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Thousands of travel agents across New Zealand and Australia will be able to share their views on sustainability and responsible travel through an industry survey sent to members yesterday afternoon by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).
A Sydney-based cruise executive who offered to help Kiwi regional tourism offices and local operators spread a positive message around their communities is likely to get a few calls in coming weeks.
The need to dispel negative perceptions of cruise in some of the public was a much touched on topic during the New Zealand Cruise Association conference in Auckland last week.
The number of passengers who have sailed worldwide since ocean cruise operations resumed last year has now passed three million people, while governments in Australia and New Zealand are still yet to agree on plans for a local revival.
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) managing director Australasia Joel Katz notes cruising has resumed in 52 countries worldwide and that Australasia remains one of the only major cruise regions where governments had not progressed plans for resumption.
‘Worldwide, more than 70% of CLIA cruise line ocean-going ships are back in operation and we expect that figure to reach 80% in December,’ Katz says. ‘This shows the effectiveness of the cruise industry’s new health protocols introduced in response to the global pandemic.
Travel advisors should plan to prioritise loyal customers when people are able to travel again, a presenter at the CLIA Cruise Forum webinars said last week.
Michael Londregan, senior vice-president global operations of Virtuoso, was one of many speakers who noted that overseas experience indicated a rush to travel advisors when borders opened. Ironically this could cause problems considering the huge reduction in staff that travel businesses now have.
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) managing director Australasia Joel Katz says this is the only major cruise region in the world not making progress towards revival after the Canadian Government announced it had brought forward the end of its cruise suspension to 1 November 2021.
Canada’s plans to revive cruise tourism place it alongside other destinations including the US, UK, Europe and parts of Asia where cruising has already resumed under stringent new health protocols and testing regimes.
It is too early to write off cruising in 2020-21 and the industry is still working towards making it happen, a Cruise Line Industry Association (CLIA) media conference reiterated this week.
‘Nothing is guaranteed. But we’ve got weeks and months to engage with authorities on this,’ says Gavin Smith, chair of CLIA Australasia.
A stepped approach to restarting cruising could begin with cruises to nowhere and then extend out to domestic and regional cruising, the wider industry and affiliates heard at a webinar this week.
Hosted by New Zealand Cruise Association (NZCA), the webinar featured Joel Katz, managing director of the Cruise Lines Industry Association Australasia, and was moderated by NZCA chairperson Debbie Summers. It attracted port operators, hoteliers, ground operators, regional tourism representatives, South Pacific tourism operators and more.
The New Zealand Cruise Association (NZCA) has called for the cruise industry to share stories about why cruise is important.
‘Talk to anybody and everybody using whatever media, social media outlet you are comfortable with,’ says CEO Kevin O’Sullivan. ‘The cruise industry in New Zealand will recover, but it needs your help.’


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The Chick-fil-A Kickoff Games on Labor Day weekend set new records for television ratings and attendance.
Friday’s game, featuring NC State and Tennessee, was the highest-rated non-Saturday game and the second-highest rated regular season game in ESPNU history. With the addition of Saturday’s matchup between Auburn and Clemson, which was broadcast live on ESPN, a cumulative 3.4 million households tuned in to catch the season-opening double-header.
Since its inception in 2008, a combined 18.2 million households have watched Chick-fil-A Kickoff Games.
At the Georgia Dome on Saturday, 75,211 fans packed the stands to set a new Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game attendance record. The game now accounts for the second-highest attended Chick-fil-A Bowl event in history — the highest remains the 2006 Chick-fil-A Bowl, when 75,406 fans were on hand for the Georgia vs. Virginia Tech matchup.

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By Shuli Ren
Is 2017 the year for the shipping industry?
Jefferies and JP Morgan have already endorsed the shipping industry (see “2017: The Year For Shipping Companies?“), and this morning, Morgan Stanley also turned favorable towards dry bulk shipping, saying that the industry has bottomed and is now in an up-cycle.
To be sure, dry bulk demand is still sliding at a faster rate than supply (see chart), but instead of frowning upon dwindling demand, we should look at the supply side. “Demand dominates shipping cycles in the long and short run, but making investments following a supply cycle would be more practical for secondary market investors,” wrote analyst Qianlei Fan. As fewer shipping fleets come out to sea, Morgan Stanley estimates that the utilization rate will pick up from 77.8% in 2016 to 79.2% and 80% in 2017 and 2018. “We expect yearly average dry bulker shipping rates to rise because of higher utilization, leading to improvement in segment profitability.”
Pacific Basin Shipping (2343.Hong Kong) is the best play to bet on a dry bulk shipping turnaround. Morgan Stanley raised its price target for Pacific Basic to 2.11 Hong Kong dollars, from HK$1.73 previously. Pacific Basin soared 10.1% on Thursday to trade at $HK1.53 recently.
The bank wrote:
1) it is the only pure dry bulk operator in Asia under Morgan Stanley Research coverage; 2) we expect PB to turn profitable in 2017, versus being loss-making in the past three years; 3) we believe market awareness for PB remains low; 4) on our 2017 book value estimate, PB trades slightly above its historical (2004-present) mean minus one standard deviation, and that the market has not fully factored in the recovery potential of the dry bulk shipping segment
Investment banks are picking out value stocks as animal spirits are rekindled in the Hong Kong market. Yesterday, Deutsche Bank upgraded long-time laggard CGN Power (1816.Hong Kong). CGN Power is up another 2.1% today after soaring 6.6% yesterday.


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Intel Corp. President Sells $587,002 in Stock (INTC)
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) President Renee Jo James sold 22,577 shares of Intel Corp. stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.00, for a total value of $587,002.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 54,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,425,892. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) traded down 0.64% on Thursday, hitting $25.79. 31,843,048 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. Intel Corp. has a 52-week low of $20.10 and a 52-week high of $26.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $24.62 and its 200-day moving average is $23.66. The company has a market cap of $128.2 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.04. Intel Corp. also was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 56,543 put options on the company. This is an increase of 135% compared to the typical daily volume of 24,058 put options.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Intel Corp. will post $1.90 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
A number of analysts have recently weighed in on INTC shares. Analysts at Sterne Agee reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Intel Corp. in a research note to investors on Thursday. They now have a $25.95 price target on the stock, up previously from $20.00. Separately, analysts at Wells Fargo & Co. reiterated a “top pick” rating on shares of Intel Corp. in a research note to investors on Thursday. Finally, analysts at TheStreet reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Intel Corp. in a research note to investors on Friday, December 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. The company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.66.
Intel Corporation designs and manufactures integrated digital technology platforms. A platform consists of a microprocessor and chipset.
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Dear Bourse Member,
The World Federation of Diamond Bourses president Ernie Blom put out an open letter on diamond grading, on Nov. 21, 2014.
As Canada`s only diamond trading organization and on behalf of the Board and with regard to this issue, the Diamond Bourse of Canada is fully supportive of the WFDB`s stance on the overstating of grading and we are in agreement on the terminology in regards to this matter.
The DBC recognises the need for increased transparency and honesty in the manner in which diamonds are traded and sold to consumers.
We advise all our members to adhere to the DBC code of ethics and to act at all times, in accordance with the highest standard of business ethics, personal integrity, honesty, including business practices that do not mislead or deceive.
As a Bourse member and supplier, it is your responsibility as a seller to ensure that the diamonds you sell are accurately graded to the standard accepted in the global diamond industry, which is the GIA.
As Mr. Blom stated, “ethical grading and certification are the most basic principles of the industry and these cannot be compromised. “
David Gavin, President
DIAMOND BOURSE OF CANADA
(Jeweller Magazine, Stephanie Chan)
The Jewellers Association of Australia (JAA) has taken steps to improve consumer confidence in diamond grading by publishing a list of six “approved” diamond grading laboratories.
Blom: Open Letter Regarding Over-Grading Certification
(Rapaport, By Ernie Blom)
The diamond industry is facing a serious challenge to its integrity, which could lead to major consumer confidence problems, if diamonds are sold with overstated certification. I want to stress that this is an industry problem that must be resolved by the industry in order to retain consumer confidence in our product and sustain and develop the international diamond trade.
Recently, awareness was raised regarding problems existing within a specific laboratory group and the overstating of grading from certain laboratories in this group, which has led to the exclusion of said laboratories certificates by the Rapaport Group.
Overgrading is not just a legal issue, it is an ethical issue facing the diamond and retail industry.
(Rapaport Magazine, Martin Rapaport)
Is it okay to sell a diamond as a G color when the color is really an N? How about if the G is really an L? Shockingly, a lot of the people in the diamond trade think that it’s perfectly okay to use third-party diamond grading reports to overstate the color and clarity of the diamonds they sell.
Rapaport Calls for End to Rampant Over-grading of Diamonds
Cites Threat to Industry and Calls for Full Disclosure to Consumers
PRESS RELEASE, November 10, 2014, New York … Martin Rapaport, the chairman of the Rapaport Group, has released a comprehensive editorial titled “Honest Grading” that discloses the over-grading of over 100,000 diamonds, valued at more than a $1 billion. Rapaport calls upon the legitimate jewelry trade to reject those selling over-graded diamonds that fool consumers into believing they are getting better diamonds than they are receiving.


