text:
On October 19, 2010, home grown Biotech Company Biocon, based in the IT heartland – Bangalore created a stir in Industry by inking an interesting international corporate business deal with the largest global pharmaceutical company – Pfizer. The deal will bring to Biocon a total sum of US $350 million and enable Pfizer to globally commercialize Biocon’s biosimilar (generic versions of biotechnology medicines) human recombinant insulin and three insulin analogues.
Before this deal, Sanofi-Pasteur, the vaccine business unit of the global major Sanofi-aventis had acquired Shantha Biotech, located at Hyderabad for a sum of Rs 3,750 Crore, in July 2009.
Just a year before the above acquisition in india, on December 11, 2008, Reuters reported, just two days after Merck announced a major push into biosimilar medicines; Eli Lilly signaled similar aspirations. This report, at that time, raised many eyebrows in the global pharmaceutical industry, as it was in the midst of a raging scientific debate on the appropriate regulatory pathways for biosimilar drugs. Be that as it may, many felt that this announcement ushered in the beginning of a new era. An era of intense future competition with biosimilar drugs in the global market, with immense commercial interest. On October 19, 2010 the biosimilar deal between Biocon and Pfizer vindicated this point.
Increasing global interest on biosimilar drugs:
Globally, the scenario for biosimilars started heating up when Merck announced that the company expects to have at least 5 biosimilars in the late stage development by 2012. The announcement of both Merck and Eli Lilly surprised many, as the largest pharmaceutical market of the world – the U.S.A, at that time, was yet to approve the regulatory pathway for biosimilar medicines. However, along with the recent healthcare reform by the Obama administration, the regulatory pathway for biosimilar drugs has now been clearly charted by the US FDA. In the developed world, European Union (EU) had taken a lead towards this direction by putting a robust system in place, way back in 2003.
What then prompts the research based global pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, Sanofi-aventis, Merck and Eli Lilly to step into the arena of Biosimilar medicines? Is it gradual drying up research pipeline together with skyrocketing cost of global R&D initiatives?
The future global business potential of Biosimilar medicines:
Currently, over 150 different biologic medicines are available in the global pharmaceutical market. However, the low cost biosimilar drugs are available in just around 11 countries of the world, India being one of them. Supporters of biosimilar medicines are indeed swelling as time passes by. At present, the key global players are Sandoz (Novartis), Teva, BioPartners, BioGenerix (Ratiopharm) and Bioceuticals (Stada). With the entry of pharmaceutical majors like, Pfizer, Sanofi-aventis, Merck and Eli Lilly, the global biosimilar market is expected to develop at a much faster pace than ever before. Removal of regulatory hurdles for the marketing approval of such drugs in the US – the largest pharmaceutical market of the world, will be the key growth driver.
Recently, the EU has approved Sandoz’s (Novartis) Filgrastim (Neupogen brand of Amgen), which is prescribed for the treatment of Neutropenia. With Filgrastim, Sandoz will now have 3 Biosimilar products in its portfolio.
Global Market Potential of Biosimilar Drugs:
The biosimilar drug market in the world is estimated to be around U.S. $ 16 billion by 2011. Currently, off-patent biologic blockbusters including Erythropoietin offer an excellent commercial opportunity in this category. By 2013, about 10 branded biologics with a total turnover of around U.S. $ 15 billion will go off-patent, throwing open greater opportunity for the growth of biosimilar drugs internationally.
Biosimilar Drugs in India:
Sales of biosimilar drugs in India are estimated to be around U.S. $ 4 billion by 2011 with scorching pace of growth driven by both local and global demands.
Recombinant vaccines, erythropoietin, recombinant insulin, monoclonal antibody, interferon alpha, granulocyte cell stimulating factor like products are now manufactured by a number of domestic biotech companies like Biocon, Panacea Biotech, Wockhardt, Emcure, Shantha Biotech, Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute of India, Dr. Reddy’s, Ranbaxy, etc. The ultimate objective of all these Indian companies will be to get regulatory approval of these products in the US and the EU either on their own or through collaborative initiatives.
It is worth mentioning here that to give a fillip to the Biotech Industry in India; the National Biotechnology Board was set up by the Government of India under the Ministry of Science and Technology way back in 1982. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) came into existence in 1986. The DBT now spends around US$ 200 million annually to develop biotech resources in the country and have been making reasonably good progress. The DBT is reported to have undertaken an initiative for quite some time to prepare regulatory guidelines for Biosimilar Drugs, which is expected to conform to international quality and patients’ safety standards.
Steps taken by the Indian pharmaceutical companies:
Biosimilar version of Rituxan (Rituximab) of Roche used in the treatment of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma has already been developed by DRL in India. Last year Rituxan clocked a turnover of over US$ 2 billion. DRL also has developed filgastrim of Amgen, which enhances production of white blood-cell by the body, and markets the product as Grafeel in India. Similarly Ranbaxy has collaborated with Zenotech Laboratories to manufacture G-CSF.
On the other hand Glenmark is planning to come out with its first biotech product by 2011 from its biological research establishment located in Switzerland.
The focus is on Oncology:
Many domestic Indian pharmaceutical companies are targeting Oncology disease area for developing biosimilar drugs, which is estimated to be the largest segment with a value turnover of over US$ 55 billion by the end of 2010 growing over 17%. As per recent reports about 8 million deaths take place all over the world per year due to cancer. May be for this reason the research pipeline of NMEs is dominated by oncology with global pharmaceutical majors’ sharp R&D focus and research spend on this particular therapy area. About 50 NMEs for the treatment of cancer are expected to be launched globally by 2015.
Current size of the Indian oncology market is around US$ 18.6 million, which is expected to be over US$ 50 million by the end of 2010; the main reason being all these are and will be quite expensive products.
A trigger point for more collaborative initiatives:
It is expected that the recent Pfizer – Biocon deal will trigger many other collaborative initiatives between the global and the local pharmaceutical companies.
Among India biotech companies, Reliance Life Sciences has already marketed Recombinant Erythropoietin, Recombinant Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor, Recombinant Interferon Alpha and Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator. This company has been reported to have the richest pipeline of biosimilar drugs in India. Companies like Wockhardt, Lupin, DRL and Intas Biopharmaceuticals are also in the process of developing an interesting portfolio of biosimilar drugs in India to fully encash the fast growing global opportunities.
Biosimilar global business model will fast gain ground:
Many large research-based global pharmaceutical companies, after having encountered the ‘patent cliff’, are now looking at the generic and biosimilar businesses, in a mega scale, in the emerging markets of the world, like India. Our country has witnessed major acquisitions like, Ranabaxy, Shantha Biotech and Piramal Healthcare by Daiichi Sankyo of Japan, Sanofi-aventis of France and Abbott of USA, respectively. We have also seen collaborative initiatives of large global companies like, GSK, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer with Indian companies like DRL, Aurobindo, Claris, Torrent, Zydus Cadilla, Strides Arcolab and now Biocon to reach out to the fast growing global generic and biosimilar drugs markets.
This trend further gained momentum when immediately after Biocon deal early this week, on October 21, 2010, Pfizer strengthened its footprints in the global generics market with yet another acquisition of 40% stake in Laboratorio Teuto Brasilieiro of Brazil with US $240 million to develop and globally commercialize their generic portfolio.
All said and done, the recent international deal of Pfizer and Biocon to globally commercialize four biosimilar insulin and analogues, developed by the later in India, does signal a new global status for the Indian biosimilar drugs to the pharma MNCs, who were vocal critics of such drugs developed in India, until recently.
Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.


text:
Kingston Technology has announced that it was able to successfully take the top spot for SSD unit market share in the channel for 2021. According to Kingston, the demand for SSDs remained high through the fourth quarter of 2021 due to continued growth in the client, enterprise, and OEM sectors. The company was also able to expand its product portfolio with the launch of two new high performance client M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen 4 SSDs – the KC3000 and the Kingston FURY Renegade.
Analyst research company Trendfocus released market share date that showed Kingston as the number one client SSD vendor in the channel with a unit market share of 22.2% and 22.3 million client SSDs shipped in 2021. In the fourth quarter alone, the company’s client SSD market share grew to 26.8% in the channel, showing annual unit growth despite the ongoing component storage.
According to Trendfocus, total client SSD units increased 12.4% year-over-year in 2021. Notebook PC units also increased 12% YoY while desktop PCs inched up 1% over the same period, which shows the growing adoption of solid-state drives by clients largely due to performance, size, and reduced power consumption.
“2021 saw a nearly 9% increase in total PC shipments1, the highest volume shipped since 2014. The transition of PC demand over to commercial models amplified an already high SSD-attach rate in notebook PCs and continued to fuel growth opportunities,” said Don Jeanette, vice president, TRENDFOCUS.
“The 2021 research findings validate Kingston’s growing presence and position in the SSD market,” said Kingston. “As we celebrate our 35 year anniversary, Kingston has been a consistent and trusted manufacturer of high-performance storage solutions. Over the past decade, we’ve continued to solidify our product portfolio with strong SATA offerings as well as distinct NVMe solutions optimized for notebooks and desktops. It takes an entire team to accomplish this feat and we both thank and share our success with our partners, vendors and customers.”

domain: news


text:
PlayStation Plus Prices Increase
Beginning September 22, the cost of PlayStation Plus will go up for subscribers. The one-year subscription will jump up to $59.99 whereas the three-month plan will go up to $19.99. Sony also stated that the cost of the one-month plan will remain unchanged. Sony’s reasoning for the increase is due to a change in the market since the service began back in 2010.
What do you think about the price increase?


