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Tuesday, Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Commercial expert joins executive board at VengSystem A/S
As just one in a series of steps towards strategic growth, VengSystem A/S is pleased to announce that Christen Højgaard Nielsen is joining the company’s board and ownership circle.
Christen Højgaard Nielsen has a solid background in international commerce gained through a long career as senior executive at companies such as SKOV A/S, Jamo A/S and, not least, Ortofon A/S, where, as CEO for several years, he steered a successful revitalisation of the company. Christen currently works as a professional board member and corporate advisor.
With his strong international and commercial profile, Christen complements his fellow board members and will undoubtedly make an invaluable contribution to ongoing strategic development at VengSystem A/S.
Christen Højgaard Nielsen not only becomes a board member, but also joins the ownership circle as an investor.
VengSystem is an international technology company that specialises in producing simple and versatile ventilation and microclimate solutions for livestock pens. Founded in 2000, the company is located in Skive Municipality in Denmark. The company is owned by a circle of private investors and employees.
VengSystem is an innovative company that has unswerving focus on making agriculture climate neutral. The company develops products in close cooperation with some of the world’s leading farmers, and its progress is driven by farmers’ challenges and needs.
Commercial expert joins executive board at VengSystem A/S As just one in a series of steps towards strategic growth, VengSys…
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
New Director of Production and Development
VengSystem is proud to announce that Carsten Møller Jensen is to become the company’s new Director of Production and Developm…
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
New heating lamp from VengSystem
Four new models to be delivered in the autumn, with a new sustainable bulb. We have improved the durability, the known bulb h…
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
Stop airborne diseases
The UV-C system from VengSystem protects your livestock from airborne diseases as PRRS, MYC, AP etc. The system adapts to alm…
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Next Level Farming
Welcome to our new website and our new brand identity. VengSystem is an innovative company that purposefully focuses on cont…
Thursday, January 20, 2022
Niels Veng turns 70
His birthday will of course be celebrated taking current COVID-19 restrictions into account. Niels Veng studied engineering a…
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Passion, People and Perfection
Our corporate values abbreviate to “The three Ps”: Passion, People and Perfection. Passion We are passionately devoted to m…
Monday, January 17, 2022
A new face at VengSystem
Welcome to Rasmus Thuesen. Rasmus starts work at VengSystem A/S as our new sales representative on 1 November. He will work w…
Monday, November 1, 2021


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Bombed-out department store chain Debenhams (DEB) rebounds 37.1% to 4.3p after securing fresh credit from lenders that will enable it to keep trading while it works out a ‘broader refinancing and recapitalisation’ package.
In a further positive for an embattled retailer whose newsflow has been consistently negative, Debenhams has agreed to develop a strategic sourcing partnership with Hong Kong-listed supply chain solutions specialist Li & Fung, which marks a key part of the turnaround under CEO Sergio Bucher’s Redesigned strategy.
Debenhams shares have completely cratered in recent years, so today’s leap is off a very low base. Furthermore, this is a heavily shorted stock, meaning any positive news can send the stock surging higher as short-sellers scramble to cover their positions.
DEBT RELIEF LIFELINE
There’s some relief for long-suffering shareholders today as Debenhams announces an extension of the terms on some of its debt, thereby increasing the short term cash available to the retailer by £40m.
The money borrowed provides ‘a bridge to facilitate a broader refinancing and recapitalisation’ and gives Debenhams, whose biggest shareholder is Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct (SPD), a bit more breathing room while it looks to secure its longer term future.
‘In this context, we are continuing to engage constructively with our stakeholders, and intend to conclude a comprehensive refinancing by the end of this period,’ says Debenhams, referring to the second quarter of 2019 and adding that ‘a further update will be provided in due course.’
The beleaguered Bucher insists the announcement ‘represents the first step in our refinancing process. The support of our lenders for our turnaround plan is important to underpin a comprehensive solution that will take account of the interests of all stakeholders, and deliver a sustainable and profitable future for Debenhams.
‘In addition, the partnership agreement we are announcing today with Li & Fung will be a key part of our turnaround plan’, helping his charge to ‘anticipate and respond more quickly to trends and our customers’ preferences, as well as delivering better quality product.'
Although the agreement is welcome news for investors and the structurally-challenged high street, Debenhams’ recovery prospects remain uncertain with the business straining under the load of its debts and having to shutter underperforming stores as shoppers move online and migrate to cheaper rivals.
A January trading update confirmed a tough festive period with like-for-like sales over Christmas down 3.4%. This marked an improvement over the preceding quarter, yet was achieved through significant margin-eroding discounts.

