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The company that built the Mall of Georgia in Gwinnett County and the upscale St. John's Town Center in Jacksonville, Fla., is planning a 560,000-square-foot luxury outlet mall in Pooler.
The Outlet Mall of Georgia is projected to open in the summer of 2014 in the southwest quadrant of I-95 and Pooler Parkway with four anchor stores, a food court, restaurants and a wide variety of shops.
The proposed $200-million project is set to break ground next spring and would create as many as 2,000 construction jobs, according to Ben Carter of Ben Carter Enterprises. When fully open, the mall would create between 1,700 and 2,000 retail jobs, Carter said Tuesday.
The 170-acre site will accommodate another half-million square feet for peripheral retail and hotel construction.
While financing is not complete and he would not name potential tenants, pre-leasing has begun, with interest from a number of high-end retailers, Carter said.
Abercrombie, Brooks Brothers, Coach and Louis Vuitton are among the tenants in the Jacksonville mall.
"From a visitor's perspective, one of things that is missing here is really quality retail," Carter said.
The Savannah engineering and architectural firm Kern-Coleman is working with Carter on the project.
Carter's unscheduled presentation came at the end of the Savannah Economic Development Authority's monthly meeting and was greeted with enthusiasm.
"The announcement today that Ben Carter is developing a luxury outlet mall in Chatham County is fantastic news," said David Paddison, SEDA board chairman. "In addition to the massive construction investment, job creation and additional tax revenues, the Outlet Mall of Georgia will be a significant amenity for our residents, visitors and the millions of travelers passing through the I-95 corridor.
"This will be the signature outlet project on I-95 between Florida and Virginia"
Savannah is the second largest tourism market on the regional coast with 12 million tourists per year compared to Myrtle Beach at 14 million, Charleston at 4 million St. Augustine, Fla., at 3.4 million and Hilton Head Island at 2 million, according to Carter's research.
"The closest comparable malls along the I-95 corridor are in Virginia and Florida," he said. "While the Savannah regional trade area alone would not be sufficient to support a mall of this size, the tourist and traffic counts along the interstate more than make up for that."
Traffic counts on I-95 run approximately 68,000 vehicles a day or 24.7 million annually.
"This is going to be huge for Pooler and all of Chatham County," said Pooler Mayor Mike Lamb. "This is the shopping piece we've been looking for to make us a more complete city."
Pooler has been in the bulls eye of targeted growth in the area for the last decade, and Lamb credited city council and staff with helping the city make good growth decisions. "We are ready for this," he said. "Ben Carter Enterprises is the real deal, and we really appreciate them choosing our city."
Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce President Bill Hubbard agreed.
"There's a lot of work still to be done, but this is a great organizaion with tremendous capability," he said.
"We are eager to help in any way we can."
ABOUT BEN CARTER ENTERPRISES
Founded in 1993 by Benjamin M. Carter, Ben Carter Enterprises is an Atlanta-based, full service, commercial real estate firm than specializes in retail and mixed-use projects throughout the Southeast. Among the company's most recent development projects are:
• St. Johns Town Center and Town Center II in Jacksonville, Fla., nearly 2 million square feet of upscale retail and mixed use.
• Columbus Park Crossing and Columbus Park Crossing South, 1 million square feet of retail and mixed use in Columbus.
• Conyers Crossroads, nearly 500,000 square feet in Rockdale County, Ga.
• The Mall of Georgia, a 1.7 million square foot retail and entertainment complex in Gwinnett County.


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This show has been RESCHEDULED to Sat. Aug. 27, 2022! All 8/21/20, 2/20 & 7/17/21 tickets will be honored on the new date. Additional tickets for 8/27/2022 are on sale now!
CLANNAD OFFICIAL STATEMENT:
It is with great sadness that we have to announce the cancellation of our 'In a Lifetime' USA /Canada Tour in September and October 2022. Unfortunately, significant increases in touring overheads since our
original tour schedule has meant that we cannot deliver these live shows to the high standard that we and our fans expect. This has been an incredibly difficult decision to arrive at and we sincerely apologise to our fans and everyone else for having to do it at
this late stage.
Moya, Ciarán, Pól, and Noel
All tickets purchased online through Ticketmaster will be automatically refunded. If you purchased at The Birchmere Box Office, refunds are available at the Box Office any night we have a show from 5-9pm.
Our postponed show on Wed. Feb. 23 with MAC McANALLY has now been RESCHEDULED to Tue. Nov. 8, 2022. All previously purchased tickets for 2/23/22 will be honored on this new date. Additional tickets for 11/8/22 are on sale now!
Audience members are invited to a rare experience as Rodney reads from his brand new book, Word For Word, shares stories, and performs the songs that have made him a renowned and prolific songwriter.

domain: news


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This week in Singapore, the TOKEN2049 crypto conference begins – and it includes an exciting NFT exhibition. Beginning 28th September, TOKEN2049 is Asia’s premier crypto and web3 conference as part of the wider Asia Crypto Week.
The conference also includes a unique immersive NFT experience named the OP3N WHALE NFT Exhibition. This is curated by OP3N, a launchpad for IP communities in web3, and WHALE, the web3 NFT membership club with a massive collection of rare-value NFTs. The exhibition will feature over $100 million worth of NFT assets, including the work of iconic artists such as Pak, XCOPY, and others.
Singapore hosts a huge NFT exhibition and crypto event
The OP3N WHALE NFT Exhibition in Singapore this week will contain some of the most valuable NFTs in the world. In fact, the $100 million of NFT assets is mind-blowing. This is the first time such a collection has ever been on public display, thanks to OP3N and WHALE.
Raphael Strauch, the founder of TOKEN2049, said,
“Today’s Web3 ecosystem reflects the exciting creativity and innovation being brought by a myriad of industries by their growing interest in NFTs — and so much of this is taking place in Asia. We have an exciting programme for our attendees — and this exhibition is just one part.”
The event will highlight NFT pioneers
Over 7,000 visitors are expected to attend the TOKEN2049 conference between 28th-29th September. During this, the OP3N WHALE NFT exhibition in Singapore will showcase the potential of NFTs. The east meets west NFT event will also promote artists, creatives, brands, and curators across Asia.
This includes digital artist Pak, known for onboarding Sotheby’s into the NFT space, and glitch artist, cult NFT hero, XCOPY. There is also art from Milanese artist duo Hackatao and award-winning Asian-American photographer Michael Yamashita, whose career with National Geographic spans over four decades.
Reposted from: nftevening.com


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Apple has announced its intention to launch a credit card which will be built into the Apple Wallet app on iPhone, along with a host of other launches, as the company attempts to take a new direction.
The tech giant is attempting to change track to overcome falling iPhone sales which led the company to cut back production of its iPhones by 10% earlier this year, before last month announcing it would be laying off 190 employees from its self-driving car division.
At an event in California featuring a host of famous faces including Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, Apple announced it would be launching a new credit card, a gaming portal, an enhanced news app and the Apple TV+ app.
Unveiled by Spielberg, the Apple TV+ app and will be launched in 3Q19 and will attempt to compete with streaming giants Netflix and Amazon.
Apple TV+ will offer original shows and subscription bundles to a number of US TV networks, including HBO, Showtime and Starz. It will also rollout an ad-free TV service in May called Apple TV Channels, for which users can purchase access to single TV channels.
Speaking at the launch, Oprah Winfrey described the launch of Apple TV+ – for which both Spielberg and Winfrey will be creating original programming – as "a major opportunity to make a genuine impact", giving viewers the chance to "connect with people around the world".
Also announced at the star-studded event was the launch of Apple's new credit card, which will be made available to qualifying customers in the US in the coming months.
Apple has partnered with Goldman Sachs to ensure Apple Card users' data will never be shared with or sold to third parties for marketing and advertising, while Mastercard will provide Apple Card cardholders with the ability to shop at merchants around the globe.
Apple Card will use machine learning and Apple Maps to label transactions which will be color-coded into categories such as food and drinks, shopping and entertainment. Other features will include cash-back rewards scheme Daily Cash; no annual, late, international or over-the-limit fees; unique security and privacy architecture; and 24/7 support via text.
"Apple Card is designed to help customers lead a healthier financial life," said Jennifer Bailey, vice-president of Apple Pay. "Apple Card is designed to help customers lead a healthier financial life, which starts with a better understanding of their spending so they can make smarter choices with their money, transparency to help them understand how much it will cost if they want to pay over time and ways to help them pay down their balance."
A titanium Apple Card which will not feature a card number, CVV security code, expiration date or signature, will be made available to customers who shop at locations where Apple Pay is not yet accepted.


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MIDDLEBURY, Conn. (Aug. 2) — Specialty chemicals manufacturer Chemtura Corp. has sold its organic peroxides business and Marshall, Texas, manufacturing facility to German organic peroxides maker Pergan GmbH.
The amount of the all-cash transaction wasn't disclosed, but proceeds will be used to reduce debt incurred by Chemtura to fund the recent acquisition of specialty lubricant producer Kaufman Holdings Corp.
The divesture shows progress in the company's ongoing portfolio refinement plan, according to Chemtura Chairman and CEO Robert Wood.
All 40 employees at the Marshall facility are expected to transfer to Pergan, the company said.
Chemtura's 2006 sales equaled $3.7 billion, according to the company, and the organic peroxides business being sold had revenues of about $20 million in 2006.


