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Ryanair has begun to issue refund cheques drawn on a German bank to Irish people who used travel agents to book flights that were cancelled due to the pandemic, and affected customers will likely face substantial bank charges and be forced to go into their banks to lodge the money as a result.
The issuing of the refund cheques has been described as “most unusual” by travel agents, who have condemned the move, suggesting that Ryanair is trying to “make it as difficult as possible” for customers to get refunds.
The cost of lodging a cheque drawn on a financial institution overseas can vary significantly depending on the bank but one person who tried to lodge a Ryanair refund cheque said he was told it could cost up as much as €100 per cheque which would be a substantial percentage of the cost of many bookings.
Customers have also said the airline is punishing them for using travel agents instead of booking directly with the airline. Ryanair has rejected the charges and insisted it is acting in the best interests of its customers.
“These refund cheques have only started going out this week and it is likely that thousands of Irish customers will get them,” said the head of the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA), Pat Dawson.
“I think it is absolutely scandalous and they are doing it to frustrate people and to punish the people who book with travel agents,” he continued.
A reader contacted us to highlight the difficulties he had in cashing the refund cheque and the cost associated with it. Pat Lynch got a cheque for €391.96 from Ryanair this week which was drawn on Citibank Europe in Frankfurt.
“I presented it to my bank who advised me to 'find a bank' with German clearing as they don't have it,” he said.
He was then told that his bank could take it “but it would take some time to cash/lodge and there would be a fee of between €20 and €100, depending on what the Germans charged. That's up to 25 per cent of the value". He checked with another bank, "and got the same advice.”
Before Covid-19 prompted airlines to cancel virtually all flights over a period of several months, Ryanair adopted a different policy when issuing refunds and would typically return the money to the travel agent’s account, who would then refund customers directly.
However, in recent months, the airline has refused to do that and pointed out that EU Flight Directive 261 says refunds have to be given directly to the customers rather than to third parties.
In recent months, the airline has sought details including ID, proof of address and bank account BIC and Iban numbers from customers who had booked cancelled flights through travel agents.
With those details it could return the money electronically to customers but has instead decided to issue what Mr Dawson described as "an out of date system that very few people are using today".
Dublin travel agent John Galligan told The Irish Times that because the cheques were drawn on a German bank, Irish customers here would be penalised when lodging them and he said that when the current crisis lifts his business will refuse to deal with what he said was "a trashy airline".
Mr Galligan said for years the standard practice when flights were cancelled was for the money to come back to the travel agent via their credit cards. “That has been the case for a long time but all of a sudden they do this. They know damn well that there will be substantial fees imposed by banks for handling them.”
He said that to the best of his knowledge Ryanair was unique in adopting this approach to refunding people who booked flights through travel agents.
“We all know that voucher schemes rely at least in part on people not redeeming the vouchers and it is the same for these cheques. By making it so difficult and costly for people to cash them, there will simply be people who will not bother or who will forget and all that money will end up going back to Ryanair.”
He said that “when this is all over we are not going to deal with trashy airlines like Ryanair, the question I will be asking is do we need this hassle from them?”
All customers who have booked directly with Ryanair and applied for a refund have received their refund directly back to their credit card.”
Ryanair has confirmed it has been issuing refund cheques but said it was acting in the best interests of its customers.
“Unfortunately, on too many occasions unauthorised screen scrapers and travel agents who have no commercial agreement with Ryanair, have held customers’ refunds for months after being paid by Ryanair,” a spokeswoman told The Irish Times.
“Ryanair has issued cheques as a safe form of payment to ensure customers who booked through unauthorised third party agents receive their flight refunds, and all Irish banks can process these cheques.”
She said that the airline was urging customers “to always book directly on Ryanair.com to avoid delays caused by unauthorised third party agents who deliberately change customer contact and payment details, which unnecessarily delays or blocks refunds.”


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Discover Pinterest’s 10 best ideas and inspiration for Smart Glasses. Get inspired and try out new things.
