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Allows in-the-moment interactions with customer base
Dave Bowden, owner of Post Espresso, stands behind the shop’s iPad, ready to tweet. — Photo by Sarah Smellie/Special to The Telegram
If you’ve ever tried to phone Post Espresso, the sleek new architecture- and linguistics-inspired espresso bar on Water Street in St. John’s, you were probably unsuccessful.
They don’t have a listed phone number.
Post’s 26-year-old owner, David Bowden, would much rather you tweet him at @postespresso, comment on Post’s Tumblr site, or post to their Facebook site.
“As opposed to talking to somebody on the phone, with social media you can put a lot of thought into what you say,” says Bowden, who emails, tweets and posts to Facebook right from Post’s counter-top iPad, which acts as the shop’s cash register.
“But at the same time, it’s much more spontaneous. And it’s free.”
Though Post’s reliance on social media as its sole form of communication might seem surprising, it’s indicative of an increasingly popular way of doing business.
“The big online marketing catchphrase for 2012 is ‘SoLoMo,’ which means ‘social-local-mobile,’” says Memorial University’s Lyle Wetsch, an associate professor of marketing who offers certification programs in social media marketing through the Gardiner Centre.
“It’s about being able to connect to people through social media but focusing on your audience and making sure there is a mobile aspect.”
It’s quicker to type out a tweet than to look up a phone number and make a call. Wetsch says it’s going to get even easier to do that, especially on a mobile device.
“I personally believe that 2012 is going to be the year of mobile,” says Wetsch.
“Twitter just expanded their mobile app to make it more functional with respect to its search, Google+ just updated their iPad app, which has increased its functionality, and LinkedIn has just increased their mobile app.”
Though social media may seem a like a young person’s game, Bowden doesn’t even have his own personal Facebook site.
Bowden, who didn’t have a Facebook page or even a cell phone before he opened Post, says that Post’s social media networks have taught him a lot about how people — especially customers — expect to communicate these days.
Nancy Day Howard, a mother of teenagers and co-owner of Sound Salon, on the other hand, was well-versed in social media when she signed Sound Salon up for Twitter.
“It was definitely something that I did personally,” she says. “And once I really got into Twitter on a personal level, I realized that this was a business opportunity we hadn’t really tapped into.”
Sound Salon now has an active Twitter account @SoundSalonSpa. Whenever it gets a cancellation, staff sends out a tweet and posts the news to its Facebook site to let its followers know.
“It just gets people in the moment,” she says.
“Instead of calling clients or emailing our client list, if you put it out there like that it’s almost like a gift or a prize — it’s just more impulsive and it seems like it’s more of a treat for them. So you can create that kind of excitement with that immediate contact.”
Sound’s team of tweeters will also help clients find parking downtown by tweeting about empty spaces near the shop. It also has Twitter-based contests and promotions, offering a salon service to people who tweet for it.
“It’s more of a conversation with our clients,” says Howard. “It isn’t just us tweeting about what we do or how great we are.”
That’s a key thing for businesses to realize about their social media channels, says Wetsch.
“It’s not about pushing the organization,” he says.
“It’s about engaging. And that does take more effort and it does require a culture shift within the organization where they need to actually listen and respond, and that takes resources. But the payback is so valuable.”
And it’s valuable in more ways than one. In addition to having happy customers tweet about their experience with Sound and post pictures of their new ’dos to Instagram for all the world to see, Howard has been able to retain clients through Sound’s Twitter network.
“One of our employees was moving away and a person that we follow tweeted that she was really sad that she was losing her stylist,” she says.
“So we sent her a direct message and recommended someone who would be a good fit for her. Not only did we keep her on as a client, but she now really is an ambassador for us — she tweets pictures of her hairstyle, she says great things about us to all of her followers.”
Even negative feedback is welcome on Sound’s public channels, says Howard. That way, the salon can publicly address it and show other clients Sound is listening, and it will help right any wrong that might come up.
“These conversations, especially on Twitter, are conversations that we wouldn’t normally get to hear if they were happening on the phone or through private email,” says Howard.
And these conversations are going on, in public, regardless of whether the business owners have tuned into them, says Wetsch. Twitter sees more than 400 million tweets per day, and there are more than 85,000 people within 10 miles of St. John’s with Facebook accounts. Even the lesser known social media channels are active: close to 100 St. John’s businesses and organizations entered into Foursquare, a location-based networking tool for mobile devices.
“We use Foursquare at Hava Java like an online loyalty card,” says Rob Collins, owner of the Water Street coffee shop. “You can check in at the shop, and after so many check-ins you get a free coffee. Occasionally, we change the specials and might give the person with the most check-ins a free lunch every day.”
But not every social media channel will work for every business, says Wetsch. The point is for business owners to find which ones will engage their customers the best. And though owners won’t be able to control the conversations, opening these channels provides their clients with a space in which to have them, and give business owners a chance to chime in.
It’s the chiming in that gets results. On the Fixed Coffee and Baking Facebook site, a user recently posted to ask if the coffee shop had a high chair. The Fixed crew went out that afternoon and bought one, and then posted back that there was one available. All 465 of their followers were now aware that the shop was able to accommodate children.
At Post Espresso the other morning, David Bowden had a experience as a result of a Twitter conversation.
“One of the writers for the New York Times, Oliver Strand, does a lot of coffee writing,” he says.
“Someone tweeted him asking where to get good coffee in St. John’s. A barista in London, England, that I once worked with follows Strand and tweeted to him to check out Post Espresso. Sure enough, he came in! He got a coffee and really enjoyed it, and he was in again the next day with his family.
“So, it’s amazing what all this social media stuff can do.”


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The House of Mouse was established through the cartoon.
It is commonly believed that the turning point in Disney’s fortunes and cinematic history came with the 1928 short film Steamboat Willie, which featured early non-speaking incarnations of Mickey and Minnie.
Now that Disney’s copyright has expired, its photographs can be freely used by everyone in the US.
Cartoonists and other creatives can now utilise and tweak the original Mickey and Minnie designs.
Actually, those versions are freely and inexpensively usable by anyone.
Disney has issued a warning, though, that copyright does in fact cover more recent iterations of Mickey.
“We will, of course, continue to protect our rights in the more modern versions of Mickey Mouse and other works that remain subject to copyright,” according to the business.
The characters from Steamboat Willie were released into the public domain on Monday, 1 January 2024, in accordance with US copyright law, which states that rights to characters can be held for 95 years.
Sharing, performing, reusing, repurposing, or sampling those works is now completely legal.
On New Year’s Day in the United States, many works, including the original Mickey and Minnie designs, become part of the public domain.
Even more well-known works from 1928, including films, novels, music, and characters, are now accessible to Americans.
Among these works are The Circus, a silent romantic comedy by Charlie Chaplin; The House at Pooh Corner, a book by AA Milne, which introduced the character Tigger; Orlando, a novel by Virginia Woolf; and Lady Chatterley’s Lover, a novel by DH Lawrence.
Copyright laws and expiration dates in the United Kingdom are unique.
Disney has been in the position of potentially losing copyright to its original animated features on multiple occasions.
Congress decided to prolong the time of 20 years, therefore the characters would remain in the public domain for longer than originally anticipated.
Another 20-year extension was authorised prior to the next expiration date in 2004.
The legislation has been called “the Mickey Mouse Protection Act” because to Disney’s “deeply symbolic” attempts to safeguard its characters. However, the time has arrived.
A “deeply symbolic and long awaited” milestone, according to Jennifer Jenkins, director of the Duke Centre for the Study of the Public Domain, who spoke with the BBC.
“What that means for us is that as of 2024, anyone will be free to copy, share and build upon those original cartoons from 1928 and the characters within them,” according to her.
Because of Disney’s “perceived role” in keeping its properties out of the public domain for so long due to the expansion of the copyright term, the occasion was especially significant, according to Jenkins.
Mickey is still used as a corporate mascot and brand identity by Disney, who owns the trademark for it separately. According to Jenkins, there are still restrictions on how the general public can utilise these photographs.
“What I cannot do is start making merchandise and the same kinds of products that Disney sells,” according to her.
“So if I’m selling T-shirts with Mickey and Minnie on them, and someone seeing those T-shirts thinks erroneously that they’re getting a Disney product when they’re not, that’s what trademark stops.”
Thus, a trademark issue would still exist with any usage of Mickey Mouse that suggests he is associated with a brand other than Disney.
Someone may attempt to subject Mickey and Minnie to the horror movie treatment, according to Jack Kendall, a 32-year-old digital content maker from Warwickshire who operates a YouTube channel for Disney news explainers.
He drew a comparison to the time an R-rated horror picture, Blood and Honey, was made from the public domain version of Winnie the Pooh, which was among the lowest-grossing pictures of the year.
The fact that Disney has become “a political lightning rod in pop culture” has led Kendall, who boasts over 168,000 subscribers to his DSNY Newscast channel, to feel that the company would want to stay out of any future legal conflict.
“But they also want to protect their two most identifiable characters,” he told the British broadcaster.
According to him, “Disney’s way of safeguarding the characters if they want to go the legal route in any egregious use of the characters” is the reasoning behind Disney’s trademarked versions of Steamboat Willie appearing on merchandising, new animated shorts, and even a studio’s theatrical logo.
An official from Disney stated that the association between the brand and Mickey Mouse dates back to the character’s debut in 1928.
“That will not change when the copyright in the Steamboat Willie film expires,” claimed the group.
“More modern versions of Mickey will remain unaffected by the expiration of the Steamboat Willie copyright, and Mickey will continue to play a leading role as a global ambassador for the Walt Disney Company in our storytelling, theme park attractions, and merchandise.”
“Work to safeguard against consumer confusion caused by unauthorised uses of Mickey and our other iconic characters” was another point made by the corporation.

