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Sony is adding colour to its newest Clié PDA (personal digital assistant), at least in Japan.
With today's Japanese launch of the Clié PEG-T400, a sleek new model that was launched in the US last month under the name PEG-T415, the company also announced a colour version, the PEG-T600.
Also new is a digital still camera card, announced last month in the US, and a GPS (global positioning system) card, which Sony is announcing for the first time anywhere.
Features of both devices are similar, with the display, which can show 65,536 colours, and the memory, which at 16MB is double that of the monochrome model, being the only main differences. The addition of the colour display comes at the price of thickness and weight. The T600 is 12.5mm thick, compared to the 9.9mm T400, and weighs 138g, compared to 122g for the monochrome model.
All other features are the same. It has a 33MHz Dragonball VZ processor, runs Version 4.1 of the Palm operating system and has a screen resolution of 320x320. Battery life of the internal lithium-ion cell is given as 12 days, assuming daily use of 30 minutes per day, according to Sony.
The two new modules plug into the Memory Stick slot on each Clié handheld. The digital still camera module has a low-resolution 100,000 pixel CCD (charge coupled device) image sensor capable of delivering an image up to 320x240, or a quarter that of VGA (video graphics array) quality.
The second new module receives signals from GPS satellites and is able to provide the user with their location to within a few tens of meters accuracy. Such devices are often combined with mapping software applications to give users a map of the immediate area around them.
Both PDAs and the camera and GPS cards will go on sale in Japan on 8 December. The colour model will retail for around £230, the monochrome model will cost around £172, the digital camera model will be around £87 and the GPS module will cost £115, said the company. All prices exclude tax.
Sony had no word on when the colour model will be available outside of Japan.


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Degustation dinner to help buy a van for OzHarvest
FOOD rescue program OzHarvest Sunshine Coast has just passed a significant milestone by rescuing and redistributing over 60,000kg of excess quality food to 18 local schools, charities and community groups.
This amount - the equivalent of about 180,000 meals - has made a significant impact on local community members in need.
As of February 1, REAP Sunshine Coast officially changed its name to OzHarvest Sunshine Coast but the aim remains the same: helping to feed those in need while also reducing the amount of food that finds its way to landfill.
To help OzHarvest Sunshine Coast celebrate its milestone and rebranding, Noosa Waterfront Restaurant and Bar owner and executive chef Andrea Ravezzani will be hosting a five-course degustation dinner with matching wines on Friday, March 24.
The dinner will also include a fundraising auction of special items donated from local businesses. Items to be auctioned include: a three-course meal for up to six people prepared by Andrea at the winning bidder's home; cooking lessons at Life's a Feast in Noosa; a golf and spa package from Noosa Springs Resort and Spa; a five-course degustation dinner at the 2 chef hat restaurant the Long Apron with overnight accommodation at Spicers Clovelly Estate in Maleny; and scenic tours over the Coast.
All proceeds raised on the night will go towards the purchase of a dedicated OzHarvest van - something that will allow the program to deliver more food to more people on the Sunshine Coast.
Tickets are still available for the fundraising dinner and can be bought by calling Noosa Waterfront Restaurant and Bar on 5474 4444.
Almost 20 producers and businesses donate their excess quality food to the OzHarvest Sunshine Coast Chapter.
As a result of the generosity of these producers and businesses, 18 schools, community organisations and charities from Tewantin to Cotton and Nambour reap significant benefit as they are able to convert the food into meals for those in need or distribute the excess as emergency hampers.

domain: news


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As more jobs are created in the trade industry indicators suggest that area retailers are in a healthy economic environment to get their business up and running, or consider adding additional locations for their existing business. As your Commercial Real Estate Advisor, we suggest business owners to take advantage of these favorable conditions by beginning their search for retail space early. As consumer confidence and spending increases, so do rental rates, meaning that delaying your search for Austin business space could cost you money.
At the end of the first quarter this year there were 24 retail buildings under construction totaling 432,994 square feet, 57.4 percent of which that have already been pre-leased. These are exciting times for the Austin area and you can expect to see quite a bit of retail growth, particularly in the Northwest, Round Rock, East, and Southwest areas. Click here to read the latest Austin Retail Market update.
Similarly, in a recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Texas increased payrolls by 10,300 jobs last month. This, along with 60,000 jobs added in January, 18,400 in February, and 5,100 in March bring the year to date total for jobs created to 93,800. When annualized this puts the state on paced to see a 48% increase from the 189,300 jobs that were created last year. Of these jobs created, the trade, transportation and utilities industries have collectively comprised 20.1 percent of the total job growth.


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New poll finds just 25 per cent of us recycle when out and about, compared with 93 per cent at home
The vast majority of people carefully separate their rubbish when at home, but it is a very different story when we are out and about. A new survey of 3,367 people, carried out by recycling incentives...
Environmental groups warn draft plan approved by International Maritime Organisation (IMO) could see shipping emissions rise over next decade
Plus all the top green business news from around the world, including PGE ditching coal, Peru and Switzerland CO2 offset deal, and Australia green power project
Veggie burgers are safe, but green groups warn debate has distracted from broader Common Agricultural Policy proposals set to be voted on this afternoon that they warn could devastate small farmers and nature
The US clothing firm reveals how digital technologies could finally make circular fashion a reality


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|January 06, 2016|
Las Vegas Welcomes Back CES
|Las Vegas welcomes back CES 2016, Jan. 6-9. Considered the world's premier annual innovation event featuring the latest in consumer technology, CES has called Las Vegas it's exclusive home since 1978. The event will draw more than 165,000 attendees including 45,000 international attendees from more than 150 countries.|
With more than 6,000 registered media from all around the world, Las Vegas will take center stage as an international innovation destination. In addition, more than 48,000 senior-level executives will attend CES and 82-percent of Fortune 100 companies have representatives here underscoring the fact that Las Vegas is a serious place to conduct business. In addition to the impact CES has on the technology world, it also benefits the Las Vegas community with nearly $140 million in direct visitor spending supporting more than 1,500 local jobs.
On Tuesday, The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) -- formerly the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced its continued support of the Las Vegas community through a new partnership with education technology company EverFi, and donations for sustainability projects in Las Vegas and the surrounding community. This marks the eighth consecutive year that CTA -- owner and producer of CES, the world's gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies -- has given sustainability grants to the greater Las Vegas community. See attached press release for more information.
CES spans several different venues on the Las Vegas Strip and beyond:
+ CES Tech East includes the Las Vegas Convention and World Trade Center (LVCC), Westgate Las Vegas, and the Renaissance Las Vegas. Tech East is home to innovative product categories from audio, automotive electronics, video and wireless and also features international exhibitors.
+ CES Tech West includes the Sands Expo and Convention Center, The Venetian, Palazzo, Wynn Las Vegas and Encore at Wynn. Tech West features leading companies and the newest innovations in lifestyle technologies, including fitness and health, the Internet of Things, sensors and other high-growth technologies changing the way we live, work and play. Tech West is also home to the flagship startup community known as Eureka Park. Eureka Park will feature more than 375 start-up companies providing a unique opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to launch a new product, service or idea.
+ CES Tech South is new to CES 2016 and includes Aria, Vdara and Cosmopolitan Las Vegas. Tech South is location for the marketing, advertising, content and creative communities.


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(CNSNews.com) - The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach - which account for 40 percent of shipping containers that are imported to the United States - will charge ocean carriers for shipping containers that sit in marine terminals.
The plan is to assess a surcharge for every shipping container that sits at the port after a period of time, in order to move things along and reduce backlogs in the supply chain.
The Port of Los Angeles announced the plan in a press release on Monday:
Under the new policy, the ports will charge ocean carriers for each container that falls into one of two categories. In the case of containers scheduled to move by truck, ocean carriers will be charged for every container dwelling nine days or more.
For containers moving by rail, ocean carriers will be charged if the container has dwelled for three days or more. Beginning Nov. 1, the ports will charge ocean carriers with cargo in those two categories $100 per container, increasing in $100 increments per container per day.
“We must expedite the movement of cargo through the ports to work down the number of ships at anchor,” Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said in a statement. “Approximately 40% of the containers on our terminals today fall into the two categories. If we can clear this idling cargo, we’ll have much more space on our terminals to accept empties, handle exports, and improve fluidity for the wide range of cargo owners who utilize our ports.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced the plan on Tuesday when asked about whether the president will tap the Strategic Oil Reserve if gas prices reach a certain price.
“On the economy, I don’t know if you saw The New York Times this morning about the cost of Thanksgiving could be some of the highest that we’ve seen in a long time. Obviously, you heard the president talk about gas prices at that CNN town hall. Would there be a price that gas would have to get that the president would say, okay, now’s the time to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?” a reporter asked.
PSAKI: The president reserves a range of options, and he is certainly quite mindful of the impact of any increased cost on the American public. There are a range of factors here, which we could delve into, but I will say that on gas prices, one of the issues that Jake referenced - and obviously, as we have more details on what this may look like, we’ll share it with all of you, is being able to … raise our concern and the president’s concern about supply issues as it relates to oil, and that’s something that certainly he can do on the international stage, and there’s a power of the president of the United States engaging on that front.
That issue has been raised at Jake’s level, at a range of levels throughout government, but certainly the supply and OPEC and putting additional pressure on OPEC is something that certainly our national security team will continue to do. I will also note that as it relates to gas prices, we remain concerned about trends we have seen where even as supply has increased at times over the last several months, we’ve still seen heightened prices. …
We’ve asked the FEC to look into that. They’ve said they were doing that, but as it relates to cost, there’s a number of steps, so let me just give you just a brief update on steps we’re taking at the ports that is … kind of new information. One I would note that one of the -- and this is not about gas prices, but just about the movement of goods, which is certainly something that is impacting I think a lot of people across the country.
One I would note, and I thought this was an interesting fact. Both ports -- the port of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which we’ve talked about a lot because of the huge amount of volume that goes through them -- are moving an unprecedented amount of cargo this year, so one of the challenges - we’ve talked about those … but I’m going to put some numbers on it.
Both ports are moving 19 percent more containers than at the same point in 2018, which was the previous record, and the ports remain on target to outpace the previous record of 17.5 million containers processed in 2018. That’s because of a range of factors. People are buying more things online.
People are in a better - not everyone - but a lot of people data-wise across the American public are in a better financial situation than a year ago, so they’re purchasing more goods, and what we’re seeing right now are terminals are filled with containers that have been sitting around for days without getting picked up, holding goods in these containers, and that is obviously a challenge.
So yesterday I just wanted to note that the ports announced they will address this problem and no longer let carriers use the ports as warehouse space, and this will hopefully help move things a little bit more quickly, and starting on November 1st for the first time, the ports will charge carriers $100 per container scheduled to be moved by truck that has sat on that port for nine days and more and $100 per container scheduled to be moved by rail that has dwelled three days or more.


