text:
Kindle Fire Update Expected in Less Than 2 Weeks, Will Address Performance Issues
December 12, 2011 10:03 AM
comment(s) - last by
Users' laundry list of complaints about the new tablet has Amazon working on software improvements
Amazon's first dip into the tablet arena, the Kindle Fire, was a long-awaited competitor that had many buzzing before its November release. But now that the Fire has been on the market for nearly a month,
reviews from users are rolling in
and it looks as if the Fire's flame that drove its initial success is burning out.
The Kindle Fire, which was released November 15, 2011, features a 7-inch multi-touch display, a 1 GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 4 dual-core processor, 512 MB memory, 8 GB storage capacity, 802.11n Wi-Fi connectivity, Amazon's own unique version of the Android operating system and a $199 price point.
Many saw the $199 price as a true advantage over other tablets currently on the market,
such as the $499 iPad 2
. But users are finding that you truly get what you pay for.
So what are the chief complaints exactly? Apparently there's quite a list: the off switch is easy to hit by accident; Web pages take their time loading; the touch screen is not very responsive; there is no external volume control, and others can easily see what you have been doing on the Fire since you cannot edit your history.
The New York Times
, one-third of 4,500 Fire reviewers have given the device three stars or fewer out of five. Since November 18, five-star reviews have fallen from 50 percent to 47 percent while 13 percent have the device just one star.
"I have spent thousands on your outstanding site," said one review aimed at Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. "I own and love the original Kindle. When asked about why I would buy a Fire when I had an iPad, I said that half of me wanted to just support your effort and that I believed Amazon just did things right."
However, the customer later said he'd recommend an iPad 2 over the Fire.
In response to all of the negativity, Amazon is planning to release an over-the-air update to
in less than two weeks. The update will address the privacy complaint by allowing users to edit their recent activity on the tablet, and will boost performance and multi-touch navigation.
While the update will address some important software issues, some are already awaiting the successor of the Kindle Fire tablet in hopes of some hardware changes such as external volume controls, a camera, and maybe even a larger screen, since most Web pages are better suited for 10-inch tablet displays.
The New York Times
The Washington Post
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
RE: So happy with the Fire, I bought two.
12/12/2011 6:19:57 PM
You might want to look into getting a faster desktop
"The whole principle [of censorship] is wrong. It's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't have steak." -- Robert Heinlein
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On International Women’s Day 2022, Let’s #BreakTheBias Through Data & Digital Skills
बालिका अहं बालिका नव युग जनिता अहं बालिका ।नाहमबला दुर्बला आदिशक्ति अहमम्बिका ।।
International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. International Women’s Day takes place on March 8 every year to celebrate women’s rights and inspire people to act in the ongoing fight for gender equality. International Women’s Day (IWD) is an official holiday in many countries. In some countries, the tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries, IWD has the equivalent status of Mother’s Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.
MyAdvika, an e-commerce giant, located at Ranchi Jharkhand, is celebrating International Women’s Day on 8th March 2022. MyAdvika is dedicating this Women’s Day, not only to the women of Jharkhand but to all the women who have inspired the society with their dedication and hard work in their respective domain. From Sports to corporate, women had made the country proud since the beginning. MyAdvika has always encouraged women to join the organisation and be the reason for the mutual growth.
जननी जन्मभूमिश्च स्वर्गात् अपि गरीयसी
International Women’s Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century in North America and across Europe. In 1908, great unrest and critical debate were occurring amongst women. Women’s oppression and inequality were spurring women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change. Last year, the theme for International Women’s Day (8 March), was “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world,” which celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights the gaps that remain.
The International Women’s Day theme for 2022 is #BreakTheBias#BreakTheBias. Similarly, the campaign theme for the 2021 International Women’s Day was “#ChooseToChallenge #IWD202”, with the idea that we can all choose to call out gender bias and inequality, as well as choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. The theme of International Women’s Day 2020 was #EachforEqual in 2020 for 2019 was #BalanceforBetter;for 2018, #PressforProgress, for the 2017 #BeBoldforChange, and for the 2016 theme was #PledgeforParity. #BreaktheBias #IWD2022, #InternationalWomensDay, It may be noted that 70% of the 1.3 billion people living in conditions of poverty are women. In urban areas, 40% of the poorest households are headed by women. Women predominate in the world’s food production (50-80%), but they own less than 10% of the land. Around 80% of the displaced by climate-related disasters and changes around the world are women and girls. Climate change may lead to more gender-based violence, an increase in child marriages, and worsening sexual and reproductive health. “Aurat hai toh duniya hai Parivar ko ek saath rakhti hai, parivar mein pyaar barkarar rakhti hai Har aurat ka Jeevan ek sangharsh ki kahani hai.”
Promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment can help deliver better environmental outcomes. Hence, let’s claim and strive for “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”.
Offer on Women’s Day:
We are happy to inform that MyAdvika has introduced new products for you shopping cart. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, MyAdvika is offering Upto 60% Off on health and cosmetic products. Customers can get discount Upto 60% on Skin Whitening creams, Face Washes, Acne Solutions, Powders & Sun Screens, Deodorants, Sanitizers, Oral care products, Energy Booster, Nutritional Supplements, Sugar Substitute products, Surgical & Pain aids, Health & Wellbeing products, OTC products, Contraceptive products, green tea and Baby care products.
So, don’t miss these exciting deals, download MyAdvika App today or visit myadvika.com.

domain: news


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Canada’s Saputo Considers Milk Plant Sale to Appease Australian Feds
Canada’s Saputo Inc said on Monday it is discussing plans to sell a milk plant in Victoria state to address concerns from Australia’s competition watchdog about its buyout of Murray Goulburn Co-operative.
Canada’s biggest cheesemaker last year agreed to pay up to A$490 million ($380 million) for debt-ridden Murray Goulburn, but the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the deal may leave some Victorian farmers little choice when selling their milk.
“Saputo has initiated discussions with the ACCC in respect of a divestment plan for the Koroit dairy plant in order to address the ACCC concerns and to obtain the ACCC clearance,” Saputo said in an emailed statement.
Murray Goulburn said in a statement it would“work closely with Saputo and the ACCC to seek approval of the asset sale”.
Victoria’s Weekly Times newspaper last week reported rival Bega Cheese Ltd, once a suitor for Murray Goulburn, was among firms interested in the Koroit plant, citing remarks from its Chairman Barry Irvin.
Bega did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Murray Goulburn has been seeking a financial lifeline since 2016 when plans to sell high-margin products like infant formula in China led it to overpay for source milk, while sales fell far below expectations.
The deal would leave Saputo processing nearly half of Australia’s milk output under the current deal, according to industry body Dairy Australia.
Murray Goulburn shares were up 1 percent at 84 Australian cents in morning trading, well below their A$2.10 issue price. The broader market was down 0.3 percent.
Tue, 03/06/2018 – 03:00
Source: Dairy Herd


text:
HOUSTON – Houston home sales bounced back after Hurricane Harvey, registering a 14 percent jump September over the flood-ravaged August.
“I don’t think anyone expected to see home sales in positive territory this soon after a natural disaster of Harvey’s magnitude, but the September report speaks volumes about the incredible resiliency of the Houston real estate market,” said HAR Chair Cindy Hamann.
The hurricane, which dumped some 50 inches of rain on Harris County, knocked out meaningful sales activity for at least a week. Some 70,000 homes received water damage.
Sales were down 24 percent in August. Some deals were killed when houses that were under contract went underwater during Harvey and buyers backed off from closing on flooded homes.
In September, single-family home sales staged an impressive post-Hurricane Harvey rebound, rising 4.2 percent to a total of 6,913 units sold versus 6,636 in September 2016.
Having more homes sales in a September than in the prior August is a rarity. Sales usually taper off in September as back-to-school activities start to choke off home sales. So the hurricane-assisted gain from August to September in 2017, demonstrates a strong push in an uphill battle against historical trends.
In September, the single-family home median price (the figure at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less) rose 5.5 percent to $232,000. The average price increased 5.4 percent to $291,767. Both figures are record highs for a September.
On a year-to-date basis, home sales remain 2.3 percent ahead of the 2016 volume despite Harvey’s rampage. So, home sales remain on pace for another record-setting year when the annual sales are tallied for 2017.