Instagram: http://instagram.com/jlaservideoVuzix Blade: http://bit.ly/TheVuzixBladeHere’s how I turned the most advanced smart glasses into real E.D.I.T.H gl...
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Apple AR Glasses could arrive in 2022 according to a new report
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Eight time record-breaking 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Award Winner Royal Holdings, has selected Vuzix Blade Smart Glasses as the smart glasses rollout hardware for SWORD™, a mobile based security solution providing an IoT level of situational awareness, detection and recognition. SWORD™ is the world’s first mobile IoT threat detection device built on top of the Apple […]
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A Massachusetts researchers is set to unveil the software at a hacking conference in August - and says it could be used at conferences or even in bars.
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"We wanted to design something that most people would like to wear every day"
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Virtual Reality Simulator, Cyberspace, Headset, Smart Glasses - Eyewear, Eyeglasses, 3-D Glasses, Protective Eyewear, Gamer, Technology, Futuristic, Electronics Industry, Electrical Equipment,...
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the 'JET' sports smart-glasses features a heads-up display that shows caller ID, text messages and social media notifications as well as performance figures
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Las conocidas gafas de google 'Glass' no son únicas ya que se han unido a estas las Recon Jet unas gafas más robustas que las Glass pero con una finalidad distinta. Las Recon Jet son unas gafas diseñadas para ayudar a los deportistas...
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Here we are sharing a list of smart glasses to buy in 2020. Looking to buy Best Smart Glasses? Want the Best AR Smart Glasses? Google Glass Alternatives? The...
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domain: news


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Aloud is a technology incubator and implemented the feature. Consumers and the media should be aware of the recent press releases. To be notified of releases relevant to their coverage area, journalists can set up a custom newsfeed. Stay up to date on the latest business technology releases by following PRNtech on social media. The headline and excerpt from each story are included in the list below. Clicking on the headlines will show multimedia assets that are available for download.
Much of that will be used to pay Microsoft back for using its cloud network to train and run OpenAI’s models. When similar rules were passed into law in Australia, they threatened to stop their services. Both struck deals with Australian media companies after the amendments were offered. The startup has raised $19 million in early stage funding. Artificial intelligence can be used to generate realistic voice recordings of written text that can be used in audiobooks. The US Next G Alliance and India’s Bharat 6G will lead the research.
Tech News To Know This Week
They signed an MoU on Semiconductor Supply Chain and innovation partnership, which is being hailed as a pivotal stride forward in coordination between the two nations. It will soon be easier for people with visual impairments to use PDFs. PDF files are converted to text in the company’s Chrome browser, which makes them more accessible. YouTube channels will be able to increase their audience with the help of Artificial Intelligence. Even in today’s far from perfect performance situation, the tool will come in handy. New languages, as well as opportunities, will appear in the system, and in the future, synthesized soundtracks will become more similar to the original voices, and they will add brighter emotional color.
Over the next few months, Squarespace will integrate GOOGLE DOMAIN into its platform and continue to support existing customers. The company said that it will expand its offerings with the help of the technology and expertise of the company. Capgemini signed a share purchase agreement to acquire BTC Corporation, a leading cloud and digital services provider in Japan, today.
The Apple Vision Pro Has A Travel Mode
We mostly look at U.S. roles, but also feature other locations and cross reference companies to avoid featuring those that recently laid off employees. The troubles at the Indian ed tech company started by Byju Raveendran, which once touched a valuation of $22 billion as a prime example of India’s budding internet economy, have been compounded by the resignation. The new hire will play a central role in crafting and defining data architecture, getting training and hands on experience on the latest tools and technologies, as well as contribute to the development of streaming data pipelines. You will work in the capture, management, storage and utilization of structured and unstructured data from internal and external sources, turning business needs into the data that supports the BT Group’s data strategies and strategic decision making. You can find many more opportunities in data science, data engineering, and data analysis on the UKTN Job Board.
According to the White House, a manufacturing license agreement has been submitted for congressional notification after the Memorandum of Understanding between GE and HAL was signed Thursday. This will be the first time that sensitive defence technology will be transferred between the US and a non treaty ally. End to end encryption should be protected from the bill in order to ensure user safety and privacy.
