds of computers in the U.S. being compromised by Chinese hackers through spy chips supplied to large American companies.
The report first broke on Bloomberg following an investigation which was supposed to have run for three years, as claimed by the publication.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immediately swung into action and ordered an investigation.
Meanwhile, two of the largest U.S.-based tech companies, Apple and Amazon, mentioned in the Bloomberg report have issued denials that any of their computer networks have been hacked.
The Genesis of the “Big Hack”
The report by Bloomberg runs into several pages and it has traced the entire sequence back to 2014 when the former Obama administration received a warning that Chinese spy chips were attempted to be inserted in motherboards sold by California-based supplier Supermicro.
Again, in 2016, a report emerged from Amazon that Supermicro’s name was also mentioned as having supplied motherboards with the spy chips.
The report then mentions that several government departments within the U.S. government including the Department of Defense, the Navy, Homeland Security and NASA could have purchased machines with these motherboards and therefore are vulnerable in that sense.
One particular observation was that the damage limited to servers and desktops were probably not affected.
But then the investigation put the number of servers with the suspected chips on their motherboards at around 30,000.
Though many experts have given their opinions that the kind of hacking that is being reported by the Bloomberg is very difficult to execute, it cannot be ruled out.
Corporate Denials Come into the Picture
Apple has meanwhile not only publicly denied that any of its servers were hacked, but has written to the U.S. Senate and House commerce committees confirming the same.
Amazon too issued a separate statement denying that any hacking took place on any of its servers or networks.
Incidentally, the Department of Homeland Security has issued a statement to the effect that it has no reason to doubt the claims of both Apple and Amazon that their servers have not been compromised.
Some of these statements by U.S. authorities have been mirrored by the National Cyber Security Centre in the U.K., also stating that the denials by Apple and Amazon are credible.
Supermicro also put out a statement disputing the reporting in the Bloomberg investigation.
No Big Damage Done?
The original report by Bloomberg has not been able to come to a conclusion with a high degree of certainty that there were hacking attacks and that some data has been stolen.
At this stage, it can only by presumed that there cannot be smoke without a fire, and possibly the spy chips report was indeed true.
Once it was reported in 2014 by the U.S. intelligence agencies, all stakeholders might have been alerted and the motherboards replaced.
Alternately, the Chinese masters who might have been behind this espionage plan could have developed cold feet and remained inert without taking any further action on the hacking model they had created.
The Bloomberg investigative report, the U.S. administration stepping in and the companies issuing out their denials might bury the immediate issue of the alleged China hack, but there are other ramifications as fallout of the episode.
One is that the stock prices of the main company involved, Supermicro, tumbled in the markets.
The other and more important outcome is the general suspicion on Chinese electronic products that run on chips, which will include practically everything.
Going ahead, there may be more stringent standards imposed for bringing in Chinese electronic components into the U.S.


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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Nintendo Co. Ltd. on Tuesday said it cut the U.S. price of its Nintendo DS portable video game device by 13 percent to about $130 from about $150.
The price cut, effective August 21, comes nine months after the launch of the pocket-sized device, which opens like a clamshell and has two screens, including one that responds to touch.
Nintendo said the price cut comes ahead of the August 22 U.S. release of “Nintendogs,” a video game that allows the player to mimic ownership of a puppy and is already selling well in Japan.
The DS competes in the rapidly growing gaming market, with Sony Corp.’s PlayStation Portable (PSP), which sells for about $250, and Nintendo’s own Game Boy Advance, which retails for under $100.
Late in July, Nintendo, which dominates the portable video game industry with roughly 94 percent market share, said it sold 1.38 million DS game players in the first quarter.
On the same day, Sony raised its full-year shipment target for the PSP to 13 million units from 12 million. Nintendo expects to sell 12.4 million DS game machines in the current year.
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BYU student-run company wins more than $700,000By Jordan Christiansen Many Brigham Young University students graduating this weekend will be getting checks from family and friends to help them as they begin their new careers. Few, however, will be getting the more than $700,000 BYU MBA student Spencer Behrend received last Saturday. Behrend and his team won the grand prize at the Rice Business Plan Competition, which is billed as the world’s richest and largest student startup competition. KiLife Tech won prizes that included hundreds of thousands of dollars in investment funds, in-kind services such as website development and business plan software and the chance for Behrend and his team to ring the NASDAQ closing bell later this year. Read the full article here: http://beta.deseretnews.com/article/865626992/BYU-student-run-company-wins-more-than-700000.html?pg=all
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Walgreens has used GEO technology for close to 15 years for market planning.
This via Fortune Magazine… More recently, however, the company has endowed that visual information with location-specific data—and published far more broadly, so that store managers and its corporate real estate team can use it for planning. The system, called WalMap, can be used to visualize local community trends. A spike in flu medication prescriptions could help store managers decide earlier to order more vaccine, preventing shortages.
Read More HERE and see also this video presentation on WalMart GIS activities from the ESRIUC


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy grew at the slowest pace in more than a year in the third quarter of this year as the increase in COVID-19 infections put more pressure on global supply chains and led to shortages of goods such as cars, slashing consumer spending.
The Commerce Department said in advance gross domestic product estimates on Thursday that gross domestic product rose 2 percent year-on-year in the third quarter. This is the slowest rate since the second quarter of 2020, when the economy faced a historic contraction following a series of general closure measures aimed at facing the first wave of the Corona pandemic.
The economy grew 6.7 percent in the second quarter. The outbreak of the delta mutant strain exacerbated labor shortages in factories, mines and ports and disrupted supply chains. Economists polled by Reuters had expected gross domestic product to increase 2.7 percent in the last quarter.
Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of US economic activity, grew 6.1 percent after a 12 percent growth rate in the second quarter of April to June.
The number of Americans applying for new unemployment benefits has decreased. The improvement in labor market conditions is consistent with a separate report released by the Labor Department on Thursday that showed that claims for unemployment benefits for the first time fell by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 281,000 last week, the lowest level since mid-March 2020.
This is the third consecutive week that orders remain below the 300K level. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 290,000 claims in the last week.
(Prepared by Marwa Salam for the Arab Newsletter – Editing by Amal Abu Al-Saud)
Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.


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ABA & BEMA: Frank talk about bakery challenges
Regulation, consumers, retailers: Dealing with change in the bakery sector
BakeryandSnacks.com spoke to the president and CEO of the American Bakers Association Robb MacKie and president and CEO of BEMA (Bakery Equipment Manufacturers and Allieds) Kerwin Brown about these challenges facing industry, and how best to tackle them.
MacKie said that for bakers it was about an awareness of the demands coming from consumers and retail customers and being able to respond to these accordingly. He added that the bakery sector also needs to be aware of a “whole host of changes” in regards to sustainability and government regulations.
Brown said the key for equipment suppliers is to ensure that production lines are easy to use, clean and maintain but are also flexible to cater to the ever-changing demands and pressures coming from consumers and regulations.


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The amount of the deal was not disclosed.
Founded in 2009 as a spin-off of the Padua University’s Adaptive Optics lab by Tommaso Occhipinti, sales and marketing director, and led by Gianluigi Meneghini, CEO, Adaptica applied space and astronomy technologies to the field of ophthalmology, bringing innovations for both the measurement of refractive defects and the prescription of custom lenses.
The company will be empowered by the international scientific and business network of the new owner and it will develop new vision solutions.
The transaction was managed by Orrick Italia for Adaptica’s transferring shareholders and by Clifford Chance for the Chinese buyer group.
AliraHealth was the financial advisor of the transaction.
Among its products, there are the portable refractometer 2WIN and the portable phoropter VisionFit which allow rapid, automatic eye exams in all situations, also with non-cooperative patients. Kaleidos, Adaptica’s last creation, is a instrument that simplifies the examination by the ophtalmologist/optometrist, entertaining the patient.
The company has several patents in its portfolio and dedicates every year a large portion of its budget to research and development.