text:
After a year-long slog, Canva will today lift the lid on its long-awaited online solution that promises to turn anyone into a designer.
Users can jump to Canva.com to design flyers, birthday and business cards, Facebook covers, posters, info graphics and more instead of purchasing design software such as Adobe.
The work can be shared with others to allow for two-way online collaboration.
Instead of designing elements from scratch, the starting point is search. Pop in “travel icons” and images of aeroplanes, luggage and currency will be displayed. Once the image is selected, it is dragged on to a digital canvas on the screen. Fonts that match the layout are preselected but users can also choose their own text style. They can also import personal images from their mobile phones or laptops.
The end result is “published” or “exported” which means the design can be saved and used for web or print.
A designer can send a link to the finished product to a client for approval.
Changes can be made and both parties can collaborate without consuming much bandwidth emailing high-resolution images back and forth.
The design would be hosted on Canva’s secure server.
Canva is free to use and offers more than one million photos and graphic elements, including premium images which cost $1 for one-time use.
Payment is only required when the design is published or exported so users can dabble freely with different options during the design process.
Canva chief executive Melanie Perkins said photographers and designers from all over the world had been invited to contribute to its image library. They received a 35 per cent cut on every sale.
Twitter investor Bill Tai, who took a punt on Canva when it was still in the embryonic stage, believes the start-up can make a big impact on the global scene.
“Canva’s founders have had a bold and consistent vision to empower everyone to unlock their creativity by coupling a smooth and simple user experience on top of a powerful engine,” Mr Tai told The Australian.
“Apple did this with the smartphone and it greatly expanded the market.
“It’s been exciting to see the team deliver on their promise with great execution on the product.”
Another investor, Google Maps co-founder Lars Rasmussen, said Facebook and Twitter created a world where anyone could instantly share experiences with friends, but an online design tool “for us all to use is entirely lacking”.
“The design market is ripe for disruption and I believe Canva has the answer,” Mr Rasmussen said.
Ms Perkins said Canva had a simple mantra of “search, drag and publish”.
“There’s a huge gap in the market where there are no products that give people complete creative freedom that caters to those with low and moderate budgets in terms of money and time,” she said. “Designing at the moment is really, really difficult.”
When a fresh user starts using Canva they are presented with a quick how-to guide which takes less than 25 seconds to grasp.
Ms Perkins said Canva had “integrated the entire design ecosystem into one page so you can learn it very, very quickly”.
“One click and you can actually access all the design tools – stock photography, font, stock layout.
“We’ve cut out the images and added text placeholders so it can literally be dragged and dropped straight online.”
Ms Perkins, who runs a 12-person team in the trendy inner-city Sydney suburb of Surry Hills, described the project an “extremely technically challenging and very complex”.
Canva has raised $3 million in seed funding from different investors including Commercialisation Australia, Matrix Partners, InterWest Partners, Blackbird Ventures, Seek co-founder Paul Bassat’s Square Peg Capital, Yahoo chief financial officer Ken Goldman and former CVC Asia-Pacific chief Adrian MacKenzie.
Ms Perkins said it had since received many offers from investors but the company’s wasn’t focused on funding.
“We really want to get Canva into lots of people’s hands and we want to be able to prove that we’re solving the problem, that we now know we have the product to solve (that problem),” she said.


text:
At its Google Marketing Live event today, the tech giant announced it is launching Product Studio, a new tool that allows sellers to easily create product images using generative AI. Brands can create new images within Merchant Center Next, Google’s platform that helps businesses manage how their products appear on Google.
Google says Product Studio gives sellers the ability to create product images for free and get more value from the images they already have. You can create new images without the added expense of new shoots. For example, a skincare company might showcase a seasonal version of a product by asking for an image of the product “surrounded by peaches, with tropical plants in the background.”
Product Studio can also be used to remove a distracting background. For example, if you have a complex background in one of your images, you can remove the background and use a plain white background instead. The tool can also be used to improve the quality of small or low resolution images without having to recreate a product.
Sellers in the United States will have access to Product Studio in the coming months. These features are also available to merchants using the Google and YouTube apps on Shopify.
In a briefing with reporters, Matt Madrigal, Google’s vice president and general manager of Merchant Shopping, said advanced technologies such as AI have long played an important role in Google Shopping products and that Product Studio is bringing these types of technologies directly to small and medium-sized businesses. medium-sized companies.
The company also announced that it is making it easier for businesses to list on Google in Merchant Center Next. The tech giant simplifies setting up a product feed. In the past, merchants who first settled on Google had to manually add their products, prices, images, descriptions, and other details. In Merchant Center Next, Google now automatically populates a merchant’s product feed with the information it can detect from their website. Merchants have the option to edit what is being brought in, or disable this feature altogether.
Google is also making it easier for merchants to understand their performance by placing all insights reports in the Performance tab. With this update, merchants have one place to review their top-selling products, which businesses appear next to theirs, and even how shoppers are interacting with their local business on Search and Maps.
“For merchants with both online and local physical stores, Merchant Center Next will show all products in one comprehensive view, making it easier to manage online and in-store product inventory together,” the company wrote in a blog post. “We will also show new insights on the potential benefits of fixing product data bugs, making it easier to prioritize updates.”
Merchant Center Next has already begun rolling out to new users, and Google plans to upgrade smaller businesses in the coming months and complete the global rollout in 2024. Sellers will receive a notification when the new experience is ready for them.


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Over the past 30 years China has been a key pillar of manufacturing in general and even more of fashion manufacturing, but the last times has put the colossus under pressure.
Nowadays Italy is the nearest competitor in fashion manufacturing , producing an eight of Chinese average output, but staying far far away from the surprising percentage of China, that yield the 60% of the world’s shoes and the 43% of world’s clothing. However Zhongguo is facing a storm that could lead to the loss of its primacy: the arrival on the scene of cheaper sourcing hubs in Africa and Asia and the always higher production costs, together with long term sustainability’s struggles and workers welfare, are literally squeezing the Chinese firms.
Some of them have reacted investing in technological innovation and quality upgrades, others trying to move up the value chain and becoming more specialized. Firms like KTC, leader in sportswear manufacturing until ten years ago, who figured clients as Adidas, have left the throne of big manufacturers to take part in the world of boutique manufacturers, working on quantities about twenty pieces per style. Now it collaborates with smaller European fashion designers, distributing capsule collections to retailers as Barneys New York and L’Eclaireur in Paris. Focusing on specialization and the developing of particular know-how skills, the company is investing on R&D and it’s taking a huge step behind, leaving a enormous market to conquer a smaller piece of trades. Doing that, to keep a leading position they’re investing in workers, improving the their welfare. Anyway the Chinese supply chains are the best ones in the world and they won’t be replaced in the short term. The value chains are vertically integrated from the very beginning with quality cultures, textile expertise and more than everything massive infrastructures, that are the serious lack of India, its closest competitor. No alarming concern for the coming years, but in the future China should be aware of his leading position in manufacturing and Europe should better pay attention to the competition in terms of quality overcoming from the Great China.


text:
Just ahead of summer, J. Crew has released a capsule collection collaboration with SZ Blockprins designer Sarah Zellweger. The collection of lightweight tunics and caftans carry Zellweger’s trademark handmade prints.
Worldwide apparel and footwear consumption is projected to rise by 63%, to 102 million tons in 2030, increasing the need for fashion industry to address its environmental and social footprint, says a recent report.
46-year old supermodel Naomi Campbell hosted a fashion show for her Fashion for Relief charity at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday. More than 400 guests attended the event, which raised money for Save the Children.


