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U.S – The Food Conservancy, a non-profit organization aimed at getting more food to local farmers, is partnering with small-scale Northwest Arkansas (NWA) farmers to expand access to local food through the state’s first Group Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) certification from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The recently completed voluntary audit programs by McGarrah Farms, Rivercrest Orchard and the Center for Arkansas Farms and Food (CAFF) allows them to sell to schools, grocers, wholesalers and other entities that require GAP-certified products.
“Growers are eager to meet the demand for high-quality, locally grown food. By providing technical assistance and removing the financial burden of the certification process, we can help them bring more products from their farms to families and businesses’ tables,” said Diana Endicott, executive director of the Food Conservancy and founder and director of Good-Natured Family Farms.
GAP is a voluntary, user-funded food safety program created by the USDA to verify that fruits and vegetables are produced, packed, handled and stored to USDA recommendations. The small fruits and vegetable growers are often unable to participate in the program due to the high costs. This limits smaller growers’ access to retail and institutional markets.
The Group GAP program tested by Endicott gave farmers, food hubs and related organizations the ability to pool resources and share certification costs. As part of the Northwest Arkansas Food Systems, the Food Conservancy is supporting Group GAP training and audit cost through grants from the Walton Family Foundation.
The initiative provides new and existing farmers land, technical assistance and capital to give them the ability to grow their ventures and access new supply chains. The first of these farms earned their certification in Sept.
“Rivercrest Orchard has become the region’s ‘Place to Pick’, but we also want our offerings to be available beyond the confines of our acreage and local farmers’ markets. With this Group GAP certification, we can scale up to bring our quality produce to new markets across Northwest Arkansas,” said owner and operator Dennis McGarrah.
Northwest Arkansas has a rich farming heritage, and for much of the 20th century, its dedicated farmers were known as some of the country’s most prolific growers of fruits and vegetables. While the region has experienced renewed interest in small-scale farming over the past decade, an aging farm workforce and the rising cost of land have made farming inaccessible for too many residents.
The Food Conservancy of Northwest Arkansas is focused on reestablishing the area with small and mid-sized diverse family farms and food producers to create economic opportunity and provide healthy food.


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So one of the most requested on BlackBerry 10 is Whatsapp. A lot of questions have been asked as on how soon it will be coming to BlackBerry 10. Well via Twitter that answer was answered! It seems we should be seeing Whatsapp in March. The other question we have been seeing is weather it will be a native BlackBerry 10 app or an Android Port. Seems like they will be bringing it over as a native application. Pretty cool for those waiting and not much longer to wait! Stay tune for more information!
Latest posts by Brad (see all)
- BlackBerry ‘Mercury’ Shows up on GeekBench Running Android 7.0 Nougat - October 18, 2016
- BlackBerry Submits New Patient that Shows How they Plan to Employ Authentication using their Touch Sensitive Keyboard - October 18, 2016
- BlackBerry’s Alex Thurber Discuss Future BlackBerry Devices and Where the Company is Heading - October 6, 2016

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Bryan Varner, a Symantec researcher, bought some used voting machines of the US back in 2012. He found the voting machines on eBay and according to Varner the machines were incredibly insecure and filled with sensitive and crucial data of election. Varner did the same back in 2016, and he found out that things have become worse.
Truthfully the voting machines are dreadful in every single way, the companies who are in charge of making the voting machines lie a lot regarding the security of those machines. The companies even lie about the designs which are incredibly insecure, and in the meantime, the machines which are produced are extremely easy to hack rather than using them to vote.
Reportedly Varner had paid less than $100 for two machines. Upon unscrewing the nonfunctional “tamper-proof screws,” Varner encountered a Windows CE machine with open conventional USB ports that still bear the “property of” seal from some of the government entities who have sold them. Varner has also pointed out that anyone could do this and then the machines can be put one more time on eBay for sale to different voting authorities.
To counter this misfortune, some rules should be placed which are affordable and straightforward. The government officials who are in charge of selling the voting machines can initiate lifecycle management of the components which creates the election system. Bad factors can be deflected by monitoring and regulating the selling of used voting machines.
According to Bryan, most of the information of the voting machines are stored in an non-encrypted state on hard drives, and this makes the data vulnerable if the voting machine is sold to wrong people. Another vulnerability of the electronic voting machines is the memory chip used in them. These flash memories are extremely inexpensive that they are available for a price tag of $15 and they are also programmed using simple codes which allows the voter to vote multiple times.


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Tesla Model S that exploded in Florida hit 185km/h before fatal crash – and battery reignited twice after removal from wreck
The car lost control, struck a wall, rebounded into another wall and erupted in flames before reigniting twice, a US government report said
A Tesla Inc. Model S driven by an 18-year-old reached a top speed of 185km/h before skidding into a wall in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and bursting into flames, according to a preliminary report by US accident investigators.
And after the battery was removed from the wreck, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators said, it reignited two times.
The NTSB, which is looking into the flammability of lithium-ion battery packs for electric vehicles, released the report Tuesday on the May 8 accident that killed the driver and one of two passengers. The report didn’t contain any conclusions about causes of the crash.
The car hit 116mph before beginning to slow as it approached a turn in the road marked by a flashing warning light with a maximum speed of 25mph, the NTSB said.
The car lost control, struck a wall, rebounded into another wall and erupted in flames, witnesses told the NTSB. The fire in the battery pack was extinguished using 200 to 300 gallons of water and foam, the NTSB said.
The report said during removal of the car from the scene, the battery reignited and was quickly extinguished. “Upon arrival at the storage yard, the battery reignited again,” the report said and was again quickly put out.
There have been other reported cases of crashed Tesla battery packs reigniting, including after a fatal Tesla crash in March in California.
The agency also is looking at a Tesla battery fire in the March 23 crash and sent a technical expert to gather information on a June 15 Tesla blaze, also in California.
Tesla declined to comment on the report, but has said its vehicles are much less likely to catch fire than gasoline-powered vehicles.


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The Consumer Countdown Christmas Special
In today's very special Christmas edition of the Consumer Countdown, analysts Michael Finarelli and Sean O'Reilly join Mark Reeth to discuss some of the big gifts they hope to see under their trees this year. Michael is hoping Santa brings an Apple tablet for his son, one that could replace his old LeapFrog device. Meanwhile, Mark and Sean are hoping that Santa delivers a new Microsoft Xbox One to both of them to fulfill all of their gaming dreams.
But the Motley Fool's Consumer Goods team aren't the only people out there with Christmas wishlists; plenty of CEOs out there are desperately hoping they're on Santa's nice list this year. That definitely includes J.C. Penney CEO Mike Ullman and Sears CEO Eddie Lampert -- both have had a rough year with their companies, and both are probably hoping Santa brings them more customers.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon will be having a merry Christmas this year if his company's share price is any measure, but he'll probably be hoping for better U.S. comps in 2014. And lululemon athletica's new CEO Laurent Potdevin is probably just hoping Chip Wilson stays away.
Finally, Reed Hastings and Jeff Bezos over at Netflix and Amazon seem like they're definitely on Santa's nice list considering the success their respective companies have had this year. So what could they possibly be hoping for? Check out the video below to find out!
What is the best stock for next year?
The market stormed out to huge gains across 2013, leaving investors on the sidelines burned. However, opportunistic investors can still find huge winners. The Motley Fool's chief investment officer has just hand-picked one such opportunity in our new report: "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2014." To find out which stock it is and read our in-depth report, simply click here. It's free!
The article The Consumer Countdown Christmas Special originally appeared on Fool.com.Mark Reeth has no position in any stocks mentioned. Michael Finarelli owns shares of Apple and Microsoft. Sean O'Reilly has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com, Apple, LeapFrog Enterprises, Lululemon Athletica, and Netflix. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com, Apple, LeapFrog Enterprises, Microsoft, and Netflix. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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Fruit is the best. Not to sound like too much of a hippie, but it’s pretty amazing that nature gives us these sweet, colorful foods that grow on trees, bushes, and vines. And like most things we eat, some types of fruit are more nutrient dense than others. To find out which were the healthiest fruits, Real Simple asked doctors and nutritionists for their input, and 12 types came out on top.
It’s pretty common knowledge that berries are nutritious, as they provide vitamins, minerals and fiber, so we weren’t surprised that four types of berries made this list. Raspberries are great for your skin — high levels of vitamin C support collagen production — and hormone health. Strawberries are also high in vitamin C and can regulate blood sugar. “They’re high in water and low in carbs,” Kacie Barnes, MCN, RDN, LD, said in the article. “They provide such a big nutrition boost for very few calories.” Blackberries and blueberries both contain vitamin C, vitamin K, manganese and fiber, and the latter is excellent for heart health. “A new study published in Food & Function found that enjoying the equivalent of one cup of fresh blueberries a day may improve endothelial function,” Mackenzie Burgess, RDN, said in the article. “This helps keep our blood vessels running smoothly.”
Unsurprisingly, avocados made the healthiest fruits list as they can help reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and are full of fiber. Similarly, apples are high in fiber and polyphenols, which are known to help lower cholesterol and support heart health. Bananas are great for anyone who has an active lifestyle or exercises regularly. “High in carbohydrates, bananas provide a quick source of energy,” neuropathic practitioner Dr. Breanna Guan said in the article. “They are also rich in potassium, for heart health and alkalinity.”
Why You Should Eat Fruits You’ve Never Heard OfAn ode to the berries, citrus and drupes that rarely fill our bowls
Fans of tropical fruit will be happy to know that pineapple made the list, as it contains vitamin C, manganese, vitamin B6, copper, thiamin, folate and potassium and can tackle a sweet tooth. Barnes said that cherries are one of the healthiest fruits, as “they are packed with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds” and “are a good source of fiber, potassium and vitamin C.” Tart cherry juice can even help you sleep. And no surprise that lemons made the top 12, as they are packed with vitamin C for immune support and can stimulate digestion.
There are two fruits on the list that pleasantly surprised us. We always knew that watermelon was hydrating, but it has other health benefits, too. “The vitamin lineup is impressive for watermelon, with carotenoids and lycopene, excellent for ocular, heart, men’s health and cancer prevention,” Guan said in the article. Dates rounded out the healthiest fruits, and apparently, they’re more than a better-for-you sweet treat. They’re also high in fiber, selenium, calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
So go forth and eat all the delicious fruit today.