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The battery-powered truck market is the new hotness as Volkswagen AG and Navistar International Corp. said they were partnering on a new EV truck that would hit the market in 2019.
Executives from the two companies said they would jointly produces a new medium-duty truck powered by batteries the end of that year, according to Reuters. They also said they would be producing next-gen “big bore” diesels.
The two companies joined forces last year when VW took a 16.6% stake in Illinois-based Navistar. Executives said they expect the pairing will save $500 million in development costs during the first five years of the partnership.
The announcement of the new Class 6 or 7 battery-electric truck from the pair shows that there is plenty of interest in the segment. Tesla has made plenty of noise recently about its electric truck. It was supposed to unveil the beast this month, but has put off the debut until next month.
Indiana-based Cummins, a company already well known for its diesel and natural gas truck powertrains. rolled out a Class 7 concept it dubbed the Urban Haul Tractor recently. The electric truck is similarly targeting users who need to transport finished goods and raw materials in urban areas, typically clocking around 100 miles a day.
(Tesla to face challenges taking lead in electric trucks. For the story, Click Here.)
A number of other players are exploring the market for electric trucks, including Daimler AG, which is developing models for several of its five different truck brands. That includes Fuso, which hopes to go into production by 2019 with the eCanter, a light duty model expected to have a range of around 60 miles.
The Mercedes Truck brand is working up a heavy-duty distribution truck based on the Urban eTruck concept that will share a lithium-ion battery pack developed for a hybrid version of the Mercedes Citaro urban bus.
Meanwhile, Salt Lake City, Utah-startup Nikola Motors is taking an alternative approach to zero-emissions trucking. It hopes to be in production in a couple years with two heavy-duty trucks powered by hydrogen fuel cells. These would match, even exceed, the range of conventional long-haul rigs, at 1,200 miles per tank.
(Click Here for more about why Tesla’s EV semi likely to fall short of long haul norms.)
While there are even fewer hydrogen pumps than electric charging stations in the U.S., Nikola plans to set up a network of its own refueling centers across the country and will include the price of fuel in the cost of its Nikola One and Two trucks.
VW, which produces Class 6 and 7 trucks through its Scania and MAN units, plans to test nine trucks in Austria, according to Reuters, with payloads of about 18 tons and a range of about 300 miles. The timing of the truck is important in a keep-up-with-the-Joneses type market, but also an EV-based truck becomes more important as countries, such as China, France, Great Britain and Norway, continue to talk about banning gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles in the next 20-plus years.
VW and Navistar officials believe the joint development of common hardware and software for connecting trucks to the internet, and of next-generation large diesel engines, could slash the companies’ costs.
(To see more about Nikola’s new hydrogen-powered heavy hauler, Click Here.)
Volkswagen plans to launch a cloud-based connectivity platform by the end of the year that will not be tied to a specific vehicle brand, and that will be the basis for the shared system. The companies plan to ultimately connect 650,000 vehicles, and create a common marketplace for app developers, the companies said.


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Assistant Goldman Sachs Exec Stole $1.2M Of French Wine From His Boss’ Cellar
David M. Solomon, co-president at Goldman Sachs, famously dines out more than most restaurant critics, and is known for bringing his own hand-picked bottles from his cellar, which contains wine worth millions of dollars.
But an unsealed indictment has revealed that Solomon trusted the wrong man with managing his cellar. The New York Times reported that Solomon’s assistant, Nicholas De-Meyer, was charged with stealing over $1.2 million worth of wine from Solomon’s prized collection.
De-Meyer, 40, was arrested in Los Angeles Tuesday evening and faces up to 10 years in prison for carrying stolen goods across state lines.
According to the indictment, De-Meyer would siphon off bottles shipped to Solomon’s palatial apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side that should have ended up in Solomon’s cellar in the Hamptons. Using the alias Mark Miller, De-Meyer would sell the bottles to a middle-man who would take them directly from the apartment.
De-Meyer managed to sell seven bottles of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, a French pinot noir considered the most expensive wine in the world and described as “liquid velvet.” Solomon had bought the seven bottles for $133,650. It’s unclear how much De-Meyer sold them for, or how many total bottles he took.


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Storefront businesses that provide essential services in Lower Manhattan can start applying for $10,000 grants to pay for upcoming rent bills.
The grants, which are being offered by the Alliance for Downtown New York, will be given on a first-come, first-served basis.
Businesses can apply for them starting Friday.
“There is not one storefront business in New York City that has been spared by COVID-19,” Downtown Alliance President Jessica Lappin said. “We are stepping up to do what we can to help our stores keep their lights on.”
To pay for the grants, the Alliance is allocating $250,000 from its annual budget. Additional funding is coming from companies like Brookfield Properties, Silverstein Properties and The Howard Hughes Corporation.
The $10,000 infusions will come in the form of a single payment to go toward April or May rent bills.
“We know there are a number of landlords trying to work with tenants," Lappin said. "We hope all property owners will be as flexible and creative as they can be at this challenging time.”
To receive the relief, a business must be providing essential services, employ fewer than 20 workers and generate annual revenue below $1.5 million.


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Know why GAP, H&M chose Delhi over Mumbai and Bangalore
AdvertisementFashion conscious or higher spending power—whatever be the reason, when it comes to making a foray in India, Delhi seems to top the charts for brands. According to an ET report, several US food chains which includes
But it isn’t the new players that are looking at Delhi to enter India, for existing players such as Arvind Lifestyle Brands that sells premium brands such as
According to real-estate advisory firm JLL India, the Delhi-NCR region has 15 successful malls as compared to Mumbai, which has 10 successful malls in its kitty.
"The availability of quality space in premium locations in the NCR is more," said Pankaj Renjhen, MD for retail services at consultancy firm JLL India in the report. He added, “Brands usually want to launch from a top market. That market in Mumbai is south Mumbai, which only has one good mall. In comparison, south Delhi has five good, performing malls."
It should be noted that the malls in Delhi-NCR regions not only cater to the consumers in the city but also to those in neighbouring cities of Chandigarh, Ludhiana, among others.
“Delhi records higher productivity for any fashion store and Delhi is all season, where you not only sell summer apparel but also winter clothing," said J Suresh, CEO of Arvind Brands in the report. He further explained, “Also,, Delhi today is by far number one in terms of fashion adaptation.”
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Tag Archive: Tullamore DEW
William Grant & Sons’ Tullamore Dew has added a pair of single malt Irish whiskies to its core stable. Continue reading →Posted in News on September 8, 2016
Diageo, Bacardi and William Grant & Sons market some of the most established and best-known spirits brands in the world. However, in addressing attendees at last week’s 40th annual Impact Seminar, top executives from all three companies stressed the need to embrace change as a core element for achieving success in today’s drinks market. Continue reading →Posted in News on March 17, 2016
William Grant & Sons has unveiled Tullamore D.E.W. Trilogy, the oldest expression to date in the Irish whiskey franchise. Continue reading →Posted in News on January 19, 2016
•Bushmills owner Casa Cuervo has unveiled plans for a £30 million ($45m) expansion of the Irish whiskey’s distillery in County Antrim that will effectively double production capacity. Continue reading →Posted in News on December 14, 2015
Jameson has become synonymous with Irish whiskey, but the category’s other leading brands are also enjoying considerable growth in the U.S. market. Continue reading →Posted in News on October 5, 2015
After nearly three decades of relatively quiet and slow progress, Irish whiskey has emerged as one of the fastest-growing premium spirits categories in the world, bolstered by the brown spirits boom in key markets like the U.S.