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A new paint store as a second business
If there’s one piece of advice we’ve heard over the years, it’s “Don’t open a paint store.” And it’s no secret that independent paint dealers have hit more than their share of potholes in today’s environment of competition and consolidation. Garrett and Melody Farrar ignored that sage advice, and with practically no experience in the paint industry they started up NOCO Paint & Design in Windsor, Colorado a little over a year ago. NOCO stands for Northern Colorado; Windsor is near Fort Collins, a little more than an hour’s drive north of Denver.
The vast majority of product is from Benjamin Moore, and obviously you’re not going to get them to invest into you if you just ring up Montvale and say, “I want to open a paint store,” so this odds-defying duo must have had something to offer.
For one, they know how to run a business. Garrett is RV Manager at family-owned NOCO RV Sales in nearby Loveland. They wanted to open another business to play a more active role in their community and also to bring an independent paint store to an area that didn’t have one. “We knew people who know about paint,” said Garrett, “so we had it set up.”
Melody continued the thought as the Farrars and their children gathered in the back of the store for our interview. “There was only one independent paint store in Northern Colorado, so we thought ‘why not bring Benjamin Moore up here as well?’” she said. “It was sold in the hardware store, but not in a dedicated paint store. We though it was a good idea—but we literally knew nothing about paint!”
Business experience already taught them: for outstanding results, hire a great team. “The people I work with have been doing paint,” said Garrett, telling us that two of his staff were lured away from other paint departments where they felt they’d gone as far as they could go. Farrar promised them more freedom to try out their ideas—and better pay.
“Chris Lynn [sales rep] comes from Sherwin-Williams where he worked his way up to assistant manager,” said Garrett. “He was tapped out, and he didn’t have a whole lot of future there. Here, the sky’s the limit.” Store Manager Jordan Daniels came from Jax Ranch & Home; he was intrigued by the opportunity to work in a smaller family-style environment. A.J. Hupp rounds out the staff, doing everthing from marketing to deliveries.
The men on staff enjoy the luxury of having a boss who listens to them, and Garrett says that at NOCO, suggestions often come from the ground up. “They give me a lot of ideas,” he said. “They see the potential and the future and they ask ‘what about this or that?’” Combining their paint expertise with Farrar’s business acumen, they can mix and tint a strategy to move forward and keep this new business successful.
Plus it gives Farrar the time and freedom to sell RVs. He doesn’t have to worry that the store will fall apart if he’s not there for an hour; he stays in communication remotely and sometimes he stops in just once a week.
Hey Everyone, We’re Here!
It’s a lot about support, including support of the locals, once they realize—and remember—that the store is there. “Our biggest challenge is letting people know we’re here. Everyone has Home Depot in their head,” says Garrett. “We even struggle with friends. They go to Home Depot to buy paint when they know we have a paint store! Then they say ‘oh, we could have gone to you, you’re closer.’ But they just have Home Depot in their head.” On the other hand, he notes, Windsor is really into the shop local movement, and a growing number of people are supporting the store for that reason.
Add to that the famed Three Most Important Factors in Real Estate: location, location, and location. Windsor has practically quadrupled in size over the last 35 years and it’s slated to quadruple again. Farrar muses that what used to be a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it drive-thru will probably hold 100,000 by the time it’s full up. This means there is a lot of paint to sell, and a lot of people moving in from back east who are familiar with Benjamin Moore. Fort Collins, the bigger city in the area, has grown about as much as it has room for, Garrett estimates. “Fort Collins has been ranked one of the top places to live every year since the ’90s,” he says. The popularity of the area has brought a lot of people to boom up the outskirt towns.
Melody adds that they give a lot of credit to Benjamin Moore for helping get the word out, and the staff for doing the footwork to get new customers. Everyone has something to gain.
Color helps bring people in as well. Garrett will tell you that Benjamin Moore has the best color selection on the market. “They do a good job of putting colors together for people who don’t know what goes with what. Their brochures and color schemes make our life easier.”
“We tend to do things a little off kilter,” Melody smiles. “We really like to be community oriented.” Good service is imperative these days, what with so many customers leaving online reviews. “We get a lot of ratings based on our service, and we do anything we can to add value to our customers’ experience.”
Now, About Paint
When it comes to talking about paint, paint, and paint, Chris, Jordan, and A.J can shoot that breeze. “The most important thing is knowledge,” says Chris, who’s got about 8 years of paint biz behind him. “We show them how to do it correctly. We make sure they have what they need, know how to apply it, and are comfortable with products and techniques.” It’s not really a different customer from Home Depot, he says, so much as how they approach that customer. “We see them as people and not just as dollars,” he assures us.
Not only that, but working for an independent gives him a chance to form better relationships with customers. “We have more one on one time with them. We don’t have goals and numbers and it’s more personal.” Since they were there when the store started, they helped design the layout and determine the inventory. “We figured out what the market needed and brought that in,” he said.
And what if something goes wrong, what do you do? “We do better!” Jordan insists. “We dig in and do some research to find out what the problem was and how to solve it.”
If there’s one thing Garrett and Melody are still working out, it’s how to be partners in marriage and business at the same time. “It’s a learning process for sure,” said Melody.
“You have to learn that work is at work and home is at home. There are times we’ve had a big disagreement at home and then when we’re at work and we just sit there and get our jobs done—but we know we’ll get through it!”
And while they enjoy each other’s company, each has their own athletic interests in off hours. Garrett likes to jet-ski and Melody does triathlons, even though this year she had to invest more time in the business than the track. Daughters Kalilah and Anaya enjoy dancing, and son Ezra hasn’t decided what he likes to do. (Maybe he’ll sell paint!) They often take advantage of the nearby scenery. “We get out a lot as a family,” Melody said. “It’s just a beautiful area here.”
Both their families are there to support; everyone stays in contact to make sure all possible gaps with NOCO Paint and NOCO RV are filled in. “The RV business includes his mother, my grandfather, and my sister, so it’s very family,” said Melody. “They are there when we need them to be there. Garrett’s a dream builder,” she testified. “He builds dreams, and he has a team behind him. They have a vision and are working towards it.” nocopaintstore.com


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“The Samsung Galaxy Tab Active2 is over a year old now, but is built for specific, specialised use cases that demand extra durability over flat-out performance”
Samsung has launched the Galaxy Tab Active2 in India. The ultra-durable tablet from Samsung is powered by Android and is certified by pretty much every certifying body that you can imagine would run a durability exercise on gadgets. However, it is a fairly dated product, having been announced globally back in November 2017. Nevertheless, its primary focus is on providing a portable computing platform in extreme conditions and is does so with ease.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab Active2 has MIL-STD-810G certification of durability, which apparently provides physical protection against vibrations, accidental drops, rain and dust, and provides waterproofing of up to 1.5m water for 30 minutes. It can also withstand extreme operating temperatures, ranging from -20°C to 71°C. This makes it an ideal candidate for being used in applications such as specialised construction zones in remote areas such as the building of bridges in heavy snow terrain, or even for storing sensitive information in professional fields such as the army, both of which demand tough durability of a device.
To aid this durability, it includes more security and other features, such as biometric authentication and Samsung’s Knox platform for enhanced software-based security. It also comes with a rugged S-pen for increasing functionality, enhanced touch response to work in extreme conditions, and a Pogo pin interface to facilitate multiple connectivity options. Just to explain how tough the Galaxy Tab Active2 really is, Samsung’s launch note states:
“The MIL-STD-810G military-grade and IP68 certiﬁcation allows the device to withstand 21 elements in salt fog, settling dust, blowing dust, icing, blowing rain, dripping rain, immersion, humidity, vibration, ballistic shock, transit drop, low-temperature storage, low-temperature operation, high-temperature storage (constant), high-temperature storage (cyclic), high-temperature operation (constant), high-temperature operation (cyclic), temperature shock, temperature, humidity, vibration, altitude, low-pressure storage, and low-pressure operation.”
Going beyond its ruggedness, the Samsung Galaxy Tab Active2’s specifications include the Exynos 7870 SoC, 16GB native storage, 3GB RAM, an expandable memory slot, an 8-inch HD+ LCD display, 8MP rear camera, 5MP front camera, and a 4,450mAh replaceable battery pack. The Galaxy Tab Active2 was also named in Samsung’s initial list of devices eligible for the Android 9.0 Pie update, but has been removed from it in the subsequent list. As a result, it will only remain at Android Oreo in terms of firmware.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab Active2 will be available for purchase from mid-March, and has been priced at Rs 50,990 in India.


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The first two marijuana stores under Washington's auspices are set to open just across the Oregon state line.
As the Columbian newspaper reports, Main Street Marijuana, at 2314 Main St. in Vancouver, is looking to throw open its doors Wednesday morning. The outlet is waiting until the state sets up its marijuana oversight systems.
The paper said store operators have tapped Mayor Tim Leavitt to cut the ribbon as it begins operations.
The second store, called New Vansterdam, expects to open later this week. New Vansterdam is located at 1515 E. Mill Plain Blvd.
Washington’s liquor control board plans to issue around 20 retail licenses by email.
The state voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use in 2012.


