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National Enterprise Award winner Terra Liquid Minerals (TLM) aims to disrupt the global farm animal food supplement industry with cutting edge technology which allows dairy herds to receive the supplements they need from the water they drink.
Company chief executive and co-founder Pádraig Hennessy says the liquid supplementation delivery system developed by his company has an absorbency rate of over 90%, which represents a significant advancement on the 30% to 40% rate achieved by traditional dry supplement method which is currently the global benchmark.
Launched in 2013, the TLM system is now being used on 260 farms in Ireland to provide mineral and magnesium supplementation to over 50,000 cows .
The company had a €1.1m turnover in 2017 and is gearing up for an international launch at the end of the year.
Mr Hennessy and his brother Tom were running Terra Systems, which provides water systems to farms in 2012, when they saw a cow die from lack of magnesium.
They set out to establish a separate company to develop an improved method of providing supplements.
Noting that liquid supplementation was already recognised as a more effective method than dry supplementation, he says, however, liquid supplementation was not used because there was no way to guarantee accurate daily dosage because the livestock’s water consumption varies with the weather.
“We saw an opportunity to use technology to automate delivery and researched different technologies, merging a number of them to create a new one. We developed a controller which monitors the water consumption of a herd and adjusts the concentrations of the minerals accordingly,” he says.
Working from a converted kitchen at the family farm near Athy, the brothers started by targeting the farms that were already using their water systems.
Mr Hennessy says it was an uphill task at the start because the TLM solution was radically different.
“But we started getting referrals from existing customers and now have a 99% customer retention rate. Sales have ramped up in the last 18 months,” he says.
Supported by Kildare Local Enterprise Office, TLM has expanded its operations last year and built a 400 sq metre facility to manufacture minerals.
“We are now building a larger office and expect to increase the staff number from nine to 16 by 2019,” says Mr Hennessy, explaining that the company has a two year plan involving a €2m investment which it will fund through loans, reinvestment and new equity.
TLM operates by leasing its technology to farmers and also by providing a monitoring service.
Monitoring currently involves the company visiting farms but it is working on a more advanced system which will carry out remote monitoring.
“When we release a new automated controller in the autumn we will launch on export markets, selling through distributors, says Mr Hennessy, adding that the company has already had enquiries from the US Pakistan, Australia, and France.
It is continuing research and development and is now testing a new mobile mineral dispensing unit which has been designed for use at farms which have fragmented herds.
Plans for 2018 include expanding its manufacturing facility, doing more research and development, and starting an aggressive international marketing campaign.
Mr Hennessey believes that the benefits offered by the TLM technology will allow it to disrupt existing animal supplementation markets.
The benefits are improved animal health, easier calving, less work for farmers as well as cost savings. Customers can save up to €74 per cow a year using our system.
Aiming to increase turnover to €2 .5m this year, the company expects to export to five countries within 18 months.
“Our goal is to become the world leader in the automated dispensing of animal liquid supplements,’’ says Mr Hennessy.
The company received a major boost last month when it won the overall National Enterprise Award.
It also won Google’s Irish Adopt a Start up programme, securing a €10,000 Adwords credit and $100,000 (€85,750) in Google Cloud Credits.


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Nowadays, the 21st Guangdong Seed Expo on the theme of “Seeds Build a Strong Core, Digital Leads the Future” and the 2022 World Digital Agriculture Conference were held in Guangzhou. Representatives from government departments, experts, scholars and entrepreneurs both at home and abroad exchanged their ideas and insights on the application of modern breeding technology to invigorate agriculture, supporting policies on digital agriculture, digital transformation of agriculture and other topics. They contributed to the high-quality development of agriculture and drew a new blueprint by forging synergy and reaching consensus through contemplation.
Site of the 21st Guangdong Seed Expo and the 2022 World Digital Agriculture Conference (Photo by Wu Haotian/Xinhuanet)
Improving the Seed Industry for Food Security
Barns filled with plenty provide people with food security.
Melon varieties from the farming exhibitions (Photo by Zhu Hao/Xinhuanet)
The event is characterized by the application of the metaverse and deep integration of digital technology and the seed industry. Exhibition of some 6,000 varieties including solanaceous, melon and leafy vegetables across different regions were presented by virtue of online panoramic VR technology. Twelve branch venues from eleven cities in Guangdong were brought online where promotion campaigns on good seeds, practices and farming tools were live-streamed. Some 100 local experts on agricultural technology gathered remotely to provide their insights and solutions.
“Top seeds” such as “Meixiangzhan 2 (rice)”, “Haixingnong 3 (south American white prawn)”, “Guangming 2 (white feather broiler)” and remarkable agricultural machines including drones, rotary cultivators and rice transplanters were on virtual display. The event brought together new varieties, technologies, equipment and model all of which lead Guangdong’s modern seed industry to go global.
Gu Xingwei, director of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that the integration of agriculture and the seed industry with digital and smart technology on multiple fronts would build Guangdong into an innovative powerhouse in the seed industry and promote the high-quality development of modern agriculture.
A seed has the potential to change the world and technology promises to create miracles. Yang Weicai, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that seed selection and breeding help to shore up weaknesses, refine produce varieties and enrich China’s germplasm bank.
Leading companies have critical roles to play in invigorating the seed industry. Wen Zhifen, Chairman of Wens Foodstuff Group Co., Ltd. suggested that the company would take the leading role and shoulder due responsibilities, empowered by the National Livestock and Poultry Breeding Enterprise Qualification List, to advance the breeding of boars and quality broilers and promote related engineering technology.
The combination of the seed industry, digital technology, innovation and coordination holds the key to science and technology self-reliance, self-strengthening, and provenance self-reliance. These factors are also important for food production and security and offer new solutions to revitalize the seed industry amid changes unseen in a century.
Digital empowerment speeds up the pace to modernize agriculture and rural areas.
As the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China suggests, “We will invigorate the seed industry, support the development of agricultural science, technology, and equipment, and refine the mechanisms for ensuring the incomes of grain growers and for compensating major grain-producing areas. With these efforts, we will ensure that China’s food supply remains firmly in its own hands.”
Intelligent agricultural machines on display (Photo by Wu Haotian/Xinhuanet)
Zhao Chunjiang, member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the National Engineering Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture said that digital agriculture represents the inevitable trend of global agricultural development as it is critical to improve productivity and preserve soil, water resources and biodiversity.
Pioneering the reform and opening up policy, Guangdong province has seized opportunities and keeps up with the trend to better digital agriculture infrastructure and given full play to intelligent agriculture. It has demonstrated the resolve and confidence to build itself into a “digital agriculture Silicon Valley” and a shining example with global clout. Digital agriculture featured seven aspects: experts, farmers, leading companies, demonstration bases, advanced technologies, cutting-edge equipment and replicable models each with a number of one hundred. The conference has gathered strength from all walks of life and showcased Guangdong’s responsibility, solutions and strength.
On the digital forum, fifty agricultural experts, scholars, department leaders and enterprise representatives communicated via the internet. They focused on the current situation, took a long-term perspective, pooled their wisdom and picked each other’s brains. The forum witnessed a new chapter of digital agriculture unfolding amid the exchange of ideas.
Automated rice transplanting, smart monitoring and drones-enabled irrigating help to paint a picture of autonomous agricultural life in the future. “We work on unmanned farms because we aim at mechanizing agriculture and making it smarter so as to support digital agriculture”, said Luo Xiwen, member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor from South China Agricultural University.
“The dynamics of digital agriculture are changing internally and externally,” suggested Meng Xiangbao, deputy director of the Guangdong Institute of Modern Agricultural Equipment. Data has become an important production factor of agriculture, just like land and labor.
New digital technology promotes produce to go global. Cheng Fengying, member of the Standing Committee of Zhanjiang Municipal Committee and head of the United Front Work Department remarked that the “12221” market system, “Internet+”, e-commerce and other marketing approaches help to bring aquatic products from Zhanjiang to the global market. Wei Ming, secretary of the Party Committee, chairman and general manager of China Mobile Group Guangdong Co., Ltd. said that the combination of connectivity, computing power and capability would make digital technology more accessible to towns and villages in Guangdong. Chen Hui, a novice farmer, believed that e-commerce is key to shaping produce brands, enhancing digital technology, and following market rules and industrialization.
The forum reflected the heavy responsibilities falling on the shoulder of agricultural practitioners and their consensus to forge ahead together and drive China’s agriculture and rural areas to be more modernized.
“We develop in Guangdong and embrace the world. We will build platforms for digital agriculture communication around the globe, further integrate digital technology and agriculture, promote the application of the whole industrial chain, work together on innovative growth models of the Guangdong agriculture industry, enable agricultural digitalization and digital agriculture industrialization to go hand in hand, and deliver the benefits to people across the world.” The 2022 World Digital Agriculture Conference Tianhe Manifesto will boost global cooperation and mutual benefits.
With hopes, determination and confidence, let us leverage mutual benefits and win-win cooperation to create a shared future of digital agriculture and embark on the road toward smarter, more precise and autonomous agriculture across the globe.