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Kumamoto – Only around 60 percent of 131 municipalities in the nation have emergency food supplies designed for infants, the elderly and other vulnerable people during times of disaster, as most prioritize stockpiling staple foods for the general population, a survey showed Tuesday.
The survey, conducted by Kyodo News, found that while all municipalities had stockpiles of emergency food supplies, only 66 percent, or 87 municipalities, had powdered milk for infants, and 64 percent, or 85 municipalities, had rice porridge for the elderly.
The survey was sent to 84 major cities including prefectural capitals and designated cities, as well as 47 towns and villages across the country. Replies were received between January and March.
Local governments have a tendency to prioritize stockpiling staple food for the general public, such as dried rice that is ready to eat just by adding water, and rely on private companies to supply food for infants and the elderly during an emergency.
The survey showed that only 9 percent, or 12 municipalities, had supplies of baby food and only 6 percent, or eight municipalities, had special food products prepared for the elderly, such as those with pureed ingredients.
Among municipalities that did not have powdered milk or rice porridge in their emergency food stores, around 35 percent said they planned to procure the supplies during times of emergency from private businesses under supply agreements.
But observers say that while such an arrangement makes it easier to control inventories, distribution networks could be disrupted during an emergency.
Around 20 percent responded that they advise households to prepare such supplies on their own.
"Increasing the variety of foods would increase purchase and inventory control costs," one municipality said.
"We are not sure what amount of each product would be sufficient," another municipality said.
The survey found a stark contrast between the variety of emergency foods prepared by populous big cities and by smaller towns and villages.
While 82 percent of the 84 major cities had supplies of powdered milk, only 38 percent of towns and villages did, with a similar disparity shown for other food types.
"Households that require special consideration should always have two weeks' worth (of food supplies) at hand," said Nobuyo Kasaoka, head of the Global Disaster Nutrition section at the National Institute of Health and Nutrition.
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.


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OTTAWA – The Federal Government is bringing in a new Internet law that you should know about and act on, before July 1. If you don’t, you might lose important customers and business, not to mention friends.
TORONTO – Lisa Raitt, federal Minister of Transport, announced new regulations for identifying and labelling dangerous goods transported by truck or rail in Canada.
WASHINGTON, DC – Most of the freight transported between US and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners, Canada and Mexico in December was hauled by truck, according to a new U.S. Transportation Department report.
TORONTO – Remember the days before 9/11 when Canadian domestic shipments could go through the U.S. without too much hassle and paperwork? They may be coming back, the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) announced.
WASHINGTON, DC- The much discussed and long awaited Detroit River International Crossing bridge is one step closer to reality. The U.S. Coast Guard has granted a permit to build the planned Detroit River bridge, which will eventually link Detroit, MI and Windsor, ON.
FORT ERIE, ON – Canadian and U.S. border officials announced changes to the Trusted Traveller and Trusted Trader programs, to strengthen commerce between Canada and the U.S.
TORONTO – After several slow years, merger and acquisition activity is on the rise again in the Canadian trucking industry, according to PwC’s Capital Markets Flash, a provider of tax, consulting and deals services.
KIRKLAND, WA – Kenworth is dispatching its T680 Advantage truck to deliver product and fuel economy information to truck operators in Canada and the U.S.
TORONTO – February 2014 had the highest recorded year-over-year increase in volume of goods transported by truck – an increase of 60 percent, according to TransCore Link Logistics’ Canadian Freight Index.
Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 223 (CMVSS 223) published a regulation change that will allow for more “boat tail” designs to be used by trucking companies once the provincial regulations are updated.
PORTLAND, OR- Getting folks on the web to agree on anything is nearly impossible, but that’s exactly how Western Star’s ‘Design Our Star’ show truck came into existence.
OTTAWA – Government officials from Canada and the United States announced a new joint border investment plan called Canada-United States Border Infrastructure Investment Plan (BIIP).
TORONTO, ON – Come March, Hydro One will speed up the approval process for overheight loads so truckers will have a service guarantee of three to four business days, according to the OTA.
NORMAN WELLS, NWT – Starting bright and early Monday morning, trucks will no longer be allowed to drive on the Mackenzie Valley Winter Road during the day.
WINDSOR, ON – Many bridges connecting Ontario to Michigan or New York had less truck traffic in 2013 than they did in 2012.


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Brooks Sports shoe lab: where high tech meets performance
Inside the Brooks Sports shoe lab, tucked inside a suburban office park in Bothell, biomechanical engineers, footwear developers and designers are trying to create the latest and greatest running shoe.
Cameras mounted on the walls shoot infrared light at sensors attached to his hips, legs and feet. Three-dimensional images of his movement are instantly transmitted to a computer.
At the same time, the treadmill measures force every time his foot hits the ground.
Brooks' efforts show the ever-increasing convergence of athletic performance gear and technology, which is expected to grow even more pronounced in the next five years as clothing gets embedded with UV screens and digital sensors, and as computers gain the ability to respond to people's motions.
Brooks is just one local health-oriented consumer company taking advantage of this region's ample talent in technology and science.
The footwear-maker aims to capture a larger piece of the $20 billion running shoe market. In recent years, the company has made strides in this direction. Brooks says it has held the No. 1 market share position in specialty running stores since November 2010.
For the running-shoe geeks at Brooks, each stride in design and development represents the chance to help runners become more biomechanically efficient. By giving runners a better pair of running shoes, they strive to allow athletes to run more easily, more quickly and with fewer injuries.
Just as the running population has evolved, so has Brooks. The company's history dates to 1914, when it was an independent entity. (Brooks is now a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.) Over the decades, Brooks dabbled in a number of athletic products, including soccer cleats and mass-market retail shoes.
Ten years ago, Brooks' leadership decided to focus on running shoes. The company recruited employees with biomechanics and kinesthesiology backgrounds to develop shoes that work with the body. It also began purchasing more equipment for lab research.
"In the last 10 years, technology has advanced and become more affordable," said Eric Rohr, a Brooks biomechanical engineer.
For the whole story on the Brooks lab from Friday's print edition of the Puget Sound Business Journal, click here.
Greg Lamm covers banking & finance and law for the Puget Sound Business Journal.
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Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Market size 2027
The Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) market will hit US$25,496.3 million in terms of value by the end of 2025. The market growth will be driven by the wide adoption of VDI technology. Rising developments in industrialisation will accelerate growth in the market till 2025. However, security vulnerabilities in internet of things (IoT) networks will have a negative impact on the global market’s growth during this period. The threat of data breaches is predicted to be a key challenge which could become a strong threat from 2019 to 2025.
The market will be dominated by: NComputing Inc. (US), Citrix Systems Inc (US), Cisco Systems Inc.(US), Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd (China), RedHat Inc (US), Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (US), Microsoft Corporation (US), VMware Inc.(US), Oracle Corporation (US), Amazon Web Services (US), Evolve IP LLC. (US), Parallels International GmbH (Germany)
The industry faces challenges from vendor dependency, security issues, and other factors. But the market benefits from increasing research and development activities, resulting in the introduction of environment-friendly products that not only dissipate a lower amount of heat but have enhanced mechanical properties. Another key trend gaining prevalence in the global market is the increasing focus on the electrification of vehicles, which is also giving rise to the production of light-weight vehicles and automotive brake friction products.
Due to a rise in phishing activities, COVID-19 has substantially increased the adoption of cloud infrastructure and services. In addition, COVID-19 has significantly increased the security budget, which has resulted in a large increase in cloud infrastructure and services. According to the findings of a study conducted by Microsoft and published in August 2020, 36% of the total 800 respondents said that the budget for cybersecurity had risen as a consequence of the pandemic outbreak. Additionally, 42 percent of those who answered the survey said that their company altered its personnel by adding more security experts.