text:
- Lufax announced a massive special dividend of $2.42 per ADS, equal to about half of its Friday closing price of $4.48
- The company slashed the size of its loan portfolio by 45% last year, and expects to reduce it by another 32% this year as it focuses on higher quality borrowers
By Doug Young
Online lender Lufax Holding Ltd. (NYSE:LU) just keeps getting smaller. First, the company underwent a radical transformation that saw its lending portfolio shrink by about nearly half in 2023, as it focused on higher-quality borrowers in a broader “de-risking” process. Now, Lufax’s cash pile is about to undergo a similar downsizing with its announcement of a massive special dividend that will cost it around 10 billion yuan ($1.38 billion) – equal to about a quarter of its total cash at the end of last year.
That massive dividend will see shareholders of record on April 9 receive a dividend of $2.42 per American depositary share (ADS), the company announced in its latest quarterly results released last Thursday.
Put differently, the dividend amount was equal to 72% of the U.S.-listed stock’s last close before the announcement. And even after a 33% jump in the stock in the two trading days since the announcement, the dividend still represents about 54% of the ADS price at its Friday close of $4.48.
Looking at this in yet another way, the ADS has risen $1.11 since the announcement, or less than half the size of the dividend. So even if the price falls back to pre-announcement levels after the dividend is paid, anyone who buys the ADS now would still pocket a very nice profit. That raises the question of why investors weren’t more excited about this unusual mega-dividend.
In fact, the lack of enthusiasm maintains the high degree of skepticism towards private Chinese online lenders in general. That doubt has dogged the group for about the last five or six years, following a regulatory crackdown over government concerns that they were too inexperienced at risk control.
Those concerns linger, as the unpredictability of regulators is always one of the biggest risks of doing business in China. More recently, there’s been the added concerns over China’s slowing economy, which directly affects online lenders like Lufax in the form of higher loan default risks.
The company spent much of last year tackling that risk, and in its latest report referred to 2023 as a year of “de-risking.” At the highest level, that de-risking has seen the company sharply reduce its lending to focus on the highest quality borrowers. Its outstanding loan balance stood at 315 billion yuan at the end of 2023, down 45% from 576 billion yuan a year earlier.
The company expects the loan balance to continue shrinking this year, saying it anticipates ending the year with a balance of 200 billion yuan to 230 billion yuan. That would be down by 32% at the midpoint, and would represent a shrinkage of nearly two-thirds from better times two years ago when the company was lending more freely.
“To sum up, during the fourth quarter, with the completion of (our) de-risking initiative, the downsizing of our business is under control and we have strong visibility of our businesses,” said Chairman and CEO YongSuk Cho on the company’s earnings call. “However … we still need more time due to our prudent strategy and transformation of our business model.”
Consumer Lending Shift
Lufax’s shift has several key elements, all aimed at improving the quality of its loans and its profitability. The company is controlled by financial services giant Ping An and was once a leader among a group of private fintech lenders to emerge in the mid-2010s by targeting small businesses and consumers – borrowers often overlooked by traditional state-run banks.
Nearly all those lenders later either closed or morphed into middleman loan facilitators in response to the crackdown, though Lufax remains one of the few that continues to do its own direct lending. Under a key element of its latest business transformation, the company is moving to a model where it guarantees all of its loans, rather than relying on third-party insurance companies for such guarantees. That will save it lots of money in insurance fees, though is also driving it to become more selective to lower its default risks.
Another major change is seeing Lufax focus more heavily on consumer lending, lowering its previous preference for small business loans as many such businesses struggling in the current economic slowdown. The company said about 40% of its new loans in the fourth quarter were to consumers, raising consumer loans to 12% of its portfolio at the end of last year – up from just 5% at the end of 2022.
The company is also rapidly shrinking its geographical reach to focus on the most profitable markets. As a result, its footprint shrank to 146 cities by the end of last year from more than 300 a year earlier, and it slashed its direct sales team to about 21,000 from 47,000 over the same period.
On the top line, the company’s growing conservatism resulted in a 44% drop in its fourth-quarter revenue to 6.86 billion yuan from 12.3 billion yuan a year earlier. The company reduced its expenses by nearly 40% year-on-year for the quarter, but a large credit impairment loss pushed it into the red with a 832 million yuan net loss for the quarter.
The big jump in its share price after announcing the dividend finally gave Lufax a respectable trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 20. That’s well ahead of the 5.6 for rivals Qifu (NASDAQ:QFIN), 4.2 for FinVolution (NYSE:FINV) and just 1.8 for LexinFintech (NASDAQ:LX). But Lufax’s ratio falls back to just 5.7 on a forward basis, based on expectation for big profit growth this year, showing investors still aren’t particularly excited about the company.
Dividends are a growing theme among China’s fintech lenders, and Lufax is actually one of the last to offer such payouts. Qifu, FinVolution and LexinFintech all already offer regular dividends, with annual amounts equal to about 5% of the current share prices for Qifu and FinVolution, and an even higher 10% for LexinFintech.
Such returns of cash to shareholders look relatively attractive, and Lufax’s upcoming massive dividend looks like an especially good deal for investors. That could help attract investors back to the stocks over the short term, though the companies will need to show they can control the bigger risks that come with an economic downturn to lure investors to their stocks over the longer term.
This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.


text:
The Spanish government is to unveil an economic stimulus package aimed at tackling rising unemployment in the country. The plans of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero are likely to include measures to support the country’s struggling auto industry.
However, Zapatero warned that any plan for the auto industry would have to fit in with European Union initiatives.
“We will make efforts up to where we can legally,” said Zapatero. But he added that Spain could not act “outside the lines marked by the European Union.”
Spanish auto production fell some 26% in October on the same month last year to 206,919 vehicles.
In a statement, the Spanish auto manufacturers association ANFAC said: “The abrupt drop in production in October is explained by the slowdown in European markets which have posted six consecutive months of decline and by the bad situation of the Spanish market.”
Exports from Spain fell 20% in the month, whilst domestic sales fell 40%.
ANFAC estimates that Spanish plants will produce 300,000 fewer vehicles this year compared to 2007, a fall of 10.3%.


text:
What is microsoft going to do with skype?
As most of you know by now the giant internet phone provider was bought by Microsoft for a stunning price of 8.5 billion in cash. This kind of money is so much that even Microsoft had to dig into it's off shore accounts to come up with the money. Is it a smart move? No one knows yet but we know why they did it. I can almost guarantee that every person reading this post has a Skype account, and with 600,000 new registration everyday it makes it one of the most popular downloaded program in the world. On the other had Microsoft had seen it's products and sites loose their popularity. Hotmail is not the number one email service anymore and who even looks at the msn page anymore? Even MSN is not as popular as it used to be.
So this expensive deal could be a good step since Microsoft owns a big part of Facebook as well and the both of them are working on incorporating Skype's real-time video communication into their existing product line, including office, Windows phone and the Xbox. This is the reason why they were willing to pay all this price for it and agreeing to take on all it's debts, which were estimated at 686 million in long term debt, and slightly more than 1 billion in liabilities.
Microsoft will start with five things they want to do with Skype. Mostly targeting the millions of people who don't use Skype but have Microsoft computers, phones and video game systems.
1- Integrate it to Xbox
Knowing that the Xbox 360 already has a chat function, plus 10 million Xbox Kinect systems were sold since it's release (the system comes with a webcam already) so there is at least 10 million people who can use Skype on the Xbox both for chatting and video chats. In addition to that Skype also has TV-compatible webcams and software, but was never a high profit feature. Microsoft thinks Skype on the Xbox can push both products forward.
2- Improve the windows phone
Let's face it, Windows phones aren't that popular, I don't know anyone who owns one. They couldn't compete with the iPhone nor Blackberry not even the Google phone. iPhones Facetime app, Google talk's and blackberry's BBM were too much for windows to compete with. But now they can, skype can do everything these phones do. Now of course Apple and Android products can already run skype so it's going to be interesting to see how Microsoft is going to deal with that. Maybe it will be a great help for Blackberry who can't have the Skype application since it's apps are controlled by the provider rather than the consumer. That's exactly why Windows is already in contact with Blackberry about this.
3- Office meeting video chat
Google and Cisco were two of the big companies interested in Skype. So the purchase was also a strategical one, to illuminate competition. Microsoft office 365 which will include an online-only option, is expected later this year, maybe this will be the first step Microsoft takes with it's new product.
4- Appear on Facebook
Microsoft actually owns a part of facebook since 2007 bought for 240 million dollars, and the social media giant's interest in skype seems a clear indication that Mark Zuckerberg and Co. would like to beef up facebook chat with a video option. Getting the product on Facebook means 600 million or so users will be accessible. It might mean a huge step for both Skype and Facebook.
5- Resuscitate hotmail
Hotmail saw it's peak about 10 years ago and ever since, it has been going downhill. It still has tons of users worldwide but no one is excited about it anymore. If Microsoft is about to integrate Skype quality video chat to hotmail, it might just get the attention of a lot of people.
Anyway Microsoft is a company I have great respect to and whether skype was a good or bad idea, I'm glad they are expanding in that direction. I just hope skype will remain free of charge.


text:
Rumours are rife about the launch of a smaller version of the iPhone called the Nano in the near future…some speculate as early as Q4 of 2008 (which ends in March 2009).
It is also predicted by these analysts that the Nano will be cheaper than the iPhone.
According to Kevin Chang, a JP Morgan analyst based in Taiwan, Apple is actually looking to “launch a cheaper version of the iPhone in the fourth quarter that could be based on its iPod Nano music player.”
Now this is good news for Indian mobile lovers. Considering the hype surrounding India as one of the fastest developing mobile markets in the world, it can be assumed that the Nano (if launched) will make it to Indian markets soon.
For iPhone lovers, who could not lay their hands on one, due to its exorbitant price tag in India, this will be their chance of owning a piece of the revolution that has taken the mobile world by storm!
if you like comedy .. enjoy this video


text: Winnebago Industries Inc. WGO, +0.18% shares rose 5.5% in Friday premarket trading after the motorhome company reported fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue that beat expectations. Net income totaled $14.1 million, or 44 cents per share, down from $22.2 million, or 70 cents per share, in 2018. Adjusted EPS of 73 cents beat the FactSet consensus of 72 cents. Revenue of $588.5 million was up from $493.6 million last year and ahead of the FactSet guidance for $536.0 million. Revenue total includes about three weeks contribution from the recently acquired Newmar Business, a North American luxury motorhome manufacturer. Winnebago brands also includes the namesake and Grand Design. Winnebago stock has more than doubled over the past year, up 109%, while the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.29% is up 30% for the last 12 months.