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Mall owner sees promise ahead
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Today the Sun-Gazette continues its annual review of the past year’s major news stories.)
Have rumors over the demise of the Lycoming Mall been greatly exaggerated?
As anchor stores such as Macy’s and J.C. Penney shuttered their doors and Sears announced plans in the fall to leave in early 2018, many wondered: What will happen to the mall?
Michael Kohan, president of Kohan Retail Investment Group, made it clear the shopping venue it owns is not closing.
“Absolutely not,” he said, when asked in mid-December.
In fact, Kohan said he was looking to bring stores to the mall, including into those vast empty spaces where the big-box retailers were located.
“We are in discussion,” he said without being specific. “We have not inked a deal yet.”
Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President Jason Fink said he had no knowledge of Kohan’s plans for the mall.
He noted that Kohan and his business group have been known to buy malls only to re-purpose them.
Kohan was dismissive when asked about the possibility of turning the mall into a casino or for some other use as has been rumored.
“A casino is a long shot,” he said. “You have to get a license.”
Ten licenses for locating Category 4 casinos are available from the state with Lycoming County seen as a potential spot for a gambling venue.
A number of local municipalities voted to opt out of becoming one of those sites.
The mall is located in Muncy Township, which has not voted to prohibit a casino in its community.
In fact, township Supervisor Thomas Schaech said it would be “shortsighted to do so.”
He added he’s open to any “adoptive use” of the mall as long as it meets zoning requirements.
“A vacant building is not doing any good to anybody,” he said.
Schaech said if the mall closes, the property owner would still have to pay real estate taxes.
But the township as a whole would surely experience economic loss, particularly some of the businesses located around the mall.
“There would be an indirect loss,” he said. “It’s hard to measure that.”
He noted that the former Macy’s site is not owned by Kohan’s group and could be bought by another entity.
Geisinger Health System officials have repeatedly dismissed rumors that they are eyeing taking over the mall property.
Fink indicated there is certainly reason to believe the mall will remain open for quite some time.
He noted the number of stores continuing to do business there, including Dick’s Sporting Goods.
“It would be tough to close the mall,” he said.
Kohan Retail Investment Group bought the mall for a reported $26.35 million in 2016 from Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust.
Meanwhile, Fink dismissed talk of an Amazon operation moving into the former Grizzly building near the mall.
“That, I can tell you, is not happening,” he said.


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Now Seeking Community Support via Kickstarter, Steve Nelson is a Florida-based Entrepreneur & This New App will Play a Major Role in Enhancing Road Safety!
Highland Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/14/2018 -- iHear is an all-new smartphone app, to decrease driver distraction by sending the driver's voice through the car speakers without the driver taking his/her eyes off the road. The app has been developed by Steve Nelson, an entrepreneur and inventor from South Florida. He has recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to raise funds for this project to raise $7000 to update programming. Steve is welcoming and grateful to everyone for generous support and backing.
"Road noise makes it extremely difficult to hear in the back seat of a car and this all-new and revolutionary iHear app enables the driver to speak safely without turning around or taking his/her eyes off the road" said Steve Nelson, while introducing his project to the Kickstarter community. According to Steve, driver distraction is a leading cause of accidents and this remarkable app will play a major role in saving lives worldwide.
The Kickstarter Campaign is located on the web at: www.kickstarter.com/projects/1778791378/i-hear and backers from around the world can become a part of this project by making a small pledge of only $10. As a reward, backers will get this app for their iPhone. The project is getting a welcoming response worldwide and more details are available on the Kickstarter campaign page of the project.
About Steve Nelson
Steve Nelson is a Florida-based American entrepreneur and the proud creator of iHear. It's a revolutionary app that enables the user to speak into the phone or Bluetooth earpiece and transmit his/her voice through the car speakers. Steve has recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for the fundraising of this unique road safety app and he is welcoming support from around the world.
Contact Person: Steven Nelson
City: Highland Beach
Country: United States
For more information on this press release visit:
Media Relations Contact
Email: Click to Email Steven Nelson


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PURCHASE, NEW YORK
Soft drink sales are sagging with medical research now linking soft drinks to, among other things, kidney stones and gout, and local governments seeking ways to cap consumption. But despite it all, PepsiCo has performed strongly and consistently. Founded in 1898 to sell a drink formulated by pharmacist Caleb Bradham, and expanding into the snack food business with the 1965 Frito-Lay merger, the company’s current survival is widely attributed to Indra Nooyi, who has been CEO for ten years. She diversified the company’s offerings to include over 20 brands, some of which offer healthier choices. As a result, the company does over $1 billion in retail sales a year, and in 2016, it disbursed over $7 billion to shareholders via stock repurchases and dividends. Its 7.23% year-to-date earnings growth is well below the Standard and Poor’s 500 average of 14.32% and competitor Coca-Cola’s 12.19%. Even so, the company remains a solid bet on the stock market, with a net 60.15% return on investment over the last five years, compared to Coke’s 21.67%.


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There’s an article in the NY Times Sunday Business Section today that lays out a very important question we have all been dancing around but will increasingly be dealing with. The article is nominally about Amazon’s fight with Hachette but it is really about internet platforms and monopolies.
The author of the NY Times piece tells the story of Vincent Zandri, an author of mystery and suspense novels, who has moved all of his publishing activities over to Amazon’s platform and is enjoying the benefits of doing that.
This could easily have been the story of the journalist who moves her writing from The Wall Street Journal to her own blog, or the story of the filmmaker who moves from the Hollywood studio system to Kickstarter and VHX. It could be the story of the band that leaves their record label and does direct deals with SoundCloud and Spotify. It could be the story of the yellow cab driver who moves his driving business to Uber or Sidecar.
The story of Vincent Zandri is the story of our times.
The Internet, at its core, is a marketplace that, over time, removes the need for the middleman. That is very good news for the talent that has been giving up a fairly large part of its value to all of the toll takers in between them and their end customers.
Take Etsy for example. Before Etsy, if you made knit hats, you would sell them to a boutique for $10, and that boutique would turn around and sell them to your customers for $25. Now you sell them to your customers on Etsy for $25 and pay a 20cents listing fee and 3.5% of the transaction and a payment processing fee. In the old model the knitter made $10 per hat. In the new model, the knitter makes about $23 per hat. That’s a big deal. And you see it all over the place in the Internet marketplace economy.
But there is another aspect to the Internet that is not so comforting. And that is that the Internet is a network and the dominant platforms enjoy network effects that, over time, lead to dominant monopolies.
We see that with Google today. Google’s global search market share is around 70%. It would be larger if not for China and Russia, where the governments have given benefits to local players. But even with its current market share, Google is pretty close to a monopoly in search. It is a benign monopoly for the most part and, as such, has largely stayed out of the sights of regulators. I, for one, am happy with that game of chicken between Google and the regulators.
Amazon is increasingly looking like a monopoly in publishing. This part of the NY Times piece is how all of these Internet stories have played out:
At first, those in the publishing business considered Amazon a cute toy (you could see a book’s exact sales ranking!) and a useful counterweight to Barnes & Noble and Borders, chains willing to throw their weight around. Now Borders is dead, Barnes & Noble is weak and Amazon owns the publishing platform of the digital era.
It’s strange for me to write this post because this is our playbook at USV. We invest in networks that can emerge as dominant platforms by virtue of network effects. We like things that are laughed at. The more they are derided, the more we want to invest.
But here’s the rub. When a platform like Amazon emerges as the dominant monopoly in publishing, who will keep them honest? When every author has left the publishing house system and has gone direct with Amazon, what does that world look like?
That is the question the NY Times is asking in their story this morning. And that is an issue that we at USV have been confronting for a while now and we are investing against it.
We have invested in Wattpad, which is a bottoms up competitor to Amazon, as opposed to Hachette which is a top down competitor to Amazon. We think its easier for a more open, less commercial platform like Wattpad to keep Amazon honest than it is for a legacy publishing house.
We have invested in Sidecar, which has built a true open marketplace for ridesharing. We think its more likely that true peer marketplace will keep Uber honest than the legacy fleets of limos and taxis that are fighting for their life against Uber right now.
But maybe most importantly, we are investing in bitcoin and the blockchain, which is the foundation for truly distributed peer to peer marketplaces without the Internet middleman.
For this is the truth that we are now facing. For all of its democratizing power, the Internet, in its current form, has simply replaced the old boss with a new boss. And these new bosses have market power that, in time, will be vastly larger than that of the old boss.
So, as an investor, when you see a dominant market power emerge, you should start asking yourself “what will undo that market power?” And you should start investing in that. We’ve begun doing that, but are not anywhere near done with this effort.


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On September 12, 2017, Apple revealed the much-anticipated iPhone 8, iPhone 8+, iPhone X, Apple Watch Series 3, and a new version of their unique TV device, Apple TV. Also revealed at the event was the AirPower wireless charging mat, set to release in 2018. It should be noted that the AirPower mat will only support wireless charging for the products revealed at this most recent Apple event; future Apple products will presumably have wireless charging support through the AirPower as well. The event also doubled as a debut for Apple’s 1000-seat auditorium, the Steve Jobs Theater, inside which the event was hosted.
The iPhone X, the spearhead product of this year’s Apple event, comes essentially as a complete overhaul to the design of previous iPhones, including those of the new iPhone 8 and 8+. The most immediately striking design element of the iPhone X is its new display, which consists of a screen that covers almost the entirety of the front of the phone–excluding a small space left at the top for the front-facing camera and the speaker held up to one’s ear while making a phone call. The casing of the iPhone X features surgical-grade stainless steel, covered by a durable layer of glass all around the phone. Preorders for the iPhone X become available on Friday, October 27, 2017, and the phone is officially released to the public for purchase a week later on Friday, November 3, 2017.
Apple iPhone X
iPhone 8 & iPhone 8+
The new iPhone 8/8+ comes with exciting changes to its design from the previous iPhone 7. A prominent new feature announced for the iPhone 8/8+ is the introduction of a water and dust-proof design. Exterior design changes were introduced as well. Claimed by Apple to be “The most durable glass ever in a smartphone,” the entire back of the iPhone 8 is covered in a new, glossy glass coating, replacing the metallic finish previously featured on the back of the iPhone 7. A buyer can choose between three new design finishes: space gray, silver, and gold.
Updates for the phone’s camera were also introduced. While the 12-megapixel rear-facing camera remains from the iPhone 7, more advanced zooming features for the camera were showcased: up to 10x zoom for photos and 6x zoom for videos. Preorders for the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8+ become available Friday, September 15, 2017, and the new phones will be released in retail a week later, on Friday, September 22, 2017.
Apple iPhone 8+ & iPhone 8, from left to right, respectively
Apple Watch Series 3
Also introduced at the 2017 Apple event was the Apple Watch Series 3. The key new feature of the Series 3 is the addition of cellular support, giving owners of the new Watch the ability to make and answer phone calls from the Apple Watch alone. Also new in the Apple Watch Series 3 is a comprehensive health and fitness application. Preorders for the Apple Watch Series 3 become available on Friday, September 15, 2017, and the Watch will become available for purchase 7 days later, the same release dates of the iPhone 8/8 and the Apple TV 4K, on Friday, September 22, 2017.
Apple Watch Series 3
Apple TV 4K
The Apple TV 4K comes with the same functions that Apple TV users have enjoyed in the past. New with the Apple TV 4K, as indicated by the product name, features support for 4K Ultra HD, a resolution of 3840×2160 pixels. Preorders for the Apple TV 4K become available on the same dates as the iPhone 8/8+ and the Apple Watch Series 3, on Friday, September 15, 2017. The Apple TV 4K will be released to the public on the same dates as the aforementioned products, on Friday, September 22, 2017.
Apple TV Box & Remote Control