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Motorola launched a new smartphone Moto E3 smartphone, the smartphone has been spootted on India import-export tracking website Zauba. Moto E3, the budget smartphone in the UK last month at a price of 99 pounds, which may cost somewhere around Rs 7,000 in India. The Zauba listing shows the cost at Rs 5,446 per unit.
MotoE3 comes a 5-inch IPS HD (720p) display. The smartphone is powered by a quad-core processor. The Moto E3 sports an 8-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It packs 2,800mAh battery and and runs on Android Marshmallow v6.0 out-of-the-box. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, GPS and dual-SIM 4G LTE. The Moto E3 also features a splash-proof body to protect it from accidental spills.
Features of MotoE3
- 5-inch IPS HD (720p) display
- Android Marshmallow v6.0
- 2,800mAh battery
- 5-megapixel front-facing camera
- 8-megapixel rear camera
- Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, GPS and dual-SIM 4G LTE


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Farmers after the Big Freeze
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
His entire farming crop has been decimated as a result of the big freeze. Michael estimates this loss to be €40,000. Just about all of his existing crop is gone - this includes two acres of golden potatoes and four acres of carrots as well as other plots of vegetables
Michael Bergin - the Farmer
He sells all kinds of vegetables to small shops and at Cillin Hill, a farmer's markets and car boot sales in Kilkenny.
It is estimated that 20 % of last years potato crop will not be recovered, leading to losses of 15 million for Irelands farmers. Between 25 per cent and 30 per cent of the crop was still in the ground when torrential November rain made it impossible to harvest. It is estimated that 6,000 acres of potatoes across the country remain unharvested.
The current position of the Government since the big freeze on farmers:
Frost Damage to the potato crop which growers said will cost them EUR 15 million is to be assessed by Department of Agriculture officials, it was recently agreed.
According to the IFA:
There is no grant or any kind of financial assistance yet available to farmers as a result of the bad weather.
What the IFA want:
The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) plans to appeal to the Government for compensation for Mr Bergin (our case study) and other farmers like him in Kilkenny who were hit hard by the freeze
Just a not on this - the cost of the damage on farming/farmers has been linked with potatoes. Michael has lost two acres of potatoes but also has other veg., like carrots which has been lost as a result of the frost.
According to the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) the estimate of the damage of other vegetables would not be known yet - the most damage has been done to the potatoes.. Also, because Michael is inland in Kikenny, the frost is much worse there and it would affect his other vegetables as well, not just his potatoes..


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Fans of real Christmas trees will tell you it isn't Christmas until it smells like Christmas.
They'll trudge through snowy fields at farms throughout McHenry County to find just the right tree to fill their homes with that fresh evergreen scent.
"For me personally, it's more Christmas to have a real tree," said Bradley Shaw, farm manager for Tamarack Farms Christmas Trees in Richmond. "The people who like them cut like the smell of the tree, the feeling of the tree."
Like others throughout the area, Tamarack Farms is open weekends now through Christmas, offering visitors the chance to cut their own trees. Any size and type of tree costs $55 at the farm, where employees will help haul, shake, bail and tie down the trees if necessary.
Because some of the trees have been growing more than a decade, Tamarack has trees up to 12-feet tall for those with cathedral ceilings, Shaw said. And of course, smaller trees are available, as well.
"They can actually see what the tree is going to look like when they put it in their living rooms," Shaw said.
Perks, such as the free hot chocolate and cookies at Tamarack, often come along with the farm visits.
At Oney's Tree Farm in Woodstock, open daily and believed to be the oldest and largest in the area, Mrs. Claus greets visitors on the weekends, and free horse-drawn wagons take customers to and from their trees, even hauling the trees back from the field.
"We think it's stepping back in time," Owner Dawn Peterson said.
She's watched at least four generations of families make Oney's a Christmas tradition since the 1960s. Pony rides, a gift shop, hot lunches and the farm's "famous cinnamon rolls" also are available.
"A 12-year-old told me one time that Christmas didn't start until she got her cinnamon roll," Peterson said.
At Oney's, visitors can harvest their own, pick out a pre-cut tree or buy a tree with roots for later planning, with prices varying depending on the size and type of tree. Prices start at $30 for a tree less than 5 feet, while pre-cut trees start at $68.
"Even in recession, depression, good times and bad times, it always seems to be pretty consistent," Peterson said of her customer base. "I find that's actually a testament to what Christmas is about. It's about faith, hope and love, all positive things. So even in a recession, people still want to hold to that ideal. It's very important to them. That's a testament of goodness that our numbers remain consistent, because that means families are celebrating."
CHRISTMAS TREE FARMS – Here are some local Christmas tree farms in McHenry County.
ANTHONY'S TREE FARM – 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends through Dec. 15, 320 Raycraft Road, Woodstock. Information: www.anthonystreefarm.com.
BEN'S CHRISTMAS TREE FARM – 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekends through Dec. 22, 7719 Ryan Road, Harvard, 630-279-0216.
BILL’S FRIENDLY CHRISTMAS TREE FARM – 8 a.m. to dusk daily through Dec. 22, 3102 W. Miller Road, Spring Grove, 847-770-1421.
CAL AND SHAN'S CHRISTMAS TREE FARM – 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends to Dec. 22, 14216 Thayer Road and 3509 Lily Pond Road, Woodstock, 815-648-2300.
GRANDPA'S CHRISTMAS TREE FARM – 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Dec. 7-8 and 14-15, 13616 Route 176, Woodstock, 815-337-2682. All trees $56 (shaking, baling and tax included).
GRIZZY'S TREE FARM – 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends to Dec. 15, 15900 Marengo Road, Union, 847-812-2961.
M & M CHRISTMAS TREE FARM – 9 a.m. to dusk weekends through Dec. 15, 11715 Brier Hill Road, Huntley, 847-275-8720.
MT. THABOR TREE FARM – 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends and 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday through Dec. 15, 4813 Mt. Thabor Road, Woodstock, 815-382-6938.
ONEY'S TREE FARM AND NURSERY – 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily through Dec. 15, 16608 Route 14, Woodstock, 815-338-4108.
PINE-APPLE FARM – 9 a.m. to dusk weekends, 309 Three Oaks Road, Cary, 847-639-3248.
PIONEER TREE FARM – 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 7-8, and 14-15, 4614 Pioneer Road, McHenry, 815-385-8512. All trees $45. Ten percent of tree sales donated to Environmental Defenders of McHenry County.
RICHARDSON CHRISTMAS TREES – 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily to Dec. 23, 9405 Richardson Road, Spring Grove, 815-675-9729. Trees from $29-$59.
TAMARACK FARMS – 10 a.m. to dusk Friday through Sunday through Dec. 22, 6219 W. Broadway, Richmond, 815-678-3500.By JAMI KUNZER - email@example.com


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The RSI Expo and Technical Conference returns this fall in Fort Worth, TX on October 11-13. The conference will reconnect the industry as well as provide attendees education that will keep them up to date on the latest developments impacting the railway supply industry.
From operating officers and engineers to owners, procurement professionals and executives, RSI will host a diverse group of an estimated 1,000 attendees and will provide connections that will support and grow your company. Hosted in Fort Worth, a major hub for the railway industry, attendees will convene with important decision-makers and experience critical education!
Registration opens soon. For more information, visit our event website at rsiconference.org.
About the Railway Supply Institute (RSI)
The Railway Supply Institute (RSI) is a trade association representing more than 160 companies involved in the manufacture of products and services in the freight car, tank car, locomotive, maintenance-of-way, communications and signaling, and passenger rail industries. RSI connects members to their customers and partners, supports the improvement of the industry, assists members in the global marketplace, and represents the industry during the regulatory and legislative process. For more information visit www.rsiweb.org, follow RSI on Twitter and join the RSI LinkedIn group.


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Funding to accelerate product development and support global expansion
NEW YORK, NY – Cyndx Holdings LLC (“Cyndx”) today announced that Rakuten Capital, the investment arm of global innovation leader Rakuten, Inc., headquartered in Tokyo, is making an investment into Cyndx and its subsidiaries, Cyndx Networks LLC and CDX Advisors LLC.
The investment will help Cyndx accelerate the development of its unique suite of fintech products as well as support the expansion of CDX Advisors globally.
“We are very excited to have Rakuten as our new partner and look forward to leveraging their world-class fintech expertise, heritage of innovation and global reach and experience,” said James McVeigh, founder and CEO of Cyndx.
Following the investment, Oskar Mielczarek de la Miel, Managing Partner at Rakuten Capital, will join the board of Cyndx.
“Cyndx is bringing a disruptive, tech-enabled approach to investment analysis, private capital sourcing and M&A advisory. We look forward to working with them to continue to grow the business and develop a next-generation investment advisory and data platform,” said Oskar Mielczarek de la Miel, Managing Partner at Rakuten Capital.
Cyndx’s fintech products leverage its proprietary database and use AI, deep learning and NLP algorithms to provide companies, investors and advisors with the most relevant information for capital raising, M&A and other strategic decisions. The company’s unique approach of fostering collaboration between data scientists, software product experts and M&A specialists is enabling the creation of new products that help customers find the right partners and discover new business opportunities.
Rakuten Capital is a corporate venture capital group that invests in innovative and disruptive financial services start-ups across the world and provides funding, expertise in financial services and asset management to help portfolio companies grow and expand into new markets. Since its launch in 2015, Rakuten Capital has invested more than $1.5 billion globally in dozens of technology ventures.
Cyndx is a financial technology company reimagining how people discover business opportunities. Cyndx has developed and continues to refine a SaaS platform, powered by AI, deep learning and NLP-driven algorithms, that enables companies, advisors and investors to see relationships and emerging opportunities in the global private capital markets as they happen. For more information: www.cyndx.com.
About CDX Advisors
CDX Advisors provides a unique set of investment banking services to growth companies in the TMT sector. CDX combines a highly experienced team of bulge-bracket trained advisors with a suite of technology tools using AI, deep learning and NLP, along with a massive proprietary database, to provide differentiated insights and deliver superior outcomes for its clients. For more information: www.cdxadvisors.com.
About Rakuten Capital
Rakuten Capital is a corporate venture capital group that provides funding, sector experience and operational support to its portfolio companies across the world. Rakuten Capital is part of the Rakuten Group, one of the world’s leading Internet service companies. Rakuten has built and invested in innovative Internet businesses in e-commerce, financial services, digital content and advertising since 1997. Rakuten has ranked in the top 30 of Forbes Magazine’s annual “World’s Most Innovative Companies” list, and operates in Asia, Europe and the Americas. The company is headquartered in Tokyo and is publicly traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. For more information: capital.rakuten.com


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Saturday, April 12, 2008
The cost of rice in China
Philippine activists warn about possible riots. Aid agencies across Asia worry how they will feed the hungry. Governments dig deeper every day to fund subsidies.
A sharp rise in the price of rice is hitting consumer pocketbooks and raising fears of public turmoil in the many parts of Asia where rice is a staple.
Part of a surge in global food costs, rice prices on world markets have jumped 50 percent in the past two months and at least doubled since 2004. Experts blame rising fuel and fertilizer expenses as well as crops curtailed by disease, pests and climate change. There are concerns prices could rise a further 40 percent in coming months.
You can play a game on line and rice will be donated to feed the poor.
Here is the rice game.