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What has loads of great deals, several new ships, an International Women’s Day celebration and took three cups of coffee to write? It’s a bumper cruise wrap!
Coral Adventurer completes successful sea trials
Coral Expeditions, Australia’s pioneering cruise company, has announced the successful and on-time completion of the first sea trials of its new world expedition ship Coral Adventurer.
A team of 12 senior marine and management staff from Coral Expeditions’ Cairns headquarters joined representatives from the shipyard and various systems manufacturers to put the vessel through her paces amidst rough sea conditions. True to her design intent, she demonstrated impressive stability and sea-keeping characteristics.
The Coral Adventurer will be the fourth ship in Coral Expeditions’ fleet of Australian flagged ships, all purpose-built for expedition-style cruising.
Following final touches, including the installation of a collection of Australian art and photographs, the Coral Adventurer will begin her sold-out maiden voyage from Singapore to Darwin on April 24th.
Scenic Unveils Best Offers for 2020 Europe River Cruises
Scenic has launched a preview of its 2020 Europe River Cruise program, with a range of limited time pre-release offers providing plenty of motivation for travellers to book now, to secure the best offer for travel in 2020.
Book before 30 April 2019 for these special offers:
- Included flights to Europe year round when booking any suite on a cruise of 11 days or longer;
- Upgrade to business class from $3,995 per person including taxes when booking a Sapphire or Diamond Deck suite on selected cruises of 11 days or longer throughout the year;
- 50 per cent off for the solo traveller when booking a suite on selected departures of 11 days or longer.
Travellers who pay in full by 31 May 2019 will also secure an additional $600 per couple discount when booking cruises of 11 days or longer, and $300 per couple when booking cruises of 10 days or less.
Golden Princess first Australian ship to feature ‘Best wi-fi at sea’ Melbourne-based ship to be activated with Medallionnet during 2019-20 season
Princess Cruises, the world’s largest international premium cruise line, announced today that MedallionNet- The Best Wi-Fi at Sea, will be available onboard Australian homeported Golden Princess from 20 December 2019 during the line’s 2019/2020 summer season.
Cruising out of Melbourne, guests onboard Golden Princess will be the first to enjoy the benefits of fast, reliable, and unlimited internet service locally as they sail on itineraries to New Zealand, South Australia and the South Pacific.
Cunard celebrates the contribution of women in the maritime sector ahead of International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day is this Friday (8 March 2019) and celebrating the role of women in the maritime sector has already begun, with a special event on board Cunard’s Queen Victoria over the weekend.
On Saturday (2 March 2019), iconic cruise line Cunard and Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd (PBPL) combined to invite 120 guests, predominantly women from across the Port of Brisbane precinct as well as others working in the industry, for a special ship tour and morning tea to celebrate the valuable contribution of women in the sector.
Ann Sherry AO, Carnival Australia Chairman, and Jerry Maycock, Port of Brisbane Chairman, hosted Queensland Premier, Hon Annastacia Palaszczuk MP on board Queen Victoria in Brisbane.
Celestyal Cruises announces extended 2019 and new 2020 itineraries including seven new ports of call
Celestyal Cruises, the award-winning, main home-porting cruise operator in Greece and the preeminent line serving the Greek Islands and the Mediterranean has extended the season with new 2019 and 2020 itineraries.
In 2019 Celestyal Cruises will extend its season through December and return to Istanbul for the first time since 2016 with its new seven-night Eclectic Aegean itinerary, which sails six departures from October 21st, 2019 through November 25th, 2019.
This “eclectic’ cruise includes an overnight stay in Istanbul and calls at Volos, Greece, for excursions to the stunning mountains of Meteora, and to Canakkale, Turkey, for excursions to Troy and Gallipoli. The seven-night “Eclectic Aegean” will also visit Heraklion and Santorini and, during its call at Mykonos, will depart at 2:00 a.m. so guests can fully enjoy the nightlife of this cosmopolitan island.
From Guernsey to the Scilly Isles, Kew Gardens to Flor og Fjære, enjoy the ethereal beauty of Europe’s gardens in spring with PONANT
Planning to be in Europe during April and May? Then why not add a 7 or 8-night PONANT small ship luxury cruise taking in a range of picture postcard ports featuring an array of stunning landscapes and public and private gardens?
PONANT offers a choice of itineraries including:
7 nights, Portsmouth to Dublin aboard L’Austral, featuring Celtic highlights and including Guernsey, the Scilly Isles, Cobh in County Cork and the fascinating Isle of Man. A voyage taking in little ports of call, less visited islands, Blarney, the old port of Liverpool and UNESCO World Heritage Sites including the Giant’s Causeway near Belfast.
22 April and 29 April 2019 departures – From AU$3,820pp in a deluxe Stateroom with private balcony. Bonus savings apply PLUS, for first-time PONANT travellers an introductory A$800 discount per person when booked before 31st March 2019.
Or an 8 night cruise, London to Bergen voyage aboard Le Boreal. Your voyage starts with a private tours of the famed Kew Gardens and Chelsea Physic Garden. After boarding Le Boreal, moored in the very heart of London, set sail to pass between the historic towers of Tower Bridge, the bridge raised specially to allow Le Boreal to pass through. Then on to the charming townhouses and canals of Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp. From Ostend, you may travel to Kasteel van Oostkerke while Newcastle offers the opportunity to visit Alnwick Castle and Herterton House. Norway’s Stavanger is home to the exotic gardens of Flor og Fjære.
Throughout this horticultural journey your guide will be Holly Shimizu, recently retired chief of the U. S. Botanical Gardens in Washington, D.C. and acting director of the American Horticultural Society, one of the most accomplished and respected botanists in the world.
14 May 2019 departure. From AU$5,940pp deluxe Stateroom with private balcony. PONANT Bonus savings apply PLUS, for first-time PONANT travellers an introductory A$800
discount per person when booked before 31st March 2019.
NO SINGLE SUPPLEMENT fares apply for this voyage.
Norwegian Cruise Line releases new Hawai’i and Aisa-Pacific cruising guides
Norwegian Cruise Line has just released its latest Hawai`i 2019-2022 and Australia, New Zealand, Asia & South Pacific 2019-2020 Cruising Guides. Each showcases Norwegian’s raft of cruise itineraries and unique product selling points for that region.
Norwegian’s 2019-2022 Hawai`i Cruising Guide features information on Pride of America’s award winning seven-day roundtrip cruise from Honolulu – Voted Best Hawaii Itinerary 13 years in a row by Porthole Cruise Magazine.
The brochure features Pride of America departures from March 2019 – April 2022 and is a must-read for anyone wanting to visit the Aloha State – with Norwegian being the only cruise line visiting four islands in seven days.
Norwegian’s new Australia, New Zealand, Asia & South Pacific Cruising Guide features an array of exciting itineraries departing from November 2019 – December 2020.
Guests will be able to take in mesmerising local destinations in Australia and New Zealand including Milford Sound, Bay of Islands, Eden and Burnie from aboard the recently refurbished Norwegian Jewel.
Asia itineraries aboard Norwegian Spirit and Norwegian Jade departing from November 2019 – April 2020 are also featured and include exotic ports such as Colombo, Phuket, Langkawi and Penang, to name but a few.
Adam Goldstein to address Cruise360
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has confirmed its recently appointed Global Chair Adam Goldstein will be among key speakers at this year’s Cruise360 Australasia conference, the industry’s peak annual forum for sharing ideas, knowledge and visions for the future.
Mr Goldstein, the Vice Chairman of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, will visit Sydney to join a full-day line-up of expert speakers and panel sessions on Friday August 30.
Cruise Line Treats Guests to an Exclusive Daryl Braithwaite Concert in Darwin
Guests on a luxury international cruise line will be treated to what might just be the most iconic Aussie experience imaginable on an upcoming voyage – an exclusive concert with Daryl Braithwaite and his band in Darwin.
Azamara Club Cruises boutique 690-guest ship, Azamara Quest, will offer the complimentary show exclusively to guests when the ship overnights in Darwin on 12 March, as part of a 14-Night Australia and Indonesia Voyage – meaning international and local guests can belt out “The Horses” with the legendary singer, included as part of their cruise.
Hosted at the Darwin Convention Centre, guests will be greeted with a cocktail reception on arrival, and a performance by Darwin local sensation, Ali Arjibuk Mills. – renowned for her stunning Kriol rendition of “Waltzing Matilda”. Darryl Braithwaite and his band will then take to the stage with a string of chart-topping hits.
Lindblad Expeditions, Inc. signs agreement with Ulstein Verft for building of second new polar vessel
Lindblad Expeditions Holdings Inc., a global leader of expedition cruises and adventure travel experiences, announced today that it has signed an agreement with Norwegian shipbuilder and ship designer Ulstein to build a new polar vessel, expanding the line’s National Geographic polar fleet to four ships.
This state-of-the-art vessel will be the next phase of Lindblad’s fleet expansion following the launches of new builds National Geographic Quest in July 2017, National Geographic Venture in December 2018 and the scheduled delivery of National Geographic Endurance in 2020.
The new ship is scheduled for delivery in late 2021. Sister ship to National Geographic Endurance, the polar vessel will be fully stabilised with the highest ice class (PC5 Category A) of any purpose-built passenger vessel, and will feature Ulstein’s signature X-BOW®, a unique design that affords the smoothest, most comfortable ride imaginable, in all sea behaviour, which results in greater fuel efficiency and fewer emissions, for reduced environmental impact.
Attention leap day babies! Carnival offers 50 per cent off with special 2020 cruise deal
Calling all Leapsters! With Leap Day Babies sadly missing their birthday for yet another year in 2019, Carnival Cruise Line is making up for it with a once-in-a-lifetime deal – an amazing birthday-bash at sea.
As an early present to Leapsters, Carnival is offering those born on February 29 the ultimate birthday package and half-price on a cruise that sails over their birthday in 2020.
Departing Melbourne on 27 February 2020, Carnival Spirit will set sail on a four-night cruise to Adelaide, allowing cruisers to sample the best that the Great Wine Capital of Australia has to offer in regions such as the Barossa Valley.
The following deal is exclusively for Leapsters and their loved ones who would like to help celebrate their “once-every-four-years” birthday party.
The unique birthday package includes:
• 50 per cent off cabin fare advertised on Carnival’s website (applies to everyone in one cabin) for the Melbourne–Adelaide cruise on 27 February 2020
• ‘Drinks on Us’* on your birthday, the 29 February 2020
• Leapsters will also be special guests at the exclusive Leap Day deck party
• A Leap Day birthday cake
• Special birthday credit of $150 to spend onboard at the spa, retail and on professional photos
Save on Greek island cruises
SMALL ship cruising specialist Beyond Travel has just released discounts of up to $3350 per couple on a selection of deluxe Mega-Yacht cruises through the Aegean Sea, for select departures in the upcoming summer season in May, July and August.
For those looking to do a cruise only, save up to $3000 per couple with prices starting from $3890 per person twin share.
Book and deposit by March 29 to receive the discounted prices.
Silversea’s tale of tales continues to unlock the world’s authentic beauty with remarkable enrichments
Silversea’s guests continue to enjoy a range of enrichments aboard the Tale of Tales World Cruise 2019, including a range of enrichment events including fascinating lectures from the voyage’s esteemed ‘Tale Tellers.’ Pico Iyer, Saroo Brierley, Harold Koda, and Laksmi Pamuntjak have each joined the Tale of Tales for one segment so far, delivering insightful talks, socialising with guests, and contributing a chapter to the Tale of Tales anthology. Silver Whisper is currently unlocking deep travel experiences for guests on the World Cruise’s fourth segment between Bali and Tokyo.


