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A new research study estimates that 163 million "smartbooks" will ship worldwide in 2015 - a significant rate of growth given that the very first models only appeared in 2008.
Android and Apple's iPhone OS were the fastest-growing smartphone platforms in 2009, with sales of the iPhone OS overtaking those of Windows Mobile, research company Gartner said Tuesday. Symbian and Research In Motion's BlackBerry still lead the mar...
Nintendo's video-on-demand channel Wii no Ma has been online in Japan for almost a year now with nary a mention of international release. With Nintendo recently announcing Netflix streaming support, the company may be looking to bolster its video out...
Xilinx, which makes a range of chips often used in communications gear, plans to release its first 28-nanometer chips by the fourth quarter of this year to lower costs and attract new customers as the world pulls out of recession.
A finance employee of Indian outsourcer Wipro committed suicide shortly after the company caught him in December for embezzling US$4 million from the company, a spokeswoman for the company said on Tuesday.
Intel was targeted by "sophisticated" attacks last month, about the same time that Google reported its network had been breached, allegedly by Chinese hackers.
Google's YouTube will drop support for Microsoft's nearly-nine-year-old Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) in just over two weeks, the popular video site has announced.
New numbers from the folks at Twitter show that people are tweeting furiously.
Web site owners in China will have to start submitting personal photos to register their sites with the government under new trial regulations, China's latest move in an Internet clampdown focused on porn.
LAS VEGAS - IBM yesterday outlined plans to to expand into a new line of business that may ultimately incorporate futuristic technologies, such as paint infused with nano-sized sensors, for managing energy usage in buildings and even cities.
If you crave advice on sculpting the perfect mustache, revel in the dark and mysterious world of vampires or seek a divorce from your partner, yes, there's a social network for that. Here are 10 weird and truly niche social networking sites that stri...
Sony has announced it will launch its Internet protocol TV (IPTV) platform, BRAVIA Internet Video, in March with the release of its 2010 LCD television range. The company also announced its first 3D-capable televisions, which will be available in Aus...
Nonprofit groups desperate to raise donations during the economic downturn are considering text-to-donate campaigns similar to the wildly successful American Red Cross texting effort for Haiti earthquake relief.
Amazon.com has agreed to pay Microsoft an undisclosed sum as part of a patent cross-licensing deal between the companies announced on Monday.
Wal-Mart Stores is taking another swing at the online movie business with the acquisition of Vudu.
You can’t just rush out and buy the most expensive hard disk and expect it to be the best at fulfilling all your needs. Different hard disks are designed for different uses and if you buy the wrong one you’ll either waste a lot of money or find that it simply won’t work with your chosen task. Here we list the top 10 things to look out for when you buy a new hard disk, whether it’s for a laptop, desktop, Networked Attached Storage (NAS) device or a server in a data center.
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By Aleem Shaikh
Service Tax Department & Government of India hosted a press meet announcing the arrival of GST.
The press meet saw the presence of Chief Commissioner CGST Mumbai Zone-S.C. Varshney, Additional Commissioner CCO- S.C. Gangar, Deputy Commissioner CCO- S.K. Mishra, Commissioner Mumbai Cebtral- K.C. Gupta, Joint Commissioner Mumbai Central- Pankaj Kumar, Additional Commissioner Mumbai South- K.K. Gupta, Commissioner Mumbai East- Piyusha Patnaik
Additional Commissioner Mumbai East- Nilkhanth Shelke, Commissioner Mumbai West- Sandeep Puri
Additional Commissioner Mumbai- Manpreet Arya, Commissioner Audit 2-Suresh Krishnani
Additional Commissioner 2- A.K. Goyal, Commissioner Audit 3 – Shanbhoo Nath, Additional Commissioner- Manisha Goyal.
Ushering into Saturday, Service Tax Department & Government of India announced the arrival of the Goods and Services Tax ( GST) in India. All the dignitaries Sushil Solanki , Nihal Kothari, Shouvik Roy, Ashish Pednekar (speakers) spoke about GST, India’s biggest-ever tax reform, which will bring in place a single tax system that some analysts predict will be bigger than that of the European Union.
Service Tax Department & Government of India kicked off proceedings, delivering a short address in which they called GST an “important achievement for the entire country.” “The old India was economically fragmented, the new India will create one tax, one market and for one nation”.
Addressing the gathering, Chief Commissioner CGST Mumbai Zone-S.C. Varshney
said the introduction of GST is a moment of precedent for the country “I had always believed that GST was a matter of time and was happy when it was enacted and I gave assent to the Constitution amendment last year,” he said.
GST is expected to check tax evasion and broaden tax base. In the new regime, all filings will be done only through electronic mode to ensure non-intrusive administration. This will minimise taxpayers’ physical interaction with the tax officials.
The GST regime seeks to reduce rates of over 50 per cent of items of daily use and charge others at much lower rate of 5 per cent, 12 per cent and 18 per cent.
A higher tax rate is imposed on luxury and sin goods at 28 per cent in the new regime. Certain services like telephone, banking and insurance are expected to feel the pinch of higher taxes.
GST also promises taxpayers a refund against their sales within 60 days. Similarly, exporters will get refund within seven days. For protection of consumer rights, the new law provides anti-profiteering provisions. In a departure from the normal practice, the GST will be administered together by the Center and the states.
Complications, however, are expected, and the general consensus is that it will take at least a month before GST’s true impact is realized.
Though even critics of the roll out agree that in the long run, GST will benefit the Indian economy.

domain: news


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General Motors has issued more recalls so far in 2014 due to suspected automotive defects than in the history of the company. As CNN reports, there have now been 29 separate recalls that cover 13.8 million vehicles in the U.S. and 15.8 million worldwide.
To put the recalls in perspective: The number of vehicles recalled by GM, including cars and trucks, exceeds the number of cars that the company has sold within the U.S. in the last five years, or 12.1 million. Evidence that GM may have improperly delayed the recall has resulted in the beleaguered car company being fined $35 million.
The large number of faulty vehicles is a major concern for the car company, as well as for motorists who may own or drive GM vehicles. As when any product recall is issued, a concern is whether the GM recalls may have come too late for persons who were possibly injured due to the defects.
GM Faces Hefty Fine
The first of the recalls that occurred in 2014 involved around 800,000 vehicles with an ignition switch problem. The recall was initiated in February of 2014. This problem led to GM’s $35 million fine.
According to USA Today, the fine will be paid to the U.S. Department of Transportation. It is the maximum penalty that can be assessed. It is part of a consent agreement that also includes an agreement by the car company to make “significant and wide-ranging internal changes” into how safety issues are monitored.
GM will be required to give the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration full access to the company’s internal investigation on the recall delays related to the faulty ignition switch. The Justice Department is also considering criminal charges against GM.
GM entered into the consent agreement in light of ample evidence that it was aware as far back as 2001 that the ignition switch could move unexpectedly out of “run” and into “accessory.” Not only could this turn the engine off as someone was driving, but it also could kill power steering and disable the airbags. At least 12 fatalities and 46 injuries have been linked to the faulty ignition switch within the U.S.
While the faulty ignition switch problem was the deadliest of the defects that have prompted the massive recalls, it was not the only issue with GM cars. Just recently, the company recalled Silverados, Sierras and Tahoes because of steering problems.
What Can Defective Product Victims Do?
Victims injured by defects in vehicles may be able to make a product liability claim against the vehicle manufacturer. Those injured by defective products can pursue a claim for damages regardless of negligence since strict liability rules apply when a product causes harm when it has been used as intended.
However, if the victims can demonstrate that a company was aware of dangerous safety defects and willfully hid the risk from consumers, this evidence could potentially lead to a punitive damages award.
Reuters reports that a U.S. bankruptcy judge who oversaw the car company’s bankruptcy in 2009 is now encouraging settlement talks between GM and plaintiffs who may bring claims related to the faulty ignition switches. However, it remains to be seen whether GM will voluntarily agree to compensate those affected.
Those who believe they have suffered harm due to defects that have prompted these recalls or due to any other product flaws should consult with an experienced personal injury attorney in order to learn more about their rights and options.