text:
Jul 15, 2011
Chinese retailer Sun Art delays HK debut, reopens retail bids
Jul 15, 2011
July 15 - China's biggest hypermarket operator, Sun Art Retail Group Ltd , said on Friday retail investors will have six days to reconsider bids on the $1.1 billion initial public offering after the company revised figures in the IPO prospectus.
The company is a joint venture between Taiwanese conglomerate Ruentex Group and privately held French retailer Groupe Auchan SA.
The company confirmed a Reuters report on Thursday that discrepancies in the prospectus were related to historical earnings per share (EPS) figures.
Trading of the shares, originally set to start on Friday, was delayed to July 27 so that investors could assess "the potential impact of the EPS Clarification on their investment decision," Sun Art said in a securities filing.
The company had a 1-26 stock split on June 27, but its prospectus failed to change EPS figures based on the number of outstanding shares, the filing said. Sun Art changed EPS figures for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 years as well as for the three months to March 31 and will issue a supplemental prospectus on Monday.
In Taipei, shares of Ruentex Industries were about 3 percent lower in morning trade, and shares of sister company Ruentex Development were about 1.4 percent lower.
Analysts said that investors were more interested in the shares of Sun Art and were selling their holdings of Ruentex group companies to buy into the IPO.
The IPO drew massive interest from Hong Kong investors betting on surging consumer demand in China, with retail bids 41.1 times more than the number of shares initially offered.
The deal was only the second $1 billion-plus Hong Kong IPO this year to price at the top of expectations, after casino operator MGM China Holdings Ltd in May.
"Other than as disclosed, the company does not currently have any additional information relating to our financial or trading position or prospects of the company which is not otherwise disclosed in the prospectus," Sun Art said in the filing.
UBS AG , Citigroup Inc and HSBC Holdings Plc acted as joint global co-ordinators for the deal, with BNP Paribas SA , China International Capital Corp, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley also helping underwrite the offering as joint bookrunners.
KPMG audited Sun Art's accounts, according to the IPO prospectus.
(Reporting by Elzio Barreto in Hong Kong and Roger Tung in Taipei)
© Thomson Reuters 2022 All rights reserved.


text:
By Peg Brickley | April 26, 2016 | Wall Street Journal
Sports Authority has abandoned hope of reorganizing and exiting bankruptcy and instead will count on buyers to save parts of its sprawling retail chain, company lawyer Robert Klyman told a judge Tuesday.
“It has become apparent that the debtors will not reorganize under a plan but instead will pursue a sale,” Mr. Klyman told Judge Mary Walrath at a hearing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.
Loaded with more than $1.1 billion in debt, Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy protection in March, saying it would attempt to trim its operations and restructure, while looking for buyers as an alternate path. Now the alternative route is the only path forward for the distressed retailer, an employer of thousands of people.
Some stores were already being closed when the bankruptcy filing came, others were to follow, and a May 16 auction is set for the bulk of Sports Authority’s operations.
“Major” potential bidders are looking over Sports Authority’s assets, and the company hopes for a good outcome to the auction, said Mr. Klyman, a lawyer at Gibson Dunn Crutcher.


text:
- The M2 MacBook Air isn’t just lacking an Intel chip, it’s completely free of Intel silicon.
- The world’s most popular notebook no longer uses an Intel USB/Thunderbolt controller.
- Apple’s insistence on complete control is behind what makes the Apple ecosystem so compelling.
You don’t need to follow Apple particularly closely to know it enjoys control, from the components it puts into its hardware to the companies that make them. Intel is one company Apple has been trying to nix from its Mac lineup for years, and with one new notebook, it’s done it. It might seem minor, but it symbolizes a philosophy that gives users features and benefits that are uniquely Apple.
The Mac in question is the brand new M2 MacBook Air. The M2 part refers to the system-on-chip (SoC) that powers the device. Think of it as the CPU, GPU, and more, all under one roof. It’s Apple-designed, giving the company complete control over every aspect, and that’s important. The migration away from Intel and towards its own silicon has taken a couple of years and still isn’t complete, but Apple is already going further. The world’s most popular notebook now has zero Intel chips inside. The last part standing was a minor one—a USB and Thunderbolt controller, and now it’s gone.
“Owning the full stack allows [Apple] to develop [its] hardware and software roadmap in lockstep with the silicon team, which enables products to have exclusive features and functions competitors can’t, and core user experiences unique to Apple products,” Ben Bajarin, CEO and Principal Analyst of Creative Strategies, told Lifewire via direct message.
Apple’s quest to take control of every component that goes into its machines makes sense for various reasons. Apple prefers to own the complete stack, from hardware to software to services. People buy Macs powered by Apple silicon; they run Apple software on those Macs and use Apple services like iCloud, Apple Music, and others. It’s a level of integration few others can compete with.
Microsoft is one company that has a chance, but it’s missing an important factor—a phone. Windows Phone is long gone, but iPhone is very much alive and kicking, and again, we see the power of an integrated experience coming to the fore. Its iPhones run similar SoCs to Macs, meaning they also run similar software. Apple silicon Macs run iPhone apps without issue, in some cases, because the internals are so similar. But it goes beyond that.
AirDrop is a feature that allows files to be moved wirelessly from one device to another, and it works. AirPods instantly switch from iPhone to Mac to Apple Watch to iPad thanks to the Apple-designed chips inside. Apple Watches can be used to unlock Macs, iPhones can be used to authenticate downloads on Apple TVs, and so much more.
Some of this works with Intel Macs as well, but it’s all built on a backbone of integration that few companies can boast—and it’s all thanks, at least in part, to Apple’s demand for control. Moving Intel out of the equation is part of that, and while Apple hasn’t confirmed as much, the switch to a non-Intel USB and Thunderbolt controller seems just as likely to be a functional thing as a financial one.
However, as much as Apple might want control, Carolina Milanesi, President & Principal Analyst at Creative Strategies, believes control is only sought when the company believes it will help create a better experience.
“I do not think Apple wants to control everything, only the parts that are material in driving a better experience,” Milanesi told Lifewire via email. “The value to the customer comes from the higher integration of software, hardware, and services, as well as the better interoperability across devices. Apple has always delivered more across devices and, of course, for Apple, that ‘better together’ story delivers higher loyalty and engagement.”
Good for You, Good for Apple, Bad for Intel
Intel isn’t coming out of all this too great, but we already know Apple is picking up the big win here. It isn’t on its own, either. As users of iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, and Apple TVs, we now benefit from the integration mentioned earlier. It means we can enjoy features that might otherwise not be possible or, if they were, would be lacking in stability, reliability, or capability.
I do not think Apple wants to control everything, only the parts that are material in driving a better experience.
Apple hasn’t released a big new product in a number of years, with no entry into a new category since the Apple Watch in 2015. That will all change when the oft-rumored mixed reality headset arrives, maybe as soon as 2023. But again, that will be powered by Apple silicon. It’s rumored that the headset will connect to iPhones wirelessly, likely using some of the same tech already built for AirPods and Apple Watches.
“To the AR/VR point, I’ve long believed Apple will have an advantage here because of their silicon efforts,” Bajarin added when asked about Apple’s abilities to go beyond what much of the competition is capable of.
It’s often the intangibles that can make using Apple devices so special—those integrations and connections between the wrist, pocket, desk, and entertainment system. Could they exist if Apple used Intel USB and Thunderbolt controllers? Sure. But this is about more than one part being swapped out of a MacBook Air. It’s about Apple’s philosophy, and this MacBook Air part swap is the latest example of it.
Thanks for letting us know!
Tell us why!


text:
Logan Paul might have been swindled into buying $3.5 million in fake Pokemon cards
The polarizing YouTuber may have spent millions on fake first-edition Pokemon cards.
If you’ve spent enough time on the nerdy side of the internet over the past year or so, you’re familiar with the resurgence in popularity that Pokemon cards have seen over the course of the pandemic. Many of these cards have fallen into the hands of popular online content creators, as card pack opening streams and videos have been a big hit. Recently, YouTuber Logan Paul shared that he had acquired several first-edition Pokemon Card sets. Now, the authenticity of those cards has been called into question.
Paul first announced his multi-million dollar acquisition back in December of 2021. In a Twitter video, we can see that he’s gotten ahold of what appears to be 11 base sets of first-edition Pokemon Cards. While $3.5 million is undoubtedly a large chunk of change, that would be considered a massive steal compared to what 11 sets of first-edition Pokemon Cards could sell for.
the only known one in the world pic.twitter.com/UZEAavgD8e— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) December 20, 2021
It was Poke Beach that first raised concerns (which we learned through Kotaku) that the Pokemon Cards Logan Paul was flexing might not be as “authentic” as he believed them to be. In a post to their website, Poke Beach breaks down all of the evidence gathered by their community, specifically citing Rattle as a major contributor. Most obviously, it’s quite unlikely that there are even 11 sealed base sets of first-edition Pokemon Cards out there these days, let alone the fact that they were all in the possession of one person.
More clues come when taking a closer look at the seller of the cards. number1pokemonmaster first listed the cards back in March of 2021. As Poke Beach points out, the listing and product description is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. Not completely damning, but enough to raise suspicion of such an expensive listing. What’s more, number1pokemonmaster has very little feedback on their profile, which is often used to measure an online seller’s legitimacy.
The story from Poke Beach goes on to lay out even more evidence against Paul’s newly bought Pokemon Cards being authentic, including the fact that the seller has provided conflicting stories on how they acquired the cards. According to Paul, he’s traveling to Chicago to get the cards inspected and verified by a professional. We'll have to wait for those results to learn once and for all if Paul did indeed drop $3.5 million on fake Pokemon Cards.
Donovan Erskine posted a new article, Logan Paul might have been swindled into buying $3.5 million in fake Pokemon cards