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Snapchat has announced Zynga’s Tiny Royale – the first big game to be added to its Snap Games platform announced in April at its partner summit.
Snapchat made a push into gaming earlier this year with the announcement of its Snap Games platform. The platform now has its first big game, after game developers Zynga (of Farmville fame) announced a battle royale game, Tiny Royale. The game is available exclusively on Snap Games, according to TechCrunch.
Tiny Royale is a multiplayer shooting game that lets up to 30 players battle each other in teams of up to four and follows a similar format introduced by bigger battle royale shooters like PUBG or Fortnite.
As explained by TechCrunch, “the gameplay is much the same as the other battle royale games with maps shrinking in size until only one player, or team, remains.”
Among other things, Snap Games is an attempt by Snap to boost engagement on its platform if it hopefully catches on with the right audiences – and young audiences are what Snapchat has plenty of. If successful, it could be one of Snap’s most important strategies for growth in the last few years; and may even help drive more ad sales on its platform.
Tiny Royale – not Snap Games’ only game – is now available to play on Snapchat.
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Snapchat's global virtual event exploring today's AR "lenscape" is open to the public, and taking place this week. Make sure …
Snapchat has announced a new curated entertainment platform that will surface the most entertaining Snaps all in one place.
Snapchat is introducing new features to let you create an Astrological Profile and see shared Astrological Compatibility with your friends.
Snapchat follower counts are now a reality as the platform turns on the feature for accounts with large followings.
Building on its full-body tracking technology, Snapchat has launched 10 new 3D body scan Lenses, that respond to your movements.


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COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Carlsberg’s (CARLb.CO) sales fell and missed expectations in each of its three regions in the fourth quarter and the Danish brewer said stricter rules governing how alcoholic drinks are sold in Russia will dent earnings this year.
Sales in Eastern Europe fell 2.5 percent to 2.33 billion Danish crowns ($334.11 million), the world’s third largest brewer said in a trading statement on Wednesday, compared with analyst expectations for a 7 percent gain.
Carlsberg said that a law in Russia limiting the size of a plastic beer bottle to no more than 1.5 liter as part of efforts to curb alcohol abuse could dent beer sales in the country by 5 percent this year.
“On top of that there could be further market decline,” Chief Executive Cees ’t Hart told reporters on a conference call, without giving details.
Russia is the main market in Carlsberg’s Eastern Europe region that provides around a fifth of the brewer’s sales.
Russia has long been a problematic market for brewers due to sales and advertising restrictions and tax hikes designed to curb drinking, but in November Carlsberg had reported a sharp rise in third-quarter sales, which resulted in it winning market share from its bigger global rivals Anheuser Busch Inbev (ABI.BR) and Heineken (HEIN.AS).
Carlsberg has struggled in Russia since it took control of the country’s largest beer brand Baltika in 2008 due to tighter alcohol regulations and a weak economy.
Carlsberg said it expected its overall operating profit in percentage terms to rise by mid-single digit this year.
The company gave no quarterly earning figures but its full year net profit came in at 4.49 billion Danish crowns ($642.91 million), slightly higher than the 4.46 billion expected by analysts.
The brewer proposed a dividend of 10 crowns per share for 2016, slightly higher than the 9.47 crowns expected by analysts.
($1 = 6.9839 Danish crowns)
Reporting by Teis Jensen; Editing by Sunil Nair and Louise Heavens


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A big international racket involving smugglers importing high-end drones and remotely-piloted aircraft to the country has been busted by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) yesterday.
Smugglers are said to be from China, Myanmar, Pakistan and India and they were trying to import the drones through the north-eastern border. Sources said that the shipment of drones and other related items worth 1 crore rupees was intercepted and seized by the DRI in March. However, the Ahmedabad based mastermind, whose identity was not revealed, was arrested yesterday.
The drones were smuggled into India from china through Myanmar and some Pakistan-based smugglers and their firms were also involved in the racket, a release by DRI in Ahmedabad revealed.
COURTESY:- NEWS BHARATI


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High school technology center creates small business
GREENUP COUNTY, Ky. (WSAZ) - Students at Greenup County Area Technology Center are not just learning job-ready skills, but now they’re creating their own small businesses.
“It gives them the confidence that they can see their idea, make it into something tangible, and it really builds a structure that our community can build on,” said Anthony Thompson, the GCATC principal.
Thompson challenged each program at the tech center to create their own business model, which they are calling the GCATC Market Place.
“I’ve seen a lot of students really grow. The light bulb came on,” said Cheryl Wellman the business and marketing instructor.
The students are designing and selling their own products they make in class. Some of these include: the welding program making medal signs, agriculture construction creating a turkey call, the electricity shop converting a shipping container into a mobile coffee bar, the automotive class offering a full-service center and the business department has a vinyl shop making tumblers, shirts, key chains, etc.
“You can come get your oil change at a good price and your tires rotated and those kind of things light automotive repair,” Thompson said.
The key to the whole process is the business department. Everything is run through them from marketing to graphic design and handling the finances.
“They write every check, they receive every dollar so it’s one bank account and they do all the accounting for it, so it’s an enormous undertaking and we’re really proud of how they’ve gone about the business of putting the infrastructure in place to make that happen,” Thompson said.
Senior Brandon Dalton is the bookkeeper. He says his former experience with the Future Business Leaders of America prepared him for his role.
“I was able to really take up the head and really start making documents and spreadsheets and all that good stuff and keeping very accurate records very quickly,” Dalton said.
Each department fills out its order form and brings it to Dalton, where he tracks all the expenses.
“It’s preparing me for the workforce outside of school working with peers and actually getting along with peers,” he said. “It’s been surreal because if you would have told me this even a year ago that something like this would be happening our school I would have told you, you were crazy.”
Right now, they are selling through word of mouth.
“We’ve already had orders for grills, and lots of cars have come in, and we have boats all over campus,” Thompson said.
He said the next step is to create a website where the community can go online and order and browse the products. He hopes they will have that started in the fall.
“They are so excited that they get to sell it and they get to see that everybody wants it, and we have re-orders,” Wellman said.
The money they receive will go back into the programs to fund the products the students design.
Copyright 2022 WSAZ. All rights reserved.


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The ex-Spice Girl, 44, has allegedly been tipped to replace Sue Perkins after she announced she'd no longer front the show following Channel 4's acquisition.
A source told The Sun: 'Geri is a bit of a curveball idea, but an intriguing one all the same'.
— Will Corry (@slievemore) September 22, 2016
Fearne On Fashion dives into the fast paced world of fashion. From London to Paris, Fearne explores the hype behind global trends and how concepts are first formed, right up to who decides it and ultimately calls time on a trend.
— VOLVO UK (@VolvoCarUK) September 7, 2016
Biscuit maker McVitie’s has today announced the launch of a brand new advert to support its biggest product launch of the year – McVitie’s Digestives Nibbles.
A continuation of the McVitie’s sweeet campaign, the new advert sees the return of the McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives British Blue kittens - to bring to life the feeling you get when you eat a McVitie’s Digestives Nibble. [more…]
When the newest member of the family isn't so receptive of the family dog, the father takes notice and thinks of an idea to introduce the golden retriever to his newborn with the help of a stuffed lion doll. He searches for the item in mind on Amazon Prime and makes his order.
— Will Corry (@slievemore) August 23, 2016
- The last episode of the biggest spending game show will air in Autumn
- Channel 4 say Noel Edmonds is working on a range of new programmes
- A Deal or No Deal Tour will hope to 'reach new audiences'
As the world zooms in on Rio, the marketing sector starts to up its focus on the forthcoming advertising and sponsorship battles that lie ahead. With 400 years’ worth of views for Olympic adverts on You Tube since April and with sponsorship revenue accounting for 45% of the IOC’s income it’s hardly surprising.
Sky Sports has today announced it is creating a brand new Friday night show, in partnership with Carling, the official beer and cider of the Premier League.
The new show titled ‘Carling In Off The Bar’, will provide fans with an exciting look back on the week in football, have an alternative take on the game that evening whilst being packed with fun football challenges, celebrity guests and alternative analysis. [more…]


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- Vipshop, Noah rose 20% for best performance on ADR gauge
- Among tech companies, 14 of 18 have beaten earnings estimates
Chinese stocks trading in New York rose for a seventh week out of eight as investors bet the government may roll out more policies to bolster the economy after earnings from companies in old-growth industries trailed analysts forecasts.
The Bloomberg China-U.S. Equity Index rose 6.1 percent last week, the biggest five-day gain since Oct. 2. American depositary receipts of Noah Holdings Ltd. surged 20 percent to $32.79 in the five days through Friday as the wealth manager reported sales growth of 30 percent in the third quarter. Vipshop Holdings Ltd., an online retailer selling discounted fashion products, also soared 20 percent to $16.35, the most since March 2014. The two stocks were the best performers on the ADR gauge.
Fourteen of 18 U.S.-traded Chinese technology companies that have reported financial results for the most recent quarter exceeded analysts’ estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Meanwhile, more than half of the 10 industrial companies and two-thirds of the 19 financial firms in the MSCI China Index trailed forecasts. Weakening earnings from traditional industries are adding to signs of a slowdown in the economy as policy makers seek to transition away from reliance on manufacturing and construction for growth.
“The anticipation the Chinese government will ease policy measures again before the end of the year is driving the market,” Ankur Patel, chief investment officer at R-Squared Macro Management LLC, said by phone from Birmingham, Alabama on Friday.
Sina Corp. advanced 15 percent last week to $51.54 after announcing better-than-estimated earnings. Property consulting firm Leju Holdings Ltd. fell 5.6 percent last week to the lowest since Sept 25. Investment banks including UBS Group AG, Bank of America Corp. and Macquarie Group Ltd. cut their ratings for Sina last week as the company reported revenue that missed forecasts last quarter.
“We view China as not being the disaster that people think,” Gary Greenberg, head of emerging markets at Hermes Investment Management Ltd., said in an interview in New York on Thursday. “What China obviously wants to become is more of a consumer economy.”
The Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares ETF, the biggest U.S. exchange-traded fund investing in mainland shares, lost 0.3 percent on Friday, narrowing the weekly gain to 4.6 percent.


