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Education and media publisher Pearson said the newly created joint venture, which will bring under one roof fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett, Fifty Shades of Grey author EL James, and 2012 Nobel prize winner Mo Yan, would be named Penguin Random House.
Confirmation of a deal came after months of Pearson board discussions and despite an informal approach from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, which was interested in combining Penguin with its Harper Collins publishing unit.
“The consumer publishing industry is going through a period of tumultuous change, propelled by digital technologies and the giant companies that dominate them,” Pearson chief executive Marjorie Scardino said in an email to staff.
“The book publishing industry today is remarkable for being composed of a few large, and a lot of relatively small companies, and there probably isn’t room for them all — they’re going to have to get together.”
Under the plans, Bertelsmann will own 53% of the venture and nominate five directors to the board, while Pearson would own the rest and nominate four. Both must retain their share in the venture for at least three years. Penguin chairman and CEO John Makinson will be chairman, and Random House boss Markus Dohle will be chief executive.
Analysts said they would have preferred a bid from a group such as News Corp, which would have brought cash into the company and enabled Pearson to quit a market that has been hit by the rapid growth of the ebook and the control it has given to major distributors such as Amazon and Apple.
The two groups did not break out the potential synergies but said they would save money on joint warehousing, distribution, printing and central functions.


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Industry insider news for New Zealand's technology resellers
These search results are from across the Techday network of sites
Equinix completes AU$15.6 Perth data centre expansion
The colocation giant says the data centre expansion will boost demand in Perth and position it as the digital hub of the country's west coast.
DigiPlex issues Nordics’ largest ever data centre bond
The data centre developer and operator says the issue is to fuel for 'continued rapid growth' in a region that continues to attract international investment.
VMware announces Cloud on Dell EMC offering
VMware Cloud on Dell EMC will combine public cloud simplicity, agility and economics with the security, control and performance of on-premises infrastructure.
Exclusive Interview: How Sotic executed its cloud migration strategy
Founder Leo Mindel discusses the challenges his company encountered when migrating to the cloud, and the benefits they're reaping now.
Dell EMC’s six server market trends
As the evolution of cloud-based computing continues, it is important to know what’s ahead to stay ahead of the market.
HPE & Nutanix join forces to deliver hybrid cloud as a service
The two tech giants have partnered to offer a fully integrated solution that capitalises on the hybrid IT market.
Opinion: The growing importance of sustainability in data centres
Aruba's Alessandro Bruschini discusses why to carry on growing, the data centre industry will have to turn to green methods of energy consumption and production.
Opinion: 4 reasons cloud and colocation providers are going renewable
Schneider Electric's John Powers shares the massive impact renewable energy is having on the data center industry.
AsiaPac to partner in VMware Cloud on AWS launch in Singapore
VMware has revealed AsiaPac Distribution to be its launch partner for VMware Cloud on Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Singapore.
Schneider Electric appoints new country president for Ireland
Schneider Electric has promoted a VP within its own ranks to relocate to Ireland and take the reins.
Are hard disk drives damaged by smoke recoverable?
The old saying ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail’ is certainly an apt proverb in IT circles - ESET shares some advice for recovering smoke-damaged HDDs.
Opinion: Three ‘must-haves’ for building a resilient edge
Schneider’s Steven Carlini shares his thoughts on computing at the edge – as well as some apt advice.
Opinion: 6 steps for setting up a server room for your business
Schneider Electric's Kavita Manral discusses the modern server room and advice for setting up one for a business.
Colt DCS to build new hyperscale data centre in Osaka
The new data centre will be the company's third hyperscale facility in Japan, which it says is a direct response to surging demand.
5GN takes over Melbourne Data Centre for $5.7m
In a move it says is ‘another completion of the infrastructure puzzle’, 5G Networks (5GN) has announced the acquisition of Melbourne Data Centre (MDC).
Huawei’s AI fabric eclipses other data centre offerings
In an independent test run by The Tolly Group, Huawei’s data centre switch networking solutions outshone other vendors like Mellanox and Cisco.
QNAP to leverage 2nd Gen Intel Xeon processors for data-centric workflows
The new processors are supposedly designed to support an expanding range of existing and emerging data centre and network workloads.
Park Place acquires MCSA Group to extend UK footprint
Park Place will take over all of the UK-based business-critical IT services and solution provider’s business across six offices in the UK, including one in Scotland.
Public cloud set to be a US$214b market by year’s end
New Gartner research shows the public cloud market to be aggressively expanding both now and in the foreseeable future.
Dell EMC tops the data centre hardware & software market
Spending in the market is on the rise with the usual suspects like Dell EMC, Microsoft, HPE, Huawei, and Cisco at the top.
Huawei unveils new hardware to ‘smarten up data centres’
Huawei has taken the covers off a new addition to its portfolio of servers that it says has been designed for the AI era.
Schneider and Cisco partner for new micro data centre options
The tech heavyweights have announced a partnership in an effort to tap into a burgeoning market specialising in lightweight solutions.
Hyve’s new innovation trims power bills and employee fat
It’s in dark times like these with Brexit looming above that it’s great to see some reassurance with classic British innovation.
Huawei commits data centre services to APAC ISPs
In addition to releasing a host of new products, Huawei has signed an MoU and publicly stated its data centre plans for the region.

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Commenter Marc Sofer points out that the phrase “No Walls” appears to be gone from the main Web page for Microsoft’s big Windows ad campaign. Recall that in late September, shortly after Microsoft’s new wave of ads featuring the tag line “Windows: Life Without Walls” hit the street, the Israeli cloud-based operating system company G.ho.st raised a stink, saying the Windows campaign stepped on their pending trademark, “No Walls.” In addition to the “Life Without Walls” tag line, the Windows campaign Web site featured the “Imagine no Walls” line.
I checked out the Windows site just now and could not find “no walls” anywhere on the page. But indeed it used to be there, as this search of Microsoft’s Web sites shows. It appears to have been replaced with “Imagine a life without walls,” which G.ho.st’s CEO described as “confusingly close” to his mark in an earlier comment on this blog.
I don’t recall seeing “Imagine no walls” on print ads or at the end of the “I’m a PC” television commercials. (Does anyone else?) So this may have just appeared on the company’s Web site.
I’ve asked Microsoft for an explanation of the apparent change. The company issued a dismissive statement when the G.ho.st complaint first arose on Kara Swisher’s blog.
I’ll update this post as soon as I hear back from Microsoft.


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Japanese inflation in January matched a decade-high 0.8 percent from a year earlier, illustrating the problem the Bank of Japan faces as it juggles rising prices with a faltering economy.
The inflation data, coming on the heels of a weak industrial output figure on Thursday that raised worries about a slowdown in the economy, did nothing to alter the perception that the Bank of Japan may cut rates given the looming risk of a U.S. recession.
Financial markets did not react much as investors awaited other data later in the day, including eurozone inflation and U.S. personal consumption, to gauge the impact of the U.S. subprime crisis on the global economy.
The Japanese core consumer price index, excluding volatile prices of fresh fruit, vegetables and seafood but including energy costs, rose 0.8 percent in January from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday.
"The CPI data showed that inflation is not accelerating much, with price rises so far mostly limited to energy-related goods and some food. That's because the economy is not very strong," said Yoshimasa Maruyama, economist at BNP Paribas. "The price trend will be similar in all developed countries. Inflation is high at the moment, but it will ease in the future."
Japanese share prices dropped more than 2 percent and the 10-year Japanese government bond yield rose to a one-month high, although their moves were not so much a reaction to the data as a follow-up to moves by their U.S. counterparts.
The inflation reading matched a decade high of 0.8 percent rise in December but fell short of market forecast of a 0.9 percent rise.
Still, the recent spike in inflation is considered unlikely to warrant a BOJ rate hike.
"In an ordinary situation that's a level for the BOJ to become vigilant," said Susumu Kato, chief economist at Calyon. "Given the current global economic and market conditions, the BOJ can't take any action. It will wait and see for a while."
The BOJ has kept its key overnight call rate at 0.5 percent since raising it by a quarter-point a year ago. Many market participants expect the central bank to sit tight at its two-day policy board meeting that kicks off on Thursday.
Japan's overall household spending rose 3.6 percent in January from a year earlier in price-adjusted real terms, far above a median forecast of a 0.2 percent rise.
Although the government data is widely seen as unreliable, when coupled with strong retail sales data released on Thursday it points to firm consumption in January.
It also suggests consumers are not tightening their purse strings, even though consumer sentiment has been constantly falling in the past several months largely because of price hikes on daily products.
But because wages are hardly rising, many economists think consumption will be tepid in coming months.
Data also showed job conditions did not improve in January.
Japan's seasonally adjusted jobless rate stayed flat at 3.8 percent in January, in line with the market consensus.
The jobs-to-applicants ratio for January was 0.98, meaning 98 jobs were available per 100 applicants, higher than a median forecast of 0.97 but matching a two-year low marked in December.
Worries grew that the Japanese economy might grind to a halt or even contract in the first quarter of this year, after Thursday's data that showed industrial output fell twice as much as expected in January.
But a separate survey on Friday showed manufacturing activity in Japan grew in February, marking the fourth straight month of expansion but at a slower pace due to a slowdown in exports.
"This morning's batch of data suggests external demand, consumption and capital spending remain relatively solid," said Junko Nishioka, an economist at ABN Amro. "The first-quarter gross domestic product will probably maintain positive growth."
The Japanese economy grew at an annual clip of 3.7 percent in the final three months of last year, compared with a meager 0.6 percent U.S. growth during the same quarter, as robust exports and capital spending offset softness in personal consumption.