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Taiwanese manufacturers are preparing to seize business opportunities that are likely to arise with the arrival of US-based electric car maker and vendor Tesla Motors Inc, which is expected to build charging stations in Taiwan, market sources said on Saturday.
Among the interested electric car component makers are electric vehicle harness maker BizLink Holding Inc (貿聯), electrical terminal supplier K.S. Terminals Inc (健和興端子) and power system management supplier Delta Electronics Inc (台達電), the sources said.
Tesla on July 4 announced its plans to enter the Taiwanese market.
It has opened a pop-up store at the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) to showcase the technology and design behind its electric vehicles.
The store is to stay open through Aug. 31, with staff answering questions about the electric cars and how to charge their batteries.
Buyers in Taiwan can pre-order Tesla Model S cars on the vendor’s Taiwan Web site, with the first delivery expected to come in the first quarter of next year.
Taiwan is the sixth market in the Asia-Pacific region into which Tesla has made inroads.
The company said that it will set up a regional service center and charging network in Taiwan to meet the needs of local buyers.
The sources said that Tesla plans to set up more than 10 charging stations in Taiwan, which has prompted firms like Delta Electronics to pay attention to potential business from Tesla.
They said Delta Electronics is expected to take the lead in power management solutions for Tesla’s charging stations, as the Taiwanese firm has long been exploring the global electric car market with a wide range of products to meet demand from its various clients in the US, Europe, Japan and China.
However, the sources said that while the government has pushed for the development of the electric vehicle industry, local construction and security regulations have failed to catch up with the developments and efforts to set up charging stations could be hampered.
The sources added that the government should introduce incentives to encourage electric car component makers to join the efforts to build a charging station network in Taiwan.
Tesla runs 681 charging stations, called superchargers, around the world to provide charging services for free, and the stations are mostly near restaurants, shopping malls and Wi-Fi hot spots.
Tesla cars can drive 270km on a 30-minute charge, according to the company.
Polytronics Technology Corp (聚鼎科技) yesterday announced that it is buying Henkel AG’s thermal clad dielectric material (TCLAD) business division for US$26 million as the Taiwanese firm aims to improve its technology, product portfolio and revenue performance. Polytronics, headquartered in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), is a supplier of protection components and heat dissipation materials. The firm entered the metallic heat-dissipation substrate market in 2007 and developed a unique solventless production process. Its board of directors approved signing an agreement with Henkel to acquire the German chemical firm’s TCLAD division in the US. The purchase includes all assets and business interests, including equipment,
SIZE MATTERS: Medium-sized hotels that do not have the support of parent groups are more vulnerable and are forced to take action, a REPro Knight Frank researcher said About 50 hotels across Taiwan are seeking to exit the market as they succumb to the bleak business outlook amid international travel restrictions imposed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Yomi Hotel (優美飯店) on Minsheng E Road, Sec 1, in Taipei is seeking to transfer ownership with an asking price of NT$950 million (US$32.15 million) and a pledge for a lease contract that guarantees a 3 percent return. The budget hotel, with room rates that start from NT$1,400 per night, maintains normal operations, but has been struggling since March, when the government placed restrictions on inbound and outbound travel. Occupancy rates for hotels in
With the US dollar expected to weaken in the next 12 months due to near-zero interest rates, investors should consider purchasing US corporate bonds, Standard Chartered Bank Taiwan Ltd (渣打台灣銀行) said on Thursday. The bank said that the US Federal Reserve since last month has been buying bonds issued by US companies to curb default rates. The US dollar is forecast to be weaker against the pound, the euro and the yen, as well as the Canadian dollar, the Swedish krona and the Swiss franc, as the greenback lacks high investment returns after the Fed in March slashed the benchmark interest rate
‘SENSITIVE MARKETS’: The previously unannounced project would involve the company handing over control of data to a third party to sidestep privacy concerns Google has abandoned plans to offer a major new cloud service in China and other politically sensitive countries due in part to concerns over geopolitical tensions and the COVID-19 pandemic, two employees familiar with the matter said, revealing the challenges for US tech giants to secure business in those markets. In May, the search giant shut down the initiative, known as “Isolated Region” and which sought to address nations’ desires to control data within their borders, the employees said. The action was considered a “massive strategy shift,” said one of the employees, who added that Isolated Region had involved hundreds of employees


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SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Accel Robotics, a San Diego-based startup focused on AI and computer vision for checkout-free stores, today announced a $30 million Series A funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp. (“SoftBank Group”).
Accel Robotics enables grab-and-go, checkout-free shopping experiences across existing and emerging store formats. The company’s camera-based AI and computer vision system allows any shopper to enter a store, grab the items they want, walk out, and receive a receipt via text message or app notification.
Accel Robotics delivers its frictionless commerce platform to retailers and brands so they can run stores more efficiently with increased throughput. Accel Robotics increases shopper satisfaction by eliminating checkout lines while offering key data streams, such as live inventory and shopper analytics, to retailers to improve the in-store experience.
Deployments already underway in North America and Japan
Accel Robotics is deploying its frictionless commerce platform in stores with category-leading grocery, convenience, quick service restaurants, and drugstore chains in North America and Japan.
The platform enables retailers to quickly deploy stores in new environments, allowing them to extend their reach, acquire new customers, and increase revenue.
The Series A funding will allow Accel Robotics to accelerate its expansion worldwide by growing operations, increasing manufacturing capacity, and streamlining its expanding deployment pipeline. The $30 million of financing builds on $7 million in previous funding, bringing the company’s total capital raised to $37 million.
“We are excited to partner with the team at SoftBank Group to help scale our frictionless commerce platform with retailers and brands around the world,” said Brandon Maseda, CEO, Accel Robotics.
Series A funding includes existing investors
In addition to SoftBank Group, Accel Robotics’ funding round includes participation from existing investors, including New Ground Ventures, Toyo Kanetsu Corporate Venture Investment Partnership, and RevTech Ventures.
About Accel Robotics:
Accel Robotics, www.accelrobotics.com, enables checkout-free shopping experiences across existing and emerging store formats. Our camera-based AI system allows any shopper to enter a store, pick the items they want, then walk out, receiving a receipt via text or app notification. The end result is a better, more convenient, shopping experience that improves existing stores while enabling new stores where people live, work, travel, and play.
Accel Robotics was founded in 2015 and incubated with RevTech Ventures and EvoNexus accelerators. Previous investors include Miyabi Ventures, New Ground Ventures, Saison Ventures, Recruit, GMO, and a diverse group of angel investors. Accel Robotics was named a San Diego Venture Group (SDVG) Cool Company for 2017, 2018, and 2019.
About SoftBank Group
SoftBank Group is a global technology player that aspires to drive the Information Revolution. The SoftBank Group is comprised of the holding company SoftBank Group Corp. (TOKYO: 9984) and its global portfolio of companies, which includes advanced telecommunications, Internet services, AI, smart robotics, IoT and clean energy technology providers. In September 2016, Arm Limited, the world’s leading semiconductor IP company, joined the SoftBank Group. SoftBank Group Corp. is invested in the SoftBank Vision Fund, which plans to invest up to $100 billion in the global businesses and technologies that the SoftBank Vision Fund believes will enable the next stage of the Information Revolution. To learn more, please visit https://group.softbank/en/.
Media Contact for Accel Robotics:
Ketner Group Communications


