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Open ad management platform, Sizmek, just announced access to its contextual data service Peer39 via its app intelligence platform StrikeAd. The integration makes it the first Mobile Only DSP for Peer39 to allow media buyers to deliver brand-safe, quality placements for their programmatic mobile web and app adverts.
Sizmek integrates Peer39
Before integrating with Peer39, StrikeAd team members were having to send in whitelists of sites and apps to clients who sifted through the ones they wanted to target. This process was restricting and meant that contextual targeting required much patience.
Now, marketers get to purchase inventory across vertical-specific categories, including industries such as travel, automotive, apparel and retail. Peer39 offers a very robust app targeting solution that organises inventory by app category, age advisory rating, app popularity, user ratings, language and more.
As mobile ad spend is set to reach $100bn this year, brands should have a better understanding of their content to fuel relevant experiences.
Sizmek also emphasised the addition of anti-fraudulent measures which include a new feature for Uncertified Apps for StrikeAd.
Marco Rigon, Global Head of Mobext, Mobile agency of Havas Group, says:
“Audiences are shifting to mobile with increasing frequency, so we’re always looking for tools that will enable us to execute our mobile programmatic ad buys with heightened targeting capabilities and decreased waste. Peer39 is a proven leader in contextual categorization, brand safety and fraud detection. Now that it is available through StrikeAd, marketers have yet another assurance that audiences are seeing relevant ads, and that those ads are being seen next to quality content.”
Having recently tested the StrikeAd and Peer39 connection, a sportswear manufacturer was able to specifically target the “health & fitness” category for inventory. Increased relevance from Peer39 has led to a jump in CTR compared to previous bursts, climbing from 1.09 to 1.19.
Mike Caprio, Global VP and GM of programmatic, Sizmek, adds:
“Consumers increasingly toggle between app and mobile web experiences, and StrikeAd’s clients want to be sure they can provide relevant, brand safe ad experiences within high-quality content that will engage consumers in both spheres. We are excited to roll out the most robust pre-bid contextual data offering in the market for our clients with Peer39, and having StrikeAd become the first mobile-only DSP shows our commitment to improving targeting and safety for mobile 1st buyers.”


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Over the summer of last year, Dodge unveiled a fully electric muscle car concept known as the Charger Daytona SRT EV — a high-performance model that demonstrates the American marque’s plans of continuing to deliver high-performance vehicles even after switching to all-electric powertrains. Before pulling the plug on its petrol-powered offerings, however, the company has opted to produce seven limited edition “Last Call” Charger and Challenger models that pay homage to a variety of Dodge’s high-performance cars from the yesteryear. And after pulling the cover off of the first half dozen cars in this collection, the firm has now revealed the final — and most noteworthy — installment to the Last Call lineup with the utterly bonkers Challenger SRT Demon 170.
At the heart of the SRT Demon 170 is the first-ever production HEMI engine to make over 1,000hp — with the 6.2-liter V8 gaining an upgraded 3.0-liter supercharger with a 3.02” pulley, up-specced con-rods, increased cylinder pressure, nitride-coated intake valves with upgraded guides, a bigger 105mm throttle body, a recalibrated ECU, and high-flow fuel injectors. Not only do these modifications and upgrades collectively allow the HEMI put down 1,025hp and 945ft-lbs of torque, but they also enable the SRT Demon 170 to clock a 0-60mph time of just 1.66 seconds — making it one of the fastest production cars ever. What’s more, the engine also makes the Challenger SRT Demon 170 the first factory production car to clock sub-9-second quarter mile runs, with this limited edition car achieving an NHRA-certified time of 8.91-seconds (at 151.17 mph).
Unsurprisingly equipped with a special “Drag Mode” as well as a rear parachute brake, the LE model also boasts widebody-style bodywork with massive fender flares that open up space for the SRT Demon 170’s equally-massive 17” x 11” rear wheels which are shod in the first-ever staggered drag radial tires to appear on a factory production car. Born out of a joint effort between Dodge and Mickey Thompson Tires, this special rubber compound was developed over the course of several months specifically to handle the otherworldly power figures offered by the final Last Call model. On top of being offered in 14 different color options — all of which are available with numerous hood, roof, and deck-lid graphics — and with several wheel options including a carbon fiber set, each SRT Demon 170 unit also comes with a myriad of customized, limited-edition, and serialized items like a commemorative Demon decanter set and a custom instrument panel badge. So, while it might not be the most competent vehicle in the corners, the SRT Demon 170-spec Challenger truly does offer performance figures and acceleration that have thus far been reserved exclusively for six and seven-figure hypercars.
Limited to just 3,300 units worldwide, the 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 will be available for order beginning March 27, with pricing starting at a sinister $96,666 and production scheduled to begin later this summer.

domain: news


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The PayPal payment company introduced new features for users of its crypto application.
Users of the app can now transfer cryptocurrency between PayPal and other wallets.
Thus, transfers will be made to external addresses, including those associated with exchange accounts and hardware wallets.
In addition, customers will be able to use PayPal to send cryptocurrency to other users of the app.
“We are excited to connect PayPal customers to other wallets, exchanges and apps, and we will continue to launch additional cryptocurrency features, products and services in the coming months,” the comany said.


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The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has warned Nigerians to avoid consuming fruits ripened with carbide.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, in a statement, said the consumption of such foods could lead to several diseases, including cancer, and death.
The agency noted that fruits ripened with carbide lacked nutrients, juice and were poisonous. It said, “Fruit ripening is a unique aspect of plant development, which makes the fruit edible, softer, sweeter, more palatable, nutritious and attractive. However, the consumption of fruits such as mango, banana, plantain, guava, orange, grape, etc, or any other fruits ripened with calcium carbide is dangerous to health.”
NAFDAC said that eating them could trigger symptoms, such as diarrhoea (with or without blood), a burning or tingling sensation in the abdomen and chest difficulty in swallowing, irritation in eyes/skin, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath and numbness.
The agency added, “Calcium carbide generally contains impurities, such as arsenic, lead particles, phosphorus, etc. that pose a number of very serious health hazards. These impurities may cause serious health problems when those applying calcium carbide on fruits come in direct contact with the chemical.
“Consumption of fruits containing these impurities may cause cancer, heart, kidney and liver failure. They may cause frequent thirst, irritation in mouth and nose, weakness, permanent skin damage, difficulty in swallowing, vomiting, skin ulcer and so forth.
Higher exposure may cause undesired fluid build-up in the lungs (pulmonary oedema). Acetylene produced by calcium carbide affects the neurological system and reduces oxygen supply to the brain and further induces prolonged hypoxia.”
NAFDAC also warned traders and farmers against using carbide to ripen it fruits.
The agency said it would soon begin a nationwide monitoring of markets to ensure that carbide-ripened products are not sold to consumers.
It added, “NAFDAC hereby warns farmers’ traders and the general public that ripening fruits with calcium carbide is very dangerous to health and is a criminal offence. Perpetrators would be prosecuted.
“NAFDAC is commencing immediate nationwide monitoring of fruits markets to check activities of unscrupulous traders involved in the illegal artificial ripening of fruits using hazardous chemicals such as calcium carbide.
“Consumers are advised to examine fruits carefully by observing the variation of colour. If the fruit that you buy is too good among others in ‘near perfect’ ripening colour, it may have been ripened with calcium carbide. Fruits should be washed thoroughly under running water before consumption.”
The agency urged members of the public to report suspected cases to the nearest NAFDAC office or call 09094262773, 09094262772 and 08133630600.


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With the construction of a free trade port in Hainan, the number of companies in Haikou has grown rapidly. To date, 336 companies from 26 countries and regions have taken part in the project. The Global Trade Window is the first bearer of the Hundred Countries Thousand Enterprises plan in our province. It was officially launched on July 1, 2019 and is focused on promoting global investment, and on June 1 this year, the "General Plan for the Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port" was announced, the pace of entry for enterprises to market accelerated.
Since June 1 this year, 260 new companies have been registered in the Global Trade Window, including more than 60 foreign-funded companies, Hainan has consistently hosted multinational consular inspection delegations, inspection delegations of business associations with the participation of Russia, New Zealand, South Korea, the United States , The Netherlands, Germany, France, Uzbekistan and other countries.
Currently, there are 79 foreign companies from the USA, Great Britain, New Zealand, France, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Belarus, Singapore, the Netherlands, Finland, Ukraine, Italy, Austria, Malaysia, Ethiopia among 336 companies settled in the world trade window. , Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Jamaica and other countries, its investments include trade, tourism, culture, education, medicine and other areas.
Global Trade Window aims to become an exclusive Hainan Free Trade Port project and actively builds an international cooperation platform for small and medium enterprises, aiming to become a foreign capital gathering and international trade center. incubation platform. To facilitate the establishment of businesses and the maintenance of businesses, the Global Trade Center provides domestic and foreign businesses and employees with comprehensive business support services, including company registration, visa consultation, policy interpretation, etc.
You can watch hundreds of videos of excursions on the island of Hainan here: https://vk.com/videos-51202698