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Sept. 16, 2008
Microsoft Closes Acquisition of DATAllegro
Company announces plans to bring DATAllegro’s enterprise-class data warehousing capabilities to customers, partners in less than 24 months.
September 22, 2008 Microsoft Announces Share Repurchase Program and Increases Quarterly Dividend
Microsoft Corp. today announced that its board of directors approved a new share repurchase program authorizing up to an additional $40 billion in share repurchases with an expiration of September 30, 2013.
Oct. 16, 2008 Microsoft Corp. issued the following statement regarding Yahoo!
“Our position hasn’t changed. Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo!; there are no discussions between the companies.”
July 24, 2008
Microsoft to Acquire DATAllegro
Microsoft Corp. today announced that it intends to acquire DATAllegro Inc., a provider of breakthrough data warehouse appliances. The acquisition will extend the capabilities of Microsoft’s mission-critical data platform, making it easier and more cost-effective for customers of all sizes to manage and glean insight from the ever-expanding amount of data generated by and for businesses, employees and consumers.
July 7, 2008 Microsoft Statement Regarding Carl Icahn Letter
Despite working since January 31 of this year, as well as in the early part of last year, we have never been able to reach an agreement in a timely way on acceptable terms with the current management and Board of Directors at Yahoo!. We have concluded that we cannot reach an agreement with them. We confirm, however, that after the shareholder election Microsoft would be interested in discussing with a new board a major transaction with Yahoo!, such as either a transaction to purchase the “Search” function with large financial guarantees or, in the alternative, purchasing the whole company. As Mr. Icahn notes in his statement today, it would be premature to discuss at this time important details such as the price or other terms of a possible transaction.
June 17, 2008
Jon Shirley has decided not to seek re-election to Microsoft’s board of directors.
Microsoft Corp. today announced that after 25 years of service, Jon A. Shirley has chosen not to seek re-election to Microsoft’s board of directors at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, to be held in November 2008.
June 12, 2008
Microsoft Corp. today issued the following statement:
“In the weeks since Microsoft withdrew its offer to acquire Yahoo!, the two companies have continued to discuss an alternative transaction that Microsoft believes would have delivered in excess of $33 per share to the Yahoo! shareholders. This partnership would ensure healthy competition in the marketplace, providing greater choice and innovation for advertisers, publishers and consumers.“As stated on May 3rd and reiterated on May 18th Microsoft was not interested in rebidding for all of Yahoo!. Our alternative transaction remains available for discussion.”
June 11, 2008
Microsoft Declares Quarterly Dividend
Dividend of $0.11 per share payable in September
May 18, 2008
Microsoft announced that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business.
In light of developments since the withdrawal of the Microsoft proposal to acquire Yahoo! Inc., Microsoft announced that it is continuing to explore and pursue its alternatives to improve and expand its online services and advertising business. Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo! an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo! but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo! Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo! at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo! or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo! or Microsoft or with other third parties
May 3, 2008
Microsoft Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Yahoo!
April 15, 2008
Microsoft Completes Acquisition of Danger, Incorporates Company Into Premium Mobile Experiences Group
Microsoft Corp. has completed its acquisition of Danger, Inc., the company announced today. Danger’s expertise in building great, intuitive client software for mobile handsets connected to powerful hosted back-end services fosters rich consumer experiences in communication, media sharing, entertainment and personalization. The combined force of Danger and Microsoft strengthens the company’s ability to provide innovative mobile experiences to more consumers.
April 9, 2008
Microsoft Comments on Yahoo! Announcement
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) today issued the following statement from Brad Smith, Microsoft’s General Counsel, related to an announcement today by Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO): “Any definitive agreement between Yahoo! and Google would consolidate over 90% of the search advertising market in Google’s hands. This would make the market far less competitive, in sharp contrast to our own proposal to acquire Yahoo! We will assess closely all of our options. Our proposal remains the only alternative put forward that offers Yahoo! shareholders full and fair value for their shares, gives every shareholder a vote on the future of the company, and enhances choice for content creators, advertisers, and consumers.”
April 5, 2008
Microsoft Sends Letter to Yahoo! Board of Directors
The management has stated a three week deadline for a response to the bid, failing which the company would initiate a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo! board.
March 17, 2008
Microsoft Declares Quarterly Dividend
Dividend of $0.11 per share payable in June
February 26, 2008
Microsoft Unveils Its First Windows Embedded R&D Center in Europe
New regional development center in Germany is part of $75 million global investment by Windows Embedded Business.
February 18, 2008
Fostering Innovation and Collaboration, Microsoft and Alpine Enter Into Broad Patent Licensing Agreement
IP and technology agreement will further innovation in the automotive field. The agreement expands the relationship between Alpine and Microsoft to promote the exchange of information and the incorporation of patented technologies in car navigation systems and other consumer electronics products
February 14, 2008
Microsoft Announces New, Expanded Roles for Key Executives
Fourteen leaders promoted as company matches leadership talent to expanding business priorities. The seven executives promoted to senior vice president are Chris Capossela, Kurt DelBene, Antoine Leblond, Andy Lees, Satya Nadella, S. Somasegar and Bill Veghte. The seven executives promoted to corporate vice president are Walid Abu-Hadba, Brad Brooks, Larry Cohen, Steve Guggenheimer, Scott Guthrie, Roz Ho and Brian Tobey.
February 11, 2008
Microsoft Responds to Yahoo! Announcement
Reiterates Full and Fair Proposal for Microsoft-Yahoo! Combination
February 10, 2008
Microsoft Expands Consumer Reach of Windows Mobile Phones With Sony Ericsson
First Windows Mobile phone from Sony Ericsson offers a premium consumer and business experience.
February 04, 2008
Microsoft Research to Open New Doors for Scientists in Cambridge, Mass.
Microsoft plans to open its sixth research lab in an effort to bring technical researchers and social scientists together. The company also named its first female lad director for the operations. The lab will pursue new interdisciplinary areas of research that bring together core computer scientists and social scientists to better understand, model and enable the computing and online experiences of the future.
Prison Sentences for Ringleaders of Global Software Counterfeit Syndicate
Sentencing signals the end of Taiwan-based operation, the largest known producer and distributor of fake Microsoft products in the world from 1997 to 2003.
February 03, 2008
Statement from Brad Smith, General Counsel, Microsoft
The combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! will create a more competitive marketplace by establishing a compelling number two competitor for Internet search and online advertising. The alternative scenarios only lead to less competition on the Internet.
February 01, 2008
Microsoft Proposes Acquisition of Yahoo! for $31 per Share
Transaction valued at approximately $44.6 billion in cash and stock; provides 62 percent premium to current trading price for Yahoo! shareholders; combined entity to create a more competitive company, providing superior value to shareholders, better choice and innovation for customers and partners.


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This spring Better Business Bureau serving the Northwest advises residents to keep an eye out for home improvement scammers targeting people over the phone, online and even right at their front door.
In the past year, 50 percent of home improvement scams reported in the Northwest to BBB Scam Tracker were solicited over the phone via calling or text messaging. Many Northwest residents reported they received a call, usually from a furnace company, saying the homeowners have a contract with them and are due for a service call for an inspection or cleaning. Solicitation emails from companies that use the BBB logo, but are not BBB accredited businesses are another common scam reported.
For more information about home improvement scams visit bbb.org/homescam.
ABOUT BBB: For more than 100 years, Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. BBB Northwest serves more than 14 million consumers in Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Western Wyoming.


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Cafaro, of Youngstown, Ohio, will still own its portion of the Charleston mall while its existing partner will continue to manage daily operations, Linton said.
The partnership connects Forest City with a major global investor that is expanding its footprint in the U.S., Linton said.
Steven Leigh, managing director of QIC Global Real Estates, said the investment firm is "pleased" to partner with Forest City in an effort that is a "natural progression" for the Australian company.
"The joint venture with Forest City Enterprises for investment in the portfolio of eight, high-quality retail assets represents a significant opportunity for QIC to further expand into the United States with a successful retail operator and is part of our long-term investment strategy," Leigh said in a news release.
Forest City plans to raise money through the agreement to renovate and expand four malls, pay off debt and invest in other improvements.
The four malls the company plans to renovate with its new assets are: Galleria at Sunset in Henderson, Nev.; Antelop Valley Mall in Palmdale, Calif.; Short Pump Town Center in Richmond, Va.; and South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach, Calif.
Forest City spent $7 million to completely overhaul the Charleston Town Center's flooring, railing and other facilities last year as part of its 30-year anniversary.
Linton said the transaction will not have an effect on Town Center shoppers.
The deal between Forest City and QIC is expected to close by fall.
Reach Megan Workman at megan.work...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5113.


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Auto lenders can see this pothole coming
Banking investors could bet that the rise in used car values will get out of hand. Maybe they should slow their roll.
For auto lenders, soaring demand for used vehicles and rising prices have contributed to rapid loan growth, coupled with high salvage values on loans and leases. But Ally Financial said last week it was factoring into its assumptions a potential cumulative decline of 15-20% in used car values by the end of 2023.
It’s natural for lenders and investors to anticipate the end of the current used-vehicle boom, and the valuations of banks with large auto finance businesses seem to partly reflect that. Lenders such as Ally and Capital One Financial are trading at relatively low forward price-earnings valuations from where they normally trade compared to S&P 500 banks as a whole, according to FactSet data.
But investors shouldn’t overcorrect either. Industry monitor Cox Automotive has projected the Manheim Used Car Price Index to be just 3% lower by December than it was in December 2021. Perhaps a drop prices could accelerate rapidly the following year. For now, though, things like supply chain grunts for chips that make new cars take longer to build still seem to be a factor. Ally said that, while making a cautious forecast, “recent trends point to continued resilience” in second-hand stocks.
One of the drivers of high used car prices and demand has been tight inventories at car dealerships. Both Ally and Huntington Bancshares noted increases in the use of dealer credit in their quarterly updates, indicating a need to finance inventory that does not instantly leave the showroom floor. . More new cars on the lots could lead to fewer buyers in the used car market.
However, even new-car makers could still see usage as a way to meet demand. General Motors and Ford Motor are beginning to enter the used car market through online platforms. Used vehicles may continue to be the best option for many entry-level buyers, given the general upward trend in sticker prices for new vehicles. And the Wall Street Journal just reported that Ford had to halt orders for a more affordable pickup truck.
Even if floors start to have more vehicles, it would also indicate current market compensation for lenders: more financing for dealership inventory. These commercial loans are often variable rate and would benefit from higher rates in the future, unlike the fixed rate loans currently given to consumers.
This same trend of inventory scarcity has also likely played a role in more vehicles being bought back at the end of leases, meaning a leasing finance provider is unable to take a car off leasing and selling it on the booming market. Ally said 62% of leases were repurchased in 2021, compared to a figure generally closer to 30%, which to some extent reduced lenders’ advantage on the rise in second-hand values. Falling used car prices would reduce gains on car sales, but it could also lead to more cars ending up in the hands of lenders in the first place.
The relationship between used car prices and loan size is not strictly one-sided either. Lenders have said they consider the impact of high prices when underwriting, which can then be reflected in lower loan-to-value ratios. So even if the value of cars increases, the size of loans does not necessarily increase as much and vice versa and could help cushion some of the future normalization of credit risk and defaults.
Most banks are facing a settling of scores due to a normalization in pandemic trends, whether in savings habits or mortgage refinancing. Investors could navigate these waters by heading to the relative value of auto lenders.
Write to Telis Demos at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the January 28, 2022 print edition as “Auto Lenders See a Bump in the Road”.