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Ask another office supply store to match our prices, we believe you'll find that they can't!
Rochester, MN (PRWEB) May 20, 2010
OfficeSuperSavers.com, the online office supplies wholesale club, is the brainchild of the BuyOnlineNow.com team. BuyOnlineNow.com, launched 10 years ago, is an Internet success story, having grown into one of the largest online office supply stores.
"We've combined the savings of a warehouse club with the convenience of online ordering," said OfficeSuperSavers.com & BuyOnlineNow.com founder and CEO Bob Herman. "Unlike traditional warehouse clubs, at OfficeSuperSavers you don't need to buy a truckload to get a great price, no membership is required, we're open for your convenience 24 hours a day and we deliver right to your door."
OfficeSuperSavers.com features thousands of brand name office products from manufacturers like Fellowes, Avery, 3M, HP and many more at low everyday prices. "Simply put, our goal is to offer unbelievably low prices every day. Ask another office supply store to match our prices, we believe you'll find they can't," said Herman. "If you're in the market for discount office supplies, you should definitely check us out before you buy or you may find you paid too much!"
About OfficeSuperSavers.com: Launched May 2010, OfficeSuperSavers is the first online office products wholesale club. Offering deep discounts on nearly 3,000 products, OfficeSuperSavers.com provides savings to businesses and consumers across the USA.


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The Azure Striker Gunvolt is just a week away from being released on the North American eShop for 3DS and the developers have already announced another game to bring extra joy to the customers. IntiCreates has officially announced a crossover game of Gunvolt, Mighty no.9, and Gal*Gun. The new game is called Mighty Gunvolt.
Mighty Gunvolt offers a retro 8-bit look and an old school gameplay style. Different characters from above mentioned franchises will make their appearances in the game.
Best thing about Mighty Gunvolt is that it will be available on the eShop following Azure Striker Gunvolt’s release and anyone who buys Gunvolt will receive Mighty Gunvolt for free as an eShop download.


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Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The price of Palma Crude Oil (CPO) has risen again this week to its highest level in 8.5 years. Meanwhile, the government changed the CPO export tax rate in December.
According to Refinitiv’s data, this week the price of CPO in Malaysian Derivatives Exchange rose by almost 3 percent to around 3,472 ringgit tonnes or US $ 855 / tonne. This level is the highest since May 2012.
The government is now adjusting the CPO rate according to the limits of the value layer that refer to the reference price set by the Minister of Commerce.
This is stated by the Minister of Finance of the Minister of Finance of the Ministry of Finance and Public Service Organizations of the Public Services Entities of the Ministry of Finance and Finance of the Ministry of Finance and Finance No. 57 / PMK.05 / 2020 on Amendments to Regulations.
The regulations will come into force on December 10.
Under this new regulation, the minimum tariff on the CPO’s export tax rate is USD 55 per tonne and a maximum of USD 255 per tonne.
The rate is $ 55 per tonne, assuming the CPO price is less than or equal to $ 670 per tonne.
Every time the CPO price rises to US $ 25, then taxes increase to US $ 5 per tonne. If the CPO price is more than $ 995 per ton, the rate of export will be $ 255 per ton.
This week’s CPO rise is expected to be a narrower supply. According to the results of the Reuters survey, Malaysia’s CPO stocks will fall by 2% in November from probably the previous month to 1.54 million tonnes, and the level of production will fall from 10% to 1.55 million tonnes, becoming the lowest in 8 months.
Meanwhile, chief analyst Dorab Mistry CPO estimates that by 2020 Malaysian palm oil production will reach 19.2 million tonnes, and December stocks will fall to 1.4 million tonnes.
Moreover, when India was the main consumer of palm oil last week, it decided to reduce its import tax by 10 percentage points from 37.5 per cent to 27.5 per cent. The Indian government is said to be concerned that local vegetable oil prices are too high.
Market sources estimate that imports of palm oil to India in December could reach around 700,000-730,000 tonnes compared to the previous 550,000-600,000 metric tons.
Meanwhile, Sudhakar Desai, president of the Indian Association of Plant Oil Producers (VPA), has estimated that the CPO demand in his country could rise to 100,000 tonnes per month with this policy. This is because CPO imports will be cheaper than competing products.
“This cut makes CPO more competitive. We only pay 7.5% cheaper than importing soybean oil or sunflower seeds,” Desai said, Reuters reported. For information, the import rate of soybean oil and sunflower seeds in India is 35%.
CNBC INDONESIA RESEARCH TEAM
(pap / pap)


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Stylist’s fashion writer Billie Bhatia considers the high-fashion factor of Ugg’s new collaboration with Y/Project, aka “Jabba the Hutt meets Puss in Boots meets leg warmers.”
The ugly footwear trend has hit its stride, and the latest offering from Ugg (yes, those of celebrity-going-to-the-shops fame) and Y/Project are of the so-bad-they’re-good variety. The collection, which debuted on Wednesday during Paris Fashion Week Men’s on the Y/Project runway, have evoked every teenage emotion we had towards the footwear.
Love them or loathe them, Ugg boots made up a considerable amount of our life circa 2005–2009. Life was good, life was comfortable, life was Jack Wills tracksuit bottoms tucked into shearling boots. We were hygge before hygge was hygge. But fashionable? The verdict’s out.
Last season, Ugg teamed up with fashion funny man Jeremy Scott for a playful collection that made us believe that #ugglife was something we wanted to be part of.
For this season, the Californian mega-brand has upped the cool stakes – teaming up with brand of the moment and LVMH Prize finalist, Y/Project.
Y/Project’s main man, Glenn Martens, isn’t afraid of creating a peculiar piece and his taste isn’t for the faint-hearted – see his label’s 2017 ANDAM award-winning thigh-high boots.
But his pieces are part of a fashion movement that celebrates individualism and we are all here for that, including Ugg, who have now experienced their most high fashion makeover to date.
“The Ugg Classic boot is one of the most recognisable shoes in history. Its timeless and challenging design made it a worldwide statement,” says Martens.
“Y/Project is about challenges,” he continued. “Since launch we’ve been twisting the grounded codes, we challenged the acceptable and triggered people by putting focus on the unexpected.”
The result of such a collaboration? Footwear that’s Jabba the Hutt meets Puss in Boots meets leg warmers.
This could be peak ugly shoe trend, and this could be peak nostalgia talking, but somehow we’re kind of into it.
Images: UGG Australia / Rex Features


