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WESTMINSTER, Colo. — Have you ever wanted to walk among spiders?
Butterfly Pavilion is re-opening its Spider Pavilion on Friday, Oct. 15.
Guests can face their fears and immerse themselves in the spider-filled, exotic enclosure through Sunday, Oct. 31.
Located in the Wings of the Tropics exhibit at Butterfly Pavilion, the exhibit features more than 50 orb-weaver spiders.
Butterfly Pavilion said orb weavers are named after the iconic and distinctive wheel-shaped webs they create to catch their prey. Their webs are extremely strong and can even reach 60 cm in diameter.
Guests can witness how large the spectacular webs have grown over time between visits to the Pavilion.
The Spider Pavilion will be open from 9 a.m. through 5 p.m. through Oct. 31. Online recommendations are highly recommended at Butterflies.org.
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Hero MotoCorp has today announced the achievement of a significant milestone, of surpassing 100 million units in cumulative production. The company rolled out their 100 millionth two-wheeler, the Xtreme 160R from the brand's facility in Haridwar, Uttarakhand.
Hero MotoCorp has achieved the landmark production milestone in record time. As per the company, the last 50 million production units have come in the span of the last seven years. This is also the 20th consecutive year that the brand has retained the title of being the 'world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer.'
Marking the occasion, Pawan Munjal, Chairman & CEO, Hero MotoCorp unveiled the ‘Celebration-Edition' models of six of their popular offerings in the Indian market. This includes the Splendor+, Glamour, Passion Pro, Xtreme 160R, Maestro Edge 110 and the Destini 125. The company has announced that these special Celebration-Edition models will go on sale in India from February 2021.
Speaking about the production milestone, Dr Munjal, stated,
"This significant landmark is also an affirmation of the inherent capabilities in India and Hero's Brand appeal. We have been making in India, for the world - and this milestone is an acknowledgment of the customers' preference for Hero across geographies, demographics and generations."
"We are going to continue to ride our growth journey. In keeping with our Vision to ‘Be the Future of Mobility' we will be launching a host of new motorcycles & scooters over the next five years, in addition to expanding our global footprint. We will also continue to invest in R&D and focus on new mobility solutions."
During the special event, Dr Munjal also announced the brand's future five-year plan. Hero MotoCorp as part of the plan is said to introduce 10 new products every year. This will include new products, variant additions, model updates and other facelifts.
The brand will also be looking to expand its market outside of India as well. The company stated that they have set steep growth targets in markets outside the country, which will see them expand in operations in the coming years.
Thoughts On The Hero MotoCorp Landmark Production Milestone Achievement
Hero MotoCorp has been the leader in two-wheeler manufacturing not only in India, but the entire world. The company offers a wide range of products across every major volume segment. The 100 million production milestone is a monumental achievement.

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Editor's note: This is the first part of a two-part series looking at how farmers and artisans are reaching customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Click here for part one, a look at how a new e-commerce service is bringing farmers markets online.
BLOOMINGTON — Farmers markets across Illinois were forced to get creative when the pandemic hit, and Bloomington was no exception.
In April the Farmers' Market in downtown Bloomington pivoted to an online, curbside-pickup hybrid market to protect vendors and customers from spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Downtown Bloomington Association crafted a market that helped farmers and vendors sell produce safely at zero charge to the farmer. It was, by all accounts, a success.
“Our customers also appreciated the online ordering," said Catherine Dunlap, who organizes the farmers market for the city's Economic Development Department. "The online ordering helped meet the needs of people who couldn't attend because of health issues."
Vendors filled around 300 orders in the first week, Dunalp said, and went on to average 150 to 200 orders per week.
After two months, the farmers market opened for its regular outdoor season in June.
"We were very happy with how all that (online market) went, but it wasn't sustainable," said Dunlap.
The Bloomington farmers market reopened outside in mid-June, but COVID-19 restrictions meant an end to many of the activities and social aspects that people loved. This means there is no longer live music or children's activities for people to enjoy, essentially creating an "outdoor grocery store," she said.
The market operates from 7:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays at Historic Museum Square in downtown Bloomington. Customers are required to wear masks, practice social distancing and refrain from touching products before buying them, among other rules.
Among customers, attendance hasn't suffered much, Dunlap said. The market serves 1,800 to 2,000 people per week.
"For people, it was some sort of normalcy that was returning to the community," she said. "Our farmers market has always been the community gathering place.”
The challenge now is figuring out the logistics for the winter months.
Bloomington hopes to open its regular indoor markets in November and December while offering another hybrid market January through April. But, the city is waiting for more guidance from the Illinois Farmers Market Association before formalizing plans.
Winter farmers' markets
Farmers markets across Illinois have adjusted their outdoor season schedules and switched to a variety of options, including hybrid and online market models.
Illinois has more than 300 farmers markets of varying size, all using a wide variety of models that reflect and fill the needs of their communities, said Janie Maxwell, executive director of the Illinois Farmers Market Association.
“Most markets have opted in this season to move outdoors because that seems to be a safe environment to operate in,” said Maxwell.
Many markets have implemented delayed openings, are offering curbside pickup, home delivery or both, she said. The model typically depends on the size of the market, which are often run by volunteers.
"There are a lot of farmer’s markets in Illinois, so you’re going to find each community responding differently with the circumstances that they’re facing,” said Maxwell.
While different online models, including e-commerce businesses, have popped up since the start of the pandemic, many farmers have expressed their enjoyment for attending in-person markets.
"The farmers market downtown is a unique atmosphere," said Charlie Larkin, who raises a variety of chicken, ducks and quail at Above Normal Eggs in Normal. "Before the pandemic, there’s been bands, and people want to stay there the whole day. Now since people are worried about the coronavirus, it has slowed down and picked up online.”
Larkin, who attends the downtown Bloomington market and uses an online space to sell eggs, said he enjoys attending the in-person farmers market because of the interaction with his customers.
While online farmers markets and e-commerce businesses may be increasing in popularity, whether it is due to convenience or because of the pandemic, Maxwell said in-person markets will always have their place.
Farmers markets, like many other traditional business models, are being challenged because of COVID, Maxwell said.
That doesn't mean they will disappear.
“One of the advantages of a farmer’s market is that you get to connect with your local farmer," Maxwell said. "Then there’s the whole community experience that goes along with the farmer’s market. That is all lost if you don’t meet face to face.”
Photos: Online marketing keeps area produce farmers growing
Contact Sierra Henry at 309-820-3234. Follow her on Twitter: @pg_sierrahenry.


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Prom is a special event in every young girl's life. However, some girls can't afford to go. That is why 96.1 KISS FM is asking you to "Say Yes and Donate the Dress!"
We are teaming up with Toyota on 47th in Greeley to collect gently used dresses to sell for super cheap to high school girls for prom. The dresses will be cleaned and prepped, where we will sell them starting at $9.61 at the Outlets at Loveland on Saturday, March 29. Proceeds from the sale will go to help Partners Mentoring Youth, and other great charities, which will be announced soon!


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There are two key questions around Apple’s new direction with the Mac family, both based around the switch from Intel-based processors to Apple’s own ARM-based processors.
One of these is the relative performance of the two chipsets. If ARM is the future then the future needs to have the same heft as the past. Leaked benchmarks suggest that this will be the case, at least in terms of raw numbers.
The second is that of backwards compatibility. The move to ARM has the potential to break compatibility with the application library relied on by countless millions of Mac users. Ensuring a smooth transition and allowing the ARM-powered Macs to invisibly pick up where an older Intel-powered Mac was replaced will go a long way to rejuvenating the Mac platform.
The move to ARM needs to be, for the consumer at least, something that (ahem) just works.
Broadly speaking, there are three tranches of apps that need to be considered.
The first is the easiest for Apple to deal with… its own apps. The full range of applications that come as part of a new Mac machine should all be available out of the box. They will take full advantage of the power savings, have deep integration with the hardware, and will likely show up the speed and power advantages that ARM offers.
The second tranche consists of the existing third-party apps that are currently under active development. No doubt Apple will be working hard with many of the key developers to ensure that specific apps have native ARM versions ready to go when the MacBook and MacBook Pro machines go on sale. Thanks to the Developer Transition Kits, there will be an army of smaller developers who will have apps ready as well. Apple will no doubt have a big number of apps that are ‘already running on our new platform.”
The third tranche are those apps that have not yet been ported. For these applications users will be reliant on Apple’s Rosetta 2 emulation layer. Not every developer will have a transition kit, not every developer will have the ability to create native code versions, and some apps will have been abandoned – but could still be in active use in the community.
Will Apple look to support every app that could run under macOS Catalina? Will it limit the emulation to the latest tools? How much performance will be lost using emulated apps compared to the native apps? The goal will be for a totally invisible process where the user doesn’t need to know about the intricacies of ARM and Intel at the heart of their apps.
Apple just needs them to work. Apple’s event on Tuesday will show us how Apple intends to deliver on that expectation.