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As far as the General Foods Corporation is concerned, the decline of Maxwell House coffee has gone far enough, so the consumer-products subsidiary of the Philip Morris Companies has put the account into review.
That account is said to bill $50 million-plus a year, so the move is a severe blow to Ogilvy & Mather, which has had the account for more than 20 years. The slide of
Maxwell House has been precipitous. Its regular coffee lost nearly a full share point between 1983 and 1987, falling to 18.1 percent of the market, and its decaffeinated coffee lost almost half a point in the last two years, dropping to 2 percent. Meanwhile, Folger's, a
Procter & Gamble product, has solidified its position as No. 1, growing from 24.9 percent of the market to 31.3 percent between 1983 and 1987, according to figures compiled by John C. Maxwell Jr., an analyst with Wheat First Securities.
Ogilvy is apparently being invited to attempt to retain the account, and Young & Rubicam, it seems, is among those General Foods has asked to try to win it.Continue reading the main story


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A stall in growth at its core Internet business led AOL Time Warner on Thursday to switch Mike Kelly from the post of chief financial officer of the media conglom to chief operating officer of…
Multiple entities in the Disney, Viacom and NBC companies filed a joint lawsuit Wednesday against digital recording service ReplayTV and its parent company, SonicBlue, over new Replay features that…
John Ryan has stepped down as CEO of homevid and software copy protection firm Macrovision Corp.
Film processing lab Technicolor has opened the doors to Technique, a new digital mastering division set up to help studios reduce the number of film prints they need to color correct each time a pic…
"Star Wars" fans rejoiced Monday at the official word that a new trailer for "Episode II" will screen Friday before Disney/Pixar's "Monsters, Inc."
New York-based entertainment Netcaster and production company Heavy has inked a deal with Midway Games to license six of the gamemaker's arcade titles and make them available on the dot com.
Media.net has inked a deal with Columbia Pictures to link up the production offices of the studio's "I Spy" comedy actioner in Vancouver and Los Angeles using Media.net's high speed network.
The Walt Disney Internet Group has tapped Bruce Gordon as senior veep and chief financial officer.
Web design shop Dream Theater, which creates movie Web sites for various studios, as well as entertainment-based online campaigns for other brands, has been acquired by branding and design firm the…
David Silver has been tapped as prexy and CEO of Internet streaming video technology company Streaming21.


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Sept. 12, 2017 — Maurice Wutscher attorneys Alan Hochheiser and Donald Maurice will discuss consumer bankruptcy law as well as developments in debt collection at the ABA Business Law Section Annual Meeting in Chicago this week.
Alan Hochheiser will join a panel of experts including a bankruptcy judge from the Eastern District of New York in examining recent developments in consumer bankruptcy law. Panelists will review U.S. Supreme Court decisions and Circuit Court decisions in consumer bankruptcy over the last year and provide guidance for business lawyers in their dealings with consumer debtors.
Donald Maurice will moderate a Consumer Financial Services Roundtable on newly enacted state laws, regulations and rules impacting the debt collection industry. The 2017 state legislative session brought new licensing schemes and new data and document requirements for debt collection. The roundtable will outline the active states, explore some of the most notable changes and discuss what may be in store for the 2018 legislative session.
These sessions are among more than 90 CLE business law programs as well as topical forums covering the latest business law issues to be offered at this year’s annual meeting.
Click here for more information.


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Most of us claim to be financially literate, but we may not know as much about finance as we think.
In a recent survey by Ipsos Reid for LowestRates.ca, 78 per cent of respondents claimed to be financially literate. Yet, when tested on their financial knowledge, nearly 60 per cent failed to answer majority of the questions correctly.
According to this test by Ipsos containing 15 true-or-false questions, it seems Canadians are especially unclear about financial terminology concerning mortgages, auto insurance, and tax-free savings accounts.
Take the test bellow to see how financially savvy you really are. Do you think you can get a perfect score?


text: In recent years, Square Enix has come fully on board with remastered editions of past Final Fantasy games. \n \nWe've seen re-releases of popular titles like Final Fantasy X\/X2, Final Fantasy IX, and Final Fantasy VII, all with enhanced graphics and some special features. (The ability to max out your HP and have a full limit break on command can't be beaten!) \n \nThe most recent addition to the Final Fantasy remastered collection is Final Fantasy VIII, which rolled out on September 3rd for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. While Squall and the rest of SeeD are just the latest in a long line of remastered party members to hit next-generation consoles, Square might create an all-new revenue stream concept with the upcoming release of Final Fantasy VII Remake, coming to PlayStation 4 in March. \n \nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=liHKeemjdbI \n \nFinal Fantasy VII Remake is the first time Square has completely recreated an old Final Fantasy title from scratch with all-new graphics, voice acting, and story elements. \n \nIf this is a success, it could open a new trend in the company's storied RPG history. At least, that's what Final Fantasy VII Director Yoshinori Kitase said. \n \nWhen asked about a Final Fantasy VIII remake, Kitase seemed hopeful and described it as a real possibility. However, he was quick to point out that he would likely not be the one to undertake such a project. \n \n"If the youth that inherits the genes of Final Fantasy can step up and do it, then I'd like to see it made," Kitase said. He noted that the creation of Final Fantasy VII Remake came from his own personal passion for the game and a desire to recreate it with the technology of today. He expressed hope that the youth of Square Enix would bring a similar passion to the recreation of other games, like Final Fantasy VIII. \n \nWhile this is far from an official confirmation of an upcoming game from Square, it is interesting to note that the idea is being kicked around, at least on the creative level. The time and resources associated with such a project would be monumental, and Final Fantasy VIII was not the pop culture phenomenon that its direct predecessor was. \n \nThe gaming world has its eyes set upon Final Fantasy VII Remake. If it is the massive financial success that many are predicting, it is possible that we could see more classic RPG remakes coming, Final Fantasy VIII among them. \n \nFinal Fantasy VIII is an RPG that debuted in 1999 on the original Sony PlayStation. Players took control of Squall Leonhart, a stoic loner who wields the iconic Gunblade weapon. \n \nFinal Fantasy VII Remake is a complete remake of the original 1997 PlayStation game, Final Fantasy VII. This long-awaited title will release on March 3, 2020 for PlayStation 4.


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Amazon Alexa now reminds users when an event actually happens
Not just daily reminders, Amazon Alexa has started proactively notifying customers about when an event actually happens, along with giving background information.
Called "Tell me when," the new feature is currently available to Alexa users in the US.
The customers can now simply say, "Alexa, tell me when…" followed by an event they may not know the occurrence of, such as a sports team playing its next game, a TV show airing, an upcoming holiday, or an email received from an important contact.
Then Alexa will deliver a reminder when the requested event happens.
Another interesting case scenario is for email where the users can ask Alexa to tell them when an email arrives from a specific person.
The users can also automatically delete Alexa smart home history older than 3 or 18 months.
"It's even easier for customers in the US with the option to enable the auto-delete feature for information older than 3 or 18 months," Amazon Alexa informed in an update.
Choosing this new setting will automatically delete the status and usage information associated with an Alexa account for third-party smart home devices when older than 3 or 18 months.
Instead of going into the Alexa app or to the Alexa Privacy Settings page online to manage recordings, customers can now delete all of their saved voice recordings by simply asking Alexa.
Customers can say, "Alexa, delete everything I've said," and Alexa will delete all voice recordings associated with their account.


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Japanese firms are increasingly looking to capitalize on the pandemic-led shift to remote work.
Some are touting so-called "workations" as a way to combine business with pleasure.
Four companies have teamed up to offer corporate clients working-vacation programs at a resort site.
Mitsubishi Estate runs the location. Travel agency JTB handles accommodation and sales. The firms started selling packages in April.
The site offers ample opportunity for outdoor relaxation and fun, but also comes set up with facilities for work.
Government officials are also pushing a greater diversity in work styles. They're considering a system that would allow people to work for one employer just four days a week.
They predict some people would be tempted to use their extra time off to take second jobs in areas outside big cities -- a shift that could help revive regional economies.
The government would consider offering subsidies for transportation and accommodation expenses.