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New gourmet show to launch in Dubai
Dubai, February 24, 2010
The first trade exhibition in the Middle East dedicated to providing exclusive, high-end food products sourced from all over the world will launch in Dubai in October this year, said a top official of Dubai World Trade Centre.
“The Middle East has a very refined culture and visitors from all over the world come to Dubai in particular for the best culinary delights,” said Trixee Loh, senior vice president, Dubai World Trade Centre, organisers of the event.
“We recognise the market demand from our many connections in the food industry and this speciality food show will provide an ideal platform to source the best products and services for the very top clients.”
The first Gourmet: Speciality and Fine Food will take place from October 31 to November 2 at Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, and will offer a selection of artisan food from caviar to wagu beef, boutique delis, bespoke provincial suppliers and international brands.
Many companies have expressed huge interest in participating at this inaugural event with pavilions from both France and Italy already on board, Loh said.
Catering to the exclusive food and hospitality sector and specialist buyers of premium produce across the Middle East, the speciality food show will bring together the finest food producers to showcase the most unique, high-end, luxury food and drink products on the market.
The show will bring elite suppliers from the gourmet and luxury food market including the halal, seafood, organic and health and wellness sectors providing a focus for specialist buyers in a refined and relaxed environment.
“Dubai is in desperate need of a gourmet show to provide a one-stop-shop for the exclusive hotels, cafes and boutiques,” said Francesco Alfonsi, Italian Trade Commissioner.
“Gulfood is the most comprehensive food and drink show in the Middle East, but Gourmet: Speciality and Fine Food will cater for a bespoke market. We are delighted Dubai World Trade Centre has launched this show and Italian companies will play an integral part of the show’s future success,” Alfonsi added. – TradeArabia News Service


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Opinion: why the U.S. needs to change its eating habits
By Frieda’s Specialty Produce CEO Karen Caplan
In the U.S.A., one of the prominent produce organizations, the Produce For Better Health Foundation (PBH), declares each September as "Fruits & Veggies - More Matters" month; a campaign that started a few years ago to help focus consumers' attention on eating more fruits and vegetables.
Why do we even need such a month?
You would think that with all the food messaging and healthy eating trends that you read about on the internet, hear on the news, and see in magazines, America should be one of the healthiest countries in the world. But it's not a secret that more than 90% of both American adults and children do not eat a sufficient amount of fruits and vegetables as recommended by the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans, according to PBH, and that obesity is at crisis levels in many states.
Coincidentally, our company's mission is and always has been "to change the way America eats fruits and vegetables", and we are not alone in this crusade to promote produce consumption. As a matter of fact, we hope to enroll many companies, organizations, and people in our mission and hopefully, we can reduce obesity, increase education, and develop healthier eating habits all around.
During "More Matters" month, the campaign asks the public to challenge its fresh produce eating habits: "Add one more. Try something new. Educate yourself. Teach the kids. Try a new recipe."
Just how many fruits and vegetables one should eat each day? Instead of having to worry about the measurement of the portion - how many cups or grams? - MyPlate.gov, a government-sponsored website, lays out one easy guideline: half of your plate should be fruits and vegetables, the other half a combination of lean protein and whole grains with a little bit of dairy.
Trying something new and educating oneself is where family farms and specialty produce distributors like Frieda's come in. Exotic fruits and unusual vegetables add color pop and visual differentiation in the produce department, piquing curiosity and drawing the attention of shoppers who are looking for something new and different to add to their plates. It especially appeals to children, who are not afraid of weird-looking foods.
As part of our crusade, in late 2013, our company launched a new consumer messaging campaign: “Eat One Fruit A Day That Scares You". We don't want consumers to be afraid of weird or unfamiliar produce items, so we challenge shoppers to try something new, and we hope retailers will stock their shelves with more specialty and exotic produce. As a part of this campaign, we provide product information, recipes, and short, quirky YouTube videos called Specialty Produce 101 on Friedas.com.
It’s also timely and exciting that one of our industry’s trade associations, the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) has launched the Eat Brighter program, a partnership with Sesame Street to help deliver messages about fresh fruits and vegetables to children. The program's goal is to utilize marketing, fresh produce, and brand trust as powerful instruments to inspire children aged 2 to 5, and their parents and caregivers, to choose fresh fruits and vegetables. In America, we know that the endorsement of a beloved cartoon character on a healthy fresh produce item can make sales take off.
If you’d like to join us with our crusade to "Change the Way America Eats Fruits and Vegetables", we’d love to hear from you. Frieda’s is always looking to partner with like-minded growers, shippers, exporters, wholesalers, retailers, schools, restaurants, and everyone.


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While the RBA rate cut is good news for the Aussie share market, the utter collapse in global commodity prices is not. This week the CRB commodities index fell the most in over 50 years—the most ever in such a short period. What is going on and where will commodity prices go from here?
Three factors have contributed to the huge reversal in resource prices. First is the global rush to cash. Investors have voluntarily liquidated positions they’ve held for years in order to be in cash and out of the markets.
Second, there’s a perception that the credit crunch is morphing into a synchronised global recession that will hit emerging markets especially hard. This is another reason for the fall on the CRB commodities index, as emerging market growth has been especially resource intensive.
Third, you have the collapse of leverage. This is crushing the hedge fund business, which thrived by borrowing huge amounts of money to invest in rising asset classes. Now that the money has dried up, the whole hedge fund business model (like the investment banking model) is collapsing. Leveraged bets on commodities and commodity stocks are being ferociously unwound as access to credit evaporates.
So is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Yes. But it could take longer than anyone expects. Global-deleveraging hits at the consumer as well as the corporate level. American consumers, who’ve kept the world turning with borrowed money and an economy geared to consumption, are spent. They’ll have to start saving, paying down debts, and living beneath their means.
Love him or loathe him, it will not be easy to replace the American consumer as the engine of global growth. The new engine is in Asia. But it’s still in the factory as well. Asian economies still have high savings rates and high rates of investment in fixed capital. They’re still producing things instead of buying them.
Eventually, Asia will become the world’s biggest consumer too. Resource investors should realise this big shift is in process, and that by virtue of its proximity to the next great markets, and by luck of its massive endowment of energy and industrial commodities, Australia’s going to do just fine.
Between now and then, though, it’s going to be tough, expect more volatility in the CRB commodities index. Lack of credit and falling commodity prices are going to wipe out a lot of the smaller explorers in Australia. So what should you be looking for? Which Aussie juniors are going to survive? More on that tomorrow from Diggers and Drillers editor Al Robinson. He says you want to favour cash…and sort out who’s most exposed to leverage.
Markets and Money


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President of Chamber of Commerce and Industry Rajesh Kazi Shrstha expressed the hope that the government will implement the relief packages as it has announced in the budget.
“The new budget mentioned so many issues raised by the private sector. However, everything will be depending upon how it can be implementing,” said Shrestha. “The lockdown has badly affected the small business. The good things are that the budget also gives high importance to small and medium business.”
Private sector business leaders from Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Confederation of Nepalese Industries and Nepal Chamber of Commerce welcomed the budget with certain reservation on the implementation.
President of Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) Satish Kumar More holds the view that the new budget had tried to revive the private sector which was affected badly by the lockdown.
“There is a ray of hope in the budget that the government is showing interest in the private sector through the relief programs to emerge from the crisis and make the country’s economy vibrant,” More said.
He stressed on implementing programs of the budget properly for accelerating the economic activities and save the lives of people from COVID-19.
President of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Bhawani Rana said that the budget was likely to boost up the confidence of the private sector.
She said that the relief packages to the affected sectors including tourism, industries, and micro, cottage and small industries are positive. “The government had introduced stimulus package almost equal to 5 per cent of GDP which had addressed the demand of the private sector,” said Rana.
She, however, said that the government did not address the demand of private sector on tax issues.


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Openness, one of Android's big advantages, can also be the Achilles' heel of the platform. Google has pulled the kill switch on 21 free malware apps from the Android Market and from around 50,000 devices, according to reports. The apps were free ille...
NetQin Mobile has captured 2 new spyware programs that have been infecting Android phones. The two programs, "SW.SecurePhone" and "SW.Qieting", can release an unsettling amount of personal information from an infected phone.
The Commonwealth Bank today released its NetBank mobile banking application for Google Android smartphones.
Microsoft Excel spreadsheets hold more than a million rows of data and automate number crunching, but they can do so much more. Excel's simple interface lends itself to uses well beyond those that its designers ever imagined.
In the battle between mobile platforms, one of the most critical factors is the success of the respective app library. The Apple App Store dominates all rivals in terms of sheer volume of apps, but Lookout Mobile Security's App Genome Project illustr...
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Have you ever wanted to explore the moon? With the free Moon Maps Android app, you can. You can choose between imagery from the Clementine Mosaic or the Lunar orbiter Mosaic--though the Clementine imagery is generally better.
Sometime in the not-to-distant future, smartphones may help humans bridge those pesky linguistic and cultural barriers that always seem to cause so much trouble. At least that's Google's goal with Translate for Android, a free app that can help trave...
Android-based smartphones are more vulnerable to attacks by hackers and electronic viruses than the iPhone, according to the chairman of the world's largest provider of security software for corporate servers.
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- FTTechnical Marketing ManagerNSW
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- FTAccount ExecutiveNSW
- FTBusiness development manager - retargettingNSW
- CCConsumer Product Marketing ManagerNSW
- FTBusiness Development Manager | Sales ManagerNSW
- FTBusiness ManagerNSW
- FTMarketing Communications Operations Manager - Global Tech Market leaderNSW
- FTSales Account ExecutiveNSW
- FTPartner Marketing Communications Manager - Leading Global Tech BrandNSW


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Færch Plast A/S' black CPET can be detected by near infrared light technology.
Færch Plast A/S, a Danish packaging firm, claims it has developed a black crystalline polyethylene (CPET) material that can be detected by near infrared (NIR) sensors. According to the company, the product will allow recyclers to sort black CPET in the mixed plastics waste stream.
Faerch Plast, a manufacturer of high-performance plastic packaging for the food industry, developed the black CPET in conjunction with a number of stakeholders: the U.K.-based nonprofit WRAP, plastics consulting firm Nextek, equipment company Titech, U.K. testing firm Eurofins and several U.K. supermarkets.
In a release, Jesper Emil Jensen, senior manager at Færch Plast A/S, says, “Faerch Plast continually conducts research into the raw materials it uses and during the past 12 months the business has been heavily involved in a project aimed at making black trays more recyclable.
“Until now, recycling of black CPET has not been possible as it can’t be detected by the NIR sensors used by most recyclers. It has been a complicated project because the current pigment is both good at what it does and is also the cheapest form of black available on the market."
Jesper continues, “However, I am delighted to report that after considerable testing and trials using different dyes and pigments we now have a ‘world first’ recyclable solution that is cost effective, aesthetically pleasing and functional.”