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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it's now investigating 124 cases in 36 states of people becoming infected with the virus after "being linked to contact live poultry in backyard flocks".
Of the 60 cases of reported salmonella infection, 31 have resulted in hospitalization.
According to Food Safety News, there are 32 cases reported in MI, 11 in IN, 10 in Missouri, six in IL and one in Ohio. All of them reported eating pre-cut cantaloupe, watermelon, or a fruit salad mix with one or both of them.
Walmart stores in IL have removed pre-cut melons linked to this outbreak from their shelves.
Most of the 60 people who have been infected with the strain of salmonella purchased pre-cut melon from either a Walmart or Kroger store, according to a release. The CDC said it is working to identify a common supplier that might be the original source.
The outbreak has been connected to pre-cut melon purchased at any Illinois Walmart.
The Star left a message with Walmart Friday and is awaiting a response.
It's also important to remember food safety measures if you buy whole melons.
It's not just Walmart pre-cut melon.
The investigation into the outbreak is expanding rapidly. Illnesses starts on dates ranging from April 30 to May 28. The illness usually lasts four to seven days, and most people recover without treatment. The elderly, infants, and those with weak immune systems are more likely to have a severe illness.
Salmonellosis is caused by the salmonella bacteria.


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Bay Medical Chosen by Consumers as Highest Quality Provider in Research Study
October 28, 2010
Panama City, Florida -- Bay Medical has been recognized by National Research Corporation (NRC) as one of the nation’s top hospitals in the 2010/2011 Consumer Choice Awards. The award identifies hospitals which healthcare consumers have chosen as having the highest quality and image in over 300 markets throughout the U.S.
Ginny Martin, President of NRC’s Ticker Division, said winners are determined by consumer perceptions on multiple quality and image ratings collected in the company’s Healthcare Market Ticker study. Of the 3,200 hospitals named by consumers in the study, the winning facilities rank highest in the Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs), as defined by the US Census Bureau. The study surveyed over 250,000 households representing over 450,000 consumers in the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia. Bay Medical was chosen as the image and quality leader by consumers in the Panama City – Lynn Haven, Florida CBSA for the past two years in a row. In prior years, our local CBSA was not reported in the awards.
NRC’s Ticker Survey is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive study of its kind. No other study used to measure hospital performance and preferences contains more consumer responses than NRC’s study. The study has a margin of error of + or – 0.2 percent at a national level.
National Research Corporation (NASDAQ: NRCI) is an industry leader, with more than two decades of experience in healthcare performance measurement and improvement.
The full results appear in the October 18 issue of Modern Healthcare and can be viewed on NRC’s website at: http://hcmg.nationalresearch.com


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City of Austin Approves New Fashion and Textile Coalition
After years of grassroots efforts from all levels of the fashion industry, the Austin City Council unanimously secured the future of the local fashion scene with the passage of a measure on Thursday night.
When most people think of fashion, they envision things like fashion week, when venues all over town host runway shows with scads of models with artistic makeup and hair, or perhaps they think of fashion designers they see on Project Runway.
This measure, Item 111 as it was numbered on the August 7th city council agenda, is the city’s official initiation of its support for the backend of the industry — apparel manufacturing — and all of the economic growth that comes with embracing an artisanal uprising, as seen with the city’s endorsement of Austin’s thriving live music and culinary industries.
What the passage of resolution 111 truly does is recognize the establishment of what is now called the Fashion Industry Council of Austin — a group of various industry professionals that include designers, stylists, photographers, etc. including all the glitz one normally associates with fashion. The Industry Council’s main focus, in its efforts with the city, is the establishment of its subsidiary apparel and textile coalition, which will oversee an eventual fashion district with an emphasis on apparel manufacturing, creating and increasing jobs.
This organization will be known as Textile and Apparel Manufacturing Industries Coalition of Austin (TAMICA.)
TAMICA’s concrete goals primarily include securing an actual space for a fashion incubator, as seen in cities like NYC, Portland, Chicago and Detroit. Having earned an exclusive audience with city councilman Mike Martinez last week, Nailah I. Sankofa brought together dozens of individuals representing the various segments of the apparel industry in our city to draft a resolution to bring a collective vision to reality.
The efforts do not end with the passage of Item 111, though. “The City of Austin has to be steered into the direction we envision,” says Sankofa. Her vision began in 1987 before moving to Austin and has led the endeavor to develop a fashion incubator since 2009.
Austin City Councilman Martinez has been actively working with Sankofa and TAMICA to obtain real estate for a brick-and-mortar location for a fashion incubator, with the hope of carefully transitioning its surrounding neighborhood into an Austin Textile and Apparel District, complete with retail, studios, and educational outlets. Martinez is helping the group look into mostly easily-accessible, city- or county-owned spaces, but TAMICA is open to any centrally-located space in the community that will have the flexibility for such a multi-faceted purpose.
Adding to the goal of establishing a central location, the city will be working to provide seed funding for TAMICA, as well as the industry at-large. The end result for the city’s population, and the magic words that the council undoubtedly considered when they voted unanimously for Item 111, is that these efforts will create jobs– middle income jobs and training for skilled workers, filling in the missing piece in our community’s employment growth and giving a stronger footing in our city to an otherwise diminished population of our national workforce.


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The German government has cut its forecast for the country's economic growth this year to 1.8 percent from 2.3 percent, in part because of rising global trade tensions.
The government also trimmed its 2019 outlook for Europe's biggest economy on Thursday, saying that it now expects 1.8 percent growth rather than the 2.1 percent expansion it predicted in April. Last year, gross domestic product grew 2.2 percent, Germany's strongest performance in six years.
"An essential reason (for the cut to the forecast) is the weaker international trade environment," German Economy Ministry said, adding that a new emissions test cycle for cars had temporarily slowed production and exports in the vital sector.
Nevertheless, "the economy will enter the 10th year of growth next year — the longest upturn phase since 1966," Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said.
Berlin points to record low unemployment and rising wages as factors that should sustain economic expansion as companies invest and consumers spend more.
But "growing protectionist tendencies and international trade conflicts lead to uncertainty for the future," Altmaier said.
"We should reduce tariffs and barriers to trade, not build them up," Altmaier shot at U.S. President Donald Trump, who aims to shrink his country's yawning deficits in the name of his "America First" policy.
While the European Union has struck a shaky trade truce with Washington, Berlin slashed its outlook for growth in exports for 2018 by almost half, to 2.8 percent, with a smaller cut to the 2019 projection.
Altmaier said an escalation of tensions between the U.S. and Europe was averted, but "the underlying problems haven't yet really been solved" and U.S.-China tensions are affecting global growth.