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A glitch with Apple’s QuickTime multimedia program has left some Windows users wondering why they’re having trouble updating to the latest version.
QuickTime has an auto-update mechanism, but it appears to not work on Windows 8 and 10, wrote Alton Blom, a Sydney-based security researcher, in a blog post.
Blom wrote that he found inconsistencies in how QuickTime and Apple’s Software Update tool interacted with each other depending on the versions of Windows and QuickTime installed.
For example, on Windows 8, QuickTime reported that it was up to date, but Apple’s Software Update tool said the application needed to be upgraded to 7.7.8, which is the latest version, Blom wrote.
A thread on Apple’s discussion forum shows that users have been noticing issues since August.
Blom found it is possible for people to manually download and then install QuickTime on Windows 8 and 10. But many users may not go through the trouble if they’re seeing error messages.
The danger is that a large number of Windows users may not update QuickTime at all, putting them at risk of attackers exploiting security vulnerabilities. The auto-update works fine on Windows 7 and Vista.
Last week, a study was released by the software company Flexera that found 61 percent of Windows users running QuickTime did not have the latest version. Also, 47 percent of iTunes installations were outdated versions.
The study came from data collected during September and October from computers that have a Flexera tool called the Personal Software Inspector, which alerts people to out-of-date software.
Blom contacted Apple’s security team by email on Friday. The response said that QuickTime 7.7.8 requires Windows 7 or Vista and didn’t address the inconsistent alerts Blom noticed.
Apple officials contacted in Sydney didn’t have an immediate comment.
Over the last year, 18 vulnerabilities have been found in QuickTime.
In September, Apple posted an advisory warning of several problems in QuickTime versions prior to 7.7.8 for Windows 7 and Vista after it had patched the issues about a month prior.
One of the flaws could be exploited by crafting a malicious file, which “may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution,” Apple said.


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Some Spotify users have been offered an option to upgrade to a new pricing tier called "Spotify Hi-Fi", which it calls "the ultimate music experience" and offers "lossless CD quality audio".
The streaming service began running a test on a small group of users yesterday, offering the Hi-Fi service for $5 to $10 above the $10 per month price for Spotify Premium. Some customers are seeing that the new feature would charge an additional $5 per month on top of the $10 per month they are already paying.
As The Verge reported, the streaming service Spotify is supposed to start a Hi-Fi offer with uncompressed audio streams, which would deliver music in high quality and is now being tried out by a small group. Some screenshots of the offer also mention discounts on limited-edition vinyl records and even a free record for signing up. This means that Spotify gained 20 million subscribers in a single year, and has is more than twice the audience size of Apple Music. With smartphones switching to lossless services like Apple's Lightning connector and Android's USB-C, Spotify will do the same with the Hi-Fi.
The days of low-quality audio streaming may be behind us, at least as far as Spotify is concerned.
Spotify is preparing to launch a lossless audio version of its streaming service, according to multiple sources.
Spotify Premium now offers lossy files up to 320 kpbs which, for many, is quite enough. At present, one of the many advantages of buying CDs is that people can rip music off them in lossless quality, which audiophiles highly prefer.


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The Importance Of M2M In The Revolution Of The ‘Internet of Things’
- February 09, 2015
Last year, according to a survey done by the Gartner Group, India generated 144 billion dollars in revenues of products and services related to information technology segment. These data position the country as the main emerging market after China. India is a country where companies from around the world outsource services, we can see the huge potential for our local and global market.
There is a notable increase in demand for products and services and bringing revolution in “Internet of Things”. In fact, today there are 55 technology centers distributed throughout India, with a few more in the planning stages.
However, companies considering adopting M2M technology into their products to enter the segment of the “Internet of Things” comes mostly out of the industries related to telecommunications; and further out of the M2M.
- The machine to machine communication, the increasingly popular M2M, allows all kinds of appliances and electronic products gain a jump in utility. It delivers benefits to users as it adds a new aircraft and existing connectivity to the Internet or operations for monitoring networks and can remove wires to connect devices with sensors, monitors and other peripherals; while also enabling these products GPS function and location.
- So as companies that achieved success and remained there in hard economic reality of today, with its core competence and deep understanding of your business, negotiating with the complexities of M2M at the expense of their own focus.
- Adopt M2M as a value for a business is a difficult decision. More so when companies and individuals who take this decision understand and succeed in their own industries, but generally do not have in-depth knowledge to comfortably navigate the M2M space.
- However, this is something that companies need to urgently consider. With more and more devices connected, this type of value becomes increasingly essential for end consumers. At this point, they may also have to rely on a strong internet connection like the ones ATT internet plans can provide. The key to a successful integration into M2M is to select the right providers that provide the hardware, software and services needed. A good supplier can help with issues from the coverage of connectivity to the physical dimensions of the device, among other things. This is all to be part of the Internet of Things, an economic segment that will generate, according to a survey by Cisco, 14 trillion in a decade in which the M2M represent 45% of this total, and 50 billion things will be connected by 2020.
- There are companies that invest today in local factories to produce hardware and M2M technologies to the specific needs of Market. There are also regional offices that provide local support and services to help businesses to join the Internet revolution of Things. The start has been given, and the finish line is the future.


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Production Hell is coming at the U.S.-based electric car making giant as it is trying to build 500,000 cars. The people making the cars agree and those people want to organize. Hell at work is a technical inconvenience for Musk – the billionaire CEO of the EV maker.
The fears of a Tesla employee
During a July 28 announcement, Musk told Tesla employees, “Frankly, we’re going to be in production hell. For at least six months, maybe longer.” Currently, the electric carmaker is selling a small number of high-end cars. Tesla announced recently its plans to massively increase production and enter the mass market with its Model 3 car.
Hell feels like tendinitis, herniated neck disks, and carpal tunnel for several Tesla factory workers who are trying to unionize currently. In an interview to The Daily Beast, Michael Sanchez said, “Having to look up every day, 12 hours a day, six days a week, hands over my shoulder, it was two herniated disks in my neck.” Sanchez has now moved to work on door panels of the electric car, which is comparatively less-intensive work.
He added, “After three-plus years working at Tesla, it just starts adding on until you’re living the pain every day. Whether you’re off work or not.” The electric car making giant is representing its cars as the eco-friendly car of the future, however, the EV maker is still relying on the physical labor of workers who assemble cars in its factory in Fremont, California. Sanchez started working for the company just when the factory workers began murmuring about a union last summer.
The union drive of the automaker is still stalling a year later when the car making giant is shifting into high gear. Sanchez told The Daily Beast, “The main thing that’s holding it back is the fear. The fear of people not aware what their rights are.” He continued, “But what Tesla feeds them during meetings is the thought that ‘maybe I’ll lose my job, or maybe I’ll lose my opportunity for a lead.’”
A pro-union employee reveals ‘way of working’ of Tesla
For unionized factories, the management of the electric car making giant has a ready-made warning of the worst-case scenario. The Fremont factory that used to be the site of a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota – NUMMI – shut down in 2010. This came after General Motors announced bankruptcy and pulled out of the partnership.
Sanchez said, “They retaliate just by telling people that the union is worthless that they’re the ones that ruined NUMMI. And it’s not true.” A Tesla representative suggested in a phone call with The Daily Beast that the union of NUMMI might have contributed to its closure. Alan Ochoa, a pro-union employee, said that the anti-union push of the automaker has played out in arguments between managers and workers on the factory floor. Ochoa said, “Every time we go out there and try to hand out flyers, security comes and talks to us for 20 to 30 minutes, takes our badges, makes sure we’re employees of the factory. Sometimes people from HR come, and they don’t hold back on their opinions on the matter.”


