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The European Commission and the US Department of Justice have begun investigations into the agency pricing model employed by ebook publishers on digital platforms like Apple's iBooks. The question to be answered is whether that system represents a form of price fixing and runs counter to competition laws in the two big jurisdictions.Keep track of the investigators' findings and other developments right here.
Sep 17, 2015
Apple appears ready to appeal its long-running ebooks antitrust case to the Supreme Court. In a filing from Wednesday, the company asked for a 30-day extension before filing its petition for a writ of certiorari, a request that the court hear the case.Read Article >
Jul 16, 2014
Apple will pay $450 million as part of the US state lawsuit against it claiming the company conspired to raise the price of ebooks to consumers. Pending an appeal effort from Apple, $400 million of that could be going back to consumers, which would add to an earlier $166 million book publishers agreed to pay out as part of an earlier settlement.Read Article >
Jun 17, 2014
Apple has agreed to settle out of court with consumers and US states that brought a damages claim against the company for conspiring to raise the price of ebooks. The terms of the settlement have not been made public. Attorney Steve Berman, who represented the plaintiffs, had argued that Apple should be forced to pay $840 million, or triple the amount he estimated the company gained from jacked-up ebook prices. The trial was set to go to court next month.Read Article >
The lawsuit stemmed from the 2013 ruling against Apple in which US District Judge Denise Cote found Cupertino guilty of colluding with publishers to keep prices higher than the discounted Kindle ebooks Amazon wanted to offer. Apple will continue to appeal against this decision, and Berman notes in a letter to Cote that the eventual settlement payment will depend on the outcome of the appeal. In February, the company lost a bid to remove an antitrust compliance monitor tasked with keeping its ebook activities within the law.
Feb 1, 2014
Apple has received a new damages claim of over $840 million for conspiring with publishing companies to raise the price of ebooks across the entire industry. The claim, filed Friday in New York by an attorney leading a class action lawsuit on behalf of ebooks customers in 33 states, stems from the US Justice Department's successful antitrust lawsuit against Apple that took place in the summer of 2013. Using evidence presented during the course of that trial last year, attorney Steve Berman begins by arguing that Apple owes American ebooks customers a bare minimum of $231 million in damages, and probably far more money than that.Read Article >
The $231 million figure comes from an estimate provided by one of Apple's witnesses during the trial, who said that Apple's deal with publishers to use an "agency model" for pricing ebooks – an agreement under which publishers set the final price of ebooks that Apple would charge consumers, and Apple took 30 percent of each sale – resulted in a 14.9 percent increase in sales dollars. This increase came about because Apple charged an average of price of $12.99 for each new ebook, higher than the average $9.99 previously charged when Amazon was the major ebooks retailer and could lower the price for consumers.
Sep 1, 2013Read Article >
As part of the ebook price fixing scandal that ensnared Apple with a guilty verdict this year, all five publishing giants involved eventually agreed to a settlement in federal court — and now we're starting to get a better idea of just how much consumers will be getting back as part of the deal. If you purchased an ebook from one of the publishers involved between April 1st, 2010 and May 21st, 2012, you could be eligible for up to $3.06 per book purchased. That number is for books that fall under the New York Times bestseller umbrella, while non-bestsellers will net you an estimated $0.73 per purchase. This will include ebooks purchased through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Apple, and the payment will come either in the form of credit good with whichever retailer you used or a check. The amounts are still estimates for now; the settlement with publishers Macmillan and Penguin is still being hashed out, so the final numbers could be slightly different.
Earlier today, a federal court found that Apple had violated antitrust laws, colluding with publishers to drive ebook prices higher and break Amazon’s hold on the market. On its face, the case involves publishers making decisions that favored their interests over consumers, most particularly the imposition of an "agency model" that lets publishers, not retailers, set book prices.Read Article >
The cost of ebooks is what’s on everyone’s mind. Behind it all, though, is a decision that has nothing to do with pricing schemes and everything to do with a series of backroom deals and suspicious phone calls. Things that were banned in the publishers’ settlements, like most-favored-nation clauses that helped Apple or the agency model, could have been perfectly legal, said Judge Denise Cote. Negotiating with multiple publishers or sharing some details might also have been fine. But in this case, "the evidence taken as a whole paints quite a different picture — a clear portrait of a conscious commitment to cross a line and engage in illegal behavior."
Apple's Eddy Cue, right, was accused of leading the conspiracy to raise pricesRead Article >
After a trial and several settlements with other publishers, a federal judge has ruled that Apple conspired to raise the price of ebooks from major publishers, and a hearing for damages will be held later. Apple was originally accused of price fixing in 2012, along with five of the six major publishers. Several publishers quickly caved, and all had agreed to settlements by early 2013, leaving Apple the only company facing a trial. Now, Judge Denise Cote has found that "the Plaintiffs have shown not just by a preponderance of the evidence but through compelling direct and circumstantial evidence that Apple participated in and facilitated a horizontal price-fixing conspiracy."
While Apple is the only company on trial this week for allegedly conspiring with six of the country's top publishers to fix ebooks and violating antitrust laws, the proceedings early today in US District Court in Manhattan instead cast a hot light on Amazon's ebook business.Read Article >
The case now looks less like US v. Apple, and more like Apple v. Amazon.
One of the most curious claims that Apple's attorneys have made during the company's antitrust fight with the federal government this week is that Amazon considered handing over the ability to price ebooks to book publishers well before the publishers began pushing retailers in that direction. If true, that would take some heat off Apple, which has been accused of initiating the trend.Read Article >
Apple's claim was a surprise, considering that Amazon's ability to lower ebook prices below its competitors' was one of the factors that contributed to Amazon's then 90-percent market share. Why would Amazon have wanted to give up a competitive advantage? The government says Apple's claims are nonsense. To prove it, Mark Ryan, the DOJ's lead attorney, asked the Penguin Group's CEO David Shanks whether Amazon execs were happy when they were told they would be required to move to the agency model and lose control over ebook prices.
Jun 5, 2013
Apple was "indifferent" about whether book publishers ripped away Amazon or any other retailer's ability to price their own books, because Apple is focused only on its own business. That was the claim made by Kevin Saul, an Apple executive who helps negotiate the company's book deals, in federal court yesterday.Read Article >
The US Department of Justice has accused Apple of conspiring with five of the country's six largest book publishers to fix ebook prices in the trial, which was held in the US District Court of Manhattan and kicked off this week. On the second day of the trial, Saul described the attitude toward content creators instilled in the company by co-founder Steve Jobs. He said Apple treats content suppliers the same regardless of size or influence and wanted to create a level playing field with ebook suppliers. For that reason, they they offered the same contract terms to all publishers, big or small. "That's why I love Apple," Saul told the court.
Jun 3, 2013
The trial to determine whether Apple conspired to fix ebook prices got off to a dramatic start today when Apple's attorneys raised questions about whether the company can receive a fair trial from a judge who they say appears to have already made up her mind about the case.Read Article >
After hearing evidence presented by both sides for nearly a year, US District Judge Denise Cote offered her opinion during a pretrial hearing last week about the case — although she cautioned that it was a "tentative" view.
May 15, 2013
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has called Apple's defense of its ebook practices "unconvincing" in a filing related to an upcoming antitrust case. Apple stands accused of colluding with major publishers to raise the price of ebooks with the launch of its iBooks app and store. The publishers and Apple have defended their actions as an attempt to break Amazon's grip on the market. However, all five of the named publishers in the case have settled with the DoJ, accepting terms that would prevent similar collusion from occurring again and leaving Apple alone to fight its corner.Read Article >
In a filing yesterday, the DoJ detailed an email sent by Apple's Steve Jobs to News Corporation's Rupert Murdoch — News Corp. is the parent company of HarperCollins, one of the publishers named in the original complaint. In the email, Jobs told Murdoch he could either continue to have Amazon price ebooks at $9.99, or "throw in with Apple and see if we can all make a go of this to create a real mainstream ebooks market at $12.99 and $14.99."
Apr 19, 2013
The European Commission's investigation into Apple and major book publishers over ebook price-fixing may soon come to an end after Penguin became the last agency to offer a settlement in the antitrust case. The Commission today published a new notice on its website inviting comments from "interested parties" on Penguin's proposal to terminate existing pricing agreements with Apple which would see it refrain from signing similar agreements for five years.Read Article >
Mar 13, 2013
Judge Denise Cote has granted the Justice Department's request to make Apple CEO Tim Cook sit for a deposition in an ongoing ebook price-fixing lawsuit. The suit originally involved Apple and five major US publishers, all of whom were accused of collaborating to keep prices artificially high. Now, Apple remains the only party that's refused to settle, with a trial currently set for June. If found guilty, Apple faces an injunction against similar conduct going forward, which could potentially hamper future deals.Read Article >
Apple attempted to block Cook's deposition on the grounds that it wasn't necessary since 11 other executives had already testified. The court, however, determined that he likely had information about both Apple's entry into the ebook market and relevant conversations with Steve Jobs. Cote said that the impossibility of requiring Jobs himself to testify justified asking other high-level executives to help fill the gap. Cook, who stepped up as CEO in 2011, is not personally implicated in helping to organize the alleged price-fixing: the Justice Department has suggested that iTunes head Eddy Cue helped manage publisher meetings, with Jobs putting his weight behind negotiations.
Feb 8, 2013
The US Department of Justice has announced that it's settled with Macmillan in an ebook price-fixing case involving Apple and several other publishers. In a statement, the DoJ said Macmillan has agreed to lift restrictions on discounting ebooks, and to report on any joint ventures or collaborations with other publishers. Macmillan, HarperCollins, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette were all accused of conspiring with Apple to raise the prices of their ebooks in response to Amazon's low prices in mid-2012. Three of the publishers almost immediately settled, and Penguin followed suit in December, leaving Macmillan the only holdout besides Apple. Both Macmillan and Penguin's decisions still need to be officially approved after a public comment period.Read Article >
With Macmillan effectively out of the picture, the Department of Justice says it will continue to prosecute Apple alone; it expects a trial to begin in June of this year unless a settlement is reached. The European Union pursued a similar case against Apple and the five publishers, but it accepted a settlement from all except Penguin late last year.
Dec 18, 2012
Book publisher Penguin has just settled with the US Department of Justice over an ongoing ebook price-fixing lawsuit. That leaves only Apple and publisher Macmillan out of the original defendants; Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette all finalized a settlement back in September. Like the other publishers, Penguin will terminate its agreement with Apple and other ebook retailers and will be constrained for two years from entering into any agreements that limit retailers' abilities to offer promotions or discounts on Penguin's ebooks.Read Article >
While Macmillan and Apple appear to still be holding out, there's a chance they could settle sooner or later — both parties settled a similar price-fixing investigation with Europe in early November. That said, Apple has long insisted that it has done nothing wrong, so a reversal of its position is far from a sure thing. With more and more defendants in the DOJ's case electing to settle, however, Apple's defiance may only last so long. Oddly enough, Penguin hasn't settled with the European Commission yet, though the latest word was that talks were ongoing.
Nov 6, 2012
Apple and book publishers may see their ebook price fixing drama come to a close in Europe soon: Reuters reports that EU regulators will accept an offer allowing Amazon and others to sell ebooks at lower prices than Apple, which will reportedly end the antitrust investigation and allow Apple and others to avoid fines. The proposal was offered by Apple, HarperCollins, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster in August. The group was accused of colluding to fix ebook pricing instead of competing with retailers like Amazon. Reuters reports that the EU is likely to accept the offer and announce the decision in December, which would come roughly one year after it announced a formal investigation into price fixing.Read Article >
Apple and publishers are also under fire in the US over alleged price fixing, and federal judge approved a settlement offer from Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette back in September. Apple, MacMillan, and Penguin have yet to offer or agree to a settlement — but they may not blink in the US case. All three parties have been defiant so far, claiming that the Department of Justice's accusations about price fixing are false.
Oct 15, 2012
Customers that purchased an ebook from Amazon between April 2010 and May 2012 will receive a partial refund soon. The Wall Street Journal says that Amazon has begun to email customers informing them that they'll receive between $0.30 and $1.32 for each ebook from the publishers named in the lawsuit — namely Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, and their subsidiaries. The top-tier credits will be reserved for titles that made The New York Times' bestsellers list at any point between April 2010 and May 2012. Refunds will arrive in the form of an account credit, although you will be able to request a check instead.Read Article >
The refund is the result of an investigation into price-fixing by Apple and major publishers. The defendants agreed on a settlement with a number of State Attorneys General back in August, but consumers won't receive a credit until courts approve the agreement at a hearing next February. Barnes & Noble told The Wall Street Journal that it will be sending a similar email to its customers soon, but in the meantime you can check out an official FAQ that explains eligibility and the refund process in detail.
Sep 19, 2012
Apple and four major book publishers have agreed to terminate their existing agreement for selling ebooks at higher prices as part of the ongoing European Union antitrust investigation into ebook sales practices. Under the new settlement, the "agency" agreement between Apple and publishers is abolished; instead, retailers are free to set the price of ebooks anywhere they choose over the next two years, provided that the value of the discounts offered does not exceed the value of the sales commissions the retailer receives from the publisher. Additionally, the clauses built into ebook sales contracts that prevented publishers from having their books sold for less than they were sold by Apple have also been done away with for at least the next five years.Read Article >
In a statement to The Wall Street Journal, publisher Hachette Livre said it believes its agreement with Apple "was in the best longer-term interests of the whole book universe," but decided that "the costs, length, and distractions of the proceedings before the European Commission would be too disruptive to its business and to the development of ebook markets in general." This development comes a few weeks after Apple and four major publishers decided to offer discounted ebooks in an effort to end the EU's antitrust investigation. While the EU hasn't yet formally closed its look into ebook business practices, this new agreement should go a long way towards resolving the issues the EU has been investigating for the better part of a year.
Sep 10, 2012
Just a few days after a federal judge approved a settlement offer by several major book publishers who were sued for allegedly fixing the prices of ebooks, Amazon has already begun discounting titles from one of the publishers. A number of ebooks from HarperCollins — which was part of the settlement along with Hachette and Simon & Schuster — are being offered at discounted prices, with an Amazon spokesperson confirming to paidContent that "we are happy to again be lowering prices on a broad assortment of HarperCollins titles."Read Article >
There's no word yet on whether or not ebooks from the other two publishers will start being discounted as well. While it may seem like things moved very fast, it shouldn't be too surprising that the deal was made quickly — when the settlement was initially reported last Friday, Amazon's Jay Marine told Reuters that ebook prices would be going down "soon." We've reached out to Amazon for more information about the changes and will update should we hear back.
Sep 6, 2012Read Article >
The financial terms of the settlement, which was originally offered back in April, have not been released, though the judge said that the settlement was in the public interest. According to the original announcement of the settlement, the publishers are expected to end their "anticompetitive most-favored-nation agreements with Apple and other ebook retailers." Litigation against Apple and the remaining two publishers by the US is expected to continue unless a settlement is reach with them as well.
Aug 31, 2012Read Article >
Apple and four major European publishers are offering to sell ebooks at a discount in an attempt to end an EU antitrust investigation into price-fixing. The news comes from an unnamed source at Reuters, who adds that the discount would last for two years. The publishers, which include giants like Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster, were accused of colluding to fix ebook pricing at a certain level instead of competing, possibly "with the help of Apple." According to Reuters, the deal specified that other retailers, such as Amazon, could not sell the books at a lower price. We've reached out to the parties involved in the story to confirm its accuracy, and will update you when we hear back.
Aug 30, 2012
Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster were quick to strike settlements in state antitrust lawsuits brought earlier this year over alleged ebook price fixing. Now, the two sides have settled on a payout, as well, with the publishers agreeing to pay a total of $69 million to consumers across 49 states and five US territories.Read Article >
The proposed settlement would go into effect 30 days after being approved by a federal judge in New York. At that point, customers who purchased agency-priced ebooks between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012 would be eligible to receive restitution, though amounts will vary by state. Consumers in Connecticut, for instance, would receive up to $1.26 million in restitution, while those in Hawaii would receive up to $300,000. (Minnesota is the only state not involved in the settlement.)
Jul 23, 2012
Department of Justice defends original price fixing settlement, calls Apple and publisher comments 'self-serving'
After receiving 868 public comments on its investigation of possible ebook price fixing, the US Department of Justice has responded (PDF) with harsh words for Apple and major publishers, saying that it will continue with the case and settlements as planned. While reiterating many of its original claims, it also argued against its critics, particularly those who believe ebook sellers and publishers were responding to monopolistic behavior by Amazon. Antitrust laws were "enacted to protect competition, not competitors," the statement says, characterizing the complaints of Apple and others as "self-serving."Read Article >
While the Justice Department maintains that it found evidence of predatory behavior by Amazon "lacking," it says that such behavior would still not justify a conspiracy. "Even if there were evidence to substantiate claims of 'monopolization' or 'predatory pricing,' they would not be sufficient to justify self-help in the form of collusion." It also argues that far from increasing innovation, "Apple's entry into the ebook market was not immediately successful." Instead, Barnes & Noble was responsible for much of Amazon's lost market share, and some innovations Apple has received credit for — like color ebooks — were already in the works.
Jun 8, 2012
Barnes & Noble today filed a comment with the US Department of Justice objecting to a proposed settlement in the government's price-fixing lawsuit against several book publishers. In a 26-page document, the retailer slams the DOJ for attempting to regulate an industry "that it little understands." B&N asserts the settlement as it stands now is "overboard" and would ultimately see American consumers come out on the losing end — forced to endure "higher overall average e-book and hardback prices and less choice, both in how to obtain books and in what books are available."Read Article >
While the DOJ alleges that the agency model agreed upon by Apple and publishers has caused ebook prices to rise across the board, Barnes & Noble tells a considerably different tale. It paints the early days of the e-reader industry as a bleak period which saw Amazon catapult ahead of competitors thanks to its wholesale pricing strategy. When the bookseller launched its Nook hardware (and companion ebook store) in 2009, Amazon enjoyed more than 90 percent of ebook sales, and B&N claims it lost "substantial money" as it struggled to remain competitive with the online retailer's below-cost $9.99 titles. Ultimately the court filing reveals that the company was failing to gain significant market share, fortunes which changed for the better with the introduction of agency agreements.


