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The release of Adobe CS3 will add momentum to pro Mac sales, an analyst claims
[editor's note: file this one under well, DUH]
Source: Macwolrd UK
Sales of Apple’s professional Macs will take a significant upturn on the release of Adobe CS3, claimed Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster this week.
Munster spoke with Mac users testing the beta version of Adobe Photoshop CS 3. A report claims he found that 88 per cent of these users were pleased with the software and 71 per cent were ‘very satisfied’ with the pre-release application.


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The second edition of the International Week of Fair and Sustainable Tourism for All, will take place from 22 to 25 June 2021 virtually.
The International Social Tourism Organisation (ISTO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru (MINCETUR) will hold the second edition of the International Week of Fair and Sustainable Tourism for All, from 22-25 June 2021.
To adapt to the global health context, ISTO has adjusted the event to be held again in a virtual format.
A series of webinars will be held with simultaneous interpretation in English, French and Spanish.
Thanks to the joint effort of ISTO and Mincetur, free access to all the activities of the International Week will be offered upon registration.
Some of the topics to be considered are:
- Economic and social impact of the pandemic on tourism and the development of post-COVID tourism policies
- Healthy, safe and natural destinations: options for tourism revival
- Community-based, competitive and sustainable tourism - Marketing strategy
- Tourism social accessibility, inclusion and combating inequality
- New tourist profiles and trends
- Design of innovative tourism products and circuits
- Innovative marketing: innovative strategies and digital tools
More information (preliminary programme, registration and much more) about the International Week will be communicated in the coming weeks, please check regularly on our social media and website.

domain: news


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The Japanese automakers want to show that electrification isn't the only way to achieve carbon neutrality.
The electric car revolution is coming, with many car companies pledging to become all-electric brands by the end of the decade as part of a wider strategy to become carbon neutral and help save the environment. To show that electrification isn't the only way to achieve carbon neutrality, Toyota, Subaru, and Mazda are doing things differently.
The three Japanese automakers are joining forces with Kawasaki and Yamaha to explore alternative, more eco-friendly fuel options that will keep the combustion engine alive while still achieving carbon neutrality and offering customers greater choice as the industry shifts towards electrification.
To achieve carbon neutrality, Mazda will build new plug-in hybrid models that will join its existing lineup of conventional hybrids and battery electric vehicles like the MX-30. In addition, Mazda plans to enter the Q class of the Super Taikyu Race in Okayama, Japan, with the Spirit Racing Bio concept Demio, a concept race car equipped with a 1.5-liter SkyActiv-D diesel engine that runs on 100 percent biomass-derived diesel fuel.
Subaru and Toyota, meanwhile, are experimenting with cars powered by carbon-neutral synthetic fuels derived from biomass. In the ST-Q class of the 2022 Super Taikyu Series, Subaru plans to race a BRZ and Toyota intends to use a GR86 running on synthetic fuels.
Since 2016, Toyota has also been working with Yamaha, Denso, and other parties to develop a hydrogen engine for a race car that entered the Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours Race, the Super Taikyu Race in Autopolis, and the Suzuka S-Tai. Toyota is also working with local governments to expand the options for producing, transporting, and using hydrogen.
At the same time, Subaru and Toyota are expanding their electrification options with the launch of the Toyota bZ4X and Subaru Solterra EVs in mid-2022. Meanwhile, Kawasaki and Yamaha are considering the possibility of joint research for the development of hydrogen engines for motorcycles.


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India Inc Blog
Eye on the India Inc takeover
September 13, 2019Uncategorized
Crazy Sneaky Asians.
Huawei is trying to sell all its 5G patents to a Western buyer in a bid to placate Trump and dodge national security concerns
Tags: 5G, Crazy Sneaky Asians, Huawei, Trump
©2019 India Inc. Blog.Theme by AcademiaThemes


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Del Monte names Pearce its first CMO
NEW YORK Del Monte Foods today announced that William Pearce will chair the newly created positions of company chief marketing officer and senior vice president.
“We’ve created the position of [chief marketing officer] to further elevate our focus on marketing strategy, innovation, and execution across our portfolio,” Del Monte chairman and chief executive officer, Rick Wolford, said in a news release. “This centralized organizational structure located in San Francisco will continue to build on our marketing success, enhancing marketing’s role in lead our future strategy.”
Wolford added that he “looks forward to leveraging [Pearce’s] proven track record of attracting top talent.”
Pearce joins Del Monte after serving as chief marketing officer at Taco Bell. Del Monte is currently working towards centralized marketing operations at the San Francisco headquarters, and also integrating pet and consumer marketing teams.
In addition to heading marketing operations, Pearce will also be responsible for covering pet and consumer campaigns, and package design and promotions.
Del Monte has not said whether it will up its marketing spending this year or not. But, in 2007, Del Monte’s advertising budget was around $18 million.
Mars Snackfood revamps Texas plant to use greener fuel
WACO, Texas Mars Snackfood yesterday announced a new plan to go green by incorporating methane gas from a local landfill into one of its plant’s energy supply. The gas will be piped to a boiler and help to fuel production operations at the plant.
During a public ceremony yesterday, the company released a public-private partnership plan between the plant and landfill to span about a decade. The methane gas recycling efforts should have great environmental benefits in the long-run, the company said. The methane could provide about 60 percent of the plant’s boiler fuel requirements for up to 25 years, according to Mars.
Todd Lachman, president of Mars Snackfood U.S., visited the plant, as well as government officials from all levels and Waco business community members.
This particular Mars plant produces Skittles, Snickers and Starburst candies.
Wish-Bone dressing giveaway aimed at encouraging healty eating
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. Not everyone was raised by dieticians, but parents who exhort their children to eat their greens still have a point.
Wish-Bone wants to encourage people to eat more vegetables by giving away bottles of its new Bountifuls salad dressing between May 30 and June 1.


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Published: May 22nd, 2019
Here’s a frightening statistic for you if you are in business in the Marches.
According to official figures from the Government, 43 per cent of all businesses reported a cyber security attack in the last 12 months.
Just take a moment to let that figure sink in. It means that almost every other business in the region has been targeted in the course of just one year.
It’s difficult to overstate the risk these attacks pose.
The head of the National Cyber Security Centre has already said the risk of the UK suffering a major national attack is a matter of ‘when not if".
And whilst the threat to your business might be of a more localised nature, it simply cannot be under-estimated.
So, here’s the $64,000 question: As a small Shropshire business, what are you doing to protect yourself? If the answer is not enough, then help is at hand.
The Marches Growth Hub and Connect2Grow have teamed up to stage a free two-hour seminar on June 18 at the University Centre Shrewsbury to help small businesses across the region improve their digital security.
The event will cover some of the big challenges in cyber security and set you on the path to making sure you have procedures in place to safeguard against them.
Over the course of the two hours, you’ll learn how to
- recognise business security risks
- discover how to protect their company systems and data
- prepare for business continuity in the event of a security breach
There will also be plenty of time for networking at the end of the session, so you can share your thoughts with colleagues and pick up useful tips from others in the same position as you.
The event gets under way at 9.15 and you can register here.
The Connect2Grow Project aims to raise digital awareness and increase the levels of digital skills within eligible Marches businesses.
If you are eligible, the project can offer advice in the following areas:
- Web design management, e-commerce and social media
- Cyber Crime and Cyber security (including a basic cyber check-up)
- Drone technologies
- CAD services
- Local access to live streamed workshops and/or events


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P&G, which along with Sanofi-Aventis markets rival osteoporosis drug Actonel, sued Boniva marketers Hoffman-La Roche and GlaxoSmithKline in January, claiming that ads, sales materials and sales raps falsely said or implied that Boniva, which need be taken only once monthly, was as effective as Actonel, which must be taken weekly, at preventing bone fractures beyond the spine.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved Actonel for prevention of spinal and some non-spinal fractures, but it did not specify treatment of non-spinal fractures for Boniva. P&G contended its surveys showed Boniva ads from Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, led consumers to believe the two drugs work the same, and that Roche sales materials and pitches led doctors to believe likewise.
The court ruled P&G's surveys inadmissible, noting a sample size of only 63 doctors for the professional survey and several flaws in the consumer research, including potentially leading questions and the fact that some interviewers were teenagers. But it also questioned whether the drugs have significant differences beyond their dosing.
U.S. District Court Judge Paul A Crotty took P&G to task for not revealing until midway through hearings on the injunction, after a break for Memorial Day weekend, that the FDA on May 4 had rejected as misleading P&G's own proposed ad suggesting Actonel works better than Boniva on bones beyond the spine.
Actonel's own ad problems
"The proposed TV ad misleadingly suggests that Actonel is superior to Boniva, when such has not been demonstrated by substantial evidence," according to the FDA letter cited by the court. "Actonel failed to reduce fractures better than placebo at leg and hip and in fact was worse than placebo at collarbone," the letter continued.
"The document was withheld from two key witnesses for P&G," the court said in its ruling, "allowing them to testify without knowledge that the FDA had questioned, in effect, the entire basic premise of P&G's argument to the court." The FDA letter figured heavily in the court's rejection of P&G's arguments.
While early Boniva sales efforts aimed to persuade doctors that all the bisphosphonates -- such as Actonel and category leader Fosamax from Merck & Co. -- had similar effects, Roche had dropped such wording from sales materials 10 months ago, the court said. The ruling appears to open the door for Roche to make that argument again, noting that the FDA letter would make it difficult to find such a claim false or misleading.
"P&G's primary concern is not the public health and safety, but its market share," the ruling said, noting that Actonel's share appears to have declined in the $3 billion osteoporosis drug market as Boniva achieved a 5% to 8% share since its launch last year. But the court said it wasn't clear P&G was financially harmed, because the market may have grown sufficiently to make up for the loss of share.
The ruling also noted that P&G had tried and failed three times to get the FDA to halt Boniva ads and portrayed the lawsuit as part of an effort, citing a P&G document, to stop Boniva "in the starting blocks."
"Our intent is to ensure patients and their physicians are aware of both the importance of non-vertebral fracture protection and the evidence supporting this benefit for the medications they are taking," P&G said in a statement. "We are disappointed the court declined to intervene in this case."
"We believe this preliminary ruling confirms what we've always known -- our advertising is truthful and appropriately reflects the available information about Boniva," Richard Hinson, VP-commercial operations at Roche, said in a statement.