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Mitas has extended the Terra Force-MX motocross competition tyre range, introduced at the beginning of 2019, to include junior sizes designed for motorcycles from 50cc to 85cc engine displacement. These additional sizes will be available from October.
Bridgestone EMIA has become the official European tyre partner of motorcycle charity event, The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (DGR). The global event brings together riders’ passion for classic style bikes and men’s health charity Movember, for which it raises funds. DGR will hold its first-ever solo edition on Sunday 27 September 2020. In 2019 the event brought together 116,000 motorcyclists across 100 countries. Welcoming Bridgestone’s support, DGR founder Mark Hawwa explained why the ride was urgently needed.
German motorcycling magazine Motorrad MO has recommended a trio of brands in its test of a half-dozen roadgoing sports tyres. MO fitted the candidates to a Triumph Street Triple RS and evaluated their performance in a range of parameters, publishing the results in its September 2020 edition.
Maxxis’s new sand motocross tyre is now in stock and available to buy today from distributor Bickers. The MaxxCross MX-SM is a sand and mud tyre designed to offer the performance expected by professionals to the everyday rider. Used on sand tracks in the 2019 MXGP season, the MaxxCross MX-SM has two championship titles to its belt already; the Junior Motocross World Championship 125cc and the European 125cc Motocross Championship.
Pirelli has rolled out a range of larger Diablo Superbike Slick tyres for the Bennetts British Superbike (BSB) Championship. The series will run over six rounds starting at Donington Park on 7-9 August. Each round features three Superbike races. Pirelli has continuously acted as sole tyre supplier to the series since 2008. It supplies approximately 4,000 tyres to each event, as well as offering service and support. The new tyres were developed during the 2019 World Superbike Championship. They now comprise part of Pirelli’s production tyre range, available to racers of all levels.
Apollo Tyres is aiming for leadership in the premium two-wheeler segment in India with the inauguration of a dedicated two-wheel cross-ply and tyre manufacturing operation. India is the largest two-wheeler market in the world, and still has a headroom for further growth. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, demand has increased as people move away from shared/public transport and gradually moving to own a personal vehicle. However, while India is at the forefront for Apollo’s venture into the two-wheel segment, the company is also hinting that it plans to export two-wheel tyres to Europe and North America.
The second quarter of 2020 provided the worst quarterly sales results in recorded memory, the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) states. Publishing its members’ replacement tyre sales for the Covid-19 pandemic stricken quarter, ETRMA secretary general Fazilet Cinaralp said: “The tyre sector’s full recovery is still far away. For the moment, we can only hope for the market to stabilise in the second half of the year. Our outlook for 2020 remains bleak with a double-digit drop in sales expected across all segments.”
Continental has announced the reorganisation of various global specialist tyre activities into a single ‘Specialty Tyres’ business unit. Formed on 1 July, the company has combined its ‘Commercial Specialty Tires’, ‘Two Wheel Tires’ and ‘Hoosier Racing Tire’ business areas under the new umbrella unit. The result of the reorganisation means the entire Continental speciality tyre business will be developed, manufactured and distributed worldwide under the new unit. It brings together tyres for material handling, the agricultural, port, and construction sectors, bicycle and motorcycle tyres, and tyres for racing. The move continues the evolution of various specialist tyre segments within the company, begun at the start of 2013, when Conti renamed its industrial tyres business ‘Commercial Specialty Tires’.
Metzeler has launched the Roadtec Scooter, developed for all types of scooters with 10-16” wheels. Global scooter and moped markets are expected to increase, especially as pandemic lockdowns ease, and more people seek a cost-effective private alternative to public transport. The German motorcycle tyre manufacturer has chosen to extend its Roadtec brand into the scooter segment, consolidating its previous three lines for the segment. The new tyre takes inspiration from the award-winningRoadtec 01 sport touring tyre. It is designed for “adaptability and versatility,” capable of dealing with diverse weather conditions and types of asphalt in urban and suburban areas.
Metzeler has added the Racetec TD Slick to its racing tyre range, after unveiling the new tyre at EICMA in November. The new model is designed for motorcyclists and club racers for both competition and training. As such it has been manufactured primarily for ease of use. It does not require tyre warmers and does not require a particular bike set-up. It is also designed for consistent performance over multiple sessions, versatility on different asphalt types and operating temperatures, and high abrasion resistance. The rear tyre can also be reversed between sessions, useful on circuits which wear tyres more on one side.
Pirelli has developed a customised version of the Diablo Supercorsa SP to meet a new challenging performance target. The tyre will be the original fitment on the most powerful and technologically advanced production Ducati ever, the Superleggera V4. The tyre is designed to help riders get the most out of the significant aerodynamic load generated by the bike’s biplane wings, which characterise the aggressive design of the new motorcycle.
For the first time in the tyre manufacturer’s history, Turkish motorcycle specialists Anlas have entered the highly competitive hypersport market with their brand new Viento Sport, which is now available to UK dealer from exclusive importer Cambrian Tyres.
Kenda has signed up Jeff Ward as its latest brand ambassador. The British-American multi-time AMA Motocross, Supercross, Supermoto champion, 7-time international MX des Nations champion, X Games gold medallist and AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductee joins Motocross Hall of Famer and X Games Gold Medallist Doug Henry in this role.


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Walmart to allow employees simply simply take wages before payday. HereвЂ™s an option estimate through the piece
Together with Silicon Valley start-ups also and PayActiv, Walmart announced today it 1.4 million employees to use вЂњ Intsapay вЂќ to take wages before their actual payday вЂ” the most noticeable among a slew of other вЂњfinancial wellness servicesвЂќ that will now be offered by the company headquartered in Bentonville that it will allow.
The whole package will are offered in the type of an app that вЂњconnects to an associateвЂ™s bank account, prepaid account or Walmart Associate Paycard, and links to WalmartвЂ™s payroll systems,вЂќ according to a news launch. The software will act as an easy-to-use device, the theory is that, for workers to determine how exactly to invest their paychecks responsibly.
Nevertheless the ny instances has records that the notion of an all-in-one economic administration application with an in-house type of payday advances belies the larger problem: Walmart workers arenвЂ™t being paid sufficient.
HereвЂ™s an option estimate through the piece:
вЂњIt noises such as this might be a service that is useful it does not tackle the essential problem Walmart workers suffer,вЂќ said Paul Sonn, general counsel regarding the nationwide Employment Law venture, a work advocacy team. вЂњTheir paychecks are way too little.вЂќ
Plus some data to straight back that up:
The minimum beginning wage at Walmart is $9 one hour, which can be $1.75 more than the federal minimum wage but less than the beginning wage at stores like Costco, which will pay $13 an hour or so, and Target, which recently raised its entry-level wage to $11 one hour.
The typical wage that is hourly a full-time Walmart worker is $13.85, although the average hourly wage at Costco is mostly about $24.50. (more…)