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Peanut gene breakthrough may lead to allergen free nuts
Scientists have identified a new gene in peanuts that codes for a
protein with no apparent allergic effects, research that opens up
the possibility of allergen-free GM nuts.
Kefir ingredients could help food allergies
Drinking the probiotic, fermented milk, kefir, decreased the
allergic response to ovalbumin (egg white) in mice, and may offer
hope to preventing food allergies, suggests a new study from
Latex threat - it's all hype, says group
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) is pushing ahead with product
testing methods after scientists found new ways to detect latex
allergens in food packaging.
New allergen labeling to boost growing 'free-from' market?
Consumers who suffer from food allergies are set to benefit from
new "plain English" allergen labeling rules, which also
provide food and beverage manufacturers with the opportunity to tap
into the growing "free-from"...
Nut allergies may not last, says study
As Europe prepares for tougher rules on allergen labeling, a new
study has found that allergies to almonds, pecans, cashews and
other tree nuts may not be lifelong.
Reducing risk, food allergen testing on the up
As countdown to new rules on allergen labelling begins, UK food
laboratories gear up for growth in testing procedures.
Food makers can do more to avert food allergy risk, says UK group
With a European crackdown on food labels for nuts and other
allergens imminent, food makers have their work cut out, says UK
Food allergies: a problem and an opportunity
A study analyzing food allergies and intolerance in the United
States suggests that the "free-from" market has far from peaked.
Food formulations to use new allergen-free apple?
Food makers looking to slice potential allergens from their food
formulations will benefit from a new allergen-free apple designed
by researchers in The Netherlands, reports Lindsey Partos.
Food allergy scientists to improve food formulations
Food makers using potential food allergens in their formulations
will benefit from the findings of a new food consortium, reports
Fermentation method cuts peanut allergens?
As Europe prepares for tougher rules on allergen labelling, a new
study could help food makers by slicing away the allergenicity of
peanut products, reports Lindsey Partos.
Biotrace launches two new allergen testing kits
UK-based Biotrace International has launched two allergen testing
kits for detecting egg and peanut traces in food.
Study urges food industry to multiply peanut testing
With the US food allergy bill deadline approaching, a new study has
found that food industry peanut testing kits are around 95 per cent
accurate when used together.
Lupin flour and allergic reactions, case building continues
High protein source lupin flour continues to attract attention
following new reports that this food ingredient used in pasta and
bread products could provoke severe allergic reactions, reports
RSSL extends food allergen tracking test to slash risk
In light of tougher allergen label rules food makers eager to slash
the risk of potentially harmful food allergens in their product
range may welcome the expansion of its testing portfolio, says UK
laboratory Reading Scientific Services,...