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IT'S ON NOW: First Miller ads from Bartle Bogle Hegarty take aim at Bud.
Yes, it's abundantly clear Miller Brewing Co., under new agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty, is restarting the beer wars with the market leader Bud Light. The question is: Will the strategy come back to bite it?
Beer-marketing experts, in fact, are split on whether provoking the market leader will yield the same positive results it garnered the last time Miller went after A-B.
Last time around
Miller had tremendous success in 2003 and 2004 with challenger advertising that compared Miller Lite's carbs and taste with Bud Light's. Bud Light eventually hit back, with a particularly ugly spot ripping on Miller's South African ownership, and Miller gained market share in the slugfest that followed.
But the strategy ultimately stopped yielding gains, and Miller has only recently begun to recover from the drop that came after A-B slashed prices in 2005. "Miller perceives that it does better with these kinds of ads," said Benj Steinman, publisher of Beer Marketer's Insights. "But historically, these things have limited effectiveness, despite the fact that they got some mileage out of them a few years ago."
A-B marketing executives -- who greeted news of Miller's coming spoof of their icon with groans -- said repeatedly they will not let themselves be dragged into a similar battle again.
In any event, the new work from Bartle Bogle demonstrates that Miller CEO Tom Long is following through on his promise to return to a more combative style of advertising at Miller's annual distributor convention last April. "We're going to jab and jab some more," he said at the time.
Taking on the king
Indeed, ads previewed at Miller's regional-distributor meeting in Milwaukee last week focused on tweaking the self-proclaimed king of beers. Another spot, "Trucker," which began appearing on TV earlier this month, shows a Bud Light truck unsuccessfully trying to pass a Miller Lite rig.
Bartle Bogle's ads are also a clear departure from the work of its predecessor on the Miller Lite brand, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, producer of the 2006 "Man Laws" campaign, which showed manly celebrities debating rules of masculine conduct.
Miller embarked on that campaign after its in-house research showed consumers were tiring of the combative approach. Miller "did Man Laws because all the indicators were saying consumers were tiring of the slugfest," said one person familiar with the matter. "Consumers were asking, 'Now that you have my attention, who are you?'"
The Crispin ads, which starred Burt Reynolds, Jerome Bettis and others, never really answered that question, in part because early incarnations were so minimally branded that some consumers were unclear which brand they were promoting.
Sales tanked under that effort (in part because A-B reduced its long-held price premium in response to Miller's earlier gains) and Crispin resigned the account in March. Bartle Bogle beat out Saatchi & Saatchi and Y&R in a competitive review for the business.
Using a mix of leftover Crispin ads and house-made slides reminiscent of a PowerPoint presentation, Miller sales have improved this year, with volume and pricing climbing 2.1% between April and September. Most of the spots have focused on taste, carbohydrate and calorie comparisons vs. other beers, as well as against wine and cocktails.
The more combative, comparative approach also helps distinguish Miller Lite from Coors Light's consistent "Rocky Mountain Refreshment" theme. The two brands will be siblings if a recently announced U.S. venture between Miller and Coors passes regulatory muster, and keeping them distinct -- and growing -- will be a key challenge.


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TORONTO ON – October 22, 2020 – REMAP was recognized in several categories at the 17th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business®. These Women in Business Awards honour women executives, entrepreneurs, employees, and the companies they run– worldwide. More than 1,500 entries were submitted this year for consideration in more than 100 categories.
“We are delighted to stand shoulder to shoulder alongside outstanding women-led organizations from around the globe. As an all-female executive leadership in Manufacturing, a non-traditional area for women, this recognition from the Stevie Organization means a lot to us. We're thrilled to be acknowledged for executive leadership, financial achievement and most importantly, as a role models” said Irene Sterian, Founder, President & CEO of REMAP.
It was great to hear from this year’s judging panel about the REMAP submissions:
As the ongoing COVID-19 crisis prevents us from handing our awards live on stage, winners will be celebrated during a virtual awards ceremony on Wednesday, December 9.
Maggie Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards, said, “Ina year like no other in our lifetimes, we’ve produced a cohort of amazing, Stevie-winning women, organizations, and achievements like no other. At all times our winners show themselves to be fearless and indomitable, but their leadership and example are especially valued this year. We congratulate all of our Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie winners. We look forward to celebrating them during our December 9 virtual ceremony, and to hearing from some of them during our Women|Future Conference on November 12-13.”
Details about the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and the list of Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners in all categories are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Women.
Stevie® Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Middle East; North Africa Stevie® Awards, The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Stevie® Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie® Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales and; Customer Service. Stevie® Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com.
REMAP is a technology accelerator that engages all stakeholders in the value chain to strengthen Canada’s smart manufacturing ecosystem. Working together, this network of small and large industry partners, research organizations, and academic institutions, aims to build a product enablement supply chain for growth and innovation. Through shared resources and knowledge, REMAP promotes lateral innovation across many sectors to position products manufactured in Canada that will compete on a global scale.


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Apple is looking to beef up its next generation iPhones. Reports suggest the Cupertino-based company is going introduce the same strong aluminium used on the Apple Watch on the iPhone 6S.
It looks like Apple will put an end to any phone-bending concerns with its next series of iPhones.
Taiwan's Economic Daily News reports that Apple is going to craft its next-gen handsets out of the same Series 7000 aluminium used on the Apple Watch.
The folks at Cupertino HQ say that the metal is the same grade material used in professional track bikes and is 60 per cent stronger than the traditional aluminium used in the iPhone 6. It also offers one-third the density of stainless steel without the added weight.
So from the sounds of things, we won't have to worry about our next iPhones bending in our pockets. The Bendgatefiasco somewhat tainted the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus release, so Apple is obviously keen to ensure that doesn't happen again.
The “unnamed insiders” that apparently leaked the news, claim the stronger metal will be applied to all of Apple's 2015 phones.
From what we've heard before, that includes the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, as well as a 4-inch plastic-made iPhone 5C.
The sturdy iPhone trio are expected to be unveiled in Apple's same-old September slot.


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Apple announced plans to split its stock for the first time in nine years. Since then, the company's stock has climbed 23 percent.
Cigarette-maker Godfrey Phillips India posted 35.94 % decline in net profit to Rs 38.3 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31.
Shares of Cipla remained firm even as the company clarified that promoters are not in talks with other multi-national companies to sell stake.
The distribution will increase Apple’s outstanding stock from about 861 million shares to about 6 billion shares. Apple officially made the split announcement in an SEC filing on Friday.
Fund managers cited a mix of reasons for warming up to Apple, including reforms pushed by Chief Executive Tim Cook and the stock's outlook.
Investors appear to be regaining faith in Apple's ability to innovate. The company's stock has climbed 13 per cent so far this year to close Friday at $633.
Deepak Nitrite said its net profit soared by 68 per cent to Rs 15.86 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014.
Tim Cook is embracing the idea while making decisions that would have seemed crazy to his fabled predecessor.


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WebInterpret Acquires Ecommerce Platform Ekos Global
WebInterpret have acquired Ekos Global to help them transition from a provider of localisation software for Amazon and eBay sellers, to a full-featured cross-border sales solution.
Ekos was launched in 2012 by British and Swedish entrepreneurs Fitch Richardson and Andre Borgstrom. The platform enables online retailers to rapidly expand into foreign markets through generating localised versions of their online store. Ekos connects with over 30 popular ecommerce platforms and allows retailers to run their international stores in parallel and in sync with their domestic store. The founders will join WebInterpret's team.
Webinterpet also announced the launch of their newest product "Global Stores". Like Ekos's own product, Global Stores enables retailers to rapidly generate and deploy localised versions of their store in international markets.
WebInterpret CEO, Patrick Smarzynski said "We are hugely excited with both the launch of our new product and the acquisition of Ekos Global. Ekos's expertise in taking domestic stores global combined with WebInterpret's technology and experience in localising retailers' businesses at scale is the perfect match. We've had a lot of demand from retailers wanting to use the same easy and affordable solution to not only localise their marketplace business but also their own online stores. We look forward to helping even more retailers grow their business globally thanks to this comprehensive solution".


text: The first phone with a body made from bamboo, may hit the market soon. The device is called the ADzero and was designed by an English student, studying design at Middlesex University in London. The body of the smartphone is indeed made from a solid block of bamboo, which has been processed in order to make it harder and more durable. The prototype, which is running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, has already attracted an entrepreneur, who is planning to bring the device in mass production. So far, the bamboo smartphone is expected to hit the UK stores by the end of the year. B. A.


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Cristiano Ronaldo, the world-famous football star, is facing a massive lawsuit in the US for his involvement in promoting Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. The plaintiffs accuse him of misleading them into investing in unregistered securities offered by Binance, resulting in significant losses. They are seeking damages of more than $1 billion.
According to the lawsuit, filed on November 27th in a Florida court, Ronaldo partnered with Binance in 2022 to launch his own collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the exchange. NFTs are digital assets that represent unique items such as art, music, or sports memorabilia. Ronaldo’s NFT collection, called Forever CR7, featured 29,000 tokens that showcased his career highlights and awards.
The lawsuit claims that Ronaldo used his fame and social media influence to attract millions of fans and followers to invest in Binance and its products, including its native token BNB, its stablecoin BUSD, its crypto-lending products, and its staking-as-a-service program. These products, the plaintiffs allege, were unregistered securities that should have been regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The lawsuit also alleges that Ronaldo failed to disclose the risks and conflicts of interest associated with his endorsement deal with Binance, as well as the legal troubles that the exchange was facing. Binance has been under investigation by the SEC and the Department of Justice for various violations of anti-money laundering and securities laws. Binance’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, recently stepped down after pleading guilty to money laundering charges and agreeing to pay a $4.3 billion settlement.
The plaintiffs claim that they suffered substantial losses due to Ronaldo’s promotion of Binance and its products, as the value of BNB and other tokens plummeted after the exchange’s legal woes became public. They also claim that Binance mishandled their funds and transferred billions of dollars to a third party entity owned by Zhao, called Sigma Chain, without their consent or knowledge.