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The appointment of Sir Win Bischoff as chairman of the world's biggest bank, Citigroup, has won a largely positive response across the financial industry despite reservations about his lack of experience in high-street, retail operations.
Bischoff, 66, became the most powerful British financier on Wall Street this week when he was handed the chairman's seat at Citigroup in an appointment announced alongside the promotion of the investment chief Vikram Pandit to chief executive.
Bischoff is charged with overseeing the resurgence of the firm, which has lost up to $11bn (£5.5bn) in the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Born in Germany and brought up in South Africa, he has an emollient style and a confident bearing, which is popular with clients and employees alike.
Speaking to analysts, he offered an optimistic assessment of the bank's position. "While we face difficulties with the financial markets, I believe that with Vikram, with the team we've got, we'll be able to overcome them and deliver shareholder value for the future," he said.
Guy Moszkowski, a Merrill Lynch analyst, said neither Bischoff nor Pandit had any experience of retail banking - unusual for Citigroup, which has a chain of US high-street banks. "Why isn't one of the top two people someone with consumer banking experience?" he asked.
Bischoff's career has been entirely on the investment side. He joined Schroders at 25 and spent more than a decade building the firm's presence in Hong Kong.
Richard Roberts, author of Schroders: Merchants and Bankers, said he created one of Hong Kong's leading merchant banks virtually from nothing: "What he most enjoyed was doing deals - getting things done, making things happen - more than sitting around drawing up grand strategies."
As chairman of Schroders, he clinched a deal to sell its investment banking arm to Citigroup in 2000. It might been expected that he would leave quietly after a couple of years bedding down the business. However, his role of chairman of the European business kept him in the hot seat and he continued to take a frontline role in deals. Unlike other old-style merchant banks that were bought by larger, foreign rivals, the Schroders bankers have remained inside the larger organisation.
Rodgin Cohen, a partner at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell in New York who has worked closely with him, said: "What he brings is an ability to walk into a room and create very substantial confidence in what he is saying and what he stands for."


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גווני אפור רכשה מטבע קריפטוגרפי תמורת 3.1 מיליארד דולר
Over the weekend, the Grayscale fund reserve was replenished with $3.1 billion in cryptocurrencies
The decision to invest is not surprising. Everyone knows that Grayscale is a major institutional investor. The fund stores thirteen cryptocurrencies, including the flagship digital currency - Bitcoin.
Prior to this investment, the fund's cryptocurrencies reserves amounted to the equivalent of $41 billion. Now this figure has increased to $44.1 billion.
The purchase of BTC spent $37.3 billion. Five trusts were launched under these cryptocurrencies.
Thus, despite recent market turmoil and news that the bullish Bitcoin cycle is over, Grayscale Investments continues to believe in the cryptocurrency. Probably because of this news, Bitcoin has grown in value over the last 24 hours.


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Sweet Spot of $500 for Touchscreen Notebooks?
After reporting earlier this week that Microsoft is dropping OEM licensing costs to goose Windows 8 sales, Digitimes today is quoting channel retailers on the pricing sweet spot the move allows them to target.
The magic number is $506, the publication reported that its Taiwan-based channel retail sources say. That represents a price drop of about 10 percent.
The publication earlier this week reported that Microsoft will cut the OEM price for Windows 8 by $20 starting in April or May. The price cut will apply to Windows 8 notebooks with touchscreens that are 11.6 inches or smaller, according to the report. Systems based on the new price could start appearing in June.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting similar price cuts this week.
The price cut leaks, which Microsoft is not confirming, comes amid a new round of gloomy projections for the PC market in 2013.
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 07, 2013 at 11:58 AM


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The Current, delivered daily.
Welcome to Dealboard. In this weekly feature, The Current is providing a look at the mergers, acquisitions and venture capital deals making waves in the ecommerce and consumer goods landscape.
Before we get to this week’s funding and M&A news, we’ve got one update that doesn’t appear to involve investment or change of ownership, but is nonetheless intriguing.
Shopify is partnering with alcohol ecommerce company DRINKS to provide the wine industry with tools to make online selling easier. The companies are rolling out a regulatory system that will have real-time tax and compliance embedded within Shopify native checkout. Available to Shopify Plus merchants at launch, it’s designed to help wineries and retailers expand in DTC.
Count wine among the industries that is working to remove barriers to digital adoption.
Now, here’s all of this week’s dealflow in ecommerce. Drink up:
FedEx is growing its partnership with Berkshire Grey. (Courtesy photo)
- Customer experience startup Gorgias raised $30 million in a Series C funding round. The financing was led by ed by Alex Bangash of Transpose Platform and Bram Sugarman of Shopify, with participation from Jason Lemkin of SaaStr, Rajeev Dham of Sapphire Ventures, CRV and Alven. With a focus on helping DTC businesses drive revenue with existing customers through, the company is serving 10,000 merchants, including Princess Polly, Steve Madden, Olipop and Marine Layer.
- Robots are going deeper into the supply chain at FedEx. The carrier has agreed to buy $200 million worth of supply chain robotics-focused goods and services from Berkshire Grey in exchange for 25 million shares of Berkshire Grey stock. The companies did not disclose the value of the stock, which vests incrementally as FedEx buys services before the end of 2025. Extending a partnership that began in 2021, Berkshire Grey will help FedEx "improve the safety and efficiency of FedEx package handling operations globally," the companies said.
- Clevertap, a Mountain View, California-based SaaS platform providing customer engagement and retention tools for digital consumer brands, raised $105 million in a Series D round. Global investment group CDPQ committed $75 million and led the round. Participants included new investor IIFL Asset Management's tech fund and existing investors Tiger Global and Sequoia India. The deal comes after Clevertap acquired customer engagement platform Leanplum in June.
- Social platform company Meta made an investment in Take App, a startup that helps businesses set up an ecommerce website, and tools to sell directly within WhatsApp. Based in Singapore, Take App was founded by former Facebook engineering manager Youmin Kim, according to Techcrunch. YCombinator and angels joined Meta in the $1 million round.
- Tech-enabled furniture company Oliver Space raised $36 million in new funding. The round was led by Union Grove Venture Partners, with participation from Mayfield Fund, USVP, Expa Capital, Abstract Ventures, LG Technology Ventures and Avenue Capital Group. Oliver Space boasts a “fully circular shopping experience,” which offers new and refurbished furniture, trade-ins and pickup.
- Smart grocery cart startup Shopic announced a $35 million Series B investment. The round was led by Qualcomm Ventures, and included participation from Vintage Investment Partners and Clal Insurance, alongside existing investors Tal Ventures, IBI Tech Fund, Claridge Israel, and Shufersal. Founded in 2014, New York-based Shopic makes an AI clip-on for grocery carts that identifies items when they are placed in a cart, and displays information about promotions and discounts.
- ReturnLogic, a Philadelphia-based SaaS platform offering returns management, raised $8.5 million in a Series A round that will help the company expand to additional markets beyond Shopify. The round was led by Mercury, with participation from Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Fund, White Rose Ventures and Ben Franklin Technology Partners.
Mergers and acquisitions
A Blue Nile showroom. (Courtesy photo)
- Zales' owner put a ring on it. Signet Jewelers acquired Blue Nile, an ecommerce retailer specializing in engagement rings and other jewelry. The all-cash deal was valued at $360 million. Blue Nile, which had earlier this year announced plans to return to the public markets, reported $500 million in revenue in 2021.
- Planet conscious clothing manufacturer ecologyst Outfitters acquired Frankie Collective, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based womens streetwear collective that upcycles vintage and unsold garments. The deal allows ecologyst to enter the resale market, which is expected to be valued at $53 billion by 2023.
- Shift Technologies, a platform for buying and selling used cars with a strong West Coast presence, plans to merge with CarLotz, a consignment-to-retail used vehicle marketplace with a Mid-Atlantic base. The stock-for-stock merger will create a combined company trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol SFT.
- Vera Bradley sold goodMRKT, a retail startup that offers a community-driven model for socially-conscious brands, to cofounder Harry Cunningham, WWD reported. goodMRKT’s assets include an ecommerce site and single retail location in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Going forward, Cunningham indicated he is working to expand the retail footprint.
- Private label manufacturer Treehouse Foods is selling a “significant” portion of its meal preparation business to European investment group Investindustrial in a deal valued at $950 million. In a bid to simplify its business, Treehouse is divesting the following categories: pasta, pourable and spoonable dressing, preserves, red sauces, syrup, dry blends and baking, dry dinners, pie filling, pita chips and other sauces.
Trending in Operations
LadderUp is aiming for 50% LGBTQ+ and BIPOC participation. Shopify will provide access to its platform.
Shipt is launching a new accelerator program designed to provide ecommerce tools for local retailers.Called LadderUp, the program is centered on equity. Target-owned delivery owned Shipt said conversations with business owners have revealed that local entrepreneurs face “gaps” in technology, but they also want to participate in ecommerce platforms. The COVID-19 pandemic was especially difficult for Black business owners, who saw earnings drop between 11-28% in 2019-2020, as compared to the earnings decrease of 5-17% for the rest of the population.
With the new program, the company’s goal is to reach at least 50% LGBTQ+ and BIPOC participation in the program.
Shipt is aiming to serve businesses in Atlanta, Birmingham, Alabama, Detroit, Houston and Washington, D.C.
Target categories include: grocery/beverage, health, beauty, and floral/gifts retailers.
“Working with small businesses to build up their capabilities is a key part of our commitment to help create healthier, more resilient and equitable communities,” said CEO Kamau Witherspoon. “We recognize the unique role that we can play in both combating hunger in under-resourced communities and boosting small, local retailers that are so vital to communities across our country.”
What will entrepreneurs receive?
Education: Business owners who are selected will receive an 8-week course with industry leaders that covers business-building topics including finances, efficiency, marketing, ecommerce 101, the basics of using Shipt, and legal knowledge.
Funding: Upon completion, retailers will provide $5,000 for businesses to invest in ecommerce.
Shopify access: Shopify, which is partnering with Shipt, is also providing to its access for a limited amount of time to help business owners build an online storefront and manage inventory. The program will also provide technical assistance.Applications are open Feb. 6- March 6.