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Top 10 E-Commerce Hubs In India
Bangalore: Off late, India has turned into an online shopaholic. Rather than the traditional methods of shopping, people are buying everything from key chains to lingerie to even automobiles by sitting in their homes using their internet enabled devices.
This interesting buying and selling behavior of India is revealed by eBay Census, an annual eBay report currently running in its 5th edition.
Even though the e-commerce industry in India is currently at a nascent stage with $800 million market, it is expected to grow rapidly to become $5 billion in 2015, eBay India's Head - Marketplace Experience, Santosh J Rao said.
From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, the report contains places where most people are addicted to online shopping. So if you are interested to know the top 10 e-commerce hubs in India, here is the list, as compiled by eBay Census.
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When Shannon Harder first walked into the Houston Toyota Center for the Grace Hopper Celebration conference in September 2018, it was a revelation. She was joining more than 20,000 attendees in the arena — the majority of whom were women working in technology.
May 16, 2022
Nanno's plan was to build the best babysitting app around. But as a female-founded, consumer tech business heading into a global pandemic, that changed. Read the full article here.
May 15, 2022
Colorado businesses pulled in many funding rounds last month supporting initiatives across different sects of tech. In April, five tech companies raised a combined $561 million — significantly more than...


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Harvest show 2009
You’re invited to display your produce at the Glastonbury Harvest Show, on September 19 this year, again at the Town Hall. The idea of harvest is extended to include local sustainable goods and activities.
“We’d love to hear from local amateur enthusiasts who might like to demonstrate their crafts. Beer-makers, wine-makers, rag-rugging—all ideas welcome,” said Trish O’Carroll, one of the organizers (83 5810).


text: While industrial 3D printers often use ventilation shafts and filters to evacuate airborne particles, commercially available printers are often set up in environments with little or no thought about the emissions they might be kicking out. In a new study looking into the particle emissions of home printers, researchers at the Illinois Institute of Technology identified that the operation of such devices in unventilated areas could potentially lead to health issues. To conduct the test, Brent Stephens and his team used five models of popular 3D printers at Chicago-based 3D Printer Experience. The study doesn’t note the models used, the company advertises use of the UP Mini and MakerBot Replicator. According to the report, models using both ABS and PLA polymers as a plastic feedstock were classed as “high emitters” of ultrafine particles (UFPs), reporting similar emission rates (output, not toxicity) to the operation of a laser printer or the burning of a cigarette.


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A Russian man has been charged with operating a cyber marketplace that sold access to thousands of compromised email and credit card accounts, the US Attorney reports.
Igor Dekhtyarchuk, 23, a resident national of the Russian Federation, has been indicted by a Texas court in the US for running Marketplace A, which allegedly sold details of 48,000 email accounts, along with 39,000 other breached accounts including payment card data and other information relating to personal identity. The illicit website is thought to have averaged 5,000 visitors a day.
The indictment against Dekhtyarchuk was served on March 16 by a federal grand jury, charging him with “offenses related to operating a cyber-criminal marketplace that sold thousands of stolen login credentials, personal identifiable information, and authentication tools.”
The alleged crook first appeared online in 2013 under the nickname “Floraby” and began advertising the sale of compromised account data in Marketplace A on Russian-language hacker forums five years later, according to the US Attorney.
“A potential customer who visited Marketplace A to purchase access devices for compromised accounts could select different products just as in a legitimate web store,” it said, adding that these “included various combinations of online and credit card accounts” belonging to one person.
“For example, one option allowed Dekhtyarchuk’s customers to unlawfully access two online retail accounts plus receive credit card information for the same victim,” it said. “Some options were broken down by known account balances, which were sold at different price points.”
Dekhtyarchuk has been placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. If brought to justice and convicted, he could face up to 20 years behind bars. However, given the geopolitical situation with Russia, it is not clear when – if ever – this will happen.
Previously a student at Ural State University in Yekaterinburg, he was last known to reside in Kamensk-Uralsky, a city in the Sverdlovsk district of Russia.
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At Microsoft Build 2022, Microsoft brought together a panel of its experts to discuss the company’s metaverse strategy, which centers largely but not exclusively on the company’s Teams collaboration platform.
The panel started with Alysa Taylor, the company’s CVP for Industry, Apps, and Data Marketing, joining host Karuana Gatimu as a Teams avatar—a key component of metaverse interactions. But as with most things Microsoft dev these days, it also involves Azure, in this case specifically the Azure Percept Studio, as well as some HoloLens thrown in.
Most people associate the metaverse with gaming, Facebook parent company Meta, and its Quest VR headsets, but Taylor noted that there are “literally dozens” of definitions of the metaverse. Microsoft’s take on the metaverse is that it involves “the ability to bridge the digital and the physical worlds.” The metaverse’s digital representations of people, places, things, and processes must be persistent, in Microsoft’s view.
Worth noting is that Microsoft’s vision of the metaverse goes beyond simply recreating physical space in digital space: It applies AI to gain insights based on generated data.
So why is the metaverse, if it’s been around in one form or another for years, usually in a gaming context, taking such hold of late? Taylor noted improvements in the technology combined with the need for remote interaction and work occasioned by the pandemic and new software tools.
The Metaverse's Impact on Business
Taylor pointed out that the metaverse can help address issues like shortage of employees and remote work. She noted that Accenture set up a virtual reality scene to welcome new employees to the staff as though they were physically entering an office. The argument is that this allows people to feel more connected with one another than presumably your typical web conferencing. To address the lack of skilled employees, Renault used augmented reality to allow battery technicians to service car dealers.
When asked about how Microsoft’s metaverse toolset is different from its competitors, Taylor pointed to the company’s emphasis on security and trust: “That’s at the cornerstone of everything we do.” But she also noted that it’s about accessibility and inclusivity. Teams’ metaverse includes safety bubbles and automatic mute and has eliminated free-roaming open spaces.
There are two categories of business metaverse: the industrial metaverse and interactive entertainment. The first involves simulating production spaces with IoT digital twins for monitoring irregularities and then simulating fixes and pushing them out. The entertainment use case lets performers get feedback from a remote audience.
The Industrial Metaverse
To dive into what exactly the industrial metaverse is, Microsoft VP Moe Tanabian noted that the return on investment is “incredibly high” when implementing metaverse technology to production settings because of improvements in operational efficiency. Syncing the physical and digital worlds creates real-time operational visibility and lets companies capture the history of its operations. That in turn lets them apply analytics to optimize operations based on trends seen and automate processes based on insights from the data.
Tanabian noted that Microsoft’s Azure Data Explorer and Synapse Analytics can develop insights from this data. Project Bonzai takes this further, using “deep reinforcement learning to create autonomous control systems when you have your physical data mapped to digital twins in an industrial metaverse.”
VP Andy Pratt at Microsoft’s Customer Innovation Labs in Houston then showed how Kawasaki used Azure Percept to monitor its production robots. A new tool announced during Build is 3D Scenes Studio, a hosted service for building visualizations of business environments
But all that is not really what people think of as the metaverse.
The Metaverse Workplace
In short, Microsoft’s workplace metaverse lives inside Teams, the company’s online collaboration platform. In particular, Mesh for Microsoft Teams.
The company’s VP of Teams, Nicole Herskowitz, shared some insights about how the workplace is changing. Workers want flexibility. Personal relationships are harder to reproduce digitally but are critical to productivity and retention. And younger workers are having a hard time (surprising given that they’ve grown up with online technology). “More than 50% of Gen Z and millennials say that they’re likely to change jobs over the next year,” said Herskowitz.
She went on to say that “bringing the metaverse to the workplace is going to be a natural evolution, and employees really want to build those personal connections and to collaborate more effectively no matter where they’re working.” Data shows that people are open to using the metaverse at work.
Herskowitz highlighted three experiences that deliver metaverse functionality to Teams through Mesh: avatars, immersive meetings, and drop-in spaces. Though a bit cartoonlike, avatars can be highly customized to look like—or not like—the real deal, and they mimic speaking lip movements and head motion. They also include reactions that are more impactful than Zoom emoji, like a heart gesture or a “my mind is blown” gesture. You can switch between casual and professional clothing.
"Our early user research shows that people like using avatars," said Herskowitz.
Immersive meetings with Mesh will allow participation via laptop, HoloLens, or VR headset. Virtual brainstorming using a virtual whiteboard in the metaverse is just one possible scenario. But the avatars looked a bit strange in the meeting demo, as they were cut off at the waist. Of the drop-in spaces, Herskowitz made that case they’re “more natural and spontaneous” and encourage serendipitous interactions that spark new ideas. “Over 40% of leaders consider relationship building to be one of the greatest challenges in hybrid and remote work.”
For an actual customer use case for Mesh, Herskowitz pointed out Accenture’s virtual space for onboarding new employees, which actually looks pretty nice (image below). Immersive spaces can be persistent like this one or transient for ad-hoc use. And for avatars that look more like you, Mesh has a Holoportation option to produce a more photorealistic one.
The product also has potential for all-hands meetings, workshops, and large-scale events.
Later in the presentation Mesh lead Matt Fleckenstein made a good point that in the real world we interact in 3D space, something not possible in a standard videoconference. He also opined that multiplayer online gaming has paved the way to the workplace metaverse. After business collaboration could come live events, product announcements, celebrations or even shopping. One advantage never mentioned in the presentation: In the metaverse, everyone is in great shape!
In the final demo, of the World Economic Forum’s metaverse created by Accenture and Microsoft, complete with a town hall and the Trillion Trees project—open to the public worldwide. The visuals will look very familiar to gamers, though maybe short of the HDR graphics you find in today’s AAA games.
To get started programming these immersive worlds, Fleckenstein recommended developers familiarize themselves with 3D design tools like Unity and Unreal—in short, game design tools. Microsoft also plans to offer turnkey solutions for organizations to get started. One option is AltspaceVR, which supports Vive and Oculus as well as Windows and macOS.