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LINE Friends Cafe: How LINE app turned chat stickers into a branded character universe fans wait in line to see
Transformers and the Lego Movie showed there’s still a market for movies based on toys. Now the success of Line Friends in Asia shows that there is also a market for cafes and merchandise based on emoticons and stickers.
At Catherine Plaza in Nanjing, China on Sunday afternoon, October 23, a line of over 100 people waited for entrance into the newly opened Line Friends Cafe & Store. While they waited they took pictures with the giant statues of a bear, a chic, a rabbit, a frog, and a moon.
The Line Friends are a cast of characters originally developed as stickers for the chat app Line between 2011 and 2013. As the app exploded in popularity, Line eventually expanded the character lineup and featured them in animations (Line Town) and games (Line Rangers). Now they have started opening stores.
On its website, Line claims to have 45 stores in nine countries either open or in the works, but the list appears incomplete because it doesn’t include the Nanjing location. Besides Asia, Columbia and the United States (Times Square, NYC) are also listed as the sites of planned future stores.
The shops that have just opened in Shanghai and Nanjing are extremely popular. Fans, who were about 70-80 percent female and largely younger than 25, waited in line for 30-40 minutes to get in on Sunday afternoon. Inside the place is divided into sections based on the characters, including a cafe, a restaurant serving hot dogs, and a merchandise section that included apparel, backpacks, bags, and branded items for 100-300 RMB (which the women I was with thought was too expensive).
However despite the great interest in the Line Friends characters and the popularity of Line in neighboring Asian countries, few Chinese use the chat app Line Friends were originally developed for. Of the dozen fans I talked to, none said they actively used it and few said they downloaded it but didn’t use it. WeChat and QQ are the leading chat apps in China. Line claims to be the leading social network in Japan and boasts 700 million users worldwide, with popularity in Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Spain as well.
But Line Corporation, which is a subsidiary of the Korean internet giant Naver, has found a way to turn their chat stickers into expansive brands. It created a whole universe around the Line Friends called Line Town, and it developed the stories of the twelve characters in a series of 50 1-3 minute short animations.
It also worked to get the Line Friends in people’s minds through multiple media channels. One fan at the cafe said she heard about the Line Friends through Korean music idol group Exo. Line Corp also capitalizes on the popularity of photo-taking apps in Asia. Some of the Chinese fans did use the app Line Camera, which lets users take photos of themselves with the images of a Line Friend’s face superimposed over their own face.
A corporate promotional website lists six related and overlapping areas of business development: “STORE”, “Café”, “Collaboration”, “Character Goods”, “Licensing”, and “Contents.” Besides the 5,000 Line products that are said to be already in production, Line will also develop “license business with the world’s best partners in various fields” and introduce “authentic products collaborated with world famous brands.” Possibilities for Line entertainment features include “animation, movie, game, education, [and] publication.”
When it went public on NASDAQ in June of this year, Line raised $1.1 billion to become the biggest IPO of a slow year.


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Theo Paphitis, Entrepreneur and former Dragons’ Den star believes the pandemic has fast-forwarded business by five years according to an interview with the BBC back in May 2020.
Change that previously may have taken 2-3 years minimum to implement was achieved in weeks. Cloud based services have enabled sectors such as education to rapidly switch from physical to virtual learning. Other businesses have adapted by switching their focus from car manufacturers making ventilators to fashion houses making PPE.
Online shopping has increased the fortunes of e-commerce businesses and been increased by those who would have never attempted it previously. Zoom (or Teams, whichever your preferred flavour) has enabled business meetings to be conducted quickly and efficiently without the hassle of travel or take the time it used to involve.
This obviously all has an impact on businesses that relied on these traditional ways of life as we knew them. Retail will never be the same, also echoed by Theo Paphitis, travel, whether by car, rail or air have all been affected and unlikely to ever revert to exactly the way things were. Offices aren’t quite as critical as they once seemed, that evening out at a restaurant now being thought about as not quite as appealing maybe?
The world evolves and unfortunately, there will be those who suffer as a result, but there is nothing that can be done to revert to the way things were.
At Machinery World, like most businesses, the last six months have been challenging, but we continue to operate as normally as possible. We’re still taking plenty of orders and although we’re not an e-commerce business, we’re fully utilising our website and social media channels, ensuring we take even more videos and post these on-line to showcase our machinery.
We continue to ship orders worldwide with a recent factory installation in Barbados, along with further business conducted face to face in Turkey and Ireland recently.
If you would like any advice on purchasing machinery, have machinery to sell or need machinery servicing or repairing, please get in touch through the normal channels and we’ll be more than happy to assist.


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The State Administration of Foreign Exchange announced that it will start a pilot scheme for the cross-border financing of high-tech companies and those falling under the country’s push for “specialized, sophisticated and new” small and medium-sized enterprises.
China’s Expanding Cross-Border Financing For High-Tech, Innovative Projects
Latest Trade Reports
CTM, YOUR RELIABLE SOURCING PARTNER!
So what are you waiting for?
Connect now with CTM and kickstart your import journey of Tech and Electronic products from China. Stay ahead of your competition with the latest news, best prices, current trends & hot selling products!


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Jul 13, 2020US Trade Representative’s retaliatory action against France to counter the impact of equalisation levy on American technology companies hasn’t set alarm bells ringing in India, which is also under the scanner for taxing Google, Facebook, Amazon and Netflix.
Jul 13, 2020India and the US will this week discuss a possible move towards a Totalisation Agreement — which will help Indian technology and other professionals avoid making social security contributions, which are not refunded — as well as a discussion on the recent H-1B visa ban by the Trump admin, during Union minister Piyush Goyal and American commerce secretary Wilbur Ross meet.
Jul 11, 2020With lengthening clouds over participation of Huawei and ZTE in future telecom contracts, the government is readying ITI to bid for BSNL’s forthcoming tender, in partnership with Indian software giants.
Jul 9, 2020Multiple goods and services tax (GST) rates have now become a bone of contention between hand sanitiser manufacturers and the government. Last month, the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau alerted GST authorities about manufacturers of alcohol-based hand sanitisers paying 12% GST by “wrongly classifying” them as “medicaments”, which attract an 18% levy.
Jul 8, 2020A change in definition of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) has turned India into a country of small businesses as nearly 99% of the entities now fall under the category based on the twin parameters of investment and turnover.
Jul 8, 2020The finance ministry is prodding private sector banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to step up loan approvals and disbursals to small businesses under a government-guaranteed scheme after it emerged that most lenders, barring HDFC Bank, have been slow off the block.
Jul 7, 2020Cube Highways is set to acquire IL&FS Transportation Network arm Chenani Nashri Tunnelway (CNTL), that built the high-profile project in Jammu & Kashmir, in an over Rs 4,000-crore deal that will help the beleaguered company clear some of its debt.
Jul 7, 2020State Bank of India is set to invest $100-150 million (Rs 750-1,000 crore) and leverage its YONO platform to set up a business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce marketplace for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The country’s largest lender hopes this will also help it better manage financing of small businesses.
Jul 6, 2020Sunny Gaur, son of Jaiprakash Associates (JAL) founder and part of the promoter group, has resigned as a director of the beleaguered company to venture out on his own, amid suggestions of differences over the way the group has collapsed with his brother, Manoj Gaur, at the helm.
Jul 6, 2020India may register its first monthly trade surplus in over 18 years in June as the pace of contraction of exports is estimated to have slowed down to around 12%, while imports are seen to have fallen almost 49% during the month. Initial estimates for June, show a trade surplus of around $786 million, with imports pegged at $21.1 billion and exports at $21.9 billion.


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Scotland Yard’s new mission is to detox London’s air within the next 12 months. The secret service will replace 700 vehicles in its 4,000 strong fleet and 250 will be alternative energy cars including hybrids and FCV. Talks with Tesla are not a secret anymore either as the Metropolitan Police would like to trial the EVs. Hydrogen scooters are already under scrutiny.
E-cargo bike incentives: Up to 10,000 kroner (1,200 USD) to buy an electric cargo bike as a resident of Oslo – the Norwegian capital once more proves any electric advocate’s dream. The incentive is capped at 25% of the price of the pedelec while 5m kroner ($600,000) have been earmarked for the initiative.
Total may electrify: The oil giant says it plans to add EV charging stations to its existing network of pit stops in France. Up to 300 gas stations are under consideration and Total is also in talks with carmakers like PSA, claiming demand from clients for its move. Numbers or a timeline have not been given.
Canadian-Californian initiative: 29 electric school buses called eLion will start in Sacramento next month. They are part of a joint project between Quebec and California. The latter funds electric school buses with up to 100,000 dollars, about a third of the purchase price.
Indiana is backwards as it debates legislation that would effectively ban Tesla direct sales in the state. The bill applies to those that have sold cars in Indiana since July 2015, have never used a franchised dealership and whose sales surpass 1,000 cars per year. In one word: Tesla.
– ADVERTISEMENT –


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Lake Charles, Louisiana McDonalds’ Are Changing The Way They Do Burgers
McDonald's is changing the formula for all of its burgers, including the Big Mac, which is about as big as it gets in the world of fast food news.
They assert that all the alterations will only improve their burgers, therefore customers should be happy. So, it begs the question. What exactly are they changing?
Here's what they're doing:
1. The Big Mac is getting more Big Mac sauce. A writer for People magazine tried it. She says it makes it more like a "messy pub burger" than a quote, "run-of-the-mill drive-thru" thing.
2. The buns are changing too. They'll be softer than before. McDonald's describes them as "pillowy buns that are freshly toasted to a golden brown."
3. The cheese will be meltier. It's not clear if they're changing the type of cheese, or just melting it more.
4. The onions are also changing. Instead of tossing them on at the end, they'll add them to burgers on the grill to create a more "caramelized flavor."
5. The changes don't just apply to Big Macs. They also apply to regular hamburgers, cheeseburgers, double cheeseburgers, and McDoubles. So they're revamping a big chunk of their core burger menu.
The new burgers are already being rolled out in a few West Coast cities, including Denver, Seattle, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and L.A. They'll be everywhere else by early next year.
6. They're also using it as a chance to bring back the Hamburglar. They posted two 15-second ads where he scopes out the new burgers through binoculars, and then steals them.