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Because everything sounds more epic when 80 people sing it in harmony.
Archives for 2016
"No shit its not the Mexican border but thats what our country is going to look like if we don't do anything."
According to a new report, some much-missed old features will return to Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge.
Samsung's new Portable T3 SSD is enclosed in a more durable metal case that can withstand 1500G of force and a drop from up to six feet.
A freak storm that briefly boosted temperatures near the North Pole above freezing last week may have helped set in motion a weakening of the polar vortex.
The Netatmo Presence security camera knows if someone is loitering nearby, a car is pulling into the driveway or an animal is hanging out on the lawn.
Curious just how many carbs and calories are sitting on your dinner plate? This gadget scans the chemical makeup of food and reveals its nutritional value.


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We've known about Samsung's plans to pack three bits per cell into its 3D V-NAND since the company's SSD Global Summit in July. A few more details about the technology trickled out during the Flash Memory Summit in August, including the fact that TLC V-NAND will power an upcoming 850 EVO SSD. That drive must be close, because Samsung has started mass-producing 3D V-NAND with an extra bit per cell.
The capacity of the TLC dies is 128Gb, or 16GB, which matches Samsung's last generation of three-bit planar NAND. There's no word on the die area, but the 32-layer V-NAND is claimed to have "doubled wafer productivity" versus its planar counterpart. Those planar chips have a single layer built on 19-nm tech, while the latest 3D stuff stacks 32 layers fabbed on larger a 40-nm process.
Although the press release doesn't mention the 850 EVO by name, senior VP Jaesoon Han teases "a whole new line of high density SSDs that is both performance- and value-driven." The 16GB V-NAND dies should enable Samsung to offer drives up to 1TB, just like it does with the 840 EVO.
The 840 EVO is currently hampered by an issue that slows read speeds on old data, but Samsung is prepping a firmware fix that resolves the problem. That fix is expected soon, and it looks like the EVO's successor probably isn't far behind. Samsung will have to put all those TLC V-NAND chips into something.


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The news making waves, regarding Hushpuppi’s arrest for cybercrime has done more harm than good;Especially to the E-commerce space with emphasis on items going to Nigeria.
In the United States, there are currently several ongoing investigation and raids on businesses aiding and abetting cyber crime, this includes shippers and shipping agents.
As a result of this we have been advised to adhere strictly to new guidelines or face sanctions and penalties.
Effective immediately, we will require you to email us invoices of items purchased to be shipped through us as this will form part of our shipping documentation going forward.
We understand the inconvenience this might cost you and we apologize as we know most of our customers are legitimate business owners . We need to follow this guidelines for smooth shipment of your items from US to Lagos.
We have zero tolerance to cybercrime and we have pledged our co-operation to the authorities, we urge you to join us in this to show the world that not all Nigerians are fraudulent.
We will send further specific communication on this via emails.
Thanks you for choosing HOR logistics
#importantmessage #horlogistics #wearehor #logistics #abuja #deliverywithinabuja #abujacommunity #logisticservices #logisticsolution#deliveryservice #shiptouk #shiptous #shiptousa #hushpuppiaresst #hushpuppi


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J.P. Morgan Chase's auto finance unit last week hiked its acquisition fee on all leases originated in New York and Connecticut to $1,000.
The customer fee increase, from $595 previously, covers the cost of higher insurance premiums for so-called "vicarious liability," the bank said, in a notice to dealers.
Vicarious liability means that the person or company named on a vehicle's title can be held liable in an accident caused by the owner or other driver of the vehicle. For leases, the name on the title is the leasing company's, not the customer's.
J.P. Morgan pulled the plug on new leases in the state of Rhode Island starting Oct. 14, after losing a $28 million judgment in that state under vicarious liability in August. Pending a possible appeal, J.P. Morgan's insurance company, New York-based American International Group, has to pay the judgment. The bank fears similar judgments in New York and Connecticut, which also have tough vicarious liability laws.
J.P. Morgan is the biggest auto lender outside the captive finance companies, with $30.6 billion in auto loans and leases as of Sept. 30. By contrast, the world's biggest auto lender is Ford Motor Credit Co., with $203.9 billion in managed receivables on Sept. 30.
J.P. Morgan Auto does not disclose its exact market share. Its market share is No. 1 or No. 2 in New York and Connecticut, in retail loans and leases as well as commercial loans to dealers, a spokeswoman said.
Jim Henry is a reporter with Automotive News, a Crain publication.


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Think of the possibilities, developers. Find lost keys or the TV remote or a child. Make an electronic Marco Polo game! Embed the StickNFind Bluetooth sticker in a museum exhibit as a sort of supercharged RFID educational system. The world could be yours.
With StickNFind’s new SDK, the company behind the novel Bluetooth sticker is hoping developers will make the little device more than a one trick tiny horse.
Right now StickNFind is more of a proof of concept than practical consumer electronic. Attach this little Bluetooth sticker to something and then find it using the Android or iOS. It’s like an RFID tag but slightly thicker than a quarter.
StickNFind uses Bluetooth technology, so it still works in situations with limited cell phone reception. The company said it has a range of about 100 feet. Other features include a “virtual leash,” so you’re alerted when something moves a certain distance away. It plans to sell two stickers for $49.95 or four for $89.95.
The company demoed the technology at our CES booth earlier this year. It works as advertised. And now with this SDK, hopefully developers can take it from a novelty to a practical device.


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Limited-edition Toyota Fortuner TRD to launch in India soon
Toyota is gearing up to introduce a new limited-edition Fortuner TRD edition SUV in the Indian market soon. The company has also hinted the same in a short teaser video posted over its official social media handles.
The news was originally confirmed earlier this year by Naveen Soni, Senior Vice President, Sales and Service, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, who was quoted saying, "Coming very soon is a limited-edition version of the Toyota Fortuner."
Previously, the company came up with the Fortuner TRD Celebratory Edition in September last year, and the latest model is expected to carry some more exclusive features and equipment making it an even more alluring purchase than it already is.
Expect it to sport updates such as exclusive colour scheme, new 'TRD' branding, exclusive TRD Sportivo design alloy wheels, blacked-out pillars and skid plates and more. Also, goes without saying that the new updates will also result in a slight price hike which could be around ₹1 lakh against the regular model.
Some of the key features on the limited-edition Fortuner may include LED projector headlamps, 7-inch touchscreen, 7 airbags and vehicle stability control with brake assist, hill assist control etc.
While the regular model runs on two engine options - 2.7-litre naturally-aspirated petrol and 2.8-litre turbocharged diesel - the limited-spec Fortuner may be limited only to the latter 2.8D 4x2 AT configuration. It is expected to produce 177 PS and 450 Nm of torque. Its automatic transmission is going to be a 6-speed unit.
Toyota Motor Corp posted a 98% plunge in its first-quarter operating profit recently as the coronavirus pandemic halved its global sales. (Full details here)


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Whether or not there’s money to be made with Twitter’s TV moves ultimately will depend upon attribution, said Ryan Bonifacino, VP of digital strategy for retail brand Alex and Ani. “The question is, ‘Can Twitter form the right partnerships with attribution providers ... to provide real-time value? I think they can.” Other data-driven partnerships between Twitter and Datalogix, for example, are beginning to attribute paid Tweets to in-store sales for some early CPG clients.
With Twitter’s move to acquire Bluefin and Trendrr in order to apply viewer data to execute media campaigns in real-time, one remaining question whether more buy-ups will come the crowded social TV space.
According to new data from venture-capital database CB Insights, social TV startups have raised a little more than $118 million spread across 46 deals since the outset of 2012. Investments and deal activity are shrinking, not growing, which could suggest Twitter is sucking the oxygen from the room.
Though “social TV” is comprised of a number of categories, ranging from TV content and discovery to data/analytics, social TV enablement and TV marketing, venture-capital funding to the space as a whole has dropped 62% year-over-year, with deal activity falling 30%, as reported in a Q2 report. In the first quarter of 2012, there was a “brief spike in funding behind several follow-on deals,” including Viggle’s acquisition of AdaptiveBlue (the maker of GetGlue), according to CB Insights.


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Surya to Relocate Corporate Offices to AmericasMar
Atlanta, GA, December 7, 2006--Surya Rugs, Inc, manufacturer of handmade area rugs, has expanded its AmericasMart showroom to 6,000 square feet of AmericasMart. Surya’s expansion continues the sixth floor’s growth momentum.
“Our line has matured to more than 40 collections and 500 unique styles featuring today’s latest trends and colors,” says Satya Tiwari, president. “Because we have more than 3,500 SKUs, our expansion was necessary to show just how comprehensive our line is. And, with the added space, we’ll be able to entertain our clients with complimentary lunch and cocktails (after 4 p.m.) daily during Market.”
Established in 1976, Surya is today one of India's leading producers of fine hand-knotted, hand-tufted and flat-woven rugs. It is renowned worldwide for its dedication to quality, value and innovation. Its expansive and diverse family of area rugs include Abacus, Adana, Ambrosia, Sea and Stella Smith collections.
“We’re thrilled that this fast-growing, Georgia-based importer has chosen to triple the size of its AmericasMart showroom,” says Chas Sydney, senior vice president of floor coverings and new business development. “Surya’s spectacular product offering will now be showcased in a brand new, state-of-the-art showroom on the 6th floor. We’re also pleased to announce that Surya intends to relocate its corporate office to AmericasMart 6A7, in order to service its customer base on a daily basis.”
Related Topics:Coverings, Surya