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Pew Research Center survey reports, demographic studies and data-driven analysis
Photos and Videos are Key Social Currency Online
Fully 46% of internet users post original photos and videos online and 41% curate photos and videos on image-sharing sites. Women are more likely than men to use Pinterest, while Instagram and Tumblr attract equal shares of men and women.
Smartphones Particularly Popular With Young Adults, High Earners
On the eve of Apple’s unveiling of the iPhone 5, 45% of American adults own smartphones. They are particularly popular with young adults and those living in relatively higher income households; 66% of those ages 18-29 own smartphones, and 68% of those living in households earning $75,000 also own them.
More Than Half of Mobile Users Avoid Certain Apps Due to Privacy Concerns
Fully 54% of mobile application users have avoided certain apps and 30% have uninstalled an app due to concerns about the way personal information is shared or collected by the app.
Social Media’s Influence on Politics
Campaign and policy-related material on social networking sites plays a modest role in influencing most users’ views and political activities. Democrats and liberals are the most likely to say the sites have impact and are important and the politically engaged stand out in their use of the sites
Mobile Phone Problems
Telemarketing calls and spam texts are realities for most cellphone users, according to a new survey. Smartphone owners are particularly likely to report dropped calls and slow download speeds.
The Future of Big Data
Family Caregivers Turn to Internet for Information and Guidance
Fully 30 percent of U.S. adults help a loved one with personal needs, manage finances or arrange for outside care for another adult or child with a disability. Of this group, 88% use the internet to find health information.
The Rise of the “Connected Viewer”
Television’s solitary screen is being supplemented by multi-screen interactivity. Half of all adult cell owners (52%) have used their phones recently for engagement, diversion, or interaction with other people while watching TV.
The Future of Smart Systems
Technology experts envision a future with “smart” devices that make home systems, appliances and utilities work more efficiently. But many believe we still won’t be living in the “Homes of the Future” by 2020. These developments will take time. The costs and infrastructure changes to make it all work are daunting.
A Look at Internet Use on Mobile Phones
Some 17% of cell phone owners do most of their online browsing on their phone, rather than a computer or other device. Most do so for convenience, but for some their phone is their only option for online access.


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Lending platform KreditBee raises $70 million in its series C round, a month after it got $75 million
- KreditBee’s holding company Finnov has raised $70 million from TPG-backed NewQuest Capital Partners and Motilal Oswal Private Equity.
- The company’s latest round comes just a month after it had raised $75 million from the likes of Azim Premji’s Premji Invest and South Korean investment firm Mirae Assets Ventures.
KreditBeeclaims to have a registered user base of over 25 million.
The company’s latest round comes just a month after it had raised $75 million from the likes of Azim Premji’s Premji Invest and South Korean investment firm Mirae Assets Ventures, with participation from Alpine Capital and Arkam Ventures.
KreditBee’s funding comes when fintech continues to be a hot sector in India, with lending startups having got a bigger push during COVID-19. During the pandemic, as people lost their jobs, or merchants looked to save their businesses, they turned to a lot more lending apps for financial support.
AdvertisementIn fact, according to a Boston Consulting Group and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) report, the alternative lending sector is going to see increased investments – from $2.5 billion between 2016-2020 to $5.6 billion between 2021-2025.
KreditBee claims to have a registered user base of over 25 million. The three-year old company now hopes to use the funds to ‘expand the lending portfolio to different products, and develop an offline-online lending capability to bridge the consumer financing needs of Bharat (the term coined for India’s next millions of internet users from rural India)’.
“A complex demography like India requires simple, effective and impactful lending solutions, that comes with a deeper understanding of the consumer financing needs of the ecosystem. We are happy to onboard investment partners with us who share the same vision as we do as to how personal finance should graduate from a luxurious aspiration to a trivial commodity, available at the click of a button”, added Madhusudan E, co-founder and chief executive of KreditBee’s holding group entity.
Interestingly, KreditBee joins the list of startups, which are giving exits to their Chinese investors. KreditBee’s investor the Chinese investment firm Shunwei Capital had reportedly exited the firm last month. Shunwei had also recently exited another investment in India – Koo, the microblogging platform. “The conclusion of this round has led to an exit of most of the early-stage investors,” said KreditBee in a statement.
With an IPO on its plate, Barbeque Nation hopes to clear off some of its debt and double down on not just dining but its new delivery business
A flurry of Indian A-list entrepreneurs buyout Chinese investor Shunwei Capital’s stake in Koo – the microblogging site that’s taking on Twitter
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Earlier today, HTC launched the One (M8) in India at Rs 49,900, which is lower than the launch price of the Galaxy S5. To counter it, Samsung has almost immediately slashed the price of its flagship, which is now available on Flipkart for Rs 46,881.
Samsung’s smartphones have always gotten a price cut after launching, but this is probably the first time it has slashed prices this early. It is clearly a reactionary move to the One (M8) pricing. There is currently no official word from Samsung, but the white color variant of the Galaxy S5 is now available on Flipkart for Rs 46,881, while the black color variant is still retailing at Rs 50,499.


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Quick Note: Google's Sergey Brin Trash Talks Smartphones, Praises Google Glass
February 28, 2013 11:47 AM
comment(s) - last by
Brin said smartphones are "emasculating"
yesterday, according to Google.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who appeared at the TED stage yesterday, explained that smartphones don't allow their users to interact enough with the outside world, and even called them "emasculating." People walk around with their faces buried in their smartphone's screen and swipe at a piece of glass.
"Is this the way you're meant to interact with other people?" asked Brin. "It's kind of emasculating. Is this what you're meant to do with your body?
"When we started Google 15 years ago, my vision was that information would come to you as you need it. You wouldn't have to search query at all."
According to Brin,
-- a hands-free, voice-activated headset with augmented reality features -- is that vision materialized. Brin showed Google Glass off at TED, saying it's the way people were meant to interact with one another while still using digital technology.
Google Glass is being offered to early adopters right now for a steep price of $1,500.
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
RE: Google Glass.....
2/28/2013 5:11:05 PM
"That's absolutely it. This is about possibilities."
Exactly... I love the idea of recording a movie on demand without having to aim a phone. It just records exactly what you see. The applications are limitless... And the amatuer porn industry just got alot better ;)
RE: Google Glass.....
3/1/2013 3:54:21 PM
I don't think anyone here is trying to say that these do not have potential. They do, a ton. This very well may be the foundation of future technology. What most people here seem to be trying to convey, though, is that *current* technology severely limits the usefulness of the devices for what a typical consumer would want. Very few people are going to pay a premium for a device with limited capabilities that requires speaking voice commands to control functionality. That doesn't even count the number of people who won't wear it because it "looks dumb."
"Young lady, in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!" -- Homer Simpson
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Bethesda and Sony haven’t had the best relationship over the years, with the publisher’s controversial Creation Club mod suite noticeably omitted from launching on the PlayStation 4. It seems that things are still a little rocky, as Bethesda’s very own Todd Howard has blamed Sony for the lack of cross-platform play within Fallout 76.
While Bethesda has seemingly had little to no trouble launching its Creation Club modification suite on Windows PCs and Xbox One, minus the controversy over paid mods, Sony’s strict guidelines have repeatedly blocked the tool from launching on the PlayStation Network. It seems that the publisher has since given up trying, shifting focus towards another lauded feature of modern online titles – cross-platform play.
Unfortunately, this is another area which Sony is notably against, with its first sign of opposition appearing last September when Epic Games reportedly activated the feature within Fortnite: Battle Royale by accident. Since then, players of Fortnite have been prevented from playing on alternate consoles if they’ve ever played on a PlayStation system, despite Nintendo Switch users hopping over to Xbox One and back across a variety of different titles.
Creative director behind the online-only Fallout 76, and Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard has cited in an interview with GameStar.de that it is Sony’s policy that prevents the upcoming post-apocalyptic survival title from featuring cross-platform play. “You cannot do cross-play in 76,” Howard said apologetically. “We’d really love that but right now we can’t. Sony is not as helpful as everyone would like.”
Bethesda has refused to add to Howard's original comment upon request. The only thing holding Sony back is the potential loss of earnings if players purchase cosmetics on another platform, to which each console manufacturer receives a 30 percent cut. Fortunately, there is a ray of hope as Sony has seemingly done a 180 on its staunch opposition, stating that it is “looking at a lot of the possibilities,” however players are advised to temper their expectations in the meantime.
KitGuru Says: Although I don’t particularly agree with a lot of Sony’s isolated business practices in comparison to rivals, it does make sense considering it holds the largest player base. Would you like to see cross-platform play come to Fallout 76?