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Massive Web Traffic Fraud: Digital Advertising Confronts “Crisis”
Digital media, and specifically display advertising, is facing a “crisis” even as brand marketers are increasingly serious about shifting budgets online and into mobile. That phrase, “crisis,” comes directly from the chair of the IAB, Vivek Shah, as quoted in the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ article cites IAB estimates that suggest more than a third […]
Digital media, and specifically display advertising, is facing a “crisis” even as brand marketers are increasingly serious about shifting budgets online and into mobile. That phrase, “crisis,” comes directly from the chair of the IAB, Vivek Shah, as quoted in the Wall Street Journal.
The WSJ article cites IAB estimates that suggest more than a third of all online traffic is fake or fraudulent:
About 36 percent of all Web traffic is considered fake, the product of computers hijacked by viruses and programmed to visit sites, according to estimates cited recently by the Interactive Advertising Bureau trade group.
Nearly 30 percent of all US advertising is now digital and, increasingly, it’s bought through automated platforms and systems. Even as its popularity is growing rapidly, automated or programmatic ad buying is a contributor to the problems identified in the article: lack of transparency and accountability being chief among them.
Others in the past have estimated that a substantial amount of web traffic is “suspicious.” Solve Media argues the number may be more than 40 percent. Earlier, a comScore study found 31 percent of display ads are never seen by their intended audiences.
The latter comScore data don’t represent fraud per se. However they reflect instances when ads aren’t seen by their intended audiences for one reason or another — amounting to the same outcome essentially.
All of these problems cast a shadow over online and mobile advertising and automated ad buying in particular. Yet, as the WSJ article points out, heavy consumer usage of the internet means that marketers cannot avoid shifting budgets to where their audiences are.
New metrics such as “viewability” are being implemented to restore confidence in display. In addition more third parties are getting involved as auditors or to root out fraud where it may be happening. Advertisers themselves are increasingly demanding reimbursements and “make goods” where fraud is detected. As the WSJ reports:
Advertisers hope that demanding make-good ads will pressure ad exchanges and ad networks to ensure that their inventories are properly vetted.
Marketers also keep lists of sites that have fraudulent traffic and ask that when the free ads are given, they be placed on high-quality sites, which have low rates of fraud.
Clearly it’s in all parties’ interests — marketers, agencies, publishers, exchanges — to work together to strengthen and fortify the integrity of the system.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


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At a time when consumers have more movie-viewing options than ever before, some may find the growth of various box offices from around the world slightly surprising. But heading to the cinema remains very appealling and where there’s an audience, there will be advertisers, especially if it’s of the captive variety. So with Val Morgan recently holding its new season launch and showing off some of the big movies heading our way next year, we asked cinema network sales director Suzie Lamborn a few questions about how the medium is faring from an advertising point of view. PLUS: Val Morgan’s move into digital out of home with Tower TV.
How has Val Morgan’s ad revenue been tracking over the past few years?
We’ve seen good revenue growth in a challenging market. The really exciting aspect of our business right now is the interest we are seeing in the future release slate, with high demand and advertiser interest in many of the blockbuster titles ahead, such as Fifty Shades of Grey, Avenger Age of Ultron, Furious Seven, The Second Best Marigold Hotel and many others.
How many people have attended the movies this year in New Zealand and how has that changed over the past few years?
2014 has been a good year at the box office. For the calendar year to date admissions are running about five percent ahead year on year, at just over $14 million. New Zealand has a strong cinemagoing culture with admissions per capita running at generally comparable levels with the US and Australia and ahead of many European markets.
How has new audience measurement tool CineTam influenced the decision makers? Has more accountability led to more advertising revenue?
CineTAM was launched in New Zealand about three months ago and with more accountability it’s helping us open doors and have some conversations at a different level with brands than we have been able to do in the past. It provides a new level of accountability to not only post-analyse campaign performance but also to assist planning.
Do you have any goals to reach a certain amount of total ad spend share? What kind of percentage does cinema advertising have in other markets? Is it similar to New Zealand?
Cinema in New Zealand attracts roughly one percent of advertising spend and it runs at a comparable level to many other international markets. Our focus is to increase the number of brands using cinema and we have already had significant success in this area, with our brand count increasing by 40 percent over the last couple of years.
Why is cinema growing as an ad medium?
Alongside the best content, cinema provides advertisers an unrivalled ad environment and minimal ad avoidance. This is particularly relevant in today’s market with audience fragmentation rife and achieving cut through an increasingly difficult challenge for advertisers. Cinema delivers a captivated, distraction free audience, in a relaxed and receptive mindset. It is without doubt the most impactful audio-visual media delivery available and is proven to have six times the engagement and power of television and improve brand consideration by 40 percent.
Elsewhere in Val Morgan land, it has recently announced an expansion into the rapidly growing digital out of home market in New Zealand in a joint venture with Gordon Frykberg’s Oggi Digital called Tower TV.
According to a release, Tower TV provides a digital network in excess of 200 screens located in the foyer/café environment and lift surround area of between 50-70 high profile office buildings and complexes around New Zealand. The screens will run real time content including time, weather, news updates, sports updates, financial and stock market updates, exchange rates and business leaders’ Twitter feeds wrapped around advertising.
“The Tower TV model borrows the very best from similar office networks already successfully operating internationally and our association with Val Morgan Outdoor who operate probably the largest and most successful DOOH business in Australia means we will be using the very best equipment, software and technology with a revolutionary measurement system known as DART, which has just launched in Australia and will enable a level of accountability in NZ DOOH never before possible,” says Frykberg in a release.
It is currently working on property installations and expects to be officially operating early in the New Year with “our own small but perfectly formed sales team”.


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When Ernie Bot was launched on March 16, the response was a mixture of pleasure and disappointment. Many individuals deemed its efficiency mediocre relative to the beforehand launched ChatGPT.
However most individuals merely weren’t capable of see it for themselves. The launch occasion didn’t characteristic a reside demonstration, and later, to truly check out the bot, Chinese language customers have to have a Baidu account and apply for a use license that might take so long as three months to come back by way of. Due to this, some individuals who acquired entry early have been promoting secondhand Baidu accounts on e-commerce websites, charging anyplace from a couple of dollars to over $100.
Greater than a dozen Chinese language generative AI chatbots have been launched after Ernie Bot. They’re all fairly much like their Western counterparts in that they’re able to conversing in textual content—answering questions, fixing math issues (considerably), writing programming code, and composing poems. A few of them additionally enable enter and output in different types, like audio, pictures, information visualization, or radio alerts.
Like Ernie Bot, these providers got here with restrictions for consumer entry, making it troublesome for most people in China to expertise them. Some have been allowed just for enterprise makes use of.
One of many fundamental causes Chinese language tech corporations restricted entry to most people was concern that the fashions might be used to generate politically delicate info. Whereas the Chinese language authorities has proven it’s extraordinarily able to censoring social media content material, new applied sciences like generative AI may push the censorship machine to unknown and unpredictable ranges. Most present chatbots like these from Baidu and ByteDance have built-in moderation mechanisms that may refuse to reply delicate questions on Taiwan or Chinese language president Xi Jinping, however a basic launch to China’s 1.4 billion folks would virtually actually enable customers to search out extra intelligent methods to bypass censors.


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If you thought hypercars are the only ones interested in one-upping one another with top speed, think again.
Following a recent teaser , details are beginning to trickle out over Bentley’s upcoming SUV. According to Autocar UK , the British automaker is said to be aiming for a top speed of 200 mph, or roughly 321 km/h, when the SUV is released in 2016.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
In addition to the suggested top speed, the overall design will be drastically different from the EXP 9F for a couple of reasons. First, the overall design wasn’t well-received when it debuted at the Geneva Motor Show last year. That’s why Bentley’s new design chief, Luc Donckerwolke, is now overseeing the project.
Then there’s the whole bit about aerodynamics: Given the EXP 9F’s boxy proportions and the desired top speed, Donckerwolke will rework the upcoming SUV with sleeker design cues, including a smoother rear end, a lower roofline and underbody aerodynamics.
At the moment, powertrain details have yet to be announced.