text:
- All Industry
- Aerospace / Defense
- Alternative Energy
- Apparel / Textiles
- Construction / Building
- Energy & Oil
- Food Safety
- Fraud / identity Theft
- Leisure / Hospitality
- Logistics / Shipping
- Manufacturing / Production
- Mining / Metals
- Oil / Energy
- Paper / Forest Products
- Plumbing, Heating & AC
- Public Utilities
View Releases by:
November 29, 2013 -- Express Kitchen cabinets certified by US standard CARB 2 for formaldehyde outgassing limits.
November 29, 2013 -- Southern California Residents Can Enter to Win a Honeywell UV Air Purification System that Reduces Odors, Toxic Chemical Vapors, Germs and Mold in the Home
November 29, 2013 -- Moving a parent back home in his or her old age can be difficult. Arcbazar helps make the move as smooth as possible.
November 28, 2013 -- Dupee' Plumbing released two new videos describing its business and best industry practices recently.
November 28, 2013 -- Florida air quality testing in houses and establishments advised by AGC Environmental to the residents of the sunshine state. The company's advice came as a response to a report about a high mold...
November 28, 2013 -- The winter months can cause floods, fires and smoke damage to your home, and Rainbow International wants to ensure that you, and your family, have a safe and fun holiday season.
November 28, 2013 -- Due to a suspected black mold, the planned renovations for Union Gap's city hall were reportedly on hold. And stating that the same problem could also bother anyone else, My Cleaning Products...
November 28, 2013 -- An inactive hurricane season along with less devastating natural disasters this year have created the opportunity for deeper discounts and savings from Generator Manufacturers.
November 28, 2013 -- Air Care Cooling & Heating in Phoenix, AZ provides five items you might not think to purchase on Black Friday.
November 28, 2013 -- Buyers are not expected to gain much advantage over suppliers, but may be at a disadvantage when it comes to specialized products. To help procurement professionals make better buying decisions,...
November 27, 2013 -- The new Sioux Chief rough plumbing video series offers plumbing contractors need-to-know information about time, labor and money saving innovations in Sioux Chief’s Supply, Drainage and Support...
November 27, 2013 -- Graphic Products has given its flagship website http://www.GraphicProducts.com a major facelift, adding a new...
November 27, 2013 -- The interactive webinar, scheduled for Dec. 5, is suited for a wide variety of professionals within the construction community, including contractors, public and private owners, subcontractors,...
November 27, 2013 -- Expanding to its fourth office in California, LPA Inc. has designed a highly sustainable adaptive re-use space to house its new San Jose office and better serve an existing client base in the hi-tech...
November 27, 2013 -- Reed presents new technologies and products at Canada’s largest building and construction show.
November 27, 2013 -- Main Street Heating & Cooling, based in Bluffdale, Utah, offers three service discounts to customers.
November 27, 2013 -- The construction community website is now an authorized distributor of Prove It! products by Kenexa. The products are designed to help individuals demonstrate software proficiency and help companies...
November 27, 2013 -- The Grounds Guys offers some tips to keep your mower running like new after sitting through the long winter months.
November 27, 2013 -- Fullerton sewer repair Company Barker and Sons Plumbing announces coupon for $50 off sewer service in Fullerton expiring April 15, 2014.
November 27, 2013 -- Chimney Cleaning Company on Long Island, Alliance Chimney is one of the elite companies with over 20 years experience.
November 27, 2013 -- Improved Restoration Services Now Available in Houston
November 27, 2013 -- Kentucky's Donnie Rowe encourages homeowners to use alternative heating responsibly.
November 27, 2013 -- Confident Aire, Inc., A Heating, Cooling and Plumbing Service Company Announces Their Seventh Annual "Ultimate Energy Transformation" to Benefit a Local Deserving Family. Coming this...
November 27, 2013 -- Custom Air Products & Services, Inc. (CAPS), a leading commercial and industrial heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) company, is proud to announce their inclusion in the Houston...
November 27, 2013 -- Voted Number One Favorite Sacramento Plumber in the Goods and Services Category


text:
submitted by /u/rishikagupta [link] [comments] Technology
Eventually, SpaceX may aim to have multiple sets of satellites orbiting in different inclinations at different altitudes to provide global internet access. (PatentYogi via YouTube)
Until a flood claimed its life, the 386 tower [Tylinol] found on the side of the road served him well as a DOS gaming rig.
The TV app on iOS and tvOS for Apple TV has just gotten a new Live News section. Here are the details on it. [
Apple orders immediate removal as source code for iBoot, a vital iOS program, gets posted online on GitHub Silicon UK
Nope. Nope. Nope. I hate headlines like this. Biggest leak in history? Come on. Here’s where the reaction comes from: Someone just posted what experts
submitted by /u/DannyMThompson [link] [comments] Technology
Back in 2016, Amazon started selling smartphones for dirt cheap under its ‘Prime Exclusive Phones‘ program. There was one big catch: the phones were saturated


text:
Samsung Electronics Co. said on Friday it will roll out its next flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S10, here late in February. It could be that this line corresponds with a separation - a bezel, perhaps - between two separate displays with rounded edges.
A new year means new smartphones and the first major launch of the year has already been booked off. Check it out in the tweet below. Since the S8, Samsung kind of took that choice away from users - if you wanted a flagship Galaxy, you had to pay for the curved display. It didn't even announce a reputation for the handset, which is rumored to be known as Galaxy F, Galaxy Flex, or Galaxy Fold. Additionally, this year's Galaxy Unpacked event is expected to the place where Samsung will unveil its foldable phone that could debut as the Galaxy Fold or Galaxy F. The company will be live streaming the event on its official website www.Samsung.com. After a teaser about Samsung and Google partnering together in developing of a foldable phone was released at the developer conference held on November 2018, rumors began spreading that Samsung is referring to the Samsung Galaxy S10.
Tokyo court rejects appeal of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn
Ghosn's lawyer said earlier this week that his client would likely be held until the trial which could begin in about six months. The Japanese automaker filed the complaint "on the basis of Ghosn's misuse of a significant amount of the company's funds".
Sources told The Korea Herald that the 10th edition of Galaxy S phones will be unveiled in the U.S. city - home to world's most innovative tech firms -- one week ahead of the Mobile World Congress 2019 that kicks off in Barcelona, Spain on February 28.
A brightened image below shows the punch hole camera more clearly.
It's unclear what "E" in the Galaxy S10 E denotes.
We'll have to wait and see for a true 5G smartphone connected to a 5G mobile network to find out just how much better 5G will be than what we have now.


text:
2011 a good year for small business investment
But on-again, off-again tax rules by Congress create uncertainty, CPA says
As the saying goes, you have to spend money to make money. Before 2011 ends, business owners may want to think about investing in capital improvements to earn some tax breaks as well.
Some popular federal tax credits designed to spur capital investment are particularly lucrative this year, said Scott Flood, tax director with RSM McGladrey Inc. in Des Moines.
This year only, qualified small businesses can write off $500,000 of new or used equipment purchased by Dec. 31 under the Section 179 expensing election, “so there’s kind of an incentive to these small businesses to do it now,” Flood said. In 2012, the expensing limit reverts to $125,000.
Another potential good deal small businesses should consider: This year, improvements to leased property by tenant businesses may qualify for the same accelerated one-year expensing, for up to $250,000 of Section 179 expensing and 100 percent of bonus depreciation.
“It applies to businesses that are leasing a building that’s at least 3 years old,” Flood said. “If you go into that building and make interior improvements, such as walls, heating/ventilation/air conditioning and things like that, those will qualify for bonus depreciation and Section 179. Usually, building improvements aren’t considered equipment and don’t qualify for this write-off. That’s a pretty big break, and it’s only available in 2011. … I see a lot of restaurants doing it to refinish the space the way they want it.”
In the current weak economy, many companies aren’t strong enough financially to borrow to make improvements. “But the ones that are doing well are in a position to have significantly less taxes because of these tax breaks that are built in,” he said.
Flood, a 35-year certified public accountant who has been with McGladrey for the past 12 years, said he’s encouraged by the increased number of start-up businesses he has worked with this year. A number of them have been launched by former corporate employees who were laid off during the recession.
“I’m more optimistic now about the future prospects for small business than I was two years ago, and usually small business leads the way,” he said. “The problem is, we won’t see the double-digit growth we’ve seen before. It will be slow growth; everybody’s more cautious.”
The onset of the recession was also the most difficult time for McGladrey in recent memory, Flood noted.
“We saw a big reduction in the consulting business. Businesses were a lot harder on us on fees, and we saw hardly any start-up businesses,” he said. “Now, most of these businesses have made these hard cuts, and the ones that were marginal have been shaken out. So what you have now are well-run companies; the survivors are doing well. And the casualties of businesses getting lean have created unemployed people who are now coming back and starting their own businesses.”
The weak economy has caused uncertainty, but Flood thinks Congress’ hodgepodge approach to passing tax legislation has created its own level of unease for businesses.
“Everything is so budget-driven now; if they pass a law, it will most likely be only for a year or two, and then it will change to something different,” he said. “Our tax laws and tax planning are so short-term now; it just creates a lot of uncertainty. Congress used to always pass tax laws so we could follow them prospectively. Now, the taxes are being passed after the fact and being made retroactive, so it’s hard to plan right now because of the short-term approach to tax law by lawmakers.”
Nevertheless, a few of those short-term measures will benefit small businesses this year, among them the payroll tax cut that reduced employees’ Social Security tax rate from 6.2 percent of wages to 4.2 percent. For 2012, President Barack Obama has proposed reducing the tax to 3.1 percent and giving an equivalent break to employers on the first $50 million of wages for new employees. “So if you were going to hire new employees and you think this is going to happen, you would want to wait until 2012,” Flood said.
Two other changes may do more to reduce small business owners’ intake of Tylenol than their tax bills: The repeal of a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that would have expanded Form 1099 reporting requirements next year means that employers won’t have to worry about filing those forms for contractors they pay more than $600 annually for expenses. Also, cellphones are no longer considered “listed property” by the Internal Revenue Service, which means businesses can deduct for business use of their phones without having to maintain a log of business use, “which no one did anyway,” Flood said.
The health-care tax credit, which provides a 35 percent credit on premiums paid by smaller employers through 2013, is “worth checking into,” he said. “I commonly see credits of $4,000 to $6,000. There is some paperwork that goes with it, but if you qualify, it’s probably justified.”
The credit will increase to 50 percent in 2014, when the bulk of provisions of the Affordable Care Act go into effect. Businesses with fewer than 10 employees will see the greatest benefit from the break, which phases out at 50 employees.
Another break, the so-called manufacturers’ deduction, this year is fully phased in at 9 percent of qualified income from production. Despite the name, the deduction also applies to a number of other businesses, among them construction contractors, engineering and architectural firms, computer software companies and farmers.
“It could get repealed, because it’s a fairly expensive tax break (for the government),” Flood said.
Looking ahead to 2012, tax experts expect some type of action to reduce corporate tax rates, which are presently the same as individual rates and much higher than corporate rates in other developed countries. Such a move would significantly change the tax landscape, Flood said.
“If that happens, I could see a lot more movement toward fewer flow-through entities like S corporations and limited liability corporations, and back to more corporate business paying taxes,” he said. “And I think the incentive for the United States to do that is so we’ll be competitive worldwide.”


