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Stratford Original BID went live
21 November, 2014 -- Stratford Town Centre is set to benefit from over £1.2 million of private sector investment after local businesses have voted in favour of creating Stratford Original, a Business Improvement District (BID) for the area.
The team of local businesses behind the BID campaign are delighted the proposal was given the green light today with 101 businesses taking part in the ballot and 72 of these voting in favour of the BID.
Carol Richards, chair of Stratford Town Centre Forum (STCF) and member of the Stratford Original BID steering group said, “As chair of STCF, I know there are many projects that could really improve Stratford Town Centre. We now have an organisation and funding in place to make these happen.”
Work on the BID proposal and campaign so far has been made possible thanks to funding from the GLA and Stratford Renaissance Partnership (SRP) as well as support from the London Borough of Newham and local Stratford businesses. BID specialists, The Means, who have set up BIDs across London and the UK were integral to the campaign’s success.
In a drive to make Stratford better for business, Stratford Original aims to:
- Make it easier to do business and cut costs
- Promote Stratford Town Centre to regular customers and new visitors
- Make the town centre more welcoming
Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham said, “It is great that local businesses have voted in support of The Stratford Original BID, it will be a catalyst for further investment and strengthening the area’s ability to compete with other London high streets. The council is committed to working with our local businesses to ensure Stratford Town Centre is a thriving retail and leisure destination and we look forward to working with the BID to achieve this.”
40% of businesses within the proposed BID area voted in the Stratford Original BID ballot. 71% of those voted in favour of the BID with the ‘yes’ votes representing 67% of the total rateable value of all the properties that voted. In line with BID ballot regulations, Stratford Original needed to secure at least 51% of ‘yes’ votes on both counts to win the ballot.
The full BID term will last for five years from April 2015 to April 2020. Nearly 250 businesses with a rateable value of more than £10,000 will contribute a levy up to a maximum of 1.5% of their rateable value every year to the BID. This will generate over £1.2 million of private sector funds that will be reinvested back into Stratford Town Centre.
Cathy Low, Stratford Original Steering Group said, “We would like to thank all the businesses for their support throughout the campaign, for having confidence in Stratford Original and for voting ‘yes’. We could not have achieved this without their backing.”
The Stratford Original BID proposal, which sets out the BID’s 10 pledges can be downloaded below.


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Labrador, the revolutionary new smart energy company, has announced it has raised over £1 million, led by Hambro Perks and over 30 investors to roll out its innovative money saving offer to UK consumers.
The investors include two ex-bosses from the ‘Big 6’ energy suppliers – Ian Marchant, the ex-CEO of SSE Plc and Stephen Beynon, ex-British GasrResidential MD, who has also joined the Board as a non-exec director of Labrador.
The investment firm, Hambro Perks, has also invested and worked with Labrador to secure other investors.
Once plugged in, Labrador’s smart energy device can automatically switch consumers to a better energy deal based on their individual energy usage.
This makes a ‘frictionless’ switch using smart technology to a new energy supplier possible for the first time.
Labrador has already undertaken a pilot in conjunction with one of the major price comparison sites where a number of home energy users who tried the smart energy device found they were set to save up to £2,500 on their energy bills, with minimal effort.
The funds raised will enable Labrador to rapidly roll out its offer across Great Britain which supports the Government’s ambitions to have smart energy meters installed in every home – by enabling customers to save thousands on their energy bills, without having to do anything.
Labrador will also promote competition within the energy industry, by using its technology platform to ensure customers with existing smart meters do not lose smart functionality when they switch to another supplier with a more competitive tariff.
“We are delighted to have raised over £1 million to roll out Labrador and welcome on board our investors,” said Labrador founder and CEO Jane Lucy.
“Labrador solves many of the issues slowing the Government’s smart meter roll out, whilst additionally unlocking new benefits.
“For consumers it enables them to automatically switch suppliers through their smart meter and save money without keeping the onus for action on the consumer to drive change.
“For the energy industry this service promotes competition and will allow smaller energy companies to offer competitive tariffs to smart customers currently served by ‘Big 6’ and other large energy companies.”
Investor Ian Marchant said: “The way we buy energy is undergoing a technology enabled revolution and Labrador are at the forefront of this change.
“The growth in the number of energy suppliers over the last few years has placed a premium on making switching easier. Labrador are seeking to do just that which is why I have invested.”
Investor Stephen Beynon said: “Around 60-70 per cent of customers could save hundreds of pounds by switching to a better energy deal, but most people don’t get round to it.
“Labrador makes it easy and could dramatically increase competition in the marketplace.”

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Automakers are actively working to implement multiple technology developments into their autonomous vehicles to provide high-bar security, which has spurred a “tech race” for software providers, Liron Eldar, marketing and communications manager for Innoviz Technologies Ltd. told Mobility Buzz.
Innoviz unveiled its flagship high-definition solid state LiDAR — InnovizOne — at CES2017. InnovizOne LiDAR enables smart and advanced 3D remote sensing to enable fully autonomous vehicles.
“No manufacturer out there is going to put on the road a vehicle that is unable to provide highest safety bars,” Eldar said. “There will be a lot of testing done before we see these vehicles on the road.”
The Israeli startup is offering ongoing demos and has plans to mass produce the InnovizOne product by mid-2018.
Check out Innoviz’s demo video below.3 - Readers Like This Post


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South Africans are teaching H&M a tough lesson on the importance of diversity.
Just days after the Swedish chain was forced to temporarily close some of its South African stores after anti-racism protests, an NGO is demanding that H&M executives undergo “compulsory anti-racism and diversity training, so that there can be a change of attitude within the company around issues related to race.”
The Ahmed Kathrada foundation released a statement on Jan. 16 saying it had approached H&M’s South African offices and its global headquarters immediately after spotting the advert with a black child wearing a hoodie with the slogan “coolest monkey in the jungle.” The foundation says it wrote to H&M on Jan. 11 already, but only received a “a bland and automated response.”
“It is of serious concern that your company published the advert without considering the historical context of how the word and image of a “monkey” has been used to racially demean black people for generations,” the letter read. The foundation is the legacy of Ahmed Kathrada, a tireless anti-apartheid activist who was jailed along with Nelson Mandela.
H&M learned the hard way that an apology was not enough in South Africa, a country where race-based controversies often hog the headlines. South Africa’s fraught, but brutally honest and very public conversations on race offer a lesson to global brands on the importance of diversity. Increasingly across the continent, consumers are teaching brands that diversity matters, as Nivea had to learn in Ghana last year.
H&M creatives baffled by why associating a black boy with a monkey is considered racism should have looked into the case of Penny Sparrow, a South African woman whose Facebook post calling black people monkeys resulted in national uproar, court proceedings and a fine.
Along with a discussion around legislating racism, the incident also displayed that simianization as a racist slur against black people is still such a painful topic. Even after it was removed, the advert remains so controversial around the world that the boy and his family have had to move out of their house in Stockholm. The boy’s mother was lambasted after she said she saw nothing racist about the hoodie.
On Wednesday (Jan. 17) H&M’s global head office announced on its Facebook page the retailer will be appointing its first diversity leader. “Our commitment to addressing diversity and inclusiveness is genuine, therefore we have appointed a global leader, in this area, to drive our work forward,” said the post.
Perhaps H&M should have heeded the Kathrada foundation’s early warning to avoid the violent protests that took place last weekend. Supporters of the left-wing, youth-oriented political movement, the Economic Freedom Fighters, stormed H&M stores around the country, trashing them and demanding that the retailer leave the South African market.
H&M’s South Africa has now agreed to meet with the foundation. It’s not clear what form the training will take, or whether executives at the company’s headquarters in Sweden will also participate. H&M has not yet responded to questions on the training.
What’s clear is that in order to operate in a majority black country and not incite the ire of black customers around the world, H&M will have to sensitize its marketing campaigns. When H&M opened its first store in South Africa in 2015, a local shopper questioned the lack of black models in its campaign. H&M’s response that its ads were meant to convey “a positive image” infuriated South Africans on social media.
“These two incidents are perhaps indicative of the type of ignorance that continues to prevail around issues related to race, perhaps not only at H&M, but in the broader advertising sector and in society in general,” said the Kathrad’a foundation’s executive director, Neeshan Balton.


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The move is not expected to trigger any weight changes, the report added. MSCI will continue with the half factor for the merged entity and passive trackers will have to sell around $150-200 million of the merged entity on the potential index adjustment.
Moreover, in its forthcoming review on September 23, 2023 FTSE will most likely combine the original HDFC Bank shares provided sufficient liquidity, no foreign ownership restriction and a 10%-plus foreign headroom is available, the report said. This could lead to potential weight up inflow of around $1.3 billion odd / 63 million shares of the merged entity.
In terms of impact, the brokerage firm does not see any material change given the humongous size of the merged entity.
The boards of HDFC and HDFC Banks are set to meet later today to go ahead with the merger following approvals from requisite regulatory bodies. On Tuesday, HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh had informed about the meeting saying that "June 30 will be the last board meeting of HDFC".
Termed as the biggest transaction in India's corporate history, HDFC Bank on April 4 last year agreed to take over the biggest domestic mortgage lender in a deal valued at about $40 billion, creating a financial services titan. The merger is unprecedented in India, creating a bank worth $168 billion and impacting over tens of millions of customers and shareholders across the two companies apart from group insurance and asset management businesses.
The proposed entity will have a combined asset base of around Rs 18 lakh crore.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)
Thursday, 07 Dec, 2023
- Adani Looks to Buy SP Group’s Gopalpur Ports
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, India’s biggest maritime company by market capitalization, is in advanced talks to acquire Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s Gopalpur Ports in Odisha for up to ₹1,100-1,200 crore in equity value as part of a string-of-pearls strategy that involves owning considerable facilities along both eastern and western water margins.Cars, 2-wheelers Tow Vehicle Sales to a High
Vehicle registrations, a proxy for retail sales, rose 18% on-year last month to their highest level, amid robust festive demand. As many as 2.85 million vehicles were registered in November, surpassing the previous peak of 2.41 million in November 2022, according to Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) data.Japan Big on India’s Consumer Mkt, Mfg
Japanese companies see India as a credible long-term partner for manufacturing as well as a top consumer market, Masahiro Goto, global head of investment banking at Nomura, told Swaraj Dhanjal in an interview.
Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.