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Freshly made beverages to require sugar, calorie content label
Taipei, Oct. 5 (CNA) Taiwan will impose new regulations at the beginning of next year that require more detailed labeling of a beverage's nutritional value and caffeine content, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Monday.
(Full text of the story is now in CNA English news archive. To view the full story, you will need to be a subscribed member of the CNA archive. To subscribe, please read here.)
Taiwan COVID-19 News Briefs: May 2705/27/2022 11:26 PM
Taiwan court says ruling on custody case over daughter unconstitutional05/27/2022 11:14 PM
Taipei introduces NT$2.85 billion COVID-19 bailout package05/27/2022 10:41 PM
New electricity rates for electric car owners to take effect May 3005/27/2022 09:55 PM
Taiwan's GDP growth forecast cut to 3.91% for 2022 (update)05/27/2022 09:34 PM


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It is turning out to be a pretty good year for consumers who want to buy a Android Tablet pc on 2013. Better processors, thinner and lighter devices, sharper screens and faster GPUs are now being featured in a host of new 7-Inch Tablet devices coming out this year from Samsung, ZTE, Velocity Micro, OrientDeal and many other unbranded.
Kindle Fire “Sparking” 7-Inch Market
Although Samsung was the first Android Tablet maker to come out with a 7-Inch Tablet in 2010, the sudden interest in the smaller tablet form is primarily due to the huge initial wave of enthusiasm for the Kindle Fire. Will the success of Amazon’s New Tablet, which many consider to be an entry-level tab, prompt consumers to seriously consider an alternative, low-cost 7-Inch Android Tablet that packs a bigger punch in terms of features?
Manufacturers are banking that the 7-inch form will catch on due to its greater mobility and lower price. They are probably right this time. The success of the Kindle Fire is quickly transforming the 7-Inch Tablet form into its own distinct segment, competing with each other for market share rather than competing with Apple as “iPad Juniors.”
Android Making Significant Tablet Headway
A number of the new 7-Inch Tablets coming out this year include the more stable Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, and other tablet makers are promising upgrades to the new OS soon(er or later). Ice Cream Sandwich has been developed specifically to close the gap between Android smartphones and tablets.
Although it remains highly fragmented, Android is finally starting to make significant headway in the tablet market.Strategy Analytics recently reported that Android had captured 39% share of global tablets shipped in the 4th quarter of last year – a rise of 10 percentage points over 2010. If Android can do this again, then it will be running neck-to-neck with the iPad.
Price Is Key
The success of the Kindle Fire, not to mention the lines of people wrapped around city blocks last year for a chance to buy discontinued HP Touchpads at fire sale prices, clearly demonstrated that price is key. Android Tablet makers have gotten the message. Prices for many smaller Android Tablets are hundreds of dollars cheaper than the current entry-level IPad. And some new 7-Inch Tablets sold with data plans are even cheaper than the Kindle Fire and have more high-end features than Amazon’s tablet.
Sprint, for example, has just added a 7-Inch Tablet from ZTE to its tablet portfolio that’s priced just under $100 (with a two-year contract). The ZTE Optik features a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor and 1GB of RAM. It runs on Android Honeycomb, has a 1280 x 800 capacitive touchscreen display, Bluetooth and GPS antennas. It also features stereo speakers as well as dual cameras — 5MP rear and 2MP front-facing — plus 16GB of storage and a MicroSD slot.
At CES last month, Samsung and Verizon Wireless introduced the Galaxy Tab 7.7 with LTE for Verizon’s LTE network. It has a 7.7-inch 1280 x 800 Super AMOLED Plus display, a 1.4-GHz dual-core processor and 16 GB of internal storage. The tablet uses Android 3.2 Honeycomb with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI. It has a Wi-Fi, a 3.2-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash, and full 720p recording. Verizon will soon be selling this at a subsidized price to gain contracts. No details on price yet for this new tab, but the earlier model, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0, is currently going for $229.99 with 2-year contract on Verizon’s website.
There were also a number of new, inexpensive 7-Inch Tablets at CES preloaded with Android Ice Cream Sandwich. This includes the ViewPad E70 from ViewSonic, which has front and rear cameras, mini-HDMI and mini-USB ports, and a 1-GHz processor. The tab includes 4 GB of storage plus microSD expandable storage for up to 32 GB. It reportedly will launch in April for $169.00.
There’s also the OrientDeal. It will be coming soon with a 1.2GHz Cortex A9 processor, a 7-inch 1024 x 768 TFT LED display and discrete 400MHz 3D graphics acceleration, plus 1024MB of RAM, and 16GB internal storage. The Android 4.2-based tablet also will have front and back cameras, Mini USB and Mini HDMI ports, and a microSD slot. The OrientDeal Goopad mini is expected to be priced under $200.
Thin, Light, Palm-Friendly
Next to price, portability appears to be the second major selling point for 7-Inch Tablets. Tablets are inherently all about portability, and the 7-inch form can be comfortably held in one hand, leaving the other hand available for scrolling and tapping — a good choice for travelers and readers, for surfing the web, playing games, checking email.
But is a new 7-Inch Android Tablet for you? Only you can decide, because everybody has his or her own individual demands and preferences. Best to go to your mobile and big box stores when these come out soon and spend some time with them. There will likely be enough choices out there this year for you to fully determine your own tablet sweet spot.
OrientDeal.com is dedicated to all things tablet pcs.If you want to wholesale android tablets from china, they provide a comprehensive source for the latest tablet pc, they are an ideal supplier for you, save your much time and cost.Check their site: http://www.orientdeal.com for amazing deals today!


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Fiberglass windows and patio doors are becoming more popular among homeowners for their beauty and long-lasting durability.Read More
Bindiya Vakil, chief executive officer of Resilinc, lays out five trends and challenges to supply chains to watch for in the coming year.Read More
Holiday shopping may look a little bit different this year, as brands of all shapes and sizes explore the potential of virtual worlds.Read More
If you’re a business owner, you know how valuable well-sourced, quality goods are. They keep both your wallet and customers Read the full article at: terrislittlehaven.comRead More
Trends may come and go, but bargain hunting will be around forever. We take a closer look at four brands that have made their mark in the dollar store industry and who continue to grow in this inflation strapped economy.Read More
Folding Patio Doors The great outdoors is finally within reach! With a folding patio door,...Read More
You might have already considered applying a few coats of protective paint, but that won’t be...Read More
Each week, we ask agency experts from across the world and the ad business for their take on a tough question facing the industry, from topical concerns to perennial pain points.Read More
Sandy Magny plans to take her teenage daughter to West Palm Beach, Florida, this summer, even though airfares are surging.
It won’t be cheap, but Magny doesn’t want to miss out on visiting her family. The 40-year-old paralegal, who lives in the Bronx and works in the financial district of Manhattan, is finding there are other things she can do without.
“I do bring lunch more,” she said. “I could make coffee in the office.”
Magny is one of millions of people starting to shift where her dollars go after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. Consumer prices have increased…
Modjoul is using a wearable device to reduce injuries among workers and make sure people are using the right protective gear in certain settings. Image: Modjoul Emerging Technologies While the world around us changes at a rapid...Read More
- ChatGPT, TikTok & DraftKings: 4 CPGs Getting Creative for Super Bowl 2023These are the four standout brands that are supplementing their Super Bowl commercials with engaging, digitally-focused campaigns.
- Under Helm of New CEO Hein Schumacher, Will Unilever Supply Chain See Increased Digital and Sustainable Innovation?The leadership swap could bring significant change to the company if Schumacher’s track record over the last several years is any indication. Learn more.
- Microsoft Bets Billions on OpenAI: What This Could Mean for RetailMicrosoft has announced a "multiyear, multibillion dollar investment” with DALL-E and ChatGPT developer OpenAI, following previous investments in 2019 and 2021.
- Kellogg’s People Analytics Exec Petra Mudder Talks Growing Value By Intermingling Data and HRPetra Mudder, director of global people analytics at the Kellogg Company is merging the worlds of data and human resources to create a unique value proposition that establishes an employee-centric culture. Learn about the latest strategies.
- Levi’s Readies For DTC-Optimized On-Cloud ERP and Raises Bot BarLearn how the new system is expected to fuel the company's growing direct-to-consumer business.