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First of all we would like to wish all of our clients, correspondents and vendors a Happy New Year!! We wish everyone health, happiness and success in 2018 and look forward to working with you in the future.
We are pleased to announce that the combined auction, retail and dealer sales in 2017 were very impressive and forecasts for 2018 look very positive.
With the US economy growing at a healthy pace and job growth strong, combined with the increasing diversification of investors into rare hard assets, we are expecting very positive results this year. As the European economy continues to recover and Asian markets see strong results, colored diamond sales at the major levels of the market have strong indications of solid activity, especially with production continuing to be under pressure in major areas of supply.
We will show retail sales activity, dealer movements and stellar auction sales results for 2017. And yet the rarer colors still look undervalued relative to their scarcity and overall activity will continue to be propelled in the future by strong supply and demand fundamentals in the rare colored diamond market.
Jewelry Sales – November 2017
Sales across all retail categories grew 6.3% year on year in November, the US Census Bureau reported Thursday. Sales in retail and food services rose 5.8% to $492.7 billion for the month, with the federal agency also revising its October result upward.
“This has been an impressive start to the holiday season, perhaps the best in the last few years,” said Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist at the National Retail Federation (NRF). “The combination of job and wage gains, modest inflation and a healthy balance sheet, along with elevated consumer confidence, has led to solid holiday spending by American households.”
The NRF maintained its forecast of a 3.6% to 4% sales increase for the November-to-December holiday season, based on how trading went during November, it said Thursday.
Similarly, Mastercard SpendingPulse reported a 3.6% rise in US retail holiday sales for November 1 to December 9, the data provider noted Friday. E-commerce sales leapt 16%, largely due to the increased popularity of shopping during Cyber Week, it said. Promotions aimed at early-bird holiday shoppers paid off, especially in electronics, home improvement and jewelry, the company explained.
“It’s easy to see that 2017 will likely be a good year for retailers,” said Sarah Quinlan, Mastercard’s senior vice president of market insights. “Unemployment is at 4.1%, wages are rising, consumers are confident. It is all playing out in the shopping picture this holiday season, as retailers and gift recipients would want it to.”
The government has not provided separate data for jewelry sales in November. Sales at specialist jewelers increased 5.8% to $24.89 billion in the first 10 months of the year, the latest government data showed.
Jewelry Sales – December 2017
Jewelry sales grew 6% this holiday season, in large part driven by last-minute purchases, according to a Mastercard Spending Pulse survey published Tuesday.
Total retail sales grew 4.9% during the holiday shopping period between November 1 and December 24, the largest year-on-year increase since 2011, the survey showed. Online shopping jumped 18% over last year, driven by a late-season push.
“Overall, this year was a big win for retail,” said Sarah Quinlan, senior vice president of market insights for Mastercard. “The strong US economy was a contributing factor, but we also have to recognize that retailers who tried new strategies to engage holiday shoppers were the beneficiaries of this sales increase.”
Jewelry Sales – Hong Kong
Retail sales for the category grew 5% year on year to $8.49 billion (HKD 66.35 billion) for the January-to-November period, Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Department said in a statement Wednesday. November proceeds jumped 8% to $783.1 million (HKD 6.12 billion), it added.
Sales across all retail products rose 1.8% for the first 11 months, and climbed 7.5% in November, reflecting the “visible growth in visitor arrivals and the [optimistic] consumer sentiment during the period,” a spokesperson for the Hong Kong government said.
Meanwhile, the total number of tourists arriving in Hong Kong from all locations jumped 7% to 5 million in November compared with the same month last year. During the first 11 months of 2017, the figure climbed 3.1% to 52.9 million.
As a result, Hong Kong jewelry retailers saw significant improvements in their 2017 performances. Chow Tai Fook’s same-store sales jumped 9.5% in Hong Kong and Macau in the six months ending September 30, while Luk Fook recorded 13% growth in retail sales for the same region.
“The near-term outlook for retail sales remains positive, as consumer sentiment is buttressed by the favorable employment and income situation, and as inbound tourism continues to recover,” the government spokesperson noted.
The upturn in 2017 also affected the diamond trade, with imports of polished stones into Hong Kong growing 7% to $14.07 billion in the first nine months.
Jewelry Sales – Europe
Sales at Richemont’s jewelry maisons grew 5% year on year to $2.18 billion (EUR 1.83 billion) in the fiscal third quarter of 2017, which included the holiday season.
The jewelry maisons, which include Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, were the company’s strongest performers for the three months that ended December 31. Overall group sales advanced 1% to $3.72 billion (EUR 3.12 billion), with sales at its specialist watchmakers increasing by the same margin to $933 million (EUR 781 million), the company reported Thursday.
Other Richemont businesses showed consistent sales, with Montblanc, Chloé and Lancel recording the highest growth, the company said.
Retail sales rose 7%, with a double-digit increase in Asia-Pacific and a strong performance in the Americas compensating for weakness in Europe. Revenue from the company’s wholesale division declined 8%.
2017 Auction Results
Christie’s and Sotheby’s saw combined jewelry sales of more than $1 billion this year as major pieces smashed auction records.
While neither company released a year-on-year comparison, Christie’s described 2017 as a “stellar year” for its jewelry department. Christie’s reported worldwide jewelry sales of $556.7 million for the year, while Sotheby’s garnered $551.3 million, it said.
Both auction houses recorded significant milestones this year, with Sotheby’s selling the CTF Pink Star diamond (pictured) for a world-record $71.2 million. It also achieved the highest price for earrings in auction history, selling the Memory of Autumn Leaves and the Dream of Autumn Leaves for a combined $57.4 million.
Meanwhile, Christie’s sale of the 14.93-carat Pink Promise for $32.2 million in Hong Kong earned the highest average price per carat for a pink diamond.
While the bulk of Christie’s sales were at live auctions, the company has seen “immense growth” in online auction sales to $8.9 million this year. Sotheby’s said buyers bought 23% of lots online.
Some 32% of Sotheby’s jewelry buyers this year were bidding at the auction house for the first time, the company added.
Diamond Production In Russia Expected to Decline
Alrosa expects its rough-diamond production will decline about 7% next year, with the Russian miner selling off inventory to maintain supply, it said last week.
Production outlook over the next five to seven years will partly be “driven by the absence of the Mir volumes,” chief financial officer Alexey Philippovskiy said in an investor call last month, referring to the temporary closure of the Mir underground mine caused by a major flood at the operation in August. That deposit yielded 3.2 million carats in 2016, or about 8.5% of the company’s total production.
Alrosa plans to support its 2018 sales with diamonds from its accumulated stockpiles, it said. It also expects an improved sales mix, meaning a higher average price for gem-quality diamonds than in 2017.
Rio Tinto Diamond Production Looks to Go Down
Rio Tinto expects diamond production of between 17 million and 20 million carats in 2018, representing a decrease in output compared to last year. The company did not explain the expected drop.
Indian Diamond Trade
India’s polished-diamond exports increased 2.1% to $23.09 billion in 2017 as the nation shipped out a higher volume of goods.
Rough imports grew 11% to $18.46 billion, while exports increased 7% to $1.52 billion. Net rough imports — imports minus exports — rose 11% to $16.94 billion.
In December, India’s polished exports increased 8% to $1.59 billion, while rough imports leapt 56% to $2.18 billion.
Education Corner – Diamond Inclusions
Inclusions are a natural diamond’s signature. Alethea Inns, director of gemology and education at the American Gem Society (AGS), explains the fascinating facts of this phenomenon.
What are inclusions?
In the world of gemology, inclusions are defined as internal visible features in either a rough crystal or faceted gemstone. Inclusions are important in gemology because they can tell trained gemologists whether the gemstone is natural, synthetic, or treated, or even where it came from.
Inclusions are often referred to as “flaws,” or “imperfections,” but in reality, they are part of the natural geological process and an essential and fascinating part of gemology. Inclusions make each diamond unique, as no two diamonds are identical, and are even used by gemological laboratories to verify a diamond’s identity. A diamond with natural inclusions is like a snowflake.
Inclusions can consist of other mineral crystals that look like what they are called — for example, a break in the crystal lattice is called a feather because it can resemble the texture of a feather. A pinpoint inclusion is just that — it looks like a pinpoint — while thin, elongated inclusions are called needles.
How do a diamond’s imperfections enhance it as something unique and authentic?
Inclusions are often used to determine the relative value of a diamond, based on their size, nature, number, position in the diamond, and relief — or visibility — but they are also so much more. Inclusions tell us the story of the diamond — how it formed, what it went through in the earth, and how it got to the surface of the earth. In fact, for geologists and researchers, the most prized diamonds are those specimens with large, visible inclusions. Some geologists spend their entire careers studying one type of diamond inclusion and its implications. This is because diamonds act as vessels that can capture minerals from the mantle of the earth and can give us information about the growth environment, and even the age of our planet. The oldest diamonds have been dated at up to 3.5 billion years old.
How are they formed? What conditions in the earth need to be present?
Conditions have to be just right not only to form diamonds, but to form the inclusions that occur within them. Diamonds are generally theorized to have formed at depths greater than 150 kilometers, at pressures of around 5 GPa (gigapascals) and at 1,000 degrees Celsius, and need a specific chemistry in order to grow. This is why they are geologically rare. Diamonds are carried to the earth’s surface by magma — molten and semi-molten rock found beneath the earth’s surface — younger than the host rocks in which they were formed. These two rock types in which diamonds grow in the mantle are eclogite and peridotite, and occur at different depths in the earth.
Diamonds are carried to the earth’s surface in one of only three rare types of magma. The most important type of magma is known as kimberlite, such as the Diavik mine in Canada. The Argyle mine in Australia, famous for its pink diamonds, is derived from a rarer type of magma, called lamproite, with an entirely different geochemistry. Pink diamonds from Argyle often have coesite inclusions, which are high-relief transparent crystals.
How do inclusions manifest themselves in diamonds?
Most diamond inclusions are classified as syngenetic, which means the inclusion forms at the same time as its host. Pyrope garnet is an example of a syngenetic inclusion you may find in a diamond, and is usually a dark-reddish included crystal.
Furthermore, diamonds are classified into different types based on the amount of nitrogen that aggregates in the crystal lattice. Some diamond types can be categorized by inclusion types, such as Ib diamonds with clusters of dark “Ib needles.” Large cape diamonds with N2 and N3 aggregates often have high-relief transparent garnet crystals and fine, transparent linear growth, known as “transparent graining.”
While there are still many unanswered questions about how exactly diamonds form, their inclusions are a window into the history of the earth, and their journey to the surface. They are an opportunity to carry a piece of that history with you, so you can admire diamonds from the inside out.
Historic 910ct. Diamond Unearthed at Letšeng
Gem Diamonds has recovered a 910-carat diamond from its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, claiming it’s the fifth-largest rough ever found.
“This is a landmark recovery for all of Gem Diamonds’ stakeholders, including our employees, shareholders and the government of Lesotho, our partner in the Letšeng mine,” said Gem Diamonds CEO Clifford Elphick.
The D-color, type IIa diamond is the largest to be unearthed at Letšeng, outranking the 603-carat Lesotho Promise the mining company recovered in 2006. That stone was sold for $12.4 million, or $20,498 per carat, to Graff Diamonds, which owns a 15% stake in Gem Diamonds. Last year, Graff bought the 1,109-carat Lesedi la Rona, the second largest rough diamond in history, for $53 million, or $47,790 per carat.
The discovery follows a recent revival of big-stone recoveries at Letšeng, which is known for its high-value production. Earlier this month, Gem Diamonds extracted two D-color stones from the mine, weighing 117 and 110 carats. Last year the company recovered seven diamonds weighing 100 carats or more.