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China’s strict restrictions
Apple’s iPhone production there will drop by at least 30 percent. This is due to restrictions being imposed in China to control the spread of Covid-19.
The information is confirmed by a source aware and directly involved in this matter. News Reuters and BBC.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. By the former Hon High Precision Industry and the current Foxconn are working to increase production at another factory in Shenzhen. The company employs more than 200,000 workers at its Zhengzhou factory in central China. Restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus have had a negative impact on factories.
In a video that has gone viral on local social media in China. Several factory workers have been seen climbing over the fence to escape, according to the published report.
Foxconn workers are trying to walk home after fleeing the perimeter of the factory.
The BBC reported, citing videos circulating on local Chinese social media platforms and its own representative in China. Although the destination is far away. They are not using public transport to avoid being caught by the law and order forces.
This decline in production is expected during the holiday season at the end of the year.
where there is a large demand and market potential for electrical products. The timing is also important for Cupertino’s tech giant Apple. Foxconn said the company is working to control the situation and has taken steps to increase production. However, Apple was contacted but they didn’t respond.
Foxconn is one of Apple’s top manufacturers in terms of iPhone production. The company markets 70 percent of iPhones globally. Fubon Research, a Taipei-based market analyst firm, reported this month that the Taiwanese company.
That made 45 percent of its profits by helping to market the iPhone. The company also manufactures iPhones in India.
Another person familiar with the matter said that despite the lockdown and restrictions,
Many workers are staying at the Zhengzhou factory. Because of this, production continues there. The Chinese government has allowed factories to remain open as long as they operate within a certain closed-loop system. Under this system, the workers will stay and work inside the factory. However, business organizations said. There are several problems in running the program this way.
Foxconn ordered workers at the Zhengzhou factory to eat in the dormitory instead of sitting in the dining room.
At the time, the company said production was at normal levels.
As a result of this decision, the workers in the factory expressed their regrets about their treatment.
And also overall management there on social media.
Foxconn has yet to say anything about treating any workers at the factory for Covid-19. In May, Quanta Computer, another company operating as an Apple supplier in Shanghai. It was hit by worker discontent and protests. The protest started after the spread of the infection of Covid-19 despite having a closed loop system in the factory.
In a recent statement, Foxconn said that the government has agreed to allow the provision of food in the dining hall. Considering the convenience and satisfaction of the workers.
Foxconn also demanded in the statement that it liaises with the government, So to organize orderly transport arrangements for workers who want to return home. Attempts to contact Foxconn for this matter did not get an immediate response.


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Huawei is at the heart of a concerted effort in some quarters to declaim its portfolio as a Trojan Horse for the Chinese Communist Party. Largely limited in its ability to tackle this debate in western capitals, the company is instead focussing on business, today (with a nod of apology to long-standing partner Intel) announcing the launch of two new indigenous ARM-based products, a CPU and also a server range.
The former was developed in-house using the ARMv8 architecture licence, but Huawei has also been working with a wide range of industry organisations to build an “open, collaborative industry ecosystem”, teaming up with partners like Hortonworks, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, SUSE, Ubuntu, and China Standard Software, the company said announcing the two launches in Shanghai early Monday January 7.
Industry cooperation leads to shared success. At the launch of Huawei’s #Kunpeng920 #CPU and TaiShan server, Huawei and industry partners exchanged thoughts on building an open, collaborative and win-win ecosystem: https://t.co/3gSjSqy3zs pic.twitter.com/LNMnqEnYsq
— Huawei (@Huawei) January 7, 2019
Huawei Arm Partnership Comes with a “Sorry, Intel”
“Huawei has long partnered with Intel to make great achievements. Together we have contributed to the development of the ICT industry. Huawei and Intel will continue our long-term strategic partnerships and continue to innovate together,” Huawei Board Director William Xu said in an emailed release, addinng that the company will “embrace a diversified computing era.”
Read this: Huawei First to Trial Google’s Fuchsia OS
“At the same time, the ARM industry is seeing a new development opportunity. The Kunpeng 920 CPU and TaiShan servers newly released by Huawei are primarily used in big data, distributed storage, and ARM-native applications. We will work with global partners in the spirit of openness, collaboration, and shared success to drive the development of the ARM ecosystem and expand the computing space.”
The CPU: Dubbed the Kunpeng 920, the new CPU is designed to boost the development of computing in big data, distributed storage, and ARM-native application scenarios, Huawei said in an emailed release. It was independently designed by Huawei based on ARMv8 architecture licence and uses a cutting edge 7nm process.
At typical frequency, the Kunpeng 920 CPU scores over 930 in the SPECint Benchmarks test, which is 25 percent higher than the industry benchmark, Huawei claimed, sucking up 30 percent less power than unnamed industry counterparts, saying it provides much higher computing performance for data centers with greater efficiency.
The specs: Kunpeng 920 integrates 64 cores at a frequency of 2.6 GHz. It integrates 8-channel DDR4. System integration is available via two 100G RoCE ports. It supports PCIe 4.0 and CCIX interfaces, and provides 640 Gbps total bandwidth.
The server: Huawei’s three new TaiShan series servers are powered by the Kunpeng 920 and were described as built for big data, distributed storage, and ARM-native application scenarios. They are tuned for “optimal many-core high concurrency and resource scheduling” Huawei said.
Explaining the launches, Huawei said as new applications in cloud computing drive data diversity (“for example, big data applications, distributed storage, and some edge computing scenarios have specific energy efficiency requirements for many-core high-performance computing”) ARM systems stand out with “unique advantages in performance and power consumption.”


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UFU welcomes food policy debate
Northern Ireland farming leaders have welcomed the public debate on food security triggered by Defra’s food policy consultation.
The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) said it will use the consultation to highlight the strategic importance of Northern Ireland farms to UK food supply.
UFU president Graham Furey said: “Our farmers should be central to the development and delivery of the Government’s food policy.
“Farming is already contributing strongly to economic activity in Northern Ireland. Almost 50,000 people work on our farms and the target this year for the agri-food sector is an impressive turnover of over £3bn. Longer term, the future looks bright for a region like ours, with a great heritage of farming, stockmanship and food production.”
Furey said the UFU will also raise the current lack of profitability on farms and the importance of establishing a retailer ombudsman to ensure farmers have a greater chance of receiving a fair return from the food chain.
“We will also be highlighting other important issues, such as the need for food imports to meet the same high standards as local production, and we continue to be concerned in Northern Ireland that farm gate prices here are unjustifiably lower than in other regions of the UK for our main commodities,” he said.
23 March, 2017
Hygienic Design in Food Processing Environments Conference 2017
23 - 29 April, 2017
Great British Beef Week
24 - 26 April, 2017
Farm Shop Deli Show
26 - 30 April, 2017
4th International Poultry Meat Congress


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'Everyone is so excited': American sweet shop set to open in Thetford
- Credit: Jade Bowles
American candy, slushies and classic pick-and-mix will be some of the sweet treats on offer at a new shop in Thetford.
The closure of Thetford Kebab Shop, which had been in the town for more than 30 years, came as a shock to many last year after its tenants were told to leave by Thetford Town Council.
But now the owner of an American sweet business hopes locals will enjoy what she has to offer.
Jade Bowles started Cocos as a sweet delivery business - formerly named Delivery Sweet UK - in May 2020 and it is now set to takeover the site at The Shambles market place.
The 29-year-old said: “It just took off from the get go. I started it by setting up a Facebook page in lockdown and it has been a whirlwind ever since.
“I have always been a sweet-lover and it was something I had thought about doing for a very long time.
“And look where I am now.”
The former kebab shop, owned by Thetford Town Council, has undergone renovations work and will officially open as the sweet shop early next year.
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With the festive season in full-swing, Miss Bowles said she will continue to offer her delivery service but this will stop when the shop is in operation.
As well as the usual favourites including Cheetos, Jolly Ranchers, flavoured Fanta and pick-and-mix, she also hopes to offer slushies and other treats from around the globe – including Japan and Australia.
But despite the successful start, it hasn’t been without its challenges.
As life returned to normality following lockdown, Miss Bowles said orders did start to slow down.
The mother-of-two added: “If you really want something you have to keep going and keep at it.
“All small businesses have felt like this at some point, but the opportunity to have the shop came along and that kept me going.
“But I have also had so much support.
“Everyone is so excited. It’s a lovely little area. I hope it will bring more people into the town centre.”


text: The yes-no-yes-no saga concerning ZFS in Leopard continues as Apple has released a new statement concerning the availability of ZFS in Leopard. So, let’s recap: in April 2006, Apple expresses its interest in Sun’s ZFS for the first time. After a first hint, the first screenshot popped up which showed ZFS on Leopard, followed by the definitive proof Leopard could create ZFS disk images. Fast forward six months, and Sun’s Jonathan Schwartz announces that ZFS would be Leopard’s default filesystem; a statement contradicted by an Apple official yesterday. In fact, this Apple official said ZFS would not be in Leopard at all. Then we arrive at today, and we have Apple stating that ZFS will in fact be included as a limited option in Leopard, only from the command line, read-only. Let’s see what tomorrow will bring.