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London Gatwick is delighted to announce that wagamama will open a flagship airport restaurant in the North Terminal next summer.
The new restaurant is in direct response to passenger feedback to see a wagamama at Gatwick. Recent research saw the brand hit the top spot for restaurant chains passengers would like to visit at the airport – 33% asked for it – ensuring the airport experience truly reflects passengers’ needs.
The restaurant will have an extensive offering including 365-day-a year opening; a healthy breakfast menu; a separate take-away counter; USB charge points and more.
Charlotte Christiansen, Business Development Manager for Catering at London Gatwick, said:
“We are delighted that the innovative wagamama brand will be opening a flagship restaurant at Gatwick next summer. wagamama is a world-renowned restaurant and is hugely popular with our passengers and its extensive menu is perfectly matched to airport dining as it is quick, fresh and sumptuous. A third of our passengers told us they would like to see a wagamama at Gatwick so we have acted on this.”
Simon Cope, Global Brand Director of wagamama, said:
“We are thrilled to be opening this flagship restaurant at Gatwick airport. Airports are a natural location for us, as they address our core target customer who wants delicious, freshly cooked food, served quickly for convenience. Our unique design and fresh pan-Asian cooking will stand out in offering Gatwick’s passengers a first class airport experience.”
The announcement comes hot-on-the-heels of Gatwick’s commitment to spend another £1 billion over the next seven years to continue the on-going transformation of the airport, including the retail and catering offering for passengers.
The investment builds on the re-vamp of the South and North Terminal where more than 15 restaurants have opened in the past three years including Jamie’s Italian, Comptoir Libanais, Nando’s, Yo! Sushi and The London Bar, a classic cocktail bar.
Passenger ratings of food and beverage at Gatwick have improved significantly in recent years, with 86% of passengers now scoring the selection of outlets available as either excellent or good.
For more information about wagamama, please visit: www.wagamama.com.


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Isuzu and General Motors will be recalling more than 258,000 SUVs in the US and Canada to fix the problem of short circuits in power window and door lock switches. The vehicles have been recalled so that the door lock switches do not cause fire.
The recall covers the vehicles like GMC Envoy, Chevrolet TrailBlazer, Buick Rainier, Saab 97-X SUVs, Isuzu Ascender from the 2006 and 2007 model years. So far GM has reports of 28 fires and does not know of any injuries caused due to the problem. GM in a document posted on the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Website said that that the fluid can get inside the driver’s door and cause corrosion in the power window and door switch circuit boards.


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Author Lauren Howells
Food inflation is the “highest for four years” according to new figures released by the Office for National Statistics around UK consumer price inflation.
The , released earlier this week, showed that the inflation rate for food and non-alcoholic drinks continued to increase to 4.1%, the highest since September 2013 which could make for an expensive Christmas dinner.
“Higher cost of Christmas dinner”
In response to the release of these figures, the trade association for UK retailers, the British Retail Consortium, said that the data pointed to a “higher cost of Christmas dinner”.
Rachel Lund, Head of Retail Insight & Analytics at the BRC said: “It may be an expensive Christmas dinner this year as a combination of more costly imports and higher world food prices, particularly for dairy products, pushed food price inflation over four percent year on year in October.
“With more of consumers’ incomes being absorbed in spending on food, retailers of non-food products are having to compete harder for business. In a dismal month for non-food sales, shoppers were offered significant discounts, leading to a drop in the inflation rate of goods such as furniture and clothing.”
The 12-month Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate remained unchanged at 3% in October, in part due to “falling motor fuel and furniture prices” cancelling out the effect of higher food prices.
Price of fish has gone up by 8.5%
According to the ONS figures, the price of fish has risen by 8.5% and the cost of milk, cheese and eggs by 4.8%.
Those veggie sides on your Christmas dinner could cost much more than you remember from last year, as the cost of vegetables has gone up by 5.7%. The price of meat has also risen by 3.9%.
Oils and fats have increased by 5.6%.
Coffee, tea and cocoa also saw a significant rise of 8.5% and wine and beer saw price increases of 3.2% and 4.3% respectively.
Sugar, jam, syrups, chocolate and confectionery only saw a 1.2% rise.
‘Real term’ weekly earnings have fallen
Meanwhile, figures released by the ONS on the UK labour market showed that between July and September 2017, there were 32.06 million people in work, 14,000 fewer than for April to June 2017. However, this was still 279,000 more than for a year earlier.
Estimates also showed that ‘real term’ weekly earnings, which are adjusted for price inflation, for UK employees fell by 0.5% excluding bonuses.
The BRC said that this meant that budgets in the run-up to the festive period would be stretched.
Ms Lund continued:
“The lack of wage growth is a concern for both retail and the UK economy. The Bank of England and other forecasters, have consistently expected an imminent pick up in wage growth and been disappointed.”


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SINGAPORE - Issues relating to the latest round of trade negotiations among the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) membership, is one of many items on Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade) Lim Hng Kiang's agenda as he heads to Kenya for a ministerial conference this week.
Mr Lim will join officials from over 160 member states at the four-day 10th WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, from Tuesday (Dec 15).
Ministers will discuss at the conference issues relating to the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations - the latest round of trade negotiations among the WTO's membership.
While in Kenya, Mr Lim will also call on Kenyan Cabinet secretaries and meet representatives of Kenyan companies to discuss developments in Kenya's economy and opportunities in sectors like transport and logistics, urban solutions and agribusiness.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement that the WTO is the cornerstone of Singapore's trade policy. "The rules-based multilateral trading system embodied in the WTO enables trade to flow freely and predictably, which is essential for a trading nation such as Singapore," it said.
The 10th WTO Ministerial Conference is the first WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in Africa, and it will mark the 20th anniversary of the WTO's establishment.
Mr Lim will be accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney-General's Chambers.


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A co-founder of investment platform AJ Bell and the owner of a two-starred Michelin restaurant has invested £1.2m in a healthy meal delivery provider founded by a former rugby league player and his wife.
Andy Bell, who is stepping down as the Salford-based company's CEO on October 1, has joined with Fergus Lyons, a former director at AJ Bell, to back Warrington-based Fuel Hub. Mr Bell also owns restaurant Moor Hall.
The business was founded in 2019 by husband-and-wife team, James and Michelle Laithwaite.
Mr Laithwaite is a retired professional rugby league player and used to play for the likes of Warrington Wolves and Leigh Centurions. Mrs Laithwaite is a former global wholesale fashion manager.
The company prepares, cooks and delivers chef-prepared, nutrition-focused meals to sports organisations and elite athletes across the UK. Its clients include the EFL Championship, Team GB, England Rugby, Fulham FC, Blackpool FC, Derby County, Warrington Wolves and Catalan Dragons.
Fuel Hub plans to use the investment to focus on its business on B2B sports nutrition which will be supported by its direct to consumer business.
Mr and Mrs Laithwaite will retain a 50% ownership of and will remain as COO and CEO respectively..
The funds will be used to scale operations, starting with a move into a new 10,000 square ft facility, which will increase capacity to over 20,000 meals per week.
Fuel Hub also plans to double its staff headcount to 30 over the next 12 months and generate a similar increase in partnerships with sports organisations.
Mrs Laithwaite said: "This investment is a turning point for our business as it provides us with the means to scale our operational capabilities and the capacity to partner with even more sports organisations and bodies across the UK.
"It’s exciting to be able to tap into the expertise of Andy and Fergus, and we’re looking forward to building on the impressive growth we have achieved since we started.
"We are uniquely positioned to take advantage of the untapped and lucrative market for nutritionally balanced meals for elite sports people."
Mr Bell added: "Great businesses need great products and great people. Fuel Hub has both.
"Michelle and James’ enthusiasm for what is clearly a thriving business in an untapped market made this one of my easier investment decisions."
Fuel Hub is expected to turn over £2m in 2022, up from just over £600,000 in 2021.
Mr Laithwaite said: "Whether it’s on training days, pre-and-post match or at home, I personally know the barriers teams and athletes face when getting their hands on quality nutrition.
"I know the impact the right food has on your physical and mental wellbeing, and this is paramount to perform at your best – be that in sport, business or day-to-day life.
"The investment will enable us to provide even more teams and athletes with the crucial nutrition they need to perform at the highest level."


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Pier 1 Imports, purveyor of Papasan chairs and colorful home decor, is shuttering its stores for good
For decades, Pier 1 was one of the most popular home places to shop for cute, colorful, and affordable home goods and decor. Sure, their popularity had waned a little with the rise of e-commerce goliaths like Amazon. But they were still around, still a prime spot to snag super-cute Papasan cushions or, like, salt-and-pepper shakers that look like llamas. But now, due to economic strain from the coronavirus pandemic, the retailer is sadly packing it in.
Although they filed for bankruptcy back in February, the hope remained that Pier 1 would be able to recover. With COVID-19 continuing to wreak havoc on the economy, though, the home-decor chain has decided to close all 540 of their stores for good.
“This decision follows months of working to identify a buyer who would continue to operate our business going forward. Unfortunately, the challenging retail environment has been significantly compounded by the profound impact of COVID-19, hindering our ability to secure such a buyer and requiring us to wind down,” Pier 1’s CEO/CFO Robert Riesbeck revealed in a statement.
So, what happens next? Currently, Pier 1 stores across the nation are already closed temporarily in accordance with safety guidelines. Once they are able to reopen, the company will begin an “orderly wind-down.” That means selling off all inventory and any other assets via a court-supervised process.
It’s the latest untimely end of a “non-essential” store in the face of the pandemic. If it feels like Pier 1 has always been around, well, it effectively has for many of us — it was founded in 1962. On its website, the company describes its first customers as “post-World War II baby boomers looking for beanbag chairs, love beads, and incense.”
From the onset, they clearly had their eye on a specific customer demographic: counterculture youth, people looking for cheap home goods with quirky charm and loads of personality. Thus explaining their “wide selection of merchandise through the years, from chocolate-covered ants to clothing lines to life-size Spanish suits of armor.”
It goes without saying that Pier 1 isn’t the only company dealing with the negative effects of the pandemic lockdown. Many major retailers have filed for bankruptcy, and several — including J.C. Penney, Sears, and Nordstrom — seem to be in real danger of suffering the same fate as Pier 1.