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Karachi, July 24, 2019: The Pak Suzuki Motor Company has recorded a huge loss of 1.535 billion rupees in the first half of this calendar year (CY19).
Pakistan Suzuki Motor Company Limited (PSMC) announced on Wednesday its financial result 2QCY19 according to which the company reported an after-tax loss of 545 million PKR (LPS: 6.62 PKR), compared to a profit after tax of 394 million PKR (EPS : 4.78 PKR) in 2QCY18 and a loss of 981 million PKR (LPS: 11.92 PKR) in 1QCY19.
Thus, the loss in the year 1HCY19 amounted to 1,525 million PKR (LPS: 18.53 PKR), against 1,298 million PKR (BPA: 15.77 PK).
The company’s net sales increased 1% year-over-year to PKR 31.0 billion at 2QCY19, compared to PKR 30.9 billion at 2QCY18. Despite a volumetric drop of 17% year-on-year, to 30,433 units versus 36,776 units at 2QCY18, the company’s turnover has grew on account of an increase in car prices of 15% to 20% on average.
Margins deteriorated to 1.00%, down 466 basis points year-on-year and 225 basis points year-on-year, compared to 5.66% at 2QCY18 and 3.25% at 1QCY19, respectively. This decrease is explained by the depreciation of the currency of 25% over one year, which eroded the margins because the company was not able to pass on the effects of the fluctuation of the exchange rate and the higher duties on the imported raw material.
Other income fell 75% year-on-year to Rs 53 million due to reduced bank balances and customer advances.
Finance costs of the company jumped up by 1,845 percent YoY and 16 percent QoQ to PKR 380 million owed to rise in borrowings to meet working capital requirement.
The Company’s financial expenses jumped 1,845% year-over-year and 16% quarter-on-quarter on PKR 380 million, due to an increase in borrowing to meet a working capital requirement.
The company recorded a tax credit of PKR 1.4 billion on the investment to introduce the 660cc Alto.


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On Wednesday, 4 August, Google has announced trough its official blog that company is no way going to continue once appreciated product - Google Wave – An in-browser communication and collaboration tool. Launched a year back, Google Wave created much anticipated hype when ‘invitation to join’ was getting sold on ebay for $70/-
Yesterday, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) released a new set of draft guidelines for social media influencers and called for...
When two behemoths in their respective market come together, expect the unexpected! Amazon India and Mahindra partnership unlocks the door of opportunities...
Bharti Airtel has finally got a strong team player to counter the plans of Jio to dominate the 5G market of India.
Before heading to the stock market with an IPO, the homegrown food delivery startup Zomato beefs up its valuation by raising a...


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Eaton Corp., Dublin, Ireland, said it intends to pursue a tax-free spin-off of its Lighting business. The spin-off will create an independent, publicly traded company and is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.
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While the effects of the economic downturn are still felt in many sectors, it could certainly be argued that the UK’s tech industry is one which is faring rather well by comparison, including for start-ups.
With yesterday’s Budget claiming a boost to small business as a way of helping the nation, as a whole, climb out from a biting recession – accompanied with burgeoning plans for a ‘tech city’ in east London as an answer to America’s Silicon Valley – there is in fact a lot to be optimistic about for small to medium businesses hoping to make the leap up the ladder.
And this is all part of the overarching aim of a partly government-funded initiative which has been running for three years now, seeking to help innovative British companies succeed on a large, international scale.
For the past few years a number of promising web technology companies have been invited to travel to Silicon Valley and San Francisco as part of the Web Mission to drum up financial support and develop business partnerships with some big names in the field such as Twitter.
And this March another set of the UK’s best growing companies set out to meet with industry leaders, investors and potential business partners as part of a scheme sponsored by the Technology Strategy Board and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI).
This includes ParcelGenie.com, a service which allows users to send real gifts on social networks without a shipping address, CloudApps, a cloud platform aimed environmental compliance and energy management, BraveNewTalent, an online recruiter that uses social media to build communities of potential employees and employers, and Brainient, a start-up that gives advertising clients the ability to easily create interactive videos.
In financial terms there are definite incentives for the firms chosen to head across the pond, with David Bott, Director of Innovation Programmes at the Technology Strategy Board informing TechEye that so far $100 million has been invested in firms involved, not counting any deals yet to be made this year.
But Bott believes that the benefits of the scheme span further than immediate investment gains, with the access expertise from the UK firms’ encounters proving invaluable.
“The original Web Mission was designed purely to get investment, however it quickly became clear that other benefits were there to be had from the firms in the US,” he told TechEye.
“The UK firms are able to see what it is like to be a business operator in Silicon Valley and how it works as a big business in the US which is an invaluable experience for smaller UK firms who want to go global.
“It gives the possibility to meet competitors and collaborators and vitally establish business links.
“Of course there is also the investment opportunity, and there has been roughly $100 million worth so far over the last three Web Missions, no small amount, though it is too early to say what has gone on during the most recent trip.”
Certainly the trip brings benefits for both sides, with US investors able to select from some of the brightest UK firms specialising in web technology.
“By bringing these companies to the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, there is an opportunity to learn from colleagues while also offering US companies the opportunity to partner with the growing UK technology arena,” Bott added.
“For the US venture capitalist, the benefit is that they get the pick of the UK small business talent, as only 20 go across, meaning that they are essentially exposed to a condensed version of the best in UK tech firms.”
But it is the UK firms which probably have the most to gain from the expedition by being exposed to giants of the tech industry, such as Saleforce and Twitter, which dwarf many achievements of UK industry.
However Bott also believes that there is increasing support for tech business in the UK, with initiative such as the “East London Tech City” helping create an infrastructure that breeds success.
“There are a number of exciting companies involved from the Shoreditch area and this is a sign of the talent in the tech city already.
“We already have an environment where the older firms are able to help the growing companies, but we also want to help the community help itself rather than smothering it with kindness,” he says – in reference to the aim of supporting businesses to grow themselves by introducing them to international markets.
And the firms involved this year have snapped up the opportunity offered by Web Mission 2011 with nearly all now seeking funding from venture capitalists that they met on the trip, as well as all apparently planning expansion into the States in the next year.
Furthermore, in terms of finding business partners, a large number also found partners either from the US or through other Mission delegates, and a small number are now working on making products available in the US over the next three months.
Speaking to TechEye, one of the delegates on the trip, Brainient CEO Emi Gal, said how important it is for UK firms to gain access to Silicon Valley VCs and companies.
“The trip was the perfect combination of scheduled meetings and relaxed socialising environment where we were able to meet with the people in the Valley,” he said.
While it may sound perhaps slightly out of the norm for a CEO to focus on the parties, Gal said this is an integral part of the difference in attitude that exists not only across the Atlantic, but also from East to West coast in the US.
“People there are different from London and New York, the attitude there is much more laid back,” he says.
“In Europe particularly there is much more of a hierarchy and atmosphere in which people are less willing to learn or to share knowledge.
“This is certainly not the case in the Valley where people are not too serious.”
Gal believes that it is this attitude that has bred an emphasis on building a product that can “make a change, rather than make money”.
Of course he quickly points out that this attitude goes hand in hand with creating some of the biggest web firms in the world.
And it is from these companies which he was able to meet, spending time with Twitter, Saleforce and Bebo’s Michael Birch, that Gal believes the UK can learn from.
“There is a lot to learn from big companies as they have been through all the problems that you can imagine, and have succeeded.
“But the UK is starting to get there,” he adds.
“With, for example, the Tech Hub in East London, entrepreneurs are beginning to get more opportunity to talk and establish good links with other.
“Overall the government does a lot to support small businesses in England, what needs to continue improving is the culture and attitude of sharing information and learning.”
While it appears that the UK still has a lot to learn from Silicon Valley in terms of creating avenues of success for its innovative businesses, the opportunities offered by initiatives such as Web Mission and the tech city mean that the doors are increasingly open to companies such as Brainent.