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Officials from Google and IBM detailed efforts this month to extend their platforms to developers via APIs and Web 2.0 technologies. But a Sun Microsystems executive cautioned that openness offered via forums such as blogs can have negative consequences if not managed well.
Executives from the three companies talked about opening up to developers at the Evans Data Developer Relations Conference in California. Google's Patrick Chanezon, API evangelist, discussed how the company has expanded from having three APIs available three years ago to having 55 APIs now. The company had 32 APIs available in 2007.
"Google is [known] quite well for search and ads, and it only started getting into the API game about three years [ago]," Chanezon says.
Google's Data APIs, for reading and writing data on the web, meanwhile, feature the REST-based AtomPub publishing protocol, Chanezon notes. Google also leverages Ajax in areas such as search, he says.
Meanwhile, Google has been participating in open source. "There's already over 1 million lines of code open sourced by Google," in more than 100 projects, says Chanezon.
At IBM, the company leverages various Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis and forums to extend its developerWorks developer outreach program, says Kathy Mandelstein, director of IBM worldwide Rational marketing programmes.
"Really, we're evolving developerWorks to be a community-based site that is really more about interaction," she says.
Web 2.0, she says, presents technologies such as social networking, open source, and search and is no longer just for consumers. "It's really transformed the web in the way we all do business," Mandelstein says.
With its Web 2.0 outreach, IBM is leveraging technologies such as podcasts and gizmos, to syndicate content. "Gizmos basically allow any of the portlets on developerWorks to be syndicated out to a lot of other popular social networking sites," such as Facebook and iGoogle, Mandelstein says.
Use of RSS feeds in developerWorks has grown 64% since the same time in 2006. IBM also received 1.4 million referrals from social bookmarks in 2007.
Blogs have experienced 100% growth year to year, Mandelstein says. Use of forums has also grown. Additionally, IBM has an interface enabling access to developerWorks from an Apple iPhone. Other efforts include activities in the virtual world via Second Life and development of IBM Codestation, for sharing scripts and objects in Second Life.
IBM has also set up its Jazz.net platform for collaborative application lifecycle management, Mandelstein says. Jazz has Web 2.0 features such as real-time chat as well as a virtual world component called Project Bluegrass, she says.
Mandelstein says IBM gets input on development of products and enables more people to develop applications through developer outreach.
Sun's Jean Elliott, senior director for developer and university initiatives, cautions against attracting developers and then having no idea how to work with them to build business. Sun itself, though, has a very transparent business model, she says.
"We've got between 4,000 and 5,000 employees who blog," Elliott says. Suddenly, all these voices are coming out of the corporation, each reflecting their view of what is interesting, she says. But internal inconsistencies could be revealed by openness, which can cause confusion about what a company is doing, she says.
"The question I've been grappling with recently is how open is too open," says Elliott.
Problems could arise such as scaring customers, who might be better off finding out about things privately than publicly, Elliott says. "The creative process actually benefits from a little bit of privacy," she says.
Other difficulties could occur such as stunting the creative process, spending time on damage control and difficulty in hiring. Brand harm could also result or perhaps violations of intellectual property.
"At Sun, we have the 'Engineers Gone Wild' notion," where engineers are enthusiastic, but there are laws governing who owns what IP and what can be done with it, she says. Opening up should be done gradually to build trust. Sun, for example, took its time in open-sourcing Java amid ongoing pressures to open the platform, she adds.
Other recommendations include nurturing the creative processes and managing ecosystem expectations around actions. Companies should also prepare for culture change and manage corporate and community elements of brand. Once open, companies should embrace openness and educate people about business climate, she says.
Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz blogs, which is helpful in that the CEO can explain what is going on, says Elliott. She says she doesn't think blogs need to be pre-approved by corporate public relations staff, but a company needs to be run really well and that internal strategic consistency is ensured.
Pieter Humphrey, senior product marketing manager at BEA Systems, says the company's Facebook application, called Dev2Dev Book, allows persons with similar interests in BEA products to find each other.
Also, a Microsoft official used the term "NextWeb" to describe a group of web development technologies that includes some Microsoft software and some from other sources.
"NextWeb is really compelling user experiences on the web," says Microsoft's Jas Sandhu, evangelist for developer and platform evangelism at Microsoft,
Featured as part of the NextWeb concept are Microsoft technologies including Silverlight, Microsoft's new multimedia browser plug-in platform, ASP.Net 2.0, Ajax and Adobe's Flex and Flash.


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Rise in young CEOs – SMEs increase as youth shun regular 9-5 jobs
Lack of opportunities, a high unemployment rate, the unbridled willingness to take risks, and a strong passion to succeed are driving an increasing number of young persons to start their own business. In fact, facilitators of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are acknowledging this global paradigm shift as young adults shun the nine-to-five workforce and delve into their own innovative, moneymaking business ventures.
"I graduate about 200 young persons per year in the course that I teach at the University of the West Indies, and most of them are looking to start their own business because they have recognised that there are not a lot of jobs waiting for them," said Valerie Veira, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC), speaking yesterday during The Gleaner's Growth Forum held at the media house's Kingston office.
Janine Taylor, manager of Things Jamaican, said that young entrepreneurs have taken it to another level as they are very deliberate in their planning and strategy and are willing to take the risk, tapping into a global space. "They are not just thinking Jamaica, they are thinking globally and using social media as a key tool. In fact, just the profile of this demographic makes the potential to succeed much higher."
Acknowledging that over the last four years she has seen a larger percentage of young entrepreneurs, Taylor said: "With three out of 10 persons who want to start their own business, I find that they are very serious and very aware of exactly what it is they want to do, the type of business they want to go into. They know that they have a skill that can be converted into money, and they are actually more robust in terms of their approach to business than some of the older persons. In fact, the demographics are showing that they are more likely to succeed or accelerate than the older persons."
In fact, she said, her company deliberately targets young persons because they come with very sophisticated business ideas, especially as it relates to the information technology sector. "So you find now, 25-year-old CEOs earning the same income as businesses that have been around for 20 years because they are tapping into new opportunities and new industries."
Taylor added: "This demographic is what we call voluntary entrepreneur. For them, it is not about survival or being forced into business. They have deliberately identified a business opportunity that they can earn money from, and, in fact, young entrepreneurship is now a global trend."
Twenty-four-year-old Demola Cunningham, marketing director of a custom-order button-making company, Button It Jamaica, told The Gleaner that lack of opportunity is the main reason for young persons to go after owning their own businesses.
"We also believe in a vision that only our demographic understands and supports as we really find that most companies don't welcome young, fresh, and innovative ideas. Well, only until a competitor uses that idea and reaps rewards from it. Then they'll smack their head and say, 'We should have done that and given it a chance. Why didn't we?'" Cunningham said.
Audrey Tugwell Henry, senior general manager, retail banking division, at the National Commercial Bank, is also acknowledging this paradigm shift as more young persons are seeking business start-up loans. Hence, the institution has now tailored programmes for them.
"In fact, my daughter, a young adult, said to me, 'I would not be caught dead in a cubicle'. From what I am seeing, young persons are not looking for a 9-5. Yes, companies are still getting job applications, but when you look at the unemployment rate for young persons, you can understand why they are going the self-employed route," stated Henry.
Harold Davis, deputy chief executive officer of JBDC, said there is no doubt that the profile of the SME sector has changed, especially as it relates to the level of sophistication of young adults with a business plan.
"They are not coming in to do a ting or asking how much they can get. You can see that they have thought it through. The business plan is clear in their minds, and perhaps six out of 10 of those business ideas are technology driven. Many of them are in what we categorise as high growth potential business," said Davis.
Youth entrepreneurship will be a major feature at the ninth annual Small Business Expo to be hosted on Thursday, May 12, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in St Andrew. The expo is part of the JBDC's 15th anniversary celebrations.