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The 2014 Auto Expo is just around the corner. Premium luxury car maker Mercedes has revealed its plans for the grand show. Mercedes at Auto Expo 2014 will be displaying an array of exciting new products representing the fresh, aggressive attitude of Mercedes-Benz. After the successful launch of the New S-Class Mercedes-Benz India is geared up to take forward its ‘Year of Excellence’ by unveiling the dynamically styled Concept GLA and CLA45 AMG at the 12th edition of the Auto Expo. Mercedes-Benz India will also launch the M Guard, increasing its portfolio in the niche armored luxury car segment in India.
In addition to the products and concepts on display, Mercedes-Benz will associate with Google to stream “On Demand” videos LIVE from Auto Expo pavilion. In a first of its kind initiative, fans would be able to place requests for a LIVE demo of any car or elements in the pavilion and on-ground promoters equipped with GoPro cameras will fulfill their requests. This is powered by twitter #mymerccam. This demonstration will also be streamed live on Mercedes-Benz India’s official YouTube Channel.
Further, Mercedes-Benz will showcase a virtual tour of the Mercedes-Benz India pavilion. This shall ensure that Mercedes fans across India can experience the Auto Expo pavilion and cars in comfort of their homes.
Here’s a quick look at the highlights at the Mercedes stand at 2014 Auto Expo
The performance version of the newest compact sedan from Mercedes. Click here to read more about the CLA 45 AMG
The ultra stylish compact SUV which is making waves in the global design circles. Click here to read more about the Concept GLA
Mercedes first SUV Guard vehicle: The M Guard
The armoured, ultra strong version of the M-Class – designed to provide protection from bullets, street crime and even minor explosives to the occupants
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team car
The 2014 Auto Expo will be special for Mercedes Benz in the sense that it would witness first ever senior leadership visit for Auto Expo 2014. Ola Källenius – Member of the Divisional Board Mercedes-Benz Cars responsible for Marketing & Sales Worldwide, will be present at the Mercedes-Benz 2014 Expo stand.
Eberhard Kern, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India commented; “Auto Expo 2014 is a much awaited event in Indian Automotive Industry and we are all set to bedazzle our customers with excellence. The Mercedes-Benz pavilion will be a perfect embodiment of modern luxury, high performance, innovative design and exemplary safety which are synonymous with our brand promise ‘Best or Nothing’.”
The Mercedes-Benz Pavilion will be situated in Hall 15 of the Auto Expo. Here’s the exhibition plan


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In a bid to rein in non-public gas retailers curbing operations to chop losses, Authorities has expanded the scope of Common Service Obligation (USO), mandating licensed entities to take care of petrol and diesel gross sales in any respect petrol pumps, together with in distant areas, for specified working hours.
“The federal government has now expanded the horizon of USO by together with all stores (petrol pumps) together with distant space ROs underneath their ambit,” the Oil Ministry mentioned in an announcement on Friday.
After this, entities which have been granted licences to retail petrol and diesel will probably be “obligated to increase the USO to all of the retail shoppers in any respect the stores.” Failure to fulfill norms can result in the cancellation of licences.
“This has been achieved with an goal to make sure a better stage of buyer providers out there and to make sure that adherence to the USO kinds part of the market self-discipline,” the Ministry mentioned.
The transfer follows some petrol pumps operated by PSU companies in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Gujarat going out of inventory following a sudden surge in demand.
This demand adopted the curtailment of operations by non-public gas retailers who couldn’t compete with the closely under-priced charges of public sector firms.
With state-owned Indian Oil Company (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Company Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Company Ltd (HPCL) promoting petrol and diesel at charges which can be Rs 15-25 a litre decrease than the associated fee to maintain the inflation underneath test, non-public gas retailers like Jio-bp and Nayara Vitality both raised costs at some places or curtailed gross sales.
State gas retailers have not modified retail costs since April 6 regardless of crude oil charges spiking to a decade excessive.
Shares not accessible or being bought at increased charges, led to prospects shifting from non-public shops to PSUs who quickly ran out of shares, particularly in hinterland places the place replenishing provides takes time.
Now to make sure that non-public gas retailers don’t cease promoting gas, the federal government has amended the USO laws.
The ministry mentioned the Authorities had relaxed the factors for grant of authorization (licence) for advertising and marketing of transportation gas (petrol and diesel) in November 2019 with an goal to make sure larger participation of the non-public sector.
“Concurrently, it additionally ensured establishing stores (ROs) in distant areas by these entities,” the assertion mentioned.
It has been an endeavour of the federal government that for distant space ROs the approved entities present high quality and uninterrupted gas provide providers to the shoppers by means of USO, it mentioned.
These USOs embody sustaining provides of petrol and diesel all through the required working hours and of specified high quality and amount; making accessible minimal amenities as specified by the central authorities, the assertion mentioned.
Furthermore, sustaining minimal stock ranges of petrol and diesel as specified by the Centre infrequently; offering providers to any particular person on demand inside an inexpensive time period and on a non-discriminatory foundation and guaranteeing availability of gas to the shoppers at cheap costs, are additionally a part of USOs.
These USOs, which beforehand didn’t apply to petrol pumps situated in distant areas, have now been made common and apply to all shops.
Following petrol pumps operating dry, the federal government had on June 15 said that there have been adequate provides of petrol and diesel to fulfill further demand however admitted that the push to PSU bunks was resulting in delays and elevated ready time for patrons.
Indian Oil, HPCL and BPCL have not raised petrol and diesel costs in tandem with the rise in crude oil (uncooked materials price). They promote petrol at a lack of Rs 14-18 per litre and diesel at Rs 20-25 – a loss that non-public retailers Nayara Vitality, Jio-bp and Shell aren’t capable of take up.
A number of petrol pumps of HPCL and BPCL in states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh ran out of gas, significantly diesel after prospects of personal retailers shifted to them.
At particular places in some states, there was a 50 per cent enhance in demand for petrol and diesel within the first half of June over the corresponding interval final 12 months.
Many of the areas the place provide points arose are certified as distant areas.
HPCL in a tweet on June 15 said that its pumps in Rajasthan had seen a close to 41 per cent rise in petrol gross sales in Could over the earlier month and 32 per cent in diesel whereas gross sales of personal firms fell 10.5 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively.
In Madhya Pradesh, petrol gross sales rose 40.6 per cent and diesel by 46.1 per cent as in comparison with 4.3 per cent and 29.5 per cent drop in non-public gas retailers.
BPCL too has witnessed an analogous quantity surge in these states.
The ministry attributed the rise in demand to a seasonal surge as a result of agricultural actions, bulk patrons shifting their purchases to petrol pumps and a considerable discount within the gross sales by non-public companies whose volumes shifted to PSU bunks.
It nonetheless didn’t say why the majority patrons shifted or the explanation for the discount in gross sales by non-public companies.
Trade sources mentioned whereas petrol pump charges haven’t elevated in tandem with price, the worth for bulk patrons similar to state bus endeavor has gone up. And so the majority patrons discover it cheaper to fill at petrol pumps relatively than purchase immediately from oil firms.
To deal with the disaster, oil firms are growing shares on the depots and terminals, shifting further tank vans and lorries to serve the stores; extending working hours of depots and terminals together with at evening, and provisioning further portions of fuels for provide within the affected states, the ministry had mentioned on June 15.


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(Bloomberg) -- More Chinese are shifting to poultry from pork as the spread of African swine fever worries consumers, sending prices of chicken meat to the highest level in at least three years.
China has reported outbreaks of the deadly virus in more than half of the country’s provinces and banned transport of live hogs from affected areas, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Sichuan, the nation’s largest hog producer, has banned the entry of live hogs and hog products from other regions to protect its own breeding industry.
“Chicken meat is the biggest winner as pork consumption is decreasing,” said Pan Chenjun, analyst with Rabobank International in Hong Kong. An unusual jump in chicken prices signals that restaurants and school canteens are intentionally replacing pork with chicken in dishes to minimize potential public health fears, even though the virus only affects pigs and not human beings.
Demand for chicken, a cheaper alternative to pork, has increased as transport restrictions on live hogs disrupt supply, said Pan. Chicken consumption in some areas is up more than 10 percent, said Feng Yonghui, chief analyst with industry portal www.soozhu.com.
Wens Foodstuffs Group Co., the country’s largest hog breeder, said pig sales fell more than 10 percent in October from the previous month as outbreaks of African swine fever spread, disrupting transport and sales. Shandong Yisheng Livestock and Poultry Breeding Co, a major chicken farmer, saw profit more than double in the first nine months thanks to sales of more chicks.
As an added precaution, the agriculture ministry published a regulation last week that requires all trucks carrying hogs to register so the vehicles can be tracked. Long-distance transport of live hogs was found to be one of the major factors causing the virus to spread.
A price gauge for ex-factory chicken in Shandong has climbed 30 percent this year to about 10,000 yuan ($1,440) a metric ton, the highest in at least three years.
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.


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French start-up Back Market has actually raised a new $120 million financing round from Goldman Sachs, Aglaé Ventures and Eurazeo Development. The business operates a market for refurbished smartphones and electronic devices devices.
Back Market does not refurbish devices in house. Rather, it partners with accredited sellers and let them list their products on the site. The start-up needs a 12-month guarantee in order to offer and reassure sellers on the platform.
There are now 1,000 licensed sellers utilizing Back Market to sell reconditioned goods. To put it simply, repair used to be a fragmented industry and Back Market is aggregating deal and need on a single online platform. It is presently reside in the U.S., France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the U.K. and Austria.
With today’s financing round, the start-up doesn’t wish to broaden to a ton of new countries. Rather, it’ll double down on core markets, starting with the U.S., the U.K. and Germany.
The company will expand its quality control group and introduce brand-new services around refurbishments in order to manage a bigger portion of the stack. You can think about sourcing spare parts for sellers, presenting test procedures, and so on
. Reconditioned gadgets and mobile phones represent a huge chances for the coming years. First, need for new mobile phones have been progressively decreasing for a while. It’s difficult to justify purchasing a brand brand-new phone when your existing phone is still remarkably fast and capable.
Second, lots of customers have actually been looking at ways to reduce their ecological footprint. While mobile phone producers significantly highlight their recycling processes, an utilized gadget is constantly going to win versus a brand name new device.
Third, Samsung, Apple and other mobile phone producers now sell ultra-premium models that cost a little fortune. Lots of merely can’t pay for to purchase a device that costs more than $1,000. Those exact same devices are going to cost less in a couple of years on Back Market.
Article curated by RJ Shara from Source. RJ Shara is a Bay Area Radio Host (Radio Jockey) who talks about the startup ecosystem – entrepreneurs, investments, policies and more on her show The Silicon Dreams. The show streams on Radio Zindagi 1170AM on Mondays from 3.30 PM to 4 PM.