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Fabien Derville, Chairman of the board of Decathlon, announces the appointment of Barbara Martin Coppola as Chief Executive Officer of the group. Decathlon is a world leading designer and distributor of products and services dedicated to sport, now present in 70 countries. She succeeds Michel Aballea, in office since 2015. This appointment will be effective mid-March 2022.
"The current good health of DECATHLON and our strong ambitions encourage us to accelerate the transformation of our business model to better assert our position as a world leader in sport. We are convinced that Barbara will be able to lead this transformation while respecting our values,” said Fabien Derville.
Barbara Martin Coppola, 45-year-old French and Spanish binational, has a successful track-record of transforming and growing large-scale companies globally. She has a strong digital and business background, developed over 20 years working and living in nine countries worldwide. Prior to Decathlon, she held leading positions in several global businesses such as IKEA, Google, YouTube, Samsung and Texas Instruments.
“I am excited to join a company that is dear to me. I look forward to accelerating Decathlon’s global impact making sport accessible to millions of people. Decathlon products and services improve health and well-being for many, and it will be an honor to contribute to this beautiful mission,” underlined Barbara Martin Coppola.


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Once again our friends at iSeeCars.com have crunched the data and come up with a new list for 2019 on the cars most likely to rack up some serious mileage. The overall winners are fairly predictable with big trucks, SUVs, and Toyotas taking the top spots, but there was a surprise leader in the iSeeCars newest category: sports cars.
First, a few updates to last year’s list. For 2019 things don’t change all that much but a few of the big trucks get shuffled around. Once again the Toyota Sequoia takes the top spot but the Chevrolet Suburban edges out the Ford Expedition for number two.
However, the sports car category is where things get interesting. The Audi TT is the most likely to reach the 150,000-mile mark by a significant margin over the Mazda Miata and the Ford Mustang, while the Miata just edges out the Audi at the 200,000 mark by .2 percent.
One of the draws of a Miata (besides it being wicked fun to drive) is how reliable it is—a Miata should run forever with proper treatment. The fact that so many Audi TTs have survived with such high miles is either a testament to “German build quality” or, more than likely, that TT owners are willing to spend a lot of money to keep their cars running.
As for the methodology behind the study:
iSeeCars.com analyzed over 13.8 million pre-owned cars sold in 2016 from model years 1981 through 2018. Models that were not in production as of the 2018 model year, heavy duty-vehicles, and low-volume models were excluded from further analysis. For each model, the percentage of the number of cars with at least 200,000 miles was calculated.
For more rankings, including the longest lasting luxury cars and hybrids, check out the full report at iSeeCars.com.
Clarification: The original headline referred to there being more examples of Audi TTs having more than 150,000 miles. This was incorrect, as the data refers to the percentage of used Audi TTs sold with more than 150,000 miles. We regret the error.


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Dog's Day in Brisbane
NEW FARM PARK - Tuesday Nov at Pop down to...Read More
Read The Dog Line's latest news and updates through this blog! Launching and announcement of new products that you and your dogs will absolutely love will be posted here too. Be the first to know of our latest promos and contests!


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Netflix has announced it will be opening an “immersive retail experience” at The Grove in Los Angeles. The store will feature some of the most popular and best shows and movies on Netflix right now like Stranger Things, Bridgerton and Squid Game. It will be a shop that also includes interactive experiences for shoppers. Netflix at the Grove is set to open on Thursday, October 13.
According to THR, the shop will sell apparel, collectibles like Funko Pops, and books, as well as other products. The article notes that this will add to Netflix’s portfolio of in-person experiences that help leverage the Netflix brand. Previously, the streamer has opened a Stranger Things pop-up store, and a Bridgerton experience titled The Bridgergton Ball.
This store is 10,000 square feet and will feature “colorful photo-ready vignettes” of characters like Vecna from Stranger Things, Queen Charlotte’s throne from Bridgerton, and the Young-Hee doll from Squid Game. I mean who wouldn’t want to pretend like they were in the Upsidedown with Vecna or like they rule in the Regency era?
With the high volume of fans creating TikToks and other social media reactions to shows like Stranger Things (especially with the Kate Bush song), or the Squid Game trends that flew around earlier this year, it makes sense that Netflix is trying to capitalize on its social media presence.
Having a space for fans to purchase merchandise and interact with the shows in person makes a lot of sense, and I think the demand is there. Especially when you consider that Stranger Things Season 4 broke records when it became the most-watched English-language TV series during its first week of release with over 286 million hours of viewing. Plus both Bridgerton and Squid Game have also broke records on the streamer. The South Korean drama beat out the regency era drama as the most-watched original show when it was streamed by 82 million viewers.
According to the press release shoppers can buy items like the Hellfire Club shirt from Stranger Things, Funko Pops from Squid Game and other shows, a book called Inside Bridgerton by the show’s creator Shonda Rhimes, and items from some of the streamer’s most successful children’s shows like Gabby’s Dollhouse.
Down the road, the shop will use its second floor for interactive experiences to promote its holiday programming, which includes: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Enola Holmes 2, The School for Good and Evil, Matilda, Emily in Paris Season 3, and Slumberland. The shop will also feature some of Netflix’s Christmas movies, like Lindsay Lohan’s Falling for Christmas.
Per the THR article, Netflix is new to retail. It launched its online retail store last summer which features lots of branded merchandise from its most popular shows. Between the online store and their brick-and-mortar in LA, it seems like Netflix is ready to really promote merchandise sales this holiday season.
The store will stay open through January 6, 2023. You can check out everything listed above with a Netflix subscription, and pay attention to the 2022 Netflix movie releases and Netflix’s TV releases to stay up to date on when a lot of the upcoming titles are set to hit the streamer.
Your Daily Blend of Entertainment News
Riley Utley is the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. She has written for national publications as well as daily and alt-weekly newspapers in Spokane, Washington, Syracuse, New York and Charleston, South Carolina. She graduated with her master’s degree in arts journalism and communications from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. Since joining the CB team she has covered numerous TV shows and movies -- including her personal favorite shows Ted Lasso and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She also has followed and consistently written about everything from Taylor Swift to Fire Country, and she's enjoyed every second of it.


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The LEGO Group has been expanding the flexibility offered to creative employees, allowing designers to choose if they would prefer to operate on a Mac rather than a Windows device. Michael Loft Mikkelsen, infrastructure engineer, has seen this culture shift since he started at the company with 700 Macs distributed in recent years.
Speaking at the Jamf Nation user conference, reported by Network World, Michael explained:
“[Designers and product developers] are crucial in developing new products and solutions for LEGO customers. For them, it’s not an option which platform they work on,” said Loft Mikkelsen, who spoke at the Jamf Nation user conference in Minneapolis. Jamf specializes in Apple management software, and LEGO is a user of its Jamf Pro (formerly called Casper Suite) platform. “Some of them come straight out of college, some are recruited from the LEGO fan community. Most of them have been working on Macs their entire life. They’re comfortable with it. They love it. For them, it’s part of their identity.”
The process of allowing employees to use Macs rather than Windows PCs at the LEGO Group has been a cumbersome process in the past, with Michael implementing Jamf – an Apple device management solution – to make using a Mac a more realistic prospect.
“Our technical analysis, and the human aspect, both pointed in the same direction. For us to gain the full benefit and value, we had to choose Jamf,” he said.
As the LEGO Group continues to rapidly expand its workforce, the company continues to adapt in numerous ways to deal with the resulting growing pains, including the recent opening of international offices and investment in new workspaces in Billund.


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A Terrell County teen gave away lots of clothes to families in need today.
13-year-old Marquavious Johnson held his first clothing giveaway at the Citgo gas station in Dawson today. He collected more than 15 hundred items of clothing to give away in the last two years. He says tomorrow he'll give the clothes he has left to homeless shelters.
"I'm going to take it to the flea market and sell them, then the money I make off of that I'm going to donate it to the homeless shelter and the American Red Cross," said Marquavious Johnson.
Johnson says his goal is to make his clothing giveaway an annual event to keep people warm. He's still accepting donations. You can make donations to Marquavious Johnson by contacting his father Mark Johnson at 229-894-7064.


