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More than a year since BRUcloud’s launch of its Slot Booking Application (SBA) for air cargo stakeholders at Brussels International Airport (BRU), at the beginning of 2018, users of the service are saying that the app has benefited their operations and are convinced that slot-booking is the way forward, but there is still some room for improvement.
As Air Cargo Belgium and Brussels Airport Co. – the company that manages BRU – are assessing the usage of the app in its first year, BRUcloud recently spoke with users for feedback, including freight forwarder Nippon Exprsess Belgium deputy general manager for air cargo, Raf Van Espen, and Air Promotions Agencies owner Maria Cranshof, who discuss the app’s evolving usage at BRU and how it can be improved.
BRUCloud’s SBA supports the paperless delivery and pick-up of cargo at ground–handling facilities and is aimed at eliminating wait times for ground handlers that can find available slots on the app instead of waiting in a queue. For freight forwarding companies, the process of sharing data over secure cloud platforms increases visibility between providers, which allows for efficient planning of operations and lower costs in time and money.
Espen and Cranshoff both said they find the app beneficial to their respective company’s operations and had the best slot-booking results, in terms of absolute amount of correctly used slots and the percentage of correctly used slots in April, according to BRUCloud.
However, the SBA is not yet used 100% correctly within BRU’s community, and thus “we are not yet realizing all benefits,” said Van Espen. One of the biggest “issues” that needs to be tackled, he said, is that other freight forwarders also want to book as many slots as possible. Cranshof agreed that forwarders should respect Slot Booking reservations and cancel slots when not needed, while Espen also mentioned that ground handlers should be more committed to offer Slot Booking 24/24 and 7/7.
Crashnof also said that companies would like to see an expansion in the offered capacity by the SBA, both in terms of available gates and warehouse personnel that handle the slots.
Nippon Express said that it began using the SBA immediately to book export slots and ensured these slots were respected and followed-up upon correctly by staff. Recently, the company said it is increasing its focus on booking import slots and aims to use this facet of the app more. Meanwhile, Air Promotions Agencies said it has tuned its Enhanced Due Diligence-Screening (EDD-Screening) to the SBA and that, each day when its warehouse receives delivery lists per slot, it takes the feedback into account when planning the slots.
Ultimately, Espen said, “slots mean priority. This is something I have made very clear to my operational staff and something I keep mentioning.”1 - Reader Likes This Post


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Fortune News | Feb 02,2019
July 27 , 2019
Hyatt Regency, an internationally franchised hotel in the capital, is the first hotel to bottle water for its own consumption.
To set up the water bottling plant, excluding the treatment facility, the hotel invested 40,000 dollars. Installed in the basement of the hotel, it currently treats and produces 1,000 glass bottles of water in half and one-litre sizes a day. Production started about two weeks ago.
Hyatt Regency, the second franchise hotel owned by a non-national, aside from Sheraton Addis Hotel, which is owned by business tycoon Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-Amoudi (Sheik), imported the bottling machinery from Spain in May 2019. The installation of the machinery took two and a half months.
Standing at the junction of Africa Avenue and Jomo Kenyatta Street near Mesqel Square, the hotel keeps 5,000 reusable half and one-litre glass bottles in stock.
The hotel aspires to be a plastic-free hotel and contribute to the protection of the environment, according to Heddo Siebs, general manager of Hyatt Regency Addis Abeba. The Hotel is owned by Albwardy Investment, a Dubai-based company founded in the mid-70s. Albwardy Investment owns a total of 30 companies globally, including in the food retailing, food distribution, engineering, construction and hospitality sectors.
“The primary aim of building the water bottling plant is not maximising profits,” said Heddo. “Instead, it focuses on creating a sustainable environment.”
High-income countries that account for 16pc of the world’s population are generating more than 34pc of global waste, according to a World Bank report from 2018. The East Asia and Pacific regions are disposing of close to 23pc of global waste. By 2050, waste generated by Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to triple that of current levels.
The largest country by population, China, produces a massive quantity of plastic at nearly 60 million tonnes, followed by the United States at 38 million tonnes, Germany and Brazil at 14.5 million and 12 million tonnes, respectively.
The hotel opened its doors on December 31, 2018, with 188 guestrooms, 12 suites, two executive suites, a presidential suite and a royal presidential suite. The Hotel will sell the water at a similar price to other plastic bottled water in the market.
Hyatt Regency is one of 164 star-rated hotels in the capital that hosts a total of 8,000 to 10,000 rooms. It is located five kilometres from Bole International Airport. Hyatt Regency is also the eighth internationally franchised hotel in the capital along with Sheraton, Radisson Blu, Hilton, Ramada, Marriot, Best Western, Golden Tulip and Tulip Inn Olympia.
Feyera Senbeta (PhD), lecturer and researcher at Addis Abeba University’s Centre for Environmental & Developmental Studies for more than two decades, appreciates the initiative for using non-plastic bottles.
“Using plastic bottle nowadays is a major environmental concern across the world,” he said. “Besides, plastic takes a long time to degrade and releases harmful chemicals into the surrounding environment.”
Feyera recommends other hotels follow suit in using environment-friendly products.
PUBLISHED ON Jul 27,2019 [ VOL 20 , NO 1004]
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Photometrics Launches Next Generation Scientific CMOS Camera with 95 Percent Quantum Efficiency
Photometrics Prime 95B Leverages Backside Illuminated Sensor Technology Providing Three Times More Sensitivity than Previous Scientific CMOS Cameras
Photometrics®, a manufacturer of high-performance scientific cameras for life science applications, and Gpixel Inc., a company specializing in high-performance CMOS image sensors, today announced the release of the Photometrics Prime 95B™ Scientific CMOS camera. The Prime 95B camera is built on the first scientific-grade CMOS sensor available with 95 percent quantum efficiency (QE), the GSENSE400BSI-TVISB. It combines backside illumination (BSI) technology with large pixels and low-noise characteristics to maximize light collection.
“EMCCD cameras have traditionally dominated the low-light market. However, sCMOS cameras are rapidly gaining popularity due to improved performance and image quality levels,” said Rachit Mohindra, product manager at Photometrics. “Prime 95B is three times more sensitive than the current generation of sCMOS sensors with a greater signal-to-noise ratio than EMCCD cameras. Prime 95B demonstrates the progression of imaging technologies in the low-light space and raises the bar for current industry standards.”
“The GSENSE 400 BSI is the first backside illuminated sCMOS image sensor, representing a breakthrough for sensor technologies,” said Xinyang Wang, chief executive officer of Gpixel Inc. “The recently announced TVISB version of our sensor features a peak quantum efficiency of 95 percent, single-electron noise and more than 90dB dynamic range, without the need for deep cooling and complex electronic design. We are excited to partner with a high-end manufacturer to bring the next-generation of sCMOS cameras to the life science market.”
Prime 95B is optimized for low-light microscopy with its near perfect 95 percent QE and 11µm x 11µm pixel area. This advance allows for the collection of nearly all available light, maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio of the experiment while minimizing cellular photo damage. The Prime 95B camera captures images using the full microscope field-of-view at over 41 frames per second (FPS) with 16-bit images and 82fps with 12-bit images. The combination of extreme sensitivity, low noise and high frame rates positions Prime 95B as the leading scientific CMOS camera for low-light microscopy techniques, including single molecule fluorescence (SMF), confocal imaging and super-resolution microscopy (STORM, PALM.)
Founded in 1978, Photometrics is the world’s premier designer and manufacturer of high-performance CMOS, EMCCD and CCD cameras for life science research. The original architect of the world’s first scientific-grade microscopy EMCCD camera, Photometrics for decades has led the industry with state-of-the-art imaging instrumentation for the scientific community. Researchers around the globe rely on these cutting-edge imaging systems to meet their most demanding application requirements. Photometrics also offers comprehensive OEM support, including fully characterized, cost-efficient imaging systems and components. Photometrics is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona and additional information is available at www.photometrics.com.


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expiredVarious refurb iPhone models are discounted from $100, today only at Woot
Trevor Daugherty - Jul. 8th 2019 7:36 am ET
Today only, Woot is offering refurbished scratch & dent iPhone models priced from $99.99. Free shipping is available for Prime members otherwise a $6 delivery fee will be tacked on. Our top pick is iPhone 7, which is on sale for $179.99. As a comparison, Apple charges $379 for a 32GB model in certified refurbished condition when available. Our last mention was $10 more. Note: these are GSM-only models in some instances. Apple is continuing to offer the latest version of its software on these phones and likely will for the next few years. Perfect for the kids, a second phone or grandparents. iPhone 7 sports a 4.7-inch Retina display, 12MP camera, A10 chip and more. 90-day warranty included with purchase.
Looking for a more recent model? Consider iPhone X at $579.99 in today’s sale. Apple wants at least $769 in refurbished condition. iPhone offers a full-width Retina display, Face ID, and more, delivering some of the latest tech from Apple. Check out the entire one-day sale right here at Woot.