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Kcom has snagged a deal with giant supermarket chain Asda to install a private IP-based network in place of its existing public services telephone network.
The deal, for an undisclosed sum, will see Kcom link all Asda's key sites in Leeds, Leicester and Wakefield, including built-in resilience to ensure the firm's day-to-day business operations can continue in the event of a fault.
It will also mean Asda can continue to centralise all its switchboards and expand its contact centre.
Richard Midgley, IT systems manager at Asda, said: “We saw in Kcom a partner that shared our desire to pass cost savings on to customers. Kcom offered us a reliable solution combined with a competitive model, with a clear return on investment, which will be an important enabler to other key Asda initiatives.
"With resilience at the core of Kcom’s design and the 24/7 managed service it provides, we now have more time and resources concentrated on business growth and customer satisfaction. This has allowed us to invest in a more effective central customer interface and focus on scaling up our online sales and non-food operations.”
Elizabeth Bramwell, sales director at Kcom, added: “We fully embrace Asda’s customer-centric approach and are delighted that the solution will contribute to ensuring that its customers receive a better customer service as well as low prices.”
Infrastructure provider says international sales now make up 51 per cent of its revenue
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Withdrawal of credit insurance by some providers a 'reflection' of current challenge facing IT sector, according to MD Steve Soper
SMART's UK managing director joins Lenovo to boost SMB business


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Amazon is reportedly spending billions of dollars to try to keep people from getting bored with Alexa
Amazonis reportedly shelling out billions to combat waning interest and use of Alexadevices.
- In some years, up to 25% of new Alexa owners were no longer active in the 2nd week, per Bloomberg.
Amazon is struggling to keep people using its Alexa devices after the buyer's initial excitement wears off, according to Bloomberg.
Citing internal documents spanning 2018 to 2021, Bloomberg reported Wednesday that a number of signs point to a decline in Alexa device owners' interest and use of the voice-control products.
Internal data showed that in some years, 15% to 25% of new users were no longer active with their Alexa devices in their second week since buying them, Bloomberg reported. Amazon told Insider the vast majority of Alexa users are still active a month after registering their devices and beyond.
New Alexa users find half of the features they'll ever use on the devices in the first three hours from activating them, according to a planning document for 2019 that Bloomberg cited. Amazon told Insider this finding is based on research from 2016, and is no longer accurate.
"The assertion that Alexa growth is slowing is not accurate," Amazon spokesperson Kinley Pearsall told Insider in a statement." The fact is that Alexa continues to grow — we see increases in customer usage, and Alexa is used in more households around the world than ever before. Tens of millions of customers use Alexa every day, and we are as optimistic about Alexa's future today as we have ever been."
The company is throwing plenty of money and manpower at the problem, Bloomberg reports, citing documents that show projections of $4.2 billion in fixed costs for this year and noting that Amazon has more than 10,000 people working on Alexa.
Amazon told Insider it does not break out such data.
In 2018, the company projected losing $5 per device this year but hoped to break into profits of $2 per device in 2028, though an internal market analysis conducted last year concluded Amazon "passed its growth phase" with smart speakers, according to Bloomberg.
Documents also laid out plans to outfit Alexa devices with more cameras and sensors so they could recognize different people's voices and figure out which room a user is in while speaking, Bloomberg reports. Amazon told Insider this isn't new, pointing to optional features like ultrasound motion detection, visual ID, and Alexa Guard, which notifies users about sounds like smoke alarms and breaking glass.
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TONY HETHERINGTON: Saddled with timeshare debt until the age of 111
W.C.writes: My wife and I have owned a timeshare apartment in Nerja, Spain, since 1985. In recent years we have asked the management company to rent it out, and until two years ago rents covered the annual maintenance fees.
When rents failed to cover charges, I offered to waive ownership and not claim our right to 75 per cent of any proceeds when the timeshare is resold after our 30-year lease expires.
The company did not agree. It has moved us to a more expensive apartment without our written consent, has extended our lease to the year 2058 and hired debt collectors to take us to court.
We are now saddled with rising debts until we are 111 years old.
Sun trap: A couple were switched to a much longer lease on a flat in Nerja
Unusually, I found myself having some sympathy for the timeshare management company, even though I disagree with it.
This is because the Nerja Owners Association Limited (NOAL) is, as the name suggests, run by people just like you who also own timeshares in Nerja near Malaga.
It took over from the original Eighties managers some years ago, but now faces the same problems as most timeshare firms.
Owners are getting older. Many cannot travel, or afford the ever-growing annual fees.
However, they cannot sell their unwanted timeshare because few buyers will take on the burden.
WE'RE WATCHING YOU
Convicted boiler room share fraudster Tom Wilmot has been jailed for a further 18 months for breaching a court order freezing his assets. Wilmot, 65, is already serving a nine-year sentence imposed last year for the £27 million fraud.
Southwark Crown Court, south London, heard that despite the court order, he and his wife Christine sold an apartment and a motor boat in Spain. She was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended for two years.
I warned in 2006 that Wilmot and sons Kevin and Christopher – both jailed for five years – were behind a network of unlicensed offshore brokers selling high-risk shares.
The Financial Services Authority said: ‘Prosecutors apply for restraint orders because they want to preserve assets for victims. In this case, Wilmot brazenly breached the restraint order, showing the same lack of respect for the courts as he did to his victims.’
From Wandsworth Prison, Wilmot said: ‘Unfortunately, after 12 years the FSA has become a corrupt, power-crazy organisation which is totally out of control.’
The company did manage to re-sell your original apartment, but you have told me that you did not agree to switch to one with higher fees. You did not know that it was a larger and more costly apartment until the debt collector’s demands arrived.
But NOAL has told me that when the change took place, you phoned your verbal agreement, even though you signed nothing. And even if you did not call, I was told, NOAL takes silence as consent, which seems highly dubious legally.
An EU Timeshare Directive going back to the Nineties says buyers must be given a proper contract and a brochure about any such deal. However, the most bizarre action by NOAL is not its move to switch you to another apartment, but its attempt to force you to accept a lease and fees that will run for decades longer than expected.
NOAL says Spanish law allows this, but I can find no such law. Even the Resort Development Organisation, the international trade body for timeshare companies, told me it had never heard of such a thing.
An RDO spokesman said: ‘It sounds as if it is not legal.’ But even if there is such an odd law in Spain, NOAL is a British company, subject to UK law, and its own rules say that any dispute must be settled in the British courts.
NOAL director Colin Lusty told me his legal advice was that Spanish law says owners ‘may’ increase leases by up to 50 years. But he added: ‘The interpretation of this is complicated and as you know the only winners in such a legal discussion will be the lawyers.’
True, but what is also true is that as things stand you and your wife are the losers, facing decades of unexpected fees for a lease that should end soon.
NOAL’s debt collectors now say that they are taking court action to claim outstanding timeshare fees of more than £1,300.
If the case goes ahead, I am booking my seat now. It is hard to see how any judge in this country could force anyone to own property against their will and foot the bills that go with it.
Tesco finds £500 ‘down back of the sofa’
Ms S.M.writes: My partner had an internet account with bookmaker Paddy Power. Last October he closed the account and requested that the £500 balance be credited back to our Tesco Mastercard. Paddy Power believes the money was sent, but Tesco says it has not received it.
It is never a happy situation when a customer is caught between two companies that give conflicting information.
As long ago as last February, Paddy Power supplied the sort code and account number to which the money had been sent, but Tesco still told you it had not arrived.
I suspect the problem might have arisen because when the £500 was transferred, Tesco’s credit card customers were managed by Royal Bank of Scotland. Tesco then took over. Your partner’s money seems to have fallen down a gap in the middle.
I asked Tesco to look down the back of its corporate sofa – and I am glad to say the £500 was found there.
Tesco has apologised, saying: ‘We did not provide the high standard of service our customers rightly expect and we have taken steps to prevent this from happening again.’
The £500 is now in your partner’s account and Tesco has refunded interest that arose while it was missing. You will also find an additional £75 there as a gesture of goodwill.
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Amazon Prime Video has a hit with Apple TV customers all around the world it had the most first-week downloads of any app in the world history of tv OS. While the genuine number of Prime Video downloads was not unveiled, the tvOS App Store is right now home to a great many applications for the fourth-age Apple TV and fresher. And keep in mind that we can’t decide the past record-holding tv OS application for examination, the store itself has been open for more than three years now in respect to the arrival of Amazon Prime TV prior this month.
Amazon Prime Video has been launched on the tvOS App Store for the fourth-age and fifth-age Apple TV in earlier months, and it was manually made accessible to the Non-tvOS in Apple TV.
The Prime Video application works on different Apple TV gadgets much as it does on iPhone and iPad, allows to Amazon Prime users to sign in and get to the web-based business goliath’s huge library of more than 45,000 TV shows, Movies and on-demand substance for their survey joy.
Amazon prime video has been loved by many users from other platforms now its time for Apple platform user to happy such kind of app in tv OS which is finally available.


