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More at the link: WorldCarFans.comSecond generation Audi Q7 goes official with 325 kg weight loss
Following this morning’s leak, Audi has officially taken the wraps off the second generation Q7.
Billed as being the lightest model in its class, the overhauled Audi Q7 tips the scales at 1,995 kg (4,398 lbs) with the 3.0 TDI engine. It's up to 325 kg (716.5 lbs) lighter than its predecessor and approximately 26 percent more efficient. The massive weight loss was possible thanks to a lightweight chassis making extensive use of high-strength steel and aluminum which has made it more than 100 kg (220.5 lbs) lighter than before. A 71 kg (156.5 lbs) diet was achieved by implementing a multi-material body design including fully aluminum doors (shaving 24 kg), hood, front fenders and rear hatch.


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Bad news for Lego, the Danish toy manufacturer with which the world has grown up. Its bricks – specifically the most basic 4x2 block – have long been protected by European trademark law, preventing rivals from offering similar products. Now the European Court of Justice has upheld a complaint from Canada's Mega Brands, the maker of Mega Bloks, that trademark protection can't be extended to a shape in this way. There's no room for sentimentality in the courtroom.
Taking liberties with language
Debenhams is a much-loved high-street institution, but surely it can't just reinvent the English language? The retailer seems to think it is acceptable to use the word "anniversary" as a verb. "This will anniversary as we move into the first quarter of 2011," its market update says of one of its businesses. Worse, the idea is catching on. Here's Investec on Marks & Spencer's progress: "Better-balanced autumn ranges should allow M&S to anniversary tougher comparisons". Stop it please.
Businesses told to hire humans
A stern warning arrives from law firm Boodle Hatfield. From 1 October, "all companies must have at least one human director", under new legislation. That begs all sorts of questions – not least which companies are run by animals, or even aliens? And while many of us have bosses we might wonder about sometimes, surely every company has a human director already? Apparently, the regulation applies to subsidiaries of companies where the only director is the parent firm. More boring than we hoped.
Swiss raiders return to UK
Representatives of Lucerne sent delegates to London this year to tempt high-earners with those cheap Swiss tax rates. Now the Relocate to Switzerland group is back, with a newsletter that rather unkindly takes great pains to highlight Britain's growing national debt (the implication presumably being that rich folk who don't leave the country will have to pay all this borrowing off). Hands off our wealthy, guys.
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Video: Would You Treat Your $100,000 Ford F-350 Like This?
My break-up didn’t hurt as much as watching this video did. Here’s a heavily customized Ford F-350, valued at roughly $100,000, going through mud and slush until its unrecognizable. Well, these heavy-duty monster trucks can sure tackle whatever gets thrown at them, but this is simply brutal. However, such “tests” also show how much the trucks can withstand.
New 2021 Ford F-150 Raptor Rendering Got Us Dreaming
We’re expecting a new-generation Ford F-150 pickup truck to make a debut this year as a 2021 model, after 2019 taught us that FoMoCo sent a full fleet of pre-production prototypes out in the wild for testing purposes.
While the test mules didn’t exactly throw a lot of light onto the new F-150 topic, we spotted a new mesh grille design with a single cross-bar splitting it in half horizontally. There’s also talk about a Raptor-badged 2021 F-150 and it’s this one that led to one particular pixel manipulator coming up with his vision of an incoming F-150 Raptor.
Nikola’s Badger Pickup Truck Comes Back To Haunt The Tesla Cybertruck
Here comes Nikola, the latest entrant in the electric pickup truck market. The company has just unveiled its first electric pickup truck called the Badger. The truck will be powered by hydrogen cells along with battery power.
Nikola has revealed some details about the truck, including that the Badger can sprint to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds, and that it comes with a combined range of 600 miles. This is more than what any other electric truck is offering at the moment. Is the Badger going to be a big threat for Tesla and Rivian?
Volkswagen Won’t Build the Atlas-Based Tanoak Pickup Because It Knows It Can’t Compete With the Americans
Volkswagen showed up to the 2019 New York Auto Show with the Tanoak Pickup concept. Based on the Volkswagen Atlas, the Tanoak concept was fairly well received. So well, in fact, that Volkswagen was even considering bringing it to market. Things were looking so well for the Tanoak, that we even made a rendering of it based on the Atlas at the time. Despite the well reception, though, there was a major question that had to be addressed: Does the market really need another midsized, unibody pickup truck? Can a company that’s hardly touched the pickup segment globally really step in the ring and throw down with brands like Ford, Chevy, or Toyota? As it turns out, the answer is no. Volkswagen knows it, and that’s why the Tanoak will never move beyond the concept stage. Well, at least not in its current form….
This New 2021 GMC Hummer EV Rendering Looks Just About Right
The Hummer’s transition from extinct gas-guzzler to reborn electric vehicle, albeit in pickup truck shape, has taken the car world by storm. And that’s an understatement. GMC cleverly released the right amount of specs to keep people on their toes and stir the online medium, yet nobody knows what the GMC Hummer EV will look like.
GMC’s cryptic picture of the truck’s front end doesn’t reveal much but it was all some needed to create a digital interpretation of what the Hummer EV might be.
The GMC Hummer EV Will Be Offered With Three All-Electric Powertrain Choices
The GMC Hummer EV was announced last week and it has pretty much been in the news ever since. The company has been tight-lipped about it and hasn’t released much information on it yet. So far, all we’ve learned are horsepower, torque, and 0-60 mph figures.
Now, however, some more information about the powertrain options has come to light. The GMC Hummer will be offered with three powertrain options. This is good news because this way, GMC will most likely cover a broader spectrum instead of solely catering to high-power enthusiasts.
Mercedes had a great idea when it decided to enter the pickup truck market. After all, pickup trucks are booming these days and there’s certainly money to be made. However, the worst decision it ever made was to “partner” with Nissan to build the X-Class. Well, by partner, I mean to rebadge the Nissan Navara (also known as the Frontier here in the U.S.) and try to pass it off as a Mercedes. Of course, here in the U.S. we know better, so Mercedes chose not to bring it to the U.S. market. Apparently, it didn’t win folks over in Europe, either, as it’s going out of production after just three years on the market.
Chicago-Based Delivery Driver Crosses One Million Miles In His 2007 Nissan Frontier
The million-mile man is all the rage right now. Unless you live under a rock, you would’ve read that a Chicago-based courier named Brian Murphy clocked over a million miles in his 2007 Nissan Frontier. Yes, a million miles! And the truck is still running well. Interestingly, this is the base-spec trim and a manual, too. Congratulations to Mr. Brian Murphy for making it to the elite club that has very few members all across the globe.
Nissan’s Hoping That a New Engine Will Hold the Frontier Over Until the Next-Gen Model Arrives in 2021
The 2020 Nissan Frontier made its debut at the Chicago Auto Show, and, well, it still looks the same. The front design is the same, and so is the rear. The body is the same, too. There’s not much going on in the wheels section, either. Instead, Nissan is offering the 2020 Frontier with a new engine that delivers more power than its previous iteration. A handful of new changes are also included, but, for the most part, the 2020 Frontier is the same pickup as it was before. The big change is set to arrive in 2021 when the all-new Frontier makes its debut.
Bill Murray’s Super Bowl Commercial With the Jeep Gladiator Was Arguably The Best One This Year
Amongst the plethora of car commercials that aired during the Super Bowl, the Jeep Gladiator ad touched our hearts the most. The commercial saw Bill Murray step into the shoes of Phil Connor, the disgruntled weatherman from the 1993 movie Groundhog Day. In the movie, Phil finds himself stuck in a time loop wherein he relives the Groundhog Day over and over again. Jeep recreated this scene by filming with few of the original cast at the same locations, while subtly putting its Gladiator into the mix.
GMC Hummer EV: What We Know So Far
The new Hummer EV got all the buzz since the day GMC announced it will be teasing the new “truck” in a Super Bowl commercial. There were a lot of rumors regarding the Hummer’s revival, but none of them provided enough information and details about this revival.
In fact, even GMC has revealed only three details about the Hummer so far – the horsepower, torque, and 0-60 mph figure. Was it enough to create an itch in our brains? Of course! GMC has been tight-lipped about pretty much everything, but we should be able to get some more information about the Hummer EV until it debuts on May 20, 2020. Here’s what we know so far.
Toyota Teases New Tacoma Trims for The 2020 Chicago Auto Show
The Chicago Auto Show is all set to kick off on February 6, and Toyota has already created some buzz about it. The Japanese automaker teased an image of a front passenger-side lower fascia that appears to be the Tacoma’s. Toyota coupled this pic with a statement that read, “sporty and outdoorsy, with a touch of nocturnal mischief.”
At the 2019 Chicago Auto Show, Toyota unveiled the 2020 Tacoma. In all likelihood, Toyota will use this year’s show to focus primarily on off-road stuff. All this indicates a new off-road trim for the Tacoma. Wait, just one off-road trim, or many more?
PaxPower Makes Its Own Raptor-Rival Silverado Called The "Jackal"
Chevy is like this conservative parent who won’t let its son hit the gym and become a bodybuilder and look all gangsta. But PaxPower decided to do it to the Chevy Silveradoanyway.
PaxPower took in a Chevy Silverado LTZ under its wing and decide to re-build its body and add performance equipment for a badass feel. The guys at TFL decided to check out the transformed Silverado, now called the PaxPower Jackal. Is this the competition the Raptor was looking for all these years?
Jay Leno and Elon Musk Spotted Cruising Around In The Cybertruck
After being out of the limelight for some time now, the Tesla Cybertruck is back in the news. The Cybertruck was spotted with two big shots of the automotive industry seated behind the bulletproof glasses.
Riding shotgun was Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, and behind the wheel was the face of none other than Jay Leno. A short video showing them cruising in the Cybertruck was uploaded on Instagram. The drive is for a segment of Jay Leno’s Garage. Imagine sitting in the Cybertruck and listening to these two talk!
Someone’s Building a Half-Scale Version of the Tesla Cybertruck
Nobody thought we’d still be talking about the Tesla Cybertruck, but here we are. It looks like the controversial launch of the pickup truck and the car itself are still sending ripples throughout almost every online medium out there.
Take YouTube, for example, where a bunch of mechanical wizards set out to build a go-kart-sized replica of the Tesla Cybertruck. Their road from zero to hopefully hero is documented via three videos posted by the Hacksmith, so we’re urging you to go check them out because they’re totally worth it. In the meantime, let’s find out more about the project.
How Well Will The Ford Ranger FX4 Fare Against a F-250 Super Duty Tremor In A Drag Race?
Drag racing trucks is “the thing” these days. We have seen trucks of all sizes go up against their similarly-sized competitors. But, how would a drag race between two trucks that are at the opposite end of the spectrum fare? The folks at TFL decided to check it out by bringing in two vastly different pickup trucks from the same stable. One is the Ford Ranger with the turbocharged EcoBoost engine, and the other one is the huge F-250 Tremor. The F-250 comes with a massive V-8 engine and a four-digit torque figure, but it is also a super heavy truck and weighs a lot more than the Ranger. Does it have enough to beat the much lighter and peppier Ranger?
Watch GMC Put The Sierra’s CarbonPro Bed Through Hell in a New Test Video
GMC has constantly been in news over the last couple of weeks and we are loving it. First came the Canyon AT4’s debut, then the 2021 Yukon’s reveal, and now this test video to show the might of the Sierra truck bed.
GMC launched the Sierra with the CarbonPro bed in early 2019. Although it tried to sell it with a series of tests to prove that it can withstand anything thrown at it, it didn’t instill a ‘wow’ image in everyone’s mind.. This test, however, will change that perception.
GMC took the CarbonPro bed to a wind-testing facility where it was put through a simulated hurricane situation. To say the least, the bed passed with flying colors. In conclusion, the hurricane may swoop away your truck, but the bed will remain unbreakable. Don’t we all need that?