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State-Owned Telecom Slashes Landline Fees as Users Go Mobile
By Kyaw Hsu Mon 15 July 2015
RANGOON — Burma’s state-owned Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) on Wednesday halved the price of landline phone installation after years of wringing the country’s monopolized communications market.
The fixed phone rate has been pinned at a staggering 650,000 kyat (US$565) rate for more than a decade. Twenty years ago, the rate was as high as three million kyats on the flourishing informal market. The new official rate, applied today, brings initial fees down to 325,000 kyats.
MPT said in a statement that it aims to target retailers and other businesses, many of which will need fixed line service for ADSL Internet connections.
“By reducing rates, more people and businesses will consider installing land lines and we’re happy to increase access for our customers,” the statement read.
Prior to political and economic reforms initiated in 2011, fixed line users greatly outnumbered mobile subscribers because of a lack of technological development, infrastructure and sanctions preventing foreign providers from entering the market.
Under the former military government, SIM card prices reached heights of five million kyats on the black market, but the recent entry of two private foreign competitors—Qatar’s Ooredoo and Norwegian Telenor—has steadily brought the prices down to a much more practical 1,500 kyat, just over a dollar.
Mobile use is growing fast among Burma’s consumers, and technological leapfrogging has left landline phone services in disrepair and nearly obsolete for personal use. Old and poorly maintained infrastructure has caused connectivity problems that have frustrated users for years.
“[MPT] has disappointed its consumers, so they don’t have loyal customers, I guess,” said Hnin Pwint Phyu, the managing director of a tourism company. Landline service would be useful for her business, she said, but she remains skeptical about MPT’s ability to provide modern and reliable service.
“Sometimes I even think they duplicate my line and use it for other customers,” she added, “I’ve always got a bad connection.”
Others said the move was seemed like a desperate attempt to survive as consumers go mobile, many to MPT’s foreign rivals. Khin Khin Oo, a mobile user from Rangoon’s North Dagon Township, said she no longer has any use for a landline, and enjoys having options among mobile plans.
“So far, there are so many options to choose from for mobile SIMs, that’s why it’s been a long time since we’ve used the fixed line,” she said.
MPT, which operates under Burma’s Ministry of Communication, Information and Technology, last year partnered with Japanese KDDI and Sumitomo corporations to implement a communications upgrade. The two firms have pledged a combined $2 billion for the project.
Since that time, MPT has offered SIM cards at a drastically reduced rate and has developed more advanced Internet usage plans. According to KDDI, the company now has about 13 million active subscribers.
Data from the country’s 2014 census indicates that as of March last year, about 4.8 percent of households currently had a landline, whereas 32.9 percent had mobile phones. Only about 6.2 percent of households had Internet access, making Burma one of the least connected countries in the world.


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"Manufacturer's Day" Declared in Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio has declared September 9, 2019 to be “Manufacturer’s Day” in the city. The day has been set aside to honor the contribution of U.S. machine shops to the growth and health of the country’s economy, their vast career opportunities and their application of advanced manufacturing technology. Manufacturer’s Day coincides with the opening of the third annual Top Shops Conference, an event tailored to machine shops that create complex parts and assemblies for a variety of industries, including automotive, aerospace, defense and medical. This year’s event is being held at the Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati, from September 9-11.
The Top Shops Conference is presented by Modern Machine Shop magazine. For more than 90 years, Modern Machine Shop has reported on the trends and technologies that are affecting job shops and industry at large. The media brand has been headquartered in Cincinnati since its beginning in 1928.
Manufacturer’s Day will be celebrated during the opening reception for the event. More details are available at www.topshopsevent.com.
An injection mold expert speaks out against high-cavitation molds. There is a time and a place for them, he contends, but they should not be chosen for financial considerations alone.
Valve gate installations must be made to manufacturer specs to obtain the advantages necessary for competitive production of injection molded parts in today’s marketplace.
Reducing changeover times will eliminate waste, moving a shop closer to becoming lean.


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Global solar manufacturing capacity continues to surge, despite bankruptcies, reaching an incredible 70,000 megawatts per year. That 70,000 megawatts of capacity is chasing a 31,000 megawatt market.
US solar installations next year will set yet another record of 4,000 megawatts and account for about 14% of the global market and less than 6% of global manufacturing capacity.
The global solar manufacturing capacity that is more than two-times greater than the global solar market insures intense, darwinian competition in the solar supply chain. This competition is spurring continuing large cost declines as well as increasing solar efficiency and innovation. All that adds up to solar quickly getting more and more competitive in places around the USA and world.


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Social gaming giant Zynga really shows what a difference a year can make. After all, Zynga was going strong around this time last year and had Wall Street fascinated with their initial public offering. Fast-forward to now and Zynga has seen their stock plummet from $10 (December, 2011) to just $2.21 a share and is mired in another nasty legal battle – this time with game-maker Kixeye, which allegedly stole the CityVille concept.
If there’s anything good happening for the company at this point, it’s that Zynga Poker is still going strong with over 37 million members. Sure growth has slowed, but their large membership base shows that people still have a strong desire to play free poker. FarmVille 2 is experiencing even more success with over 50 million players since a September launch. But even with the success of FarmVille 2 and Zynga Poker, the company still needs some help.
Like many online gaming companies, Zynga has been dedicating a lot of time towards the mobile market. And it’s a good thing too because many feel that the social gaming kingpin needs to focus on mobile games or else they’ll continue to struggle. So far they’ve developed “The Ville” and “ChefVille” and are working on other games.
Real Money Games
Of course, the bigger future of Zynga could be real money gaming. The company has currently been interested in real money poker and casino games. And their social network partner, Facebook, has already entered the UK market with a real money bingo game. Zynga doesn’t plan on going into the international market right now, but they would like to get a license in the US if legislation opens up more. Perhaps then, the company can start to turn things around and improve their landsliding stlcoks.


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Image via Shutterstock / Soloviova Liudmyla
With a hope of reviving the tourism industry from its COVID-induced slump, the 29th edition of South Asia’s Travel & Tourism Exchange — better known as SATTE — kicked off at the India Expo Mart, Greater Noida, on Wednesday, May 18. The event, organised by Informa Markets, will conclude on May 20.
After a hybrid format in 2021 due to the pandemic, the 2022 edition sees a full-fledged on-site return of prominent dignitaries and various tourism bodies.
Among them was Neliswa Nkani, hub head — Middle East, India, South East Asia, at South African Tourism. Nkani told News9 about the importance of India as a market, and how events such as SATTE would help them revive travel to South Africa.
“South African tourism is very fortunate with the travel trends coming from the Indian market and we thought we should not miss the opportunity to be here because we need to engage with the travel fraternity here. The consumers want to travel and there was no better time to reignite, re-inspire and trigger travel to South Africa,” said Nkani.
Apart from South Africa, other participating destinations include Los Angeles, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Mauritius Tourism Authority, Singapore, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Israel, Turkey, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea, Utah, Kazakhstan, Visit Brussels, Miami, Zimbabwe, and many more.
Some international destinations are already seeing a resurgence in the numbers of Indian travellers, after the pandemic’s trough.
Addressing how adhering to COVID safety protocols had helped certain tourism destinations get back on their feet quicker, Seema Kadam, regional director — India, from the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board, observed: “Any big democracy — be it India or the US — has parallel stories to tell, because with bigger democracies there are a lot of challenges as well. Luckily, we controlled [the situation] well in Los Angeles. We had all the protocols in place and guidelines were followed by different hotels and venues. For example, we just did the Super Bowl in February and that was a success… we had to gear up because we have to ensure the safety of visitors to our destination,”
Kadam said Indians were expressing greater receptiveness to international travel in the present as compared to a few months ago. “We still have not opened up fresh visa applications but there is always a long line of people to get their visa process done. So it’s an indication that people want to travel. We have a record number of students also who have applied. For example, in 2021 we had 62,000 student visa applications. People who have existing visas are already travelling,” she noted.
Thailand’s tourism sector is also witnessing growth post-COVID, especially once previously stringent quarantine durations were struck down. “Initially we had lots of rules and regulations, including a 14-day quarantine, so at that time nobody was travelling. Then it came down to seven days, and then just one day, so [there were fewer] formalities before you could travel to Thailand. Now, since the start of May, a lot of people are travelling so we are seeing very good growth from major cities… we have flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad. We are now doing pretty well,” said Pinky Arora, marketing representative, North and East India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal; Tourism Authority of Thailand.
COVID lockdowns and social distancing measures saw the service sector contract by almost 16 per cent in the first half of 2021. This resulted in air passenger traffic, rail freight traffic, port traffic, foreign tourist arrivals, and foreign exchange earnings all contracting sharply following the lockdowns in the first, second and third phases of the pandemic.
According to the Indian Ministry of Tourism website, inbound tourist arrivals declined 74 per cent between January and December 2020; foreign tourist arrivals for medical treatment in India in the calendar year ending December 2020 fell by 73 per cent to 1.82 lakh as compared to 6.97 lakh in 2019.
In this context, industry forums like the SATTE are providing an important avenue to begin the work of redressing the gap. With that in mind, several domestic tourism representatives — spanning states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Madhya Pradesh — are also part of the expo.
A representative from Andaman Tourism told this correspondent that after the pandemic, there has been an upsurge in domestic destinations like Andaman. Further, “we are also planning roadshows and doing publicity through social media… We have adventure, we have history, we have beautiful flora and fauna, so I would like to invite everybody to visit us once in their lifetimes because we have everything,” the spokesperson said.
Kashmir too has been promoting new tourist destinations, in association with the Government of India. “We are opening new destinations like Doodhpathri. We are trying to give tourists the best services,” said Ibrahim Siah, managing director of Srinagar-based Shahnama Tours. “We want to ensure that every traveller goes back with good memories from Kashmir.”