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The value of GM stock grew during the November 2nd, 2020 to November 6th, 2020 timeframe. Shares closed the week at $37.47 per share, which represents an increase of $2.94 per share, or nearly 9 percent, compared to last week’s closing value of $34.53.
Movement & Ranges
By comparison, shares of GM’s cross-town rival, the Ford Motor Company, grew $0.06 per share, or less than 1 percent, during the November 2nd, 2020 to November 6th, 2020 timeframe. It’s worth mentioning the fact that The Blue Oval recorded a better U.S. sales performance during Q3 2020, beating out all three fellow domestic automakers: GM, FCA, and Tesla.
GM Stock Factors
Two rather significant GM stock factors this week would be the rather uncertain results of the 2020 presidential election, which went to Joe Biden as of this writing, along with GM’s Q3 2020 earnings, which are headlined by a $4 billion income on $35.5 billion in revenue. Compared to the third quarter of 2019, these results represent a 74 percent jump in income on equal revenue.
Despite tight inventory, GM’s large pickup trucks sold well during the third quarter, especially heavy duty models – the Silverado HD and Sierra HD. Through the third quarter, GM’s large pickups gained 1.7 percentage points in retail market share, leading the segment with 37.5 percent share, based on J.D. Power data. It’s also worth highlighting the fact that the Chevy Corvette just received a segment award in the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Resale Value Awards, which aim to identify which vehicle makes and models hold the highest percentage of their original resale value after three years of ownership.
It’s also worth noting that production of the C8 Corvette is back on track following a stop in production due to supplier constraints, marking the third “restart” of the new-generation sports coupe’s assembly line this year.
Additionally, General Motors president Mark Reuss confirmed that the automaker was still in discussions to form a partnership with Nikola, during a recent conference call with analysts. Notably, Nikola shares were up by 10 percent following the statement. GM has so far maintained its position regarding its strategic partnership with Nikola and the electric truck startup’s controversial woes.
Several weeks ago, we reported on GM’s agreement to repay $28M in state tax incentives as well as a renegotiation of the Nikola Motor Company deal, wherein The General would get an increased stake in the electric pickup truck startup. As reported, Nikola Motor Company shares fell following claims that company founder, Trevor Milton, overstated the startup’s tech capabilities, while GM held its ground and maintained its support of the agreement. Mr. Milton has since stepped down and the Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Department of Justice have begun their investigations. Currently, Nikola stock is valued at $19.58 per share, after reaching $50.05 on September 8th and falling to $17.88 on September 29th.
Electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors recently began publicly trading on the NASDAQ as “RIDE.” This may seem favorable to investors, as GM previously announced it would invest $75 million into the EV startup, including $25 million in cash, and $50 million in production plant assets permits. GM also appointed new personnel this week, with Paul Jacobson stepping in as the new executive Vice President and CFO.
Other recent developments that may be influencing the value of GM stock include General Motors Ventures‘ new interest in Envisics, a U.K.-based startup developing augmented reality (AR) technology for automotive applications. GM believes the tech may find a place in the automaker’s up-and-coming all-electric vehicle models, such as the Cadillac Lyriq crossover. On a somewhat related note, The General and its autonomous driving subsidiary, Cruise, will soon apply for an exemption that will allow it to begin testing vehicles without a steering wheel or pedals on public roads in the United States.
Additionally, it seems some investors are banking on the expectation of a significant boost to stock prices following a spin-off for GM electric vehicle business. Notably, General Motors is working hard to introduce 20 new EV models by 2023. It’s also worth pointing out that the same can also be said for Ford, and such a trend would undoubtedly benefit another competitor as well, Tesla. More recently, the announcement of the GM-Honda alliance may also be of great significance to investors.
The optimistic projections followed GM’s plan to roll out an electrified portfolio, which includes an electric van, a Chevrolet EV pickup truck, the GMC Hummer EV as well as the aforementioned Cadillac Lyriq, which was revealed in August and should have a starting price of under $60,000. Shortly before the reveal of the all-new GMC Hummer EV pickup truck on October 20th, GM stock prices were up 6.75 percent to $35.60 per share before continuing on to a weekly high of $38.03 on Friday morning, October 23rd.
GM has also resumed construction at the site of its Canada McLaughlin Advanced Technology Track in Oshawa, Ontario after it was forced to postpone the project due to the COVID-19 pandemic. GM’s decision to begin producing trucks at the Oshawa plant has sparked a sense of concern amongst U.S. workers, who are now anxiously anticipating volume reduction. GM announced this week that it would invest between $1 billion and $1.3 billion in the GM Oshawa Assembly plant in order to begin producing the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks there.
Moreover, The General recently announced that it’s seeking to add 1,100 new team members to the Ultium Cells LLC battery production plant in Lordstown, Ohio. The facility will mass-produce Ultium battery cells for use in General Motors’ upcoming range of all-electric vehicle offerings.
GM During COVID-19
The coronavirus pandemic initially forced GM to idle production across North America, South America and China as a result of the virus, putting the firm in a very unfavorable position. During such a scenario, any automaker – GM included – sees revenues fall sharply while rapidly burning through cash, resulting in a loss-making turn of events. Since the beginning of the pandemic, GM production in China has resumed, as did production across North America on May 18th.
GM has taken major steps to get through the COVID-19 pandemic, with the actions primarily revolving around fortifying its balance sheet. These moves entail reducing and/or deferring expenses, while shoring up cash and other forms of liquidity.
The General also had to cope with a small number of coronavirus cases at some of its facilities, including 22 confirmed cases at the Arlington Plant in Texas. Despite a high rate of worker absenteeism, GM has decided to keep the third shift at the Wentzville Assembly plant by relocating employees, after previously announcing that it would be cut. However, no major outbreaks have been officially reported so far.
GM Before COVID-19
It’s worth noting that GM share values were experiencing ongoing ups and downs since mid-2018, long before coronavirus complications, though shares never dipped to the levels observed in the first quarter of 2020.
For the most part, GM stock was in limbo throughout 2019, seeing a jump in value as a result of overwhelmingly positive Q2 2019 earnings, wherein the automaker outperformed expectations. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, several factors negatively impacted GM stock price during 2019, including:
- A UAW labor strike that lasted 40 days, resulting in no vehicles being built in the United States during that timeframe. Production was also idled in other countries as a result of supply chain-related issues caused by the UAW strike
- Warning signs of an economic slowdown
- Escalations with a trade war with China
Over the last few years, GM has taken many steps to increase the value of its stock, including exiting markets where it can’t find ways to turn a profit (such as Europe, South Africa and India), closing plants in various parts of the world, divesting loss-making divisions (such as Opel-Vauxhall), making adjustments to its business model in order to prioritize profitability over chasing market-share goals, focusing on its Cadillac luxury brand to increase its share of high-profit automobiles, investing heavily into new-age mobility ventures such as electric vehicles and autonomous driving tech, while discontinuing some sedans (Cruze, Sonic, Volt, Impala, Regal, LaCrosse, XTS, CT6) and closing various plants to focus on more profitable crossovers, SUVs and pickup trucks, such as the all-new 2021 Cadillac Escalade that was unveiled on February 4th.
Seeking to further minimize activities in unprofitable markets, General Motors also announced its intention to phase out the Holden brand in Australia and New Zealand, in addition to pulling the Chevrolet brand out of Thailand while selling the GM Rayong Manufacturing Complex to Great Wall Motors. In addition, GM recently announced its decision to shut down its Maven car-sharing service.
Despite these actions, the value of GM stock has historically struggled to surpass the $40 mark, spending most of its time in the $33-$38 per share range (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic). The chain of events is problematic given that the “new GM” had its Initial Public Offering (IPO) at $33 per share in November 2010, causing frustration upon many investors.
We remain interested in seeing how GM stock performs through the rest of 2020, especially following the COVID-19 crisis and upcoming 2020 presidential election.
Additionally, the refresh of many 2021 models will be delayed, including the Cadillac XT4, Chevrolet Traverse, Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain, and Chevrolet Bolt EV. In fact, the overall roll-out plan for most GM products has been pushed back, which also includes the launch of the Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing and CT5-V Blackwing models.
That said, there are still some good things happening for GM in 2020, including market share gains and production increases for the Silverado and the Sierra during Q2 2020 as well as strong Chevrolet Blazer sales and Chevrolet Trailblazer sales. Notably, GMC Sierra inventory is extremely low as the automaker can’t build enough of them to meet strong demand. Most of GM’s range of redesigned full-size SUVs are now in stock on dealer lots, which includes the 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe and 2021 Suburban as well as the 2021 GMC Yukon and 2021 Yukon XL. Notably, regular production (SORP) for the 2021 Yukon diesel is set to kick off November 16th.