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UK broadband comparison site Top 10 Broadband has released new analysis it claims shows a shift toward triple-play packages away from standalone broadband providers.
The company says it is observing a major consumer shift in favour of all-in-one packages that combine digital TV, home phone, or mobile, and broadband packages.
The company monitors broadband sales closely through specialist tracking on its website. It assesses in excess of 100,000 site users each month, and today confirmed that over 80 per cent of new broadband sign-ups/sales through the website are favouring all-in-one multi-service broadband deals.
That's significantly higher than in January this year, when sales of such packages accounted for 67 per cent of sign-ups.
John Glover at Top 10 Broadband surmised: "We have seen a paradigm shift in people’s broadband buying habits since the beginning of the year as broadband packages become the default way to purchase broadband for your home. Broadband bundles now offer tremendous value with Virgin Media, BT and Sky leading the way in the bundled-broadband price war. Users are noticing that if they combine their home phone, broadband, digital TV and even mobile into one easy-to-manage bill, there are significant savings to be made.”
Glover added that Virgin Media, Tiscali and BT are offering particularly good-value deals at the present time, observing that other providers, including mobile firms such as Orange, are moving into this increasingly competitive sector.
"The days of standalone broadband seem numbered," he said. "This could be great news for UK broadband users as pressure on Virgin Media and Sky will only lead to further price wars."
Top 10 broadband lets users compare over 50 broadband offers including standalone deals and packaged bundles.


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Caroline Carter was thinking of her own health when she made her first batch of flaxseed crackers.
Now the Milwaukee woman and her daughter, Shenita Ray, are sharing their gluten-free, raw vegetable crackers with Milwaukee area residents.
Caroline's Handmade Flaxseed Crackers are new to the shelves at Beans & Barley, Riverwest Co-Op and Riverwest Yogashala (a nonprofit yoga center), and their Eden's Market line is part of a growing list of locally made foods featured in area stores.
The flaxseed crackers come in garlic-onion, curry, sun-dried tomato and original flavors, with a suggested retail price of $5.25 per six-ounce bag, Carter said.
The crackers are made without refined sugars or preservatives, she said.
Caroline's Sweet Granola Chunks, eaten as a snack or a crunchy topping for yogurt, also will be available at the same stores in nine-ounce bags for $5.75.
"I started making the crackers because I was trying to change my lifestyle and eating habits," Carter said. "Then I started sharing them with my family and friends, and they really liked them."
The crackers were never intended to be the centerpiece of the food business, which launched last summer at the South Shore Farmers Market in Bay View, and at the Washington Park Farmers Market. The crackers instead were a means for market-goers to sample the mother-daughter duo's homemade paté, mushroom salsa and dips, which are sold only at the farmers markets.
The success of the crackers is an unexpected bonus, Carter said.
Market-goers may know Carter and Ray best for their refreshing "green smoothies" made from raw fruits and vegetables and for their salads, which feature produce direct from farmers markets. Soon, they hope to bottle their homemade salad dressing, too.
Look for the women this summer on Saturday mornings at the South Shore market in South Shore Park in Bay View, and the Sunday morning market at Washington Park in Milwaukee. They're also planning to begin selling their products at two more downtown markets: the Saturday East Town Farm Market at Cathedral Square Park, and the Westown Farmers Market at Zeidler Union Square Park on Wednesdays.
Carter makes the crackers, granola and seasonal farmers market items in kitchen space leased after school and on weekends at Clara Mohammed School, 317 W. Wright St.
This is Carter's full-time job. Ray, 32, is the business manager for Eden's Market, but she is busy pursuing her doctorate in business at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville; she also works as assistant director for the campus's distance learning department.


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The coronavirus has taken a sledge hammer to the strongest economy in history. Businesses across the country have been closed by government policy to mitigate the spread of the disease, leaving grocery stores and pharmacies open to the public. As the country slowly starts to reopen, businesses now face the uncertainty of coronavirus lawsuits.
As our economy struggles to stand up and walk forward, we cannot allow frivolous lawsuits to kick us back into the dirt. Companies are doing the best they can to keep both customers and employees safe by following guidance that seems to change every day. Businesses are struggling to make ends meet and pay their employees, and employers are worried about having to close down forever if the pandemic continues.
It is clear that businesses are in this untenable situation through no fault of their own. The coronavirus is a global health crisis that has completely disrupted everyday life. Your local grocery store or gas station should not be held liable for doing the best they can to serve their communities. But where Americans see this as a tragedy, trial lawyers see an opportunity to cash in by shaking down vulnerable businesses with frivolous torts. Under current law, reopening the economy in the midst of a global health crisis will create a number of serious liability risks for businesses.
One area of liability is exposure, where trial lawyers will claim their clients caught the coronavirus at a specific location as a result of negligence by a company. It is virtually impossible for anyone to prove where they caught any illness. But exposure claims will begin a costly and drawn out process that could drive many businesses and industries to bankruptcy. Even silly lawsuits can cost them millions of dollars to defend against.
Trial lawyers can also go after employers for laying off their workers as a result of mandated closures. This means employers would be held liable for a decision they were forced to make because of the reaction of their own government to the global health crisis. These avenues for predatory litigation only add to the tremendous burden that employers face today during this crisis. So in order to protect companies and small businesses from these scenarios, Congress needs to urgently add liability protection for businesses in any future federal coronavirus legislation.
The concept behind liability protection is simple. If companies have taken reasonable steps to keep customers and employees safe, they should be protected from greedy trial lawyers looking to cash in on the crisis. Since the government mandated the closure of most businesses to mitigate the spread of the disease, the government has a clear responsibility to protect companies from such negative consequences of reopening.
If trial lawyers are allowed to proceed with their greedy agenda, that will undermine the ability of businesses to carry out basic functions. Frontline workers are already second guessing themselves as trial lawyers mobilize to shake down their industries. Doctors and nurses are now worried about legal ramifications of making difficult but necessary health care decisions. Workers in hospitals and in nursing homes are also afraid that trial lawyers will swarm to attack the quality of all their care in courtrooms.
Failing to enact liability protection will also complicate the reopening of nonessential businesses and further slow the recovery. States are already beginning to gradually ease their social distancing requirements to pave the way for a return to normal life. Businesses like bars, gyms, salons, and restaurants will soon have to make plans to reopen that involve following guidelines to keep customers and employees safe. These businesses may decide to remain permanently closed if the prospect of reopening could bring on an expensive lawsuit that could take years to resolve.
Fortunately, officials are adamant about including liability protections with the potential phase four of coronavirus legislation. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has now drawn a “red line” over liability protections and will insist that the provision is included in future relief packages. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow has said that businesses should not have to deal with any “trial lawyers putting on false lawsuits.”
As our national focus turns toward restarting the economy, policymakers should enact proposals that encourage businesses to reopen as safely as possible. Protecting businesses from frivolous coronavirus lawsuits is part of that effort and needs to be included in future relief packages.
Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform in Washington.


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Food Companies Moving Towards A Circular Economy
Wednesday, October 30th, 2019 | 2513 Views
Circular economy is becoming the new sustainability buzzword term. Ecovia Intelligence finds there is growing investment from food companies this year.
The circular economy refers to a system in which materials and products are reused and recycled, rather than entering waste streams. Realising its importance, the EU introduced its circular economy strategy in 2018 which plans to have 65 percent target for recycling and reuse by 2035.
Growing consumer opposition to single-use plastics is making the food industry focus on packaging. Unilever recently announced that it will half its use of virgin plastics by 2025 and increase the use of recycled materials. The Anglo-Dutch company’s portfolio of 400 brands currently use 700,000 tonnes of plastic per year. It is already switching its Lipton Ice Tea bottles to 100 percent recycled plastics in Benelux. The move will save 1,400 tonnes of plastics and contribute 40 percent less carbon emissions.
The move to a circular economy also involves upcycling of ingredients. New enterprises are creating products using food waste (byproducts). San Francisco-based ReGrained is using brewer’s spent grain to make nutrition bars and snacks. Planetarians is another start-up that is producing plant-based protein from upcycled defatted sunflower seeds. At the Sustainable Foods Summit, the company will give details of its new technology that creates high protein flour for applications in processed foods and bakery products.
Food byproducts are also finding novel applications in the personal care industry. UK-based Keracol has created a range of natural dyes & hair care products from blackcurrant pulp. Marketed as ‘sustainable hair dyes’, Dr. Craft products were launched last year. Hair o’right made its mark by introducing natural hair care products containing coffee grounds. The Taiwanese company is now using goji berry roots and distillers grain in its products. Both companies are receiving recognition for these new products by becoming finalists in the 2019 Sustainable Beauty Awards.
The move towards a circular economy is gaining momentum. Ecovia Intelligence expects to see more such initiatives, involving sustainable packaging materials, upcycling and recycling of nutrients, as well as new retail formats. However, consumer behaviour is likely to be a major barrier. Consumers have been accustomed to frequently buying low priced products that are easily disposable.
The way forward will involve consumers buying sustainable products, extending product lifetimes, reducing wastage, and increasing recycling rates. The question is how soon will consumers be prepared to make such changes?
Check out these articles:


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Ripbot264 is a front end for free video tools. With it, you can transcode video without a lot of fuss (and without making massive files).
Transcode movies, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs to the Matroska video container format with this deceptively powerful utility.
After buying a 3D HDTV, Chulbul complained to the HDTV & Home Theater forum about the lack of 3D content
New piracy warnings will take 20 seconds to view when launching a movie, and won't allow circumvention.
Is Wal-Mart's new disc-to-digital conversion program worth its price? We investigate.
A study by IHS projects that Americans will watch 3.4 billion movies online this year, an increase of more than 135 percent from 2011.