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This article was published in ProSecurity Zone
Within the context of National Identity Fraud Prevention Week, Shred-it identifies the continued threat facing small businesses across the UK from fraud risk due to poor document security.
As National Identity Fraud Prevention Week, a joint public and private sector drive to raise public awareness of the threat of identity fraud, begins, Shred-it reports an upsurge in the numbers of small businesses and individuals acting to seize control of their document security in the office and at home.
Identity theft ranks currently as one of the UK's fastest growing crimes. Statistics from the UK Identity Fraud Steering Committee, estimate the total cost of identity fraud to the UK economy at approximately £1.2 billion every year, equivalent to around £25 for every adult in Britain. And according to CIFAS, the UK's Fraud Prevention Service, one in 10 people have already been a victim of identity fraud in the UK.
Against this background, 2009 has seen Shred-it, the UK's largest document destruction company, witness an upsurge in owners of small enterprises across the UK, including those operating from home, visiting Shred-it's branches across the country to request assistance in securely shredding confidential business materials. In addition, instances of customers from across a range of backgrounds asking Shred-it to securely shred confidential personal information have also become more frequent.
"Concerns about personal data security are now more prominent in the public consciousness than ever before. No business, regardless of its size, can afford to run the risk of facing the financial and reputational damage which a data breach can inflict." says Robert Guice, Senior Vice President, EMEA of Shred-it Limited.
"Smaller businesses, including those operating from home, often don't have cost-effective or secure destruction facilities. Some individuals only have strip shred personal shredders which meet neither the security specifications or volume requirements of small businesses."
"This is why, with concerns over their business' reputation and customer confidentiality, they are coming direct to our branches to securely destroy their confidential documents. We believe that this will continue to increase as identity fraud awareness grows."
Robert Guice added, "The same thinking applies when it comes to the destruction of personal documents such as bills or bank statements. Members of the public are coming direct to firms such as ourselves because they want to be able to enjoy the peace of mind associated with destroying information of this kind using a totally secure process."
Mike Denny from Manchester who works in the insurance claims industry, recently contacted Shred-it to dispose of archived client information from a small business he previously ran: Mike Denny says, "During the course of running my old business I accumulated large amounts of confidential client documents which I was legally required to retain for six years. Much of the information contained in these documents was highly sensitive and needed to be properly disposed of.
"Simply dumping these documents as part of my general refuse wasn't an option as this would have left my ex-clients facing a heightened risk of identity theft and other fraud. I contacted Shred-it's Manchester branch which helped me resolve this issue by securely shredding all this documentation on the spot at their depot."


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H3rizon Announces A Live Virtual Performance
Sydney trio, H3rizon, has announced a special live-streamed performance coming this July!
Electric Enemy Announce Their Hollow Eyes Virtual World Tour
Coming to you live from home, Electric Enemy are bringing their heavy guitars, colossal drums and dynamic vocals virtually to you on July 1!
Bang Bang Romeo Announces Their Stone Cold Superstar Virtual World Tour
UK's Bang Bang Romeo have announced their first ever Virtual Tour, coming right at you on June 30!
GERMEIN Announce Their Red Rover Virtual World Tour
The Australian indie-rock trio have announced their first ever global virtual tour, coming to you live from home on June 26!
Taylor Castro Announces Her Australian & New Zealand Virtual Tour
America's new sweetheart has announced that she will be bringing her World Virtual Tour to Australia and New Zealand this May!
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Some of Taiwan’s DRAM makers have reported record monthly sales for August, highlighting an increase in DRAM prices that could continue in the months ahead.
The higher prices are unlikely to affect PC prices thanks to the stiff competition among system vendors and makers of other types of components, such as microprocessors.
But users who want some extra DRAM for their PCs could find themselves handing over a bit more money than before.
Nanya Technology Corp., Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. and ProMOS Technologies Inc. all reported record sales for August this week. The higher sales stem partly from an increase in PC sales in some parts of the world. That increase drives up prices for DRAM, since most of the chips — around three quarters of the global supply — end up in PCs.
Analysts say PC demand could stay robust for the next several months, as back-to-school demand and holiday demand are followed by the launch of Microsoft Corp.’s new operating system, Vista. That could keep prices for DRAM high.
The spot price Tuesday for the most widely used DRAM, 512M bit DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) chips, is around US$6.00, according to DRAMeXchange Technology Inc. Crystal Lee, a memory chip industry analyst at ABN AMRO Asia Ltd. in Taipei, forecasts that prices for the chips will remain at or near that level in coming months.
Powerchip and ProMOS have been improving their ability to make chips using 90-nanometer production technology, which allows companies to make chips that are smaller, more powerful and more energy efficient. It can also help them reduce costs, because making smaller chips allows their production lines to churn out more chips using the same raw materials.
Nanya’s sales for August rose 32 percent to NT$6.62 billion, a new all-time high for the chip maker, the company said Tuesday.
A day earlier, Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. said its sales for August rose to NT$8.03 billion (US$245 million), up from NT$4.45 billion in the same month last year. The figure was also 14 percent higher than July, due to higher prices for the chips and increased output at factories. It was the company’s fifth straight historical high.
ProMOS’s sales hit NT$6.01 billion last month, up from NT$2.53 billion during the same time a year ago, and 15 percent higher than July.
“DRAM contract and spot prices continued to rise last month, but we also benefitted from our 90 nanometer process,” said Ben Tseng, spokesman for ProMOS.


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Report According to the company’s delivery executives went on strike after the change in payout structure. For a week they protested and then around a thousand delivery executives joined hands with other companies! Reports suggest that Blinkit has cut down on payments to delivery executives. The minimum payment has been made Rs 15 per trip, which was earlier fixed at Rs 25 per delivery, and an incentive of Rs 7 per trip was given in peak hours.
Several Blinkit dark stores and micro warehouses in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad were closed for a few days due to protests by delivery executives. The company is starting them again. Blinkit has around 200 such warehouses in Delhi-NCR, with the help of which it delivers to customers within a radius of 2 to 3 km.
As per reports, Blinkit had around 3,000 delivery executives in Delhi-NCR before the strike. About one-third of them have joined other companies. It is not known how many executives the company has right now, as it is also adding new people. The report also spoke to a former delivery executive of Blinkit.
According to him, we were hopeful that the company would revert to the old rate card. Failing this, Mohammad Zakir has started working with Zepto. Rival companies benefited from the opposition Blinkit faced. According to another report by ET, Bigbasket, Zipto and Instamart saw a 25 to 50 per cent increase in orders due to the strike. Over 100 Blinkit stores that were temporarily closed due to the strike are now open. Significantly, Blinkit is owned by Zomato.


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The maiden magazine launch of (Essential Woman) will be holding on the November 9, 2016 at The Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi Lagos.
Speakers at the event will include Bola Adesola; MD/CEO Standard Chattered Bank, Ndidi Okonkwo; Founder Leap Africa. While panelists include Ononnoju Irukwu, Ada Osakwe, Ego Boyo, Kehinde Nwani, Vivien Shobo.
The magazine will promote and showcase business women of diverse occupations and provide opportunities that will encourage growth professionally, personally and resourcefully.
The mission is to support the women in business and public service by amplifying their voices, stories and achievements. It is also aimed at identifying role models in every facet and creating a new generation of leaders.
Date: November 9, 2016
Venue: The Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi Lagos.