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Recent reports revealed that wine investment has overtaken classic cars as the most favoured investment choice of the private enthusiast. Yet as the plethora of investment funds focusing on wine attest, the sector is of prime interest to the serious money men as well. So what does Brexit mean for the future of wine investment? As the post-Brexit landscape starts to emerge, what are the considerations for the canny investor?
Pound packs less punch
Foremost to bear in mind, whether fleshing out a personal collection or charting the next steps for an institutional fund, are the new movements in the pound. On the night the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU, the pound had been trading at around €1.45. Already, amid uncertainty surrounding the eventual outcome of negotiations, the pound is buying as little as €1.17. Analysts warn that future volatility may still lie ahead.
So is this really the ideal time to make big purchases on the continent? Already competition for the most prestigious vintages has long been an international pursuit. Japan led the arrival of Eastern investors a generation ago and it is now six years since the launch of the first government-backed Chinese wine fund. With global interest in the premium labels likely to see prices holding up well, UK investors operating with a weakened pound are set to remain at a temporary disadvantage when chasing the top en primeur vintages.
Decline of the City?
The investor with an eye on the fortunes of the City of London may also be wise to wait and see. Although the culture of the City lunch has long been in decline, the spending power of London bankers has been a driving force for the city’s luxury sector. Already since Brexit, prices for prime London property have dropped, in some cases by as much as 20%. Efforts are already afoot in the financial centres of Frankfurt and Paris to attract business. Whether the top end of the London wine trade can escape similar consequences to the property sector will turn in large part on the City’s fortunes in the uncertain Brexit negotiations still ahead.
Could wine keep going up?
Yet wine could remain an attractive investment for exactly that reason. The flight to less conventional investment options at moments of uncertainty is well known. Despite its untested status and volatile movements, the new currency Bitcoin enjoyed a meteoric rise in value in the years after the banking crisis of 2008. So did that traditional safe haven for nervous money, gold bullion. With the prices of Bordeaux seconds trading at 600% of their 2003 value, some have questioned the space for further appreciation. But it seems certain the wine will continue to attract the attention of the investors whose eye goes beyond temporary turmoil to long term appreciation.
Brexit may prove a boon to the domestic British wine industry. Today’s English vineyards sit in the places where champagne-like wines were grown during the Middle Ages, when slightly different climates allowed such wines to be produced on both sides of the English Channel. While the pound continues to drop, UK investors will be tempted to divert their purchasing to domestic sparkling wines and whites, which are rapidly attracting praise and prizes in equal measure. This may also be the moment too when such vineyards have an opportunity to come to notice overseas. Ever more attractively priced to continental buyers as the Euro becomes a more powerful purchaser, English domestic wines are well placed to achieve their breakthrough moment overseas.
Lastly, Brexit may prove a road bump in the rise of prosecco of recent years. The alternative to champagne has become fashionable as tastes widen and sparkling wine is no longer seen as the preserve of special occasions, so much so that the wine enjoyed a rise in sales in 2016 of fully 40%. Yet an unforeseen outcome of Brexit could be less Italian fizz at social occasions across the country, as trade tariffs return in the aftermath of unsuccessful negotiations.
Such concerns have long been raised before, however, with events from the Iraq War to the credit crunch all bringing their warnings that the age of profitable wine investment may be coming to a close. Every time, wine investment has continued to produce steady and safe returns for the patient investor. At a moment of uncertainty, both the private investor and the institutional market man is wise to think through the implications of the new landscape, but there is every reason to think that wine will continue to be as successful a long term investment as before.


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More and more brands are prioritizing using sustainable materials for their products, and so they're buying recycled polyester, better cotton, and responsible leather; however, according to a new report from Textile Exchange, more radical action is needed to really transform supply chains.
Published earlier this week, the Material Change Index Insights report assessed the uptake of preferred raw materials — the ones certified under a sustainability standard or initiative — and responsible sourcing practices across 292 various brands and retailers representing around $680 billion in turnover.
The report's findings pointed to a few positive changes, such as preferred materials accounted for half of all fibers used by brands in 2020 for the first time, up from 44% in 2019 and 36% in 2018. Additionally, greenhouse gas emissions associated with material production decreased by over 5% to 11.2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2020, after essentially flatlining for the last two years at 11.8 million tonnes.
According to this report, the progress is partially due to disruptions caused by the pandemic. Textile Exchange director of corporate benchmarking Liesl Truscott says that companies' responses to the pandemic were extremely polarising, half choosing to double down on sourcing better materials and the other half cutting back.
"It will take a few years to see if it actually continues to be a trend. We need to be thinking about not just transitioning to preferred materials but really looking at consumption. That means the industry must tackle the tricky challenge of degrowth. Fashion needs to move to a model of decoupling profit, prosperity and success from continued growth of the use of particularly virgin materials," said Liesl Truscott.


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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - U.S. wireless providers hope to strike gold in the growing market for music downloads.
Some analysts, however, predict they might dig up something much less valuable.
With most Americans already signed up for monthly cell phone plans, carriers like Verizon Wireless, Cingular Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. are looking for new ways to boost revenue.
Getting customers to sign up for costlier high-speed Internet services is one way to accomplish that goal. To attract customers to those premium features, though, wireless providers need to offer compelling content.
Hoping to mirror their success with digital ring tones - a global market that went from zero to $7 billion in less than five years - carriers are pushing into the market for downloaded songs.
The prices charged for such services, however, along with the sheer number of digital music alternatives, suggests their initiatives might not generate big sales or pose a threat to Apple Computer Inc.'s popular iTunes site anytime soon.
"Music downloads have a place, but they are not going to be the revenue generator the carriers hope they will be," said Jane Zweig, chief executive of The Shosteck Group, a wireless consultancy firm.
One of the biggest obstacles to growth is the relatively high price that the carriers have been charging for songs.
For example, Sprint Nextel Corp. S, -0.49% launched a service that allows customers to download songs to their mobile phones. The carrier charges $2.50 per song, and has sold 8 million tunes this year.
By contrast, Apple charges 99 cents per song and has sold 1.5 billion of them through its iTunes online store since 2003.
Verizon Wireless has launched a similar service and charges $2, though the company has not disclosed how many songs it has sold. Verizon Wireless is owned by Verizon Communications VZ, +0.24% and U.K-based Vodafone Group plc. VOD, -2.45%
Cingular, meanwhile, is feeling pressure to match its rivals. The carrier has fallen behind after helping to launch the market last year when it became the first company to provide access to the iTunes service, through Motorola's Rokr phone.
On Thursday, Cingular unveiled a new service that will give its cell phone customers access to monthly subscription plans from digital music sites including Yahoo! Music, Napster and eMusic. The carrier will also offer access to music channels provided by XM Satellite Radio. Prices range from $8 to $15 a month. Customers could also buy individual songs for as little as 99 cents. See full story.
Cingular said it will allow direct wireless downloads next year, but executives do not believe that's the best strategy for selling music.
Not a competitive price
A big question is what price consumers will be willing to pay for such services. Analysts doubt most people will pay $2.50 or even $2 per song just for the right to download them directly to their wireless phones.
"If you're in front of your computer, you don't want to pay more than $1 a song," said Albert Lin, wireless analyst at American Technology Research.
Cingular executives have drawn the same conclusion. That's why the company has chosen the subscription model and will let customers buy songs for 99 cents if they download them directly to their computers.
The trick is to make it easy for customers to move the songs from their PCs to their phones. Cingular said it will provide software to make it very easy for customers to "side-load" music from one device to the other in just one click.
"The Cingular approach is smart," said Zweig, who believes a subscription model not reliant on direct over-the-air downloads stands a better chance of modest commercial success.
What's more, phone companies have limited network capacity. They cannot price songs so low that their networks become overburdened. The result could be more dropped voice calls and lots of angry customers.
Even if wireless companies manage to sell lots of music, though, they might not make lots of money. That's because unlike ring tones, which are usually produced by digital composers who work for a nominal fee, the business of selling music is more crowded. While phone companies reap the lion's shares of ring tone profits, musicians, music companies, handset makers, wireless carriers and Internet-download sites all want a cut of the action for songs.
"It's nowhere as profitable as ring tones," Lin said. "There are more parties to satisfy with the economic pie."
The quality of music-capable phones is another problem. Although the technology keeps getting better, Consumer Reports magazine said in its November issue that handsets still need improvement.
What's more, people constantly change wireless phones and limited memory prevents them from storing many songs on their handsets. Most people who download music keep it on large computer hard drives or media "servers." From there, they transfer the music to their wireless phones or other devices.
"These new phones are better than earlier models, but unless you must have one now, wait until the phone/music marriage is on a firmer footing," the magazine advised its readers.
Music lovers also have other ways of getting music onto their phones. They can rip CDs themselves or buy songs directly from online sites and then add the music to their phones.
Handset makers such as Motorola, Nokia Corp. NOK, -0.52% and Sony Ericsson sell handsets with swappable memory. Customers simply have to transfer the music from their PC to their handset via portable flash cards.
"You don't have to do this over the air. You don't have to do this immediately," Zweig said. "There are a lot of alternatives available."