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Mobile entertainment company Movile has launched PlayKids TV, a mobile video app targeted toward kids. The company has a history of distributing digital video content to Latin American countries on non-smartphones.
Movile has increasingly been looking into reaching into U.S. markets and designing apps for smartphones and tablets. PlayKids TV’s release in the U.S. is a jump in that direction.
In PlayKids TV, when a user opens the app, they are shown a train with a number of cars attached to it. Each of the cars represents a “show” that can be watched. Instead of streaming episodes, episodes are downloaded straight to the app. They can be watched repeatedly after downloading, even without an internet connection.
While the app is free to download, only the first episode of each of the initial five programs is available for free. Users need a subscription to the service to watch more episodes.
Movile plans to release more shows in addition to distributing the initial five episodes. The company could look to Netflix and Amazon for inspiratoin. Both have initiatives to create and distribute programming to kids. Movile is targeting the same lucrative audience these two media giants are vying for, and their experience on mobile and history with kid-focused fare may give them an edge.


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RealNetworks has changed its mobile licensing model to provide more flexibility to handset manufacturers and allow software components like RealAudio and RealVideo to be licensed separately, it announced Wednesday.
Microsoft at the VSLive Conference here in San Francisco this week is touting PC clients and its upcoming Visual Studio 2005 Team System development platform.
Internet service providers may be used to dealing with customer frustration over spam, but mobile phone operators may have it worse. Cell phone users are more likely to blame their operators for unsolicited text messages, and even cancel contracts, a...
Symantec has issued patches to fix a "high impact" security hole that affects almost every product it currently sells.
A U.S. district court judge on Wednesday praised Microsoft for efforts to improve technical documentation for its communications protocols, but questioned the effect in the marketplace of her final judgment in the U.S. government's antitrust case aga...
Microsoft on Tuesday released near final versions of Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.
If you've ever had a credit card purchase mysteriously rejected only to discover later that the bank thought you were a fraudulent user, you may appreciate an effort by MasterCard International to use SMS (short message service) to streamline the pro...
Malicious code that can take advantage of a newly disclosed hole in Microsoft's MSN Messenger instant messenger (IM) program has been published on the Internet. The publication of the code could set the stage for a possibly virulent IM worm or virus,...
For all the hoopla, attention, fame and money of the past year, Google is very aware of many areas in which it needs to improve.
Oracle on Wednesday showed off a test version of a plug-in for Visual Studio .Net 2003 that allows developers using the Microsoft tools to build applications that can run on the Oracle 10g database.
Now that Carly Fiorina is leaving the helm, the survivors at Hewlett-Packard must decide how to move forward with a company that analysts feel is either weighed down by low-margin businesses or missing opportunities to reach customers.
Hewlett-Packard announced Wednesday that its board of directors has dismissed Carly Fiorina as the company's chairman and chief executive officer (CEO).
The IT job market last year was the strongest of 21 industry sectors surveyed, with a particular increase in vacancies for graduates, according to an index released on Monday.
Doctors in Australia and the UK now have a late-night "chat lifeline" that can save lives by providing them with immediate medical information.
Microsoft is vowing dramatic productivity gains with its planned Indigo communications infrastructure for Web services, which is due in early versions via a Community Technology Preview in March and a beta release by June.
Learn how to protect your digital lifestyle. A must read for all those who are active online.
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First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.


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The Iranian Modern Business Company (IMBCO) was established 6 years ago which is considered one of the main e-commerce players in Iran’s startup scene having NetBarg, Chilivery and Tik8 in its portfolio.
There are only a few days left before the end of the current Persian year and chief of Iranian Cyber Police revealed the statistics on hack attacks targeting Iran. In the past year Iran has seen 70 thousand hack attacks.
Adro changes the Iranian online advertising landscape by becoming Iran’s first ad exchange. Iran’s ad tech scene started from almost nothing few years back, and local ad exchange means could be considered a metric of growth of this industry and the next big thing.


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Awards Bestowed on Hyundai Elantra, Range Rover Evoque, Volkswagen Passat
DETROIT, Michigan, January 11, 2012 (ENS) – The 2012 Hyundai Elantra and the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque are the North American Car and Truck of the Year a panel of automotive journalists announced Monday. The awards came right after the opening ceremonies of one of the world’s largest and most influential auto shows – the 2012 North American International Auto Show at Cobo Center in Detroit.
The Elantra surpassed the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Passat, the other two finalists for the car of the year award. The Evoque beat out the BMW X3 and the Honda CR-V.
The finalists were named in December by the 50 independent automotive journalists from the United States and Canada who make up the North American Car of the Year voting panel.
2012 Hyundai Elantra at the Detroit Auto Show (Photo courtesy Michelin Media)
“We’re very humbled, said Hyundai Motor America chief executive John Krafcik. “The Focus is an amazing car, the Passat is incredible.” Since it was redesigned for the 2011 model year, Hyundai has sold more than 200,000 Elantras, said Krafcik. The Korean automaker manufactures the Elantra at its factory in Montgomery, Alabama.
“The Hyundai Elantra is sporty, yet sensible. Luxurious, yet affordable. Spunky, but safe. The Elantra is a series of paradoxes and every one is another argument for the latest, impressive entry in the Hyundai lineup,” wrote Jayne O’Donnell, a member of the jury from “USA Today.”
The North American Truck of the Year Range Rover Evoque is a luxury SUV with a 2.0-liter direct injection turbo four-cylinder that achieves 28 miles per gallon on the highway.
Another juror, Alex Taylor, of “Fortune” magazine, wrote, “Range Rover successfully charts a new direction for the venerable SUV trailblazer with a fresh design and advanced thinking about environmental issues.”
Many other vehicles were honored with a shower of awards as the two Press Preview days unfolded on Monday and Tuesday.
The International Car of the Year Award’s jury announced its 2012 winners on Tuesday, naming the Audi A7 as the 2012 International Car of the Year and the 2012 Range Rover Evoque as International Truck of the Year.
Courtney Caldwell, editor-in-chief of Road & Travel Magazine, founded the themed awards in 1996 to recognize the strong emotional attachment people have with their cars. “The ICOTY Awards are not about power and performance but rather personality, passion and personal lifestyle,” said Caldwell, presenting this year’s awards.
ICOTY jurors handed the Earth, Wind & Power Award to the Volkswagen Passat TDI as the Most Earth Friendly Car of the Year.
Ford Motor Company earned the Earth Angel Award for Most Earth Friendly automaker for their “significant environmental contributions to the planet overall.”
In another set of awards, the 2012 Volkswagen Passat was named Cars.com’s “Best of 2012,” the online automotive site announced Tuesday night during its annual awards show gala. More than 1,500 auto industry executives attended the celebration at the Fillmore Detroit, which included a private performance by Grammy Award-winning band Maroon 5.
“The completely redesigned Volkswagen Passat shook up the extremely competitive family sedan category in 2012,” said Patrick Olsen, Cars.com editor-in-chief. “The Passat’s ability to take on these long-standing family sedan leaders along with its great price and standard features makes the Passat our best car for 2012.”
Six vehicles were nominated for the Cars.com “Best of 2012” award – the 2012 Audi A7, 2012 Hyundai Accent, 2012 Hyundai Veloster, 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, 2012 Subaru Impreza and the 2012 Volkswagen Passat.
“Our editors drove and evaluated more than 65 new 2012 models and the competition was steep,” said Olsen. “Narrowing down the list of great vehicles to six was no easy feat, and just being a finalist is a special honor. Drivers should be proud to have any car on this list.”
Cars.com also announced its “Lifestyle” winners at the awards show. Winners include the 2012 Honda Pilot for “Family Car of the Year,” 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 for “Play Car of the Year,” and the 2012 Ford F-150 for “Work Truck of the Year.”
The 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI was named Cars.com’s “Eco-Friendly Car of the Year.”
The Passat TDI runs on ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel, helping reduce sooty emissions by up to 90 percent compared to previous diesel engines, the company says. It achieves up to 43 highway miles per gallon and can travel 795 miles on a single tank of fuel.
In a separate set of awards that recognize a manufacturer’s ability to retain owners over repeat buying cycles, Ford Motor Company took top honors for the second year in a row during the 16th annual Polk Automotive Loyalty Awards, presented this evening at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit.
Ford was a repeat winner in several categories, including: Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer; Overall Loyalty to Make; African-American Market Loyalty to Make; and Mid/Full-Size Pickup for its F-Series truck lineup, which has been honored in that category 14 out of the last 16 years. The Hyundai Elantra won the award for loyalty in the compact car segment, and the Ford Escape was recognized in the compact SUV category, another first time winner.
“This is a true testament to Hyundai’s product success and confirmation that it has become an exciting brand in the U.S. market,” said Brad Smith, director of Polk’s Loyalty Management Practice.
The North American International Auto Show welcomes industry insiders for their two preview days on Wednesday and Thursday, while Friday is a charity preview day. On Saturday, January 14, the show opens to the general public with more than 500 new cars and trucks on view.


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LONDON (ICIS)--Borealis has completed the acquisition of Austria-based plastics recycler Ecoplast on expectations of substantial growth in the recycled polymers market in the next few years, the producer said on Wednesday.
The deal, announced in July, was carried out as part of Borealis’ long-term polyolefins growth strategy and an increasing focus on the recycling sector. Pricing terms were not diclsosed.
Ecoplast processes around 35,000 tonnes/year of post-consumer waste from households and industrial consumers and converts them into low- and high-density polyethylene (LDPE and HDPE) films.
The Ecoplast buy follows Borealis’ acquisition of post-consumer polyolefin recyclates producers mtm plastics and mtm compact in mid-2016. The company invested €15m in ramping up processing capacity from 60,000 to 80,000 tonnes/year earlier this year.
“As an important complement to mtm in Germany, Ecoplast will help us address critical sustainability challenges and become a polyolefin recycling leader,” said Borealis CEO Alfred Stern.
“Eventually, we want to use our experience to develop an effective blueprint for the end-of-use phases for plastics that can be applied in other parts of the world,” he added.