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Deloitte Access Economics’ latest issue of Retail Forecasts reports strong growth for the December quarter as end of year events and the holiday season throw the retail sector a lifeline. Year-to December growth in real retail sales is expected to be 2.7%, with prices anticipated to increase by 7.6% and nominal retail sales growing by 10.4%.
Australian retailers have traded relatively well over the past 12 months off the back of the post-pandemic recovery. However, the outlook is fast changing, and retailers are sprinting to Christmas before consumer caution takes hold.
The domestic and global economic environment is souring as inflation and interest rates drive up the cost of living. With a high rate of inflation on many necessities, consumers are finding it hard to avoid the impact on the household budget.
For those with larger mortgages, the many increases in interest rates (the eighth monthly rate rise in a row confirmed today by the Reserve Bank) will greatly raise the cost of servicing home loans, further stretching the cost of living. While the effects of interest rate increases haven’t fully flowed through to consumer spending yet, it seems only a matter of time.
Chart 1: National real and nominal retail turnover
Source: Deloitte Access Economics; Australian Bureau of Statistics 8501.0.
Retailers are growing increasingly pessimistic about the state of the consumer in 2023. Some 58% of respondents to Deloitte Retailers’ Holiday Survey expect that consumer confidence will deteriorate through 2023.
Sales volumes are anticipated to decrease over the first half of 2023 as consumer spending follows the trajectory of consumer confidence. Volumes are expected to fall by 0.2% and 0.4% over the March and June quarters, respectively. With a broad-based reduction in demand expected, few retail categories are anticipated to be spared.
However, improvements in spending are then expected to come through as real wages growth kicks in and interest rates level out. Total retail sales are anticipated to bottom at zero real growth over the year to December 2023, with nominal sales growth at 1.9% at that low point – a more sombre 2023 after the Christmas 2022 sprint.


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The Indian smartphone market is witnessing the launch of some of the premium 5G smartphones in 2021. All the latest launches by different companies are equipped with modern chipsets and features. To capture the budget-centric market of India, smartphone manufacturers like Oppo, Realme, OnePlus and many others have launched smartphones under Rs 30,000 price range. In this article, we will cover the best 5G smartphones available under Rs 30,000. OnePlus... Read More
The renowned smartphone manufacturer Oppo India has revealed that it has conducted a 5G Standalone Network trial for the Reno6 series with the leading telecom operator in India, Reliance Jio. Reliance Jio and other telecom operators have initiated the 5G trials in select cities across the nation. Oppo commented on the latest development and stated that the 5G SA trials yielded highly positive results that will be beneficial for the... Read More
Oppo recently launched its new smartphone series in India called the Oppo Reno6 Series 5G. Both the devices that were launched in the country were carefully developed according to the needs of the Indians. Tasleem Arif, Vice President and Head of Research & Development, Oppo India, said both the new Reno6 series smartphones have been built according to the needs of the Indian telecom operators, reports PTI. Oppo Reno6 Series... Read More
Oppo has just launched the Reno6 series 5G in India. The Reno6 series 5G comes with two smartphones - Oppo Reno6 5G and Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G. Both the smartphones have launched in single variants only. Oppo has enabled the devices to support 65W fast charging. Along with this, the smartphones come with enhanced gaming software. Both the Oppo Reno6 Pro 5G and the Oppo Reno6 5G feature the Diamond... Read More
Since 5G is near the shore, smartphone manufacturers are developing 5G enabled smartphones with high-end specifications and a modest price range. Some of the renowned smartphones manufacturers like Realme, Oppo and iQoo have launched premium 5G smartphones under Rs 20,000. If you are looking for 5G smartphones in a nominal price range, follow this article to the end to get complete details of the budgeted devices. Oppo A53s 5G Oppo... Read More
Oppo has been working on launching the Reno6 series of devices in India, which will consist of both the Reno6 and Reno6 Pro variants, with a launch date set for July 16. However, amidst all the attention towards the Reno series of devices, which has always pushed the boundaries of design and features in one way or the other, it seems that we might have overshadowed some gaming plans from... Read More
After each and every passing week, we get to hear more and more about the future of OnePlus, with a special emphasis on Oppo. Just yesterday, we learnt that the company would now be merging the codebase of OxygenOS with Oppo's ColorOS, so as to offer better support. Today, however, there are some interesting hardware-based details that are a bit shocking. This shocking detail comes via a Chinese leaker on... Read More
Oppo India on Friday confirmed that its upcoming Reno6 5G and Reno6 Pro 5G handsets would be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 processor when it does launch in India, which is set on July 14. For some additional context, the Oppo Reno6 series of devices were launched in the month of May in China, with Oppo finally bringing it to India, with some changes. Oppo will also be offering... Read More
Oppo, the popular Chinese smartphone brand that has a good foothold in the Indian market, especially in the offline market in the country on Thursday announced price revision for certain models of devices sold in the country. This revision is in relation to the A-series of devices, which are budget to mid-range handsets offered by the company. The change in prices is being taken live, starting today, July 1, 2021.... Read More
For the unaware, OnePlus was started by Carl Pie and Pete Lau. It is interesting to note that both Pie and Lau used to work at Oppo before starting OnePlus. Further, smartphone brands including OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, and Vivo are owned by a Guangdong-based conglomerate called BBK Electronics. So all of these companies have been sharing resources, supply channels, products internally. But here’s the reason that OnePlus and Oppo merger... Read More
Post years and years of speculating that the reason for OnePlus settling was the Oppofication of the company, it seems the evidence is now there to support this theory. In recent times, OnePlus, once known as a flagship killing brand has seemingly lost a step and, in doing so, been subject to many queries. In response to this, it has always mentioned that it was a separate entity. Recently, however,... Read More
Samsung has been at the pinnacle of smartphone design ever since it launched the original Note series of devices, which brought the phablet trend to the market, with a more recent example of the trendsetting habit being the S6 Edge which modernised the curved screen and made it into a feature that was garnering a lot of attention from all kinds of users. The company, in recent years, decided to... Read More
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Pan India Spectrum Details
Telecommunication Frequency Bands
DTH Satellites in India
They don't have Band 8 LTE anywhere in Kolkata or West Bengal.
I recharged with 98 rs plan , but thru have credited two more 98 recharges in my account.
Kiran Fernandes | Goa :
Woah nice. Vivo gives some impressive cameras with their phones!
See Fact no. 4. Further, VLR data shows Airtel > Vi > Rcom > Jio > BSNL.
optn 3 coverage wise is false jio no 1 in cvrge
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- Reliance Jio Creeping Into Top Spot of Active Wireless Subscribers
- Micromax In 2b Can Break the Market With Its Attractive Price Tag and Specs


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Linus Torvalds Says Valve Is Exploring a "Second Source" Against Microsoft
The father of the Linux project, Linus Torvalds, talked about Valve and its potential role in the Linux ecosystem with the upcoming gaming consoles.
Canonical and Lenovo to Start Shipping Ubuntu-Powered Laptops in India
Canonical has numerous hardware partners around the world, and Lenovo is one of them. The two companies are now planning to release devices with Ubuntu Linux preloaded in India, starting with the Thinkpad L450 laptop.
11 features Apple 'borrowed' from Android in the last year
Apple isn't shy about taking great features from Android, its number-one rival in smartphones and tablets.
That's not necessarily a bad thing — it shows Apple is willing to adapt to customer demand. By doing that, it's giving people more incentive to switch from Android to the iPhone. In fact, Tim Cook couldn't stop talking about "switchers" — people switching from Android to the iPhone — during the company's most recent earnings call in April.
Ubuntu Touch to Get Major Battery Improvement for Meizu MX4
Ubuntu developers are working on a new OTA update for Ubuntu Touch, and it looks like it's coming along just fine. Even better, the new Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition got some special attention, and the battery life will be much better.
Review: Linux Mint 17.2 Release is Refreshed and Faster
Linux Mint 17.2 "Rafaela" MATE was launched last week and, as usual, I installed it on my machines to see how this distro is progressing. I found a refreshed, faster and more feature-rich distro that's well worth trying.
Samsung to train India’s Telangana youth in Tizen Tech
As part of the spread of Tizen education in India, Samsung will train the youth of the Telangana Academy on innovative digital technologies based on the Tizen operating system.
Jolla cuts hardware biz loose to concentrate on Sailfish licensing
Hardware and software outfit Jolla is to give up making hardware, with that part of the business set to be taken on by a new, yet-to-be-announced company, with Jolla then concentrating on its Sailfish OS.