domain: news


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News By Tag
News By Place
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“We’re really keen to get brokers and sales people on screen talking directly into the camera to their potential customers no matter where they are” Luke continues. “This TV-style approach has generated a real buzz and is exactly the kind of high-quality media that today’s online user is coming to expect”.
Videos are hosted on YouTube, which makes for simple embedding within existing promotional material and also means that 1080p high definition video is a reality. “YouTube is now the world’s second largest search engine which means that our videos get found and our clients’ messages get seen worldwide by a potentially massive audience”.
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)Source: Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.) – The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday as the struggling Montvale-based grocery store operator aims to restructure its debts.
The 151-year-old company — which operates supermarket chains such as A&P, Pathmark and Food Basics — said it had secured $800 million in so-called debtor-in-possession financing from JPMorgan Chase & Co. that would allow its 395 stores nationwide to continue operating.
“We have taken this difficult but necessary step to enable A&P to fully implement our comprehensive financial and operational restructuring,” Sam Martin, A&P’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “While we have made substantial progress on the operational and merchandising aspects of our turnaround plan, we concluded that we could not complete our turnaround without availing ourselves of Chapter 11.”
A&P listed about $2.5 billion in assets and $3.2 billion in liabilities in its bankruptcy filing.. The company has 41,000 employees, 95 percent of whom are covered by union agreements, according to the filing.
Harvey Whille, president of UFCW Local 1262 in Clifton, which represents 4,000 Pathmark employees in New York and New Jersey, blasted the company for filing for bankruptcy so close to the holidays.
“You’ve got people who have given their lives to this company,” Whille said, adding: “It’s a very frightening thing.”
Whille, who said the company had yet to officially notify his union Sunday, said the union had retained a bankruptcy attorney and financial analyst.
“We’re going to protect the rights of our members to the fullest extent of the law,” Whille said.
Founded in 1859, A&P also operates supermarket chains Waldbaum’s, Best Cellars, The Food Emporium and Super Fresh. The company’s bankruptcy filing follows plans announced earlier this year to close 25 stores in five states and sell six Pathmark stores.
Faced with growing competition from wholesale clubs, supercenters and drugstores, A&P has suffered a string of money-losing quarters.
The company said it lost $154 million in its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 11, according to regulatory filings.
A&P’s first store was in New York City and sold tea, coffee and spices. It expanded across the nation and by the 1930s was the largest grocer in the country.
Along with its bankruptcy filing, A&P also announced that Frederic “Jake” Brace, who was named chief administrative officer in August, will lead the company’s restructuring.
This article contains material from The Associated Press and Bloomberg News. E-mail: email@example.com
Originally published by This article contains material from The Associated Press and Bloomberg News. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org.
(c) 2010 Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
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In a bid to lure more customers, Maruti Suzuki, India's largest car maker announced that the company will continue offering discounts in India, which was announced in the end of March.
Though the other auto majors in India are mulling over a price hike for their vehicle in the country, Maruti said that it will not think of a price hike unless the auto market sentiments see a change.
"We offered a discount of ₹17,500 on an average across models in the fourth quarter (ended 31 March). Discounts are going to remain unless the market condition improves," Maruti Suzuki India Chief Financial Officer Ajay Seth told PTI, reported NDTV.
In India, the automobile industry has been witnessing paltry sales over the past couple of months and the market condition continues to remain the same, despite the rigorous attempts made by the auto makers. The excise duty reduction announced in the interim budget also did not boost up the sales of the vehicles in the country. Beside the poor sales of the vehicles, auto makers in the country are also battling the currency flux.
Currently, Maruti is offering a discount of ₹50,500 for Swift diesel and ₹43,000 for Swift Dzire, according to AutoCar India report. Maruti's other models - Celerio, Alto, SX4, Omni, WagonR, Ritz, Ertiga and Alto K1 - are also enjoying the benefit of price cut, ranging from ₹11,500to ₹91,500.
In March, Maruti had posted 5.5 percent decline in total sales to 1,13,350 units, as against the 1,19,937 units in the corresponding month last year.
The domestic sales of the company witnessed a dip by 5.2 percent in the month of March 2014, as against 1,07,890 units in March 2013. The export of the company also declined by eight percent to 11,081 units in March, against 12,047 units in the corresponding month last year.


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Someone, somewhere is set to have a very tasty house party this weekend. Fabric's Room Two soundsystem has sold for £11,700.
The Martin Audio setup, replaced by a Pioneer Pro Audio rig at the London club, was put up for sale on eBay 10 days ago and clocked up 95 bids.
Eight WSX Wavefront series, folded horn subs, four Blackline H3T three-way boxes and four Blackline H2 two-way boxes are among the package.
Half of the proceeds will go towards a medical fundraiser for Corsica Studios co-founder Amanda Moss who's suffering from a rare form of cancer.
Dave Turner is Mixmag's Digital News Editor, follow him on Twitter


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With a rapidly increasing population of 1.2 billion people, India is closing in on the Chinese in terms of population and is becoming one of the largest car markets in the world. Their rapidly increasing population has automakers envisioning that in the near future India will be the cause of another massive surge in car sales, despite India having a car market that is less than one fourth the size of the Chinese market. Auto makers believe the rapid growth potential could be worth looking into investing heavily into the area to hedge their bets and get in on the market early.
Currently the Indian Market for light vehicles is dominated by Maruti Suzuki. Looking at the light vehicle sales of Q1 of 2015, Maruti has over three times the number of vehicles as the second producer(317,000 vehicles). The other top producers are Hyundai (111,000),Tata (87,600), Honda (58,000), and Toyota (37,800). An assumed reason for a such a prominent role of Japanese manufacturers in India is due to the Indian market having less of a backlash than the Chinese market and Japanese manufacturers are wanting to ensure they can get a position of power in the Indian market.
The South Korean carmaker Hyundai Kia Motor Group is also trying to gain more ground in the Indian market and plans on investing $1.1 billion to build their first Indian factory in a deal that they plan on signing today. The plant will produce a “compact sedan and a sport utility vehicle tailored for the Indian market”(Indian Express) and will have a maximum production capacity of 300,000 vehicles a year. Its believed that Kia is trying to recover from a sales slump in their biggest market, China, during march which has been “attributed to a political standoff and rising competition from local brands” (Indian Express).


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Amazon.com Inc., aiming to bolster its brick-and-mortar operations, has discussed acquiring some RadioShack Corp. locations after the electronics chain files for bankruptcy, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
Amazon has considered using the RadioShack stores as showcases for the Seattle-based company’s hardware, as well as potential pickup and drop-off centers for online customers, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the deliberations are private.
The possible move, discussed as part of RadioShack’s looming trip to bankruptcy court, would represent Amazon’s biggest push into traditional retail. Amazon joins other potential bidders, including Sprint Corp. and the investment group behind Brookstone, in evaluating RadioShack stores, people familiar with the situation said. RadioShack has more than 4,000 U.S. locations and is moving toward a deal to sell a portion and close the rest, according to some of the people. Sprint has discussed buying 1,300 to 2,000, they said.
I imagine Amazon is looking for a place where they can demo the Fire phone, Amazon Echo, and Amazon Kindle devices. Maybe they’ll keep copies of the Washington Post by the checkout.
If Radio Shack does shutter its doors, I will miss them. Where else can I buy solder? Resistors? Wire? I guess Amazon wins again.