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Each of the new consoles makes it easy to record and share videos of game play, and Twitch is a company built around the production and consumption of videos of people playing video games. The venture started in 2011 as an offshoot of Justin.tv, which provided a way for people to stream live video, activity inspired by the founder’s proclivity to record and stream his entire life to the Internet. It turned out that one thing other people really enjoyed broadcasting was screenshots of themselves playing Halo.
Until last week this wasn’t an easy proposition, especially for people playing on consoles, rather than PCs. Would-be broadcasters had to buy additional hardware and spend some time tinkering. “All of these guys go through a process that is not easy. For the consoles, it’s a nightmare,” says Matthew DiPietro, the company’s vice president of marketing. “You have to be a real McGuyver.”
But the Playstation 4 has a simple share button on the controllers that allows gamers to transmit their exploits via Twitch or Ustream, another streaming company. Microsoft says gamers will be able to stream directly to Twitch early next year.
John Koller, Playstation’s vice president of marketing, describes the new social features as the biggest difference between this generation of consoles and the one that preceded it, and he says it is a major way the company hopes to keep people engaged. “We’re celebritizing gamers,” he says. “Twitch needed to be integrated an an architectural level.”
It’s an even bigger deal for Twitch and Ustream. Both companies are on the rise, with plenty of room to grow. Twitch says it had 45 million unique viewers in September, up from about 3 million in June 2011. Ustream draws about 88 million people each month, although less than 15% of that is for gaming content. The average amount of time spent watching gaming videos on both websites is longer than it is for other types of content. While neither company has reported on traffic, it’s clear by looking at their sites that video is rolling in.
There have been similar patterns of use on YouTube, where gaming videos have always been tremendously popular. Google has invested in Machinima, a thirdcompany vying to become gaming’s video empire, and has been making it easier for people who want to stream live video on YouTube. Significantly, YouTube lacks a similar level of integration with the new consoles. Google hasn’t responded to a request for comment.
Not that additional traffic necessarily means easy money. Both Twitch and Ustream say they plan to make money from advertising, but they have declined to offer specific financial figures.
One company pleased with the ease of streaming from the consoles is Major League Gaming, which bills itself as the ESPN of competitive gaming. Sundance DiGiovanni, the company’s chief executive officer, says the streaming will make it easier to discover talent for the professional e-gaming circuit. The company generally scouts talent at big, public events, but DiGiovanni says it will soon be able to find the next star gamers before they leave their parents’ basement. “Now a kid can say, ‘I’m the best there is, come watch me now,’” he says.
Image: Flickr, Rob
This article originally published at Bloomberg here


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LAKEWOOD, Colo. (AP) _ Mesa Laboratories Inc. (MLAB) on Monday reported fiscal first-quarter earnings of $1.5 million.
The Lakewood, Colorado-based company said it had profit of 39 cents per share.
The quality control instruments and disposable products maker posted revenue of $22.7 million in the period.
Mesa Labs shares have risen 13 percent since the beginning of the year. The stock has risen 20 percent in the last 12 months.
This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MLAB at https://www.zacks.com/ap/MLAB
Keywords: Mesa Labs, Earnings Report


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Obama campaign unveils ad hitting Romney on taxes ahead of Virginia trip
The Obama campaign is set to drop an ad in Virginia that contrasts the newly proposed tax plan by the White House against Mitt Romney‘s proposed plan. The new ad is said to be a preview of the theme of the upcoming visit by the campaign to Virginia this weekend.
The ad will air in nine battleground states including Virginia.
It will be filling up your TV screen soon.. but here is a sneak peak right now:
OFA has also launched a companion web site to provide a degree of context.
“Mitt Romney wants to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy,” reads the web site. “And add his own tax breaks for millionaires on top of it—without saying how he’d pay for it.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus called the ad a typical Obama campaign tactic driven by their class warfare argument. “Obama is in love with this rich vs. poor game that he loves to play,” Priebus told me. “Barack Obama is a smart guy. Even he knows that his retoric is a sham.”
Priebus said that Obama doesn’t even have the support of senate candidate Tim Kaine on extending the Bush tax cuts to people making $250 thousand and less and then allowing them to sunset on high earners. He said a plan like that would hammer “800 thousand” small business owners.
An extended clip from Priebus can be found below:


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SEATTLE—When LED lighting fixtures hit the video and film production scene a decade ago, their advantages in areas like low-power consumption and heat generation made them an instant hit. In the years since then, advances in the LEDs themselves, in the phosphors that radiate the various colors, and in other technologies such as optics have allowed lighting equipment manufacturers to create new generations of lighting fixtures.
The color output of LED fixtures is a much-discussed characteristic of lights today. “I think the customers are a lot more savvy,” said Charlie Collias, senior vice president of worldwide sales for Zylight in Los Angeles. “They’re looking for LEDs with high CRI, color rendering index values.”
Videssence Little Vid Fresnel Collias added that high CRI is particularly important on a set with mixed lighting equipment. “It’s important in the overall look of the show, especially when you mix LEDs and other light sources together.”
Zylight’s F8 Fresnel LED fixture touts a special blend of Quantum nanoparticles with traditional phosphor technology. “It provides better spectral control, higher efficiency, higher color rendering, and the color pallet matches other lights on the set.”
A ‘PERFECT STORM’
Litepanels Senior Product Manager Ali Ahmadi said changing technologies have led the company to redesign its flagship product.
“We saw this perfect storm at the horizon, and so we pushed into this opportunity with our new Astra,” he said. “We’re taking the concept of a 1x1 panel and completely redefining it from the bottom up. We’re using new LED and phosphor technology, and basic advances in optics, making high-quality optics accessible at an affordable price-point.”
The Astra provides an even softer light, and four times the intensity of a traditional 1x1 panel. “We’ve created a completely different optical system with the new generation LEDs and the lenses that sit in front of them,” he said. “That basically creates an optical engine that drives that light output. A lot of light comes out the front, and then it mixes immediately outside the fixture, which is how we’re able to create that soft look.”
While LEDs generate a small fraction of the heat of tungsten or HMI bulbs, there still is heat to deal with. Some LED fixture manufacturers install the quietest fans they can find. Videsssence developed a new technology that allows them to build their LED fixtures without a fan, an important detail on sets where extraneous noise is a problem, according to Gary Thomas, national sales manager for the El Monte, Calif.-based company. “They operate cool without a fan,” he said.
For field production, Videssence has introduced its Little Vid Fresnel series, 50-Watt fixtures available with a focusable or stationary Fresnel lens. A new DC adapter is on the way for the Little Vids, and an optional module can provide DMX control. “It’s very lightweight and can go on a jib arm or light stand. No fans and it draws half an amp of electricity.”
Where traditional LED lighting fixtures have the phosphor layer applied to the LED bulbs themselves, a recent approach has been to separate the phosphor layer from the LEDs, a technology called “remote phosphor.” The phosphor layer in such fixtures resides on a translucent panel in front of the LED bulbs.
“What I think remote phosphor does very well is that it’s very bright, very good color quality, and a very broad, soft light source in terms of lighting characteristics,” said Rich Pierceall, CEO of Cineo Lighting in El Granada, Calif. “Our first product was called the HS, which has the output of a 4K traditional fixture. It’s a great replacement for soft sources for news sets, for talk show sets, and we’re everywhere now.”
Litepanels Astra Using the same custom formulation of phosphors developed for the HS fixtures, Cineo is now introducing a portable line of remote phosphor fixtures. “They give the same color quality, the same softness, and they match because we use the same phosphor formulation,” Pierceall said.
Ken Fisher, director of marketing for BBS Lighting, pointed out an additional advantage in separating the phosphor layer from the LED bulbs. “With legacy LED technology, you have one small little drop of phosphor applied to the bulb, where with a phosphor panel, the entire front panel is coated with phosphors.” The panel inherently diffuses the output from the lighting fixture.
The fact that the phosphor panels on the BBS Area 48 fixtures can be interchanged is also a benefit, he said. “With the same fixture you could go from a very high output tungsten color balance fixture to a very high output daylight fixture in about 10 seconds,” Fisher said. “Similarly you could go from a green screen to a blue screen, you just change it out to the appropriate panel. So you have one core fixture that is very flexible.”
The separation of the phosphor layer from LED bulbs also keeps the LED’s heat from damaging the phosphors themselves. “It allows you to put more power behind the LED without adversely affecting the phosphors themselves,” Fisher added.
In addition to changes in the technologies built into the lighting fixtures themselves, other changes in imaging have affected professional lighting equipment.
“I think the biggest challenge facing lighting manufacturers is the fact that not only have we seen a shift in the evolution of lighting technologies, but it’s come together with the evolution of imaging technologies,” said Frieder Hochheim, president of Kino Flo in Burbank, Calif. “The color points we used to use in choosing and constructing a color spectrum [from a light] was provided by Fuji and Kodak, manufacturers of film. For competitive reasons, that same data is not forthcoming from camera makers.”
To close this information gap, Hochheim’s company developed tools to divine the photographic rendering index from high end cinema cameras. “What our research has shown is that cameras are divergent enough that not one particular color point is actually perfect for everything,” he said. “There’s a degree of variation between cameras.”
Kino Flo’s Celeb is a result of that research, accoding to Hochheim. “The rapid acceptance of our Celeb fixture is a reflection of the fact we have done our homework, and it’s harmonizing well the high-end cinema cameras,” he said.
Hive Lighting in Los Angeles, has taken a different technology altogether by utilizing plasma bulbs instead of LEDs.
Jon Miller, Hive’s CTO says the company initially built spotlights which takes advantage of plasma’s high output, long throw lighting with low power draw. “But we also saw a space for a sort of ‘broad lighting,’ so our newest product out is our flood light, a 100-degree single-source flood,” he said. “You can use it where you would use your LED panels or larger fluorescent units, but unlike those it’s very easy to cut and shape.”
While Hive’s plasma light operates in the daylight color temperature range, it has just introduced a variable color temperature dial. “It’s a daylight dial that allows you to tune between 4600K all the way to 7000K,” Miller said. “It allows you to track the daylight throughout the day. It allows you to change your color temperature and takes real advantage of plasma’s full spectrum capability with a variation of color.”
You can expect no slowing down in the introduction of new technologies for lighting fixtures. One new product family to keep your eyes on are stadium lights. This week at the Texas Coaches Association Convention, Plano, Texas-based startup Sports Beams will introduce its Model 1200 Stadium Light. Relying on new high output LEDs, the 1200s can replace existing stadium lighting to provide the same or more illumination using a fraction of the energy.
These new lights bring a number of advantages of LED technology. Their ability to be instantly re-lit could avoid long lighting outages as was experienced at Super Bowl XLVII in 2013, and their dead-on daylight color temperature will blend well as afternoon turns to evening. They are flicker-free to avoid the strobing effect in extreme slow-motion replays, and are easily controlled via DMX networking.
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Vitamin D supplementation boosts insulin sensitivity
from The Pharmaceutical Journal
Patients given vitamin D showed increased insulin sensitivity over six months, compared with placebo, leading researchers to call for larger, longer term randomised controlled trials. Vitamin D supplementation increases peripheral insulin sensitivity in people newly diagnosed with or at high risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, study results published in the European Journal of Endocrinology have shown.
7701 Las Colinas Blvd., Ste. 800, Irving, TX 75063