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Many companies I speak with are fighting tremendous pressure to pull back on their marketing and research spending for the Hispanic segment or are working with budgets that are already significantly smaller than in previous years. Yet my recent report on Hispanic’s reaction to the recessionshows that brands actually need to be working harder to earn Hispanics’ coveted dollars. Advertising Agerecently highlighted some of the key points I uncovered:
The New York Times has put together a very interesting interactive graphic that shows how recessions behaved in the past, and what this means for the future. Please note that the picture below is a static image.
Saw this article today in moco ranking mobile ad networks in the US. They published these numbers, but don't stand behind them - at least entirely. I'm interested in digging a bit deeper into the UV calculation.
Millennial Media: 45.6 million
AOL/Platform-A's Third Screen Media: 28.6 million
AdMob: 25.7 million
Microsoft's MSN Ad Network: 25.4 million
Jumptap: 23.4 million
Quattro Wireless: 23 million
Yahoo! isn't mentioned. Google is not there - guess this doesn't include Search, but these online giants are popular at least with the consumers we survey. Oh, and no application networks or SMS. The article does back up Millennial's claim to reach. They'd have to be reaching just about every person who browses the mobile web in a given month - even those with one page view - to hit this published number. Aside from the rankings, good to see all of the networks doing so well. These numbers have been growing steadily over the past couple of years. With smartphones selling so well, usage of data services is growing. Forrester's data shows relatively few daily browsers outside of smartphone owners. Most of these ad networks show similar usage patterns. All of this traffic together Choosing ad networks isn't a topic I've researched yet. We do advocate though that brands find their customers, understand their mobile behaviors, and build a strategy from there. With the momentum in consumer adoption of mobile data services, it will soon be hard for any consumer or business-oriented brand to avoid the medium as a channel to engage with consumers for much longer.
Bloggers, which have been receiving an incredible amount of attention as the new influencers continue to grow in importance. Reading about the events at Blogher, it's clear that brands are kowtowing to these household influencers and offering them products, samples, and other events. It's not just the women bloggers category, but all over, tech bloggers are now part of the regular media/PR outreach list for tech, security, and device conferences.
The global hotel industry is battling some tough times. To get a better idea of the industry's outlook for 2010 and the role you see distribution playing in your efforts, we're inviting hotel professionals to take a quick (10 minute) online survey. In exchange, we'll send you a complimentary summary of our findings after we complete gathering the data.
The lead story on UK news bulletins this morning was the latest results from commercial broadcaster ITV. Two observations, even before we get into the detail of the story: big media companies, due to their prominent role in our lives, have a deep resonance with the public in ways that, say, a ball-bearing company, would never have; and the media meltdown— where traditional media business models based on scarcity and control are fundamentally challenged by the new realities of digital media consumption — is now high on the mainstream news agenda.
The focus of today’s news is on ITV’s losses and the sale, at a knock-down price, of its social network Friends Reunited.The broadcaster’s business model, heavily reliant on advertising revenues, leaves it exposed to this shift, whereas rival broadcaster (and major ITV shareholder) BSkyB has succeeded as a platform business, offering telephony and broadband alongside Pay TV. ITV has made the right noises about focusing now on its online video proposition and acquiring more of its own content to exploit. Neither will be easy, however, and successful execution will be the key here. ITV’s track record, looking at its failure to develop Friends Reunited (by no means a bad purchase at the time), is not great.
To put it mildly, travelers are so angry with poor online travel experiences they're approaching a breaking point.
Check out the steady decline in the number of US online leisure travelers who enjoy using the Web to plan and book trips, and who feel that travel Web sites effectively present choices and trade-offs to them. These are critically important given the tepid economy and the increasingly complex way consumers are forced to buy travel. And now, notice how we see a small, but meaningful, increase in the number of people considering using offline travel agencies.
Today Digeo went live with its Moxi Mate, the companion to its Moxi HD DVR, designed to provide whole-home DVR functionality. I sat down with Greg Gudorf, CEO of Digeo, a few weeks back and he previewed the box for me. A couple of my reactions were: 1) the quality of box-to-box streaming is phenomenal; 2) they even designed it so you can turn the panel lights off at night, assuming it will be a bedroom accessory.
The real secret power of this, however, comes with the free inclusion of PlayOn software, which allows your PC to stream online video from Netflix, Hulu, YouTube (and really any other online media content you want including music and photos) to your Moxi Mate box. This is a clever end run around the problem of trying to get the rights to integrate Hulu content into the box directly. (As we saw with Boxee, this is not something Hulu is excited to enable as it threatens their relationships with content owners.)
Love the device. But the fight over how media content will get around the home has only just begun, let the games begin!


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Sep 30, 2021
Newly launched electrical appliance brand meets influencer marketing – How Hizero launched in the Hong Kong market
“Hizero"started its trial launch in the USA in 2017 and entered the European market and Southeast Asia market in 2018. After successfully launching in these markets, Hizero decided to start their business in Hong Kong for more exposure internationally.
To drive awareness and interaction in Hong Kong, Hizero turned to AnyMind Group and influencer marketing platform, AnyTag. By leveraging on a combination of live streaming, giveaways, and a selection of micro-influencers, Hizero was able to drive strong awareness with its target consumers i


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New leader in Bloomberg Billionaires Index
For the first time in more than two years, Bill Gates topped the list of the richest people according to Bloomberg. He replaced Jeff Bezos.
On Friday, co-founder of Microsoft Corp. Bill Gates beat Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index (BBI). According to the agency, Gates took the leading line for the first time in more than two years.
The agency assumes that the Pentagon’s unexpected decision announced on October 25 to provide Microsoft with a 10-year $10 billion contract to move its IT systems from physical servers to the cloud partially helped Gates become a leader.
Since then, Microsoft shares have risen 4%, which brought Gates a fortune of $110 billion. Meanwhile, Amazon, which also claimed the contract but lost it, fell by approximately 2%. As a result, Bezos’s fortune is estimated at $108.7 billion.
Last month, Gates already overtook Bezos, but on the same day, shares in the world's largest online retailer managed to overcome the fall and once again brought Amazon founder to the top.
Frenchman Bernard Arnault with a fortune of $102.7 billion is third in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.


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Duty-free goods purchased in bulk are resold in Japan… Collecting taxes is not easy
Consumption tax is imposed when purchasing duty-free goods… You can get a refund if you show your duty-free items when leaving the country.
The Asahi Shimbun reported on the 29th that the Japanese government is considering revamping the system to impose a consumption tax on product purchases and provide refunds after checking the products upon leaving the country in order to prevent abuse of the tax exemption system for foreigners.
Under Japan’s foreigner duty-free system, souvenirs purchased at duty-free shops are exempt from consumption tax when taken overseas. Domestic consumption or resale is not permitted.
Japan’s duty-free sales process became fully electronic in October 2021. Based on this data, the Japanese government investigated the amount of duty-free goods purchased by people leaving the country in 2022, and found that 51,726 people spent 1 million to 10 million yen (about 9 million to 90 million won), and 10 million to 100 million yen (about 90 million to 90 million won). There were 1,838 people earning 100 million won (about 900 million won) and 374 people earning more than 100 million yen (about 900 million won).
Among foreigners visiting Japan (inbound) in 2022, the total purchase amount of those who purchased duty-free goods worth more than 100 million yen reached 170.4 billion yen (about 1.5 trillion won), and the average per person was calculated to be 450 million yen (about 4 billion won).
The number of people who purchased duty-free goods worth more than 100 million yen reached 374 last year, but it appears that many of them may be reselling products purchased at duty-free shops within Japan.
Japanese customs authorities, in partnership with airlines, conducted inspections on 57 of those who purchased more than 100 million yen. As a result, only one person was able to confirm that duty-free goods had been taken out, while many were unable to confirm the duty-free goods they had purchased. A Japanese government official said, “Aren’t many of the high-ticket buyers reselling within the country?”
A decision was made to impose consumption tax on 56 people who had committed corruption, but only one person paid it. The remaining 55 people owe a total of 1.85 billion yen (about 16.2 billion won) in arrears. Initially, buyers of duty-free goods had to present their passports to customs when leaving the country, but Asahi reported that many of them are leaving the country after passing through customs inspection, and because the inspections are carried out arbitrarily, they cannot be prevented from leaving the country.
To this end, the Japanese government has decided to review a system that refunds the equivalent amount of consumption tax only if it can be confirmed that the purchase was taken out of the country upon departure after taxation at a duty-free shop.
This system has already been introduced in many countries, including Europe. The Japanese government aims to introduce the system starting in 2025 after examining the tasks needed to implement the system next year.
The Japanese government also plans to discuss introducing a system at the end of this year that will not allow input tax credits, which deduct the consumption tax of the purchase, for buyers who purchase goods knowing that they are tax-free. This is because there is a possibility that buyers and purchasers of duty-free goods may combine and resell them.
Previously, in December last year, Apple Japan (Apple Japan) was fined about 14 billion yen in consumption tax related to tax-free sales of iPhones and other products. It has been reported that transactions that did not meet the tax exemption requirements have been confirmed, such as a case where a customer visiting Japan is believed to have purchased a large quantity of terminals and resold them overseas through a company.
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.