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The ban on interprovincial travel for hunting, as has been gazetted by Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Barbara Creecy, continues to have a devastating effect on the hunting industry in the Eastern Cape.
Although the minister has withdrawn the regulations banning overnight accommodation, she has not gone far enough, and her inaction is costing the industry millions in lost revenue, and places thousands of jobs on the line.
Hunting excursions have decreased drastically since the lockdown was initially implemented, and this has had a severe impact on the traditional hunting season between May and August.
A large portion of the income for hunters in the Eastern Cape, is obtained from hunters who visit the Eastern Cape from other provinces. Due to the restriction that prevents hunters to enter the province for this purpose, the jobs bloodbath is set to continue within the industry.
The question we need to ask now is where is the MEC for Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mlungisi Mvoko, while the hunting industry is being crippled by theses draconian lockdown regulations?
Break your silence MEC and tell us what you are doing to save jobs related to the hunting industry.
In response to a parliamentary question, MEC Mvoko has previously indicated that there is no comprehensive statistics currently available on the impact of the lockdown on the tourism sector. He said at least 92 tourism related companies have reported being in distress since the lockdown began.
Mvoko also said it is anticipated that, on average, the tourism industry will operate at less than 25% of normal levels for 2020!
SMMEs are particularly hard hit. Jobs losses are inevitable, forcing many households into poverty and deprivation. It is anticipated that 43 000 jobs in the tourism sector are at risk, based on a 55% closure rate.
Now, more than ever, we need to take proactive steps to save any jobs we can, and yet MEC
Mvoko has been silent.
I have submitted questions to the MEC, asking him to clarify what steps he has taken to assist the hunting industry specifically, and the tourism sector in general.
MEC Mvoko must tell the people of the Eastern Cape what his department, which has been entrusted with the economic development of this province, and which should be jealously safeguarding every precious job, is doing for them in this time of crisis.
If the current regulations are not amended, then we will be launching a petition to mobilize the public so that jobs can be saved!


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Trucking news and briefs for Friday, March 24, 2023:
Trucking groups launch new Clean Freight Coalition
A group of trucking industry stakeholders on Thursday announced the launch of the Clean Freight Coalition, which aims to promote future cleaner truck transportation in a way that assures affordable and reliable freight movement.
The five founding members of the coalition are the American Trucking Associations, Truckload Carriers Association, National Tank Truck Carriers, Truck & Engine Manufacturers Association, and the American Truck Dealers group.
Jim Mullen, former acting administrator at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, will serve as CFC’s executive director. Mullen has also previously served as chief administrative and legal officer at autonomous truck developer TuSimple.
“Trucking is the backbone of our economy and critical to the nation’s supply chain,” Mullen said. “It is an honor to lead CFC in its pursuit to get to zero emissions in a responsible and feasible manner.”
The coalition said its mission is to:
- Educate policymakers on the progress the trucking industry has made in reducing emissions and protecting the environment
- Promote the work underway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from freight transportation
- Advocate for sound public policies that transition toward a zero-emission future in a manner that assures affordable and reliable freight transportation and protects the nation’s supply chain
“To get to zero, we have to be honest and transparent about the road ahead,” said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. “Success depends on a national energy strategy that is inclusive of our industry – the most central and critical link in the supply chain.”
PacLease leases first electric Peterbilts
PacLease, a full-service lease and rental company, presented keys for two Peterbilt Model 579 EV Day Cabs to Truck King, a Dallas-area trucking company.
The day cabs, on a full-service lease through PacLease Dallas, will be used for local line-haul operations – running approximately 100 miles roundtrip.
“This lease with Truck King represents the beginning of a new journey as PacLease increases its presence of leasing and renting electric Peterbilt and Kenworth trucks,” said Ken Roemer, President of Paccar Leasing. “The dominoes are beginning to fall and with other orders being filled soon, we’re on our way.”
Truck King operates 65 trucks in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex – a mix of flatbed and box trucks – hauling components used in manufacturing for local companies.
“We did a cost analysis on maintenance and fuel for our diesel trucks compared to leasing EV trucks from PacLease, and we saw that it was a smart move on our part to look at the future,” said Cole Smith, President and CEO of Truck King. “And since PacLease opened the door for us in getting grant money from the state of Texas, the cost difference wasn’t that far off.”
With the growing emphasis on emission reduction and the emerging electric truck market, PacLease has invested in a robust charging infrastructure, certified technicians, and Kenworth and Peterbilt medium- and heavy-duty electric truck models at its U.S.-based Paccar Leasing company stores. “This spring, our electric rental trucks will make their debut in Texas,” said Roemer. “We plan to add EV units at other locations throughout the year as well.”


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In the various statements that Maurice Levy and John Wren, the to-be Co-CEOs of Publicis Omnicom Group, have been quoted on, the mention of the Group’s strength in its digital offering is consistent. The press statement by Publicis Omnicom Group stated that amongst other things, the newly formed entity would be the “world’s leading company in digital services”. In addition to that, most observers have also highlighted the fact that the scale that the two companies bring together will impact digital media owners significantly, and some even said that now 70 per cent of digital business would be between the top three companies and this would have consequences in influencing digital media owners.
Is bigger better in digital?
While Publicis has a host of digital brands like DigitasLBi, Razorfish, Rosetta and also VivaKi, Omnicom’s brands that compete in the digital space include the likes of Proximity, RAPP and Tribal DDB amongst others. Needless to say that the mainline agencies from both Publicis and Omnicom have worked to develop digital at the core of their offer as well that cannot be neglected in today’s environment. But this is also true for rival groups WPP and also IPG. Digital is the buzzword across agencies (Ogilvy, McCann, JWT, GroupM, IPG Mediabrands) for these holding companies in addition to the standalone digital brands (AKQA, Salmon, HUGE, R/GA), which either by acquisition or by evolution have created a reputation for themselves in the digital world. On the face of it, there is no clear indicator to state that the merger has definitely brought better digital brands under the same roof.
What role did digital play in driving this merger? In a conversation with DMA, David Cooperstein, VP, Practice Leader for CMOs and Marketing Leadership, Forrester Research explained, “This deal will have impact at three levels – scale across all media buying including television, print and digital, due to the amount of media spend by the new entity on behalf of their clients. More money to be spent on systems to buy this media on a programmatic basis, using tools from the Annalect and VivaKi entities and finally, more opportunities to be a strategic influence on digital media sellers such as Google, AOL and Yahoo, as they represent a larger variety of clients. That should lead to better attribution modelling to support digital (and offline) ad placements.”
The advertising world however, would like to bring attention to scalability, a new found power in the digital era versus scale that still has a traditional or analogue ring to it. “Our focus has always been about scalability over scale, and how our offerings can better serve the needs of our clients,” said Tim Andree, Executive Vice President, Dentsu Inc (also, Executive Chairman, Dentsu Aegis Network and President & CEO, Dentsu Network).
In an earlier interview with DMA, Mr Andree had explained that the old, pre-internet protocol world was built for scale. With the advent of internet enabled media, the way to focus on scalability has changed. He said, “The way we see it is how to structure our hubs and be nimble in moving knowhow and capability around markets. We are trying as much as possible to view the world in the 21st century. Dentsu is the first fully scaled global communication competitor that is built since the advent of digital and that is our advantage.”
Bringing a similar thought to the conversation, IPG’s CEO Michael Roth said, “Our focus is and will remain on our clients and our people – which are the strength of our company. There’s nothing about scale that makes for better creative ideas, or leads to better integration of marketing disciplines. We are confident in the quality and competitiveness of our digital and media offerings, and well positioned in emerging markets. Ultimately, we’re all about our clients’ success and we intend to keep it that way, so that we can in turn build on our positive momentum in the marketplace.”
The jury hence is still out on what would be different about the digital service of Publicis Omnicom Group that can create further impact in this already dynamic space.
Impact on digital media owners?
The other important question that emerges in Mr Cooperstein’s statement is the impact on digital media owners, whose revenue models are still dependent on advertising significantly. How does ‘scale’ make a difference to them? Does this development redefine the manner in which digital media owners will be impacted given that volume of the digital business now is with two or three companies? “Very possibly,” replied Mr Andree, and added, “But that will depend on the strength of the relationships as well as the size. Dentsu has the benefit of thinking not only as an agency, but also as a media owner, so we have a great respect for what our digital media partners do, and we are constantly looking for new ways to partner and innovate with them on behalf of our clients.”
“Digital is not a space where you can look at scale benefits, especially when you are an agency,” said an APAC digital media owner, explaining, “Look at what happened to GroupM agencies when, not so long ago, they were charged with arbitration in the digital space. Advertisers do not take that well from their agency. A marketer may still be willing to listen to a Google or Yahoo when it comes to buying bulk digital media inventory, but not when it is coming through its agency because it is perceived to lack transparency. In the agency world, if you have to offer effective digital solutions for your clients, you cannot be dependent on scale. Digital media, unlike television and print, has to be a two-way road at the end and you have to get the full cooperation of the digital media company. Can there be strategic influences, perhaps but it will still come down to individual relationships.”