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Cimco Refrigeration, a Canadian industrial refrigeration contractor who also serves the recreational refrigeration market, will no longer manufacture recreational ice-rink packages that use high GWP refrigerants, including HFO blends such as R513a.
The company has redesigned its product lineup to include four ice-rink refrigeration packages using refrigerants with low-to-zero global warming potential. The ice-rink packages also include heat-recovery technology to help ice rinks further reduce their carbon footprint.
The company has built many environmentally conscious rinks across North America, including Oak Park Ice Rink in Stockton, Calif., which will be the state’s first CO2 ice rink.
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12 June 2008 05:12 [Source: ICIS news]
SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Polystyrene (PS) prices have risen by 12% in India in the past month on high feedstock costs and severe supply concerns, suppliers and buyers said.
Diversion of styrene feedstock to produce expandable PS (EPS) to provide temporary housing for people in China’s Sichuan province had inhibited the production of other PS grades in Asia, adding to supply constraints, they added late on Wednesday.
In India, PS producers continued to maintain low production levels to contend with rising styrene and polybutadiene rubber (PBR) costs.
High impact PS (HIPS) producers, in particular, faced the heat from high PBR costs and some of them had to reduce production due to squeezed margins.
Supreme Petrochem, the largest PS producer in India, even declared a force majeure on PS exports due to high raw material costs.
PBR prices have been spiralling up due to limited supply, strong demand and soaring butadiene feedstock costs.
Producers had hiked June offers by $100-200/tonne to $3,300-3,500/tonne CFR (cost and freight) Asia on high BD, which had also surged nearly $400/tonne in the past month to around $2,400/tonne CFR Asia.
Robust demand from downstream tyre producers have also spurred PBR producers to hike their third-quarter contract targets to $3,400-3,500/tonne CFR Asia, up about 10-12% from the second-quarter contracts.
The gap between prices of HIPS and general purpose PS (GPPS), which does not use PBR, widened to $70/tonne, reflecting the high costs of PBR for HIPS producers.
Notional offers for GPPS were heard $100/tonne below HIPS offer levels.
A local producer had bought a southeast Asian origin HIPS cargo at a high $1,950/tonne CFR India to meet its export commitments, the producer said.
Prices of PS in India were at $1,720-1,740/tonne CFR for GPPS and $1,790-1,810/tonne CFR for HIPS last Friday, according to global market intelligence service, ICIS pricing.
A hike in domestic PS prices on 1 June, the third increase in a month, also boosted sentiment for imported cargoes.
Also boosting sentiment for PS was strong seasonal demand from the electronics and refrigerator segments.
Helen Yan contributed to this article
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According to Taiwan Economic News, Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. has already begun manufacturing a new smartphone exclusively for Amazon.
The Amazon smartphone is rumored to launch sometime in the second or third quarter of 2013, at a price of $100-200 USD. Five million units are expected to ship in the next year.
Amazon is expected to gain ground quickly in the smartphone business, due mostly to its low cost strategy and loyal consumer base. Stay posted for more updates on Amazon's foray into the smartphone buisness.
Read More | Taiwan Economic News
The offer from Twitter, according to The New York Times, was for $525 million. Instagram's CEO, Kevin Systrom, agreed to the buy-out, but changed his mind before selling Instagram to Facebook without allowing Twitter to make a counter offer.
What's interesting is that Systrom had stated while under oath to the California Corporations Department that Instagram had never received another formal offer. None of the parties have commented on the Times article that brought this information to life, but it could mean we might be in the throes of an intense legal battle shortly.
Read More | NY TImes
Time Warner CEO, Jeff Bewkes, reiterates wishful sentiments from the cable company that Apple make their own branded television set, and shake up the entire industry, when the question was asked of him at a conference.
"I hope they do," he said, "I think Apple is a great device company."
The Time Warner CEO thinks that Apple can solve the go-to-market-strategy problem with the cable/content business.
"They bring good interface and navigation skills,"
Perhaps an à la carte hardware system is already in the making at the secretive Cupertino labs. Who knows, maybe television and content executives are already privy to the details while deals are being established. Gear Live has reported that Time Warner COO, Rob Marcos, stated that the cable company would be willing to cede control of user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) as long as they can still maintain a relationship with customers.
"It's really all about maximizing the capabilities to get Time Warner customers the best possible experience."
Read More | Business Insider
Apple could get access to an additional 33 million users as speculation circulates that T-Mobile could get the iPhone by next week. Scott Craig of Merrill Lynch is saying "speculation is heightening" as parent holder Deutsch Telecom is slated to ink a deal with Apple to bring iPhone to T-Mobile stateside. This past year, T-Mobile has been very busy making its networks iPhone-compatible to utilize HSPA+.
Perhaps this is a change of heart as just last week T-Mobile COO Jim Alling stated, "Make no mistake about it: We would love to carry the iPhone," … "However, we want the economies to be right for us." Still, it's a double edge sword not having the iPhone. "We recognize that it has been a point of churn for us".
T-Mobile would have had the iPhone last year if the U.S. Dept. of Justice hadn't opposed AT&T (T) proposed acquisition of the company on antitrust grounds. - Philip Elmer-Dewitt, CNN Money
Read More | CNN Money
It is being reported that OS X 10.8.3 beta has ATI Tahiti 7000 drivers support and can be found in the system profiler. This could very well mean that Mountain Lion is ready for an imminent Mac Pro refresh. In addition, the new iMacs are said to have Nvidia graphics, so this support isn't mean for those--no current Macs has these graphic chips, so it's good news for those hardcore users that need extra muscle and have been holding out.
Read More | Netkas
Microsoft is developing a set-top box as an alterntative to a fully-fledged next generation gaming device. The set-top will run on core components of Windows 8, offering casual gaming titles (most likely through Xbox Live) instead of the big productions you'll find on the next-generation of Xbox consoles.
Furthering the casual theme of the set-top box, Microsoft is planning on incorporating a chipset enabling the device to boot up practically instantaenously for quick and simple access to TV, games and other entertainment services.
The set-top box is but one step in Microsoft's plan to bring the core architecture of the next-generation across several devices, such as a phone capable of handling a complete Xbox Live experience.
Siri and Apple Maps could come in the OS X 10.9. 9to5Mac is reporting that early builds of OS X 10.9, which was in development alongside OS X 10.8, include the iOS artificial intelligence agent, otherwise known as Siri, and Apple's take on maps as well. All this is according to their reliable sources, who shall remain nameless.
Read More | 9to5Mac
Among the smaller tablets of the world like the iPad mini, Kindle Fire HD, and Nexus 7, Microsoft's platform is nowhere to be found. Sure, the company just launched Surface a couple of weeks ago, it's first first-party tablet device, and it has the Surface Pro on the way too…but what about the smaller form factor? Well, it turns out that Microsoft is working on it's very own 7-inch tablet, the previously-uncovered Xbox Surface.
Read More | The Verge
Rumors have been circulating that a 32GB Nexus 7 tablet is imminent, and now those rumors have materialized to be factual. First, what you see above is an image of the sticker from a Nexus 7 32GB box. Need more proof? The Verge has received proof of purchase from a tipster and posted the receipt. Google has yet to announce any official news of the bump in storage capacity for the Nexus 7, and our hearts go out to early adopters of the tablet as, based on the receipt, it sells for the same price that the 16GB version currently sells for. Also, it appears that it doesn't come with the $25 Google Play gift card as was offered when the product first debuted.
If you're itching to get a tablet and enjoy (pure) Android, this Jelly Bean tablet isn't a bad deal. Try your luck and call your local Staples to see if they have 'em in stock. Make sure to holla back at Gear Live and tell us about it if you find one! We expect Google to officially unveil this one at its October 29 Android event.
Read More | The Verge
The rumor of the Google Nexus event on October 29th is all but confirmed. The search giant has sent out invitations to the press for the event being held in New York City. The invite details are limited to time, date, and place but there's some additional written text in the search field. Could it mean an open API for Google Now?
With a high degree of certainty, the event will centered around the LG Nexus 4. However, there might be additional hardware announcements, like the one that appeared on the photo sharing site, Picasa, of the Sony Nexus X smartphone, and possibly a revamped Nexus Q. Perhaps some chatter of Google TV; we doubt it though. Could Google be planning to release yet another version of Android? Key Lime Pie anyone? The event will be live streamed on Youtube.
© Gear Live Inc. – User-posted content, unless source is quoted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License. Gear Live graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, videos, articles, blogs, forums, scripts and other service names are the trademarks of Gear Live Inc.