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Geomagic®, a global company providing 3D technology for digital reality, announced Geomagic® Spark™, the newest addition to the company’s line of powerful 3D scan, design and inspection applications, at the EuroMold 2012 exhibition (Hall 11. C132, … [Read more...] about Geomagic Announces Geomagic Spark, a New Approach to Designing from Scan Data
What a way to waste money; in legal fees. The dream of desktop stereolithography (SL) went on hold recently, as 3D Systems filed a lawsuit against Formlabs for its Form 1 desktop 3D printer, based on comments the Formlab executives reportedly said in … [Read more...] about Has the “war” among personal desktop 3D printers begun?
3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) announced its next generation ProJet® 3500 HDMax and CPXMax professional series 3D printers with features that offer greater productivity, larger high definition prints, and remote tablet controls for the production of … [Read more...] about ProJet 3500 Max 3D printer offers Multi-Jet Modeling technology
16 new rigid/rubber-like composites for seals and electronic applications bring the full Objet range to 123 materials. Objet Ltd., an innovation leader in 3D printing for rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing, announced the release of a … [Read more...] about More 3D printing materials for Objet
GE Aviation acquired the assets of Morris Technologies and its sister company, Rapid Quality Manufacturing, precision manufacturing companies operating in suburban Cincinnati, Ohio. Terms were not disclosed. The two privately held companies, with … [Read more...] about GE Aviation acquires Morris Technologies
Absolutely. In fact it's already being done. I am not convinced that 3D printing will "disrupt," as in destroy, manufacturing. I have said before that 3D printing is truly an additive technology in that it enhances and adds value to the … [Read more...] about Can 3D printing and CNC machining work together in one machine?
PADTInc., a company that provides rapid prototyping services, recently offered this blog about what designers need to know to get the most out of their rapid prototyping investment. This is excellent information, and well worth taking the time to … [Read more...] about 12 Things Every Engineer Should Know about Rapid Prototyping
For most of us, cupcakes are a pleasant treat, perhaps a momentary diversion. For Freed’s Bakery, though, cupcakes are serious business. And big business. That’s because Manchester, NH-based Freed’s, a division of Maplehurst Bakeries, Brownsburg, IN, … [Read more...] about 3-Dimensional Services’ Tool Keeps the Icing Flowing
An interesting news story from the Huffington Post comments on 3D printers latest capability to "print" chemicals. While Professor Lee Cronin uses a $2000 3D printer, the idea of using a 3D printer to mix materials is a concept Objet has been … [Read more...] about Using 3D printers to print chemicals
Solidscape®, Inc., a leading manufacturer of high precision 3D printers for direct manufacturing applications, launched the 3Z™ LAB 3D wax printer. Designed to meet the needs of dental labs, the fully automated 3Z LAB printer eases the transition … [Read more...] about Solidscape Launches 3D Printing System for Dental Labs


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DryShips, Inc. (DRYS) shares are down 7 percent to $0.13 in pre-market trading Wednesday after the company reported its fourth quarter earnings results.
The operator of oil rigs and dry cargo carriers posted a net loss of $527.6 million, or $0.79 basic and diluted share on revenues of $23.8 million.
For the year, the Athens, Greece-based company said that its loss widened to $2.85 billion, or $4.28 per share.
DRYS currently prints a one year loss of about 84% and a year-to-date loss of around 16%.
Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) are down nearly 13 points this morning on news the restaurant chain temporarily closed a location in the town of Billerica, outside Boston, after four employees became ill. The news comes as the company is trying to recover from a series of food-borne illness outbreaks that has already affected customers in Massachusetts and California.
Facebook (FB) – The NYPost reports that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is planning on hiring a lawyer experienced in dealing with the Federal Communications Commission as part of a plan to deliver internet access to less developed nations.
Shares of flooring maker Lumber Liquidators (LL) plunged 15% Tuesday on reports Whitney Tilson is shorting the name again, after covering a prior short in late 2015. Following the news, Lumber Liquidators accused the hedge fund manager of creating confusion in the marketplace for the purpose of making money. Tilson said in a Tuesday presentation at the Harbor Investment Conference entitled “Why I’m Again Short Lumber Liquidators In a Word: Cancer”, that he had “new information” suggesting that the chances of LL going down have “risen materially.”
“I now believe that the business has gone from worse to truly horrific,” Tilson told CNBC just after announcing his new short position.
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking a link, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!


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Solar panel market may be on the brink of warJuly 30, 2012
China’s efforts in the solar energy industry have caused tension
China has taken a keen interest in solar energy, namely in the manufacturing of solar panels. The country has thrown its industrial might behind the development and deployment of solar panels, aiming to inundate the global market with the resources it needs to make solar energy more accessible to consumers and businesses. Thus far, the country’s aim has been successful. As the abundance of solar panels grows, their cost diminishes. While this may be a welcome trend to those looking to adopt solar energy systems, many countries in the European Union believe that China’s efforts are meant to damage European solar energy companies.
EU ProSun established to fight for balance in the market
These European solar energy companies, as well as alternative energy advocacy organizations, have come together to form a new trade group called EU ProSun. The group’s mission statement makes no reference to China, but does highlight the potential consequences of China’s flooding of the solar panel market. Since China has begun producing solar panels en masse, several solar energy companies have been forced out of the market because of their inability to compete. This is not isolated to the European market, however, as several solar panel manufacturers in the Americas have also shut down due to China’s presence in the global market.
China’s presence in solar panel market pushing smaller companies into financial calamity
SolarWorld, the solar energy company that sparked the establishment of the new trade group, has seen first-hand what China’s presence has done to the global market. The company’s manufacturing branch in the U.S. was forced to shut down due to its inability to produce solar panels fast enough to keep up with the pace Chinese companies have been producing. SolarWorld notes that several companies in the EU have experiences similar events, which the company believes highlights the need for a trade group that strives to create balance in the global market.
EU ProSun files trade complain with European Commission
This week, EU ProSun confirmed that it had filed an official trade complaint with the European Commission against China. The complaint suggests that China is intentionally flooding the European market with low cost, low quality solar panels in an attempt to establish ownership of the solar panel market. Chinese manufacturing companies have denounced the complaint.
Related article(s) and resources:


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Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX, has called for more regulatory clarity as it is the only factor that will attract crypto innovators to the US. However, Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow, the chairwoman of the Senate’s agricultural committee, feels otherwise. She believes the presence of unregulated offshore marketplaces for digital assets poses unacceptable risks to consumers in the United States.
Bankman-Fried at the hearing, Examining Digital Assets: Risks, Regulation and Innovation, on digital assets said clarity on the cash cryptocurrency market would be great for the industry. He highlighted that a lot of institutional capital is waiting for just that to happen before moving into digital assets directly.
The FTX CEO suggested for a registration process for digital tokens as it would helpful for bringing activity back to the US. Bankman-Fried believes a lot of activity is taking place on foreign shores as there is no clear registration process for tokens. 95% of the volume is offshore and it is about time the United States takes it back. The executive added that crypto markets offer equitable access to all.
Bankman-Fried explained that market data in the digital asset space is free and transparent for everyone. All users can send orders directly to an exchange. In comparison, most consumers in the traditional financial markets can’t send their orders directly to the exchange’s matching engine. Customers have to depend on intermediaries which mean higher fees and lack of transparency and this results in a less favorable market structure.


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What started as an order from the Federal Trade Commission to mobile ad platform, Tapjoy, to clean up their act, has now branched out into a larger expression of concern about the state of mobile gaming and its major platform holders: Apple and Google.
FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra released an official statement regarding the order against Tapjoy, the result of a federal case against the company being settled. Tapjoy was accused of using their ad platform in a deceptive fashion. The platform was supposed to allow mobile developers to integrate ads into their games which subsequently offered rewards to players if they completed tasks like signing up for a subscription or purchased items. The FTC found that Tapjoy’s platform allowed for those rewards not to be delivered to players, as well as failing to share the ad revenue with the game developers. Such activities are a violation of the FTC Act’s prohibitions on unfair and deceptive practices.
Yet while Tapjoy was the primary focus of the statement, Commissioner Chopra (along with Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter) observed that Tapjoy’s actions seemed to be a symptom of a much larger problem. They pointed to Apple and Google as being the proximate source of the issues the FTC has been dealing with, not only with Tapjoy, but other companies as well.
“We should all be concerned that gatekeepers can harm developers and squelch innovation. The clearest example is rent extraction: Apple and Google charge mobile app developers on their platforms up to 30 percent of sales, and even bar developers from trying to avoid this tax through offering alternative payment systems,” Chopra wrote, a clear reference to the ongoing Apple v. Epic lawsuit. “This market structure also has cascading effects on gamers and consumers. Under heavy taxation by Apple and Google, developers have been forced to adopt alternative monetization models that rely on surveillance, manipulation, and other harmful practices.”
Chopra concluded the statement, writing, “The settlement proposed today should help reverse the lax policing practices that led hundreds of thousands of gamers to file complaints. But when it comes to addressing the deeper structural problems in this marketplace that threaten both gamers and developers, the Commission will need to use all of its tools – competition, consumer protection, and data protection – to combat middlemen mischief, including by the largest gaming gatekeepers.”
Food For Thought
If they weren’t before, Apple and Google now seem to be very firmly on the FTC’s radar. And while it’s unlikely that anything will be happening in the short term, there’s nothing specifically stopping the FTC from filing their own anti-trust suits against both companies. The smart move would be to wait until the outcome of Apple v. Epic and Google v. Epic, so that the FTC can examine the arguments the litigants are using. But right now, there may be some nervous executives in Cupertino and Mountain View.


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The New 911 Unveiled On Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Race Weekend At Sepang International Circuit.
The eighth generation of the iconic 911 (series 992) officially reached Malaysian shores on the 12th of July 2019 and it was launched by Sime Darby Auto Performance (SDAP) over the same race weekend of Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (PCCA) race series Rounds 6, 7 and 8 at Sepang International Circuit – a testament to the racing heritage of the 911.
The new 911 Carrera S/4S spots a full range of improvements over its predecessors, which could be read from a drive report recently concluded by our resident contributor Andre Lam. Click here for the jump to that article.
“The new 911 is a reflection of the past and a vision of the future, with its iconic silhouette and timeless design. It remains a sports car icon that has retained the public’s fascination since its arrival in the automotive scene over half a century ago. Due to the passionate and loyal following here, it comes as no surprise that Malaysia is the top market for the 911 in 2018 within the Porsche Asia Pacific region. The 911 GT3 Cup Car training at Porsche Experience Centre Sepang also took place for the first time in South East Asia in 2018, a reflection of the fervent customer base,” said Christopher Hunter, Chief Executive Officer of Sime Darby Auto Performance during the launch of the new 911.
He added: “With the new standard Wet Mode function, the iconic model’s capability in handling difficult adverse driving conditions is second to none, which is especially useful in our climate.”
Century sprint for the new 911 Carrera S is at 3.7 seconds while the new 911 Carrera 4S recorded its acceleration to 100 km/h at 3.6 seconds. Top speeds are now at 308 km/h for the Carrera S and 306 km/h for the all-wheel-drive Carrera 4S. The fuel consumption (NEDC-correlated) of the 911 Carrera S is 8.9 l/100 km, while the 911 Carrera 4S records this figure as 9.0 l/100 km. CO2 emissions combined stands at 205 g/km for the Carrera S, and 206 g/km for the Carrera 4S.
The new 911 Carrera S price starts from RM 1,150,000 while the new 911 Carrera 4S price starts from RM 1,220,000 respectively.