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The post-apocalyptic survival genre isn’t exactly new, but with Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us having shown what could be done within the space, it was only a matter of time before other developers followed suit. Take Sony Bend, for example. The company’s forthcoming title, Days Gone, almost looks like a spiritual successor to the former — only it revolves around a grizzled biker who’s holed up in the scarred deserts of the Pacific Northwest opposed to the mean streets of Pittsburgh and Boston.
Unveiled during Sony’s press conference at E3 2016, the open-world Days Gone sees players players taking on the role of Deacon St. John, a “drifter” who prefers to forgo the protected wilderness encampments to fend for himself on the open road.
According to a recent post on the PlayStation Blog, the title takes place two years after a global pandemic has wiped out nearly everyone, leaving the story’s protagonist to fend for himself amid a onslaught of mindless, zombified creatures known as Freakers. The recently showcased demo features both the aforementioned Freakers and a collective monstrosity known as a Horde, which is made of hundreds of Freakers who prefer to eat, move, and attack like a single unit hell-bent on eating you alive.
For a title that revolves around a never-ending sea of undead, Days Gone does look appetizing — at least visually. The developers have clearly taken their home in the Northwest to heart, and as such, the gameplay footage showcases a lush setting that’s heavily rooted in the trees, mountains, and rural vastness that surrounds Oregon, Washington, and other parts of the West.
Sony also plans to showcase other aspects of the game’s sandbox mechanics — including crafting, traps, and the game’s alternative paths — during an extended gameplay demo at this year’s E3, but for now, you’ll just have to settle for 10 minutes of bullet-laden gameplay and a sweet-ass embroidered jacket that looks like it was culled directly from Sons of Anarchy.
Days Gone is set to arrive on PlayStation 4 at an undisclosed date.
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Be it small or large, all the sectors of Bangladesh economy have reopened, and the overall pace of their recovery is good. Yet, the economy cannot return to the pre-pandemic level as some sectors related to education are still facing a slump, holding back the speed of recovery.
From schools to universities, around two lakh educational institutions were shut in the middle of March last year, disrupting academic activities of more than 4.5 crore students countrywide. Other sectors of the economy were also shut two weeks later.
From June, all other sectors of the economy were allowed to reopen. But all educational institutions still remain closed. The closure will continue till January 16 this year and may extend further as Bangladesh needs to keep the Covid-19 infection rate at 5% or below for three weeks. For the last two days, the infection rate hovered around 5%.
Apart from disruption in education, businesses related to education economics such as stationery, printing, paper, bakery, ice cream and transportation are still experiencing the brunt of the closure, running at less than 30% of usual business.
The reason is simple. The closure of classrooms reduces the demand for materials used by students, who were forced to join online classes.
Prolonged closure of educational institutions is also leaving a long-lasting impact on the economy.
The knowledge and skills of workers available in the labour supply is a key determinant of both business and economic growth. But today's students who are tomorrow's workforce of the economy are out of classrooms for the last 11 months.
The possible impact can be found in a study released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) last September. It said the world would see a 1.5% drop in economic output for the rest of this century for skill loss due to the pandemic-induced disruption in schooling.
Considering the impact, the World Bank and the United Nations last October urged for reopening of schools.
But it is not that simple. It is not easy to reopen schools amid the pandemic that still remains untamed. The youth are considered super spreaders of coronavirus.
Some developed economies that reopened schools with precautionary measures amid the pandemic were forced to shut them in the face of resurgence of Covid-19.
Former lead economist of the World Bank's Dhaka office Dr Zahid Hussain said book, paper and pen sales had fallen compared to the normal times because of school closure.
"Sales at grocery stores as well as snack, tea and ice cream shops decreased drastically. Business in some informal sectors such as school transports has totally collapsed," he said.
"According to government figures, there are about 4.5 crore students from pre-primary to university level. If they attend classes for 200 days a year and spend at least Tk40 each a day, the educational institution-centric expenditure in a year stands at Tk36,000 crore," said the economist.
Different types of businesses, including stationery stores, book shops, photocopy points, and food outlets, have grown surrounding the main campus of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College on Bailey Road in the capital. In normal times, around 20-25 different types of shops there sell educational materials and food items worth at least Tk15 lakh per day.
However, now, the shops adjacent to the school and other businesses on Bailey Road are not seeing enough business.
Industries estimate that businesses based on academic activities of students have incurred losses of around Tk50,000 crore.
Biddwa Bhavan sells books, paper and pens as well as various types of stationery items in front of Viqarunnisa School. Abid Hossain, the store's manager, told The Business Standard he used to sell items worth Tk30,000-35,000 a day to the students of Siddheswari and Viqarunnisa School but the average figure had now fallen to Tk4,000-5,000.
Similarly, several lakh small and medium-sized businesses centring educational institutions are experiencing crisis. Hundreds of suppliers of paper, books, pens, lab equipment, and other educational materials are in a similar situation.
Street food shops around educational institutions are closed, and the income of rickshaw pullers has also decreased.
Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh, said, "A large number of workers in the informal sector, including rickshaw pullers, street food vendors, hawkers, and stationery sellers, are dependent on school students. The economic value of this sector is huge."
The biggest loss is for the students who spent the year outside classrooms, he said, stressing that educational institutions need to be reopened as other countries did ensuring safety measures. If needed there could be two or more shifts a day, and classes could be arranged in playgrounds and other open spaces, he suggested.
Dr Zahid Hussain said there is a shortage of skilled manpower as the country lags behind in human resource development and this situation would deteriorate because of school closure.
The economist continued, "Although the negative effects of school closure on the economy is easy to see, it will take time to understand the long-term impacts on human resources. There has been no real education despite various measures, such as reducing the syllabus at the end of the year, students completing assignments to be promoted to the next grade and automatic promotion in some cases."
He thinks educational institutions need to be reopened in the interest of building skilled manpower, and a national strategy needs to be formulated based on the views of health professionals, parents, and teachers in this regard.
How education can be resumed has to be decided locally by adhering to the strategy, said Zahid.
He recommended that teachers be prioritised for vaccination.
Publication industry faces Tk15,000 crore loss
Khandaker Printing and Packaging has been in the business since 1994. The company invested in a new machine with bank loan and its own capital before the pandemic began.
Its loss has been around Tk6 lakh per month since March last year as press work evaporated.
"It is my family business," said Raihan Khandaker, owner of the company.
"I dreamed that Khandaker Printing would be the largest printing press in the country one day. It is almost impossible for the business to survive now after repaying bank loans of Tk8 lakh and incurring a loss of Tk6 lakh per month," he added.
Entrepreneurs in the sector have said the loss in the printing and publishing industry due to Covid-19 is around Tk15,000 crore.
The Printing Industries Association of Bangladesh reports a loss of Tk8,000 crore of its members, the Bangladesh Publishers and Book-Sellers Association members reports a loss of Tk7,500-Tk8,000 crore while the Bangladesh Knowledge and Creative Publishers Association says its members have lost more than Tk200 crore.
Crisis in paper industry
Bashundhara Group produces an average of 35,000-36,000 tonnes of paper per year at its three mills during normal times. But last year, there was no production at the mills for a long period. The company's production has not returned to more than 40% yet.
Mostafizur Rahman, deputy managing director at Bashundhara Paper Mills, said, "We have been selling paper on a small scale since October last year to print textbooks. There is also some recovery in the sale of paper used in offices. However, large-scale production is still paused as there is no demand for paper for students."
More than 100 paper mills in the country are in the same corner as Bashundhara. The small factories are the worst-hit. According to the Bangladesh Paper Mills Association (BPMA), the country's paper mills have the capacity to produce 15 lakh tonnes of paper annually.
However, production was not more than five to six lakh tonnes last year. More than one lakh tonnes of paper remain unsold in different factories.
Mohammed Younus, vice president of BPMA, said the demand for paper in normal times was 50,000 tonnes per day whereas it dropped to 15,000 tonnes due to the pandemic.
Paper price has also decreased by Tk10,000-15,000 per tonne, he said, adding the sector lost at least Tk5,000 crore last year.
Pen and stationery manufacturers in the dark
GQ Ball Pen Industries Limited, the maker of one of the oldest and renowned Econo brand pens in the country, reported a 66% decline in sales to Tk0.78 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal year compared to the same period of the previous financial year.
At least 20 companies – including Matador, Pran-RFL, Icon, Great Writing, and Janani – produce more than 200 types of stationery items like calculators, staplers, whole-punch, pens, pencils, highlighters, and diaries in the country.
Due to the closure of educational institutions, not even 40% of the Tk1,500 crore market in this sector has returned to normal, according to industry insiders.
A significant portion of the stationery market is occupied by the All Time brand of Pran-RFL.
Kamruzzaman Kamal, director (marketing) of Pran-RFL, said the sales of stationery items had dropped to almost zero at the beginning of the pandemic.
"Office stationery has made some recovery over the months. However, the recovery of stationery items made for school and college students is very low," he added.
Impact on ice cream, beverage, frozen food industry
The market of ice cream in the country is worth around Tk3,000 crore while annual growth is about 20%. The biggest buyers of ice cream are school and college students.
Production in the ice cream industry, which has almost shut down since the onset of the pandemic, has not reached more than 15%-20% of pre-pandemic period.
Kamrul Islam, the recently departed CEO of Igloo Ice Cream, which commands more than 35% of the country's ice cream market, said the ice cream sector had suffered the most due to the pandemic.
"Although people are slowly returning to normal life, ice cream and beverage companies are continuing huge losses due to the closure of schools and colleges," he said.
He thinks the industry might be able to turn around towards the end of 2021.
Like the ice cream sector, the beverage industry, a market of Tk10,000 crore, has faced a loss of Tk5,000 crore and the frozen food industry a huge loss as students were major buyers of these products.
A large number of workers in the transport sector, including rickshaw pullers and drivers, are affected by the closure of schools and colleges.
Their income has decreased due to the limited movement of students.
The same is true of street food vendors. The income of flower and fruit sellers as well as street hawkers has dropped.


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Don't miss this week
An unprecedented number of retailers are poised to take part in a Black Friday deal frenzy that is expected to deliver £200m of sales.
Read the Retail Week & Fits.me Ecommerce in fashion supplement as a fully digital edition.
French Connection has reported like-for-like sales were down 5.7% in the UK and Europe as the warm autumn weather resulted in tough trading.
Fashion etailer Zalando expects to make a profit this year after breaking even during the third quarter for the first time.
Arcadia tycoon Sir Philip Green has raised the prospect of further acquisitions as he reported a fall in full-year profits.
JD Sports Fashion has sold its struggling young fashion business Bank and has stated it will focus on investing in its sports fascias.
Arcadia has posted a fall in pre-tax profits amid challenging conditions and a tough start to the new financial year following the warm autumn.
US fashion retailer American Eagle Outfitters has made its Western European debut with three stores in Westfield and Bluewater shopping centres.
Maternity specialist Mothercare, which new chief executive Mark Newton-Jones aims to turn around, has posted first-half numbers.
As Christmas approaches, unseasonable weather and a looming grocery price war have confounded predictions of a vintage retail year.
There’s not much in retail that’s worse than a minus in front of a sales or profit figure but M&S looks as if it’s going the right way.


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A form of genetically modified corn not allowed in food because of concerns it could trigger allergies has been detected in Taco Bell taco shells sold in grocery stores, the Washington Post reported today.
The Food and Drug Administration already has begun an investigation, the paper said.
It said a report prepared by a coalition of biotechnology critics had found the corn, produced by Aventis Corp. and called StarLink, in human food products, although federal authorities approved it in 1998 only as animal feed.
Because the corn has been genetically modified in a way that makes it more difficult to break down in the human digestive system, the agencies have refused to approve it for human use.
Federal officials called the possibility that the corn had been made it into food products "very serious" if confirmed by further testing, the Post reported.