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American pop star Will.i.am predicts the future and is convinced people will print their food in 20 years time.
The’ hitmaker and ‘The Voice’ judge has become intrigued by 3D printing and believes the technology will change the way all humans live in the imminent future, enabling people to create their own food.
He gushed: “It will revolutionize society.”
“To eat beef and wear leather, you need a lot of land and water for cows. In the next 20 years, we’ll be able to print beef and leather instead. It might sound like science fiction but right now, I can take you to a factory in Brooklyn that prints out leather.”
The 39-year-old technology enthusiast – who just lauched his own brand of smart watches – is so convinced by the capability of the devices, he thinks organ donors will soon be a thing of the past too, as people will be able to print themselves new organs in their own home.
He told the Observer newspaper: “In 10 years, everyone will have a 3D printer in their house. In 20 years, you’ll be able to print a new kidney. You’ll have a machine that prints your genome with proteins that are right for your body.”


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[Tech30] Algo trading curbing the stock trader in you? Streak makes it easy for you
For those who don’t know how to code, the Bengaluru-based startup allows you to create your own trading algorithm based using plain simple English.
Stock market investments have never been for the faint-hearted. If uncertain returns and the idea of making or losing millions in a matter of minutes was not tough, being outsmarted by a machine is certainly difficult to take in. That is exactly what traders and investors have been facing since algorithmic trading entered India in 2009.
Algo trading, as it is popularly known, allows one to program systems to initiate trades based on decided conditions. Large orders can be executed in nanoseconds and the actual trade involves little or no manual intervention once the programs are written. Now, not many can write algorithms, and thus algo trading excludes small traders and retail investors.
Enter, Streaks. The startup was launched in early 2017 with a beta version, and became operational in August.
It is also one of this year’s Tech30, helping create trading algorithms, even if you don’t know how to write code. Once you set up an account, the platform allows one to “write” algorithms using plain English commands and then executes trades based on the set instructions.
It also offers pre-defined algorithms that alert an investor in case a stock breaks a pattern.
Says co-founder Harsha Manohar, “Stock traders are always on a constant monitoring mode – they remain glued to their trading screens, sometimes on multiple screens. But with Streak, traders can create algorithms to generate trading alerts for buying and selling stocks without the need for coding.”
The platform also allows traders and customers to check the profitability of the trade. It has also launched features tracking NSE futures and currencies.
Using the Streak platform, a trader can create an algorithm using plain English language. He needs to fill in various parameters and indicators like stop loss, target profit percentage, stocks to be traded, and an algorithm is created in a few minutes. Once the algorithm is created, traders get actionable alerts. Streak has apps for Android and iOS, as well as a web portal.
The startup has a subscription model, and in a short duration has become cash flow positive. It has more than a lakh registered users and traders who have run over six million backtests on Streak. Using backtests, a trader can simulate a trading situation using historical data. It helps test a planned trading strategy, before actually putting any money on it. The total trade turnover on the platform has crossed Rs 850 crore.
Subscription fees range between Rs 500 and Rs 1,400 per month. In the basic subscription model, the startup offers 200 backtests along with 25 live algorithms. In the Rs 900 subscription package, the startup offers 500 backtests and 50 live algorithms, while the Rs 1,400 subscription package offers 1,000 backtests along with 100 live algorithms and a 30-minute call with experts.
Streaks co-founders Harsha Manohar, Vipul Divyanshu and Jayalakshmi Manohar have been working together for more than six years now.
While Jayalakshmi and Vipul were classmates in engineering college, Harsha was a manager at the college’s incubation centre. After their graduation in 2014, both Jayalakshmi and Vipul took up jobs with Tesco and in early 2015, the three started virtual dressing room app TrialKart together.
TrialKart was acquihired within six months of operations by online marketplace Voonik in August 2015 and the co-founders began working on the idea of Streak soon after.
At Streak, Harsha is the CEO, Vipul the CTO and Jaya is the CPO. The company has received a funding of Rs 2.25 crore from Rainmatter, Zerodha’s startup fund and incubator.
In August last year, the Finance Ministry stressed on necessary safeguards to prevent disruption of the equity market, and media reports quote Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg as saying that “algorithmic trading gives ‘unequal access’ to institutional investors over their retail counterparts as they have access to speed and co-location”.
Having taken stock of the situation already, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had, in April this year, asked stock exchanges to introduce ‘managed co-location services’ to facilitate small- and medium-sized trading members. Managed co-location services refer to spaces provided to vendors in close proximity to the bourses, along with technical know-how and other expertise.
Competition and challenge
Streak competes with Quantopian and Amibroker. Gururgram-based Kuants is another startup that comes close to what Streak does in algo-trading.
The main challenge the startup faced was getting feedback from customers. Harsha says, “As our product and concept is very new, there was a challenge to make people understand the product. But, gradually, we overcame this hurdle by making our product very standardised.”
The startup plans to garner more than one million customers by March 2020, and is targeting a revenue of Rs 10 crore. It plans to soon also launch features to track stocks and commodities traded on BSE and MCX, respectively.


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TechnoServe’s Work in Mozambique Highlighted in Irish Times
April 07, 2011
In Mozambique’s Inhambane Province, TechnoServe is working to promote agricultural processing andexports of various products, including cashews and coconuts.
In Mozambique’s Inhambane Province, TechnoServe is working to promote agricultural processing and exports of various products, including cashews and coconuts. Bill Corcoran of the Irish Times recently visited one of TechnoServe’s clients, a coconut-processing factory that could provide a model for lifting rural Inhambane residents out of poverty:
One of the last things a person expects to find at the end of a track that twists through Mozambique’s mosquito-infested bush is a factory employing 20 people that makes high-quality organic products.
But after an hour-long drive inland from the town of Maxixe in Inhambane Province, the walls of Coconut Oil Organics’ factory emerge from behind a group of trees that stretch up into the forest canopy.
The brainchild of South African farmer Graham Ford and the American non-profit organisation TechnoServe, Coconut Oil Organics aims to feed South Africa’s food and healthcare markets with a range of coconut products: from the highly sought-after virgin coconut oil to dried fruit made from its flesh.
For TechnoServe’s Rizwan Khan, the long-term plan is to support the establishment of similar factories across the province, such is the abundance of coconut trees and the demand for oil. The potential to create employment for hundreds, if not thousands, of unemployed rural Mozambicans is significant.
Related Blog Posts
In this series, we check back with TechnoServe program participants who were previously featured on our blog, documenting how their lives have changed and progressed.
In fragile environments like northern Uganda, opportunities for youth are a vital pillar of lasting economic development.
In the final part of our weeklong series, we highlight how TechnoServe’s market-based approach has helped revive coffee sectors that had almost disappeared – such as Zimbabwean coffee, which was released to consumers last month by Nespresso.


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Slashbots writes: Google has settled with FTC for nearly $22.5 million over its bypassing of Apple's Safari browser privacy settings. Google, the largest settlement with FTC over privacy related charges ever. By abusing privacy hole in Safari, Google circumvented user settings to show them advertising and track the users, "Safari, unlike other browsers, blocks cookies from ad networks like Google’s. But because of a loophole, Google had been able to avoid the block, as researchers discovered in February. It installed cookies and tracked Safari users across the Web to show them personalized ads".
Eh, the current CEO was running day to day operations long before Jobs died. Jobs only went for the presentations. Likewise, Apple's products have only improved and have introduced major new features. I'm not even a long time Apple user but once I tried the products they blow me like a 5 dollar hooker. Why 5 dollar hooker? Because she needs the money more than billion dollar hooker. Personal experience, cheap hookers are always better.


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Who's going to pay for the border wall with Mexico? Probably you.
President Donald Trump's proposal of applying a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports is likely to hit Alabama and other Gulf of Mexico state consumers hard, while putting at risk the Yellowhammer state's $2.8 billion import business with the North American country, according to U.S. economists.
"I think that any import tariff would be largely passed forward to American consumers in the short run," said Barry Bosworth, a senior economics fellow at the Brookings Institute, a Washington D.C.-based 'think tank,' to AL.com. "That has certainly been the historical experience with major tariff changes. However, the incidence of the tax is likely to be divided between higher prices to American consumers and lower prices to Mexican producers in a proportion that will vary by product and over time."
Trump's proposal of building a wall on the 2000 mile-long Mexico-U.S. border, aimed at reducing illegal immigration, had long been a central pillar of his election campaign. But costs expected to come in at around $12 billion to $15 billion, according to Senate leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have troubled lawmakers on both said of the aisle, while also drawing condemnation from Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto, who insists that his country will not pay for any structure that separates the two countries.
Trump's solution to Pena Nieto's reluctance is to build the wall using U.S. taxpayer's dollars then recoup the money by applying a 20 percent tax on the $50 billion worth of Mexican imports coming into the United States every year. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters last week that this approach would more than cover the cost of the wall.
"If you tax that $50 billion at 20 percent of imports - which is by the way a practice that 160 other countries do - right now our country's policy is to tax exports and let imports flow freely in, which is ridiculous," he said. "By doing it that we can do $10 billion a year and easily pay for the wall just through that mechanism alone. That's really going to provide the funding."
However, that approach only works if businesses and consumers in the United States are willing to pay extra for Mexican goods, according to Ahmad Ijaz, Executive director and Executive of economic forecasting at the University of Alabama.
"The price the customer pays in store will go up," said Ijaz. "But what happens eventually is businesses will stop buying their products from Mexico, at which point Alabama and other states revenues gained from imports will likely go down, meaning less money for the state and less money for the wall."
Furthermore, Henry Thompson, Economics professor at Auburn University, said that because Alabama is on the Gulf of Mexico, it would "especially suffer with the reduced trade" because "the Port of Mobile is gearing up for increasing trade with Latin America."
Public relations officials at the Alabama Port Authority was unavailable for comment at time of publication.
In 2015, the most recent figures available from the Alabama Department of Commerce, Alabama brought in just over $2.8 billion worth of Mexican-made goods, down from $3.5 billion in 2014 and up from $1.4 billion in 2013. The total represents a 13 percent share of all international imports into the state, and ranks third behind South Korea and Germany, which generate $4.6 billion and $4.1 billion, respectively, according to Census Bureau data.
A majority of the goods and products brought in to Alabama from Mexico include different types of fuel and vehicle parts, making up $900 million and $530 million each year. Around $400 million of the imports include electric machinery, sound equipment, and TV equipment, while a further $350 million includes industrial machinery, including computers.
However, if the 20 percent tax was applied, it's likely that businesses will look elsewhere for their goods, according to Brooking's Bosworth.
"Consider a product such as fruit where Mexican imports compete with producers in Florida, California and Chile," said Bosworth. "If the price were to rise by the full amount of the tariff, we would simply quit buying from Mexico, switch to other suppliers, and Mexico may not have an alternative market. Thus, they would be forced to accept a lower price or cut production. Over time, they will develop other markets and we will find alternative supplies."
A spokesperson for Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL.) said that once the Trump administration firmed up a policy regarding how the wall would be paid for, he would consider a response to stakeholders in Alabama.