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Virtual reality presents a new frontier to the online gaming industry. The first VR casinos were released in the dusk of 2015 and since then an increasing number of operators has embraced the technology. VR is gaining popularity quickly and eventually it might lead to a transformation of the online gaming industry.
Virtual reality is already here, ready to use. Once launched, it will change the public perception of entertainment. Of course, VR technology will be subjected to heavy regulations which might limit its potential in the online gaming industry. Nevertheless, it will develop well enough to change the industry.
It is evident that VR is the inevitable future of the virtual casino entertainment industry. But, once introduced, how will it affect the virtual gaming business? Today, we will try to answer that.
The launch of the first VR casino
The first VR casino in the world was launched by online gaming giant SlotsMillion. This is a futuristic-themed online casino built on the 80th floor of a skyscraper with a vast collection of slot games. Further, not only can visitors play slots, but they can also sit at the bar, chat with other gamblers, and more. So, how did it happen that an online casino was able to utilise VR technology even before it was introduced to a wider public?
SlotsMillion is a member of ALEA’s gigantic online gaming family. This is an innovative operator which was looking to attract a younger public back in 2014. And it did it in the best way possible by releasing a fully licensed VR casino.
The fact that SlotsMillion is a licensed casino speaks for jurisdictions’ changing attitude towards VR. Still, there are apparently some new rules for VR casinos. For example, the Malta Gaming Authority—the jurisdiction which issued the license for SlotsMillion casino—has insisted that the VR casino has clocks, something which brick-and-mortar casinos lacked. What is more, the regulatory body has prohibited the operator from developing multi-player tournament platforms, as these would reveal gamblers’ cash balance. You see, the Malta Gaming Authority believes players’ bankroll and win/lose record should remain private.
Overall, the launch of SlotsMillion VR casino has taught us something – VR casinos will have to weather greater regulatory measures the online gaming industry has ever faced.
Is a VR revolution close?
Without a doubt, the launch of SlotsMillion is unparalleled in terms of technological grandeur. Still, the casino does not enjoy immense popularity. That is because the technology needed to join the VR gaming realm is still too expensive for the mass public to purchase.
To begin with, the cheapest VR headset on the market exceeds £430 and if that is not enough, the price for motion controllers is still unknown. On top of all, even if the average customer can afford to buy the headset plus the motion controllers, those do not work on any PC. So, to use the VR headset, consumers have to shell out at least another £1,000.
Since the average gambler can not afford to purchase a VR headset, we will most likely see a boom in ranking of online casino sites that offer VR gaming experience only when the price for VR headsets drops permanently. Until then, the world’s first VR casino proposes an alternative – visit the casino in a 3D browser version.
Blurring the lines
As technology advances, video gaming, gambling, and e-Sports are getting mixed. With VR, the boundaries might disappear completely.
At present, social elements are introduced in casino games on a scale we have never seen before. Social casino games are incredibly popular in social media, accounting for billions of pounds in revenues each year. Once VR casinos become more popular, they will be a huge hit precisely because they allow players to interact with one another.
It is important to remember that social gamblers are unlike traditional punters. In fact, there are tremendous boundaries between the two types of gamblers. For example, social gamblers view wagering more like gaming. Consequently, such players gamble not to win money, but to beat the opponent and the game itself. Finally, social players are not as risk-taking as traditional online casino gamblers.
Last, but not least, VR technology can help not only online casinos – they can be actively used by brick-and-mortar gaming establishments as well. For example, land-based gaming establishments may launch VR versions of themselves on the web, which will gamblers from all over the globe to take advantage of the biggest Las Vegas casinos on the Strip.
All in all, VR technology is the future of the gambling industry. The VR market currently amounts to about $7.7 billion; this figure is estimated to rise to $75 billion in the next three years. And yet, despite these figures, we are unlikely to witness the implementation of VR technology on a vast scale in online casinos, at least in the next few years.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Dota 2 Game Page.


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ARN is proud to announce the finalists for the 2019 ARN Women in ICT Awards (WIICTA).
Dicker Data has been recognised as the world’s leading Cisco distributor in 2019, flying the flag for A/NZ following a strong year of growth.
AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud and Alibaba Cloud accounted for 72 per cent of public cloud services revenue during the third quarter of 2019.
The staff attrition rate in Australia’s tech industry is running at unsustainably high levels, according to new research by the AIIA.
- Susan Searle joins Nextgen Distribution board
- Nominations extended for ARN Women in ICT Awards 2019
- Microsoft's plan to ignore Windows 10 1809 worked
- Microsoft scraps channel changes following partner backlash
- ARN Innovation Awards 2019: Nominations Close on June 19
- Top Singapore Microsoft partner targets Australia
- Nick Verykios sets Arrow exit date
- Michael Dell slams multi-cloud credentials of HPE
- Dell Technologies honours leading regional partners
- Dell EMC revamps partner program to widen tech portfolio
- Dell edges closer to Microsoft with VMware as anchor point
- Dell is creating a channel built on cross-sell
Transformation is risky business. It can bring massive disruption to a company, and in the digital age has been largely associated with multi-year projects, massive outlays of investment, and statistics that say it won’t work.. Read more
Dicker Data finishes Australian leg of TechX 2019 in Brisbane
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It tried to plant an installer for the Chrome browser but was quickly booted from the store. A Chrome engineer complained that Microsoft 'denies Chrome ...
The new iPhone X changes the way you use your iPhone. Jason Snell takes a look at the new UI, Animoji, and more.
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Oracle Cloud Applications Release 13 updates the UI and adds features across SCM, ERP, HCM and customer engagement suites
Creators Update is now suitable for broad deployment in enterprise.
The online retail giant is reportedly eyeing a US$9B deal, but officials at both companies remain mum
Windows 10 will be supported until Oct. 14, 2025 — unless your computer has a Clover Trail CPU. Then you’re out of luck.
Despite her claim, updating the firmware is far from sufficient to keep out hackers
Microsoft, along with AMD and Intel, has made darn sure you’ll be running Windows 10 and not Windows 7 on the next PC you buy
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Want to make your wireless connections safer and faster? We review nine free Windows apps that can help you monitor performance and safety at home, ...
Fitbit's touchscreen fitness band has smarts but lacks style.


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SAO PAULO, Brazil, May 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — SulAmerica, the largest independent insurance group in Brazil, and the financial arm of the Votorantim group, represented by VCS Corretora de Seguros, an insurance broker, BV Financeira, a consumer finance organization, and BV Leasing, announced today that the organizations have entered into an exclusive agreement to offer SulAmerica’s automobile insurance through the points-of-sale network of BV Financeira and BV Leasing.
The agreement, which is for a five-year period, will allow SulAmerica automobile insurance policies to be offered through VCS Corretora de Seguros at BV Financeira and BV Leasing’s network of more than 18,000 points-of-sale across the country. The companies expect that a large portion of BV’s nearly 80,000 monthly financing transactions will include the purchase of SulAmerica’s auto insurance policies, generating at least R$500 million in additional auto insurance premiums over the next five years.
The partnership will begin in the next month with a pilot project and will expand into the entire network of BV Financeira and BV Leasing within 90 days. The agreement also envisages that SulAmerica and VCS will offer auto insurance to the entire client base of BV Financeira and BV Leasing built over the past years, with the support of customer relationship management tools.
Both companies are very optimistic about the expansion of vehicle financing to individuals, which accounted for nearly 70% of automobile sales made in 2007, and the partnership’s capacity to leverage sales of auto insurance policies.
The automotive market has benefited greatly from the recent reduction of interest rates coupled with more favorable payment terms — last year alone, around 2.3 million new cars were given licenses, while sales of used vehicles totaling close to 7 million units. In the first quarter of 2008, sales of cars, trucks and light commercial vehicles recorded an impressive 30% growth year on year.
CONTACT: Sara Dalsin, +011-5511-3779-7615, or Daniela Campos,+011-5511-3779-5045, or Solange Guimaraes, +011-5511-3779-7614, all of SulAmerica, [email protected]; or Guilherme Ravache, Edelman,+011-5511-3017-5306, [email protected], for Sul America
Web site: http://www.sulamerica.com.br/


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ISLAMABAD: Dr. Ashfaq Ahmed, Chairman, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday hoped that the revenue collection for the current fiscal year will increase to Rs6 trillion – surpassing the target of Rs5.83 trillion.
“Our revenue target is Rs 5.830 trillion which is expected to increase till Rs6 trillion by June 2022. We have collected Rs 300 billion more revenue than our target till December 31,” Dr. Ashfaq said.
He expressed his hope that this year, the FBR would achieve all its revenue targets and would further play its role in the country’s economy.
The FBR chief hinted for achieving revenue target of Rs 8 trillion by 2023 as it would set the country’s economy in a new direction.
He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has his own vision for revenue collection and economic development in the country, in which, achieving revenue target of up to Rs 8 trillion is one of top priorities.
Chairman expressed these views while talking to the journalists here.
Replying to a question, he said that Pakistan Customs was the protector of economic borders of the country and that they have always been playing its role for trade promotion.
He said that Pakistan Customs was playing its best role in enforcing trade laws at Chaman and Torkham borders.
He said that transparent trade brought prosperity and development in the country.
He vowed that, “we would digitalize every FBR’s agency”.
He said that FBR currently has the largest data portal which is in a dire need of digitization.
This data can be very important in the trade and economic development of the country.
He said that at present, the role of FBR was very important in all three trade corridors including Chaman and Torkham, which would be strengthened with China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).


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InnerScope Hearing Technologies (OTC: INND), an emerging and disruptive leader in the direct-to-consumer hearing-health technology space, will be a featured participant in this month’s virtual Home Health & Diabetes Care Program. The three-day event is scheduled for Sept. 20–23, 2021, with InnerScope’s online presentation focused on its Bluetooth app-controlled self-adjusting hearing aids, Bluetooth app-controlled self-adjusting personal sound amplifiers products, doctor-formulated dietary hearing and tinnitus supplements, and other ear and hearing health-related products. INND will be the only company during the conference representing and presenting the hearing device and hearing healthcare category. The audience for the conference includes an estimated 50 corporate buyers from some of the largest retail companies in the United States, including CVS, Kroger, Costco, H-E-B, QVD, AmerisourceBergen, McKesson and others. The Home Health & Diabetes Care Program enables product discovery, category development and planning with the goal of driving category success year-round. “InnerScope is excited to showcase our innovative hearing healthcare products to an audience of industry-leading potential partners in the healthcare and consumer products sectors,” said InnerScope president and CEO Matthew Moore in the press release. “We are the only company specializing in direct-to-consumer hearing aids and hearing health products presenting at this event. InnerScope has over 50 one-on-one meetings scheduled at this virtual program and is hopeful that some important strategic relationships will materialize as a result of this opportunity to demonstrate our cost-effective and cutting edge direct-to-consumer hearing health solutions to these well-known companies. InnerScope is continuing to build its distribution retail/wholesale network and is fast becoming the industry leader, bringing hearing healthcare to the 21st century by empowering consumers to take control of their hearing care with easy and convenient access to affordable hearing products available in-store or online through all major retailers.”
To view the full press release, visit https://nnw.fm/50EEV
About InnerScope Hearing Technologies Inc.
InnerScope is a manufacturer, distributor and retailer of direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) FDA-registered, Bluetooth app-controlled hearing aids, Bluetooth app-controlled personal sound amplifier products (“PSAPs”), hearing-related treatment therapies, doctor-formulated dietary hearing and tinnitus supplements, and assorted hearing and health-related products targeting the 48 million Americans suffering from hearing-related issues. The company’s overall mission is to improve the quality of life for the estimated 70 million people in North America and the 1.5 billion people worldwide who have some form of hearing loss. The management team of InnerScope is applying decades of industry experience and believes it is well positioned with its affordable Bluetooth app-controlled self-adjusting hearing technology and its innovative in-store sales and delivery system with its point-of-sale, free, self-check hearing screening kiosks to directly benefit when the Over-the-Counter (OTC) Hearing Aid Act becomes enacted, which is expected late 2021. The OTC Hearing Aid Law allows OTC hearing aids for perceived mild to moderate hearing losses to be sold in retail stores without users needing to see a professional or having a medical evaluation. The INND Hearing Kiosk is designed to enable the tens of millions of people with undetected or untreated mild to moderate hearing loss to treat themselves with the company’s easy, convenient and affordable OTC hearing aids in-store, off the shelf or online. For more information, please visit www.INND.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to INND are available in the company’s newsroom at https://nnw.fm/INND
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PANNING FOR GOLD
VENTURE CAPITALISTS ARE LOOKING FOR THE NEXT ARMANI.
Byline: Cynthia Snow
Where is the next Gianni Versace? Draping fabric over a mannequin in some small southern Italian town? Or the new Giorgio Armani? Toiling away in a garret somewhere in…Milan with a great idea for a collection, but no cash? A new generation of venture capitalists is on the hunt.
Quietly and without much fanfare, a handful of banks and entrepreneurs are applying the Silicon Valley “garage start-up” investment formula to the little companies scattered across northern and central Italy. The idea is to find a cash-hungry start-up, nurture it with finance and business advice, and then cash in all or part of the chips via a private sale or public offering, and smile all the way to the bank. Others are taking equity stakes in more established brands, hoping to turn an underleveraged brand into the next Bulgari or Gucci.
Italy’s fashion industry, still only about 50 years old, really took root in the Seventies. So why is the gold rush only starting now? “Until five years ago, people were still talking about a country risk for Italy,” said Renato Preti, the former Morgan Grenfell Private Equity executive, who now manages Bulgari’s pioneering closed-end Opera fund. “The lira was very volatile. People didn’t look at Italy as a fertile ground for venture capital before the advent of the euro.”
A more stable Italian currency, as well as a few high-profile venture capital successes such as Ducati, Bulgari and Gucci, has whetted investors’ appetites for risks they once shunned, said Preti. Finally, the globalization of the fashion industry has simply forced Italy’s tiny mom-and-pop companies into the arms of financiers if they want to beat the competition.
“It’s a function of opening up the market,” said Preti.
Think of Helmut Lang: A decade ago, the designer might have been content to labor away in relative freedom and obscurity. In the competitive climate of the late Nineties, however, he needed to make a deal with a super-group like Prada in order to tap its financial muscle to expand worldwide.
Venture capital and private equity investors have always been scouring Italy to clinch that elusive deal; it’s just that these days, they are more aggressively on the lookout for fashion companies. The Benetton family’s private holding, 21 Investimenti; Bulgari’s Opera; NHS, the merchant bank unit of Italy’s banking heavyweight Sanpaolo IMI, and a few others are leading the way in this new wave.
The latest newcomer to the growing ranks of fashion venture capitalists is Gaetano Marzotto, of the Marzotto textile dynasty. Marzotto is heading up a new closed-end fund looking to invest in Italian fashion, design and “everything that’s good about Italy,” he said.
Don’t confuse these funds with brand-builders like LVMH, Prada and Gucci, even though they’re all chasing more or less the same companies on the market. When an LVMH or a Gucci acquires a new group, it’s for keeps, whereas private equity or venture capital investors always have what they call an “exit strategy,” a way to get their money back.
“The first stage of venture capital is general, and you have companies with a very wide-ranging portfolio,” said Andrea Ciccoli, a fashion and luxury goods consultant at Bain, Cuneo & Associati here. “Then people start to specialize a bit, and you get targeted funds, like Italy’s Pino Ventures [an early investor in Italy’s Internet star, Tiscali] and Bulgari’s Opera.”
Benetton’s 21 Investimenti is a good example of a “first generation” venture capital fund; it spreads out its investments in small companies across the board, including fashion. Indeed, it was an investor in the ill-fated Boo.com.
“Until recently in Italy, there was no real interaction between the industrial entrepreneur and the financial world. We saw an opportunity to create a dialog between the two,” said Alessandro Benetton, managing director of the company. “The bulk of Italy’s GDP comes from small-to-medium-sized firms, many of which get to a certain stage and eventually stop growing because they don’t have the resources. We wanted to take a different approach, give them advice, help them penetrate new markets and communicate their message in a new, modern way.”
Investors in the fashion sector, however, still have to prove themselves, said Bain’s Ciccoli. They’re busy trying.
Opera’s Preti said he was closing the fund’s second round of financing at the end of February, with 220 million to 250 million euros [or about $205 million to $233 million at current exchange rates]. However, Preti is still mum on which companies he has chosen to invest in, although at press time, an announcement was expected-by early March. Bulgari launched Opera last year to invest in midsized companies working their magic in Italy’s hottest sectors: fashion, interior design, food and luxury yacht design.
Preti is more forthcoming about the investors themselves, a Who’s Who of industry, including blue chips like U.S. telecom group Verizon and Japan’s Mitsui, as well as several of Europe’s top industrial families, like the Bertarellis (shareholders of Swiss biotech giant Serono) and the Goulandrises (owners of Rosenthal and Wedgwood).
Meanwhile, NHS, the merchant banking arm of Sanpaolo, is so pleased with the progress of its investment in Aeffe, the family-owned manufacturer that controls the Alberta Ferretti, Moschino and Rifat Ozbek brands, that executives there say the company is ready for a bourse listing by the end of this year. Aeffe used the $44.5 million it received from NHS — in return for a 20 percent stake — to acquire luxury shoe retailer Pollini, as well as the lingerie and swimwear maker Velmar.
“We can now think of the acquisitions cycle at Aeffe as over, and the company now makes everything from shoes to bathing costumes,” said Giuliano Mari, managing director of NHS. “Aeffe is now ready for a listing. We’re ready to take the first opportunity starting from the end of this year.”
Banks have traditionally been extremely unwilling to get involved in the fashion industry. The very thing that makes fashion interesting to people who love it — its ever-changing and ephemeral nature — is what makes bankers nervous.
Indeed, NHS’s other investments are in staid industrial groups like Fiat and Montedison. Mari said NHS and Aeffe have been working together for some time, and the bank became interested in becoming a shareholder because Aeffe had tangible assets that matched its intangible ones — creativity and flair.
“Aeffe has a strong production component, and our investment was also spurred by this,” said Mari. “It also has strong logistical operations as well as stores in prestigious locations like Via Montenapoleone in Milan, Via dei Condotti in Rome.”
But financial wizards who are hoping to discover a gem in the rough will need a lot of patience, industry observers say. The small size of most fashion companies means that it’s hard to get good managers to sign on. Once those managers join the company, they have to work with family members and employees who are used to “doing things the family way,” rather than by the book.
Then there is the issue of “the kids.”
“We speak to a lot of great entrepreneurs who say, ‘My kids won’t want to be involved in the business,’ but then when it comes down to it, they insist on keeping the younger generations in management, of giving them a majority stake,” said Opera’s Preti. “More so than in foreign companies, there’s a habit of trying to ‘get the kids set up.”‘
Along with patience, those financial gnomes interested in breaking into fashion should also understand that contacts are more important than a skill with a calculator. It’s all about contacts, contacts and more contacts, said Bain’s Ciccoli. “[Investors] need a network of relationships to be successful. You need a lot of insider knowledge, expert judgment. That’s more valuable than financial or technical skills.”


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As previously reported, Minecraft developer Mojang received a letter from Bethesda that it would be suing them over its upcoming game "Scrolls" for infringement. Today, Mojang received the confirmation, with Mojang's Markus Persson stating this on Twitter:
The Scrolls case is going to court!
Daniel Kaplan, Mojang business developer, is preparing to send evidence in its defense. Bethesda claims that Scrolls videos and articles about the game will confuse players, a point which befuddles him:
We are going to do as much as we can, since I really hate it how the big boys always get their own way.
They even took screenshots from our trailer and said we copied them… we have mountains in the Scrolls trailer, and they have that too in Skyrim.
It is really silly believing our game will be confused with their FPS-RPG with realistic graphics. They have dumped everything they could find about Scrolls.
Well, that screws with my new game called Bros.


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It’s the end of the workweek, and the PYMNTS Weekender is here to make sure you didn’t miss anything with the latest in payments and commerce news. We have a deep dive into Colorado’s digital driver’s license effort and news on Alphabet’s new CEO, as well as data on millennial Black Friday spending.
UK Digital Bank Monzo Taps Visa Exec as US CEO
Monzo, London’s digital unicorn, has appointed TS Anil to head U.S. operations. Anil was the global head of payment products and platforms at Visa. The executive has more than 25 years of experience in payments, credit cards and banking, working globally across Europe, Africa and the Middle East as well as the Americas and Asia Pacific.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai Takes the Reins at Alphabet
Google CEO Sundar Pichai will take over as Alphabet’s new CEO, while retaining his job at Google. Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin wrote in a blog post, “Going forward, Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet. He will be the executive responsible and accountable for leading Google, and managing Alphabet’s investment in our portfolio of Other Bets.”
New Visa Alliances Help FinTechs Launch Payments Solutions
Visa is working with four global finance firms to help FinTechs issue digital and plastic payments. The four new partners — Euronet Worldwide, Episode Six, M2P Solutions and Global Processing Services— have joined the Visa FinTech Fast Track program.
Millennials Were Black Friday’s Big Spenders in 2019
Millennials were the big Black Friday spenders, shelling out an average of $509.50 on Black Friday purchases this year, compared to an average of just $382.40 last year. More millennials in the workforce mean more millennials with money to spend on holiday gifts.
Shift4 Payments Registers for IPO
Shift4 Payments has filed paperwork to go public. The company said on Tuesday (Dec. 3) in a press release that, in part, “the number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined.”
Trackers and Reports
Inside the Launch of Colorado’s New State-Run Digital Driver’s License (Jumio Digital Identity Tracker)
Colorado is one of 12 states developing a digital driver’s license program, with the launch of its myColorado app in October. In a feature story, PYMNTS spoke with Russell Castagnaro, director of digital transformation at the Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology, about the ins and outs of the functionality of myColorado.
Why Installment Payments Are Fashionable This Holiday Season (Buy Now, Pay Later Tracker)
Merchants would be wise to consider how consumers want to pay, and whether alternative payment methods such as buy now, pay later (BNPL) could help alleviate their holiday financial stresses, according to Nick Kaplan, president of plus-size fashion brand Fashion To Figure. In a feature story, Kaplan talks about how retailers can offer flexible payment offerings without overburdening consumers.
Trucking Payments Tools That Are In It for the Long Haul (Amex Next-Gen Payments Report)
Truckers need reliable, widely accepted payments instruments, convenient business spending and tracking tools to ensure their trips go smoothly, says America’s Service Line-employed driver Carmen Anderson, Castle Transport owner-operator Deb LaBree and Women In Trucking Association CEO and President Ellen Voie. In a feature story, the three gave PYMNTS an inside look at the financial tools and strategies that make trucking more seamless.
Inside Chipotle’s Decade of Digital-First Ordering Innovation (Paytronix Order to Eat Tracker)
Chipotle Mexican Grill was one of the first major restaurant chains to turn to mobile ordering technology to bolster customer dining experiences. Over 10 years later, Chipotle’s mobile investment has paid off, with approximately 18 percent of revenues originating from digital orders. In a feature story, Nicole West, Chipotle’s vice president of digital strategy and product, discusses how the company’s digital ordering menu is just as essential as its restaurant menu.
Curing the $2.4T Manufacturing Sector’s Cash Flow Crunch (MSTS Playbook)
Packaging solutions and distribution company Rocket Industrial is tapping into order-to-cash (O2C) solutions to ensure timely payments from its customers. In a feature story, Traci Leffel, Rocket Industrial’s director of finance, tells PYMNTS how O2C solutions can offer distributors peace of mind when addressing various clients’ different payment needs.
Fun, Cool and Otherwise Interesting
Report: Crypto Fraud Losses Reach $4.4B in Q3 2019
The total volume of fraud tied to crypto shows losses in the range of $4.4 billion, as estimated by CipherTrace’s Q3 report for 2019. The CipherTrace report, however, noted that the total bilked from crypto exchanges, at $15.5 million, was the lowest tally seen in years.
Can Six Days Make (or Break) the Holiday 2019 Shopping Season?
Unlike last year’s preferred scapegoat of unpredictable weather for retailers that endured slower-than-expected sales, the 2019 calendar has been a long-anticipated problem among retailers. As early as March, Dollar Tree started warning investors on its earnings call that the six-day-shorter period would likely hurt year-end sales.
Expedia Leadership Shakeup Shows Power of Travel Industry Disruption
Expedia CEO Mark Okerstrom, as well as CFO Alan Pickerill, have resigned following a conflict over the company’s strategy. Barry Diller, chairman of the board, and Peter Kern, vice chairman and director, will oversee the company’s executive leadership team.
Do Tencent, Alipay Have a Place in China’s Digital Currency Ecosystem?
If blockchain might be considered the rails that underpin cryptos’ journeys as they move between parties, China seems intent on limiting just what can ride those rails. And bitcoin, increasingly, is not likely to be in the picture (nor would a slew of other tokens) in a way that some may have hoped.
How 5G Will Power the Industrial Commerce Revolution
Robots and artificial intelligence haven’t yet taken over. Even so, machines still have human-like needs that, when fulfilled, can improve commerce as well as payments and, according to some, bring in what’s sometimes being called in smart circles a new industrial revolution. The key to that future is burgeoning 5G mobile network technology.


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Problems in the Polish market have seen profits tumble by -77% at drinks group Stock Spirits, which released its half-year results today.
The recently renamed Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits has reported a 4.5% sales increase for the first half of 2015 after implementing a new strategic plan.
European spirits producer Stock Spirits has warned shareholders of its “extremely weak” performance in the first quarter of 2015.
Belvédère Group, owner of Sobieski vodka and Marie Brizard liqueurs, saw net sales fall 4.1% in 2014, as it implemented a major strategic review.
UK-based distiller Stock Spirits has issued a profit warning after a 15% alcohol duty hike in its main market of Poland created a “very tough” trading environment.
C&C Group has hit out at “discriminatory” behaviour from Polish authorities, who forced it to remove advertising for cider brand Magners from team shirts during a Champions League match.
A Cognac was launched in Poland yesterday using a range of extremely rare distillates, the oldest of which dates back to 1805.
An extremely rare, limited edition, Cognac using spirits that pre-date the arrival of phylloxera is to be launched later this month.
Catching drink drivers could soon be as simple as pointing a laser, thanks to a device that can detect the presence of alcohol inside a moving car.
Stock Spirits, the Buckinghamshire-based company which is the largest producer of vodka in Poland and the Czech Republic, made a successful debut on the London stock market earlier this week.
© 2017 Union Press Ltd | Unit 122, 30 Great Guildford Street, London SE1 0HS, UK | Registered in England and Wales No. 03606414 | Tel: +44 (0)20 7803 2420


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EJ’s Shoes to open new store near Galleria
- Kelsey Volkmann
EJ’s Designer Shoe Outlet is opening a new St. Louis location, shortening its name and preparing to hire more employees as the company shifts into growth mode following its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The company, which is owned by the Nusrala family, plans to open a 9,500-square-foot EJ’s Shoes in March in a former Blockbuster at 1114 S. Brentwood across from the Saint Louis Galleria.
EJ’s opened the new location to be closer to the shoppers going to the Galleria and nearby shopping centers, said Ron Johnson, general merchandise manager. Architextures of St. Louis is reworking the space for EJ’s.
EJ’s will close its store on Olive Boulevard, but its 15 corporate employees will remain at the headquarters on Olive, Johnson said. The new store will eventually double its staff of 10 store employees, he said.
EJ’s also has four other locations in Crestwood, Mo.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Palm Desert, Calif.
EJ’s closed a dozen stores, mostly in Texas, during its bankruptcy, from which it emerged a year ago in February. Along with the closures, EJ’s laid off a couple hundred employees.
Johnson declined disclose sales but said they were flat in 2010 and starting to rebound in 2011.
When EJ’s filed for bankruptcy in 2009, it listed assets of between $500,000 and $1 million and liabilities of between $10 million and $50 million.
Another new shoe store opened last year in St. Louis. Steve Meskill and Mike Bly are selling discounted women’s shoes at their new shop, Shoe Crazy, in Kirkwood. The partners invested $75,000, including $50,000 in inventory. Meskill, son-in-law of EJ’s owner Edward “EJ” Nusrala, projected $300,000 to $500,000 in sales the first year.
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Though the European Commission last week told me Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) hadn’t flagged its Google (NSDQ: GOOG) search partnership to its antitrust authority, when I asked Yahoo whether it would do so, I got no answer. Now Yahoo tells Computerworld it has notified the EC “out of a ‘spirit of cooperation’ as well as to educate the regulatory body about the agreement”.
Whilst the deal, under which Google would supply ads on some Yahoo search pages, applies only in the US and Canada, some UK agencies last month voiced concern, and the EC spokesperson pointed me to guidelines that state its “rules apply to all mergers no matter where in the world the merging companies have their registered office, headquarters, activities or production facilities”. After all, the EC has fined Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) repeatedly.
In theory, that could leave the door open for the commission to review the tie-up’s implications over here. The EC defines a “merger” as companies “combining forces” and seeks to act against reductions in choice and innovation, and against the possibility of companies combining to hike prices. Yahoo said on June 12 it is


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The Tacoma multifamily market is reaching historic highs in both sales volumes and pricing.
A recently released Kidder Mathews report shows the South Sound city already had a year-to-date sales volume of $129 million by the end of third quarter compared with $28 million for all of 2020, and a year-to-date price per square foot of $270 compared with $181 last year. For this workforce housing town, those numbers are exceptional.
For the full story, go to the Puget Sound Business Journal.
© 2021 American City Business Journals. All rights reserved.


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Retailers hoping to reel in shoppers with unique local offerings
Mom-and-pops hope to reel in customers with unique offerings
There are national big-name outlets, and then there are local mom-and-pop shops.
Overall, this has been a tough year for retail, and according to Zenreach, an industry marketing analyst group, larger retail and restaurant establishments could be in for a very difficult fall and winter. Zenreach has released data forecasting a downward trend in brick-and-mortar shopping rates at the nation's top stores and restaurants between now and the end of the year:
Last year at this time, the seven-day average of walk-in shoppers was just over 500,000. The current weekly average is now under 200,000 walk-ins, at about 35% of last year's norm. The same study predicts by the end of 2020, retail will dip to 21.5% of the 2019 average, should the trend hold steady.
A spike in COVID-19 infection rates in nearly every state across the country appears to be having a major impact on strides toward the tentative recovery seen over the summer.
But talk to Kathy McBride, owner of the Perky Pelican Christmas Shoppe, and she'll tell you retail sales in St. Augustine are on the upswing, especially given the target audience that comes with the influx of crowds pouring in now to the Nights of Lights, the city's signature holiday attraction.
Between Nov. 14 and Jan. 31, 2021, the event is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to local inns, hotels, restaurants and shops, and the annual festivities are usually a dependable way for businesses to turn a good profit before the end of the year.
McBride said her store on San Marco Avenue, which offers holiday ornaments and decorations of all kinds, saw a steady stream of customers as early as Labor Day this year.
"We've been surprisingly busy," McBride said. "We're delighted, it's a blessing."
McBride said shoppers — many who've started decorating even earlier this year to ring in the merry — walk in tell her: "'This place just makes me happy.' And that almost brings me to tears.'"
Philip McDaniel, CEO and co-founder of the St. Augustine Distillery, said this year has been no exception for holiday traffic from where he sits, either.
"Nights of Lights is a tradition for so many people, so many families, and so there's definitely been an upswing [in customers]," McDaniel said.
McDaniel and his fellow partners own and run both the distillery on Riberia Street, which offers tours and tastings, as well as City Gate Spirits, a retail shop on St. George Street that carries a full line of handcrafted liquors.
"It's definitely helping, with people to town," McDaniel said.
This year, to kick off the holiday retail season, City Gate Spirits has launched its first whiskey products in two seasonally inspired flavors, smoked maple and cinnamon.
Located directly across from the Castillo de San Marcos, City Gate Spirits has been doing really well in recent weeks, according to McDaniel.
Over at the distillery, a new offering — allowing customers to create their own uniquely branded liquors with specific proof levels and label names — has created a stir.
"We recognized how people are looking for more of an experiential product, so this is doing really well for us," McDaniel said.
At the same time as sales are lagging in brick-and-mortar stores, e-commerce has picked up. In a study of user data issued recently, online portal Couponbox found, not surprisingly, that online shopping picked up significantly in March, after the lockdown brought on by the pandemic, and that e-commerce industries were in greatest demand once shops, restaurants and other amenities closed.
Coronavirus restrictions led to a surge in purchases, particularly in areas like grocery-related products, which increased by 30%, gardening items (nearly 14%) and sneakers (38%).
But those are essential type things, and once the holiday season begins, thoughts turn to less practical items.
"Here, you can literally find something for anyone and everyone," said Kori Smith, owner of the Coconut Barrel Artisan Market on U.S. 1 in St. Augustine. "I feel like the homemade movement is very important to people, and maybe even more this year."
Walk down the aisles featuring more than 200 vendors in Smith's warehouse, and you'll find everything from artisan soaps to hand-forged fire pits, crocheted macrame to hand-stamped stationery.
To kick off the shopping season on Black Friday, Coconut Barrel is offering free mimosas to shoppers all day and free gift bags to the first 50 customers that morning (the store opens at 11 a.m.).
McBride said while her store would still likely not be able to recoup the loss in revenue it suffered being closed for 10 weeks in the spring due to COVID, this last push in sales would help.
"Anything we can do, it sets us up better going into next year," McBride said.


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Los Angeles-based Ventura said Thursday that the Bureau of Cannabis Control approved the acquisition, part of Ventura’s strategy to build a network of California dispensaries.
Kush Rush will serve as a template for Ventura’s California dispensaries under contract or application, the company said in a statement.
READ: Ventura Cannabis shares path to C$10 million revenue target, posts first financials as cannabis company
The new dispensary is expected to generate C$500,000 in annual revenue during the first full year under operation.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Ventura will pay C$210,000 in cash and issue 1.2 million shares to the owner-operator of Kush Rush in a deal worth close to C$640,000 in total.
Ventura Cannabis has binding agreements to purchase five dispensaries in California as well as to acquire a vertically integrated cannabis product company in the state.
The cannabis company's strategy is to focus solely on the massive California market, where it plans to establish a network of dispensaries with owner-operators.
Shares of Ventura were trading at C$0.31 on Thursday morning.
Contact Angela at email@example.com
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5 August 2020
New business collaboration with the architect product manufacturer
ITP Thailand started to work together about mobile application development with the architect product manufacturer.
3 July 2020
New business collaboration with the electric product manufacturer
Starting new mobile development for increase client's CS and sales force.
1 July 2020
Announcement of Management changes
ITP Thailand changed the Top management from 1st July 2020.
1 December 2019
Launch new owned media of ITP THAILAND, "Prorod"
ITP Thailand have started new owned media which specialized to automotive market on Facebook page.
25 November 2019
ITP Thailand 20th anniversary years ceremony.
ITP Thailand celebrates its 20th anniversary.
1 August 2019
Supported the foundation stone laying ceremony
We supported the foundation stone-laying ceremony of auto manufacturer's new factory.


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#Blackberry #DTEK70 – Blackberry DTEK70 Release Date, Price & Specs: Blackberry and TCL Unveiling in CES 2017 : A few months ago, Blackberry announced that it will no longer make its own brand of phones. However, this does not mean that it is already out of the running in the smartphone market. In fact, a few months after the announcement, it then made public its partnership with TCL.
This partnership brought forth new handsets like the DTEK50 and DTEK60. Although the phones were mildly received by the consumers, the reviews were somewhat passable in the end. Now, a recent tweet from TCL’s president and general manager, Steve Cistulli, hints of an impending product release.
According to the post, TCL and Blackberry will be unveiling a product during next year’s CES or the Consumer Electronics Show. This led many to believe that the product in question is the new smartphone dubbed as the DTEK70.
The DTEK70, otherwise known as Mercury, will sport the keypads that made the Blackberry phones famous. It will be based on the Android operating system instead of the original Blackberry OS. The phone will be marked as a mid-range device featuring a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 running at 2GHz.
The reason for the subpar specs is the previous qualms expressed by consumers on Blackberry phone pricing. According to John Chen, Blackberry’s CEO, most enterprise customers wanting to buy a Blackberry are somewhat deterred by the phone’s price. Previous Blackberry smartphones like the Priv, costs around $700. Most of its customers need a Blackberry phone which is something to the tune of $400.
— Steve Cistulli (@SteveCistulli) December 15, 2016
Because of this, Blackberry downgraded the specs for the rumored DTEK70 smartphone. Instead of going all out with the Snapdragon 821s of the market, it settled with a far cheaper and inferior processor. This brought down the price of the phone by a considerable margin. Rumor has it that the DTEK70 will retail for $450 on release.
For now, the phone is known as the DTEK70. Others, however, call it Mercury. There are still no clarifications on what the new Blackberry phone will be called. However, the wait is almost over as CES 2017 looms near. Source: Thebitbag


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Fang Yunzhou, chairman of one of Tesla Inc.’s local rivals, has a different customer in mind: a consumer who lives in a less well-off small town or even a farmer in the countryside. Our goal is to provide a truly affordable product for the entire market, rather than a rich children’s toy, he says.
Fang, 45, is the founder of Hozon New Energy Automobile Co., a 6-year-old electric vehicle maker supported by local governments in eastern China’s Zhejiang Province, and one of the few companies wishing to develop the electric vehicle market. Hozon is betting there is a path to profitability by selling cheap battery operated cars in China’s flyover territory. The price of the first Hozons SUV, the Nezha N01, starts at less than 67,000 yuan. In early July, the company began delivering another SUV, starting at around 140,000 yuan, which can travel over 250 miles on a single charge.
Targeting drivers outside of major cities could help Hozon survive the massive consolidation underway in China’s electric vehicle industry. As auto sales exploded in the mid-2010s, hundreds of EV makers hoped to become the country’s response to Elon Musks Tesla. But demand began to weaken even before the effects of Covid-19 hit the economy, as government incentives waned in mid-2019. Only 11 of the nation’s electric vehicle makers were successful in raising funds last year, including WM Motor Technology Group, Li Auto and Hozon, according to consultancy firm Automobility Ltd. Adding to the pressure in January, Tesla started delivering electric vehicles from its new Shanghai plant.
The coronavirus pandemic is making the situation even worse. New-energy vehicle sales fell more than 37% in the first six months of 2020 after falling sharply in the second half of 2019.
The government of Chinese President Xi Jinpings is trying to boost the industry by helping automakers sell in areas they have generally overlooked. In July, Beijing announced an initiative involving 10 companies, including Hozon, to promote EV sales in villages, towns and small towns with grants and other incentives such as preferential loans.
As China’s relations with the United States and other countries deteriorate, electric vehicle makers, including Hozon, are part of Xi’s larger push to create Chinese alternatives to Western companies . We must make sure that key and basic technologies are in our own hands and aspire to create strong domestic auto brands, Xi said on July 23 during a visit to the facilities of the public group FAW, another automaker. that targets potential rural buyers.
Over 500 million people live in rural areas of China. Although their incomes are generally lower than those of city dwellers, some have money to spend, according to China EV100, a think tank that focuses on the development of electric vehicles. In the countryside, people own less than 150 cars per 1,000 people, about half that of people in China’s largest cities, according to BloombergNEF. There is a huge market for these vehicles in the rural market, says Xu Haidong, deputy chief engineer of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, a trade organization that helps organize campaigns to encourage sales of electric vehicles.
There are advantages to owning an electric vehicle in the countryside. Because most rural Chinese live in a house rather than a skyscraper, an EV owner can simply plug the car into a regular outlet and does not need the charging infrastructure more common in apartment buildings. apartments in large cities. The company providing a subsidy of up to 7,000 yuan for buyers, a consumer can buy an electric vehicle with as little as 18,000 yuan in down, and farmers with good credit history can leave without any upfront payment.
Even with this marketing push, challenges remain. Hozon, like the rest of its direct EV competitors, needs more capital. This industry inherently requires huge investments in product development and manufacturing, says Charley Xu, managing director and partner of the Boston Consulting Group in Shanghai.
Fang is moving forward with a fundraising of $ 428 million announced on July 20, which will be followed by an initial public offering, possibly in 2021. Competitors such as NIO Inc. and Xpeng Motors have already had from IPOs or reputable institutional investors such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. allowing them to compete more effectively with foreign car manufacturers that are developing in the market. Li Auto Inc on July 24 filed for a Nasdaq listing to raise up to $ 950 million, and WM Motor is considering an IPO in Shanghai. Plus, there’s a limit to how far automakers can go with low-margin sales in less affluent parts of China, says Jing Yang, director of corporate research at Fitch Ratings in Shanghai. This is a short-term remedy for the weak market and for manufacturers of national brand EVs to clean up some inventory, she said. They still have to work on the high end. This is the ultimate trend for the development of electric vehicles.
Fang argues that there is room in the market for an electric vehicle maker selling cheaper cars. All the attention given to Tesla in China has helped educate consumers about the potential of electric vehicles, he says. There is such a huge population in China, and even if Tesla could sell 1 million cars a year here, Fang says, it would still only be 1 million.
What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos
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Photos from our collaborative brew day with Fermenta on May 14, 2016.
We're celebrating women in the craft beer industry with a special event in our brewery in downtown Frankfort.
Saturday, May 14 we welcome Fermenta, Michigan Women's Craft Collective, to Stormcloud to brew a collaborative beer with us.
The event's intent is to give credit to women working in craft beer while also providing an opportunity for more women to become involved in the industry. No brewing experience is necessary to attend.
We're planning to brew a Hibiscus Tea IPA, which will be showcased with other Fermenta-brewed beers at this year's Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Beer Festival in Ypsilanti.
Brewing starts promptly at 8am and should finish in the afternoon. Lunch is included for free and there is no cost to attend. If you're coming from out of town and plan to stay in Frankfort overnight, our neighbors at Harbor Lights Resort are offering a lodging discount for attendees.
Interested in helping us brew? Email Stormcloud to sign-up.
Learn more about Fermenta by visiting FermentaMichigan.org.


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On November 18th, 2019, Valve got back into making real games. Radio silence game from the developer after multiple games were canceled because of Source 2 not being a usable […]
On November 18th, 2019, Valve got back into making real games. Radio silence game from the developer after multiple games were canceled because of Source 2 not being a usable engine at the time and the studios wanting to move to Unreal Engine 4.
All looked down until Artifact, a Dota spinoff game around. Yeah, gamers were pissed off a little bit that it wasn’t a flagship title, but when they announced Half- Life: Alyx, everything changed. We saw what Source 2 was capable of and it’s absolutely insane. Alyx, being in development for 4.5 years, is finally what Valve has been waiting for, but apparently that’s not all.
Spotted by the YouTuber called Valve News Network, Source 2 and Steam VR have multiple references to Left 4 Dead 3. Now, as a lot of people know, Left 4 Dead 3 was essentially a near finished game but was canceled due to Source 2 being a mess as mentioned before. So now with the engine finished, code started appearing out of nowhere. There’s a list of NPCs, and many are from Left 4 Dead alongside its sequel:
There’s some very distinguishable lines of code there, including the Bride Witch, Coach, Clowns, CEDA, Jimmy, and Crawler as all appear in previous entries. Something has to be up, especially with all this appearing within the past year.
My take: Personally, I believe Valve will reinvent the series for consoles, PC, and VR. It’ll just take a little bit more time to do, given the game has to restart development to a team that hasn’t worked on it in years so they’ll need some time to re-adjust.


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Cyber Monday – The Biggest Shopping Day of the Year?
Do you remember when Cyber Monday wasn’t a thing? In late November 2005, The New York Times reported: “The name Cyber Monday grew out of the observation that millions of otherwise productive working Americans, fresh off a Thanksgiving weekend of window shopping, were returning to high-speed Internet connections at work Monday and buying what they liked.” At that time, internet connections in most homes were slow.
Fast-forward 15 years; foot traffic is down, fewer people are returning to offices, and most people have much faster connections at home. Monday had all the makings of an epic online shopping day. In fact, ABC News reported earlier this week: Cyber Monday expected to be biggest online shopping day in US history. But the shopping holiday is no longer confined to the U.S., so Akamai prepares for the day with its global retail customers and observes trends to ensure flawless performance and protect retailers’ websites by averting the most sophisticated threats.
As it happens, that reporting was accurate. Forbes reported on Tuesday that “Cyber Monday was projected to be the largest online shopping day in U.S. history and it delivered just that – a 15.1% increase over last year coming in at $10.8 billion for the day.”
The first thing Akamai witnessed was that visits to retailers’ websites increased by 28% YoY on Cyber Monday, and the peak hourly visits also increased by 27% YoY. The peak hours were 11 AM-12 PM ET in 2019 and 9-10 AM ET in 2020.
Additionally, we looked at the following data points for online shopping on Cyber Monday, comparing 2019 to 2020:
- Shoppers on mobile versus desktop:
- Mobile: increase from 58.74% to 66.76%
- Desktop: decrease from 37.54% to 28.55%
- Bounce rates on mobile versus desktop:
- Mobile: increase from 36.45% to 37.78%
- Desktop: decrease from 27.14% to 25.95%
- Conversion rates on mobile versus desktop:
- Mobile: increase from 2.01% to 2.36%
- Desktop: increase from 4.04% to 4.45%
In 2019, Akamai witnessed 4 billion total retail attacks across its platform, with 66 million being credential abuse/stuffing attacks. This year, we saw those numbers jump exponentially to almost 10 billion and 84 million, respectively, an increase of 79% in credential attacks alone. Cyber Monday hasn’t just grown exponentially for online shopping, it’s also become a huge holiday for cybercriminals, as evidenced by these numbers. The primary reason? Some of the biggest sales and most sought-after products are held until Cyber Monday, making them rich targets for threat actors to go after, including some highly anticipated gaming consoles. Bot operators can snap up inventory to resell on the gray market, and those looking to inflict financial pain on a business can severely compromise revenue generation by overwhelming infrastructure through DDoS or web application attacks.
While some retailers focused their budget on marketing efforts in 2020, and understandably so, security needs to be a priority for the months ahead and throughout 2021. All data indicates that online shopping is on the rise – and right alongside it, cybercrime.
Learn more about solutions that can help your online business thrive and protect your online properties at akamai.com/retail.
*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from The Akamai Blog authored by Tara Bartley. Read the original post at: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAkamaiBlog/~3/lOKS1ePBEQ4/cyber-monday---the-biggest-shopping-day-of-the-year.html


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Ecoalf, the eco-friendly fashion brand that makes garments from reused materials, will quit utilizing feathers by 2020.
According to (PETA), the Spanish corporation has promised to quit utilizing feathers in the entirety of its production plans by one year from now.
“Today’s shoppers are rejecting cruelty to animals, and that includes ripping out birds’ feathers and leaving the animals bloody so that the feathers can be stuffed into coats,” said PETA Director Anne Brainard.
“‘PETA-Approved Vegan’ fashion statements like Ecoalf’s trendy coats are placing empathy into the design, and kind-hearted buyers will see the difference”
Ecoalf makes apparel produced using reused materials, and one of the manners in which it does this is through its Upcycling the Oceans venture, where, with the help of fishermen, it expels debris and jetsam from the sea and transforms it into yarn, which is then used to deliver the final products.
As the organization plans to go feather free, it has collaborated with London-based brand Felder Felder to dispatch a PETA affirmed Capsule Collection of coats that means to be both eco-friendly and sleek.
“As part of our commitment to becoming 100% feather free across all our ranges by 2020, this season we are reducing our feather consumption and increasing the use of vegan synthetic filling,” the company’s website states.
“Once again ECOALF shows its commitment to the people, to the animals and to the planet.”
Ecoalf joins a developing rundown of corporations choosing elective textures over those that originate from animals, as shopper interest for practical and cruelty-free items keeps on developing.
Design powerhouse Chanel declared a year ago that it will never again use fur or animal skins in its future fashion statements. Burberry, Coach, and Versace likewise joined the developing rundown of organizations that prohibited fur forever in 2018.


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NEW YORK CITY (ABSNN) - Hostess Brands, the bakers of Wonder Bread, Ho Hos and Twinkies, announced today it will shut down its remaining two plants due to a strike that crippled its operations. Although the company will cease operations, Twinkies ha...
Falling victim to hard economic times, the snack cake maker will be cutting back some of its more costly ingredients in the classic Twinkie like the creamy filling, replacing it with rolled up paper IOUs, according to a company spokesman.
King Abdullah, ruler of Saudi Arabia, declared the government's new Let them eat cake policy today to an angry mob in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Every male Saudi Arabian subject will have a variety of delicious bakery goods to choose from.
The FDA announced this week that Twinkie, a popular food item distributed by Hostess and owned by Texas-based Hostess, is now classified as a vegetable.
The Twinkie as a Vegetable referendum refers to a United States Department of Agriculture (U...
It has finally been publicly announced that the signature cream filled sponge cake product Twinkies, "might be fattening," (along with Ding Dongs, Snoballs, and fruit pies.)
The revelation came as a shock to dieticians and health care profession...
A 92-year-old man who confessed to his cats has been cleared of murder.
Las Vegas -- Heidi Klum today has traded her normal diet of greens for yellow, cream-filled Twinkies.
Hostess, a wholly owned subsidiary if International Bakers announced the production of its two-millionth twinkie.
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With earnings season coming to a close in Tokyo, local media are wasting no time pointing out that Honda, Nissan and Fuji Heavy Industries (the maker of Subaru vehicles) are all reporting higher profits than they were before the financial crisis hammered worldwide auto sales in late 2008.
Honda even posted a record profit for the April-June period, the first quarter of its fiscal year. That was 52 percent higher than the same period of 2008, its previous record first-quarter profit.
In fact, all Japanese carmakers chalked up improved year-on-year results in the April-June quarter.
But Honda, Nissan and Fuji Heavy recouped the ground lost over the two-year recession -- and then some. Total industry sales are still down compared with April-June of 2008, just before the bottom fell out. But profits at these three are rising, partly on higher sales to emerging markets.
Some notables have yet to break even with the heady days of 2008: Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Suzuki. Mitsubishi and Suzuki were still in the red this year, compared with profits back then.
But for a lucky few, the bumpy ride seems to be over.


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The United States Department of Agriculture predicts the apple crop across the country will be nearly 20 million bushels above average.
New York is the second largest apple-producing state behind Washington. This year's New York harvest should be more than double the nearly 16 million bushels the state produced last season.
"The New York apple crop statewide this year is just completely opposite of last year. We had a great bloom, great return bud, very good pollination weather and then the growing conditions since that point forward have been excellent, just excellent," said Jim Allen, New York Apple Association.
Last spring's deep freeze stunted New York's crop, particularly in growing regions along Lake Ontario.
At Orbaker Farm in Williamson, Wayne County, the 2012 harvest was about 50 percent less than average. Gary Orbaker expects a yield anywhere from 90 to 100 percent this fall.
"We're on the road to recovery, but it's not something that's going to be one year, it's going to be several years to get caught up on this. That's just the nature of the business that we're in," Orbaker said.
Fruit farmers like Orbaker were able to do okay last year. That's because the smaller yield forced the price of fruit to increase.
"This year, we got a big volume crop, prices probably won't be quite as strong but you'll make up some of that with the volume," said Allen.
Last year's freeze meant there wasn't a lot of work for those who harvest the crops. Now that volume has rebounded, there's a concern over a shortage of workers.
Orbaker says workers didn't want to come to New York last year because they knew there wasn't an abundant crop. Many of of them have returned, but it appears there may not be enough as they are also needed in other states.
"Pennsylvania has apples, Michigan has apples, Massachusetts and all other surrounding states all up the east coast, Virginia and the Carolinas. They'll pick maybe a few apples there but they want to come to New York State, they'll work their way up but they could stay in Pennsylvania and not come to New York also. There's plenty of opportunity for them to go, last year they didn't have that opportunity," Orbaker said.
Despite that concern, apple growers say this year's crop will not only be bountiful, but the fruit will be large, sweet and juicy.


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Photos: Customers line up for long-awaited China Mobile launch of Apple's iPhoneThousands of Chinese consumers descended on China Mobile stores across the Middle Kingdom Friday as the iPhone made its official debut on the world's largest wireless carrier.
Friday's launch marked the culmination of years of stop-and-start negotiations between Apple and China Mobile, the last of China's three state-owned wireless telecommunications companies to gain access to Cupertino's handset. Joining the crowds to celebrate the occasion in Beijing were Apple CEO Tim Cook and China Mobile chairman Xi Guohua — the duo autographed ten handsets given to contest winners from across the nation.
Neither company has commented thus far on first-day sales, though they are expected to be brisk. China Mobile is said to have received "millions" of iPhone pre-orders following the partnership's announcement.
The photos below were collated by Singapore-based Flickr user jnaina and first spotted by Fortune's Philip Elmer-Dewitt.
On Topic: iPhone
- Ford brings Apple CarPlay to rest of 2017 lineup through updates & new models
- Apple rumored to launch 'iPhone 7' on week of Sept. 12
- Pokemon Go sets Apple App Store record for launch downloads, but US growth slowing
- 'Solid' forecast from Apple chipmaker Skyworks may bode well for 'iPhone 7' production
- New video from China compares rose gold finish in alleged 'iPhone 7' to iPhone 6s


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This week’s note will begin by reiterating our bullish theme on the Natural Gas market. We hav...
Should You Save?
07/13/2009 12:01 am EST
Is it our “patriotic duty” to spend America back into prosperity? That’s not an idle question. As Baby Boomers come to grips with the concept of “retirement” there’s been a sudden panic, a rush to savings. The huge generation that led America to economic growth through their spending is now leading the spending slowdown with a savings binge.
In June, 2005, the American savings rate turned negative as many people were using their credit cards and home equity loans to maintain their lifestyle. Since the American consumer has traditionally accounted for 70 percent of the economy, this propensity to spend kept everything from homebuilders and Home Depot, to Wal-Mart, and Neiman Marcus, reporting big profits.
But now, with lifestyles threatened and retirement accounts decimated, the Baby Boom generation has turned in the opposite direction, squirreling away dollars as if a deep winter loomed. The savings rate has shot up to six percent—still far from its double-digit peak at the end of the 1981-82 recession, but give it time. Is that good news, or bad?
Savings is a good thing, as I’ve long advocated. But at this juncture of the economic cycle the new savings binge is also dragging out the recession, and putting a lid on the recovery. If everyone stops spending on anything but the most basic necessities, how will the American economy recover? And how will we lead the world out of this financial crisis?
Less than a decade ago, boomers were planning on selling their homes and moving into luxury condos and townhouses to ride out retirement. Now they’re watching home equity disappear, along with their 40l(k) balances. They aim to replenish their losses by holding tight to their remaining income. This “hunkering down” has hit the economy hard.
The generation that made its impact at every stage—from expanding the need for public schools in the 50s, to rock and roll, the Beatles, and McDonalds—is now making its mark again—by saving. I’ll ask again: Is that good news, or bad?
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The once leader of the bitcoin exchanges, Mt Gox is offline now amid the claims by other bitcoin exchanges that Mt. Gox will file bankruptcy. The website of Mt. Gox started showing a white blank page as of 10:30 pm ET and the reports started to circulate at Reddit and Twitter that the trading has been stopped on Mt. Gox.
Also earlier today, other leading bitcoin companies including Circle, Coinbase and BTC China issued a joint statement about the Mt. Gox insolvency. The statement later omitted without mentioning insolvency of Mt. Gox but tech blog Re/code has confirmed with the spokesman of the group that “Mt. Gox has confirmed it will file bankruptcy in private discussions with other members of the bitcoin community.”
If Mt. Gox is gone for ever then the fate of the its customers is not clear whether they will be able to get their precious bitcoin back or not. The bitcoin price had come down to $500 after the news.
Mt. Gox was earlier included among the largest bitcoin exchanges and was operating out of Japan. However, lately the exchange had been plagued with many technical issues.
Mark Karpeles, the CEO of Mt. Gox had also resigned from Bitcoin Foundation board on Sunday.
Here is the full statement from the the bitcoin companies about Mt. Gox:
“In order to re-establish the trust squandered by the failings of Mt. Gox, responsible bitcoin exchanges are working together and are committed to the future of bitcoin and the security of all customer funds,” said the statement, published at 10 pm ET on Monday. “As part of the effort to re-assure customers, the following exchanges will be coordinating efforts over the coming days to publicly reassure customers and the general public that all funds continue to be held in a safe and secure manner: Coinbase, Kraken, BitStamp, Circle, and BTC China.”


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US sites have reported receiving invites from Disney Interactive today, ahead of a major reveal next month.
The fancy invitations, received by Joystiq and Polygon among others, promise a full reveal of a mysterious project called Disney Infinity at a Hollywood event on January 15. Disney Interactive co-president John Pleasants and Pixar CCO John Lasseter will attend, suggesting it’s a major reveal.
Disney Infinity is the rumoured title of a Skylanders competitor, believed to be the game previously known as Toy Box. It is said to bring together Disney and Pixar characters in an interactive environment for the first time.
The title is suspected to be Disney’s top secret unrevealed project.


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Starbucks, and their CEO Howard Schultz, went all in on Hillary Clinton for President. As a result, their stock price burned as bad as their coffee beans.
Schultz didn’t officially endorse Clinton until this summer, but he has been highly critical of Republicans, and Donald Trump in particular, for more than a year. He also has a history of using Starbucks to promote many liberal causes. This led to a wide effort by conservatives to boycott Starbucks products, and like Target, the company is feeling the pinch.
According to Investopedia, Starbucks’ stock price has plummeted 13.42% over the past 12 months. Their stock yield is a paltry 1.83%.
While it is impossible to blame falling stock prices on a conservative boycott, it’s hard to figure out how Starbucks can be losing money in a coffee-addicted country, UNLESS consumers are sick of your product.
It should be noted that the conservative backlash against Starbucks started long before this Presidential race. In 2013, Schultz told customers and stockholders that supported traditional marriage that they should take their business elsewhere. The company at the time took a vocal stand for gay marriage.
Last year, Schultz suggested that Starbucks baristas give customers a lecture about race relations. That did not go over well.
In response to Donald Trump’s win, Schultz said “I am stunned. We cannot know what the precise impact will be on our country and the rest of the world. I am hopeful that we will overcome the vitriol and division of this unprecedented election season.”
Schultz may have been stunned, but not as much as his customers when they have to pay $7 for a cup of coffee that costs 50 cents to make.
By the way, are you still supporting Starbucks? And if so, why?
If you’re looking for a good Starbucks alternative, you could click here and try out Military Grade Coffee, the strongest coffee on the planet, with a portion of the proceeds donated to help military members and their families.
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