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IMF fears trade war and weak Europe could trigger sharp global slowdown
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Monday cut its world economic growth forecasts for 2019 and 2020 due to weakness in Europe and some emerging markets, and said failure to resolve trade tensions could further destabilize a slowing global economy.
Global stock markets falter after China data confirms economic slowdown
LONDON (Reuters) - European shares fell on Monday from six-week highs as a slowdown in China's economy stalled a global equity rally, but sterling rallied to the day's highs after Prime Minister Theresa May promised to be more "flexible" with lawmakers over Brexit.
Tesla's Model 3 gets green light in Europe
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Tesla's Model 3 has been given the green light to hit the road in Europe, clearing the final hurdle for the European introduction of the battery-powered sedan expected next month.
China's Huawei in unprecedented media blitz as it battles heightened scrutiny
HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Huawei has launched an unprecedented public relations blitz, thrusting its low-key founder in front of international media as the telecoms firm seeks to ease concern among Western nations bent on shutting it out of their markets.
Asset managers brace for more job cuts amid market turbulence
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Turmoil on financial markets is expected to deepen layoffs and accelerate acquisitions in the fund management industry.
Trade worries sour CEOs' mood as leaders converge on Davos
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Chief executives across the world have grown a lot more pessimistic about the global economic outlook due to trade disputes and tense relations between major powers, a survey showed on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Ex-Swiss banker convicted for selling secret tax data to Germany
ZURICH (Reuters) - A former UBS
banker accused of selling information about wealthy German tax evaders to German authorities was convicted of economic espionage by a Swiss court on Monday.
Exclusive: Private equity firms circling Nestle's skin health business - sources
FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) - Private equity firms Cinven and Advent have teamed up to bid in an auction that could value Nestle's
skin health business at about 7 billion Swiss francs ($7 billion), three sources familiar with the matter said.
Lockheed sees potential exports of 200 F-16 jets from proposed Indian plant
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin
sees a potential export market of more than $20 billion for its F-16 fighter aircraft from an assembly line in India it has offered to set up in order to win a large Indian military order, a top executive said.
Nissan's Ghosn offers to wear electronic ankle tag to get bail
TOKYO (Reuters) - Ousted Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn has offered to wear an electronic ankle tag and hire guards to monitor him in an unusual bid to secure his release on bail after two months of detention in Japan for alleged financial crimes.


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Last May, an investigation involving federal regulators and prosecutors from all 50 states led to four national cancer charities being charged with swindling consumers out of $187 million in charitable donations. Today, two of those bogus charities — responsible for $75 million in bilked donations — have agreed to close up shop and provide refunds to donors.
We’ve said it a thousand times: scammers are the worst, and those that take advantage of organizations trying to do good in the world are the lowest of the low. Such was allegedly the case for Liberty Supply Co., which federal regulators have accused of running an office supply scam that targeted charitable organizations and small businesses. [More]
Over the weekend, tornadoes ripped through the Dallas area, rending homes into piles of wood and destroying lives. Additionally, bad weather in the region resulted in damage to the property of countless other Americans. We can understand the desire to get your life back in order immediately — or to donate money to help victims — but don’t let yourself be taken in by unscrupulous scammers. [More]
From time to time you may hear of a charity that accepts the donation of older, used vehicles that owners simply no longer have use for, promising to donate the profit of the future sale to a charitable program. While it might seem like a fairly straightforward operation, the state of California claims two such groups weren’t keeping their promises, instead using the funds to pay for their own expenses. [More]
Car Donation Foundation, more popularly known as “Wheels for Wishes,” is the nation’s largest auto donation charity. Every year, it takes in millions of dollars from donated cars for the supposed purpose of benefiting local chapters of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. But Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson says the charity has been misleading donors about its connections to Make-A-Wish and about how much money that organization was getting from the donated vehicles. [More]
There are more than 4,500 Walmart stores in the U.S., but the nation’s largest retailer continues to expand. The company, once associated with rural communities, has recently made pushes into urban markets. And a new complaint to the IRS accuses Walmart of wrongfully using its tax-exempt Walmart Foundation charity to get a foothold in those cities. [More]
Federal regulators, state officials and prosecutors and law enforcement officers from all 50 states and the District of Columbia partnered today to charge four cancer charities and their operators for running a scheme that swindle consumers out of $187 million in charitable donations. Two of the charities have agreed to settle the charges and dissolve their businesses, while two other plan to fight the charges in court. [More]
If you’ve signed up for the Do Not Call List, you shouldn’t get phone solicitations except from companies you do business with and charitable organizations. If you’re getting calls from a group you aren’t interested in sending money to, or you just don’t like making donations over the phone, they’re just as annoying as commercial calls. [More]
While the person who calls you to ask for a charitable donation is probably representing a non-profit organization, that telemarketer may be employed by a for-profit fundraising company hired by the charity. But just how much of what you’re giving ends up going to the charity, and how much goes to line the telemarketer’s pockets? [More]
Scroll through your Facebook timeline and you’ll no doubt see any number of people passing on links, photos, stories, invites to groups… all for allegedly good causes. It’s become increasingly simple to say you support things like ending world hunger or providing shelter to victims of natural disaster, while at the same time doing absolutely nothing that actually helps to solve those problems. Such behavior has earned the name “slacktivism,” and a new study aims to show how many people can trick themselves into thinking they have done enough by simply putting on a ribbon or liking a Facebook page. [More]
They say it’s better to give than to receive, but if you can also get a little something back when you give, what’s not to like? While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with tossing some cash to those bell-ringing Santas, there’s a better way to give. [More]
Between the recent tragic flooding in Colorado and yesterday’s fatal shooting in Washington, D.C., it’s been one of those weeks that make many people wonder want to do something, anything, to help those who are grieving, suffering, or in need. Sadly, as we’ve seen too many times to count, tragedies always bring out the worst in a small number of people looking to cash in on the charity of well-meaning folks. [More]
When does a book donation turn from a welcome bit of assistance into an unwanted nuisance? Perhaps after everyone has already read it, turning it into a wild success but one that doesn’t necessarily merit a permanent position on the book shelf. After all, who really needs to own a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey when all your friends have it for the borrowing anyway? [More]
NY Shuts Down Sham Fundraising Company That Took In Millions Of Donations For Breast Cancer “Research”
Between 2005 and 2011, the Coalition Against Breast Cancer raised around $10 million in donations intended for research to combat the disease, but authorities say that no such research ever occurred, and all that money went to pay for a grand total of 40 mammograms in seven years. [More]
We told you on Monday morning about the scammers who were setting up fake Facebook accounts, websites and Twitter feeds in the names of the 20 children murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT. Now the family of one 6-year-old victim is trying to put a stop to it. [More]
NY Attorney General Calls On Breast Cancer Charities To Be Transparent About Where The Money Is Going
It seems like every October, there are more pink items for sale to promote National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which has led to growing concern that the focus is on selling merchandise without being clear about how much money is actually going to cancer research. In an effort to keep these charities honest, the Attorney General for New York state has issued a set of best practices. [More]
It’s been a week since a dozen people were killed and 58 others were injured at a late-night showing of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Co., and folks from around the world have been looking to donate money to help those affected by the tragedy. But before you hand over any cash, be sure it’s a legitimate charity.
Gifts to many charities can backfire, placing you on hit lists for other organizations that share information about their networks of benefactors. A donation can place you in the crosshairs of other companies in need of donations, bombarding you with cold calls and mailings and making you feel like the object of one of those “for a good time, call XXX” messages etched on bathroom stalls.


