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In an era when artificial intelligence is reshaping the job market, many professionals may find themselves at a crossroads. The shift could render some white-collar jobs obsolete, propelling millions to explore new career avenues or embrace entrepreneurship. Amid this transformative phase, HostingAdvice conducted a survey of 3,000 employees to find out Americans’ dream business ventures that not only ignite their passion but are also resilient in the face of AI advancements. These were the top choices:
#1. Specialty Coffee Shop
This preference isn’t surprising when considering the coffee industry’s resilience and growth. The global specialty coffee market is projected to grow by more than 50% by 2028, according to Research Reports World. Beyond the profit potential, owning a coffee shop offers entrepreneurs the chance to craft a brand experience that AI can’t replicate, leveraging the personal touch of skilled baristas to create a loyal customer base that values artisanal quality and authentic engagement.
#2. Boutique Bookstore
The boutique bookstore is riding the wave of a resurgent interest in independent bookshops, which have seen an increase of nearly 50% over the past decade. These ventures go beyond selling books; they offer curated experiences and foster community engagement through events. This business is about leveraging cultural trends and consumer desire for authentic experiences to create a thriving, intellectually rich environment.
#3. Artisanal Bakery
The third highest-favored dream job in the America is the artisanal bakery, which caters to the growing consumer demand for locally sourced and organic products. With the organic food market projected to grow significantly, bakers have an opportunity to capitalize on this trend. Moreover, bakeries can become community staples, offering a sensory experience and a personal connection to food that AI and mass production cannot match. And they’re able to achieve this while tapping into a profitable niche in the food industry.
#4. Health and Wellness Retreat
Entrepreneurs are increasingly drawn to the fourth-ranked dream job, health and wellness retreats, as projections for the wellness tourism sector show exponential growth. This business isn’t just about providing a service; it’s about delivering personalized well-being experiences. Operators can benefit from the high customer willingness to pay for health and self-care services that offer a human-centric approach to wellness.
#5. Pet Boutique and Grooming Service
The pet boutique and grooming service, a sector that’s proven to be recession-resistant, ranks as the fifth most popular business venture among American professionals thanks to consumer spending on pets on a steady rise, even during economic downturns. The human-animal bond is something AI cannot fulfill, and pet services can leverage this by offering personalized care and niche products that cater to the discerning pet owner, tapping into a multibillion-dollar industry.
#6. Gourmet Food Truck
The gourmet food truck is the sixth most popular entrepreneurial dream for those looking to enter the food service market with a lower initial investment than a traditional restaurant. Food trucks offer flexibility and the opportunity to directly engage with different communities, capitalizing on the street food market’s growth, which is expected to surge globally. This business combines culinary passion with strategic location planning to maximize profits.
#7. Eco-Friendly Home Goods Store
Seventh on the list is the eco-friendly home goods store, which aligns with a global sustainability market that’s growing rapidly as consumers become more environmentally conscious. With sustainability at the forefront of consumer trends, this business can tap into a market where 73% of global consumers say they would change their consumption habits to reduce their environmental impact. It’s a sector ripe for innovation and personal consumer education, where trust and authenticity in the brand can drive significant business growth.
#8. Art Gallery and Studio Space
The eighth-ranked dream job in America, running an art gallery and studio space, offers a unique proposition in the art market, which has seen a democratization thanks to online sales and social media. By creating a physical space for art that also embraces the digital revolution, entrepreneurs can attract a broad audience. With the global art market valued at close to $70 billion in 2022, there’s ample opportunity to create profitable events and workshops that capitalize on people’s desire for cultural enrichment and personal expression.
“The surge of AI presents as much an opportunity as it does a challenge. Our survey has revealed that the entrepreneurial spirit remains undeterred, eager to find new paths that AI won’t tread. These dream businesses are not just ventures; they are beacons of human ingenuity and connection,” said Christina Lewis from HostingAdvice.com.


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Whimsy ROW is offering customers 20 percent off sitewide with code blackfri. AYR is having a 30 percent off sale on Black Friday, and will also give customers 25 percent off denim on Saturday and Sunday. Toms : Need to gift your mom, your friends new baby, and/or your older brother? Spend 125 and use code love125 to receive a full-size. Aritzia customers can enjoy up to 50 percent off select fall and winter items from Monday, November 21, through Cyber Monday.
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Xperia X10 to get Android 2.3 this summer, makes us rub our eyes in disbelief
byVlad Savov||March 25th 2011 at 7:39amMarch 25th 2011 7:39 am
Who's in charge of Sony Ericsson today and what did they do with the old crew? Reversing a previous statement saying there'll be no Android updates for its Xperia X10 family beyond Eclair, SE has just announced that it'll bring Gingerbread to the X10 at the end of Q2 / start of Q3 this year. That's right around this summer, when we should expect a user experience roughly equivalent to that on the new Xperia Arc, Neo and Play devices, whose Gingerbread implementation looks to have served as the basis for the elder X10's upcoming update. Seriously, Gingerbread on the X10, we still can't believe it.


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Digital advertising is the lifeblood of the internet, and it’s drying up fast. Digital media sites are shutting down, laying off employees and some have closed shop for good. Twitter and Pinterest have pulled their financial guidance for the next quarter. Facebook said that although its traffic is way up, its revenue will not be way up — because advertising just isn’t happening. Even Google is slowing down hiring, which for many in Silicon Valley is a sign that the slump is real.
I spoke with Sara Fischer, a media reporter for Axios. I asked her how bad the dropoff in digital advertising looks for the tech industry. The following is an edited transcript of our conversation.
Sara Fischer: The biggest names in tech would be companies like Google and Facebook that make the majority of their money on digital advertising. They haven’t come out and given exact estimates. However, we’ve talked to some analysts, and they have given us estimates. You’re looking at a total of, roughly, $40 billion of ad revenue loss between Google and Facebook alone, a few more million from some of the smaller tech companies like Twitter and Snapchat.
Molly Wood: What are the downstream impacts of that? We know that Facebook and Google together make up something like two-thirds of the digital advertising landscape. If they are in trouble, it must be Armageddon for every other online publisher or website, right?
Fischer: It totally will be. Advertising as an industry tends to grow at the same rate as the GDP. Our economy was doing pretty well, but now with the coronavirus pandemic, what analysts are predicting is that digital advertising revenue is still going to grow slightly this year. In total, digital advertising was supposed to grow 12% this year. Now we’re only expecting it to grow about 4%. There are three big categories that are going to be really hit. One is search. The other is social media ads, which is the way that Facebook makes most of its money. Those ads tend to be heavily dependent on video.
Wood: What do you think that 4% growth spend looks like? Is it a case where all that money is going to go to the incumbents, to Facebook and Google, for example?
Fischer: Probably. Even though Facebook and Google are expected to take the brunt of the losses, they’re still going to come out far better than a lot of the publisher-specific deals. If you’re a digital website, you’re going to be heavily impacted by this downturn for a couple of reasons. One, a lot of publishers don’t just sell ads for things like, “Hey, we’re a great company. We’re a great brand.” They sell ads to push products. I think BuzzFeed sells affiliate marketing, which are like ads to help you sell things on Amazon. Now Amazon said that they’re cutting all of that spend. I would expect any digital publisher, whether you’re a smaller digital media company, or if you are a smaller tech company, to be heavily impacted by this.
Wood: Let’s talk about that affiliate program because that is hard to understand, but a super-big deal for a lot of sites across the internet that really have built a business model on the idea that if you send traffic to a retailer, whether it’s Amazon or even Best Buy, you will get a kickback and you can build a business that way. Is that over for the foreseeable future?
Fischer: We’ve talked to sources who say it’s not over for the foreseeable future, that Amazon is pulling back temporarily and that they do intend to ramp these relationships back up post-pandemic or at a later point in the pandemic. The problem here is that no one knows when this thing is going to end. For publishers that relied on that revenue monthly, if it’s going to get pulled out from you now, you have no idea when it’s coming back, which is a really scary thing. A lot of publishers relied on affiliate e-commerce ad revenue for large percentages of their overall revenue — for some, up to 25%.
Wood: How does this compare to advertising writ large? The digital drop that still will see growth, which is surprising, how does that compare to the rest of the industry?
Fischer: It’s great. If you take a look at what’s expected to happen to television or radio, that is going to be devastating. We expected to see a 17% drop in print ads this year. That’s down to 25% post-pandemic. We were expecting national television to go down around 3%. Now we’re expecting it to go down 13%. Similar types of things with radio, and of course out-of-home, which includes things like billboards and subway posters. Out-of-home was one of the most fast-growing, nondigital advertising mediums. Billboards were becoming digital, more people were getting out of the house. It was actually a great way to market. Now that people are stuck inside, we were expecting the billboard industry to grow about 4%. Now we’re expecting it to go down about 12% by the end of the year.
Wood: What does this mean for digital business models? All of the digital media sites that we’ve seen having layoffs just in the last week or two, and even ad-supported apps or other services. Is this a reset?
Fischer: There’s a difference between what we’re seeing now versus what we saw during the last financial crisis in 2008, 2009. The last financial crisis, our recovery was a very shallow “U,” which meant that we slowly hit it until one day it was really bad and then we slowly recovered. The one upside here is that analysts expect this to be a steeper “U” recovery, meaning that we’re expected to pull back pretty quickly once things open up. Again, remember the difference between this recession and the last one is that we have severe impacts upfront. We dropped very quickly because we put everyone at home. We didn’t do that in the last recession. We’re expecting things to ramp up much more quickly once we physically open things up. But I think the long-term impacts are this: a lot of these companies are going to drop out entirely. You saw the digital website called the Outline that just shut down. A lot of these websites aren’t going to shut down entirely, but they’re not going to come back in the same form. They will have already laid off dozens of employees, they’re not going to be able to ramp up that quickly. So what you should expect to see is that different types of coverage will get cut, different products will get cut. The media landscape we were used to is not going to be the same when we get back.
Related links: More insight from Molly Wood
Google this week made a big move to try to grab online shoppers away from Amazon and maybe keep revenue coming in while those ad rates tank. Anybody can now list products for free on Google’s shopping site, whereas previously it was all pay for placement. The hope is that people will both see ads and shop on Google instead of Amazon, which comes as Amazon itself is ramping up its ad business and creating a closed loop where people search for products on Amazon and then choose between listed products and advertised products and never go to Google at all. This also comes as more and more people are pointing out that Amazon just hasn’t been that reliable during the pandemic and has shut out, or deprioritized, some of its smaller sellers. Maybe shoppers and sellers are looking for a new home. I guess we’ll see.
Zoom released a new version on Wednesday that it says addresses a lot of security complaints about the product. Specifically Zoombombing, where harassers have been showing up in rooms broadcasting porn or racist diatribes. Zoom has now turned on passwords and waiting rooms by default and put quick-access buttons on screen to easily kick someone out of a meeting or lock down screen sharing or chats. The waiting room feature is turned on by default as well. The company also said it’s improving its encryption even if it’s not completely end-to-end.
Nothing like a sudden surge in pandemic popularity to show you what you’re doing wrong, right?
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06:00 | 11/10/2021 Economy
(VEN) - Despite Covid-19’s heavy impacts on the socioeconomic situation as well as people’s lives in many localities, the goal of curbing the consumer price index (CPI) growth below four percent this year is feasible given the timely guidance of the government and relevant authorities. Vietnam Economic News’ Nguyen Hoa spoke about this issue with Nguyen Thi Huong, Head of the General Statistics Office of Vietnam.
The CPI grew 1.79 percent in the first eight months of this year compared with the same period in 2020. Could you elaborate?
The CPI grew 0.25 percent in August 2021 compared with July, 2.51 percent compared with December 2020 and 2.82 percent compared with August 2020. In the first eight months, the index grew 1.79 percent year-on-year, the lowest CPI growth rate in the 2016-2021 period.
CPI growth in the first eight months was attributed to increases in domestic prices of petrol, oil and gas, education services, rice, and housing maintenance materials such as cement, iron, steel and sand.
Factors lowering CPI growth in the first eight months include decreases in prices of food and government support packages for people and production facilities affected by Covid-19, including electricity prices and bill reductions offered by Vietnam Elecricity.
Travel restrictions applied to prevent the spread of Covid-19 also led to drops in prices of rail and air tickets as well as tour packages.
Despite low CPI growth in the first eight months, Vietnam is said to face high inflation risks in late 2021 and 2022. What do you think should be done to achieve the goal of curbing annual CPI growth below four percent?
Covid-19 complications in many localities have heavily affected the socioeconomic situation as well as people’s lives. However, under the government’s timely guidance, synchronous measures have been taken in all sectors and at all levels to prevent the spread of the pandemic and stabilize market prices. Therefore, I believe the goal of curbing 2021 CPI growth below four percent is absolutely feasible.
In my opinion, inflation will remain controllable until the end of 2021, but increases in production material prices and efforts to promote economic recovery through loosening fical and monetary policies will bring about inflation risks in 2022. In order to curb inflation in a sustainable manner, the General Statistics Office of Vietnam proposed that ministries, sectors and localities concentrate on the following six measures:
Increased manufacturing capacity of major economic sectors is crucial
First, balancing supply and demand to ensure stable prices of essential consumer goods and services; continued development of supply-demand connection and trade promotion activities; deployment of demand stimulus programs to stimulate domestic consumption and sale of goods.
Second, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance should keep a close watch on global petroleum prices and use the price stabization fund appropriately to minimize the impact of petroleum price increases on CPI.
Third, domestic production of major input materials such as steel, iron and construction materials must be acclerated, prioritizing the domestic market over exports. Controls should be tightened to ensure stable prices of these products. Any violations should be dealt with strictly to prevent unreasonable price increases.
Fourth, cattle, poultry and aquatic animal feed prices need to be stabilized. Animal feed producers should maximize the use of domestic materials instead of imported materials in order to reduce production costs.
Fifth, the State Bank of Vietnam should apply flexible monetary policies to simultaneously control inflation and help ease difficulties for businesses and people affected by Covid-19.
Sixth, the Ministry of Information and Communications should coordinate with other ministries and sectors to disseminate information about price management, especially prices of goods that directly affect people’s lives. Along with publicizing information about prices, it is necessary to increase inspection and supervision in order to prevent false rumors that raise consumer anxiety and destabilize the market.


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We may not be paying a lot for food nowadays, but we'll be paying later. That's the message from the producer of the new documentary Food, Inc.
"We buy this inexpensive food, but it's a false price we are paying," says Robert Kenner, who also directed the film.
"The parallel with tobacco is such a strong one – powerful corporations, connected to government, keeping the health consequences of their product away from you," he adds. "They're designing these foods with massive amounts of sugars and salts and fats that we are genetically predisposed to eat. Put it all in a glass and you'd be shocked to see how much you are eating. It's going to bankrupt health care systems, and ultimately our Earth."
Food, Inc. lifts what it calls "the veil" between consumers and the industrial food system. A synopsis: The way we eat has changed more in the past 50 years than in the past 10,000. Consumers conjure up images of happy farmers in overalls, working the fields. That is the pastoral fantasy. The ugly reality is that multinationals control our food chain. Farms are factories controlled by the demands of fast-food giants and the corporations that make processed foods. Along the way, farm workers, animals and the environment are abused, and the number of food poisoning cases increases.
"It's all happened without your noticing," says Kenner, 59, in a phone interview from Los Angeles. "You'd think back and think things used to be in season. It was so exciting! Now we're used to looking at pretty things that may be there (in the supermarket) all year 'round."
The film opens today at the Cumberland Cinema. It took Kenner 2 1/2 years to make, with the help of co-producer Eric Schlosser (author of Fast Food Nation) and collaborator Michael Pollan (author of The Omnivore's Dilemma). No fancy camera angles, no glib script – but nevertheless shocking.
Kenner says he was most "freaked out" when Barbara Kowalcyk, whose toddler died after eating a hamburger laced with E. coli bacteria, couldn't tell him what her family ate now for fear she would be sued and bankrupted by food corporations. He was also shocked at a hearing where manufacturers argued against the need to label cloned meat because it would confuse consumers.
Kenner felt the libel chill, too. He says he spent more on legal advice for this one film than for his previous 15 documentaries times three. "I was taking things out of the movie I believed to be true. There was a self-censorship involved I felt was very dangerous ... because these corporations have a lot of power."
Food, Inc. includes plenty of interviews with farmers (including one chicken farmer confessing how "degraded" and powerless she feels), but few comments from the companies that control the farms' output. Their representatives declined to appear on camera.
Does it all come down to money – on the consumer spending side and the corporate profit side?
"We are paying less than ever for our food, which is good, but it comes at a high cost that you don't see at the checkout counter," Kenner says.
He notes that when he was a kid, families spent 18 per of their paycheques on food. Now, it's only 9 per cent.
As for corporations, he says they can change their ways and still profit – as seen in the blossoming sales of organic products.
"They could still be making money if they changed their food," Kenner says. "It's not like cigarettes – we all have to keep eating."
But what? Kenner says his diet has changed since filming Food, Inc. "I would eat, occasionally, fast food and I was far from a perfect eater, and my habits have definitely been transformed. All of a sudden, it (processed food) just starts to taste wrong."


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It seems like an obvious move. Why should Twitter sit by and let third-party companies profit from its massive content output without getting in on the fun? Still, marketing groups like Gnip have been profiting from social media companies for some time. Twitter is only the most recent in a line of tech startups trying to get in on the action.
“There’s continued acknowledgement that data from social is really valuable for targeting ad value and ad spends,” he told Betabeat. “As the business matures, it’s not uncommon for a social platform to say ‘we think our data is valuable, we’re going to work with other companies.’”
A “firehose” is the stream of all of the data generated by a social networking platform in real time. Every day, Twitter’s firehose pumps out about 500 million tweets — everything from news wires and financial analysis to pithy commentary, outrage, Kanye gifs and the occasional Middle Eastern revolution.
A small handful of companies pay Twitter for complete access to that firehose, taking all of that raw social data and repackaging it in useful ways for paying clients. The interest in these kinds of analytics is diverse — healthcare, government, security — but the target clients for these services are marketers.
Gnip was the first company to have this arrangement with Twitter, but that’s not the only firehose they’re connected to. Gnip builds their datasets by layering data from the firehoses of Tumblr, Foursquare, Facebook, YouTube, WordPress, and others.
Until now, Twitter has always left the data-wrangling to third parties who paid for licensing. Now, Twitter owns one of the biggest companies in that space.
Getting their hands dirty
Many have quickly pointed out that Twitter may be looking for new streams of revenue as their stock prices continue to slowly slide downward. But licensing their firehose only accounts for 11 percent of their revenue — so surely this kind of acquisition is only a small play (or so the logic goes).
As Mr. Josephson aptly puts it, 11 percent of any business can’t be discounted, especially when it means expansion into a lucrative new sector.
“It may have been 11 percent of Twitter’s business last year, but they were outsourcing,” Mr. Josephson said. “Now they get the entire Gnip team, who are laser focused on making sure that the data is organized and structured to take it effectively to market.”
Apple made the first meaningful acquisition in this space when they bought Topsy in December, and Mr. Josephson says this is just the front edge of the growing social data industry.
“There’s a huge market for connecting social data with their spending patterns,” Mr. Josephson said, “a market for understanding consumer data and intent, and translating likes and shares into buying patterns.”
Taking cues from social media as part of a marketing strategy isn’t exactly a late stroke of sudden genius, but for a long time Twitter was allowing services to leverage their data without getting their hands dirty.
Now at least Twitter has a dog in the fight.


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ESPN appeared to be in trouble in 2017, having lost 10 million households in the previous five years. However, the brand has turned its fortunes around by riding the growth of vMVPDs and investing in ESPN plus.
vMVPD’s helped reverse ESPN’s decline
In 2013, ESPN was at the height of its popularity, reaching into 98.5 million U.S. homes. Five years later, the network appeared to be in trouble. It had lost 10 million homes, losing nearly 600,000 homes in a single quarter. Things looked bleak for the channel. Cord-cutting was beginning to pick up speed, with every customer that left pay TV adding another household to the loss column for ESPN.
Disney had already begun to shift strategy to compensate for the losses. When the vMVPD pioneer Sling TV launched in 2015, Disney licensed ESPN to the service. It continued to license ESPN to other interested vMVPDs, including YouTube TV, fuboTV, and Hulu Live. The vMVPD licensing strategy reversed the declines of the previous five years, restoring access to 9 million homes by the beginning of 2020.
In 2019, vMVPD growth slowed dramatically and is now failing to keep up with the decline in cable, satellite, and telco TV. Between 2017 and 2018, ESPN picked up 4.5 million households through vMVPD providers, while traditional homes declined about 2 million. In 2019, ESPN added just 0.7 million vMVPD homes while traditional pay TV homes slumped 3 million.
Over the last year or so, the launch of ESPN plus has more than picked up the slack in the pay TV industry.
ESPN plus is the future of the brand
ESPN plus launched in early 2018 with an interesting set of non-premium sports content that attracted 1 million subscribers within five months of the release.
Since then, Disney has been adding sports content and striking exclusive deals that make ESPN plus essential to increasing numbers of sports fans. For example, early last year, the company struck an exclusive deal with UFC. Fight fans must subscribe to ESPN plus for $4.99 a month before they can buy access to pay-per-view fights.
This week, ESPN plus secured exclusive streaming rights to the PGA tour. The nine-year deal, which starts in 2022, also moves the Tour’s own subscription video service, PGA Tour Live, to ESPN plus. Broadcasters CBS and NBC will also have the rights to air FedExCup tournaments.
ESPN+ the future of the brand
Just before the launch of ESPN plus in 2018, then CEO Bob Iger said:
“Over time, our intention would be for that app to be the app that
people experience ESPN on.”
His strategy to get there has become apparent. Deliver a basic set of sports contents with an ESPN plus subscription. Become the exclusive home for other subscription and pay-per-view sports. So far, the approach seems to be working splendidly well. The sports service now has 7.6 million subscribers. What’s more, the total number of cable, satellite, telcoTV, vMVPD, and ESPN plus households that have access to the ESPN brand is almost as many today, 98.1 million, as in 2013.
Why it matters
ESPN was in a rapid decline in 2017.
Disney turned the brand around by licensing the channel to vMVPDs.
However, the future of the brand is online, with ESPN plus.


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Ride hailing firm Rapido on Tuesday announced its foray into the cab services segment, where it will compete with established unicorns Ola and Uber.
The company has started the service in Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad and Bengaluru with around 1.2 lakh cabs and plans to scale it to around 35 cities by September 2024, Rapido Co-founder Pavan Guntupalli said.
"Over the course of 10 years not more than 25 per cent are participating in app based services. Our motive is to bring all these guys online and increase the market.
"With a zero commission model, we will maximise their revenues in a way that it is not a burden on users," Guntupalli said.
The captains or the driver partners will get direct payment from customers without any commission cut by Rapido.
However, they will have to pay a subscription fee after crossing a certain level of earnings.
While the company claimed that it will provide the lowest price in the market, a random check on the app showed that the fare of Rapido cab was higher compared to the prices offered by the established online players.
Guntupalli said that the service has just been launched and the company will work with cab partners to get the cheapest fare across 80 per cent of the route in the city where it operates.
Software-as-a-service-based Rapido will invest in adding electric vehicles to its fleet but it will operate rest of cab services at break-even level, he said.
The company plans to expand the services to Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai in January-March 2024 and cover a total of 35 cities by September 2024, Guntupalli said.
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.


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Jockeying continues over Portland Development Commission’s plan to lure a Trader Joe’s grocery to Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Alberta Street, which has become a lightning rod for concerns about gentrification of the area.
On Thursday, critics of PDC’s plan issued a press release announcing a Monday press conference to call for alternative uses of the property. The critics, including a group called the Portland African American Leadership Forum, argue that a Trader Joe’s will further gentrification of the area, and they are pressing for alternate uses of the site, such as affordable housing.
The five-person PDC board agreed in November to give agency Executive Director Patrick Quinton authority to negotiate sale of the 1.8-acre site to Majestic Realty. The California developer expects to be able to land Trader Joe’s to the site, made possible because PDC offered a below-market price for the land. A second building that might house four to 10 small businesses also is envisioned.
For more, please visit Pamplin Media Group


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Seagate To Close N. Ireland Plant
The company is closing a 10-year-old plant in Limavady in County Derry that manufactures substrate materials used in disks for hard drives, Seagate spokesman Woody Monroy said.
Monroy did not know how much money the company would save from the move but said it is part of Seagate's ongoing effort to streamline operations. He said Seagate expanded substrate manufacturing at its facilities in Singapore and Malaysia last year while external suppliers have lowered their costs.
"It's no longer competitive from a business standpoint" to keep the Limavady plant open, Monroy said.
A larger plant in Springtown, in County Londonderry in Northern Ireland, will not be affected. That location has 1,400 employees and manufactures the recording-head components for hard drives.
Strong demand for hard drives in products ranging from computers to digital video recorders has contributed to Seagate's income growth this year. But its profit is tempered by competitive pricing.
For its last fiscal quarter, which ended Sept. 28, Seagate's earnings grew to $355 million, or 64 cents per share, more than 18 times the year-ago period's earnings of $19 million, or 3 cents per share.
For the current quarter, Seagate forecast a profit of 57 cents to 61 cents per share on revenue of $3.15 billion to $3.25 billion.
Shares of Seagate were up 56 cents, or 2 percent, at $27.51 in midday trading.
The company is based in the Cayman Islands but operates out of Scotts Valley, near Santa Cruz.


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A new method of producing solar cells could reduce the amount of silicon per unit area by 90 per cent compared to the current standard. With the high prices of pure silicon, this will help cut the cost of solar power.
“We’re using less expensive raw materials, and smaller amounts of them, we have fewer production steps and our total energy consumption is potentially lower,” explain PhD candidate Fredrik Martinsen and Professor Ursula Gibson, from NTNU’s Department of Physics.
They recently published their technique in Scientific Reports. Their processing technique allows them to make solar cells from silicon that is 1000 times less pure, and thus less expensive, than the current industry standard.
Glass fibres with a silicon core
The researchers’ solar cells are composed of silicon fibres coated in glass. A silicon core is inserted into a glass tube about 3 mm in diameter. This is then heated up, so that the silicon melts and the glass softens. The tube is stretched out into a thin glass fibre filled with silicon. The process of heating and stretching makes the fibre up to 100 times thinner.
This is the widely accepted industrial method used to produce fibre optic cables. But researchers at the Department of Physics at NTNU, working with collaborators at Clemson University in the USA, are the first to use silicon-core fibres made this way in solar cells. The active part of these solar cells is the silicon core, which has a diameter of about 100 micrometres.
Lower energy consumption
This production method also enabled them to solve another problem: traditional solar cells require pure silicon. The process of manufacturing a pure silicon wafers is laborious, energy-intensive and expensive.
“We can use relatively dirty silicon, and the purification occurs naturally as part of the process of melting and re-solidifying in fibre form. This means that you save energy, and several production steps.”
It is estimated that it will take roughly one-third of the energy to produce solar cells with this method compared to the traditional approach of producing silicon wafers.
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The Latest on: Cheaper solar cells
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Consumer confidence declined during the month of December, coming off historic highs in November, CNBC reported Wednesday (Dec. 27).
Citing nonprofit research company The Conference Board’s measure of consumer confidence, confidence declined to a score of 122.1 in December — below the 128.1 expected by economists surveyed by Reuters. The index hit 129.5 in November, reaching its highest mark since November of 2000 when it stood at 132.6.
“The decline in confidence was fueled by a somewhat less optimistic outlook for business and job prospects in the coming months,” said Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board. “Despite the decline in confidence, consumers’ expectations remain at historically strong levels, suggesting economic growth will continue well into 2018.”
The survey results come as retailers enjoyed a strong holiday shopping season this year. According to Mastercard’s SpendingPulse report for holiday 2017, holiday sales were up 4.9 percent — the biggest year-on-year uptick since 2011 — and consumers set new records for the number of dollars spent. Online shopping had a strong year, too, reporting 18.1 percent growth since holiday 2016 — though much of that figure was driven by a late-season customer shipping rally as consumers got their second shopping wind.
Mastercard’s Sarah Quinlan told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster the reality is that online will probably only clock in at 10 or 11 percent of total shopping, with the rest defaulting to the physical store.
“In terms of sheer, overall spend, we still love the store,” Quinlan said.
Meanwhile, Amazon announced that the 2017 holiday season was its “biggest” ever. According to news from CNBC, Amazon said on Tuesday (Dec. 26) that customers shopped on its website at “record levels” throughout November and December. Over the course of one week, more than 4 million people became Prime members or started a free trial, sending its membership count to new highs. The company also said shopping on its mobile app increased nearly 70 percent this holiday season, with millions of tech gadgets ordered through it.


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DFDS’s third quarter profit soared 17 percent even as northern Europe’s leading short-sea shipping and logistics operator closed routes and rejigged its network as Russian sanctions hit its key Baltic trades.
The Danish shipping and logistics company’s operating profit grew to 423 million krone ($70.5 million) in the three months through September from 352 million krone in the same period in 2013. Revenue was up 7 percent at $600 million.
“Freight operations overall performed in line with expectations,” said chief executive Niels Smedegaard.” European market growth is still subdued with the exception of the UK, our most important market.”
The company said a realignment of its Baltic route network had partly mitigated the impact of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
DFDS plans to exit the loss making Le Havre-Portsmouth route at the end of the year the latest in a number of route closures in the past year. A service between Germany and Lithuania was suspended in August just three months after opening as tit-for-tat sanctions by the EU and Russia collapsed freight volumes.—JOC.COM


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Musco Family says no to Spanish olives, 'steps up' for Central Valley growers abandoned by Bell-Carter
Tulare County's olive industry will avoid the pits — for now.
Musco Family Olive Co. announced that it will pick up nearly all of Bell-Carter's terminated contracts with California olive growers.
Over the past two weeks, Bell-Carter, California's only other major table-olive processor, canceled agreements to buy produce from many of its local growers without notice
An estimated 4,500 acres — 63 million pounds of olives — were affected by the canceled contracts in Tulare County alone.
The losses to Tulare County growers would have topped $40 million, decimating more than 60 percent of the region's olive industry.
“We want every farmer impacted by (Bell-Carter's) decision to know that Musco Family Olive Company is committed to the California ripe olive industry. Our gates are open to purchasing this year’s crop to meet our increased supply needs from any grower who commits to our modern growing and harvesting goals,” said Felix Musco, the Tracy-based company’s CEO.
Tulare County Farm Bureau chief Tricia Stever Blattler heard the announcement just five minutes before speaking to the Times-Delta on the phone Tuesday evening.
"This is wonderful news," she said. "We are always pleased to see California companies making a commitment to our growers."
While many of the underlying problems that led to Bell-Carter's move away from local produce in favor of cheap, Spanish imports still exist, Stever-Blattler says Musco's move "is a meaningful step toward finding a solution."
Beyond the obvious benefit to olive growers, Stever-Blattler says the renewed contracts will have a "positive ripple effect" throughout the county's economy and ag industry.
"Musco is helping to keep 1,500 farm labor contractors employed. The pruners, harvester and other crews that help bring California olives to market every season," she said. "This will keep California olives in our pantries and keep local taxes and revenues in our coffers."
Musco previously said they were "unsure" if they had the capacity to pick up an estimated 31,500 tons of olives left behind by Bell-Carter's canceled contracts.
Many growers, including Visalia olive farmer John Werner, prematurely took that to mean "no." He was ecstatic to be wrong.
"What an incredible company for them to step up for the Central Valley olive grower," Werner said. "I am absolutely impressed by Musco to step up when their competitor turned their backs on us."
Werner was in the process of drawing up a $10,000 contract to demolish his orchard when Musco contacted him with the news.
"I had no idea how I was going to pay for (the clearing). I'd water their plants and feed their dogs, I guess," he said.
'Bell-Carter are not the bad guys'
It's unclear whether Musco's terms will match Bell-Carter's, or how many contracts the company plans to pick up, but growers and industry experts remain hopeful.
"California olive growers produce the highest-quality ripe olives in the world," said Michael Silveira, Olive Growers Council of California chairman. "We are thrilled to see Musco step up and commit to that quality, to the California grower and to our industry's future."
Despite what many saw as Bell-Carter's betrayal, Silveira says there are no easy villains in this story — except the Spanish olive industry.
"Bell-Carter are not the bad guys here per se. They're more like a victim," he said. "The real enemy here is cheap, low-quality, subsidized fruit coming from Spain."
Musco's actions are the culmination of a hard-fought battle by companies like Musco, Bell-Carter and the federal government, who worked for several years to levy tariffs against government-subsidized Spanish olives.
"Tariffs make it an even playing field," he said. "Unfortunately, they came too late to save Bell-Carter from losing a 20-percent stake to Dcoop."
Dcoop is a European conglomerate whose previous attempts to break into the U.S. market were criticized as anti-competitive. A hefty 37.4 percent tariff was levied against imported table-olives last year as a result of complaints filed by California processors through the International Trade Commission.
The company now exploits a tariff loophole to import its raw, green olives to California for duty-free processing. Because Dcoop's olives are subsidized by the Spanish government and child labor abuses in Morocco and Argentina, California growers are unable to compete with the imported produce.
“We will ship our product from Spain, but the oxidation process for the production of the black olives will take place (in the U.S.), so they will be exempt from the payment of the tariffs,” Antonio Luque, Dcoop president, told the Olive Oil Times last August.
Werner said that while the Trump-tariff association has poisoned the well for many, in this case, tariffs are a much-needed protection for California olive growers.
"'Tariff' has become a loaded word. People hear it and instantly think Trump, which I get," Werner said. "But these tariffs are the result of years of Senate hearings and meetings with the International Trade Commission that happened well before Trump was even elected."
"Some tariffs may be bad but these tariffs are good," Werner added.
As for whether Werner will accept Musco's contract?
"It's early to say. We haven't discussed anything officially yet," he said. "A lot of uncertainty remains, but I'm hopeful."
That uncertainty is because Musco placed an emphasis on mechanical harvesting techniques in its announcement. Werner says many small olive farmers' orchards aren't equipped to handle those processes just yet.
Musco, however, pledged to "offer a one-year contract to as many acres as we can to provide everyone with more time to consider...planting mechanically-harvestable acreage."
A year could make all the difference for struggling olive growers throughout the region, Werner said.
"It buys us time to move forward as an industry and work with the Farm Bureau and USDA to determine what's best," he said.
Affected olive growers seeking contract information are encouraged to call a Musco field representative at 530-865-4111.
Joshua Yeager covers water, agriculture, parks and housing for the Visalia Times-Delta and Tulare Advance-Register newspapers. Follow him on Twitter @VTD_Joshy. Get alerts and keep up on all things Tulare County for as little as $1 a month. Subscribe today.


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The nominations for the prestigious European Car of the Year are in, and with cars as varied as the new Land Rover Defender and Dacia Sandero squaring off against each other, it’s clear the judges have some seriously tough decisions to make.
A total of 29 cars have been nominated, the criteria being each must be new, and on sale in at least five European countries before the end of 2020.
One of the most fascinating battles will be between the Volkswagen Golf and Volkswagen ID.3 EV, which will be great news for Volkswagen whichever way the votes fall.
But VW isn’t the only carmaker with multiple entries: Mercedes has four cars in the list of 29 (GLA, GLB, GLS and S-class), Hyundai has three (i10, i20 and Tuscon) and Toyota, Honda and BMW all have pairs of entries.
Jaguar’s I-Pace took top honours in 2019 and electric cars are well represented in the 2021 line-up. Besides the ID.3, there’s the Honda E, Fiat 500, Mazda MX-30 and Polestar 2, while Toyota’s hydrogen-powered Mirai also makes an appearance.
And, of course, there are SUVs galore, including the Formentor, the first car from Seat’s Cupra sub-brand and Peugeot’s 2008.
Here’s the full list:
From that list of 29, the 60 judges will select a shortlist of seven cars to put forward to the second round of judging. Those seven will be announced on January 8th, and the overall winner will be revealed on March 1st.
The winner will depose the Peugeot 208 supermini, and while high-end cars like the S-class are on this year’s list, the judges tend not to favour expensive cars.
Exceptions include the I-Pace (2019), Citroën SM (1990), Porsche 928 (1978), Mercedes 450SE (1974) and the very first COTY winner, the Rover 2000 (1964), all of which were praised for their use of technology.
What’s your money on?


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Pay at 27,000 retail locations including
Pay in less than 60 seconds at 27,000 locations. Payment history and receipts are stored in the app and you can set reminders for next time.
You’ll get a receipt as proof of payment, just like buying something at the store. We’ve already processed over a million payments for customers just like you!
You can store everything you need to pay on your phone or in your wallet, so it’s always with you.
To pay my bills in cash, I used to take a bus and wait in line. Now I just head to 7-Eleven!
Being able to use an app to make payments is great, but it can also make budgeting difficult. When people lose that psychological connection with money and...Read more
The countless Dallas Area Rapid Transit passengers who don’t have bank accounts or debit cards may finally enjoy technological conveniences and discounts...Read more
Americans now have the option of paying their taxes in cash at 7-Eleven convenience stores, according to an Internal Revenue Service announcement.Read more
From Kifiya which makes transactions more affordable in Kenya, to PayNearMe, which helps Americans pay their rent remotely.Read more
In a broadcast interview with Bloomberg West, PayNearMe Founder and CEO Danny Shader discusses company’s solutions for cash in a digital world.Read more
“Square changed the game for small businesses by letting anyone easily take credit cards. Now PayNearMe founder and CEO Danny Shader says he’s...Read more
PayNearMe said it experienced the strongest growth in rent, utility agencies, and auto-lending. Property management companies such as AppFolio and...Read more


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The American video game developer Electronic Arts (EA), behind the series Battlefield, Medal of Honor Y The Sims, admitted, on Thursday, June 10, to having been the victim of a hack after the publication of an article by Vice Media stating that various source codes, including that of the famous soccer game FIFA 21 and the Engine Engine, which runs various EA titles, had been stolen. Vice Media made the same announcement on YouTube. The video got thousands of likes, and it seems that with YouTube you can reach more people. You can get the same influence on the platform if you buy YouTube likes from quality sources.
Source code is text written in a programming language that contains instructions for running a computer program.
“We are investigating a recent incident related to an intrusion into our networks and the theft of a limited amount of source code for games and associated tools.”, an EA spokesman explained to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“No player data has been stolen and we have no reason to believe that there is any risk to the protection of player privacy.”, I wanted to reassure this spokesperson. “As a result of this incident, we have already improved our security and we do not expect that there will be any impact on our games or our business. ” EA cleared “Actively collaborate with the police and other experts in the framework of this ongoing criminal investigation”.
Data for sale on the dark web
According to Vice, hackers bragged about their attack on underground Internet forums. “You now have the full capacity to operate all of EA’s services.”, we could read in a message posted on one of these platforms. Cybercriminals have put the stolen data up for sale on various spaces on the dark web, the clandestine version of the internet, it says. Vice.
This attack follows a wave of piracy in the United States in recent months that targeted, among others, industrial groups, hospitals, government institutions and associations.
It also takes place a few days before the famous international video game fair E3 in which EA must participate. The event, which will take place entirely online this year, begins on Saturday.
Introvert. Beer guru. Communicator. Travel fanatic. Web advocate. Certified alcohol geek. Tv buff. Subtly charming internet aficionado.


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By Everett Brazil, III
The Newkirk Herald Journal
NEWKIRK — Curtis Grace is standing behind the counter on a cold morning Jan. 20 at Grit and Grace Outdoors, a hunting, fishing and overall outdoor facility he owns with son, Jason. The walls and racks are lined with outdoor products for the public, some manufactured in Newkirk. It is only two days after the Graces were recognized by the Chamber of Commerce as the Business of the Year, a distinction they were not prepared for.
“I was astounded when (we) received the award. I’m very proud,” he said.
Newkirk residents and community supporters chose Grit and Grace Outdoors as the Business of the Year.
Grit and Grace Outdoors has served the community for only a few years, opening their doors Sept. 5, 2019. It is the fulfillment of a family’s love of the outdoors. Curtis previously served as general manager of Two Rivers Coop, Newkirk. Jason works as a cowboy on a cattle ranch south of Ponca City, and Spencer is the award-winning game warden serving Kay County for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
The facility first opened in the 1970s as Blackjack Baits. When it went up for sale, Curtis saw it as new opportunity for retirement, or maybe a way to come out of a brief retirement.
“My whole love has always been for the outdoors,” Curtis said.
As a bait and tackle shop, fishing takes up the bulk of offerings at Grit and Grace Outdoors, from live and artificial bait to rods and reels and tackle boxes, along with locally-produced baits, Sugar Booger Baits, made by the Grace family, and Atomic Baits, from Kyle Moberly.
Sugar Booger Baits was formally known as Illusion Lures, and was sold through major companies like Bass Pro Shop and Cabela’s. They recently purchased the product line and brought it back home to Newkirk, where it lines racks at the store. It will soon be available through their Web site when it is online, he said.
“We purchased the company within a year of buying the store, and started putting it on the shelves last year,” Curtis said. “With Atomic Baits, we’re very excited Kyle was doing plastic lures, so we decided to put it in our store.”
Hunting equipment is also available, such as ammo, vests, targets and archery equipment.
They also have an archery pro shop to repair all varieties of archery equipment, or simply fine-tune a bow as hunting season approaches.
“We felt like it was needed in our area,” Curtis said. “There are very few archery shops out there. Most archers would have to go a long way to have their bows fixes,” Curtis said.
Camping and outdoor cooking equipment is also available.
Having an outdoor store locally is important, partly because outdoor enthusiasts around Newkirk can keep money local while procuring quality equipment, without leaving town. It is also beneficial for those going to area lakes, especially Kaw Lake, only a few miles downstream.
“This is important for Kaw Lake, only four and a half miles out of town, and for locals and people who are from out of state, because we feel like outdoor equipment needs to be available for people going out the the lake,” Curtis said.
It is also a good learning experience for youth to get outside, and to create shared family experiences, something the Grace family knows well.
“Our heart of being outdoors can be lost if we don’t get people interested in the outdoors, and the memories that can be made with it,” he said. “Memories are the most important.”
Grit and Grace outdoors is open open 7 a.m. – 6 p.m. Wednesday – Saturday. For more information, call (580) 362-1016 or e-mail Jasonr.firstname.lastname@example.org.


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The Future. Influential fashion publication Highsnobiety is opening its first permanent retail store in Berlin on March 1st that’ll “bring all our digital projects to life,” according to CEO David Fisher. Considering that brand partnerships are one of the biggest revenue drivers of Highsnobiety, more retail brands may focus on curating experiences to sell products.
Like its online store, Highsnobiety’s Berlin shop will have products from up to 100 different brands across luxury, streetwear, and beauty… and it also wants to be a hub of fashion experiences.
- It’ll have numerous activations, including launches of the brand’s print magazine, brand-sponsored parties, and events for designers and local cultural leaders.
- It’ll also do collabs around high-profile events in the city, including Berlin Art Week and the European Football Championships.
Highsnobiety believes that the community events will attract top brands to treat the store as the launchpad for products that connect with fashion and streetwear diehards.


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In a season where real creativity was forced to fight for space amidst a glut of sameness, BoF brings you our Top 10 Shows of the Season.
BoF founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed looks back at the Autumn/Winter 2014 season.
PARIS, France — Today, contributing photographer Sonny Vandevelde looks back at Paris Fashion Week with backstage images from the Chloé, Anthony Vaccarello, Lanvin, Dior, Dries Van Noten, Manish Arora, Alexander McQueen, Kenzo and Givenchy shows.
Sonny Vandevelde brings us behind-the-scenes shots from Paris menswear week.
In town for the Flanders Fashion Institute’s “Fashion Talks” conference, Imran Amed reflects on the fashion ecosystem that has taken root in Antwerp.
PARIS, France — Today, contributing photographer Sonny Vandevelde brings us backstage imagery from the Anthony Vaccarello, Dries van Noten, Damir Doma, Manish Arora, Balmain, Rick Owens, Lanvin, Dior, Acne and Stella McCartney shows at Paris Fashion Week.
Eugene Rabkin reports from the celebrations held to mark the 350th anniversary of Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the 50th anniversary of its storied fashion department.
PARIS, France — Today, our contributing photographer Sonny Vandevelde files backstage imagery from Rick Owens, Louis Vuitton, Dries van Noten, 3.1 Phillip Lim and Hommes Femmes on day two of Paris Men's Fashion Week.
PARIS, France — Straight from Paris, BoF’s contributing photographer Sonny Vandevelde brings us backstage imagery from the Anthony Vaccarello, Damir Doma, Dries van Noten, Felipe Oliveira Baptista, Gareth Pugh, Mugler, Manish Arora, Balmain, Rick Owens and Lanvin shows, held on the first and second days of Paris Fashion Week.
PARIS, France — As the Paris menswear shows concluded on Sunday evening with Hedi Slimane’s menswear debut for Saint Laurent, some notable figures in the crowd of menswear buyers and editors quietly grumbled that this was a lacklustre season. But as always, the enterprising Sonny Vandevelde was backstage to capture those off-the-cuff moments that can make even a ho-hum fashion week feel a bit more exciting. Standout shows
Mario Testino interview: the man who makes models super (Observer) “At 57, the world’s most prolific magazine photographer is just getting started. It’s only 15 years, after all, since his career exploded in the wake of his 1997 Vanity Fair shoot with Diana, Princess of Wales. In 2010 he shot the engagement photos of Wills and Kate, and it’s entirely conceivable that, should the time come, he’ll


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Got something against other people, but want to save the planet? Then chucking bottles at New York's "Glassphemy!" installation is for you.Throwing bottles into recycling bins is not new, but throwing them at people at the same time is.Eco-minded artists in a gritty area near Brooklyn's notoriously polluted Gowanus Canal have set up a tower-shaped container made of bullet-proof glass and metal frames that allows visitors to do just that.Guests -- allowed by invitation only -- are encouraged to stand on a high platform and hurl bottles down against the glass wall.
TORONTO — Ontario’s Health Ministry is warning consumers to steer clear of bottled water manufactured by a Caledon-based company.
It says samples taken from Blue Glass Water Co. Ltd.’s products have been found to be ”heavily contaminated with bacteria.”
The province’s chief medical officer, Dr. Arlene King, is also warning businesses not to serve water from the company, which is also known as Caledon Clear Water Corp.
GLASS purchaser and recycler Reuse Glass is set to upgrade its sorting and treatment plants following a new £15m finance agreement.Reuse Glass acquired Berryman in 2000, which was founded more than 90...
THE UK\'s only dedicated drinks carton recycling facility opens in Yorkshire today.Minister for resource management Lord de Mauley will officially unveil the plant in Stainland near Halifax.Capable of...
Jacob, a loyal MR reader, asks me:
When I last visited New York City, I was annoyed that most restaurants there do not offer free refills on soft drinks. Why is this? An easy answer is that it is due to the fact that most restaurants do not have soda fountains, but this explanation is unsatisfying as it does not explain the underutilization of soda fountains. In Europe it has been suggested previously on the blog that this phenomenon is due to high taxes on sugar, etc. but I do not think this applies in NYC.


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BERLIN (Reuters) – German firms should cut their dependence on the Chinese market, a leading industry group says in a strategy paper that underscores rising concern over Beijing’s state-driven economic model, according to a draft seen by Reuters.
For in depth analysis of Cambodian Business, visit Capital Cambodia
The 25-page China position paper from the Federation of German Industries (BDI), due to be published in January, argues that a long-promised opening of the Chinese market is unlikely to take place and voices concern about rising Communist party control over society and the economy.
Entitled “Partner and Systemic Competitor – How to cope with China’s state-driven economic model?”, the paper makes clear that firms cannot afford to turn their backs on China.
But, in an unusual step, it urges them to reassess their presence there, while offering numerous recommendations for the German government and European Union.
The BDI is Germany’s main business lobby group and while its proposals do not always translate directly into policy, they carry significant weight.
“Despite the attractiveness of the Chinese market, it will be increasingly important for companies to closely examine the risks of their engagement in China and to minimize their dependence by diversifying supply chains, production sites and sales markets,” the draft reads. It is currently being vetted by BDI members and the text could change before publication.
Bilateral trade between Germany and China hit a record 188 billion euros last year. And big German firms, notably carmakers like Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW, depend heavily on the fast-growing Chinese market.


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We love big brother, says Aston Martin boss Lawrence Stroll
Aston Martin needed a “big brother” like Mercedes-Benz to help to turn it around, the Canadian billionaire leading the British carmaker has said.
Lawrence Stroll told The Times CEO Summit that the deal Aston Martin had struck last October with Daimler, the German owner of Mercedes, had been “transformative” for the Warwickshire-based manufacturer.
Under the agreement, Daimler will boost its stake in Aston Martin to as much as 20 per cent in stages to become the group’s biggest shareholder behind Stroll. In return, it has given the British company access to Mercedes-Benz technology, including for hybrid and electric drive systems.
“A company of this size needs a big brother — to think they don’t is wrong,” Stroll said.
Daimler was already a small shareholder in


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She was joined by an entourage of more than 30 people, including dancers and band members.
Steven McLeod, chief executive of the Aurora Hotel Collection which owns the hotel in Spittal Street, said his aim was to put Stirling on the map.
He said: “She wanted peace and quiet and that’s why she came to us.
“She is a really nice person.
“It is a great accolade for us and shows that she appreciates good service and quality from what is a brand new hotel.”
And retail assistant Fiona Sinclair, who works at the Stirling Whisky Shop next door to the hotel, got a surprise visit from one of the band members.
Kylie’s keyboard player visited the store to buy a bottle of whisky and ended up giving Fiona two VIP passes to the Glasgow concert.
She said: “He came in for a look round the shop and said he’d try and get me on the guest list.
“At about 6pm he sent me a text and I took my husband along.
“We had front row tickets.”
And Fiona added: “ It was a good show with a huge set.”
Have a go at our entertainment quiz


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Volkswagen has recalled 1.5 million diesel cars due to a possible engine defect in the latest batch of its latest models.
The automaker has since taken the cars off sale, and said customers will receive a full refund.
The recall covers models that were manufactured between April 1, 2018 and March 31, 2019.
The company said the problem arose because of an electrical circuit failure.
Volkswagen said that, due to the circuit failure, a faulty component may have been installed on the engine, potentially causing the engine to fail, and in doing so, possibly resulting in a premature combustion.
The cars will be recalled for a full replacement or repair, depending on the reason for the recall.
Volkswagen is asking that customers notify it if they have any questions.


text: The first mass-produced electric vehicles ever sold in the United States will begin to hit auto show rooms by the end of this year. The Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt already have tens of thousands of pre-orders. Until now, electric cars had been the domain of small groups of tech hobbyists and hard core environmentalists. But how feasible are they for everyday drivers? Take a drive with Andrea Kissack and find out.


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Drinks giant Pernod Ricard has been suffering from massive losses in its Indian operations because its brands have not been available in the national capital, New Delhi, for the past six months. It is due to the delay in its licence application for the Delhi city regulatory authority, which hasn’t been approved yet. Since August 2022, when the application was made, Pernod has been left out of city’s bars and liquor stores. The issues have also led to a significant decrease in the company’s market share and revenues.
Pernod Ricard is a French spirits group and alcoholic beverages company with popular brands like Chivas Regal, Blenders Pride, 100 Pipers and Absolut vodka. As a key growth market, the company has been facing regulatory challenges in India for months. It is currently facing $250 million tax demand for importing undervalued products, and a federal investigation for alleged violations of Delhi city’s liquor policy in 2021.
Mayank Bhatt is the CEO of Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality which runs restaurants and eateries like Social and Smoke House Deli, and he explained the lack of Pernod’s brands in the city has been a huge setback for consumers and businesses. With the absence of their favorite good, customers have had to settle for lesser known and lower premium brands, which affects their guest experience.
The Delhi High Court has asked the local government to decide within two weeks on whether it will issue the license to Pernod Ricard. Both Pernod and customers across India await the decision to see if Pernod will once again be available across the country.


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U.S. food prices have been rising in the last year, but it seems the growth is only just beginning. A sharp jump in commodities' prices this year will soon result in sticker shock for American consumers.
Large food companies have recently announced that they will raise the prices they charge grocery retailers for commodities-based products. For example, a chocolate bar will cost more soon: Hershey last week announced a 10% increase for most of its confectionery goods.
Of course, straightforward price hikes could cause consumers to buy less of those products or to choose less costly store brands. So in many cases, food companies are trying a different tactic: Keeping the price of an item the same while decreasing the amount of food in the package. The company recoups the costs of the rise in commodities and hopes consumers don't notice that they're getting less of the product for the same price.
Food companies have no obligation to tell customers about the smaller packages, but may suffer a backlash from consumers who notice how the packaging trick works. Here are some of the shrinking products that you might notice in your grocery aisles:
Company: Kellogg (K)
Commodities: corn, wheat, sugar
Size Reduction: roughly 15%, or 2.4 ounces, on average
Kellogg, which makes cereal such as Apple Jacks and Corn Pops, has passed higher grain costs on to consumers. In 2008, the company reduced the amount of cereal in its boxes by an average of 2.4 ounces. And in February, the company announced that it will raise the price of its cereals 3% to 4%. According to a U.S. Agriculture Department report in March, "higher wheat commodity costs should begin to affect cereal and bakery product prices over the next few months, causing prices to rise 3.5% to 4.5% overall in 2011."
Commodities: cocoa, dairy, nuts
Size Reduction: 11%, or 0.41 ounces
Supposedly in response to pleas from obesity activists, the Mars Company split their "King Size" Snickers bar in half so that it could be more easily shared between two people. What calls the nobility of the company's intentions into question is that, in addition to making the cut, Mars also reduced the total amount of candy in each package from 3.7ounces to 3.29 ounces -- an 11% decrease -- while keeping the price the same.
Commodities: frozen orange juice concentrate, gasoline
Size Reduction: 8%, or 5 ounces
A series of prolonged frosts last year sent citrus prices up 11.5% and drove up the price of frozen orange-juice concentrate to several-year highs. Meanwhile, the cost of transporting the concentrate has gone up as gas prices have increased. In response, Tropicana has made two adjustments: It increased the price of its gallon jugs by 5-8% and stealthily reduced the size of its half-gallon cartons from 64 ounces to 59 ounces. This 5-ounce reduction represents nearly an 8% decrease in size.
General Mills (GIS)
Commodity: dairy, sugar, cocoa
Size Reduction: 12.5%, or 2 fluid ounces
The luxury-ice-cream company reduced the size of its standard container to significantly less than a pint, cutting it 12.5% from 16 fluid ounces to 14 fluid ounces. To make the smaller package less obvious, the company cleverly kept the top the same size, so it looks identical from above, but tapers dramatically in the middle. Haagen-Dazs's cheaper brands, Edy's and Breyer's, have cut their portions as well. Daily prices increased just over 1% in 2010, but are expected to rise as much as 5.5% in 2011.
Chicken of the Sea Tuna
Company: Thai Union Group
Size Reduction: 17%, or 1 ounce
Chicken of the Sea's albacore tuna, previously sold in 6-ounce cans, now comes in 5-ounce cans. Rising tuna prices amid a worldwide shortage of the fish are partly to blame. Other tuna brands also have shrunk their can sizes, a trend which has been going on for years. Just over a decade ago, tuna was most commonly sold in 7-ounce cans.
Company: PepsiCo (PEP)
Commodity: wheat, corn, potatoes
Size Reduction: 12.5% - 20%
With all the air included in chips packaging, it is easy for manufacturers to reduce the amount of chips in the bags without drawing attention. PepsiCo reduced the Lay's "Family Size" potato-chip bag from 16 ounces to 14 ounces in 2009. Bags of Doritos, Tostitos, and Fritos now contain 20% fewer chips than they did in 2009, according to The New York Times. Even smaller bags have been reduced by a quarter of an ounce. Rising gain prices have driven the changes.
Saltines and Graham Crackers
Company: Kraft Foods (KFT)
Commodity: wheat, salt
Size Reduction: 15%
Earlier this year, Kraft introduced its "Fresh Stacks" packages for Nabisco Premium saltines and Honey Maid Graham crackers. The packages contain a higher number of smaller cracker sleeves, meant to do a better job of preserving freshness and making the crackers more portable. The entire "Fresh Stacks" boxes contain 15% percent fewer crackers than the original packages, however, and cost the same amount. Kraft is, undoubtedly, being hit by rising grain prices. "Fresh Stacks" may be one of the company's ways of passing costs on to consumers.
Company: The Hershey Co. (HSY)
Commodity: cocoa, dairy, peanuts
Size Reduction: 37%, or 0.1 ounces
Cocoa futures have more than doubled in the past three years, hurting chocolate companies. The Hershey Co. has just increased its wholesale prices by 9.7% across its entire product line. Its also introduced new Reese's "Minis," which are smaller than the classic Reese's "Miniatures" and cost more, according to The New York Times. Through FreshDirect, Minis cost $4.59 for an 8-ounce bag, while Miniatures cost $4.49 for 12 ounces. In other words, the Minis cost $0.57 an ounce while Miniatures cost $0.37 an ounce.
Company: Procter & Gamble (PG)
Size Reduction: 7.2%, or 10 sheets
Since June 2010, lumber futures have increased more than 80%. The cost of manufacturing paper products has gone up as well, and companies are reducing the size of paper-based products -- like toilet paper, moist towelettes and paper towels -- as a result. Proctor & Gamble recently cut the size of its Bounty 2-ply paper towel rolls from 138 sheets to 128 sheets. The company attempted to mask this change by advertising the roll as "25% thicker." Despite the increased thickness, the package reportedly weighs less. Proctor and Gamble competitor Kimberly-Clark has also reduced the size of its "Scott" paper-towel rolls.
Company: H.J. Heinz (HNZ)
Commodity: tomatoes, sugar, salt, corn
Size Reduction: 11%, or 4 ounces
The cost of wholesale tomatoes more than tripled last year from the previous year, according to the USDA, and prices are expected to grow another 10% this year. In response, Pittsburgh-based ketchup and condiment company Heinz has cut the portions of several key products, including its flagship Heinz 57 sauce, which now comes in a 4-ounce smaller package with no reduction in price.
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Rewarding Staff In The Covid Era
9th March 2021
Employers are putting local at the heart of their incentive and rewards strategies in the pandemic era, suggests fintech Miconex. The Scottish firm received over £440,000 in corporate orders for its local Town and City Gift Card programmes in the UK and Ireland in 2020.
When the pandemic hit, the impact on employee benefits and rewards was swift with a May 2020 Willis Towers Watson report suggesting that two-fifths of employers had made, or planned to make, changes to their benefits programme as a result of Covid-19.
The report also found that half of employers believed Covid would have a moderate to large impact on employee wellbeing, including physical and emotional health, social connections and financial wellbeing. Fast forward to 2021, and 42% of employers say their health and wellbeing programmes need to change to support the changing needs of their employees.
One of the companies rewarding staff with a local gift card is ingredients manufacturer and solutions provider to the global flavour, fragrance and consumer goods markets Treatt, who cite the economic and societal impact of the pandemic as a pull factor to purchasing a Bury St Edmunds gift card for each of its 200 employees.
"There has never been a more pressing time to support local and thank staff for their work during the pandemic," said Executive PA Chloe Ludkin. "As a manufacturing business, many teams have still been on-site developing products for our international customer base with enhanced social distancing measures and systems like contact logs. Some staff have been working from home, which they were not familiar with, and at first, it was a big change. Staff wellbeing was and continues to be a priority.
"The Bury St Edmunds card can be spent with over 50 businesses in the area, and the choice is diverse. It meets the needs of our staff members who range from school leavers to people who have been with us for over 40 years. Rewarding staff with a local gift card ties in well with our culture of community support. Staff were really pleased with the gift card. They'd worked so hard and deserved a treat."
Town and City Gift Cards can be spent like local currency in a particular town or city, on retail, leisure, services and hospitality. After rapid expansion in 2020, a Town and City Gift Card programme exists in each of the 12 regions of the UK and Ireland- a total of 59 programmes in February 2021. The highest concentration of programmes in a region is currently Scotland, where the Town and City Gift Cards programme originated, with 17 active programmes.
In Scotland, recruitment specialist TMM Recruitment Ltd used the newly launched Aberdeen Gift Card as a festive thank you to staff. Managing director Amanda McCulloch said it was a way to surprise staff at the end of a tough year:
"Reward and recognition are important elements of the culture at TMM Recruitment. Usually, at the end of the year, we host a peer to peer awards event to celebrate the year's successes. As that couldn't happen we decided to show our appreciation for staff and support local businesses at the same time.
"The pandemic has caused us to become more locally-focused in society. With so many people working from home there's a greater appreciation for local retailers and hospitality businesses. In the run-up to the Aberdeen Gift Card launching in our city, there was a real sense of community spirit. Everyone thinks the scheme is fabulous and staff were delighted by the gesture. The gift card is accessible no matter your age, interest, stage of life, or even if you want to treat someone else, you can."
Over £1.9 million was spent through Town and City Gift Cards in 2020, evidencing the societal shift towards local shopping and local communities. The choice and added wellbeing offering was a factor for Salisbury Medical Practice who rewarded staff including nurses and health professionals with a Salisbury Gift Card in 2020.
"We wanted a way to thank our staff for their incredibly hard work during this year while also showing our support for the businesses of Salisbury, and encouraging people to shop locally," said Dr Rebecca Seabridge, managing GP partner from Salisbury Medical Practice. "Giving our staff the Salisbury Gift Card means they can choose what to spend their thank you gift on. Perhaps a nice meal to look forward to when restrictions allow, a new outfit or haircut. It could even pay for their next dental check-up or go towards new glasses or a bike. We were impressed by the variety of options the Salisbury Gift Card offers.
Colin Munro is the managing director of Miconex and believes that employee benefits and rewards strategies will continue to evolve as a result of the pandemic:
"The UK economy shrank by a record 9.9% last year and it brought huge change and uncertainty for workers, it's natural that employee rewards have adapted to reflect this. Small businesses are really struggling. Many employers are choosing to reward staff with local gift cards that take into account the unique environment the pandemic has created. Most of our corporate orders were for over £500 as employers were able to take advantage of the UK trivial benefits scheme, enabling them to gift each employee a tax-free benefit of up to £50. In Ireland, the small benefit exemption is €500 per employee.
"As well as employers rewarding staff at traditional times, like Christmas, we're also starting to see local gift cards being used to reward staff throughout the year. In Sunderland, we've seen gift cards purchased to reward staff for overtime worked or sales targets achieved. As we move into a new stage in the pandemic, I expect to see even more different uses of local gift cards, to help staff stay motivated and feel rewarded in these unusual times, whilst supporting local businesses that really need our help."
This release was written by Miconex, the company that developed the UK's first city-wide gift card programme and works with towns and cities across the UK, helping to support successful local economies. It has been published by HR News and Employer News.


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Whirlpool Corporation completed its acquisition of a majority interest (51%) in Hefei Rongshida Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., a home appliances manufacturer in Hefei, China.
The company will be renamed Whirlpool China Co., Ltd. and will remain listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Jeff Fettig, Whirlpool Corp. chairman and CEO, said Whirlpool is “confident that this investment will accelerate Whirlpool’s profitable growth in the very important Chinese appliance market.
He noted that Whirlpool has been in China for more than 20 years.
Whirlpool said Hefei Sanyo’s management team has a proven record of driving growth and profitability. Hefei Sanyo also has an established distribution network with more than 30,000 outlets in China—its significant presence in rural markets will complement Whirlpool’s presence in China’s higher-tier cities. Whirlpool said it will also gain manufacturing scale and a competitive cost structure in the city of Hefei.
Whirlpool said its ability to consolidate operations offers strong synergies. Whirlpool plans to provide technical, marketing, and product development, which, along with Hefei Sanyo’s sales execution and operational strengths, will support a new phase of development.
Hefei Sanyo was established on 1994 and is headquartered in Hefei, Anhui Province, China. Hefei Sanyo reported 2013 revenue of $864 million and net earnings of $59 million.
The company has about 14,000 employees under Chairman Jin Youhua. Three manufacturing lines make washing machines, refrigerators, and microwave ovens. Its appliances are sold under brand names Sanyo, Rongshida /Royal Star, and Diqua. The company has been listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange since July 2004 (Ticker: 600983).
The company’s other major shareholder is Hefei State-owned Assets Holding Co., Ltd., which holds 23.34%.


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World-first space sharing platform from Australia, spacenow.com, has simply signed a local collaboration arrangement with Dubai's SEED Group, a team of diversified companies possessed and chaired by the Exclusive Workplace of Sheikh Saeed container Ahmed Al Maktoum. Leading the finalizing was Hisham Al Gurg, CEO of the Exclusive Office of Sheikh Saeed bin Ahmed Al Maktoum and SEED Group.
Spacenow is a platform that enables building and also site owners to trigger as well as monetise their underutilised area - from studios as well as yards, to wall space as well as occasion places-- and also makes it possible for business owners and companies to gain access to that room on a long- or temporary basis, from as low as just one hour. It was developed in November 2016 by four Australian entrepreneurs in the real estate, modern technology, money, as well as creative industries: Daniel Gunning, Barrett Ovens, Baydr Strik, and also Nick Leary. The firm was birthed to satisfy the needs of the fast-moving, turbulent world of the sharing economy - a $100 billion market that is approximated to more than triple to reach $330 billion in 2025  Spacenow now operates in 52 cities internationally.
“We are delighted with the partnership we have founded with SEED Group Dubai to establish Spacenow’s Dubai office and roll out our expansion plan throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This will become the first multi-space, short-term rental platform in the region and we are very eager to start operation,” said Daniel Gunning, Spacenow’s CEO and Founder.
" The UAE and indeed the entire region has a fantastic variety of spaces and places simply waiting to be activated. We are happy to partner with Spacenow and support this distinct system. It is a clever effort and also weds well with Dubai's ambition to be a model city of the future, as well as to proceed attracting advancement as well as entrepreneurship to our city as well as our country. Currently, there is no short-term multi-space rental platform readily available, regardless of the expanding variety of top international businesses based in the area and the flourishing number of regional startups and also entrepreneurs," stated Hisham Al Gurg, CEO of the Exclusive Office of Sheikh Saeed bin Ahmed Al Maktoum and also SEED Team.
Already 1 million people  worldwide use co-working areas and by 2020, it is anticipated that 40 percent  of the workforce will be consultants, entrepreneurs, or independent professionals. But regardless of the substantial number of offices resting vacant yearly, there is inadequate easily rentable space online to fulfill their demands.
The new partnership announced today covers Dubai as well as Abu Dhabi as top priority markets, widening to the whole MENA area, as well as contributes to the initial capital raised by Spacenow, which led to the soft launch of the worldwide system in January 2018.
Dubai's SEED Team initially recognised the massive potential of the Spacenow platform while the UAE was intending the upcoming Dubai 2020 Expo. “For the first time, a platform like Spacenow will give businesses travelling to the UAE the ability to rent office and desk space by the hour, day, week, or month. Spacenow’s business model is solid. It addresses a gap in the market and we are excited to see them expand,” says Al Gurg.
Along with workplaces, Spacenow also enables users to activate any type of underutilised area, from studios and gardens, to wall space and also occasion places.
SEED Team's collaboration will additionally assist in the launch of the Spacenow App and the NOW Incubator Program - Spacenow's proprietary incubation program - which will aid business owners expand their organisations.
" The opportunity to monetise area is restricted only by creativity. Imagine renting out the wall surfaces of your retailer or entrance hall to an artist, or sharing your storehouse, or leasing your building's yard for a brand-new product launch. With Spacenow you can list any kind of possession for rent by the hr, day, week, month or year. If you are a brand-new as well as creating style brand you can set up a pop-up store in several one-of-a-kind areas throughout the city. The Spacenow system uses unique flexibility, availability and price of preferable rooms to function, play or remain in." stated Gunning.
Spacenow will move its system into the blockchain in the coming months - this enhances Dubai Government's search to end up being the globe's very first blockchain-powered government by 2020. The relocate to the blockchain indicates a truly decentralised platform for room sharing that will certainly provide individuals, the possibility to monetise on underutilised room as well as be creative about it.
The blockchain will certainly also make the Spacenow system completely safe and secure and also clear. Using Ethereum ERC20 clever agreements, Spacenow will certainly deal with the troubles related to short-term sharing, such as lawful issues, agreements, repayments, and also disagreements, all promoted on the blockchain, payment cost-free. This leaves the customers totally free to trigger their areas in brand-new and also cutting-edge ways.
" Our decentralised version enables concepts as well as services to world troubles to flow in ways the standard economic situation simply could not support. Thanks for visiting the brand-new age of Activated-Spaces, the Spacenow Economic climate. Joint as well as shared area is the future, but there is no decentralised marketplace bringing hosts and also visitors with each other without a middle man." states Gunning.
Pictured from delegated right.
Front row: Hisham Al Gurg, CEO SEED Group; Daniel Gunning, CEO and Founder Spacenow
Back row: Osama Smadi, Senior Manager-International Ventures SEED Group; Mohamed Al Banna, Senior Director - International Ventures SEED Group; Nick Leary, Chief Creative Officer and Founder Spacenow; Baydr Strik, Chief Financial Officer and Founder Spacenow; Barrett Ovens, Chief Technical Officer and Founder Spacenow; Karim El Sarki, Director of Investments SEED Group


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Set The Table, Eat Less
Set the table: using real dinnerware makes you feel like you’ve eaten a full meal, so you might snack less at other times.
In a Cornell study, people who ate from paper plates with plastic utensils tended to consider their food just a snack. Though they took in 485kJ fewer kilojoules than the “real plate” group did, the scientists said they’d probably eat another meal later. “The environment tremendously influences how much we eat,” says study coauthor Dr Collin Payne.


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The GameStick launched earlier in the month as a Kickstarter campaign and quickly captured some attention. The game console quickly rose above the $100,000 goal and is currently sitting at $274,864 with another 22 days left. To be specific, they actually reached that $100k goal in about 30 hours. So with the initial goal being meet — what is a company to do to attract some additional attention.
That question can probably be answered in numerous ways, however in the case of GameStick, they will be offering additional features and perks as they reach certain dollar amounts. In fact, GameStick now has goal amounts set at $320k, $450k and $560K. Additionally, those who have already backed the campaign will be able to chip in another $10 to get a carry case.
That bit aside though, lets get into what will come if the campaign reaches these new goal levels. The $320K level will bring an additional color — black. The GameStick is currently going to ship in white. Given the campaign is currently sitting at about $275k, this goal seems pretty likely.
Moving up and we have the $450k level. This level will bring yet another additional color. This color will be picked based on popular vote. Backers will be able to register their vote on the GameStick Facebook page. The colors include gunmetal gray, dark blue, orange, pink, light green and Famicon gold/red. Finally, the $560k level means a memory card slot. Specifically, a microSD card slot for additional storage while on the go.


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In the latest deal underscoring Nielsen’s digital reach, online video platform Videology will integrate Nielsen’s Online Campaign Ratings into its tools to reach audiences online in a more targeted fashion. The deal is one of the latest Nielsen has struck with a vendor and can help advertisers gain a more granular look into online measurement, says Andrew Feigenson, Senior VP Ad Platforms and Networks at the Nielsen Company during an interview with Ashley Swartz, at the Beet.TV Leadership Summit on Big Data.
Online Campaign Ratings have the potential to become integral on the media planning side, Feigenson says, because they can be used to build predictability into finding the right audiences. “You see this on TV — people don’t just buy on GRP. They buy on other things like buying behavior, so when they figure out what to pay for a spot they are looking at what the return is. So I think over time we will see similar metrics come out of online,” he says. He adds that online and TV buying are coming together quickly, and next he expects marketers to apply performance metrics and big data to understand whether different types of creative are working. “Advertisers need feedback. They need a loop to give them feedback on what’s working in creative,” he tells us.
Videology said that in early testing, its new targeting tool generated a 336% lift against the targeted demo, according to Nielsen’s Online Campaign Ratings.
Also working with Nielsen on the project is Adap.tv, see this story in Mediapost.


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Toronto’s CarltonOne creates new eCommerce and Engagement divisions as the company readies for the launch of its new global PaaS solution.
— Rob Purdy, Founder & CEO
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, January 31, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — CarltonOne Engagement, recognized as one of the top 50 most inspiring workplaces in North America, today announces senior leadership changes in preparation for launching the revolutionary new CarltonOne Platform in Spring 2024, and the reorganization of its core business into two divisions:
• A new CarltonOne eCommerce team helps our partners and clients seamlessly conduct online transactions for anything, anywhere. With over 10 million rewards, our eCommerce store can be customized for maximum choice or curated for targeted campaigns. Flexible payment options enable friction-free checkout with Points, Credits, Cash, and Financial Services around the world.
• A new CarltonOne Engagement team is responsible for helping our global partners and clients build and manage extraordinary employee recognition, sales & channel incentive and customer loyalty programs, incorporating our eCommerce rewards features.
In anticipation of this reorganization, we are thrilled to announce the following key leadership promotions:
• Adam Small, a 9-year veteran of CarltonOne, has been promoted to Executive Vice President Global Client Success, leading the unified Client Success teams in our new eCommerce and Engagement divisions. Adam served previously as Vice President Global Reward Solutions.
• Kevin Mertens, who joined CarltonOne in 2008, has been promoted to Vice President, Engagement. Kevin will lead our new 16-person Engagement division that designs and implements programs for partners and direct clients internationally.
• Melanie Corasaniti, an 8-year CarltonOne Client Success team member, has been promoted to Vice President, eCommerce, from Director of GRS Client Success. Melanie will enable our global partners to create and integrate powerful eCommerce and Rewards solutions.
• Ken Welch, an 11-year CarltonOne Sales executive, has been promoted to Senior Director, Global Client Success for Channel Sales. In this pivotal role, Ken will help evangelize how the new CarltonOne Platform can empower channel partners to grow their business.
• Kensel Tracy has joined CarltonOne as Global Gifting Product Manager to grow our innovative GCodes technology and expand our gifting products to more countries.
• Paul Joyce has been promoted to Vice President of Marketing, leading an internal Design and Marketing team building global campaigns that engage our clients, partners, members and vendors. Paul joined CarltonOne in 2019, serving most recently as our Director of Marketing.
• Andrew Kotowick recently joined CarltonOne as our Director of Global Training to enrich our partner and client Knowledge Center and create the CarltonOne University to accelerate learning.
“As we launch our new CarltonOne PaaS solution globally, we are refocusing our business into two core divisions — eCommerce and Engagement,” CarltonOne founder and CEO Rob Purdy said. “Our new unified Client Success team, and strengthened Sales and Marketing divisions, prepare us to bring our Platform to market in Spring 2024. The CarltonOne Platform will enable companies to grow their ecommerce and engagement businesses faster and further with new tools, financial services, training, a developer center, marketplace and much more.”
CarltonOne offers the world’s most powerful engagement platform for creating B2B employee recognition, customer loyalty, rewards, and sales/channel incentive programs. Recognized as one of the top 50 most inspiring workplaces in North America, CarltonOne helps our partners and clients operate programs with over 10 million rewards in over 185 countries. Every transaction on our platform fuels our Evergrow sustainability mission to fight climate change with a unique eco-action business model that is funding the planting of millions of trees every year. For more information, visit carltonone.com
Paul Joyce, VP Marketing