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RITTENHOUSE — Stock's Tyler Akin and the Marks (Corpus and Capriotti) behind ReAnimator Coffee have joined forced to open a Italian-inspired all-day cafe on Walnut Street. Counter-service during the day, Res Ipsa will focus on a small menu of coffee drinks, grab-n-go breakfasts, and a salad-and-sandwich-heavy lunch menu. At night, executive chef Michael Vincent Ferrari shows off his skills with Sicilian cookery: lots of seafood, simple pastas and entrees to share. [EPHL]
FISHTOWN — Below the El, just north of Girard Avenue, a Venezuelan restaurant called TartAreperia 18.64 opened, serving traditional arepas and not-so-traditional arepas — "tart-style", built into cylindrical cups — plus, larger plates of Venezuelan specialties. [Philly.com]
RITTENHOUSE — Friday Saturday Sunday was a classic restaurant born out of the 70s, and stood the test of time, making it well into 2015 before it was sold. After an 18-month building rehab, new owners Chad Williams and Hannah Whitaker have reopened the Rittenhouse staple with all new everything except for the name. The menu's new American, and the cocktails by bartender Paul McDonald are both visually stunning and delightful to drink. [Foobooz]
POINT BREEZE — Ori Feibush, a major real estate developer in South Philly, furthered his Point Breeze domination with a new bar at 21st and Federal Streets called Burg's Hideaway Lounge (before that, it was the short-lived Buckminster's). Feibush took it back to simpler times when music came from a jukebox, beers were no more than $6, and a burger was less than $10. [Foobooz]
QUEEN VILLAGE — Ambler, PA's vegetable-forward restaurant Mi Lah Vegetarian, opened an offshoot in the former Hosteria da Elio space at 615 South 3rd Street. Unlike it's Ambler counterpart, Queen Village's Mi Lah will be focused on dim sum and small plates—all vegetarian or vegan, of course. [Philly.com]
BREWERYTOWN — Brian Duffy of Spike TV's Bar Rescue teamed up with Flying Fish Brewing Co. to open the 191-seat Flying Fish Crafthouse at 31st and West Master Streets. Inside, two full bars will each pour 12 tap Flying Fish brews while Duffy's menu makes sure to hit all of the beer garden/brewpub marks: sandwiches, burgers, and pizzas.
FISHTOWN — Add "Trenton-style" to Fishtown's vast array of pizza options now that SLiCE is open at 431 East Girard Avenue. Owners Marlo and Jason Dilks promise an all-organic menu of pizza, calzones, strombolis, and other Italian treats. [EPHL]
MAIN LINE — Ardmore gets a taste of Malaysian with Sam's Asian Cuisine at 202 Lancaster Avenue. On the menu: roti canai, coconut curry chicken, and sushi. [Philly.com]
UNIVERSITY CITY — Blaze Fast Fire'd Pizza, the Lebron James-backed fast-casual pizza operation, is now doling out 180-second pizza to the Drexel University student body and faculty. 3400 Lancaster Avenue's Blaze is the company's second Philadelphia location, the other one slinging pies on Temple's campus.
WASHINGTON SQUARE WEST — Dan dan noodles, salt and pepper squid, and cumin stir-frys are now available at Walnut Street's new bi-level Szechuan restaurant Spicy Memory is now open on Walnut Street, right next door to the Wendy's near Jefferson University Hospital. [Philly.com]
WEST PHILLY — Philly's first pay-what-you-can restaurant, EAT Cafe, opened in University City at 3820 Lancaster Avenue. Drexel's Center for Hunger-Free Communities and Center for Hospitality & Sports Management partnered with the Vetri Community Partnership to run the operation. Dinner is served from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, with Sunday dinners planned for the future. [Philly.com]
MAIN LINE — PokéOno brings the trendiest Hawaiian fish-on-rice meal of 2016 to the Main Line at 59 West Lancaster Avenue. The menu is typical: pick your base, your raw fish (or tofu) of choice, and as many toppings as you'd like on top. [Philly.com]
PORT RICHMOND — The crew behind such Northeast greats as Grey Lodge Pub,Hop Angel Brauhaus, and Sawtown Tavern reopened Bonk's Bar, an iconic Port Richmond watering hole known for cheap beer, crabs, and good vibes. On the menu: four types of crabs, sandwiches, burgers, and craft beer. [EPHL]
RITTENHOUSE — Washington Square West's fried chicken specialists Chix & Wings have expanded to Rittenhouse with a rice bowl, sandwich, wings, and salad stop called Chix & Bowls at 28 South 20th Street. [Foobooz]
CENTER CITY — Michael Schulson blew the top off Center City with his new majestic beaut Harp & Crown, an American bar and restaurant at 1516 Sansom Street. The top floor is a 140-seat hall of vintage grandeur, and the basement is more of a lounge with smoking-room-vibes and a shimmery bowling alley. [EPHL]
BELLA VISTA — The family behind the nation's oldest Italian restaurant Ralph's opened Bar One, a new restaurant across the street (767 South 9th Street) specializing in cocktails, brunch, and Italian-American bar food. [EPHL]
KING OF PRUSSIA — Marc Vetri and Co. venture into the Roman-style pizza game at the King of Prussia mall's new Pizzeria Vetri Square Pie. The menu is simple: square pizza by the slice or half-tray, and a variety of rotolos, the fan-favorite Cinnabon-like savory pizza creation found at all Pizzeria Vetri locations. [Foobooz]
SPRING GARDEN — Mike Metzger and Will Lindsay, two industry-vets, took their experiences working in upscale restaurants (White Dog Café, Mercato, Morimoto, Pumpkin and Kensington Quarters between the both of them) and opened Stockyard Sandwich Co., a farm-focused, ingredient-driven sandwich shop at 1541 Spring Garden Street. [EPHL]
RITTENHOUSE — The city's first poutine shop, Shoo Fry, opened at 132 South 17th Street with a Philly-centric menu featuring cheesesteak, scrapple, and cream chipped beef poutine, scrapple sliders, and Little Baby's ice cream shakes. [EPHL]
SOUTH PHILLY — On Thursday, October 20, the Wells Fargo Center became the first NBA/NHL arena with its very own Shake Shack. Menu items are similar to that of its four Philly-area counterparts. [Broad Street Hockey]
KING OF PRUSSIA — The King of Prussia Town Center now has east coast powerhouse Davio's on its roster. Among the Brandt bone-in ribeye chops and fresh pastas, the Northern Italian restaurant will still offer its spring roll-heavy bar menu, including, of course, the venerable cheesesteak spring roll. Lunch begins on October 31.
OLD CITY — Benjamin Moore, most recently the sous chef at Lacroix, opened his Old City BYOB Wister over the weekend at 26 North 3rd Street (which, not too long ago, was a Mike Stollenwerk seafood restaurant called 26 North). Moore's New American menu is seafood-centric and hyper-seasonal (just a few days in, he's already changing up the menu). In 2-3 weeks, brunch will launch, and that's a very exciting thing since he was the man running the Lacroix brunch show — an Eater Philly essential.
CALLOWHILL — Yet again, a Philly food truck grows beyond the confines of its mobile abode, and opts for something a bit more formal. Foo Truck is now Foo Kitchen, a new breakfast and brunch option at 1301 Vine Street, just north of Chinatown. On the menu: basically whatever Asian-American cookery chef-owner George Pan feels like making for the day. Breakfast starts at 7 a.m. daily, and lunch goes from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. [Philly.com]
LOGAN SQUARE — The crew behind Matt & Marie's has given Center City lunchers a new fast-casual healthy option: Kayu, a soup and salad shop all about "feel-good eating" at 1717 Arch Street. It's the normal quick-serve model, so pick from either eight signature salads and two signature soups, or build your own creations from a variety of healthful proteins, super foods, and sauces. Hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., daily.
QUEEN VILLAGE — Husband and wife team Chris D'Ambro and Marina De Oliveira are unveiling their new Queen Village jewel box today, two doors down from their rockin'-and-rollin' reinterpretation of neighborhood icon Southwark. Ambra, the 16-seat, $65 prix fixe, special-occasion restaurant opens tonight starting at 6 p.m. (make your reservations here). Floor to ceiling, Chris's brother Joseph D'Ambro built out the gorgeous 705 S. 4th Street space, including the custom tables and lighting fixtures—the end-result is a beautiful, albeit tiny, destination-Italian restaurant in a neighborhood so booming with restaurants as of late.
RITTENHOUSE — Yesterday, The Rittenhouse Hotel welcomed its brand new high-end Italian restaurant, Scarpetta, to its new location overlooking Rittenhouse Square. Inside, it's all very minimalist and modern—a stark difference from the hotel's previous tenant Smith & Wollensky. Take the virtual tour here. The menu hits all the brand favorites: spaghetti with tomato and basil, polenta with truffled mushrooms, and braised short ribs. Hours are dinner-only, with lunch soon to follow. Make your reservations here.
QUEEN VILLAGE — Much to the city's surprise, Royal Sushi & Izakaya, the Japanese pub by Stephen Simons and David Frank, opened over the weekend. The menu runs the gamut of typical izakaya fair, plus sushi in the back led by venerable sushi chefs Matt and Jesse Ito. The kitchen's open till 1 a.m., and sake, shochu, and Japanese whisky pour till 2 a.m.


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Bloomberg, via a state-owned Chinese business newspaper, is saying the iPhone 6 won't be going on sale in China this year. Supposedly Apple has been unable to reach agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-16/china-mobile-expands-4g-rollout-amid-phone-subsidy-cuts.html
As in past years employees can reserve one iPhone for themselves, but this year only the iPhone 6 and not the 6+. That serves as further evidence that the 6+ is in short supply. FWIW Kuo had come to the same conclusion well before the actual launch IIRC, guessing it might be November before it became widely available.