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Jan. 19, 2010 — -- The shortage of a popular brand of tampons has alarmed women who are so loyal to this most intimate of necessities that they have been willing to pay exorbitant amounts when they can find them online.
The disappearance of the o.b. brand tampons from store shelves has boosted prices on eBay to as much as $100 for a set of three boxes of 40 tampons. Boxes of the o.b. tampons typically cost around $8.
"I just figured that my store was out and hadn't been restocking them, but when I went to three or four more stores and realized those shelves were empty too, I was panicking," said Debbie Ronca.
Luckily, Ronca didn't have to pay the eBay price to replenish her supply and instead received boxes of her favorite tampons from her sister for Christmas, who shipped them to Ronca's Tennessee home from Florida.
Ronca, like many other women, became loyal consumers of o.b. brand tampons because of their compact size and comfort. The tampons, unlike many of its competitors, come without an applicator and therefore produce less waste than their counterparts.
"Your choice of tampon is a very personal thing," explained Ronca, 42, who says she has been using the o.b. brand for more than 20 years. "When you've been using the same product for that long and it has never changed, it's a little terrifying to think about what you're going to do without that product."
Other women say they use o.b. branded tampons because of they come they offer a higher absorbancy than others.
"It's like getting a fix, when you have something you rely on for years and then it's missing," said Dodai Stewart, the New York-based deputy editor of the popular women's blog Jezebel, who has been covering the tampon shortage for months.
Yukela Williams, a spokeswoman for Johnson & Johnson, the company that manufactures o.b. tampons, said in an e-mail to ABC News that customers can expect the product back on shelves soon.
Delicate Issue: Tampon Shortage
"O.b. tampons experienced a temporary supply interruption that has resulted in some stores being out of stock. We have now begun shipping o.b. products, which are now available in some stores, and will be arriving at others over the next few days and weeks. We apologize to o.b. consumers who may have been inconvenienced," said Williams. A similar statement was also posted on the company's website.
Williams did not say what caused the supply interruption.
But Stewart is out of luck when it comes to the 'Ultra" absorbancy o.b. tampons, which have apparently been discontinued.
"The Ultra line was discontinued in September," said Williams. "There have been no unusual reports of adverse events related to Ultra and the decision to discontinue was a business decision."
A spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration confirmed to ABC News that there have been no concerns over the safety of the o.b. tampons that may have lead to their discontinuation.
Stewart, who said she had a "little freak out" when the product became scarce, said she wasn't surprised at the outcry over the shortage.
"I think there are two forces at work, the first is the general brand loyalty," said Stewart. "When you find something that works and works great and you're used to it and it's an intimate product -- we're not just talking about shampoo here -- you get used to it."
"The other force at work here which is what really inspires people to be crazy about o.b. products is that it is a very well-made product, and it's different," she said. "It fits differently and has no applicator and I think people like that. They feel like it's effective."
Stewart said she even had one reader whom she has never met send her a box of the tampons after reading her blog.
Others have been commenting on the similarity between this shortage and the famous "Seinfeld" episode where Elaine has to cope with the discontinuation of the contraceptive sponge she used, leading her to hoard her supply and determine whether the man she is sleeping with is "sponge worthy."
While Stewart eventually got her answers about the product by soliciting Johnson & Johnson for information, consumers like Ronca say they were left uninformed about a product they've been loyal to.
"I was annoyed because there was no information about what was going on," said Ronca. "It would be nice to know why they were discontinued and if there is something wrong with them. Is there a danger?"
Ronca said she spent hours researching the product and found herself "nervous" about the entire situation.
Shortage of O.B. Tampons About to End
"It would be nice of [o.b] to offer us a coupon or something," said Ronca.
Williams did not respond to a question regarding any potential incentives for customers who were inconvenienced by the shortage.
Consultant and loyalty expert Diane Durkin said that it is in Johnson & Johnson's best interest to offer a public apology to its customers.
"What happens is that people get really committed to a particular comfort level and in this case it's not only with the brand but with the product itself," said Durkin. "This is also a very personal item, and because its so personal people want the comfort. This is not something you fool around with."
"The thing [o.b.] has to remember is that these women are going to influence other women, it's the best advertising in the world," she said. "They're going to talk to their daughters, friends and moms -- everyone is going to know about this."


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By Thomas Garcia: Quay County Sun
LOGAN — Around 100 Quay County residents attended Tuesday’s pre-grand opening of the new Subway eatery in Logan.
The crowd enjoyed free Subway meals with a special invitation from owners Jean and Diane Morency.
“This is a test run before our grand opening on Wednesday,” Diane Morency said. “The layout of this store is a lot different then the one in Tucumcari. We wanted the employees to get the feel of the restaurant.”
Morency said usually she and her husband purchase a Subway that is already built. She said this is her first time building and opening a new store.
“Before it was take over the business and place your money in the safe and go,” Diane said with a laugh. “This go around we had to have everything built and the store put together.”
Their first day of operations seemed to go well as many Logan residents filed in to get a taste of Subway.
“I think it is great,” said Bob Gore, Logan’s chief of police. “I have been ready for this place to open since the start of summer.”
“We open on Wednesday full time,” Morency said. “The only setback is not having our big Subway sign out front. I’m sure people will hear about us and word will spread that we are open.”


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Future trad makes its debut for fall fashion trends grounded in traditional preppy style with a futuristic twist. Marie Claire is calling it one of the biggest fall fashion trends of 2019. The material focus – plaid. Here’s how you should be wearing your business casual day wear in the new season.
More on the blog: dayinmydreams.com/2019/09/23/future-trad-and-perfecting-plaid/
Insta love: instagram.com/dayinmydreams/
#plaid #drmartens #boots #fallstyle


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General Motors has passed a major milestone with the 10th anniversary of its Middle East Parts Distribution Center (MEDC) located in the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai. The MEDC was initially leased from DHL, when it first opened in 2003.
Chevrolet dealers sold a total of 6,031 vehicles in the Middle East in April boosted by sales of the brands passenger cars which surged 47% year-on-year. Total sales rose 12% as dealers recorded their best April retail month since 2008.
Mannai Auto Group and Cadillac Arabia unveiled the all-new Cadillac XTS which is available for the first time in Qatar starting in May 2013. This arrival supercharges the full-size luxury sedan market with advanced technology and innovative safety systems at its core.
The transformation of the Chevrolet passenger car lineup continues with the introduction of the 2014 Impala,brands new flagship full-size sedan,which features expressive styling, refined interior and easy-to-use technology.The Impala is the newest nameplate that Chevrolet is bringing to the Middle East. It goes on sale in the region in June.


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In February, according to the latest data from the Kenya Bureau of Statistics, Kenya’s inflation rate increased slightly by 0.2 per cent. In January, the overall inflation stood at 9 per cent and rose up to 9.2 percent as households continued to face high costs of fuel, food and housing.
There was an increase of 0.6 percent from an index of 129.29 in January 2023 to 130.13 in February 2023 of the Consumer Price Index. The Consumer Price Index which is the measure of the percentage change in the prices paid by consumers for a market basket of goods and services.
According to KNBS, the inflation between February 2022 and February 2023 was a result of an increase in price commodities under food and nonalcoholic beverages (13.3%), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (7.6%), and transport (12.9$).
Between January and February, due to an increase in gas/LPG prices by 4.7%, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels index increased by 0.4%. The electricity prices however decreased during the period while the transport index remained the same as well as diesel and petrol prices.
Meanwhile, food and nonalcoholic beverages index increased by 1.2% between the months with most vegetable prices. Cabbage and carrots increased by 11.3% each while kale-Sukuma wiki and tomato prices increased by 11.0 and 7.8 per cent, respectively.
Prices of mangoes, sugar, and fortified maize flour dropped by 4.8, 3.2, and 2.5 per cent, respectively.
Many households in Kenya are being subjected to struggles in trying to make ends meet as their cost of living remains persistent. While having not recovered from the pandemic, policymakers will need to come up with strategies to address the cost of living challenge,
In a groundbreaking move, Google unveiled its new generative AI model, Gemini, on Wednesda…


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Google is beginning to look beyond search to tap into some of the most lucrative and promising businesses in the tech industry: artificial intelligence and cloud computing. The company, the largest and most significant part of Alphabet Inc., has grown to mammoth proportions off the back of its search-based advertising division. But those revenues are starting to slow. The cloud allows companies to manage and sell server space and software that lives inside its data centers, like AI, to other large companies. That type of service-based business is fast becoming the new way to reap profits in the tech industry.
"We've always been doing cloud, it's just that we've been consuming it all internally at Google," CEO Sundar Pichai said on an earnings call with investors today. "But as we've grown — really matured in how we handle our data center investments and how we can do this at scale — we've definitely crossed over to the other side to where we can thoughtfully serve external customers."
"We've always been doing cloud, it's just that we've been consuming it all internally."
That point is key for Google to obtain customers as large as Netflix and Spotify, both of which pay Amazon to take advantage of its widely used AWS cloud platform. Microsoft is the other big industry leader in the cloud, and its Azure product suite is growing rapidly. Google ultimately wants its cloud business to eclipse its advertising one by 2020, and the ambitious effort is central to the company's ongoing transformation into a business-class service provider.
While Google plays catch up on that front, Pichai sees his company's investments in AI techniques like machine learning as key to its success over rivals. "We've been investing in machine learning and AI for years, but I think we're at an exceptionally interesting tipping point where these technologies are really taking off," he said. "That is very, very applicable to businesses as well. So thoughtfully doing that externally we view as a big differentiator we have over others." Google uses AI right now for things like image recognition, search and video recommendations, and to power its Google Now service. It's conceivable those techniques could translate to the corporate realm, and Google could offer those services in the cloud to customers.
Pichai name dropped AlphaGo, the powerful AI software of its DeepMind subsidiary that bested Go master Lee Se-dol in the ancient Chinese board game last month. He also mentioned Diane Greene, the company's new senior VP for enterprise businesses, as another point of strength given her role as CEO of cloud pioneer VMware. "In the long run, I think we will evolve in computing from a mobile-first to an AI-first world," Pichai said in closing. "And I do think we're at the forefront of developments."