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SAVANNAH — Hired by farmers as a private security guard, Brooks Rucker patrols thousands of acres in southern Georgia on the lookout for thieves toting 5-gallon buckets.
He rarely comes up empty-handed. Since the fall harvest began Oct. 1, Rucker says, he and a pair of buddies have caught more than 160 culprits in the act. Some they let go. Others get handed over to police to face possible felony charges. Either way, he’s recovered thousands of dollars’ worth of pecans snatched from his employers’ trees.
“It’s an all-day hassle trying to keep these folks out,” Rucker said. “You’ll pull into a pecan grove and they’ll have a 10-foot extension ladder trying to shake the pecans loose with poles.”
At a time when farmers should be giving thanks for pecans selling at record prices, they’re instead cracking down on thieves.
Pecan prices have soared as China has developed an insatiable appetite for them, while withering drought in the southern U.S. has limited supplies.
In Georgia, the nation’s top pecan producer, farmers and authorities say criminals can earn a tidy profit by stealing the nuts – worth $1.50 or more per pound in smaller quantities. Pecan grower Bucky Geer estimates a single 5-gallon bucketful is worth about $38.
“Some of these pecans are approaching a nickel in value apiece,” Geer said. “It makes them too tempting to steal.”
Geer and six other farmers in southwest Georgia’s Mitchell County hired Rucker and his friends to watch their combined 7,500 acres of pecan groves during the fall harvest, which runs from October through December. The farmers pay the men, all of them volunteer firefighters, about $2,100 a week total.
Duke Lane, the chairman of the Georgia Pecan Growers Association, said the precautions are worth it. Georgia is expected to harvest about 90 million pounds this year, about a third of the U.S. total. Wholesale prices to food producers were above $3 per pound early in the harvest season, compared with about $2.35 a pound last year.
“We’re losing a lot of money,” said Lane, who notes that pecan thieves have been a problem before but seem more aggressive than ever this year. “You could easily steal $1,000 worth of nuts in one night.”
Roadside stands are buying stolen pecans to sell to passing motorists, Lane said. Owners of rural businesses from gas stations to hardware stores act as middlemen, buying smaller amounts until they accumulate enough to sell to food processors.
Mitchell County Sheriff W.E. Bozeman said his deputies apprehended three men trying to snatch several hundred pounds of pecans from a storage trailer. The sheriff figures his department gets calls at least five days a week reporting pecan snatchers.
Under Georgia law, it’s a felony to steal more than $500 worth of a crop from a farmer’s land. Joe Mulholland, the district attorney for the five-county judicial circuit that includes Mitchell County, expects he’ll prosecute dozens of pecan theft cases after the harvest.


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Dynam Japan Holdings announced a 6.8 percent drop in revenue to ¥154.5 billion ($24.9 billion) for the year ended 31 March 2014, while profit for the period fell 46.8 percent to ¥11.3 billion.
The pachinko hall operator’s gross pay-ins were ¥826 billion, recording a decrease of 10.4 percent compared with the year ended 31 March 2014. Profit before tax was ¥19.5 billion, a YoY decrease of 43.6 percent.
The company said it operated 393 halls as of 31 March 2015, nearly 20 more than the previous year’s period of 375 halls in operation.
“In this environment, the Group holds the No.1 position in the industry in terms of hall numbers. We aim for sustainable profit growth over the long-term by taking maximum advantage of the economies of scale of multiple-hall development based on our chain-store management.”
The company said it is promoting low playing cost games through multiple halls as the pillar of its growth strategy. Low playing cost games reduce costs to users by setting ¥1-per-ball and ¥5-per-token games, as opposed to conventional ¥4-per-ball and ¥20-per-token games, “to enable customer to have enjoyment without imposing a significant cost burden on them.”
However, despite the popularity of such games there is a risk of lower profitability, the company said.
“[W]hile low playing cost games lead to increased customer numbers and visit frequency as well as development of a new customer base, there is also a risk of decreased profitability at pachinko halls.”
“We aim to rationalize the key costs related to machines and personnel, which make up approximately 60% of hall operational expenses…”
Asia Gaming Brief is a news and intelligence service providing up to date market information for worldwide executives on relevant gaming issues in Asia.
ASIA GAMING BRIEF
PO Box 1139, Macau SAR
Tel: +853 2871 7267
Fax: +853 2871 7264


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LAKEWOOD – The Lakewood Ruby Tuesday location has closed.
WNYNewsNow’s Justin Gould reports that a sign on the restaurant’s front door states that the location is closed.
“We are sorry for any inconvenience that this may have caused you and look forward to serving you in one of our other restaurants soon,” the sign said.
The sign referred those with questions to visit rubytuesday.com and choose the “Contact Us” option.
Related reporting: Ruby Tuesday Cited For “Critical Violations” Months Before Closure


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FLS reporter Katie Thisdell serves up news on local food finds, tales from home cooks and inspiration to help you have fun in your own kitchen.
Spotsylvania winter farmer’s market Saturday
The second of three scheduled winter farmers markets in Spotsylvania County will take place this Saturday (Feb. 9) from 9 a.m. until noon at the Gordon Road commuter lot.
Market Manager Elizabeth Borst reports that 10 to 12 producers are expected, selling fall and winter vegetables, pork, eggs, cheese, baked goods, jams and jellies, tea, mushrooms, microgreens and plants and flowers.
The third and final winter market before the main season reopens April 20 is scheduled for March 9, weather permitting.
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Call on Levi’s, PVH, Ralph Lauren & Walmart to Stop Wage Theft in El Salvador
To take action, click "start writing" to see our template letter and then click "send letter"!
On March 7, 2018, the 824 workers at the LD garment factory in El Salvador lost their jobs when the factory suddenly closed without warning. These workers sewed clothes for Levi’s, Ralph Lauren, Walmart, and PVH, owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.
Under Salvadoran law, when a factory closes workers are owed severance. Laid-off workers depend on these payments to support themselves and their families, including putting food on their tables and paying school fees for their children, until they are able to find new work. But the brands refused to pay timely severance, instead pointing to their intermediary, Global Brands Group.
For over a year, the workers were left with nothing. Finally, Global Brands Group distributed a paltry $600,000 -- far short of the $2.3 million owed. Levi’s, PVH, Ralph Lauren, and Walmart are now all refusing to pay anything more.
Please take action to urge these brands to stop delaying and immediately meet their outstanding severance obligations to the LD workers.


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Thanksgiving is no longer a single-day function in the festive period. It is the start off of a 5-working day event dubbed Cyber Week or Cyber Five. The occasion consists of Thanksgiving adopted by Black Friday, Small Organization Saturday, Tremendous Sunday, and Cyber Monday. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the Friday and Monday subsequent Thanksgiving.
Not just Cyber 7 days, Thanksgiving also marks the official graduation of the holiday break time alone. Speaking about BFCM, the pattern started off when buyers, who preferred to get their shopping performed ASAP to stop their favored goods from going out of inventory, commenced browsing for Xmas suitable at the stop of Thanksgiving.
There is usually significant demand for items this kind of as toys, property furnishings, mattresses, and clothing on Black Friday. At the exact same time, Cyber Monday is acknowledged for low rates on tech-related goods, like smartphones, laptops, TVs, gaming consoles, and VR devices.
With the advancement of e-commerce, changing tendencies, and customers’ growing buying demands, BFCM 2022, just like the past couple of several years, has grow to be far more than just a few of times by starting months prior to and extending months right after.
As a result, the greatest option to bring in far more customers to your retail store, positively impression them, and ultimately boost gain margins is now.
Below are some tips and tricks for you to make the best out of BFCM 2022.


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Much of our coffee comes from places where the environment is endangered and workers earn very little — sometimes, just a few dollars for a whole day's work. Coffee farmers have helped cut down tropical forests, and most of them use pesticides.
While many people enjoy sweet treats — like these chocolate bunnies — the price of a key ingredient has some people bitter. A government subsidy program is criticized for keeping sugar prices too high. But as prices fall, the government may buy sugar to help processors.
While you indulge in some Easter Peeps and chocolates this weekend, you might want to think about all that sugar. No, this isn't a calorie warning. In the U.S., raw sugar can cost twice the world average.
Critics say U.S. sugar policy artificially inflates sugar prices to benefit an exclusive group of processors — even though it leads to higher food prices. But this year, prices fell anyway. Now, the government could be poised to use taxpayer dollars to buy up the excess sugar.
A Chinese farmer tends to bees producing honey to supplement her income at a farm in China's Anhui province.
Credit AFP / AFP/Getty Images
There was bombshell news from the world of honey two weeks ago, and somehow we missed it. Two big honey packers, including one of the largest in the country — Groeb Farms of Onsted, Mich. — admitted buying millions of dollars worth of honey that was falsely labeled.


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According to AlixPartners, the persistent semiconductor scarcity would cost the auto sector $210 billion in lost sales this year, up from its forecast of $110 billion in May.
In addition, AlixPartners forecasts a loss of 7.7 million units in 2021, up from 3.9 million in its May projection.
“Automakers and suppliers have no room for a mistake right now; they must calculate every possibility and ensure they’re pursuing only the best alternatives,” Mark Wakefield, global co-leader of AlixPartners’ automotive and industrial group, said in a statement.
In Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, a surge of delta-variant instances is creating production delays at semiconductor cutting and packaging plants.
“Of course, everyone had hoped that the chip situation would have subsided by now,” Wakefield added, “but regrettable occurrences like the COVID-19 lockdowns in Malaysia and ongoing problems elsewhere have worsened things.”
Chips are only one of a “number of unusual disturbances” that the car industry is dealing with, according to Wakefield, including “anything from resin and steel shortages to labor shortages.”
A meeting of big tech and auto companies was held at the White House on Thursday to tackle the worldwide chip shortage. The conference was attended by senior officials from Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Samsung, General Motors (GM), and Ford (F).
According to the Washington Post, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo asked companies to fill out questionnaires to clarify how much supply and demand there is in the market, and warned that if they didn’t, the administration would consider invoking the Defense Production Act to compel them to provide the information.
Due to the chip shortfall, IHS Markit, a London-based research group, cut its vehicle production projections last week.
For this year, the business reduced its forecast by 6.2 percent, or 5.02 million units, to 75.8 million units. It lowered its forecast for 2022 by 9.3%, or 8.45 million units, to 82.6 million units. The economic research group stated, “This is the greatest single change to the prognosis in what has been a tumultuous last nine months.”
Intel (INTC) Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger announced earlier this month that the semiconductor behemoth intended to invest up to $95 billion in new chip-making facilities in Europe.
According to Geslinger, the shortages will persist until 2023.
Peugeot has been forced to close factories in Europe, while Ford and General Motors have been forced to close manufacturing in the United States due to the scarcity. As a result of the scarcity and the current coronavirus epidemic, Toyota has announced that it would reduce its worldwide production target by 300,000 vehicles.
The chip scarcity is hurting other areas as well, resulting in price increases in both the smartphone and PC industries. Experts and researchers believe that the scarcity will persist until at least 2022.