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Oyo has started preliminary talks with investors to raise as much as $400 million (Rs 2,500 crore), according to two people familiar with the development, as the Gurgaon-based startup looks to consolidate its lead and targets 'unicorn’ status for its valuation.
Oyo’s fundraising move is happening alongside that of rival Zo Rooms, which is backed by New York-based investment firm Tiger Global Management and venture capital firm Orios Venture Partners. Zo is looking to raise $200 million, two separate sources said.
The aggressive pace of capital-raising by the two startups is likely to add pressure on competitors such as Treebo Hotels, Fabhotels, Wudstay, Zen Rooms, Zip Rooms and GoStays. Aggregators of budget accommodation work by rebranding individual properties and standardising service levels. As they fight to grow the market and their own share of it, their inventory of hotel rooms is being sold at discounted rates.
According to an investor in Oyo, the company was initially planning to raise funding only by 2016, but now seems to have accelerated these plans.
Sources close to Oyo said no formal process has started yet. Ritesh Agarwal, the 21-year-old founder of Oyo, did not reply to an email seeking comment.
"They could be getting a valuation of around $1.2 billion or $1.3 billion in the new round of funding. DST Global has looked at the company," said a source familiar with the discussions. For comparison, the market capitalisation of Nasdaq-listed online travel portal MakeMyTrip is $668 million.
India has eight ‘unicorn’ startups, or those with a valuation of least $1 billion. These are Flipkart, Snapdeal, Paytm, Ola, Quikr, Zomato, Mu Sigma and InMobi.
Oyo, owned by Oravel Stays Private Limited, has raised $125 million this year. Its main investors include Japan’s SoftBank and Sequoia Capital.
While Zo Rooms was initially looking to raise $80-100 million in the new round, it may now raise up to $200 million with Tiger Global looking to invest around $75 million, giving the company firepower to take on Oyo.
Dharamveer Singh Chouhan, chief executive officer at Zo Rooms, refused to comment.
OYO EXPANDED AGGRESSIVELY
Since raising $100 million in August, led by SoftBank, Oyo has expanded its network aggressively. It has gone to 30,000 rooms in over 3,000 properties from 12,000 rooms across 1,200 properties. It is present in 130 cities now, compared with 73 cities. Oyo has previously said it is targeting over 50,000 rooms in 5,000 properties by the end of 2015.
Zo Rooms has expanded its network to 11,000 rooms in 1,000 hotels across more than 50 cities and towns in India. The company said it is targeting 5,000 hotels and 50,000 rooms in the next six months.
The valuation of the three-year old Oyo, founded by college dropout and Thiel fellow Agarwal, was nearly $400 million in its previous round of funding. But the company has also significantly increased its burn rate, with two sources pegging it at between $8 million and $10 million a month. Zo Rooms’ burn rate is estimated to be around $2.5 million.
The increasing rivalry between Oyo and Zo Rooms is akin to the battle between Ola and TaxiForSure in the cab space last year, which resulted in a merger between the two competitors to take on US-based cab-hailing app Uber. But many believe the hotel aggregation space may not be a winner-take-all market, and both the companies are backed by strong sets of investors.
"The advantage in the hotels space till now is that there are no foreign entrants like Uber or Amazon in the market," said a venture capital investor tracking the market closely.
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Launched in 2015, Amazon uses Prime Day as a very successful tactic to boost sales. This event has set itself as a smaller-scale summer version of BFCM. Total online retail sales in the US during Amazon Prime Day 2021 surpassed $11 billion - 6.1% higher than overall e-commerce transactions generated by the 2020 event. Specifically, the total sales on Monday were $5.6 billion, and on Tuesday, the eCommerce giant achieved $5.4 billion. And these statistics made Monday the biggest day for digital sales this year and Tuesday the second-busiest.
Although the event has grown, shoppers this year have not spent as much on average as the previous year. The average Prime Day 2021 order was $52.33, compared with $54.64 during last year’s event, according to Numerator. Moreover, the percentage of consumers who placed 2+ separate orders in 2021 slightly increased by 0.2%, and the figure for average household spending was around $106.41.
Let's take a look at the following infographics to gain some key insights.
How Has Amazon Prime Day 2021 Influenced Businesses?
Last year, Amazon had to put Prime Day 2020 on hold until mid-October due to COVID-19. At the time, amid a surge in cases in the U.S. and many parts of the globe, Amazon also saw a massive spike in online orders since many physical stores were shuttered and consumers opted to stay indoors to avoid the virus.
Amazon’s Halo Effect - Summary of Findings
Despite soft sales, there was still a positive hallo effect on overall online sales for the month.
In the US, participating retailers drove a sales increase of 48% on June 21 and 38% on June 22. According to Criteo, they managed to increase their market share, as sales were down 7% for non-participating retailers on the first day of the event, and down 3% on the second day. About 30% of US retailers participated in the event. (Source: Criteo)
In Europe, participating retailers generated a sales increase of 45% and 24% on June 21 and June 22 respectively, compared to the average during the two first weeks of June. Non-participating retailer sales were down 14%. (Source: Criteo)
Prime Day is still gaining its footings in much of APAC but had a strong showing in Australia, with participating retailers generating a sales increase of 51% on June 21, 2021. (Source: Criteo)
As Amazon's reach has expanded significantly through Prime Day events, big-box retailers have stepped up to host competing sales in June. Walmart, Target, Costco, Best Buy, Macy's, and others offered up deals of their own to capitalize on the surge in online traffic driven by Prime Day. Target offered a 48-hour Deal Days sale that started on June 20 while Kohl’s offered a 48-hour WOW Deals event that began on June 21 and Best Buy provided a nine-day Bigger Deal savings event on June 14.
Amazon was not the only retailer offering deals on Prime Day. Walmart, Target, and Best Buy all ran their sales events to compete. Target, the only retailer of focus to drop a weekly ad during this time frame, made no mention of their Deal Days event in their flyer– potentially a missed opportunity to attract potential shoppers who do not use email, web, and social to find deals. (Source: Numerator)
Walmart, Target, and Best Buy ran deals on popular Prime Day products that were on par with Prime Day deals themselves. (Source: Numerator)
On the bright side, the game is not for big names only, and the competition in the eCommerce industry has become more intense. As Amazon’s power has grown and been more scrutinized, some smaller e-commerce players have championed themselves as Amazon’s alternatives. For example, New York-based ShopIN.nyc, which pools inventories from local businesses to create a local version of Amazon-like services, advertises itself as being faster to deliver products than Amazon. Retailers such as Express Inc. and J.Crew Group Inc., meanwhile, have in recent years started their marketplaces to reel in brand-loyal customers.
Instead of making use of the halo effect from Prime Day, many brands do not feel the need to slash their prices to compete. For example, Demaco, a brand that sells artisan crafts and gifts on Amazon and other channels thought Prime Day is hopeful to build brand awareness, rather than putting merchandise on sale. Shopify, an eCommerce platform that powers millions of online stores, including big brands like Glossier, considers this shopping event just another two normal days on the calendar.
‘Commerce in 2021 is not about bargain-basement deals anymore...The future of retail is not discounting. It's about connection, it's about authenticity, it’s about having an amazing product, and a great story.’ - Harley Finkelstein, Shopify President.
Small Businesses Prepare For One-Day Delivery
Yet, while not all retailers offer Prime-like deals, many businesses have emulated Amazon to stay competitive. Some small businesses that do not sell on Amazon have felt pressured to provide one or two-day shipping to keep up with customer expectations set by the retail giant. As a result, many had to pack and ship orders themselves as they could not afford a third-party shipper.
Unfortunately, we are going to see a continual weeding-out of merchants that cannot solve the supply-chain piece of online sales. According to The Wall Street Journal, shipping costs, through carriers like UPS, the U.S. Postal Service, and FedEx, are going up between 5% and 7% this year, because demand skyrockets. Considering Covid disrupted supply chains worldwide, store owners have to pay more to warehouse a larger buffer of goods. Meanwhile, demand for faster delivery means retailers have to figure out exactly how many items to store in which warehouses spread out in a network that spans the country.
Amazon Prime Day: Challenges and How to Stay Competitive
Fulfillment and Shipping Strategy
The first challenge that many businesses are facing is fulfillment and shipping methods. As demands are growing, the combination of short supply and rising shipping costs create undue pressure on brands. One solution SMBs could consider is a fulfillment option like ‘click and collect’. Likewise, evaluating packaging size is a must if you want to save money. You need to choose the correct box size that will reduce extra waste for shipping.
In-Store Pick Up is an effective solution that many brands have deployed to avoid late delivery and reduce shipping costs. (Source: Sephora)
Meanwhile, many businesses have turned to platforms such as Shopify to set up their e-commerce operations. This platform gives access to cloud-based third-party services such as payments and fulfillment while allowing e-merchants to control their branding and customer relationships than larger marketplaces. The service also enables businesses to list merchandise on the bigger marketplaces offered by Amazon, eBay Inc., and others.
Unfortunately, fake reviews and inflated ratings are still a problem for Amazon. As Amazon purchases increased, so did review manipulation. Amazon sellers are taking advantage of the online shopping frenzy by using new methods to bolster ratings on products ranging from cordless vacuums to toilet-paper holders. For consumers, this can mean diminished trust and frustration as people tend to pick a winner from a crowded field of low-quality, no-name “five-star” items. Consequently, the lack of authenticity decreases information quality, plus the effective use of online product reviews. Instead of applying this short-term strategy, brands should focus on collecting authentic ones to keep customers coming back to your owned channels for your products, whether you are doing business on Amazon or not.
Here are several handy tips that you should apply to get real feedback from your customers.
- Make your business appear on the local search results. Local listings are generally given preferential treatment where relevant, for example, Google My Business. It allows customers to leave reviews with photos, so high-quality, positive ones can improve your business’s visibility and increase the likelihood that a shopper will visit your location. Moreover, when you reply to their reviews, it shows that you are listening to your customers and that you value their feedback.
- Social proof is not new but still effective. People trust people, not brands. Roughly 90% of consumers say that they count on online recommendations from their family members or friends. What they are looking for is trustworthy content by influencers and verified users.
- Send automatic review requests. Soliciting reviews can be done via email or text if you know the customer’s preferred method of communication.
- Offer a user-friendly review interface. Don’t force consumers to log in or navigate through multiple pages as the complexity can make them upset easily. Instead, you should try to simplify the process as much as possible and keep the scrolling to a minimum.
Advertising Costs Keep Rising
Not only Amazon but other online platforms are increasingly pushing up the cost of advertising, so it is potentially straining the ability of sellers to discount items. Ad costs on Amazon have risen 50% year-over-year, according to research firm Marketplace Pulse. Amazon also implemented tighter limits around the number of inventory merchants can hold at Amazon warehouses, further straining sellers’ pocketbooks. StitcherAds reported that Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, saw a 47% increase in CPM since March. Worldwide, branded commerce and marketplace apps can now cost companies more than $30 to acquire a new customer.
Since not all business owners have a large budget of $65.9 million to advertise as second-best Amazon did, you should bring customers intuitive and easy-to-use experiences across channels and devices to get consumers and overcome fierce competition.
- Upgrade the shopping experience. You should improve the navigation and site search to lead shoppers to their favored items. Moreover, don’t forget to allow consumers to save their information for subsequent purchases, and eliminate add-to-cart steps by letting them buy directly from the product pages.
- Bring your brand to life. Advertising is not the only way to introduce your products. Think about live streaming shopping events, or do some experiments with augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR), particularly in the fashion industry. According to YouGov, 43% of global consumers enjoy using AR/VR technology to shop for clothing online.
- Prioritize the mobile shopping experience as 61% of customers use mobile devices to shop online.
What to Expect on Prime Day 2022?
Amazon Prime Day has broken its record every year, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Let’s take a summarized look at the global Prime Day sales from 2015 to 2021.
Global Amazon Prime Day Sales 2015 - 2021 (Source: DigitalCommerce 360)
Sales of this 48-hour event grew between 45.5% and nearly 74% from 2015 to 2019. However, the growth for Prime Day 2021 is only 7.5% compared to 2020, while it is projected to hit 19% year-over-year growth. There are 2 main reasons for the lower sales figures.
- This year’s Prime Day came only 8 months after the last event, a much shorter period than the 15 months between 2019 and 2020. Consequently, we saw a decline in average order size and average household spending.
- Amazon did not expand to any new countries at this year’s event. Also, the retailer postponed Prime Day in both Canada and India because of the countries’ worsening wave of Covid-19 cases and did not offer a rescheduled date in either country.
Already excited for Amazon Prime Day 2022? Here are our predictions for you to get prepared.
Global governments have been investing in vaccine production and calling for faster rollout to achieve herd immunity, so the world could bring the coronavirus under control within this year. Therefore, Amazon will probably expand Prime Day in some new countries, apart from bringing Canada and India back to the list. That’s why we could see the potential for Amazon to gain 19% gross sales growth in post-pandemic recovery.
What about the date? In 2020, the company decided to hold the annual Prime Day in October instead of July as usual, due to the outbreak of COVID-19. This year, the online retailer had concerns over transportation slowdowns and shipping delays in July as it is a vacation month. Moreover, the impact of the Olympics in quarter 3 could affect Prime Day’s progress due to the travel boom so Amazon had landed in June to hold the event. Next year, when everything is back to normal, we can expect that it will be in July as usual.
In terms of promotion deals, according to Numerator, 60% of shoppers were highly satisfied with this year’s deals. Besides, nearly half of consumers agreed that Prime Day 2021 offered second-best deals, just after Black Friday. Let’s take a glance at the top purchased items and categories in recent years.
As we can see, Fire TV Stick and Echo Dot - a smart speaker with Alexa - are always the top items bought on Prime Day 2019, 2020, and 2021. Likewise, Health & Beauty, Electronics, Household Essentials, Home & Garden have been among the most popular categories for shoppers. Therefore, there’s a high chance that these items and product groups will go straight into the chart next year.
It is undeniable that the event has turned into a 48-hour-long eCommerce extravaganza, rivaling Black Friday and Cyber Monday. To many businesses, the Prime Day 2021 halo effect is such a great opportunity to achieve a sales spike. However, it is up to you to decide how you want to work during promotional periods or not to compete with eCommerce giants like Amazon. Instead, there are numerous ways for you to differentiate your business from competitors. As a business owner, don’t forget to weigh up the values of joining the sales season with what it takes to succeed. Once you’ve prepped up and ready, the results will be worth it.