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US consumer spending rises 0.3% in March
Americans increased their spending by 0.3% in March in a sign of the continuing recovery for the US economy.
The rise, revealed in a Commerce Department report, also showed that personal incomes rose 0.4%.
Economists closely watch consumer confidence and spending patterns because their spending accounts for 70% of economic activity in the US.
Last week, figures showed that US economic growth slowed in the first quarter of the year.
The spending and income data released by the US Commerce Department was more encouraging.
Falling unemployment and relatively warm weather appear to have boosted spending this year.
January to March was the warmest first quarter the US has experienced since 1895, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
That encouraged Americans to dine out and go shopping, economists say.
Spending for February was revised from an increase of 0.8% to 0.9%.
"The trend is good from the perspective that incomes are outpacing spending, so we don't see consumers dipping into savings as much," said Kathy Lien, head of research at GFT Forex.
"Of course, markets like increased spending, but in this situation it's a healthy trend in terms of reducing household debt levels," she said.
The big event for economists this week comes on Friday, with the release of the jobs report for April.
Meanwhile, separate data published on Monday pointed to a slowdown in industrial activity in the US Midwest region.
The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index - which is based on a monthly survey of large businesses in and around the major US city - fell to 56.2 in April, its lowest level in 29 months.
Although the index level indicated that the region's economy was still expanding - as does any reading above 50 - it was much lower than the 61 level expected by economists.Resources: US consumer spending rises 0.3% in March
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Current account deficit widening by 40 bps for every 10 per cent increase in crude prices.
Mumbai: Trade deficit has ballooned to USD 88 billion between April and October, up 60 per cent from the comparable period a year ago due to weak exports and a sharp rise in imports, says a report.
"The problem is two-fold; weak export growth of 9 per cent year-on-year, coupled with a sharp 23 per cent rise in imports during the April-October of this fiscal year, taking the overall trade deficit to USD 88 billion, which is up 60 per cent year-on-year," Singaporean brokerage DBS said n a report on Wednesday. But the report expects exports to pick up once the GST-driven distortions subsided, but it warned that the traditional product mix will hinder its ability to participate in the ongoing trade upturn."
The composition of the export basket, even if well- diversified, has prevented the economy from benefiting from the upturn in the regional export cycle this year, it noted.
The upturn is largely led by electronic shipments, including semi-conductors and consumer electronics, which makes up less than a tenth of exports. Instead, two-thirds of the basket comprises traditional product groups, including gems and jewellery, pharma, textiles, engineering goods, food, and fuel.
Further, GST-related uncertainty and the effect of duty-drawback have added to the headwinds, the report noted. Imports, on the other hand, will be influenced by the rising crude prices, even as supply-chain disruptions ease in the second half, it added.
Oil imports quickened by 20 per cent till date from last financial year's 12 per cent. Demand for other commodities also remained strong, the report noted.
"Looking ahead, we expect the lift in imports from GST-related uncertainties to be ironed out by policy fine- tuning and relief measures," the report said.
But the report warns that lower exports and higher imports spells trouble for the current account deficit.
"Oil prices will be watched closely, given its potential to elevate crude imports and pressure the trade deficit," it noted.
Brent crude prices for this financial year have so far averaged USD 53 a barrel against USD 50 last financial year.
"If this rises to USD 58-60 a barrel, trade deficit is likely to widen by 40 per cent and weigh on the current account. Our analysis shows the current account deficit widening by 40 bps for every 10 per cent increase in crude prices," the report warned.
It, however, noted that as demonstrated by recent market volatility, "the country must reassure investors that a wider current account deficit does not necessarily imply pressures on the balance of payments."
Foreign direct investment trends in the fiscal have been encouraging, with the run rate in April-September more positive than in the comparable period last year, it said.


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American Express (AXP) and VeriFone Systems (PAY) announced a new partnership that enables eligible card members to use membership rewards points from American Express for their fare in NYC taxi cabs – in real-time, on the Taxi TV screen at the end of the ride. The program will roll out on VeriFone's in-taxi devices that process more than 200,000 payments a day in more than 7,000 cabs throughout NYC. And today's announcement means these VeriFone taxi cabs can accept Membership Rewards points, just as they already accept credit card payments.
- Commercial Vehicles
- American Express


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BVG Airflo has awarded a two-year parcel delivery contract for two of its home, clothing and footwear brands to Hermes. Hermes will make daily collections for its Clifford James and Samuel Windsor brands from BVG Airflo’s DC in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, using a dedicated trailer. Parcels will then be sorted at Hermes’ Warrington hub before delivery to homes nationwide. The carrier will deliver over 750,000 items per year for BVG Airflo using its 48-hour standard delivery service. Hermes’ sales and marketing […]
Yodel has hinted that this financial year it will move into profitability for the first time since the business’s formation in 2010, off the back of increased volumes and new business wins.
Crouch Logistics was hampered by a tiered charging structure which led to it losing money on each of its drivers, every day, before it eventually collapsed into administration and was sold back to its management for £150,000, documents revealed.
Last month MT exclusively revealed that Yodel chief executive Jonathan Smith is to leave the parcels firm after two years in charge of the combined DHL Express Domestic UK and HDNL (not to mention 18 months in charge of the DHL business alone). Smith’s CV shows more than 20 years’ experience in parcels, including a spell as chief executive of City Link – before its problematic take-over of Target Express – and a regional director role at British Rail’s parcels […]


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Meeting of Arab League Intellectual Property Committee held
(Cairo) – The UAE participated in the first meeting of the Arab League Intellectual Property Committee, which is part of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, GAFTA.
The two-day meeting began at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Arab League, chaired by Iraq and attended by representatives of Arab ministries of economy.
The UAE was represented in the meeting by Fawzy Al Jabry, Director of the Administration of Intellectual Works at the Ministry of Economy.
In her speech, Dr. Maha Bekhit, Director of the Administration of Intellectual Property at the Arab League, said that the committee will discuss several key issues over two days, including the terms of reference related to intellectual property, under the framework of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, as well as a proposal by the General Secretariat of the Arab League on a draft legal supplement related to the protection of intellectual property within the area.
Bekhit also highlighted the importance of the area, which is a key component of Arab trade and an essential part of the economic cooperation strategy between Arab countries.
She added that the legal supplement is in line with the provisions of the World Trade Organisation, WTO, which does not exclude the establishment of a major Arab free trade zone that meets the requirements of Arab countries.
The integration of intellectual property is consistent with Article No. 08 of the Executive Programme of the Agreement To Facilitate and Develop Trade Among Arab States, which aims to establish a greater Arab free trade area, she concluded.
Comments are closed.


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PHNOM PENH, Aug. 26 (FN) — Use of Cambodian riel notes in the economy has surged in the first half of 2016, local press reported Friday, citing central bank figures.
The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) injected about 2 trillion riel in cash notes (about 489 million U.S. dollars) into the economy during the first six months of the year, an 18 percent rise from about 1.69 trillion riel (about 413 million U.S. dollars) , for the first half of last year.
"The surge was led by increased use of riel in paying for taxes, wages and goods and services, as well as its use in banking, particularly in microfinance," NBC director-general Chea Serey was quoted as saying by the Cambodia Daily newspaper.
Cambodia's economy remains predominantly U.S. dollar-based — with 84 percent of economic transactions conducted in the U.S. currency, according to a central bank estimate — but the government has repeatedly pushed for a transition to the Cambodian riel, partly to give the central bank monetary tools if economic intervention is needed.
Serey said the demand for riel was being supported by official policies, including the central bank maintaining a stable exchange rate between riel and dollar, the bank promoting the use of riel to businesses and the public, and the government encouraging tax payments in riel.
Chann Veasna, CEO of local accountancy firm APV, said his company would not yet be switching to paying wages in riel because staff members said they needed dollars to pay for everyday living costs.
"We have had a meeting with our staff to talk about that, but they said they did not want to be paid in riel yet," he was quoted as saying.
Stephen Higgins, a managing partner of investment and services firm Mekong Strategic Partners, said shifting the Cambodian economy to the riel can only be a gradual process and the de-dollarization will likely take at least a generation.


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It’s long overdue that we see the faces
and learn the names of some of the exceedingly talented people working
in the kitchens of some of Cincinnati’s best local restaurants and hear,
in their words, some of the best and worst things about their jobs.
a group of wine lovers, including founder Russ Wiles, partnered with
public radio station WGUC to create the Cincinnati International Wine
Festival, an event aimed at raising money for the public radio system
and to promote wine culture in Cincinnati.
It’s that time of year — when food seems to become the enemy for most people. We feel guilty gorging ourselves on sumptuous holiday delicacies and make a resolution that come New Year’s Day it’s back to the treadmill and nibbling on rabbit food.


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For the first time since 1997, the BMW brand may beat Lexus and Mercedes-Benz in overall U.S.
Read This Article
Ford, Nissan, and Daimler--parent company of Mercedes-Benz--have announced they're teaming up to develop affordable fuel-cell cars.
Motor Trend has named the 2013 Mercedes-Benz GL-Class the 2013 SUV of the Year.
Justin Bell takes us through the streets of L.A. and to the track at Willow Springs to test out the 2013 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT.