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Secrets behind Google and how to make best use of Google AdWords
Starting Google AdWords seems easy but mastering it is totally another matter.
In this April, Tagtoo and Google organized an event that talks about common misconception on digital ads and shares several tips on managing Google AdWords in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. The sharing was presented by two speakers: Max Tsai, Taiwan Market Manager of Google, and JC Chang, Media Director of Tagtoo. Below is the highlight of their precious sharing.
Google is successful because they help business make money
As one of the most valuable companies, Google's success never comes with the sheer luck but choosing the right strategy to collaborate with other enterprises.
Google's stock price that rose from around 400 to over 1000 is exactly the proof of their right tactics. The infrastructure Google has built for the past years is not only what makes Google still stands out in the increasingly competitive landscape that's encroached by other tech giants but also the critical backbone that supports million of business around the world to thrive and make money.
Similar strategies can also be observed in other tech giants. The same philosophy, being reciprocal, could be applied to any fields to make your business successful.
You need an expert for AdWords campaigns
Google AdWords is a very powerful tool to help advertisers make money but meanwhile too complicated to manage for small and medium enterprises.
There are up to 100 product updates on Google AdWords every year, which might make managing ad campaigns a challenging job if you don't keep yourself updated. Not to mention most of the e-commerce can afford extra time to take care of ad campaign.
Looking for the assistance from experts, like Tagtoo, to manage is the best idea. Even Southeast Asian e-commerce behemoth Lazada turned to Google team for help on Google AdWords. It's more like a win-win and is never a wrong move and the decision that you're going to regret.
Google Shopping Ads turns new visitors into quality customers easier
As a certified and trusted partner of Google, Tagtoo is humble and honored to launch Google Shopping Ads(GSA) service before it was officially open to the public. After intensive experiments and thousands of hours effort, we’ve found out amazing performance of GSA.
According to Tagtoo engine, our self-built database, we see conversion rate rise 31% and cost per acquisition drop 38% in the fashion industry with the use of GSA in their AdWords campaigns. More importantly, GSA helps earn more transactions from new visitors, 1.8 times than Facebook DPA and 2.2 times of Yahoo Native Ads, by significantly shortening online shopping journey.
Undeniably, GSA is proofed to be very powerful to convert new visitors into customers.
Dynamic Product Ads can help maximize ROAS
Dynamic Product Ads (DPA), on the other hand, is the best type of ad to make returning visitors finish purchases because DPA can show the real product that catches visitors’ attention. More precisely, it can help maximize your ROAS if used correctly.
As compared to the performance of typical banner ads, we discover that DPA helps save nearly 40% of ad spends and increase the number of returning visitors by 34%. What’s more, 92% of our clients have embraced the power of DPA to help them bring their business to another level.
In short, adopting DPA is more likely to make returning visitors purchase and ultimately maximize ROAS.
AdChief significantly simplifies the process of banner designs
While GSA and DPA are powerful, a better design will make their performance more outstanding. AdChief, Tagtoo’s latest product that aims to provide friendlier design environment for non-professionals, is exactly the thing to help.
The adoption of AdChief greatly simplifies banner design in a hassle-free way and helps apply the well-crafted template to hundreds of thousands of products in a second. This is especially helpful for e-commerce that lacks organized design teams.
Statistics don’t lie. Our client’s ad performance sees 24% increase in click-through rate and 57% decrease in CPA.
Video Link: https://www.facebook.com/TagtooAD/videos/2278592839035062/
Don’t feel frustrated if you couldn’t join our event. There will be more coming up. Like our page to keep yourself posted!


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FTI organising employee vaccinations
published : 19 Mar 2021 at 04:00
newspaper section: Business
The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) plans to start having companies, mostly in Samut Sakhon and Bangkok, vaccinate 51,000 workers in June once the government approves private implementation of a Covid-19 vaccination plan.
The worker numbers are based on a recent one-week survey by the FTI that found 109 companies in 22 provinces want to buy vaccines themselves and administer them to employees without waiting for the state vaccination programme, said Supant Mongkolsuthree, FTI's chairman, yesterday.
Up to 60% of the respondents are factories in Samut Sakhon, where the second outbreak began in mid-December last year, and Bangkok.
"The manufacturing sector can afford to buy vaccines at 1,000 baht a dose to protect workers and workplaces," said Mr Supant.
The FTI will represent manufacturers importing vaccines through the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation and start vaccinations within June.
The group chose the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccines, one of two vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration, said Panitarn Pavarolavidya, the FTI's deputy secretary-general.
The other is the vaccine jointly developed by Oxford University and pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.
Mr Panitarn said the FTI, which plans to work with public heath officials, will administer the vaccinations at factories with large numbers of workers to avoid overcrowding at hospitals or public health centres.
The FTI will continue gathering more companies interested in joining it to vaccinate workers until the end of this month.
The Thailand Industry Sentiment Index (TISI) for February increased to 85.1 from 83.5 points in January, following the lifting of measures against the pandemic and the launch of additional economic stimulus packages, including the Rao Chana (We Win) financial relief scheme to help boost consumer spending, said Mr Supant.
The index earlier declined in December last year and January this year, hitting a six-month low following the second wave of the pandemic.
The February TISI was based on a survey of 1,403 companies in 45 industries nationwide.
Car manufacturing in February also increased by 4.78% to 155,200 units from January, with 56.9% of units exported, said Surapong Paisitpatanapong, vice-chairman and spokesman of the FTI's automotive club.
Domestic sales in February decreased by 10.9% to 58,960 units from the same month last year because people and commercial banks became more careful about spending following the last outbreak, he said.


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Partnership brings together industry leaders in origination fraud and credit decisioning to prevent millions of dollars of fraud losses for financial institutions
November 6, 2022 –Scienaptic, the world’s leading AI-powered credit decision platform provider, announced its partnership with SentiLink, the leading provider of identity verification and fraud detection solutions. This alliance will enable Scienaptic to tap SentiLink’s application fraud solutions to help Financial Institutions (FIs) minimize fraud risk in their credit decisioning process without compromising customer experience.
Founded in 2017, SentiLink is a leader in identity verification and fraud detection technology. Their suite of identity solutions review consumer data provided at the point of account origination and return scores, attributes, and critical insights indicating the likelihood that an application is fraudulent. By combining proprietary data and deep insight into fraud and identity, SentiLink’s unique approach and innovative products help manage risk, reduce fraud, and approve more good customers faster.
“We are excited to partner with Scienaptic to help the many credit unions, auto lenders and other financial institutions on their platform mitigate risk and make smarter loan decisions,” said Naftali Harris, co-founder and CEO of SentiLink. “Combined with our solutions that stop identity theft and synthetic fraud at the point of application, this partnership will allow Fis to confidently approve more customers without adding friction to the lending experience.”
“Our partnership with SentiLink is part of our ongoing commitment to transforming the technology used in credit decisioning, said Pankaj Jain, President and Co-founder of Scienaptic. "SentiLink’s technology paired with our AI platform is a holistic approach to underwriting that harnesses data from multiple systems to generate predictive signals that mitigate credit and fraud risk, streamline decisioning and result in more approvals for deserving borrowers.”
About SentiLink SentiLink, the leader in identity verification technology, provides financial institutions and fintechs with best-in-class solutions to prevent synthetic fraud, identity theft, and emerging forms of first-party fraud, as well as access to the eCBSV SSN verification service. Founded in 2017 by Naftali Harris and Max Blumenfeld, creators of the risk and fraud systems at Affirm, SentiLink has raised $85M to date from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Craft Ventures, and NYCA Partners, among others.
About Scienaptic Scienaptic AI’s mission is to increase credit availability across the globe by transforming the technology used in credit decisioning. FIs such as credit unions, auto lenders, banks, and fintechs, use Scienaptic's AI native credit decisioning platform enables lenders to constantly improve the quality and speed of their underwriting decisions, helping them reach a greater number of borrowers, including underbanked and underserved individuals, and say “yes” more often, without increasing risk while addressing all Regulatory aspects especially Fair lending and explainable adverse actions.
The company’s AI platform is used by lenders of all sizes, integrating seamlessly with their existing systems. Scienaptic-enabled lenders have processed more than 190 million transactions worth $36 billion in credit decisions, benefitting millions of borrowers, and helping them get access to the credit they need. For more information, visit http://www.scienaptic.ai