text: Akanksha Kaushik, an instructional designer, is usually a disgruntled shopper. The 34-year-old from New Delhi dreads apparel shopping. She doesn\u2019t like going to stores, as she is unable to get a size that accommodates her heavy arms and thighs, and online shopping is a mix of trial and error. \u201cThe ill-fitting clothes have put me off ready-to-wear outfits completely,\u201d she says. \u201cIf I match my waist size, I have to sport clothing that\u2019s tight on my arms and if I pay attention to my arms, the waist goes for a toss,\u201d she rues. Kaushik may be among the growing number of customers who are now opting for customised clothing. So it\u2019s not without reason that the good old neighbourhood darzi is now a corporate entity, running an online portal and delivering your choice of western or Indian attire. Retail giants in India, however, are missing out on sales, as the likes of Kaushik would rather get their clothes stitched than pick up ready-to-wear attire that needs altering. But all this could soon be a thing of the past when the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), under the aegis of the ministry of textiles, comes up with a standardised \u2018India Size\u2019 chart for the ready-to-wear garment industry. For this, a National Sizing Survey will be carried out across six Indian cities\u2014New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Shillong and Kolkata\u2014which will collect sample measurements of 25,000 people starting June. Interestingly, this is the biggest sample size ever undertaken for such a survey. \u201cDuring the Textiles India conference held in July 2017, there was a round table on the \u2018India Size\u2019 project,\u201d Sarada Muraleedharan, director general, NIFT, tells us. \u201cAt that time, leaders of the industry came forward and said they wanted a national size chart. This included big e-commerce and retail giants. We had a discussion with the Fashion Design Council of India as well. and designers also said they were interested in a size chart,\u201d says Muraleedharan, adding, \u201cFinally, it\u2019s being executed.\u201d Size matters Globally, 14 countries, including China, Spain and Germany, have their own size charts. In India, most home-grown brands adopt US\/UK size charts, while international brands sell their global sizes. \u201cCurrently, we are using international sizes, but Indians aren\u2019t anthropometrically made the same way,\u201d says Noopur Anand, a professor at NIFT-Delhi and the principle investigator of the India Size project. \u201cIf you ask somebody their size, they will give different sizes for different brands, so what we are looking at is to have a numeric value, which I can pick up from anywhere in the world,\u201d she adds. NIFT has already put out a tender to acquire heavy-duty, high-tech, whole-body 3D scanners that would be used for the survey to extract hundreds of measurements from a person. After this, the NIFT will work out a weighted average to develop a comprehensive India size chart. \u201cThe numeric nomenclature will be the closest to the Indian body type. We are also taking inputs from experts who have undertaken sizing surveys internationally. Once the basic sizing is out, we will further customise the data to get archetypes for different body types, like \u2018petite\u2019, \u2018pear-shaped\u2019, etc,\u201d says Anand. Around 120 anthropometric elements\u2014including height, weight, waist size, hip size, bust size, wrist measurement, etc\u2014will be included in the survey. The project, to be conducted over a period of two-three years, will incur a total cost of Rs 31 crore and the resultant size chart (expected to be out by 2021) will be available at no cost for retailers. In the absence of a standardised size chart providing well-fitted garments, most big players have come up with their own sizes that they feel best cater to their clientele. Take, for instance, Fabindia, one of the country\u2019s oldest retail chain stores, which started offering ready-to-wear garments in the Eighties. \u201cAs ready-to-wear was a new and relatively unexplored area at that point, we evolved our own size charts and grading logic. this was followed by others as well. Over the years, we have further evolved our sizing based on feedback, research and customer expectations,\u201d says Charu Sharma, director, Fabindia, adding, \u201cThe feedback is an ongoing process, which helps us evolve sizing and fits. Over the last few decades, we have evolved fits and sizing that answer the needs of Indian consumers.\u201d Then there is aLL, a clothing brand of Future Group, which caters exclusively to plus-sized people. aLL, too, developed its sizes through market inputs, observation and customer feedback. \u201cOur country is different-bodied and following international sizes wasn\u2019t a great idea for us,\u201d says Hetal Kotak, CEO, aLL, whose online portal has seen a 300-400% jump in business in the last four months. \u201cIt\u2019s largely because we offer well-fitted and suitably-styled clothing to Indian women, keeping in mind several details like post-pregnancy shape and post-marriage weight gain,\u201d says Kotak, adding that their exchange rate is as low as 6-7%. Women\u2019s branded apparel-maker TCNS Clothing, too, commissioned an anthropometric study of Indian women in the early 2000s and introduced six sizes. The company, which sells women\u2019s clothing under the brands W, Aurelia and Wishful, utilises in-depth market research and data analysis to emphasise its fits. \u201cIn 2010-11, we revisited the study undertaken to assess apparel sizes and introduced a seventh size to offer the best fit possible to our customers,\u201d says Anant Daga, managing director, TCNS Clothing, which filed draft papers for an initial public offer last month. But even though big retailers have spent years researching the Indian body type, they are looking at the developments keenly. Fabindia has \u201cwelcomed the initiative\u201d and is \u201clooking forward\u201d to the survey\u2019s inputs and findings. Kotak of aLL agrees: \u201cThis survey should help everyone\u2014brands and customers,\u201d he says. A point reiterated by others. \u201cSome of our sizes are altered as per the regions we cater to,\u201d says Ajay Chablani, head of sourcing, FBB, a retail apparel brand under Future Group. \u201cIn the north-east, for instance, our medium size would be smaller than what it is in the rest of India. In the south, the medium size would be a little larger than the normal range, as it\u2019s a different body type there,\u201d says Chablani, adding, \u201cSizing is a vast subject. So if the NIFT comes up with more data than what is available today, it would definitely make sense to incorporate the changes.\u201d But not everyone is convinced. Fashion designer Anita Dongre, whose retail brand AND caters to the contemporary western-wear market for women, says she won\u2019t adopt the national size. \u201cWe follow the UK sizes, but we tweak the sizing, keeping in mind the Indian woman. The lack of a national size hasn\u2019t affected the brand in the Indian or international market,\u201d says Dongre, adding, \u201cSo we won\u2019t be carrying out any changes.\u201d Customise & cater As per a 2016 report by management consulting firm Technopak, the Indian fashion retail market, whose size was Rs 2,97,091 crore in 2016, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.7% to reach a market size of Rs 7,48,398 crore by 2026. Interestingly, over 10% of this market consists of online portals\u2014a number that\u2019s expected to go up to 30% by 2020. Also, according to a study by India Retailing, a website that keeps track of retail news, the ready-to-stitch segment in India accounted for a 20% share of the apparel market in 2015, growing at an annual rate of 5.5%. To tap this market, ready-to-wear retail giant Biba, which specialises in women\u2019s ethnic-wear, partnered with Amazon India for a ready-to-stitch collection in January. The demand for fitted silhouettes has also led to the opening of several customised clothing outlets. One such is Corporate Collars, a custom tailoring retail store in Mumbai, which started operations in 2013. Corporate Collars offers \u2018tailoring on wheels\u2019 where a mobile van goes to a customer\u2019s doorstep to customise his\/her clothes. \u201cThe consumer has evolved from not being bothered about the fit of his clothes to making well-fitted clothes his priority when buying either off the rack or custom-tailored clothes,\u201d says Harssh Chheda, founder, Corporate Collars. The company, which offers customised western-wear for both men and women, is currently seeing an year-on-year client growth of 140-150%. It was a market full of ill-fitting clothes that led Chheda to start his own venture. \u201cWhen I returned to India after graduating from the US, I could not find the right fit for my clothes. A medium size was too large for me and a small was not big enough. Frustrated by the lack of options, I decided to start Corporate Collars,\u201d he says. Then there are online portals that offer \u201ccustom-tailored\u201d ready-to-wear options. Take, for instance, FableStreet, an online professional-wear portal for women. To tap the market that exists in the absence of well-fitted ready-to-wear clothes, FableStreet is following a middle path\u2014it offers ready-to-wear clothes (70%) and customised clothing (30%). \u201cNIFT\u2019s survey is a great initiative and much needed. Being such a large industry and not have our own size chart is a big disadvantage that we face,\u201d says Ayushi Gudwani, founder and CEO, FableStreet. It was her own experience of not finding \u201cproper-fitting\u201d western-wear for women in the Indian market that made Gudwani open her online store in September 2016. To develop her brand\u2019s size chart, she did market research for a year, taking measurements of around 1,000 women, and got a basic chart developed for the portal, which caters to clients across the country and even internationally. \u201cWe have seen a 200% growth year-on-year since our launch,\u201d says Gudwani, adding, \u201cOur exchange rate is less than 5% compared with the 15-30% seen by most other players.\u201d It\u2019s this lacunae of people not being able to find their \u2018right fit\u2019 that the NIFT believes it would fill once the India Size is released. \u201cWe are moving into fitted silhouettes for both men and women. In India, with various ethnicities, there are different body types and these can\u2019t be boxed into \u2018small\u2019, \u2018large\u2019, \u2018medium\u2019, \u2018extra-large\u2019, etc. The need for a proper size then becomes all the more crucial,\u201d says Muraleedharan of NIFT. Till that happens, though, Kaushik and her ilk may have to spend a few more harrowing hours outside trial rooms of different brands or keep visiting their neighbourhood darzi.


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Inside Bond Street’s content marketing strategy
High interest rates and a downmarket reputation don’t usually make for good marketing. But online lender Bond Street is trying to turn that messaging around with a content marketing strategy that focuses more on user experience than the nitty gritty.
“That’s really helped us organically build a reputation within certain industry categories and geographies,” said Michael Jones, director of community development at Bond Street. “We’ve concentrated our efforts towards initiatives in which we can serve as both an advocate and resources to small businesses.”
Many small business lenders strive to build a community by creating products and services to help people beyond just a transaction, said Ian Benton, an analyst in Javelin Strategy’s small business practice. And it’s not just the nonbank lenders. Banks are just as focused on the customer relationship, which was once built and developed in person around a transaction. Technology has widened the gap between the borrower and the lender so much so that the lending industry is almost entirely commoditized and shopping for lenders is easy.
“Customers don’t need to have the previous relationship, so banks and fintech providers are looking for reasons to strengthen those customer relationships,” he said.
How eos skincare rode a TikTok trend to sales increases
Eos skincare is the latest brand to benefit from a viral TikTok video after its product was touted by a user advising on best shaving practices.
‘Still don’t have an answer’: For some media buyers, unresponsive Facebook ad reps are causing frustration
Media buyers say unresponsive Facebook ad reps aren’t a new problem, but some say the issue has gotten worse with the looming iOS 14 update from Apple.
Member ExclusiveCase Study: How BMW Group broke into the esports market
After successful gaming activations, BMW Group is leaning even further into the space as the pandemic pushed new players online.
SponsoredVideo: How employer rewards and incentives changed in 2020
The nature of employer rewards programs has transformed, accelerated by the events of 2020 — a year of sweeping change. Employees shifted to digital, their preferences moved to digital wallets and they asked for new and surprising ways to use the rewards their employers delivered. In these new interviews, employer rewards experts talk about the evolving […]
‘I felt like I was pushed into being a stay-at-home mom’: Confessions of a former ad exec on being fired after becoming a mother
In this edition of our Confessions series, where we exchange anonymity for candor, we hear from a former agency director about getting fired and struggling to find a job amidst navigating motherhood and launching a new project.
To get the attention of millennials and Gen Z, Ace Hardware is turning to influencers
Ace Hardware is adding a paid and organic influencer strategy to its marketing mix to allow the brand to make content that “doesn’t feel like an ad."