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Upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 will not supplant the Snapdragon 820
Qualcomm has officially announced the new Snapdragon 821 SoC as the newest member of the Snapdragon 800 family. The processor appeared in benchmark databases just a few weeks ago and is intended to bridge the release gap between the Snapdragon 820 and the next eventual "true" successor. Thus, the 821 is not a completely new SoC and is more of a minor update to the Snapdragon 820.
The 821 is almost identical to the 820 including its integrated X12 LTE modem capable of transfer rates of up to 600 MB/s and compatibility with Ultra HD Voice for better call quality. The biggest difference between them will the increase in core clock rate from 2.1 GHz to 2.4 GHz for a claimed performance increase of about 10 percent.
Smartphones with the Snapdragon 821 have not yet been announced, but potential candidates may include the upcoming Nexus smartphones and the Asus Zenfone 3. The current Snapdragon 820 is the powerhouse for most flagship Android devices of 2016 including the HTC 10 and the LG G5. The Exynos 8890, however, carries a measurable lead in raw performance power.


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DETROIT (AP) — General Motors’ first-quarter net income fell 60 percent from a year ago, and its shares fell even though the numbers beat Wall Street estimates.
The Detroit automaker says it made just over $1 billion from January through March, or 77 cents per share. A year ago the company made $2.6 billion, or $1.70 per share.
GM says earnings and revenue fell because shipments to dealers dropped as factories were closed to retool for new full-size pickup trucks. But sales from dealers to buyers in the U.S., GM’s most profitable market, rose 3.8 percent driven by SUVs.
Investors were not impressed, however. Shares of GM tumbled 2.4 percent to $37.18 in Thursday midday training.
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GM had warned that earnings would be slower in the first and fourth quarters of the year, but the company said it is still on track to reach annual pretax earnings of around $6.50 per share.
Excluding one-time costs such as restructuring in South Korea, the company made $1.43 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $1.24. Revenue fell 3 percent to $36.1 billion. Analysts predicted $34.5 billion.
In North America the company made $2.2 billion before taxes for an 8 percent profit margin. The company’s joint venture in China made a record $600 million.
GM said all of its business units were profitable for the quarter.
In interviews and on a conference call with analysts, GM executives also gave updates on autonomous car development and said they see Ford’s exit from most passenger car segments in North America as an opportunity:
— The company remains on track to start carrying passengers in autonomous vehicles with no human backup drivers sometime next year, CEO Mary Barra said. This means that last month’s fatal crash in Arizona involving an Uber self-driving vehicle with a backup driver has not changed GM’s plans. Barra said that GM is building the cars and the autonomous systems on its own, so safety is all in one place. GM has modified 40 percent of the systems in the electric Chevrolet Bolt to make it autonomous, showing that the company can create redundant systems to keep the cars safe. “There are improvements and changes that are happening almost on a daily basis as we continue to improve the software,” Barra said. GM hasn’t said how many cars it will deploy or where they will go, although San Francisco and New York are likely.
— Executives see opportunity in crosstown rival Ford Motor Co.’s announcement Wednesday that it will dump all but two cars in North America over the next four years. GM recently updated the underpinnings of its compact and midsize cars so it can refresh them with little capital expenditures, Barra said. So although car segments are shrinking, they’re still large. “When you have less competition in any area it makes it potentially more attractive,” Chief Financial Officer Chuck Stevens said. Ford said Wednesday that during the next four years it would phase out most of its cars, leaving only the Mustang and a compact Focus crossover-type vehicle. That means the Taurus, Fusion, Fiesta and CMax will be scrubbed.
GM’s shipments to dealers were down by 47,000 for the quarter, largely because factories that make Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups were shut down to retool for new versions that come out in the fall. GM books revenue when vehicles are sent to dealers.
Stevens said union workers in Korea on Thursday ratified a labor agreement that is part of a major restructuring that includes a factory closure and the reduction of 4,000 jobs to 13,000 workers. Stevens said it will generate $400 million to $500 million per year in cost savings that will make the Korea business profitable next year. GM also has a preliminary deal with the Korea development bank for $750 million to support capital spending on new products, he said.


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fashion + beauty + insider interviews + est 2006
Friday, March 14, 2008
looks like this from balenciaga's fall 2008 collection, should be available at bergdof's in late summer. (style.com)new york -i'll begin by saying that at the end of the day it's bergdof's. it will always be the epitome of fine shopping. and yet, i am surprised at how many new labels are debuting there so far this year. (by the number, and the fact that these folks didn't already have a presence.) it's been announced that balenciaga will be debuting their store in store on the third floor (next to prada.) lanvin recently got it's own dedicated space on the fourth floor, while tom ford will be debuting in the mens shop in may. this simply sounds like a fashionista's wonderland. i can't wait to check it out when i return to nyc on holiday next in a few weeks.


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Podcast: Facebook, Intel CPUs, YouTube
Apr. 08, 2018 1:47 AM ETGOOG, GOOGL, META, INTC4 Comments
This week’s Tech.pinions podcast features Tim Bajarin and Bob O’Donnell discussing the latest travails for Facebook (FB), chatting about CPU battles for PCs and how the new Intel (INTC) CPU announcements are affecting PC makers, and analyzing what the longer-term impact on Silicon Valley might be from the YouTube shooting incident.
Disclaimer: Some of the author's clients are vendors in the tech industry.
This article was written by
Bob O’Donnell is the founder and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, LLC a technology consulting and market research firm that provides strategic consulting and market research services to the technology industry and professional financial community. You can follow him on Twitter @bobodtech.


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What you need to know
- Intel announced that its upcoming consumer GPUs will be under the Intel Arc brand.
- The Intel Arc brand includes hardware, software, and services and will include multiple generations of hardware.
- The first generation under the Arc brand is codenamed "Alchemist."
Intel's upcoming consumer GPUs will be part of its newly announced Intel Arc brand. Intel Arc includes hardware, software, and services, including consumer graphics meant to compete with the best graphics cards from NVIDIA and AMD. The company explains that its Arc brand will span across multiple generations of hardware.
The first generation under the Intel Arc brand is codenamed "Alchemist." Previously, it was known as DG2. Alchemist GPUs will appear in desktops and laptops. Future generations under the Arc brand include Battlemage, Celestial, and Druid.
Intel's Alchemist will support ray tracing and artificial intelligence-driven super sampling. The latter of these seems similar to NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), which also uses AI to upscale gameplay. AMD has a somewhat similar technology called FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), though it uses spatial upscaling to make games look better. Alchemist will also fully support DirectX 12 Ultimate.
Intel vice president and general manager of Client Graphics Products and Solutions, Roger Chandler, said of today's news:
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ORONO – The University of Maine has taken 3D printer technology and gone big, and now is floating a cost-saving idea to Maine boatbuilders.
A massive 3D printer being delivered to the UMaine is so big that it can print out a mold for a 100-foot boat. The Maine Technology Institute thinks the technology can help Maine shipbuilders save money and time.
MTI gave UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center half a million to create a technology cluster that will encourage boat builders to explore 3D printing using UMaine’s system.
“What you see here right next to me is a 3D printed piece of plastic with wood in it,” said Habib Dagher, UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center executive director. “Our goal is to be able to print with 50 percent wood by weight.”
Mixing wood with plastic is cheaper, and it makes the plastic stronger.
“It’s all about shortening the time from concept and production,” said Burr Shaw, Hinckley Company product engineering manager. “It’s all about reducing weight in parts and ultimately we can create shapes that we couldn’t do out of molded parts. Printed parts and printed molds you have total control over what’s inside and the shape of the part.”
“The actually 16 weeks of mold building can be shortened with 3D printing to 4 weeks,” he added later.
James Anderson, UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center, senior program manager, said boat builders use a lot of parts that need to be created.
“I used to work for a boat builder in Maine and we were forever buying tooling and making small parts and I knew the cost of tooling and the lead time was really high,” Anderson said Friday. “And 3D printing just seemed like common sense you know.”
Wood is broken down into a powder that can be mixed with plastics for use in the 3D printer, which lays down layer after layer to create items.
“We’re looking for new ways to use wood,” Dagher said. “One way to do that is to use a 3D printer and that’s why we’re going in that direction.”


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Xiaomi has been selling their products in India for quite some time now. The company didn't sell their devices directly though, they partnered up with one of India's biggest retailers, Flipkart. Earlier this year, some reports were stating that Xiaomi intends to open up shop in India and also sell their smartphones directly via their website. Well, the company isn't there just yet, but they did start offering their accessories through the company's official India website, read on.
This China-based company has listed a number of accessories on their official India website and they're now available for purchase. These are the available accessories: Redmi Note Flip Case, Redmi Soft Gel Protective Case, Mi In-Ear Headphone (Piston), Mi In-Ear Headphones (Basic) and both of Xiaomi's power banks (which are listed separately) are now available. If you live in India and decide to purchase some of these accessories, keep in mind that shipping is free for orders over Rs. 500. If your order value is lower than that, you'll have to pay Rs. 50 for shipping. Cash on Delivery and PayU are not available just yet, but the company says that those payment options will be available soon as well.
That being said, these accessories are listed on Xiaomi's website, but the company is still not the one selling them. According to Xiaomi, all of these accessories are being sold in India by Rocket Kommerce LLP, an authorized distributor of Xiaomi products in India. Also, despite the fact that these devices are now listed on Xiaomi's official website, they are available through Flipkart as well, just in case you were wondering. If you're interested in purchasing either of these accessories, visit the source link down below which will take you to the official website. As previously said, power banks are listed separately.
It seems like Xiaomi is moving closer to the "manufacture in India" stage of their operations. Company's executives hinted several times that they will start manufacturing devices in India, and several reports have confirmed that. If those reports are to be believed, the company might start manufacturing devices in Q3 or Q4 this year.