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Has the mobile gaming bubble gone bust? A report by mobile analytics firm Flurry seems to indicate that it is on the verge of doing so.
Flurry finds the mobile gaming segment has grown the least of all major mobile categories, clocking in at a growth of 30 percent.
Meanwhile overall app usage (which the firm defines as a user launching an app) went up by 76 percent in 2014. In spite of this, mobile gaming sessions (a session is defined as one use of the application by an end user) were up by 30 percent. This is half of 2013, which saw game sessions grow by 61 percent.
Mobile gaming isn't the only category in decline. Similarly, previous mobile growth drivers such as music, media, and entertainment have succumbed to diminishing returns with a mere 33 percent compared to 79 percent from 2013.
"This double-digit growth is impressive in any context, but we are witnessing a shift where the growth in mobile has moved from apps for entertainment to apps that help us accomplish our daily tasks," Flurry Analytics president and CEO Simon Khalaf said in the blog post.
However it's not all gloom and doom - categories such as productivity and lifestyle have seen triple digit growth, at 121 percent and 174 percent respectively.
In addition to this, messaging and social apps grew 103 percent, health and fitness apps were up by 89 percent as was travel applications. The overall average growth was 76 percent year on year. Flurry recorded a sum total of 2.079 trillion mobile app sessions in 2014.
"While 2013 was the year messaging apps took off, 2014 was the year retail came to mobile in a big way. Sessions in shopping apps on iOS and Android increased by a whopping 174 percent year-over-year (note: for iOS, the "Lifestyle" category includes more than shopping). On Android alone, the shopping category increased by 220%," Khalaf said.


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Tarik Yousef, owner of T.Y. Fine Furniture, crafts high-style furnishings while rebuffing modern production practices.
"It began with mahogany," says Tarik Yousef, owner of T.Y. Fine Furniture. Wiping sweat from his brow-he's been buffing his finishing shop floor-he launches into the story of the modern American furniture industry, one of mass production, discounts and, most distressing, chemicals. "It began with mahogany," says Tarik Yousef, owner of . Wiping sweat from his brow-he's been buffing his finishing shop floor-he launches into the story of the modern American furniture industry, one of mass production, discounts and, most distressing, chemicals.
"So, 50 or 60 years ago, mahogany and rosewood and all those types of wood were highly desirable, but there was a scarcity. And people couldn't afford them," he continues. "Then some other people realized they could take some poplar and wipe some colors on it, using shellac or whatever was on hand, and get the cheap stuff to look nice. It's the reason particle board exists. It's the reason the wood-veneer industry is healthier than the solid-wood industry."
He's blunt, but it's what you can expect from a guy who doesn't cut corners. Since starting his business about 10 years ago-while studying engineering at Ohio State-Yousef has worked hard to get to the point at which he can sell home furnishings (from coffee tables to beds) he's proud to stamp with his name.
"I never really liked the process, the chemicals," he says of his polyurethane-finish beginnings. "There's not much to like, though." Yousef began using linseed oil to finish his furniture but soon realized that wasn't quite good enough, either. About four years ago, he developed his own finish made of pure, organic, food-grade oil.
"The way we finish our furniture now is totally different from most others," he says. While linseed oil features a "super-toxic" metallic component that helps it dry, Yousef uses a method that polymerizes flaxseed oil; the finish dries naturally. The process takes longer and costs more, "but, at the end of the day," Yousef says, "you have a pure, organic finish that uses an all-natural process."
As for the wood itself, Yousef uses solid cherry, walnut, maple and, occasionally, oak to craft his simple, modern furniture. "That's basically it, because I try to stick with domestic hardwoods," he says. "I don't want my woods traveling tens of thousands of miles to the shop."
Yousef recently found a way to work exotic wood into his pieces, too, by purchasing discarded lumber. "Mills will use wood to produce high-end materials and then discard a ridiculous amount of this material; we're talking truckloads," he says. "I've found some clever ways to reuse that stuff." Though still conceptual, Yousef hopes exotic hardwoods find their way into the showroom soon. "It's great, because you're getting the best of the best while still reclaiming and recycling."
Despite his remarkable triumphs in green production, 90 percent of T.Y.'s customers come for the look and feel of the furniture, he says. "But for that 10 percent who want green, organic furniture? It's a big deal to us," he adds. That's clear when you step into the Merion Village showroom; information about the process, the finishes and the materials is displayed throughout.
"I knew when I opened this is how I wanted it to go," he says. "Selling for 10 years online, it came down to how things looked. Now you can see, feel, touch, experience the furniture. And you realize there's more to it than just a 'green' slogan."
The furniture is still manufactured in Marysville, where Yousef worked as an engineer for Honda for five years while moonlighting as a furniture maker. There's about a 12-week wait time for customers eager to fill their homes with T.Y. furnishings. "We've seen a substantial change (in demand) since opening the showroom," manager Wes Miller says. Yousef recently sold a piece to a customer in Hawaii; he's now sold to all 50 states. Clearly, the desire for well-made furniture is there.
"Ninety-nine percent of furniture stores sell stained furniture. They'll take a cheap wood-or maybe not even a cheap wood-and slap a stain on it. It ends up looking like paint," Yousef says. "Then there's a clear coat filled with chemicals on top of it. By the time you go through that whole process, you essentially strip the essence of the material. And why do that? It just never made sense to me.
"Anyone who walks in here and sees the furniture, I think it becomes really obvious why they should buy this," he continues. "You can actually see the wood grain. The Stickleys of this world still exist, of course. And then there are people like us, trying to break into the market. People had kind of forgotten about the woodworking craft, and it might happen again. Just hopefully not in my lifetime."


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Free food just tastes better. It may not work on certain foods like Peas or Broccoli because I am not a fan of either. BUT it will work on about a hundred other foods….like pancakes. In fact, IHOP has announced a slight change in the way National Pancake Day is being handled this year.
IHOP is cancelling its National Pancake Day celebrations for this year, but they still want to treat their customers. But don’t worry, the restaurant chain typically gives out free short stacks on this day each year, it has had to cancel due to safety and health concerns. SO, IHOP is giving their customers a chance to redeem an IOU for a free short stack throughout the month of April! Now that’s turning a negative into a positive stack of cakes!!!!
MyHOP e-mail rewards members can redeem coupons for dine-in or to-go orders through the mobile app or IHOP.com in April!Not signed up? You have until March 31!
THANK YOU IHOP!!!! LOVE YOUR CAKES


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Chanel Iman stunned at the 2016 VH1 Hip Hop Honors award show!
The annual event returned after a sixyear hiatus to celebrate champions in the Hip Hop genre. This years awards were special, as the show highlighted prominent female figures in the male-dominated industry that shaped the music we listen to today. Honoree’s at the VH1 Hip Hop Honors included Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott, Salt-N-Pepa, and Lil’ Kim.
Chanel Iman decided to ditch the traditional evening gown look she’s known for in favor of a super chic crop-top with a diamond-shaped cut out. Chanel completed the look white pants and black sandal heels. Complimenting the simple look, Chanel decided to maintain the simplicity with her hair, opting for a natural pony.
Chanel Iman’s fashion credentials as a supermodel were put to great use as she and good friend and TV personality, LaLa Anthony, introduced the Lil’ Kim style tribute. The tribute featured an introduction from fashion designer Marc Jacobs and concluded with a short runway presentation of some of Kim’s most iconic looks.
Check out the images from the show in our gallery, and be sure to catch a video of Chanel presenting after the jump!
Read the rest of this entry


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The MadTech Podcast: Anti-Trust, IDs, and the ICO
ExchangeWire's MadTech Podcast
Sep 13, 2019
On this episode of ExchangeWire’s MadTech Podcast, recorded live at DMEXCO 2019, ExchangeWire’s Rachel Smith and Lindsay Rowntree are joined by Joe Root, co-founder and CEO of Permutive, and Oliver Williams, commercial director at News UK, to discuss the latest news in ad tech and martech.
On this episode:
- There is a growing list of antitrust probes by US government organisations into big tech companies, with virtually every division of Facebook, Google & YouTube, Amazon, and Apple under investigation. These are complemented by a range of similar investigations by European DPAs. Will we see the breakup of Google and Facebook? With upcoming privacy laws coming into force early next year, will the inconsistent scrutiny from numerous US government organisations (which mean that tech companies could be punished multiple times for the same offence) be of concern to ad tech?
- Identity was a major topic of ATS London 2019, with consortiums and companies such as InfoSum/ID5/Digitrust claiming to have a system that allows for first party data to be passed through the RTB system in a compliant manner.
- The ICO has urged ad tech companies to engage with them prior to the end of the six month time window stipulated in their Update Report on RTB. Companies using legitimate interest as a means for gathering data were highlighted in particular as needing to convey their views to the body. Speaking at ATS London, Ali Shah, head of technology policy stated, “I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that if we don’t see meaningful change [within the next four-month window], we’ll have to leverage our full powers of enforcement.” What points should ad tech be raising to the ICO to highlight the value the industry brings to consumers? Should those companies still using legitimate interest, and those which refuse to perform their obligations in terms of data control, despite clear warning, face the full force of the law, as these firms are compromising the rest of ad tech? Or does the interconnected nature of the industry mean that good players will also face backlash?


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PUBG MOBILE: Erangel Update First Look
PUBG Mobile shows off its revamp of the Erangel map, which will be coming soon to the mobile battle royale.
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- Armored Warfare is a game that has a slower pace than most simulation games I have seen, despite the blazing maximum speeds of the vehicles.