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Berenberg Bank reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Frontier Developments (LON:FDEV) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Digital Look reports. Berenberg Bank currently has a GBX 1,600 ($21.05) price objective on the stock.
Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Peel Hunt restated a buy rating on shares of Frontier Developments in a research report on Monday. Shore Capital restated a buy rating on shares of Frontier Developments in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Liberum Capital restated a buy rating on shares of Frontier Developments in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group assumed coverage on Frontier Developments in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. They set an outperform rating and a GBX 1,490 ($19.60) target price for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, The stock has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of GBX 1,530.50 ($20.13).
Frontier Developments stock opened at GBX 1,325.86 ($17.44) on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $515.92 million and a PE ratio of 30.69. Frontier Developments has a one year low of GBX 790 ($10.39) and a one year high of GBX 1,344 ($17.68). The business has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 1,227.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 1,081.33.
In other Frontier Developments news, insider David John Braben sold 1,250,000 shares of Frontier Developments stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 1,200 ($15.79), for a total value of £15,000,000 ($19,731,649.57).
About Frontier Developments
Frontier Developments plc develops and publishes video games for the interactive entertainment sector in the United Kingdom and internationally. It develops games across various platforms using its cross platform technology. The company was founded in 1994 and is based in Cambridge, the United Kingdom.
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Nintendo’s E3 presentation was filled with exciting announcements, with a surprise sequel to Breath of the Wild and a pair of new fighters coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. But that was tempered somewhat by news that Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ launch has been pushed from later this year to next March. The animal-filled life-sim was expected to be a major part of the Switch’s always important holiday lineup. But it might not be as big of a blow as it first seems. After playing through a trio of upcoming Switch games here at E3, it’s pretty clear that, even without Animal Crossing, Nintendo has a strong slate for the end of the year. Tom Nook can wait.
Of course the biggest name is Pokémon Sword and Shield, which represent the first proper console releases in the series’ long history. At their core, the new releases aren’t a drastic change. You still catch pokémon in the wild and raise a team of fighters; the increasingly complex rock-paper-scissors combat remains in tact, and even the menus will feel familiar to longtime fans. I played through an early gym, and it was the typical blend of battles and simple puzzles. In order to get to the exit, I had to use a series of valves to divert water, clearing a path. Along the way, I came up against other trainers to battle. This all culminated with a pokémon battle against the gym leader.
Here’s where the differences are more apparent. Sword and Shield are far and away the best-looking Pokémon games ever made, but what really makes them stand out is the sense of scale. In the Galar region where the new games take place, pokémon battles are held in massive stadiums, filled with thousands of screaming fans. It’s like going to a soccer game; the trainers even wear jerseys. Spectators will stamp their feet and hold up banners, and you can make use of a new mechanic, called “Dynamax,” that temporarily turns your pokémon into a massive, and much more powerful, holographic pokémon.
The pokémon designs are as cute as ever
This naturally adds a new strategic element in the game — when and how you use Dynamax can dramatically change the flow of a battle — but it also offers a level of spectacle we’ve never really seen in Pokémon before. The games benefit from the move to the big screen. (Just as important: the pokémon designs are as cute as ever. My pre-assembled team included a fluffy sheepy with a pair of swinging braids, and a chubby little corgi with a yellow heart on its butt.)
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, meanwhile, goes in a different direction. A remake of the 1993 Game Boy game of the same name, it’s an incredibly quaint adventure. The cutesy art style combined with tilt-shift visual style gives the game a toy-like feel, like you’re moving a little figure around a fantasy world. I played through the opening scene of the game, in which Link washes up on a mysterious island. It felt largely the same as the original game, but the new visuals gave the game a much more inviting feel; I found myself exploring every nook I could just to see the tiny details. Fighting Moblins was like playing with action figures. Really, my only complaint is that the demo only lasted 15 minutes.
The odd one in the group is Luigi’s Mansion 3. It’s not exactly a blockbuster franchise, but past entries in the series have sold in the millions, and Nintendo says it has “high expectations” for the Switch release. Based on what I played, this could well be the game that pushes the comedy-horror series to a new level of popularity. For one, it looks incredible, set in a haunted hotel where each floor has a different theme; the area I played had a medieval vibe. There’s a very tactile nature to the game; Luigi can bump into objects and they react, and your main weapon is a ghost-sucking vacuum cleaner. There’s something incredibly satisfying about grabbing a ghost and smashing them around a room, and there’s even more mayhem when you play the four-player cooperative mode. Luigi’s Mansion 3 is pure slapstick, and there just aren’t enough games like that.
“I use one word: robust.”
Each game offers something vastly different from the next, and all three are slated to launch between September and the end of the year. They’ll be joined by a number of third-party titles, including older ports like The Witcher 3, as well as Doom Eternal, one of the rare blockbuster games to launch simultaneously on the Switch and other platforms when it releases on November 22nd. “I use one word: robust,” Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser told The Verge when asked to describe the company’s holiday lineup. “We have games for every type of player, and there’s some strong representation with our publishing partners.”
We’re now approaching the Switch’s third year, and so far Nintendo has managed to avoid the biggest problem with its predecessor, the Wii U. Often lengthy periods would go by without a major release; if a game like New Horizons had been delayed on the Wii U, it would have spelled disaster. But that’s not the case for the Switch. We might have to wait a few extra months for Animal Crossing, but there’s plenty to fill its spot.
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Environmental Sustainability in the Auction Industry
Earlier this month, Christie’s announced its intention to be net-zero by the year 2030. It is the first major auction house to publicize a comprehensive environmental sustainability plan. Christie’s outlined its pathway to sustainability in a press release. Steps include halving its carbon emissions, diverting landfill waste, and switching to recyclable packaging.
“We know the broader art industry shares the desire to combat climate change, and we promise to use our leadership position to drive positive change, actively looking to form collaborations with stakeholders across the art world and beyond,” said Tom Woolston, Christie’s Global Head of Operations.
In light of this announcement, Auction Daily explores the issues of environmental sustainability in the auction industry.
How Auctions Impact the Environment
The auction industry can exact a heavy toll on the environment. Carbon emissions typically come from shipping and logistics, including transporting consignments, sending out purchased auction items, and managing internal processes. Building maintenance and business travel can also increase an auction house’s carbon footprint. Christie’s released an analysis of these factors near the end of 2019. In a single year, the auction house produced 33,743 cubic tons of carbon and other greenhouse gases. This is approximately equivalent to the yearly emissions of 7,300 passenger vehicles.
Sotheby’s leadership team made predictions for the 2020 art market in 2019. They anticipated an emphasis on environmental sustainability, telling ARTnews that “there will… be a shift in how art itself reflects the growing concerns of our ecological crisis, and the types of art collectors are interested in.” That trend has already started. Auction houses sell artworks, but they can also endorse environmental activism, seek out sustainable artists, and host charity auctions for various causes. While those elements may not directly impact the atmosphere, they can influence culture and buying habits.
Many auction industry leaders already acknowledge this responsibility and opportunity. The Financial Times notes that “87 per cent of the world’s wealthiest individuals, families, family offices and foundations said the effects of climate change played a part in their investment choices.” Because art is a form of investment, auction houses have a strong incentive to become more sustainable.
A year of digital sales and social distancing taught the auction industry some lessons. For example, the move to online spaces made paper materials mostly unnecessary. Christie’s successfully reduced its printed materials production by 75% during 2020. This made financial sense even when the company announced its paper reduction plan in 2019. The industry was settling into online bidding formats at the time, and both Christie’s and Phillips found that print catalogs carried less importance. In its 2020 Annual Report, LiveAuctioneers also stated that it saved 68 tons of paper through online bidding.
However, the industry will need to take more aggressive steps to shrink its impact. Christie’s recent announcement included a commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a partnership that helps private businesses reach sustainability targets. The goal is to prevent global warming beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius. The auction house also joined the Gallery Climate Coalition to develop an industry-level response to the issue.
Collaboration and accountability will determine the success of these solutions. At a 2020 sustainability conference, art world leaders emphasized the need for data collection, carbon offsets, and sustainably-minded exhibitions. A single company’s actions may not sway the industry, but a coordinated response could lead to lasting changes.
Cryptocurrency, NFTs, and Current Issues
While the auction industry is addressing its environmental sustainability problems, new concerns are on the rise. The first few months of 2021 have seen an explosion of interest around crypto art and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). These digital artworks moved from somewhat fringe online spaces to the mainstream auction world after a series of high-profile events. NFTs could now sell for millions of dollars at auction, including Beeple’s EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS, which achieved USD 69.3 million with Christie’s yesterday. This shift toward digital artwork complicates discussions of art world sustainability.
Cryptocurrency mining notoriously requires massive amounts of energy. To mine proof-of-work cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, special computers must run complex calculations that burn electricity. Most of this electricity comes from fossil fuels, and the burned carbon adds up. According to The Guardian, cryptocurrency mining consumes more energy per year than Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google— combined. Its carbon budget is roughly the same as Norway’s. NFTs are not exempt from this process. Digital artists, including Joanie Lemercier and Memo Akten, are already raising the alarm about NFT artworks’ environmental impact.
As the auction industry embraces NFTs, the debate around their sustainability is entering the art world. Cryptocurrency transactions demand a continuous energy investment. That continues from an NFT’s creation to any auction appearances. While auction houses are tackling traditional issues of environmental sustainability, the rising cryptocurrency trend may reverse the course.
Looking to read more about the auction industry? Auction Daily recently discussed the issues of representation, leadership, and art world diversity.
More in the auction industry
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According to Recipe for Disaster, a new study released today by the Arizona Public Interest Research Group (Arizona PIRG), the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Consumer Federation of America, last month’s nationwide recall of half a billion eggs was just one of more than 85 recalls involving 153 food companies since July 2009.
According to this study, 60 recalls have occurred in Arizona due to contamination by Salmonella and other bacteria related to food borne illness in the last 14 months. For example, in July 2010, Arizonans learned that baby spinach was recalled and then in August 2010, they learned about egg recalls. The food was already on store shelves or in Arizonans’ kitchens when these recalls were announced.
“Too many of us heard about the egg recall as we sat down to breakfast and then wondered if the omelet on our plate was safe to eat,” said Diane E. Brown, Executive Director of Arizona PIRG. “The food safety problem is not just eggs but the failed food safety net.”
In July 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Food Safety Enhancement Act (H.R. 2749) to update our food safety net. In November 2009, the U.S. Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed its version of the bill, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510); but no floor action has yet been scheduled in the U.S. Senate and Americans continue to be at risk.
Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farm’s voluntary recall happened two and a half months after the first Salmonella illness was detected because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not have the authority or resources to properly safeguard our food. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act would update the 70 year old law governing the FDA: requiring mandatory inspection frequency, stronger traceback provisions, and mandatory recall authority.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that tens of millions of Americans get sick every year from food borne illnesses like Salmonella and E. coli, with hundreds of thousands hospitalized and 5,000 deaths each year. The FDA, which is responsible for the safety of much of the food sold in the U.S., has not had its authority updated in seventy years.
Your donation supports Arizona PIRG's work to stand up for consumers on the issues that matter, especially when powerful interests are blocking progress.