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Kudos to Walt Disney (DIS 0.84%). The company's Disney+ net subscriber growth slowed to a scant 2.1 million households during its fiscal 2021 fourth quarter (ended Oct. 2, 2021), calling the media giant's early streaming customer targets into question.
Disney reaccelerated adoption of its flagship platform for the fiscal 2022 first quarter ended on Jan. 1, though, picking up 11.7 million paying customers since the previous quarter. Its other streaming services, Hulu and ESPN+, also saw net subscriber gains, putting the company's initial calls for between 230 million and 260 million active streaming subscriptions by the end of 2024 back on the table.
Before getting too comfortable with the idea that Walt Disney's streaming dreams are all coming true, however, know there's one lingering, glaring problem. This direct-to-consumer operation is still bleeding a lot of money with no clear picture as to how it may ever get out of the red and into the black.
The good news: Disney's direct-to-consumer (streaming) revenue rolled in at $4.7 billion in the most recent quarter. That's up 34% on a year-over-year basis.
The bad news: Walt Disney's streaming operation lost $593 million in the same period. That's a 27% bigger loss than the company reported for this division in the prior-year quarter.
Had the quarterly loss been an isolated incident, it might be something investors can overlook. Disney+ is a relatively young enterprise, and losses are expected as the business gets up to speed. But it has been in business for two years now, and there's not even a hint of fiscal viability yet.
Some will argue two years isn't enough time before passing judgment on how a business will stack up and shake out. And that argument holds some water. The company is only a little more than halfway to its 2024 streaming subscriber goal. More paying customers means more revenue to cover content production costs, and price increases may help boost profit margins as well.
The argument looks past one key reality, however. That is, Disney has yet to really open up its content wallet the way it says it's eventually going to. In late 2020, the company confirmed there were ten Marvel productions as well as ten Star Wars productions in the works, most of which have yet to begin production.
Subscriber growth may well lead to much-needed revenue growth but with plans to spend $33 billion on entertainment content this year alone -- for streaming and non-streaming purposes -- concerns are merited. Even if 245 million households are paying an average of $6.00 per month per subscription, that's still less than $18 billion worth of annual streaming revenue.
Also note that overall streaming revenue growth seems to be slowing.
Time for tougher questions
None of this is to suggest Disney is a lost cause. Cable television and movie revenue are still on the table, as are theme park and resort revenue. While the lion's share of the $33 billion earmarked for content will go to Disney+ and sports programming, the company's ultimately got several ways to monetize its products and generate a net return on its investments.
As it stands right now, though, the streaming math doesn't leave Disney's bulls with a lot to work with. Either spending plans will need to be reined in, or price increases need to be imposed, both of which discourage subscriber growth. At the very least, we're now deep enough into Disney's days as a streaming player for investors to start asking tougher questions, like when and how this is all going to start paying off.


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The consumer industry continues to be a hotbed of patent innovation. Activity is driven by health and wellness, environmental sustainability, and aesthetics, as well as the growing importance of personalized nutrition and technologies such as alternative proteins, 3D food printers, and digital food management. In the last three years alone, there have been over 662,000 patents filed and granted in the consumer industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Health & wellness in consumer: muscle regeneration supplements. Buy the report here.
According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which uses over 116,000 patents to analyze innovation intensity for the consumer industry, there are 30+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Muscle regeneration supplements is a key innovation area in health & wellness
There are a wide range of muscle regeneration supplements being actively used to help repair and rebuild damaged muscles. These include creatinine, magnesium-based compositions, whey proteins, and branched chain amino acids compositions.
GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 60+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established consumer companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of muscle regeneration supplements.
Key players in muscle regeneration supplements – a disruptive innovation in the consumer industry
‘Application diversity’ measures the number of applications identified for each patent. It broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.
‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of countries each patent is registered in. It reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.
Patent volumes related to muscle regeneration supplements
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Nestle is the leading patent filer in muscle regeneration supplements. Some other key patent filers in the space include Newtree, Axcella Health, Sinphar Pharmaceutical, , Abbott Laboratories, and Oncocross. In 2022, Abbott Laboratories announced the launch of Ensure with HMB, a new formulation to support Indian consumers in their older age. The new product contains a science-based nutritional supplement, which is made of 32 vital nutrients such as high-quality protein, calcium, and vitamin D to help improve muscle and bone strength.
In terms of application diversity, Newtree leads the pack, with Cosmax and Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology in second and third positions, respectively. By means of geographic reach, Oncocross holds the top position, followed by Royal DSM and Otsuka Holdings.
Muscle regeneration supplements will be of immense importance in the coming years, as consumers increasingly seek safe solutions for muscle regeneration.
To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the consumer industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Consumer.


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Japan’s Most Recent Trillion Dollar Gambit
Please note this blog post was published over 12 months ago and so may not include the most up-to-date information, for example where regulation around investing has changed.
A fortnight ago, we explored the reasons why the fortunes of equity markets and the underlying economies where they are listed often appear disconnected. The severe exogenous shock of COVID -19 and the stimulus measures enacted by policymakers to mitigate its worst effects mean disparate economic and market performances predominate across much of the global economy.
Nowhere is this phenomenon more evident than the world’s third-largest economy; Japan. As one the world’s most open economies, boasting some of the world’s largest multinational companies, Japan’s economy and equity markets have mirrored the fortunes of other economically developed nations over the last few months.
Likewise, the Japanese government and Bank of Japan have pursued some of the most aggressive policy actions aimed at stemming the economic carnage released by COVID-19’s spread. This week the Japanese government approved the latest gargantuan stimulus bill, and we explore the details below.
First, we assess the prevailing economic and market backdrop of Japan.
The Japanese economy vs Japanese equity market
Since their nadir of March 23rd, global equity markets have responded positively to the extraordinary policies implemented by the US Federal Reserve and other central banks. The asset purchasing programmes, committing central banks to purchase corporate bonds, allowed liquidity to flow through the financial system, helping generate increased investor appetites for riskier investments, including equities.
Indeed, one of Japan’s leading equity indices rebounded by nearly 30% off its recent lows, as displayed in Graph 1. However, as we all now generally appreciate the broader economic picture which lies in front of us is less clear.
Graph 1: Nikkei 225 Recovery
Source: Bloomberg, data as of the 26/05/2020
Graph 2 depicts the quarterly economic growth of the Japanese economy from Q4 2017 until Q1 2020. From the chart, it is evident that the Japanese economy lacked vitality even before COVID-19’s spread. For example, in the fourth quarter of 2019, the economy contracted by 1.9%. On an annualised basis corresponds to a fall of over 7%. The cause of the economic contraction? Increases in consumption taxation stifled consumer demand.
This negative trend continued into the first quarter of 2020, with the economy falling more by 0.9% as COVID related effects started to bite in earnest by early March. Taken together, this means Japan’s economy entered a technical recession earlier than most other developed economies.
Graph 2: Japanese Quarterly Economic Growth
Source: Bloomberg, data as of the 31/03/2020
The earlier consumption tax-induced weakness of the economy, coupled with the additional shock caused by COVID-19, has elevated the need for aggressive action. Below we examine the measures approved.
Details of the package
On Wednesday the Japanese government approved an additional, and whopping, 117 trillion Japanese Yen in additional spending, equivalent to US $1.1 trillion. The announcement represents the second instance in recent months of the Japanese government compelled to announce extraordinary measures to bolster the economy.
The total value of Japanese fiscal stimulus deployed in the last three months amounts to over 230 trillion yen. In dollar terms, equivalent in value to $2.2 trillion, rivalling the scale of the stimulus package enacted by the US. To put this into context, it represents an eye-watering 40% of the value of Japan’s Gross Domestic Product, almost four times the relative scale of the measures enacted by the US government.
The package includes provision for rent subsidies for households, and small and medium-sized business most adversely impacted by Covid-19 pandemic. Other measures include a $29 billion commitment for vaccine research, as well as direct cash payments to frontline medical professionals.
Additional context – Japan’s economic history
During the late 1980s, the Japanese economy exhibited a period of rapid and sustained economic growth. In fact, forecasts suggested Japan would supplant the United States as the world’s largest economy. Fast forward a quarter of a century and the halcyon days of the 1980s are a hazy memory.
A debilitating asset price bubble collapse in 1991 led to a period of economic stagnation that lasted for the rest of the 1990s and much of the following decade, with the effect being the Japanese economy is now only ¼ of the size of the US economy.
Whether the latest bout of economic shock therapy can reignite the Japanese economy on a long-term, upward trajectory to past glories is unlikely. For all the technical prowess and innovation of Japanese firms, the economy faces a significant demographic challenge in the form of a shrinking population. However, the main emphasis now is to prevent stagnation and to ensure the return of some inflation.
It is essential to recognise the objective of Japan’s stimulus is to enable companies and individuals to avoid insolvency and navigate the turbulence caused by COVID-19. At 40% of GDP, the scale of the fiscal stimulus deployed is unparalleled anywhere and shows real determination to underpin recovery and to avoid price deflation.
Throughout the developed world the pandemic has been characterised by significant, innovative policy responses and the resolve to fight the COVID war remains in-tact. Even the European Union, perennially accused of failing to act in the face of repeated economic hardships, appears to be prepared to use whatever means necessary to aid member states and regions worst affected by the pandemic.
The determination we have witnessed is impressive, and with the spread of Covid-19 appearing to abate finally, the stimulus packages cement the foundations for the next chapter of demand recovery and increasing economic growth.