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- Following up on the PlayStation Cloud
news, today Kotaku reports that according to their sources the PS4 / Orbis console will be out this November, and purportedly users will be able to control it with a phone.
Below are the rumor details, to quote: "A reliable Kotaku source has informed us that the PlayStation 4, codenamed Orbis, will be out this November in the United States.
Our source - the same reliable source who back in early 2012 told us the codename for Sony's next console and the codename for Microsoft's next console - tells us that there are two models planned for the new machine, and that pricing won't be announced until later this year, possibly around E3. The current plan, our source says, is to release them at $429 and $529, but that could change.
Although nothing is confirmed just yet, as we get closer and closer to the release of Orbis, which Sony is expected to officially announce during an event in New York City tomorrow night, we continue to hear more details about what will ship with the new hardware. Back in January, we learned about the PS4's new controller, which has a small touchpad in the center, and the fancy new user account system that will allow...


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As the first post-holiday credit card bills hit mailboxes and email inboxes nationwide, paying back holiday debt is officially a priority for consumers.
According to the American Research Group, Inc. the average American spent $854 on holiday gifts alone in 2012, up a full 32% from the previous year. That means holiday debt is a real concern for those consumers that opted to splurge last December.
With that in mind, Creditnet.com, a leading online authority for credit repair and debt management advice, came up with three ways to help shoppers kick holiday debt quickly.
“The worst thing consumers can do is to procrastinate on paying back holiday credit card bills,” Jason Bushey, Vice President of Operations at Creditnet, said. “The longer it takes to pay back holiday purchases made on a credit card, the more interest will accrue, and that’s where shoppers can run into that snowball effect of increased credit debt that we always warn against.”
To help expedite the elimination of holiday credit debt for the average shopper., Creditnet today announced three tips to kick holiday debt quickly:
1.) Consider a balance transfer
0% interest balance transfer credit cards give consumers the opportunity to move debt from an old credit card with high interest to a new, 0 interest credit card.
The best balance transfer cards apply 0% interest during the intro period to balance transfers, allowing consumers to take the credit debt accrued on one card and move it to another. This is perfect for consumers struggling with holiday debt because it can eliminate some or all interest fees, which could add up to anywhere from 11% to 30% of the total minimum payment owed each month.
Eliminating interest will allow consumers down the balance owed on a credit card directly, and helps to erase the possibility of snowballing debt; this is a primary consequence of interest fees, according to Creditnet.
Consumers with exceptional holiday credit debt should consider balance transfer cards with the longest intro periods. The Discover it™ – 18 Month Balance Transfer Card is the newest balance transfer card on the market to offer consumers 18 months to pay zero interest on purchases and balance transfers. The fee to transfer debt is 3% of the total balance transfer being made – the standard rate for credit card balance transfers.
2.) Use tax returns to pay down debt
American consumers that receive a tax return in the upcoming weeks should use that return to pay back holiday debt, says Creditnet.
According to the IRS, the average tax return in 2012 was $2,289. Unfortunately, the average credit card debt per borrower in Q3 was close to $5,000, that according to a report from the credit bureau TransUnion. So while the average tax return wouldn’t pay back the average credit debt, it could go a long way towards paying back holiday debt for the average consumer.
Creditnet.com says that the only con to this strategy is that it could take a while to actually receive a tax return; perhaps longer than initially hoped when attempting to pay back credit debt quickly. However, since consumers will have a good estimate on an expected return and the comfort of knowing a free check is eventually on the way, Creditnet encourages making paying back holiday debt a priority, then enjoying the fruits of the tax season later on.
Essentially, pay up front to alleviate holiday debt, then use a tax return later on to make up the difference in checking and savings accounts.
3.) Stop charging, start saving
Finally, Creditnet.com recommends that the average consumer take a break from charging and put a new priority on saving in the new year.
After all, adding debt surely won’t help to pay back holiday debt. In order to make a concerted effort to pay down holiday debt in 2013, credit experts like Creditnet stress the importance of paying back debt and building up savings as a priority in the post-holiday months.
Consumers are encouraged to hold off on credit card purchases for as long as it takes to pay back respective holiday debts, and Creditnet urges consumers to make credit card payments a No. 1 priority since even one credit card default can be a credit score killer.
Overall, Creditnet recommends transferring debt to a new, 0% interest credit card or using a tax return to pay back holiday debt, and to make paying back holiday debt the number one priority to maintain a high credit score in the post-holiday months.


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Today at IFA 2013 in Berlin, Phillips announced two new cloud service apps, Cloud Explorer and Cloud TV, both of which will be available on all Philips Smart TVs from 2012 or later. Partnering with Dropbox, Cloud Explorer will allow users to access files, media, and pictures on their TV from dedicated folders in their Dropbox accounts. Cloud TV, however, is a bit more ambitious, promising ‘hundreds of local, national, and special interest channels’ all from the convenience of your Philips Smart TV.
So is Philips’ new Cloud TV service the slayer of the cable dragon? Probably not. The service appears to depend on several caveats, most specifically where you live. While the official press release claims Cloud TV will offer a large selection of premium and non-premium channels ‘most of which’ are free, there’s also a short disclaimer at the bottom that reads ‘availability and specifications of services are country dependent’.
That could mean a lot of things, but it’s probably not an encouraging sign, especially for U.S. residents. Let’s be honest, aside from some BBC gems, the vast majority of TV content that most of us watch is created and broadcast here in the United states — and it would be very surprising to see much of it legally accessible for free online, especially on U.S. soil. Further driving skepticism is the fact that none of the channels offered are listed in the press release, or anywhere else we could find.
While we’re always hopeful for some magic beans in our search for free online content of the legal variety, the TV overlords have always kept a firm grasp on their content (see Aereo and FilmOn), and we can’t see that changing anytime soon. We’ll keep you posted as more details emerge, but don’t expect a Philips Smart TV to serve up ‘Game of Thrones’ for free anytime soon.
- Sony releases its 2023 TV prices with one very big exception
- Roku will start making its own Roku TVs and OLED reference design
- YouTube TV adds a clock to its live guide; Apple TV gets the new UI
- TiVo pairs up with Europe’s Vestel for its first smart TV
- Hisense announces its own Fire TV, starting at $530