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The new CVS Express service will offer greater convenience to customers, but the service has some limitations.
As customers search for more convenient, more personalized shopping experiences, CVS is rising to the challenge, as it will soon be virtually unnecessary to enter a CVS location in order to purchase products.
According to a report from USA Today, customers will soon have the ability to order most items through a mobile app and then have their order delivered to their vehicles when they drive up to their local CVS location. The company’s new CVS Express service is a product built on a mobile platform through a partnership between CVS and Curbside.
Through the partnership, the company’s new curbside pickup service is being integrated into CVS’s main smartphone app. USA Today reported that there will be no price increased as a result of using the Curbside pickup service, and CVS has announced that orders will take roughly an hour to be completed.
In addition to responding to consumer demand, CVS Express also comes in response to competition, such as same day delivery services that offer similar products to those offered by convenience retailers.
The report from USA Today has revealed that CVS stores in California, North Carolina and Georgia will begin offering the curbside pickup service immediately, while the majority of the remaining 7,900 stand-alone U.S. locations will adopt the service by the end of the year.
Although this service will greatly increase convenience to customers, USA Today has reported some minor complications that the chain will encounter as the service gets up and running. Some of these limitations include the requirement for prescription drugs to be sold in the store or through a separate drive-through window, the fact that only 75% of store’s products will be available for order through the service, and the CVS Express service will not be hooked up to the store’s inventory system, which may cause problems when customers order items that are out of stock.


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David Cook Set To Perform In NYC
October 31, 2008 at 12:01 PM (PT)
The 4th ANNUAL "DO THE WRIGHT THING GALA" will take place on WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 12th at the HARD ROCK CAFE NEW YORK. Event guests will be pleased that the night will feature a very up close and personal concert by "AMERICAN IDOL" winner DAVID COOK.
"We are thrilled that DAVID COOK has decided to perform at our gala," FOUNDER DAVID WRIGHT said. "This event is our premiere fundraising event for the year and we are looking forward to raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to support children in need."
Cost of tickets includes open bar, full dinner buffet and admission to the DAVID COOK performance. There will also be a silent auction with memorabilia including tickets to the "AMERICAN IDOL" finale, an autographed DAVID COOK guitar, tickets to the METS spring training and much more. To purchase advanced tickets click here.


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The FDA’s Nanotechnology Task Force has declined to require labeling for the growing list of drugstore products containing nanoparticles. While the reasoning may be sound, the move has only added fuel to the fiery regulation debate
By Richard Acelo
In the first major report of its Nanotechnology Task Force, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has declined to require that labels inform consumers of the presence of nano-sized material in food, drug, and cosmetic products.
“We have worried about that question, and at this point we believe we do not have scientific evidence about nano-sized materials, merely by virtue of being nano-sized as posing safety questions,” says Randall Lutter, FDA deputy commissioner of policy.
The 38-page report had been anticipated since the FDA formed its Nanotechnology Task Force in August 2006.
Apart from declining to take action on labeling, the report sets out what the agency intends to do in the future to get its arms around what could be a sprawling marketplace for products it has jurisdiction over, such as cosmetics, drugs, medical devices, and sunscreens.
Foremost, the agency says it will offer “guidance” to industry about what kinds of information it will require to assess the risks and benefits of nanotech products.
“We will offer information about how we will make distinctions about nanosized material in our product review and regulatory processes and what information we will need to have from industry to make sure products are safe and effective,” says Lutter.
A thorny issue
The report’s recommendations fall short of what was sought by the Washington, D.C.-based International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA), which filed a 79-page petition with the FDA in May 2006. The ICTA, whose members include labor unions and environmental concerns such as Greenpeace, petitioned the FDA to enact new regulations directed at FDA oversight of nanomaterials, including that nanoparticles be treated as new substances, that nanomaterials be subject to health and safety testing, and that “nanoproducts” be labeled to delineate all nanoparticle ingredients. The ICTA also sought a formal advisory opinion “explaining FDA’s position regarding engineered nanoparticles in products regulated by FDA” and the amendment of FDA regulations to include definitions of “nanotechnology,” “nanomaterials,” and “nanoparticles.”
The petition also sought action on sunscreen products with nanomaterials, including a declaration that all sunscreen products containing nanoengineered particles of zinc oxide and titanium oxide be considered an imminent health hazard.
Meanwhile, products such as sunscreens and cosmetics with nano-sized particles are not new to store shelves; the Wilson Center Project on Emerging Technologies lists about 70 such products on its nanotech products inventory. Some observers noted that the FDA’s actions reflect a go-slow approach on regulation.
“It’s important to look at all sectors of the federal government, because everything has to be viewed through federal government research and development initiatives that are under the auspices of the National Nanotechnology Initiative,” says Lynn Bergeson, a partner in the Washington law firm of Bergeson and Campbell. “All initiatives need to be viewed more broadly, which tempers any one agency’s ability to move briskly forward because it has to be mindful of what other members of the federal family are up to.”
One part of the ICTA petition that Bergeson says she finds intriguing is its request that currently existing or future FDA regulatory programs for nano-materials comply with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA requires federal agencies to assess the environmental impacts of “major federal actions” and to ensure the interested and affected public is informed of environmental analyses.
ICTA’s request to apply NEPA to nanotech is a novel and potentially far-reaching position, Bergeson says, that could require FDA to conduct a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to review the impact of nanomaterials on human health and the environment.
“If I were the commissioner of the FDA and I saw this, I wouldn’t cavalierly dismiss it because it is an interesting and innovative application of NEPA,” she adds.
In its report, the task force declined to apply NEPA to nanosized material. “As knowledge of nanoscale materials increases, it may be productive for the agency to develop or amend agency NEPA guidance to address expressly nanoscale materials or certain types of nanoscale materials,” the agency says. “In light of the current, evolving state of scientific knowledge regarding nanoscale materials, however, the task force recommends a case-by-case approach at this time to assessing NEPA requirements for products using these materials, and coordination across the agency to enable consistent determinations informed by the most current science.”


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The already acrimonious fight between Apple and Qualcomm got even uglier today. The two companies have been slugging it out for years over a range of issues related to royalty payments and fees -- Apple's decision to deploy Intel modems in its iPhones is seen as a desire to move away from Qualcomm. There are parallels between the Apple-Qualcomm relationship and the Apple-Samsung fights of several years ago, but the Apple-Qualcomm battle has been uglier. Now, Qualcomm has accused Apple of stealing trade secrets and sharing them with Intel to help get Chipzilla's modem technology ready for the iPhone.
The charge(Opens in a new window) of stealing corporate secrets is potentially explosive. These types of theft are treated extremely seriously in technology because they have the risk of ruining years, even decades of work that companies do to bring long-term projects to market. Imagine the damage to Intel, for example, if some vital function of a CPU is found to have been stolen from a competitor. That competitor would be well within their rights to request that the part is pulled from the market until it can be redesigned. Other companies, fearing revenge from the infringed-upon party, might refuse to carry the competitor's part. Trade secret theft issues were raised between both Intel and AMD and AMD and Nvidia in 2008 and 2013, respectively, and in both cases, you don't see the rival company making a sound in protest. While there have obviously been exceptions and corporate espionage is A Thing, companies generally don't want to go so far as incorporating IP from another company into their products.Intel performance has lagged behind Qualcomm but the gap appeared to be closing.
According to Qualcomm, it was prevented from conducting an audit on Apple's use of source code and tools provided by Qualcomm for the purposes of iPhone development. It claims to have discovered this trade secret theft after discovery in a related lawsuit allowed it to unearth evidence that confidential information was improperly provided to Intel for the purposes of improving Intel modems and performance. We've written before that the Qualcomm modem solution was generally superior to the Intel one in the Apple iPhone, that the situation improved from 2016 to 2017, but that Apple actually disabled certain features on its handsets to ensure parity between devices outfitted with each. Despite this, Intel modems still lagged Qualcomm performance in 2017.
We haven't seen any figures for this year yet, but the assumption was that the improvements from 2016-2017 reflected Intel's growing expertise in the field and improvements to its silicon. They still could. Allegations, after all, are not the same as proven facts. But if Apple actually stole trade secrets from Qualcomm and gave them to Intel, it could open a massive legal ball of worms that could impact Intel's modem business going forward, depending on the specifics of what was taken and whether Intel is directly implicated in the theft. Apple, of course, steadfastly denies that any breach of agreement or inappropriate data sharing has occurred.Now Read: Apple’s Next iPhone May Ditch Qualcomm Altogether, iPhone X Modem Testing Shows Qualcomm Beating Intel, and Not All iPhone Xs Use the Same Modem, and They Perform Differently


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Moscow. December 28. Russia’s GDP in November 2015 fell by 4.0% compared with November 2014, after falling 3.7% in October, according to a published Monday July.
In 11 months, according to the Ministry’s estimates, GDP fell by 3.8%.
Russia’s GDP, with the exception of seasonality, according to the calculations of the Ministry, fell by 0.3%, first time since June of the current year.
The positive balance of trading balance of the Russian Federation in November 2015 was $8.6 billion, a decrease compared to November 2014 by 36.8%. According to the Ministry, exports of the Russian Federation in October was $25.3 billion (decreased by 31.2% compared to November 2014 and 7.1% by October 2015), and imports were $16.7 billion (decreased by 27.8% compared to November 2014 and by 2.9% by October 2015).
The Ministry also predicts that inflation in Russia in December 2015 will continue to accelerate due to the weakening of the ruble amid falling oil prices and strengthening inflation expectations because of the expansion of grocery embargo. In November inflation was 0.8% compared to 0.7% in October and 0.6% in September, in the first three weeks of December to 0.6%.
January 1 comes into force a regime of bradenburg in respect of goods from Ukraine, as well as restrictions against Turkish imports.
From 1 January to 21 December, the inflation rate amounted to 12.7%, the annual forecast of Ministry of economic development – not more than 13%.