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AR is becoming increasingly popular, with more invested into this tech than ever before.
There are many forms of technology that are taking off in the mobile sphere, and among them, a great deal of attention is being focused on the augmented reality app and the potential it has for a range of different purposes.
From real time guides for mechanics and surgeons to digital consumer products, it has potentially limitless uses.
This year, there will be an estimated investment of $670 million into the development of an augmented reality app of one form or another. These applications can be as serious as those providing guidance to heart surgeons who need to be able to track the location of various circulatory pathways, to jet engine repair instructions, to entertainment as seemingly simple as telling children’s bedtime stories or bringing a child’s drawings to life.
These two categories of augmented reality app forms are considered to have equally lucrative potential.
The Colorapp, for instance allows a child to be able to color in printable drawings that appear to then spring to life when they are viewed through a smartphone or tablet that is running the application. Of course, this is far from the only digital toy that uses this tech for kids. Tocaboca provides another range of AR options, including the Toca Hair Salon Me, the Toca Doctor, and Toca Builder, all aimed at entertaining children.
This is quite appealing to parents, as well, who enjoy the fact that their children have a highly appealing and entertaining option that is non-competitive, open-ended, and that does not include violence – an achievement that is increasingly rare in today’s children’s toy marketplace.
For adults in business, on the other hand, there are also some applications that can help to bring back appeal in areas that could otherwise be rather drab. A traditional line of slides can be dressed up for the audience using eMaze, which provides a range of professional looking templates that enhance a presentation.
It is expected that this type of augmented reality app, as futuristic as it seems today, will be nearly commonplace by the end of next year as a growing number of companies discover ways that they can use it to appeal to customers and clients.