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The highlight reel from Tuesday’s SONAR reports. For more information on SONAR — the fastest freight-forecasting platform in the industry — or to request a demo, click here.
Lanes to watch
By Zach Strickland, director, Freight Market Intelligence
LOS ANGELES to DALLAS
Overview: Dry van carriers average $3.66 all-in rpm on the LAX–DAL lane as freight volumes increase.
- Freight volumes increase to 1195 index points on the LAX – DAL lane, pushing the average carrier rate up to $3.66 all-in rpm last week.
- Dallas’ dry van Headhaul score declines, but remains elevated at 104.35 as market conditions soften.
- Dallas shippers increase tender lead times to 2.91 days, indicating that shippers are feeling pressure from changing market conditions.
What does this mean for you?
Brokers: The Los Angeles market is arguably the tightest market in the nation as outbound rates continue to hit record highs. Brokers should search the spot market for dry van loads that run across the LAX – DAL lane, helping shippers secure capacity for their loads. Increase your bids since carrier costs continue to trend upward. Carrier rates for on-demand capacity will be extremely expensive so keep downward pressure on the rates you receive to help create margins on these loads.
Carriers: Dry van carriers averaged $3.66 all-in rpm on the LAX – DAL lane last week, and capacity continues to be an issue in the Los Angeles market. Carriers with excess capacity in the Los Angeles market should search the spot market for loads that deliver into the Dallas market, but increase your rates as shippers struggle for capacity. The Dallas market has softened, but shippers have increased tender lead times to almost 3 days as they are starting to feel pressure from shifts in market conditions.
Shippers: Keep dry van tender lead times extended, and monitor the Headhaul index, rejection rates and freight volumes. Market conditions have softened over the past week in Dallas, but a Headhaul score of 104 indicates that market conditions are still extremely tight. As we enter the holiday season, spot rates could climb back up very quickly, enticing carriers to reject their contracted freight for higher paying freight on the spot market.
SAN FRANCISCO to DALLAS
Overview: Volumes up 11% week-over-week (w/w), causing a 28% increase in the Headhaul Index.
- San Francisco outbound tender volumes are up 11%, signaling that demand for capacity is growing, putting upward pressure on rates.
- The Headhaul Index has increased 28% w/w, and that is likely to grow as import volumes shift over into the truckload market.
- San Francisco outbound tender rejections are relatively flat w/w, but could increase in the days ahead as the imbalance in volumes grows.
What does this mean for you?
Brokers: It is important to notice the growing imbalance between outbound volumes and inbound volumes via the Headhaul Index, which is up 28% w/w. While import volumes have been limited due to the massive congestion backlog of vessels caught up in the SoCal port traffic jam, there is still likely to be a significant amount of volume being transitioned over into the truckload market. These volumes are as time sensitive as ever, and will likely cause capacity to tighten significantly this month.
Carriers: Stay firm on your rates as the increase of over 28% in the Headhaul Index w/w is likely to shift pricing power further into your favor. With import volumes expected to increase from vessels finally getting free of the traffic jam in LAX/LGB, it is likely that these new volumes will only add to the pressure on capacity and rates as we get closer to “Black Friday” and the peak of retail buying season for the holidays.
Shippers: Your shipper cohorts in San Francisco are averaging 3.1 days in tender lead times, but this may not be enough lead time to sufficiently cover your freight in the weeks ahead. There is likely a major amount of pent-up truckload demand from containers trying to get trans-loaded, so be aware that volumes could see a major boost during the next few weeks.
CHICAGO to COLUMBUS (Ohio)
Overview: Chicago demand hits highest level of the year.
- Chicago’s tender volumes have jumped nearly 15% month-over-month, which is starting to put increased pressure on capacity in the market.
- Rejection rates to Columbus hit a floor late last week around 22.2% but have bounced back over 23%.
- Columbus’ outbound rejection rates have recovered after spiking above 22% a week and a half ago. Outbound demand remains consistent over the past month with low volatility.
What does this mean for you?
Brokers: Keep an eye on Chicago capacity as most of the outbound demand growth has come from loads moving more than 450 miles. Carriers compliance has improved over the past month, but increasing demand will limit the recovery. Expect upward pressure on rates to persist.
Carriers: Accept more loads into the Chicago market with demand on the rise. Columbus is prone to sharp changes in capacity conditions, but appears to be stabilizing for now with rejection rates falling below the national average.
Shippers: Keep lead times between three and seven days if possible in this lane. Rate increases may have improved compliance in this lane, but increasing demand pressure will keep capacity at-risk throughout the week.
Focus on … Dry Van Index
By Zach Strickland
The national average for dry van outbound tender rejection rates rebounded slightly over the weekend to 19.35%, stopping the downward trend that began in early September.
Freight volumes have declined over the past few days, but remain elevated at 11,329.60 index points, indicating that the demand for dry van equipment remains elevated.
Shippers in the Cape Girardeau, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Omaha, Sioux Falls and Dubuque markets are struggling with rejection rates over 40%, and rejection rates are over 25% in the Memphis, Rock Island, Jefferson City, Augusta, Duluth, Evansville, Mobile, Birmingham, Grand Rapids, Nashville, Montgomery, Denver, Louisville, and Tifton markets as capacity shifts just before the holiday season.
Carriers will find the most opportunities for dry van freight in the Ontario, Atlanta, Harrisburg, Dallas, Elizabeth, Los Angeles, Allentown, Joliet, Columbus, Indianapolis, Houston, Charlotte and Chicago markets, which are the largest dry van markets by volume in the nation.
Spot rates in California
By Mike Baudendistel, SONAR Market Expert
Spot rates to move produce from central California have been highly inflationary.
In traditional farming methods, lettuce requires very specific growing conditions and must be hauled in temperature-controlled trailers. The limited areas where it can grow include the Salinas Valley (included as part of the San Francisco metro area in SONAR) in the spring and summer and Yuma, Arizona (part of the Phoenix market in SONAR data).
The chart below shows that, in the past five years, the all-inclusive truckload costs to move produce from central California to Chicago have been as low as $4,000 a load but reached a high of $8,550 this year. With vertical farming, that cost and volatility could be reduced by growing lettuce closer to consumption centers.
Diesel wholesale and retail prices
TravelCenters of America’s total revenue figures are not a good indicator of how the company is doing financially, given that it is heavily influenced by the cost of fuel. The company’s fuel revenue was up almost 80% compared to the third quarter a year ago, not surprising given that the average retail diesel price, according to the Department of Energy, was about 90 cents more in the third quarter of this year than in Q3 2020.
But the company made more on its fuel sales, with the fuel gross margin rising to $106 million from $80 million a year ago. Nonfuel revenues also were up, rising 7.8%.
However, the market swings were beneficial to TA, as its fuel gross margin was 18.1 cents a gallon, compared to 14.4 cents a gallon in the third quarter of last year. This was accomplished even as the margin between diesel wholesale and retail prices, as seen in the FUELS.USA data series in SONAR, showed a weakening number as the quarter wore on.
Maritime import shipments at Port of LA
Cargo sitting on marine terminals over nine days amounts to 47% of all containers in the Los Angeles port, or 38,000 shipping boxes. About 36% of all cargo has been in terminals one to four days, but it represents 52% of the cargo exiting through the gate, demonstrating that the longer cargo sits the less likely it is to be retrieved.
Before the pandemic-led import surge that began last year, containers for local delivery remained on container terminals under four days, on average, while containers designated for trains dwelled less than two days.


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There certainly has been a lot of debate over the toning shoes. The companies marketing them resorted to the common snake oil promotional tactics making claims for the products that were not supported by the scientific evidence. This has landed some of the companies in legal hot water and some ridicule. A lot of the evidence that has been published on if these toning shoes really do give a tone-up or not has mostly shown that they do not which is why they got into trouble!
The way the shoes are supposed to work is that they are made unstable with rockers which are claimed to make the muscles work harder, which is what the evidence says does not happen. However, these shoes also realign the posture which has not been researched very much at all. This will have some positive effects for some people and maybe not so positive for other people. This means that the toning shoes may be worth it for some people, so do not write them off yet.


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Amidst all the disruption it has caused, COVID-19 has provided Indian textile industry with an opportunity to rid itself off its dependency on offline operations involving the wholesaler, semi wholesaler, retailers, middle persons etc. As per YourStory, the online textile industry has witnessed a massive surge in the past one year with many retailers’ revenues inching towards the $1 billion mark. In future too, this trend of increased sales in the online textile industry is likely to persist, giving rise to many online retailer unicorns.
Textile e-tailers to benefit from government schemes
Post-COVID-19, domestic consumption in the Indian textile industry is likely to increase with the government introducing many new policies to facilitate growth. In Budget 2021-22, it introduced a scheme to set up mega textile parks in the country to attract large investments and boost employment generation.
The scheme, called MITRA, entails the government setting up seven mega textile parks over the next three years. Equipped with all integrated facilities, these parks will help minimize transportation losses through quick turnaround time. Online textile retailers will emerge as the biggest beneficiaries of these developments.
Rise of new technology trends
Technology plays an important role in the Indian textile industry by facilitating all its right from sourcing raw materials to giving final shape to the products. In future, the industry is expected to witness the rise of new technology trends such as an increased demand for natural fibers, shifting focus towards non-woven fabrics, etc.
Need for more policies
Endowed with an immense potential to contribute to India’s economic development, textile industry needs more support from the government in terms of new policies and a crackdown on red tape. Additionally, the government needs to introduce more export promotion policies for the sector. It needs to launch new initiatives to take the sector on a growth path.