text:
Cannabis supply taking hit as sales fly high
It’s taken just hours for one Winnipeg cannabis retailer’s stash to begin to go up in smoke.
Delta 9 co-founder and CEO John Arbuthnot said sales numbers far exceeded their expectations on Wednesday, and with demand continuing into Day 2 of legalization, he’s paying close attention to his dwindling supply.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Arbuthnot said for their stores to hit their long-term sales targets they need to be in the $40,000 to $50,000 range per day. On Wednesday, as cannabis became legal across the country, Arbuthnot said they hit roughly $325,000 with final numbers still to be calculated.
“That’s blowing away one-day sales expectations by a factor of multiples,” Arbuthnot said on Thursday.
At first, Delta 9 figured they had a few weeks of inventory when they began selling pot at 12:01 a.m. through their online store early Wednesday morning.
“We are watching that closely,” he said.
Sales, although not as high on Thursday, were still going strong. Arbuthnot said they were expecting sales figures on Day 2 to hit around $125,000.
“By 2 p.m., so four hours into our day, we were over $60,000 sales at the till,” he said.
Arbuthnot said restocking deliveries are coming Friday, next Tuesday and a “very large” order is on tap for next Friday to help meet the demand.
If worst comes to worst, Arbuthnot said they may have to limit online sales and how much people can buy in terms of product in their store until they’re restocked at the end of next week.
And the unknown is still to come.
Arbuthnot said some of his staff come from liquor retail and they’ve warned that sales could pick up in a big way come Friday night as people are getting off work.
“We really don’t know,” he said. “We’re really getting through shining the first light on what the demand for cannabis really is here.”
Delta 9’s large shipment of their own product coming by the end of next week also means lower prices for their own branded cannabis.
“We’ll be bringing it down from our average price per gram, which is $12 right now, to $7 or $8 per gram,” he said. “It’s moving stuff in the right direction in terms of being competitive with the black market.”
Meta Cannabis Supply Co. opened their doors at 5 p.m. on Wednesday to lines and when they opened at 10 a.m. Thursday, lines were still formed outside their north Pembina Highway store.
Matt Ryan, vice-president of marketing of META, echoed Arbuthnot saying he’s unsure what the weekend will bring.
“This industry launched on a Wednesday, so all of us were busy yesterday,” Ryan said. “But really, if you’re purchasing something for recreation, like cannabis, if it’s going to follow trends, the weekend is a big time to purchase. We anticipate this weekend is going to be a pretty big time as well.”


text:
Airline customers can face sizeable card-handling fees
Budget airline Ryanair has been accused of being "puerile and childish" over its payment policy by business watchdog the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
OFT chief executive John Fingleton attacked the company for fees that Ryanair adds when customers use all but one type of credit card to pay online.
He told the Independent newspaper that the firm used a legal loophole to justify charging the extra fee.
Ryanair said their payment policy model allowed passengers "to avoid costs".
The law says that if an airline offers at least one free payment method, it is allowed to advertise cheap fares that do not include extra credit card charges.
Mr Fingleton said Ryanair had chosen a rare payment method to get around the rules.
Currently, the airline only offers a free booking service to customers who pay for tickets with a Mastercard prepaid card.
According to Ryanair, compulsory fees and charges are included in all the airline's advertised prices. But Ryanair argues that payment handling fees are discretionary.
According to a BBC Money Box report in November, Ryanair charges £5 per person per flight, even if all the passengers are paid for on the one card, in a single transaction.
Mr Fingleton told the Independent newspaper: "Ryanair has this funny game where they have found some very low frequency payment mechanism and say: 'Well because you can pay with that'.
"It's almost like taunting consumers and pointing out: 'Oh well, we know this is completely outside the spirit of the law, but we think it's within the narrow letter of the law'."
He added: "On some level it's quite puerile - it's almost childish."
Mr Fingleton also questioned the automatic addition of insurance to flights by airlines such as Ryanair, unless customers opted out.
Ryanair disputes this claim, saying in a statement that its insurance services are purchased by customers on an opt-in not opt-out basis.
Ryanair Head of Communications Stephen McNamara said: "Ryanair is not for the overpaid John Fingletons of this world but for the everyday Joe Bloggs who opt for Ryanair's guaranteed lowest fares because we give them the opportunity to fly across 26 European countries for free, £5 and £10.
"What the OFT must realise is that passengers prefer Ryanair's model as it allows them to avoid costs, such as baggage charges, which are still included in the high fares of high cost, fuel surcharging, strike-threatened airlines such as BA."
According to the Money Box report, the UK Cards Association estimates for credit cards, banks charge airlines between 1.5% to 2.5% of a payment in transaction fees.
It believes it is significantly less than £1 to process a debit card transaction.
That means a family of four on a return journey paying on one debit card should pay about 30p, if they were just covering the airline's costs, but would be charged £40 by Ryanair.


text:
HYPEBEAST 100: The innovators from all realms of creativity in the spotlight.
With in-depth interviews, focused features and fashion-forward editorials, our print publication features long-form coverage of the topics valued by readers.
Explore and be inspired by the latest women's fashion news and trends.
Wheel specialist Vossen Wheels recently kicked off the 2014 edition of its World Tour with a first
The Vossen World Tour finally arrived at its final destination in Southern Austria last week to
Following stops in London and Zurich, Miami-based wheel manufacturer Vossen continues its
Vossen Wheels – a wheel manufacturer with over 25 years of experience who takes pride in bringing
With over 25 years of experience making some of the world’s finest wheels, Vossen Wheels is no
Sign up for our newsletters
Receive the latest in Footwear, Fashion, Music and Creativity in our newsletters.


text:
Jewellery brand plans to expand retail network with an extra 100 doors
Thomas Sabo is looking to expand its retail presence in the UK.
The jewellery brand presently has 400 doors in the UK but wants to increase this to a maximum of 500.
As well as increasing the number of independent retailers stocking its jewellery the brand is also continuing its own store expansion with new boutiques opening in Sheffield and Lakeside.
It is also planning to increase the number of shop-in-shop concepts that it has within independent retailers. It has 22 shop-in-shops in the UK at present but is hoping to increase this to 45.
Thomas Sabo has a mixture of standalone stores and independent stockists in the UK. It also has one franchise store in Cambridge.
Thomas Sabo has enjoyed global sales growth of 700 percent over the past four years.


text:
At least 375 million tweets were sent out on non-fungible tokens (NFTs) globally in 2021
DIVINE x Santanu – Kohinoor NFT. Pic used for representation only.
In India alone, the NFT conversation has increased by 3000 per cent between January 2021 to January 2022, according to a new report. At least 375 million tweets were sent out on non-fungible tokens (NFTs) globally in 2021.
According to Twitter, while these numbers are exciting, what is also to note is that just 15 per cent of the conversation in India comes from women.
“At Twitter, our purpose is to enable open public conversations and we’re thrilled about how more women are increasingly making the most of the service to not only become aware, but also become empowered through their own creations,” Cheryl-Ann Couto, Head of Partners at Twitter India, said in a statement.
“We have got a lot of exciting stuff planned to fuel the spirit of female NFT creators, and can’t wait to see this conversation become more inclusive,” Couto added.
At least 26 per cent women believe that NFTs can be a lucrative investment and 25 per cent see it as an opportunity for exclusivity and to support independent artists. 24 per cent of women think NFTs are a good way for brands to share new and exclusive content.
Twitter said it is creating incredible opportunities for women during this massive shift in media and technology.
Twitter’s open and conversational nature is enabling women to participate in this growing community of NFTs and own the conversations, the company said.
*Edited from an IANS report
Copyright – indulgexpress.com 2022
The New Indian Express | Dinamani | Kannada Prabha | Samakalika Malayalam | Edex Live | Cinema Express | Event Xpress
Home | Fashion | Entertainment | Culture | Lifestyle | Car & Bike | Sex & Health | Events | Galleries


text:
Samuel Ku, who runs AG Jeans alongside his father, says a European tariff puts thousands of U.S. clothing jobs at risk.
Los Angeles is home to a large slice of the world's bluejeans trade. But as the U.S. apparel industry continues to shrink, the city's high-end bluejeans business faces a threat. The European Union has imposed a nearly 40 percent tariff, which could cripple the city's jean business.
May 22, 2013 The Fed chairman cautioned Wednesday that if interest rates were to start rising now, the economy could slump. Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes rose — and would have been even stronger if not for tight inventory.
May 22, 2013 It's a hard time to be a saver. The return on a savings account doesn't even keep up with inflation, and that has led many savers to ask: What should I do with my money? NPR's Uri Berliner takes $5,000 out of his own personal savings and explores various investment opportunities.
May 20, 2013 Yahoo will pay about $1.1 billion for the six-year-old blogging site. Tumblr's leadership won't change and Yahoo promises it will be independently operated.
May 19, 2013 The iconic Industrial Trust Tower in downtown Providence is empty for the first time in 85 years. Developers want to turn it into luxury apartments — and want the state and city to pay for it. But Providence — like the rest of Rhode Island — faces its own economic problems, as well as a recent failed investment.
May 19, 2013 When the factory she worked at closed down, Tammy Thomas reinvented herself as a community organizer; and when Dean Price's truck stop business went belly up, he became a champion of biofuel. In a new book, George Packer examines how ordinary people are adapting to a new America.


