text:
-- Posted Friday, 6 September 2013 | | Disqus
Gold denominated in Indian rupees just skyrocketed up near record highs, a far cry from recent dollar-gold action. Much of this extraordinary rally was fueled by the near-collapse of the Indian currency to new record lows against the US dollar. India’s deepening currency crisis has major implications for domestic gold demand and thus global gold prices. Nothing ignites gold buying like a collapsing currency!
Indians’ deep cultural affinity for gold is legendary. For decades it was the world’s biggest consumer of gold, although China is overtaking it now. According to the World Gold Council, in the first half of 2013 India still accounted for a staggering 28% of global consumer gold demand! The 566.5 metric tons of the yellow metal Indians bought in the last two quarters greatly dwarf Americans’ 83.4t purchased.
It is estimated that Indian households hold 31,000t of gold worth a breathtaking $1395b at $1400 per ounce. A single temple alone in southern India (Tirumala near Tirupati) is believed to hold 1000t itself, worth $45b! It gains another 3t annually in gold offerings from devout Hindu pilgrims. More than half of Indians’ personal savings is held in hard assets including land, houses, cattle, and of course gold.
Despite this vast absolute wealth Indians have invested in gold, they still have very little per capita. With 1210m people, India’s population is massive beyond belief. Let’s assume just half are of working age, when they can save and invest the surplus fruits of their labors. Dividing India’s total consumer gold hoard by 605m people equals per-capita holdings of merely 1.65 ounces! That certainly isn’t excessive.
Nevertheless, India’s government has been waging an aggressive war on gold this year. The country is struggling with a record current-account deficit that ran 4.8% of GDP in fiscal 2012 (ending March). India’s two biggest imports by far are oil and gold, accounting for 70% of its trade deficit. Of that, gold represented a quarter. But oil is far more essential for civilization than gold, so New Delhi has targeted it.
In order to try and curb gold imports to reduce its trade deficit, the Indian government has greatly hiked the metal’s import taxes this year. Import duties were raised by half to 6% in late January, by a third to 8% in early June, and then again by a quarter to 10% in mid-August! In addition to gold’s duties being 2.5x higher than their 4% when 2013 dawned, New Delhi also applied the latest 10% to silver and platinum to fight substitution.
How are these steep and punitive gold import taxes working out? Not so well from the government’s perspective. The World Gold Council recently reported that Indian consumer gold demand soared 48% year-over-year in 2013’s first half! So Indians are still buying gold aggressively, much to the chagrin of the government. Instead of retarding demand, these tariffs are simply fueling a boom in gold smuggling.
The Indian government really has no one to blame but itself for these surging gold imports. It has been seriously mismanaging economic reforms and failing to upgrade deteriorating infrastructure. Corruption is rife, and regulation is suffocating and heavy-handed. Vodafone is one key example. This British telecom company was capriciously slapped with a gigantic retroactive tax bill for 50 years of mergers!
All this has led to waning confidence in the Indian government and its fiat currency, the rupee. Both Indians and foreign investors alike have been exiting the rupee, exacerbating its slide over the past couple years or so. The Indians trade their surplus rupees for physical gold, which must be imported, preserving their purchasing power. The foreigners sell their rupees for other major currencies and move on.
These foreign capital outflows have mostly come from bonds, catapulting India’s benchmark 10-year yield up near 9.25% in late August. It hadn’t been higher since August 2008 heading into the stock panic. Stocks were hit hard too in recent weeks, with foreigners selling $1b worth of Indian shares in just 8 trading days. They’ve dumped $3.6b in Indian stocks since early June, intensifying the rupee’s plunge.
The hypocrisy of the Indian government through this snowballing currency crisis has been epic. India’s finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram has spearheaded the government’s war on gold this year, often backtracking and lying. He’d keep assuring Indians that New Delhi was done mucking around in the domestic gold market, and then within weeks he’d announce some new control on gold imports.
After this blizzard of new taxes and regulations in 2013, he addressed the parliament on August 28th. He had the gall to say, “What we need now is not less reforms but more reforms. What we need now is not more restrictions but less restrictions. What we need now is not a closed economy but a more open economy.” Is a less-restrictive more-open economy one where New Delhi arrogantly tells Indians how to invest?
The result of all this nonsense and mismanagement has been a plummeting rupee and therefore soaring gold price. Indians are not stupid, they understand what havoc their government is wreaking. This first chart looks at gold in rupees per ounce (blue). These are not local price quotes, but clean forex-implied prices based on the dollar-gold level and the rupee-dollar exchange rate. That is rendered below in red.
We all view prices through the lens of whatever currency we’ve used most of our lives, so this is how Indians see the gold price. Far from languishing near relatively low levels like dollar gold, rupee gold has skyrocketed 35.1% in the past couple months! It is now back up near record highs. This was driven partially by the strong dollar-gold action in July and August, but mostly by the rupee’s plunge versus the US dollar.
The horribly-inept Indian government has squandered so much domestic and international confidence in its ability to run the country that the rupee plummeted 22.0% in less than 4 months! This dragged it down to deep new record lows against the US dollar. That same day in late August when that hypocrite finance minister lied to parliament, the rupee witnessed its biggest daily plunge against the US dollar in 18 years.
The rupee hasn’t always looked so frightening. It had plunged in 2008 thanks to flight capital flooding into the US dollar during the American stock panic, which drove the biggest and fastest dollar rally ever witnessed. But after the dollar reversed, so did the rupee. This currency strengthened nicely in 2009 before stabilizing through 2010 and the first half of 2011. But then the rupee started breaking down.
The US dollar was strengthening then too, but it had enjoyed a far larger rally in early 2010 yet the rupee barely budged. Provocatively that was when the Indian government started making noise about its trade deficit and how to fight it. Despite high and rising crude-oil prices being the dominant culprit, the seeds were being sown in government circles to instead take the fight to the far-smaller gold imports.
And rupee gold soared as the rupee itself started breaking down and plunging in mid-2011. This vertical rally was aided greatly by soaring dollar-gold prices in response to the US debt-ceiling fight that summer, which also weighed on the US dollar. But by mid-2012 the rupee had stabilized again, albeit at lower levels than before India’s government started making a mess of things. The rupee held its own for nearly a year.
But then it started falling again rather precipitously in May 2013. Provocatively one of the main catalysts was QE3-tapering fears. The American Federal Reserve started to condition traders to expect it to reduce the pace of its third quantitative-easing campaign’s huge debt monetizations. With the Fed about to slow its manipulation of long interest rates, benchmark US 10-year Treasury yields started a record surge.
Since Treasuries are considered the world’s least-risky bonds (the US can print infinite fiat dollars to honor them), the rest of the world’s bond markets had to dramatically reprice as well. So India experienced a bond rout like America and the rest of the world, heavy selling in response to the Fed. As capital fled from Indian bonds, it subsequently exited the rupee too. And this currency started to plunge to record lows.
I suspect the Indian government’s ill-fated and foolish war on gold was a major factor too. Even less so than the average American, the average Indian doesn’t follow the Fed or long-bond yields. Naturally they care about prices that affect their everyday lives. And the weakening rupee was driving those higher. The lower it went, the more expensive everything became. Inflation makes gold much more attractive.
But just when Indians most needed gold to protect their hard-earned savings from accelerating inflation, the government was falling all over itself telling them not to buy anymore. It started taxing and regulating the heck out of the domestic gold market. Indians saw this and figured their government and currency were in big trouble. This made them desire gold and fear the rupee all the more, exacerbating its decline.
People hate being told what to do. The more a government tells its people not to do something, the more they want to do it. No one will walk on your beautiful front yard until you put a “Keep off the grass!” sign on it. They hadn’t even thought about it before. The Indian government’s attacks on gold kept this metal prominent in the news, bringing great attention to it and the rupee that otherwise wouldn’t have existed.
This catapulted domestic inflation into the forefront too. A weaker rupee of course means anything that India imports is more expensive. And because India imports something like 70% of its total oil demand (and it is the world’s fourth-largest consumer), a weaker rupee makes everything that uses energy more expensive. This runs the gamut from growing crops to transporting all physical goods to consumers.
New Delhi’s war on gold left Indians very suspicious about their government’s motives. Rather than attacking inflation directly by shrinking its money supply to sop up the excess rupees sold, the government was trying to tamper with inflation’s key barometer. Indians wisely responded by greatly stepping up their gold purchases, which soared 71% year-over-year in the second quarter! Weak gold prices compounded this.
Indians’ deep cultural affinity for gold leads them to view every gold selloff as a welcome buying opportunity. So when American stock traders’ mass exodus from the flagship GLD gold ETF sparked an ultra-rare futures forced liquidation in April, gold plummeted in wildly-unprecedented fashion. Indians love a bargain, so they rushed to buy the wildly-oversold yellow metal. These dynamics fed on themselves.
This next chart indexes both rupee gold and dollar gold from the first trading day of 2011 to highlight the vast differences in their trajectories. While dollar gold is flat over this span, rupee gold is about 50% higher! Thus gold looks vastly more bullish to the average Indian investor than it does to the average American one. How this will affect Indian psychology and near-future gold demand is a critical question.
The disconnect between the blue line that shows how Indians see gold and the red line that shows how Americans see it is massive. Despite the unprecedented gold weakness in 2013’s first half, rupee gold is doing fantastic on balance. It is back up into a major uptrend established over a year and a half starting in late 2011. I certainly know American investors would be flocking to gold with performance like this!
American investors love to buy high, getting the most greedy and excited after a long run higher. They are quick to pounce on momentum, pouring their capital into any hot asset no matter how overbought it happens to be. But Indians are smarter and more contrarian in their approach. They would rather buy low than buy high, so record highs aren’t as big of draw in their culture as they are over here in ours.
Everything else being equal, Indian investors’ lower-price preference would likely retard gold demand in higher-price quarters. And that may indeed happen in the third quarter, only time will tell. But a currency crisis is an extraordinary situation that probably overrides everything else. When a currency is plunging so prices of essential goods and services are surging, gold becomes almost overpoweringly attractive.
With the rupee languishing near all-time lows versus the US dollar, inflation is a huge concern that is only going to grow. Higher prices for life’s necessities hit the poor particularly hard, and India remains a poor country. Its per-capita GDP is only around $1600, ranked 140th in the world. In purchasing-power-parity terms Indians’ per-capita buying power grows to $3850 a year, but that still isn’t very much to live on.
In response to the inflation concerns the plunging rupee is spawning, India’s lower house of parliament recently approved a $20b plan to provide cheap grains to the poor. Odds are the costs will spiral a lot higher, as 2/3rds of India’s population is eligible for this subsidized rice and wheat. The ruling party hopes this program will help it win re-election, with general elections due by next May at the latest.
With growing inflation dominating newsflow and consciousness in India, gold should prove exceptionally attractive despite higher prices. As Indians see their hard-earned rupees buying less and less in terms of real goods and services as the currency crisis deepens, their demand for gold to preserve their purchasing power should soar. Gold is always the easiest of the inflation-proof hard assets to buy.
And this deepening currency crisis ought to amplify normal autumn festival-season buying. India always sees a huge gold-demand spike between August and November or so. Much of this is due to weddings, as that season is the most auspicious time to tie the knot. Families of Indian brides spend fortunes to outfit them with extensive gold dowries. These gifts are always incredibly important within Indian culture.
The combination of New Delhi’s war on gold and the plunging-rupee-driven inflation is likely to make Indian parents want to spend even more on their kids getting married than they normally would. They will fear buying more gold to give to their kids later will be more difficult or costly. They will also want to dig deeper to help their kids start out with a secure nest egg since inflation is so hard on young families.
And the rupee crisis isn’t going away anytime soon. Foreign investors aren’t likely to flock back into Indian bonds and stocks as American interest rates rise and the American stock markets roll over. India’s oil imports can’t slow much without the whole country grinding to a halt. And with elections looming, there is no way the Indian government will start tightening and reduce the excessive rupee supply.
So I suspect we may be in for some of the biggest Indian gold demand ever seen in this year’s third and fourth quarters! To have the world’s long-time biggest gold consumer faced with a currency crisis deep in a secular gold bull is something never before witnessed. Add in the government’s foolish war on gold to keep it on the forefront of Indians’ minds and make them really want to buy it, and demand should be incredible.
And if Indians buy more gold, their collective footprint is so massive that global gold prices simply have to rise faster. The highly-likely outsized Indian buying on top of the mean reversions in American gold futures and the American gold ETF should help drive one of gold’s biggest uplegs of its entire secular bull. The higher gold goes, the more Western investors will want to buy it. Gold buying begets more gold buying!
We’re sure ready for this at Zeal. We’ve been aggressively buying the best of the deeply-out-of-favor gold and silver miners, which are due to really multiply the underlying gains in gold. There is no sector in the entire stock markets with more potential to soar in the coming year! We’ve spent many years deeply researching the universe of these companies, painstakingly uncovering the elites with the best fundamentals.
But only contrarians will reap these gains, so you owe it to yourself to cultivate this perspective. We have long published acclaimed contrarian weekly and monthly newsletters to help you better understand the markets. You can draw on the profitable fruits from our decades of hard-won experience, knowledge, wisdom, and ongoing research. We are hardcore contrarians who buy low when others are afraid, then sell high when others are brave. We will help you learn, grow, and thrive. Subscribe today!
The bottom line is gold denominated in Indian rupees just rocketed back up near record highs. This was largely due to India’s currency plunging in global markets thanks to its government’s terrible performance and policies. Foreign investors and Indians alike are quickly losing confidence in the government and its rupee. While the foreigners sell to buy other currencies, the Indians are converting their rupees to gold.
The rapidly-falling rupee hitting record lows is spawning accelerating inflation in India. This is almost certain to seriously ramp already-high gold demand this time of year. There is nothing like a currency crisis to ignite big new gold buying, and seeing one in the world’s long-time top gold consumer is unprecedented. If Indian gold demand continues surging to records, global gold prices will be driven much higher.
Adam Hamilton, CPA
September 6, 2013
So how can you profit from this information? We publish an acclaimed monthly newsletter, Zeal Intelligence, that details exactly what we are doing in terms of actual stock and options trading based on all the lessons we have learned in our market research. Please consider joining us each month for tactical trading details and more in our premium Zeal Intelligence service at … www.zealllc.com/subscribe.htm
Questions for Adam? I would be more than happy to address them through my private consulting business. Please visit www.zealllc.com/adam.htm for more information.
Thoughts, comments, or flames? Fire away at firstname.lastname@example.org. Due to my staggering and perpetually increasing e-mail load, I regret that I am not able to respond to comments personally. I will read all messages though and really appreciate your feedback!
Copyright 2000 - 2013 Zeal Research (www.ZealLLC.com)
-- Posted Friday, 6 September 2013 | Digg This Article | Source: GoldSeek.com


text:
A-B Coors Distributors Dig In in Wisconsin
Two Wisconsin A-B distributors who also sell legacy Coors brands are digging in their heels after MillerCoors has sought a declaratory judgment in state court to terminate them. MillerCoors says it doesn't have an agreement with the distributors and is "not obliged " to pay compensation for the brands. Larry's Distributing Co. of Sheboygan and Bill's Distributing of Menomonie, WI are digging in their heels, as they have been selling Coors since it entered the state in 1984, with Larry's taking Coors sales from zero to about 200k cases a year while Bill's sells about 360k cases of legacy Coors brands a year.
You are unauthorized to view this page.

domain: news


text:
LeShop, the online food platform of retailer Migros, made a record turnover in 2010 of SFr151.1 million ($161.3 million), up 15 per cent on 2009.This content was published on January 3, 2011 - 10:15
The company, which makes home deliveries, said a contributing factor to the increase was that customers were making more use of their mobile phones to place orders.
In a statement on Monday, LeShop said that one out of 20 orders was made with a mobile phone.
It added that about 50,000 households on average made an online order every month totalling SFr235, an increase in value of three per cent over 2009.
LeShop said it was now the world’s second largest online seller of food products, after Britain.
In a related development, the head of Migros, Herbert Bolliger, said that the group of cooperatives had increased turnover by one per cent in 2010. The previous year, Migros recorded sales of SFr24.95 billion. Detailed figures are to be published in March.
As far as turnover is concerned, Coop overtook Migros in 2010 with its acquisition of the Transgourmet concern.
This article was automatically imported from our old content management system. If you see any display errors, please let us know: firstname.lastname@example.org


text:
Kelly’s will compete with chains by offering long term customer relationships
DELMAR –Family owned and operated Kelly’s Pharmacy recently opened at 343 Delaware Avenue as Delmar’s first independent pharmacy since Four Corners Pharmacy closed in November 2020. Kelly’s advertises personalized customer pharmacy service and plans to beat the challenges independent pharmacies face.
“Not many of us are around anymore, but we are still fighting the good fight,” said Kelly’s Vice President and one of its six full time pharmacists, Quinn Kelly. “Some independent pharmacies have the customer service, but they don’t have the re-fill options and other amenities that a chain may have,” said Quinn. “Here, there is nothing a chain drug store has that we don’t have so here you get the best of both worlds.”
Those amenities include, a drive thru window, delivery, immunizations, a phone app for electronic communications, drug compounding for people and pets, and auto-refill. Quinn’s dad Marty, Kelly’s owner with his wife Diane, said Kelly’s offers more services than the chains serving Bethlehem. Unlike drug chains, Kelly’s offers medication synchronization, which organizes a customer’s regular medication prescriptions so all medications are filled at once, cutting down trips to the pharmacy. He said Kelly’s also offers blister packs for medications. “That’s particularly important for the elderly because it can be determined what doses were taken and which ones were missed.”
Marty touted Kelly’s commitment to competitive pricing. “Our every day prices on over the counter products are 20% less than retail chains like CVS or Walgreens,” he said. “A handful of things are even cheaper than Walmart,” he boasted. Quinn interjected, ”We are proud that there is even one item that is less expensive than Walmart.”
As for customer service, Quinn said, “We build service around our customers. Within the law, there is nothing we wouldn’t do to convenience a customer. We run our pharmacy the way pharmacies were run 30 years ago. We know you and you know us.”
“I can’t tell you how many things we have found out because a patient is comfortable with us and because we have built a relationship,” Quinn said.
Kelly’s, in business since 2011, is building on established customer relationships from its two other locations — Greenville and Coxsackie. When Four Corners pharmacy closed, about 30 customers transferred to Kelly’s, making the drive to Greenville. Now they are returning to Kelly’s Delmar location. “We have always wanted to be in Delmar because it is a larger market for us and small business friendly,” said Marty.
With CVS down the street, Marty said Delmar may not face a “pharmacy desert”, but there is a “choice desert” with only two pharmacies – CVS and Hannaford – operating. Quinn explained, “Communities with 1/5 the population of Delmar have more pharmacies.” Marty added, “We love to be next to a big chain because of the way they are run corporately. Here, you get a prescription in 5-10 minutes, quick delivery and we can counsel everyone.” “And we know our customers by name,” chimed in Rebecca Kelly, Director of Pharmacy Operations and another Kelly’s pharmacist.
As optimistic as the Kelly’s are, they recognize the hard economic realities facing them. “In the old days, a pharmacist would fill about 200 prescriptions/week. Those days are gone. Now, you have to fill as many as a chain store, like 1200-1500 week, just to break even at a single store,” Marty said. Factoring in labor, utilities, and overhead, it costs Kelly’s “$11.56 to fill a single prescription,” which he said beats the national $13 average.
But that cost is not always covered because of low reimbursements and fees charged by pharmacy benefits managers. Calling pharmacy benefits managers “the devil that wears a suit,” Marty said “we don’t make the same amount of money the chain operations make because we don’t have the pull with the pharmacy benefits managers.” Marty said Kelly’s is relying on the success of its other two stores, “while we mature this one, but it will be a loss for a few years.”
Despite those economic challenges, Marty said, “We love it. I’m 67 years old and I still love it because we make a difference.” Rebecca agreed, recalling the time a customer came in with tears in her eyes to tell Rebecca she had stopped smoking as a result of Kelly’s help. “She was so happy to tell us and we were a part of that. We walk away and we feel good about what we’ve done,” said Rebecca.
“We build a lifelong relationship with people, as a patient, as a customer, and as a friend.”
This story was featured on page 4 of the January 17th, 2024 print edition of the Spotlight.


text:
Final Audio ZE8000 MK2: New high-end earbuds launch with Bluetooth Multipoint and Qualcomm aptX Adaptive connectivity
Final Audio has announced a follow-up to the ZE8000 (curr. $236 on Amazon), a pair of earbuds that it announced in February. Unsurprisingly, the company has not delivered a completely new set of drivers in the intervening period. Instead, it claims that the ZE8000 MK2 are an 'evolution of '8K Sound''.
In real terms, this appears to mean that the ZE8000 MK2 peaks at 5 dB higher than its predecessor. However, Final Audio still does not state the maximum volume of the ZE8000 on its product page, somewhat limiting its claim with the ZE8000 MK2. Additionally, Final Audio states that it has improved sound quality through signal processing and design optimisations.
Specifically, the company alleges that the ZE8000 MK2 offers 32% better noise cancellation, which SoundGuys considered 'lacklustre' in its review of the ZE8000. Moreover, Final Audio has added Bluetooth Multipoint connectivity, although Qualcomm aptX Adaptive remains for 24-bit audio at 96 kHz compressed to 420 kbit/s. Battery life remains unchanged at five hours, with 1:30 hours needed for a full charge. Final Audio will start selling the ZE8000 MK2 soon for €329 in the Eurozone, $399.99 in the US and £289 in the UK.


text:
Samantha Bee will air a special holiday broadcast of her TBS satire show “Full Frontal,” another example of how late-night hosts are testing all kinds of extensions of their flagship broadcasts to win viewers who don’t necessarily watch their shows at the times they air each week.
“Christmas on I.C.E” will air Wednesday, December 19 at 10:30 p.m. eastern on TBS and will be commercial-free, the AT&T-owned network said Monday.
Bee will be joined at New York’s PlayStation Theater by special guest,s including skating superstar and Olympic medalist Adam Rippon. Bee will tap Opening Ceremony to create a capsule collection of merchandise for viewers at home. “I still love Christmas and hope that my ice dancing brings the much-needed joy that this world needs—it’ll make this sprained ankle totally worth it,” joked Bee in a prepared statement.
A portion of proceeds from both the special and merchandise sales will benefit KIND’s Family Separation Response Team.
The special is the latest effort by Bee and her production team to generate attention for her weekly TBS series by devising non-traditional “extras” around the show. Bee’s team recently launched a trivia-game app designed to spur people to vote in the 2018 election. Much of the activity around the game took place separately from the content presented in linear “Full Frontal” broadcasts.


text:
Domino’s Pizza has integrated Nuance’s Nina Mobile voice recognition technology into its iOS and Android apps, enabling US customers to place orders by simply speaking into their mobile phone. “There will be a day when typing on keyboards or with thumbs on mobile devices will come to a close,” says president and CEO Patrick Doyle.
- BBVA bank staff to test face recognition for self-serve restaurant orders and payments
- Carriers in Singapore, India, Thailand and the Philippines to link their mobile wallet services
- Huawei to launch mobile payments in 100 countries this year
- Church of England rolls out contactless donations to 16,000 churches, cathedrals and religious sites
- Auchan lets Italian supermarket shoppers scan and pay on their mobile phone


text:
By Marisa Martin • Design World Intern || Those who travel a lot want hotels that are comfortable and efficient. Soon, travelers could get just that thanks to robots. At the Aloft Hotel in Cupertino, California, guests can interact with a service robot called A.L.O. the Botlr. Unveiled in 2014, A.L.O. can complete most bellhop tasks — such as delivering bags, food or convenience items to guest or conference rooms — letting front-desk employees focus on welcoming visitors.
This year, more hotels are following suit with service robots of their own. In fact, one hotel in Japan is taking the robotic hotel-service idea a step further. The Henn-na Hotel — which translates to English as the Weird Hotel — is a hotel in Nagasaki, a city known for its embrace of technology and robots. Opened July 2016, the hotel runs 12 rooms in each wing off of solar power. Plus the whole service staff is automaton.
The world’s first hotel staffed by robots opens this month. The machines can check in visitors, carry luggage, or offer travel suggestions. CBS This Morning’s Seth Doane reports from Tokyo.
Guests entering the lobby are greeted by three robots stationed behind the front desk. One is a life-like Asian woman who speaks Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Another is a Velociraptor that speaks English. The third, Nao, runs a concierge desk. Nao is a small robot that speaks all languages. Each of the robots have computers in front of them for guests to swipe credit cards.
Porter robots then carry bags to rooms; a separate team of locker-room robots assist guests hitting the gym. At each room’s bedside, a pink-and-green Hello-Kitty-like creature named Churi-chan helps guests adjust lighting, room temperature, and alarm settings. It also gives the weather. The Henn-na Hotel is also exploring the idea of incorporating a drone to deliver food from nearby restaurants.
The smart hotel uses other technology to eliminate common hotel hassles. For example, property-wide facial recognition panels allow keyless room entry. The system grants general hotel and room access to guests after verification from a quick glance.
Humans at the Henn-na Hotel work like Broadway stagehands. 10 or more dressed all in black (to keep a low profile) watch security cameras and fixing the robots having technical difficulties. But the hotel staff is only 10% human; 90% are robots.
The Henn-na Hotel aims to be a low-cost hotel alternative. Many believe this idea will take flight, just as low-cost airlines have. Rooms begin at 7,000 yen ($68) but plans are to auction rooms to high bidders during peak seasons.
The robot-staffed Henn-na Hotel stands in stark to the nearby Netherlands-inspired Huis Ten Bosch theme park of Dutch-style buildings, shops, canals, and amusement rides. It could mark a coming wave of automated lodging options.
The Henn-na Hotel


text:
When Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked for his take on Microsoft's just released Surface tablet, he called in a compromised and confusing product. Mr. Cook made the comments during the company's fourth fiscal quarter earnings report on Thursday afternoon.
"I haven't personally played with a Surface yet, but what we're reading about it is that it's a fairly compromised, confusing product," he said.
Cook: Surface tablet is compromised and confusing
Microsoft's Surface tablet runs Windows 8 or Windows RT and seems to be positioned as both a laptop and tablet computer. The iPad, in contrast, is clearly positioned in the tablet space.
Mr. Cook added that deciding what to include in new products is a series of tradeoffs, and that Apple has done a much better job than Microsoft at finding the right feature balance.
"I suppose you could design a car that flies and floats but I don't think it would do all of those things very well," Mr. Cook said. "I think when people look at the iPad versus competitive offerings, they're going to conclude that they really want an iPad."
With the just announced iPad mini in the mix, Mr. Cook expects Apple will grab even more of the tablet market and he doesn't see cannibalization of the 9.7-inch iPad as an issue.
"We've learned over the years not to worry about cannibalization of our products. The far bigger opportunity is the 80 to 90 million PCs shipped each quarter," he said.


text:
This article is more than 1 year old
Not so nice, we investigated them twice: EU opens double whammy of inquiries into Apple's biz practices
App Store cut and Cupertino's NFC platform in competition crosshairs
Updated In the words of Brenda from Bristol: Another one? Yes, afraid so. The European Commission has opened up a fresh investigation into Apple's business practices, this time focusing on the App Store and Apple Pay.
The first investigation, prompted by complaints from Spotify and Rakuten (which is described solely as "an e-book and audiobook distributor" in the EC release), will determine whether Apple has used its digital marketplaces to stifle competition from rivals in the digital services space.
As with sales of apps, Apple takes a 30 per cent cut of all in-app purchases – say, for example, some coins in a mobile game, or a month's subscription to Spotify. And while it's possible for developers to circumvent this (Spotify, for example, lets you pay via their website or with gift cards), developers aren't allowed to inform users about payment alternatives within the app.
These, the commission notes, are often cheaper. For example, a month's subscription to YouTube Premium paid via the App Store costs £15.99. Go direct to YouTube, and the price drops to £11.99. That's a saving of £48 annually.
Not only is this financially lucrative for Apple, but it also gives it control over the commercial relationship between the third-party app and the customer. Apple has access to potentially commercially significant customer data that the third-party provider simply doesn't.
The commission is worried this could distort the market, giving Apple's own products (like Apple Music) an unfair advantage over the competition. After all, Cupertino's homegrown efforts aren't subject to the same cut as their third-party rivals.
In a statement, Margrethe Vestager, who heads up competition policy at the European Commission, said: "It appears that Apple obtained a 'gatekeeper' role when it comes to the distribution of apps and content to users of Apple's popular devices.
"We need to ensure that Apple's rules do not distort competition in markets where Apple is competing with other app developers, for example with its music streaming service Apple Music or with Apple Books. I have therefore decided to take a close look at Apple's App Store rules and their compliance with EU competition rules."
The European Economic Area is a key market for Apple. More to the point, services are now a huge part of the company's revenue stream, with Cupertino yesterday announcing that the App Store ecosystem had facilitated $519bn in e-commerce activity during 2019. That's $1.5bn more than the estimated GDP of Belgium last year.
If Apple is forced to allow third-party developers to take direct payments for in-app purchases, it could see that number (and its share of the revenue) plunge.
Separately, the commission is waving a beady eye over Apple Pay to see it's not falling foul of any competition rules.
Apple Pay is the sole NFC mobile payments tool available to iPhone users, allowing individuals to make in-store purchases by tapping their phone against a contactless reader. For this, Apple takes a 0.15 per cent cut of each transaction.
In contrast, Android is a broader ecosystem, with Google Pay competing directly with equivalents from Samsung and Huawei.
The commission is concerned that Apple is unlawfully stifling competition and innovation by using its "walled garden" status to prevent rivals from building iOS NFC payment apps.
"It is important that Apple's measures do not deny consumers the benefits of new payment technologies, including better choice, quality, innovation and competitive prices," said Vestager. "I have therefore decided to take a close look at Apple's practices regarding Apple Pay and their impact on competition."
This investigation comes as scrutiny is increasingly applied to Apple Pay, with German lawmakers voting in favour of a measure that would compel Cupertino to allow third-party access to the NFC chip found within the iPhone.
Apple is predictably nonplussed, warning via Reuters that the bill, which has yet to be ratified by Germany's Bundesrat, would harm "user friendliness, data protection and the security of financial information."
This isn't the first time Apple has found itself in the European Commission's crosshairs. In 2016, after an arduous two-year investigation, the commission found that Apple was the recipient of illegal state aid from Ireland, and forced it to repay €13bn in back taxes. Apple has appealed against the ruling.
The Register has asked Apple, Spotify, and Rakuten for comment.
Updated on 16 June 17.44 BST to add:
Apple sent us a statement following publication of the article. “We follow the law in everything we do and we embrace competition at every stage because we believe it pushes us to deliver even better results.
"It's disappointing the European Commission is advancing baseless complaints from a handful of companies who simply want a free ride, and don't want to play by the same rules as everyone else. We don’t think that’s right — we want to maintain a level playing field where anyone with determination and a great idea can succeed.
"At the end of the day, our goal is simple: for our customers to have access to the best app or service of their choice, in a safe and secure environment. We welcome the opportunity to show the European Commission all we’ve done to make that goal a reality.” ®


text:
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) April 1, 2010
ad:tech San Francisco has enlisted some heavy hitters for its conference in April. Newly announced keynote speakers include Chris Anderson, best-selling author and editor-in-chief of WIRED magazine, and Loïc Le Meur, founder and chief executive officer of Seesmic.
In his keynote, Anderson will discuss how WIRED is using the new Apple iPad as a venue to launch itself into the next era of digital media consumption. Anderson is the author of The New York Times best-seller “The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More,” and “Free: The Future of a Radical Price.” His original thinking as editor-in-chief of WIRED significantly broadened the magazine’s audience in the business world and won the publication a National Magazine Award.
Le Meur’s entrepreneurship and innovative thinking recently earned him recognition as one of “The 25 Most Influential People on the Web” by BusinessWeek magazine, and he was also named “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum. Seesmic’s flagship social software application has become one of the most successful in the industry under Le Meur’s leadership.
Conference attendees will also learn from and interact with some of the brightest in the industry, including:
- Jaime Cohen Szulc, chief marketing officer, Levi Strauss & Co.
- Kristi VandenBosch, chief executive officer, Publicis & Hal Riney
- Geoff Ramsey, chief executive officer and co-founder, eMarketer
- Lori Schwartz, executive director, IPG Media Lab
Having the opportunity to interact with these leaders is an important aspect of the conference. ad:tech organizers have gone to extensive lengths to create a marketplace for business interactions that encourages easy and effective networking. Sessions with these experts will have a whole new feel this year. Attendees will get hands-on participation and will take away practical solutions to improve marketing immediately, in addition to suggestions and tools for future growth and improvement.
The focus of the conference is on the application of practical information and case studies. There will be eight Marketing Masters Series led by industry experts on topics including social media, mobile marketing, e-mail, Web analytics, branded publications, ad networks, affiliates and search. The Digital Demographics Series will introduce and analyze tips and tricks to successfully reach five of the most popular demographics on the Web.
Meanwhile, the exhibit show floor, where exhibitors include Google, Facebook, Verizon, AOL, ValueClick Media, Advertising.com and Casale Media, has been redesigned and will introduce new attractions such as Innovation Alley, Miracle Mile and Mobile App Exchange, where CEOs, CMOs, brand managers, strategists, media buyers and other attendees can easily engage with potential suppliers and business partners. Expo floor events have been designed to encourage networking and meaningful business interactions.
ad:tech San Francisco will take place April 19-21, 2010 at Moscone Center North. For more information or to register, please visit: http://www.ad-tech.com.
ad:tech expositions, LLC is the leading organizer of conferences and exhibitions for the interactive marketing community worldwide. ad:tech produces the world's largest interactive marketing events held in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, London, Paris, Shanghai, Singapore, Beijing, Sydney and Tokyo. ad:tech is produced by dmg world media; based out of the company's headquarters in Larkspur, California. For listings of exhibitors, speakers, events and upcoming conference offerings, visit:
About dmg world media
An international exhibition and publishing company, dmg world media produces over 300 market-leading trade exhibitions, consumer shows and fairs each year and publishes 45 related magazines, newspapers, directories and market reports. dmg world media employs 700 people and maintains a worldwide presence through more than 30 offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, the United Arab Emirates, China, India, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. dmg world media is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT), one of the largest and most successful media companies in the United Kingdom. Additional information on dmg world media can be found at http://www.dmgworldmedia.com.
amber.harrison (at) ar-edelman (dot) com


text:
To remain in business for more than 25 years making components for industries such as aerospace and food production, quality has to be a top priority.
Companies choose Littlestar Plastics for many reasons. Some choose Littlestar because we can produce functional prototypes used to develop revolutionary new aircraft components. Others choose Littlestar because we can machine components out of high performance polymers like Torlon and Glass Filled Peek (GF PEEK) that were only previously possible with heavier and more costly metals. But, companies return to Littlestar because of our relentless focus on helping them exceed their goals.
The management team of Littlestar Plastics joined several other groups Friday, Sept. 8, to build two playgrounds for the Northeast Family YMCA campus.
Littlestar Plastics has long been one of the world’s top companies when it comes to turning polymers into parts other companies won’t even attempt. Three new molding presses now make it one of the very companies in the world that can injection mold parts up to two pounds.
Littlestar Plastics has spent 25 years cementing its reputation as one of the most innovative plastics companies in the world. But the company has largely flown under the radar in its own community. The Rockford (Illinois) Register Star finally takes a look at Littlestar’s growth potential.
We invented the IndiCert to act as a protective cover against contamination and quickly verify properly installed Heli-Coil® inserts. A simple, inexpensive, and innovative fix to save companies from committing costly mistakes.
Thinker Ventures works with companies in all industries and it’s found that the ones that continue to grow are the ones that innovate on a daily basis. Thinker used Littlestar Plastics as the classic example of a company that quietly constantly makes process improvements.
Bill Bregar of Plastics News took a look at Littlestar’s Indicert, a simple but important way to easily verify if all threaded fasteners are installed and installed correctly.


text:
The trailer, which you can see below, brings to an end years of speculation and rumours about the highly-anticipated title and gives glimpses at the expansive world we'll be traversing. It also includes the infamous tagline "War. War never changes" said by Ron Perlman.The trailer confirms reports the next entry in the franchise will take place in The Commonwealth - the fictional universe's version of Massachusetts that’s been referenced in prior games. In Fallout 3 side quest The Replicated Man, players encounter a scientist named Dr. Zimmer who comes from The Commonwealth, a “war-ravaged quagmire of violence and despair” where he notes he and his colleagues created androids that have escaped and are running wild. Zimmer also references The Institute, which it seems is a future version of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).The Commonwealth also contains the Railroad, which runs in direct opposition to the Institute and aims to rescue the androids that have been created. A branch of the Commonwealth Police known as the Synth Retention Bureau is in charge of capturing androids that have escaped from the Institute.
Bethesda’s Fallout 3 was released in 2008 and took place in a war-ravaged version of Washington DC, with expansions adding Pittsburgh and Maryland. Follow-up Fallout: New Vegas was developed by Obsidian in 2010 and was set in a future version of Nevada.Bethesda has confirmed we'll be seeing gameplay at its E3 press conference on June 14, and Todd Howard has once again returned to direct.
Original story follows.
Original story: Fallout 4 has been officially confirmed for PS4, Xbox One and PC thanks to a teaser site going live early.
Little can be found on the site, except for the below image of a workshop incorporating some of the key Fallout staples including a Nuka Cola vending machine, a set of Power Armour a Bobblehead and a delightful canine companion. It also reveals more will be revealed on June 14 at Bethesda's E3 press conference, suggesting rumours of a demo lasting between 20 and 30 minutes may be correct.
A full trailer and more information is expected in just over an hour. We'll update you as we know more.
Luke Karmali is IGN UK News Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on Twitter.


text:
Online paywalls have largely been the saviour of quality journalism in the digital age, yet century-old news weekly Time is making its online content free from Thursday 1 June.
The move comes just over a year after business news site Quartz dropped its own paywall and six months after Insider revealed plans to make more of its content available for free, although that proposal stalled because of union opposition. Gannett-owned USA Today is reportedly placing around one-third fewer articles behind its paywall to boost ad revenue.
However this sort of decision-making, experts have told Press Gazette, does not represent a ceiling in the market for paywalled news.
With the likes of The New York Times, Washington Post, Times, Telegraph, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Economist, Atlantic and more all making a success of paid-for online news and current affairs, there is still believed to be an opportunity for new paywalls to be launched in certain categories.
Why is Time ending its paywall?
Time first launched a hard digital paywall on its magazine content, keeping other website content free, in 2011 and soon put archive content behind the wall too. In the years since, it has experimented with various hard paywall and metered options across the site, eventually ending up in 2021 with a metered paywall across everything allowing visitors to read four articles before hitting the wall. By this year Time had reached around 250,000 digital subscribers alongside 1.3 million print subscribers.
The removal of the Time paywall is one of the first major acts of new chief executive Jessica Sibley, who joined from Forbes where she was chief operating officer in November, alongside her newly-hired editor Sam Jacobs.
Sibley has largely presented Time’s decision as a philosophical one to make its journalism – and archives – accessible to all. She said in a statement: “We fundamentally believe that access to trusted information is a global imperative and should be available to all of humanity.”
Speaking to The Rebooting Show podcast, Sibley also said: “This was not a hard decision for Time. For our brand, for our mission, we fundamentally believe that our content should be available to everyone, everywhere, for all time, for free.
“We want it to be accessible. We believe that there’s been a challenge with digital inclusivity. There’s a digital divide which became exacerbated through Covid… we feel that not only should our journalism and our content be accessible and available, we also feel the same way about our 100 years of archives.”
Quartz made a similar statement last year: “The shift is part of Quartz’s mission to make business better. We exist to help business leaders and their companies use power wisely, act with compassion, create products that truly matter, and do what they can to fix a broken planet and economic order. Those goals are clearly better-fulfilled by making Quartz’s journalism as accessible as possible.” (Quartz has reportedly ended up seeing a traffic dip in the past year, however.)
Time also has several business reasons for the move. Sibley discussed the frustrating experience for consumers of having to share their data and remember their sign-in details on different devices, as well as the difficulty in marketing Time’s content more widely to new audiences, a subscriptions decline post-Covid, and the fact journalists want their work to be read by as many people as possible.
Sibley also suggested in an interview with Axios that she believes other publishers could follow suit: “I don’t think that we’re going to be alone or not followed by others that are going to look at new business models that are right for their businesses, for their audiences and how potential consumers new and existing and everything in between are able to access that content.”
This would mark a major shift considering news leaders told the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the start of the year that subscriptions would be the most important digital revenue stream for them in 2023, with 80% saying subscriptions would be important – up from 74% in 2020. Some 68% thought their subscription revenue would increase in the year.
Michael Brunt, a former general manager of The Times and publisher of The Economist, told Press Gazette Time's decision "does somewhat fly in the face of the general trend towards monetising content through reader revenues".
Brunt is now a co-founder of HBM Advisory alongside former Times head of digital Alan Hunter, and their work includes advising businesses such as Future, Monocle and The Scotsman on their digital transformations and strategies, including monetisation.
Brunt said sites with paywalls need to carry out a "balancing act", explaining: "Big sites want to balance multiple revenue streams and the art is optimising it precisely, working out precisely what the paywall strategy needs to be so that the regular visitors being disrupted by the paywall are monetised in a way that is more than the money you would get from advertising or affiliate revenues from those repeat visits."
He said he would only take a paywall away from a website if it had "a major challenge with repeat visits".
"I would advise clients to think about how to boost repeat visits and really drive multiple article reading per visit for each target audience rather than necessarily dropping a paywall," Brunt said, "but all I can suggest is that they've [Time] done the maths, and the money that they're getting from the paywall is less than they would have got if they were monetising it through other streams."
Brunt also emphasised that adding a paywall to a website "is the beginning of the journey, not the final decision... it very quickly moves from a paywall strategy to an engagement strategy almost straight away."
He explained: "Once you've put a paywall in, you've got to continually think about how to optimise it. So it's about how do you drive people back to the site regularly so that they'll hit the paywall, but also so that they will feel they're consuming sufficient amount of content from that site and justify paying, say, for a subscription.
"So you have to think really hard about how hard the site or your app is working to bring people back again and again and once you've got them on the site, on the app, how is it working to keep them there to read another article and another article and another article. And that means sometimes very much looking at the structure of the site and reprioritising some of the components of the site to really push engagement.
"So you can do the maths and you can deploy the technology but unfortunately that's the beginning of the journey - you've got to really think about how you optimise the experience so that people feel their subscription has been worthwhile."
'Still a lot of opportunity' in the news market for paywalls
According to Brunt, the types of content people are generally willing to pay for are: where it feeds their passion, covering anything from hobbies to political interests, as well as "expertise that you would be willing to pay for, or analysis and opinion you can't get anywhere else".
This means, he said, there are "lots and lots of sites where they're currently only monetising through advertising revenues that do offer one or more of those three reasons to pay.
"So I think there's a still a lot of opportunity and I think people underestimate the value of their content sometimes and that it absolutely is monetisable and there will be an audience across the world somewhere that aggregates sufficiently to make a paywall worthwhile."
Notably Time is considering expanding its subscriptions strategy in one particular area: CO2, its separate platform launched last year dedicated to helping businesses take climate action.
Sibley told The Rebooting Show: "We think that there’s a great business for us in subscription in that platform. We have a newsletter that we’ve launched recently and we’re looking at the success of Politico as one example where they were able to reach the most important influential people in Washington with a product that they were willing to pay for.
"We feel the same with what’s happening with climate, we feel the same in terms of reaching chief sustainability officers and how this is going to be woven into the fabric of everything that we do personally and professionally and business-wise."
'Harder to break' ceiling in advertising market
Enders Analysis chief executive Douglas McCabe similarly told Press Gazette he was "absolutely convinced we're not at the ceiling" of the subscriptions market for news publishers.
"I also think publishers underrate the degree to which they control the ceiling," he continued, explaining that the question of whether the market is maxed out "makes an assumption that the market has a natural shape to it that cannot be influenced by the quality of supply. I think that's completely just not true."
For example, he said, The Guardian has never put up a hard paywall but changed its messaging asking people to pay and "gone from a market of nobody buying anything to a market of more than a million people contributing every month".
As a result, he added, The Guardian "moved the ceiling several inches higher" and redefined the market not as a premium subscription industry but one that values journalism more generally.
"If you reframe things in people's minds, the public's mind, maybe actually they think of the very concept of journalism differently and they think of the very concept of paying for a specific service or indeed a range of services in a very different way," he continued. "And so I think we've barely touched the surface, actually. I think we've got a long way to go."
"They're at the start of a learning process and they don't know if their market could be globally a five million paying audience, a two million paying audience or - who knows? - a ten million paying audience."
McCabe also pointed out that the rise of generative AI may provide an opportunity for publishers to differentiate themselves in an internet overwhelmed by "misinformation and nonsense" and therefore improve the case for charging for their content.
In general, ditching a subscription strategy means becoming more reliant on digital advertising. However McCabe warned: "I think that's a market where I can start to see the ceiling. We're not necessarily at the ceiling, but I think it is easier to see that feeling and it's much harder to break that ceiling."
This is demonstrated, he said, by the fact publishers have generally grown their online traffic and advertising revenue over the past ten to 20 years but have "steadily but relentlessly" lost their market share of the total.
Overall, he said, the market “generally talks a bit obsessively about the concept of premium subscriptions as if they are the only option”, pointing out that there are options between a free website and a hard paywall.
He said publishers need to get away from this “overly simplistic” thinking because “there are lots of options and opportunities in between”.
Email firstname.lastname@example.org to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog


text:
Kadokawa Games have released the debut trailer for their upcoming Root Letter game Root Letter: Last Answer.
Root Letter: Last Answer releases in Japan on December 20 for PS Vita, Playstation 4, and Nintendo Switch. You can view the debut...
Bandai Namco have released the debut trailer for their upcoming game in the Kamen Rider...
The folks over at The Famicast have uploaded 5 minutes of off-screen gameplay footage...
Square Enix have released a new trailer for their upcoming game World of Final Fantasy...
D3 Publisher have released a teaser trailer for their upcoming Switch game in the Omega...
Nintendo have announced they will be releasing a special Switch bundle containing Fortnite...
Ubisoft have announced that the Switch port of South Park: The Stick of Truth has received...
WeirdBeard have announced that the Switch port of their popular tower building game...
Compile Heart has revealed that Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force will be coming to...
Luigi fans are rejoicing around the world as during Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced...
Sony Interactive Entertainment


text:
Our Swords Store Turns One
Happy Birthday Swords!
How the year has flown by! One year ago this week, on a fine sunny afternoon we opened our first ever retail outlet in the Swords Pavilions. This was a significant step for us, as we added another dimension into our already busy and expanding business.
At Chill Insurance we're committed to growing our retail channel network in 2012, with the proposed roll out of additional stores nationwide, making it easier for our customers to get an insurance quote. The Swords Pavilions was a pioneering store chosen due to its high footfall and being a significant shopping destination.
Commenting on the success of the retail division of Chill Insurance, Fergal Lynch, Retail Marketing Manager said:
By opening the first retail store in The Swords Pavilions allowed customers to access Chill Insurance in a retail environment. Being open 6 days a week allows customers to call in and see us at a time that suits them, along with our online and call centre facilities makes getting an insurance quote easier than ever. We are very proud to be celebrating our 1st birthday in Swords, and that we can continue to service our customers with great deals on their insurance. By bringing our service to busy shopping centres, we are creating local jobs and supporting local people as we increase our market share and deliver money saving value to our customers.
Our retail stores are open 6 days a week and are also located at Blanchardstown Shopping Centre and The Square Tallaght. Keep an eye out for more Chill stores opening up in a shopping centre near you!


text:
Heimstone celebrates its 10 year anniversary with an exclusive capsule collection that will be available in our store and our online store on november 15th.
The capsule is composed of 2 silouhettes inspired from sports and pyjamas, a new handbag and a new pair of boots that comes in a light gold color, that will be perfect for Christmas and new year's eve.
For this occasion, Heimstone also launches a collaboration with the amazing handmade plates in Paris from Three Seven with an exclusive design.
Last but not least, you will also discover Heimstone new visual identity with the new logo, the new color identity and the new packaging!
We hope that you will enjoy celebrating our 10 year anniversary with us.
Let’s meet on november 15th!


text:
Starbucks has decided there are still some open corner locations left in America, and plenty more abroad, according to the Associated Press…
Worldwide, the company says it will have more than 20,000 cafes by 2014, up from its current count of about 18,000. Much of that growth will come from China, which the company says will surpass Canada as its second-biggest market.
Although Starbucks has been intensifying its growth overseas and building its packaged-goods business back at home, the majority of its revenue still comes from its more than 11,100 cafes in the United States.
The company plans to open 1,500 locations in just the U.S. over the next five years. At least it won’t be as expensive as in China.
Disclosure: The information you read here is always objective. However, we sometimes receive compensation when you click links within our stories.


text:
According to the EA press site Dead Space 2 is delayed till February 4th. No announcement from Electronic Arts yet.
Update: The screenshots is taking from the DUTCH Electronic Arts press site. They have send an email out stating the delay. No response from them yet.
Ship date hasn't changed: Jan 25 in NA, and Jan 28 in the EU.


text:
UK goes back into strict lockdown as COVID-19 variant spreads
This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit this page.
The United Kingdom is going back under a draconian lockdown as a new variant of the COVID-19 virus is spreading quickly around the country, and the world.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the announcement in an evening address to the nation Monday Jan 4. The U.K. has seen more than 50,000 cases of COVID-19 every day for the past five days, and scientists believe a new strain of the novel coronavirus is to blame. It is said to spread 70% more easily than previous variants of COVID-19. The announcement covers primarily England, but other regions in the U.K. are also going into lockdown.
For more TPG news delivered each morning to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.
In a statement, the government said, “Further steps must now be taken to arrest this rise and to protect the National Health Service and save lives.”
The sweeping restrictions are a return to the extraordinary lockdown the country went through in March of last year. It is the third lockdown for the country since then.
Related: New U.K. travel bans
The new rules go into effect in the early hours of Jan. 6. They will include a stay-at-home order by law. Leaving home is allowed only for those performing essential tasks, like buying groceries and receiving medical care. Fines will be imposed on those caught violating the rules.
Additionally, people can only meet with one person outside their home on any single day. Leaving home for exercise is allowed, but should only be done once per day. The government asks that citizens stay local, and overnight stays away from home are not allowed. All pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes are closed except for takeout. Alcohol is not allowed for takeout. Non-essential retail is to shut down.
Schools and colleges will close as of Jan. 5 until at least Feb “half-term.” Church services and “communal worship” are allowed.
International travel is banned unless it’s for “essential work purposes.” Many countries had already banned travel from the U.K. as the new variant spread.
The new lockdown was announced just as the U.K. gave emergency approval to a new vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. The new vaccine was approved along with the Pfizer vaccine, but is easier to store and distribute.
Related: Canada keeping its border closed
The lockdown announcement comes just a day after Scotland announced it was going into lockdown until at least the end of January.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland said she is requiring that people stay home and work from home wherever possible. Outdoor gatherings are limited to one person from another household only. Churches and other places of worship are closed. Group exercise classes are banned. Schools will largely be remote.
Sturgeon said she was “more concerned about the situation we face now than I have been at any time since March last year.”
Northern Ireland has been under a six-week lockdown since Dec. 26. It has similar rules in effect.
Meantime, Europe is also dealing with surges in cases. The German newspaper Bild is reporting the government has agreed to extend a lockdown there until the end of January. Gibraltar, off Spain, went into a 14-day lockdown over the weekend. Greece has extended its own strict lockdown. France may be considering another lockdown as well.
Featured image of Tower Bridge by fazon1/Getty Images.
Welcome to The Points Guy!
Earn 90,000 bonus miles and 10,000 Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new card in the first three months of card membership. Offer ends 11/10/2021.
With Status Boost™, earn 10,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) after you spend $25,000 in purchases on your Card in a calendar year, up to two times per year getting you closer to Medallion Status. Earn 3X Miles on Delta purchases and purchases made directly with hotels, 2X Miles at restaurants and at U.S. supermarkets and earn 1X Mile on all other eligible purchases. Terms Apply.
- Limited Time Offer: Earn 90,000 Bonus Miles and 10,000 Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) after you spend $3,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months. Offer expires 11/10/2021.
- Earn up to 20,000 Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) with Status Boost® per year. After you spend $25,000 in purchases on your Card in a calendar year, you can earn 10,000 MQMs two times per year, getting you closer to Medallion® Status. MQMs are used to determine Medallion® Status and are different than miles you earn toward flights.
- Earn 3X Miles on Delta purchases and purchases made directly with hotels.
- Earn 2X Miles at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery and at U.S. supermarkets.
- Earn 1X Miles on all other eligible purchases.
- Receive a Domestic Main Cabin round-trip companion certificate each year upon renewal of your Card. *Payment of the government imposed taxes and fees of no more than $75 for roundtrip domestic flights (for itineraries with up to four flight segments) is required. Baggage charges and other restrictions apply. See terms and conditions for details.
- Enjoy your first checked bag free on Delta flights.
- Fee Credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✓®.
- Enjoy an exclusive rate of $39 per person per visit to enter the Delta Sky Club® for you and up to two guests when traveling on a Delta flight.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees.
- $250 Annual Fee.
- Terms Apply.
- See Rates & Fees


text:
Italy - Factors to watch on April 29
The following factors could affect Italian markets on Tuesday.
Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy. New items are marked with (*).
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi denied on Monday that he was anti-German, after he caused outrage at the weekend by suggesting Germany did not acknowledge the existence of Nazi concentration camps.
Italy's Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan meets Bank of England Governor Mark Carney in London.
ISTAT, February retail sales data (0800 GMT); April business confidence (0900 GMT). Continuación...


text:
SAP and PlaNet Finance invest in Ghana smartphone programme to increase supply chain transparency
Smartphone in hand, Mariama Mahami, age 70, stands next to a warehouse in the remote West Mamprusi District of Northern Ghana. She is poised to show a group of reporters how a mobile application will...
New report recommends that outright ban on SUV advertising could help accelerate shift towards cleaner forms of transport
Company backed by European engineering giants exits stealth mode with plan to deliver French gigafactories
Response to consultation confirms tax breaks designed to drive energy-saving investments will continue, as government flags plans for longer-term reforms to popular scheme will be revealed 'shortly'
Chemicals Industries Association warns that a data-sharing deal is necessary to prevent chemicals companies shouldering heavy costs to duplicate their data from the EU's chemicals database to the UK Reach system


text:
Orkney’s three gin producers have had a very successful summer, claiming a number of awards and medals at events across the UK.
Both Sea Glass Gin and Into the Wild Vodka claimed awards this summer The Deerness Distillery opened its purpose-built premises in May and launched its first spirits soon after. It has just claimed ‘Global Luxury Spirit Masters’ silver medals for its Sea Glass Gin and Into the Wild Vodka. The awards only take super-premium spirits into consideration and are judged via blind tasting by a panel of leading spirits specialists.
Stuart Brown from the Deerness Distillery said: ‘We’re delighted with the silver medals which have come following a lot of hard work from the team. It helps firmly stamp Orkney’s reputation as a leading spirits-producing island.’
It has been a successful summer for the Orkney Gin Company Meanwhile the Burray based Orkney Gin Company is marking its own successes with the construction of its own new base. It too has had a number of successes this year, including gold and silver medals for its Mikkelmas and Johnsman gins at the 2017 Spirits Business Gin Masters.
Johnsmas also claimed its category title in the 2017 World Gin Awards in April. The Orkney Gin Company also introduced its new gin – Rhubarb Old Tom – this year.
In Kirkwall, the Orkney Distilling team have been busy building their new distillery and visitor centre in the centre of the town this year, with plans in place to have its new home ready next year. It also found time to launch a new product, Arkh-Angell Gin, alongside its signature Kirkjuvagr Gin.
The business also recently claimed a bronze medal in the Best Distilled Gin category at the Scottish Gin Awards.
It has been an incredibly successful few months for our local gin producers, and it appears they’re all continuing to go from strength to strength. We can’t wait to see what they achieve next!


text:
(Adds details from conference call, analyst and CFO's comment; updates shares)
By Nivedita Balu
Oct 4 (Reuters) - Constellation Brands Inc raised its full-year profit forecast and reported better-than-expected quarterly sales and profit on Thursday, as it benefited from strong demand for Corona beers during the summer, sending its shares up as much as 7 percent.
The company launched the first major addition to the Corona franchise in nearly three decades earlier this year, the low-carb, low-calorie Corona Premier, aimed at seducing millennial consumers as it battles competition from craft beers.
Corona Premier and Corona Familiar, a product launched for Hispanic markets, have both continued to exceed expectations, Constellation said.
These additions, and its slightly more expensive brand Modelo, drove beer sales up about 11 percent to $1.53 billion in the second quarter.
"The new innovation is clearly working well... they are consolidating quite a lot of share in the beer category," Cowen analyst Vivien Azer said.
Its wine and spirits business, which sells Nobilo and Meiomi wines, also reported 9.3 percent sales growth as it is shipped more cases during the second quarter in preparation for the key holiday season and its expectations that transportation would get more competitive during the third quarter.
Chief Financial Officer David Klein said he expects most of the shipment timing benefit experienced during the second quarter in the wine and spirits business to reverse in the third quarter, forecasting net sales and operating income in the unit to be down low single digits.
For the year ending February 2019, the Victor, New York-based company now expects to post an adjusted profit of between $9.60 and $9.75 per share, compared to its earlier forecast of $9.40 to $9.70 per share.
Constellation has also been in the spotlight as one of the first beverage makers to tap into Canada's lucrative marijuana market, investing an additional $4 billion in cannabis producer Canopy Growth in August.
Other companies, including rival Molson Coors Brewing , have been looking at ways to introduce cannabis-related products in Canada, with an eye to the possibilities if and when a wave of legalization reaches more U.S. states.
Constellation said the investment in Canopy, which is expected to close at the end of October, would reduce profit for fiscal 2019 by $0.25 to $0.30 per share. It did not disclose further details on expenses related to the deal.
Net income attributable to the company more than doubled to $1.15 billion, or $5.87 per share, in the three months ended Aug. 31, benefiting from unrealized gains of $692 million for the increase in fair value of its current investments in Canopy Growth.
Excluding items, Constellation earned $2.87 per share, topping analysts' estimate of $2.59 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Net sales rose 10.1 percent to $2.30 billion, also above the estimate of $2.25 billion.
Constellation's shares were up about 5 percent at $220.62 in afternoon trade. (Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Shailesh Kuber)


text:
Yes, the Nokia 3310 is finally here. The device has been launched at the 2017 Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, probably one of the things the world was really looking forward to.
The iconic, indestructible phone has been redesigned 17 years after it first launched in the year 2000. It was launched along other new generation of Nokia Smartphones, the new Nokia 6, the Nokia 5 and Nokia 3. Both of these devices, Nokia says sets a new standard in design, quality, and user experience. Then we have the iconic Nokia 3310, reborn with a modern twist on design.
The handset is noticeably slimmer than the original Nokia 3310, which sold around 126 million units before it was discontinued in 2005. It’s also almost half the weight the original 3310. Remember the original was 133g, the new one is weighs just 79g.
The phone has been developed by HMD, which acquired a ten-year license to use Nokia’s brand name in May 2016. The company continues to sell a broad range of simple phones in developing markets, but the Nokia 3310 will be sold worldwide as a “digital detox” phone.
Available in gloss red and yellow and matte blue and grey, the Nokia 3310 has a 2.4-inch colour screen, features Bluetooth 3.0, an FM radio, LED torch, microSD card support of up to 32GB. For camera lovers, the modern Nokia 3310 offers you a two megapixel camera. The 2.5G connection even lets you go online – albeit very slowly – to access Twitter, Facebook and other services through the Opera Mini browser, interesting, right?
“Consumers today are seeking relationships with brands that they can trust. The Nokia brand has over 150 years of heritage giving it an authentic, differentiating experience which we are proud to introduce to a new generation of fans. Our new Android Nokia Smartphone portfolio, together with the return of the iconic Nokia 3310, is a real statement of our ambition and commitment to honouring the hallmarks of a true Nokia phone experience.” Pekka Rantala, Chief Marketing Officer of HMD Global, said.
Commenting on the same, Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer of HMD Global, said Nokia’s Nokia’s new portfolio combines classic Nokia hallmarks with a best-in-class Android performance and a new level of craftsmanship. For the Nokia 3310 he says they just couldn’t resist.
‘’We wanted to reward loyal Nokia phone fans and make a statement that rich heritage, innovation and modern design can go hand-in-hand. Fundamentally, it is about making sure that right across our portfolio we are delivering this pure Nokia experience.”
The phone also pioneered the Snake Xenzia game that has since been adopted in other phones. The Nokia 3310 was also one of the most devices ever selling 126 million units worldwide.
HMD has confirmed that the Nokia 3310 will be launched in India in Q2 2017. Other markets that feature phone will be heading to include the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Africa, and Europe.
It will be available for EUR.49 (Roughly Kshs.5,400)
Featured Image source: BGR


text:
Reacting to reports that it got as much as $75 bilion in state support from China, Chinese telecom and smartphone giant Huawei has denied the alleged special treatment and called them "wild accusations".
The agreement was signed at Dalian on the sidelines of the first India-China Dalian Internet of Things (IoT) Conference aimed at exploring opportunities.
Tech giant Microsoft has announced a new custom version of Windows 10 which is ready for Chinese government agencies to use.
"We have noted the relevant reports. Company officials are in touch with the local police," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang told a media briefing.
"Worldwide semiconductor capital spending is projected to decline 2 per cent in 2016, to $62.8 billion," Gartner said.
WeChat has become an important promotional tool for companies trying to reach affluent Chinese.
The big news is that Foxconn has arrived, this time perhaps for a longer haul. But it also flags off the arrival of Taiwan Inc into India.
The law, which calls for a review of the tech industry and foreign investments in China, is asking that tech industry giants be "secure and controllable."
"The attack is still ongoing," said Bryce Boland, chief technology officer for Asia Pacific at FireEye and co-author of the report.
The APEC forum media centre allowed reporters to access social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and video-sharing website YouTube.
IF YOU want to understand how China innovates, look no further than its hyper-competitive market for smartphones.
Microsoft has come under scrutiny as China seeks to enforce a 2008 anti-monopoly law, which some critics say is being used to unfairly target overseas businesses.
China today said it will forbid the use of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system in new government computers to minimise security risks.


text:
Tandoor restaurant is leaving Harborplace
Tandoor, one of the original restaurant tenants of Harborplace, will be leaving the Rouse Co. market when its lease expires at the end of the year.
J. Martin Lastner, a Rouse vice president and general manager of Harborplace, said the company "has been targeting this space for a new operation for two years now." He said the Indian restaurant "has been lacking in productivity for quite some time."
He said Rouse had not yet decided whether the second-floor space in the Pratt Street pavilion would be filled by a new restaurant or by retail operations.
According to a federal tax lien filed in Baltimore Circuit Court in July, Tandoor owed the federal government $28,724 in withholding and Social Security taxes at that time. The restaurant was slapped with a state tax lien of $8,368 in August.
Co-owner Mona Katyal said Tandoor's tax problems were "being taken care of." She said Tandoor, which has six locations in the Washington area, is seeking a new location along Charles Street but has not signed a lease.
She said Tandoor had requested an extension of its lease but that Rouse had turned it down.
Pizzeria, comptroller discuss unpaid taxes
DeNittis Restaurant and Pizzeria, a longtime pillar of the Little Italy culinary scene, came very close to losing its liquor license last month because it had fallen behind on its state sales and withholding tax payments.
The state comptroller filed a lien against the restaurant in Baltimore Circuit Court on July 6 claiming the business owed $51,512. Early last month, the court granted a writ for the city sheriff's office to seize the license, but the comptroller's office put the matter on hold before the papers could be served, said Deputy Perry Campbell.
There is no record of payment or further action in court records, so the matter is apparently under discussion between the comptroller's office and DeNittis. Blaise J. DeNittis, the restaurant's owner, said Thursday that "we're going to have it resolved within the next couple of days."
Second Zyzyx! store to open in Bethesda
The last entry in the Baltimore phone book is about to become the closing line in the directory for Maryland's Washington suburbs.
Zyzyx!, which sells an eclectic array of decorative crafts and jewelry out of its striking Pikesville store, will open a second store in Bethesda's Wildwood Shopping Center on Oct. 30.
Hilly and Hazel Greenstein opened the first Zyzyx! in April 1991 in the Festival at Woodholme shopping center. It was a miserable time to launch a retail business, but the store's imaginative product mix -- with a heavy but not exclusive emphasis on handcrafted Judaica -- has apparently caught on.
Hechinger to stock Duron line of paints
Duron Inc., which has long sold its paints only through company-affiliated stores, is stripping off a coat of tradition and going into Hechinger Co. stores.
The exclusive deal will put the Beltsville-based paint manufacturer's products in the 78 stores in the Landover-based retail chain's Hechinger division, which includes its new-format Home Project Centers. For now, the agreement does not cover Hechinger's Home Quarters division.
Thomas Schwartzbeck, Duron's vice president for sales action, said the paints to be sold in Hechinger stores under the Duron Performance label will be a special formulation for the do-it-yourself market.
He said Hechinger will bring new business to Duron because it attracts do-it-yourself customers who normally don't shop in Duron stores, which cater to professional painters and builders. He noted that Hechinger stores are open Sundays and keep longer hours than Duron stores, which typically close at 5 p.m. weekdays and earlier on Saturdays.
2 clothing stores replace Hamburgers
When the downtown Hamburgers store closes Oct. 15 after one of the world's longest going-out-of-business sales, it won't be vacant long -- if at all.
On the top level, which spans Fayette Street, the letters H-A-M-B-U-R-G-E-R-S will come down to make way for a new tenant: Gentleman Jack's Wholesale Club. Downstairs, Dress Barn won't even wait for Hamburgers to fully vacate the premises. Its grand opening is set for Oct. 14.
Gentleman Jack's, set to open in November, is a new venture launched by International Fashions Apparel Corp., the Hugo Boss AG subsidiary that pulled the plug on Hamburgers. The new store will offer men's clothing at 30 percent to 50 percent discounts to anyone willing to pony up a $25 annual membership fee.
The two other remaining Hamburgers locations, at Hunt Valley Mall and Marley Station Mall, will also be converted to Gentleman Jack's outlets.
For Hugo Boss, remaining at the two malls -- both considered among the less crowded regional centers -- is a case of taking lemons and making lemonade. David Golden, executive vice president of International Fashions Apparel, said those are the two locations where the company has been unable to negotiate its way out of its leases.
Gentleman Jack's will largely carry tailored clothing from Hugo Boss-owned Joseph & Feiss, as well as sportswear and accessories from other manufacturers. If the Gentleman Jack's concept proves successful, "we may expand it to other areas and participate with certain other manufacturers," Mr. Golden said.


text:
Good call, Dove. The company decided to ditch a billboard advertisement telling New Jersey residents to take being called "The Armpit of America as a compliment" after people complained.
Unilever, Dove's parent company, headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, said the billboard will not run in July, the Associated Press reports.
The advertisement plan started to draw flak after the New York Times wrote about it in late February.
The billboard would have promoted the new line of deodorant, Dove Advanced Care. Dove wants consumers to consider armpits as "beautiful."
"We take feedback from our community very seriously and have decided that we will not be running this billboard advertisement," Unilever said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday to the AP. "We did not wish to cause any misunderstanding and apologize for any offense."
Thanks, Dove for changing your tune because as a New Jersey native--your ad kind of stunk!


text:
GEORGE TOWN: Penang is in talks with AirAsia to introduce direct flights from the island to Jakarta, China, India and Europe.
State Tourism Development Committee chairman Teng Chang Yeow met the airline’s management recently and discussed the possibility of the direct flights.
"They (AirAsia) have promised to look into our request. We hope to have some favourable response from them soon," he told the New Straits Times.
Teng said Penang was interested in such flights as that was what the travel trade industry was looking at.
"There is potential for tourism growth," he said, adding that over 15 per cent of tourist arrivals in Penang were from the four areas.
State Tourism Action Council member Looi Swee Cheang will lead a group of journalists and travel agents on a three-day visit to Sarawak today in conjunction with AirAsia’s inaugural flight from Penang to Kuching.
Source : NST
[tags : malaysiahotelnews hotels malaysia resorts news travel tourism travel vmy2007]


text: One big question has been on Wing Commander fans' minds these past few months: how are the Wing Commander Academy episodes going to look on the upcoming DVD set? Visual Entertainment Inc. has now answered that question by posting the first footage from the release on YouTube, a high quality version of the show's intro sequence. And the verdict is... great! The footage looks cleaner than it has ever been before. There's also new box art (below)--it's sharper and the planet has been replaced with a nebula. Be sure an put in your pre-order at Amazon Canada.


text:
TEETZ, Germany — As hunger deepens in much of the developing world, here at Jens Gerloff’s small family dairy farm, milk splatters onto the tile floor and gurgles through a drain into his sewage system. It is not just a little runoff, but his entire 580-gallon daily production.
While global food prices have soared, milk prices here have fallen by almost a third this year, the Federation of German Dairy Farmers said, in part because the European Union decided to raise its production quotas. Prices fell even as milk production costs for staples like fuel and feed rose by a quarter. So in a desperate effort to force a price increase, the dairy farmers began a delivery boycott on Tuesday.
But the cows keep producing milk, and if the farmers do not milk them they will get sick. So Mr. Gerloff, like other farmers across Germany, rose Wednesday morning at 4:30 and started his usual 16-hour day, feeding and milking his black-and-white Holstein-Friesians at his farm here, about an hour northwest of Berlin. “A strike looks a little different for us than it does for others,” he said.
The difference was that he knew he would lose more than $1,000 for the day’s work. Mr. Gerloff said it was hard, particularly in light of the hungry people around the world, to waste the sustenance. The federation estimated that around 10.6 million gallons of milk — up to 60 percent of the country’s production — was dumped, fed to other animals or used for fertilizer on Wednesday alone. The strike had not yet affected grocery store shelves. Milk producers in neighboring countries, including Belgium and Austria, urged dairy farmers to join the strike or at least not to export to Germany.
Even with nearly $100,000 a year in European Union subsidies, Mr. Gerloff said he had just enough income to pay his two employees, the mortgage and operating expenses.
Mr. Gerloff’s father, Friedrich, 70, works on the farm for nothing, and his wife is lucky to have a job, he said, considering the depressed local economy. “I always say, my wife supports the family and I support the cows,” Mr. Gerloff said.Continue reading the main story


text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
Sign Up for the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal Afternoon Edition Newsletter
Send this story to a friend
Target to open more in-store health clinics
Target plans to open 14 in-store health care clinics over the next few months, including three in the Chicago area.
The Chicago-area walk-in clinics, which treat minor illnesses and injuries, will be in Target stores in Willlowbrook, South Elgin and on Peterson Avenue in Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reported. Target currently has five clinics in the Chicago area.
Minneapolis-based Target (NYSE: TGT) currently has 54 store-based clinics, and it will have 68 by the time the 14 new ones open later this year.
Other retailers have many more in-store clinics than Target does — CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS), which bought Minneapolis-born MinuteClinic in 2006, is the market leader with more than 630, and Walgreen (NYSE: WAG) with 370. Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) has about 130 units, but it's actually been closing clinics faster than opening new ones lately.
Ed Stych assembles a daily stream of best-in-class information for entrepreneurs and top managers that appear in The Business Journals' national How-To blog.
- Most popular
- Two Fresh Seasons grocery stores closing
- New Eagan steak & seafood restaurant is anything but typical
- 35-year-old owner dies after opening Kowalski's-backed Pizzeria Pezzo
- Former Select Comfort CEO buys $3.5M Wayzata home from investment
- House candidate and ex-Fine Line owner sells Edina home for $2.5M
- New Star Tribune owner Glen Taylor says paper will be less liberal
- Developer submits plans for eight-story luxury residences next to Lake
- 'Like' Cheerios? You just signed away your right to sue General Mills
- Eagan prepares for 'outrageously crazy' outlet mall traffic
- Business Academic Leader, Doctoral Business Programs Capella University | Minneapolis, MN
- President and CEO Lake Forest Graduate School of Management | Lake Forest, IL
- Practice Manager Banfield Pet Hospital | Bloomington, MN
- Entry Level Sales / Customer Service – Part time / Full Time Vector Marketing | Minneapolis, MN
- Systems Product Marketing Manager Beckman Coulter | Eden Prairie, MN


text:
As the alleged wrongdoing at Bishops Diocesan College shows, equating wealth with virtue is a bad idea, writes Helena Wasserman.
High level clouds. Mild.
Eskom implemented stage 2 loadshedding on Wednesday - the first time since March.
Netflix trails Hotstar and Amazon Prime Video in India, mobile usage data by SimilarWeb suggests. But early signs show a mobile-only plan could help.
In Monaco people only have to work 0.10 hours to afford one GB of data.
Mobile operators have long blamed the lack of spectrum for high data prices.
Vodacom Managing Executive for the Western region Carol Hall started her career at the mobile communications company selling cellphone contracts, she shares lessons she's learnt on her journey.
Nando's has blamed a user error.
Kimi Raikkonen says Formula 1 would be more exciting if it limited the amount of data the teams and drivers are able to analyse.
Vodacom and MTN, the country's two biggest mobile-phone providers, have long been demanding the opportunity to bid for new spectrum to extend high-speed internet to new customers and increase data revenue.
Mobile now accounts for 25.7% of Telkom’s overall revenue, compared to 3.2% in 2013.
Google is trying hard to convince consumers that it's safe to trust them. At its developer conference, the tech giant put the issue front and centre.
Eskom implemented stage 2 load shedding on Wednesday.
Rain says its 5G network will have speeds around 200 Mbps, compared to the roughly 40 Mbps people can expect on similarly-priced fibre lines.
Technology analyst Arthur Goldstuck previously said users should only start worrying about Cell C when they struggle to connect to the network.
Mobile data prices in South Africa are higher than in many other countries in Africa and elsewhere. The quick release of spectrum could change that – but continued indecision by policymakers leaves consumers with costly data bills and hinders economic growth.
Having started her career in sales at Vodacom in 1994, Carol Hall later became the first female managing executive of a region. She shares more on her journey of climbing up the corporate ladder, and the priorities for her new role.
e-SIM cards are built into a device and therefore only needs to be activated.
No matter the economic environment, there are certain things people can’t do without. Shares in companies that produce such products are therefore resilient in tough times. But defensive stocks tend to struggle when markets are thriving.
South African kids want to are into music, videos and cartoons on their desktops, new data shows.
There is poor awareness and use of available data in Africa, which could actually help to create the modernised management of water resources, according to an expert.
Google says it will let users set up their profiles to automatically delete location and web-browsing data, giving people a middle ground to the internet giant’s always-on or always-off data hoovering mechanisms.
GoodwoodMPC RecruitmentR6 500.00 Per Month Per Month
Cape Town Northern SuburbsNDC Personnel & Contractors CC
R 2 750 000
R 2 960 000
R 2 350 000
We subscribe to the Press Code.
You choose what you want
News24 on Android
Get the latest from News24 on your Android device.
Terms and Conditions
24.com Terms and Conditions - Updated April 2012
Creating your profile will enable you to submit photos and stories to get published on News24.
This username must be unique, cannot be edited and will be used in the URL to your profile page across the entire 24.com network.


text:
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Paramount Home Entertainment and Redbox said Tuesday that they've agreed to extend a revenue-sharing deal, which allows Redbox to offer Paramount DVD and Blu-ray discs for rental the same day they become available for sale.
Paramount, owned by Viacom Inc.
said it renewed the option on its pact with Redbox following a 10-month review of how well its DVDs were selling in the marketplace.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal represents a contrast to Redbox's recent agreements with Warner Bros.
and Twentieth Century-Fox. Each of those studios required Redbox to wait 28 days after their DVDs go on sale to begin rentals. Fox is owned by News Corp.
the parent of MarketWatch, the publisher of this report.
Redbox owns thousands of kiosks across the country where consumers can rent new-release titles for $1 each. Several studios have become concerned that the kiosks, along with the increasingly popular rental-by-mail service Netflix
have cannibalized DVD sales, which have been on the decline in recent years.
Most DVDs are sold within the first four weeks of a title's release to stores.


text:
E-commerce giant Amazon is one of the few companies in the world which has not got a negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but had actually made the most of the situation. People across the globe had got their groceries delivered at home as they avoided to step out during the pandemic in order to keep their family members safe. Amazon has now announced that it is looking forward to create 10,000 new jobs in the United Kingdom in 2020. After the recruitments, the headcount in the United Kingdom will be more than 40,000.
The majority of the roles are likely for the Amazon warehouses. The giant had earlier informed on September 3, 2020 that it had added 3,000 new permanent staff members for its warehouses, delivery stations and sorting stations in 2020. Amazon has said that it will be adding 7,000 new staff members by the end of 2020. The recruitment will be for two of its new warehouses and corporate offices which are expected to be inaugurated in the upcoming months.
Some of the posts that need to be filled include that of engineers, health and safety specialists and a bunch of people who can pick, pack and ship products to the customers. The company has also said that it provided a number of temporary roles for people during the pandemic time and those roles could also be turned to permanent. The vice president of European customer fulfillment at Amazon, Stefano Perego said that the new recruitments will help them to meet the demands of the customers and will also help them to support the small and medium sized businesses that sell on Amazon.
Perego added that they are recruiting thousands of skilled individuals in a different type of jobs that include operations manager, tech professionals and people who handle customer orders. The company is also planning to add 20,000 temporary roles to fulfill the customers demand during the Christmas time.
Photo Credits: Pixabay