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Welcome To Masan MEATLife
(84) 28 6256 3862 Lầu 10, Central Plaza, 17 Lê Duẩn, P Bến Nghé, Q 1, Tp. HCM
(VAN) This is an annual program organized by the General Council of Agriculture and Rural Development Vietnam on a national scale.
MEATDeli chilled meat products were granted the "Vietnamese Agricultural Gold Brand of 2022".
At the ceremony to honor the "Vietnamese Agricultural Gold Brand of 2022", Chairman of the Vietnam General Council of Agriculture and Rural Development Ho Xuan Hung said that after 4 months of continuous efforts, the Organizing Committee has conducted a survey and voted for 512 agricultural products from all regions across the country.
Consumers buying MEATDeli chilled meat products at WinMart supermarket.
As one of the largest players in the branded meat value chain in Vietnam, Masan MEATLife Corporation is currently focusing on improving productivity in the animal protein industry through efficient operations and innovation, nationwide coverage and outstanding supply chain.
By the end of 2018, Masan MEATLife put into operation the first meat processing complex on a scale of more than 10 hectares in Ha Nam province. With a total investment of 3,000 billion VND, each processing complex applies modern technology and uses equipment imported from Europe.
MEATDeli products are processed following European chilled meat technology.
Masan MEATLife's distribution network grew with an impressive increase in coverage. MEATDeli brand of chilled meat is present at 3,000 distributors nationwide; including: WinMart system, WinMart+, Coopmart, BigC (GO!), Lotte, Aeon, modern retail chains; stores specializing in MEATDeli, and MEATDeli agents.
MEATDeli clean pork is produced according to modern technology, ensuring safety.
For three consecutive years since 2019, MEATDeli was in the Top Vietnamese 10 brands according to the Vietnam Economic Times. Masan MEATLife was honored by Forbes Vietnam in the Top 50 Vietnam Value Brands in 2020.
© 2024 Masan MEATLife Corp. All rights reserved


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TLRC board director resigns
Sonita Alleyne, a non-executive director of The Local Radio Company has resigned from her board position after four years with the High Wycombe-based group.
Richard Wheatly, TLRC chairman said "Sonita has been a member of our Board for over four years. Her support and guidance over this time has been very valuable to us, particularly as we have expanded the online side of our business."
Sonita is a co-founder and chief executive of production company Somethin' Else.


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Heinz Ketchup Recipe Changing!
The salt Nazis have claimed another victim.
For the first time in 40 years, Heinz ketchup is changing its famous recipe — by lowering the salt content in an effort to appeal to more health-conscious consumers, the company said yesterday.
Company officials have taste tested the new blend and believe it will be as popular as their old recipe, which has a 60 percent share of the ketchup market.
But Heinz fans fear that the company may be messing with perfection and that the switch could wind up a flavor debacle equal to the infamous rollout of New Coke.
When asked why the company was rolling the dice with a new recipe, spokeswoman Jessica Jackson said, “The catalyst . . . came from the changing needs of our consumers and our commitment to health and wellness.”
Jackson said the company had been planning the change for about two years. But it is coming just as Mayor Bloomberg and other politicians are leaning on big food companies to kick the salt. Heinz was one of 16 major food manufacturers that last month signed onto the National Salt Reduction Initiative, a plan led by Bloomberg to get companies to cut back on the salt in their products.
The new Heinz ketchup recipe will contain about 15 percent less sodium, dropping the amount per tablespoon from 190 to 160 milligrams. Heinz will also make changes to the secret spices. “As we reduced the sodium, we rebalanced the special secret spices,” Jackson said.
She said Heinz was not afraid that the new ketchup would go the way of New Coke, which was rejected by consumers when it was unveiled in 1985. “We conducted extensive testing with a broad cross-section of consumers across the country to ensure there wasn’t a distinguishable difference between the current and new recipes,” she said.
Of course, Coke had conducted extensive tasting tests, too, in which people overwhelmingly preferred the new formula. Until they replaced an old favorite.
Why not just release a “Low Sodium” version and continue selling the current recipe? That would give consumers a choice, which would seem to be better for all concerned.
It’s interesting, though, that Heinz has changed the recipe in my lifetime, if not my ketchup memory. (I vastly preferred “Heinz 57” sauce to ketchup until I was 10 or so.) Heinz pioneered commercially packaged tomato ketchup (which wasn’t redundant at the time) way back in 1876. So, clearly, they’ve maintained majority market share despite at least two changes in their recipe. In addition to whatever they did 40ish years ago, they removed the preservative sodium benzoate in “the early years of the 20th century” under pressure from the federal government.


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3 September 2013
Microsoft to acquire Nokia devices and services for £4.6 billion
As software company Microsoft continues it search for a new CEO, it builds upon the relationship with Nokia by acquiring its devices and services business for 5.4bn Euros ($7.2bn; £4.6bn).
Microsoft is to also license patents and use Nokia's mapping services. It will purchase Nokia's devices and services business for EUR 3.79 billion and invest an additional EUR 1.65 billion to license Nokia's patents - a total transaction cost of EUR 5.44 billion in cash. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals, other closing conditions that include Nokia's shareholders agreement.
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO who announced leaving the firm within the next 12-months last week commented, "It's a bold step into the future — a win-win for employees, shareholders and consumers of both companies. Bringing these great teams together will accelerate Microsoft's share and profits in phones, and strengthen the overall opportunities for both
Microsoft and our partners across our entire family
of devices and services."
To fund the transaction, Microsoft will use its overseas cash resources, a deal anticipated to be finalised in the first quarter of 2014, in which some 32,000 Nokia employees will move to Microsoft.
Microsoft to acquire Nokia Devices & Services: http://t.co/wZHhgLvvyJ— Microsoft (@Microsoft) September 3, 2013
Finnish-based Nokia was once a popular mobile market leader, but failed to innovate which allowed Apple, Samsung and others to wrestle away its market share. Whereas, Ballmer has taken criticism for not allowing Microsoft to embrace mobile, leaving it exposed to the aforementioned technology competitors. It’s a more fierce mobile market than ever before, seeing BlackBerry (formerly known as RIM) looking for a buyer as it also faces very similar challenges and sees HTC sales decline. The competition is set to intensify with strong competition from China from patient slow-burn firms such as Huawei building cheaper and more comparable devices.
The BBC reports Nokia’s sales fell 24% in the three months to the end of June from a year earlier. Sales were down 27% on last year as it sold 53.7 million mobile phones during the quarter. Although sales have declined the performance of its Lumina range on the Windows platform has been positive with worldwide sales hitting a record 7.4 million in Q2 reports The Verge.
Microsoft has published a document entitled ‘Accelerating Growth’ that summarises the strategic rationale for the agreement by the technology company, whihc available on its website ahead of conference call for media later today.
The announcement comes as other firms release details of their mobiles, smartphones, tablets and wearable technology offerings at Berlin technology conference IFA. With announcements from Apple waiting in the wings on its new operating system and new hardware, it remains to be seen which company will walk away this year in the strongest position.
Microsoft Safer Online poll reveals top five mobile peeves
on May 30th, 2013 at 09:15 am
A Microsoft Safer Online Facebook poll unveils that both genders agree on mobile annoyances, but ...read more»
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White Paper: Top Tips To Securing Your Business ReputationSource: AVG Technologies USA, Inc.
I've been reading with interest the recent reports of how a Twitter scam has affected some well known politicians, issuing embarrassing tweets from their personal accounts. Whilst these headlines may seem amusing, it is worth considering the potential impact of this type of scam on your business reputation. Reputation is everything in the world of a small business, often taking years to establish. Being targeted by a similar scam can have a would let their customers know if they suffered a security breach, whilst almost half agreed that their customers are concerned about the IT security of their business.
Knowing that a supplier's IT infrastructure is not as secure as it should be would worry most people, particularly if they share critical business data with that supplier/company. Yet with so many more businesses using cost-effective social media tools to market their company, the threat of customers being sent inappropriate messages from your (or one of your employees) social media account is real and the potential impact on your reputation (by undermining your customer's trust in your ability to safeguard their data) is great.


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Xbox Live red tape is to blame for the long wait for Iron Brigade's belated European launch, developer Double Fine has revealed.
The game originally launched in the US as Trenched but was held back in Europe after a trademark dispute forced Double Fine to change its name. It was re-announced for a September release, but still hasn't appeared.
Speaking in an interview with XBLAFans, project lead Brad Muir explained that the process of changing the name is much more complex than just swapping logos, hence the delay.
"I wish we could announce dates," he said.
"We're getting really close to having it clear certification through Microsoft and it's just kind of unfortunate because changing the name of a game that you've already shipped in half the world is a lot harder than I thought it would be."
"There are so many different departments that it has to cruise through at Microsoft in order to enable the name change," he continued.
"It's pretty ridiculous. They sent us the preliminary plan on how that is going to work and I didn't even know there were that many divisions. Xbox Live is a very complex machine, I'd say. There's a bunch of different moving parts and it has to go through a bunch of checkpoints."