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June 8, 2021
With record-high prices and record-low inventory, now is a tough time to be buying a home, and Americans are less optimistic about the market than they have ever been, according… Read more
June 7, 2021
It is becoming increasingly common for Americans, especially young ones, to switch employers or careers several times during their working lives. One downside that comes with such moves is that… Read more
June 4, 2021
Job creation disappointed in May, with the economy adding 559,000 new jobs, according to the Labor Department. Economists had expected an increase of 671,000. This follows on April’s big disappointment,… Read more
June 2, 2021
Chinese manufacturers, in the face of worker shortages and rising material costs, are beginning to delay or even reject orders, which could disrupt global supply chains and lead to additional… Read more
May 28, 2021
Worries about spiking inflation intensified today as another key inflation gauge rose faster than expected. The core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index climbed 3.1% in April as compared to a… Read more
May 27, 2021
It is common for migrant workers to regularly send money back to their families in their home countries. These payments, known as remittances, are an important part of many emerging… Read more
May 25, 2021
American consumers’ confidence in the economy fell in May for the first time in six months as they grew more worried about rising prices and future job opportunities. The Conference… Read more
January 29, 2020
The recent coronavirus outbreak has already enacted a human cost. At the time of writing, there have been nearly 4,700 confirmed cases, resulting in more than 100 deaths. Both numbers… Read more
May 27, 2022
U.S. consumers’ feelings about the economy deteriorated further in late May, falling to the lowest level in a decade as concerns about inflation weigh on households’ spending intentions. The University… Read more
May 26, 2022
American households increased their spending for the fourth consecutive month in April, but the savings rate plummeted to a 14-year low, suggesting that more Americans are dipping into their savings… Read more
May 25, 2022
Gasoline prices in the U.S. have gotten so high that consumer demand is eroding in the run-up to the summer driving season. Demand on a four-week rolling basis has fallen… Read more
May 24, 2022
Sales of newly built homes in April fell to the lowest level since the beginning of the pandemic as soaring prices and spiking mortgage rates weighed on buyer demand. April’s… Read more
May 20, 2022
The prices of new homes in China fell for the first time in more than six years, as Beijing’s regulatory crackdown continues to weigh on one of the nation’s biggest… Read more
May 19, 2022
Surging mortgage rates, sky-high prices, and low inventory are weighing heavily on prospective buyers and builders alike as several key gauges of the housing market have fallen to the lowest… Read more
May 17, 2022
Gas prices continue to surge, and the annual amount American households are spending to fill their tank is nearly double what it was last year. U.S. households are now spending… Read more
May 12, 2022
Concerns about inflation have U.S. consumers feeling worse than they have in more than a decade. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index dropped to 59.1 from 65.2 in April,… Read more
May 11, 2022
U.S. inflation cooled slightly last month but remained near the highest level in four decades as economists worry that upward price pressures are broadening. The consumer price index (CPI) climbed… Read more
“Modern finance is based on scientific reasoning guided by theory, not subjectivity and speculation.”
John “Mac” McQuown
Patience mitigates risk.
When it comes to investment products, complexity often fosters fraud and abuse.
Portfolio diversification enables investors to manage their fear of the unknown.
Rebalancing is like love, you never have to say you are sorry. You are always selling high and buying low.
A good investment policy should never risk what you already have for something you don’t need.


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Port of Tauranga lifted its first-half dividend by 66 percent after posting record earnings on increased volumes export volumes of dairy products, meat and logs. The company affirmed its full-year guidance.
Net profit rose to $74.2 million in the six months ended December 31 from $34.6 million a year earlier, reflecting a 12 percent gain in sales to $188.6 million and a one-time gain of $35 million from the of its half-share in stevedoring firm C3, the company says in a statement.
Excluding C3, profit rose 13 percent to $39.6 million, about matching a forecast from brokerage Forsyth Barr. The shares climbed 1.4 percent to $14, matching the record high set earlier this month.
The port, which is 55 percent-owned by Bay of Plenty Regional Council, has benefited from industrial strife at rival Ports of Auckland, which has seen freight diverted south and spurred shipping lines to switch, allowing the company to give itself the title of "pre-eminent national freight gateway".
The company is embarked on a three-year, $170 million programme to expand its container terminal, increase berthage, add a sixth gantry crane and dredge its shipping channel.
The bulk of its sales gains came from port operations, where revenue rose to 14 percent to $96 million. Property services revenue rose 3 percent to $9.87 million and transport services rose to $1.2 million from $704,000.
Trade volume growth of 10 percent to 9.4 million tonnes was driven by exports, which jumped 16 percent to 6.4 million tonnes, while import volumes held steady at about 3 million tonnes.
Dairy volumes recorded the biggest increase, rising 87 percent to 935,000 tonnes, while meat exports rose 31 percent to 184,000 tonnes and logs gained 13.8 percent to 2.6 million tonnes.
Container volumes rose 26 percent to 431,840 twenty foot equivalent units.
Port of Tauranga's MetroPort hub in south Auckland, which connects by rail with its main facility in the east coast city, lifted volumes by 26 percent to 101,440 TEUs.
Operating expenses rose to $58.6 million from $51.8 million.
The company reiterated its full-year forecast of underlying profit of $75 million to $$79 million, up from $73.5 million last year.
It said log volumes are expected to continue growing on demand from China and it sees growth in container volumes.
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Alibaba is currently facing a federal probe, and it seems that the matter won’t be settled anytime soon. According to the New York Post, the SEC is getting help with their investigation from an insider. The Chinese firm is facing heat for its controversial accounting practices, and one or more whistleblowers are reportedly at work to surface its anomalies, reports The Post.
Insider helping SEC?
Citing a source aware of the situation, the Post says that one mole was identified as a “high-up” official at Alibaba who played a major part in getting the investigation started. In May, the e-commerce giant disclosed that the SEC is probing the complex transactions between its Cainiao logistics arm and dozens of other business affiliates, along with some discrepancies in the way the company reports its annual Singles’ Day shopping festival.
Further, the sources revealed that it is not known if the official is still working under Jack Ma, but he is definitely helping the SEC in hopes of a reward. The investigation could span a few more months, and the SEC is reportedly deploying other whistleblowers in the company to fetch the required information, the source told the Post.
Short-sellers such as Jim Chanos doubt the fairness of transactions at Alibaba and alleged that Cainiao is being used to cover the losses on Alibaba’s balance sheet. Short-sellers also doubt the Singles’ Day festival sales, claiming that the numbers may be inflated by fake transactions or sales from canceled orders.
Analysts still bullish on Alibaba
Local authorities in China have not left any stone unturned in hiding the complex and doubtful ways in which Alibaba operates, says the Post.
Donn Vickery of Pacific Square Research, a firm that raised questions about Alibaba’s accounting said, “There are laws within China on what[Alibaba] can turn over or not turn over, and that could support the company being nonresponsive” to the SEC.
Vickery added that if there is a whistleblower, then the possibility of someone giving access to the documents increases. However, other analysts are still looking at the value that the company can offer. Alibaba shares have increased around 30% in 2016, compared to around 8% for the S&P 500 index, including dividends.
Recently Citigroup released its sum-of-the-parts analysis, which showed that Alibaba is more valuable than understood. Alicia Yap of Citigroup increased her price target to $133 from $112. Also Goldman Sachs analyst Piyush Mubayi recently said that Alibaba was his favorite Chinese internet pick.