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- Market Capitalization, $K 74,902,792
- Shares Outstanding, K 1,884,347
- Annual Sales, $ 11,139 M
- Annual Income, $ -6,768 M
- 60-Month Beta 1.54
- Price/Sales 6.69
- Price/Cash Flow N/A
- Price/Book 5.34
|Period||Period Low||Period High||Performance|
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-1.25 (-3.05%)since 08/17/21
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-9.95 (-20.02%)since 06/17/21
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+2.69 (+7.26%)since 09/17/20
Small carriers are opting to bring only a power unit to a brokered transaction.
Palm Beach, FL - September 17, 2021 – FinancialNewsMedia.com News Commentary – The micro-mobility market is witnessing continually rising revenues. The market growth majorly attributes to the wide...
Uber Technologies (UBER) closed the most recent trading day at $39.75, moving +0.58% from the previous trading session.
Palm Beach, FL - September 17, 2021 – – The micro-mobility market is witnessing continually rising revenues. The market growth majorly attributes to the wide uptake of these small, lightweight vehicles,...
DoorDash is suing New York City over a new law that requires delivery companies to share customer data with restaurants.
UBER's chief technology officer, Sukumar Rathnam, who joined the company only last September, resigns. He is set to leave next month.
Grocery retailers like Kroger (KR), Walmart (WMT) and Albertsons (ACI) are bolstering their e-commerce capabilities with solutions like deliveries in less than an hour and drone services.
The significant and highly uncertain regulatory overhang coming out of Beijing has made Chinese tech an uninvestable class of public equities
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A court in Amsterdam ruled Monday that Uber drivers fall under the Dutch taxi drivers' collective labor agreement — meaning they are entitled to the same employment benefits...
DALLAS (AP) — The CEO of Salesforce said the company will help employees leave Texas, and he did so while retweeting a story linking the offer to concern about Texas’ new anti-abortion law.
|Uber Technologies Inc|
|Total Stock Market ETF Vanguard|
|Growth ETF Vanguard|
|Russell 1000 Growth Ishares ETF|
|Extended Market Index ETF Vanguard|
|USA Momentum Factor Ishares Edge MSCI ETF|
|3rd Resistance Point||41.15|
|2nd Resistance Point||40.69|
|1st Resistance Point||40.22|
|1st Support Level||39.28|
|2nd Support Level||38.82|
|3rd Support Level||38.35|


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Much like fine wine, we believe there are cars get better with age.
Read This Article
The 2014 Ford Mustang has been priced and there are a few changes coming for the iconic pony.
As women influence car-buying decisions in every four out of five purchases, it's important to cater more to their needs.
Ford has released a lightning storm of details on its 2012 Focus Electric.


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Thornton Tomasetti’s CORE studio has released an alpha
version of Platypus for Grasshopper plug-in.
Platypus allows Grasshopper authors to stream geometry
to the web in real time. It works like a chatroom for parametric geometry and allows for on-the-fly 3D model mashups in the web browser. Multiple Grasshopper authors can stream geometry into a shared 3D environment on the web – a Platypus Session – and multiple viewers can join that session on 3dplatyp.us to interact with the 3D model. Platypus can be used to present parametric 3D models to a remote audience, to collaborate with other Grasshopper users, or both.


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Elland Brewery’s 1872 Porter (6.5% ABV) has struck gold and has been crowned the best in Britain after winning the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) prestigious Champion Beer of Britain competition.
The 1872 Porter was crowned the official winner at this year’s Great British Beer Festival (GBBF), following a rigorous and hard-fought competition. The beer has been awarded Champion Winter Beer of Britain four times previously, the most recent being this year.
Champion Beer of Britain co-ordinator Christine Cryne said it was a deserving champion, despite incredibly strong competition. She described the beer as a ruby black porter, with chocolate and caramelised fruit flavours with a hint of black toffee on the nose. The judges enjoyed its smooth mouthfeel with a finish that is roasty and dry. A satisfying and remarkably easy drinking porter.
Brewer Rob Thomas said: “It is absolutely unbelievable to win this accolade, we really didn’t expect it. For a team of three people to win the supreme award is fantastic. There is a real passion for more traditional styles – and for a very good reason, they taste fantastic!
“The beer is steeped in history with the recipe dating back more than 150 years. We thrive on these sorts of styles and this is testament to what people enjoy drinking: steeped in history, tradition while embracing innovation”.
Laura Emson, CAMRA’s National Director responsible for the competition, says: “Congratulations to Elland Brewery for winning this year’s Champion Beer of Britain Award. As ever, it was a highly competitive final, with the judges having a difficult decision to make. Congratulations to all the finalists – it really shows the wide range and amazing cask beers which are available for all to enjoy.


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Catriona Gray's Miss Universe, Miss World gowns on display in a mall
MANILA, Philippines — Apart from her iconic lava walk, Catriona Gray’s Philippine culture-inspired gowns have made her memorable as Miss Universe 2018.
A new exhibition in Manila aims to relive Catriona’s journey by showing all her outfits — from the Miss World and Miss Universe pageants to her recent homecoming — all by Filipino designer Mak Tumang.
Related video: Mak Tumang on his exhibit of Catriona Gray's gowns
In an interview with Mak last week during the exhibit’s launch in SM Mall of Asia, the designer told Philstar.com his inspiration behind the gowns.
Related video: Mak Tumang on the inspiration behind the gowns
“They’re inspired by Philippine arts and culture, to show what the Philippines is all about,” he said.
Included in the exhibit are Catriona’s orange pre-pageant gown, “Adarna;” the homecoming outfits like the jumpsuit “Sampaguita” and the coral-reef-inspired “Corales;” the final gown option “Perla Oriente;” and of course, the Mayon Volcano-inspired “Mayon” gown, which she wore during the pageant in Bangkok, Thailand.
Also on display are Catriona’s Binibining Pilipinas finals gown, “Sinag,” which symbolizes the sun’s rays from the Philippine flag; “Paru-Paro,” which the beauty queen wore during the Miss World After Party in USA; and “Bituin,” an ode to the shining stars from the Philippine flag, an ensemble she wore for the ABS-CBN Ball.
"Sobrang saya ko na na-share ko sa mga Pinoy ‘yung mga pinaghirapan kong mga gowns na ‘to, ginamit sa Miss Universe. Masaya dahil nakita kong sobra ‘yung appreciation nila sa mga likhang ito," Tumang said.
The entire collection can be viewed for free at the S Maison Atrium until March 28. — Videos by Erwin Cagadas Jr.


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While most of us can’t wait to say goodbye to 2020, the Ram Truck brand is focused on driving into the new year with an award-winning product portfolio that includes three Ram Truck brand awards, a total of 23 awards for Ram 1500 and eight awards across the Heavy Duty/Commercial Truck categories. Some of the year’s more notable highlights include:
MotorTrend’s “Truck of the Year” award. It’s one of the industry’s most coveted honors and also marks the publication’s first Truck of the Year winner from the same automaker for three consecutive years. Winners are chosen based on design advancement, engineering excellence, efficiency, safety, value and performance of intended functions.
The Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) honored the Ram 1500 with five prestigious awards:
- Ram 1500 was named Texas Truck of the Year
- 2021 Ram 1500 TRX captured Full-Size Pickup Truck of Texas and Off-Road Truck of Texas honors
- 2021 Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn 10th Anniversary Edition won Luxury Truck of Texas
- 2020 Ram 2500 Laramie Night Edition was named Heavy Duty Pickup Truck of Texas and earned Best Towing Technology for its 360-degree Surround View Camera
In November, the Ram 1500 was named one of Car and Driver’s 10Best Vehicles for 2021 for the third year in a row. Ram 1500 was also the only truck to secure a spot on this year’s list.
The Ram 1500 also scored the top spot in the J.D. Power APEAL Study’s competitive Large Light-duty Pickup segment.
The 2021 Ram 1500 Crew Cab, equipped with Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking and adaptive LED projector headlamps, was named a 2020 Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The honor marks a first for a pickup truck under IIHS’s new, more stringent testing.


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Nike are preparing to reward Manchester United standout Marcus Rashford with his own exclusive boot later this year. Rashford was once the youngest footballer to ever sign for the iconic brand at eleven years old.
The England international has been in top form this campaign, scoring 27 goals across all 47 matches during the 2022-2023 season. Rashford's resurgence has come under United's new boss Erik Ten Hag, who's turned the striker into a Golden Boot nominee.
Rashford currently wears the predominantly white Nike Zoom Mercurial Superfly 9.
The Nike Mercurial Superfly is tailor-made for fast players, thanks to its sleek design, snug Vaporposite+ upper, and cushioned Zoom Air soleplate. Its slim profile ensures a light and agile feel, while the tight fit of the upper offers enhanced control and precision.
The Mercurial line will also feature Rashford's signature boot which expects to drop this fall.
Rashford joins a special list of Nike-sponsored players who've received personalized boots, including Ronaldo Nazario, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Nike created a one-of-a-kind pair of blackout Superfly 7 boots for Rashford in October 2020 as a tribute to his remarkable humanitarian efforts. Nike designed the cleats to highlight Rashford's contributions to the Black Lives Matter movement and his unwavering dedication to providing children with free school meals.
He eventually put his special edition boots up for grabs in a charity prize draw.
The previously injured Rashford returned to training on Wednesday. Manchester United expects him to travel with the team for the second-leg Europa League match against Sevilla tomorrow night.