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The countdown to a possible strike by some 62,000 Southern California grocery workers is getting shorter, but the union and the region's three largest chains say they're still working to avoid that.
United Food and Commercial Workers leaders and representatives of Vons, Albertsons and Ralphs remained at the bargaining table Friday despite the union's decision to cancel the extended contract that has been in effect since March. That move could trigger a strike Sunday evening.
One development Friday was Ralphs' announcement it would close all its stores if there is a strike, at least initially.
In a letter labeled a "negotiations update," Ralphs said it would re-evaluate reopening the stores "on a case-to-case basis."
Kendra Doyel, Ralphs' vice president for public affairs, confirmed the decision in an email.
"During a strike, it is difficult to create a good shopping experience for our customers and a good working environment for our employees," Doyel wrote. "We will evaluate the situation as it progresses."
Albertsons and Vons had been recruiting replacement workers as a contingency for three weeks. Ralphs had not advertised for workers.
San Bernardino-based Stater Bros., which has the largest concentration of Inland Southern California stores, is negotiating separately with the union and would not be involved if a strike happened. Jack Brown, chairman and CEO of Stater Bros., said through a spokesperson that he "hopes there would not be a strike" and declined further comment.
Randy Cammack, vice president of the Teamsters International union and principal officer of Rialto-based Local 63, which represents workers in supermarket distribution centers, has stayed in touch with UFCW leaders and said Friday the two sides are still "far apart."
"There's been some movement, but it still boils down to differences in the health care," Cammack said,
Thursday the union issued a 72-hour notice it was canceling the extension, meaning workers could walk off their jobs at all three chains or a combination of them at 7:10 p.m. Sunday.
The chains say they're offering a health-care package with co-payments that fall between $7 and $15 a week.
The union said the store's offer includes deductibles of more than $1,000 for workers, most of whom earn less than $20,000 per year. Also, union leaders say the chains' level of funding would bankrupt their union health care fund long before the contract expires.
The union struck at Vons in October 2003, and Albertsons and Ralphs responded by locking out its workers. Stater Bros. had agreed to accept the same deal as the other three and did not attract picket lines.
That dispute lasted 4 ½ months. Many workers are still trying to recover from economic hardship caused by that period, and the stores lost an estimated $2 billion in sales.
"What happened in 2003 and 2004 was scorched earth," said Andrew Wolf, an analyst who follows the supermarket industry for BB&T Capital Markets. "It was lose-lose for everybody."
Wolf said most traditional grocery chains have lost market share over the last few years. Of the three involved in these negotiations, Ralphs' parent company, Kroger, and Safeway, which owns Vons, have healthy bottom lines right now and are in the best position to survive a long walkout in a major market such as Southern California.
Supervalu, the Minnesota-based corporation that bought Albertsons several years ago, is carrying a lot of debt and is less solid financially, Wolf said.
"The companies are looking for help on health care, and apparently it's enough to risk a strike," he said.
For the union, a strike would be the last card the union can play, said Thomas Lenz, an employment lawyer for the Cerritos-based firm Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo.
"It's the ultimate sacrifice, taking the membership out of work and away from earning," said Lenz, a former National Labor Relations Board attorney. "The last time there was a strike, the members ended up not gaining much, and it sounds like they're plowing the same ground as a few years ago."
Lenz said health insurance costs have become a big concern for employers, but the union pointed out that all three chains are reporting strong earnings. Kroger last week reported a profit of $280 million in its most recent quarter. Safeway reported $145 million and Supervalu's profit was $74 million.
Eight years ago many shoppers refused to cross picket lines, either out of sympathy for the union or from a desire to avoid the hassle. Lenz said that the effects of the recession might change some of those sentiments.
Shoppers at a Riverside Ralphs store seemed to agree although the decision on whether to patronize a store with picket lines is not an easy one for most.
Crystal Kilpatrick, 28, an unemployed librarian who lives close to the Canyon Crest-area store, said it was a tough call. She likes Ralphs and its employees but it's the only market within several miles and would probably continue to shop.
"It would be difficult, and I might feel guilty," Kilpatrick said. "I feel for (the workers) but there are reasons."
Gus Suarez, 50, who owns his own heating and air conditioning business, does not have any of those doubts.
"I've always been an independent businessman, and I had to pay my own way," Suarez said. "I have to pay my own insurance as well my family with three children."


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Here's another reason for traders to dislike the stocks they already hate...
Of six of the most-shorted stocks in the S&P 500, four have surged this quarter, seeing double-digit gains and outperforming the broader stock market rally. The winners are GameStop, Transocean, ADT and Mattel.
When traders go short stocks, they are hoping to profit from a stock's decline by selling borrowed shares. But when such companies see a jump in share price, those shorts work against the investor, and in order to avoid further losses, short sellers are forced to buy those shares back and close out those short positions.
That buying pressure can cause a stock to rally — known in trader parlance as a "short squeeze." And that appears to be happening with several stocks.
"It can actually be a big contrarian indicator," Gina Sanchez of Chantico Global said Friday on CNBC's "Trading Nation." "If any of those companies do particularly well, they're coiled up so they can have a big bounce."


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Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd
Blue Sky Offices Shoreham, 25 Cecil Pashley Way, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, BN43 5FF, UNITED KINGDOM
An investigation by The BMJ has found that the General Medical Council (GMC) has invested nearly £870,000 in ‘junk food’ and soft drink companies.
Nestlé, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Pepsico, Coca-Cola, and Unilever (which owns ice cream brands Magnum, Wall’s, and Ben & Jerry’s) are among the companies the GMC has invested in, and medics say they are “horrified” that doctors’ hard-earned cash is funding food and drink companies that fuel poor health.
GMC must show “that it is using its funds wisely”
All UK doctors must register for the GMC before practising. They are charged £161 as a one-off registration fee and then £420 in ongoing annual fees.
Glasgow GP Margaret McCartney said that since these fees are compulsory, the GMC “must show that it is using its funds wisely”. “I’m not convinced it is,” she said.
“It is unclear to me why the GMC holds so much money and why it has chosen to invest as it has. When the chief executive is paid over a quarter of a million per year, and a further six staff on more than £200,000, doctors should know, with complete transparency, where their fees are being invested and why,” she added.
Martin McKee, professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “Many doctors whose work involves dealing with the harms caused by junk food marketing would, if they knew, despair at how their money is being invested.”
GMC has invested millions in pharma companies and medical device manufacturers
The GMC has also invested:
- £1.2 million in pharmaceutical companies (including Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, Merck, and Roche)
- £470,000 in private insurance and healthcare providers (including Humana Health and UnitedHealth Group)
- £1.3 million in medical device manufacturers (including Edwards LifeSciences, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Intuitive Surgical, the makers of the da Vinci robotic surgical system).
Although all the regulator’s investments are handled by the Churches, Charities and Local Authorities Investment Management (CCLA), the GMC told The BMJ that it does have a say in what its money is invested in.
Funding junk food companies “no different” to investing in tobacco industry
All of the regulator’s investments are subject to ethical restrictions, and the CCLA is forbidden from investing in products and services such as tobacco, alcohol, pornography, gambling and high-interest rate lending, a spokesperson said.
“In addition, we are able to exclude companies where we have concerns about their approach to corporation tax,” the spokesperson added.
However, Sam Everington, a Tower Hamlets GP and chair of Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group said this is “no different” to investing in tobacco companies, due to the harmful effects of junk food on health.
She said: “The GMC is funded by doctors in the UK. They would be horrified to know that their money is being invested in fast food companies that are the cause of so much disease and reduced quality and quantity of life and significantly more pressure on the NHS and workload of doctors.”
The regulator is now considering whether the current exclusions remain relevant, and it may now publish its investments on its website to ensure transparency.


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LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - West Lafayette-based Chromcraft Revington is being sold. In a news release Tuesday, the company said it has entered into an agreement with Colorado-based Sport-Haley Holdings, Inc., pending shareholder approval. Sport-Haley will acquire all outstanding shares of Chromcraft stock for $3.45 million.
Chromcraft closed its plant in Delphi, Indiana in January.
Chromcraft Chairman and CEO Ronald Butler said, "The continuing economic downturn in the furniture industry has taken a toll on many manufacturers. We see this merger as a positive step forward for all Chromcraft stakeholders."
Under the terms of the agreement, Sport-Haley will sell or mortgage the Delphi plant. The total purchase price will equal around 54 cents per share. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Sport-Haley Holdings is a holding company with a stated mandate of "increasing shareholder value by maximizing intrinsic value per share over the medium and long term."
The company was organized in 1991 as a golf apparel company which designs, purchases, and contracts for the manufacture and marketing of women's fashion apparel and outerwear under the Sport-Haley, Bette & Court and Swing labels.
State police are warning Indiana residents about a phone scam that has been reported in central Indiana where grandparents are swindled out of money by con artists who tell them about a fake emergency.
Eskenazi Health hospital will officially open for business in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday while nearby Wishard Memorial Hospital will begin to close.
State police say a southern Indiana man has been arrested after a six-hour standoff that began when he fired several shots at family members.


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- Students from Sweden have found a novel way to fight food waste — turn expiring fruits and vegetables into powder.
- It's entirely safe to eat an apple in its entirety, since the fruit technically does not contain a "core."
- Try these mouthwatering fresh apricot recipes and other creative ways to eat or drink the healthy treat.
- Low in fat and high in fiber, apricots are loaded with vitamins and minerals essential for a healthy diet.
- A team of psychologists at the University of Otago in New Zealand daily servings of fruit and vegetables also appeared to make younger people calmer, happier and more energetic.
- Women who eat lots of fruits and vegetables have lower risk of developing breast cancer, according to a study analysis.
- Government health officials are warning people against eating mangoes from Mexican supplier Agricola Daniella after linking it to a salmonella outbreak.
- Scientists have invented a spray that keeps bananas fresh for up to two weeks and stops them from spoiling and turning into brown, soggy mush.