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Carnival Cruise Lines today released images of several staterooms, including the premium vista balcony category (pictured).
The new ship will combine bright colors and soothing pastels, the company said, with iconic images of palm trees and other tropical elements adorning hallway corridors. Contemporary furnishings and light fixtures are also planned.
Carnival Breeze will offer some of the new elements on the recently introduced Carnival Magic, including a RedFrog Pub, SportSquare recreation complex, Cucina del Capitano family-style Italian restaurant and WaterWorks park.
The renderings of staterooms and other facilities are posted at www.carnival.com/breeze.


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When a hacker siphoned over $50 million from a digital money experimental project last June, many saw the development as a near-fatal blow to the prevailing hope in virtual currency. For a crowdfunding project that was to prove that virtual currency is safe and secure, the experimental cryptocurrency project was a huge failure.
This event made many doubt, not only the viability of cryptocurrencies, but also the effectiveness and safety of using the technologies behind them, including Blockchain.
Yet, just last month, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (D.T.C.C.) announced its plans to replace one of its databases with fresh software that uses blockchain, the technology behind most cryptocurrencies.
D.T.C.C. is the company that manages most of the back-end services for the majority of trading firms on Wall Street. The New York firm is involved in recording and reporting of most stock and bond trades in the United States. Additionally, it trades most of the valuable derivatives in the market.
D.T.C.C.’s decision to replace a central database with a blockchain-based software was seen as the first step by the biggest banks in the world towards shifting a portion of their financial infrastructure to the virtual currency world.
While there are significant differences between this blockchain technology and the blockchain technology that bitcoin uses, the guiding principles are the same.
D.T.C.C.’s blockchain is referred to as a distributed ledger and will only be used by financial institutions. Another big difference between a distributed ledger and bitcoin’s blockchain is that to be a participant, a bank will need to be invited.
Nevertheless, the technology will allow financial institutions to update as well as view the ledger simultaneously, just like bitcoin’s blockchain.
You can think of it as a modified blockchain that will only be used as a replacement for Trade Information Warehouse. Trade Information Warehouse is a database that records every piece of information regarding trading of credit default swaps coming through the D.T.C.C.
More than any other function, blockchain seeks to solve the problem of trust in financial transactions. In order for two parties to undertake a successful financial transaction, they need to trust that both of them will go through the whole process to get their intended result. By design therefore, successful financial transactions need trust.
In the traditional approach to financial transactions, people use financial institutions or other third parties to ensure that the product or service on offer is genuine and the promised financial pay-off is real.
If the transaction involves large sums of money, each side will typically require that a record be made as proof that the transaction took place. The record needs to be transparent and auditable, lest one party later decides to deny that such a transaction ever took place.
Blockchain technology is designed to create an environment of trust for financial transactions. Instead of using a third party like a bank, blockchain will let all parties involved in a transaction to sign a contract electronically.
Verification of a transaction is “crowdsourced” through mining, where all computers in the network become “witnesses” of the transactions and retain a copy of it as evidence that certain goods and services changed hands.
This makes it extremely difficult for any of the parties involved to create non-existent transactions or manipulate the record.
The principle that governs blockchain technology
Unlike the traditional approach to transactions where a third party, trusted by all involved parties in a transaction, is introduced, blockchain uses a system that works around common greed. This is how it works:
- As a public ledger, blockchain transaction records are copied to thousands of computers from around the world. These copies are identical and public.
- To make a single change to the blockchain, permission must be granted by every computer in the network. This makes unilateral changes practically impossible.
- Because blockchain is cumulative, it is not possible to go back in time and change a record. The only thing you can do is add to whichever record that is already in existence.
- Every new transaction appears as a block. This block is, by design, a cryptographic challenge that needs to be solved. It is broadcasted across the entire network allowing the nodes on the network to compete as they seek to lead in solving the challenge.
- Every solution is broadcast to the entire network for verification. After the completion of universal verification, the block is approved to be added to the blockchain. The node that won the challenge is awarded with bitcoins.
As you may have noticed, there is no part of the blockchain ecosystem where trust is necessary. Instead the desire of every node/actor in the network to use its computer resources towards verification of transactions is what creates the integrity of the system.
This desire is driven by the potential earning of freshly mined bitcoins. Consequently, this change of rules eliminates the need for a third party like a bank or a government.
In a perfect world, this blockchain ecosystem would create an environment where it is possible to achieve complete transparency, eliminate bureaucracy, bring down the cost of transactions and speed up the entire process.
Risks and challenges of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies
Security remains the biggest challenges that makes financial institutions reluctant to embrace blockchain technology. In the blockchain ecosystem, once a person gets access to a network, it is not very hard for them to find a way to acquire blanket access to every part of that network.
While you could create protections within the system to protect it against hacks, doing so would defeat the purpose for which the blockchain is intended.
Furthermore, some people have found ways to go around blockchain records and make changes. When a hacker found a way into the software that controls Ethereum, a cryptocurrency by the Ethereum Foundation, the foundation rolled back the clock and gave people back their money.
It then went ahead to create another version of the ledger. By doing this, some people exploited the two versions of the ledger that became available, some even managed to double their money.
Unlike in other industries where companies can do disruptions and later ask to be forgiven, players in the financial sector cannot afford to do that. With every new innovation, regulations must be put in place before rolling out to the masses. Blockchain technology will be no different.
For the public to enjoy all its benefits, regulations must be put in place so as to maintain the integrity of the financial systems. In some cases, laws will need to be changed to accommodate this phenomenon that is still in its infancy, but which could revolutionize financial transactions around the globe.
How some major financial institutions are embracing blockchain
In May 2015, NASDAQ said it was planning to use blockchain to enhance its capabilities on its Private Market Platform. This platform is designed to make it possible for private companies to trade before an IPO.
In June, the same year, the stock exchange company announced that it had partnered with Chain. Chain is a vendor of blockchain infrastructure for enterprises and financial institutions. Additionally, the firm said it would make use of the Open Assets Protocol to make its private exchange platform.
Late last year, Goldman Sachs filed a patent of its latest innovation that would increase privacy for parties involved in a financial transaction. The innovation uses blockchain technology and is meant to streamline transactions in foreign exchange.
Moreover, Goldman Sachs has been publishing a lot of content regarding blockchain and bitcoin, perhaps, an indication of its plan to incorporate these technologies to its business systems.
US Federal Reserve
Just last December, the US Federal Reserve published new research (PDF) on blockchain technology. The research paper covered the applications of distributed ledger tech in settling transactions and payments. Moreover, the new research included a top-down perspective of the principles and concepts that govern blockchain.
This research paper plus the news that the bank was collaborating with IBM to develop a digital system of payment that has roots in blockchain technology, are the clearest signs yet that the US Federal Reserve may be planning to start rolling out this tech for use in certain sections of the banking sector.
Towards the end of 2016, Citi invested an undisclosed amount of money in Cobalt DL. This is a startup based in London that is seeking to use blockchain to make it easier and simpler to do foreign exchange trading.
In September, 2016 Barclays Bank reported that it had successfully carried out the world’s first financial trade using blockchain. Instead of taking 10 days, the transaction is said to have taken less than 4 hours.
Deutsche bank recently reported that the blockchain project it has been working on had now moved from the proof of concept stage, making a significant milestone. While the bank’s executives insisted that the widespread use of distributed ledger tech was still over five years into the future, the anticipation for the widespread use of these disruptive technologies is rising in the financial sector.


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International brand design agency bluemarlin has created a new visual identity for Portugal and Angola’s iconic soft drink brand, Sumol. A redesign of the brand’s packaging hits shelves this April throughout all five continents.
With a loyal following and a rich history that dates back to the 1950s, Sumol is a much-loved brand in its home country, Portugal. This new visual identity comes full circle with Sumol’s ambition to reach a wider audience and keep up to date with a younger generation of consumers. Sumol took this opportunity to infuse the brand with new energy and excitement, focusing on the communication of natural fruit refreshment.
According to the agency, the revolutionary design focuses around an iconic “S” which is created by an explosive slice of fruit. This injects excitement while conveying the experience of drinking the product. The kaleidoscope illustrations of fruit highlight the product’s unique attribute of containing real fruit pieces. The logo has also been updated with edgier typography inspired by street art, which is very popular in Lisbon. The new design has been rolled out in both standard and sleek cans across the core range of fruit variants.
Miguel Garcia, Sumol comments, “Sumol is a brand with deep roots but an adventurous spirit. With this new identity, it will make a meaningful connection with the younger generation, thus helping it continue its iconic status.”
Ian Catling, executive creative director of bluemarlin states, “This was a truly braver step for Sumol. The new identity takes the brand to the next level, ready to embrace its future. Driven by the idea, Light up Life, the new look conveys optimism, embracing the moment and being ready for anything.”
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Toshiba, Sanyo Report Profits
TOKYO (AP) _ Toshiba Corp. was profitable in the first half of the fiscal year after a loss a year earlier, and Sanyo Electric Co.’s profit quadrupled as the economic recovery boosted sales for the Japanese electronics makers.
Toshiba said Friday it earned 53.90 billion yen ($497 million) in the April-September period after a loss of 48.46 billion yen in the first half last year. It cited strong demand for semiconductors, personal computer equipment, mobile phones and liquid crystal products.
Sales climbed 7.8 percent to 2.83 trillion yen ($26 billion) from 2.62 trillion yen a year earlier.
Toshiba said the positive trend is expected to continue in Japan, where capital investment in technology is growing. But it expected bad news overseas because of rising oil prices and the decline of the euro.
For the fiscal year ending March 2001, Toshiba predicts earnings of 137 billion yen ($1.3 billion) and sales of 6.22 trillion yen ($57.4 billion).
Sanyo Electric said its profit for the first half climbed to 20.25 billion yen ($186.8 million), up from 3.61 billion yen in the previous year.
Sales climbed 10 percent to 1.06 trillion yen ($9.8 billion) from 959 billion yen a year ago on strong demand for information and technology-related equipment. Sales of audio visual products, digital cameras and semiconductors were also good, with sales growing both at home and overseas, Sanyo said.
For the fiscal year, Sanyo forecast a profit of 40 billion yen ($369 million) on sale of 2.13 trillion yen ($20 billion).
Despite the improving results, Sanyo has had trouble lately. This week, the president said he will step down to take responsibility for a scandal in which the company continued to supply defective solar cell systems despite knowledge of the defect.
On Friday, Sanyo said it will recall 198,340 refrigerators sold in Japan because of defective doors that resulted in minor injuries.
In the latest case, the company received 139 reports of refrigerator doors coming off hinges, said Sanyo spokesman Masayuki Onimaru. Some customers said the doors fell to the floor, causing injuries and damaging goods. Onimaru said none of the 12 injuries were serious.
The refrigerators were produced between February 1995 and December 1996 and were sold only in Japan, Onimaru said. Sanyo will repair them free of charge.