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How health companies can improve business by integrating a smarter cold chain
Product integrity and security throughout the supply chain remains to be the highest priority for health care manufacturers, but stricter regulations, extended geographic coverage and intense cost pressure are now raising the stakes.
In a recent report by DHL Global Forwarding, a new generation of cold chains needs to be developed for the life sciences and health care industry to improve global health standards.
RELATED TOPIC: Google takes a step further into health care with new fitness tracker
The report highlights the critical challenges facing the healthcare industry as global demand for expensive structurally complex and temperature-sensitive biologics and specialty drugs grows.
“Astounding developments in the life sciences industry coupled with globalization means there is an opportunity for better health, pain relief and cure from disease for many millions of people around the world,” said Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group. “But getting the medication to patients in the right condition and achieving that goal requires a complex balancing of cost and risk. It emphasizes yet again the strong link between trade, logistics and the impact it has on improving people´s lives.”
According to our sister brand Supply Chain Digital, global spending on health care is forecasted to reach around $1.3 trillion by 2018 and the World Economic Forum estimates that by 2020 one third of all global health expenditure will be in emerging markets.
RELATED TOPIC: Is your venture capital on the digital health bandwagon?
Specialty drugs and biologics are one of the fastest growth areas, with U.S. spending on specialty drugs to quadruple to $401.7 billion in 5 years, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, with similar growth rates being projected for the rest of the world.
“Collapsed cold chains due to non-appropriate conditions can result in loss of a shipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Over the longer term, this can lead to a damaged reputation, slumping sales, potential share value and even pose a risk to patients. These are high stakes and a smarter supply chain is necessary to overcome these challenges.
“As the life sciences and health care industry expands and transforms to meet the growing needs of the world, logistics providers need specialist investment in research and development as well to be able to offer the expertise needed to get medicine and equipment to the patients. In the simplest terms: better logistics can contribute to better health care,” said Angelos Orfanos, President Life Sciences & Healthcare, DHL Customer Solutions & Innovation.
RELATED TOPIC: Health insurance industry begins consolidating after latest Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare
The full report can be downloaded here.
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The buzz is largely gone. And today’s situation whiffs more of bong water than anything worth sampling. Welcome to Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC)? Let’s check in with what’s happened of late in CGC stock, then offer a risk-adjusted determination which will help investors avoid getting smoked…
Marijuana or cannabis stocks. They’ve got their man. Biden. They’ve got the seats. A Democrat majority in the U.S. Senate. States such as New York and Virginia are legalizing. At the same time, jittery neighboring states are likely feeling the burn to catch the green-powered revenue stream.
But for Canada’s and the market’s largest pot producer CGC, these are anything but high times.
CGC Stock and Enthusiasm
After storming higher by as much as 130% this year, CGC shares are up just 3%. At the same time, Canopy’s buoyant year-plus rally off last March’s Covid-induced bottom, which saw a gain of nearly 525%, has been chopped down by more than 55%!
So, what exactly is up or rather, going down in CGC stock?
For one, enthusiasm in early 2021 by investors expectant of federal level legalization of cannabis in the US for CGC and Canadian cannabis operators Aurora Cannabis (NYSE:ACB) and Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) has proven a disappointing slog. Maybe not at the government level, where change typically takes glacial-like time to happen. But it’s certainly the case for a market focused on short-term results and where a fiscal quarter is an eternity.
Not helping CGC’s situation, a spike in novel coronavirus cases inside Canada and fresh quarantine measures are also likely impacting the retail grow business within Canopy Growth’s own borders. And then there’s an unwanted and persistent trend in cheaper competing product and associated challenges from the black market that’s weighing on CGC.
Finally, there’s also smaller but first-mover U.S. based competition that can’t be dismissed. Curaleaf (OTCMKTS:CURLF) and Thumb Industries (OTCMKTS:GTBIF) are two operators enjoying the high-times and bringing home revenues in states where cannabis is legal.
Altogether, the operating environment has taken its toll on CGC stock. But there’s always tomorrow and the opportunity for better days ahead, right?
CGC Weekly Price Chart
Source: Charts by TradingView
It’s not all bad news at CGC. The company does have its CBD business with products ranging from gummies and beverages to pet-based products helping chill Fido and other family members. There’s a deal to buy U.S. grow outfit Acreage Holdings (OTCMKTS:ACRHF). But those are still side shows to big picture, right? The CGC stock price chart certainly implies as much.
Aside from Canopy’s barely above water return this year, shares of CGC are demonstrating relative weakness compared to the broader market. It aforementioned competition CURLF and GTBIF shares are each up about 25%. And while even the best stocks do and should be expected to go through corrective periods, CGC stock’s decline in value has turned into a…
Continue reading at INVESTORPLACE.com


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Luxury beauty brand Aesop has been on a store-opening spree.
This year, the company opened four new stores in New York City, bringing its total store count in the city to 14. Abroad, the company unveiled a new store in Rome, Italy in July and Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay in May. Towards the end of the year, it plans to open one more store in the Seattle area.
The Australian brand is setting its eye on expanding its physical footprint. Sylvie Kilduff, regional general manager at Aesop, says the brand sees New York City as the “door” to allowing Aesop to expand its presence in the United States. In April, Natura & Co announced that L’Oréal was acquiring Aesop in a deal worth $2.5 billion — the largest acquisition the beauty giant has made on record.
“Aesop sees New York as a strategic expansion step to tap into a broader American audience and market,” Kilduff said.
Founded in 1987, Aesop is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and has well over 100 unique formulations, including popular products like the Resurrection Aromatique Hand Wash, Purifying Facial Exfoliant Paste and Geranium Leaf Body Cleanser. From 2012 to 2022, Aesop’s sales have grown from $28 million to $537 million. At the time of its acquisition, Aesop boasted 395 stores in 29 markets.
Apart from stores, the company has also built partnerships with hotels over the years. Last year, it partnered with the Waldorf Astoria brand to make some of Aesop’s signature products the in-room toiletries for the hotel and resort properties.
In the U.S., the company currently has stores in 16 states, including Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas. Kilduff said that apart from New York, Aesop sees more opportunities for retail expansion in places like Los Angeles and San Francisco. The company opened its first store in the U.S. back in 2010 in New York’s Nolita neighborhood.
“We’re very selective in how we open our stores,” Kilduff said. “We typically make sure first that we have the right visibility for the brand and good foot traffic.” She said the company is mainly looking at opening stores in cosmopolitan cities and cultural hubs, where most of the brand’s shoppers typically live.
Many of Aesop’s stores follow a uniform format, with warm lighting and sinks for customers to sample products in. They are usually around 1,000 square feet in size. Aesop’s new Gansevoort Street store in New York, however, is one of the company’s largest stores to date at 2,000 square feet, according to landlord Aurora Capital Associates. Kilduff said that the company plans to invest further in these large-format stores.
“It’s allowing us to express the brand in a fuller way,” Kilduff said. “In the case of Gansevoort, it allows also for a much more immersive experience. If you have a chance to go to the store, you will [see that] it has multiple spaces.” Aesop also has a large-format store in London’s Regent Street, which opened last year.
Rebekah Kondrat, founder of Kondrat Retail, said that stores play a crucial role for a brand like Aesop. Over the years, the brand has built a cult-like following among millennial shoppers who saw the brand as aspirational. Kondrat said a larger store format gives room for shoppers to explore the brand without feeling the watchful eyes of store associates.
“The advantage of having a large format is you have a lot of [room to] play in terms of your store layout and your merchandising,” Kondrat said. “If you have a 500-square-foot jewel box, there’s not really a lot of options.”
Kondrat added that by having so many stores in one city, Aesop can be efficient with its staffing. If one store runs out of product, she said another store could share its inventory. However, by having too many stores in one area, the brand also runs the risk of cannibalization.
Aesop’s Kilduff said that each store is an avenue for the brand to connect with communities in different neighborhoods. She added that the company regularly hosts events and community-based initiatives in its stores, such as the 2023 Aesop Queer Library, where Aesop provides free books by LGBTQ+ authors.


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May 26, 2015 And why it may go more smoothly than the failed Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger.
May 25, 2015 It's a cable company-eat-cable-company world out there
May 14, 2015 AMC wants to make the most of the end of "Mad Men."
May 12, 2015 After a 13-year run, Fox announces the next season will be American Idol's last.
May 11, 2015 Most TV ads used to be sold before the season began. Advertisers are starting to hold back and make decisions later.
Apr 22, 2015 Content companies say Verizon can't legally offer a package with fewer channels.
Apr 21, 2015 How new homes for old television are remaking the TV landscape.
Apr 14, 2015 As TV networks pitch ad buyers, a new model could upset stalwart Nielsen ratings.
Apr 13, 2015 "Game of Thrones" is the most pirated show in existence. Will HBO Now help or hurt?