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EUGENE, Ore. -- The former Hynix plant in Eugene has a new owner. Ohio-based Stratacache, a maker of high-tech digital signs, purchased the factory and the 198-acres of land it sits on for $6.3 million last week, according to people familiar with the deal.
The factory has seen several businesses come and go since it was first built in 1998. The facility is located near the western end of 18th Avenue and was built in 1998 by the Hyundai Corporation. It operated as a chip maker for 10 years.
Matt Sayre, managing director with Onward Eugene, said Stratacache bought the plant shortly before it was scheduled to go to auction.
"Onward Eugene is pleased that the new owners are envisioning their future uses of the property," Sayre said in an email. "We’re hopeful that future advanced manufacturing uses of the Technology Center can create new jobs in Eugene, tapping into the very talented and educated local workforce."
Stratacache did not return our request for comment as of Wednesday afternoon.


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Luxury fine wine shop OenoHouse to open in the City on 13 July
OenoHouse is the new fine wine shop from investment company OenoGroup, and it’s set to open on 13th July in the heart of the City, the Royal Exchange.
This intimate space will offer wine lovers a chance to sample and purchase rare and iconic wines from all over the world. Led by a team of international wine experts, the venue will welcome a rotation of pop-up appearances from some of their favourite brands such as Penfolds, Domaine de laConti and Liber Pater, which will attract fine wine collectors and consumers alike.
The boutique features a private 12-person tasting room and alfresco terrace. At the launch, we tasted iconic wines including Château Haut-Brion, Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Mouton Rothschild, Château Latour and Château Margauxm, all of them the 2005 vintage – an exceptional year that has both maturity and approachability.
OenoHouse is run by an all-female team. Newly appointed general manager Luisa Martinello, former manager of the Harrod’s wine shop, is joined by assistant general manager Katerin D’Alfonso, who was previously head sommelier at Browns Hotel.
Oeno (pronounced “oh-way-no”) is named after oenology, the study of wine or “oinos” from Ancient Greek. The OenoGroup includes fine wine investment arm OenoFuture, wine trade faction OenoTrade, and now the new London wine boutique OenoHouse. Oeno has offices in London, Madrid, Bordeaux, Tuscany, New York and Munich. Founded by Italian wine expert Daniel Carnio in 2015, OenoFuture is a personalised wine advisory service born out of a vision to make the fine wine market accessible to all investors, regardless of their exposure to the industry.
In 2017, former city traders Michael Doerr (Oeno MD) and Daniel Walker (Oeno head of investment) joined the business and successfully increased turnover, whilst gradually implementing 36 full-time key staff over the past four years, including master of wine Justin Knock (Oeno chief wine analyst), Mattia Tabacco (head of Oeno’s anti-fraud unit) and Spain’s first female master of wine, Almudena Alberca (Oeno’s brand ambassador for Spain).
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the OenoGroup opened its offices in Spain and Portugal in January 2021.
Oeno’s expert team advise novice and experienced wine investors on how to create diverse portfolios within the private and trade sectors. With specialisation in Italy, Spain and the Americas, the group’s team follow shifts in new regions that show investment opportunity, whilst selecting high-scoring wines on the market that have a strong track record.
Michael Doerr says: “To be in wine, you need to be in every part of wine – trade, investment, merchant, collecting advice, and understanding the retail side. I think that’s what it makes the OenoGroup stand out as we are the only wine investment firm that gives this 360-degree service.”
Oeno is the first wine investment company to have an in-house anti-fraud unit. They regulate each wine bottle, producing a high-tech hologram label guaranteeing authenticity.
“After a year of intensive research and development, Oeno has achieved an industry-first with the launch of our anti-Fraud unit. Our stringent certification process incorporates techniques employed by leading wine fraud experts over the globe. We have made it our mission to give our clients complete peace of mind with every investment they make with us, as well as committing to fighting wine fraud to make the wine industry a safer place for everyone,” says Mattia Tabacco.
On 12th September 2020 Oeno hosted a gala charity evening at the Casino di Venezia, Italy with a silent auction to raise funds for small local businesses affected by Covid-19. The auction included rare large-format wines, such as three double magnums of Gaja Barbaresco signed by Angelo Gaja, and a stunning glass sculpture by Giancarlo Signoretto, inspired by Picasso’s painting of Marie-Therese Walter. In March 2021, Oeno notably sold a £173,000 30L Melchizedek of Boërl and Kroff 1995 champagne – one of only four in the world.
Oeono trade division serves restaurants including L’Enclume, Bibendum, City Social, 67 Pall Mall, Cavalry and Guards Club, the Standard Hotel, the Cinnamon Club, Park Chinois, Wilton’s, Meraki, Kahani, Heckfield Place, St Swithin’s Wine Shippers, RC Group and Tosi. The company is launching an exclusive client-only app in late summer 2021 and they plan to open a Miami office in early 2022.
The editorial unit
OenoHouse opens on 13th July 2021. For further information and opening hours visit the OenoHouse website here.


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The first Android smartphone for AT&T has been delayed says a report on Digitimes citing industry sources. HTC is supposedly facing difficulties in customizing the HTC Lancaster to meet AT&T's requirements.
The HTC Lancaster was planned for a 3rd Quarter release and because of the delay could even be cancelled.
The HTC Lancaster is supposed to feature a full QWERTY keyboard but no number row at the top. It's also got a 3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0, a microSD expansion, and a 2.8 inch display.


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The FIA has issued a stern warning against fraudulent ticket sales plaguing the 2024 Formula 1 season, cautioning fans and concerned parties to steer clear of unauthorized hospitality packages offered by Privè Global Events and Informa Hospitality Group.
- The FIA advises against purchasing counterfeit F1 hospitality packages from unauthorized companies like Privè Global Events and Informa Hospitality Group.
- Deceptive tactics involve sending fake letters bearing the FIA’s name and logo to potential clients, falsely claiming FIA authorization.
- Neither Privè Global Events nor Informa Hospitality Group are sanctioned by the FIA to sell Grand Prix hospitality packages, and individuals are urged to disregard communications from these entities.
The Formula 1 community received a jolt as the FIA, the sport’s governing body, took a proactive stance against fraudulent activities targeting unsuspecting fans. In an official statement posted on its website, the FIA cautioned fans against falling prey to fake claims made by Privè Global Events and Informa Hospitality Group, urging vigilance in purchasing hospitality packages.
Reports surfaced indicating that these illegitimate companies had been reaching out to interested parties via email, enticing them with hospitality packages for Grand Prix events. To lend credibility to their schemes, they resorted to sending letters adorned with the FIA’s insignia, claiming association with the prestigious organization.
The FIA’s warning, dated 16.02.24, explicitly addressed the deceptive tactics employed by these companies: “As part of those offers, these fraudulent companies have been providing its potential customers with letters purporting to have been sent to it by the FIA to confirm the allocation of hospitality passes in the names of Privè Global Events’ or Informa Hospitality Group’ customers. Those letters can feature the FIA’s name and logo, alongside the names of bona fide FIA staff members, of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship and F1 logo.”
Clarifying the matter further, the FIA emphasized that neither Privè Global Events nor Informa Hospitality Group possesses authorization from the FIA or its affiliates to sell Grand Prix hospitality packages. Any communication purportedly from these companies should be treated with skepticism and promptly disregarded.
In light of these developments, Formula 1 enthusiasts are urged to exercise caution and verify the authenticity of hospitality packages before making any purchases, safeguarding themselves against potential scams that threaten to mar the excitement of the 2024 season.