text:
Gas exceeds $4 in four states, D.C.
NEW YORK - Gasoline is now more than $4 per gallon in four states and Washington, D.C., as a three-month surge in pump prices continues.
The nation's capital, Illinois, California, Alaska and Hawaii all had average gas prices above $4 on Wednesday, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. Prices in several other states, including Oregon, Connecticut, New York and Washington, are almost there.
Nationwide, gasoline has soared by nearly 54 cents this year to an average of $3.81 per gallon.
Prices are rising as service stations pass along the higher cost of crude. Benchmark oil prices have risen by nearly 8 percent since January. Oil accounts for about three-quarters of the cost of a gallon of regular gasoline, according to the government.
Pump prices also tend to jump this time of year as gasoline suppliers sell off their remaining stocks to make room for a different grade of gasoline required in the summer. The seasonal switch causes a temporary supply dip.
In other news
A SLIGHT DROP in exports and a rise in imports widened the broadest measure of the U.S. trade deficit at the end of last year. The increase pushed the gap to its widest point in three years. The Commerce Department says the current account trade deficit increased
15.3 percent in the October-December quarter, to
U.S. COMMUNITY banks are gaining strength even though the economy is improving only moderately, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday.
REYNOLDS AMERICAN INC.,
the second-biggest U.S. tobacco company, said Wednesday that it will eliminate about 10 percent of its workforce, or about 540 jobs, by the end of 2014.
- Associated Press


text:
Uganda to benefit from $100 million solar energy project
The funding is from Green light Planet, a US-based company that distributes solar energy products for off-grid homes in the developing countries.
"As a result of this financing we are building the largest rooftop consumer base in the developing world. We are investing especially to expand distribution in Sub-Saharan Africa," Anish Thakkar the company's chief executive officer and co-founder stated.
"Greenlight Planet has established itself as a product leader with a strong brand in the fast growing off-grid energy segment. We are excited to partner with Greenlight Planet and its exceptional management team as the company embarks on its next phase of growth."
The investment expects to reach 100 million off-grid households by 2020. Over 1.2 billion people worldwide live off the electric grid and use dim smoky kerosene lanterns for light. ■


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|By Business Wire||
|January 11, 2013 06:59 PM EST||
Modulo, a leading provider of IT governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solutions, announced highlights from its first International Executive Customer Conference recently held in Washington D.C. The conference brought together CISOs from over 12 leading corporations in North America and Europe as well as industry partners and thought leaders in a collaborative forum to discuss trends and challenges in GRC, Cyber Defense, Critical Infrastructure Protection and Data Privacy.
Key themes for 2013 that emerged from the conference included:
- GRC programs are expanding, including the need to link IT and Enterprise Risk Programs
- Critical Infrastructure Protection programs are evolving to span a broader set of capabilities, including merging information technology with physical technology and techniques
- Cybersecurity technology will impact all business sectors, in the mission to thwart cyber attacks from advanced actors that are growing in scope and increasing in frequency
- Cyber Defense strategies must have security "built in" - it cannot be retrofitted
- Communities of Trust and trusted solutions that can be shared by both the public and private sectors are the only way forward in cyber space
"Cyber attacks are becoming more frequent, more organized and more costly in the damage that they inflict on government administrations, businesses, and economies," advised Lt. General Kenneth Minihan, USAF, former Director of the National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA) and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). "Across all domains of operation, we must identify game changing products, services, and technologies to improve foundations of trust, increase agility and resilience, and assure and empower critical mission infrastructure."
Drawing from a December 2012 TechRadar™ report published by Forrester Research, Principal Analyst and Research Director Chris McClean advised that “the percentage of customers that have implemented a [GRC] product and have plans to expand its footprint in their organization is substantial: 30% for enterprise GRC platforms, 28% for enterprise (and operational) risk management (ERM/ORM) and audit management products, 26% for control monitoring and enforcement products and 25% for IT GRC platforms.” In this new report he adds that “customer feedback and vendor data suggest that technologies that can be deployed to address the broadest set of challenges are on the trajectory of significant success.”1
Modulo hosted a line-up of prominent speakers including Lt. General Kenneth Minihan, Forrester analyst Chris McClean and Modulo International Customer Advisory Board (CAB) members from AIB Banks, BC Hydro, Enbridge, FMC Technologies and Pennsylvania State University.
"By creating a trusted 'think tank' environment, we were able to share and explore innovative approaches to some of the most pressing security and risk challenges," said Sergio Thompson-Flores, CEO, Modulo. "Forums such as the Modulo International Executive Customer Conference are invaluable to guiding strategic direction for Modulo, our customers and partners - and ultimately in shaping the global landscape for GRC. We look forward to building on this forum and extending it to new regions in 2013."
The conference builds on the Modulo International CAB formed earlier this year. This dynamic group of chief security officers, risk officers and information technology executives from global enterprises spanning North America and EMEA in a broad range of industries bring real-world insights into the security threats, regulatory demands and operational challenges facing today’s enterprise environments.
Executive survey results and a report from the conference will be made available in January 2013.
Modulo is a leading global enterprise provider of comprehensive Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) management solutions. Modulo’s award-winning Risk Manager™ provides hundreds of organizations worldwide with the tools they need to automate the entire GRC management process to monitor, manage and sustain adherence to policy and regulations while reducing enterprise risk and complexity. Customers span the financial, health care, retail, telecom, power & gas and government sectors and include BASF, BC Hydro, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Microsoft, New York University Medical Center, Synovus Financial, and Schlumberger. Modulo has earned industry recognition as a 2012 Innovator of the Year from SC Magazine; “Best Buy” and “5-Star” in SC Magazine’s risk management group product reviews for two consecutive years (2012 and 2011); finalist in SC Magazine Excellence Awards for two consecutive years (2012 and 2011); and winner of the Info Security Products Guide Global Excellence Awards and Network Products Guide Product Innovation Award.
Containers and microservices have become topics of intense interest throughout the cloud developer and enterprise IT communities. Accordingly, attendees at the upcoming 16th Cloud Expo at the Javits Center in New York June 9-11 will find fresh new content in a new track called PaaS | Containers & Microservices Containers are not being considered for the first time by the cloud community, but a current era of re-consideration has pushed them to the top of the cloud agenda. With the launch of Docker's initial release in March of 2013, interest was revved up several notches. Then late last...
Apr. 25, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,802
The only place to be June 9-11 is Cloud Expo & @ThingsExpo 2015 East at the Javits Center in New York City. Join us there as delegates from all over the world come to listen to and engage with speakers & sponsors from the leading Cloud Computing, IoT & Big Data companies. Cloud Expo & @ThingsExpo are the leading events covering the booming market of Cloud Computing, IoT & Big Data for the enterprise. Speakers from all over the world will be hand-picked for their ability to explore the economic strategies that utility/cloud computing provides. Whether public, private, or in a hybrid form, clo...
Apr. 25, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 4,150
WebRTC is an up-and-coming standard that enables real-time voice and video to be directly embedded into browsers making the browser a primary user interface for communications and collaboration. WebRTC runs in a number of browsers today and is currently supported in over a billion installed browsers globally, across a range of platform OS and devices. Today, organizations that choose to deploy WebRTC applications and use a host machine that supports audio through USB or Bluetooth can use Plantronics products to connect and transit or receive the audio associated with the WebRTC session.
Apr. 25, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,863
Internet of Things (IoT) will be a hybrid ecosystem of diverse devices and sensors collaborating with operational and enterprise systems to create the next big application. In their session at @ThingsExpo, Bramh Gupta, founder and CEO of robomq.io, and Fred Yatzeck, principal architect leading product development at robomq.io, will discuss how choosing the right middleware and integration strategy from the get-go will enable IoT solution developers to adapt and grow with the industry, while at the same time reduce Time to Market (TTM) by using plug and play capabilities offered by a robust I...
Apr. 25, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,954
IoT is still a vague buzzword for many people. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Mike Kavis, Vice President & Principal Cloud Architect at Cloud Technology Partners, discussed the business value of IoT that goes far beyond the general public's perception that IoT is all about wearables and home consumer services. He also discussed how IoT is perceived by investors and how venture capitalist access this space. Other topics discussed were barriers to success, what is new, what is old, and what the future may hold. Mike Kavis is Vice President & Principal Cloud Architect at Cloud Technology Pa...
Apr. 25, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 6,151
@ThingsExpo has been named the Top 5 Most Influential Internet of Things Brand by Onalytica in the ‘The Internet of Things Landscape 2015: Top 100 Individuals and Brands.' Onalytica analyzed Twitter conversations around the #IoT debate to uncover the most influential brands and individuals driving the conversation. Onalytica captured data from 56,224 users. The PageRank based methodology they use to extract influencers on a particular topic (tweets mentioning #InternetofThings or #IoT in this case) takes into account the number and quality of contextual references that a user receives.
Apr. 25, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,985
Buzzword alert: Microservices and IoT at a DevOps conference? What could possibly go wrong? Join this panel of experts as they peel away the buzz and discuss the important architectural principles behind implementing IoT solutions for the enterprise. As remote IoT devices and sensors become increasingly intelligent, they become part of our distributed cloud environment, and we must architect and code accordingly. At the very least, you’ll have no problem filling in your buzzword bingo cards.
Apr. 25, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,191
So I guess we’ve officially entered a new era of lean and mean. I say this with the announcement of Ubuntu Snappy Core, “designed for lightweight cloud container hosts running Docker and for smart devices,” according to Canonical. “Snappy Ubuntu Core is the smallest Ubuntu available, designed for security and efficiency in devices or on the cloud.” This first version of Snappy Ubuntu Core features secure app containment and Docker 1.6 (1.5 in main release), is available on public clouds, and for ARM and x86 devices on several IoT boards. It’s a Trend! This announcement comes just as...
Apr. 25, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,346
SYS-CON Events announced today that AIC, a leading provider of OEM/ODM server and storage solutions, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. AIC is a leading provider of both standard OTS, off-the-shelf, and OEM/ODM server and storage solutions. With expert in-house design capabilities, validation, manufacturing and production, AIC's broad selection of products are highly flexible and are configurable to any form factor or custom configuration. AIC leads the industry with nearly 20 years of ...
Apr. 25, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 4,906
As enterprises move to all-IP networks and cloud-based applications, communications service providers (CSPs) – facing increased competition from over-the-top providers delivering content via the Internet and independently of CSPs – must be able to offer seamless cloud-based communication and collaboration solutions that can scale for small, midsize, and large enterprises, as well as public sector organizations, in order to keep and grow market share. The latest version of Oracle Communications Unified Communications Suite gives CSPs the capability to do just that. In addition, its integration ...
Apr. 25, 2015 09:30 AM EDT Reads: 4,338
SYS-CON Events announced today that Creative Business Solutions will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Creative Business Solutions is the top stocking authorized HP Renew Distributor in the U.S. Based out of Long Island, NY, Creative Business Solutions offers a one-stop shop for a diverse range of products including Proliant, Blade and Industry Standard Servers, Networking, Server Options and Care Packs. As a trusted supplier, CBS guarantees quality controlled stock levels thanks to an Auto...
Apr. 25, 2015 09:15 AM EDT Reads: 4,338
SOA Software has changed its name to Akana. With roots in Web Services and SOA Governance, Akana has established itself as a leader in API Management and is expanding into cloud integration as an alternative to the traditional heavyweight enterprise service bus (ESB). The company recently announced that it achieved more than 90% year-over-year growth. As Akana, the company now addresses the evolution and diversification of SOA, unifying security, management, and DevOps across SOA, APIs, microservices, and more.
Apr. 25, 2015 09:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,392
The list of ‘new paradigm’ technologies that now surrounds us appears to be at an all time high. From cloud computing and Big Data analytics to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and the Internet of Things (IoT), today we have to deal with what the industry likes to call ‘paradigm shifts’ at every level of IT. This is disruption; of course, we understand that – change is almost always disruptive.
Apr. 25, 2015 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,515
GENBAND introduced its Real Time Communications (RTC) Client for Lync* to seamlessly combine real-time communications with Lync Instant Messaging (IM) and Presence. “We’re shaking up the economics of delivering Unified Communications (UC) and offering a compelling way to integrate previously bespoke communications technologies,” said Carl Baptiste, GENBAND’s Senior Vice President, Enterprise Solutions. “We’re offering enterprises the best of both worlds by combining our own high availability voice, video and collaboration with Lync’s IM and Presence; creating a single, web centric, client. O...
Apr. 25, 2015 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,671
After making a doctor’s appointment via your mobile device, you receive a calendar invite. The day of your appointment, you get a reminder with the doctor’s location and contact information. As you enter the doctor’s exam room, the medical team is equipped with the latest tablet containing your medical history – he or she makes real time updates to your medical file. At the end of your visit, you receive an electronic prescription to your preferred pharmacy and can schedule your next appointment.
Apr. 25, 2015 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,423
From telemedicine to smart cars, digital homes and industrial monitoring, the explosive growth of IoT has created exciting new business opportunities for real time calls and messaging. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Ivelin Ivanov, CEO and Co-Founder of Telestax, shared some of the new revenue sources that IoT created for Restcomm – the open source telephony platform from Telestax. Ivelin Ivanov is a technology entrepreneur who founded Mobicents, an Open Source VoIP Platform, to help create, deploy, and manage applications integrating voice, video and data. He is the co-founder of TeleStax, a...
Apr. 25, 2015 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 5,137
Can call centers hang up the phones for good? Intuitive Solutions did. WebRTC enabled this contact center provider to eliminate antiquated telephony and desktop phone infrastructure with a pure web-based solution, allowing them to expand beyond brick-and-mortar confines to a home-based agent model. It also ensured scalability and better service for customers, including MUY! Companies, one of the country's largest franchise restaurant companies with 232 Pizza Hut locations. This is one example of WebRTC adoption today, but the potential is limitless when powered by IoT.
Apr. 25, 2015 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 5,264
SYS-CON Events announced today that Optimal Design, an Internet of Things solution provider, will exhibit at SYS-CON's Internet of @ThingsExpo, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Optimal Design is an award winning product development firm offering industrial design and engineering services to the consumer, medical, and defense markets.
Apr. 25, 2015 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,673
How is unified communications transforming the way businesses operate? In his session at WebRTC Summit, Arvind Rangarajan, Director of Product Marketing at BroadSoft, will discuss how to extend unified communications experience outside the enterprise through WebRTC. He will also review use cases across different industry verticals. Arvind Rangarajan is Director, Product Marketing at BroadSoft. He has over 19 years of experience in the telecommunications industry in various roles such as Software Development, Product Management and Product Marketing, applied across Wireless, Unified Communic...
Apr. 25, 2015 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,702
@ThingsExpo has been named the Top 5 Most Influential M2M Brand by Onalytica in the ‘Machine to Machine: Top 100 Influencers and Brands.' Onalytica analyzed the online debate on M2M by looking at over 85,000 tweets to provide the most influential individuals and brands that drive the discussion. According to Onalytica the "analysis showed a very engaged community with a lot of interactive tweets. The M2M discussion seems to be more fragmented and driven by some of the major brands present in the M2M space. This really allows some room for influential individuals to create more high value inter...
Apr. 25, 2015 08:45 AM EDT Reads: 5,105