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Netflix CEO Reed Hastings' pay doubles
- Krystal Peak
See correction at end of article.
That means the Hastings will be taking home nearly twice the amount of money he did this year, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
The streaming video service said it plans to fork over Hastings' $2 million salary with $2 million of compensation through stock options -- though the ultimate value of the stocks will depend on how Netflix’s (NASDAQ:NFLX) shares perform.
The company was mum on what spurred this compensation hike. Over last three years Hastings has elected to receive about $500,000 of his salary in cash.
The company stock is up 29 percent over the last year after seeing its bottom line drop into the red earlier in the year during an international expansion.
The streaming video service may have felt some reprieve from the initial dip, but the company is still far below the profits it was posting last year.
And even as Hasting's company continues to gain more ground on the social sharing of videos in its collection, some are questioning whether it has had to shell out too much money to sign the Disney library to its growing collection of media.
The company's stock closed Friday at $89.33 -- down $1.17 for the day.
An earlier version of this story mischaracterized Reed Hastings' compensation structure. Netflix has a policy that allows executives choose how much of their pay to receive in cash vs. equity. The $500K figure is the portion of the total compensation package he has elected to receive in cash each year for the past three years.
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Hi-Wire Brewing will help cap off Asheville Beer Week by taking part in their first beer festival – Beer City Festival in Downtown Asheville’s Pack Square Park, on Saturday, June 1st.
In addition, Hi-Wire’s first ever tasting event will take place the night before at downtown Asheville’s Thirsty Monk, consistently ranked one of the best beer bars in America. Listed on the Asheville Beer Week website as well as on the Thirty Monk’s, the Release Party is being described “Asheville’s newest brewery” will be introducing their lineup of beers to the community! They will be tapping 10-13 of Hi-Wire’s new lineup from their core brands to seasonals to one-offs.
Take advantage of being the first to welcome them to Asheville. Specializing in year-round, highly drinkable, or “sessionable” brews, Hi-Wire’s brewhouse has been active for months now brewing their all-new, four year-round beers:
Hand-drawn label designs for all four have been posted on Hi-Wire’s Facebook page and have been receiving tremendously positive feedback. In addition to their year-rounds, Hi-Wire’s first, summer seasonal – a Hefeweizen wheat ale – will also be featured at the Thirsty Monk event. They will also be tapping approximately a half dozen of Hi-Wire’s “Side Show Seasonal” small batch beers – including an Imperial Red Rye and a Saison.
Guests will have the chance to provide feedback directly to Hi-Wire’s owners on these small batch beers, including their ideas for potential names!


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The leading global esports lifestyle brand Razer, has recently announced they are holding a new digital event, dubbed “RazerCon”. It is a full-day event online produced by Razer and its network of partners. The event will be held on October 10th and live-streamed across Razer’s major social network channels, such as Twitch, Facebook, Youtube and Twitter.
Razercon 2020 will feature: the world’s first RGB lighting-reactive livestream, a Razer panel showcasing an array of unannounced products, teasers and tidbits, and discussions surrounding design and technology in general.
In addition, there will be a few star-studded appearances, from esports celebrities such as CloakZy, CourageJD, and PaladinAmber, and more. You can also expect quality entertainment with concerts by some of the best EDM and metal artists.
Viewers of Razercon 2020 will be able to interact on stream, and participate in exclusive giveaways and contests, with a chance to win some of Razer’s most popular hardware. With Covid-19, traditional conventions have been swapped in favour for digital events. For more details surrounding the event, check in here.


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WARWICK, N.Y. — Type A school bus manufacturer Trans Tech Bus has launched a redesigned website and a new branding initiative.
“We are extremely proud of our new look and approach to the market," President John Phraner said. “Trans Tech is a company which has been built on a foundation of innovative ideas and products, so we felt it was time to freshen up our brand and modify our marketing approach to reflect those forward-thinking characteristics.”
Highlights of Trans Tech’s brand and website redesign include the company’s new logo, which is the foundation of the brand, a cleaner modern-looking website, a product-centric focus and an emphasis on better communicating the company’s message to current and prospective customers.
Phraner, who recently joined the company, went on to say that the company’s current customers “know the value of purchasing a Trans Tech school or commercial bus, but as we continue to expand our market share, it is important that the value our current customers are realizing by purchasing a Trans Tech Bus, such as our innovative designs, increased fuel efficiency and unparalleled craftsmanship, are all reflected in our brand and messaging.”
Trans Tech’s forward-thinking approach to the school bus market includes its aerodynamic roof designs, versatile slide-track seating and an all-electric school bus — the eTrans, officials said.
“As we strive to develop, design and manufacture the best school and commercial buses in the market, we are confident that our new approach to branding and messaging will allow us to better communicate with the market,” Phraner added. “We think this new approach will be a tremendous asset as we look to grow the business.”
To visit Trans Tech’s redesigned website, click here.


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Del Taco closes its only Houston-area store
Adios, Del Taco.
The California-based taco chain opened a store on Westheimer in March of 2012 after nearly a 30-year absence. It closed this week.
Del Taco had stores all over Texas at one time but pulled the plug on them in the early 1980s. In 2012, CEO Paul Murphy told the Chronicle that the company planned to open 40 Houston-area stores.
Apparently, plans change.
The sale of the Del Taco chain to Chicago's Levy Acquisition Corp. is expected to be completed this summer.
The chain was founded in 1964 in Yermo, Calif. It sold tacos for 19 cents.
Take a look at other local restaurants that have recently closed in the gallery above.


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Headwinds from the U.S. generics market and the opioid crisis are pushing certain healthcare companies to restructure and move away from such segments, Fitch Ratings said in a report.
Mallinckrodt Public Ltd. Co. and Endo International PLC are among companies attempting to avoid potential declines in revenue and legal liabilities by sidelining assets or reducing exposure to their opioids and generic drugs portfolio.
After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration accelerated the approval of competing products in 2017, makers of generic drugs faced competitive pricing in the U.S. market.
The rating agency expects the opioid crisis and efforts to control the epidemic to continue to affect doctors' prescriptions. Further, aggressively priced generic drugs, abuse-deterrent narcotic pain formulations and newer non-narcotic drugs will add more pressure on less differentiated opioid pain medication.
Although divestitures could lower diversification, they also allow companies to focus resources on specialty branded medicines that could bring stronger growth, Fitch said. The rating agency noted that Mallinckrodt's specialty branded business was responsible for 72% of its revenues in fiscal 2017.


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Our economy receded for the first time since the ‘Great Recession’ as exports plummet. We’re number 2 after Japan! (in droppage).
The economy shrank at an annualized rate of 0.4 per cent in the second quarter, the first contraction since the Great Recession, and a sharp reversal from the 3.6-per-cent growth rate of the first quarter, Statistics Canada figures showed. It’s a sign that Canada, envied by many countries as a bastion of stability since the financial crisis, is not immune to global economic malaise.
In fact, among the Group of Seven club of rich economies, only Japan had a worse second quarter.
Sales abroad staged their steepest drop in two years, with exports plummeting more than 8 per cent on an annual basis. The high-flying Canadian dollar made it harder for businesses to sell their goods to weakening markets in the United States and Europe. Also, Japan’s natural disasters created havoc in the automobile industry, while wildfires in northern Alberta and maintenance shutdowns in the oil industry curtailed energy production.
But there’s a bright side to Canada’s performance. Company purchases of machinery and equipment in Canada soared at a 31-per-cent annualized pace in the second quarter, the biggest surge since 1996.
Here’s the article in the Globe and Mail, and here’s the take from Global Economic Analysis.