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For some, tis the season when Starbucks’ holiday cups officially hit the counter. For others, it only truly feels like the holiday season when they can actually smell it. Bath & Body Works, the purveyor of scented products, has figured this out.
Global research, the development of a core cult of repeat buyers and scents crafted to evoke food flavors, nostalgia or luxury are strategies the company has used to capture $7 billion of annual sales.
In other words, sales blockbuster “Vanilla Bean Noel” is no accident.
Every year, just in time for the holidays, Bath & Body Works brings out its holiday collection of candles, soaps, creams and room fragrances priced from to $1.95 to $26.95 per product. The year-end quarter that covers the runup to Christmas also happens to be the most crucial sales period for the retailer.
“The holiday period makes up 38% to 40% of annual sales for Bath & Body Works, so it is a very big quarter for them also because their products are highly giftable,” said Lorraine Hutchinson, analyst with Bank of America Securities.
That means the retailer has to keep delivering a fresh sensory take on the holidays year after year.
“We actually never stop thinking about the holidays,” Julie Rosen, president of retail at Bath & Body Works, said in an interview with CNN. “We have customers who come to us for our heritage scents that have become part of their family traditions, like ‘Fresh Balsam,’ ‘Tis the Season’ or ‘Vanilla Bean Noel.’”
But just how many different ways are there to keep bottling up the festive “scents” of winter? You’d be surprised, said Rosen.
“Just to give you a gauge, we launched 65 new fragrances this holiday. It’s usually the period when we launch the most fragrances. So you’ve got to start the process a year out,” she said. It’s an undertaking that involves Rosen and her team traveling the world for information and inspiration.
A woman stocks shelves with Christmas gifts at Bath & Body Works in Annapolis, Maryland, on December 14.Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
That’s a lot of frequent-flier miles for a relatively young company.
Bath & Body Works first started out as a line of skincare products that sold at fashion clothing chain Express. From there, a first Bath & Body Works concept store opened in Boston in September of 1990.
By the following year, it had expanded to 50 stores.
Just six years later, the fledgling chain had ballooned to 500 stores with $1 billion in sales. It doubled sales to $2 billion by 2004.
As the business grew, so did its mostly female fanbase, some of whom developed an emotional attachment to the products. It’s not uncommon to find plenty of fan pages on TikTok or YouTube dedicated to a favorite soap or cream or the popularity of the brand’s three-wick candles, or users discussing their “haul” from the retailer’s semi-annual sale.
Bath & Body Works became a publicly traded company in 2021 with over $7 billion in revenue.
The key to its fast growth, said Hutchinson, is that “the company knows its core products very well and does a good job ensuring newness by innovating.”
Today, Bath & Body Works operates over 1,800 stores in the United States and Canada and has more than 450 franchised locations in international markets.
Storybooks, cookie butter & bourbon
The genesis of their holiday products begins with what Rosen describes as “patterning.” It involves a group of people from different units — merchandising, design and product teams — who travel to various countries to spot trends.
She said the ah-ha moment could “literally come from a flavor we taste, a note we smell or a macro trend,” she said. The retailer then develops new scents by utilizing the expertise of fragrance houses such as Switzerland-based Firmenich and Givaudan.
People shop in a Bath & Body Works store as Black Friday sales begin at The Outlet Shoppes of the Bluegrass in Simpsonville, Kentucky, on November 26, 2021.Jon Cherry/Reuters
Then comes the fun part: “Fragrance houses have a flavor division. Oftentimes we tap into the flavorist as we develop scent,” said Rosen.
The intent is to have a scent create a visceral moment for the user: “We have a Merry Cookie candle this year with notes of freshly baked cookies, vanilla and sparkling sugar. It really makes your mouth water when you smell it,” she said.
Another challenge of the fragrance formulation is creating a scent that’s versatile and can work as a body spray, a hand soap, body cream and also a home fragrance.
For Bath & Body Works’ 2023 holiday collection, which launched in October, Rosen and her team traveled to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Montreal, Japan and to multiple places around the United States both for mapping trends and to ensure that what they did come up with would have global appeal.
The popularity of storybooks was one trend that jumped out early.
“Our holiday theme this year is rooted in what we saw in Europe and Japan with storybooks. We were in Japan in January and said, ‘Oh my God, there is something happening with storybooks,’” said Rosen. “We took the idea and threaded it throughout our stores and online with marketing that looks like big story books. Even our gift sets look like storybooks.”
The Storybook Collection has body sprays and creams named “Bright Christmas Morning,” “Frosted Coconut Snowball” and “Gingerbread Bakery.”
The popularity of cookie butter was another find. “We saw this trend at every turn. So what were we going to do with cookie butter?” said Rosen.
The team held a tasting session for a variety of cookie butter interpretations. That led to the launch of the holiday Cookie Butter Truffle soap.
Bath & Body Works’ Cozy Vanilla Bourbon scent was a result of seeing a trend in the foods and flavors space while at the same time seeing dark liquors and speakeasies grow in popularity.Courtesy Bath & Body Works
Then there’s “Cozy Vanilla Bourbon.” Vanilla scented products are perennial topsellers for the retailer.
“Vanilla-based ingredients were definitely trending in the market this year,” Rosen said. “At the same time we saw trends centered around dark liquors and speakeasies popping up everywhere.”
So the innovation team combined both ideas to create Cozy Vanilla Bourbon-scented body wash.
“We had success with our Sweet Whiskey products, which was a vanilla-infused Whiskey scent. We wanted to push the boozy speakeasy and vanilla idea by combining the familiar with the less familiar,” said Rosen.
With Christmas fast approaching followed by the countdown to the New Year, Rosen said the focus has already jumped ahead to the new scents of 2024 all the way through to next Christmas.
Under its new CEO Gina Boswell, who took the helm in December 2022, Bath & Body Works is pushing the brand into newer categories such as men’s skin, hair and body care and even laundry detergent.
It’s a necessary move at a time when the retailer is facing slowing demand overall for discretionary purchases and declining sales after enjoying robust pandemic-time demand from home-bound households for products such as soaps and sanitizers, candles and home fresheners.
Boswell said in a recent earnings call with analysts in November that men’s and laundry are growth areas for the business.
“We’re quite excited about the men’s opportunity. It is still a small percentage of our business today … While (men’s) has been growing double-digit, we’re leaning in to fuel that growth,” Boswell said.