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Updated: Nov 1
America risks a dangerous reliance on foreign markets for PPE without swift federal intervention
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 29, 2021 — The American Mask Manufacturers Association (AMMA) today announced that the majority of U.S. mask companies will shut down in the next 30 days, accelerating the previous timeframe for urgent government action given in the organization’s letter to the Biden administration last month. Forfeiting the critical personal protection equipment (PPE) domestic manufacturing capacity built up over the last year will not only endanger our nation’s public health efforts, but also our national security, the group warns.
“When quality PPE was scarce last year, and our healthcare heroes were forced to go without Surgical Masks and asked to reuse N95 masks repeatedly, AMMA members responded in the most American way possible: as entrepreneurs and innovators,” said AMMA chairman Brent Dillie. “Quickly, with no federal funding, AMMA companies created the capacity to produce 3.69 billion surgical masks, 1.1 billion N95 respirators, and 7,823 well-paying jobs. We need the government to step up with the same sense of urgency before it’s too late.”
As of today, nearly 5,000 employees have been laid off, six AMMA members have ended production of domestically produced face coverings, and companies such as Michigan-based NFI Masks have closed their doors forever. Policymakers must act before the August congressional recess to prevent the permanent loss of jobs as well as this crucial national security supply chain.
“If these mask manufacturers close, it won’t be possible to restart production the next time our government encounters a crisis requiring PPE. Without federal intervention, we won’t even have the machines needed to produce the masks, nor the ability to retrain new employees to operate them,” Dillie said. “Plus, what we’re manufacturing is considered a medical device, which adds further costs and complications.”
Meanwhile, hospitals across the country continue to reuse face masks and other PPE. As recently as June 3, nurses in Michigan report being limited to “one mask per day for COVID patients and… one mask per day for regular patient care.” Too many frontline healthcare, grocery, transportation and other essential workers were forced to do their jobs without adequate PPE, resulting in many lost lives both now and over the last year. This is unacceptable at the current phase of the pandemic, when federal and state governments have access to high-quality, American-made masks that are readily available.
AMMA, however, appreciates Congress for recognizing the lack of domestic PPE manufacturing as a national security threat and commends the Biden administration’s efforts to donate vaccines to other countries as part of a larger global security threat. The recent debate in the United States Senate on S. 1260, the United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021, was a positive step but more is needed to close the loop holes and other business practices that threaten the very existence of a U.S. market. Legislative efforts to establish a comprehensive Buy American 2.0 that builds on the progress begun with S.1260 type solution is needed but unfortunately, legislative relief will not arrive soon enough to preserve the domestic face mask industry.
U.S. mask makers are also experiencing unfair competition for PPE contracts at home due to foreign suppliers. China’s dumping practices have significantly hampered a viable pathway for a sustainable American-made PPE supply chain, prompting AMMA to pursue filing a petition with the World Trade Organization. Pre-pandemic, Chinese imports, procured by hospitals, were sold for $0.10-$0.20 per mask. In April of 2020, at the height of the pandemic, those masks were sold for $1 per mask. While American manufacturers stepped up to fill the void, China slashed their prices and are continuing to dump masks in the United States for $0.01 per masks, or less, continuing to undercut American manufacturers’ ability to produce reliable, high quality American-made masks for the country.
China’s ongoing efforts to disrupt American manufacturers through state-subsidization allows the country to maintain economic dominance while creating a monopoly within the PPE market. By becoming wholly dependent on foreign-made PPE, which regularly does not meet federal safety standards, it also represents a future national security threat to the U.S.
While market dynamics may change, preventing the loss of America’s mask manufacturing capabilities requires federal intervention before August 1, 2021.
The American Mask Manufacturers Association (AMMAunited.org) is dedicated to bringing strategic mask manufacturing back to America. The association represents 28 manufacturers who answered the country’s call for critical PPE during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic when global supply chains failed.


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The Automotive Monthly Metals Index (MMI) rose by 4.5% for this month’s reading, as many automakers posted record auto sales in May.
Stay up to date on MetalMiner with weekly updates – without the sales pitch. Sign up now.
US auto sales
Among monthly reporters, Ford Motor Co. reported its total sales in the US in May rose by 4.0% year over year. However, retail sales dropped by 11.2%.
Ford’s total truck sales fell by 11.6%. Meanwhile, SUV sales rose by 48.6% and car sales dropped 62.4%.
Furthermore, Ford sold 10,364 electrified vehicles, good for a jump of 184%.
“Growth came from Mustang Mach-E, which totaled 1,945 vehicle sales, while F-150 PowerBoost totaled 2,852 for the month, Escape electrified sales totaled 3,617 – up 125 percent over last year,” the automaker said. “Explorer Hybrid sales also had a big increase of 132 percent over a year ago on sales of 1,156 SUVs.”
Honda, meanwhile, reported an all-time monthly sales record of 176,815 vehicles. Total sales rose by 46.2%. Truck sales rose by 52.2%, while car sales rose by 37.9%.
Similarly, Hyundai reported a monthly sales record for the third consecutive month. Hyundai’s May total sales rose by 56% to 90,017 vehicles. In May, Hyundai also unveiled the IONIQ 5 for North America, which it says has a targeted driving range of 300 miles and the ability to charge from 10% 80% in 18 minutes.
A record May
In their monthly automotive forecast, J.D. Power and LMC Automotive forecast May would be a record month for new-vehicle retail sales in the US.
They projected retail sales would reach 1,388,600 vehicles, or up 34.0% from May 2020. The total also marked an increase of 10.6% from May 2019.
“The U.S. auto industry is showing tremendous adaptability in maintaining a record sales pace, despite historically low inventory levels,” said Thomas King, president of J.D. Power’s data and analytics division. “May is usually one of the highest-volume sales months with buying activity peaking around the Memorial Day weekend when manufacturers typically offer incremental incentives.”
General Motors to boost deliveries to US, Canada
General Motors said it plans to increase its deliveries of vehicles to customers in the US and Canada.
The automaker said the move aims to “meet strong consumer demand for Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles.”
Furthermore, production of the Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD full-size pickups will increase by about 1,000 trucks per month beginning in mid-July. Meanwhile, shipments of Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon mid-size pickups will increase by about 30,000 total units from mid-May through the week of July 5.
GM also said assembly plants that build GM’s “most capacity-constrained products” will not take any dedicated vacation downtime this summer.
Despite the ongoing semiconductor shortage that has impacted the automotive industry, GM expressed optimism about its first-half performance.
“As a result of GM’s ongoing efforts to prioritize semiconductor usage, its success engineering solutions that maximize the utilization of chips as well as the pull-ahead of some projected semiconductor deliveries into the second quarter, the company now expects its first-half financial results to be significantly better than the first-half guidance previously provided,” GM said. “GM is optimistic about the full year and expects to share additional information during its second-quarter earnings conference call on Aug. 4.”
Nonetheless, the automaker said production at certain manufacturing facilities in North America, Asia and South America “will continue to be impacted” by the global semiconductor shortage through June and July.
China auto sales up 8.6%
Meanwhile, auto sales in China rose by 8.6% year over year in April, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Sales reached 2.25 million vehicles in April. However, sales dropped by 10.8% from the previous month.
For the January-April period, sales rose by 51.8% year over year.
Actual metals prices and trends
The US HDG price rose by 1.1% month over month to $1,884 per short ton as of June 1. The US shredded scrap steel price rose by 3.2% to $450 per short ton.
Meanwhile, LME three-month copper rose by 2.3% to $10,171 per metric ton.
The Korean 5052 aluminum coil premium increased by 3.7% to $3.91 per kilogram.
Volatility is the name of the game. Do you have a steel buying strategy that can handle the ups and downs?


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Late last month Apple relatively quietly launched a recall program for a number of iPhone 6s models that have been shutting down for seemingly no reason.
Now, via a press release, the company says it has uncovered the cause of the problem, stating that the issue stems from “ambient air” making its way into the iPhone 6s’ battery compartment.
“We found that a small number of iPhone 6s devices made in September and October 2015 contained a battery component that was exposed to controlled ambient air longer than it should have been before being assembled into battery packs. As a result, these batteries degrade faster than a normal battery and cause unexpected shutdowns to occur. It’s important to note, this is not a safety issue.”
Unsurprisingly, Apple is emphasizing that the problem is not a safety issue, which makes sense given the disaster that became the Note 7’s exploding and overheating power source. What is unclear is exactly how many devices are affected by the issue. For Apple’s part, the company say it’s only “small number.”
If you own an iPhone 6s that’s suffering from random shut down issues, Apple has released a tool that searches the phone’s serial number in order to tell you if it’s included in this particular recall.
Apple also recently launched a $189 CAD repair program for iPhone 6s Plus devices suffering from “touch disease,” an issue where the phone’s screen becomes unresponsive.


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RAGTRADER: Tracey McEldowney
MELBOURNE: Pacific Apparel Solutions (PAS) is again flexing its acquisition muscles.
The Victorian-based wholesaler last week signed an agreement to purchase popular childrenswear label Chino Kids in what is its fifth major purchase in the past two years.
The group’s existing brands include Yarra Trail, Black Pepper, Yvonne Black, Marco Polo, Capital M and Sirocco.
However, in what appears to be a clearly defined, aggressive growth strategy, the group’s anticipated buy-outs do not finish there with PAS Group chief executive officer Eric Morris confirming a further two deals are in the pipeline.
Speaking exclusively to Ragtrader Morris, who has been at the helm of the Deutsche Bank-backed company for just over a year, said he hoped to have the new agreements signed off by the end of October.
“I will tell you that one is a well-known womenswear brand but I’m afraid if I told you the other it would probably give it away. We hope to close the deals by the end of September but if this is not possible then certainly by the end of October.”
Morris, who counts Pacific Brands, Oroton and Gazal among his company’s competitors, has made no secret of the fact he is in negotiations with several other brands with a view to further acquisitions.
The latest purchases would make his group a “serious size” and, while Oroton was more retail-based, and Pacific Brands was a “big business that didn’t really operate in the same space as PAS”, all competition was good, he said.
Morris declined to reveal either the purchase price for Chino, a 10-year-old brand founded by entrepreneurs-cum-designers Amber Nicholas and her mother Sandy – or the amount the group had in its kitty for future purchases. Nor would he confirm earlier speculation that suggested the group, which supplies Myer, David Jones, Target and about 1600 independent boutiques, had in excess of $50 million to play with.
“I think we’ll come back to that question…or may be not,” the former Myer executive said.
It is understood the purchase of Chino was made under PAS’ subsidiary arm, Design Works, and includes all intellectual property associated with the label, together with a small design team.
The label will continue trading under its own name and Amber Nicholas will remain as designer.
While Nicholas will report to Design Works head Gary Brown, the business would continue to operate relatively independently with extra resources drawn from PAS’ 180-strong employee base.
The move coincides with a change in name for the group, which recently dropped the title Pacific Apparel Solutions in favour of the more succinct PAS Group in an effort to help the company develop its own culture.
It would also differentiate it from its better known Hawthorn-based rival.


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'Take my car, don't touch my phone.'
CAMBRIDGE, MA—A recent US study finds the increasing availability of on-demand mobility services (such as car sharing, ride sharing and vehicle sharing) helps many Millennials drive less and makes it easier to for them to live without owning a car.
“Mobility has defined new expectations for Millennials.”
The independent study of Millennials (18-34-year-olds), conducted in December 2012 by KRC Research and release by Zipcar Inc, examined the attitudes and behaviors of this generation related to urban transportation, technology and car ownership. It found mobile devices and on-demand transportation apps are more important to Millennials than car ownership.
Some say Millennials are too stressed out to take time for themselves these days. The survey indicates that they’re simply savvy and taking advantage of technology and convenience:
“We’re living through the most important shift in transportation in generations—the creation of a new mobility society. Soon we’ll live in major metropolitan areas that include networks of ubiquitous, mobile-app powered on-demand mobility services. These mobility networks will enable connected consumers to pick the best mode of transportation for each trip, in real-time,” said Scott Griffith, Zipcar chairman and CEO. “Millennials are leading the charge for this highly efficient new model that is revolutionizing how people get around.”
In addition to the influence of technology and availability of alternatives discussed above, the study found that more traditional influences—like the high cost of car ownership and environmental concerns associated with excessive driving—are compelling many Millennials to drive less.
“Mobility has defined new expectations for Millennials,” said Jonathan Yarmis, Principal Analyst at Yarmis Group. “They are used to getting what they want, when they want it and mobility solutions are changing the way they decide how to get from one place to another. Having transportation services on-demand is becoming essential to serve the expectations of this new generation.”
The third annual Millennials study included 1,015 adults in the US, age 18 and over, with 980 licensed drivers between December 6 and December 9, 2012. Full study and results can also be viewed here.


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2020: halving, DeFi, payments and gaming
Beyond 2020: Central coins and global recession fueled adoption
Source: iStock/MicroStockHub According to Kaspersky ‘s Cryptocurrency Report 2019, 19% of surveyed people (in 22 developed economies) have bought at least one kind of cryptoc urrency or another, and while this is an encouraging percentage for such an immature sector, it’s clear that crypto still has a long way to go if it wants to become ubiquitous.
However, help is at hand, for 2020 looks set to bring a range of developments that will help drive further adoption of cryptocurrencies as well as blockchain-based platforms and services. From decentralized finance to central bank digital currencies and even economic recessions, these will combine to make crypto seem more attractive to organizations and individuals alike. 2019: predictions and reality
First things first: just how accurate were Crypotnews.com’s predictions regarding adoption trends in 2019? Well, this varies from sector to sector.
One prediction was that banks and financial institutions would become increasingly interested in blockchain-based solutions, particularly for cross-border payments. This was borne out by the adoption or trialling of blockchain-based cross-border payments systems by, among others, HSBC , Wells Fargo , Standard Chartered , Mastercard , 60 banks in Latin America, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank , the Bank of Thailand , the National Bank of Cambodia , and by Deutsche Bank and other banks joining JPMorgan ‘s Interbank Information Network.
Another prediction was that security tokens would rise in prominence. This has been proven true to some extent, insofar […]
Goldie Blocks is a custom trained AI that scours the internet daily to bring you the hottest blockchain and cryptocurrency news, so you can make the best informed decisions.


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A Bloomberg report says Apple is targeting a September release for the long-awaited accessory, probably alongside the 2018 iPhone models. Apple has always promised a 2018 release for AirPower, but it had been expected much sooner.
According to the report, those challenges include overheating and the phone’s complex circuitry.
“Company engineers have been toiling away to address problems. One challenge is making sure the charger doesn’t overheat. Another is the complexity of the circuitry, according to people familiar with the device’s development.”
The company’s solution is unique because it can charge three devices at a time. An iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods can all be charged simply by laying them flat on the charging mat. However, packing multiple sensors into the AirPower has made finalising the internals trickier, the sources say.
The report cites third-party manufacturers who say this approach is more difficult because it could require three different kinds of charging components for the respective Apple devices.
The issues don’t stop there, according to Guttman’s update. The custom Apple chip on board AirPower runs a stripped down version of iOS in order to interact with the devices it charges, Apple has also had to fight issues pertaining to the on-board firmware, the report says.
In the absence of AirPower, Apple has advised its fans to turn to third-party wireless charging solutions from third-party providers like Belkin. Apple is still to announce the price for the AirPower charging solution, but we’re expecting it to be around £175/$200.
Are you still patiently waiting for AirPower? Or have you bought a third-party solution? Drop us a line @TrustedReviews on Twitter.


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Data leakage is a technical impossibility and an increase in data depletion is due to a surge in data use, according to WASPA.
“This surge in data usage is behind the data depletion that has generated recent media coverage,” said WASPA chairperson Casper de Villiers.
“If you consume something, it will be depleted. That’s basic economics,” he said.
WASPA said South Africans are spending a growing proportion of their cellular spend on data.
“South Africans are abandoning voice-based communication in droves. We predict that less than half of total mobile spend will be on voice calls by the end of this year.”
He said an increasing data share of cellphone spend is good news for the country’s economy.
According to the GSM Association, every doubling of mobile data use adds 0.5 percentage points to the GDP.
WASPA said it would continue to monitor potential threats to mobile users, and it advised users to download a data usage app to monitor spend.


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There was a time when Quebec suffered from a corrosive case of Ontario-envy. The 1965 Canada-U.S. auto pact, enshrining free trade in cars and a decades-long bull run for Ontario's car plants, generated fanciful conspiracy theories about a federal plot to impoverish Quebec. The chronic five-percentage-point gap in the unemployment rates between each province was chalked up to a single factor: car-making capacity.
No wonder successive Quebec governments sought desperately to make the province a kind of Ontario-lite. There was an interest-free $220-million loan ($375-million in current dollars) extended to General Motors in 1987 to keep just one plant in Quebec. There were massive subsidies offered and/or paid to Hyundai and Toyota to build assembly plants in the province.
It was all for naught. The Hyundai plant, which began assembling the first Sonatas in 1989, closed less than five years later.
The facility in Bromont, Que., which sat empty for more than a decade, is now home to AAER, a locally owned company that assembles wind turbines.
Toyota, meanwhile, never took Quebec's bait, choosing in 1985 to make Ontario its Canadian beachhead.
And General Motors shuttered its Quebec plant in 2002 - with that loan still outstanding.
Today, the old GM site is home to Faubourg Boisbriand, a sprawling residential-commercial real estate development that already generates more in municipal taxes than the auto plant ever could. And the unemployment rate in bustling Boisbriand roughly matches the Quebec average, which is now almost a full percentage point lower than Ontario's.
This tale of economic transformation should make Ottawa and Ontario sufficiently leery about extending more aid to GM and Chrysler. But it also explains why they, along with Washington, have no choice but to prop up the car makers for a while longer.
Ontario, like Michigan, has allowed itself to remain so dependent on the auto industry that it has little or nothing lying in wait to replace it. In rhyming off the Ontario auto industry's statistics - 150,000 direct jobs, 340,000 indirect ones, 14 per cent of Canada's manufacturing output and 23 per cent of its manufacturing exports - federal Industry Minister Tony Clement may have thought he was making a case yesterday for saving car plants. But those statistics are also an indictment of sorts.
When any industry so dominates the economy of a single region as the auto assembly sector has in Southern Ontario, it has a levelling effect, draining labour and capital from every other sector. In the growth phase, this creates a virtuous circle, as evidenced by the Ontario of the 1960s. But when that sector begins an irreversible decline, as the Big Three most certainly have, the circle becomes a vicious one.
Everyone seems to agree that the costs of not bailing out the car companies would be catastrophic - for individuals and the economy alike. But few policy makers seem willing to admit there is also a huge opportunity lost in propping up the sector. It may seem callous if not crazy to say, as layoffs loom, but every job saved at a Big Three car assembly plant means one less potential job in a more productive sector of the economy.
Neither Mr. Clement nor U.S. President Barack Obama could bring themselves to acknowledge that yesterday - at least not publicly. Mr. Obama, in particular, set the bar fantastically high in aiming to "make America's auto industry in the 21st century what it was in the 20th century." Besides being an unrealistic objective, why would the U.S. or Canada ever want to recreate the conditions that made the auto industry the motor of their economies? Sweden, wisely, has said no to saving Saab.
We have pressed our pedals to the metal in our attempts to rethink the role of the automobile in our lives. We are, on purpose, making our cities less and less car-friendly. And, yes, even the suburbs finally get the concept of public transit. These trends will accelerate.
If that were not a good enough reason for Ontario to think twice about perpetuating its dependence on the auto sector, HEC Montréal management professor Louis Hébert offers an even more compelling one: It just can't compete.
Despite all the talk about a future-oriented auto sector focusing on fuel-efficient hybrids or all-electric cars, we are still talking about assembly line jobs. No matter how good Ontario's workers are, they will face inexorable pressure from new competitors in the developing world.
"The car industry is essentially a mature industry, so technology becomes standardized very quickly," Prof. Hébert says. "Once the design is completed, the principal cost is manufacturing. On that front, there will be more, not fewer, competitors in the future."
Mr. Obama, Mr. Clement and Ontario Economic Development Minister Michael Bryant no doubt know this. Mr. Bryant hinted as much, acknowledging that a restructured GM and Chrysler "will mean less production and fewer jobs than in the past." But the politicians are still trying too hard to shield us from the truth. They know assembling cars is a dead end. It's just that they still haven't come up with a better idea.
kyakabuski GUv globeandmail.com


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Pacsun’s latest metaverse venture includes a virtual store and NFT art.
Pacsun keeps moving forward in its metaverse commerce efforts.
The teen apparel retailer is operating a multifaceted digital commerce effort at the ComplexLand 3.0 metaverse event, which runs through Friday, May 27. This includes a three-level virtual store where attendees can shop exclusive products from Pacsun and its PS Reserve resale program, as well as items from partner brand Playboy and new partner and e-sports organization Cloud9.
Once a shopper finds the virtual metaverse version of the product that they want to buy, they will be directed to the Pacsun website to purchase the physical version of the product. Cloud9 and Pacsun are debuting their first collaboration during ComplexLand, with exclusive merchandise available to purchase early only by shoppers in the metaverse before launching on Pacsun.com and Pacsun retail locations nationwide in early June.
Pacsun is also taking part in the ComplexLand 3.0 NFT Art Experience, with the debut of an exclusive “Pacsun Mall Rat,” marking the first time a Pacsun NFTs will be displayed in a virtual gallery. Customers will have the opportunity to engage with the digital art and place a bid. Purchasers of the NFT will also receive a sneaker PS Reserve.
Pacsun stakes metaverse turf
Pacsun has been an early leader in metaverse commerce, going back to its June 2021 decision to make select clothing items available in the Avatar Marketplace of the popular immersive online gaming platform Roblox. The retailer followed that effort by including digital gaming and NFT features in its 2021 holiday promotional campaign.
The company has also opened a fantasy interactive mall experience on the Roblox platform called Pacworld, and the extension of its recently launched gender-fluid assortment, the “Pacsun Etoile Monogram Capsule Collection,” into the metaverse. In addition, Pacsun recently announced on its social media channels that it has purchased digital “land” in The Sandbox, a virtual platform where players can build, own, and monetize their gaming experiences and assets inside an immersive virtual world.
"Being part of ComplexLand 3.0 is a big step for us in the metaverse, coming almost a year after we introduced our first offering of Pacsun branded items on Roblox," said Brie Olson, president of Pacsun. "It is undeniable that metaverse as a whole has an incredible network effort. Not only do consumers find community in the space, but we, as a brand, get to connect with them in an authentic way and ultimately grow our Pac Community in the both digital and physical worlds as well."
"ComplexLand was the first commerce-based Metaverse experience that bridged the IRL with the URL. It's amazing to be able to partner with PacSun as they continue to innovate and bring their community further into the Metaverse," said Neil Wright, head of collaborations & experiential at ComplexLand host Complex Networks.
"We're really excited about our partnership with Pacsun. This collaboration continues to broaden the reach of e-sports and pro gaming and its connection to youth culture," said Cloud9 VP of merchandising & licensing Adrian Gale.


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An amateur photographer has landed herself a tidy little windfall after tech giant Google bought an image she snapped on her iPhone a decade ago to use in its latest ad campaign.
British woman Hannah Huxford snapped a photo of a seagull eating a chip on her phone way back in 2011 when she was holidaying at the coastal town of Bridlington in East Yorkshire on Britain’s east coast.
Image: Hannah Huxford
Huxford, who is a car sales person by day and budding amatuer photographer by night, thought no more of the image until she was contacted by the tech behemoth to use the shot for its latest outdoor and digital campaigns in spots across the UK and Ireland.
Sadly, there is a confidentiality agreement in place and it’s not clear what Google paid to use the shot of the hungry bird.
When approached, Huxford initially thought the whole thing was a gee-up.
Huxford telling the BBC: “I thought: ‘Oh here we go!” when she received the phone call.
Image: Hannah Huxford
She then signed a confidentiality agreement before realising who the client actually was.
The shot has been licensed by Google to be used for 30 days on billboards in England and Ireland, and for 12 months online, Huxford said.
Huxford recalls shooting the shot on her Apple 3G phone a decade ago while on a trip to the seaside with her husband.
Finding themselves “bombarded by herring gulls”, one particularly “cheeky chappy” caught Huxford’s attention and she turned her camera on the voracious gull.
“As soon as we had finished our chips he was off,” she said.”This one was on the bin and was fearless. It was giving me the eye and was gulping down chips.”
Jacqueline Gonzales [featured image] is the Head of Global Marketing at Squarespace. In this piece, she shares her best pieces of advice for launching a campaign globally. It’s estimated that we see between 6,000 to 10,000 ads every single day. In today’s digital landscape we’re constantly bombarded by so many different brand messages from every […]
From the audio producer of The Teacher’s Pet comes The Elements, a new Acast Creator Network podcast hosted by Thredbo survivor Stuart Diver. The Elements is a podcast that journeys into the heart of surviving a natural disaster and will be hosted and distributed by the creator-first podcast company Acast as part of the Acast Creator […]


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If Bitcoin adoption grows, There's a sensible Restrict on exactly where its price tag may go. The US dollar is the sole currency that acknowledged by the government to be able to spend taxes, “intrinsic value” and it really is extensively used in commerce, so it might choose many years for Bitcoin to acquire on this degree of adoption.
Estonia proposed the launch of its very own state-managed cryptocurrency, “estcoin,” which would be launched using an ICO. Estonia continues to be fast to embrace digital innovation, and was the very first region to supply a digital ID to non-Estonians that offers use of banking and also other providers.
Poland’s Monetary Ombudsman has known as within the country’s Ministry of Finance to manage the area cryptocurrency field, declaring that as Poland’s cryptocurrency marketplace is going through rapid progress, it ought to be subject to rules that might protect buyers of cryptocurrency exchanges.
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The National Bank of Hungary (MNB) issued a general public statement warning citizens who use or put money into cryptocurrencies for instance bitcoin, citing their unregulated character amid growing circumstances of higher-return investment strategies abusing the cryptocurrency.
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Bitcoin isn't the initially decentralized currency given that we already have gold, but Actual physical gold is incredibly inefficient in earning working day-to-working day transactions.
Considerations To Know About Game Stock Checker[A]n inter-departmental team has become constituted via the Reserve Lender to review and provide steering about the desirability and feasibility to introduce a central financial institution digital currency (CBDC).” From the Original period of this 7 days, RBI has build an interior device for conducting investigation on blockchain technologies and cryptocurrency.
Tunisia continues to be described to generally be replacing its self-made eDinar digital currency which has a blockchain-dependent version, making it the world’s very first country to situation nationwide currency using Highly developed blockchain engineering. Resource.
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Ministry of Finance announces that it doesn't take into account bitcoin unlawful, even though it just isn't a legal currency possibly. Also clarified that revenue from virtual currencies are subject to taxation as gains. Supply.
Ghana would not license digital currencies. The central bank has issued warnings to the general public against transacting with digital currencies like Bitcoin.
Gibraltar’s legislature posted draft laws, which includes distributed ledger technological know-how (DLT) into its present Economical Companies Restrictions. The brand new rules, which might be planned to consider outcome in January 2018, are directed at firms offering blockchain services which include cryptocurrency exchanges, but will cover any business utilization of DLT for storing or transmitting value.


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The north west has remained the UK’s manufacturing powerhouse as the region continues to enjoy an industrial renaissance, a report shows.
The region accounted for some £23.7bn worth of output, almost 16 per cent of the regional economy overall, said the EEF manufacturers' organisation and Santander.
According to the data, this performance was driven by strengths in the pharmaceuticals, aerospace, automotive and food & drink sectors where the North West has a strong concentration.
The data also shows that manufacturing employs almost 350,000 highly skilled people across the region, almost 10 per cent of total employment.
Overall Britain is now the 9th largest industrial nation with an annual output worth $247 billion. This accounts for some 10 per cent of GVA for the UK economy, whilst manufacturing accounts for 14 per cent of business investment and 68 per cent of business R&D.
This positive picture is reflected in data on employment and earnings where, according to the OECD, UK manufacturers have outperformed any country except the United States for job creation since 2010, whilst since 2013 average earnings have risen by 3 per cent, twice the rate of the economy overall.
In contrast to common perception manufacturing also offers high value, well-paid jobs, with average earnings of £31, 489 per annum compared to £27,607 for the whole economy.
The picture of what constitutes modern manufacturing is reflected in the sectoral contribution to output and focus on innovation.
The largest individual sector is food and drink (17 per cent) whilst the chemicals and pharmaceuticals and transport sectors both account for 14 per cent of output each.
Chemicals and pharmaceuticals is also by some distance the largest individual sector driving innovation, spending over a third of the total annual manufacturing R&D.
Steve Warren, region director of EEF in the north west said: “Given the importance of manufacturing to the North West economy it’s vital that we educate all stakeholders about its real value and contribution to the growth across the region.
"This is especially important in a post-Brexit world where we have to look at possibly all new avenues of generating growth and investment.”
Charles Garfit, head of manufacturing, Santander Corporate & Commercial, said: “It is great news that the UK has re-entered the top ten manufacturing nations. It is interesting to see that there has been growth in the non-traditional sectors and regions showing the increasing importance that manufacturing has across the country.
"However, to build momentum on this renewed optimism manufacturing businesses in the UK must look at the opportunities beyond our own borders to extend their growth potential.”