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Amazon is opening a second corporate office in Vancouver, signing a lease for 150,000 square feet in a new, nine-storey office building at the southwest corner of Dunsmuir Street and Homer Street.
The office will allow Amazon to double its workforce in the city from 1,000 to 2,000. Designed by B+H Architects, the office by Oxford Properties is scheduled to open in 2020. The Seattle-based company’s first Vancouver office opened in 2015.
“Amazon is excited to continue growing our workforce throughout Canada,” said Alexandre Gagnon, vice president of Amazon Canada and Mexico. “We are among the largest employers of software engineers in Canada and look forward to continuing to create new job opportunities for Canadians.”
In addition to its office in Vancouver, Amazon also operates fulfillment centres in Delta and New Westminster, and a subsidiary Abebooks.com, based in Victoria.
“Vancouver’s innovation economy is booming and it’s exciting to have Amazon expand here, adding valuable job space for 1,000 more employees,” says Mayor Gregor Robertson. “Vancouver’s leading the way with the fastest growing, most resilient and greenest economy in Canada, and companies from all over the world, like Amazon, are moving to Vancouver with well-paying jobs to be a part of our success.”
The company is also expanding its operations into Alberta, reportedly building a 600,000-square-foot distribution centre in Balzac, just north of Calgary.
Amazon has still yet to announce the location of its second headquarters dubbed HQ2. The tech giant received more than 200 proposals from cities across North America and expects to invest more than $5 billion in construction.


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Almost Half of Top Websites are Vulnerable to Cyberattacks
Large numbers of websites are either using software that opens them up to cyberattack, or have already been compromised in some way, claims new report.
Trust can be an expensive luxury, as many an enterprise has discovered over the years, and as a new report has made very clear indeed.
An impressive 42 per cent of the top 100,000 websites on the web are using software that leaves them vulnerable to cyberattack, or have already been compromised, according to the new report. Of course, using trusted intermediaries to deliver malware or provide a means of access is far from a new technique, but the business of vetting and controlling digital assets is growing exponentially complicated.
The average website connects to 25 background sites or services in order to deliver content, from video clips, Content Delivery Networks, advertisements, plugins and trackers, the third annual State of the Web Report from Menlo Security points out. Monitoring this range of third parties for signs of compromise or unusual behaviour is beyond most enterprise security administrators.
Just one recent example is the use of legitimate ad units running Doubleclick to deliver malvertising and unwanted Java-based Monero mining software, running in users’ browsers. The report also found that categorising sites for white or blacklisting efforts is almost completely ineffective, with sites in the "Business and Economy" category experiencing the most security incidents in the last year, and hosting more phishing sites and - worst of all - containing more sites running vulnerable software, such as PHP 5.3.3, than any other category—including "Gambling."
The prevalence of outdated software was considerable, with more than 32,000 of the sites studied relying on Microsoft IIS 7.5, which was released in 2009. Some were even running Microsoft’s Internet Information Services (IIS) 5, released in 2000, and reaching “mainstream support end” in 2005.
Another interesting discovery in the report is that categorisation is itself somewhat flexible, with sites transitioning between trusted and untrusted categories regularly. In the course of one month, researchers observed nearly 1,000 sites that were re-categorized at least once by a web security firm, with one website that had been assigned to the Phishing and Other Frauds category briefly being re-assigned to Business and Economy, Shopping, Travel.
Overall, around 49 per cent of "News and Media" sites were considered risky, as were 45 per cent of "Entertainment and Arts" sites, and 41 per cent of "Travel" sites, the report found.
“This report confirms what most CISO’s already know: that a false sense of security is a dangerous thing when using the web,” says Amir Ben-Efraim, CEO of Menlo Security. “Despite website operators' best efforts, cyber-criminals can now exploit widespread vulnerabilities to compromise even the most trusted brands on the web."
The difficulties in filtering out malicious domains is becoming increasingly challenging, with phishing sites adopting increasing levels of respectability. Some 4,600 phishing websites found in the report use legitimate hosting services to avoid detection, the report noted - with it often being easier for attackers to set up a subdomain on a legitimate hosting service than to use other alternatives, and these domains are often whitelisted by companies.
Meanwhile, typosquatting remains an active avenue for attackers, with 19 per cent of categorized typosquatting sites were found in trusted categories, such as financial services and news and media. High Tech Bridge’s free Trademark Monitoring Radar has checked more than 148 million sites to date, testing for malicious domain activities such as cybersquatting, typosquatting and phishing. The most targeted brands will come as no surprise - Google, PayPal, Facebook, Yahoo and Amazon - but the sheer volumes are a source of concern. Google alone has 204,746 malicious TLD sites targeting it, and 379 .com TLDs.
‘Don’t trust - test’ might be the best takeaway for enterprise here…


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Facebook unveils Oculus Go
October 12, 2017
Facebook has unveiled Oculus Go, a standalone VR headset that will be released in 2018, priced at $199 (€168).
Speaking at the company’s annual virtual reality developers conference in San Jose, Mark Zuckerberg, head of the social media giant, said the device would be the “most accessible VR experience ever”.
Zuckerberg acknowledged the slow adoption of the technology to date, but he said his company’s goal was that one day, it would get one billion people into VR. The device will be sent to developers to start building with in November this year.
“If VR doesn’t go mass market at this price point, I think we can conclude that it never will,” commented John Delaney, an analyst with IDC.


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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has supervised the test of a new anti-aircraft weapon system. » Read More
By: Leslie Shaffer
The world’s banks have become safer since the crisis, but economic risks have spread elsewhere, said former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan. » Read More
By: Yen Nee Lee
Singapore's manufacturing output was up by 6.7 percent year-on-year in April — beating Reuters forecast of 6.4 percent, data released on Friday showed. » Read More
Indonesians and Malaysians were among foreign Jihadists fighting the Philippine army in Mindanao island. » Read More
China property prices may be on a tear, but it's time to cut exposure to developers' stocks amid a stockpile of unsold supply, Goldman Sachs said.
Since their fateful meeting in 1959, Buffett and Munger turned Berkshire Hathaway into one of the world's most successful companies.
Australia's central bank slashed its inflation forecasts on Friday and warned that the outlook for wages and price pressures were a key uncertainty.
Shares of several U.S.-listed Chinese e-commerce firms rose after Alibaba Group's earnings showed continued strength in Chinese consumer spending.
The Philippines, one of Asia's brightest economic spots, votes on Monday in an election that may hold the key to accelerating the country's development.
One big headwind could send Hong Kong's stubbornly high prices down as much as 20 percent over the next two years, Goldman said.
With Trump becoming the GOP's presumptive nominee, China is urging Americans to be "rational and objective".
Kim Jong Un is preparing North Korea for a rare political gathering known as the party congress, where he could announce major changes.
E-commerce giant reported growth despite weakness in China. So why aren't investors flocking to the stock?
China's biggest e-commerce company, Alibaba, said fourth-quarter revenue rose 39 percent, helped by growth in gross merchandise volume.
The China Caixin services PMI came in at 51.8 for April, continuing to show expansion, but marking a moderation from March's 52.2.
Family businesses in Asian emerging markets have long spearheaded economic development by being better providers of public goods than governments.
Australia's antitrust regulator on Thursday cleared Anheuser Busch Inbev SA's planned $100 billion takeover of rival SABMiller.
Will China's market decline lead the U.S. to fall?
Markets may have punished the BOJ's surprise decision to stand pat on policy last week, but it was the right call, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said.
Australia unveiled a budget package high on new taxes but low on measures to boost sagging growth. Economists don’t seem that convinced.
To run the family business as a threesome took big adjustments for the Mouawad brothers but now they say there's no looking back.
Android has dominant market share in India, but until now it's been difficult for many consumers to buy digital goods.
Malaysia's finance ministry said it would dissolve the board of advisers at 1Malaysia Development Berhad following a parliamentary inquiry.
Apple has faced further setbacks in Asia, after losing a trademark fight in China and being refused permission for a project in India.
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Kristine Berzina, The German Marshall Fund, says trade, climate change and the U.S. stance on Russia are contentious issues likely to be carried into the G7 meet.
Richard Gorry, JBC Asia, says the extension is not sufficient and that markets will be "grossly oversupplied" when the cuts end.
Reform and fiscal policy under its new president, and strong China GDP are giving Korean markets something to cheer about, says Cedric Chehab, BMI Research.


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Level-5, the developers behind Professor Layton, Yo-Kai Watch want to bring back to a once-assumed cancelled project called Ushiro, after nearly many years on the project being place on ice. Originally canned back 2010 and created to release on Sony’s first foray into handheld gaming, through PSP, Ushiro is often a horror RPG focused around a character known as Reiichiro Ushiro. To be a shinigami spirit, Reiichiro would grant players the chance to control and have people which, when it comes to gameplay, manifests like a series of turn-based battles wherein you come up against the personifications in the evil in people’s hearts.
Level-5’s president?Akihiro Hino confirmed the project would resume production, though stated that any planned release remains faraway. Ushiro is actually planned to come to Nintendo Switch and often will serve as a contrast towards the studio’s usual visual model of bright, warm and vibrant worlds, instead focusing in on the project’s intended horror tone and narrative. You will observe how the game was originally teased once it heats up was shown off along at the 2008 Tokyo Games Show during the trailer below.


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Now, what does this sound like to you?
One recent morning, 14 job candidates filed into his fourth-floor office in Alexandria, Virginia, where a wiffle ball net is stowed in the lobby and a pirate flag hangs in the conference room. How many might he hire? “Fourteen, if we like them all,” he said.
If you guessed “a venture-backed consumer Internet startup,” you are incorrect. (Thanks for playing; better luck next time.)
That sentence was written by Bloomberg regarding Targeted Victory, which is not, as you might expect from that name, a maker of drones but rather a tech startup / political consulting firm, working to help elect Mitt Romney president.
And it looks like that company sure has stumbled onto a lucrative niche:
Federal candidates and super-PACs have spent more than $46 million so far this election cycle for the services of just three firms — Targeted Victory and the two major Democratic tech operations, Blue State Digital and Bully Pulpit Interactive, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of Federal Election Commission reports conducted for Bloomberg News.
And what are the various political campaigns getting in exchange for all that cash? Glad you asked. Companies help with things like, oh, online advertising and digital databases and social media and such. You know, your basic product peddling:
“Every online technique used by Fortune 500 companies will be in the hands of politicians in the next four to eight years.”
We should probably be very concerned about the more Orwellian implications of this. But mostly we’re wondering whether this means Mitt Romney’s face is about to start following us around the Internet like that Lands’ End dress we looked at last week.