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Taking care of business
The BusinessNZ Network is here to take care of businesses – in fact, thousands of businesses throughout New Zealand.
The Network is an umbrella group covering enterprises providing business services and advocacy, as well as enterprises representing industries important to the New Zealand economy.
BusinessNZ Chief Executive Kirk Hope says most Kiwi companies have a connection with the Network.
“Our members and affiliates are everywhere – from the tiny corner dairy through to large exporters earning millions in overseas revenue,” Kirk says.
“It’s a huge privilage to walk alongside some of the most fantastic businesses in New Zealand.”
Among the many initiatives undertaken by the Network, Kirk points to the Buy NZ-Made Campaign as an example of grass-roots businesses helping themselves using provenance marketing collateral created under the BusinessNZ Network.
“New Zealand companies are very well served by the Buy NZ-Made Campaign – it’s a great system for branding a business and encouraging consumers to buy local. We have many businesses using the branding to spur loyalty in the hearts of Kiwi shoppers.
“The Buy NZ-made campaign has been going for over 30 years now, doing a genuinely good job promoting locally-made products and the people and companies that make them.
“As a result, just about anyone in New Zealand recognises the logo of the little stylized kiwi in a triangle.
“A lot of the businesses signed up to Buy NZ-Made operate in provincial areas as craft operators or manufacturers, often making inventive new products. They really like the fact that Buy NZ-Made is there for them.
“It’s one of the joys of being involved in a membership organisation – just fantastic members.”
As well as supporting smaller businesses, the BusinessNZ Network also works to add value to the largest businesses in New Zealand.
For example, the Network also includes the Major Companies Group – a grouping of New Zealand’s largest and most successful companies, working collaboratively to advocate for a better business environment. The chief executives of the big companies are able to take part in Network strategy sessions and as a group advise the Government on laws and policies affecting business.
Another example is ExportNZ – a grouping of Kiwi exporters that come together to share exporting knowledge and celebrate success in the sector.
The group provides advocacy and lobbying on behalf of exporters, practical support programmes and networking events to help exporters achieve their goals, and inspires other firms to take up exporting in order to expand and grow internationally.
ExportNZ also holds regional export awards around the country which are always hotly contested, as exporters vie for top honours.
One of the most innovative of the many groupings under the BusinessNZ Network is the Sustainable Business Council or SBC.
This is a group of businesses that are focused on taking action to build a low-emissions, climate resilient and sustainable future, where people, business and nature can thrive.
Most enterprises have some kind of impact on water, earth or the air when involved in farming, manufacturing, transporting or other form of business – SBC members sign up to meet a number of commitments to demonstrate how they’re taking action to tackle these challenges.
Over the course of their membership SBC companies make a range of binding commitments, including to begin to measure and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, make sustainable purchasing decisions, and formally report on their actions in their annual reports; and if they don’t live up to their commitments they may be asked to relinquish their membership of the SBC.
Companies operating within SBC are reducing emissions by such means as electrifying their heavy vehicles and vehicle fleets, using biofuels instead of coal, installing solar panels and LEDs, and offsetting emissions through forestry credits.
They are also working hard to support their people by delivering a range of new and innovative social sustainability activities.
SBC companies have put a line in the sand, and are determined to demonstrate environmental, social and governance sustainability leadership to all other New Zealand businesses, Kirk says.
“It’s absolutely fantastic to have this influential group of businesses as a core part of the BusinessNZ Network.”
Kirk says other parts of the BusinessNZ Network look after specific kinds of businesses, including manufacturers, energy-related companies and businesses located in different regions of New Zealand.
“As well as helping firms succeed and grow, a key part of our work is in advocating for a better business environment in which to operate.
“Our members recognise that laws and regulations have the potential to either help or harm business, and they are keen to have a strong voice advocating for business in the halls of power.
“A lot of my work as chief executive of BusinessNZ consists of advocacy to Government, politicians and other decision-makers, based on policy work undertaken by our team of analysts and economists.”
The BusinessNZ Network’s policy team analyses proposed policies and laws relating to business, and makes recommendations to Government based on feedback from businesses in the Network.
Key issues currently exercising the minds of members include tax, skills and employment relations.
“Our business members are very aware that a lower tax rate is a competitive advantage – both for a company and a country – and they are keen to have ongoing advocacy aimed at reducing the tax burden on businesses in New Zealand.
“BusinessNZ was happy to be a part of the most recent official Tax Working Group set up to advise on future tax directions for New Zealand, and it was helpful to be able to focus on the tax needs of businesses as part of that exercise.”
Kirk Hope says another issue concerning businesses is the difficulty many have in finding staff with the right qualifications and experience.
“Skills shortages are always a big issue in New Zealand – it’s a fact of life that a small country with a population of only 5 million will always struggle to find enough appropriately-skilled staff. The BusinessNZ Network is advocating for changes to the education system to ensure the best-possible pipeline of skilled Kiwis emerges from school and higher education. There’s also a lot of advocacy directed at improving the country’s immigration system, so businesses can have a good chance of hiring skills from overseas to fill any gaps.
“Employment relations is another area where businesses need ongoing assistance. Employment regulations are often the first to change following a change in government, in areas such as collective bargaining, minimum wage rates or inclusion policies. The BusinessNZ Network is able to keep abreast of changes and advise businesses about any new regulatory requirements that might arise.”
Kirk Hope says the BusinessNZ Network will continue to advocate and act on behalf of enterprises to best carry out its mission of ‘taking care of business’ in New Zealand.
AT A GLANCE
What: An association dedicated to advocating for enterprise and promoting the voice of thousands of businesses across New Zealand, working for positive change through new thinking, productivity and innovation
Where: Wellington, New Zealand


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Ancestry.com Inc. ACOM ended 2011 with about 22% more subscribers than a year earlier and said customer turnover declined during the fourth quarter.
Shares recently were trading 15.5% higher at $26.41 as the provider of online family history research said it had 1.7 million paying subscribers at Dec. 31. That is up from 1.4 million a year earlier and ahead of the company's guidance of 1.685 million to 1.695 million subscribers.
The monthly customer turnover rate, known as churn, was 3.8% in the fourth quarter, down from 4.2% in the third quarter and 3.9% a year earlier.
Ancestry.com in October reported its third-quarter profit jumped 61% as revenue grew 30%.


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ResMed released the results of its ResMed Asia and Latin America Sleep Health Survey, which looked at overall sleep habits and their impact on respondents’ well-being across the region. The ResMed-commissioned study, conducted online by AtomikResearch in India (5004), Brazil, China, Japan, Korea, and Mexico, discovered that the majority of the 17,040 respondents suffered from insufficient sleep or poor sleep quality, with only 21 percent waking up feeling refreshed in the morning.
In India, 81 percent agreed that poor sleeping habits can have a negative impact on one’s quality of life and that getting enough sleep is critical for maintaining one’s immunity; 53 percent attempted to get more sleep to address this. Those who struggled with sleep also reported mood swings (24 percent ), as well as difficulty concentrating during the day (21 percent).
“We conducted this survey to investigate the importance of a good night’s sleep and its impact on one’s wellbeing,” said Carlos Montiel, ResMed’s Vice President of Latin America and South Asia. “The findings show that people struggle to sleep at night and are interested in learning more about their sleep habits and sleep quality.”


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We’ve been hard at work the past few weeks, and we are excited to now announce the release of Stencil v2.10! New features in v2.10 include greater control over the shadow DOM, a fix that results in fewer render cycles, and support for TypeScript 4.3. Let’s dive into each of these new improvements.
A few weeks ago we announced a brand new Appflow feature that makes it really easy to take advantage of Appflow’s mobile CI/CD features within your existing CI/CD platforms—like Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GitLab CI, CircleCI, and more. With our new Cloud command line interface (CLI), you can adopt Appflow in your existing CI/CD system in […]
Microsoft announced last week that App Center will soon discontinue support for apps running on Apache Cordova. App Center is a cloud product that helps teams build, test, and distribute apps. Among App Center’s more popular services is CodePush, which allows developers to deploy mobile app updates directly to their users’ devices.
Stencil v2.9 is here, jam packed with new features to improve the Stencil developer experience. We’ve been working hard on some highly anticipated features these past few weeks. Let’s start with the biggest feature of v2.9: sourcemaps!
Today I’m very excited to announce a brand new partnership between Ionic and one of the leading players in the low code development space, Neptune Software. This new partnership will bring Capacitor, the popular open source cross-platform native bridge built and supported by the Ionic team, to the thousands of developers and teams building mobile, […]
✨ The Ionic 6.0 Release Candidate has arrived! ✨ Ionic 6 brings design changes, performance improvements, and new components such as accordion, datetime, and bottom sheet. We have been hard at work getting the remaining API changes implemented, and now we are excited to share the Ionic 6 RC with the Ionic community.
Today, we are excited to announce the official launch of our newest product: Ionic Portals. Ionic Portals offers a supercharged native Web View component for iOS and Android that enables teams to add web-based experiences to native mobile apps. Now, native and web teams can better collaborate while bringing new and existing web experiences to […]
Today we hosted our second launch event of 2021. We heard from core Ionic team members about some exciting new updates and recent releases across our open source and commercial products. Here’s a quick rundown of what we announced. If you missed the event, check out the recording here. Ionic Portals Brings a New Supercharged […]
As Ionic adoption has grown inside of medium to large enterprise businesses, we’ve seen a proliferation of apps built for internal and line-of-business use cases. These apps, also known as Business-to-Employee (B2E) apps, have unique requirements that the average public consumer app does not, such as integration with remote device and app management services to […]
And with that, Ioniconf 2021 has concluded! Ioniconf, our online conference for Ionic developers and the wider web development community, featured twelve expert Ionic speakers and was attended by many thousands of Ionic community members. We’re thrilled by the community’s reception to the event and are already looking forward to our next event taking place […]


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Berger and the US F-Open Rifle Team are excited to announce the release of the new Berger 7mm 184gr F-Open Hybrid Target bullet.
Our renowned ballistician, Bryan Litz, designed the new 184gr F-Open Hybrid to be slightly heavier, slightly longer and have a more aggressive ogive shape; giving it a ballistic advantage to our existing 7mm 180gr Hybrid and VLD Target bullet designs. This bullet complements the 30 cal 200.20x Hybrid Target bullet that was released last year in collaboration with the US F-TR Rifle Team. Just like our 200.20x bullet, we took an existing design and optimized the ballistic profile to make it even better.
The US F-Open Rifle Team tested these bullets thoroughly to make sure that they performed as well on target as they did in theory. The results are in, and we are all pleased to say that this bullet will be the official 7mm bullet of choice for the US F-Open team.
The 7mm 184gr F-Open bullet is ideal for loading into 7-08 Rem, 284 Win, 7mm SAUM, 7mm RUM, 7mm Rem Mag and other popular 7mm cartridges. There is no other 7mm bullet on the market that can outperform it in long range F-Open competitive shooting.
This is not loaded ammunition.