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For many years, Google has been running two navigation platforms in parallel, and despite having a similar set of functionality, each addresses completely different target groups. Now there is another update for wizzwhich is mainly used Apple Music Delighted: The functionality of the Waze music streaming platform is now integrated, so that listening to music with Apple Music and navigating with Waze is even more convenient.
In recent years, Waze has distinguished itself not only through major updates in terms of functionality and design, but also through important partnerships, often involving the media sector. Amazon Music came to Waze a long time ago, and of course YouTube Music from Google is also included, and now we can announce the official support for Apple Music. Apple Music’s most important features can now be controlled via Waze Player.
To do this, you have to connect Apple Music to Waze once, just like you know it from all other external platforms. Once you do this, Waze will present the usual options in the mini-player: pause, next track, last track, progress bar and of course information about the currently playing track. The update will be rolling out to all iPhone users and should reach all devices within the next few days.
» Android and iOS: Every third app is outdated or outdated; Up to 1.5 million zombie apps in stores[Google-Blog]
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International Bid to Halt Seal Cull Gains Momentum
1 July 2009
ACTIONS to stop the clubbing of 85 000 baby seals in Namibia, which is supposed to kick off today, are gaining momentum.
International appeals and online petitions published on websites since the weekend are finding increasing support, with over 3 200 signatures by late yesterday.
South African NGO Seal Alert, led by Francois Hugo, is calling for US$15 per individual from around the world to raise US$14,2 million (about N$114 million) to buy out the last remaining international company that might buy pelts from this year's harvest.
"Pledges are already coming in and I reached an agreement with Australian-based company owner Hatem Yavuz who offered to me to buy his business," Hugo told The Namibian.
"We agreed that the employees of those two Namibian companies, in which he has a stake and who would do the clubbing of the seal pups and shoot the quota of 6 000 bulls, would delay the 'harvesting' for two weeks to give us a chance to raise the funds," Hugo added.
Still, an official in the Fisheries Ministry told The Namibian on Monday that the culling season would definitely start today.
Attempts to obtain comment from a seal-harvesting company at Henties Bay, Sea Lion Products, proved futile. Only an answering machine responded.
Seal Alert has set up an online petition on the popular Internet social networking site FaceBook, which had garnered about 3 210 signatures by yesterday afternoon.
Hugo also uploaded a short video on the Namibian seal hunt on another popular channel, You Tube, while an Australian animal rights group, Animals Australia, has a draft letter on its website directed at Hatem Yavuz, asking it to stop promoting the seal killings.
"Since Canada lost its seal trade in Europe because of the EU's seal trade ban, Namibia has now become the largest seal hunter in the world, claiming notoriety as the world seal pups killer," the online letter says.
"Whether you like it or not, you (Yavuz) as the primary buyer are directly responsible for the continuation of the brutal killings of seal pups. Apart from the inhumane aspects of the brutal killings, the annual seal cull lasts for 139 days in Namibia, and it immensely disturbs the seal breeding behaviour in the colonies this in turn destroys the seal viewing ecotourism," the letter, which can be signed online, states.
"You are currently receiving a lot of bad publicity, and it will not go away until you have reconsidered and pulled yourself out of such a bloody and cruel business. You are a very intelligent and ingenious man, and certainly can find other sources to continue acquiring wealth "
The European Union slapped a ban on imports of seal products in early May. One of its member states is Turkey, where Yavuz has a plant manufacturing jackets from Namibian seal pelts.
Article at: http://allafrica.com/stories/200907060853.html


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Not new news, but the recent signing of a deal tween Google & Twitter – whereby Google would get access to the Twitterverse via tapping into their stream of tweets has some real opportunites, we think in the SEO world.
Note I said “think” as we’re testing it like we know other SEO firms are too and that the results will be posted here on what we find – but in the meantime, you should know that the deal has been signed and the Twitter “hose” of tweets is now capable of being indexed by Google. Announced about 7 weeks ago, we’ve been testing it on a couple of our sites to see if Tweets made can be ranked on Google web result pages and how that might work…and more importantly, how that can be made as efficient as possible for our whole client roster.
I am not suprised that for the millions and millions of Twitter users, the fact that they rolled out a complete Analtyics package is just so dang “unknown” that when I ask about it to folks with thousands of followers, who religiously tweet about items that concern them – I get a blank stare.
Twitter – in case you didn’t know – offers up a complete Analytics package for your Twitter account for free!
Huh? Okay here’s the official announcement from the Twitter folks themselves….
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. You are a small biz owner and you’ve heard that this “Twitter” online service is pretty much anything BUT business….and so why should you even consider adding this media outlet to your marketing mix?
So….with time being the major constraint in your world….why indeed?
Well, answer is….there’s more – much more to Twitter, than simple personal revelations like “I had Cheerios this morning” and “Didn’t like John Carter very much…” and to combat that thought alone you are in luck!


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Year-to-date stock price movement
As of June 17, Coca-Cola’s (KO) stock price has risen by 5.6% on a year-to-date basis. The stock prices of nonalcoholic beverage peers PepsiCo (PEP), Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS), and Monster Beverage (MNST) have risen by 4.7%, -0.9%, and 8.1%, respectively, since the start of the year. As of June 17, Coca-Cola’s stock has outperformed the S&P 500 Index, which is up 2.9% since the start of the year.
As of June 17, 13 out of 28 analysts had a “buy” recommendation for Coca-Cola’s stock. Another 13 analysts had a “hold” recommendation, and two analysts had a “sell” recommendation. Coca-Cola exceeded analysts’ earnings expectations in 1Q16. However, the company’s EPS (earnings per share), adjusted for one-time items, have fallen for four straight quarters. With the exception of 1Q15, Coca-Cola’s revenue has fallen in each quarter since 2013.
Coca-Cola has an extensive presence in over 200 countries. This significant international presence makes the company sensitive to adverse currency fluctuations. Aside from currency headwinds, the softness in carbonated soft drink volumes is also hurting Coca-Cola’s performance. As discussed in part four of this series, the company is reshaping its strategy for carbonated (or sparkling) beverages. Coca-Cola constitutes about 2% of the iShares Global 100 ETF (IOO).
With sparkling beverages losing their fizz, Coca-Cola is expanding its presence in the growing still beverage category. On June 1, the company along with its key bottler announced the acquisition of Unilever’s (UL) AdeS, a soy-based beverage business. In January 2016, the company announced the acquisition of a minority stake in Chi Limited, Nigeria’s leading dairy, juice, and snacks company. In 2015, the company purchased a ~30% stake in Suja Juice, a California-based manufacturer of organic juice. The company also marked its presence in plant-based protein drinks with the acquisition of the beverage business of China Green Culiangwang Beverages Holdings.
Coca-Cola is also implementing several initiatives to improve its margins, including refranchising its bottling operations. As of June 17, the 12-month price target for Coca-Cola’s stock is $47.63, which reflects a 6.3% growth potential.
For more updates, visit our Nonalcoholic Beverages page.


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The PU meet-up will provide attendees with refreshments and networking, including presentations from industry leaders such as Caroline Lewko, CEO of WIP, Bear Douglas, Developer Advocate at Facebook, and Christian Birk, Founding CEO at Endomondo.
Boston, MA (PRWEB) June 25, 2013
Mobile+Web DevCon is excited to announce it’s partnership with WIP’s Parallel Universe (PU) Meet-Up taking place in Boston at Ned Devine’s Irish Pub on July 16th at 6:00pm. All Mobile+Web DevCon attendees are invited to attend the meet-up, taking place after DevCon’s day of Pre-Conference Labs.
The PU meet-up will provide attendees with refreshments and networking, including presentations from industry leaders such as Caroline Lewko, CEO of WIP, Bear Douglas, Developer Advocate at Facebook, and Christian Birk, Founding CEO at Endomondo. This meet-up is ideal for developers learning to successfully navigate their app’s journey through distribution channels beyond the usual suspects of the AppStore and Google Play.
Bear Douglas will be sharing best practices for mobile app distribution via social channels and strategies that work to get users to share content as well as tips to help developer’s gain visibility for their app. Bear will also be presenting a pre-conference lab and keynote session at DevCon.
Christian Birk will be presenting on how he took his app to a global brand working from Copenhagen and NYC. The group will also debate the lessons that can be shared between consumer and enterprise apps.
For additional information about the Mobile+Web Developer Conference and pre-conference labs, including package details, prices and keynote speakers, please visit our site.
There is still time to register. Attendees can secure their seat to DevCon here. http://www.mobilewebdevconference.com
GSMI is a leader in the industry of executive education, creating conferences, summits, workshops and training sessions that combine rich learning environments with the opportunity to network with today’s most relevant thought- leaders, speakers and practitioners. GSMI’s annual events have reached 70% of the Fortune 500 companies, in over 30 countries, and cover topics that today’s leaders find most challenging and inspiring.


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In 1906, it installed the first Las Vegas telephone. In 1959, it served the first Las Vegas shrimp cocktail. And now, the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino is pushing Las Vegas into yet another brave new world: bitcoin.
The Golden Gate and its sister casino, The D Las Vegas, are now accepting payments in the increasingly popular digital currency. It's one more milestone for bitcoin, which has also reached its first major online retailer and its first pro sports team. But there's a catch. The two Vegas hotels are not yet accepting the digital currency on the casino floor, only at their front desks and inside hotel restaurants and gift shops.
>'Once we have more from our government, we might be able to implement bitcoin for casino gaming, but I think we're still a ways away from that'
This measured approach shows that while bitcoin is rapidly spreading its tentacles across the globe, there are many places where its growth is restricted by government regulation -- or just the fear of government regulation. Derek Stevens, the co-owner of the D and the Golden Gate, tells us that he and his company stopped short of accepting bitcoin on the casino floor due to uncertainty over how the government will treat the digital currency.
"We need to have greater clarity from the U.S. Treasury, the Department of Justice, the IRS," Stevens says. "Once we have more from our government, we might be able to implement bitcoin for casino gaming, but I think we're still a ways away from that."
Stevens says he has spoken to Nevada's Gaming Control Board about digital currency, but even the board, he says, is unsure about how the feds will view the use of bitcoin inside real-world gambling houses. So, as of today, you can use bitcoin to pay for a room or a dinner or a T-shirt at the Golden Gate, holding your phone's bitcoin wallet up to tablets set up inside the hotel, but you can't swap your bitcoins for casino chips.
The situation mirrors bitcoin's progress as a whole. The price of a bitcoin has topped $1000 on popular exchanges -- a sign of strong demand. Big-name online retailer Overstock.com is now accepting the digital currency. And we've seen the first bitcoin ATM. But some exchanges have run into problems because they haven't received proper approval from regulators, and with many bitcoin ventures, the regulatory landscape is still completely undefined.
The good news is that things are moving in the right direction. This past fall, multiple financial regulators seemed to give bitcoin their stamp of approval during hearings on Capitol Hill. "Seven or eight months ago, I was really worried. But now I'm not. There has been a clear progression in the U.S.," says Fred Ehrsam, who co-founded a bitcoin payment processor called Coinbase. "The Senate hearings were almost comically positive.
Exchanges and payment processors like Coinbase, Ehram says, can satisfy government regulators merely by registering with federal and state officials as money transmitters. But other operations -- such as, say, bitcoin derivatives markets or bitcoin casinos -- are venturing into uncharted territory.
Though the Golden Gate is treading lightly into world of bitcoin, it's telling that the hotel is moving at all. This is the oldest casino in Las Vegas, but according to Stevens, it is being pushed into the future by Tony Hsieh's Zappos and other free-thinking startups that have set up shop in the area. "Zappos is only a block away from us," he says. "People started asking me: 'Do you accept bitcoin?'"
Now he does. And perhaps this will push our regulators forward too.