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Professional Insider:Trend Spotting
Luxury Product Watch
Many companies lust after a piece of the high-rent pie
Because all products that command upscale consumers' attention whittle
away at their disposable incomes, awareness of the competition is crucial
for jewelers. So here it is, from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Motorcycles ... Again
They used to be called Yuppies, but the Baby Boomers who now motorcycle
to ride away from middle age are derisively called "Rubs" (rich
urban bikers) by traditional Harley-Davidson enthusiasts, reports The
New York Times. From surgeons with beepers to advertising directors
with kids in tow, these new bikers are everywhere, creating up to a two-year
waiting list for the American-made motorcycles. Rubs model themselves after
Liam Neeson, Matthew Broderick and other celebrity cool-seekers, reports
The Times. An exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City called
"The Art of the Motorcycle" just added to the cachet by celebrating
motorbike design. With bikes costing anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000, this
is one serious threat to a jewelry purchase. Tip for jewelers? Make wearing
jewelry look cool, quick!
When it comes to a safe "feel-good drug" for the late '90s, many
affluent women choose jewelry. But an arguably larger number are flocking
to day spas and other beauty palaces to feel the glow. The undeniable "experience"
involved in such pampering is a factor, but so are the products that women
cart away to prolong the happiness. Cosmetics companies are having fits
over all the makeup and skin products sold at day spas, reports The Wall
Street Journal. They're competing by bringing a little of the spa experience
to the department store. Companies such as Estèe Lauder operate mini-spas
on site, and Shiseido gives free shiatsu facials and foot massages at or
one hopes behind the counter.
Nipping at department store and day spas' heels is another beauty interloper:
luxury beauty superstores such as Sephora, France's well-known perfume and
cosmetics retailer. Sephora began its advance into the U.S. this summer
and joins other beauty "play places" where observers say women
can go and spritz 'til they drop and apply makeup enough to tire even Barbie.
Jeweler's challenge? You better have some expensive toys that customers
can play with too.
Food, Shelter ... and Toys Too
It's not just women and Baby Boomers retailers aim for with upscale products
these days. Families come in for their share of goodies too. Hardware giants
such as Home Depot, Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Lowe's all have divisions that
sell refrigerators for $7,000, deluxe patio sets and expensive Karastan
rugs, says The Wall Street Journal.
Mattel is hedging its bets that cheap old Barbie isn't enough for little
girls anymore. It recently bought Pleasant Co., maker of American Girl dolls,
which sell for close to $100 each and that's before the clothes, accessories
and books. Advice to jewelers? Help those indulgent grandmothers understand
that the doll will be in a trunk in a few years ... but even a little diamond
will last forever!
Copyright © 1998 by Bond Communications.


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On January 9, 2020, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Chieftain of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed officially released "Line" Logo as a national brand.
There is no doubt that this logo will be new trend for all corporate gifts during National day.
The brand contains seven lines, which form a map of the UAE, and also represent seven emirates and seven founding fathers. It reflects the country's ambition, achievement, openness, hope and cultural possibilities, all of which are indispensable elements.
We are delvelop new luxury corporate gift- metal phone grip with this NEW UAE LOGO recently. And already received sample demand from 100 customers.
If you are interested in FREE SAMPLE and newest catalgoue
Welcome to email us: firstname.lastname@example.org


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BlackBerry, the Canadian smartphone maker, recently launched its BlackBerry KEY2 smartphone at an event held in New York. Now, a few days after the launch, the company has dropped the price of Blackberry KEYone in India which was launched last year.
BlackBerry KEYone was launched in August last year at Rs 39,999 and now this smartphone is being sold at Rs 33,975 on the e-commerce Amazon India. The cost of the device has been reduced by Rs 6,024. Apart from this, Amazon is also giving several offers on BlackBerry KEYone such as a discount of 13,050 rupees for buying a smartphone in an exchange offer and a 10 percent cashback when using Citibank credit card, etc.
Talking about the specifications review of BlackBerry KEYone, the flagship device comes with a 4.5-inch scratch resistant full HD display, which is 1080×1620 pixel resolution and BlackBerry’s iconic Qwerty keyboard sits below the display.
It was launched with Android 7.1 Nougat operating system but BlackBerry will soon release the Android 8.0 Oreo update for the BlackBerry KEYone. There is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, 4GB RAM and 64 GB storage which can be extended through the microSD card.
The BlackBerry KEYone features a dual-camera setup with 12-megapixel+12-megapixel sensors and on the front houses an 8-megapixel selfie camera with aperture F / 2.2 and 84-degree wide-angle lens. There is a 3505 MAH battery to power the handset.


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Jul 23, 2015 Some Wall Street investors are leaving as China's growth slows.
Jul 22, 2015 Apple's earnings surged, but its performance didn't meet analysts' expectations.
Jul 16, 2015 Wall Street is wondering whether the company can spend less.
Jul 15, 2015 The modern Chinese stock market is 25 years old, and it's having growing pains.
Jul 10, 2015 Nela Richardson and David Gura join Molly Wood to recap the week in business and finance.
Jul 9, 2015 Shenzhen may need help from the state
Jul 8, 2015 Andy Rothman explains why the government should stay out of the economy.
Jul 8, 2015 Individuals, often swayed by rumors, make up 80 percent of share buyers.
Jul 8, 2015 Kai talks with Marketplace Tech host Ben Johnson about watches and phones.


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Five tips to up your social media game
Q1 of the year is an exciting time of the year for the Hydrogen Insights team. Not least of all because Rival IQ release their annual industry benchmarking report – for us it’s almost like getting that extra Christmas present just over a month after Christmas.
Every year we take the time to analyse the findings of the report, to see the trends and where the engagements are. This year round however we thought we would compare the key findings against our own collated stats and insights, and here’s what we found.
1: Engagement rates were flat on Facebook and Twitter, and down on Instagram
This continued a trend from 2019 where Instagram engagement rates were found to be declining.
Interestingly, we found an average of 3% increase in Instagram engagement rate from 2019 (6.37%) vs 2020 (6.55%) among our clients. Although it should be caveated that Rival IQ’s report calculated engagement rate against page followers, while we have the benefit of being able to calculate engagement rate against post impressions (there’s benefits to doing it both ways).
Findings from Hootsuite highlighted that there was a 14% increase in Instagram usage in 2020, which could correlate with an increase in grid content engagement across the platform.
2: Posting frequency continues to decline
Across the variety of sectors that Rival IQ analysed, they found that brands posted less organic content in 2020 than in 2019.
We found that this was the case from a recent benchmarking project that compared one of our client’s competitor activities in 2020 vs 2019. The report findings included a 56% decrease in timeline/grid posts across the year (across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) from 1,220 posts to 539 posts.
It would be easy to blame Covid-19 for a reduction in content as brands tweaked their strategies with the ever-evolving pandemic, however the below image from Socialbakers does highlight there was already a steady decrease of content across Q1 2020.
3: Carousels are king on Instagram
Rival IQ notes that “Brands should look for opportunities to combine photos into carousels. Why? Instagram carousels often get re-served to users who don’t engage the first time, earning more impressions.” Away from the stats and on my personal Instagram, this makes sense – I’ve often opened the app up and found the same post has been served to me earlier, only the platform has now shown me the second image in of the carousel.
Examining this among our clients, we found that in the last 3 months carousel content has driven an average of 8% more impressions than other grid content. We can also go a step further, and see that carousel content drove an average of 98% more engagement than other grid content, emphasising that carousel content is well and truly the king of Instagram content right now.
Don’t just take my word for it. SearchEngineJournal reported findings from over 22 million analysed posts found that carousels were the most engaged form of content on Instagram.
4: Diversifying hashtags between channels is key
When talking about hashtag usage, RivalIQ note that “What worked on Instagram might not work on Twitter”, and this couldn’t be any more true in our eyes. Backed up by Hootsuite findings, the ideal number of hashtags to accompany a Twitter post is 1-2, whereas on Instagram you want to be using between 5-10 on a post.
A further tip on hashtag best practice, from the Hydrogen content team, is to make sure you capitalise the first letter of each word within a hashtag – this is called Camel Case. As noted in the Hydrogen blog, this stops any accidental double meaning being taken from your hashtag (in the case of poor Susan Boyle trying to promote a party for her new album) and frankly just reads clearer.
5: COVID was less of a player than one might think
TikTok. No, not the anthem by Kesha but rather the most downloaded app of 2020 per Forbes. TikTok usage skyrocketed in 2020 and the main driver for this was the Covid-19 pandemic – this Guardian article from April 2020 highlights some of the usage of the app from the first few weeks of the worldwide lockdown. So if you’re TikTok, then it would be fair to say that Covid-19 was a positive.
And what of the other prominent social platforms? Well, as noted earlier from Hootsuite - Instagram usage was up 14% across 2020 in comparison to 2019. And Facebook? Despite constantly being told that Facebook is on the decline, Facebook also recorded an 11% increase in daily active users in 2020 compared to 2019.


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Polish meat plant shut down after using ROTTEN meat in their sausages
- Processing plant in Poland used rotten meat
- All work halted after allegations by television show
- Workers claim meat from rotten sausages were cleaned, dried and added to new products
A meat processing plant in northern Poland has been shut down after it was discovered using rotten meat in their products.
Health and safety inspectors halted all work today after a television program exposed dodgy practices at the factory, and alleged that expired products were used.
Footage of green-hued sausages was broadcast on Polish channel TVN24 and an anonymous staff member said that 'tons of old meat' was added to new products instead of being destroyed.
Bad practice: Production has been halted at the Polish meat processing plant after they were 'exposed' using rotten products in their sausages
Another worker can be heard saying the green sausages would be 'cleaned, dried and added to new products'.
Deputy chief veterinarian Krzysztof Jazdzewski said today that inspectors immediately went to the plant and closed its meat processing section.
A thorough inspection has been started at the plant, which, he said was called ‘Viola.’
TVN24 later said that the management of the plant in question has denied that stale meat has ever been added to its products.
‘There are no grounds for the allegations,’ TVN24 quoted from a letter that was signed by Krzysztof Miecinski, identified as the president of the board of managers.
Health risk: Footage of green-hued sausages were shown alongside interviews with members of staff claiming the factory #cleans, dries and re-uses' old meat
Jazdzewski could not immediately confirm TVN24's allegations but said the program showed procedures that violate the law and that could be harmful to consumers.
It showed old meat stored together with fresh meat, which usually leads to bacterial contamination of the fresh meat and of the entire storage area.
Another problem he heard mentioned in the program was that processed meat was frozen and then de-frosted.
Jazdzewski said there have been no signals previously of irregularities at the plant and that a separate investigation has been opened to explain that.
The plant exports to European Union markets, although it is not clear whether the UK has been exposed to any rotten products from the factory.
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- Moment police find missing toddler in blackberry bushes
- Inmates in shocking brutal brawl at Redditch's Hewell Prison
- Trump seems to refer to Sweden terror attack that never happened
- Touching moment homeless man celebrates after getting a job
- Busty television presenter strips down to her bra live on air


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As 2012 comes to an end, Microsoft is still fighting to make Windows Phone a viable third-place competitor to Google Android and Apple’s iPhone. The launch of Windows Phone 8, the most advanced version of the smartphone platform, was meant to herald a new stage of competitiveness—but so far, Microsoft’s failed to gain substantial market-share in the mobile space.
That being said, Microsoft is apparently enjoying some success in the growth of Windows Phone apps. According to a Dec. 26 posting on the Windows Phone Developer Blog, the platform’s app catalog stands at 75,000 new apps, more than double its count at the start of the year. (When it launched the Windows Phone 8 SDK in October, Microsoft claimed that 120,000 apps developed for Windows Phone 7.x will run on Windows Phone 8 devices, adding to the latter’s portfolio.)
“Even though Windows Phone 8 just started shipping in the last 7 weeks and most developers are still creating new or updated Windows Phone 8 apps,” read the blog’s note on the matter, “we have already seen an increase in developer revenue month over month, up 40 [percent] in the 30 days since the SDK release.” Microsoft has expanded its regional markets for downloading apps and games (from 35 at the beginning of the year to 191 with Windows Phone 8) and added features such as in-app purchase capabilities.
Analysts generally view 2013 as a critical year for Microsoft’s mobile aspirations. In a November research note, IDC suggested that Microsoft—along with RIM—has no choice but to succeed. “Both vendors need to capture much greater interest from mobile app developers to expand the number of apps that run on devices powered by their respective operating systems,” read IDC’s Nov. 29 research note on the cloud and mobility market in 2013. “Failure to do so by the end of 2013 will likely be the beginning of their demise in this market.”
According to November data from research firm Gartner, Google Android owns 72.4 percent of the mobile market, followed by Apple’s iOS with 13.9 percent, RIM’s BlackBerry OS with 5.3 percent, and then Microsoft with 2.4 percent.
Windows Phone 8 shares a kernel, file system, graphics support, and other elements with Windows 8. Microsoft is hoping that third-party developers will take advantage of that overlap to port apps from the desktop/tablet OS to the smartphone OS. But will more Windows Phone 8 apps translate into more customers opting for Windows Phone 8?


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Following the news that, a Chinese manufacturing firm admitted its hacked DVRs and cameras were behind the attack and are now recalling their webcams, IT security experts from Cigital, Xively by LogMeIn and Tripwire commented below.
Jim Ivers, CMO at Cigital:
“This attack is illustrative of the problem with connected devices, specifically the ability to infiltrate, corrupt, and subsequently use these devices for malicious activity. Because computers are hardened and monitored, connected devices provide attackers a much easier path. Given that these devices have sufficient computing power, it is clear that once infiltrated attackers can use them the same way they would use a laptop. The problems are many. There are a lot of devices connected today and that number will increase by orders of magnitude in a short time, providing attackers ample platforms for abuse. Second, these devices are not monitored in the way that a computer on a network is monitored, so detection and remediation will be slow and difficult.”
Ryan Lester, Director of IoT Strategy at Xively by LogMeIn:
“This incident further reinforces the need for rigorous assessment of security implications at the outset of any Internet of Things project. The Internet of Things comes with a whole new set of security challenges and product companies must ensure that security is purpose-built for the IoT and that it is entrenched in every aspect – infrastructure, apps, connections, etc.
Product companies also need to avoid security shortcuts, such as embedded private keys and weak authentication, which can speed up the development phase but can be quite risky and negatively affect consumer confidence in the long term. A thorough evaluation of the security implications will ultimately save time and cost of flaws discovered down the road. The consequences of which can be financially debilitating and long-lasting.”
Craig Young, Cybersecurity Researcher at Tripwire:
“It is fantastic to see a vendor owning up to their responsibility in this event. It is very rare to hear of a vendor doing something like this and I hope that it will be the first of many vendors to react strongly to Friday’s attacks.”


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Buyers must make a greater effort to attend Birmingham’s Moda Lingerie and Swimwear trade show, industry professionals have urged, as brands claim visitor numbers tumbled this season.
The exhibition, which takes place at the NEC twice a year, is still viewed by brands as an important platform to showcase their collections to new and existing customers, but many retailers don’t seem to share this sentiment, designers, agents and brand managers have said.
Dwindling footfall has led anchor brands like Naturana, Gossard and Vanity Fair Brands Europe to pull out of the show in recent years, and the event has shrunk in size as a result.
Seeing that lingerie and swimwear brands were becoming less visible in a hall they shared with womenswear and accessories two seasons ago, organisers gave the show a boutique-style makeover, with its own dedicated buying space decorated with purple drapes and a Chanel-inspired entrance featuring white camellias hanging on black walls.
But, according to some brands, this wasn’t enough to tempt buyers to leave the shop floor earlier this month.
David Finlayson, director of APM Agency and founder of London’s The Lingerie Edit exhibited with boudoir brand Bluebella at this season’s show and said footfall was down on February 2016.
“I know the organisers put a lot of effort in to the overall look of the show, which was immaculate, and the promotion was good, but there seems to be a disconnect with the buyers and how to make them see the importance of trade fairs and how they will benefit from seeing new product and trends, especially when the market is so tough,” he added.
“There are certain exceptions to the rule and I would particularly highlight Marcella Louden from Silks Glasgow and Catherine Ayres from Hoopers as examples of buyers who work the show and make sure they get the best for their client base,” he continued.
“As a show organiser myself, our challenge is to make the event as interesting and inviting for buyers as possible, but there is only so much we can do and it gets frustrating when buyers don’t make the effort to maximise the opportunity you give to them.”
Warm weather and the timing of the exhibition, which took place during the school holidays, were also blamed for a lack of visitors this season.
Peter Cronin, sales and marketing director at LF Intimates said: “There was definitely less numbers attending the show across all three days.
“The sun was shining and I felt that considering what a mixed summer of weather we’ve had, it was a shame to be in doors. I’m sure there was a number of visitors who felt the same and decided to stay home. I know a few buyers I spoke to on Sunday morning took the afternoon off to make the best of the day,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Royce commercial manager Sarah Gilbert said Moda organisers could “do more” to improve footfall, by offering travel incentives for valued customers to attend the show or scheduling the event out of holiday season.
But despite its views on the exhibition as a whole, the wirefree lingerie specialist witnessed a steady flow of visitors to its stand.
“The quality of visitors to the stand was high. It gave us the opportunity to talk through our new styles and the event provided the all-important face to face contact with our valued retailers,” said Gilbert.
Stephen Morrow, Maison Lejaby’s agent for the UK & Ireland agreed: “Maison Lejaby has only exhibited in February over recent seasons, however, we felt our collections are very strong this season so we decided to showcase SS17 at Moda Lingerie & Swim this August. We weren’t disappointed!
“The show appeared to be quiet, but our stand had a steady flow of existing, returning and new buyers. Orders were taken with follow ups over the coming weeks,” he added.
“We are under no illusions that the season will still be tough but hopefully we can continue to feed off the positive reception to our collections at Moda.”
“We’ve had a lot of interest across the three days here,” says director Joe Bromley. “This is absolutely the right platform for us, and we have seen the buyers that we wanted to see.”
Angie Denapoli, who exhibited her Little White Lies swimwear and beachwear label in the boutique section of the show, was also visited by quality buyers at the SS17 session.
“Footfall was very slow but the quality of buyer attending was very strong. Being a brand that is new to swim it was a great platform to see how this sector works in comparison to the ready-to-wear side,” she said.
And while LF Intimates was concerned about hitting targets, its orders at the August show were up on the previous year.
“At the end of the day on Sunday we were up – just – against last year and we finished the show on Tuesday afternoon 5% up on orders taken against August 2015. So I was absolutely delighted,” he said.
Praising the lingerie and swimwear event, he commented: “I feel passionately that, with Moda, this industry has a professional platform to present itself. It’s not a secret that I do not feel that standing in a hotel ballroom on sticky carpet is the correct environment to project my brands’ image and I’m sure that’s the same for many other brands too.”
On its website, Moda described itself as the “industry’s key order-writing event” after three “strong days” across all trading sectors.
“Having launched a re-organised layout last season, Moda built upon the momentum of its new look show with its SS17 edition,” organisers added.


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British supermarket chain Tesco has partnered with US-based plastic packaging and protective solution provider Berry Global on a soft plastic recycling initiative.
As part of the collaboration, Berry Global will recycle soft plastic from plastic collection points at Tesco stores.
Tesco has installed the collection points at more than 900 of its stores and so far collected more than 850t of soft plastic from them.
Examples of collected soft plastics include bread bags and fresh produce packaging.
Every month, 25t to 30t of the collected material will be delivered for recycling at Berry’s facility in Heanor, Derbyshire.
The facility features the UK’s first wash line and recycling facility and can recycle up to 20,000tpa of used plastic packaging.
The resulting material is converted into pellets, which will be used for manufacturing bin liners.
Tesco and Berry Global will also aim to ensure the collected soft plastics are fully traceable through the supply chain.
Tesco sustainability packaging manager William Guest said: “After doing everything possible to remove and reduce plastic from our stores, we want to ensure that materials are recycled into new products and packaging.
“Our soft plastic collection points help to plug the gap in the country’s recycling infrastructure, and when combined with initiatives like this, we meet our customers’ ask that materials do not go to waste.”
Berry BPI external affairs director Mike Baxter said: “Our collaboration with Tesco demonstrates how traditionally hard to recycle plastics can now be sustainably converted and remanufactured into new products in the UK.
“We are delighted to be supporting this Tesco initiative, which helps to keep valuable used plastic film out of the waste stream.”
In addition to Berry Global, Tesco is working with several other partners on recycling solutions.
In October last year, the retailer renewed its paper and cardboard recycling partnership with UK-based packaging company DS Smith for another three years.