The study predicts that India will have 700 million 5G subscriptions by the end of the year. Communication service providers across the globe are investing in 5G technology despite some challenges. A group of employees have filed a lawsuit against the social media company, Bar Bench accusing them of breaching their commitment to pay out bonuses. The lawsuit states that the company has failed to fulfill its promise of giving 50 percent of the target amount of bonuses.
According to a report by Dealabs Magazine, the prices of the watch have been leaked in France. The popular website builder and hosting service has announced that it has acquired the domain name registrar service from the search engine giant. The deal will allow customers of Squarespace to register and manage their domain names through the platform. We wake up, drink coffee, get ready, and check our tech. There are a few stories from around the tech world that fit into that first cup.
The offices of Byju’s were searched in April as part of a probe. In May, Byju’s was sued by an agent for the lenders in the US state of Delaware over the loan taken out in 2021. Byju’s has been in talks with its lenders for months after it missed a deadline to disclose annual financial results, and demand for online tutoring dropped off after the schools reopened. According to McKinsey, 32% of companies are adapting their longer term strategies to reflect and respond to changes brought about by data.
This article is part of a partnership with Jobbio to share the most exciting tech jobs in the UK. A data scientist is needed to help the business move into other areas, including claims, and generate actionable insights beyond pricing and fraud. When you look at where data science is now and how far it has come in the last few years, it is not surprising that the field will continue to thrive. According to the WEF’s Future of Jobs report, big data analytics, climate change and environmental management technologies are the primary drivers of career advancement over the next five years. There has been a surge in 5G subscriptions in India alone.
Even though it was created to compete with other online services, the product never gained much traction or popularity among users. As part of its ongoing efforts to focus on its core products and services, Google decided to sell its.com domain to Squarespace. The European Union industry chief said the draft rules were not protectionist. An organization can solve their most complex challenges with Agile and efficient development with the help of a strong team of highly skilled professionals. It offers cloud integration related services to support the digital transformation journeys of its clients, who include several international and local brands.


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Horsemeat scandal: 'No risk' to human health, says minister
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson has said there is "no risk" to human health of food products contaminated with horsemeat.
He said unless products had been designated as unsafe by the Food Standards Agency, consumers should not worry.
But he said people should return the affected products "as a precaution".
Mr Paterson was making a statement on 11 February 2013 on developments following the discovery of horsemeat in processed beef products in January.
Labour accused the environment secretary of mishandling the horsemeat crisis.
Mr Paterson told MPs it was a case of "fraud and mislabelling" and not "food safety" - and that Europe-wide supply networks had been affected.
He said the UK government was taking "urgent action" with the Food Standards Agency, industry and European partners to get to the bottom of what went wrong.
He said there would be immediate testing of products across the supply chain, to include tests at schools, hospitals and prisons.
But shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh accused Mr Paterson of incompetence.
"Crisis? What crisis? Until Saturday's panic summit, he hadn't actually met the food industry to address this crisis, and his food minister had met with the food industry just once, exactly a week ago," she said.
Ms Creagh said there was currently a "lucrative" trade in horses, claiming that while the Polish and Romanians were being "conveniently" blamed for the scandal, the contamination problem had started across the Irish Sea - with an estimated "70,000 horses unaccounted for in Northern Ireland".
Liberal Democrat Roger Williams said the "active involvement" of Europol was essential to "break up the complex criminal food chains that have been set up to take advantage of consumers".
The DUP's Reverend William McCrea said the scandal had caused "serious damage" to public confidence in the safety of British food, and called for those responsible to face legal action.
Conservative MP Anne McIntosh, who chairs the Commons Environment Committee, said foreign imports should be banned for the time being.


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MTM On The Road: Great Lakes Culinary Institute in Traverse City
Northwestern Michigan College’s Great Lakes Culinary Institute in Traverse City is busy preparing the next great chefs.