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Many people have taken the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to bring a new furry member into their families as they spend time in quarantine. Unfortunately, some people didn't look into the validity of the people/breeders that were selling puppies.
We are all watching a lot more television during the pandemic. No matter what streaming service you are using, you are paying for it in some way. There is a warning of one service that is being rerouted to scammers in an effort to take your money.


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Wagepoint CEO Shrad Rao told CCN that only a single U.S. company had adopted the BTC payment option at launch, and that thus far only three employees have opted to receive a portion of their salary in bitcoin. That number is likely to grow soon, however, as the company has been contacted by roughly 20 U.S. businesses about the option in recent months. Wagepoint has processed around $75,000 in bitcoin payments since launching the service in November of last year.
“The thing about [our service] that is unique is we are making sure that the employees are meeting all of their tax obligations – we’re handling all of that,” Rao told CCN. “From that perspective we are keeping everyone happy. The government is satisfied, the employer is satisfied and the employee is meeting all of their tax obligations.”
Wagepoint isn’t the only company looking to make a name for itself in the bitcoin payroll service field. Atlanta-based bitcoin payment processor BitPay currently offers a payroll API, although CCN noted that the service is currently limited to Georgia and South Carolina.


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French speakers in Quebec are still slower to adopt aspects of digital like ecommerce and video, something digital marketers must account for when targeting consumers in the province.
eMarketer forecasting analyst Eric Haggstrom and vice president of content studio Paul Verna discuss the details of the new short-form video platform Quibi. They then talk about Australia suing Facebook, Amazon selling its cashierless technology to other retailers and Postmates new "non-contact" food delivery option.
It’s little surprise that Amazon once again ranks as the No. 1 US ecommerce retailer—and by a huge margin. “What’s surprising is that despite accounting for nearly four in 10 ecommerce dollars, the company continues to gain market share and extend its lead,” said Andrew Lipsman, eMarketer principal analyst and author of our latest report, "Top 10 US Ecommerce Companies 2020: Walmart and Target Climb Rankings on Click-and-Collect Gains."
After launching its mobile ordering app in 2009, Pizza Hut has made strides in the mcommerce space, constantly listening to customer feedback and adapting accordingly.
Across many countries where the newest strain of the coronavirus (COVID-19) has made an impact, isolation and social-distancing measures have been put in place. Workers in some infected countries have been asked to work from home, cities have been placed under lockdown and schools have been shut down. People in those countries have also begun avoiding public, crowded places.
As uncertainty over coronavirus continues to grow, consumers are becoming more cautious about shopping in public places and are utilizing online shopping as a means of getting necessities.
eMarketer research analyst Man-Chung Cheung, senior researcher Jeane Han and principal analyst Nicole Perrin discuss how the newest strain of the coronavirus will change consumers' behavior. How will reducing contact effect businesses? Will media consumption habits change? And what have been some potential innovations coming out of this global situation?
Instagram has been working on several initiatives to enable commerce directly within the app. Last year, it made big moves that bring creators closer to that process.
Digital retailers bristle at the mere mention of the term “serial returner.” Many have put policies in place to block this apparent scourge. But there’s a difference between someone who consciously games the digital retailing system for their own insidious gain and a strong brand advocate who just wants to try multiple items and buy.
eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman discusses Amazon Prime competitor Walmart+, and Amazon's first cashierless supermarket. He also talks about why Shopify joined Facebook's cryptocurrency efforts, and Etsy's automatic advertising idea.
Since rolling out one-day shipping last year, Amazon has seen an acceleration in growth. We expect Amazon’s worldwide ecommerce sales to reach $404 billion by the end of this year.
Target’s increased focus on building its ecommerce business has been paying off. The big-box retailer, which used to rank No. 11 in the US in terms of ecommerce sales, has now surpassed three competitors to become No. 8. Our latest ranking of the nation’s top retailers by online sales shows strong growth for Target’s ecommerce business, while that of QVC and HSN owner Qurate Retail Group will decline.
eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman and senior forecasting analyst Cindy Liu preview eMarketer's upcoming report and forecast on the top 10 ecommerce companies in the US.
Brands have sought after millennials since the segment was identified as a demographic phenomenon reminiscent of the boomers. There’s been heavy investment in the creation of products and services that fit within an evolving consumer culture, one increasingly defined by this influential cohort. Growing independence and earning make this group the most digitally connected of all.
As the coronavirus continues to spread, China's status as the epicenter of major supply chains is causing significant changes to businesses and consumer behavior. This is not only putting a strain on multiple industries within the country, but multinationals operating out of and doing business in China are feeling the effects as well.
At a life stage that entails lots of buying, millennials are combining digital and in-store shopping in ways that work best for them.


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Mazda’s small-but-scrappy nature is the reason why it’s built legends in the past – and made impossible breakthroughs today
A new small family car is launching next year. It’s the latest generation of a very successful model, it will have a bold new design, run on an entirely new modular platform, be built using a novel production process. It will also have an engine that’s never been seen before, running technology previously ruled out as ‘impossible’.
Is it a Volkswagen? A Toyota with a hydrogen engine? No, it’s a Mazda. To be precise, the new Mazda 3, which will launch in Singapore next year, and shown here in the form of the Kai styling concept.
The amazing thing isn’t just the technology itself, but also the fact that it comes from one of the last independent carmakers of note.
Of the ‘true’ independent car brands who build a significant number of vehicles, there are no Europeans, nor Americans. With Mitsubishi swallowed up by Renault-Nissan and Subaru a fifth-owned by Toyota, only Mazda and Suzuki remain.
Advanced tech is expected of large groups, but how has Mazda pulled off such a feat of tech-trickery?
An independent with that level of tech could be seen as vapourware anywhere else, but Mazda has always punched well above its weight when it comes to the cutting edge. In fact, once you understand where it’s come from, you’ll also see how it made legendary cars like the RX-7 FD.
Small is agile
Skyactiv X (see below) is its latest big breakthrough. While we didn’t see or test the engines in person at event in Hokkaido, but from a purely technical perspective, Skyactiv X is nothing less than the biggest step forward for combustion engines in decades.
As technologically significant as it is, it’s not even the first time Mazda’s done this sort of thing. Back in the 1960s, Mazda engineers put their noses to the grindstone to make another combustion technology work in real-life. Again, it was something others had pursued unsuccessfully and declared a dead end, but Mazda persevered, and the result was its now iconic range of rotary engines.
Mazda’s first rotary-engined car, the 1976 Cosmo Sport
Mazda’s identity has always been that of the stubborn, dedicated underdog – so much so that its official website’s heritage section proudly proclaims, “a streak of defiance and adventure”, quite at odds with the way every other Japanese carmaker does things, which is usually ‘design by committee for maximum efficiency and profit’.
In fact it’s precisely because Mazda is small, and dedicated, that it could pull Skyactiv X off: “Our resources are limited, so unlike bigger automakers, we don’t have the array of options in which to invest our R&D funds,” said Mitsuo Hitomi, managing executive officer at Mazda who oversees engine development.
“That’s why we’re betting on this technology … We were determined that no matter what, we would develop this engine,” Hitomi told Reuters in an interview at the unveiling of Skyactiv X at the Tokyo Motor Show 2017.
The years spent under Ford’s hegemony seemed to have galvanised Mazda’s people, and going back to independence in 2008 was, as Mazda’s then-president said, a godsend.
“Under Ford we had to adopt things, which we felt weren’t always optimal. This could be everything from marketing to engine or platform technology,” says Mr Susumu Niinai, general manager of Mazda’s Asean Business Office (pictured above).
In any case the brand’s sales figures have proved that independence is the right path for Mazda: Its past three years have been record ones for sales and revenue, with 2018 looking to be yet another.
A next-gen Skyactiv platform is in the works, alongside hybrid and electric vehicle tech
Just being a maverick is only one part of the puzzle, though. Mazda is quite literally run by engineers. Whereas larger car companies have different people for different jobs – engineers, finance, designers, managers – a large proportion of Mazda’s executive staff all have backgrounds in engineering. This ranges from the outgoing president,Masamichi Kogai, current president Akira Marumoto to junior execs.
In fact, almost every Mazda representative we met at the event, Mazda’s Asean Forum Winter 2018, was an engineer. Mr Ninai, currently a business manager, was previously an engineer specialising in internal combustion engines and helped develop the current range of Skyactiv engines.
The 2019 Mazda 3 will have a Skyactiv-X engine under the hood
Mr Takeji Kojima, Mazda’s head of corporate communications, is a qualified engineer and product planner. Ms Miki Kado, a communications manager, also worked on combustion engines in the design of cylinder heads.
With backgrounds like that, you can imagine Mazda’s managers spend much less time arguing about where money should be spent, and it’s no surprise the company spends a larger proportion of its revenue on research and development (4.5 percent, more than Toyota’s 3.7 percent) and spends more money on it than Suzuki.
That also makes clear how something like Skyactiv X came about – once Mazda became independent again, its people knew exactly what was needed for the company to thrive not just in the next few years, but decades down the road.
“We began research into Skyactiv X a decade ago, at the same time we began the programme for Skyactiv diesel engines you see today,” said Mr Kojima.
Keep in mind that Mazda wasn’t exactly on strong footing then, and throwing oodles of cash into a technology people perceived as impossible – or possibly even obsolete once finally perfected – was a very gutsy move.
But the move has paid off big-time. If Skyactiv X does what Mazda claims it can, it makes combustion engines even more relevant than before. While many are denouncing combustion engines, it’s not as if electric charging grids will spring up over night. In any case, Mazda says that not only will it combine Skyactiv X with hybrids (by roughly 2019-2020), Skyactiv X can already perform as well as EVs in emissions when it comes to well-to-wheel measurements.
Sky’s the limit
Skyactiv X: Mazda’s breakthrough combustion engine technology explained
Skyactiv X is a form of compression ignition gasoline engine. As we know, diesel engines ‘explode’ their fuel by compressing the fuel-air mixture which self-ignites (compression ignition). Gasoline engines require a spark to set off the combustion (spark ignition).
The benefits of compression ignition are a more homogenous charge, as the whole air/fuel charge explodes simultaneously – unlike a spark charge where the spark kicks off the flame, which then propogates outwards. Homogenous charge compression ignition (HCCI) has already been achieved, but only at low revs and over a limited range.
Mazda’s approach, in short, uses a spark plug to ignite the charge at higher ranges – one of Mazda’s key breakthroughs was the ability to manage the handover from compression to spark ignition thanks to advanced engine design and fuel management improvements.
If you understood none of that, then very, very simply: Skyactiv X is a gasoline engine that combines the benefits of diesel (more torque, better efifciency) with the existing benefits of gasoline engines (wide powerband, less pollution).
Mazda currently claims for its 2.0-litre prototype Skyactiv X engine, it can achieve 10 to 30 percent more torque than the current 2.0-litre gasoline Skyactiv G, and 30-40 percent better efficiency, which can even exceed its 2.0-litre diesel Skyactiv D engine.
Impressive stuff even by itself, but Mazda is also rolling out the next gen Skyactiv platform. Not only will it have the usual improvements and future-proofing, Mazda’s also done extensive research into reducing noise, vibration and harshness, plus other new areas of comfort and stability. The new platform, which will underpin all future Mazda cars, will also be integrated into a novel production method that will allow volume changes and new model production with much less additional cost.