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Fake phone switch-off reprieve
TELECOMS| Dec. 24, 2011, 3:40 p.m.
Kenya’s ICT sector regulator, the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), has announced the extension of the disconnection deadline from the end of December to April 30 next year.
Acting CCK Director-General Francis Wangusi said the extension was necessitated by the need to first undertake a consumer awareness campaign and also for the industry to establish a mechanism through which consumers could confirm the status of their mobile device.
The extension will also allow mobile operators to undertake the requisite technical preparations in readiness for disconnecting counterfeit handsets.
The extension will provide the affected mobile subscribers with more time to replace their mobile handsets in view of the prevailing hard economic realities in the country.
Wangusi said the industry was exploring the possibility of putting in place a system through which subscribers would be able to interrogate a central database via SMS to verify whether their devices are genuine or not.
Regulatory concern over counterfeit handsets stems from the fact that counterfeit devices deny manufacturers revenue through counterfeit production of their products.
In addition, use of counterfeit handsets may expose consumers to safety and health risks as the phones may not meet the approved radiation standards. Further counterfeit devices typically enter markets via unofficial channels thus denying the government of revenue.
According to industry statistics, close to 2.4 million mobile phones in the market are counterfeit, representing 9.39 % of the active mobile devices in the country.
The ongoing initiative to rid Kenya of counterfeit mobile phones is driven by CCK in conjunction with industry players, handset manufacturers, and other relevant government agencies including KeBS, Office of the President, Anti-Counterfeit Agency, and the Kenya Revenue Authority.
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Dairo, Ogiemwanye, Uwaoma now Directors at Etisalat NigeriaEtisalat Nigeria has announced the appointment of Adeolu Dairo as Director, Consumer Segment, Elvis Ogiemwanye as Director, Brand & Experience and Eric Uwaoma as Director, Enterprise Segment. Read More
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BEST READ NEWS
IN DEPTHIBM Opens First Cloud Data Centre in South Africa
IBM is opening a new IBM Cloud Data Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. The new cloud center is the result of a close collaboration with Gijima and Vodacom and is designed to support cloud adoption and customer demand across the continent.
COMPANY NEWSEnhancing your security posture to fight new ransomware threats
Petya ransomware is proving to be one of the top cybersecurity stories of 2016.Arbor stops malware in its tracks
There is always a substantial amount of banking trojan activity taking place, however, recent developments have intensified the threat landscape.


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In the relentless push to ensure that you don’t go five minutes without seeing something Star Wars-related before The Force Awakens is released worldwide in December, Disney has teamed up with Google to allow users to infuse a Star Wars theme into Google’s apps. But, like all Jedi before them, users must choose whether they want to join the light or dark sides of the Force—the hokey religion that comes with ancient weapons that are no match for a good blaster.
Google announced in a blog post today (Nov. 23) that a group of engineers, suffering from a severe case of arrested development, had used their technical prowess to refit a range of apps, including Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Search and even Android Wear, with Star Wars details. After choosing whether you’d like to join the ranks of such Jedi masters as Qui-Gon Jin, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and a whiny teenager from Tatooine, or the cadre of villains like Darths Maul, Tyranus, Sidious, and Vader, you’ll find a ton of tiny changes made to the apps you use every day. If you choose the light side, the progress bar on YouTube becomes a lightsaber; the pegman in Google Maps becomes a little Rebel pilot, and the location marker is now an X-Wing.
Google didn’t list out every little change that it’s made to its services, so it’s likely that more will pop up as more people try out the Star Wars-branded web. One annoying addition that The Verge found, though: Google has plugged Star Wars-related events into everyone’s calendars. Google wasn’t immediately available to comment on how many Star Wars events it’s added, or when the promotion will end, but it’s possible that you’ll be receiving event alerts for movies that come out long after you’re dead.
If the annoying lightsaber noises as you change the volume on YouTube or the pictures of Jakku on each new Chrome tab prove too much to handle, you can turn the Star Wars bonanza back off in the same place you turned it on—just choose neither the light nor the dark side. The page also has a bar chart (made of lightsabers, of course) that seems to show how many people have chosen each side. While Google wasn’t available to confirm that this chart was live-tracking signups, it does seem that the general internet population worryingly favors the dark over the light. Hopefully, perhaps, more people just like the color red over blue.
Google said that this isn’t the only piece of Star Wars advertising it’s going to do before the opening night. The company said that it plans on bringing “the Millennium Falcon in all its (virtual reality) glory” to its Google Cardboard VR system. So it seems inevitable that, in the words of Obi-Wan, “The Force will be with you, always.”


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Kenya: MasterCard - Helps Nairobi Merchants with SMS-Based Micro-Loans
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Kenya, December, 07 2017 - MasterCard has unveiled a new platform called Kionect, a digital ordering system that enables small kiosk owners in Nairobi to order and pay for products from wholesalers via SMS, according to a press release.
Orders submitted via a feature phone helps create a digital record for kiosk owners to get access to micro-loans to stock inventory and grow their business.
Kionect is being piloted with over 1,000 micro-businesses in three of Nairobi's informal settlements -- Kibera, Kawangware and Kariobangi -- in partnership with Kaskazi, a for-profit wholesaler and distributor. Diamond Trust Bank (DTB), a financial institution with operations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi, is facilitating digital payments between the kiosk owners and the wholesaler, and is also acting as a re-seller of the platform to its wholesale business clients.
Kionect, technology from MasterCard, provides a digital log of transaction data that qualifies these micro-retailers for loans to stock inventory from Musoni, a regional micro-finance provider, according to the release. With every loan that is paid on time, the kiosk owner has the opportunity to take out a larger loan for a longer term and further contribute to the growth of their business.
"Kiosk owners are the heartbeat of their communities -- they source the supplies needed to get by," said Michael Elliott, vice president Mastercard Labs for Financial Inclusion in Nairobi, in the release. "We have worked hand-in-hand with micro-merchants to truly understand their daily hurdles. Learning that product sourcing, tracking inventory and access to flexible, short-term credit are major pain points, we set out to develop Kionect."


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The company's 2017 supplier conference was successfully held
On March 17, the company's 2017 Supplier Conference was held in Changzhou Fudu Traders Hotel. A total of 228 suppliers from 176 suppliers from all over the world attended the meeting. With the theme of “Winning Costs and Creating the Future”, this conference conveyed the company's cooperation philosophy of “eliminating waste, reducing costs and improving efficiency” to all suppliers. At the same time, the outstanding suppliers of the previous year were commended. Among them, Jiangsu Difeida Electronics Co., Ltd. and Xigesi Trading (Wuxi) Co., Ltd. won the "Excellent Supplier Award" and Changzhou Saida Electric Co., Ltd. won the "Quality Improvement Award". "Osram (China) Lighting Co., Ltd. won the "Cooperation Award" and Jiangsu Xiehe Electronics Co., Ltd. won the "Cost Improvement Award".
At the meeting, Mr. Xu Huiyi, Vice President of Purchasing, Mr. Liu Shuting, Vice President of Operations, and Mr. Li Gang, Minister of Technology Center, respectively gave work reports. Ms. Zhou Xiaoping, the chairman of the company, made a work report on the company's 2016 annual operation and concluded her speech.


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California's Golden State Warriors are reaching out to fans -- both at games and on the go -- via mobile and social marketing, using an array of digital initiatives powered by Phizzle. SMS, the mobile Web, real-time alerts and a mobile application are all part of the effort. "Everything that we do on the website, we have to think about how to translate it for the mobile site. It's a channel that is going to be increasingly important over the next few years, and it's something that we want to be known as a leader of in the space," said Kevin Cote, director of digital marketing for the basketball club.
Published in Brief:


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Citing security deficiencies, yesterday Google announced that Chrome browser support (the most widely used browser today on all platforms) would end next year for certain Windows and Apple OS X operating systems.
After a day much of the net seems to be blowing up over this. Windows XP (14 years old and very outdated) and Windows Vista (9 years old and very outdated) as well as Apple OS X up to 10.8 (Mountain Lion, 2 years old) are the affected operating systems. Not surprising given the age of the Windows versions involved.
If you're still running one of those you aren't getting security updates anymore and should not be using on any PC that you go online with and expect to be secure. Now that Google is all concerned about security deficiencies maybe they can address the many problems that continue to arise in the fractured Android deployments and in SDKs developed by Chinese giant Baidu that took advantage of a broken permission system on Android.


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AUGUSTA, Maine — A measure that would have allowed farmers to sell unpasteurized milk directly to consumers who visit their property was rejected by the House of Representatives on Monday.
LD 1786 is similar to a bill that was vetoed in 2013 by Gov. Paul LePage. The concept failed again Monday in the House by a bipartisan vote of 71-65 in favor of ought not to pass. The bill would allow the sale of unregulated, unpasteurized milk and milk products by farmers at their farms, at farm stands on their property or at restaurants contiguous to their farms.
The bill also would have required distributors of raw milk to take a dairy sanitation class at the University of Maine every three years and have their water tested once a year if they do not have a public water supply. Only in the event of an illness suffered by a consumer would the Department of Agriculture be authorized to inspect the premises. Consumers would also be allowed to visually inspect the farms and farmers would be limited to advertising their products only through word of mouth.
Opposition that surfaced last year from the Department of Agriculture and the Cheese Guild largely evaporated this time around based on the proposal’s requirement that the products could be sold only at the site of production.
The bill faces more votes in both the House and Senate.


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After 30 years at the annual watch fair, Maurice Lacroix will not be present at Baselworld 2019.
15 October 2018
Swiss publishing house GMT Publishing and the Hole19 Luxury Group of Nigeria have signed a franchising agreement to create a GMT Africa edition of Switzerland’s leading watch magazine, to be distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa.