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Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday after Alphabet and Microsoft reported better than feared quarterly results, helping soothe investor worries over the economic outlook.
Market participants awaited the Fed’s interest rate decision later in the day, with a 75 basis point rate hike mostly priced in.
The FOMC statement and accompanying press conference by Fed Chair Jerome Powell will take center stage as bond markets and most economic indicators signal an increased likelihood of recession.
China’s Shanghai CompositeIindex moved in a narrow range before closing marginally lower for the day. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.1 percent to 20,670.04, with Alibaba and Nio leading losses.
Ahead of an expected rate hike in the United States, the city’s financial secretary said Hong Kong would have no choice but to raise interest rates in the coming months.
Japanese markets rose modestly, helped by gains by heavyweight chip-related stocks. The Nikkei 225 Index inched up 0.2 percent to 27,715.75, while the broader Topix closed 0.1 percent higher at 1,945.75.
Advantest, Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron climbed 2-3 percent. Camera maker Canon fell over 1 percent despite raising its full-year operating profit forecast.
Seoul stocks rose for a third straight session, though the upside remained capped ahead of the Fed meeting and the U.S. GDP data release. Meanwhile, a measure of consumer sentiment in the country dropped by 10.4 points to 86 in July, the Bank of Korea said in a statement.
The Kospi edged up 0.1 percent to 2,415.53, led by biotechnology stocks. Samsung Biologics added 1.6 percent and Celltrion gained 1.9 percent.
Australian shares saw modest strength after data showed inflation rose slightly less than forecast in Q2, raising hopes of a less hawkish central bank policy. Official data showed that consumer price inflation jumped 1.8 percent last quarter, just short of market estimates of 1.9 percent.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.2 percent to settle at 6,823.20, while the broader All Ordinaries Index ended 0.2 percent higher at 7,038.10.
Banks and gold miners surged, while mining heavyweights BHP and Rio Tinto fell around 2 percent each on lingering worries about a recession.
After market close, Rio Tinto, one of the world’s top iron ore producers, reported a 29 percent drop in first-half profit.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s S&P NZX-50 Index dropped 0.3 percent to 11,135.03.
U.S. stocks fell sharply overnight after downbeat earnings news from Walmart and General Motors.
A measure of consumer confidence dropped to nearly a 1-1/2-year low in July and new home sales tumbled to their lowest level in just over two years in June, raising the odds of a recession.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.9 percent, the S&P 500 shed 1.2 percent and the Dow slid 0.7 percent.
Source: Read Full Article


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Two Daytona Beach guys took the slogan "If you can't Dodge it, Ram it" literally, police said.
Claudious Stallings and his roommate Lavarus Peterkin stole 17 Dodge trucks in two-years -- then used the vehicles to ram into businesses so they could steal goods.
The businesses they burglarized included a home furnishings store, two appliance rental businesses, a cell phone store, a motorcycle dealership, a cash advance store and an electronics shop.
Daytona Beach Sgt. Mike Griffin said, "It's like they had the home shopping network out of their house," reports the Daytona Beach News Journal. "Their house looked like a mini flea market."
Rather than charge Stallings and Peterkin with grand theft -- which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years -- investigators secured a rarely used charge that carries up to 30 years in prison -- grand theft using a motor vehicle to cause damage.
"When investigators can show that a vehicle was used in the commission of a crime, rather than just as a getaway car, then this charge can be used," said Chris Kelly of the State Attorney's Office.
Their last ride: to jail.
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Bluetec comes to Europe
07 August 2007
Mercedes is bringing its ultra-low emission Bluetec diesel technology to Europe, though the UK is going to have to wait.
The system, which cuts local air pollutants such as particulates and NOx, actually puts out slightly more CO2 than the normal diesel engine, nudging it up a benefit-in-kind tax band and punishing company car drivers under the current tax rules. "A company car driver in the UK would end up paying more tax for driving the world's cleanest diesel," a spokesman told BusinessCar. Mercedes is however working on cutting the CO2 output to make a UK introduction worthwhile.
The company is also looking at extending the range of diesels Bluetec is currently offered on, currently limited to just the 3.0-litre diesel.
"Bluetec can be introduced to smaller vehicles, though there is larger cost threshold to overcome," said DaimlerChrysler powertrain vice-president Prof Herbert Kohler, as the extra technological costs are easier to absorb on larger, more expensive models.
The prestige brand is also introducing a new application for its CGI direct-injection engine. Already fitted to the CLS, it's also going to be available in the E-class from next year, though the 10% fuel economy savings are only experienced when using low-sulphur fuel which won't be readily available in the UK until 2009. There are no negative pay-offs though, and the E350 CGI will be the same price as before, but offer an additional 20PS over the standard E350 it replaces.
More eco-tech is scheduled to follow next year with the introduction of the new Smart Fortwo MHD, or mild hybrid drive. Available with the petrol engine, the MHD will cost £150 over the standard equivalent, and company bosses claim the stop-start technology is good enough to "theoretically save the cost of a tank of fuel every seven tanks." The ultra-low emission 88g/km diesel Smart Fortwo is also heading for the UK next spring, though only in left-hand drive form as the cost of developing right-hand drive versions proved prohibitive.
The Frankfurt motor show will also see more details on Mercedes' hybrid plans. "Mercedes-Benz will only develop vehicles and engines which permit hybridisation," is the company line going forward, starting in 2009 when the first Benz hybrid hits the market. The system is branded 'Two-mode hybrid', and the company claims it surpasses current Toyota and Honda systems by also adding power and economy benefits at higher speeds.


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‘The paper is on a respirator’: Winsted’s new Ralph Nader-backed newspaper in financial peril after two issues, publisher says
The Winsted Citizen was launched earlier this year but the paper’s publisher said he hasn’t been able to make payroll.
WINSTED — A nonprofit newspaper that launched this year with financial backing from consumer advocate Ralph Nader is struggling to make payroll, according to the newspaper’s publisher.
The Winsted Citizen launched in February with a preference toward its print product over digital. Nader, a Winsted native, told the Hartford Business Journal in January that Winsted is a “news vacuum” in Litchfield County. His paper aimed to fix it.


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Hundreds to lose jobs as Caterpillar plant relocates
Operations to relocate to Georgia, Texas
The city of Fountain Inn is taking a hit as a major employer has decided to relocate its production operations to Georgia and Texas.
Caterpillar Inc. announced Tuesday that it will close the Fountain Inn plant by the end of the year.
The Upstate plant employs 380 full time and 130 temporary workers.
A release from the company said, “After completing a strategic review of its engine manufacturing operations, Caterpillar Inc. informed employees today that it will transition its marine engine operations from Fountain Inn, South Carolina, to its facility in Griffin, Georgia.
“Additionally, Caterpillar announced it will complete its consolidation of the mid-range engine product by moving the C7 engine assembly line from Fountain Inn to Seguin, Texas. The company determined that to better utilize its current manufacturing footprint, improve efficiency and continue to deliver world-class quality to customers, the integration of the marine product into the Griffin facility and consolidation of its mid-range engine assembly to Seguin provided the most optimal solution.
“We recognize that this decision will be difficult for our employees,” said Tana Utley, vice president with responsibility for the Large Power Systems Division at Caterpillar. “We value and appreciate the work that our Fountain Inn employees have contributed and their dedication to producing quality products.
“However, after considering our options, we have concluded we must move forward with this decision for better asset utilization. Our goal is to improve efficiency across our engine manufacturing footprint, while providing the highest quality products for our customers. We are committed to the industries served by products from Fountain Inn, including Marine and Industrial, and we will maintain and grow that commitment under this improved manufacturing strategy.”
The plant will ramp down production beginning in the second quarter of 2014, with operations expected to be complete at the end of the year.
Caterpillar said full-time Fountain Inn employees who are displaced will receive severance packages from the company and outplacement services from appropriate agencies to ensure they have necessary support during this transition.
Caterpillar’s worldwide full-time employment was 116,579 at the end of the first quarter of 2014 compared with 124,874 at the end of the first quarter of 2013, a decrease of 8,295 full-time employees.


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January 4, 2021 — Every person you ask will say the same thing: 2020 is unlike any other year.
The cryptocurrency industry felt the full brunt of the pandemic, as evidenced by the March 2020 crash. Nine months, one Bitcoin halving and a couple of institutions later, the industry sees a resurgence in interest brought about by Bitcoin hitting and breaking the psychological all-time high at $20,000 and reaching a new one of $34,000.
What is the 2020 Year in Review?
BitPinas sought the opinion of key crypto and blockchain leaders/influencers in the Philippines and abroad on what they think about 2020 in general and what they look forward to in 2019.
Nichel Gaba is the CEO of Philippine Digital Asset Exchange (PDAX), one of the licensed virtual currency exchanges in the country.
What does your organization do and what is your role in it?
Nichel: I’m Founder and CEO of PDAX, a regulated exchange for digital assets. I mostly work on financial market innovations that make investment products more accessible to Filipinos.
Personal highlights for PDAX:
This year was very exciting. PDAX launched the Bonds.PH, a blockchain-enabled app for direct retail investing in government bonds. Since it launched, approximately 70% of bond purchases by individuals were done digitally. PDAX also launched its native mobile app to easily, instantly buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
On important global and local crypto developments:
Globally, institutional investors are starting to take part in the cryptocurrency markets. From hedge funds and family offices to commercial banks – investors are either buying large amounts of bitcoin or launching their own exchanges. BTC currently has a market cap of ~$500 B, which is still very small relative to how much more it can grow from institutional adoption.
Locally, players are embracing digital asset innovations to make the Philippine financial markets much more efficient. We saw this in the SEC’s DAE rules, and in the launch of Bonds.PH, and this is only the beginning.
Operational changes because of the pandemic:
The pandemic urged PDAX to focus on what really matters in order to fulfill its mission. Having a happy and healthy team is essential. Since before the first lockdowns, the PDAX team has already been working from home. In these challenging times, our team is focused on constantly improving product and service quality and delivering value-adding innovations to the market.
The best way to predict the future is to shape it yourself. At PDAX, we expect to see more blockchain innovations in the local financial markets: not just in crypto, but in bonds, equities and other investment products. Globally, we expect to see more institutional adoption as crypto – and Bitcoin in particular – enter mainstream acceptance.
For over 10 years, we saw Bitcoin evolve from a novelty item, into internet currency – and now into digital gold. I’m very excited to see how much more Bitcoin – and crypto at large – will grow in 2021.
This article is published in BitPinas: Nichel Gaba | PDAX | 2020 Year in Review


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Asia Bizz: GM Stocks To Get Really High Profile Response In The US
The GM Stocks seem to be getting a real high profile response in the coming few days in the US, no matter the share prices will maintain the company’s current euphoria or not. Investors will be showing strong interest in the company’s initial public offering (IPO) which is scheduled to start trading on the 29th November.
General Motor’s stocks do look quite volatile, and it is likely to bring some change in their options. According to investment experts, they feel that this IPO is going to be very popular among the investors. They have been really looking forward to it and 29th November is the date which they are all waiting for. The company also feels that the IPO will be pulling traders who are not seen frequently in the shares and stocks game, and it is something special that is happening in the company’s history.
The prices have not been finalized yet but most of the investors have already begun their bidding process and have even started reviewing it. Predictions also show that GM’s contract may come in line with Ford and Tata, and may even become more expensive than Toyota and Honda.


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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Oracle's latest quarterly earnings climbed 8 percent, beating analysts' expectations.
MENLO PARK (AP) - Facebook is bringing one of its long-term vendors, facial-recognition technology company Face.com, in-house.
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Mobile phone chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. has purchased programmable circuit developer Summit Microelectronics, which will broaden its product offerings.
BEIJING (AP) - In a China awash with fake iPhones, pirated DVDs and knockoff Louis Vuitton bags, rice trader Lin Chunping took fakery to a whole new level: He invented a U.S. bank and claimed he bought it.
Q. My brother recently got a divorce. His ex-wife must have had a better lawyer than he did because she inserted language into the divorce decree specifying how much of his Social Security she will get. I believe it's an extra $500 per month, and this is over and above what she will get through regular Social Security law on his account. Is there anything my brother can do to get out of this financial obligation?
NEW YORK (AP) - There's a form of extra-sensory perception called psychometry, whose practitioners claim to learn things about objects by touching them. Smartphones set to be released this month by Samsung and Sony will have some of that ability: they'll learn things when you touch them to pre-programmed "tags."
NEW YORK (AP) - As Facebook's much-anticipated public stock offering approached, federal regulators wanted to know more about the revenue it gets from mobile devices, its $1 billion deal to buy Instagram and the control CEO Mark Zuckerberg has over the company.
HELSINKI (AP) - Nokia says it will slash 10,000 jobs and close plants as the ailing company fights fierce competition, and gave a grim outlook for most of the year, causing its shares to plummet 18 percent to close at €1.83 ($2.30).
NEW YORK (AP) - If New York City bans big sodas, what's next on the list? Large slices of pizza? Double-scoop ice cream cones? Tubs of movie-theater popcorn? The 16-ounce strip steak?
DETROIT (AP) - Back when gas was cheap, Americans bought cars with V-8 engines like the Big Block, Cobra Jet and Ramcharger. Acceleration was all that mattered, even in family cars that never made it to full throttle.
NEW YORK (AP) - Amazon.com wants ".joy," Google wants ".love" and L'Oreal wants ".beauty."
NEW YORK (AP) - Computer maker Dell Inc. is planning to trim its expenses by more than $2 billion during the next three years as it tries to move into the more lucrative areas of technology.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Cheaper gas has yet to cause consumers to spend enough on other goods to boost the slumping economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) - JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told Congress on Wednesday that senior bank executives responsible for a $2 billion trading loss will probably have some of their pay taken back by the company.
NEW YORK (AP) - Shares of Kohl's rose Wednesday after the department store operator said it was pleased with its fourth quarter sales and said its base business improved.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Technology's big-spending trio of Google, Facebook, and Amazon.com appear to be tightening their belts - at least a notch - in a concession to cost-conscious investors and a strong dollar that's taking a big bite out of their revenue.
CUPERTINO (AP) - Apple is planning another large bond sale at a time when investors are paying near record premiums for high-quality bonds.
NEW YORK (AP) - An estimated 114.4 million people watched New England's thrilling win over Seattle, making it the fifth time in six years that a Super Bowl game has set a record for the most-watched event in U.S. television history.
PALO ALTO (AP) - Hewlett-Packard boss Meg Whitman has graduated from the dollar-a-year club, as the struggling company prepares to split up.
CUPERTINO (AP) - Apple CEO Tim Cook says consumer demand for new iPhones has been "staggering" and "hard to comprehend." That helped the company report record-smashing earnings for its latest quarter and sent the stock climbing more than 7 percent on Wednesday.
MENLO PARK (AP) - For the seventh quarter in a row Facebook beat profit and revenue forecasts, continuing to win more mobile advertising revenue as most users shift to using the site on smartphones and other portable devices.
LAS VEGAS (AP) - A 24-hour White Castle location on the Las Vegas Strip that opened to long lines of the burger chain's fans had to close for more than two hours to restock after its grand opening.
MENLO PARK (AP) - No storm selfies, hookups, status updates. With Facebook and Instagram down for nearly an hour overnight, what were legions of users to do?
CUPERTINO (AP) - Apple had another blowout quarter thanks to its new plus-sized iPhones, which helped the company smash sales records for the holiday season.
SUNNYVALE (AP) - Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is spinning off the company's $39 billion stake in China's Alibaba Group Holding in a move that wards off a potential shareholder rebellion.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - They were supposed to be saviors of downtown, drawing people by offering parking as plentiful as at any suburban shopping mall.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Calling it "ridiculous" and "baseless," IBM on Monday dismissed a report that said the technology giant plans to lay off 1 in 4 of its workers, or 100,000 people.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Big jumps in sales of its Surface tablets, cloud computing software and Lumia smartphones drove Microsoft's quarterly revenue above expectations, as CEO Satya Nadella continues to steer toward the mobile gadget market and shift Microsoft away from its traditional focus on the PC.


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EU TARIFF TALKS HEAT UP
WASHINGTON — It’s not a trade war yet, but European Union and U.S. officials began talks Tuesday in Geneva over the extent the EU could retaliate against punitive tariffs the U.S. has slapped on steel imports.
The World Trade Organization, in a decision not expected until summer 2003, will be the final arbiter on whether the U.S. violated rules governing global trade. If the WTO rules against the U.S., the EU could then levy its own tariffs on a list of U.S. goods that could include apparel.
The EU claims the steel tariffs run afoul of WTO rules of fairness. The U.S. argues the tariffs are permitted because steel imports are being sold at below the cost of production. Other countries, including China, are expected to pursue their own complaints with the U.S. over the steel tariffs.
The EU has estimated the steel tariffs will cost its 15-member nations $2.5 billion. The size of the damage, which would equal the size of retaliatory tariffs, is what Tuesday’s talks were all about. No decisions were made and more talks will be held, an EU spokesman said.
By May 20, the EU will submit a list of U.S. products to which it would like to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent.


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Color-Coded Nutrition Facts May Confuse Rather Than Inform Consumers
Nutrition Facts on food packages require some study in order to understand what it all means. The UK seeks to implement a new system, but it may make a diet soda look healthier than a basket of strawberries.
The obesity epidemic is well-known and countries are trying to do what they can to fight it. Peter Ubel of Forbes highlights a UK food labeling system that hopes to teach consumers to make healthier choices through color-coded labels. But some companies may be able to use this easy system to only further confuse and distract consumers from the real facts.
Nutrition labels require you to understand how much sugar is ok, the difference between saturated and monosaturated fats, and pay attention to serving size. Grocery shopping could easily become and all-day event if you stopped to read, compare, and research every item. Thankfully, British food companies are adopting what Ubel calls a kind of “stoplight system” for nutrition facts—an at-a-glance method of grouping the important nutrition bullet points and color-coding them. Red, yellow, and green labels will color certain nutrition categories to let buyers know what values are considered good, bad, or so-so.
The idea is if you buy a food with all or mostly green labels next to each category, you've made a healthy choice. However, there's a flaw in this quick and easy system. Ubel asks people to consider Coca Cola, for instance, which will be adopting the voluntary labels. Diet Coke and Coca Cola Zero products display all-green labels. These products are low in fat, sodium, and saturated fat, making it “[look] healthier than kale juice!” according to Ubel.
To him, the UK stoplight system is a step in the right direction to level the playing field for the health conscious and uninformed. But the truth is there's more nuance to nutrition than whether a product has lots of sugar or fat. In fact, he points to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine that shows a diet low in carbohydrates is far more effective than one that's low in fat. After all, carbohydrates are broken down into sugar.
This system may not be perfect, but hardly anything is the first time around. The hope is the system will continue to evolve, and become more refined to meet consumer's informational and nutritional needs.
Read more at Forbes
Photo Credit: Julia Lamphear/Flickr
Understanding thinking talents in yourself and others can build strong teams and help avoid burnout.
- Learn to collaborate within a team and identify "thinking talent" surpluses – and shortages.
- Angie McArthur teaches intelligent collaboration for Big Think Edge.
- Subscribe to Big Think Edge before we launch on March 30 to get 20% off monthly and annual memberships.
Rediscovering the principles of self-actualisation might be just the tonic that the modern world is crying out for.
Abraham Maslow was the 20th-century American psychologist best-known for explaining motivation through his hierarchy of needs, which he represented in a pyramid. At the base, our physiological needs include food, water, warmth and rest.
"I was so moved when I saw the cells stir," said 90-year-old study co-author Akira Iritani. "I'd been hoping for this for 20 years."
- The team managed to stimulate nucleus-like structures to perform some biological processes, but not cell division.
- Unless better technology and DNA samples emerge in the future, it's unlikely that scientists will be able to clone a woolly mammoth.
- Still, studying the DNA of woolly mammoths provides valuable insights into the genetic adaptations that allowed them to survive in unique environments.
Does believing in true love make people act like jerks?
- Ghosting, or cutting off all contact suddenly with a romantic partner, is not nice.
- Growth-oriented people (who think relationships are made, not born) do not appreciate it.
- Destiny-oriented people (who believe in soulmates) are more likely to be okay with ghosting.
SMARTER FASTER trademarks owned by The Big Think, Inc. All rights reserved.


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Carbamide prices decreased in Europe
The European Union reports a decrease in price for mineral fertilizers on its market. For example, in France, carbamide is sold for 630 euros per 1 ton, while in Germany it’s still more expensive – 780 euros per 1 ton.
At the same time, calcium ammonium nitrate in Germany sold for 620 euros per 1 ton, although in early October it cost 760 euros. Carbamide-ammoniac compound this month has fallen in price from 690 to 660 euros and diammonium phosphate – from 910 to 800 euros.
“The decline in prices for mineral fertilizers is due to weak demand for them in the European Union: its farmers, who previously faced a sharp rise in the price of fuel, plant protection products, and mineral fertilizers, have reduced purchases of the latter. Under these conditions, traders were forced to start “cutting” price lists,” commented the information and analytical service of Fertilizer Daily. “However, in the short term, prices for mineral fertilizers may change their course, as the farmers of the European Union, taking advantage of the emerging market conditions, may increase purchases.”


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Before Uber and Grab arrival into Singapore
Prior to the arrival of Uber and Grab, Singapore already had a taxi industry that competed intensively among themselves. Under the Public Transport Council (PTC) and LTA's mandate, taxi companies were also forced to adopt a unified taxi fare structure where only some parts of their fare could be varied. All in all, there was a fair and transparent competitive landscape in Singapore, that was until...
Arrival of Uber and Grab in Singapore
The arrival of Uber and Grab was probably the best gift to the public. Their entry intensified the competition to the extent consumers switched from taxi to private hire vehicles as they were cheaper and a readily available source to the "constantly missing" taxis. Taxi companies were forced to reduce rental rents and gave subsidies to keep taxi drivers from moving over. In basketball terminology, it was like Uber/Grab showing other teams (taxi companies) how to shoot 3-pointers when all along the rest of these taxi companies had been only capable of shooting two pointers.
Are we barking up the wrong tree?
Right now, because Uber is leaving, CCS is worried about a substantial lessening of competition. While that is definitely true, it begs the question whether taxi companies have even been competing at all against Uber and Grab these few years.
The Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) and Taxi industry belong to the same segment of the transportation industry. This means the PHV had competitors all along, which were the dominant Taxi Companies.
Grab and Uber were focused on competing against the fare system of the taxi industry; their dynamic pricing system was better than the regulated fare system, which was set forth by LTA and PTC.
Hence the whole episode shows how outdated and noncompetitive the current taxi fare structure is due to technological progress. It is worrying that despite Uber/Grab's entry for such a long time, our taxi companies have not adapted to be competitive at all. In fact, taxi companies like CDG are still making profits from renting out taxis. In my opnion, such taxi companies should do more to help their drivers.
Just because Grab is the only team left who can do three pointers, it doesn't mean that 3 pointer shots should be banned.


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Porchlight’s Cocktail Book Club Returns for 2023
Porchlight, Union Square Hospitality Group’s award-winning cocktail bar, has been hosting an epic “Book Club” series all throughout 2022 that featured new releases from acclaimed authors and industry veterans. We are kicking off 2023 with Sammi Katz and Olivia McGiff, co-authors of Cocktails in Color, an highly visual yet practical cocktail book that celebrates the craft of drink-making on February 6th at 6:30PM (the day before the book’s official release). What could be a better pairing served alongside Porchlight’s *infamous* blue drink and ‘90s retro cocktails? The event will feature a few signature cocktails inspired by the book, the authors mix + mingle, and sign books during the event. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to a charity of their choice.


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Chain restaurants in New York City began placing salt warnings on menu items with more than 2,300 milligrams of salt on Tuesday.» Read More
Online fashion retailer Asos has launched a Chinese website in a bid to tap into the fashion-hungry consumers in China.
Matthew Boss, JPMorgan senior retail analyst, provides insight into Macy's Q3 earnings data. He says beauty, home and fine jewelry were strong in Macy's quarter.
An entrepreneur has attracted investments from four billionaires: Sam Zell, Herb Simon, David Bonderman and "one family you've never heard of."
Philip Green, the man famed for his overhaul of British Home Stores (BHS), has told CNBC that he does not actually like department stores.
Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro declared "fair pricing" a number of sectors, arresting store managers and forcing vendors to sell items below cost.
Prince Charles marked his 65th birthday by slamming the U.K.'s big supermarket chains for squeezing farmers' incomes by taking "none of the risk."
Dish's Ergen believes consolidation in the cable and satellite TV industry makes sense, and acquiring T-Mobile is still on the table.
Despite backlash, retailers such as Wal-Mart have been quick to offer associates pay benefits and other perks for giving up part of their Thanksgiving to work.
With the high profile launch of two gaming systems and a slew of new games, the video game industry is hoping Santa brings it a turnaround this year.
Marcus Lemonis, Camping World CEO and "The Profit" host, weighs in on holiday retail and small business optimism.
Filmmaker Ken Burns says that though new platforms have increased accessibility to his work, public television is still his No. 1 distribution source.
CNBC's Courtney Reagan reports Wal-Mart will be opening at 6pm on Thanksgiving to give holiday shoppers an edge to Black Friday shopping. Retailers are targeting certain age groups with Thanksgiving door busters.
Men's Wearhouse stock rose after a letter stated its CEO will review all strategic options including a merger with Jos. A. Bank.
Former college football coach Barry Switzer has turned a man cave in his Oklahoma home into a base for a webcast he calls Coaches' Cabana.
Groupon Chairman Ted Leonsis explains why his Revolution Growth Fund invested in an e-commerce social shopping company called CustomInk. "There's lots of upside to this company," he says.
Wal-Mart announced that it will begin its in-store Black Friday sales at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, two hours earlier than last year.
Jason Trennert, Strategas, Research Partners, and Kenny Polcari, O'Neil Securities director discuss the return of the retail investor as markets hit record highs.
With Amazon and the U.S Postal Service striking a deal to deliver on Sundays, Scott Sperling, THL Partners, discusses what this may mean for brick and mortar stores.
When it comes to learning about the evils of Internet piracy, Hollywood studios and the major music labels want kids to start young.
Along with Best Buy, JCP, Macy's and Kohl's, Target is the latest retailer to open earlier at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving this year.


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A commercial permit application has been filed this week for a mixed-use project at Studioplex‘s 659 Auburn Ave. NE address, where developer Columbia Ventures recently laid out plans that include the construction of a new micro hotel.
In a special administrative permit application filed with the city in December, the Atlanta-based developer outlined its plans for a full 200-room hotel, 114-unit multifamily project, 11,900 square feet of commercial space, and a 16-key micro hotel. Drawings for the smaller hotel show a four-story, 9,575 building along the east side of Airline Street.
Columbia Ventures didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on its plans.
Columbia Ventures has long looked to expand the Studioplex property, located in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood, in a mix of ways. It developed and then sold SPX Alley, a 32,000-square-foot retail center east of the main Studioplex property, to Asana Partners in 2019, while Thrive Homes developed 19 townhomes just above that retail property.


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Marquette, MI – July 2, 2021 – The Exchange Club of Marquette County says the International Food Fest is ready to go for this weekend in Marquette’s Mattson Lower Harbor Park.
Angeli said the food vendors, musical entertainment and “libations tent” are all set for this year’s festivities.
He reminded all that tokens will not be used for food purchases this year, but beer tickets and wristbands will be necessary to purchase beer and wine.
The International Food Fest runs Saturday, July 3rd and Sunday July 4th from Noon to 10:00pm on both days.
-mediaBrew Communications News


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NVIDIA’s RTX 2080 GPU is faster than GTX 1080
The newly announced NVIDIA’s 20 series GPUs are said to be have got very powerful. It is being said that they are very fast which is very much than the previous generation. During the press briefing at Gamescom, the company usually gives a bit of more insight.
IT is seen that the new RTX 2080 is now up to twice as fast as that of the GTX 1080 which is given by using the new DLSS or Deep Learning Super-Sampling feature. This relies on the Turing GPU’s Tensor Cores for all AI-powered renders. They are less GPU intensive way of getting smoother edges on 3D objects.
The company has unveiled its new RTX 2080 during this week, but the main focus of the company is to improve the performance of the new ray tracing support. These things have left about the performance gains that will be for the vast majority which is about the existing of the games that will not get updated to support the ray tracing. The pre-orders for the same are already now live as NVIDIA is now releasing that there will be some types of gains from the FTX 1080 to new RTX 2080.
The other games which include PUBG, Hitman 2, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of War will now be around 50 percent much faster if you have got RTX 2080 at about 4K resolution. The company also claims that at $K running of the 60 fps is also possible with the RTX 2080. In games, it is like Call of Duty WW2, Far Cry 5, Destiny 2, and Battlefield 1. Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti will always be close to the 4K / 60 ideal which will be the performance gains that are only being released with the RTX 2080, the RTX 2080 Ti which will have some reasonable headroom for the modern titles at 4K/60.
In this RTX 2080, there are greatest performance gains which can be seen in all the games that utilize the ray tracing or this new AI rendering technique.


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Metaverset, the universe that combines augmented, virtual and mixed reality, can play a crucial role in global economic growth. According to a report by the financial consulting firm Analysis Group, if the adoption and impact of the metaverse develops in the same way as mobile technology, it could contribute as much as 2.8% to global gross domestic product (GDP) during the tenth year. after the beginning of its adoption.
In other words, if enlargement were to begin in 2022, the adoption of the metaverse over the next decade could result in a $ 3 trillion contribution to global GDP by 2031. As with technology mobile, this innovation is expected to have far-reaching applications, potentially transform many economic sectors, including education, healthcare, manufacturing, job training, communications, entertainment and retail.
The report, entitled “The Potential Global Economic Impact of the Metaverse”, assesses how this technology will evolve if it follows in the footsteps of past successful innovations. It takes into account the user adoption rate as well as the effect on GDP.
“Currently, we are seeing the early stages of development, including the roll-out of infrastructure and technologies that can support the metaverse. The extent to which the economic potential of the metaverse is realized depends on the effectiveness of the infrastructure and technologies developed and implemented. as well as the degree of adoption of the new technology by consumers and businesses, “warn the authors. authors of the text, Lau Christensen and Alex Robinson.
Researchers chose mobile technology as a benchmark because of its similarities with the metaverse, combining existing and new innovations to radically change the global technological and economic landscapes.
The team used research in development cycles for innovative technologies to assess direct, indirect, catalytic and stimulating effects. These are important factors for GDP, including job creation, business expansion and economic growth.
At the same time, the report examines metaverse-related technologies already in use, such as Pokémon Go, a mobile phone game based on capturing virtual creatures. Google Maps has been integrating augmented reality for several years.
In addition, virtual reality glasses such as Oculus Quest 2 are mentioned, which not only allow interactive experiences in the context of the game, but also physical activities such as boxing in a completely digital environment.
Microsoft’s HoloLens, on the other hand, have been on the market for some years, and thanks to their mixed reality proposals, they have enabled everything from distance training to running other types of meetings where time and space are irrelevant.
NFT and cryptocurrencies in all their forms have changed the way users interact on the network and are also a base on which the meta-verse will elaborate more and more, which, as mentioned before, is not something completely new, but rather the construction of a concept by using existing technologies. In fact, we are talking about the Internet of the future or an evolution of the connection that currently exists in the digital universe.
Technological innovations in the 20th century, such as mobile telephony, indicate that the meta-verse has the potential to contribute to GDP growth, job creation, increased productivity and improved well-being.
However, the authors warn that in order for this to happen, significant progress must be made in developing and implementing the infrastructure for this technology, creating policies that support the widespread and equitable distribution and use of the metaverse, and the introduction of other creative innovations. for this technology will have a significant impact on the world.


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BY Stephen KeyYou don't have to fork over thousands of dollars in legal fees to safeguard your business idea with a patent. Here are some affordable easy steps to help ensure you're protecting your ideas from theft.
BY Scott ShaneThe America Invents Act, which went into effect March 16, has changed the process for patenting. These developments might not help entrepreneurs after all. Here's why.
BY Amy GahranSamsung was ordered to pay Apple $1 billion for infringing on its patents. Will this change the way other mobile devices are made?


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Chrysalis Radio has revealed plans to launch a FM ‘talk’ station for the West Midlands called WBC. It is planning to bid for the regional licence when it is advertised next month.
While most people still think there is too much advertising to youngsters, opinion is divided on how much influence it has – and on which children
The Government is preparing to set up its first creative and media roster for online advertising to reflect its increasing spend on new media. The spend on online advertising tripled in the past two years. This year, the Government is expected to spend about £4m on the medium. The appointment of the new roster, which […]
Carphone Warehouse will launch its first fixed-line telephone service for consumers on Monday, and hopes to sign up more than 200,000 customers over the next 12 months. The service, called Talktalk, which uses the tagline “landline calls for less”, will run over the Opal Telecom network, acquired by Carphone Warehouse last November (MW November 14, […]
As the furlough scheme comes to an end, the realities of the impact of Covid-19 on the economy and jobs is becoming ever clearer. In our new series, our secret marketer takes us behind the scenes to offer some catharsis and lessons on what to do if you find yourself made redundant.
While the UK ad market is not expected to decline by as much as previously feared in 2020, it now won’t offset this year’s losses until 2022.
With the pandemic still around and the economic outlook gloomy, agencies need to help brands find creative solutions to the problems they face.
An ability to drive positive change, disrupt the norm and form authentic partnerships is helping brands from Adidas to TikTok to Gymshark achieve cultural relevance in the world of sport.


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Wednesday, 2 July 2014
Pharrell Williams and G-Star unveil recycled denim collection
Denim clothing company G-Star has revealed ‘RAW for the oceans’, a collection conceived in collaboration with singer Pharrell Williams made from bionic yarn, an eco-thread of fibres derived from recycled plastic bottles. Comprising men’s and women’s garments and accessories, the Autumn/Winter 2014 collection is the result of collecting and transforming more than 10 tonnes of plastics found in the sea into a new generation of denim fabrics.
The collection features jeans, jumpsuits, bomber jackets, coats, shirts, t-shirts, sweatshirts and caps in shades of indigo blue and black. On a few occasions, ‘Otto’ the octopus (the initiative’s mascot) makes an appearance morphed into the prints.
Images courtesy of G-Star


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The real trend of fashion and luxury fashion of the last year was the “second-hand”: the fashion victims could not help but move towards platforms that offer a new way of shopping by combining garments from the best second-hand fashion houses hand and the purchasing methodology exclusively via the web.
The reselling experiences offered by platforms ranging from Stockx to TheRealreal, from Depop to Vestiaire collective, up to Vintag and the Italian Rebelle, offer the user not only the opportunity to choose garments of iconic brands at lower prices but, especially in these pandemic months, they have given the fashion addicted community the opportunity to continue to be active through the possibility of buying safely, on reliable channels and with the great satisfaction of being able to share their luxury purchases even during the lockdown.
A real trend in the luxury world
Not just a passion for shopping: the desire to embrace, even by consumers, an eco-friendly shopping idea has become a real trend in the world of luxury: a recent study by BCG, in collaboration with Vestiaire collective, found that 68% of buyers indicate in first or second position the desire for a more active participation in the second-hand market, precisely to embrace a type of purchase more in line with values related to respect for the environment and responsible consumption.
The resale phenomenon, estimated by BCG between 30 and 40 billion dollars, has surpassed traditional fashion in terms of turnover in these months of economic crisis and health emergency.
If consumers love reuse and if the platforms that offer reselling are now a consolidated reality in the world of luxury fashion, then the great luxury houses did not take long to understand the importance of supporting and contributing to the development of this particular sector of the market: first of all Gucci which has signed a partnership agreement with The Realreal to promote circular fashion; Burberry also aligned itself with the trend and signed an agreement with the American platform, which has become such a solid reality that it entered the stock market only a few months ago.
The pandemic effect
Whether it is a “pandemic effect” for which people have more time to rearrange their wardrobes, whether it is the birth of a new type of consumer who does not give up on high fashion but chooses eco-friendly garments or whether it is of the emergence of professional platforms that offer very pleasant second-hand shopping experiences, what matters are the numbers: luxury has become democratic; the reselling market has grown exponentially; the items purchased and put on sale in this period registered a + 44%.


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Riverfront Residential Lures Residents With Rent-Free Program
- Nov 13, 2012
Elmwood Park, N.J.—Is there anything more appealing to a renter than getting an apartment ‘rent free’? Riverfront Residential has launched a new marketing program to attract new renters called ‘Live Free ‘Til 2013.’ With this program, Riverfront Residential is offering free rent until the end of 2012 for two-bedroom apartments starting at $2,150 at its Riverwalk community in Elmwood Park, N.J.
“When added up, the free rent is a significant amount of savings,” Jacqueline Urgo, president of The Marketing Directors, Riverwalk’s marking and leasing agent, said in a press statement. “It represents money that can go directly back into our renters’ pockets and be used for moving expenses, new furniture and more.”
Phase I of Riverwalk, which features 91 one- and two-bedroom apartments, is currently open for leasing. When completed, the community will feature 158 units, as well as 17,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
Riverwalk units feature kitchens with granite countertops, tile flooring, glass-tile backsplashes and stainless steel appliances. Bathrooms include custom vanities with gold marble tops. Additionally, apartments include a full-size washer and dryer.
Building amenities for Riverwalk include a fitness center, security system, on-site parking and private river walk.
Urgo hopes that the ‘Live Free ‘Til 2013’ program will be the icing on the cake for prospective residents.
“We are creating unique ways to offer value and bring attention to Riverwalk, and we thought the possibility of offering ‘free rent’ would be hard for many to pass up,” Urgo says.