text:
Alongside officializing the new Surface PC lineup, the Surface Laptop 5, Surface Pro 9, and Surface Studio 2+ series, Microsoft has also announced the compatibility of its video game streaming service. Xbox Cloud Gaming with computers running ARM processors. This announcement primarily concerns the brand’s own computers, the Surface Pro X, as well as the all-new Surface Pro 9, powered by a Microsoft SQ 3 processor co-developed with Qualcomm.
Smart TV from Samsung, smartphones under Windows, Android or iOS, tablets under iPadOS, Steam Deck and now PC running under ARM processor. The list of xCloud compatible systems continues to grow and at this rate every connected device in the world will be able to run xCloud. As their blog post points out, Xbox Cloud Gaming Accessible in 28 countries on five continents one billion potential customers
XBox Cloud Gaming is now compatible with most connected devices on the market
Microsoft’s will couldn’t be clearer: “Our mission at Xbox is to let you play the games you want, with the people you want, on the device you want”. Netflix in VOD or Spotify in streaming music, like these now ubiquitous platforms, xCloud makes itself indispensable by opening its service to all possible and imaginable devices. The numbers are not a lie, Microsoft is overturning the competition with its 10 million subscribers. And announcements follow. Yesterday, the company announced a partnership with yesterday’s nemesis Google, which has given up on its ambitions in video games. owners Chromebooks will also be able to take advantage of the XBox Cloud Gaming beta.
Gamers will always prefer to play on their game console or, for example, a PC equipped with the GeForce RTX 4090, which can display Overwatch 2 at 500 fps. Ordinary people rarely need such processing power, and that’s what cloud gaming is for. All of the most demanding calculations for the graphics card and/or processor are delegated to the streaming platform’s remote servers. Knowing that a gaming console like the PlayStation 5 is sometimes impossible to find and a dedicated PC can cost upwards of €1000, the amount required to enjoy hundreds of games on xCloud seems like a pretty modest blow.


text:
The EU insisted Wednesday it had not scrapped its popular pledge to end roaming charges for mobile phone users despite unveiling a proposal to limit the measure to 90 days.
Mobile phone roaming fees in the EU will fall sharply on Saturday, the last step before they are abolished completely for Europeans next year.
T-Mobile will now let its U.S. customers call, text, use apps and browse the Internet within North America without paying extra charges.
Roaming charges for EU mobile phone users will reduce further on July 1, including a 55 percent price cut for data downloads, the European Commission said on Tuesday.
An Israeli startup is trying to combat a common fear for international travelers: getting socked with hundreds or thousands of dollars in unexpected roaming charges for using cellphones away from home.
The European Commission adopted controversial telecom sector reforms Wednesday which it said would create a 'fully connected' Europe and include an end to hugely unpopular mobile phone roaming charges.
The EU presents a radical shake-up of the telecoms sector Wednesday, aiming to enforce a single telecoms market and remove unpopular mobile phone roaming charges it claims are unjustified.
You've packed your clothes, your shoes and hopefully your toothbrush. But before you head out on vacation, you need to pack the right gadgets.
Europe's Digital Agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes on Thursday proposed a radical shake-up of the mobile phone services market, including an end to roaming charges long denounced by consumer groups.
Google unveiled a revamped maps program Wednesday that allows mobile users to use the service without an Internet connection as the Internet giant geared up for a possible competing service.


text:
More on Tempur-Pedic (TPX): Q2 beats despite the fact that profit slumped in the quarter, as the mattress maker deals with a deeply competitive climate in its North American business. Still, shares are higher in the post session as both earnings and revenue declined less than the 50% the company had predicted in a dismal forecast issued last month. The company also ups its earnings forecast for the year, now expecting to $2.80 per share, reflecting a lower share count due to recent share repurchases. Shares +8.8% AH.
Mattress stocks could get a lift after Select Comfort beats earnings estimates for Q2 and sets its full-year earnings guidance higher. The trend with mattress names has been bouncy sector-wide trading on any bit of forward-looking news. On watch: TPX +4.1% premarket, ZZ, MFRM.
Shares of Mattress Firm (MFRM -14.5%) get crushed after the company lowers its full-year revenue and same-store sales guidance. The weak sales outlook is disturbing enough, but after Mattress Firm backed its outlook just a month ago, UBS notes the creditability of management may be at issue. Sector movers: TPX -2.4%, SCSS -8.6%, ZZ -2.7%.
Mattress Firm's (MFRM) Q2 warning takes a toll on other mattress stocks. TPX -6.1%. SCSS -7.4%. The warning comes 6 weeks after Tempur Pedic cut its 2012 sales outlook, and bolsters bear arguments about weakening consumer demand. MFRM now -12.5% AH.
Mattress stocks get a boost with fresh data out showing that May bedding sales increased over 18% in May. Longbow says that the trend should continue through June and July as it backs its Buy-rated picks Tempur Pedic (TPX) and Select Comfort (SCSS). Advancers: TPX +3.9%, SCSS +4.5%, MFRM +3.1%, ZZ +1.1%.
Mattress stocks see another underperforming day after Bed Bath & Beyond's tepid guidance set the tone in the home furnishings sector. Select Comfort (SCSS -7.5%), Tempur-Pedic (TPX -5.2%), Sealy (ZZ -4.9%), and Mattress Firm (MFRM -6.6%) are all taking it on the chin as shares start to get evaluated by investors more on fundamentals than momentum.
Shares of Tempur-Pedic (TPX -4.6%) haven't found a bottom yet, even though mattress peers are moving higher: ZZ +2.5%, SCSS +2.4%, MFRM +3.6%. Analysts aren't done taking their ratings down on TPX with Piper the latest to move off its bullish call.
Analysts at both KeyBank and Suntrust
their Buy ratings on Tempur-Pedic (TPX -46.7%) after admitting they were blindsided by the company's guidance bombshell. To give credit where credit is due, last week channel checks by Barclays tipped off that a problem could be in the making.
Shares of Tempur-Pedic (TPX) stay in freefall after its earnings and sales forecast for FY12 are slashed. Amid all the backslapping for calling out the stock as an overvalued momo name, analysts warn that the company's numbers could get even worse after promotions failed to resonate and low-priced lines didn't sell. TPX -35.8% premarket.
Tempur-Pedic (TPX) cuts its guidance for FY12 EPS to $2.70, markedly lower than the consensus forecast of analysts calling for $3.93. The company says that it expects Q2 net sales to be 3-5% lower Y/Y, with North American sales down close to 8%. TPX -19.4% premarket.
Mattress stocks run hot after Piper comes out with comments tipping off that April sales numbers look strong. Gainers: Mattress Firm (MFRM) +5.7%, Select Comfort (SCSS) +6.7%, Sealy (ZZ) +5.6%, Tempur-Pedic (TPX) +6.1%.
Mattress stocks Tempur-Pedic (TPX +8.7%) and Select Comfort (SCSS +4.6%) run hot off of momentum trading not tied to any corporate news. Options watchers say that block trading at strategic breaking points is influencing the recent price swings in the stocks.
Shares of Tempur Pedic (TPX -14.1%) get crushed after chatter picks up that the stock is getting lined up as the next target of short sellers and momentum trading in the sector starts to sputter. Select Comfort (SCS -7.4%) and Mattress Firm (MFRM -8.2%) are also selling off on heavy volume.


text:
Harrisburg, PA – The Wolf Administration urged Pennsylvanians to take food safety precautions as they plan celebrations during the upcoming Memorial Day holiday and the summer season.
“With Memorial Day approaching and the summer event season kicking off, we must remember grilling and picnic food safety measures,” Department of Health Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said. “As the weather gets warmer, foodborne germs are more abundant, yielding food poisoning. It is important to keep perishable foods refrigerated and properly handle raw meats.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has tips to keep food safe for the upcoming summer season. If you are preparing food in advance for Memorial Day, divide cooked foods into shallow containers and store them in the refrigerator or freezer to rapidly cool. After cooking or grilling raw meats, throw away marinades and sauces that have touched raw meat juices. Use a clean plate and utensils to remove cooked meats from the grill.
Refrigerating your food promptly will help prevent harmful bacteria from multiplying and making you sick. Always keep your refrigerator below 40 degrees and chill perishable foods within two hours. If the outdoor temperature is above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, refrigerate food within one hour. The safest way to thaw frozen food is in the refrigerator, in cold water, or in the microwave. Never thaw foods on the counter, because bacteria can grow quickly in foods that are left at room temperature.
If you are going to community events or festivals, bring hand sanitizer and disposable wipes to clean your hands. Be sure to only order food from vendors that have licenses to sell food, are wearing gloves and using appropriate utensils when serving food.
“Preparing, storing and serving food safely can keep a celebration from turning into an emergency,” Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said. “As we gather around the table together again, enjoy the bounty of food Pennsylvania has to offer, and eat safely.”
Learn more about food safety in Pennsylvania restaurants, grocers and on the farm at agriculture.pa.gov or download the EatSafePA app from your Apple or android app store.
If you have a food-related illness, your doctor or the laboratory that did the testing will report it to the department. You can also call 1-877-PA-HEALTH to speak with a public health nurse.