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Dave Brown, a veteran of more than 25 years working for premier firms in the U.S. mall industry, has joined CBRE to lead its retail specialty leasing and alternative revenue practice.
Brown, a senior vice president based in Chicago, specializes in representing retail-center owners in negotiations and interactions with temporary and pop-up stores, kiosks and retail carts. He also handles alternative-revenue assignments such as vending, mobile marketing, advertising displays and product sampling.
Brown’s expertise was developed through more than two decades working for stalwarts of the mall industry, most recently as president of Covington Realty Partners. Prior to Covington, he worked for mall owner GGP in specialty leasing and strategic partnerships. Earlier years of his career were spent at Urban Retail Properties, RREEF and The Rouse Co.
“Dave brings a valuable skill set to CBRE in that specialty retailers are an integral and growing component of creating a compelling consumer experience at malls,” said Mark Hunter, CBRE managing director of retail asset services and leader of the company’s mall practice. “In addition, his experience in identifying and executing alternative-revenue strategies will prove useful to mall owners seeking additional revenue sources that enhance their properties.”
His arrival further expands CBRE’s mall practice, which Hunter started building upon his arrival at CBRE in early 2016. Since then, CBRE has tripled its mall square footage under management and hired additional national experts in leasing and marketing for malls, lifestyle centers and outlet centers.
“Dave is an important addition to our growing retail practice at a time when many investors in shopping centers, both new and seasoned landlords, are looking for guidance on how to adapt in the evolving industry,” said Gavin Farnam, managing director and retail practice leader of CBRE Asset Services. “In many cases, parts of the solution might call for cultivating a diverse and changing mix of specialty tenants as well as identifying and implementing new programs that enhance consumer experience while also contributing revenue for owners. With Dave, CBRE has one of the industry’s most experienced professionals in those areas.”
Brown earned his BS in finance from Indiana University and his MBA from the University of Michigan. He is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers.


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It’s long been known that hackers are nabbing and selling Netflix passwords, but a new report this week from security firm Symantec suggests the problem is growing following the streaming site’s recent international expansion to 130 new regions.
What if other services like Facebook or Gmail accounts also have a black market? It sounds quite serious issue if they do.
Today I learned that I can lease out my netflix account for few mad cash :D
And then your account will be closed.
i can get netflix accounts £2.50 a year but gurateed for 6 months. they have been around for years.
It's not leasing you are giving someone else access to your account, someone you do not know.
TechSpy is a community of awesome people posting and discussing the latest tech news. It’s part of NewsBoiler, a network of social news sites covering today’s pop culture.


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LOS ANGELES — When Camila Alves was jetting around the world as a runway model for Valentino and Carolina Herrera, or shooting campaigns for Escada and Giorgio Armani, the one thing she needed the most was a bag that suited all her needs and that wasn’t something every other fashionista had.
Since she had such a hard time locating such a bag, she elected to make her own.
For more than two years, Brazil-born Alves has been working on Muxo, her new line of leather bags and accessories that she is about to launch.
“We wanted to create something that was unique and not already in the market, and it took us that long to create this,” said Alves, who now lives in Los Angeles with her beau, actor Matthew McConaughey, with whom she is expecting a child. “My main goal was to create something where people didn’t have to compromise, that it could be exactly what they needed.”
The hand-stitched collection is heavy on details — leathers are weathered and distressed or embellished with lush fringes — and convey an old-world sensibility. Shades of chocolate, ochre and burgundy dominate the line and are designed to gain a patina of richness as they wear.
Alves said the name in reverse, Oxum, is an African river goddess, the idea of which inspired the line. The brand is etched into the leather in large, ancient-looking type.
“The name really caught my attention because I started thinking of the beauty of water, women and the ocean,” said Alves. “There was something mysterious about it.”
Alves is initially introducing the line through upscale Los Angeles boutique Diane Merrick, which will be doing an official launch event in May.
“I loved Camila’s unique designs and one-of-a-kind craftsmanship,” said Merrick. “Muxo has a kind of bohemian bourgeois look.”
Alves is cocreating the line with her mother, whose background is in fashion design. All the leather is from Brazil and was selected for its ability to age well and how it would adapt to different finishing treatments.
Alves, her mother and two workers make the bags by hand in their studio in the South Bay area, where they take orders for custom designs. Retail prices run from $500 for clutches to $1,350 for larger bags. Alves said she has already started courting interest from prestige department stores and specialty boutiques around the country.
This story first appeared in the March 24, 2008 issue of WWD. Subscribe Today.
Not surprisingly, given her pregnancy, a baby line will come soon, encompassing diaper bags and baby carriers, as well as belts and jewelry. Throughout, Alves said the focus would be on custom-made pieces.
“I love those designer handbags, but think that if someone is going to pay a higher price, why have something that everybody else has,” she added. “Once a certain bag is not hot anymore, they will want the next thing. But to have a bag created for you is pretty special.”


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Rejoice Harry Potter fans! As the story is apparently not over yet. J.K. Rowling has a huge holiday gift to her fans. The writer is about to put out 12 additional Harry Potter stories this month!
On Pottermore (J.K. Rowling’s official site), the author has announced that “Starting Friday, December 12, we’ll be releasing a festive surprise for you every day at 1pm GMT (8am EST).” That “festive surprise” will take the form of a short Potter story!
Not much is known at present about who or what the story or stories will be about, though rumors are going around that Draco Malfloy will be the star of one of them. Rowling has been giving fans new stories throughout the year, no telling whether these could be the end of that…or just the beginning.


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London, Nov 22 (ANI): Holland is likely to ban 'skunk' marijuana from coffee shops in the wake of fears that it is as dangerous as heroin and cocaine.
The decision will be a major blow to hundreds of coffee shop owners, many of them in Amsterdam, who will have to replace around 80 percent of their stock with weaker varieties.
According to the Daily Mail, Dutch Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten wants the country's famous licensed cafes to only sell cannabis containing less than 15 percent of the main active chemical, THC.
A report by the Daily Telegraph said that the government is acting on a study by Dutch mental health charity, the Trimbos Institute, which found that skunk can be so dangerous it should be classed alongside heroin and cocaine.
Presently, the country's liberal laws allow customers to buy up to five grammes (0.18 ounces) of marijuana for personal use in around 500 licensed cafes.
Critics claim the ban, if implemented will make the problem worse by pushing stronger versions of the drug onto the black market. (ANI)


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Redesigned Discover page for Snapchat's iOS app
Late last month, we told you that Snapchat was testing a redesign of its UI
. The last time Snapchat made a change like that, it caused 1.2 million people to sign a petition on Change.org demanding the old Snapchat back. The latest changes actually go a long way toward restoring peace and tranquility for subscribers of the messaging app. Once again, Snaps and Chats will be seen in chronological order, and you will find Stories from friends on the right side of the app. Stories and messages will be apart from each other, and a separate subscriptions feed will allow users to find content from their favorite publishers.
The redesign's redesign is rolling out to iOS users now. As for those sporting an Android handset, there is no word from Snapchat parent Snap about when that platform will receive a similar update.
Back in February, Snapchat co-founder and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said, "We completely understand the new Snapchat has felt uncomfortable for many." After the company disappointed Wall Street with its first quarter report
, the executive blamed the redesign for disrupting user behavior and causing some concern among its advertisers. Snap hopes that its replacement for CFO Drew Vollero calms everyone down. Vollero quit the company last week and is being replaced on May 15th by former Amazon vice president of finance, Tim Stone
"We learned that combining watching Stories and communicating with friends into the same place made it harder to optimize for both competing behaviors. We are currently rolling out an update to address this by sorting communication by recency and moving Stories from friends to the right side of the application, while maintaining the structural changes we have made around separating friends from creators and sorting friends’ Stories by relationships."-Evan Spiegel, CEO Snap
Snap recently announced its new AR games called Snappables
, and introduced a refreshed version of its Spectacles video recording sunglasses