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Christmas Goose Boutique back
Candy, cookies, jams and fudge are just a few of the confections early holiday shoppers can pick up at Christmas Goose Boutique, Nov. 7-11 at the History Club of Los Gatos, 123 Los Gatos Blvd. Admission is free.
The boutique features handcrafted items, including jewelry, clothing and seasonal gifts.
The popular boutique started in Saratoga 32 years ago and moved to Los Gatos several years ago. Visit christmas gooseboutique.com.
‘Grammie Guide’ filled with advice
Four local grandmothers will talk about their new book, The Grammie Guide, at the Saratoga library, 13650 Saratoga Ave., on Nov. 7 at 10 a.m.
The book offers grandparenting advice and was written by Lynne Noel, Laurie Mobilio, Cindy Summers and Jan Eby. It draws on their many years of experience as parents, grandparents and educators. Eby, for instance, has been a teacher at the Mountain School on Black Road for more than 30 years.
Teen a Siemens semifinalist
Los Gatos resident Saachi Jain, a junior at The Harker School, has been named a semifinalist in the Siemens competition in math, science and technology. Her project, with fellow student Anika Gupta, explored how a bacteria that is present in half the world’s population may contribute to gastrointestinal diseases such as cancer and ulcers.
“Our findings could impact the development of drugs and other treatments,” Saachi said. The teens each received a $1,000 prize.


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SFGate reports: Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired online video-sharing site Grouper Networks Inc. for $65 million, giving the movie studio a foothold in the fast-growing world of user-generated video.Sony said Tuesday it does not immediately plan to sell its movies or TV shows on the Grouper.com site, although it may in the future. Media companies, including Sony, have begun to offer content side by side with videos shot by amateurs on sites such as MySpace, Guba and BitTorrent. Grouper will remain an independent company based in Sausalito and will retain its current management team, the companies said.
“Consumers are spending more and more time on sites like Grouper, and as one of the world’s largest creators of entertainment, we want to be where the audiences are,” said Michael Lynton, chairman and chief executive of Sony Pictures, part of Sony Corp.
P.S. CubeBreak is still for sale. Act before Labor Day and you can take advantage of a “back to school discount” for a low price of $900K.


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Food consumption and flavour influenced by pre-meal rituals, Study
Ritualistic behaviours can influence perception of flavour and consumption of foods, according to research from the University of Minnesota.
The new collection of studies, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, on 23 July 2013, found that the rituals performed before eating – even the seemingly insignificant ones – can actually change the perception of the food eaten, improving the food’s taste.
“Whenever I order an espresso, I take a sugar packet and shake it, open the packet and pour a teeny bit of sugar in, and then taste,” said Marketing Professor Kathleen Vohs of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. “It’s never enough sugar, so then I pour about half the packet in. The thing is, this isn’t a functional ritual – I should just skip right to pouring in half the packet,” she said.
Professor Vohs said she wondered about the power of such rituals, so she and colleagues conducted four experiments to investigate how these kind of ritualistic behaviours might influence the perception and consumption of various foods.
In the first experiment, the researchers asked some participants to eat a piece of chocolate following a detailed set of instructions: “Without unwrapping the chocolate bar, break it in half. Unwrap half of the bar and eat it. Then, unwrap the other half and eat it.”
The other participants were instructed simply to relax for a short period of time and then eat the chocolate bar in whatever way they wished.
The results of the experiment showed that the participants who had performed the ‘ritual’ rated the chocolate more highly, savoured it more, and were willing to pay more for the chocolate than the other group. The researchers said the findings suggest that even a short, fabricated ritual “can produce real effects”.
A second experiment reinforced these findings, showing that random movements do not product a more enjoyable eating experience. According to the researchers, only repeated, episodic, and fixed behaviours seemed to change the participants’ perception of food.
According to the researchers, the data from the studies also revealed that a longer delay between ritual and consumption bolstered the effects of the ritual, even with a neutral food like carrots. The anticipation of eating carrots following a ritual actually improved their subjective taste, the researchers said.
Personal involvement in ritual important
In the final two studies, Professor Vohs and her colleagues showed that personal involvement in the ritual was “paramount”, and that watching someone else perform the ritual did not make it taste better.
The researchers found that “intrinsic interest” – the fact that rituals draw people into what they are doing – fully accounted for the positive effects that rituals have on eating experiences.
According to the researchers, the findings may have an application in situations other than mealtimes too.
“We are thinking of getting patients to perform rituals before a surgery and then measuring their pain post-operatively, and how fast they heal,” Professor Vohs said.
Co-authors in the research included Yanjin Wang of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, Francesca Gino and Michael Norton of Harvard Business School.
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Jeff, an omnichannel ecosystem for daily services, is looking at expanding its footprint in the Philippines. Last year, amid the threats of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Spanish startup opened at least 185 […]
Spanish startup expands services in PH, launches app
Spanish startup Mr Jeff is expanding its laundry service franchises across Asia through the help of its newly launched app. The company also decided to rebrand simply as “Jeff.” Mr Jeff sold […]
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Copyright and Video Games
The train of examples of absurd applications of modern patent and copyright law is seemingly endless.
One that caught my eye is the trademark and copyright infringement suit by comic publisher Marvel (my favorite) over the role-playing video game City of Heroes. The game lets players create the look and abilities of superheroes who battle each other in a virtual city. While the game prevents players from using Marvel-trademarked names, it offers trillions of costume combinations, so that a player is free to make his character big and green and wear purple pants like the Hulk.
Marvel claims that the interactive game companies that make and sell the game (Cryptic Stuids and NCsoft) are responsible for the infringing uses of their players. According to Marvel, the game should not allow players to make virtual characters that are too similar to "The Hulk," "X-Men" etc.
"Marvel seeks unspecified damages and an injunction against the two companies to stop using its characters."Marvel claims "that the game's character creation engine easily allows players to design characters that are virtual copies of its own superheros, including "The Incredible Hulk.""
"The company singles out a game feature for creating "a gigantic, green, 'science-based tanker'-type hero that moves and behaves nearly identically" to the "Hulk." Players can also create a "mutant-based" hero powers and a costume nearly identical to Marvel's "Wolverine," according to the suit."
In other words, a kid playing a video game with another kid, by painting his character the color "green" and making him "strong" and wearing pants colored purple .... is somehow violating Marvel's property rights? Visualize some kid staying up late at night, in bed with the covers over his head and a flashlight on so mom won't catch him up late, sketching his favorite Marvel characters on a piece of paper. Little to the Marvel executives know, as they sleep soundly at night, that in some unknown 12 year old's bedroom, their "rights" are being "violated"! One is tempted to call this ridiculous and an abuse of copyright law, but it's not. It's the type of absurd result that is inevitable once property rights are legislated in non-scarce resources and are based on inherently arbitrary and non-objective criteria.


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Check out this photo from New York magazine’s Grub Street blog. It’s a gorgeous shot of the foie gras Chantilly “taco” served at P*ONG in New York City.
Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Habana Premium, the local cigar shop that is understandably excited by the news coming out of Cuba, is sponsoring three upcoming dinners featuring food and cigars. The dates, places and prices:
Feb. 29, 5-9 p.m.: Cigar Happy 4 Hours, the Pub, 201 Columbia St., Cohoes. Beer, bourbon and vodka tasting. Each guest receives two cigars. Food includes sliders, minidogs, wings, shrimp, etc. To benefit breast-cancer research. $25 per person.
March 4, 6-9 p.m.: Cigar Dinner, Chip Shots at town of Colonie golf course. Two premium hand-rolled cigars, eggplant carozza, penne arrabiata, shells and broccoli, chicken bianco, stuffed pork chops, vodka and scotch stations.
March 13, 6 p.m.: Manhattans, Martinis and Montecristos, Best Western, 200 Wolf Road, Colonie. Drinks, cigars and finger foods, to benefit Ronald McDonald House. $50.
Reservations required for each event; call 690-2222. Habana Premium’s shops are located at 1537 Central Ave., Colonie; 426 State St., Schenectady; and Parade Ground Village, Route 9, Malta.
From The AP:
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press Writer
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. — The Campbell Soup Co.’s kid-oriented soups, which feature characters such as Dora the Explorer and Batman on the cans, are getting their second sodium reduction in three years, the company announced Monday.
This time, the 12 soups for kids will have 480 milligrams per serving, which means the company can legally label them as healthy foods for the first time.
“Your kids can enjoy Dora the Explorer even more,” said Douglas R. Conant, Campbell’s president and chief executive, said in an interview. “They’ll be down to heart-healthy levels.”
For Camden-based Campbell’s, high sodium levels have been a big health concern for decades for products that are otherwise generally healthy.
The Williams-Sonoma store in Crossgates Mall in Guilderland has announced the details of its next round of kitchen-technique demonstrations, being held at the store on Sundays in March through May. The demonstrations are free.
The lineup and start times (call the store, 456-0201, to double-check the time as each class date approaches):
- March 2: Easter Baking & Cupcake Decorating. Noon.
- March 9: Souffles. Noon.
- March 16: Easter Egg Decorating. 11 a.m.
- March 30. Cooking with Balsamic Vinegar. 11 a.m.
- April 6: Knife Skills. Noon.
- April 20: Spring Pasta & KitchenAid Mixer. 11 a.m.
- May 4. Breakfast for Mom. 11 a.m.
- May 18. Grilling 101. 11 a.m.
Check out this obituary from The New York Times. Short version:
A successful businessman before becoming a winemaker in the 1960s, [Peter] Newton was part of the first wave of vintners who helped turn Napa into a premier winemaking region. With Michael Stone, he founded Sterling Vineyards near Calistoga, Calif., in 1964.
Sterling released its first vintage in 1969 and soon became known for its cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay. Newton was also known as one of the first winemakers in the region to plant merlot. (At the time, most Napa vintners regarded the merlot grape as too temperamental to be worth the trouble.) …
In 1977, Newton and his wife, Su Hua, founded Newton Vineyard in St. Helena. Its chardonnays and merlots – most of them unfiltered, barrel aged and fermented with natural local yeasts — were regularly praised by critics for their subtlety, finesse and depth of flavor.
This struck me as interesting, curious and a little unexpected — laudable, too, but still unexpected. From The AP:
NEW YORK — Spending time behind bars in New York City might turn out to be good for your health.
The overhauled menu at the city’s jails includes no sweets, no butter and only skim milk. The Department of Corrections wants healthy alternatives to traditional jailhouse grub.
A breakfast might include fresh fruit, whole wheat bread and wheat flakes. A sample dinner: pepper steak, rice and steamed carrots.
“These people are in our custody, and they don’t get to make their own choices,” said Department of Correction Commissioner Martin Horn. “We have a moral obligation to make sound choices for them.”
The healthier menu costs the city as much as the previous one, which had included white bread and sweetened drinks, Horn said.
Maestro’s Restaurant in Saratoga Springs has signed up with the online reservations system OpenTable and, to promote the service, is offering any bottle of wine on its list for half-price* to anyone who makes a reservation through OpenTable by Feb. 29.
OpenTable, which allows diners to make free reservations at thousands of restaurants, is slowly making inroads into the Capital Region. In addition to Maestro’s, it is used by Chez Sophie, also in Saratoga; Jack’s Oyster House, Yono’s and Carmine’s, all in Albany; Provence in Stuyvesant Plaza; and Milano in Latham.
*The fine print: Reservation must be made by Feb. 29 but can be for any future date. The promotion requires the purchase of two dinner entrees. One half-price bottle per table; cannot be used with any other special offers.
Sutter’s Mill & Mining Co. in Albany is holding its sixth annual Sutter’s Original Steerburger-Eating Contest to raise money for the State Police K-9 unit. Last year’s contest raised $850, enough to buy a bulletproof vest for a State Police dog. The goal for this is $1,000, for another vest and a donation to the State Police PBA.
Scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 29, the contest will pit challengers against one another to see who can eat the most 8-ounce Sutter’s burgers, bun included, in 20 minutes. Last year’s winner consumed 9½ burgers.
The contest costs $20 to enter, and advance signup is requested; stop by Sutter’s or call 489-4910. People wishing to donate to the cause without having to stuff themselves with beef may drop off or mail a check, made out to Sutter’s and with “Steerburger-Eating Contest” in the memo line, to Sutter’s at 1200 Western Ave., Albany, 12203.


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Truck thieves steal a good sleep
FORTY Winks Toowoomba proprietor Michael Swinton is losing sleep after thieves stole the store's only delivery truck.
The 2004 Mitsubishi Canter truck, covered in Forty Winks signage, was stolen from the Ruthven St store car park overnight Saturday.
Mr Swinton said the theft couldn't have happened at a worse time.
"It is an awful nuisance coming into January, which is our busiest time of the year," Mr Swinton said.
"We are going to have to hire a truck quickly but we are not going to be able to buy a truck of that quality for what it is insured for."
Mr Swinton said he bought the truck seven years ago for $60,000.
"We thought it would just turn up at first, that it was stolen by joyriders," he said. "But by the fact there was no (broken) glass at the scene, they obviously knew what they were doing.
"And if it hasn't turned up by now, it tells me it was someone who had a plan and it's either been repainted or stripped."
The truck's registration number is 226 HPC.
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800333000.


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Kamaindia is pleased to inform you that ‘2019 aT-INDIA Business Meeting’ is going to take place in The Lalit New Delhi on 5th November, 2019. With 5 Korean companies from Food, Agro, FMCG, Dairy & Beverages industry will have their presence this time to showcase themselves in an attempt to have a business with you.
This event is hosted and organized by Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation(aT). Korean companies are coming to meet Indian companies who are interested in Food, Agro, FMCG, Dairy & Beverages industry and expanding their business. Kamaindia believes that this will open great opportunities to build meaningful business relations between both sides and we would like to invite you for the 1:1 business meeting.


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“Black Panther” is one of the most buzzed-about Marvel movies in years, but a British retailer apparently had a hard time remembering the name of the superhero film.
Tesco, a large supermarket and department store chain, said it was “extremely sorry” on Monday after labeling a “fancy dress costume” -- which was supposed to be a replica of the “Black Panther” suit -- as “Dark Panther" in online advertisements.
Images of the “Marvel Avengers Dark Panther Fancy Dress” costume began circulating on social media over the weekend after several people noticed the mistake on Tesco's website and posted screenshots of the item. Some users even demanded an explanation for the odd mistake.
“Tesco please can you explain this to me? Why does this costume say 'dark' #panther[?] There is no dark panther in the kingdom of #Wakanda[,] it is #BLACKpanther,” one user wrote, adding, "Why have you done this to me?"
Another tweeted, “I want to know why #Tesco has called this a ‘DARK’ Panther outfit. @Tesco who is the DARK Panther?" along with several hashtags including #EpicFail, #FixThis, #DontPlay, #ChangeIt and #DarkPantherWho.
Tesco issued a statement to the BBC on Monday, saying the "Dark Panther" costume's name was merely a "mistake" and not a new brand, as some critics thought it may have been.
"This was a mistake and we are extremely sorry for any offense caused,” the company said in a statement. "We are correcting the description of this product on our website and are reviewing our processes to ensure this doesn't happen again."
“Black Panther” became one of only four movies in history to gross $100 million in the U.S. in the second week. The Marvel film took in more than $200 million on its opening weekend, and has already $700 million worldwide.


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So, this is what it appears like after we do all of our buying on-line and an Amazon fulfillment center comes to city and places everybody else out of enterprise? At the least, this is what it appears like on “South Park.”
Comedy Central’s long-running animated sequence has taken on Amazon in two episodes to shut out the present’s twenty second season. Episode 9, titled “Unfulfilled” — which you’ll watch for free right here — aired on Dec. 5, and the season finale, titled “Bike Parade,” airs Wednesday evening and will start streaming on Thursday.
“Unfulfilled” is centered round a new fulfillment center on the town and one employee particularly, Stephen Stotch, who is a slave to the grind in order that he should buy extra gadgets on Amazon and watch extra movies and pay attention to extra music on Prime.
“We needs to be grateful we even have jobs,” Stotch tells one other employee over beers at an Amazon microbrewery. “Earlier than the fulfillment center opened we didn’t actually have something.”
“We had our dignity!” the man replies.
When a employee named Josh is injured by robots and different equipment at work, the firm blames it on human error and Josh’s co-workers go on strike.
At the similar time, Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Kenny are ready on bike elements to be shipped in order that they’ll enter a native bike parade. However the strike has shut down all package deal supply. And an interview with Josh the injured employee makes the episode’s key level clear — “the working class wants to revolt towards capitalism and result in socioeconomic emancipation.”
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos comes to city and meets with the mayor threatens to take away her Prime membership. “If everybody stays unfulfilled will probably be you who pays the value,” he says with a creepy alien thought-voice.
Watch the full episode to get the full image of what it appears like when folks can’t get their stuff, what buyers did earlier than Amazon, and how the employee feels when he loses his Prime standing.


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Govt agrees to provide the 2 sen per kWh rebate to all TNB accounts, domestic and non-domestic, for 6 months
by RAHIMI YUNUS / Pic by TMR FILE PIX
ABOUT 7.5 million domestic electric consumers with Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) accounts would see a bill reduction of between 3.6% and 9.2% next year with a two sen per kilowatt-hour (kWh) rebate, as the government maintained the electricity basic tariff rate at 39.45 sen per kWh for 2021.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said commercial consumers are expected to see their electricity bills reduced by between 4% and 5.2%, while industrial consumers would enjoy between 4.6% and 6.1% reduction with the rebate given.
He said the government agreed to provide the two sen per kWh rebate to all TNB accounts — domestic and non-domestic for six months — from Jan 1, 2021, until June 30, 2021, following the extension of TNB Regulatory Period 2 under the Incentive Based Regulation (IBR) until Dec 31, 2021.
This is in line with the imbalance cost pass-through (ICPT) mechanism under the IBR system that was introduced in January 2014.
“The government hopes that this rebate can help reduce the cost of living of the people and the cost of doing business after being affected by the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Shamsul Anuar said during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
With reduced prices of coal and natural gas in the second half of 2020 (2H20), he said the government agreed to pass the fuel cost savings to all TNB consumers via the rebate. Electricity consumers in the country have been enjoying such rebates since July 2018.
TNB has to contend with fluctuating fuel costs, and the ICPT mechanism takes into account such shifts in prices every half year.
The ICPT is calculated by comparing the actual generation and fuel costs with projections from the previous six months.
The utility firm will transfer the difference in any changes of fuel costs to consumers via a surcharge, if prices go up, or a rebate if they fall.
There are uncontrollable factors by the government and TNB, for instance, given over 50% of electricity generated in Peninsular Malaysia comes from coal-fired power plants, and coal is imported from overseas.
The utility is expected to match any increased tariffs with improved service quality.
Basic components of electricity tariff consist of generation costs, single buyer operations and grid operator operations, transmission and distribution. Fuel makes up more than 40% of the costs.
Another key aspect of the IBR is the implementation of separate account reporting, where each of TNB’s business entity is measured separately for efficiency and cost-effectiveness.


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US payments start-up Marqeta, which counts the likes of Uber Technologies and Stripe among existing backers, has priced its IPO well above the target range to raise $1.2 billion, a person familiar with the matter said.
Marqeta sold 45.45 million shares at $27 per share, the source said. It has earlier set a price range of $20 to $24 a share.
On a fully diluted basis, which includes securities such as stock options and restricted stock units, Marqeta is currently valued at $15.23 billion, based on its IPO price.
The company had been valued at $4.3 billion when it raised $150 million from investors in May last year. Excluding employee stock options, Marqeta will have a market capitalization of $14.3 billion.
The source requested anonymity as the details were not yet public. Marqeta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Marqeta’s IPO comes at a time when investors are betting big on high-growth FinTech start-ups, which have received a boost during the seemingly endless global coronavirus pandemic that forced consumers to use more online financial services. A number of payments start-ups such as Flywire and Paymentus have gone public in recent weeks.
Marqeta, whose customers include Uber Technologies, food delivery company DoorDash Inc and payment firm Square Inc, previously disclosed that its revenue risen more than two-fold to $290.3 million in 2020 as homebound customers shopped more online.
Oakland, California-based Marqeta was launched in 2010 and helps companies issue credit and debit cards to their staff.
It offers a feature called “Just-In-Time Funding” that circumvents the need to maintain sufficient balances for each cardholder transaction. Funds are automatically transferred into the account at the time of the transaction.
Marqeta’s shares are scheduled to start trading on Wednesday on the Nasdaq under the symbol “MQ.” Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are the lead underwriters for the offering.
The team at Platform Executive hope you have enjoyed the ‘Marqeta prices IPO above range, valuing it at $15 billion‘ article. Automatic translation from English to a growing list of languages via Google AI Cloud Translation. Initial reporting via our official content partners at Thomson Reuters. Reporting by Echo Wang. Editing by Lincoln Feast.
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This October Fairtrade kicks off its 25th birthday celebrations with a long weekend of parties, activities and events from Friday 4th- Monday 7th October 2019, which will see the public show their ongoing support for the 1.6million farmers and workers behind the UK’s most visible ethical label.
Celebrating the 25th anniversary since the first few FAIRTRADE Mark certified products were launched by Cafédirect, Clipper tea, Green & Black’s and Percol Coffee in 1994, the Fairtrade Foundation thanks the public for fighting for the rights of vulnerable people who are exploited by trade. Thanks to the demands of consumers today there are around 5,000 Fairtrade-certified products on sale in the UK.
Michael Gidney, Chief Executive of the Fairtrade Foundation, said:
“Twenty-five years ago most companies paid little attention to the human cost of their business and most people were unaware of the poverty and degradation that was the reality of life for millions of farmers and workers around the world. Fairtrade set out to change that and put people and the planet before profit. Many said it couldn’t be done, but the public took Fairtrade to their hearts and into their shopping baskets from Day One. Together we led a revolution in the way food is traded. Millions around the world now benefit from fairer trading terms and better working conditions than would ever have been possible before.”
The growth of the market over 25 years has made Fairtrade the most visible ethical label in the UK, recognised by 9 out of 10 people and trusted by 84% of consumers. In fact, the principles of fair treatment for the people in developing countries who work hard to produce food, cotton and other consumer goods is a personal value that 62% of Brits hold.
Across five regions of the UK campaigners will be holding big ‘Make your Mark Count’ events and in addition to this thousands of Fairtrade communities, including churches, faith groups, schools and universities are throwing local birthday parties from Friday 4th October and celebrating the people behind some of Fairtrade’s most iconic products.
Thousands of people will also be highlighting the ongoing poverty experienced by millions of people who continue to lose out from trade, such as the cocoa farmers who earn as little as 74p per day. Since global market prices for cocoa and coffee crashed in 2017, the people who grow these crops have been receiving historically low returns and cannot pay for life’s basics.
Michael Gidney adds: “Today Fairtrade products are widely available and our values have been embraced by some of the UK’s biggest businesses from Waitrose and the Co-op to Greggs and Ben & Jerry’s. This is an extraordinary beginning, but still millions of farmers and workers continue to face risks every day from climate change, price volatility and unscrupulous buyers. We must end this exploitation, which makes people poorer and the planet dirtier. It’s certain we will not achieve the UN Global Goals of ending poverty and ensuring sustainable production unless we do. This is a great challenge, but Fairtrade is proof of what is possible when millions of people pull together.”
The international Fairtrade movement was a reaction to the crises facing coffee farmers when the price they received for their crops collapsed. Despite the success of the global Fairtrade market, the problems facing farmers and workers around the world continue, which is why the organisation is campaigning for living incomes to become a reality for all farmers and workers.


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Nvidia Corp.’s financial results were a bit of a surprise for investors, and not in a good way — product inventories doubled to a record high as the chip company gears up for a questionable holiday season.
Nvidia reported fiscal third-quarter earnings that were slightly better than analysts’ lowered expectations on Wednesday, but the numbers weren’t huge. Revenue fell 17% to $5.9 billion, while earnings halved thanks to a $702 million inventory charge, largely related to slower data center demand in China.
Gaming revenue in the quarter fell 51% to $1.57 billion. Nvidia said it is working with its retail partners to help move the high-channel inventory.
While the company was writing off inventory for China, its own new product inventory was growing. Nvidia NVDA,
reported that total product inventory nearly doubled to $4.45 billion in the third quarter, compared with $2.23 billion a year ago and $3.89 billion in the previous quarter. Executives cited the upcoming product launches, designed around the new Ada and Hopper architectures, when asked about the inventory gain.
In the semiconductor industry, high inventories can make investors nervous, especially after the industry has faced so many supply constraints in recent years that quickly swung into a glut of chips in 2022. With doubts about demand for playing cards and consumers̵[ads1]7; willingness to spend sky-high inflation this the holiday season, having all that product on hand just adds to the nerves.
Full earnings coverage: Nvidia profit halved, but custom servers for China offset earlier $400m warning
CFO Colette Kress told MarketWatch in a phone interview Wednesday that the company’s high inventory levels were relative to its high revenue levels.
“I think … it’s our highest level of inventory,” she said. “They go hand in hand.” Kress said she was confident in the success of Nvidia’s upcoming product launches.
Nvidia’s revenue peaked in the April 2022 quarter at $8.3 billion, and in the past two quarters, revenue has slowed, with sluggish gaming demand amid a transition to a new cycle, and a slowdown in China’s data center demand due to COVID -19 lockdowns and US government restrictions.
For its data center customers, the new architectures promise major advances in computing power and artificial intelligence capabilities, and Nvidia plans to ship the equivalent of a supercomputer in a box with its new products within the next year. These types of advanced products weigh even more heavily on inventory, Kress said, because of the price of the total package.
“It’s about the complexity of the system we’re building, it’s what drives the inventory, the pieces of it together,” Kress said.
Bernstein Research analyst Stacy Rasgon believes that products based on the Hopper will begin shipping in the next few quarters, “at significantly higher price points.” He said in a recent note that he thinks Nvidia’s numbers likely bottomed out this quarter.
“We remain bullish on the Hopper ramp into next year and believe that at this point numbers have likely bottomed out, with new cycles underway and an attractive secular story even without China potential,” Rasgon said in a preview note on Tuesday.
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reminded investors on a conference call that the company’s inventory is “never zero,” and said everyone is excited about the upcoming launches. But it doesn’t take too long a memory to conjure up a time when Nvidia went into a holiday with a stock backlog that included new architecture and sorely disappointed investors: Four years ago, Huang had to cut his holiday revenue forecast twice amid a “crypto hangover ” with similar dynamics to the current moment
Investors need faith that this holiday season won’t be the same, even as demand for some video game products slows after a pandemic boom just as the cryptocurrency market — some of which has been mined with Nvidia products — has had a rough patch. Huang said Nvidia’s RTX 4080 and 4090 graphics cards based on the Ada Lovelace architecture had an “exceptional launch”, and sold out.
Nvidia shares rose more than 2% in after-hours trading Wednesday, suggesting some are betting this time will be different. That enthusiasm needs to translate into revenue for Nvidia so that this big gain in inventory doesn’t end up being part of another write-down at some point in the future.