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Your portable toilet business has nothing to learn from Steve Jobs, and if a consultant even mentions Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs you should kick them out of the door.
With the major investigation into media buying kickbacks in the USA by the ANA about to conclude, and our own ISBA recently making headlines about the poor state of media agencies in the UK, Mark Ritson reviews what we have learned so far.
There is an urgent need to translate digital views into TV audiences and vice versa otherwise brands will continue to be misled by thin digital video viewing estimates.
The online fitness giant’s first permanent store will dedicate less space to selling clothing apparel and more to customer experiences, as it builds out an “ecosystem of touchpoints”.
Kevin the Carrot and Ebanana Scrooge have driven Aldi to the top of the Christmas rankings this year, as the supermarket continues its effectiveness streak.
With the help of its famous 90s mascot, Hofmeister raised over £632,000 with its crowdfunding campaign to fund the brewer’s marketing plans over the next few years.
Marketing Week editor Russell Parsons asks leading B2B marketers to discuss how and why experience-focused B2B brands beat the competition.


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The Port of Esbjerg is expanding its crane capacity with the Liebherr LHM 800
The Port of Esbjerg is planned to have a wider cranecapacity with the world's largest mobile harbour crane.
Port Esbjerg already instructed the largest fleet of Liebherr mobile harbor cranes in Scandinavia. The new machine is 48 meters in height and can lift 308 tonnes, according to the press release of Liebherr Maritime Cranes. The crane is planned to enable the port to perform tandem lifting with an additional Liebherr mobile harbor crane together lifting as much as 448 tonnes, the press release stated.
“I am pleased that we are expanding our crane capacity considerably with the new crane. We need to be able to handle more and more large cargo in the future, and therefore we need to rearm. I am also pleased with the fact that only few ports in the world have a similar crane because it shows that Port Esbjerg is a heavyweight internationally,” Dennis Jul Pedersen, CEO of Esbjerg Havn commented.
Maritime Business World


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TOKYO (Bloomberg) — Takata Corp., the supplier at the center of the global airbag recall crisis, reported quarterly profit rose from a year earlier, as it seeks to convince automakers including Honda Motor Co. to continue to support it through expanding recalls.
Net income climbed to 8.1 billion yen ($69 million) in the quarter through December from 2.8 billion yen a year earlier, on the back of higher sales in the U.S. and Asia, Takata said today. Revenue for the quarter climbed to 184.1 billion yen from 167.9 billion yen.
The results come as Honda, its largest customer, said it will recall another 5.7 million vehicles globally to fix faulty airbags that have been linked to 11 deaths and prompted more than 20 million recalls in the U.S. alone. The safety devices have been found in some cases to explode with too much force, rupturing and shooting metal and plastic parts at vehicle occupants.
Takata recorded 10.5 billion yen ($89 million) in recall-related costs in the nine months through December, the company said. It may recall driver-side airbags in cars made after 2014 depending on investigation results. Current recalls are on vehicles produced up to 2014.
Shares of Takata dropped 3.9 percent to 495 yen at the close in Tokyo, before it announced earnings. The shares have plunged 64 percent in the past year.
Carmakers have set aside higher provisions for Takata-related recall costs in the current fiscal year. Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the maker of the Subaru brand, added 12 billion yen in the quarter, while Mazda Motor Corp. said provisions have amounted to 11 billion yen in the three quarters through December. Honda said about 2.2 percent of revenue this fiscal year has been reserved for quality-related expenses, up from 1.9 percent in earlier years.
Takata is preparing to present a restructuring plan to automakers in early May that will include an agreement on the sharing of recall costs, people familiar with the matter said this week. The company will also rely on a third-party panel to help formulate the plan, one of the people said.
CEO Shigehisa Takada is said to be prepared to resign in order to placate stakeholders unhappy with the way the airbag supplier is handling the crisis involving its defective products. A review panel appointed by the Tokyo- based supplier said Tuesday the company must make quality a part of its culture to avoid future safety defects.
In November, Takata was fined a record $200 million over its missteps in handling the airbag crisis, with $130 million payable if it fails to comply with terms of a settlement with U.S. regulators.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that Takata had been slow to report the defect and hid critical information from regulators and its automaker partners. Takata agreed to appoint an independent monitor to oversee its recalls and operate under the terms of a five-year consent decree.


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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell holds a press conference following the two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee on July 31, 2019 in Washington.
Sarah Silbiger | Reuters
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Monday that cryptocurrencies remain an unstable store of value and the central bank is in no hurry to introduce a competitor.
“They are very volatile and therefore not really useful stores of value and are not supported by anything,” Powell said during a virtual panel discussion on digital banking hosted by the Bank for International Settlements. “It’s more of a speculative asset that essentially replaces gold, not the dollar.”
Powell spoke on a day when Bitcoin had dipped on Coinbase but was still trading near $ 57,000 apiece. The cryptocurrency has seen its price spike in the past seven months due to rapid trading activity and growing acceptance in the financial industry.
In recent years, the Fed has been working on its own payment system that allows for faster money transfer. The final product is expected to be revealed over the next two years.
Alongside this, the Federal Reserve has also conducted other research to determine whether a central bank digital coin would be necessary or practical.
On the latter, Powell said the Fed was taking its time before doing anything.
“To move this forward, we would have to let Congress, the administration and broad sections of the public buy us in, and we haven’t really started the task of that public engagement,” he said. “So you can expect us to be very careful and transparent about developing a central bank digital currency.”
The Boston Fed partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last year to conduct a multi-year study into the development of a central bank digital currency. The work is expected to take two to three years and, even then, will focus on the hypotheses of a central bank sponsored cryptocurrency rather than its upcoming implementation.
Powell said Congress will likely have to pass some sort of enabling bill before the Fed can proceed with its own currency.
However, he noted that the Covid-19 pandemic emphasized the importance of developing better payment systems so that money can get to those in need quickly.
“It has, in a whole range of things, highlighted the different effects of so many things on poor and low-income and low-income communities,” Powell said.


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Telecommunications wars: Bharti Airtel launches a 1 Gbps broadband offer at Rs 3,999/month
New Delhi, September 11 () Bharti Airtel on Wednesday launched its broadband offer, 'Airtel Xstream Fiber', which promises a speed of 1 Gbps for 3,999 rupees per month, raising competitive heat in a market that has recently seen the commercial launch of Jio fiber-based services.
As of today (Wednesday), Airtel Xstream Fiber is available for Homes, SOHO (Small Office Home Office) and small business establishments in Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Chandigarh Kolkata, Indore, Jaipur and Ahmedabad, said Bharti Airtel in a statement.
In the coming months, Airtel Xstream Fiber will be implemented in more markets, the statement said.
Airtel Xstream Fiber offers unlimited broadband at 1 Gbps for only Rs 3,999/month. It also offers unlimited landline calls to any network in India along with exclusive benefits' AirtelThanks ..., he said.
Benefits include three months of Netflix subscription gift, one year of Amazon Prime membership and access to premium content from ZEE5 and the Airtel Xstream application.
On September 5, billionaire Jio of Mukesh Ambani announced the launch of its fiber-based broadband service, which offers a minimum Internet speed of 100 Mbps for 699 rupees per month. JioFiber will offer free voice calls anywhere in the country, videoconferences and unlimited data. Annual subscribers will get 4K decoders, for the transmission of TV channels, for free, while a 4K TV would be complementary to plans with higher payments such as 'Gold' and higher. MBI DRR


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The Halal Guys, New York City’s famous food cart, hit California by storm last year when it opened its first West Coast brick-and-mortar location in Costa Mesa and since then it has created a strong brand presence and loyal following. The fast growing concept plans to open 50 franchised units throughout Southern California and soon West Hollywood residents will get to enjoy Middle Eastern dishes such as gyro sandwiches, chicken-and-rice platters and the famous white sauce. The new location will be located at 8919 Santa Monica Blvd. West Hollywood, California, and is anticipated to open this spring.
"We are extremely proud of how successfully we've been able to grow in Southern California. This being our fifth Los Angeles opening, our real estate choices are heavily influenced by our fans and we feel that this location will appeal to residents and UCLA students," says operating partner, Paul Tran.
In the meantime, fans cans anticipate the following locations opening in 2017:
Cerritos at 11435 South Street Suite A9-B in early February
Glendale at 201 N. Brand Blvd Suite B
Downtown Los Angeles at 510 W 7th St, Los Angeles
Not only are The Halal Guys becoming successful in Southern California, but they are a part of a growing market. Numerous stories by Bloomberg news, Wall Street Journal and CCTV have cited how Halal food is projected to become a $20 billion-a-year market. The Halal Guys have also been awarded the 2014 Multicultural Award at The 5th American Muslim Consumer Conference and recognized by TIME Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine and The New York Times.
The Halal Guys grew from its humble beginnings as a food cart on the streets of New York City to a global icon known as the largest American halal street food concept in the world. This Manhattan-based landmark was created by three like-minded men from Egypt who came to America in search of a better life. When Mohamed Abouelenein, Ahmed Elsaka and Abdelbaset Elsayed noticed that many cab drivers in New York were looking for a place to buy meals in Manhattan, they created their first food cart and quickly grew into a leading tourist and native New Yorker destination for American Halal fare. In 2013, The Halal Guys were ranked the most popular food truck reviewed on FourSquare and the third most Yelped restaurant in the United States in 2014.
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There's a slim but non-zero chance that Dodge could make turbo inline-six muscle cars in coming years, according to Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis.
The news comes from a recent Q&A event with press involving the Dodge boss. Kuniskis was asked whether the company's new Hurricane inline-six was considered as a replacement for the Charger and Challenger V8s. "Of course we did," said Kuniskis, adding that "It's a phenomenal engine; it's the reason we're doing crate engines."
The Hurricane is a 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline-six engine. It's set to deliver over 400 horsepower in the standard output version, with the high output model delivering over 500 hp. That's not quite on the level of Dodge's Hellcat V8, but it's certainly up in muscle car territory. It's currently expected to debut in various Ram and Jeep models.
"We said that our next generation cars are built on the STLA Large Car Platform. The STLA Large Car Platform is a multi-energy platform. It has the ability to run an ICE engine," said Kuniskis. "I can take the floor pan out. I can take the battery out. I can put a drive-shaft tunnel in there. The platform is made to be able to do that. It’s modular," he explained.
Kuniskis demurred, though, noting that "I can put an ICE engine in it. It doesn’t mean we’re going to." Dodge currently has no official plans to use the Hurricane in a muscle car application, and Kuniskis was very clear on that point. "We’re certainly not launching with anything like that. We’re launching full battery electric," he added.
There's only an outside chance that Dodge would do something as cool as building a twin-turbo inline-six muscle car. With that said, all the pieces are there if they suddenly decided to do so. The platform is capable of handling an ICE drivetrain, and Dodge already has a mighty engine raring and ready to go. Here's hoping some crazy black swan event pushes Dodge to build some beautiful, sonorous, six-cylinder nonsense this decade.
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The Port team is proud and grateful for MSC Cruises business expansion in Miami-…
The Port team is proud and grateful for MSC Cruises business expansion in Miami-Dade County Government!!!
Concluding meetings today in Geneva with cruise line and shipping company MSC regarding a new terminal at Port Miami that will bring more jobs to #OurCounty. Yesterday, MSC Chairman Gianluigi Aponte and I signed a letter of intent. Very excited about this public-private partnership! #MiamiDadeThrives
Some local news is curated - Original might have been posted at a different date/ time! Click the source link for details.