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News : Exim Bank Launches Call Centre Campaign
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, May 4, 2016 -- Exim Bank launched its call centre campaign that aims to ease communication with its customers.
"This campaign has already started... we make use of various mediums to deliver the message behind it," the Bank's Senior Manager, Call Centre, Mr Frank Matoro, said at the launching ceremony in Dar es Salaam.
He said the bank is in steady drive to provide its customers with high quality products and services. "It's with this customer centric perspective that the bank has successfully built an in-house call centre," said Mr Matoro.
The centre's key goal is to provide its customers the best service experience. He said the campaign will also involve numerous prizes to participants. The services provided through the call centre are voice calls (inbound and outbound), social media interaction through Face book page and other online interactions like live chats and electronic mails.
Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Today's Tip of the Day - Expect Shrinkage
More Editorial From EXIM Bank Tanzania
About EXIM Bank Tanzania:
Exim Bank (Tanzania), is a commercial bank in Tanzania, the second-largest economy in the East African Community.
Published: Thursday, May 5, 2016
Genesys® powers 25 billion of the world’s best customer experiences each year. Our success comes from connecting employee and customer conversations on any channel, every day. Over 10,000 companies in...
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Tesla is at a crossroads (TSLA)
Tesla reports fourth-quarter earnings this week. For the most part, analysts and observers of the electric carmaker's fortunes are expecting CEO Elon Musk to report that Tesla delivered fewer cars in the last three months of 2014, and for the whole of the year, than predicted.
But whether Tesla delivered 35,000 cars or 33,000 cars or 30,000 cars or 30 cars in 2014 is irrelevant. With production levels like that, Tesla is essentially the electric Ferrari: a low-volume niche player, selling one car, a $100,000 luxury sedan.
Well, not exactly the electric Ferrari. The Italian automaking legend sells only about 7,000 cars a year — by design. Ferrari stokes endless demand for its glorious machines and then compels those who want to join the Ferrari family of owners to wait ... and wait ... and wait for the privilege.
It's a brilliant strategy that has secured the love of Ferrari fans, ensured that Ferrari will create incredible cars, and made the Ferrari brand into one of the world's biggest.
Selling millions of cars
Tesla, on the other hand, wants to be selling millions of cars by the middle of the next decade, as Musk has said. There's only one problem: While Ferrari could produce more cars to satisfy demand, it, for now, chooses not to. Ferrari's parent, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, is spinning the prancing stallion brand off as a separate company and may up production to 10,000 vehicles annually in coming years.
Tesla, meanwhile, wants to build more cars but can't at the moment. The company, which is essentially running only one factory, is gradually ramping up its production.
Tesla's challenges have prompted some critics to speculate that demand for the Model S is weakening, but that is probably not what's going on. It is possible that Tesla is dealing with some demand issues in China, but Musk has addressed some of the questions about that region and explained that whatever has been going wrong with Tesla expansion in the Middle Kingdom is more about misperception of how electric cars operate than about Tesla losing traction there.
So why is Tesla at a crossroads?
It has become abundantly clear that Tesla has a very long way to go to raise production from 35,000 vehicles annually to the 500,000 that Musk has predicted by 2020. Meanwhile, Tesla's stock, while down from its peaks of mid-2014, is still trading at about $200 per share, a vast increase from its 2010 IPO price of $17. This is a $27 billion market cap company. General Motors is a $55 billion market cap company — but GM sold something like 2 million cars and trucks last year in the US alone.
A car company, not a stock
The downward move in Tesla's stock price can be attributed to a couple of factors. First, Musk has on a few occasions said Tesla's stock is trading too high. But by now the markets are used to this.
The second factor is that for much of 2013 to 2014, Tesla's story was a financial story. The surge in its market cap was due to enthusiasm about its future growth. An electric carmaker selling one car with one factory — and selling fewer than 50,000 of that one car — can captivate investors for a time. The CEO embodies an amazing story about the innovation economy. Tesla is headquartered in Silicon Valley. Its car produces zero emissions, so the company has been able to rake it in by selling emissions credits in California, as the International Business Times has noted.
Everything it does looks like the future!
But Tesla isn't building hovercrafts or time machines. Its technology is innovative, as the history of electric vehicles and the state of the market are concerned. But a Tesla Model S still has four wheels and four doors. It's something we've all seen before — a car.
Cars are complicated
Building a good car — and make no mistake about it, the Model S is a very good car — isn't easy. But Tesla has thus far managed to build a car that has been highly praised by the automotive media, is adored by owners, and has been taken apart and put back together again by other car companies.
Now Tesla has to build more Model S units. By the end of 2015, it needs to be delivering its crossover SUV, the Model X, in significant numbers. And all this has to lead up to the introduction by 2017 of the Model 3 mass-market electric car — the vehicle that is going to transform Tesla from the niche player to a rival to the GMs, Fords, Volkswagens, and Toyotas of the world.
It seemed to me that all at once in late 2014, after the spectacular October introduction of the all-wheel-drive "D" version of the Model S, everyone figured this out. Musk addressed the issue on earnings calls with analysts, stressing that building anything as complicated as a car — much less a game-changing electric car, something for which there has been essentially zero demand for over 100 years — is extraordinarily difficult.
I really think we're going to look back on this period in Tesla's history as an important transitional stage. The stock could plateau at $200 per share for a while, or it could slide. The company could start doing what every other major automaker does and tell us how many cars it is selling every month. The road ahead could look a lot rockier. Certainly in 2015, anyone who has a stake in Tesla, financial or otherwise, is going to grasp that going from 35,000 cars a year to 500,000 will require vast amounts of capital.
Tesla's future growth, in other words, is going to be expensive.
None of this means Tesla is in trouble
Tesla has gone through transitional stages before. There was a big crisis in 2008-2009, when the company could have vanished. Then there was the shift from the original Roadster to the current Model S lineup. There was the IPO and a stock price that didn't do much for a while.
Tesla is at a crossroads because it is maturing. It is becoming a real manufacturing enterprise and shedding some of the aura of being a the technology sector's answer to the woes of Detroit.
Tesla's future is bright — as bright as ever.
But after this week's earnings announcement, its story will be decisively changed.
- Tesla is trying to steal Apple's employees
- GM turned in a great fourth quarter
- 8 smart pieces of advice from Elon Musk and 3 other powerful billionaires


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- March 3, 2022 / 4 min readThe brand has plan to launch another 5 outlets in the next 2 months to cover the city.
Opening its doors in September 2019, Nomad pizza arrived with the mission to make the best pizzas in Delhi.
After opening 10 outlets that is spread over Delhi NCR and Chandigarh, it recently entered Mumbai.
The brand has plan to launch another 5 outlets in the next 2 months to cover the city.
Created with the desire of elevating the pizza-eating experience, the brand sought to expand through its unique concept of ‘pizzas from around the world’.
Nomad Pizza serves pizzas from different regions of the world – from America to Korea. Using high quality, fresh ingredients, and the brand launches a variant from a different country quarterly, keeping the anticipation and excitement intact.
It currently has outlets in Malviya Nagar, Vasant Vihar, New Friends Colony, Noida, Gurgaon, Baani Square, Rajouri Garden, Chandigarh, Bandra, Andheri and Tardeo.
Nomad is also planning to launch 100 outlets in the next 3 years.Trending ArticleDaily UpdatesWhich is the highest format preference of Fun-Seeker?
Search for top Restaurant Suppliers in your city


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Having a lot of money doesn’t always put an end to the ambition of wealthy people, especially those in the upper echelon who control a great percentage of the world’s wealth.
Just like everyday people, they are continuously working hard, or rather, working smart to make more money and breaking new grounds with ideas, creations, inventions, etc.
Here is hint of some of the activities that some of our favourite billionaires they have been engaged in, in the last few months.
After stepping down as CEO of Amazon on July 2021, Jeff Bezos has focused more of his time towards Blue origin, the space company which he launched in 2017.
On July 20, 2021, Jeff Bezos, Wally Funk, Mark Bezos and the Blue Origin new shepherd crew flew to space , this goes to show how much time the e-commerce billionaire is now investing into his space company. When the company launched in 2017 most critics described it as a hobby but the recent decisions made by the former Amazon CEO has shown that this may just be an untapped business, space business.
As of September 2021, Jeff Bezos reportedly now spends more time in Blue origin than he used to. He now dedicates Tuesday afternoons in addition to the initial Wednesday afternoons.
Plans are in the works for Blue Origin to go out to space again with Williams Shatner aboard its aircraft on 10th October, 8 am E.T. This trip plans to break a world record as the Star Wars actor would be the oldest person to go into space at the age of 90 years.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook has remained resilient against the backdrop of an allegation made by former Facebook employee turned whistleblower, Frances Haughen that the company ignored data showing its apps were harmful to users.
Haughen who leaked the company’s internet research to the press and went ahead to testify against the company during the senate commerce, science and transportation sub committee on consumer protection, product safety, and data security hearing titled – Children’s online safety alleged that the company has repeatedly prioritized profits over user safety and has deliberately promoted angry content. She also stated that the social media application, Instagram is harmful to teenagers’ mental health.
However, on October 6, 2021, the Facebook CEO responded to the allegations made, rejecting the claims that the company prioritizes profit over user safety. He stated that it doesn’t make any sense for the company to not prioritize user safety but create an industry-leading research program to understand the important issues related to user safety.
He also made it clear that Facebook doesn’t promote angry content as the company makes money from adverts and various advertisers have stated clearly that they do not want their adverts next to harmful or angry content .
While It may be common to see billionaires donate millions of dollars to charity, it’s not common to raise huge amounts in historic events and its even more uncommon to see very successful businessmen with billion-dollar empires throw jabs at world leaders .
On 19th September 2021 the Space X flight, dubbed “Inspiration4” was chartered by Jared Isaacman, owner of Shift4 payments and with three other occupants circled the earth’s orbit for three days with the major aim of raising awareness and funds for the St Jude Children Research Hospital. The flight would go down in history as the first space flight that had a person with a prosthetic body part aboard. A total of $160.2 million dollars was raised, to which the CEO of Space X, Elon Musk donated an additional $50 million dollars making it surpass the original target of $200 million dollars.
However, this feat was not commended or recognized by the presidency. This was pointed out to the Tech CEO by one of his 60 million Twitter followers, to which he responded “he’s still sleeping“, taking a shot at the president, for not recognizing the Space Company’s feat.
Breakthrough Energy, a nonprofit founded by Bill Gates, announced on September 20, 2021, that it had secured investments from Microsoft, American Airlines, Boston Consulting, Bank of America, Black rock, General Motors and ArcelorMittal amounting to over $1 billion to develop clean technologies that could play a key role in the fight against climate change.
Shortly after this announcement, the Microsoft CEO granted an interview on climate week NYC, where he stated that in the United States, climate change is a political issue but it shouldn’t be. And that there can’t be climate strategy if when some parties are in power, a lot is being done and the moment another party is elected, all the work stops.
Jack Ma, Billionaire founder of Ali baba has taken a step back from the public eye, after his rocky encounter with the Chinese government.
The billionaire CEO made a negative comment about Chinese financial regulators few days before the Initial public offering of Ant Group (formerly known as Ant Financial Aid), an affiliate of his company Ali Baba in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The initial public offer (IPO) would have been the biggest in the Chinese economy. However after the negative comment, the regulators pulled the plug on the IPO, two days before it was set to take place.
Mr Joe Tsai, Vice President of Ali Baba has however said that the CEO is doing very well as he is enjoying his quiet days and taking an interest in painting. Maybe in the future, we would see the creative side of the business tycoon.