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After a “strong” 2016, Internet stocks, writes Youssef Squali of Cantor Fitzgerald, are set for a “another good year, fueled by robust demand for digital services, offset somewhat by macro uncertainty and currency headwinds from the strengthening US dollar."
Squali, who considers Facebook (FB), Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), and Expedia (EXPE) his “best ideas,” writes that after a 19.4% rise for the group last year, there are more good times ahead, as trends in the Internet business are accelerating.
For example, Squali notes that advertising and e-commerce picked up pace:
Online advertising increased 17.9% in FY16 (our estimate) vs. 16.5% on average in the three prior years, boosted by relatively faster growing display revenue, which has benefited from the ascendance of Facebook, the rise of programmatic, and improved targeting. E-commerce growth showed a similar trend, up 16.0% vs. an average of 14.3% in the prior three years. For 2017, we estimate that online advertising and e-commerce will show 17.5% and 14.8% growth, respectively, implying sustained demand with no material slowdown.
As far as “big picture” stuff, Squali argues that “mobile remains the story for 2017,” as its still only a portion of online spending, and online ads still are closing the gap with higher-priced desktop ads:
Despite all the talk of its impact on digital advertising, mobile still accounts for less than 20% of overall online spending, yet it accounts for more than 50% of digital media consumption. Facebook showed the power of mobile with the introduction of native display ads in 2013, which led not only to mobile becoming a key driver for overall digital ad growth in 2014, 2015 and 2016, but also helped accelerate the rate of growth year over year. We see this strong trajectory continuing in 2017 as advertisers play catch-up with consumers across the variety of mobile devices. Monetization gap to narrow further. We believe the gap between mobile’s share of overall ad budgets and media time spent will continue to tighten in 2017. In 2016, U.S. consumers spent 25.7% of their total media time on mobile devices, according to eMarketer, still a sizeable gap compared to mobile's 18.2% share of total U.S. media ad spend, according to Magna Global’s latest forecast (for a 7.5 percentage point gap). In 2015, consumers spent 24.0% of media time on mobile vs. 12.6% of allocated ad budgets (for an 11.4 percentage point gap). Given that mobile continues to take share from other media at a rapid clip (users spent ~25 incremental minutes/day on mobile devices per year over the last 4 years – rising to 3 hours and 6 minutes/day as of 2016), we believe mobile will continue to be a major driver for overall digital ad spend growth in 2017.
Squali thinks we’ll see a pickup in IPOs in 2017, noting data from Renaissance Capital that projects a total of 150 to 200 IPOs, both tech and non-tech, up from 105 IPOs in 2016. Among IPO possibilities: "We believe upcoming IPOs for the next 12-18 months could include Snap, Pinterest, Flipkart, Blue Apron, Spotify, AppNexus and Yext."
Squali also reflects on the potential impact of the administration of president-elect Donald Trump, which include changes to the “Net Neutrality” principles; capital repatriation; possible trade barriers; a strong U.S. dollar; and rising yields.
Concludes Squali, it’s hard to know just yet the upshot, on balance:
Our key takeaway is that some of the likely decisions that will be made by the new administration would have a positive effect, while others would have a negative effect. Taken together, however, the lack of clarity on the aggregate effect is likely to remain a headwind for these stocks for a while. That said, we believe that the fundamental strength of these franchises, the secular tailwinds pushing them forward, and valuation still make them attractive for investors, in our view.


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From the start, WorldVentures founders Wayne Nugent and Mike Azcue set out to build a different kind of business.
Health and wellness company Isagenix hopes 2015 will be Lucky No. 13—its 13th year in business, and more important, the year it strives to reach a cool $1 billion in revenue.
With its mission of transforming lives by ending the trend of obesity, it’s safe to say that Team Beachbody’s growth trajectory has also transformed its multi-sales-channel parent company.
In a country where network marketing is a small, not-well-understood industry, Utility Warehouse is growing by being the utility supplier you’d recommend to your mum.
When LegalShield brought on a new CEO with consumer marketing and corporate leadership credentials the likes of Microsoft, Chrysler, Ford and NBCUniversal last summer, they once again affirmed the company’s adaptable nature.
Family-owned direct seller Hy Cite Corp. is a master chef when it comes to cooking up growth. They do it by actively and enthusiastically embracing a community that many direct selling companies seek to engage: the Latino community.
When Stream reinvents itself, it doesn’t fool around. As it approaches its 10th anniversary, Stream settles into a new brand, redefines itself by offering new services, and jumps from seven energy markets to national scope, all in one bold move.
Many executives have had the experience. They launch or join a young company that is growing quickly, but over time the momentum slows. That was the story at LifeVantage Corp., and its experience has made it a believer in the necessity to embrace change.
Founded in 2001, It Works! is one of world’s fastest-growing skincare and nutrition direct sales companies. Ranked at No. 290 on the Inc. 500 list for 2014, the company has enjoyed an impressive 1,565 percent growth rate over the past three years.
After a season of sluggish sales, the sweet smell of success seems to be returning at Gold Canyon. The scented-candle seller and manufacturer has instituted sweeping changes that have boosted both morale and sales.


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Friday the 13th Single Player Mimics The Movies
Until now, Friday the 13th: The Game has been an asymmetrical multiplayer title without a narrative. With the upcoming Single Player Challenges mode, the game is about become a lot more like the movies. Gun Media today released a new video that shows off the tutorial for the new mode, and it’s a tiny slice (don’t pardon the pun) of what could easily be a scene from one of the movies, featuring two dude bros begging to get stabbed.
The video shows that Single Player Challenges will feature unique scenarios where counselors are going about their business while killer Jason watches from a distance. While the mode in its entirety shouldn’t be thought of as a connected single player campaign, it will offer up a variety of challenges where Jason must dispatch of counselors in situations like one may find in the movies. The video suggests that these challenges will have fully voiced counselors and context sensitive kills.
Single Player Challenges will come to the game sometime within the coming months as a free content update for the game. According to the roadmap, a demo / teaser should arrive first.


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Billionaires and major corporates have had tens of millions of dollars wiped off the value of their business jets, as massive oversupply in the run-up to the 2008-2009 credit crisis has left the industry awash with pre-owned aircraft. Prices for second-hand private jets, many of which have barely been flown, have dropped as much as 35 per cent over three years to the end of April. The average price of a pre-owned business jet has fallen from $13.7m in April 2014 to $8.9m, according to research by Colibri Aircraft, which specialises in the marketing, resale and purchase of pre-owned private aircraft. Owners have lost millions of dollars on the value of their existing business jets as a glut of planes came on to the market in the wake of the economic downturn.
The resale price of a Bombardier Global XRS, which sold for $50m, has dropped from $31.3m to $20.4m — down just under 35 per cent, according to Colibri’s figures. Bombardier said it did not comment on specific pricing of its aircraft, but it said the company had realigned its production in the light of market demand. Newer models coming on to the market had also caused prices to fall further, said Oliver Stone, managing director of Colibri. “Customers are selling their current jet to upgrade to the new one,” he said. “Supply is increasing, but not demand.” Yet even with the release of new aircraft, with many manufacturers targeting the larger cabin market, the delivery of new business jets has fallen dramatically over the past decade. In 2008, 1,313 business jets were delivered, compared with just 661 last year. “Pre-2008, the jet market was in a massive bubble and prices have been decreasing ever since,” said Mr Stone.
Repossessions also grew between 2009 and 2012, added Edwin Brenninkmeyer, chief executive of Biggin Hill-based Oriens Aviation, which distributes the Pilatus PC-12 turboprop in the UK and Ireland. “To keep pace with sales volume, manufacturers increased discounts to continue the high delivery volumes, often with 30 per cent discounts which became the ‘industry norm’.” But while owners may be suffering, the private jet charter industry could benefit, as more owners decide to tender their aircraft for charter rather than put them up for sale. Charter flights account for almost 60 per cent of private jet flights across Europe, according to Victor, the private jet charter company.
“The 2008-9 recession caused many companies, and high net-worth individuals to reassess the true costs of ownership of business aircraft, including fractional,” said Brad Stewart, chief executive of XOJET. “This has also been precipitated by . . . a shift into shared ownership, on-demand and subscription platforms.” However, hopes that additional aircraft might lead to a reduction in the cost of the “charter hour” were dashed by industry professionals. “It has been exactly the same price to charter a private jet for the past 10 years,” said Adam Twidell, chief executive of PrivateFly, a global booking service for private aircraft hire. “However, I think prices falling is over-optimistic — but they are likely to remain at this 10-year low.”


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- Hamburg's to-go sector booming - reusable pool solutions to cut waste
- From augmented reality to fermentation - industry report identifies food trends in restaurants, hotels
- Focus on outdoor catering - a concept for the future?
- IDX_FS trade fair for hospitality sending new signals - multifaceted digital agenda
The cancelled physical trade fair Internorga 2021 marks the start of the new International Digital Food Services Expo (IDX_FS) powered by Internorga and will get underway from March 15 to 17, 2021. The online show will provide a virtual meeting place for stakeholders in the food, catering and hotel...


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AOL takes launches smartphone, tablet TV apps
Editor | 05-10-2012
In a move designed to appeal to consumers and advertisersalike,the AOL On Network has announced the launch of native mobile apps for Apple iOS and Android devices.
Already accessible through desktop online video and 10 connected TV devices, the launch of native apps for mobile and tablet devices gives consumers nearly ubiquitous access to AOL On Network which, launched in April 2012 and is said to reach more than 61 million unique visitors per month.
The network provides access to more than 420,000 videos that feature topics from technology to breaking news to cooking and the mobile apps will include a feature that allows users to search for and "favourite" videos with just one touch, making it easy to discover and share videos from sites including Engadget, TechCrunch, HuffPost Live and Moviefone as well as content from partners such as Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Travel Channel and E!. The iOS versions are also Airplay-enabled, allowing users who have Apple TV to display videos from a mobile iOS device onto the television.
"There have always been plenty of places to find video online, but there has yet to be a one-stop shop that provides the right videos to consumers at exactly the right moment," said Ran Harnevo, SVP of The AOL On Network. "With AOL On's native app launch, a curated selection of the content you need to see will now be waiting for you on every device."
AOL claims that mobile app launches also provide significant benefits for brands and media buyers, who can purchase across AOL properties on all devices with a single buy.