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iOS 14: Revamped Podcasts app revealed
The news: The stock Apple Podcasts app is getting some major upgrades in iOS 14, according to 9to5Mac (85.8% accurate).
- “For You” tab coming with personalized recommendations
- Introduction of user profiles to follow your friends and vis versa
- Creators able to offer bonus content in-app
Our take: Apple’s Podcasts app has certainly lost traction to platforms like Spotify and YouTube over the years. If these are the only new changes this year…I don’t think that’s going to be enough to catch up.


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Drinks group Diageo has said that net sales of Guinness rose by 1% in Ireland in the six month period to the end of December - the first increase after six years of sales decline.
But overall the company's net sales in Ireland were down 2%.
Diageo said that on a global basis, net sales of Guinness fell by 4% due a weaker performance in Nigeria, Indonesia and the UK on the back of difficult market conditions and price sensitivity.
However, it said the brand grew in many African markets - with double digit growth recorded in Kenya.
The six month period saw the launch of Guinness American Blonde lager in the US, the Brewers Project in the UK and Ireland and Guinness Zero in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, sales of Baileys liquor rose by 1.9% in Ireland in the six month period, while they grew by 2% in the UK. But they were down 5% on a worldwide basis, as the brand entered the year with high stock levels.
Diageo Ireland last year opened one of the most environmentally efficient brewhouses in the world at St James's Gate Brewery in Dublin.
This plant accounts for 35% of global beer for Diageo and brews one billion pints of beer a year. 75% of this is exported to over 130 markets worldwide.
Meanwhile, Diageo, the world's largest spirits maker, reported lower than expected sales for the six months to December, hurt by foreign exchange rate moves and discounting on vodka in the US, its biggest and most profitable market.
The maker of Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whisky warned last month that US Thanksgiving sales were disappointing and it expected sales to be broadly flat in the region.
Competition among vodka makers has sharpened in the US as drinkers moved to brown spirits such as bourbon.
The company's chief financial officer Deirdre Mahlan said that Diageo was not yet feeling the benefit of an improving economic picture in the US, though it hoped to do so as lower gas prices meant more money to spend on extras such as alcohol.
Elsewhere, Diageo has been plagued by volatility in emerging markets, from a crackdown on extravagant spending in China to an economic slowdown in Brazil.
Overall, Diageo said net sales in the six months to the end of December, the first half of its fiscal year, were £5.9 billion, below analysts' average estimate of £6 billion.
The results were hurt by the strengthening of Sterling versus currencies such as the Venezuelan bolivar, Russian rouble and the euro.
At current rates, Diageo estimates foreign exchange to hurt net sales for the full year, ending in June, by £120m, operating profit by £85m, and to increase net finance charges by £10m.
Diageo, which does not give financial forecasts, said it still expected to "deliver on its performance ambition," which includes the aims of "top-tier" net sales growth for its industry and "consistent" margin improvement.


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Lower Gas Prices Mean More Travelers On The Road [POLL]
Gas prices here in East Texas were around $3.82 in mid-April and now two and a half months later prices have fallen around $0.70 here in East Texas. Now, don’t get me wrong $3.15 a gallon is still on the high side for gas, but it’s cheaper than it was a couple of months ago and with lower gas prices, AAA says there will be more people on the road for the 4th of July holiday weekend than in the past decade.
AAA is estimating that nearly 43 million people will be hitting the road for the 4th of July and their trips will be around 150 miles longer than usual. They are attributing this spike in holiday travel to lower gas prices, lower car rental rates and lower air fares.
Seeing how this holiday falls in the middle of the week, AAA expects the nations highways to be the busiest on June 29th and again on July 3rd.


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Stop the splice
In January 2021, the UK Government announced a consultation on gene editing to ask whether the practice could be redefined and whether regulations regarding its use could be relaxed. The outcome could be that genome edited (GE) farm animals would be excluded from the definition of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).
Consequently, products made from GE animals would not be labelled as such, resulting in a huge impact on consumers.
We believe that relaxing regulations on GE livestock would be a huge step backwards for animal welfare and jeopardise ethical consumer choices.
Whilst the move has been positioned by some as a way to meet the demand for animal products, benefit the farming industry, provide more sustainable products and even improve animal health and welfare, we believe that the welfare risks to both the animals used to create GE lines, and the resulting animals, are just too great.
For animals, this liberation of innovation comes at a price.
For the public, it could cost us the ability to make a choice about the food we eat.
What is gene editing?
Genome editing is a group of technologies that enable an organism's genetic material (DNA) to be directly manipulated, for example by adding, removing or 'splicing' (breaking and joining) genetic material at particular locations. Gene editing animals is not the same as natural selection through breeding, because it enables instant and significant changes to the genome.
What are its implications?
Escalating technologies in this way has serious welfare implications and risks for the animals used to create GE lines, as well as the GE animals themselves.
- Gene editing can have unpredictable effects
- There is no history of use to show how stable the changes made are in the long term
- The use of GE technologies threatens to push farmed animals even further towards, or further beyond, their biological limits.
Relaxing GE regulations could also result in consumer choice being compromised, as consumers may be unaware if their food was created as a result of gene editing. This revokes the public's right to make informed, ethical choices about the foods they consume.
We believe that:
- The current regulations on GMOs are there to ensure a high level of protection for both human health and animal welfare. They provide important safeguards and should not be relaxed.
- There are alternative approaches already available to achieve the proposed objectives of genetic technologies e.g. better animal husbandry and veterinary treatment and reducing food waste - 12% of global meat and animal products are lost or wasted every year
- There is great public concern and uncertainty around GE, with legitimate concerns about 'naturalness'
- Animals could suffer at our hands for seemingly little purpose
We believe that the UK Government should be aiming for the highest animal welfare standards. Additionally, we believe there is a duty to protect the consumer and ensure that people have the right to choose products on ethical and animal welfare grounds.
What about Wales?
While the production of GE food and products is devolved, there would be significant consequences for the devolved nations such as Scotland and Wales. In the instance that this is allowed in England, both nations could be forced to allow these foods for sale in their countries, without the need for mandatory labelling.
Action now closed
Thank you to everyone who has taken action against gene editing, the action has now closed. Please subscribe to our campaigns newsletter so we can keep you updated on our progress and future actions.