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Xerox India announces that its Xerox Versant 80 with External Fiery and Colour Profiler Suite and Xerox Color C70 with Single OHCF and Embedded Fiery were center-staged at the recent PHOTOFEST India 2016.
Commenting at the event, Balaji Rajagopalan, Executive Director, Technology, Channels & International Relations said, “Photo-printing is a key segment of growth for us. Given the ever increasing requirements for on-demand printing, photo-albums and other forms of personalized printing, we have witnessed a significant growth in this sector. The Xerox production devices we showcased at the event offer great color pantones, quality offset like finish and most importantly, quicker registration process. The Color C70 has exceptional energy saving capabilities, which gives the customer great savings over a long period of time. The Versant 80 is another great device, especially for the photo-printing segment. Its 10 bit image quality and ultra HD capabilities gives great finish and minute color details, which makes it a must buy for customers doing photo-printing. ”
Xerox India launched these products last year which is claimed to have found a great fit for the photo-printing segment. The Xerox Versant 80 provides production press capabilities with walk-up simplicity, offset-quality performance and automated features that remove the guesswork from optimizing image quality, color and registration. Printing at 80 pages-per-minute (ppm), the device delivers ultra HD, 10-bit image quality at 2400 x 2400 dpi and can handle a variety of media types with a compact Belt Fuser system and Xerox’s EA Low Melt Dry Ink. With this production press, one has multiple choices and easier color availability.
“It was a great event and we got the opportunity to interact with like-minded professionals. Such platforms are a great opportunity for companies like us to showcase our products and reach out to a larger audience. This year the event was a grand success and we saw around 600 people visiting our stalls,” Balaji further added.
The Xerox Color C70 is known to offer the widest range of applications in this market space, including running synthetics, vinyls, window clings, carbonless paper, never-tear paper, transfer papers, magnets and many other unique applications that are made possible with Xerox’s low melt toner & flexible paper path. This year the Photofest India 2016 took place in ADLUX International Convention Centre, Angamaly, Ernakulam, Kerala from 22nd – 24th July, 2016.
Techmagnifier Group is a vivid one stop online source protracting all the exclusive affairs of the Consumer and Business Technology. We have well accomplished on delivering expert views, reviews, and stories empowering millions with impartial and nonpareil opinions. Technology has become an inexorable part of our daily lifestyle and with Techmagnifier Group expertise, millions of intriguers everyday are finding for itself a crony hangout zone.
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Minister for the digital economy Ed Vaizey said UK must be a “leader” in cyber security
UK businesses have been warned about the growing risk of cyber attacks as minister for the digital economy Ed Vaizey encouraged SMEs to take up the Government’s Cyber Essentials scheme to keep their data safe.
Figures revealed at the Financial Times Cyber Security Europe Summit revealed that 74 per cent of small businesses and 90 per cent of major businesses had a cyber security breach in the last year.
Cyber Essentials, a government scheme to help protect businesses from the most common internet threats, includes the likes of Intel Security, and over 1,000 firms have signed up to the scheme since it was launched in 2011.
Vaizey told the conference that good security “underpins the entire digital economy.”
“We need to keep our businesses, our citizens and our public services safe,” he added. “The UK is a world leader in the use of digital technologies but we also need to be a world leader in cyber security.
Vaizey used the conference to announce £500,000 of funding to help universities develop tools and teaching methods to help develop cyber security skills.
This is in addition to the £860 million already invested by the government in the National Cyber Security Programme.
SMEs could also be eligible to take part in a voucher scheme worth up to £5,000 for specialist advice on boosting their cyber security. The government has invest £1 million in to the voucher scheme.
Firms including Vodafone and Barclays have already signed up for Cyber Essentials.
Vaizey added: “Trust and confidence in UK online security is crucial for consumers, businesses and investors. We want to make the UK the safest place in the world to do business online and Cyber Essentials is a great and simple way firms can protect themselves.”


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The East African Community (EAC) is set to issue a common travel passport.
The move was announced following a just-concluded meeting of EAC Council of Ministers in Arusha, Tanzania. According to Tanzania Daily News, member countries of the EAC have been directed to start issuing the new machine-readable common passport by January 31, 2018.
The common passport, which had previously been slated to begin in April 2017, had to be rescheduled and shifted by one year to allow all countries to meet a uniform deadline.
An official report from the 35th EAC Council of Ministers meeting revealed that Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda were ready to commence the common passport regime; however, Tanzania and South Sudan could only realistically commence issuance of the new passport by 2018.
A resolution reached at the 17th ordinary summit of the EAC Heads of State directed all member nations to gradually phase out the current national passports between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2018.
When launched, the new common passport is expected to guarantee citizens of the six-member nation regional body seamless cross border travel for business, pleasure, and learning. It will also create a common market for goods and services and boost the free movement of people within the regional bloc.
The new e-passport will have diplomatic, service as well as standard categories. Regular passports will be valid for up 10 years while diplomatic passports will be valid according to the term of service.
The passports will come with a chip that stores the holder’s information as printed on the passport’s data page, including name, date of birth, and other biographical information. It will also contain a biometric identifier and have a digital photograph of the holder as well as security features to prevent unauthorized reading or “scanning” of stored data.
The EAC’s common passport regime is in line with a recent announcement by the African Union (AU) last July that it was set to launch a pan-African passport that would grant its holders visa-free travel access to all 54-member nations of the AU.


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Toyota Motor Corp. said a week ago that its hydrogen-powered Mirai has a scope of 312 miles between fueling stops, the a large portion of any outflows free car available, however discovering an area for a filling stop will be a test.
The Mirai, slated to go at a sale this fall in California at a base cost of $58,325, including transporting however before motivations, produces electricity by sending hydrogen gas through an electrochemical energy component. An electric engine controls the car.
It will get an expected rating of 67 mpg comparable on the EPA test cycle, Toyota likewise said a week ago, better than any gas filled car, at a sale in the United States, including Toyota’s Prius hybrid.
Toyota arrangements to offer around 3,000 units of the Mirai before the end of 2017. What’s more, for times when a 312-mile extent is insufficient, the organization will offer Mirai owners a complimentary rental car for seven days a year for three years.
“Pretty much as the Prius presented hybrid electric vehicles to a large number of clients,” said Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota North America, the Mirai will “introduce another period of effective hydrogen transportation.”
On the other hand, just twelve hydrogen stations are interested in the general population across the country, as indicated by a U.S. Division of Energy database. To assist the infrastructure, Toyota allowed a $7.3 million advance to startup FirstElement Fuel Inc. a year ago to assemble 19 hydrogen stations in California.


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On December 7, Hua Yifan returned to the Asian Textile and Clothing Exhibition (AFF) held in Tokyo, Japan after four years. This is the first time for the business manager of the Jiaxing Sanhui Clothing Co., Ltd. to arrive in Japan on a special plane organized by the local government. More than 200 garment and textile enterprises from Zhejiang and Jiangsu participated in the exhibition, among which about 50 enterprises from Jiaxing City.
Field visits and face-to-face communication make Hua Yifan more confident about next year’s orders. He said in an online interview with China Business News on December 9 that the Japanese market is still active, and although the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will make it cheaper for Southeast Asian garment exports to Japan, Chinese companies can also take advantage of the opportunity to expand their supply chains in Southeast Asia.
On December 9th, China Business News reporter learned from the Commerce Bureau of Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, on the morning of December 4th, a business charter plane organized by Jiaxing City set sail from Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport to Tokyo, Japan. From December 4th to 10th, it will carry out a 7-day business activity in Tokyo, Japan, to participate in the Japan AFF exhibition, to carry out business visits, investigations, investment activities, etc. There are altogether 50 enterprises, 96 people in total, including 8 merchants, which is the largest foreign trade charter delegation in China since the beginning of this year.
Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong are garment provinces, but with the rise of workers’ wages in the southeast coastal areas of China, coupled with the increasingly thin profit of the textile and garment industry, the textile and garment foreign trade enterprises in these areas, the pressure is increasing, facing transformation.
Zhu Yu told China Business News that many domestic sock factories have bought new machines called “all-in-one machines” to improve the level of production automation, which can reduce labor and ensure quality. It also allowed them to keep their factories operating in Jiaxing.
“We have also considered automating production, but overall, clothing is still a traditional industry.” Hua Yifan said that Japanese orders, small batch more, a style before 2000 pieces, now 2000 pieces correspond to four styles. For large orders, production automation is advantageous. Small batch orders, production automation to be more targeted, more difficult.
Foreign trade people are “looking for a way out”. After many years of meeting with old customers, Hua Yifan made full preparations this time. She not only brought small snacks from Jiaxing to Japanese customers, but also recommended some new products from European and American market, such as sports underwear, to Japanese customers, thus winning new orders.
“I will go back to China tomorrow (10th)”, Hua Yifan made an appointment with a client on the afternoon of December 9 before the AFF exhibition was withdrawn. Sugi-hui is mainly engaged in export business, with the Japanese market accounting for more than 40% of export orders, and the European and American markets accounting for more than 50%. “The market demand is still there. In the past, orders were easy to find, prices and profits were good, and extensive operation was carried out. Now it is necessary to control production well to continue.”
At present, many enterprises in Jiaxing’s garment industry move their production to Anhui and Shandong provinces, and the garments are finished and controlled in Jiaxing. ‘It’s a direction to move production to places with lower labor costs and more refined products,’ Mr. Hua said.
China remains the largest supplier to Japan’s clothing market. Ms. Hua estimates that companies from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai account for about 30 to 40 percent of the Japanese apparel market, while Chinese companies as a whole account for about 60 percent of the Japanese apparel market. Many of the clothes Japan imported from Southeast Asia this year are also backed by Chinese companies. Japan also imports mid-range and high-end clothing from Korea, Italy and France.
As Chinese clothing brands go to sea, there are also enterprises, such as Bosideng. Hua Yifan expects that China’s textile and clothing industry is upgrading as a whole. With the improvement of fabric and design level, China will also build a global clothing brand. Of course, we still need to work hard.
Post time: Dec-28-2022