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Why China cannot keep its food safe
From Foreign Affairs! By Thomas Thompson
In July 2008, 16 children in the Chinese province of Gansu fell ill, suffering from low urine production. Their numbers multiplied, and by November hundreds of thousands of young Chinese throughout the country were experiencing varying degrees of kidney failure. Government inspections soon revealed that several prominent dairy companies and their suppliers were to blame. In an attempt to make it appear as if their products contained more protein, these companies had added melamine-formaldehyde resin, an inexpensive nitrogen-rich chemical used in plastic manufacturing, to baby formula and other types of milk.
At least ten children died. And according to researchers from Beijing University, although most children fully recovered, some 12 percent of those who ingested melamine-laced formula still showed kidney abnormalities two years later. A slew of criminal prosecutions followed the initial incident in 2008, primarily at the level of provincial People’s Courts. Both dairy representatives and complicit government officials were punished for tampering with China’s food supply. Two people were executed, another was given a suspended death penalty, three more received life in prison, and several others received long prison terms. After the World Health Organization announced that Chinese consumer confidence would be hard hit, government officials ordered the country’s media outlets to tone down coverage of the scandal. Today, there is lingering speculation that Beijing suppressed reporting of the melamine incident, and the risk it posed to countless children, for fear of bad publicity during the 2008 Summer Olympics.
If China is to become the great nation its government claims it will, it will have to do more to accept the responsibility for making its food safe.
The crackdown on both dairy producers and the media was more than just another instance of China’s iron fist. More than anything, an insatiable hunger for profits is pushing parts of the Chinese food industry to subjugate safety. Officials have long known that unsafe food poses a huge threat to public health, perhaps one that could imperil the country’s rise. But ironically, government food-safety regulations are making the problem worse. There are too many regulatory agencies trying to enforce overlapping and conflicting regulations. For example, the Commerce Ministry supervises pork slaughterhouses, but beef and poultry slaughterhouses fall under the Agriculture Ministry. Various regions have differed over how to interpret acceptable levels of food additives, and at the provincial level many of the central government’s edicts are simply ignored. It is probably only a minority of patients with food poisoning who seek formal medical care.
But the milk scandal was hardly the first, or last, Chinese food-safety scandal. In January, the “ping-pong eggs” scandal erupted. That month, consumers in Beijing discovered thousands of hard-boiled eggs that were impossible to eat and could literally be bounced off a flat surface. Inspectors later found that hens had been fed a compound called gossypol, which binds with protein in egg yolks. Gossypol has also been used as a key ingredient in tests to develop a male contraceptive pill, although in this case it was used to produce a large, healthy-looking egg yolk. Yet again, corporate greed was to blame for a food scandal.
Since the powdered milk outrage four years ago, companies have been caught making ham laced with pesticides, counterfeit alcoholic drinks, fake baby formula, contaminated vermicelli, adulterated pickled vegetables, carcinogenic chili sauce, and canned fish that contained a dangerous fungicide. Making matters worse, early last year, Mao Qunan, the director of the Chinese Health Ministry’s Public Information Center, announced that certain journalists “with a neglectful and unserious attitude” would be blacklisted from reporting on food safety because their reports risked harming the development of China’s food industry.
So far, China’s food safety story has no happy ending. In the last 18 months, news outlets have published reports of glow-in-the-dark pork (thanks to the addition of the carcinogenic chemical clenbuterol), exploding watermelons (loaded with harmful growth accelerators), rice contaminated with heavy metals (the result of polluted soil), mushrooms imbued with bleach (to make them look fresher), and bread covered with starch (to hide mold). Perhaps the most disgusting of these incidents is the “recycling” of cooking oil from China’s drains and gutters treated to look like edible oil. After being gathered in the night and filtrated, this “distilled sewage,” noted China Daily, is sold in the morning as clear-looking oil to unwitting restaurant customers. Aflotoxin, a deadly toxin, is often added during the process.
Chinese authorities have not stood idle. Today, Beijing is probably more transparent in its inspection processes than ever before. When university researchers testing dairy products discovered excessive levels of flavacin, a substance that can cause liver cancer, late last year, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine promptly reported the results on its Web site. And last month, authorities in Shenzhen were quick to announce that they had recalled contaminated cooking oil products from three companies. The most important advance in China’s food safety system may be the development of a national human surveillance system known as PulseNet, which is modeled after a program at the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The goal is to build a database to aggregate molecular subtyping of various bacterial strains to detect abnormal patterns and target emerging illnesses. For the most part, however, public discussion of the government’s role in causing any food safety incidents is largely off limits.
In 2009, a year after the melamine-laced baby formula scandal, Chinese authorities passed a comprehensive food safety law that created the National Food Safety Commission, a powerful body based in Beijing that coordinates five ministries. But there is still a long way to go when it comes to implementing safeguards and enforcing rules. With insufficient funding, there are far fewer trained inspectors than is necessary, and the inspectors that do exist are far too passive in their strategy for testing products.
What is more, there is only so much the central government can do. Local government officials are responsible for supervising food safety within their administrative regions, but they face pressure to encourage business activity and bring in tax revenues. Many companies even invite local officials to become silent partners in their corporations in return for political protection.
But Chinese bureaucrats are not solely to blame; many of the country’s food safety problems can be traced back to the farm. Farmers rely on chemicals to increase yields and ward off insects. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, China has one of the highest rates of chemical fertilizer use per hectare, and Chinese farmers use many highly toxic pesticides, including some that have been banned in the United States. In 2005, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that only six percent of agricultural products in China could be considered safe. Many farmers use antibiotics to control disease in livestock, often at dangerously high levels.
The growing distance from the farm to the dinner table that has come with China’s rapid urbanization also presents problems. Because the country lacks an integrated chain of refrigerated trucks, warehouses, and retail space, contamination has been on the rise. It does not help that China’s food supply system is highly fragmented. The country has approximately 500,000 registered food production companies, of which 80 percent are small food workshops with fewer than ten employees. Then there are the 200 million farmers who ship directly to the market with little documentation. This is why it is so hard to trace the source of contaminated milk, for example; dairies get their raw milk from thousands of milk collection stations, which, in turn, source directly from farmers, each of whom on average owns fewer than three cows.
It would be tempting for those not living in China to think that the country’s food scandals do not affect them. Yet China is one of the world’s largest producers of agricultural products, and it exports roughly $5 billion worth of those products to the United States every year. Although supermarket labels may not indicate it, a growing proportion of the U.S. diet is now made in China. When Americans drink apple juice or eat tilapia, cod, or canned peaches, mushrooms, spinach, garlic, there is a good chance they are eating a Chinese product. And that food probably has not been tested: Only 1.5 percent of Chinese food imports, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, are inspected.
If China is to become the great nation its government claims it will, it will have to do more to accept the responsibility for making its food safe. This effort includes both the battle against criminal adulteration, as well as illnesses caused by a handful of infectious agents — viral, parasitic, and bacterial. Much of the world is watching, and with more than casual interest. Repeated food safety problems raise doubts about whether the government can create a transparent, accountable food safety policy. And the suppression of news about food safety scandals suggests that the government is more concerned about maintaining control of its people than it is about protecting their health.


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If Boutiqaat's ambitious investment plans are achieved, it would push the startup's valuation to $800-900 million, leading to many marking it as MENA's next Unicorn.
Kuwaiti one-stop (online) shop for all things beauty, Boutiqaat, is currently in talks with various, unnamed banks in order raise a huge investment of between $100-150 million, according to Reuters, following on from 2018's $50 million investment, which went on to double the startup valuation to a whopping $500 million. If this latest investment goes through, Reuters’ report predicts that the startup's valuation could increase to $800-900 million this year, leading some to believe that it could well become the Middle East's second Unicorn.
Founded by young entrepreneur, Abdelwahab Alessa, Boutiqaat houses over 25,000 products from over 700 global beauty brands, including the likes of Anastasia, Benefit, Make Up For Ever and Gigi Hadid, and boasts over 200 partnership with celebrities and social media influencers from across the region (who frequently select their favourite picks available on the site which shoppers can purchase). Boutiqaat TV screens makeup tutorials, and beauty tips and trends and the website currently delivers to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
Sign up for the daily Startup Digest.


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At its annual hardware event one year ago, Alphabet unveiled new gadgets that were similar to what Apple had revealed earlier that year, but at lower prices. This time it launched two products that Apple hasn’t launched yet, and at prices far lower than what the iPhone maker is typically known for, according to MarketWatch‘s Jennifer Booton.
Google launched what Apple lacks
On Tuesday, Alphabet’s Google launched two new smartphones, the Pixel and Pixel XL, with which it will compete with Samsung’s Galaxy line and Apple’s iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The company has set the prices on par with rivals, with $649 being the starting price.
More importantly, Google unveiled a new mobile virtual reality headset called Daydream View to compete with Samsung’s Gear VR and also an Amazon Echo rival and home assistant speaker called Google Home. The prices of the headset and speaker are much lower than those of existing market leaders, notes the report.
Chris Hohn the founder and manager of TCI Fund Management was the star speaker at this year's London Value Investor Conference, which took place on May 19th. The investor has earned himself a reputation for being one of the world's most successful hedge fund managers over the past few decades. TCI, which stands for The Read More
In September, Apple unveiled the new iPhones and a host of upgrades as well, but it did not launch a home automation hub similar to the Echo and Home. Also it did not launch a virtual reality-related product that would compete with Daydream or Gear VR.
Apple has plans in place
Apple has a virtual reality game plan in place, most analysts believe. Though Apple has been late to the home automation hardware market, it is boosting its capabilities through Siri and its Home app to be able to compete with rival devices down the road.
Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research, said, “Although it’s tempting to look at Echo and Home as part of a new intelligent home speaker market, what they really are is new endpoints for the existing smart assistant market, and Apple has a play there: Siri.”
Apple may have plans for virtual reality and home automation, but a fact that can’t be denied is that it will have to play catch-up to Google and other players when it enters these segments.
Following Apple’s strategy
Along with competing with Apple, Google is following in its footsteps and has decided to work exclusively with a single carrier in the United States. The search giant has signed Verizon for the Pixel, emulating Apple’s agreement to launch the original iPhone with AT&T, notes Reuters.
Analysts believe that Google’s Pixel, which will be available in two sizes, will have its high-end camera as one of the few distinguishing features. The device will be available in black, blue and silver and take just 15 minutes to charge for up to seven hours of battery life. Pre-orders begin on Tuesday.


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Microsoft has released the launch date for Windows 7 for October 22. Buyers of new laptops and PCs with Vista installed will be given the opportunity to upgrade to Win7 for free or at a very low cost, depending on the Vista version. Windows 7 is reported to be a vast improvement in performance over Windows Vista on the same equipment. People who own Vista computers should be able to upgrade without any hardware changes, and Vista device drivers work in Win7.
See a longer article on IT World.Share


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Does housing protect us from inflation? This is the question posed by fears that it is about to rise significantly; a team of economists led by the University of Buckingham’s Tim Congdon recently warned that it could exceed 5 per cent in the next few years.
The answer is: probably not.
Which might surprise you. Bricks and mortar are physical assets which should hold up well when the value of money falls. What’s more, some of the things that cause consumer price inflation should push up house prices, such as easy credit, consumers’ optimism about their future incomes, or a tight labour market and rising wages. And, indeed, a belief in property as a hedge against inflation can be self-fulfilling; if enough people share the belief, fears of inflation will indeed raise demand for houses and hence their prices.