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Lexington's Winburn Middle School is taking a unique fundraising approach.
The school is holding a yard sale and fish fry this Saturday, May 19, to raise money for a school trip for Honor Roll students.
The yard sale and fish fry runs from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. at the school, which is located at 1060 Winburn Drive, Lexington, Kentucky 40511.
Individuals or groups can rent tables for $20 in the school's gymnasium to sell items. The table renters keep all the profits from what they sell.
There will also be a fish fry concession stand.
All the proceeds from the yard sale table rent and fish fry will go to the school's RAP Trip. RAP stands for Realizing Academic Potential.
Any student who makes the Honor Roll for the entire school year is eligible to go on the RAP Trip.
This year's trip is to Chicago, Illinois.
Money raised at the yard sale and fish fry will help defray the cost of the trip for eligible students.


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Creative director Alex Amancio backed up Guérin, saying 30 frames per second "feels more cinematic" and is a great fit with action-adventure titles. "It actually feels better for people when it's at that 30 fps. It also lets us push the limits of everything to the maximum."Ubisoft saw backlash earlier this week when senior producer Vincent Pontbriand revealed that Assassin's Creed Unity will run at 900p and 30 frames per second on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One to "avoid all the debates and stuff." Ubisoft later clarified that the locked resolution and frame rate on both consoles weren't made "to account for any one system."
For more on Assassin's Creed Unity, be sure to check out IGN's two recent previews as well as how the game's returning to the franchise's roots. Evan Campbell is a freelance news writer who streams games on his Twitch channel, talks about Nintendo weekly on the NF Show, and chats about movies and TV series on Twitter.


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DENVER – FreightSmith representatives say their new mobile app will help remove inbound delays and provide improved flow at warehouses across the country by allowing truck drivers to pre-check into slots.
According to a news release, drivers can “check-in for their appointment at a convenient location eliminating the bottleneck at distribution centers and negatively impacting nearby local businesses and overall traffic flow.”
“We are piloting the pre-check function in Southern California and remain very optimistic about the efficiency gains it will create for drivers and receivers,” Tim Wells, FreightSmith senior director of strategy, said. “I believe this solution will truly create a shipper-friendly experience which is long overdue.”
The FreightSmith mobile application is available for download at the Apple App Store and Google Play.
For more information, please visit https://www.freightsmith.net/.
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
New app promises less wait times, seamless check-ins at warehousesComment
The FreightSmith solutions for driver check-in and digital payments are exactly what the industry needs. Delivering drivers are set up to fail in most of the facilities and as Facility Ratings become more important, FreightSmith will be critical to the facility experience and help improve ratings and keep freight prices competitive. As it stands today, delivering into a poorly rated facility will be more expensive on platforms like Uber Freight. Every receiver should be partnering with FreightSmith and leveraging their solutions for efficiency and to support the driver community.


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If the fact that stores are already stocking Halloween merchandise isn’t enough to get you in the spirit, this certainly should. Obscura, an ambitious VR project by the creator of Slender Rising, is releasing in plenty of time for Halloween, as promised. It will be available on Steam this Friday, July 28 for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift+Touch, with releases on the Oculus Store and Viveport to follow.
Obscura is an unconventional, highly individual experience that immerses players in “an endless circle of fear,” according to developer Michael Hegemann. It aims to avoid complicated controls, relying on randomized events that encourage multiple playthroughs. Hegemann self-funded Obscura as its sole developer and cites fully immersive VR titles theBlu and Everest as inspirations. Follow him on Twitter @HegiDev for more info and updates.


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Impossible Foods recent announcement brings a whole new array of possibilities to Meatless Monday. The company, which is the creator of the Impossible Burger, had made its product available by joining up with fast food chains, including Burger King, Subway, White Castle, Red Robin, Qdoba, and will soon be added to KFC.
Its main competitor, Beyond Meat released their version of meatless-meat to grocery giants like Whole Foods, Krogers, and even Target. Now, Impossible Foods has hit back, and has recently announced that it is bringing its Impossible Burger to grocery stores.
The Impossible Burgers will first make their appearance in Southern California’s Gelson’s Markets, starting out at the Gelson’s location in Westfield Century City in Los Angeles. The company plans to next release the product in Northeastern grocery store locations.
This announcement comes after this September, the FDA finally approved the company’s signature ingredient, heme, which meant that the product could only previously be sold fully cooked. Now, the product can finally be sold at grocery stores for customers to purchase and cook up on their own.
Impossible Foods will now be able to try to catch up to Beyond, which has already been selling its product in grocery stores likeSafeway, ShopRight, Publix, Giant, Kroger, and Sprouts, but it is also being served up at places like Dunkin’ Donuts, Carl’s Jr., BurgerFi, Del Taco, and TGI Fridays.
Now, along with the fact that Impossible teamed up with Burger King for the Impossible Whopper, it looks like the company is gearing up to be found in many customer’s homes.