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Publicis Groupe acquires Middle East digital agency
By Daniel Farey-Jones, campaignlive.co.uk, Wednesday, 01 February 2012 10:32AM
Publicis Groupe has acquired Flip Media, a digital agency network in the Middle East, for an undisclosed sum, to fold into Leo Burnett.
Flip Media provides end-to-end solutions, including digital strategy, digital design/production, content/delivery and technology/platforms.
Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Dubai (UAE), it has more than 100 employees across the Middle East and India.
At the end of last year, the agency decided to close its small London office, which handled new business leads, and offered outsourced digital production services for creative agencies.
Flip will be folded into Leo Burnett Worldwide and will retain its name.
Its founders, Martin Diessner and Dinesh Lalvani, will continue to be involved with the new entity as non-executive directors, and Yousef Tuqan will remain CEO, reporting to Leo Burnett’' Middle East North Africa CEO, Raja Trad.
Tom Bernardin, CEO of Leo Burnett Worldwide, said: "Flip Media is a strategic and cultural fit for our company, and we believe its service offering of digital strategy, design, production and content delivery will be a perfect complement to the incredibly strong digital presence we have built across the region."
Lalvani and Diessner, co-founders, Flip Holdings Ltd, said: "Integrating with a large network gives us the opportunity to provide a strong foundation for through-the-line communications strategy with digital at its core."
Results International advised Flip Media on the deal and Imad Kublawi, its Middle East and North Africa partner, said: "Flip is the largest and most successful interactive digital agency in the Middle East.
"This deal is so important because the region now has an agency offering where digital will be truly embedded within the working practices and culture of the business as a whole.
"Increasingly, consumers in MENA are spending more and more time online. Digital budgets will grow in line with these trends and new players such as Leo Burnett/Flip will provide brands in the region with the support they need."
Follow Daniel Farey-Jones on Twitter @danfareyjones
This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk
- Affiliates Executive - No. 1 Agency! GoodEgg Digital Circa £25k + Exceptional Benefits, Central London
- Digital Display Manager - Leading Agency GoodEgg Digital £Neg + Great Benefits, South East England / London (Central), London (Greater)
- Senior Marketing Director - 9-12 month FTC Comedy Central £competitive, Camden, London (Greater)
- Digital Project Director - specialist integrated agency JEFFERSON £60-75k plus benefits dependent on experience, Based just outside Kingston Upon Thames
- Director Business Development - TRAVEL- HOTELS Ultimate Asset £60000 - £80000 per annum + BONUS & BENEFITS, City of London
- The rear of the Apple Watch is more interesting than the face
- Channel 4 to drop 4oD for digital service All 4
- Guardian launches three-tier membership scheme
- FT to reveal first design overhaul in seven years
- David Hasselhoff to join Sorrell, Naughton and Shing at IAB Engage 2014
- Sky boosts Sky AdSmart's targeting capabilities for advertisers


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Tencent-UMG Investment: Chinese tech giant seeks stake in Vivendi subsidiary
Turning to online music. Tencent is negotiating with the French Group Vivendi to buy up to a 20 percent stake in its subsidiary, Universal Music. UMG owns the rights to such global stars as the Beatles, Madonna and Lady Gaga. What does the potential sale mean for the online music sector? The Head Quarter of Universal declined to comment since the negotiations are ongoing. CGTN's Stefan de Vries spoke to Arno Pons director of the Digital New Deal Foundation for his thoughts.
ARNO PONS, DIRECTOR DIGITAL NEW DEAL FOUNDATION "Less visible war that is even more critical certainly is that between the digital giants — the American GAFA, who are well known. A little less known in Europe are the BATX, the Chinese equivalents. Between them, there is a technological war and a fight for content. It is very strategic to be able to offer content on their platform, and this is the case with Universal, the world leader in music. The interest for Tencent is to obtain this valuable content. Music has very high value. Cinema, games and music are the three major entertainment contents in the world. They already have the games. Now thanks to Universal, they will have music. And that will eventually allow monetizing its audience. Tencent has hundreds of millions of users, who are subscribers, but for free. So the challenge now is to monetize them and make them pay for micro subscriptions on music."
"But they are only at the beginning because they have big means. The valuation of BATX today is three times lower than the Americans. But the GAFA's are hardly a reference. The valuation of BATX is historically high, so they have big ways to invest. And there's a lot of talk about the Silk Road, but another road that's just as important is the information highway. The Internet allows China to have global influence. This is the challenge."


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Ford has taken a giant leap into an enormous project to remake where employees think, design and create the vehicles of the future in a Detroit campus that is four years away from becoming reality.
Like Lyft, Uber last week submitted its IPO filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
With three weeks left in 2018, California already has had a record year for the number of manufacturers permitted to test autonomous vehicles, the number of those vehicles permitted on the road and the number of crashes...
Lyft filed confidentially for an initial public offering of stock, pulling out ahead of Uber Technologies in the race among ride-hailing companies to go public.
Google's autonomous driving affiliate Waymo began offering commercial service with its self-driving Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid minivans. The service is called Waymo One.


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AAA Survey Says a Quarter of All Americans Can't Pay For Major Car Repair
The brutal state of the economy has greatly affected people and the way they live their lives. This shouldn't be a shock to anyone, but what is shocking is what AAA recently found by conducting a survey asking people whether or not they could afford a $1,000 or $2,000 car repair, and if they would put it off because of the state of the economy. The results reveal just how much the economy has affected people's maintenance habits. According to the survey, one in four American drivers is neglecting major car repairs, while also keeping older vehicles to avoid the high prices that come with purchasing a new model. The same people that neglect major car repairs admit they could not pay for a car repair of $2,000 if they had to today. AAA's survey also revealed one in eight would be unable to pay for a repair bill of $1,000.The avoidance of repairing their vehicle is only making matters worse."The fact that motorists are delaying maintenance on their cars in the current economy is not surprising," said the Automobile Club of Southern California's AAA-Approved Auto Repair Program Development Manager Dave Skaien. "But what they may not realize is that there's a direct correlation between poorly maintained cars and big repair bills." The more expensive repairs are the result of people ignoring smaller issues that should be taken care of while they are minor before they become major. Repairing or replacing a belt, battery, or tire could cost $200 or $2,000, depending on how long it is ignored, and how much damage it creates. The survey also asked those drivers that could afford to pay the $2,000 and $1,000 repair bill how they could pay it. The results were all over the board. 38 percent could pay a $2,000 repair bill with funds from their saving account, 20 percent could pay with credit card, and 11 percent said they would have to borrow money from friends, family, retirement, or home equity. As far as paying the $1,000 repair bill, 46 percent said they could use savings, 22 percent could use credit card, and 14 percent would need to borrow from friends, family, retirement, or home equity. Note that 3 percent more would have to borrow from friends, family, etc. for the $1,000 repair than the $2,000 one. Source: AAA
Car sickness: It comes and goes, right?


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T-Mobile expects to add 3 million to 3.6 million customers this year, up from an April forecast of 2.8 million to 3.5 million, the Bellevue, Washington-based carrier said in a statement Wednesday. The company raised its profit outlook for 2017, suggesting that promotions, price cuts and giveaways needed to attract new customers aren’t hurting the bottom line.
The results show T-Mobile emerging as a winner in an industry price war that has every major competitor offering phone discounts and unlimited data plans. The company’s ability to take market share from rivals has put it at the center of consolidation talks, including preliminary discussions with Sprint.
“While we continue to believe the stock will be driven by M&A-related stories and events that add near-term risk, the company is showing it can continue to be successful on a standalone basis while it waits to see what ultimately happens,” Colby Synesael, an analyst at Cowen & Co., wrote in a note Thursday.
In trading Thursday, T-Mobile US shares dropped 85 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $61.12. Deutsche Telekom, the German telecom giant that owns about 64 percent of T-Mobile, rose 1 percent in Frankfurt. The Bonn-based company will report second-quarter earnings on Aug. 3.
T-Mobile signed 817,000 new customers in the second quarter, more than the 731,250 analysts were expecting. Earnings more than doubled to 67 cents a share, shattering the 36-cent average estimate of analysts.
Even with the higher forecast, the company is unlikely to match its 4.1 million subscriber additions from 2016. Sprint, which trails T-Mobile in wireless customers, has introduced even more aggressive promotions, including a full year of free, unlimited data. Bigger rivals AT&T and Verizon have followed T-Mobile in offering unlimited data plans.
The pace of new customers coming in compared with those going out, or porting ratio, has slowed to 1.38-to-1 from 1.43-to-1 a year earlier. That rate is more than 1.3 so far this quarter, Chief Executive Officer John Legere said on an earnings call.
“I remember way back when we were at 0.3, and at one point at 3.3. Porting is a long-term game, but anything over 1 means you are winning. I’m happy with the porting numbers,” Legere said in an interview Wednesday.
Legere declined to comment on whether T-Mobile is in deal talks with any specific companies.
T-Mobile and Sprint have both said that a merger would help them better compete with AT&T and Verizon in offering the next generation of wireless-data services. But discussions between those two companies have been on hold while Sprint explores potential wireless partnerships with Comcast and Charter Communications.
T-Mobile’s average prices for phone service slipped slightly from a year ago, with new services making up for some of the discounts. Phone customers paid $47.01, down 10 cents from a year earlier.


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A few days ago, I was chatting with a friend about this expected development - of an upgrade in Paypal.com that will include accepting new accounts from the Philippines.
Actually, it was just a matter of time and no lobbying influenced it - it is more of a practical decision for Paypal. Today though, the facility is limited to sending of money overseas, not acceptance.
This development meant more payment alternatives for Filipinos. (at least I can already upgrade my podcast site in Podomatic) However we still need more online payment alternatives for individuals that are attuned to the needs of the Filipino today.
As the Philippines has the highest incident of global online credit card fraud today, fixing our implementing policies and law enforcement is must. It will also require Internet users, who cares in uplifting the country's reputation and credibility, to be vigilant and report to authorities those who sell credit card information and commit illegal acts. Our banking system has to improve as well in order to make the money acceptance feature a reality in the Philippines.
I wrote more details about this and published today in Manila Times.