Although the spring semester is almost over, there’s still a chance for you to see and taste what the culinary students have been cooking up at their teaching restaurant, Lobdell’s.
Lobdell’s is open Tuesday’s through Thursday’s for lunch.
On June 18, Cafe Lobdell’s will be open serving baked goods and cafe drinks.
Also, culinary students are getting ready to celebrate Michigan Wine Month in May with a Michigan Wine Great Lakes Culinary Challenge! The students are tasked to create a wine and small plate pairing that will be judged by attendees and chefs.
The grand prize is a $1,000 scholarship.
Wake up with Regan Blissett and Stephanie Adkins as they see how they are preparing these next great chefs!


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A Few Bearish Signals You Need To Watch Right Now…
May begins an ominous period for stock market investors. In fact, there’s even an entire investing strategy built around avoiding stocks from May to October.
According to the “Best Six Months” strategy, that period is the worst time to own stocks. The best time is from November to April.
This strategy didn’t work well over the past six months. The S&P 500 lost 4.6% in the “best” six months. So what should we expect from the “worst” six months?
The worst six months, on average, still deliver a gain about 61% of the time. That’s compared to gains about 80% during the other six months of the year. In the best six months, the average gain is about 7.5% while it’s only about 0.6% in the worst six months.
So, the indicator really tells us we can normally expect small gains from May 1 to October 31.
However, the fact that there was a loss in the “best” six months tells us that the next six months could be a even less rewarding than average. After a decline, there is about a 60% probability of a decline. And the average return over the six months is a loss of 4.5%.
It’s not a definitive “sell” signal, but it’s an important indication that the market is likely to deliver another leg down.
Other Reasons To Be Cautious
Another warning we can expect a new leg down? Amazon’s recent earnings announcement.
As earnings season unfolded, many companies pulled their earnings outlooks, noting that uncertainty is high. Amazon provided some specific insights into uncertainty.
The company’s press release noted that, “Under normal circumstances, in this coming Q2, we’d expect to make some $4 billion or more in operating profit. But these aren’t normal circumstances.” Those funds will instead go toward expenses associated with the current pandemic.
Some of the spending will be unique to Amazon. The company’s CFO noted that Amazon will spend about $1 billion on Covid-19 testing this year. Amazon has designated a team of researchers, engineers, procurement specialists, and program managers to work on building incremental testing capacity. Amazon said the team is building a lab and has already begun a pilot test of front-line employees.
“We’re not sure how far we will get in the relevant timeframe, but we think it’s worth trying, and we stand ready to share anything we learn,” Amazon said in the release about its testing plans.
Other companies will not necessarily research the virus, but some of Amazon’s $4 billion will also fund higher wages for workers, personal protective equipment (PPE), better cleaning protocols at facilities, and “less efficient process paths” that will allow for social distancing.
Those kinds of expenses will affect other companies. Retailers may have to spend on hand sanitizer and PPE for employees while setting up less efficient store layouts that increase spacing between customers.
What The Numbers Say
We are already seeing signs of these changes in the data. As of Friday, more than half the companies in the S&P 500 had reported results for the first quarter. Earnings per share (EPS) for the index are expected to be nearly 14% lower than they were a year ago. But revenue is holding up better-than-expected, down just under 1% compared to the same quarter last year.
One reason for the decline in earnings relative to sales is because of the higher expenses associated with protecting employees. Profit margins for the quarter are dropping to 8.98%, which is significantly below the five-year average of 10.13%.
To me, this indicates there are some important changes in stocks that many investors are probably not considering. Profits will remain under pressure, and risks are higher than they were six months ago. Both of these factors (lower earnings and higher risk premiums) should result in prices resetting at a lower level that’s based on the fundamentals.
What The Technicals Say
Technicals indicate that reset could begin soon. The daily S&P 500 chart (shown below) confirms that momentum is pointing to lower prices, as I explained last week.
I’ve also added a stochastics line to the bottom of this chart to show momentum. This chart shows a bearish divergence and broke below 80, a stochastics level that many analysts watch as a “sell” signal.
The two blue lines in the chart show that the strength of the uptrend declined in the past week, with prices failing to return to the upper line. The blue rectangle highlights the 50% to 61.8% retracement levels. Prices have remained in that range most of the past two weeks.
On their own, none of these indicators is a strong “sell” signal. But it is troubling that so many popular technical tools are near confirmed sell signals. As traders spot these signals, selling could accelerate.
It’s time to watch the market action closely. We are at the point where I expect stocks to struggle. Prices are likely to be lower a month from now. This will be the beginning of the second leg down — and that could induce a renewed sense of panic among investors.
As I’ve noted several times in the past few weeks, investors and traders alike need to be looking for safe ways to earn extra income in this market. That’s why my “bonus dividend” strategy is more important than ever…
If you’d like to safely generate extra income from stocks you already own — with the least amount of risk possible — then you need to learn more about this. Check out this report to learn more.


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The future of money is played out in the digital arena. Since Satoshi Nakamoto created bitcoin more than a decade ago, the weight of cryptocurrencies has been growing until reaching heights difficult to imagine a scant decade ago. Not only have they gained weight, popularity, projection and a value that has made them an object of desire among speculators interested in getting a slice of their volatility. Also, and perhaps this is an equally crucial consequence, it has forced the States and regulatory bodies, such as the central banks or the US Federal Reserve, to get down to work and embark on the complex task of equipping themselves with your own digital money.
They are doing it. That the institutional machinery has been running for some time to test the possibilities of official digital money is evident; but it is no less so because its rhythm is slow, hesitant, marked by private cryptocurrencies and with an eye on what the neighbors are doing.
In parallel to the implementation of their own currencies, the authorities are also advancing in their response to cryptocurrencies. If the implementation of the different assets differs a lot from one country to another, the same happens with their relationship with cryptocurrencies. In September, for example, the People’s Bank of China (PBC) gave a resounding fist to the table by declaring illegal both its transactions and mining or even its advertising. Russia and India are in a similar line. In Europe, including Spain, the authorities have opted for the regularization of crypto assets, making clear —in the case of Spain— aspects such as their taxation.
What’s on the table? Both in Europe and in the United States, what the regulatory authorities are proposing is the creation of a Central bank digital currency (CBDC), a digital currency backed by a Central Bank. Unlike the money that we move when paying by card, part of the money supply and for which the role of commercial banks is decisive, a digital euro would be “pure” public money, just like the physical bills that you can now have in wallet. Its big difference with respect to decentralized cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum or even the stablecoins that emerged to avoid volatility, is that it would be issued by the Eurosystem and would offer the security of money backed by the Central Bank.
Digital money — they are in charge of repeating by active and passive from the ECB — will not replace cash, but it does seek to provide a service to citizens in their day to day for their electronic purchases. In the case of Europe, for example, one of the objectives is precisely to maintain the primacy of currency over other payment methods. “It would also protect us from the risk that a public or private digital means of payment issued and controlled from outside the euro area could largely displace existing national means of payment,” argues the Bank itself.
Why do they take the step? Authorities such as the European Central Bank or the Fed, in the United States, have decided to make a move in a scenario marked by several factors. The main one, perhaps, is the increase in electronic trading operations and the loss of weight of cash, a phenomenon that has been recorded for years and has now been reinforced by the pandemic.
In Sweden, cash payments accounted for less than 9% of retail operations in 2020. Precisely to avoid the threat to its monetary sovereignty that could be represented by the digital currencies of other powers or the competition of cryptocurrencies —recalls Luis M. Hinojosa in the European Community Law Review—, in 2017 and 2018 its central bank, the Sveriges Riksbank, It has already released two reports delving into the issuance of a digital Swedish krona. The objective: to prevent its citizens from being forced to become clients of the companies that control the electronic payment systems to make their purchases.
Another key is the rise of cryptocurrencies and alternatives such as the now very deflated Project Diem —formerly known as Libra—, the blockchain-based payment system with a value backed by real assets launched by Facebook in 2019. As Hinojosa points out, a A proposal such as that of Zuckerberg’s signature would pose a challenge to fiduciary currencies, the role of central banks or even the monetary sovereignty of States. With their CBDCs, notes Edward Chancellor, governments seek precisely to “recover lost seigniorage” and “combat the threat to the state monopoly posed by cryptocurrencies” or initiatives such as Facebook, which despite its potential seems to now have its days numbered. .
Keys are also the movements of China, which has managed to take the lead and make progress that is followed with special attention from the United States. Beijing started working on the digital yuan in 2014 and today the currency is already being tested in various regions of the country and there are 261 million citizens who have downloaded the digital wallet app.


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U.S. stocks are mixed early Wednesday, treading water ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy statement due out this afternoon. Against this backdrop, the S&P 500 is digesting a bull-flag breakout, a rally placing it within striking distance of record highs.
Nasdaq edges up a point to 7,955
Dow industrials gain 44 points, or 0.2%, to 26,510
S&P 500 up a point to 2,918
S&P 500, Nasdaq flirt with positive territory ahead of Fed decision
One key metric to watch, says Citigroup, is the company’s sales in China.
Fund managers are the most bearish they’ve been since 2008, and they’re rushing into bonds and defensive sectors. But with pessimism so high, the odds may favor more upside.
Early-stage biotech companies that have gone public have, on average, raised more money and performed better than biotech companies whose initial public offering came closer to when they brought a product to market.
Philip Morris stock has been a success story in 2019, and Wells Fargo argues that a recent dip in the shares represents a buying opportunity.
The funds have been struggling to outperform, and have been bleeding billions of dollars in assets, thanks to their value-stock tilt.
It’s easy to fail at personal finance.
Apple has asked suppliers to evaluate moving a substantial portion of their production outside of China, Nikkei reported.
There’s one big reason why consumers may want to avoid shopping with Facebook’s new cryptocurrency Libra.
The Federal Reserve meeting will provide gutsy contrarians with yet another opportunity to exploit investors’ tendency to jump first and think later.
The world’s No. 1 cryptocurrency is on fire, with a price approaching $10,000, pushing the digital asset near its highest level in more than a year. Here are a few theories about why bitcoin has been zooming higher.
All eyes on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday
While a hawkish Fed no longer looms large over this aging bull market, Nouriel Roubini, perhaps the media’s favorite permabear, now says the world “has an even bigger problem on its hands.”
And The Winner Is: The DJIA
Investors seem eager to insure themselves against geopolitical tensions that have flared up in the Middle East and Hong Kong this week, with gold vaulting.
Stocks continue climb, driven by consumer discretionary, IT
Strocks continue climb, driven by consumer discretionary, IT
Wait For The Fed To Start The Rate Cutting Cycle
Citi, BofA take dimmer view of Q2, Q3 corporate profits
Citi, BofA take dimmer view of Q2, Q3 earnings
Stocks' decline eases midday as real estate rises
Stocks' gains evaporate in late trading
Stocks' early gains vanish as trade worries persist
Stocks' earlier gains vanish as trade worries persist
JPMorgan's Kolanovic sees `Trump collar' on stock market - Bloomberg
Stocks pare losses as energy falls, utilities rise
Stocks slump as U.S.-China trade talks stall
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|News Corp Cl B|
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|Johnson Controls International PLC|
|Lennar Corp. Cl A|
|DuPont de Nemours Inc.|


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DOWAGIAC — Museum Director Steve Arseneau will close out the Spring Lecture Series at Dowagiac Area History Museum, 201 E. Division St., with “From Trade Cards to Doe-Wah-Jack: A History of Round Oak Advertising” at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Using the extensive collection at the museum, the program will show the elaborate advertising that helped make the Round Oak name nearly synonymous with heating stoves.
While Beckwith’s advertising started out with basic trade cards, Round Oak produced its first catalog in 1892, and sent out beautiful posters, calendars and displays to stores carrying its line of heaters.
Round Oak introduced Chief Doe-Wah-Jack in its advertising around 1900.
Chief Doe-Wah-Jack would be featured in company advertising to the end of the company after World War II. Round Oak would put his image on everything from trade cards to plates.
“Several factors led to the Round Oak Stove Co., becoming one of the leaders in the stove industry around the turn-of-the-century,” Arseneau said in a news release. “Round Oak put out a great product that was affordable to the masses. Founder P.D. Beckwith and his family invested in the growth of the company and the city. And Round Oak put out high quality, attention-grabbing marketing materials.”
The program is free to museum members and $5 for nonmembers. Children younger than 18 are free. Membership will be available at the museum.
For more info, call the museum at 783-2560 or visit www.dowagiacmuseum.info.


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We have seen a handful of smartphones with foldable displays. Phone makers are eager to come up with their own foldable smartphone. Last year Motorola unveiled the iconic Moto Razr in a new foldable avatar. Now the company is offering two Moto Razr’s at the price of one. This is a limited period offer those interested need to make a move right away.
Author Archives: Mahit Huilgol
DxOMark Camera test gives us a fair idea about smartphone cameras. The DxO Mark team has put the Galaxy Z Flip camera to the test and it has scored 105 points. The tally includes 96 points for video performance and 109 points for the camera performance. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip ranks 27th on the leader board.
Xiaomi is well known for its mid-range Redmi series. The Chinese company has now pulled the wraps from Redmi Note 9 and Mi Note 10. Both the devices offer a bang for the bucks and are priced very aggressively.
Thanks to numerous leaks we already know a fair share about the upcoming Pixel 4a. The only piece of missing information was the launch date and availability. Well, now even that seems to be out in the open. A German blog has got its hand on an internal Vodafone Germany document that says the phone will be available with carriers starting from May 22.
Earlier this month OnePlus pulled the wraps from the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro. According to rumor mills the company was expected to launch a mid-range device, however, that didn’t happen. Fresh rounds of rumor say that the OnePlus Z will be released in summer this year.
Google had announced Pixel Buds 2 way back in October last year. Today Google has finally launched the Pixel Buds 2 priced at $179 in the U.S. The Pixel 2 Buds are true wireless earbuds and will rival the likes of Apple AirPods.
Earlier this month Google released Android 11 Developer Preview 2.1. This was more of a minor update based on Android 11 Developer Preview 2 and arrived with a bunch of bug fixes. Today Google has announced Developer Preview 3 for Android 11. The latest preview comes with five major changes including Tweaks to Android 11 exit reasons API which helps understand why and how the apps are exited.
As expected Motorola has finally pulled the wraps from its latest flagship offering the Motorola Edge+ and the mid-range Edge. Both the devices feature a waterfall display and support 5G.


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U.S. economic growth was revised up from the previous estimate. The biggest gain in three years in consumer spending drove the expansion.
Into the Headlines
GDP increased 2.9% in the last quarter of 2017 compared with the previously reported 2.5%, per the Commerce Department. Although it surpassed the 2.7% reading expected by a Reuters poll, it marked a slight decline from 3.2% reported in the previous quarter.
Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. GDP, grew at its fastest pace in three years, increasing 4% in the final quarter of 2017 compared with 2.2% expansion in the previous quarter. However, imports were a drag, as it grew at an upwardly revised rate of 14.1% compared with the previously reported 14.0%, the fastest pace since the third quarter of 2010.
There are signs that GDP slowed further in Q1 2018, as investors take cues from retail sales data. Retail sales declined 0.1% in February against expectations of a gain of 0.3% after a 0.1% drop in the prior month and December. This was the first time since April 2012 that retail sales declined for three consecutive months.
Despite the weakness in retail sales, some analysts bet on economic growth reaching Trump’s 3% target in 2018 on the $1.5 trillion tax reform and increase in government spending. Government spending increased 3% in the quarter compared with previously reported 2.9%, the highest since the second quarter of 2015.
What’s the Fed Going to Do?
The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by 25 basis points in Powell’s first meeting as chairman. The new benchmark funds rate was increased to a target of 1.5% to 1.75%. Although the Fed kept its forecast of two more hikes in 2018, it is too early to comment on what turn the U.S. economy might take in the rest of the calendar year.