text:
IFF QUARTER NET UP 6.5%
NEW YORK — In a reflection of strong fragrance sales worldwide, International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. reported profits rose 6.5 percent in the second quarter to $64.9 million, or 58 cents a share, from $60.9 million, or 53 cents, a year ago. In the quarter ended June 30, sales were up 7 percent to $345.2 million, from $321.3 million.
Thomas H. Hoppel, corporate vice president and chief financial officer, said fragrance industry sales were strong worldwide, showing 8 percent gains in the quarter.
North America and Europe were particularly strong, he added, with fine fragrances registering substantial sales increases in these markets.
In the half, IFF earnings increased 5.7 percent to $123.9 million, or $1.11 a share, from $117.2 million, or $1.02. Earnings per share reflect the three-for-one stock split on Jan. 19.
Sales in the half rose 6 percent to $668.7 million, from $630.4 million.
“The second half should continue strong in fragrance sales,” said Hoppel, noting that “overall profitability should be somewhat better in the second half.”
— Fairchild News Service


text:
This morning at the Sales 2.0 Conference in San Francisco, Gerhard Gschwandtner, founder of Selling Power magazine, pronounced the death of transactional selling. He said that in the next few years, millions of transactional sales reps need to learn consultative selling or get a new job. Order takers who have not already been replaced by technology will be soon.
This has a couple of interesting implications for pricing.
First, sales reps will have to get better at pricing. They will own the creation of value in the customer relationship. If they don’t also effectively own the value capture side of the equation, their companies will be in big trouble. (A lot of them won’t make it through 2009 unless they turn their act around in a hurry.)
Second, marketers are will have to get better at pricing, too. Some of you will say, wait, marketing already owns pricing. In some cases, this is true, but in many cases, marketing only owns list pricing. The “real” pricing takes place in negotiations with the customer. Marketing will have to get more involved in the price companies actually have to pay.


text:
A massive rally in crude oil and better-than-expected quarterly performance out from the retail space helped to drive stocks to new highs. The S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at new records. Fellow retailers also joined in on the rally. Target (TGT) , TJX Companies (TJX) , Dillard's (DDS) , Nordstrom (JWN) , J.C. Penney (JCP) , and Sears (SHLD) were all higher. Nordstrom will report after the bell. Microsoft (MSFT) rose after announcing a deal to purchase game-streaming service Beam for an undisclosed amount. Beam's live-streaming software will be incorporated into Microsoft's Xbox. The Seattle-based startup was launched earlier this year. Nomura raised its full-year earnings guidance for Cisco Systems (CSCO) ahead of its earnings report out next week. The firm said Cisco is moving toward a steady, recurring revenue model, helped along by growth in software.
More from Video
How quickly do we find support, is what we'll want to know now, as the correction is occurring while economic optimism builds.
Despite the president's promise of no stimulus until after Nov. 3, there are no signs yet that this is the sort of correlated selling that leads to a deep correction.
Salesforce, Amgen and Honeywell will give a lift to the DJIA going forward.
CAG has hung onto the bulk of its recent gains, and could rise to the $50 area, according to the charts and indicators.


text:
Canonical has made available the latest release of Ubuntu, version 17.04 codenamed Zesty Zapus, the 26th of the distribution, which has been around since 2004. With it being non-LTS (Long-Term Support), 17.04 will only be supported for nine months. As of Ubuntu 17.04, the distribution is still using the Unity desktop despite announcing a switch to GNOME as the default desktop environment.
Commenting on the new version, which includes updates to cloud components, Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical's founder said:
The breadth and pace of open source innovation has made it the center of gravity in technology today, and the Ubuntu community has once again delivered the most reliable way to consume that innovation. While containers are the name of the game in cloud today, I would also highlight the speed at which snaps are enabling developers to deliver the very best bits to Linux machines on Ubuntu and other distributions, from the desktop to the cloud and beyond, at the edge of computing.
There are some features that users might notice in this release, the first of which is the inclusion of swap files. New installs of Ubuntu 17.04 no longer require a swap partition that's at least twice the size of RAM, instead, Ubuntu 17.04 uses a swap file by default and uses less space that swap partitions. This change was prompted by the larger amounts of RAM available in computers today.
The release ships with Linux Kernel 4.10, which has support for AMD Ryzen and Intel Kaby Lake systems. Gamers will also notice benefits from the inclusion of MESA 17.0.2 and X.Org Server 1.19.2.
As for bundled applications, 17.04's GNOME apps have been bumped to GNOME 3.24, LibreOffice has been bumped to 5.3 (featuring a ribbon interface), with Firefox and Thunderbird being on version 52 and 45 respectively. Despite GNOME apps being updated, the Nautilus file manager and Terminal emulator have remained on version 3.20.
You can download Ubuntu 17.04 from the Ubuntu website, or upgrade using the software updater if you're using 16.10. Those on Ubuntu 16.04 will probably want to stay on the release until 18.04 LTS is out next year, as it'll be more stable and is supported for five years.


text:
Ever wonder why the first thing you come across in a newly opened grocery store is the produce section?
It's no accident, and according to Rick Alcocer of Tanimura & Antle, Inc., fruits and vegetables, in fact, set the image and reputation of a supermarket.
Alcocer, in charge of pricing products for the company with gross sales surpassing $500 million, talked about where the produce industry is headed during the recent Spring Ag Outlook Forum held in Sacramento by the California Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers.
The family-owned Tanimura & Antle, or T&A, was established in Salinas in 1982. It has become the largest independent, iceberg lettuce grower in the world and is fully integrated with its own seed and breeding, growing, harvesting, and processing divisions, plus an expanding organic operation.
The company also has eight other regional sales offices in the U.S. and Canada to serve retail outlets across the continent. During the past two years, T&A built two salad-mix processing plants, one in Atlanta and another in Montreal.
According to Alcocer, a 20-year veteran with the company and a predecessor, Bud Antle, Inc., it has 50 percent of the salad mix business in Canada, where per capita consumption of fruit and vegetables is almost twice that of the U.S. It is the largest exporter of vegetables into Japan.
One new wrinkle to propel produce sales is the stationing of knowledgeable employees in supermarkets to advise consumers on selection and preparation of fresh produce and perhaps encourage consumers to try something new. “The goal is to surpass our ‘5 A Day’ promotion with a ‘10 A Day’ program like Canada has,” he said.
Food service too is going through changes as restaurants strive to reduce costs, not to pass savings on to consumers or encourage a more healthy diet, but to enhance profit margins.
Consolidation of retail and food service entities continues, and as chains expand they also increasingly call the tune with the produce industry. Thirty years ago, the top 10 retailers controlled 30 percent of the produce business, but today the top five control 50 percent, Alcocer said.
The bigger the chains get, the more driven they become to force down their costs. One example is the movement toward use of returnable plastic containers, RPCs, for the entire route between field and consumer, with no handling of the individual pieces of produce between. Similar returnable containers made of corrugated cardboard are under study.
Another change, inspired by advanced technology to preserve produce quality, is labeling carrying not the shipper's logo but the retailer's. “Retailers finally have enough faith in packaging to be confident the produce will hold up,” he said.
The concept of bagged, ready-to-eat produce draws attention for reasons other than consumer convenience. Among supermarket handlers, the most frequent injuries are from knives used to prepare produce for displays.
Alcocer said once bagged salad mixes caught on with consumers, retailers anticipated a drop in sales of head lettuce. More subtle and not anticipated, however, was the drop in movement of tomatoes and other salad ingredients.
Consumers previously picked up tomatoes at the same time as head lettuce. With the popularity of convenient bags of lettuce, they tended to buy croutons and dressing and be on their way.
Retailers reacted with “category management” for produce departments to merchandise bagged lettuce more closely with other salad ingredients to boost sales.
T&A is busy with efforts to copy with California's energy crisis. It found ways to reduce energy used for irrigation, greenhouses, shipping, and processing by up to 50 percent. Other economies were found with fertilizers and packing materials. Hours of salad plant operation were shifted from daytime to lower electrical power demand times of 7 p.m. to 10 a.m.
Fearful of rolling blackouts, the company installed its own generators to power telephones and computers essential for its sales and shipping.
Like many other businesses, T&A placed an energy surcharge of 10 to 20 cents per carton on all produce. “It's our way of dealing with not only our own cost increases but also to help our growers recover some of theirs,” Alcocer said. Other Salinas Valley produce shippers, he added, tacked on surcharges ranging from seven to 50 cents per carton, depending on the energy costs for the produce concerned.
He said his retail accounts reacted sympathetically to the surcharge. Some, but not all, passed the costs on to consumers. At the consumer level, for a 24-count carton of lettuce, a 20-cent increase is less than a penny a head and isn't likely to cause much resistance.


text:
In an official statement by TIL, Allison Arden, vice- president and publisher of Ad Age, said, India has emerged as one of the world' fastest-growing ad markets with a vibrant and innovative community of advertising, media, and marketing leader.
The Times of India Group, which already has a presence in the sector through its advertising and marketing supplement Brand Equity, believes the alliance will help the group forge a strong online product.
While we enjoy a good presence in the advertising and marketing world through our paper, we had no presence in the digital space. So this alliance will help in creating a presence in the digital space. Moreover, as a digital company, we are always on the lookout for appropriate content for our readers, said Puneet Singhvi, business head, Times Local Partners.
Apart from putting up an editorial team, the company plans to roll out regional versions of Ad Age. With advertising being the main model to earn revenue, it also plans to earn from subscription. Advertising will be the main source of revenue, but in case of special content we will rely on subscription, added Singhvi.
Interestingly, this is not the first time Ad Age has tried to make a dent in the Indian market. From 2009 till November last year, Crain Communications had a content partnership with the Exchange4media Group, which runs a similar website covering news related to the media and advertising industry, apart from trade magazines such as Impact and Pitch. Anuraag Batra, its chairman, remains unperturbed: the deal will force B2B websites, including my own, to work harder.
Analysts, however, believe that the advertising and marketing category is already full of too many players fighting for their share of revenue and, with the entry of any new player, generating revenue is going to get more difficult.
With the Times of India group already being a competition to such companies, it will have have to find new ways to earn revenue, said Mahesh Murthy, a serial investor and co-founder of venture capital fund Seedfund. For the record, Seedfund is one of the investors in the B2B website afaqs.com.