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The Dodge Viper’s Death Won’t Affect the VLF Force 1
For those worrying about the status of their $268,500 hand-built supercar, fret not.
Created by auto industry super pair Henrik Fisker and Bob Lutz, the 745-horsepower, $268,500 VLF Force 1 is hand-built and based on the Dodge Viper—a car that's set to go out of production later next month due to more stringent safety regs that kick in this September. Don't think that means the VLF is dead in the water, though.
Speaking to Automotive News, Fisker himself said that thanks to a partnership with race car driver Ben Keating, Force 1 production will not be affected by the Viper's demise. "We have more than enough donor cars to be able to do the Force 1. He bought them early on for this project," said Fisker. Keating apparently owns a specialty Viper dealership in Texas and has enough donor cars for VLF's planned, 50 car production run.
The insane VLF Force 1 packs the Viper's 8.4-liter V-10 in a carbon fiber body good for 745 horses and 638-pound-feet of torque, a 3-second 0-60 MPH time, and a top speed of 218 MPH. "These are hand-built specialty cars for collectors," said Fisker. Collectors who recently started taking the first deliveries of their Force 1s, according to Fisker.
Considering the Viper is sold out for the rest of time, does anyone have $269,000 we can borrow?


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Posted by Sheila Shayon on March 12, 2013 03:38 PM
Danone, Unilever and Nestlé top the list in the first edition of the global Access to Nutrition Index as the three best global brands offering products that address obesity and poor nutrition.
The report reviews 25 of the world's major food and beverage manufacturers across corporate nutrition-related policies, formulation of healthier, affordable products, informative nutrition labeling and responsible marketing.
"Obesity and undernutrition affect billions of people and threaten a global health catastrophe,” said Inge Kauer, Executive Director of ATNI. “The Access to Nutrition Index is an urgent call to action for food and beverage manufacturers to integrate improved nutrition into their business strategies.”
The Index, developed by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, a non-profit with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, ranked the top 10:Continue reading...
sip on this
Posted by Shirley Brady on March 11, 2013 09:22 PM
It was doomed to fail, writes the Guardian. Even New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg acknowledged, "When we began this process, we knew we’d face lawsuits." He added, "When you adopt a groundbreaking policy, special interest will sue. That's America."
So the overturning by New York State judge Milton Tingling of Bloomberg's proposed ban on sugary beverages above 16 ounces, which was due to go into effect on Tuesday before being dismissed as "arbitrary" and "capricious" by Tingling, didn't come as a complete surprise.Continue reading...
Posted by Sheila Shayon on March 11, 2013 12:57 PM
The United States is currently the world's largest market for genetically modified organisms (GMO)—foods including soy milk, soup and breakfast cereals (made with soybeans), corn and other biotech crops manipulated to make them more resistant to insects and pesticides.
The debate over GMO labeling for organisms genetically engineered by introducing changes into their DNA structure continues to grab the attention of consumers and brands, exacerbated by the November 2012 defeat of Prop 37, a mandatory labeling initiative introduced on the California ballot. Large corporations including PepsiCo and Monsanto spent millions of dollars against Prop 37 and it was defeated.
Now Whole Foods Market is picking up the gauntlet and committing to full GMO transparency. Whole Foods—which made the announcement at the Natural Products Expo West—has committed to labelling all products in its U.S. and Canadian stores that contain genetically modified organisms by 2018.Continue reading...
Posted by Mark J. Miller on March 8, 2013 05:07 PM
Heineken’s Star Bottle Arrives Stateside with New Campaign
Heineken’s new taller, sleeker and starred bottle is already available in 170 countries and is now being rolled out in the United States with a new “Arrive Big” ad campaign featuring the brand’s “Man of the World” in such exotic locations as Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Lagos, Nigeria and New York City. In each location, the protagonist finds himself in prickly situations at various clubs, yet somehow ends up with the girl and the beer (and an #arrivebig hashtag, to boot) in the end.
“Our priority is to ‘break the mold’ in beer marketing with cinematic, sophisticated ads that feature our ‘Man of the World,’ a progressive, cultured guy, who is inventive in any situation,” said Colin Westcott-Pitt, vice president of Heineken, in a press release. Heineken doesn’t go so far as to pull a New Coke move and break the mold inside the bottle, of course.Continue reading...
chew on this
Posted by Dale Buss on February 21, 2013 02:02 PM
With American consumers still hesitant to spend on restaurant meals, the biggest QSR chains keep trying new tactics in what has become a bruising battle for shares of a stagnant U.S. market.
No. 3 Wendy's has just rolled out a new campaign that will spread its new logo and brand design to everything from product packaging to its stores to crew uniforms. No. 2 Burger King has switched ad agencies (after the plastic-faced King creeped everyone out) and is debuting a set of light-hearted new TV commercials that also emphasize new products. Last but not least, No. 1 McDonald's is attempting to reinvigorate a new-product pipeline that generated mostly disappointments last year.
Wendy's said its new logo will begin appearing on Monday in advertising, on product packaging and crew uniforms, in new restaurant signage and menu boards and in digital assets. "Wendy's brand transformation is re-energizing all of our touch points with consumers," said Emil Brolick, CEO, in a press release. "We're transforming our brand — from bold restaurant designs to innovative food that consumers want, to improved customer service."Continue reading...
brands under fire
Posted by Mark J. Miller on February 21, 2013 11:48 AM
Australia’s smokers had to start purchasing cigarette packs with extremely graphic images on the front last December, which did not sit well with the world’s Big Tobacco companies, whose lawyers have been set loose to try and repeal the Aussies' anti-smoking efforts. Now, New Zealand is ready to enact a similar effort that will remove branding from cigarette packages and sell them with plain wrapping.
New Zealand, however, won’t push forward with the practice until it sees how all that legal wrangling works out for its larger neighbor.
“This announcement demonstrates that the New Zealand government recognizes the significant international trade issues with standardized packaging and will not implement it until the pending international legal challenges to Australia’s law are resolved,” Philip Morris said in a statement. “There is no credible evidence that standardized packaging will lower smoking rates, but strong evidence that it will jeopardize jobs, benefit the black market for cigarettes, and is a breach of international trade rules that have already made Australia’s policy subject to WTO action.”
The WTO actions were set in motion by a few nations that happen to be—surprise!—big producers of tobacco: Ukraine, Zimbabwe, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Indonesia.Continue reading...
Posted by Mark J. Miller on February 15, 2013 12:56 PM
Coca-Cola has spent plenty of bucks on making iconic ads in the past, but its latest 60-second spot is coming from a low-priced source—a fan of the brand—while the company just revealed a trio of new cans designed by global creative director Marc Jacobs. The details on the latest moves in the cola wars:Continue reading...
chew on this
Posted by Mark J. Miller on February 15, 2013 10:25 AM
Babies, toddlers, and kids love ‘em, so why shouldn’t adults? At least that’s what a few manufacturers of packets filled with pureed fruits and vegetables are thinking.
Happy Family, Buddy Fruits, and GoGo squeeZ “are experimenting with larger portion sizes, simpler designs and sophisticated flavors like cranberry or açaí,” the Wall Street Journal reports. Those aren’t flavors that the diaper set would likely be interested in, but for adults who spend a lot of time in their cars and on the go, squeezable food may have found itself a receptive marketplace. They are certainly popular with babies, even though the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry isn’t a big fan.
Plum Organics reports that “sales of pouch-style baby food more than doubled in the last three months, while baby food in jars and tubs was down 15%,” the Journal notes. Benjamin Punchard, senior global packaging analyst at Mintel, tells the paper that 40 percent of new baby food products or flavors introduced last year came in pouches, up from two percent in 2007.
And why not? Baby foods are a $1.5 billion industry and the pouches help extend the lifespan of the products. “It’s allowing us to age up,” said Maureen Putman, chief marketing officer for the Hain Celestial Group, maker of organic brand Earth’s Best, according to the Tennessean. “Where moms may have stopped baby food at 9 to 12 months, the pouches have really helped extend the shelf life of baby food. We see growth for a long time to come.” Continue reading...


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The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) virtually joined stakeholders at the annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to share in policy conversations concerning the future of Internet governance.
Internet Governance Forum
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The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is virtually convening business leaders to participate in the 15th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to discuss pressing issues, like digital inclusion, data governance, trust online, environmental sustainability, and more.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) united with participants at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to pursue meaningful policies aimed at improving digital access for all.
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a global dialogue that brings together a wide range of stakeholders to exchange information and discuss how to make sure the Internet and its related technologies work for everyone.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) welcomed today the formation of the new Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) responsible for steering preparation of the annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
Digital technology has been widely recognised as a vital tool to further sustainable development. But many people around the world still lack basic skills required to reap the benefits of the digital economy.
For many people around the world, the end of the year is a time for sharing, caring, exchanging and looking ahead to what the future will bring. We’ve noticed that the Internet Governance Forum, taking place this year from 18-21 December at United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, has a lot in common with end of year festivities.
The International Chamber of Commerce Business Action to Support the Information Society (ICC BASIS) co-organised a workshop with the Government of Egypt and the Internet Society to focus global discussion on how to make sure access to the Internet is feasible and beneficial for everyone.
Collaboration of all stakeholders essential to steer future of work in the digital economy to one of inclusive growth
Increased multistakeholder efforts are necessary to address the profound impact the digital revolution is having on the characteristics of work and employment.