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CBD Can Help to Heal Oral Ulcers, Study Suggests
Cannabidiol (CBD) is well-known for its potential as an anti-inflammatory agent. For this reason, it has already been investigated as a way of tackling a whole host of different conditions, from arthritic pain to inflammatory bowel disease (IBS).
Now, new research presented at the virtual 99th General Session & Exhibition of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) suggests that CBD can also help to speed up healing and reduce the pain associated with oral ulcers.
The researchers from the West China Hospital of Stomatology at Sichuan University demonstrated these healing effects in lab mice and have now characterized the mechanism behind this action using published RNA-sequencing datasets. The study results have been published in the Journal of Dental Research.
The researchers say that these new findings may help to shed light on the development of new therapeutics for oral ulcers.
CBD reduces inflammatory pain and promotes wound healing
Oral ulcers are a relatively common, but there are few effective treatments currently available. Given CBD’s promise as an anti-inflammatory agent, the Sichuan University researchers set out to evaluate whether the cannabinoid could also benefit the inflammatory pain that occurs with oral ulcers.
To do this, the researchers created mouse models of oral ulcers by acid etching or mechanical trauma inside the mouths of the lab mice, then applying a CBD oral spray. After macroscopic and histological evaluation, the researchers concluded that CBD was indeed able to alleviate the inflammatory pain associated with the ulcers in a dose-dependent manner. Topical application of the CBD oral spray to the ulcers was also seen to result in faster wound closure and ameliorated the expected loss of body weight in a similarly dose-dependent way.
CBD alters NLPR3 expression to combat inflammation in ulcers
After having established experimentally that CBD can accelerate healing and treat inflammatory pain in oral ulcers, the research team set out to investigate the underlying mechanisms for this action.
“Here we applied a CBD oral spray on ulcers in mice tongues, and found that CBD could greatly inhibit inflammation, relieve pain, and accelerate lesion closure. To dissect the mechanism, we analyzed the published RNA-sequenced datasets with recurrent aphthous ulcer, and found NLPR3 expression is notably upregulated in human oral ulcers,” said lead study author Xingying Qi during a virtual research presentation session.
The NLRP3 inflammasome is an important part of the body’s immune system and is responsible for producing the pro-inflammatory cytokines that typically respond to microbial infections and cell damage. High NLRP3 expression has previously been linked to the cause of recurrent aphthous ulcer (RAU) in humans.
“We performed RNA-sequencing using inflammation-stimulated RNA oral keratinocytes and revealed that CBD significantly inactivates NLRP3 inflammasome activation. In addition, CBD could also inhibit inflammasome-induced pyroptosis [cell death associated with inflammation], which is very helpful for ulcer healing,” said Qi.
Mechanically, the researchers also found that CBD was able to decrease the expression of CMPK2, which in turn reduced the new synthesis of mitochondrial DNA and led to the suppression of NLRP3 inflammasome activation.
“Notably, we identified a significant decrease of CMPK2 after CBD treatment – CMPK2 being the greatly limiting enzyme in the mitochondria that controls mitochondrial DNA synthesis,” Qi explained. “So we confirmed that in ulcers, CBD treatment suppressed CMPK2 expression and consequently attenuated mitochondrial DNA synthesis and inactivated the inflammasome.”
CBD ulcer healing mediated by PPAR-γ and CB1 receptor
From experiments using various receptor antagonists, the researchers determined that CBD’s beneficial effect on ulcer healing is mediated mostly by the PPAR-γ nuclear receptor and partially through the CB1 endocannabinoid receptor in plasma membrane.
“Cannabinoids can signal through various receptor targets. Here, we demonstrated that the CB1 receptor was partially involved in the inhibitory effects of CBD on inflammasome activation,” said Qi.
“In addition, CBD has been shown to exert immunomodulation properties through other receptors, like the nuclear receptor PPAR-γ. The application of a PPAR-γ receptor antagonist significantly and totally blocked the inhibitory effect of CBD on CMPK2-mediated inflammasome and pyroptosis.”
The researchers believe this is explained by PPAR-γ acting as a transcription factor for the CMPK2 gene. CBD treatment disrupts this process and inhibits the transcriptional modulation of PPAR-γ on CMPK2, resulting in the inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome.
With this new understanding of the mechanism behind CBD’s beneficial effects, the researchers hope that their results will go on to inform the development of new therapeutic strategies for managing oral ulcers in humans.


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Six people in the Seattle area are part of a Salmonella Berta outbreak where pork and seafood products are suspected sources. Two people have been hospitalized.
Do you need a Salmonella Lawyer?
The patients in this outbreak said they first became ill on dates ranging from April 14, 2023, to June 12, 2023. Before they developed symptoms of a Salmonella infection, which include nausea, fever, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea, they reported eating pork cuts cooked at home, fish and crab.
Health officials have conducted traceback investigations, tracing the path of the product from the store where it was purchased to the company that produced it, but they have not yet identifiedthe source.
During the first quarter of fiscal 2023, Salmonella Berta was one of the top 10 Salmonella serotypes found in pork products tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA FSIS). That serotype was not discovered in any samples of chicken, turkey, or beef tested during the same period.
- CDC: Cross-Contamination Key in Seafood Salmonella Outbreak
- Ground Beef Salmonella Outbreak in Illinois [Updated]
- USDA Investigating Possible Chicken Salmonella Outbreak
Salmonella Lawyers with Experience
If you developed a Salmonella infection after eating contaminated food and you would like a free consultation with a Salmonella lawyer, please contact the Pritzker Hageman Salmonella Legal Team. Our attorneys have represented clients in every major Salmonella outbreak in the U.S. You can reach us by calling 1-888-377-8900, sending a text to 612-261-0856, or completing the form below. There is no obligation and we don’t get paid unless we win.


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Gold-plated own goal
Store bosses ended up looking 24 karat fools when they created a gold-plated car to promote a new sales gimmick - and it was towed away by police.
The motor had been parked on the street to stop shoppers in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, eastern China, in their tracks.
But sharp-eyed police towed the gold-blinger vehicle away when they spotted it had been parked on a public road without a licence plate or road tax.
"The owners have 10 days to pay their fine. If they don't it will be sold or crushed," said a police spokesman.
Police were called when angry motorists complained that the streets around the store were blocked by cars and pedestrians trying to get close to the car.
"I just wanted to get close to touch all that gold," said one shopper.
"They were causing a public nuisance and had no permission for a public show. Then when an officer noticed the car was unlicensed, it had to go," added the police spokesman.


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Usually, the concept of meme stock refers to stocks that are rapidly growing in value due to the collective efforts of users of social networks such as Reddit. AMC can call itself a meme stock because, at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, AMC’s revenue fell by 88.8%, however, Reddit users have given new life to the company. Today, the price indicators of the company have risen by 5%, representing a $2.16 gain.
Despite the company’s unsuccessful September, where the company has lost 19% of the valuation of their share, has quickly revived after providing beating estimates second-quarter report. The sales of the company during the second-quarter have reached $444.7 million against $18.9 million a year ago. It’s definitely clear that the company will soar for a long time, moreover, the latest agreement with Mudrick Capital that will acquire 8.5 million shares at $27.15 per share inspires confidence.


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In the United States, “72% of customers believe it is important to buy from green companies,” according to a 2011 study. Since increasing environmental awareness has been a long-term trend, that number may already be higher, and will likely continue to rise.
This means that being environmentally responsible is not just about saving money on utility bills or getting tax deductions, but is also a smart investment for the marketing value that comes with being able to tell consumers that they, too, are being environmentally responsible by doing business with your company.
There are a lot of ways to go green, from switching to a renewable power source like solar or wind to installing more efficient appliances and lighting options. Insulating your building properly and upgrading to efficient HVAC systems can also go a long way in driving your energy consumption down and your green image up.
If you’re a business owner or commercial building owner, doing all you can to be green is the smart choice.