text:
Woolworths has walked away from opportunities to partner with well-performed Australian value-adding and further-processing companies to form a joint venture with a UK-based beef industry giant in a new joint venture in Western Australia.
In January, UK further-processing firm Hilton Food Group announced a joint venture with Woolworths, called Woolworths Meat Co, which is jointly owned by a new Hilton subsidiary, Hilton Foods Asia Pacific, and Australia’s largest supermarket group.
The business will operate out of Woolworths’ Bunbury meat centre in WA, preparing and packaging a range of fresh meat and value-added products including beef, lamb and pork, for retail sale across Woolworths’ WA operations.
A statement issued by Hilton in January said the company’s board believed “good opportunities existed for further collaboration with Woolworths in Australia through the joint venture.”
A UK-based financial analyst said the new business was a “very significant move for Hilton, representing its first expansion outside of Europe, and the establishment of its first presence in the Asia Pacific region.”
The analyst predicted the new WA facility would see investment made during the course of 2013 to elevate it at a similar standard as Hilton’s modern, large-scale facilities across Europe.
Hilton turned a pre-tax profit of A$36 million in 2011. Its 2011 sales of A$1.4 billion were based across operations in the UK, Ireland and western and northern Europe.
Hilton’s business was established in 1994 to set up and operate a beef and lamb central meat packing facility in Huntingdon, England. The business has grown rapidly over the past 18 years, and now includes further processing beef, lamb and pork facilities from Denmark to the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, France and elsewhere.
Mirroring the business arrangement with Woolworths in WA, each of Hilton’s central meat packing plants in Europe is operated on a dedicated basis for Hilton customers, mostly global and large regional supermarket retailers. Hilton’s website says its business model has been adapted to meet local requirements with customers in each country.
The company has a reputation in the European marketplace for driving a hard bargain on raw material pricing, based on volume. Its website says Hilton Food Group has a “simple, clear and well-defined strategy” focussing on four key elements:
- Maintaining an ‘uncompromising’ focus on unit costs, quality and product development
- Building volumes with, and extending product ranges for existing customers
- Partnering with existing customers in new territories
- Gaining new customers in new territories.
Hilton says it has relationships with suppliers of quality meat around the world, sourcing product from more than 40 different suppliers. This gave Hilton a “high degree of flexibility and our customers the knowledge that Hilton can secure supply at competitive rates,” its website says.
Woolworths opened its new $31 million expanded Bunbury Meat Centre in WA last year.
The facility is attached to a beef and lamb abattoir owned and operated by V&V Walsh, which has been a long-term processor for Woolworths. Unlike operations on the East coast, having a meat further-processing facility beside a dual-species abattoir makes the Bunbury operation unique in Australia.
Woolworths Bunbury meat centre includes a cold storage warehouse with capacity for 2000+ pallets of chilled meat and a new meat production facility that consolidates the company’s WA meat processing/preparation operations under one roof.
Is the East Coast next?
What are the prospects for the Woolworths/Hilton Food Group JV to expand operations on Australia’s east coast? What does Hilton offer Woolworths that similar Australian companies working in the Australian market do not?
Beef Central’s inquiries to senior Woolworths management on these and other topics were referred to the company’s public affairs department. Woolworths’ public affairs department has failed to provide responses to these and other questions regarding the company’s JV with Hilton, provided by Beef Central in written form at the company’s request. That’s despite repeated verbal and written assurances over a lengthy period that it would do so.
Talk around the industry over the past 12 months is that Woolworths is looking at establishing another large packing, processing and value-adding facility somewhere in south-eastern Australia. A site on Melbourne’s fringes has been suggested as one possible location for a JV similar to that which has been struck with Hilton in WA.
Beef Central will report back to readers if Woolworths decides to break its silence.


text:
Could lab-grown quail soon be on supermarket shelves?
In a warehouse in Sydney producers are trying to grow enough meat to feed tens of millions of people a year, but there are no animals here - instead scientists are growing the "cultured" meat from cells.
But there's a glitch, it's still illegal to sell the cell-based meat in Australia, something Vow Foods wants to change with a bid to grow quail for consumers, in a first-ever cultured meat application being assessed by the food regulator.
"The conclusion that Vow-cultured quail is safe for human consumption is based on a thorough safety assessment" the company says in its application to Food Standards Australia New Zealand.
While Vow is Sydney based, it's ambitions are global, the start-up wants to be producing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of meat by 2030.
"By the end of the decade we want to be producing on a similar order of magnitude to the Australian beef industry, to export to global markets," says Vow head George Peppou.
So why quail? It's easy to grow for one and tastes really good, says Mr Peppou.
The company also has its eye on seafood and other game animals.
"We're not making beef or lamb or pork or chicken, we're basically inventing new forms of meat that solve problems that animals can't," he says.
"We have a long way to scale until we're even producing as much as a medium sized commercial farm," Mr Peppou says.
"What we're doing is so difficult, it's almost not worth being anything other than ambitious," the start-up founder tells AAP.
But ambitious might be an understatement, with plans to increase current production from tens of kilograms of meat a day, to 200 kilograms a week by June.
And it's not without its opposition.
NSW Farmers says there are genuine concerns about the safety of synthetic food, because it's often touted as a replacement for natural food.
"We're talking about what's real - food grown by farmers - and the artificial 'alternative' that's grown by a scientist," says head of policy and advocacy Annabel Johnson.
"People need to know that the food they're feeding their families is safe, and certainly the natural foods farmers have grown for thousands of years are safe to eat," she says.
Industry research body Meat and Livestock Australia also has major reservations about both cell-based and plant-based industries.
"I think the issue we broadly have is that they promote themselves dishonestly by denigrating our products," says MLA head Jason Strong.
"By criticising the environmental credentials, nutritional values, sustainability of our products, with either no facts or unfounded claims," Mr Strong says.
Mr Peppou says the opposition to cell-based meat is in part driven by Australia's deep cultural links with faming.
"Anything new, tends to be met with resistance, and we're no exception to that," he says.
"I'm sure there will be objections ... fortunately the food regulator is really only interested in risk assessment of a food and does that present a risk to human health?"
The cell-based meat industry is gaining pace globally.
In 2020 Singapore became the first country to allow lab-grown meat to be sold to consumers.
Then in November 2022 the US Food and Drug Administrator gave approval for living cells from chickens to be used to grow food, while other countries including Japan have indicated support for cell-based meat.
The public will be able to make submissions to the Australian food regulator from August, and if approved the product could be on the shelves by mid 2024.
Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.
Sign up for our emails


text:
(ATTN: UPDATES with edits; ADDS photos)
SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co. on Thursday showcased its Galaxy A9 smartphone packed with four rear cameras, which will reach the global market in November.
The South Korean tech giant showcased the device in Malaysia. It comes with a 24-megapixel main shooter, along with a 10-megapixel telephoto, 8-megapixel wide-angle and a 5-megapixel depth camera, with emphasis on creating excellent depth of field. It also sports a 24-megapixel selfie camera.
Samsung Electronics President Koh Dong-jin, who heads the company's mobile business, claimed the new smartphone targets a new generation of consumers who tend to communicate through images they shoot.
The Galaxy A9's cameras beat LG Electronics Inc.'s V40 smartphone just showcased earlier this month, which has three rear-facing cameras.
The company added that the new smartphone supports the Intelligent Camera system as in the flagship Galaxy Note 9, which automatically identifies objects to provide users with optimized shooting modes.
The Galaxy A9 also notifies users when photos are out of focus or when it detects a person has blinked their eyes. Such features can allow shooters to get better results.
Samsung said the Galaxy A9 is also capable of gathering more light in dark environments, enabling users to get more vivid photos.
The Galaxy A9 comes with a 6.3-inch display with an aspect ratio of 18.5:9. The battery capacity stands at a solid 3,800mAh.
The smartphone will be released in two editions -- 6GB and 8GB RAM -- with internal storage capacity of 128GB, which can be extended by 512GB using micro SD.
Along with the black model, Samsung also adopted gradient colors for the blue and pink editions of the Galaxy A9.
Samsung, meanwhile, displayed the Galaxy A7, which was showcased in September, at the event. The Galaxy A7 comes with three cameras, and will be released in South Korea this month.
(U20 World Cup) S. Korea going for historic title vs. Ukraine
(U20 World Cup) S. Korea's Lee Kang-in wins Golden Ball as tournament MVP
BTS dazzles 25,000 fans in Busan
(LEAD) Moon suggests trust-based denuclearization, peace
Thousands of S. Koreans ask gov't to approve their trip to Mount Kumgang