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By: Graysen Martínez Ocasio/TRT Publisher–
BOSTON, Mass. – Mayor Thomas Menino’s opposition to Chik-fil-A opening a store in Boston, derived from inflammatory anti-LGBT remarks made by Chik-fil-A’s president to Baptist press, has caused a national uproar in cyberspace, the business and non-profit worlds, college campuses, and even in the political arena. As such, he is joined by many who share his views and others who do not. Regardless, his actions are the voice of equality for all and his letter to Dan Cathy, Chik-fil-A president, expresses this sentiment.
“In recent days you said Chick-fil-A opposes same-sex marriage and said the generation that supports it has an ‘arrogant attitude,’” stated Menino in his letter to Cathy. “Here in Boston, to borrow your own words, we are ‘guilty as charged.’ We are indeed full of pride for our support of same-sex marriage and our work to expand freedom to all people.”
Shortly after Menino’s message, The Jim Henson Co. made an official Chick-fil-A announcement on its Facebook page.
“The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over 50 years and we have notified Chick-Fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors. Lisa Henson, our CEO is personally a strong supporter of gay marriage and has directed us to donate the payment we received from Chick-Fil-A to GLAAD.”
Via Facebook, ABC News reported that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee invited all of his fans to a “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day,” scheduled to take place on August 1. Via this Facebook page, the anti-gay sentiment linked to religion said it all.
“I have been incensed at the vitriolic assaults on the Chick-Fil-A company … The Cathy family … are a wonderful Christian family who are committed to operating the company with Biblical principles and whose story is the true American success story. … Too often, those on the left make corporate statements to show support for same-sex marriage, abortion, or profanity, but if Christians affirm traditional values, we’re considered homophobic, fundamentalists, hate-mongers, and intolerant. …”
And so, opponents and proponents of LGBT causes and marriage equality flooded the Internet — the controversy even reached Congress, as reported by Bloomberg.com, where some Republican members, akin to the chain, visibly supported it.
“Members of the Republican Study Committee [on July 25th] dined on chicken sandwiches and wraps from the fast food company at their weekly luncheon. It was a show of support after its president … said he opposes gay marriage,” stated the Bloomberg story.
In response, a day after the Republican committee’s chicken fest, the HRC “staged a protest outside of a Chick-fil-A food truck in downtown Washington, D.C.”
“HRC is sending a loud and clear message to Chick-fil-A: we will not rest until your consumers know that you take their money and hand it over to groups that actively work to demonize LGBT people,” said HRC Vice President of Communications Fred Sainz via a press release. “Consumers should have all the facts about Chick-fil-A’s anti-LGBT history, and then make informed decisions about whether they want to continue to support a business that proudly touts its connections to discriminatory groups. …”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has joined Menino and Chicago’s Northwest Side Ward Alderman Proco “Joe” to block Chick-fil-A’s effort to build its second store in the city, according to TheAdvocate.com.
“If you are discriminating against a segment of the community, I don’t want you in the 1st Ward,” Moreno told the Chicago Tribune on July 24th.
According to the Adcocate.com, “college students are using online petitions to demand the chain get booted from campuses of [the] University of Illinois, University of Kansas, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Ball State University, College of Charleston, Wichita State University, and Minnesota State University.”
In March 2012, The Rainbow Times reported that in response to the mounting opposition, the undergraduate Student Government Association (SGA) at [Boston’s] Northeastern University (NU) voted down a proposal to bring Chick-fil-A to campus.
“When you are a university in one of America’s most progressive cities, you cannot ignore the queer community and put a symbol of discrimination in public display,” said first-year sociology major Devon Branin of East Greenwich, R.I. a spokesperson for NU Pride, the school’s LGBT student group.
This weekend, Chik-fil-A company owners from other locations have welcome everyone to stores in heavily LGBT populated regions, such as the store in Hollywood and West Hollywood, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Jeremiah Cillpam, owner of this store, “circulated a letter that night on the restaurant’s Facebook page, stating his intention to run his business apolitically,” according to the LA Times story.
Although last weekend Menino was quoted by the Boston Herald as not being able to actively ban the fried chicken company, he still voiced that he still does not want them in Boston. Others concurred with the Mayor.
According to the Boston Herald, “A Facebook page for the same-sex PDA demonstration is urging people across the country to ‘grab a friend (or 20)’ and head to their local Chick-fil-A to protest company CEO’s anti-gay marriage remarks.”
And that is what same-sex couples did last weekend as they visited Chik-fil-A’s two North Shore locations, in a move that was nationally called “National Same-Sex Kiss Day” a way to condemn for the company’s president anti-LGBT stance.
On July 27th, according to polling organization YouGov, Chik-fil-A’s brand (due to Cathy’s comments) plummeted “in most regions of the US, including the South where most of its restaurants are located.”
On July 31, The Washington Post reported that mayors of San Francisco and Pittsburgh were joining Mayors Menino and Emanuel in their sentiment against the fried chicken brand CEO’s comments.
Menino’s response to Cathy’s comments nonetheless shows the reality of a country divided by religion and basic civil human rights. As the Boston Mayor stated, “There is no place for discrimination on Boston’s Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it.” His intentions, criticized or not, show a profound and passionate sense of loyalty to a community he respects and knows too well.
“When Massachusetts became the first state in the country to recognize equal marriage rights, I personally stood on City Hall Plaza to greet same sex couples coming here to be married,” Menino further stated. “It would be an insult to them and to our city’s long history of expanding freedom to have a Chick-fil-A across the street from that spot.”


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iQoo has unveiled its latest flagship, the iQOO Z1 5G. This is the world’s first smartphone that is powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 1000+ SoC. The smartphone also features 144Hz refresh rate display, and a 48MP triple camera setup.
iQOO Z1 5G – Specifications
The MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ chip in the iQOO Z1 5G is built on the 7nm process. It bring support for 5G connectivity on both SIM slots. If you’re thinking about its Antutu scores, it recorded a 536,683 points on the benchmarking platform.
The iQOO Z1 5G is also paired with 8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage of up to 256 GB. For its display, it has a 6.57-inch IPS LCD screen with a punch-hole on the upper right corner. The display also supports HDR10 and DCI-P3 colour gamut, pushing out FHD+ resolution and 144Hz refresh rate. The company claims that more than 100,000 have been optimized to work with its 144Hz display.
Connectivity wise, there is no microSD card expansion. But, it does come with dual SIM connectivity, 5G support, Wi-Fi 6, NFC, GPS, USB Type-C and even a 3.5mm audio jack. For audiophiles, the smartphone will come with dual stereo speakers as well as a smart PA amplifier. And of course, its fingerprint scanner is mounted on the side.
Powering the device is a 4,500mAh battery that supports 44W fast charging. Right out of the box, the iQOO Z1 5G will be running on iQOO UI 1.0 which is based on Android 10.
In the camera department, the iQOO Z1 5G has a 16MP selfie sensor. On the back, you will find the triple camera system which has a:
- 48MP main sensor
- 8MP Ultra-wide sensor
- 2MP macro sensor
These lenses will feature Hyper HDR, human eye-tracking, low-light, as well as ultra-wide photography.
Pricing and Availability
The iQOO Z1 comes in three colours – Space Blue, Galaxy Silver, and Symphony Meteor. The device is currently available only in China, and it will retail at these prices:
- 6GB RAM + 128GB storage – 2,198 Yuan (~RM1,350)
- 8GB RAM + 128GB storage – 2,498 Yuan (~RM1,530)
- 8GB RAM + 256GB storage – 2,798 Yuan (~RM1,710)
The company also announced that it will be selling silicone protective cases and game controller for the Z1 buyers.
- Silicon Case – 49 Yuan
- Z1 Controller – 199 Yuan
- iQOO Wireless Sports Headphones – 299 Yuan
At the time of writing, there is no word on the iQOO Z1 being made available outside of China. But do stay tuned to The AXO as we’ll definitely update you when and if it does.