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The PC manufacturer HP has announced the release of a new 11-inch tablet that can function as a laptop via its keyboard accessory and also features a flipping webcam. It will be available for customers from December 11 and starts from $499. This came after the brand unveiled the Envy 34-inch All-In-One Desktop PC.
The Microsoft Surface Go tablet is the closest product that bears some semblance with the new HP tablet. Thus could be a direct competitor of the new HP tablet. The announcement by HP also indicated that the new tablet has a 13MP rear camera which can be moved either vertically or horizontally and can be flipped 180 degrees to operate as a webcam.
The manufacturer is claiming that the new tablet features a rear-facing camera that can be flipped around the short edge of the tablet’s display to function as a webcam. This is the first time a tablet will support such a feature. This is in addition to offering the highest resolution for such a front-facing camera when it is used as a webcam.
The new HP 11-inch tablet can be operated with its keyboard accessory both in portrait and landscape mode. This provides greater versatility for the webcam. The tablet is also compatible with HP’s Tilt Pen which further enhances the functionality of the tablet. The keyboard and Tilt Pen accessories offer advanced features to the device. There is also a USB-C port for connecting more accessories and charging the tablet. The power button also acts as a fingerprint reader.
The new HP 11-inch tablet is powered by an Intel Pentium Silver N600 processor, it runs on Windows 11 S mode. The tablet offers 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage space. While the tablet itself will be sold at $499, the additional keyboard accessory could cost up to $100, thus bringing the projected price of the new tablet to $599. As we get closer to the launch date, more details about the product will be revealed.


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- General Motors has announced the end of the Holden brand, with sales, design and engineering operations to wrap up in Australia by the end of the year.
- All existing service agreements and warranties will be honoured, and servicing and spare parts will be offered for at least ten years.
- GM says it made numerous efforts to resuscitate the flagging brand, but could not find a profitable long-term solution.
- Visit Business Insider Australia's homepage for more stories.
The legendary Australian auto brand Holden is no more. General Motors (GM) has announced sales, design and engineering operations will finish up in Australia by 2021 – marking the end of a 164-year history.
In a statement released this morning, the US automaker's senior vice president of international operations Julian Blissett said the company had made numerous efforts to turn around the flagging brand, but to no avail.
“Through its proud 160-year history, Holden has not only made cars, it has been a powerful driver of the industrialisation and advancement of Australia and New Zealand,” said Blissett.
“Over recent years, as the industry underwent significant change globally and locally, we implemented a number of alternative strategies to try to sustain and improve the business, together with the local team.”
Blissett said GM undertook a "detailed analysis" of what would be required to make Holden profitable beyond the current generation, but could not. Among the issues blamed for the inability to make Holden profitable in the long-term was the "fragmented" right-hand drive market and broader economic issues.
“This decision is based on global priorities and does not reflect the hard work, talent and professionalism of the Holden team," Blissett goes on to say.
General Motors says its Australian growth strategy going forward will focus on the specialty vehicles business. All existing warranties and service offers for Holden vehicles will be honoured. The company will offer servicing and spare parts for at least ten years via its Australian and New Zealand after-sales network.
The company will work with existing Holden dealers on a transition plan, which may involve "the opportunity to continue as authorised service outlets to support Holden customers."
“Today’s announcement will be felt deeply by the many people who love Holdens, drive Holdens and feel connected to our company which has been with us for 160 years and is almost ubiquitous in our lives," said GM Holden interim chairman and managing director Kristian Aquilina.
“Unfortunately, all the hard work and talent of the Holden family, the support of our parent company GM and the passion of our loyal supporters have not been enough to overcome our challenges.
“We understand the impact of this decision on our people, our customers, our dealers and our partners – and will work closely with all stakeholders to deliver a dignified and respectful transition.”
The writing was on the wall
In December, Holden announced the end of its iconic Commodore after 40 years, citing a shift in consumer tastes to the "high driving position, functionality and versatility of SUVs and utes.”
At its peak in 1998, Commodores in Australia accounted for 217,882 sales. In 2019, that number slid to around 8,700 units.
It followed the last breath of Aussie car manufacturing in 2017, when Holden closed its factory in South Australia.
General Motors has been making a slow exit from the right-hand-drive (RHD) market globally, and Holden was the final major holdout. According to CarAdvice, GM had already retreated from other lucrative RHD markets like the United Kingdom, Japan, India and South Africa, leaving only Thailand, Australia and New Zealand. Right-hand-drive vehicles make up about 25% of automotive sales globally.
With the death of Holden, it also signals General Motors' final withdrawal from the RHD market.


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New technological breakthroughs in virtual technology are on the horizon. The next big thing, according to a recent report from Virtual Strategy, is a hybrid approach to desktop virtualization.
According to the report, enterprise users are demanding more centralization and manageability in the virtual desktop solutions their companies offer. With so much information being stored on the cloud these days, employees and IT workers are clamoring for an improved experience on the virtual desktop.
The advent of a hybrid virtual desktop solves these issues, storing the complete desktop image of each user in either a public or private cloud. From there, users are given resources to make updates to the desktop technology, create security patches and improve overall endpoint security, the report said. This format has become popular because it establishes the similarities to a traditional desktop on a platform that is accessible anywhere, according to the report.
“Today, new hybrid desktop virtualization solutions are emerging that combine the centralization and manageability of server-based DV with the flexibility to work offline on a fully personalized laptop,” Issy Ben-Shaul wrote for Virtual Strategy.
These new trends in virtual desktop deployments are a sign of the evolving virtualization infrastructure found among all companies. In fact, a study conducted by Forrester Research found that the market for hybrid cloud solutions has grown as more companies pursue new virtualization platforms.


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Oklahoma City, OK – February 18th, 2020 - ImageNet Consulting, an award-winning managed services and technology company headquartered in Oklahoma City, announced today that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has named ImageNet to its 2020 Managed Service Provider (MSP) 500 list in the Elite 150.
In The News
Feb 18, 2020 9:15:00 AM
Feb 11, 2020 10:12:40 AM
Oklahoma City, OK – February 11th, 2020 - ImageNet Consulting, an award-winning business consulting and technology company headquartered in Oklahoma City, has partnered with BIS, an Oklahoma City-based technology and software company and creator of Grooper, the leading software in data integration and extraction.
Oct 28, 2019 1:40:13 PM
HP Inc., the PCs and printers division of the former HP Co., is bringing its multifunction printers (MFPs) into the cloud era in a big way with HP Workpath and HP Command Center. And the evolution offers the company’s channel partners another way to make money and solidify customer loyalty.
Oct 28, 2019 10:51:59 AM
HP Inc. on Monday announced its next moves to advance its workplace print offerings with new capabilities aimed at channel partners, including solutions for enabling the creation of printer apps and remote management of printers.


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WASHINGTON — The biggest benefits for Gap Inc. in the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement will come from tariff cuts on apparel, particularly in the area of cotton sweaters, dresses, outerwear, skirts and cotton woven shirts.
Stephanie Lester, director of government affairs at Gap, outlined the benefits of TPP at a hearing before the U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday. Lester testified on the last day of a three-day hearing at the ITC, which has instituted an investigation to assess the “likely impact” of the TPP on the U.S. economy and specific industry sectors. The ITC is seeking input from an array of industry sectors in the public hearings.
Trade ministers reached a deal in October on TPP, which includes the U.S., Australia, Japan, Mexico, Canada,Vietnam, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, Chile, Brunei and New Zealand. It aims to tear down barriers to trade and would encompass 40 percent of the world’s gross domestic product if enacted.
The U.S. fashion industry has a big stake in the agreement. The U.S. imports $22 billion in apparel, textiles and footwear from the TPP countries and exports around $14.25 billion. Vietnam is the second-largest apparel supplier to the U.S. after China and a big sourcing hub for companies.
“Trade is a matter of global competitiveness for us. Gap Inc.’s fiercest competitors are based in Europe and Japan, and the trade policies in their home markets are more favorable for apparel retailers,” Lester said. “For example, both Europe and Japan include apparel in the Generalized System of Preferences programs for developing countries and their free trade agreements are more liberal than U.S. free trade agreements for apparel, with faster duty phaseouts and more flexible rules of origin.”
“The TPP can help level the playing field with our competitors by reducing U.S. tariffs on apparel products and saving millions of dollars, which can be reinvested into our workforce and operations or passed on to our customers,” Lester continued. “As we increase trade, companies such as Gap will be able to expand and hire here at home.”
One of the biggest benefits for Gap will be in duty cuts on cotton sweaters. Lester said the U.S. imported nearly $1 billion in cotton sweaters in 2014, with the majority coming from China.
“With a 16.5 percent tariff on sweaters, importers paid $153 million in duties on those sweaters in 2014,” Lester said. “TPP will provide immediate duty-free treatment for qualifying cotton sweaters and we expect some sweater trade to migrate to the TPP region to take advantage of the agreement.”
Lester said Gap does not expect the TPP, which will provide “substantial benefits for apparel retailers,” to come at the expense of the Western Hemisphere producers or for U.S.-based textile suppliers because those supply chains benefit from duty-free benefits under the Central American Free Trade agreement.
She said, as with cotton sweaters, the trade is expected to shift to TPP from other supplier countries that currently impose full tariffs on the sweaters. In addition, TPP would give more favorable treatment to products currently sourced in Asia, such as cotton sweaters and man-made fiber garments, and give less favorable treatment to products that have a higher share of Western Hemisphere trade such as cotton T-shirts, Lester said.
“For Gap, while we plan to grow our TPP business, we are also working to expand our Western Hemisphere sourcing during the same time period,” Lester said. “Within the next two to three years, we plan to triple our Western Hemisphere production, particularly in Haiti and the Central American countries.”