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The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) has accredited the Global Maritime Academy, Ughelli, Delta State, as the official trainer of freight forwarders in the eastern zone, as a way to sanitising the freight forwarding industry in the zone.
This was disclosed by the rector of the academy, Engr. Isaac Aikoroje in Lagos recently.
Aikoroje said that the era of seeing freight forwarders as touts had gone, as practicing freight forwarders in the zone must undergo training from the institution before they can be recognised.
He described the training of freight forwarders as international best practice, because the International Federation of Freight Forwarding Association, (FIATA) had mandated all member- countries to follow up with the practice.
“FIATA, in collaboration with CRFFN agreed that only qualified personnel who know the rudiment of the business; who know that to move the goods you need, good vehicles must be asked to work and not touts who are masquerading as freight Forwarders.
“Touts can no longer be involved in freight forwarding and what we have done is to carry out a campaign in Warri Port, to tell Customs that CRFFN has mandated us to train freight forwarders, hence touts will no longer be operating in Eastern Ports because Lagos being a hub, has started regulating, therefore, Warri should not be exempted.”
The Academy Boss said that the end point of international trade was to ensure that goods arrived safely from the point of discharge to the point of destination, so anything that would affect the objective must not be left unattended.
He said that if this was not taken seriously, the aim of freighting would be defeated.
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.


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Google Assistant has surely proven to be a blessing for many of the tech savvy users. Now that the holiday time is here, the search engine giant is rolling out some new tools to keep your cross country flights stress free as far as possible. An announcement was made by the Mountain View company that proactive flight notifications will be done by the Google Assistant. Moreover, in Google Flights, detailed fare breakdowns, online flight booking search, search filters and other trip planning goodies will be introduced.
Richard Holden, the vice president of product management at Google in a blog post wrote, “Whether you’re coming off a holiday high or in need of relaxation after all the hustle and bustle, the beginning of the new year is a prime time to think about your next trip. With the holidays approaching, many of us will travel to see family or go on a vacation.” Some of the new features includes predictions on flight delays that Google had rolled out earlier in 2018.
Google had said that it was possible because of the combination of the historic flight status and sophisticated machine learning and it is 85 percent confident in terms of predictions on flights that will eventually be delayed before the airlines gives a confirmation on such delays. From this week, Google Assistant will show of a flight that a traveler has booked is expected to be delayed when you ask questions like. “Hey Google, is my flight on time?” The travelers can also check the status of other flights too while specifying the airline, origin and destination.
The question can be like, “Hey Google, what’s the status of the American Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Denver?” Moreover, Google has said that in the next few weeks the Google Assistant will start sending notifications if Google Flights predicts a delay, with an explaination of what has caused the delay.
Photo Credits: Lifewire


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Westbury-based Kalikow Group has acquired a 113,000-square-foot grocery-anchored shopping center in Chapel Hill, N.C. for $13.25 million, according to a company statement.
The center, Rams Plaza, is currently 95 percent leased and anchored by Food Lion and CVS Pharmacy. Rams Plaza is minutes away from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill campus, with over 30,000 students, staff and faculty.
Kalikow’s joint venture team plans a $1.5 million renovation of the 30-year-old center. The new owners also plan to lease or sell a vacant outparcel of land that will support about 13,500 square feet of new commercial space.
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Britain turns back on Black Friday shopping bonanza
The move reflects a growing backlash against Black Friday, as shoppers reveal they would prefer to have deals spread out over the holiday season rather than grouped together on one day.
Retailers are also concerned about focusing so much of their business into one day at the cost of losing trade during the Christmas period.
Black Friday is predicted to be a £1-billion trading day in the UK, according to analysts at Salmon, Experian and IMRG. Approximately £810 million was spent online on Black Friday last year – the biggest ever day for internet sales in the UK.
Critics deride Black Friday as the worst manifestation of consumer capitalism, while proponents argue it boosts retail trade and gives high customer satisfaction.
The holiday is mired in controversy, both in the UK and US. Day-long flash sales have led to chaotic scenes of frantic shoppers fighting each other over non-essential luxury items.
According to the website BlackFridayDeathCount.com, there have been nine deaths and 98 injuries in Black Friday related incidents since 2006.
The vast majority of these took place in the US, where two years ago an 11-year-old girl was rushed to hospital after being trampled by eager shoppers in a Wal-Mart store in Ohio.
In the UK last year, a woman suffered “minor injuries” after being hit by a falling television in a Stretford store, while a Salford man was arrested after he threatened to “smash a staff member’s face in.”
As a sign of the British backlash against Black Friday, supermarket giant ASDA – a subsidiary of the US chain Wal-Mart – has axed the day from its calendar.
The store said its decision reflected “shopper fatigue setting in around flash sales on big-ticket, non-essential items at Christmas.
“Customers have told us loud and clear that they don’t want to be held hostage to a day or two of sales,” ASDA Chief Executive Officer Andy Clarke said in a statement.
The supermarket’s decision follows comments by Andy Street, managing director of retailer John Lewis, who said Black Friday took away from the traditional holiday season trade.
“It is not in the industry’s interest to focus so much trade onto one day. You want more steady trade and obviously you want more of it at full price.”


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There will be no further delay to the government’s ‘Making Tax Digital’ (MTD) drive – despite the fears of small business leaders.
That was the strong message from Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst, quoted in an article in The Timesnewspaper earlier this month.
A number of organisations have been warning that businesses are not ready to move tax compliance online as they wrestle with the uncertainties around Brexit.
Research by The Institute of Chartered Accountants In England and Wales (ICAEW) published last month revealed that over 40 per cent of businesses about to be affected by MTD for VAT are not yet aware of it.
This is despite the changes being mandatory for most VAT registered businesses from April next year.
The survey also shows that although there has been a significant increase in the number of businesses now using accounting software, a quarter of all businesses are still using a paper based accounting system – unchanged from two years ago. Paper based records will not be permissible for MTD for VAT.
However the Minister told the newspaper: “We’re making sure the communication is there so small businesses know exactly what they’ve got to do. Digitalisation is the way to go.
“It’s all about making it easier for business, but it’s rightly down to us to sell it to businesses and make sure they understand what the benefits are.”
And on that subject, WNJ is hosting a workshop with The Business Clinic on that very subject next month.
Our free ‘How to Make Digital Accounting Work for Your Business’ session will take place at the business support organisation’s offices at 1 Lockside Business Park, Lockside Rd, Preston, on Wednesday November 21 from 6-8pm.
The aim is to ensure your company’s smooth and successful transition to the world of digital accounting.
I’ll be giving the presentation alongside my WNJ colleague Donna Helm, who supervises our accountancy software programmes and helps clients with training, and integration to make sure they get the most out of the software they choose.
We’ll touch on some of the concerns people have, including increased compliance burdens, short timescales and additional costs.
Our aim is to give you the truth about how much time and money digital accounting could actually save you and your business.
WNJ also has a dedicated team which we have put together to address MTD issues and to help our clients chose, install and train how to best use the different software on offer.
The workshop is our latest collaboration with The Business Clinic – a growing Preston-based community interest company set up to support companies across Lancashire.
The Business Clinic delivers independent and thought-provoking strategy, skills and support to ensure healthier profits.
For more information on the workshop and to book a place please visit www.thebusinessclinic.org
To discuss any issues regarding the HMRC’s MTD plans please contact me on 01772 430 000.