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2015: The Year in ReviewBy
As we begin the final month of 2015, what have been the top stories of 2015 thus far? DCAT Value Chain Insights (VCI) takes a retrospective look.
The year 2015 will go down as the year of mergers and acquisitions or would-be mergers and acquisitions. The pending $160 billion deal combining Pfizer and Allergan tops the list as the mega deal of the year and in the history of the pharmaceutical industry. But there have been other noteworthy moves, including Teva’s pending $40.5 billion acquisition of the generics business of Allergan, and Merck KGaA’s $17 billion acquisition of Sigma Aldrich, to highlight a few. DCAT Value Chain Insights (VCI) charts the key events of 2015 impacting the pharmaceutical manufacturing value chain.
The top stories in 2015 thus far
1. The $160 billion merger of Pfizer and Allergan. Without question, the number one event in the pharmaceutical industry is the proposed $160 billion merger between Pfizer and Allergan, the largest deal in 2015 and in the history of the pharmaceutical industry. A combined company would place Pfizer in the number one ranking in the pharmaceutical industry and further strengthen the company's innovative products. If the deal proceeds, Pfizer would make its corporate headquarters in Ireland, currently the global headquarters of Allergan, keeping New York as its operational headquarters, and giving Pfizer a preferred corporate tax position. Unlike its $119 proposal to acquire AstraZeneca in 2014, which was rebuffed by AstraZeneca and which Pfizer ultimately decided not to pursue, the proposed combination of Allergan and Pfizer is proceeding on friendly terms with the board of both companies approving the transaction. If the deal proceeds as planned, it will close in the second half of 2016.
2. The formation of the new Allergan. Actavis' $70.5 billion acquisition of Allergan closed in March 2015, making it the most important closed acquisition thus far in 2015. The move followed Actavis' $28 billion acquisition of Forest Laboratories in 2014. The Allergan and Actavis combination (Allergan became the corporate name of the combined company) created a top 10 or near top 10 pharmaceutical company by sales revenue, with combined annual pro forma revenues of more than $23 billion anticipated in 2015. The combined company has six blockbuster franchises with combined pro forma 2015 revenues of approximately $15 billion expected, including franchises with annual revenues in excess of $3 billion in eye care, neurosciences/central nervous system, and medical aesthetics/dermatology/plastic surgery. Just as quickly as Allergan rose in the pharmaceutical rankings, it made another large move, the proposed sale of its generics business to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.
3. Teva's $40.5 billion acquisition of Allergan Generics. Teva's proposed $40.5 billion acquisition of the generics business of Allergan was another story topping the headlines in 2015. The deal, a friendly acquisition approved by the boards of both companies, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016.In seeking to acquire Allergan Generics, Teva will strengthen its already strong generics portfolio. Allergan’s generics pipeline has approximately 230 abbreviated new drug applications pending at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including approximately 70 first-to-file applications, as well as nearly 1,000 marketing authorization applications filed outside of the US, according to company information.
4. The would-be mega deals of 2015. Perhaps as important as the large closed or announced mega deals of 2015 were those deals that did not come to fruition, most notably Teva's proposed acquisition of Mylan, and Mylan's proposed acquisition of Perrigo. Teva had sought to acquire Mylan for $43 billion, a deal that Mylan rejected and which Teva decided to drop after seeking to acquire the generics business of Allergan. Mylan, which was pursued by Teva, was also the suitor, in an unsuccessful $26 billion takeover bid of Perrigo. Mylan lost its seven-month effort to acquire Perrigo in November 2015 after failing to secure at least 50% of the shares in its tender offer for Perrigo.
5. Merck KGaA's $17 billion acquisition of Sigma Aldrich. Among suppliers, Merck KGaA's $17-billion acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich, which closed in November 2015, was largest deals among supplier and was the largest in the history of the company. With the acquisition, Merck KGaA will have around 50,000 employees in 67 countries, working at 72 manufacturing sites worldwide. Combined pro forma full-year life science sales amounted to EUR 4.6 billion ($4.9 billion) in 2014. As announced on publication of the results for the third quarter of 2015, the company expects sales to amount to between EUR 12.6 billion ($13.4 billion) and EUR 12.8 billion ($13.6 billion) in 2015. The deal was the largest piece of a transformation for Merck KGaA, which has made acquisitions and divestments totaling EUR 38 billion ($40.5 billion) in the past decade, turning the former pharma and chemicals company into a science and technology company with three businesses in healthcare, life science,and performance materials. With the acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich, Merck KGaA will be able to serve the life science industry with more than 300,000 products. To ensure a smooth integration, Merck KGaA has made significant progress on integration planning for the new business, which will be named “MilliporeSigma” in the US and Canada.
6. The asset swaps of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Novartis. A key deal thus far in 2015 was the completion of a three-part transaction between Novartis and GSK under which Novartis acquired certain oncology products and pipeline compounds from GSK, created a consumer healthcare joint venture that combined the two companies’ consumer healthcare divisions, and divested its non-influenza vaccines business to GSK.
Novartis acquired GSK’s oncology products, including two pipeline candidates, for an aggregate cash consideration of $16 billion. Up to $1.5 billion of this amount is contingent on certain development milestones.With the closing of the deal, Novartis’ oncology portfolio now includes 22 oncology and hematology medicines to treat more than 25 conditions. Some key products from GSK’s acquisition include: Tafinlar, a BRAF inhibitor, and Mekinist, a MEK inhibitor, both approved for the treatment of metastatic melanoma; Votrient, a VEGFR inhibitor for treating renal cell carcinoma; Promacta for treating thrombocytopenia; Tykerb for treating HER2+ metastatic breast cancer; and Arzerra for treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Novartis also has opt-in rights for GSK’s current and future oncology R&D pipeline (excluding oncology vaccines), which could be a source of new compounds and new targets. Sales of the acquired GSK oncology products in 2014 were approximately $2.0 billion.
In their new consumer healthcare joint venture, GSK Consumer Healthcare, Novartis holds a 36.5% share and GSK the balance. The new joint venture has leading positions in four key over-the-counter categories: wellness, oral health, nutrition, and skin health. The joint venture has scale and commercial presence in the developed world as well as in key emerging markets. Novartis also has four of eleven seats on the joint venture’s board. Furthermore, Novartis has certain minority rights and exit rights, the latter of which would be executed using a pre-defined, market-based pricing mechanism.
As part of the three-part deal, Novartis divested its vaccines business (excluding its vaccines influenza business) to GSK for up to $7.1 billion plus royalties. The $7.1 billion consists of $5.25 billion paid upon completion and up to $1.8 billion in future milestone payments. Since 2013, Novartis has executed other strategic transactions to transform the company’s portfolio. In January 2015, Novartis completed the sale of its animal health business to Eli Lilly and Company for approximately $5.4 billion. In October 2014, Novartis agreed to divest its influenza vaccines business to CSL Limited for $275 million, a transaction that is expected to close at the end of 2015. In January 2014, Novartis completed the sale of its blood transfusion diagnostics unit to Grifols S.A. for $1.7 billion.
7. AbbVie and Pharmacylics. Earlier this year, AbbVie acquired Pharmacyclics, a pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing small-molecule drugs for treating cancer and immune-mediated diseases, for $21 billion. The deal followed AbbVie’s efforts last year to acquire the specialty pharmaceutical company, Shire, for nearly $55 billion, a deal in which AbbVie eventually decided not to pursue. Pharmacyclics’ key product is Imbruvica (ibrutinib) for treating hematologic malignancies. Imbruvica is a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor approved for use in four indications to treat three different types of blood cancers, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia, mantle cell lymphoma, and Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia. Imbruvica received initial FDA approval in 2013 and received three Breakthrough Therapy designations by the FDA for these indications. (Breakthrough Therapy designations are provided if preliminary clinical evidence indicates the drug may offer a substantial improvement over available therapies for patients with serious or life-threatening diseases). The drug is now is approved in more than 40 countries. Imbruvica works by blocking a specific protein, BTK, which transmits important signals that tell B cells to mature and produce antibodies and is needed by specific cancer cells to multiply and spread. Imbruvica targets and blocks BTK, thereby inhibiting cancer-cell survival and spread. In 2014, Pharmacyclics posted revenues of $730 million, compared to $260 million for 2013, primarily due to a $479-million increase in Imbruvica net product revenue in 2014, the first full year of the drug’s product sales. In its 2014 earnings release, Pharmacyclics said it expects US net product revenue of Imbruvica to be approximately $1 billion.
AbbVie says that the acquisition of Pharmacyclics will strengthen its position in hematological oncology drugs, a market which AbbVie estimates at $24 billion on a global basis. In 2014, Pharmacyclics began 25 Imbruvica trials across a variety of hematologic histologies. AbbVie said it sees further opportunity to develop Imbruvica for additional indications, including solid tumors, as well for immunology-related uses. Pharmacyclics, also has three product candidates in clinical development and several preclinical molecules in lead optimization.
AbbVie’s decision to acquire Pharmacyclics followed its decision in 2014 to terminate a proposed $54.7 billion bid to acquire Shire. AbbVie’s proposed acquisition of Shire involved a corporate inversion structure by which the New AbbVie was to become a holding company for the combined AbbVie and Shire and to be incorporated in Jersey, the UK, Shire’s place of incorporation. Through its incorporation in the UK, the AbbVie board expected the transaction to reduce New AbbVie’s effective tax rate to approximately 13% by 2016. A subsequent notice by the US Department of Treasury, however, which signaled a limiting of corporate tax inversions, cast uncertainty as to this practice, so AbbVie decided to terminate the proposed acquisition.
AbbVie’s move to acquire Shire last year and its decision to acquire Pharmacyclics is based on a strategy to diversify its pipeline and commercial portfolio. The company’s total revenues are heavily reliant on Humira (adalimumab), which accounted for sales of $12.5 billion, or 63%,of the company’s 2014 sales of $19.960 billion. Humira is indicated for treating rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and plaque psoriasis. A key issue for AbbVie in the near-term is the patent expiry for Humira. The United States composition of matter (i.e., the compound) patent covering adalimumab is expected to expire in December 2016, and the equivalent European Union (EU) patent is expected to expire in the majority of EU countries in April 2018.
8. Pfizer and Hospira. Although now dwarfed by its proposed $160 billion merger with Allergan, Pfizer also made the headlines in 2015 with its $17 billion acquisition of Hospira, a provider of sterile injectables, infusion technologies, and biosimilars. The deal provides a targeted vehicle for Pfizer to grow its global sterile injectables business, including generic sterile injectables, as well as further position in biosimilars.
The deal provides a growing revenue stream and a platform for growth for Pfizer's Global Established Pharmaceutical (GEP) business by combining Hospira's generic sterile injectables products, including acute care and oncology injectables, with a number of differentiated presentations, with Pfizer's GEP's branded sterile injectables, including anti-infectives, anti-inflammatories, and cytotoxics. The deal also further positions Pfizer in biosimilars. Hospira is a provider of generic sterile injectables with more than 200 products in different presentations (i.e., vials, prefilled syringes, bags, and lyophilized products). Pfizer's sterile injectable business consists of 73 products, primarily gained from acquisitions, and focused on anesthetics, anti-infectives, and oncology. The acquisition of Hospira further complements Pfizer’s 2014 acquisition of InnoPharma, a specialty pharmaceutical company based in Piscataway, New Jersey. At the time of the announced acquisition in July 2014, InnoPharma's portfolio included 10 generic products approved by the FDA, a pipeline of 19 products filed with the FDA, and more than 30 injectable and ophthalmic products under development. InnoPharma is focused on developing novel formulations of existing drugs, including hard-to-make products, such as those that require complex manufacturing capabilities or delivery forms, such as pens and depot injectables.
9. Baxalta and Shire. In another deal, still on hold, is Shire's proposed approximate $30 billion acquisition of Baxalta, the biopharmaceutical company spun off from Baxter earlier this year. A little more than a month after Baxalta was formed as an independent company in July following its separation from Baxter, Shire made an approximate $30 billion proposal for Baxalta, a move Baxalta rejected. What Shire will do next is a key issue. In seeking to acquire Baxalta, Shire is moving forward with a strategic focus formed in 2013, when the company repositioned itself as a specialty biopharmaceutical company with a primary focus on specialized and rare diseases. The company named a new CEO, Flemming Ornskov, on April 30, 2013. Ornsko set forth a new strategic focus for Shire, which included integrating three separate segments (Specialty Pharmaceuticals, Human Genetic Therapies, and Regenerative Medicine) into four business units based on the therapeutic area of the company's in-line products (rare disease, neuroscience, gastrointestinal, and internal medicine) and also in ophthalmics to support the development of Shire's ophthalmic pipeline candidate as well as created a single R&D unit with a focus on rare diseases. In November 2013, Shire announced that its preclinical pipeline would focus only on rare diseases, and it discontinued other programs that were not within that purview.
If the deal were to proceed, the combined entity is projected to deliver product sales of $20 billion in 2020 with several $1 billion franchises in rare diseases. It would have more than 30 new product launches planned with approximately $5 billion incremental sales potential by 2020. The therapeutic focus of Baxalta is in hematology, immunology, and oncology .Baxalta's portfolio includes a variety of additional differentiated therapies for the treatment of bleeding disorders and chronic and acute medical conditions, including hemophilia A, hemophilia B, acquired hemophilia, inhibitor treatments, primary immunodeficiency (PID) and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Baxalta is also investing in new disease areas, including oncology, as well as emerging technology platforms, including gene therapy and biosimilars. Baxalta said it plans to launch 20 new products by 2020.
10. New molecular entities. The number of approvals for new molecular entities (NMEs) is a key barometer for the pharmaceutical industry. In 2014, the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research approved 41 NMEs, a recent high. As of December 1, 2015, the FDA had approved 40 NMEs, keeping pace with last year's levels and continuing an innovation surge for the pharmaceutical industry.


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Dark days over: Harris Scarfe plans 30 new stores
Thursday, 7 February 2013
Author: Melissa Mack, Indaily
HARRIS Scarfe has found its way out of the rabbit warren to pitch itself to a new younger fashion conscious market, with plans to expand by up to 30 stores nationwide.
The new Rundle Place flagship store is set to open on March 26, touted as the beginning of a "new future" for the company which is expecting to grow from 50 to 80 stores in the next five years.
General manager Joe Barberis said Harris Scarfe had been dormant on the department store scene.
"We've had some downs, 10-12 years ago as many of you would remember, but from those ashes is rising a new phoenix evolving very much into what we think will be Australia's preferred department store in the next few years," Barberis said.
"We've probably flown under the radar in the Australian retail environment the last few years but our success rate in terms of profit growth, sales growth, employment growth puts us ahead of all those major department stores."
The re-branding of the store, which will focus on a lower case "hs" logo, is in line with the high-end development of Rundle Place.
Along with the flagship tenant, Rundle Place will also contain the first Apple store in Adelaide, high end fashion retailer Ted Baker, suit store Peter Jackson and Jones the Grocer.
The new Harris Scarfe will see bargain bins and paper discount flyers take a back seat to a boutique range of clothing and "fabulous" visual merchandise displays.
To view the full article visit: http://www.indaily.com.au/?iid=73726&sr=0#folio=2


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Bet You Didn’t Know This: UK is World’s Biggest Producer of Medical Cannabis!
The UN Drug Report 2022 says of the 40 reporting countries, the UK, Ireland and Canada are the biggest suppliers of global medical cannabis, accounting for 71% of the market.
23 September 2022 at 11:00:00
Cannabis is not legal in the United Kingdom. Yet the UK is the main source of cannabis extracts and pharmaceutical preparations containing cannabis extracts supplying the world market. That’s according to the UN’s 2022 Drug Report.
It says that “currently, 64 countries have provisions in their national legislation or guidelines allowing medical use of cannabinoid pharmaceutical preparations and/or cannabis herb for a range of medical conditions and with varying degrees of restrictions or permissiveness. Of those 64 countries, 34 countries allow the use of both pharmaceutical prepa- rations and cannabis herb for medical conditions. In essence, all countries that allow medical use of cannabis herb also have provisions for medical use of cannabinoid pharmaceutical preparations.”
The UN says “around 40 countries reported to INCB in 2020 their estimates of production, consumption or stocks of cannabis for medical purposes. Since 2011, an increasing number of countries have started to use cannabis and cannabis extracts for medical purposes, as well as for scientific research. Among those 40 reporting countries, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Canada are the two main producers of cannabis for medical use, accounting for 71 per cent of the global production of 650 tons of medical cannabis in 2020.
Some CBD products could be forced off the shelves in the UK after recent lab reports showed them to be “illegal,” the country’s Food Safety Agency (FSA) has said.
Forty-four of 61 products (72%) recently analyzed by Kent Scientific Services (KSS) on behalf of several local authorities, were found to contain presumably higher levels of THC than allowed. KSS reported, for example, that one consumer failed a workplace drug test after taking one of the CBD products.
KSS operates an Official Control Laboratory under the Kent County Council, one of just four public laboratories across England that provide scientific services to local authorities and companies under the Food Safety Act of 1990.
“We have asked to see the complete set of sampling results so we can work with local authorities to ensure that those CBD products that should not be on sale are removed from shelves,” said Linden Jack, Deputy Director of Food Policy at the FSA, which is currently reviewing 12,000 CBD products as it seeks to clear up an existing gray market and assure consumer safety.
The UN report says the following cannabinoid-based pharmaceuticals, with marketing authorization, are currently approved for medical use in a number of countries:
Dronabinol. Oral capsules or an oral solution containing synthetic THC. Dronabinol is indicated for anorexia associated with weight loss in patients with AIDS and nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy, usually after previous treatments have failed.
Nabilone. Oral capsules containing synthetic cannabinoid similar to THC, for use to treat nausea and vomiting associated with chemo- therapy, usually after previous treatments have failed.
Nabiximols. A medicinal product containing approximately equal quantities of THC and CBD from two cannabis extracts. This product has been authorized for the treatment of muscle spasticity resulting from multiple sclerosis.
Epidiolex. A plant-derived CBD oral solution indicated for the treat- ment of seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome or Dravet syndrome in patients 2 years of age or older.
Mass Brandenburg Gate ‘Smoke In’ Heralds Part Legalization of Cannabis in Germany
Adults allowed to carry 25 gms of cannabis and grow three plants at home
Cannabis in South Africa: The People’s Plant
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Players have been waiting since 2000 for a follow up to Blizzard's Diablo II, and last night finally got their hands on the long awaited Diablo III. Set in the dark fantasy world of Sanctuary 20 years after the events of Diablo II, a new generation of heroes has risen to fight against the hellish hordes of Diablo, the Lord of Terror.
Hype and expectations ran high for this game, with more than 2 million preorders, and 8000 launch parties globally, including a major event at London's Oxford Street HMV. In Ireland, Gamestop Henry Street in Dublin and Patrick Street in Cork opened at midnight for the hardcore fans.
Nothing was ever going to be easy, and within a few hours of going live, a pretty sticky glitch hit the servers. Equiping the Templar with a shield on one of the first missions gets you ejected from the game, and in some cases, players are locked out of their Battle.Net (Blizzard's online multiplayer service) account. There is a workaround, for now, and a fix is pending.
Despite this hiccup, the launch of Diablo III has gone very well for for Blizzard. So much so, Blizzard is offering credit to the value of purchase price for anyone who pre-ordered with embattled gaming store Game's Australian chain.


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Oct. 20, 2014
Local Marine Runs 65 Miles for Cystic Fibrosis
The Phillips Collection: Leading Edge Ideas Inside The 21st-Century Museum Oct. 27
Chef José Andrés Brings Beefsteak to GWU
It Takes a Village
Howl-O-Ween Pet Adoption at Washington Harbour Oct. 25
Fashion helps Flood Victims at Pakistan Embassy
A downpour may have dampened the coiffes and chic ensembles dashing toward the residence of the Pakistani Ambassador near Dupont Circle to launch Fashion for Pakistan Flood Relief. But it was barely...
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COPYRIGHT © 2014 THE GEORGETOWN DISH ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


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An Post lost €10 million last year as Covid-19 added to the State mail company's costs, according to figures released on Thursday.
David McRedmond, An Post chief executive, said revenues at the business grew 2.6 per cent last year to €915 million from €832 million in 2019.
The company lost €10 million during the year, but showed a profit of €33 million before calculating for depreciation and other costs.
Chief financial officer Peter Quinn explained that the Covid-19 pandemic increased the company's costs last year.
Extra expenses included €17.3 million for personal protective equipment and staff cover.
Deferring a proposed increase in stamp prices added a further €10 million, while a loss of business, stemming from fewer customers using its post offices left an estimated €14.2 million deficit.
However, Mr Quinn added that the company also saved €15 million during the year.
Mr McRedmond pointed out that An Post funded all Covid costs from its own resources, with “no recourse” to Government aid or furloughs.
"We kept all our delivery networks open, we were almost unique in Europe in doing that," he added.
Increased online shopping, sparked by Covid restrictions, boosted parcel deliveries by 100 per cent last year, and by 300 per cent in the run-up to Christmas.
The company ended 2020 with €81 million in unrestricted cash. It also had a pension fund surplus of more than €100 million.
Assets under the scheme’s control were almost €3.8 billion on December 31st while the liabilities stood at €3.67 billion.
Meanwhile, revenues rose 11 per cent to €202 million in the first three months of this year while An Post earned operating profits of €2.5 million during that quarter.
Parcel volumes have fallen 20 per cent since shops reopened following the easing of Government pandemic restrictions.
Garrett Bridgeman, An Post managing director and chief operations officer, mails and parcels, explained that this has been the trend elsewhere.
He added that the State company expects the parcels business to grow 15 per cent next year and at the same rate thereafter.
An Post will invest €200 million to €300 million in its businesses over the next five years through its Green Light Programme.
This aims to position the business to cash in on new trends such as consumers’ increased use of e-commerce and reliance on parcel deliveries.
The company aims to increase revenues to €1 billion a year over the course of the plan and calculates that it will make net margins of 7 per cent to 10 per cent.
Green Light will focus on boosting profitability through rebuilding its logistics network to handle increased e-commerce demand.
It will also change its post offices to provide including banking, out-of-home e-commerce and Government services.
Commenting on the results, Mr McRedmond said An Post’s financial recovery in previous years allowed it to fully fund its Covid costs.
“The revenue growth showed continuing momentum in An Post’s strategy which has accelerated even further in the first quarter of 2021,” he added.
"We have ambitious plans, and the momentum, to grow the business as an essential infrastructure for Ireland. "
Mr Quinn pointed out that generating earnings before depreciation and other costs showed the resilience of An Post’s core business.
“There is great potential for An Post to play a leading role in the recovery and to generate sustainable earnings,” he said.


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What's happening to your credit rating?
Fancy being given a cheaper loan deal because you’ve got a great credit record? If so, you’d better get your skates on and clean up your credit act – as of Wednesday, lenders will take note not only of your “bad" habits in repaying debt but your positive behaviour as well.
Changes to the credit reporting rules, as part of reforms to the Privacy Act, mean lenders will gain access to not only your credit history, but records of how you pay back debt and what credit facilities – mortgage, loans or credit/store cards – you already have.
But it requires you to take action. For example, get a copy of your credit report – free once a year from credit agencies Experian, Dun & Bradstreet or Veda – and ditch credit or store cards you have but don’t use, because lenders will assume you’re in hock to your full credit limit even if you’re not using the card.
If all this has gone over your head, you are not alone. Experian research finds most Australians – 85 per cent – have never requested access to their credit profile. Worse, there’s a gender gap – 79 per cent of women said they didn’t understand the changes to the Privacy Amendment Act, compared with 70 per cent of men.
In households where most utilities are in the name of the male spouse, women in a divorce situation can find starting out again even more difficult because they don’t have a credit history. This is a big stumbling block for otherwise simple things like taking on a lease for a new home, getting a bank loan or signing up for a new mobile phone.
Whatever your situation, take action by getting a copy of your credit report. Then you can either rectify past “bad" behaviour or earn brownie points through paying your bills on time and not applying for too many loans. Sometimes people applying for their credit report have been shocked to find they have several “black points" against their name thanks to unknowingly being victims of fraudsters who’ve applied for loans in their name and – obviously – not repaid them.
You won’t know what’s in there until you look
The bottom line is that you won’t know what’s in there until you look. “The research shows clearly that credit reports are not yet a strong part of Australian culture, with less than 14 per cent having accessed their credit profile in the past two years," says Andy Sheehan, managing director of Experian credit services.
“The change to comprehensive reporting is good news for consumers across Australia. It means that for the first time, their good behaviour on their financial accounts – such as making on-time payments of mobile or credit card bills – can be recognised and taken into account when a lender is considering their application for credit. That might be a bank, utility company or telecommunications company."
Industry outfit the Australian Retail Credit Association (ARCA) has set up a consumer education website to help improve consumers’ understanding of the new rules.
CEO Damian Paull says: “Consumers see the new credit reporting system as more consumer centric – and a second chance for the ‘not so good payers’. Dealing with finances is not always easy, so it’s promising Australians are becoming more aware of credit reporting and taking steps to manage their credit footprint and financial future."
Echoing Experian’s findings, Dun & Bradstreet says only one in 10 people are aware of what the changes are and how they affect them.
“Given that credit is so widely used in our everyday lives – whether for a mobile phone contract, buying groceries with a credit card, or taking out a bank loan – people should understand that the amount of information about how they manage that credit has increased," says Steve Brown, director of consumer credit at Dun & Bradstreet.
“The inclusion of repayment history information on credit reports can now help those people with a previous default listing take steps to show lenders they are addressing that slip-up by making regular and on-time payments.
“Equally, however, under the new system, a history of late payments will be more obvious to banks, which means it’s more important than ever for individuals to keep an eye on their credit report and make sure they pay their bills when due."
The Australian Financial Review


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Yellow Card has announced the resumption of naira deposits and withdrawals in Nigeria via a statement from the cryptocurrency exchange platform. The move by the company comes almost a year after a central bank directive forced Yellow Card to suspend deposits and withdrawals.
CBN’s Growing Interest in Digital Currencies
Almost a year after suspending services following a central bank directive, crypto exchange platform Yellow Card now says it is resuming local deposits and withdrawals in Nigeria. The company’s resumption of services also comes a few months after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) launched its own digital currency.
In its statement published in the Vanguard, Yellow Card’s director of services Oparinde Babatunde suggested that the CBN’s altered stance on digital currencies may have influenced his company’s decision to resume services. He said:
The tide has changed and we are now seeing a growing interest from the CBN in them creating their own digital currency. Around October last year, they announced the release of the e-naira which is a digital form of the country’s currency and draws its value from the physical naira. In the coming months, we hope the CBN will reconsider their stance on cryptocurrency.
Similar to other crypto exchange platforms, Yellow Card was forced to stop naira deposits and withdrawals after the CBN ordered financial institutions to exclude crypto entities from the banking system. However, with this announcement, Yellow Card becomes the latest African cryptocurrency exchange platform to reveal it will be reinstating naira deposits and withdrawals.
As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, Luno Global was one of the first cryptocurrency platforms to announce that it would reinstate naira deposits and withdrawals. At the time of the announcement, Luno denied it had been in direct contact with the CBN but said it had been working with other stakeholders to find a solution that “prioritises the safety of its customers.”
According to Babatunde, Yellow Card too — whose users are projected to surge to 500,000 by the end of Q1, 2022 — will prioritize the safety of its users.
“We also have a strong focus on usability, trust and safety, having implemented Smile Identity to ensure the tier 1 traders are only able to submit documents once and they are scanned with an international db,” Babatunde is quoted explaining.
Besides enhancing the user’s experience, Yellow Card will also educate Africans about cryptocurrencies through webinars and platforms like the YC Academy, the Vanguard report said.
What are your thoughts on this story? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.


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Articles tagged as: confectionery sales
Thursday, 07 November 2019 11:25
Barry Callebaut recently stated that their sales volumes grew 5.1% to 2.14m tonnes in the 12 months to August 31, while net profit rose 6.9% in local currencies to CHF 368.7 million as they have officially released their full-year results for their financial year 2018-19. CEO of Barry Callebaut, Antoine de Saint-Affrique stated: “We committed to pursuing our successful ‘smart growth’ strategy. Go ...
Thursday, 17 October 2019 11:49
The Ice Cream Alliance (ICA), the UK trade body for the ice cream sector, has surveyed its members to reveal what other food and drinks they sell apart from ice cream. Confectionary was one of the key product sectors. 61% of ice cream parlours sell confectionary. The only other products that are sold by more parlours are hot drinks – 69% sell coffee and 63% sell tea and other hot beverages. The I ...


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Bethesda Posts Fallout Teaser Set To Expire At 10 A.M. Eastern Tomorrow
After hoaxes, teases, leaks, and rumors, Bethesda seems ready to talk about Fallout. The company has posted a new sub-domain of its Bethsoft.com website with a countdown that expires tomorrow, June 3, at 10 a.m. Eastern.
There's not much to guess at here, other than fans who have been waiting for a return to the Wasteland are likely in luck. We'll have more tomorrow.
Bethesda typically releases information at 10 a.m. Eastern. This is part of the company's core website (and not a new site that might be hoax). Bethesda Tweeted the link, too. It looks like this is really happening.


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Healthy-halo fast casual brands are not only on the rise because they fit the lifestyle of so many consumers looking to maintain a healthier diet, but most of these concepts have also seamlessly incorporated technology.
One of these brands sweetgreen, a make your own salad chain, is using technology to enhance the customer experience.
"Nearly half of Sweetgreen’s customer orders are placed through its app; that data is used to tweak menu offerings and make personalized recommendations," writes "Wired."
As customers gravitate more to online ordering, the restaurants with these systems in place in-house are at an advantage. Sweetgreen also uses this data to determine how much each store should order of each ingredient. So, this helps to keep food waste at a minimum.
Another up and coming healthy-focused restaurant start-up Joe & Juice is expected to IPO later this year after receiving millions in investment.
The restaurants ahead of the curve when it comes to artificial intelligence and data collection have become the most attractive to investors.
“The next five years will be more disruptive to food service operators than the last 50,” says restaurant consultant Aaron Allen, pointing to the boom in online ordering, which is expected to grow nearly four times faster than the rest of the restaurant industry, and in delivery-only “ghost kitchens.” VCs are betting that diners are willing to trade physical restaurants—and personal data—for AI-extracted “content," writes "Wired."
Read more about the venture firms investing in tech-focused fast casual brands at "Wired."
We have been following sweetgreen since it was founded in 2007. In 2016, the brand moved its headquarters to LA, a strategic move to be closer to the tech industry.
In a recent episode of The Barron Report, Host Paul Barron outlines why he thinks sweetgreen has become the next fast casual unicorn. Watch the video below to learn more.


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The golf business is suffering, and Tiger Woods is nowhere to be found, so it can’t be a big surprise that Nike is getting out of the golf equipment business. So no more Nike clubs and balls, but they’ll still sell apparel and golf shoes.
Jordan Spieth has lived a charmed life on the PGA tour, but everything changed earlier this year when he suffered an epic meltdown at The Masters giving up a large lead on Sunday to blow the tournament.
With the US Open underway today, we’ll see if Spieth has been able to shake off that miserable experience and snag another major.
You do not need to be a golfer in order to make a lot of money with golfing. In fact, there are hundreds of thousands of people that now use golf betting in order to supplement the income they have. We need to focus on this opportunity for all people that regularly watch and play golf. Playing the game will actually offer a huge advantage. Being a fan will make it really easy to be successful.
You know what’s going to happen lol . . .
The PGA Tour is turning over a new leaf after the 2015 schedule. Former tour headliner Tiger Woods is a shell of his former self and may never play another PGA event in his life, due to mounting injuries. And his decline, as well as some of golf’s other gatekeepers stepping back, has opened the door for the younger – and more promising – players on tour.


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PNC to Expand Consumer Lending, Increase Cross-Selling, CEO SaysBy
Bank will start by boosting credit-card business, Demchak says
Lender weighing expansion in Dallas, Minneapolis, Kansas City
PNC Financial Services Group Inc., the U.S. regional bank that lends primarily to commercial customers, plans to boost efforts to increase consumer loans as low interest rates crimp profits.
PNC will increase its cross-selling efforts, starting with targeting current customers with tailored credit-card offers, Chief Executive Officer William Demchak said Wednesday at an investor conference in New York. The Pittsburgh-based lender also will debut a new origination-and-servicing platform to digitize home-equity lending.
“We’re rebuilding the engine here to drive gains and market share, increase cross-sell, and reduce our costs to serve loans,” said Demchak, 54. “We don’t like to just be an interest rates story.”
Regional banks in the U.S. have turned to fee-oriented products as persistently low interest rates eroded profits following the financial crisis. PNC’s plan to accelerate consumer lending through cross-selling comes as Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay $185 million to settle allegations that bank employees opened 2 million credit-card and other accounts for customers without their knowledge to meet product sales goals.
Nearly two-thirds of PNC’s loans are to commercial accounts, according to a presentation at the conference. That compares with an average of 53 percent among peers, the bank said.
“I actually don’t like our commercial-to-consumer mix because it has pressured our yields,” Demchak said. “We have the capacity to accelerate consumer loan growth simply by executing faster and better.”
The lender will start by building its credit-card business, which has $4 billion to $5 billion in long-term growth opportunity, Demchak said. It also plans to offer college students and recent graduates credit cards, and expand direct lending for autos, he said.
PNC is also seeking to expand its corporate banking capabilities in Dallas, Minneapolis and Kansas City, he said.
Demchak said the firm is looking for ways to monetize its 21 percent stake in BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest money manager. The lender has explored a spin out of the stake, he said.
“We’ve looked at every iteration of ways to find a way to monetize that in a shareholder-friendly way, thus far haven’t come up with anything that’s executable,” Demchak said.


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The Central Bank of
In their separate speeches presented at the opening of a conference themed "Propelling Economic Development through Functional Agricultural Value Chain Financing Models," in
Group Managing Director of
"We will continue to invest in agriculture. In the past years, agriculture has played a significant part in our business but we want to look at the entire value chain more intently. we want to engage with rural farmers directly and not just from the policy level," Emuwa said.
Describing the importance of the sector to the economy, he noted that at the moment 32 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 65 percent of labour force were accounted for by the agricultural sector in
"If you can get agriculture to become more productive, you will be better positioned to tackle the scourge of poverty in the continent. It is unfortunate that there has been a decline in the sector due to the emergence of other economic sectors in
He however noted that lending to farming in
While stressing that the major challenge has been the high risk and uncertainty, which makes it difficult for operators of the agric sector to access credit, he expressed optimism that a deep understanding of the value chain will help to overcome these challenges and boost.
Representing the acting Governor of the CBN, Dr
To underscore the importance of the sector to government, Mordi disclosed that the federal CBN had initiated various scheme to boost funding of agriculture which he said included the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme established in 1978; the N200 billion Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme and various other initiatives.
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Honda unveiled photos of its redesigned 2013 Accord sedan and coupe, which are slated to go on sale this fall. In Wednesday’s news release, the automaker says the Accord “delivers an even more spacious and luxurious passenger cabin wrapped in an upscale, sophisticated exterior designed to stand the test of time.”
Honda says the Accord sedan and coupe have a new grille, and that their shorter length will make them easier to park and help them deliver sportier performance compared with the 2012 Accord. According to Honda, these exterior updates won’t encroach on driver and passenger comfort. Optional exterior features include LED daytime running lights, taillights and headlights.
Some members of the automotive press don’t think the Accord’s design is revolutionary. “The design is obviously new, but it isn’t a radical departure from the current model or the concept we saw earlier this year on the auto-show circuit,” says Kicking Tires.
The 2013 Accord will enter the market with several other redesigned midsize cars, such as the Mazda6, Nissan Altima sedan and Ford Fusion. The New York Times thinks the 2013 Accord faces a tough crowd. “Though the Accord brings a sterling reputation and a considerable amount of owner loyalty to bear on this critical market segment, the improved quality and daring designs of some competitors could mean success is not necessarily the given that it once was.”
Honda hasn’t released pricing data for the 2013 Accord or full specs and available features yet. The 2012 Honda Accord starts at $21,480 before destination charges.
Shopping for a Honda or an affordable midsize car? Check out the U.S. News rankings of this year's best cars. Then, look for a great deal on a new car by checking out this month’s best car deals. You can also find the best local prices in the area by using our Best Price Program. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.


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Internet user admits 'web-rage'
An internet user has been found guilty of what police said was Britain's first "web-rage" attack.
Paul Gibbons, 47, tracked down John Jones using details obtained online after the pair exchanged insults in an internet chatroom, a court heard.
At the BBC.
[ Read more ]


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While there are many similarities between us, there are also differences. I’ve decided to launch a series of posts to draw your attention to some of these differences. The posts will appear from time to time and be called, with apologies to Pink Floyd, “US (for obvious reasons) and Them (for less obvious reasons because them is us Canadians)”.
You know I’ve heard it said there’s no big difference between us. Canadians, after all, are Americans without the guns. And I'm glad I heard that because it a nice segue into my first post in this series.
The following headline on cnn.com caught my eye yesterday: AMMO HARD TO FIND AS GUN OWNERS STOCK UP.
What the heck? Is anarchy running amok in the USA? Are there deep discounts on straw bales, empty beer cans and pop bottles? Is there a burgeoning black market in bootlegged bullets?
My first response was: "What's with the retro-infatuation with Steve McQueen?"
"You talkin' to me?" (Sorry, wrong movie.)
My second response was: “Oh my God, this over-reaction to the swine flu is really getting out of hand”. And then I read the first paragraph:
Gun shops across the country are reporting a run on ammunition, a phenomenon apparently driven by fear that the Obama administration will increase taxes on bullets or enact new gun-control measures.
And just how bad is the bounty less bullet situation? Read on...
10,000 rounds a day? What the heck? And who the heck is buying so many bullets and why; what do they intend to do with them? Are they expecting a rash of burglaries? Or is it the burglars trying to get a jump on everyone else, hoarding all the bullets. Here’s how the NRA explains it:
Andrew Arulanandam, communications director of the National Rifle Association, says the "unprecedented ammo shortages are widespread, and they affect small and large retailers."
"We have heard from members across the country in cities and in small towns from California to Maine," Arulanandam says. "There is a fear that Congress or the new administration will push for a firearm or an ammunition ban...”
Now why would some people - a lot apparently, ‘cause there’s a shortage - spend all that money on something that may soon be banned? Hmmm...
Here, in Canada, of course, we find it’s cheaper, and a tad safer, not to mention more fashionable, to stockpile T-shirts as we demonstrate our right to bare arms!


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The medical tourism sector is proving to be good business therapy for hotels located in the vicinity of major hospitals in Asia
One-stop services rule it all
When it comes to patient comfort and hospitality, several Singapore hotels have gotten that down to a tee, offerings suites and amenities that cater to guests seeking medical services in hospitals nearby.
Most of these hotels are clustered in Novena and Farrer Park, the seats of major medical campuses including Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital and Farrer Park Hospital.
One Farrer Hotel & Spa, for example, introduced The Farrer Suites – the first of its kind in Singapore – to cater to patients of Farrer Park Hospital and Farrer Park Medical Centre in the same building.
These self-contained suites are equipped with features such as adjustable Volker beds with pressure-relieving mattresses, a built-in counter for hand washing, a companion bed and dedicated butler service. The suites are accessible through a private lift system connected directly to the medical wings of the building, and are sold only through the hospital.
Meanwhile, Park Hotel Farrer Park is awaiting the opening of Farrer Square Medical Centre, which will connect 42 medical units to the hotel and Farrer Park Hospital.
Courtyard by Marriott Singapore Novena, which offers two mobility-accessible rooms and six elderly-friendly rooms, does not limit its connections to just Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital next door, but also works with Tan Tock Seng Hospital and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital on various fronts.
Peter Khong, general manager of Courtyard by Marriott Singapore Novena, shared that the hospitals not only refer international patients looking for external accommodation options, but also overseas doctors and consultants.
While Indonesia is an enduring source market for medical guests, One Farrer Hotel & Spa’s executive assistant manager, sales & marketing and rooms, Jessie Khoo-Gan, also noted rising demand from China, Vietnam, Thailand and India.
She added: “There has been an increase in medical travellers seeking preventive healthcare services and wellness; and we see a greater demand for premium luxury accommodation and services to complete their patient experience.”
Hotels also extend other areas of their hospitality services to warded patients. One Farrer Hotel & Spa shares its kitchen with the adjoining Farrer Park Hospital, providing five-star cuisine for the hospital; while Park Hotel Farrer Park provides a breakfast package for Farrer Park Hospital’s health screening patients.
Park Hotel Farrer Park’s general manager Sharmini Moganasundram is certain that hotels can continue to grow and benefit from Singapore’s established position as “the premier medical destination in the region”.
Khong concurred: “We are always open to exploring opportunities with our partners to offer additional value-added services.” – Pamela Chow
Joint bid for Indonesians
With Indonesia accounting for 60 per cent of medical tourists to Malaysia, it’s no surprise that hotels located near major hospitals in Penang have their sights set on tapping this key South-east Asian source market too.
Glow Penang, which lies within walking distance to Loh Guan Lye Specialists Centre as well as a short drive to Island Hospital and Gleneagles Penang, already has strategies laid out with these private healthcare institutions in the pursuit of medical tourists from Indonesia.
Glow Penang’s hotel manager, Navintheran Sinarimuthu, said: “Most guests who stay with us and seek treatment from these hospitals are from Indonesia. They come here for health screening, dental, cosmetic procedures, eye and skin treatments.
“We promote our hotel directly to outbound agents in Indonesia who are involved in leisure and medical tourism as well as to the three (aforementioned) medical facilities in Penang. We provide special room rates with breakfast for the agents we work with,” he said.
Special brochures offering information about Glow Penang’s location and facilities are provided to agent partners as well as the reception areas of partner hospitals too, according to Navintheran.
The 320-key Berjaya Penang Hotel, likewise, takes advantage of its location opposite Penang Adventist Hospital as well as its easy access to other private hospitals in George Town area to attract medical tourists from Indonesia.
Amran Taib, executive assistant manager, Berjaya Penang Hotel, said: “We give corporate rates to the hospitals and also do joint promotions with them when we participate in medical fairs in Indonesia. We also promote the private hospitals in Penang by displaying their brochures in our hotel.”
He added: “We focus on cities that have direct flights to Penang as well as places without direct flights such as Balikpapan, Palembang and Jambi, where many medical tourists staying with us are from.
“Tourism authorities should further tap regional markets for medical tourism as these are our closest neighbours, and not just limit efforts to cities with direct air links to Penang,” Amran urged. – S Puvaneswary
In Thailand, where medical tourism is a growth industry, it makes natural sense for hotels located in the vicinity of major private hospitals to target the international clientele that these institutions are serving.
Medical centres are hence increasingly embracing hospitality concepts alongside a rising number of hotel-hospital partnerships, observed Olivier Berrivin, managing director of international operations – Asia at Best Western Hotels & Resorts.
He remarked: “In addition, global economic pressures on hospitals and patients, combined with broader medical tourism trends, are creating a growing niche for hotels located on or near hospitals. This particular segment will only grow over time as some countries are now offering medical visas to encourage that trend.”
Medical tourists already make up a significant market for Best Western Premier Sukhumvit Soi 1 and SureStay Plus Sukhumvit Soi 2, thanks to their close proximity to Bumrungrad Hospital and its strongly established international reputation, according to Berrivin.
Amari Residences Bangkok, located within walking distance to the Bangkok Hospital, meanwhile, has “a collaborative working relationship” with the hospital as an affiliated hotel, providing additional services and support to guests requiring extra care and attention in consultation with the medical teams or accommodate patients who prefer to reside in a comfortable environment off the hospital premises, Onyx Hospitality Group’s senior vice president commercial, Debrah Pascoe, told TTG Asia.
While the Middle East is a dominant source market of medical tourists, the inbound medical tourism source market for Onyx is “gradually being balanced by medical tourism demand from other regional markets like Japan and South-east Asian countries”, Pascoe noted.
Down south in Phuket, Amatara Wellness Resort has already seized opportunities in Thailand’s thriving healthcare tourism sector by linking arms with prominent Thai travel players to offer integrative wellness programmes.
Last year, it rolled out a brain health enhancement retreat with Bangkok Hospital Phuket to promote brain health in the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. In February this year, it entered into an MoU with Royal Orchid Holidays and Vitallife Wellness Center, a subsidiary at Bumrungrad International Hospital, to tap the increasing level of interest in health and wellbeing among travellers worldwide.
Other hospitality players like Thanyapura Phuket, which was previously focused on the sports tourism market, is now enhancing its on-site healthcare offerings to step up its pursuit of Thailand’s flourishing medical tourism sector. It recently appointed Edgar Toral, a 15-year veteran in Thailand’s medical tourism sector, to head the Thanyapura Integrative Healthcare wing, and has in place treatments and services ranging from chiropractic and acupuncture to post-surgical care and and vitality therapies.
“We are not competing against hospitals but complementing them,” said Toral. More complicated treatments will be referred to Thanyapura’s partner hospitals in Phuket, he added. – Xinyi Liang-Pholsena
Not just skin-deep interest
South Korea is well-known in the Asia-Pacific region as the place to go for everything from a quick nose tweak to procedures that are far more delicate. And many hotels are coordinating with hospitals and clinics to provide packages that meet guests’ needs throughout their visits.
The majority of overseas medical tourists to South Korea are from China, Russia, Japan, the US and Kazakhstan. Arrivals from Thailand in 2016 soared by an impressive 102 per cent, while the number of medical tourists from Mongolia, the UAE, Singapore and Vietnam also showed positive growth.
“We already have a selection of medical packages that we have developed in conjunction with the nearby Yonsei Severance Hospital,” said Jay Kim, sales manager for the Hotel Cappuccino. “Virtually all the guests staying with us for medical procedures are from Asia, including from Hong Kong and Singapore, and we are able to create tailor-made packages that meet guests’ needs and the requirements of the hospital.”
The hotel works closely with the hospital to devise programmes, and Kim anticipates demand to continue to rise in the medical tourism sector as more people across Asia receive word-of-mouth recommendations about the high quality and relatively low price of procedures in South Korea.
Other hotels prefer to work with specialist medical tourism agencies that operate websites to appeal to potential clients and offer full packages that include airport pick-ups, accommodation, shopping excursions, visits to some of the city’s must-see sights and the medical treatment.
“Recently we have had a lot of guests from the UAE coming for treatments, but we prefer to work through a specialist agency,” said an official of Hotel Artnouveau Seocho in the city’s Gangnam district.
The Walker Hill Hotel and Resort offers a selection of two-night-three-day packages and promotes the stays through advertorials in local media, its e-newsletter to guests who are in the hotel’s membership scheme or through companies that are similarly targeting the medical tourism sector.
Not all hotels are teaming up with medical institutions, however, with the Grand Hyatt Seoul happy to offer support for FIT guests who are visiting the city for a procedure or treatment, but preferring to steer clear of collaborating with medical institutions due to the “complexities” of managing medical packages, a spokesperson said. – Julian Ryall
From traditional to hair-raising experiences
Hotels in key and secondary cities are benefiting from the growth of inbound medical tourism as the country sees the emergence of not only new markets like the US and the UK but also a wider range of treatments sought after in the country.
“Delhi-NCR is among top five popular medical tourism destinations in India as the region has a vast number of world-class private and government hospitals. We have collaborated with hospitals in our proximity like AIIMS and Safdarjung to tap international medical tourism clients,” said Manish Kumar, meetings director, Crowne Plaza New Delhi Mayur Vihar.
Hotel chains such as Crowne Plaza and Hilton offer facilities and services friendly to the needs of medical tourists like accessible rooms with roll-in showers and lowered beds, and F&B offerings customised to dietary requirements.
Many hotels have also sprung up in the vicinity of healthcare chains. The 201-room Hilton Garden Inn Gurgaon Baani Square is situated close to speciality hospitals like Medanta Medicity and Max Healthcare in Gurgaon. Lemon Tree Hotels has recently opened an 85-room hotel in Hyderabad’s Banjara Hills adjacent to the CARE Hospital.
“Medical tourism is a year-round business for Indian hotels. Besides offering special rates for medical tourists, we emphasise on meeting their dietary requirements,” said Sanzeev Bhatia, general manager, The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa.
With more than half a million medical tourists from abroad to India each year, hoteliers think more areas of medical treatments could be better promoted to grow this sector. Examples include traditional Ayurvedic naturopathy, dermatology or even hair transplants – the latter an increasingly sought after treatment.
“We have noted the trend that a large number of tourists from overseas want to know more about dermatology. So, speciality hospitals in these areas will be welcome,” said Kumar.
“As international medical tourism plays a big role in generating revenue in hospitality industry, hospitals should tie up with at least one hotel in the vicinity for their patients,” he urged. – Rohit Kaul
NTOs’ medical tourism procedures
Sherene Azli, CEO, Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council
Through our collaboration with hospitals and travel agents, we started introducing healthcare travel packages. These packages are a combination of healthcare treatments (dental, cosmetics, general health screening, wellness) bundled together with a tour of Malaysia’s many attractions and accommodation.
Apart from traditional marketing and promotions around the world, we also focus on strategic and niche marketing. We utilise digital marketing platforms to create more channels for two-way information exchange between global healthcare travellers and Malaysia healthcare players
Srisuda Wanapinyosak, deputy governor for international marketing (Europe, Africa, Middle East and Americas), Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)
For 2018, TAT will continue to emphasise our strong health and wellness position as “Thailand a Paradise for Longevity” and portray the country as the hub of health and wellness in South-east Asia.
Longevity products and services are proving a popular trend among health-conscious travellers who want to maintain themselves in healthy conditions. They come from all over the world, so in particular TAT is aiming CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam), China and South Asian countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh.
For the Middle East countries, which we still consider a potential market, we will continue to promote our updated longevity products and services by penetrating possible cities.
Having worked extensively with leading medical tourism partners and other related businesses, TAT recently attended the 9th International Health and Medical Tourism Conference and Expo 2018 in Shanghai to promote our health and wellness tourism.


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The event, sponsored by AlgaEnergy and organized by CSIC, Biovegen and CEOE, took place at the CEOE's headquarters.
AlgaEnergy has participated in the Conference 'CSIC-COMPANIES: technology at the service of agriculture' which was organized by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the Spanish Technology Platform for Plant Biotechnology (BIOVEGEN) and the Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organizations (CEOE) and took place on the 26th November at the headquarters of the CEOE in Madrid. The meeting, which sought the interaction and generation of synergies between researchers, companies and managers of R&D financing programs, served to enhance the value of technology and its fundamental role in promoting a more sustainable agriculture.
Within this unique framework, AlgaEnergy, which sponsored the conference, participated with a presentation given by the company’s President, Augusto Rodríguez-Villa, in which he presented the numerous properties of the microalgae to the nearly 200 attendees and the innovative and effective solutions that microalgae offer to respond to the great challenges the agricultural sector is facing.
In this way, attendees were able to discover all the benefits that microalgae are already contributing to agriculture and the advantages that the range of biostimulants AgriAlgae® offer, such as increasing crops’ yields, optimizing qualitative traits of fruits and vegetables and reinforcing stress resistance. These benefits translate into a greater profitability for the farmer. Furthermore, an additional benefit of AgriAlgae® is that by using it the farmer is responsible for the elimination of 2 kg of CO2 from the atmosphere for every 5 liters of AgriAlgae® he or she uses.
In conclusion, Augusto Rodríguez-Villa wanted to highlight the cordial, effective and long experience of AlgaEnergy in the collaboration carried out with a multitude of public entities, in the field of research, as well as in the benefits whose results have facilitated the nearly 150 consortiums that have participated -or are currently participating- in the R&D programs led by the company or in which it participates as the only microalgae company.
AlgaEnergy microalgae technology in these Ecocert Certified products is available to organic growers in Asia, Europe and U.S.21 July, 2020
Linkup provides access to existing and new technologies for IAP’s 33 independent U.S. retailers.07 July, 2020
Bachar Blal will lead company’s introduction of microalgae-based biostimulants and biocontrol products for growers in these two important agricultural regions02 July, 2020
Company receives “The Product of Great Potential” award for its AgriAlgae products.30 June, 2020
Under the title ‘Ready for the Spain of tomorrow’, the event had the participation of top international speakers and the presence of the Minister of Science and Innovation, Pedro Duque.25 June, 2020
A project based on the launch of its brand of cosmetic products, MareVitae®, was chosen as the best Business Plan of the year. For the first time in 26 years, a single company has been awarded twice.19 June, 2020
Benatti will lead company’s new subsidiary in Brazil and will drive expansion in Latin America.16 June, 2020
It is one of the most important events for the biotechnology sector in Spain.12 June, 2020
The prestigious economic information newspaper highlights the sectors in which microalgae have immense application potential, focusing on the agricultural, nutritional and cosmetic sectors.27 May, 2020
The company is continuing with its internationalization plan, “Project Victoria,” by establishing these new businesses and recruiting top leadership talent to support the introduction of AlgaEnergy’s unique product portfolio.20 May, 2020


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Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may have unusual price changes in Philippine trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and share prices are as of the most recent trading day.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Index increased 1.2 percent to 4,002.88.
Ayala Land Inc. (ALI PM): The Philippines’ largest builder said it plans to sell as much as 10 billion pesos of notes due longer than five years through a private placement. The company also plans to swap up to 1.8 billion pesos of existing debt for the new notes, part of which will fund capital spending for 2011, it said in a statement. The stock advanced 3.4 percent to 16.04 pesos.
Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. (BDO PM): The nation’s biggest bank by assets will meet this year’s profit target and may borrow funds next year to boost capital, Chairwoman Teresita Sy said. The stock rose 4.6 percent to 56.50 pesos.
Belle Corp. (BEL PM): The Philippine builder said it signed a 5.6 billion pesos loan from Banco De Oro Unibank to fund a commercial, retail and hotel project in the capital. The stock declined 0.6 percent to 3.33 pesos.
SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPH PM): The biggest Philippine shopping mall operator’s stock rating was raised to “buy” from “hold” by Carl Sy, an analyst at Deutsche Bank AG, on expectations low interest rates and the shopping mall operator’s “aggressive expansion” in China and the Philippines will boost valuations. SM Prime’s 12-month share price estimate was increased to 12.66 pesos from 10.09 pesos, he said. The stock rose 11 percent to 11.08 pesos.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ian C. Sayson in Manila at firstname.lastname@example.org
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Darren Boey at email@example.com


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***This competition is now closed**** The USA’s favourite fast-fashion store Forever 21 is coming to London’s prestigious Oxford Street on 27th July, and to celebrate, we’re giving 3 lucky fashion […]
Post Tagged with: "Oxford Street"
A bizarre thing has happened. London’s famous shopping hub Oxford Street are putting on the first ever High Street Fashion Week. Beginning just before London Fashion Week this September, our favourite high […]


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Carvana, an online car dealer, will pay $ 850,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging that it operated in California without a dealer or carrier license, officials said.
The District Attorneys’ Offices in the districts of San Diego, Santa Clara and Ventura joined the consumer protection department of the Los Angeles District Attorney, leading the investigation and prosecution of the case.
Under a ruling signed by Judge Armen Tamzarian of the Los Angeles Superior Court in negotiations with the company, Carvana was ordered to pay:
- $ 600,000 as civil punishment – $ 150,000 for each of the four district attorney offices.
- Investigation costs $ 200,000 – $ 50,000 for each district attorney
- $ 50,000 in damages distributed to non-profit charities that support the public interest.
Calvana did not admit cheating. The company has been selling cars to California consumers since 2015, but did not license it as a dealer until May 2019, according to Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon.
According to Gascon, since September 2017, Carvana has used its own delivery vehicle to deliver a large number of vehicles to California customers, but without a carrier license.
In addition, Carvana will sell many vehicles between May 20, 2019 and June 30, 2019, without providing customers with inspection reports prior to sale, as required by California law. Did.
The ruling requires Carvana to obtain all the licenses necessary to sell and transport vehicles in California and to provide California buyers with a copy of the completed inspection report before the sale is complete.
“It’s illegal not to have a business license, it puts your company in a proceeding and it’s unfair to consumers,” Gascon said. “The employer is responsible for obtaining the licenses necessary to operate the business legally.”
Online Vehicle Seller Carvana to Pay $850,000 to Settle Suit Over Licensing Dispute Source link Online Vehicle Seller Carvana to Pay $850,000 to Settle Suit Over Licensing Dispute