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Creating and maintaining the health of a beloved brand is the Holy Grail for marketers and the companies that employ them. The recent bankruptcy of Sears demonstrates how painful it is to live through the demise of a long-established brand. Without the proper nourishment and innovation, even the most iconic of brands is vulnerable.
The environment for legacy brands has likely never been more challenging, with Sears’s troubles hardly represent an isolated case. Look at some of the instantly recognizable brands that have disappeared (or all but) just in the last couple of years: Toys R Us, The Limited, Hostess and Necco Wafers (the latter most particularly painful for us native New Englanders).
Media brands with a proud heritage have suffered more than their fair share of elimination and reduced relevance. Long and strong identification in major metropolitan areas wasn’t enough to save a series of legacy newspapers, including the Tampa Tribune, Oakland Tribune, Rocky Mountain News and Seattle Post-Intelligencer (still alive online). National magazine brands have endured at least relative to their newsprint brethren, but their difficulties are legion, from Conde Nast’s print shut down of Teen Vogue and Glamour (expected in 2019) to the stable of struggling former Time Inc. brands (now under Meredith Corporation) including Sports Illustrated and Fortune.
Intense financial engineering at the corporate parent level (including at print giant Hearst) can certainly prolong operations in some of these businesses (Sears is in the midst of its own), but where should the focus be to ensure the survival and growth for the brands themselves?
As a window into the proper nutritional diet for a long-established brand, I got some terrific insights last week from stewards of two quintessential media business brands: Jill Cress, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for National Geographic Partners, and Michael Federle, Chief Executive Officer of Forbes Media. They spoke at a Boston conference entitled Progress Connect, whose overarching purpose is contained inside of its name – to connect leaders of traditional and emerging media sectors and help forge innovative and successful pathways forward.
Invest in content
Riding on even the finest of coattails doesn’t work for any brand. Cress proudly pointed out Nat Geo’s recent and massive organizational commitment to what became a more than two-year-long inside story of a rare face transplant. That investment culminated in a 9000 word print piece entitled “The Story of a Face”. The New York Times similarly invested multiple reporters, editors and outside experts to produce its own similarly prodigious investigation of Donald J. Trump’s financial empire, resulting in a 14000-word opus (not that anyone is counting). For Nat Geo and The Times (not to mention Forbes), despite and even because of the proliferation of so many “news” options today, there is an incalculable value in enterprise journalism that helps maintain the brand’s ongoing value. It’s not cheap – but it is the opposite of a marketplace commodity.
Invest in tech
Federle stated that Forbes Media “almost can’t spend too much” on tech. You can’t be a laggard in understanding what consumers are looking for in the market, how to find them and deliver them content, how to enhance the experience of consumers in interacting with your brand and content, and how to synthesize what all of this information is actually telling you. The next frontier of tech spending for Federle is artificial intelligence. While even the most experienced of media hands are still grappling with defining AI, never mind deploying it, several speakers, including Anne Finucane, CMO of Bank of America, made it plain that the risk of waiting on tech is a lot greater than aggressive investment.
Welcome syndication of your content and brand
Everybody in media (like everywhere else I guess) likes to control their own destiny, whether through establishing and reinforcing your brand as a cable network, web destination, game or app. It is certainly preferable to be able to deliver that “pure” audience from your own platform and to retain the first party data that comes along with it.
But no matter how impressive your brand’s owned and operated neighborhood may be, it’s not enough to create the presence and impact your brand needs to stay ahead. Cress and Federle both noted the importance of Nat Geo and Forbes making their content available on multiple platforms. Nat Geo knew that relatively few people would read the full “Story of a Face” article, but by slicing and dicing it into a nine-part series it became digestible for a much wider - not to mention younger – audience that could experience the power of the Nat Geo brand’s storytelling on their own terms, not limited by the legacy Nat Geo platform.
Embrace new partners
In our ever-more-complicated media landscape, brands have to be open to a variety of new partners and business relationships. Nat Geo announced just last week a partnership with Wattpad, a company I’ve come to know through my strategic consulting work. Nat Geo has launched a multiyear initiative aimed at educating the world about the environmental threats posed by plastic in oceans, and is partnering with Wattpad on a global story contest. Why Wattpad, a company you likely have never heard of? Well, they have built a community of 65 million people, skewing young and female, that the Nat Geo brand can now engage with in a very different fashion.
Forbes Media has long been a pioneer in its business partnerships with BrandVoice, working with over 90 different brands as their content marketing partner and driving over 123 million page views. This is an area that many in the journalism world have struggled to get right. But Federle noted the success of the Forbes brand’s balancing act by pointing to a recent Simmons Research survey of Americans which found Forbes as the 5th most trusted news brand, ahead of NBC News, The New York Times and The Washington Post.
As both Nat Geo and Forbes have demonstrated, you can do things in new ways and still maintain the integrity and relevance of your brand. Not a bad lesson there.


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New York–J.Crew, which has been the darling of Wall Street not to mention many women’s closets, just announced a restructuring at the executive level.
Tracy Gardner, president of J.Crew’s Retail and Direct channels, will resign effective September 13. Jenna Lyons, currently executive creative director, will be promoted to president and executive creative director, J.Crew Group, Inc.
Millard “Mickey” Drexler, chairman and ceo of J.Crew, said: “I am sorry about Tracy’s decision to leave J.Crew but I respect and understand her wish to spend more time with her children. Tracy and I have worked together for almost 20 years and I will miss her as a great merchant, leader and business partner.” Drexler continued, “The team at J.Crew has considerable depth, and I am pleased to announce Jenna’s promotion along with additional important organizational changes. I am also confident in our ability to achieve a seamless transition.”
Lyons, who has been publicly hailed for much of J.Crew’s fashion turnaround for some time now, exemplified the company’s commitment to continuing its current approach and celebrating internal talent.. “I am so appreciative of the confidence Mickey and the Board of Directors have in me and am excited to continue to grow J.Crew Group in a creative and innovative way,” said Lyons in a statement.
In connection with Gardner’s departure, J.Crew has restructured some other existing positions as well. Libby Wadle will now become executive vice president of Retail and Factory and continue to report directly to Drexler. Trish Donnelly, cxecutive vice president of the Direct Channel and Laura Willensky, senior vice president of the Madewell Retail Channel will now both report into Drexler as well. The merchandise production responsibilities will now fall under the chief ddministrative cfficer/CFO, James Scully.