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How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming CRMs
2019/2020 has already seen a seismic shift towards a unified approach between artificial intelligence and sales, and this momentum is about to revolutionise how CRMs are used today.
According to a report by IBM, almost one-third of companies reported leveraging AI in their business and playing a core role in the sales process. One of the most profound applications in this area has been the integration with CRMs. It’s an area that has struggled in the past and still faces many challenges. One of the key hurdles with CRMs is that sales professionals have long struggled to adopt a disciplined administrative approach to entering data and updating customer files.
This year and beyond will see a leap forward in AI advancement solving issues such that of missing data, duplicate data, and a whole heap of garbage that CRMs are famed for. Here’s how AI will transform CRMs.
1. Data ingestion and retrieval
Populating a CRM all starts with data ingestion and retrieval. So let’s look at how AI can remove the manual process and heavy lifting away from sales professionals. Based on a HubSpot survey, sales professionals spend 17% of their time entering data – that’s equivalent to one a day a week. Little surprise why an obstacle like this can hold back CRM adoption right at the start.
Artificial intelligence not only empowers sales professionals to eliminate manual data entry, it also bolsters their ability to centralize disparate customer databases and, in turn, capture the complete customer lifecycle—whether it has transpired via email, phone conversations, chatbots, etc. CallMiner Eureka, for example, uses artificial intelligence and machine language to capture and transcribe customer interactions. Transcriptions are tagged according to key topics and a rich categorization schema. When this data is ingested into a CRM, it can surface key insights, including objections, specific data with respect to competitors, and ideal use cases. Salespeople can search transcript metadata for keywords, phrases, or even acoustics such as increased voice intonation that may signal excitement and increased interests. With the air of topic clusters and frequency maps, salespeople are equipped to detect vital customer trends.
2. Data integrity
We know your pain. You’ve got a massive amount of contact data, but you know it’s full of invalid email addresses, incomplete customer contact data, and duplicates. Research by Dun & Bradstreet says 91% of CRM data is incomplete, 18% is duplicated, and 70% is rendered out of date each year. The consequences of dirty data are staggering. It disrupts sales pipelines, wastes resources, productivity lost, failed communication—both internal and external—and wasted marketing spending.
By 2025, we will create 180 zettabytes of data each year. Do you really think humans can ensure optimal data quality?
The beauty of artificial intelligence is that it is able to detect irregularities, anomalies, duplicates, and other errors, including missing data. Yes, you heard right. Missing data.
By integrating an AI platform, such as Cloudapps, with third-party databases, such as Salesforce, artificial intelligence can also interpolate missing records and update records in real-time as contact and other data changes. It can automatically detect duplicates. Artificial intelligence tools are integral to data cleanliness. Hard to imagine how artificial intelligence isn’t already a core part of any CRM system.
3. Predictive lead scoring
It’s all about the deals. Seventy-four percent of companies state that converting leads into customers is their top priority, and artificial intelligence can prime sales reps by supercharging the lead scoring abilities with highly accurate predictive analytics and algorithms, such as Deep-Learning.
Rules-based lead scoring has been the historical norm, but any marketeer can attest to the fact that just because a lead attains a certain lead score and deemed to be an MQL (marketing qualified lead), is in fact a complete dud.
That is, they’ve scored and ranked leads manually, according to a set of rules— “If this, then that.” This approach is outdated and suboptimal.
Artificial intelligence, in particular Deep Learning, can analyze millions of different historical and real-time attributes, including demographic data, firmographic data, geographic data, activity data and web behaviour, to determine customers’ buying readiness.
When integrated with CRM systems, artificial intelligence can analyze won versus lost deals to detect trends that can inform predictive lead scoring methods.
This is the motivation for sales organizations to shift from rules-based lead scoring to predictive lead scoring. More quality leads mean taking home bigger pay-checks!
4. Prescriptive account-specific recommendations
Up until quite recently, many individuals were sceptical of the threat of artificial intelligence taking over jobs by foraying into the sales environment and displacing humans. In short, this blinkered belief no longer holds water as artificial intelligence has time and time again proven to enhance, not replace, the human component of sales. Sales processes like rapport, people-buy-people, lead sourcing all require a human to carry out.
Here artificial intelligence can assume a new role as a trusted advisor providing the salesperson augmenting sales intelligence, such as the capability to generate targeted recommendations for salespeople, including personalized sales and marketing collateral to be delivered at specified times.
The most effective artificial intelligence-powered CRMs, such as Cloudapps, will also provide the “why,” informing salespeople as to the rationale behind certain prescribed courses of action.
To wrap it up
Businesses spend thousands on CRMs for their businesses, especially the larger global enterprises with typically 1000+ sales reps worldwide, yet it is treated as a data dumpsite of dirty data.
The sales professionals of the future will use artificial intelligence to complement their efforts and skillsets. When it comes to CRMs, the time is now. Artificial intelligence promises to equip salespeople with augmented sales intelligence with targeted and prescriptive recommendations.


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Attorney General Fox Obtains Data Breach Settlement from Premera Blue Cross
Attorney General Tim Fox and 29 other attorneys general filed a settlement today that requires Premera Blue Cross, the largest health insurance company in the Pacific Northwest, to pay a total of $10 million to be split among the 30 states for its failure to secure sensitive consumer data. Premera’s insufficient data security exposed the protected health information and personal information of more than 10.4 million consumers nationwide to a hacker. The coalition of 30 states investigated Premera’s cybersecurity vulnerabilities that gave the hacker unrestricted access to protected health information.
In today’s complaint, filed simultaneously with the terms of the negotiated settlement, Attorney General Fox asserts the company failed to meet its obligations under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and violated the state Consumer Protection Act by not addressing known cybersecurity vulnerabilities that gave a hacker unrestricted access to protected health information for almost one year. “This litigation marks the first time Montana has brought an enforcement action under HIPAA,” Attorney General Tim Fox said. “Although Premera doesn’t sell insurance directly in Montana, our consumers were most certainly impacted; according to records provided by the company, 111,222 Montanans were affected. That means over one-tenth of our state’s population had personal information compromised in this breach, which could have been prevented,” Fox added.
From May 5, 2014 until March 6, 2015, a hacker had unauthorized access to the Premera network containing sensitive personal information, including private health information, Social Security numbers, bank account information, names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, member identification numbers and email addresses. The hacker took advantage of multiple known weaknesses in Premera’s data security. For years prior to the breach, cybersecurity experts and the company’s own auditors repeatedly warned Premera of its inadequate security program, yet the company accepted many of the risks without fixing its practices.
Under the settlement, Premera will pay a combined total of $10 million to the 30 states; Montana will receive $122,879 for consumer education and protection. The company is also required to implement specific data security controls intended to protect personal health information, review its security practices annually, and provide data security reports to the attorneys general. Premera’s $10 million payment to the states is in addition to any payment from the proposed class action settlement, which was filed in federal court in Oregon, but not yet finalized by the court.
The complaint asserts that Premera misled consumers nationwide about its privacy practices in the aftermath of the data breach. After the breach became public, Premera’s call center agents told consumers there was “no reason to believe that any of your information was accessed or misused.” They also told consumers that “there were already significant security measures in place to protect your information,” even though multiple security experts and auditors warned the company of its security vulnerabilities prior to the breach.
Under HIPAA, Premera is required to implement administrative, physical and technical safeguards that reasonably and appropriately protect sensitive consumer information. Premera repeatedly failed to meet these standards, leaving millions of consumer’s sensitive data vulnerable to hackers.
Today’s settlement also requires Premera to:
● Ensure its data security program protects personal health information as required by law;
● Regularly assess and update its security measures;
● Provide data security reports, completed by a third-party security expert approved by the multistate coalition, to the Washington State Attorney General’s Office;
● Hire a chief information security officer, a separate position from the chief information officer. The information security officer must be experienced in data security and HIPAA compliance and will be responsible for implementing, maintaining and monitoring the company’s security program;
● Hold regular meetings between the chief information security officer and Premera’s executive management. The information security officer must meet with Premera’s CEO every two months and inform the CEO of any unauthorized intrusion into the Premera network within 48 hours of discovery.
In addition to Montana, today’s multistate settlement against Premera involves Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and Washington.
If any Montanans believe they have been the victim of identity theft resulting from this breach or any other, they can contact Attorney General Fox’s Office of Consumer Protection for help with getting an identity theft passport or implementing a credit freeze.