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Local home grown pet store and Austin icon Tomlinson’s Feed and Pet Stores has been named “Retailer of the Year” by Pet Product News International, the nation’s leading business news magazine covering the issues and trends affecting all sectors of the professional pet industry. This highly coveted award recognizes Tomlinson’s not only for their prominence in the marketplace, but also for their commitment to employee training, promotion of pet adoptions and companion animals, involvement with service organizations, innovative promotions, community impact and industry impact. To read the PPN article about Tomlinson’s, go to http://www.petproductnews.com/retailer-of-the-year/retailer-of-the-year.aspx or click to it from Tomlinson’s homepage at http://www.tomlinsons.com/.
To celebrate this achievement, Tomlinson’s is holding a pet food drive this fall to benefit several local pet rescue organizations. From November 17th through Christmas Eve, Tomlinson’s will match donated pet food pound for pound through the generous help of their suppliers.
For 76 years, Tomlinson’s has been dedicated to serving pets and their owners by offering high-quality foods and goods, and engaging the local community through numerous events and charitable works. The Click family invites you to come by any of their seven Austin locations and see why they’ve earned the honor of being named Pet Product News International’s “Retailer of the Year”.
The Pet Product News International Retailer of the Year award was created more than 20 years ago to recognize retailing excellence in the pet industry.


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Keeping in view the tough competition Amazon is facing with its global competitors in E-Commerce global markets- Alibaba and Walmart, Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos has announced loading of cash into Amazon wallet. The announcement came on June 05 in light so as to mark the fifth anniversary of Amazon India and will only be valid on June 06. Amazon customers were offered cash back of INR 250 to be added to Amazon Pay wallet. The offer was valid for users who shopped online at Amazon India for goods worth INR 1000 or above. To be eligible for offer, Amazon customers must have an activated Amazon wallet.
Click to avail the best of Amazon coupons
The company, in 2017 recorded 126% surge in transactions and 68% increase in unique users. According to Amazon India head, Amit Agarwal, major growth has been witnessed in mobile prepaid recharges. Also over 60% of company’s transactions in India are digital payments. Most of the new users have joined after the launch of mobile recharge feature in August 2017. In May 2018, Amazon India rebranded its grocery services from Amazon Now to Prime Now, offering exclusive express two hour delivery to Prime members. Amazon now ships packages from over 50 fulfilments locations in 13 Indian states.
In an open letter, Jeff Bezos wrote, “We are five years into our journey but as we say here at Amazon, it is still Day 1 and I’m energized and humbled by the opportunities ahead. Amazon is India ki apni dukaan.” Amazon’s e-wallet has been pushed beyond its own marketplace and has been connected with other online merchants like Fasoos, Freshmenu, Book My Show, Mc Donalds, Red Bus and Easemytrip.com to bring in innovation. For this expansion the company has spent over INR 700 crore in Indian digital payment since 2016. Although, online retail is the primary business of Amazon India, it aims to expand payments and financial technology business. Another unique feature which Amazon is offering its customers is cash load at doorstep.
Bezos highlighted all the milestones achieved by Amazon India over the duration of past five years. Presently, it reaches Indian customers from 100 per cent serviceable pin codes. The massive growth has also given an initiative to local artisans and businessmen to sell their products at Amazon’s online platform. During its journey in the Indian market, Amazon had launched several attractive products like Amazon Prime Subscription, Amazon Prime Video, Kindle Book, Amazon Music, etc. Mention was also made of Alexa and Echo Spot speakers launched in India in 2017. The online E-Book store of Amazon currently carries books in five India languages- Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati and Malayalam.
Most of the Indian e-commerce market giants like Paytm (backed by Alibaba) and Freecharge (owned by Axis Bank) also began with the similar strategy of offering cashback in order to build booming digital payments business in India. According to market experts, as cashback has become a mantra to acquire more customers, this has come as a strategy by Amazon to cast aside its opponents.


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The event, first held in 1954, was put up for sale at the beginning of July by the Hatchuel family, who ran the festival as a privately owned company.
The sale of the festival, which had operating profits of £7m this year, is reported to have come about after a disagreement between its owner and chairman, Roger Hatchuel, and his son, Romain.
Emap said the event would fit into its media operations -- which include the magazines Screen International, Broadcast and Media & Marketing Europe -- and that the acquisition would extend its core skills in event organisation, awards and exhibitions.
Derek Carter, chief executive of Emap Communications, said: "Working with the international advertising community, it is our intention to ensure the festival continues to reflect the rich diversity of this tremendously exciting market."
The Cannes festival was started by a group of cinema contractors, including Pearl & Dean. Inspired by the famous film festival, they wanted to celebrate the best of advertising and attract advertisers to their medium.
Romain Hatchuel had been expected to take over management of the festival from his 71-year-old father until two years ago, when he departed the company for a job at Euro RSCG.
He has since left the advertising network to set up a consultancy called The Key with the designer Philippe Starck.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the Forum here.


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The rapid outbreak of the COVID-19 all across the globe has brought a lot of companies to the brink of closure. Even the top production companies in Los Angeles are feeling the pressure. Moreover, While the social consequences of the virus are evident, its economic impact is yet to be uncovered.
To help you become aware of the major challenges that most businesses face during this pandemic, we’ve listed some of the main issues below:
- In-person services suffer from an immediate crash because of social distancing
For companies that offer in-person services, social distancing has turned into a huge problem rather than a solution. Since mass gatherings are restricted and people are advised to remain in their homes, businesses with in-person services have found themselves facing potentially threatening losses.
Individually, there are a lot of workers who depend on other people’s physical presence in order to make a living. For example, the Lyft driver, the child-care provider, the dry cleaner, and the barista at the coffee shop are some of the most affected workers out there.
- The media is oversaturated with COVID-19 information which puts brand completely out of the limelight
It’s not a secret that the COVID-19 pandemic is a global problem that everyone wants to learn more about. Information about the symptoms, prevention, recoveries, number of cases, death tolls, and the search for a possible cure has inundated the internet and even televisions nowadays.
For businesses, spreading brand awareness can be very difficult. If a company wants to continue its marketing efforts despite the ongoing crisis, it needs to reshuffle its strategies and come up with an effective marketing approach. One of the easiest ways to do it is to help spread awareness through a company video.
- Consumers are becoming more anxious and concerned with their basic needs
Most consumers are now prioritizing their basic needs over the things they personally want to purchase. This makes it difficult for companies to persuade people to buy their products, especially if the latter is not necessarily important during these times. The reduction in the supplies and the limited ability of consumers to go outside has greatly impacted how most businesses operate.
This is why a lot of companies have resorted to video marketing, not to force consumers to buy their products, but to continue promoting their brands and let their customers know that they are taking appropriate measures to fight the virus. Top production companies in Los Angeles believe that this is one of hte best methods for companies at the moment to salvage customer trust and loyalty.