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The overall pie needs to grow or both sides will need to fight for the scraps.
Turnaround plan is Corporate's answer, but it still looks pretty tactical thus far.
The next downturn could intensify pressure on franchisee relationships.
(Seeking Alpha) Recall that back in Oct 2018 when many franchisees in U.S. voted for the first time in McDonald’s history to form an independent association – the National Owner’s Association (NOA). The NOA drew about 75% of the chain’s 1,700 U.S. franchisees to its meeting in Dec 2018, to gain leverage in expressing frustrations about being unfairly subjected to the cost of CEO Steve Easterbrook’s “expensive and somewhat unnecessary” remodel costs, and unfair financial arrangements. The relationship between corporate and its U.S. franchisees have been fraught for a long time, with relationship scores (on a scale of 1 to 5) hovering between range of 1 to 2 for years. However, this time around, things might have reached an inflection point with what could be a major shift in franchise relations. Even as CEO Steve Easterbrook alluded to calming tensions from a rebound in franchisee cashflow that is of a magnitude larger than its decline in 2018, the core issue driving a wedge between corporate and franchisees still remains.
The structural problem treated with a tactical solution
The core issue is structurally lower ROI. As McDonalds reach the end of the re-franchising drive, profit growth needed to satisfy the stock’s expected rate of return would almost be entirely coming from growing receipts from franchisees (e.g. royalties, rent), while reducing capex and opex contributions, aside from increasing store count. This means that store comps need to come in higher than percentage rise in costs invested, where the overall revenue pie would grow at a rate that allows both corporate and franchisees to feel satisfied with their ROI trends. This is going to get tougher going forward. Key problems are 1) continued decline in guest counts, and 2) sustainability of increased check.
Firstly, McDonald’s has had a problem with negative guest counts for a long time. Management mainly attributes this to increasing competition in the QSR field, which has been well documented over time. Even with the latest turnaround capex splurge, CEO Steve Easterbrook has mentioned that “..we were losing traffic before we started EOTF.. So, the traffic piece is beyond EOFT. As we’ve gotten better and done more of those EOTF projects.. that in and of itself won’t resolve all the traffic issues.”. The point here is that McDonald’s still does not have a solution to drive increased customer visits, and delivery is not looking like the solution that was touted. While specifics of increased check size compensating for cannibalized store visits remain cloudy due to lack of breakdown, an eye test at headline comps level certainly does not suggest any big growth driver here. For fear of sounding like a broken record, I will leave you with this quote from CEO Steve Easterbrook from Q4 2018 earnings call: “..QSR market share is incredibly muted.. frankly, we’re not expecting any tailwinds from broader growth in either IEO or QSR.. so our share gains will be someone else’s pain.”. Definitely sounds like an immovable scenario given how long they have been attempting to “gain share”.
Secondly, investors have long questioned how sustainable is the increase in check. While analysts and practitioners have been skeptical for a long time, McDonald’s has continually proved them wrong, and I am not going to preach like I know any better here. Perhaps check still has a long runway to go, but I will point out a few things here. McDonald’s is competing in the value-for-money segment, or fast food segment rather than fast casual segment. The business proposition regarding price, cooking methods, quality of good, speed/convenience and dining experience revolves around that. That is also why I agree that delivery and self-service kiosks are probably in the right direction and complement their core value proposition. But trying to get customers to continually trade up to boost check is going against this very proposition. Its business model is definitely to sell higher volume at cheaper prices, and it definitely needs to drive traffic to do that, which is not happening due to competition.
Fast Food prices are in the <$5 per head range, while Fast Casual prices are in the $7-$12 range (comps used here is Shake Shack). While its sandwich competitors are eating away luring away customers at the fast food segment with price and value, going into the fast casual segment with Signature Crafted Recipes platform was also not the answer either, as it misses out on several of the fast casual qualifying factors, e.g. table service, better dining atmosphere, and operationally-wise did not complement its fast food model. McDonalds also tried to be everything to everyone to drive traffic by accommodating a wider range of customer preferences with increased variety, but this did not work too and the chain scaled back its all-day breakfast menu, and signature crafted menu. The point here is that there McDonald’s is sandwiched at both ends of the spectrum, and it has been treading in the middle of nowhere for a long time, with what I call “tactical moves” to boost comps, e.g. product-mix changes, trade-ups, obscure price hikes, improving speed, drive-thru, etc.
The so-called “turnaround plan” looks pretty tactical in my opinion, rather than introducing new strategic or fundamental revenue drivers to sustain growth.
A receding tide exposes the balance of risks
And the sun is setting soon, plausibly. On the macro level, consumer confidence is starting to take a hit, as evidenced by recent UoM and Conference Board indicators, where consumer sentiment took a hit from tariff-related and Fed rate-cut concerns. At the same time, while employment remained strong, non-farm payrolls have been trending downwards, suggesting softer momentum in job creation. The next wave of tariffs will also hit consumer purchasing power, effectively representing a tax to U.S. consumers, just when the boost from tax cuts have run its course.
Financial maneuvers by CEO Steve Easterbrook to drive profit growth at McDonald’s, and a lack of credible growth from tactical strategies used will come haunting again, in a weaker economic backdrop. But this time, it could be a bigger problem. After guiding customers to trade up via new product-mix offerings, a wave of trade downs back to its core value offerings could be in line as disposable income growth declines. This will likely dent franchisee ROI even further, exposing the degree of “ripping-off” franchisees from previous financial maneuvers to juice corporate profits.
Remember that its financial maneuvers also included a major re-franchising, where McDonald’s consolidated more restaurants in hands of larger owners, giving them more leverage against corporate decisions. So here comes the risk associated with franchising – lesser control over their cash cows and ultimately the control of the brand. The short and long-term concern over increasing franchisee power is that they can influence or, to some extent, dictate the ROI split between corporate and franchisees going forward. Profit engineering where franchisees shoulder more growth risks and capex burden while McDonald’s continue to take a slice from top-line will likely come to an end, if it is repeatedly shown that expensive growth strategies suggested by corporate are not working.
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Asian producers raise PS, ABS prices to SEA, China
An agent of a Taiwanese producer operating in China reported that their supplier lifted their GPPS and HIPS offers by $40-50/ton, bringing their new offers to $1380/ton and $1490/ton, respectively, on a CIF SEA and CIF China/Hong Kong, cash basis. Meanwhile, the producer’s ABS offers are reported at $1880/ton with the same terms.
A source at another Taiwanese producer also reported that their PS offers are up by $80/ton for GPPS and $30-80/ton for HIPS when compared to last week’s levels. The producer’s new offers currently stand at $1400/ton for GPPS injection and at $1460/ton for HIPS injection CIF SEA/China/Hong Kong, cash basis.
The source opined, “Demand is quite good. We have already sold out our GPPS cargoes for this month and we will start to offer for January shipments next week. Demand for GPPS is better for HIPS. We heard that ABS prices will break above the $2000/ton threshold soon and this will lead to better demand for HIPS. Players are cautious on their purchases given the high price levels. Styrene plants in Japan will have maintenances next year around March-May period. Our current production rate for GPPS is 100% while it is 70% for HIPS.”
A source from a third Taiwanese producer stated that their GPPS offers increased in line with the firmer styrene prices. “Buyers are showing resistance to the price levels since December. Demand for GPPS is bad while it is still good for ABS. We are firm on our offers since styrene prices are too high this week,” the source commented. The producer’s GPPS injection offer to the Southeast Asia region is reported at $1390/ton CIF, cash basis.
A Vietnamese producer, whose offers for GPPS injection also stand at $1390/ton CIF SEA, cash stated that demand in Vietnam is weak this week when compared to last week in line with the higher prices and buyers are showing resistance. “We think that prices will remain stable in the near term, at least until the end of December,” he added.
A producer in Singapore raised their offers to Southeast Asia by $50-60/ton this week. Accordingly, the producer’s offers stand at $1360-1370/ton for GPPS injection and at $1440-1450/ton for HIPS injection CIF SEA, cash basis.
More free plastics newsPlastic resin (PP, LDPE, LLDPE ,HDPE, PVC, GPS; HIPS, PET, ABS) prices, polymer market trends, and more...
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- Ample supplies weigh on India’s PE markets; firm costs put a floor under PP