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Samsung Electronics has confirmed that it will build a dedicated team to develop things related to the automotive industry. Korean conglomerate said this team will operate separate from other parts of Samsung, but the group will still use and integration of technology developed by the Samsung.
It should be noted that Samsung has no intention of creating a car true to herself, it only wants to develop and sell the hardware accessories and software systems used in automobiles. Reuters said that Samsung plans to build up the infotainment system, satellite navigation system and the technology that supports self-driving cars in the future.
This is seen as a path in search of Samsung profit opportunities, especially in the context of the smartphone segment in recent times is not favorable, and more and create more pressure for collective Korean delegation. Samsung with huge advantages in the array processor and the screen will be the favorable conditions to help carriers create quality accessories used inside the car.
Currently we see the cars branded Samsung appear on the market but it is a product of the alliance Samsung - Renault in the Korean market Samsung itself also not related to the production.
Hometown rival LG also produces a lot of electronic equipment in the car. LG Hai Phong factory production lines have such parts moment we go into production.


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This week the trend continued when Excite@Home said it would acquire Blue Mountain Arts, whose popular Bluemountain.com site creates online gift cards, for $780 million cash and stock. Excite@Home will pay an extra $270 million in stock to the company if it achieves strong traffic, reach, and "performance targets," the company added.
Excite@Home said the company isn't addicted to takeovers. "Acquisitions are only one part of the mechanism to grow traffic," said Mark Stevens, executive vice president of corporate development at Excite@Home. "We are much more aggressively moving on the marketing front."
Still, the gap between Excite and front-runner Yahoo has been widening month after month, leading some analysts to question the company's ability to generate traffic organically. In February, Excite had 18.1 million unique visitors to its site, according to Media Metrix. In September, that number had fallen to 15.3 million.
"The only way these guys are going to be competitive and catch up [with portal leaders] is through acquisitions," said Jilani Zeribi, an analyst at market research firm Current Analysis.
Internet companies with soaring share prices have typically viewed acquisitions through stock-swaps as a cheap way to stay on the growth curve. But those deals also have blurred the price of takeovers by removing standard measures of value. Profitability was long ago discounted. Now, with deals like Blue Mountain, the assumption appears to be that revenues don't matter either.
Blue Mountain, which is a private company, has not disclosed its financials. But an Excite@Home spokesman said the company posted "little or negligible" revenue last year.
The purchase could become a major test of relatively recent ways developed to value Net companies--in particular, metrics such as the number of unique visitors, or "eyeballs," that a site attracts. In the case of Blue Mountain, financial analysts calculate that Excite@Home paid $87 for each unique visitor to the site during the last month.
It hasn't yet been proven whether that figure is cheap or expensive. By any measure, however, spending potentially $1 billion to boost traffic is a risky way to remain competitive. Although Excite's traffic will rise as a result of the deal, there is still uncertainty about the loyalty of these users and how much money the company can expect to make from them.
Another missing piece of the puzzle is what Excite@Home can do with these visitors--assuming it can retain them. As it stands, the acquisition gives Excite 9 million unique users. Excite@Home plans to integrate Blue Mountain's service into its other applications, such as its online calendar and shopping services. The company also hopes it can transform these new Blue Mountain users into subscribers to its broadband service.
The company's track record gives few hints of whether it will be able to pull it all off.
Just three months ago, for example, Excite paid $425 million for online shopping site iMall--a deal that some say has yet to prove its worth.
"In the past three months, Excite@Home has spent over $1 billion on stuff that has not demonstrated it can generate any significant revenue," said David Simons, managing director of research firm Digital Video Investments.
Adding to the uncertainty, the Blue Mountain acquisition comes as red flags have gone up over the growth prospects for Web traffic in general. Last week, Web audience measurement firm Media Metrix reported a month-to-month Web traffic decline or stagnancy among the biggest portals, including America Online, Yahoo, and MSN.
"I think it's safe to say that growth rates in the U.S. are not as robust as they were a year ago," said Derek Brown, an equity analyst at Volpe Brown Whelen.
The Blue Mountain acquisition brings to light a phenomenon unique to the Internet: Big companies are willing to spend hundreds of millions--sometimes billions--of dollars for a smaller company without a clear business plan or strong revenue.
The classic example is ICQ, the Israeli-based instant messaging firm that AOL acquired for close to $300 million in 1997. AOL made the acquisition because of the sheer number of people using ICQ and its ability to market itself by word of mouth and email.
Although ICQ's user growth since the acquisition has satisfied AOL's ambitions, blossoming from 12 million when the deal was announced to 38 million now, the company has yet to figure out how to make money with it, analysts say. So far, AOL has tried selling advertising on the ICQ.com Web site and wants to create more e-commerce opportunities on the site.
But AOL has had to tread lightly with ICQ. The service has traditionally been free of advertising, and its user base is more Internet-savvy and international than that of AOL's proprietary service. AOL has not disclosed results for the service.
Excite@Home faces a similar balancing act over its plans to introduce the first advertisements onto Blue Mountain--only the ramifications could be even more serious than with ICQ. For one, ICQ is software that rests on a desktop that has to be uninstalled to disappear. With Blue Mountain, a competitor such as Egreetings is one click away.
"Part of [Blue Mountain's] appeal is its home-grown Ben & Jerry's flavor," said Digital Video Investments' Simons. "If Excite comes along larding advertising on it, it risks damaging its appeal."
Portals bruised but not broken
Despite brief glimpses of slowdown from the Media Metrix report, the Web remains a growth sector, analysts say. Wall Street does not pin all its judgments on the results of one metering firm. In most cases, analysts examine top-line revenue across many companies to determine the market's health.
David Levy, an equity analyst at Hambrecht & Quist, said he has seen "absolutely zero evidence for slow growth or contraction of business" in the Internet sector. Analysts usually caution people from making generalizations about the industry when Media Metrix releases its monthly traffic reports because of its small sample size and possible seasonal effects.
Nonetheless, Levy expects the portal Monopoly game to continue at its pace. The pattern will continue as Web companies use their stock as money to buy companies that can give them more reach.
"It can continue for a long time," Levy said about companies using acquisitions to boost traffic.


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Yaaawn. Much like college students adjusting to the first days back on campus, investors didn't seem too excited about yesterday's second-quarter earnings release from Staples
The office-supply retailer reported a gain in net profit of 11%, to $178.8 million or $0.25 per share. Sales were up 10.6% to $4.3 billion, boosted by robust laptop sales and international expansion, but weighed down by weak furniture sales. Its international business has been one of the company's true bright spots, where same-store sales advanced 7%. Contrast that with its home market, where Staples suffered a 2% slide in comps.
While the numbers were fair, management certainly didn't do anything to evoke investor confidence. Leadership remains concerned about modest consumer spending in the U.S. economy. There's no question that the environment in which Staples operates is challenging. However, I think that's exactly why Staples has an advantage over smaller competitors Office Depot
Staples' sheer size, diverse offerings, and international presence enable it to withstand domestic market slowdowns. When furniture sales are down, laptop sales are up. When U.S. sales slow, international sales pick up the slack. (Staples opened seven new locations in China and will launch retail operations in India later this year.) Staples also has the benefit of its fast-growing delivery business, which includes its website and catalog; this segment delivered a 16% jump in sales.
So, yes, consumers may be acting somewhat more frugally for a little while. However, we all still need our school and office supplies. And let's not forget, Staples is still projecting 15% earnings growth for the full year. That's at the bottom of its previous 15% to 20% range, but the company told us in May that was the case. With a forward P/E of 14, Staples looks reasonably priced. Given that, I'm not ready to stock up on Staples just yet, but it is a company to watch closely and could pick up once market jitters start to subside.
For more on where to go for supplies, read:


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Wednesday 10th January 2018
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Australia's PAS Group, whose suite of retail brands include Review, Black Pepper and JETS, says first-half earnings will be weighed down by a New Zealand Customs decision that didn't go its way last year.
In 2016, the Mt Waverly, Victoria-based retailer won a $1.08 million refund from overpaying duty on Black Pepper products imported into New Zealand between 2005 and 2010. However, last year a decision on the level of interest accrued from the overpayments didn't go as far as PAS had anticipated, a spokeswoman told BusinessDesk. That meant the retailer had to reverse the proportion of interest it had expected but didn't receive.
This contributed to A$1 million of one-off costs in the six months ended Dec. 31 alongside costs related to a takeover bid for PAS from cornerstone shareholder US-based Coliseum Capital Management and consulting fees on US expansion opportunities for the retailer.
PAS expects first-half earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to be between A$8 million and A$8.5 million after the one-off charges, down from A$11.6 million a year earlier.
"Ongoing subdued consumer sentiment, industry-wide traffic headwinds and the elevated promotional environment flagged in our August results announcement have continued," managing director Eric Morris said in a statement to the ASX yesterday. "Like for like store sales in Review and Black Pepper, which were below the prior year for the first eight weeks of the half, have continued to be below prior year and the prevailing environment has also resulted in delays to wholesale orders in Designworks."
PAS shares fell 2.4 percent to 40 Australian cents on the ASX yesterday.
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Regarding the expansion of trade and investment activities across the Taiwan Strait, the AUO case should serve as a wake-up call for the government, as industrial espionage is very much a growing threat to Taiwan’s prosperity. Turning a blind eye to this issue leaves the entire Taiwanese economy at grave risk.
Sun, Oct 21, 2012 - Page 8 News List
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1Tsai-Trump telephone call scheduled
2Biggest-ever drug seizure made
3Groundbreaking Call: Tsai, Trump talk of defense, economics
4Tsai-Trump Phone Call: REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: Beijing fish out of water after groundbreaking call
5Groundbreaking Call: Beijing grumbles after call to Trump


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Pittsburgh-based Plextronics Inc. announced Friday is has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will conduct an auction for the sale of the company.
In a release, the company, which develops customized inks to enhance the performance of organic light emitting diodes for a number of applications, said it has entered into an acquisition agreement with Solvay America Inc. as a "stalking horse" bidder. This means Solvay will make the first bid on the company and set the floor, or minimal acceptable bid.
If the proposed bidding procedures are approved by the bankruptcy court, it would require interested parties to submit binding offers to acquire Plextronics' assets by Feb. 28. Assuming qualified bids are submitted, Plextronics said an auction will be held with a final sale approval hearing expected to follow. The company said it anticipates the closing of the sale to occur by the end of March.
"The board and management team have conducted a rigorous assessment of all of our strategic options and concluded that this process represents the best possible solution for Plextronics to help unlock the value of Plexcore inks," Richard McCullough, chairman of the board of Plextronics, said in a prepared statement. "We are committed to an outcome that maximizes value and allows Plexcore to remain commercially available to all customers. Further, we are thankful to our dedicated employees who continue to work vigorously to develop and provide Plexcore materials to all customers throughout this process."
Campbell & Levine LLC in Pittsburgh is serving as the Plextronics' legal advisers and New York-based Cowen and Co. LLC is serving as its investment banker.


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Wuliangye is not China’s most recogniZable liquor brand but with a 45% domestic market share it is the nation’s best selling
Leading Chinese spirit producer Wuliangye Yibin hosts a tasting on the banks of the River Seine, introducing baijiu and Chinese culture to Parisians
3 October 2019 | (Staff Writers and AAP/PRNewswire)
China’s national spirit baijiu flowed on the banks of one of Europe’s famed waterways as the China Culture Center in Paris hosted an evening showcasing Wuliangye. Though its international brand recognition is well behind that of Moutai, Wuliangye is in fact China’s biggest selling baijiu commanding a 45% market share compared to second-placed Moutai’s 30% share.
Baijiu is a clear spirit distilled from grain which is sometimes dubbed by non-baijiu drinkers as “Chinese Fire Water”. There are at least a dozen variations across different brands, but all fall under the baijiu category. By volume it is far and away the most consumed spirit on earth, though varieties are sold in different volume bottles, assuming a standard bottle size of 750ml, total annual baijiu sales amount to a staggering 15 billion bottles.
Moutai has in recent years capped, and occasionally even cut, its production in order to maintain the premium status of its brand, as well as ensure higher prices are paid by consumers. In a business sense lower supply of Moutai has been more than offset by higher margins, which has actually benefitted producer Kweichow Moutai.
Limited supplies of Moutai have also opened the door to smaller brands, as well as providing consumers an alternative in other leading brands such as Wuliangye. Produced in China’s Sichuan Province – most famous for spicy food and being the home of the giant panda – the Wuliangye literally translates to “five grains liquid”, which are proso millet, maize, glutinous rice, long-grain rice and wheat.
The Paris event featured Chinese minority songs and dances, a fashion show as well as Chinese food and wine, with the attendance of more than 150 guests including Chinese and French officials and those from economic, cultural, media and other fields of the two countries.
Among those at the tasting was, Ms Martine Partrat, Head of Commercial Partnerships for Air France, “It’s a liquor that boasts a stronger and mellower taste than a French wine”, she said.
In 2018 China’s Culture Ministry merged with the China National Tourism Administration enormously boosting the international profile of China’s many and diverse cultures, through numerous such events held in key overseas markets. “Holding such a gala is helpful for French people to know China in an all-round way through art performances, photo exhibitions, fashion shows and food tasting”, said Yan Zhenquan, director with the China Cultural Center in Paris.


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Potato traders rebut CM's hoarding chargesFalguni Banerjee | TNN | Jul 3, 2012, 03.18 AM IST
Tarakeshwar: Potato traders and cold storage owners in Hooghly reacted to the accusation of hoarding that chief minister Mamata Banerjee made at the Writers' Buildings on Monday evening and countered that prices have increased countrywide due to drop in production.
Speaking to TOI on Monday, officials of State Potato Traders' Association and cold storage owners said production of potato was down 15%, leading to a mismatch in demand and supply. "In 2010 and 2011, around 1 crore tonnes of potatoes were produced in the state. But this year, the production is at 85 lakh tonnes. Usually, around 17-18% of the potatoes are released in the market in June. This year, around 22% potatoes are already in the market but the price continues to remain firm," an official of Cold Storage Owners' Association said.
Big traders also pointed out that price of potato in Uttar Pradesh, the highest producer of the crop in the country, was also high. West Bengal is the second largest producer of potato with wholesale markets in Tarakeshwar, Champadanga, Singur, Ratanpur and Arambagh accounting for not only the bulk of potato sales in the state but also accounting for the demand in Orissa and Assam.
Blaming the unusually firm price of potatoes and all other vegetables on middlemen, cold storage owners alleged that the latter were charging a hefty amount on transport cost. Farmers, though, said the earnings remained low with marginal farmers selling their produce at Rs 600-700 a quintal.
The CM, on Monday, squarely blamed hoarding for the unprecedented rise in agricultural commodities and called for raids to get supplies going. But traders and cold storage owners countered that politicians of all major parties, including Trinamool Congress and CPM, were part of the trade.
"At the potato traders' committee, one can spot Swapan Samanta of Trinamool Congress and former CPM zilla parishad sabhapati Asit Patra. Everyone has a share of the pie. So, why blame a section of traders or cold storage owners?" asked an owner of a cold storage unit in Hooghly.


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Look at ME, she cried. Again.
As Twitchy readers know, Meghan McCain has landed a show on Pivot. Sadly, it’s not called “Meet the Jackass.” Meghan McCain took to Twitter to self-squee over an ad running for “Raising McCain,” which is set to premiere on September 14. One response to the ad sums everything all up and puts it in a snark nutshell:
Snap! Game over.
— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper) September 8, 2013
— Dina Fraioli (@DinaFraioli) September 8, 2013
— Jamie Weinstein (@Jamie_Weinstein) September 8, 2013
Snort. Speaking of Pivot …
— Pivot (@pivot) September 4, 2013
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) September 5, 2013
And a flashback tweet brings it all home:
Meghan McCain's next book "Nepotism, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Daddy's Influence" will soon be available anywhere books are sold.
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) July 28, 2013
Never change, Twitter.


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Halo Infinite has been officially announced as the next entry in the Halo franchise and Master Chief's story. Let's see if this new game can recapture that title's nostalgic magic. The industry is headed in an exciting direction, and we see an opportunity to create fantastic new game experiences of the future. After Halo 5: Forge brought the game's map-building tools to keyboard and mouse users, an entire port is a logical next step. Unlike Halo: Infinite, Microsoft were confident enough to tease a release date, even if it was only a vague "2019" window.
"We've been thrilled to see the positive impact Xbox Game Pass is having on the gaming ecosystem, including increasing the number of titles gamers play nearly 40 percent and increasing gameplay hours by almost 20 percent", said Mike Nichols, chief marketing officer for Gaming at Microsoft.
Spencer announced that Microsoft is adding five game development studios to its Microsoft Studios family.
Trump Administration Imposes Fresh Sanctions on Russian Federation for NotPetya & Router Attacks
Special Counsel Robert Mueller, looking into interactions between associates of President Donald Trump and Russian officials. National flags of Russia and the USA fly at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia April 11, 2017.
Unlike in previous years, when Microsoft took over the Galen Center for its E3 press event, this year's briefing will be held in the Microsoft Theater at LA Live right outside of the Los Angeles Convention Center. Ahead of that there were a large amount of third party and in-house games showcased by Microsoft. Spencer intends to build a platform that offers a foundation for experimentation, with enough financial stability for game makers to try new things.
The trailer for Halo Infinite was uploaded to YouTube on June 10, 2018 and has already been viewed more than 523,000 times. However, the multiplayer part of the game will purportedly release in 2020, which is a year later. We're also getting a free iOS Elder Scrolls game called Blades.
"We still have a long way to go until we ship the game", Chris Lee, studio head at developer 343 Studios, wrote in a blog post after the game trailer aired. Sony recently suggested that it won't reveal the new PlayStation until 2021, and that kind of timeline makes sense for Microsoft as well. But Microsoft continues to work to improve it, and we are seeing the results of that at E3. We also got an update on Crackdown 3 and a ton of new trailers, including Ori and the Will of the Wisps and From Software's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.