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MADISON — If U.S. farmers keep producing dairy products at their current pace, they will have to find new and expand existing export markets or face even lower mailbox prices, a high-level dairy export official said at a Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin event here Dec. 6.
Matt McKnight, chief operating officer at the U.S. Dairy Export Council, told attendees of the PDPW’s Food & Policy Summit that this year, U.S. dairy farmers will produce about 22 billion pounds more milk than will be consumed in the U.S. If milk production stays on its current growth curve, that gap will grow to 32 billion pounds by 2022, he said, meaning increased exports will be crucial to farmers finding a home for the milk they produce.
If that doesn’t happen and production outpaces demand even more than it is in 2017, that could mean even lower milk prices, he said.
“If the dairy industry is going to grow, we’ve got to branch out to more markets,” McKnight said. “We must diversify our portfolio. We can’t have all our eggs in one basket.”
Most of the growth in the U.S. export market in recent years has come from sales to Mexico and China, McKnight said, but those markets are somewhat unstable with trade agreements and marketplace competition facing uncertain futures.
The possibility of the North American Free Trade Agreement being renegotiated has many agriculturists wary, McKnight said, especially since Mexico is this country’s No. 1 trading partner. Dairy exports to Mexico were up 24 percent in 2017 and account for 25 percent of U.S. exports.
“This is why trade agreements become so important to us,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure our policymakers understand how important (those agreements) are.”
U.S. Dairy Export Council officials had set a goal of increasing U.S. dairy exports from 15 to 20 percent of production by 2021, McKnight said, which will be no small task.
“We have to do this if we are going to expand our industry,” he said. “Not only in the volume aspect but the value aspect.”
In 1965, the U.S. had 5 percent of the global population but 35 percent of the middle class dairy consumption. By 2030, the U.S. will still have 5 percent of the population but less than 10 percent of the consumption, McKnight said.
Nearly 80 percent of the population growth will be in Asia and Africa, and in both of those regions, middle class consumption is slowly growing.
In some cases, U.S. dairy processors might have to make products that are somewhat foreign to them that aren’t popular in the U.S. but are consumed in other countries.
In Africa, a popular product is fat-filled milk, which involves using milk solids and adding a non-dairy fat source to it, McKnight said. The market for that product is 1 million metric tons of milk, but the U.S. currently doesn’t make any products that can go into that market.
Some of the products that foreign consumers want to buy are “absolutely vile” and might trigger a “gagging reflex” in American consumers, McKnight said.
“It doesn’t matter if we like it — they do, and they pay the price for it,” he said.
U.S. processors could gear up to produce some of those products, but that is not without risk considering the instability of international markets.
Still, the U.S. dairy industry doesn’t have much choice — it needs to find more markets for its products, McKnight said.
“We do the market research and present it to (dairy processors),” McKnight said. “If they are going to make a product that is for export only, they might want to take it in smaller bites, since they will have to gear up a facility to make those products. It is up to them if they want to make the investment.”
The U.S. will “have to fight tooth and nail” against the European Union for new export markets, McKnight said, since EU exports have increased dramatically after the region’s quota system was abolished in 2015.
“They have a very aggressive look — their companies are export driven,” McKnight said.
The EU has been trying to tighten the screws on the U.S. dairy industry by proposing to enforce geographical indicators on cheese products, which would stop U.S. dairy companies from using generic names such as Parmesan and feta.
McKnight said the EU is pushing the GI issue because dairy officials there aren’t happy that U.S. cheesemakers have been bringing their products to European cheese contests and winning awards, as well as dominating the world competitions in the U.S.
“The world thought U.S. cheese was Kraft singles,” he said. “But we have beat the Europeans on their soil in their contests with their judges. Now they’re afraid of us. The rest of the world is recognizing our quality.”
Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board CEO Chad Vincent agreed that exports are crucial to the future of the Wisconsin and U.S. dairy industries.
“If we don’t continue to sell internationally, we’re going to be in a world of hurt,” he said. The WMMB and the 16 other state and regional dairy organizations are going to have to provide more funds to the Dairy Export Council to make that possible, he said.
He said he hopes within five years, any Wisconsin dairy processor who has thought about exporting understands how to do it and can make an informed decision about whether to gear up for foreign markets.
“We want to make exporting as easy as possible for folks,” he said.
Since he took over as CEO a year ago, Vincent said the WMMB has shifted some of its promotion to out-of-state markets as opposed to in-state.
“It’s not an issue with people in Wisconsin knowing Wisconsin is about cheese,” Vincent said. “It’s an issue with others across the country knowing Wisconsin makes the best products.”
Consumers in other parts of the U.S. don’t know that they are eating Wisconsin cheese because the state emblem and identifying markers might not be on the packages that come from America’s Dairyland.
“If they’re buying a piece of Belgiosio or Sartori cheese, they might have no idea the cheese is coming from Wisconsin,” he said. “We need to help the branded guys tie their brand to Wisconsin. We’re trying to get a Wisconsin cheese logo on all cheese that leaves the state.”
The WMMB is running 800 programs, and Vincent said the organization is “trying to do way too much.” He said over time the farmer-led organization will be focusing more on the programs that can make the most difference when it comes to moving Wisconsin dairy products.
Vincent said he is frustrated with school milk issues that limit the amount of milk that is consumed by this country’s children.
“We want to get milk to kids because it is great for them and we want them to become lifelong consumers,” he said. “The milk we give them in schools is in a cardboard box, it’s usually skim and it’s usually warm.
“It’s political, it’s bureaucratic and it’s frustrating.”


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Cocoa Board over the past years has embarked on a drive to promote cocoa quality through marketing in a big way. In 2017 this marketing drive was fulfilled through the staging of the first ever Cocoa of Excellence show in Kokopo, East New Britain Province. The show was an important part of the ‘flagship program of the Cocoa Board of PNG on promoting cocoa quality’ in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Hosting a competition for cocoa best practices as in the case of the Domestic Cocoa of Excellence (COEx) Show is an obligation of PNG as a member state of the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO). Such a show and competition encourages and promotes engagement of cocoa farmers and stakeholder’s along the cocoa value chain to be engaged in only the best practices.
The show is a biannual ‘significant event’ on the Cocoa Board calendar in PNG. It is an integral part of the PNG Cocoa Industry. This year (2019) the Cocoa of Excellence Show will be held in Lae, Morobe Province. This show is in preparations for entry of PNG’s best cocoa bean into the International Cocoa of Excellence competition which is held biannually in France.
PNGs participation in the International Cocoa of Excellence is obligatory. It marks PNG as a quality cocoa producing country, a country of reputation and respect. Quality cocoa is PNGs strength and has to be promoted internationally where PNG cocoa is been produced, consumed and appreciated. The Domestic Cocoa of Excellence show which will be hosted by the Cocoa Board of PNG in Lae with development partners, stakeholders and stockholders is a lead up and a preparation show for the upcoming International show which normally is staged during the later part of the year around October.


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The parent company of adultery website Ashley Madison has agreed to pay $11.2m (£8.55m) to settle a US class-action lawsuit over the massive July 2015 data breach that saw the personal details, including credit card details, home addresses and email accounts of millions of users from across the globe, published online.
Formerly known as Avid Life Media, owner Ruby Corp denied any wrongdoing, but agreed to pay $11.2m to compensate any losses of US residents who used the website on or before 20 July, 2015 and can submit valid claims for losses incurred as a result of the data breach. Class members can recoup up to $3,500 based on their documented losses, according to the preliminary class-action settlement. The settlement requires approval by a federal judge.
Touting the motto, "Life is short. Have an affair", the controversial website marketed itself as a service to help people cheat on their spouses.
The class-action complaint alleged that the company had failed to ensure the security of its website despite billing itself as a "100% discreet service". It also said the data breach resulted in the release of account holders' personal information, including those who paid a fee to have their information deleted from the website.
"While Ruby denies any wrongdoing, the parties have agreed to the proposed settlement in order to avoid the uncertainty, expense, and inconvenience associated with continued litigation, and believe that the proposed settlement agreement is in the best interest of ruby and its customers," the company said. "In 2015, hackers gained access to Ruby's computer networks and published certain personal information contained in Ashley Madison accounts. Account credentials were not verified for accuracy during this time frame and accounts may have been created using other individuals' information.
"Therefore, Ruby wishes to clarify that merely because a person's name or other information appears to have been released in the data breach does not mean that person actually was a member of Ashley Madison."
The massive breach cost the Toronto-based company more than a quarter of its revenue. Ruby also spent millions of dollars to bolster its security and improve user privacy.
In December 2016, the company agreed to pay $1.66m to settle a probe by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and several states for allegedly creating fake profiles to deceive users and and failing to protect users' identities.


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The first sport booking platform in Virginia will launch in January 2021. This will include Draftkings, RiversBet, and MGM. Bets on college and youth games aren’t available at the moment. Online Sports Booking will also be available in the District of Columbia starting June 2020. The Federal Office of Lottery and Gaming regulates the gaming industry. Casinos licensed by the state in West Virginia can offer sports betting. For more information, visit ufabet sportbook.com.
Legalized online sports betting has been enacted in many states. This has been accompanied with significant economic and legislative momentum. Online sports betting is legal in the majority of states. However four major American leagues have joined forces with online sports betting operators and launched official channels for booking sports. This has led retail casinos to act in response to the recent outbreak of Coronavirus. This has also led to an increase in sports betting online. Casinos are looking for ways to expand their gaming reach.


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Rakuten will close Singapore marketplace on March 1
"We regret to inform you that Rakuten Singapore marketplace will no longer be available to consumers for new purchases after Mar 1, 2016," it said. The company thanked its customers for their support.
Rakuten will be closing its Malaysia and Indonesia marketplaces as well, according to reports by Tech In Asia and e27. About 150 staff members will be laid off, they reported.
Rakuten also said its Singapore site will be fully operational for all shopping transactions until February 29, 2016.
"All orders with payment confirmed during this period will be fulfilled," the company said.
Rakuten Singapore said customers will be able to shop on the platform until 11.59pm on February 29, while customers can access their purchase history until 11.59pm on Marcj 31. ■