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RIP-OFF ALERT: Have you seen those ads for screaming deals on repossessed or government vehicles at car dealerships? Those cars may not be what they seem, according to The Cleveland Plains Dealer.
The newspaper reports there are firms that approach dealers with a marketing plan to drum up traffic that involves spreading the word about the sale of supposed repo or government vehicles. The only problem is the dealers don’t have repo or government cars on their lots. It’s all a big fat lie.
Now 10 states have compelled one particularly egregious marketer to change its advertising tactics when it comes to the business they do with dealerships. Those states include Ohio, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Washington.
This whole issue goes to a core problem with used car sales. Look at a used car declaration — that white sticker on the window at the dealership — and you’ll see boxes that say “with warranty” or “as is.” The wording that is featured below the checkboxes basically says the seller is allowed to lie to you about the condition of the car, in so many words.
Whenever you’re buying used, I have 2 key rules:
- You need to have that vehicle inspected by an independent mechanic of your choosing as a condition of purchase. Even if it’s a “certified vehicle.”
- Ask the seller for the vehicle identification number. If they’re reluctant to give it to you, that could indicate the vehicle is salvaged, a stolen ride or who knows what.


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The COVID-19 pandemic has not changed everything. Hospitality will always be about people, and experiences. The front desk must stay.
Search Results for: technology
Travel Agents will save the GDS distribution surcharge ranging between USD 14 and 25 per ticket depending on sector length recently announced by Emirates to mitigate the higher cost Emirates incurs through GDS distribution, from 01 July 2021.
RevSol, a Kenya based hospitality technology solutions provider, has partnered with hotel distribution technology leader eRevMax.
Sabre Corporation and Google have jointly developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven technology platform.
Travelport has been awarded a new long-term technology contract by Australia and New Zealand’s top online travel agency, Webjet.
Hospitality analytics leader SnapShot rolls out a Crunchbase-like Hotel Technology Index, a comprehensive database featuring hotel software and technology providers crucial for hospitality professionals.
Sabre Corporation is developing travel services that work across the emerging spectrum of wearable technology including smartwatches and Google Glass, preparing for the dramatic impact wearables will have on the way consumers shop for and experience travel.
Travel Technology Europe (TTE) will host its 12th annual event coming February 25th and 26th to the Olympia Exhibition Center in London.
Amedia Hotel Berlin is the first property of Amedia Hotel Group completely deployed and serviced by Swisscom. Swisscom will provide the technical infrastructure for 11 more Amedia hotels across Germany and Austria, totaling 1,200 guest rooms. Swisscom Hospitality was selected by Amedia Hotel Group to deliver triple-play service with a cloud-based VoIP solution. “Swisscom was […]
If you ever have even 15 minutes of free time and catch the adventure bug, whip out your smartphone and experience geocaching.
A recent study from PhoCusWright Inc. sponsored by Rearden Commerce revealed that the use of mobile technology by business travelers continues to increase, with more than 75% of business travelers accessing the Internet via mobile phones.
HCN is an in-room technology that can eliminate or reduce hotel expenditures while improving service for guests.
Greece’s leading hospitality group HotelBrain has announced having expanded its portfolio of properties by adding 14 new leased hotels.
Industry veteran George Mavrokostas has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cyprus Airways.
The Greek government is looking to offer visas to digital nomads who have the capability of working remotely anywhere in the world.


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A new state-of-the-art gaming facility should help Kingston University produce industry leaders in game development. Every desk in the laboratory has an Xbox and a handheld Sony PSP game console, and development hardware links the consoles to PCs. Students also get to use special development software provided by Sony and Microsoft to gain hands-on experience. "The students can work together taking on a variety of development roles and can use a lot of different equipment simultaneously — all of which reflects what they will find in the real world," says Kingston's games technology field leader Darrel Greenhill.
The lab also features three pairs of large projector screens, which will enable the class to study code and see the corresponding graphics at the same time. Teachers also will be able to display the work of students for discussion.
Kingston offers both games programming and games technology degrees, and students will be able to study games development at the postgraduate level beginning in 2010. "With the new courses and our new games lab, I would definitely say we are ahead of the game at Kingston," Greenhill says.
From Kingston University London (U.K.)
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Abstracts Copyright © 2009 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
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The cloning of animals for meat and milk is now technologically possible, although the high costs of the actual cloning mean that products from the progeny of clones would be most likely to enter the food chain.
The European Commission has previously said that meat and milk from cloned animals are “expected to spread within the global food as early as 2010”, according to a Parliament communiqué.
Before that happens, however, there are some serious issues of safety, ethics and consumer acceptance that need to be addressed.
The survey, conducted in July, involved 25,000 randomly selected citizens from across the 27 EU member states.
It found that there was a good (80 per cent of respondents) understanding of what cloning is. But an overwhelming 86 per cent were sceptical about who had the most to gain for cloning animals for food – saying the food industry would be in line for the greatest gains.
Fifty-four per cent said cloning would not ultimately benefit consumers; and 44 said it would not ultimately benefit farmers.
Some 43 per cent said they would not buy produce from cloned animals; and 41 per cent would not buy produce from the offspring of cloned animals.
Eighty-one per cent of respondents said that 81 per cent felt the long-term effects on nature are unknown, and 84 per cent said we do not have enough experience of the long-term health and safety effects.
An average of 58 per cent said they thought animal cloning for food use would never be justified; 38 per cent said that none of the potential benefits presented to them – whether health or economic – would justify cloning for food; but 41 per cent said it may be justified to improve animal robustness against diseases, and 44 per cent to preserve rare animal species.
Of those that did believe in the benefits some 54 per cent said cloning could help alleviate world food problems.
EU health commissioner Androulla Vassiliou called the insights provided by the survey “valuable”.
It provides the Commission with a third perspective on the matter, alongside opinions from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Group of Ethics (EGE), both of which were delivered earlier this year.
“The European Commission will now proceed with the analysis of [all three] elements before considering whether and what action may be necessary,” Vassiliou said.
EFSA and EGE opinions
EFSA concluded in its final opinion in July that food products from cloned pigs and cattle are “probably” safe.
However, it warned that the data available was 'limited'. Most of the studies conducted to date have been of small sample size and there is little information on animals remaining alive for considerable periods.
The EGE said in January that it did not see "convincing arguments to justify the production of food from clones and their offspring."
The prospect has met with strong resistance from the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee. In June, it called for the Commission to propose a ban on animal cloning and the marketing of products from cloned animals and their offspring – a resolution was approved by the MEP Intergroup on Animal Welfare.
Neil Parish, chairman of the Agriculture Committee, said: “[Cloned] animals suffer from many more ailments and generally live far shorter lives. From an agricultural perspective, there are serious questions over the effect of this on the gene pool, making cloned animals far more susceptible to disease.”


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The Guardian pulls out of Facebook’s Instant Articles and Apple News
Publishers aren’t happy with the deal platforms are cutting them. Now, the Guardian has dropped both Facebook’s fast-loading Instant Article format and will no longer publish content on Apple News.
The publisher had gone all-in on Instant Articles, running every single Guardian article via the format for the last year. It was one of first U.K. media owners to adopt the Facebook format, alongside BBC News in the spring of 2015. The Guardian was also among the first publishers to join the Apple News app when it launched in the U.K. in October 2015. It ran all its articles in the app.
A Guardian News and Media spokesperson confirmed the removal, and issued the following statement to Digiday: “We have run extensive trials on Facebook Instant Articles and Apple News to assess how they fit with our editorial and commercial objectives. Having evaluated these trials, we have decided to stop publishing in those formats on both platforms. Our primary objective is to bring audiences to the trusted environment of the Guardian to support building deeper relationships with our readers, and growing membership and contributions to fund our world-class journalism.”
The publisher ceased running content through both Apple News and Instant Articles today. The move is a clear sign of displeasure in how these platform-publishing initiatives have treated the business needs of the Guardian. Many publishers have complained the money they make off visits to IA pages, for example, do not measure up to what they get on their own sites.
The Guardian isn’t the only publisher that has lately cooled on Instant Articles, with several publishers are running far fewer articles within that format, according to analysis by NewsWhip. BBC News, National Geographic and The Wall Street Journal barely seem to be using Instant Articles either. The New York Times has pulled out altogether.
Plenty of publishers remain on IA, of course, but the loss of marquee publishers like The New York Times and the Guardian is not exactly a great sign of health. Other publishers are likely to take a hard look at where their interests intersect with Facebook’s. The same goes for Apple News, although signs point to many publishers seeing promise there.
The draw of Instant Articles was that they load much faster than the Facebook links that take readers back to most publishers’ own sites. Engagement is also supposedly higher on those articles than regular Facebook links. But Instant Articles keep people within the Facebook app, rather than sending readers through to a publisher’s own sites, where they can monetize them more effectively, and have better control of reader data.
The Guardian, under pressure to cut costs and boost revenue, is pushing forwards with its paying membership scheme, and for it to keep building that successfully it must prioritize driving readers back to its own site, where it can ask them to donate or become a paying member, as well as serve advertising.
It has notched up 200,000 paying members, and over 100,000 one-off donations in the past year. The goal: to reach 1 million paying subscribers by 2019. Although the Guardian hasn’t confirmed the specific revenue made, 200,000 members paying the minimum price tier of £5 a month (£60/$76 a year), would equate to £1 million ($1.3 million) a month, £12 million ($15 million) a year. If the million paying supporters paid the minimum membership of £60 ($77) a year, that would create £60 million ($77 million) in revenue.
Meanwhile the Guardian’s use of Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages, the rival to Instant Articles, seems to be going strong. In March the Guardian presented at AMP Conf, a two-day conference hosted in New York, where it revealed that 60 percent of the Guardian’s Google-referred mobile traffic was coming via AMP.
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