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A minority stake in software and online retail group THG has been snapped up by Kelso Group.
The deal, worth £2.7m, has seen the group acquire 0.4% of the shares in the Manchester-headquartered giant.
It is the first investment for Kelso, which floated on the London Stock Exchange earlier this month.
A statement from Kelso Group said: "The board of Kelso believes that THG is a hugely exciting but significantly undervalued business.
"Matthew Moulding the THG founder and CEO has built a business with true global scale in two global growth sectors of nutrition and beauty employing around c.8,000 employees with 18 fulfilment centres shipping to 195 destinations.
"On 17 January 2023, THG announced record revenue for the year to December 2022 of £2.25bn, albeit with a reduced core adjusted EBITDA on a continuing basis of £100m, following EBITDA of £161m in FY21 and £151m in FY20.
"However, we believe this reduced EBITDA is temporary and will be enhanced with operational improvements and not least from deflation in certain input prices, for example in whey.
"We also regard THG's comment that Ingenuity is 'in advanced discussions to provide long-term software solutions for several significant enterprise clients' as positive news.
"Kelso believes that the THG board's actions, through the new chairman Charles Allen, Lord Allen of Kensington CBE, to improve governance and expand the executive team will pay dividends in 2023.
"We think that the recent appointment of Damian Saunders as CFO, previously a senior partner at Deloitte, as announced on 24 January 2023, is positive, especially given his knowledge of THG having been involved with the 'separation' project which formally gave the three main divisions their own corporate independence.
"Kelso believes that the separation provides THG with significant strategic optionality.
"The potential to separate parts of the business could provide THG shareholders with significant upside from the valuation of the business today. Kelso believes that the current stock market value does not reflect the underlying value of the sum of each of the main THG divisions.
"In particular, Kelso believes that the Nutrition business, which incorporates the MyProtein and MyVegan brands, could alone be worth in excess of the entire current market capitalisation of THG.
"This is evidenced by the valuations of deals in that particular sector in the last few years, caused in part by the shift in consumption away from chocolate and sugar to health and nutrition, a trend which we believe will continue.
"For the reasons above, Kelso believes this is an exciting first investment for its shareholders."
As of end of trading on Monday, January 30, THG's market capitalisation was £710m.
The group had listed on the London Stock Exchange in September 2020 with a value of £5.4bn.
Earlier this month, THG announced sales for 2022 of £2.25bn.
John Goold, CEO of Kelso, said: "Matthew Moulding, a British entrepreneur, started THG from scratch in 2004, which has grown to over £2.0bn of revenue, employing c.8,000 employees the majority of which are in the UK.
"This transition from entrepreneurial start up to a large listed corporate is never easy but we think THG is now putting in all the building blocks to achieve the success it deserves."


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A small device the size of a TV remote control may become a key element in homeland security if an idea proposed by Georgia Southern University computer science professor Bob Cook is accepted.
Cook proposes incorporating cutting-edge radio frequency identification (RFID) devices, truck weigh stations, and law enforcement vehicles into a system to gather information for a proposed national truck tracking center.
His suggestion is to attach a small RFID unit with its own identification code to each truck and container. Every time a truck passes through a weigh station, an electronic reader would sense the RFID devices and feed the truck and container’s location into a national truck tracking computer system. Cook also proposes to equip law enforcement vehicles with RFID sensors. The sensors would then collect truck tracking information in the normal course of their patrols and transmit it back to a computer system.
The RFID devices measure a few inches in size and cost less than $15.
Cook assembled a prototype system and successfully tested it at a weigh station on Interstate 16 near Savannah GA. He worked with the Georgia Ports Authority, a trucking company, and a retail distributor.
According to Cook, anyone involved in shipping, transporting, or receiving cargo could track their delivery. Cook also says his plan ties in closely with the Georgia Department of Transportation’s plans for electronic highways.


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With plans to double the size of the mall and bring in new shops, cafes and a VOX Cinema, that's reason enough to visit City Center Ajman. But their initiative to keep shoppers feeling their best has sealed the deal of where we'll be spending our many summer weekends to come. The shopping center is giving visitors free valet parking during the day while they undergo a AED600million redevelopment and those who opt to park themselves will be picked up in a gold buggy from the temporary space and shuttled right to the door of the mall. Easy breezy.
And that's not all – waiting for visitors are wet wipes, and cold bottles of water so shoppers can start a day of retail therapy off on a fresh note. Now that's a good service!
City Centre Ajman is in the first phase of almost doubling in size from 29,000 sq ft to 52,000 sq ft by 2018 and we can't wait to see the results. But for now, we going to keep on shopping!


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This expert tip could help you dodge potential COVID-19 particles from a sneeze or cough.
The "This Is Us" star said she and husband Taylor Goldsmith will welcome a baby boy early next year.
Kids with "restless sleep disorder" don't just toss and turn; they thrash.
“The love i feel for this tiny human is beyond my understanding," Malik wrote in an Instagram post announcing his daughter's birth.
These are the best places to get modern reproductions of art deco style that Gatsby would covet.
Cheers to all of this unique drinkware, unusual stemware and funky glassware that will make your next cocktail night more special.
"The Christmas House" will feature Bennett and Brad Harder as gay dads-to-be. The film is slated for a Nov. 22 release.
Even the most amicable exes encounter a few bumps in the road.
Here are the most-loved items to shop from Wayfair's annual Way Day sale.
Asymptomatic individuals "may act as an essential driving force for the community spread of COVID-19," according to researchers.
Here's what to expect with gatherings and activities over the colder months of the coronavirus pandemic.
Spending money on Latinx-owned clothing brands, beauty products and Etsy shops is one of the easiest things you can do right now.
These are the best sites that sell antique, vintage and used furniture and decor online.
On the season premiere of her talk show, the "American Idol" champion touched on her split from Brandon Blackstock, saying, "What I'm dealing with is hard."
Shop handmade necklaces, earrings and rings from Latinx designers on Etsy.
The Pontiff made the statement while meeting with members of an Austrian center for autism.
Here's why we need to start embracing face coverings for the long haul, according to experts.
They’re living through a massive economic crisis, and their schools are facing total upheaval. Some teenagers are suddenly tasked with becoming their family’s breadwinners.
Between the pandemic’s toll on mothers and the right’s assault on reproductive rights, the equality Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought for has never been more at risk.
"The fate of our rights, our freedoms, our health care, our bodies, our lives, and our country depend on what happens over the coming months.”
Save online with coupons and promo codes from these featured retailers.


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Happy New Year all! We are excited to announce that the end 2014 was a success for the FCA US LLC brands. Sales numbers for the month of December and the entire year were recently released. Keep reading for more information on how FCA US LLC as a whole and the individual models did last year.
The final sales number for the year was just over 2 million units. Selling this many vehicles was not only exciting but it is the best full-year sales since 2006. When compared to 2013, sales are up 16 percent.
During the month of December FCA US LLC sold a total of 193,261 units, which is a 20 percent increase when compared to December 2013. This also made it the 57th consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains.
One of the FCA US LLC brands that we will highlight this month is Dodge. Dodge had a strong month and year! The Dodge Challenger increased its sales by 72 percent, which is the largest sales gain of any of the Dodge vehicles this month. Three Dodge vehicles posted their best annual sales in 2014: The Dodge Dart, the Dodge Challenger and the Dodge Journey.
“Our best December sales in a decade pushed our full-year sales over the 2-million unit threshold for our best annual sales since 2006,” said Reid Bigland, Head of U.S. Sales. “Last year marked our fifth consecutive year of annual sales growth in the U.S., and once again, we were the fastest-growing automaker in the country.”
Congrats to FCA US LLC! The friendly sales team at Jake Sweeney Chrysler Jeep® Dodge RAM is proud to be a part of this success. If you’re interested in ringing in the new year with a new or pre-owned Dodge vehicle, swing by our Cincinnati area dealership today. We hope to see you soon!
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Netflix Inc. is cracking down on customers who share their accounts, introducing an $8 monthly charge in a long-threatened bid to retain customers and stanch a slowdown in subscription growth.
On Tuesday, the video-streaming giant
announced the plan to reduce unauthorized password sharing in its largest market, the U.S., especially among customers who share their logins with friends and family outside their household.
“Your Netflix account is for you and the people you live with your household,” Netflix said in a blog post.
“A Netflix account is meant to be shared in one household (people who live in the same location with the account owner),” the post said. Anyone else must have a separate paid account or be added as a paid “extra member,” the company said.
To share Netflix with users outside of their household, current customers can transfer a profile to a new membership that someone else pays for, or they can buy an extra membership for $7.99 per month in addition the cost of the main subscription.
Netflix has said it will start blocking devices that attempt to access a Netflix account without properly paying. Subscribers will be able to continue to access the service while traveling, by using personal devices or by logging onto a TV at a hotel, for instance.
During its most recent earnings call, Netflix co-Chief Executive Greg Peters described the reaction of users in countries where the company has already cracked down on password sharing. “It’s very much like a price increase — we see an initial cancel reaction,” he said. “And then we build out of that, both in terms of membership and revenue as borrowers sign up for their own Netflix accounts and existing members purchase that extra member facility for folks that they want to share it with.”