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WHEN established floor fitter Paddy McNicholas held an open day for his new training centre, MN Floor Training, on Friday 15 July, he was slightly nervous about how the event would turn out. He needn’t have been – it proved to be an unmitigated success with appearances from some of the most familiar faces in flooring, whether they were exhibitors, visitors, or floorlaying experts.
The event took place between 10am-4pm at MN Floor Training in Wolverhampton and proceeds of the tickets went to mental health charities and organisations which are reaching out to the people of Ukraine. A hog roast and drinks facilitated networking among the attendees.
Exhibitors included F Ball and Co, Hanson Plywood, Brampton Chase, Stairrods, Green-Flor, and Gekko Adhesives, among others. UK Flooring TV run by the NICF’s Brian King was in attendance along with Dan Jones, a carpet fitter of the year, FloorSkills’ Matt Bourne and, of course, CFJ.
‘When we were on our way back from last year’s Flooring Show at Harrogate, Brian, Dan and I were complaining about the fact we didn’t have a big flooring event to look forward to until Harrogate 2022,’ says Paddy, explaining how the idea for his open day came about. ‘So Brian suggested an open day, Dan agreed, and that was that. I ended up with a good variation of flooring manufacturers on the day, from carpet and LVT manufacturers to tool manufacturers and subfloor preparation specialists which helped people get the most out of it.’
Fitters attended from all over the UK, from as far afield as Scotland and Devon. ‘It’s amazing they made the effort to travel that far, and that manufacturers such as F Ball and Brampton Chase brought so many members of staff to look after their stands. The weather was on our side.’
‘This is an industry installation event and we’re here to support MN Training,’ Ken Robb, director of Floorstars, told CFJ. ‘But we’re also here because it’s a networking event and we can meet installers and suppliers, learn more about products and what’s happening in the Midlands in relation to the installation industry and we get to meet many old friends.’
Ken says he was ‘astonished’ by the turnout on the day. ‘I think you’re starting to see a new networking system developing within industry where we enjoy one another’s company and getting together and talking about floors, and this is a platform to do that.’
‘I was asked by Paddy to attend this open day and was more than happy to do so,’ said Gary Scott, managing director of Hanson Plywood. ‘We haven’t been able to get out on the road to explain to people what our product is all about over the past two years so I saw the day as a great opportunity.’
Many visitors asked Gary about SP101 plywood and technical information about how plywood works or should work in the flooring industry. ‘There’s been a mixture of visitors including contractors and end-users.’
Rachael Morgan, category manager for the UK at Gekko Adhesives, was exhibiting at the show. She said: ‘We support Paddy in everything he does and he has a great facility offering quality training, and we’re keen to promote our safety products and brand awareness. It was an honour to be invited, actually.’
Danny Thornley of D Thornley Carpets & Flooring, attended from Manchester because he’d previously sat in on Paddy’s installation and design courses. ‘I’d previously thought I was too good to go on his installation course but it blew my mind and he then persuaded me to go on his design one. I went to the open day because Paddy’s such a top bloke and such a big name in the industry, particularly with LVT fitting, and because I saw the potential for networking.’
‘We exhibited primarily to support Paddy,’ said Richard Davison of Brampton Chase. ‘We’ve supported him from day one since he wanted to start his training facility. As for our stand, we brought our full LVT range to the show – it’s not huge but it’s straightforward and manageable. Simplicity works.’
Scott Carter Dowding of Stairrods said: ‘We went to network, promote the brand, and to support Paddy, particularly because he’d done such a great thing for charity. It was nice to see people outside Harrogate and catch up. We met fitters, adhesive manufacturers, and distributors, so a nice mix of people.’
And William Hebble, sole UK distributor for Green-Flor, said he’d exhibited because it was a rare opportunity to get out of his office and see various people from the industry. ‘We didn’t exhibit to get new accounts but rather to say hello to people we’ve spoken to on the phone but never met.’
Finally, Matt Bourne of FloorSkills said he was keen to see what the day entailed and to see how Paddy was getting on with his centre. ‘It was a good turnout, and the weather’s held up really well. A lot of planning has to go into this for instance arranging space with the neighbouring units, getting the word out there can be hard work, so well done to Paddy.’


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The Angry Birds will not stop until they’ve taken over literally every media platform.
The latest conquest for the flock of ill-mannered animals is Roku, a set-top box that gives users access to streaming online content on their TV even if the TV itself is not Internet-connected.
To date, Roku has primarily been focused on getting partners like Hulu, Vudu, Pandora, and other passive forms of digital media. But now it’s getting into games, and its flagship title in that new initiative is, of course, Angry Birds.
You won’t have to struggle playing with your TV remote, though. Roku is now also selling a Wii-like motion controller, powered by Bluetooth, for $29. Right now Angry Birds is the only Roku channel compatible with the new controller.
After making a huge splash on smartphones and tablets, Angry Birds has made its way to traditional game consoles as a downloadable title, been introduced to stores with a whole line of retail merchandise, got a tie-in with the theatrical animated film Rio, and is accessible via download codes in the Blu-ray version of the 20th Century Fox flick.
So it’s no surprise to see it jumping onto yet another platform. While it is a good, fun game, it is because of the marketing from developer Rovio and original publisher Chillingo that it has managed to skyrocket to blockbuster status.
This story isn’t just about Angry Birds, though. The addition of gaming and a special controller makes Roku a more interesting player in the IPTV market, a market that has become increasingly troubling for dedicated external boxes like Roku.
Adding something new and interesting, like games, could be a way to remain relevant against TV sets with their own Internet connectivity.


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Sony officially announced PlayStation Vue last night; a cloud-based TV service that will be available initially on the PS4 and PS3, before making its way to the iPad and other Sony (and non-Sony) platforms.
PlayStation Vue will let users watch live TV, as well as on-demand, leveraged by partners such as CBS, FOX, NBCUniversal, Discover Communciations, Viacom and Scripps Networks Interactive, which will come with all of their networks – ie. Fox Sports, NBC, FXX, MTV, Nickelodeon, USA Network, etc.
“Everyday TV is about to become extraordinary with our new cloud-based TV service, PlayStation Vue,” said Andrew House, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Group Executive in charge of the Network Entertainment Business. “PlayStation Vue reinvents the traditional viewing experience so your programming effortlessly finds you, enabling you to watch much more of what you want and search a lot less. PlayStation Vue brings the best of live TV and a robust catalog of the latest content, always keeping you connected to what’s popular, new and trending. Today’s announcement builds on the historic success of PlayStation 4 and demonstrates what our company is capable of when we embrace disruption and stay true to gamers.”
Users will be able to not only schedule recordings, but also watch the past three days of programming without having to. In addition, any show tagged as a favorite, will be available for 28 days. According to Sony, the service will be invite-only to start in markets such as New York (who gets it first), Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.


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"CAR sales, already in a deep funk, would probably be slower yet if automakers decided to offer no alternative to manual transmissions. Makers of street motorcycles have largely painted themselves into that corner. And with the effects of stalled credit markets flattening out a 14-year streak of steady growth — despite the allure of good gas mileage in a wobbly economy — it’s no surprise that manufacturers are mounting an effort to introduce more rider-friendly bikes." -- Stuart F. Brown
Read the full story for all the details.


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Playtech Secures Deal with Veikkaus in Finland to Boost Live Casino
Posted on February 29, 2024 | 7:12 am
Playtech, a gambling tech leader in the market, has struck a premium live casino deal in Finland with local brand Veikkaus. This is a logical step for the company that looks to extend its presence in the Nordic market by cleverly choosing new partners.
The two have secured a long-term deal, opening the way for a promising partnership. With a starting duration of six years and the possible extension, this deal is a significant step in their cooperation, as it now includes the exciting world of live casino content.
As a reminder, the two brands already cooperate in the segment of online casino, online poker, retail VLT machines, and casino management, and will now expand the agreement to the world of live casino, something that will make a huge impact in the market and take the brands to new heights.
Making Exciting Moves
As part of the agreement, Veikkaus will provide Playtech’s network Live content to its users together with new games from the latest Veikkaus-only studio, which Playtech will back to establish and run in its studio facility. The joint work on studio design is already close to fruition, and Playtech is making huge efforts to improve its partner’s product, design, and marketing teams, bringing its deep knowhow and experience in establishing special and exclusive Live studios.
This will be a part of the brand’s strategy, to bring new things and projects straight to the player. Veikkaus will also include Finnish-speaking dealers, monitoring a blackjack and roulette tables, delivering one of a kind and engaging experience for Finnish users.
Commenting on the latest agreement in the industry, Riikka Seppänen, VP iCasino at Veikkaus noted:
“We are delighted to collaborate with Playtech as our partner for Live casino games, following a comprehensive public procurement process. This strategic framework agreement marks an important milestone for Veikkaus as we expand our product portfolio to include Live casino games for the first time. We have been and continue to work diligently alongside Finnish authorities and regulators to ensure a robust regulatory framework is in place”.
Established in 1999 and listed on the London Stock Exchange, Playtech is a global leader in the gambling sector with more than 7,300 employees in 19 countries.
The company is also a first-class tech brand, established in delivering its business intelligence software, services, games and technology that makes user experience remarkable. Its popular verticals are some of the most popular such as casino, live casino, sports, virtual sports, bingo and poker.
It is the leader in omni-channel gambling technology thanks to its integrated platform, Playtech ONE. The latter is known for super marketing expertise, single wallet customization, CRM and responsible gambling all possible via single platform and across top verticals.
Latest innovation by Evolution Gaming, Lightning Roulette combines the excitement of playing live roulette with the winning potential of slots. Before every spin, between 2 and 5 numbers are awarded an improved multiplier between 50 and 500 times of your wager.
It gets better. The RTP on it is matching that of European Roulette (97.30%) which means that you give up nothing, but get to play a much more exciting variation of live roulette.