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A David-versus-Goliath battle is heating up once again as a local craft distillery considers filing a trade complaint with German and European Union trade commissions after a threat of legal action scuttled its product’s distribution into Germany.
This is the latest salvo in an ongoing war between Victoria-based Macaloney’s Caledonian Distillery and the Scotch Whisky Association. The association, whose governing council is controlled by the four largest scotch whisky multi-national corporations, last year filed a lawsuit to prevent the Victoria craft distillery from using Macaloney (its founder’s name), the words Island, Glenloy, Invermallie and others in its whisky branding.
“The lawsuit is just ridiculous,” said Graeme Macaloney, who founded the whisky business that bears his name in 2016. “What they’re saying is that I can’t use my own name.”
He named the brand’s Glenloy and Invermallie whiskies after locations where his clan lived for more than 1,000 years.
This time, the association has threatened the distillery’s German distributor with a lawsuit unless they stop importing Macaloney’s Canadian Best single malt whiskies. The distributor has just informed him that it is complying, suspending the import of his products into Germany, a growing market.
Macaloney said his troubles started after the distillery garnered top prizes at the 2020 World Whiskies Awards, including World’s Best New Make and Best Canadian Single Cask Single Malt.
This is not the first time a Canadian distillery has drawn the ire of the Scotch Whisky Association, which is known for its ferocity in protecting its share of the multibillion-dollar global whisky industry. It previously waged a losing nine-year fight with Glenora Distillery in Nova Scotia to stop that distillery from using the word Glen (Gaelic for valley) in the name of its single malt whisky. The Supreme Court of Canada subsequently dismissed an appeal made by the association, with costs, in 2009.
Apart from the backing of a legion of Caledonian Distillery fans, support for Macaloney has come from the industry itself.
Scottish whisky expert Ralfy Mitchell accused the association of “cultural appropriation for the benefit of a single industry.”
“It seems that the Scottish Whisky Association is still harassing and scaring people who are of no threat to it at all or its country’s whiskies,” said Dominic Roskrow, a U.K. whisky writer.
Macaloney said he still needs to consult with stakeholders before he proceeds, but is urging supporters and whisky lovers to sign a petition letter to ramp up public pressure against what he calls a punitive lawsuit. Almost 1,000 letters have been sent so far, speaking against the association’s actions.
“We’re not trying to steal any customers from them. If anything small craft distilleries like ours are introducing so many new people to the industry,” said Macaloney, who is the official historian — or Seanchaidh — for his clan in Canada.


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Ann Taylor Stores Corp. ANN, +0.82% Thursday said same-store sales slipped 0.5% in October. The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson First Call was for an increase of 2.8% for the month. Total sales for the four weeks ended Oct. 28 rose 5.1% to $184.8 million from $175.9 million in the same period a year earlier. The New York women's fashion apparel retailer said sales at its Loft locations continue to be hurt by the poor performance of sweaters. The stock closed Wednesday at $41.91, down 4.8%.
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By abusing one of the methods called “mining” for obtaining virtual money, North Korea is conducting cyberattacks against personal computers and electric appliances without permission to earn money, the Sankei Shimbun learned on Jan. 11. It is possible that North Korea, which is struggling under economic sanctions imposed by the international community, is employing this method as a source of funds.
According to a report by AlienVault, a U.S. security company, software that installs a tool for mining the virtual currency called “Monero” was found. A computer virus with the software attached has been distributed through illegal websites and emails. The software is programmed to send earned virtual money to a server of Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang. In this way, infected personal computers turn into “automatic money-making machines.” According to the report, the software was developed on Dec. 24 last year.
Another security company, Trend Micro (Tokyo), also confirmed the existence of the software this year. The company pointed out the possibility that the cyberattack was not indiscriminate but specifically targeted web servers manufactured by Microsoft of the U.S..
According to CoinMarketCap – an online currencies exchange for virtual money – the market capitalization of Monero is about $5.9 billion as of the night of Jan. 11, making it the 14th largest in the world. The transaction anonymity of Monero is higher than Bitcoin, which makes it more difficult to trace (Abridged)


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The government has pledged £1 million to support Road to Logistics – a not-for-profit scheme jointly founded by the Road Haulage Association and telematics company Microlise.
The scheme aims to address staffing shortages in the logistics industry by creating training and development opportunities for ex-offenders, the long-term unemployed and individuals from other disadvantaged backgrounds.
Following a successful trial with HM Prison Sudbury and other prisons across the UK, Road to Logistics aims to train up to 300 drivers in the first year.
The scheme will link potential drivers with employers, mentor them and put them through the necessary training including taking their HGV driving test.
Microlise Executive Director, Bob Harbey said, “We firmly believe that Road to Logistics will play a central role in addressing the sector’s skills shortfall and are extremely pleased that Government is providing the support that is so desperately needed.
“The shortage of HGV drivers is a massive threat to the economy. Without them, the wheels of the UK road transport industry will, quite literally, grind to a halt.”


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The CEO of Republic Airways Holdings Inc. expects a decision will be made by the end of March on whether the company will sell or spin off Frontier Airlines, which has recently begun flying out of Piedmont Triad International Airport.
Bryan Bedford declined to say Thursday whether it’s likely he’ll find an acceptable suitor to buy the Denver-based company (NASDAQ: RJET).
“We are in discussions with a number of interested parties, and we do expect to have a decision on the path forward in the next month or so,” Bedford said during a conference call to discuss Republic’s and Frontier’s fourth-quarter earnings. He added that he expects the process of separating Frontier from Republic, which bought Frontier out of bankruptcy in 2009, should wrap up by the end of June.
Republic began the process of breaking off Frontier in early 2012, and Bedford acknowledged Thursday that it’s been slower than expected, attributing some of the delay to bringing in a new executive team for Frontier and bringing it up to speed about understanding the business. But he noted there also have been some advantages to moving slowly, such as being able to show profits for the final three quarters of 2012.
Read more from to the Denver Business Journal, a sister publication of The Business Journal.


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Lunar New Year is a traditional festival not only for the Chinese, but also for many countries. Especially because of the large number of overseas Chinese and the large scale of the Chinese Spring Festival, Lunar New Year is often a festive and lively day that is celebrated around the world every year. However, in English, whether it should be translated as “Chinese New Year” or “Lunar New Year” has become more and more controversial in recent years.
The Korean online media WOW Korea reported that the VANK (Voice of Korea Network Diplomatic Mission) has been actively promoting the Lunar New Year to foreign countries, asking them to “correct the name” of the Chinese New Year, not as “Chinese New Year”, but as “Lunar New Year”.
If the United Nations still uses the commemorative stamps to celebrate the Lunar New Year this year, the mission has sent a letter to protest against it. The mission said that Lunar New Year is not only celebrated in China, but also in other Asian countries, so it cannot be characterized as Chinese New Year.
The dispute over which New Year should be named has become a focus in recent years. Lunar New Year is a traditional Chinese name, and in mainland China it is often referred to as the “Spring Festival”. In other countries where New Year is celebrated, including Japan, Korea, Vietnam and other places, they all have their own ways of calling the New Year.
In Korea, it is called “설날”, in Vietnam, it is called “Tet” or “năm mới âm lịch” (Vietnamese New Year), and in Japan, there is no custom of celebrating Lunar New Year, but in some areas where it is still celebrated (such as Okinawa), it is called “Old New Year”.
Lunar New Year to become Chinese New Year
However, with the rise of Chinese nationalism in recent years, “Chinese New Year” is gradually being promoted, especially in English-speaking regions. For example, in 2018, Xinhua’s English article translated Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s Indonesian Happy Lunar New Year, “Selamat Tahun Baru Imlek”, as “China’s New Year”. The original text only contains the Lunar New Year, but when translated into English, it becomes the Chinese New Year.
In the same year, Liu Wen, a famous Chinese model, was criticized by netizens for “forgetting she was Chinese” and “being unpatriotic” when she used “Happy Lunar New Year” on her Instagram page to wish for the Chinese New Year.
Leo Suryadinata, a Chinese Indonesian scholar, pointed out that the term Chinese New Year is called Spring Festival in China and has never been associated with nationalism. However, the emphasis on nationalism in China in recent years has led some people to believe that the New Year should be celebrated as “Chinese New Year”. They even think that with the rise of China, Chinese people should be more “confident” and not using Chinese New Year is an act of “insulting” China.
Although the Chinese Lunar Calendar began in ancient China and the Lunar New Year is a traditional Chinese custom, Liao Jianyu pointed out that today’s Lunar New Year is no longer the monopoly of China or Chinese people. In the case of the Chinese in Southeast Asia, who all have their own national identity, the Chinese New Year should return to its original meaning, rather than using it to emphasize anything national or ethnic.


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Considering its recent financial performance, Intel doesn't seem like as good a candidate for workforce reduction as its main competitor. Nonetheless, as eWeek reports, the world's largest semiconductor company will soon part with 2,500 of its staffers.
The move isn't so much a mass firing as a decision by Intel to spin off its NOR flash division into a new company dubbed Numonyx. Intel will retain a 45% stake in the new company, while Swiss semiconductor and electronics manufacturer STMicroelectronics will contribute part of its NAND flash business to Numonyx in exchange for a 48% stake. A private equity firm will own the remaining 6%. Numonyx will produce both NOR and NAND flash devices. (The former flash memory type is typically used in firmware chips like those found in cell phones, while NAND is at the heart of most flash storage devices today.)
Intel already streamlined its NOR business after the division saw quarterly losses of $108 million in early 2006, so the creation of Numonyx isn't entirely unexpected. eWeek says Intel's NAND business is also in trouble right now due to market oversupply and economic problems in the U.S., but Intel CEO Paul Otellini has reportedly vowed to rescue that division by investing in new technologies like solid-state drives.
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|ASRock kills its SkyOC BCLK overclocking feature||63|
|Square Enix patches Rise of the Tomb Raider for the PC||28|
|Deals of the week: Samsung's 850 EVO 1TB SSD for $290 and more||45|
|National Bubble Gum Day Shortbread||15|
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|Google Safe Browsing blocks sites with fake download buttons||53|
|National Homemade Soup Day Shortbread||39|
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|Stop bezel shaming. All bezels are beautiful.||+69|


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Tory Brunker stories
Adobe’s Experience Cloud tools offer benefits for retailers
Software company Adobe has announced the release of new features that will offer benefits to retailers, including enhanced personalisation.
Adobe announces new suite of tools for retailers with in-store and online capabilities
Adobe has announced new tools for retailers created to help further deliver personalised shopping experiences for businesses in-store and online.