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Hyundai Department Store's fashion retail arm Handsome said Thursday it inked three separate exclusive domestic distribution contracts with foreign designer brands, in a drive to expand its overseas fashion portfolio.
The fashion retailer clinched exclusive deals with US designer brands Gabriela Hearst, Veronica Beard and Swedish fashion brand Toteme.
French luxury brand Chloe's creative director Gabriela Hearst's eponymous clothing brand was launched in the US in 2015 and focuses on sustainable fashion.
Toteme, launched by Elin Kling on 2014, features Nordic design-based clothes — while Veronica Beard is a women's casual clothing brand launched in the US in 2009 and is responsible for more than 20 stores across the US.
With the contracts, Handsome will be opening Gabriela Hearst's first exclusive store in Asia — at Hyundai Department Store's main store in Apgujeong-dong in Gangnam-gu.
Stores for Toteme will be opened at Hyundai Department Store's main store in Apgujeong and Trade Center branch in Samseong-dong in January and February, respectively.
Also, Hyundai Department Store's Pangyo branch in Gyeonggi Province will house South Korea's first store for Veronica Beard next March.
“All three brands have been sold at domestic multi-brand shops, but this is the first time for the brands to open brand-exclusive stores (in South Korea),” said an official from Handsome.
Starting with the exclusive contracts, Handsome said it plans to double the number of contracted overseas fashion brands to about 20 by the second half of next year.
The company also said it plans on more than doubling the sales in the overseas fashion sector to one trillion won ($768 million) within the next five years.
“We plan to discover overseas fashion brands that can lead global fashion trends and, along with domestic brands such as Time, Main, and System, we aim to provide new experiences and differentiated values to customers,” said an official from Handsome.
“We will solidify our position as a 'style creator company' that provides beauty (related goods) to customers.”
The exclusive contracts follow the Korean fashion company's bid to expand its overseas fashion portfolio.
The company signed an exclusive domestic distribution contract with Swedish designer brand Our Legacy in July to open the first exclusive store for the brand's products at the Hyundai Department Store Apgujeong Branch.
The brand opened its second store at Galleria Department Store EAST and is expecting to open its a third store at Hyundai Department Store's Pangyo branch this month.


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Hundreds Attend Alden Days Celebrations
Hundreds of people made their way to Antrim County for a summertime community tradition.
Alden Days was filled events throughout the day from a rummage sale to a craft show.
Nearly 20 local vendors set up their tents for visitors.
People walked around downtown and had the chance to meet the owners of local businesses.
The South Torch Lake Fire Department also sold food at the event.
They say this year was busier than years past.
"I can’t believe how many people are in town today. More than normal and I think vendors did good this year and I think everyone is happy," said Marty Lockman.
The fire department plans to use the money they raised today to buy new equipment.


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According to a report from Nikkei Asian Review, Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn has proposed to purchase Sharp’s LCD business. The deal would see Foxconn hold a majority stake in the company, while Apple would also come on board as an investor. The exact breakdown of the partnership between Foxconn and Apple in purchasing Sharp’s LCD business is unclear at this point, but Apple already controls a major portion of the business…
Sharp’s Kameyama Plant No. 1 in Japan is solely dedicated to producing displays for the iPhone, with Apple supplying $987 million to transform the plant into a smartphone LCD factory as opposed to HDTV panels. Apple’s investment gives it operational control of the facility.
Foxconn and Apple purchasing Sharp’s LCD business would mean that Apple wouldn’t have to worry about the fate of the company, which has been up in the air at several instances over the past few years. Sharp, if it did indeed sell, would also be able to retain its Japanese staff. The move would also limit the risk for Sharp, while also allowing it stay in business:
Sharp’s LCD business logged consolidated sales of 907.1 billion yen ($7.5 billion) and operating profit of 30.1 billion yen in fiscal 2014. But it moved into the red in the April-June quarter, with an operating loss of 13.7 billion yen. Foxconn’s proposal would limit Sharp’s risk while enabling it stay involved in the business.
As part of the deal, Foxconn also hopes to obtain Sharp’s roughly 38% interest in Sakai Display Products, a company jointly run with Sharp that produces LCD panels for televisions.
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I guess the iPhone isn’t getting OLED screens anytime soon then.


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The Polestar 4 will be revealed at the Shanghai Auto Show next week on April 18th, the Swedish automaker has confirmed. Following in the footsteps of the impressive Polestar 3 SUV announced last year, this model is an “SUV Coupé” and Polestar’s fastest production vehicle to date.
Polestar is a premium electric vehicle maker co-owned by Volvo, and it’s slowly but surely building an impressive lineup of options. You’ve likely seen the stylish Polestar 2 sedan on the streets, heard the news of the Precept Concept being the Polestar 5, and the stunning Polestar 6 isn’t coming until 2026.
While those model numbers are a bit out of order, we’ll finally learn more details about the all-new Polestar 4 performance SUV on April 18th. According to a press release from the company, we can expect this next model to combine the aerodynamics of a coupé with the space of an SUV. However, it will differ from the Polestar 3, which has a more traditional SUV design.
Previous teaser images suggest the new Polestar 4 has a more angled rear end, even though it’ll still be considered an SUV, and aggressive yet stylish design elements throughout.
Unfortunately, that’s all we know right now, but the company will have more to share next week. It’s worth noting that the Polestar 3 SUV is still unavailable, with shipping expected in October or November. With that in mind, the new Polestar 4 will likely hit the streets in late 2024 or early 2025. Stay tuned for more details.


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Google: leaks into old browser Android versions is not feasible
Google explains about why the repair more no safety in the browser of older Android versions. It would, according to the Internet giant is not feasible to seal still leaks because too much code needs to be modified.
On his Google+ page explains Google employee Adrian Ludwig’s new policy. By mail confirming that bugs in the browser of Android 4.3 and lower no longer be repaired. According to Ludwig is using this Android versions made from an older version of WebKit, which is now very different from the last branch. Therefore must be adjusted very much code when discovered bugs to fix the problems.
According to Ludwig is used WebKit branch for the stock browser in Android 4.3 and lower now more than two years old. Because the necessary code over 5 million lines and be there every month large pieces of new code offered by developers, it is often impractical to adapt even older versions, says Google employee. He pointing out that doing adjustments per se may also be unsafe by the complexity of the code.
Google recommends developers use WebView, a way to render web content from app to content only over https again let give. In addition, developers could use their own rendering engine for WebView so outdated WebKit engine is bypassed.
Earlier this month, reported The Wall Street Journal that Google no longer problems in the stock browser on Android versions to 4.3 fixes. The browser that comes from Android 4.4 continues to support its retained by Google. That’s probably because the Internet giant from Android 4.4 uses a variation on its Chromium browser engine, making it easier can make adjustments. Updates can now be rolled directly from Google Play without the manufacturers themselves need to issue a software update.Viewing:-219
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Looking for some Black Friday or post-Thanksgiving freebies in the Chicago area? We got them for you here!
Walmart — Get a free $100 gift card when you purchase select smartphones, possibly yielding a profit. CLICK HERE to shop Black Friday Week at Walmart.com! Offers valid 11.25-11.27
Friday only: Get a true Black Friday thrill starting midnight Friday at Target. Spend $75 and get a 20 percent off total purchase coupon good for Dec. 1-7. Info: Page 34 of Target’s Black Friday circular in Thursday’s Sun Sentinel or Target.com/BlackFriday.
Free gas: Get free Shell gas cards valued from $25 to $1,000 with purchase of select electronics and appliances at BrandsMart USA, from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. BrandsMart’s circular in Nov. 30 Sun Sentinel.
Shake-up: JCPenney is giving away free 2013 Disney Snow Globes starting at 8 p.m. Thursday, while supplies last. Best part: No purchase necessary. The retailer discontinued this popular Black Friday freebie in 2012 and now it’s back — along with coupons — by popular demand, as announced by the brand on Facebook.
For those who can’t wait to save 37 cents on Hot Wheels single cars, Walmart announced Tuesday that it’s offering its Black Friday deals on toys and electronics a week early — starting tomorrow — Friday, Nov. 22 — at 8 a.m. in stores and online. Also among the pre-Black Friday deals: PlayStation 4 and XBox One titles and a 50-inch HDTV. (Some items are listed on the website linked above.)
Sears and Kmart are also offering an early start to the Black Friday sale for its Shop Your Way rewards members. Sears customers can shop more than 1,000 Black Friday doorbusters at Sears’ website starting Friday at 7 p.m. Central Time and ending Saturday night at 11:59 p.m. Central Time. The deals include a refrigerator and a drill. Kmart customers can start shopping 100 doorbusters at Kmart’s website Sunday at midnight Central Time. The sale ends nearly 24 hours later, at 11:59 p.m. Sunday. Among the deals are a 42-inch LED TV.
Seattle’s Best Coffee – Freebie: Whether you’re standing in line at midnight on Black Friday or heading back to the daily grind on Friday morning, Seattle’s Best Coffee wants to perk you up with a free sample of its medium roast coffee. Just head on over to its Facebook page anytime after November 13 and sign up to have that liquid caffeine delivered directly to your
Half Price Books – Freebie: Once again, Half Price Books offers up a Black Friday freebie two-fer. In addition to a free $5 gift card, the first 100 customers to cross the threshold at 7 am will get a free tote bag, perfect for hauling all your Black Friday loot. Better yet, one lucky doorbusting consumer could find a surprise in their tote bag: an extra $100 gift card!
More Black Friday Freebies!
Longhorn Steakhouse — From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., buy one LongHorn lunch combination and get 50% off the second lunch combination, via a Facebook printable coupon