text:
Feb 22, 2022
Beauty for All Industries Secures Nearly $100 Million to Expand Portfolio, Distribution and Global Footprint
TPG leads growth investment to fuel development of technology platform for increased access to personalized beauty
SAN MATEO, Calif. -- February 22, 2022 -- Beauty for All Industries (BFA) today announced a $96 million growth investment led by TPG Growth, the middle market and growth equity platform of alternative asset firm TPG. BFA includes beauty subscription brands IPSY and BoxyCharm, as well as owned brands Item Beauty, Treslúce Beauty, Complex Culture and personal care brand Refreshments under the Madeby Collective brand incubator. The company has steadily grown its stable of brands since 2011 with a focus on delivering personalized experiences through product innovation, machine learning technology and an inclusive, community-first approach promoting self-expression. The new capital will enable BFA to further develop its technology platform, expand its nascent retail store presence, and enter new, international regions to bring its unique beauty platform to consumers around the world.
“TPG’s additional investment will allow us to build on the incredible momentum we have experienced over the past year as we integrated BoxyCharm into our portfolio, significantly grew our Refreshments brand, and launched our physical retail presence in Sephora stores with Madeby Collective,” said Marcelo Camberos, co-founder and CEO of BFA Industries. “Our next chapter will be focused on enhancing our technology and distribution offerings to bring even more personalized experiences to consumers, wherever they are, whether that is online, on their phone, or in stores.”
BFA houses the largest digitally native, vertically integrated beauty innovation platform in the world, building both the technology infrastructure and community to attract brands, consumers and talent to its platform. Rooted in machine learning, BFA’s proprietary technology utilizes more than 200 million product reviews and data from millions of beauty enthusiasts to create personalization algorithms that inform unique monthly bag and box combinations for subscribers. Data analytics from consumer feedback and preferences inform new product launches and market opportunities for in-house as well as third party brands.
“Consumers have been increasingly conditioned to expect customized marketing and a near perfect match every time,” said Peter McGoohan, Partner at TPG. “Since our first investment in BFA in 2015, we have been impressed by their ability to consistently and successfully deliver personalized beauty, while remaining true to their mission of inspiring individuals to express their unique beauty. They have a pulse on what the customer wants and the agility to pivot and adjust as consumer behaviors and preferences change.”
The BFA platform captures every step of the customer journey: the joy of discovery, experience of trial, inspiration to purchase and desire to share feedback with the community. Its complementary distribution model and ML platform provide the ability to collect, leverage and act on data in a meaningful way, creating relevant products and distributing them directly to consumers.
Over the last 18 months BFA has organically grown the company from a single beauty subscription brand, IPSY, to a portfolio spanning multiple brands and categories that can serve an ever-expanding universe of customers. This includes the creation of the personal care brand, Refreshments, as well as the launch of three direct-to-consumer brands, Addison Rae's Item Beauty, Becky G's Latinx beauty brand Treslúce Beauty and Complex Culture, all under the Madeby Collective brand incubator. Combined, the BFA brands have amassed over 4 million Tik Tok fans, with IPSY becoming the third largest beauty brand on the influential platform. Additionally, the acquisition and integration of BoxyCharm was completed helping to extend BFA’s offerings to reach even more customers. The company also delivered on its pledge to amplify brands from underrepresented communities with commitments totaling more than $20 million in Black-owned brands across IPSY and BoxyCharm in 2021, and is targeting $25 million for Black- and Latinx-owned brand support in 2022. Steps towards their pledge to eliminate 100% of virgin plastic waste by the end of 2030 have also begun in the BFA supply chain.
“Inclusivity and sustainability are essential to society, our community and our business,” said Camberos. “While we have made great progress, this new investment will allow BFA brands to make personalized beauty more accessible, clean and responsible, an accurate reflection of our diverse and environmentally conscious community, and our mission.”
About BFA Industries
About TPG Growth


text:
Almost in the same breath that RIM announced it had purchased video editing company JayCut, it's also said they're letting go of 11 per cent of its employees, which equates to around 2000 jobs.
Swipe to close
The top tier of employees is also being reshuffled, with its COO retiring - no sign of one of its two CEOs stepping down as rumoured, though. Best of luck to all those affected by the redundancies. [Reuters]


text:
An Apple employee in Los Angeles has been found to be coronavirus positive. According to reports, the employee worked at Apple’s Culver City offices.
Tim Cook - page 5
Apple workers at home realise that slow home network speeds and confusing security restrictions are impacting their ability to work effectively.
“We will be closing all of our retail stores outside of Greater China until March 27,” Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote in a letter.
Apple recently shut all its stores across Italy and Spain due to coronavirus. The tech giant has 460 locations across the world outside China and about 270 stores ...
Cook talked about the Apple’s donation for the treatment, what is the situation in China right now and what all are being done in Apple offices to keep the ...
Sundar Pichai has also asked people to practice “social distancing”
Harvey Weinsteinsent emails to personalities such as Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook urging them to issue letters of support in his favour.
Shipments of Apple devices slumped to 494,000, from 1.27 million in February 2019. In January, its shipments had held steady at just over 2 million.
Cook in a memo offered staff at key global offices to work from home for the week of March 9 to 13.
The supply shortage is not just limited to iPhones though. Some Apple Stores are reportedly running low on the supply of individual iPhone parts.


text:
Sportingbet Australia will become WilliamHill.com.au as part of a rebranding of its Australian brands by UK Bookmaker William Hill.
Sportingbet clients will be moved to the new brand while new clients will also be able to sign-up through the site.
William Hill acquired the Sportingbet Australia business, which included Centrebet, in March 2013, and also acquired TomWaterhouse.com followed in August 2013.
The Centrebet and TomWaterhouse.com sites are also expected to be rebranded and its customers moved to the new site.
“This is the exciting first step towards merging three Australian betting brands into one highly regarded, international brand,” said Tom Waterhouse, CEO of William Hill Australia in a press release. “Placing all of our assets behind one brand will allow us to provide our customers with the best possible wagering experience and more diverse betting opportunities.
“William Hill has a rich history in betting on racing and sports, and the brand will enable us to leverage decades of global wagering expertise and understanding to help us establish the best possible product for punters in Australia,” he said.


text:
Apple CEO Tim Cook has said he is very “bullish” and “optimistic” about India. He said this after Apple has announced its earnings for the third quarter ended July 1, 2017. The company posted quarterly revenue of USD 45.4 billion as compared to USD 42.4 billion in the year-ago, a rise which has beaten the estimates of the market analysts, thanks to the sales in India.
“We are investing in India. We’ve already launched an app accelerator centre. That’s on top of working with the channel and looking at expanding our go-to-market in general,” Cook said during the company’s third quarter earnings. He has also talked about Apple manufacturing iPhone SE in India under the “Make In India” initiative and said “we’re really happy with how that’s going”. He continued further “And so we’re bringing all of our energies to bear there.And so I’m very, very bullish and very, very optimistic about India.”
Apple’s iPhone SE manufacturing facility is located in Bengaluru and it has not commenced its operations in full fledge.
The Karnataka government had in February announced Apple Inc’s proposal to commence initial manufacturing operations in Bengaluru. The phones will be manufactured by Wistron, a Taiwanese OEM for Apple. It is worthy to be recalled at this juncture that Cook was one among the top CEO’s who has met PM Narendra Modi in June when Modi was touring in the US for the bilateral meeting with the US President Donald Trump.


text:
June 14th 2023 is the one-year anniversary of the Overall Plan for Promoting Comprehensive Cooperation among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao by Further Deepening Opening-up in Nansha District of Guangzhou issued by the State Council, which granted Nansha a significant mission of building a major strategic platform with a global perspective that is based in the Greater Bay Area and in collaboration with Hong Kong and Macao. Over the past year, policies and strategies have been transformed into actual projects, and the blueprint of the Nansha Plan has taken shape, according to Nansha District People's Government .
Rows and rows of shelves are stacked with large carton boxes and bags, which are filled with coffee beans from Brazil, Ethiopia, and other countries. This is Jointek Global, a global fine food complex located in Nansha, Guangzhou, with a total construction area of 350,000 square meters. The imported coffee is transited here and then sold to the mainland.
Being well connected by water is Nansha's unique location advantage. Only a ten-minute drive away from the Jointek Global Logistics Park, Nansha Port is the main port area of Guangzhou Port, the fifth largest port in the world, with over 150 international liner routes to more than 300 ports in over 100 countries and regions around the world.
In recent years, especially in the past year since the implementation of the Nansha Plan, Nansha has made progress and achievements in many aspects, such as enhancing its function as an international shipping hub, helping enterprises to go global, and building a new platform for international exchanges, with the focus on the construction of a high-level gateway for opening up.
Currently, it is the peak season for importing durians from Thailand. In the first five months of this year, more than 5,700 units of durian have made it to the domestic market through Nansha Port. With the country's largest port-side cold storage warehouse in use, Nansha Port has become the largest durian import port on the mainland. Tian Min, Deputy Director of Nansha District Bureau of Commerce, said that it takes only four days for fresh durians to arrive at Nansha Port from the Laem Chabang port in Thailand and only 1.5 hours to unload from the wharf and ship to the largest wholesale fruit market in South China.
Song Xiaoming, Deputy General Manager of Guangzhou Port Group, said that the service capacity of the port cluster has been continuously improved. The sea-rail intermodal transportation business of Nansha Port has been put into regular operation. China-Europe Railway Express and Central Asia Railway Express also depart from Nansha Port South Railway Station, reaching Kazakhstan and other countries.
Supported by the "world's factory," Nansha is accelerating the construction of a comprehensive service base for Chinese enterprises to go global, aiming to better connect with the world. At present, the base has attracted nearly 100 professional service agencies to settle in and provide one-stop comprehensive services covering law, finance, taxation, and intellectual property rights to help enterprises go global.
The further alignment of rules and mechanisms and the increasing number of new platforms for international engagement in Nansha have promoted its openness and renewal. Nansha has held major events, such as the roundtable meeting between the National Development and Reform Commission of China (NDRC) and U.S. multinational enterprises in China, the Asia Youth Leaders Forum 2023, and the 9th Guangzhou Annual Investment Conference, Nansha Session, expanding its circle of friends.
"The current Nansha is transforming from only the geographical center of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into a regional transport center and a functional hub," said Lu Yixian, Secretary of the CPC Nansha District Committee, "Nansha is the pearl on the crown of the GBA. It is laying the foundation for promoting industrial innovation and realizing achievements."
Source: Nansha District People's Government of Guangzhou City


text:
There have been a lot of theories floated for why Foxconn froze new hires earlier this month. Early rumors suggested that iPhone 5 production had slowed, while later reports said that Apple’s new measures to improve working conditions had caused fewer workers than usual to abandon their posts over Chinese New Year.
Now there’s a new theory: Foxconn’s getting out of China, at least in part.
Quoth the always eyebrow-arching Digitimes
Seeing that Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) has no plans to recruit standard workers in China, rumors have started circulating in the IT market that Foxconn is considering moving its investment focus from China to countries such as Brazil, Indonesia, Taiwan and the US…
Although China’s rising labor costs and strict policies for environmental protection will gradually impact Foxconn’s profitability, compared to the US, Brazil and Indonesia, China currently still has advantages in terms of cost and infrastructure, the sources said.
If even Digitimes is calling this a rumor, you know it should be treated with extreme skepticism, especially when they claim that Foxconn would consider moving to other countries because of China’s “strict policies for environmental protection”…. presumably not the same strict policies that China uses to oversee, say, the rare earth industry, which some journalists have described as “an apocalyptic sight.”
Still, Foxconn has been making in-roads in other countries, particularly Brazil, where it has a factory that builds iPhones and iPads. That Foxconn might hire less new workers in China and more workers oversees to spread out its operations isn’t an idea entirely without merit.