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As More Tenants Leave Downtown TC, DDA Explores Options For Relief
By Beth Milligan | Oct. 30, 2020
On the heels of departing businesses including The Franklin, Georgina’s, Yen Yoga & Fitness, and Michigan Artists Gallery, another major tenant is preparing to leave Front Street in downtown Traverse City as tech incubator 20Fathoms moves out of the 101 North Park building this weekend. High rents – fueled by high property taxes – are driving many downtown departures, a situation exacerbated by the pandemic and staffing shortages. Traverse City Downtown Development Authority (DDA) CEO Jean Derenzy is concerned by the trend and says the DDA is launching a Downtown Relief Fund aimed at helping small businesses with rent, utilities, inventory, and other expenses this winter.
20Fathoms, currently located on the second floor of 101 North Park at the corner of Park and Front streets (pictured), is moving to the fourth floor of the Bayview Professional Centre across from Tom’s West Bay. While the move offers ample parking and nearly double the office space – increasing the tech incubator’s footprint from 5,600 to 10,000 square feet – Executive Director Lauren Bigelow says the decision to relocate was primarily prompted by rent. 20Fathoms was subleasing the 101 North Park floor from former tenant Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge (SHRR) at a significantly reduced rate since 2018. With SHRR’s lease ending this weekend, 20Fathoms would assume the full market-rate rent for the space – roughly double the current cost.
“Jean (Derenzy) did everything she possibly could have done to try and help us stay downtown, but we just couldn’t make it work,” says Bigelow. “The price of things in Traverse City made it untenable. To buy our floor – just our floor, not the building – would have cost $2.5 to $3 million.” Bigelow credits building owner DargaWorks with trying to help 20Fathoms find a solution, noting that downtown property owners carry their own high property tax and land costs (a consultant previously identified 101 North Park as “the most potent tax building” in Grand Traverse County). The rent 20Fathoms could afford at the building would barely cover taxes and condo fees, Bigelow says. “We would essentially be staying for free, and that’s not fair,” she says. “There’s a supposition that landlords are big nameless corporations that can take big hits…but these are local businesses, and everyone came to the table (to try and help).”
The owners of downtown restaurants The Franklin and Georgina’s also cited the inability to afford Front Street rents when vacating their spaces this year. The Franklin closed its doors, while Georgina’s relocated to a smaller space on West Front Street and rebranded as Little G’s. Yen Yoga & Fitness, a popular anchor tenant on the 300 block of Front Street since 2010, announced earlier this month it would close its downtown studio and seek to reopen elsewhere after the pandemic. “After financial analysis and attempted negotiations with our landlord, we cannot continue to afford the extensive overhead costs,” the company wrote in a letter to clients.
Survey data shared by Traverse Connect with DDA board members last week confirmed that many downtown tenants and owners are worried about their near-term prospects. Seventy-three percent of survey respondents said they expected continued depressed operations for another six or more months. Forty-three percent of respondents have unfilled job openings right now, with 52 percent citing staffing concerns as a “key barrier” to success. Traverse Connect President and CEO Warren Call said systemic issues like lack of child care, affordable housing, and living wages are contributing to employment shortages. Helping the DDA identify both short-term solutions and long-term fixes to challenges facing downtown business owners will be one of Traverse Connect’s goals as part of its contract with the DDA, Call said. “Obviously recovering from the implications of the pandemic are important not only for our businesses, but for downtown and our community in general,” he said.
Derenzy says the DDA is also taking proactive steps to help downtown businesses. The DDA and Downtown Traverse City Association – the merchant arm of downtown – are partnering with Venture North to launch the Downtown Relief Fund, which will provide assistance with rent and other costs to businesses this winter. The DTCA has agreed to donate $30,000 to the fund, as well as a match to contributions raised from the upcoming Shop Your Community Days event November 12-14. Downtown-themed gift baskets will be auctioned off to raise additional dollars, with the DDA also seeking grant assistance from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and other sources. Derenzy says the DDA is still finalizing the application process and maximum funding level available to downtown businesses – which will likely vary based on their rent and other costs – but hopes to open the program by January.
The DDA has also worked to help defer lease payments for some tenants in city-owned buildings during the pandemic, launched the Buy Local Give Local Fund this spring to purchase products from downtown businesses that were then donated to local nonprofits, secured state grant funding for some downtown businesses, and relaxed on-street dining rules as part of the Front Street closure this summer. Longer-term solutions could be more complex, Derenzy says. Property taxes, for example, are calculated based on a fixed formula by the City of Traverse City, which follows state regulations for assessing fees. Accordingly, trying to slash property taxes is a likely dead end, according to Derenzy.
However, Derenzy says the DDA could help owners better utilize their building footprints, such as pushing for more density – allowing owners to build up and maximize their square footage and revenue to offset costs. Mixed-used developments have also proven to be a successful model downtown, with owners putting higher-rent office or residential units on upper floors while retail and restaurant units anchor the ground floors. “How do you get the higher rents above to be able to supplement lower rent on the first floor?” Derenzy says. “(Owners) have to charge a cost; they can’t just forgive rent. But what do we do to keep the rates down?”
There is still interest and demand in being downtown, despite the pandemic, Derenzy says; the district continues to attract new tenants even as others depart. Still, preventing Front Street from slowly becoming a desert of banks, offices, and high-end condos will continue to remain a top priority – especially as the pandemic drags on, Derenzy says. “Somehow we need to figure out how we are going to be an inclusive downtown and not just a financial district without restaurants and retailers,” she says. “To be able to make a healthy and thriving downtown – to have that diverse economy – is definitely something the DDA has to look at.”Comment


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City Desk : dhakamirror.com
BURGER KING, a fast-food chain, has opened their ninth outlet in Dhaka. The address is Plot 45, Road 7, Block A, Section 12, Pallabi.
Mirpur-12 residents can now indulge in the iconic WHOPPER and choose from a delightful selection of menu items right from the grand opening. The location is set in the heart of Mirpur, said a press release.
Customers will have the opportunity to savour the mouthwatering flame-grilled signature burgers. The flavourful offerings are sure to enhance their dining experience, making every visit memorable and satisfying.
“Following the tremendous response to our 8 BURGER KING restaurants in Dhaka, we are excited to announce the opening of our new outlet in Mirpur 12. We are committed to provide our customers with the best possible fast-food experience, we will offer a wide range of delicious food, including our signature flame-grilled burgers, crispy Fried Chicken and side items.” said Mushroof Ahmed, General Manager of Burger King Bangladesh.
The BURGER KING brand entered the Bangladesh market through a long-term franchise agreement for expansion with Tiffin Box Limited, a Bangla Trac group company. BURGER KING™ is looking forward to delivering exceptional food and an extraordinary guest experience as it continues to open restaurants across the country. – Press release


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The exchange has onboarded electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) as the first stock under the flagship feature. It is no surprise the exchange opted for Tesla, which has experienced a meteoric rise, having spiked by at least 430% since last year January.
Binance decision to have Tesla onboard seems to be a strategic move considering that the EV manufacturer commands a big following. The Tesla founder Elon Musk controls a loyal following. The exposure emanating from Binance and Tesla’s popularity provides the perfect catalyst to attract new traders who would like to participate in both the traditional and crypto markets.
A new concept
At this point, tradable stock tokens are a new concept; with both Tesla and Binance being leaders in their respective fields, it presents a likelihood of a surge in new traders. Investors now have an opportunity to diversify their portfolio by venturing into both the crypto and the traditional stock market without having to leave the Binance platform.
In the current setting, traders who wish to venture into crypto trading and the traditional market need to use two diverse platforms. However, Binance is now offering the much-needed convenience all within a single platform. This indicates that the elusive integration of both the digital asset world and traditional finance is close to being achieved.
Leveraging on Tesla’s influence
Furthermore, alongside Musk, Tesla is a big cryptocurrency proponent, with the manufacturer investing about $1.5 billion in bitcoin. The move subsequently contributed to bitcoin hitting a new all-time. At the same time, consumers can now pay for Tesla cars using crypto. This is an indicator that both Binance and Tesla are willing to explore both spectrums of the financial world in return appealing to more users. Notably, the influence of Tesla and Musk on the cryptocurrency price movement might potentially inspire new traders.
Additionally, Binance’s focus on ease of use might be another catalyst driving new traders to the platform. Through the platform, it’s easier and seamless for traders to invest in the stock tokens. There will be fewer reasons for buying Tesla stock elsewhere, considering that the firm does not pay dividends.
The new Binance trading tool also comes with practical experience for cryptocurrency traders who will monitor traditional stocks’ price swings and digital assets on the same platform. Such a feature offers room to make sound and well-diversified investment decisions.


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Ferrari recalls cars due to fire hazard and faulty doorsMarch 17, 2019
The Ferrari service company, which will start on April 14, 2019, affects almost the entire lineup of the brand.
Information about two service companies, initiated by an Italian car manufacturer, Ferrari, has recently appeared on the website of the National Road Safety Administration.
Both reviews date back to February 14, 2019 and affect a total of 2,732 cars, which cover almost the entire Ferrari range, starting with cars of the 2017 model year.
The first review (number 67) refers to copies of the GTC4Lusso model, which were produced between 2017 and 2019, as well as GTC4Lusso in the version T (2017-2019 years of release). According to an official document, Ferrari recalls these cars due to faulty doors. “Tensioning the door lock mechanism can lead to the impossibility of opening them with the help of an external door handle.”
A total of 582 instances of the GTC4Lusso / GTC4Lusso T model, which currently travels across North America, could potentially have the above-mentioned problem. Ferrari’s representative office will begin the withdrawal on April 14, 2019, owners will be notified in advance, and dealers will be asked to replace damaged car parts for free.
The second review (number 69) affects a wider range of Ferrari cars. According to NHTSA, the LaFerrari Aperta 2017, 488 GTB, GTC4Lusso T, GTC4Lusso, 488 Spider, 812 Superfast and 2019 488 Pista may crack, which can lead to fuel leakage. Which in turn can increase the risk of fire.
- Electric Hyundai Kona burned out at the charging station
- Check out the Lamborghini Urus redesigned for the Arctic
- Forgotten for 20 years in the garage rare BMW M1 will be auctioned off
- Range Rover Autobiography hits Vilner workshops and gets even more luxurious
- Brabus B45 or 444-hp version of Mercedes-AMG A45 S


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All anyone can talk about this month is how much weight you can lose playing video games like Dance Dance Revolution and Wii sports, so it's only natural that a website has sprung up to address the exergaming craze.
WiiHealthy.com was started by a bunch of Nintendo fans that love the revolutionary Wii console. "We are happy that Nintendo chose a new direction with its next-gen machine and we’re happy to tell you that this machine can actually save your life," says the site. "Follow our advice and you’ll be losing weight in no time."
Much like the man who initiated the Wii fitness challenge earlier this year, the WiiHealthy team has created a workout schedule and tested it multiple times on people with different lifestyles, different weight categories, different ages and different sexes and is ready to share their findings.
They note that some people will lose weight easier than others and a lot depends on the way you will be playing games, but they have devised a 10 week program where you must play active Wii sports each day for about 30-45 minutes.