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Digital Marketing Efforts Increase ROI for the Exhibition Industry
Recently released cross-industry research highlights successful strategies and tactics when it comes to social media and digital marketing efforts within the exhibition industry.
Here’s something that probably won’t come as a surprise to you: Strategic use of social media and digital marketing is becoming more common in associations, and it often equals a greater return on investment when it comes to an organization’s programs, products, and services.
But does the same hold true for exhibitions and their digital marketing efforts?
That’s exactly what was examined as part of a recently released cross-industry research report called the Digital Playbook, which surveyed 480 exhibition and sponsorship decision-makers. The report not only outlines specific recommendations in three areas—revenue generation, attendee and customer engagement, and cost containment—but also gives senior marketers and exhibition-industry professionals a common framework to benchmark spending, understand where customer behavior is headed, and align investments to measurable business objectives.
The group behind the research includes the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, ASAE, Exhibitor Magazine, the International Association of Exhibitions and Events, InXpo, and George P. Johnson Experience Marketing.
“While there’s no set formula that applies to social media and digital that works for everyone, there are emerging standards and best practices all must know,” said David Rich, Senior Vice President, Strategy + Planning/Worldwide at GPJ, in a press release.
To see how your exhibition marketing efforts compare, here’s a look at some of the survey’s findings and the researchers’ recommendations:
1. Revenue generation is a priority.
The exhibition industry is adopting social media and digital-marketing efforts in an effort to strengthen sales and drive revenue. More than 56 percent of the survey’s respondents are moving from traditional marketing tactics to digital tactics. And the good news is that it seems to be working: 48 percent say that digital and social marketing are valuable or highly valuable for driving revenue, and 69 percent anticipate revenue from digital tactics to increase over the next several years. In addition, one out of 10 respondents attributes 26 to 50 percent of their current total revenue to digital tactics.
2. Formal strategy is a must-have.
One way that organizations are ensuring revenue growth is by having a formal digital strategy in place. Sixty-eight percent of respondents said their organization currently has one. And while 29 percent said they currently do not have one, 21 percent of this group plan to define one within six months to a year. “It would seem that strategy is viewed as a solid foundation for improving the ROI of social media and digital marketing, as well as experimentation with new tactics,” said the report. The research found that those with a strategy are twice as likely to supplement most-established tactics like email marketing with new technology, such as mobile apps and content sharing, than those without a strategy.
3. Email is the go-to.
The majority of both brand marketers and meeting organizers prioritize email. Organizers also say it’s their number-one tool for revenue generation. Since email is so relied on, researchers say organizations “need to be able to handle customer data at the individual level more effectively and integrate with other social media, digital marketing, and technology systems.” Researchers recommend analyzing and segmenting target audiences in order to personalize communications across multiple channels and create an email campaign underpinned by rich data, which once again highlights the need for someone on your team to be skilled in managing and analyzing data.
4. Customer engagement is required.
Successful exhibitions create multiple, ever-deeper interactions with customers that occur over multiple channels and through different tactics. More than half of respondents say they do this by connecting with attendees throughout the event lifecycle, while another 40 percent keep these connections going year-round. (The latter presents similar reasoning to a blog post from earlier this summer, which looked at the feasibility of a year-round event app.) “Converting attendees to leads and leads to customers is not just the fortunate confluence of a great show experience and productive conversation with a brand representative—it is the product of an ongoing conversation enabled by social and digital technologies and supported by data that allows brands to have a more relevant, personalized discussion onsite and year-round,” wrote the researchers.
5. Digital efforts may reduce costs.
One original selling point of social media and digital marketing was the potential for cost savings, but is that really the case? While 53 percents of respondents say digital marketing tactics (e.g., email, social media, microsites, webinars) are valuable or highly valuable in driving cost containment, researchers do say that social media and digital are not necessarily cheap alternatives to traditional tactics, pointing out that organizations must keep in mind that content and time have hard costs that add up.
With 72 percent of respondents expecting increased spending on digital marketing tactics, and hopefully increased revenues as a result, prioritizing will be key. What are your top priorities when it comes to social media and digital-marketing efforts around your exhibitions? Please share in the comments.


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INDEPENDENT Bolton travel company Travel Counsellors is celebrating after being awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise — the UK’s highest accolade for business success.
The award is in recognition of the firm’s continued growth and overseas expansion.
Travel Counsellors, based in Churchgate, now has more than 1,300 agents running their own travel businesses across eight countries.
It has received the award for International Trade having successfully introduced its business model to Ireland, the Netherland, South Africa, Australia, Canada, Dubai and most recently Belgium, earlier this year.
Travel Counsellors was the first and only travel agency to receive the Queen’s Award for Innovation in 2003, which recognised the company’s original concept of enabling professionals to work from home while supporting them from its central head office in the UK, which now has more than 200 staff and a further 60 plus in its overseas offices.
Travel Counsellors founder and chairman David Speakman said: “We are absolutely delighted to have received the Queen’s Award for International Trade.
“This year we are also celebrating our 20th anniversary so it is fantastic to mark this with such a positive and prestigious recognition of how far we have come in this time.
“We have based our success on the foundations of integrity, care, trust and professionalism and a passionate desire to create a community of the very best in travel.
“We believe, and have proved, there is a need for sincere and trusted advisers that place customer care at the centre of their businesses, which is why our model has really been embraced by the international markets we have expanded into.”
Travel Counsellors’ first international expansion was Ireland in 2005, and since then the company has experienced growth of nearly 120 per cent, with global sales for the financial year end (October 31 2013) of £385 million.
More than 30 per cent of the company’s business is now generated outside of the UK and just under 500 Travel Counsellors operate overseas.
The company will be presented with the award at its head office by the Lord-Lieutenant of the County as the Queen’s representative.
Additionally, staff will attend a special reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen in July.
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are awarded to businesses for outstanding achievement in International Trade, Innovation and Sustainable Development, and are announced annually on April 21, the Queen’s birthday.
About 160 Queen’s Awards have been announced this year.


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The multi-award-winning, Thérapie Clinic, has announced the launch of its latest clinic in Naas, Kildare. Boasting an impressive roster of over 60 clinics across Ireland and the UK and over 200 qualified doctors.
Celebrating its 20th year in business this year, Thérapie Clinic has cemented its reputation as Europe’s number one medical-grade laser and skin care specialist providing affordable, accessible, and up-to-date laser and aesthetic treatments which are backed by medical expertise.
Naas will be the latest location in the Thérapie Clinic Ireland portfolio, opening its doors with three treatment rooms and a team of five who will be offering their most sought-after treatments such as Laser Hair Removal, and Cosmetic Injections and a range of Skin Treatments and peels.
Thérapie Clinic has delivered over 10 million treatments to date. The clinic offers an extensive treatment menu including laser hair removal, cosmetic injections, advanced body treatments and an extensive skin offering including HydraFacial, Profhilo and peels. This year, they launched the celebrity favourite body treatment, EMSCULPT, which is loved by the likes of Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, and Drew Barrymore. Thérapie Clinic has a treatment for all cosmetic needs.
Phillip McGlade, CEO of Thérapie Clinic, comments: “We are delighted to continue our expansion in Ireland as we celebrate 20 years of Thérapie Clinic. Naas, Kildare will be the 64th clinic we’ve opened this year in Ireland and the UK. We are extremely excited to be able to offer our marketing-leading treatments and service to new clients in the Kildare area as we approach the summer months. We offer free consultations with our expert team across all over our clinics. We look forward to welcoming our new clients to the clinic and making world-class aesthetic services more accessible than ever.”
Prices for laser hair removal start with packages from as low as €19.95 per session, skin treatments and peels from €99.95 and cosmetic injections from €145. Thérapie Clinic offers free consultations where customers can sit down with a medical professional and discuss the best course of action to meet the customers’ needs without any financial commitment.
Thérapie Clinic Naas is open now and is available for bookings.