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The new AOL Reader has many of the same features found in other popular RSS newsreaders. It looks like one of a few good alternatives for those losing Google Reader next week.
Comcast's $45.2 billion merger with Time Warner Cable is officially dead, and the companies may have the fiery Net neutrality debate that raged this past year to blame.
Which has the most apps? Which has the coolest features? Which one is the best? The most popular streamers all have their merits, so we'll help you decide which box is right for you.
HDMI 2.0a is the latest update to the HDMI specification. Here's what it is, and what it means, and why you should care.
YouTube is the Web's de facto home for video. But 10 years ago, online video was anybody's game. As it celebrates a decade offering us everything from new celebrities to cat videos, YouTube has become a premier destination for content. Here's how it got there.
Though feature-rich, the Skydog's hardware is too slow and limited to justify its high cost and ongoing subscription pricing.
Google tries hard to maintain a sense of humor through surprises tucked throughout its Web properties. Here are all the best Easter eggs you need to check out.
iOS has emoji built-in...but wait, so does Android!
Global Vice President Hugo Barra had an idea in mind when he joined the Chinese phone giant two years ago. The result is the Mi 4i, a cheap flagship phone for India.
In an attempt to wow J.J. Abrams and score some tickets to the premiere of "Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens," two guys from Essex launched a model X-wing into space.


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Koei Announces E3 Line-Up
04.28.05 - 12:12 PM
Koei today announced its line-up for the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo E3 2005. The highlight will be the first officially announced title for Sony Computer Entertainment's next-generation PlayStation. While the company would not disclose the game's title today, it announced a game tentatively titled Oni, which is in development for the next-generation PlayStation, last year.
In addition to this untitled game, Koei will also exhibit the following games in playable form at its booth:
Romance of the Three Kingdoms X, PlayStation 2
Gladiator: Road to Freedom, PlayStation 2
Unchartered Waters Online (Daikoukai Jidai Online), PC
This year's edition of the world's largest videogame fair will take place in Los Angeles from May 18th to 20th.


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The highly anticipated sequel to 2016’s incredibly popular 3DS classic, Detective Pikachu, Detective Pikachu Returns, is set to be released for the Nintendo Switch in October 2023, which may spell trouble for those looking forward to The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet‘s upcoming DLC. Notably, the second installment in the Detective Pikachu series is now going to release in the same window as the DLC for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, set to be launched in Q3 and Q4 2023. The close release date of Detective Pikachu Returns and Scarlet and Violet’s upcoming DLC – split into two parts, The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk – is likely bad news for those eagerly anticipating Gen 9’s expansion.
Although announced in February 2022, and much looked forward to by fans of the latest main series installment of the Pokémon franchise, Scarlet and Violet’s upcoming DLC may be seriously affected by the upcoming Pokémon adventure and detective game. As a result of coinciding with the release of the long-awaited Pokémon adventure spin-off game, Detective Pikachu Returns, there could be some potentially negative consequences for the release of The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk.
Detective Pikachu Returns’ Release Date Could Cause Delays
As the launch of the highly anticipated Detective Pikachu Returns is set to coincide with the release of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s upcoming DLC, there could potentially be some bad news in store for The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk. Although the close release dates could affect Scarlet and Violet’s DLC sales, the most likely consequence of Detective Pikachu Returns and Scarlet and Violet’s DLC sharing such close releases, is a launch date delay.
Although it was originally announced in 2019, Detective Pikachu Returns was a victim of numerous development setbacks, and seemingly almost abandoned until, during a 2023 Nintendo Direct event, it was announced for a second time. As confirmed during the event, Detective Pikachu Returns is set to be released in early October 2023 on the Nintendo Switch. The announcement trailer for Detective Pikachu Returns shows the talkative, coffee-drinking, Deerstalker-wearing Detective Pikachu and his young partner, Tim Goodman, working together to solve a series of incidents and mysteries that have occurred in Ryme City.
Detective Pikachu Returns seemingly demonstrates the desire of The Pokémon Company and Nintendo to further expand, and diversify the Pokémon franchise beyond the tried and true gameplay style of the other main series games such as Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Like its predecessor, Detective Pikachu Returns is expected to be an adventure game and a narrative-focused experience. Unlike the main series Pokémon games, the player will not be catching and collecting Pokémon, but solving mysteries involving them. The puzzle at the core of the game is uncovering the mysterious origins of the detective Pikachu.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet DLC Might Release Late In Their Windows
During the 2023 Pokémon Presents live stream, Takato Utsunomiya, the Chief Operating Officer of The Pokémon Company, announced that DLC was set to be released for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet in Fall and Winter 2023. The event showcased both of the expansions from The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero – The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk. Set to be released around Detective Pikachu Returns, it seems likely that the first wave of Scarlet and Violet DLC will probably launch later in Q3 2023 than initially expected, now with the second wave likewise pushed back even further in Q4 2023.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s DLCs are set to be released later in the game’s lifespan than fans have come to expect, with the DLC of previous main series Pokémon games released much sooner after release. Although no major details about either of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet‘s DLCs were given during the 2023 Pokémon Day livestream, The Pokémon Company did upload a brief description of The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk on the Pokémon website. Perhaps the most significant revelation released on the website is that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet‘s DLCs, The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk, will be experienced completely separately but will revolve around a connected story.
As also revealed by The Pokémon Company on the official website, Scarlet and Violet‘s first DLC, The Teal Mask, will see the player go on a school trip to Kitakami, an area outside of the Paldea region. Whilst on their school trip, players will have to unravel the secrets and mysteries of Kitakami before they can proceed to the second stage of the DLC, The Indigo Disk. In The Indigo Disk, the player will experience life as an exchange student, visiting the Blueberry Academy, a school mostly submerged under the ocean with a curriculum focused on the battling of powerful Pokémon.
The Future Of The Detective Pikachu Series
The original Detective Pikachu game was enormously popular, selling over 120,000 copies on the Nintendo 3DS in Japan alone. If the 2016 Detective Pikachu game is anything to go by, its sequel, Detective Pikachu Returns will be a critical and commercial success; plus, it will have the advantage of being released on the Nintendo Switch, a significantly better-selling console than the 3DS – perhaps suggesting that it could outsell its predecessor. Furthermore, the original Detective Pikachu game was so popular that it received a live-action movie in 2019 – an adaptation that reportedly grossed over $433 million dollars at the box office.
Although the pending release of Detective Pikachu Returns could signal bad news for The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk, it could potentially mean good things for a sequel to the Detective Pikachu movie. Released in 2019, the original film, staring Ryan Reynolds voicing the titular detective Pikachu, was a loose adaptation of the enormously popular 2018 3DS game. Although little is known about the sequel, in March 2023, it was reported to be in development, however, it is unclear when, and even if, the second Detective Pikachu movie will be released. Perhaps if Detective Pikachu Returns proves to be a successful game, a film adaptation may follow.


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Some of the old-school names that made a list of 100 companies to watch for telecommuting jobs might surprise you.
As you’ve probably seen in almost every coffee shop in Seattle, there seem to be hundreds of telecommuters clicking away on laptops yet are still full-time employees of innovative companies, like … IBM?
Yes, that IBM.
Once the symbol of conformist, monolithic, 9-to-5 corporate culture, IBM recently has been ranked No. 8 on the list of the nation’s most telecommuting-friendly businesses. Compiled by online telecommuting employment service FlexJobs, the annual Top 100 Companies to Watch for Telecommuting Jobs contains many of the usual cutting-edge technology firms, such as Amazon (No. 3), Intuit (No. 12) and Apple (No. 47). But there is also a surprising number of old-school companies — like Aetna (No. 11), American Express (No. 20), Xerox (No. 23) and General Electric (No. 61) — that have taken note of today’s workforce demographics and have begun offering flex-work perks.
The list can come in handy for job seekers looking for a way to create a better work-life balance, but who don’t necessarily want to take their chances on a risky startup. FlexJobs gathered data from the job listings of 40,000 companies that mentioned telecommuting as an option during the 2015 calendar year. These work-from-home arrangements included both full- and part-time telecommuting.
In this latest list, only two are based in the Pacific Northwest — Amazon and elder care specialist A Place for Mom (No. 28). But since the rest of the listed companies are comfortable with people working remotely, virtually any of the firms on the list might be fair game for Seattle job seekers — even for those firms based in other countries, like Cactus Communications (India, No. 15), SAP (Germany, No. 22) and Real Staffing (U.K., No. 74).
Those who are looking for telecommuting work, however, should be prepared to demonstrate skills in the computer/IT or health-care fields. According to FlexJobs, nearly 40 percent of the top 100 companies are in these two industries. Some of the health-care firms that made the list include UnitedHealth Group, Humana, Aetna and Anthem, while Dell, Apple, SAP and VMWare led the field of computer/IT-related related employers.
The current most popular work-from-home titles that are in demand include software architect, IT analyst, developer, programmer, security engineer, pharmacist, nurse, case manager, coder and medical network manager.
Telecommuting jobs in the tech industry are nothing new, of course, given the types of communication tools those companies develop, said Sara Sutton Fell, founder and CEO of FlexJobs. “Medical and health-care jobs are newer to the scene, but in the past decade [they] have shown remarkable growth with work flexibility and telecommuting,” she said.
This is not to say, however, that telecommuting can only be found in the software or healthcare fields, Fell adds. Remote jobs, she says, can be found “across almost all careers, such as marketing, legal, government and education.”