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“They’re turning red right in front of us,” Alf Krause said as he plucked a strawberry from a plant on their 50-acre farm on 248th Street.
He and his wife, Sandee, own Krause Berry Farms and Estate Winery, and this begins their “crazy busy” season, as Sandee calls it, where the farmgate operation opens full-time and the customers come in droves for u-pick and ready-picked berries.
“The strawberry season is about a third in, and we’re looking forward to a good crop,” Alf said, expecting it will be a little lighter than some years, but still good.
While some in the industry are calling this a late season, Krause clarifies the berries are right on time.
The past two years, the season was early due to warmer weather, but “now we’re back to a mid-June start,” he said.
He describes the current weather as an ideal mix of rain to plump up the berries and make them flavourful, while also offering just enough sun is ripening them.
“We’ve got a great bunch of strawberries right now,” he said, walking through one field located just outside their public marketplace.
Berry production follows roughly a two-week cycle each summer, he explained. In about two weeks, he expects raspberries to be ready, followed by blueberries, blackberries, then the late summer strawberries and raspberries.
“Every two weeks, another berry starts. They cooperate and fall in line and if they don’t, we have a talk,” Alf joked.
He explained further about the later strawberry harvests, noting he started experimenting a quarter century ago with the late summer strawberries known as everbearing strawberries.
Now about half of his crop is harvested in August and close to 80 per cent of the growers in the Fraser Valley have both types of strawberries.
For Krauses, they’ve been farming for more than 40 years, expanding to more farmgate sales in about 2000, then constructing the marketplace in 2006, and adding the winery in 2012.
They have a 50-acre farm attached to the marketplace, plus own and rent another 150 acres nearby to help facilitate all the different fruits and vegetables they grow.
While they continue to diversify, Alf said 45 of the 200-acres are dedicated specifically to strawberries.
They now operate with a seasonal staff of about 200 people working between the fields as part of the growing and harvest team through to the marketplace with servers, bakers, and sales.
While always striving to diversify and stay current with consumer demands, Sandee said everything they do has to revolve around the food they produce on site. That includes the educational components added into every aspect of the children’s play areas, through to the ice cream bar, the winery, the bakery, the marketplace, the new garden bar opening up this season (where people can get fresh fruit and veggie drinks), the new field dinners experiences being hosted Fridays and Saturdays by gourmet chefs, and the new farmer’s table cooking school also coming soon.
Sandee is always overjoyed when she can spare a moment to step out front and greets customers of all ages as they’re coming in.
It brings a smile to her face, she said, when she sees children leaping from their cars and making a mad dash. They’re typically looking to hit the fields for a u-pick festival with the family, making a beeline for the KB Corral Waffle Bar for one of their daily berry waffles, or trying to beat everyone to the porch restaurant for a corn on the cob or berry shortcake.
“I never dreamed I’d be doing what I’m doing,” said Sandee, a mother of six and grandmother of three. “But it’s so great to see all that we can create from what Alf grows. People love it, and that encourages us to do more.”
Big win on the wine front
The farm just experienced a “huge” win on the wine front.
The winery just won a double gold medal in the soft fruit dessert class, as well as best fruit wine of the year award, for their for their Cassis label.
“There were 1,401 entries in the overall compeitions, with 873 entires coming from B.C.,” Sandee explained, noting 360 of the medals were awarded to B.C. entries.
“For us, that’s kind of spectacular news,” Sandee told the Langley Advance. “We are honoured to receive the award for the best fruit wine of the year, and feel extremely proud of our winemaker, Sandee-Lee Kiechle, for this achievement.


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Consignment Shop Second Time Around is going out of business, but it seems as though they are leaving a lot of unhappy customers, clients, and employees in their wake. Consigners and employees have taken to Facebook, Yelp, Twitter, and Instagram (not to mention coming to the stores in person) to complain about a slew of late payments, accuse the brand of illegal and fraudulent actions, and make statements of debt.
Racked reported that the New York City Houston Street location of the consignment chain has been padlocked since last Wednesday, with a “going out of business notice” posted on their website since that same day. At the brick-and-mortar store, the publication also states that “Unable to get answers about the whereabout of their checks or property, angry consignors have trashed signage, hurled verbal abuse, and grabbed merchandise from the shelves as compensation, say employees.”
Employees told Racked about experiences prior to the store’s ultimate closing where customers would come in, violently complaining about late payments for hundreds or thousands of dollars. One explained, “People come into the store and they try to take other things—they think because I can't give them cash, or I can't give them a check or whatnot, that they can just take somebody else's personal item as compensation. So we have that that we're dealing with. We have consignors literally coming into the store trying to loot us!”
On NYC’s Houston Street, the landlord has posted an eviction notice, so it has been increasingly more difficult for the consignors to reposes the items that have not yet been sold from their merchandise. On the company’s website, they state that “The NYC Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) is helping consumers get their items back,” further asking consignors to “Please bring all proof of consignment and photo ID to the store on the following days:” where they list a number of dates and times.
The main issue seems to be that there is little information being given by the company at all as to whether or not consigners will be paid and, if so, how much. Racked obtained a statement from the company which they paraphrased as saying, “Second Time Around reiterated the same points posted on its website and emailed out to customers over the weekend, saying that it is committed to paying consignors for sales made after May 1st, and that further information about sales before that date will be forthcoming, pending the remaining sales.”
Check this out:


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BRAND Now, a Bangkok-based marketing and events management company is encouraging businesses to adopt video-marketing strategies to reach customers in the digital age.
The company, which also is involved in public relations and branding strategies, said it has a Video Marketing Five-Point Recommendation.
“If a picture paints a thousand words, then a well-crafted video release could become the perfect marketing tool to capture the attention of target audience,” a company spokesman said.
According to HubSpot, 78 per cent of people watch online videos each week, with 55 per cent watching every day. Forrester Research reports that one-minute of video is worth 1.8 million words, whilst Cisco said that by 2020, more than 80 per cent of consumer Internet traffic will be made up of online videos.
Brand Now’s five-point recommendation covers:
1. Pair with a traditional press release
Depending on the media medium, the businesses still need to supply editors with a written press release as some publications do not embed video. This gives choice and often means that both their video marketing release and press release are published at the same time.
2. Keep it short and sweet
It is tempting for businesses that are enthusiastic about their product or services to think more is more. The golden rule with video marketing is that less is generally less with a general rule of thumb, particularly for information-heavy videos, is to keep them to between one and two minutes. Extend their corporate message and their audience could switch off.
3. Be concise and relevant
A narrated script, on-screen text and graphics presenters and interviews can all be utilised in video marketing. However, the key is to keep in mind that the writing is different than a piece that will be read. Consider speaking-speeds, time to read words on screen and also to take in information presented in an infographic or chart.
4. Create engaging and well-presented content
Think about the purpose of video marketing. In essence, it is a tool to send information to the media, that could be passed on in video form to would-be consumers. Journalists may use your video release, as they do other marketing materials, to create their own written piece. Keep in mind though that often publications will print a press release as is, so the businesses always need to make a video release presentable enough to be published too.
5. Add movement with B-roll
B-roll is the footage ones splice between their main, to-camera interviews or presenter to-camera footage. Cleverly used, this video content can be used to effectively add to the point the businesses are making, boosting their message and capturing the attention, imagination and feelings of those watching
Brand Now Co., Limited www.brandnow.asia T: +66 2 1054217


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Buenos Aires must secure capacity
An immediate concern for the Port of Buenos Aires is to secure container handling capacity, considering the 2019 expiration of concessions of the three container terminals.
This is the declaration of the International Transport Forum (ITF) in its discussion paper on 'The Container Port of Buenos Aires in the Mega-Ship Era' which finds that bigger ships, industry consolidation and increased trade will pose numerous challenges for the port.
Port authority AGP is planning a land reclamation project to transform some of the current finger piers into linear quays able to handle the largest container vessels. "This new port layout would make it possible to accommodate 14 000 TEU ships," said ITF. AGP also plan to "move from three to one container terminal, which would increase terminal size," it said.
It is difficult to assess how current infrastructure investments might improve the freight transport network, said ITF, because while major government infrastructure investments that should improve the freight transport system connecting the ports to their hinterlands have been announced, it has not seen analysis by the government identifying the largest bottlenecks, the main current and potential freight flows and where it would make most sense to improve networks.
It warned the Paseo del Bajo project that will connect the Buenos Aires-La Plata and Illia highways, whilst creating new green spaces in the El Bajo area of Buenos Aires to relieve congestion may have mixed results.
As part of the works associated with the project, the "government is putting some key port land up for sale: the railway sidings at Empalme Norte (Retiro) and practically all of the customs warehouses adjacent to the container handling facilities in Puerto Nuevo," explained ITF. "This might complicate railway access and detract from value added logistics services in the port: it takes rear space away from the port necessary to keep the port operational."
In looking at how well policies are adapted to future requirements, ITF found that AGP's proposed depth limit of 11m would impose limits on the extent to which megaships could be loaded when calling Buenos Aires.
Dredging the River Plate to the considered maximum depth of 12.8m would make it possible to have calls from ships with capacity up to 20 000 TEUs but only as long as these are not loaded beyond 25% capacity.
The proposal for restructuring of the container terminals would increase yard space, but only by 14 hectares to 91 hectares, which may not provide the appropriate buffer capacity needed for handling larger ships.
If container volumes grow by a factor of three to four as predicted by ITF's freight model, there will be a moment in the next three decades when demand will exceed projected container terminal capacity.
In the short term there certainly is not a lack of container port capacity – although most of this capacity might not be suitable for the ship sizes that will soon come to the East Coast of South America, found the paper. Currently available capacity (almost 3m teu handling capacity in the Buenos Aires region) is around double the volume handled. If all of the possible extensions and announced plans would be realised, this capacity would even rise to almost 4m teu.
The proposal for Puerto Nuevo is framed as a solution for the long term, but it is most likely only a solution for the short – and possibly medium – term, the paper concluded.
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