“Tax cuts and stronger government spending will boost average GDP growth to 2.9 percent in 2018,” per a Reuters article citing Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. “We forecast this environment will lead the Fed to raise interest rates four times this year,” he added.


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Even though more Americans than ever are eating burgers, some of those mass consumers are demanding the veggie variety, according to a new study released by Technomic, a research company. Nearly half of this country’s population eats a burger at least once a week compared to only 38 percent just two years ago.
It’s the younger consumers (18 to 34 year olds) who seek out the non-meat burgers with many of them (23 percent) asserting that it’s important for restaurants to at least offer a vegetarian option. Ironically, fast food chains and their value menus have made the burger more popular but it’s not the drive through version most Americans are seeking.
"The value menu is certainly a big part of this increase in burger consumption," says Sara Monnette, Director of Consumer Research at Technomic.
The importance of all natural, hormone-free, steroid-free and antibiotic-free meat burger has grown since 2009. Nearly 50 percent of consumers currently say they want their fowl or bovine burgers drug-free. As for cheese? It’s regular or vegan cheddar all the way except at fast food restaurants where the top choice is still American.
Who knows? The near future at Burger King just might include a trip in the Prius with a drive through “have it your way” veggie burger sporting spinach, tomato, Daiya cheese and Veganaise. Hey, we can dream!


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Liverpool city region attracts more than 64m visitors a year, generating £4.5bn, and the new campaign aims to push those figures even higher. Tony McDonough reports
A new push has been launched to further grow Liverpool city region’s £4.5bn visitor economy and attract even more UK and international visitors to Merseyside.
Marketing Liverpool, an arm of Liverpool City Council, have been commissioned by Liverpool Visitor Economy Network (LVEN), a strategic group of major players in the city region, to create a new tourism campaign called Liverpool. Do It Your Way.
The city region’s visitor economy is as big as it has ever been. A report late last year showed that 64.2m people came here in 2017 – an increase of 2.7% on 2016 – which comprised 59m day visitors, up 2.8%, and 5.3m staying visitors, up 2.6%.
Figures for 2018 are likely to be even higher with the return of the Giants alone attracting more than one million people as well as other special events such as the Terracotta Warriors on display in the city.
This success has provided a boost for the city’s hotel sectors which has grown significantly in size since Liverpool was European Capital of Culture in 2008 and was recently voted by TripAdvisor users as the third most popular destination in the UK (behind only capital cities London and Edinburgh).
Liverpool. Do It Your Way uses real people who have visited and fallen in love with the city to capture the excitement, individuality and desires of the modern-day traveller. The people chosen to be the ‘heroes’ of the campaign include Kyami who’s passion for music she found mirrored on the streets of Liverpool.
The campaign will put an emphasis on Liverpool’s vast visitor offering and will engage potential visitors with the idea that no matter what they’re looking for on their travels, they’ll find it in Liverpool.
Donna Howitt, chair of LVEN’s marketing group, spoke of the importance of keeping Liverpool moving in an increasingly competitive tourism industry. She explained: “Liverpool has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, but we can’t be complacent.
“This campaign allows us to build on our success and position Liverpool as a must-see destination for domestic and international audiences. Research is at the heart of the campaign and the creative strategy and concept is based on powerful insights from our visitor research.”
Marketing Liverpool has also commissioned Zut Media to produce a series of short films for the campaign, each of which focus on a different hero and their Liverpool experience.
Alongside this, a vast array of brand-new photography, an extensive social media campaign and a dedicated section on the visitliverpool.com website will allow visitors to either follow in the footsteps of the campaign heroes or create their own, bespoke itinerary using the VisitLiverpool itinerary builder.
Chris Brown, director of Marketing Liverpool, said: “The campaign is international in its ambition and appeal. It celebrates the moments and experiences that make Liverpool an unforgettable destination for domestic and international visitors.
“In today’s age, travellers are looking for authentic travel experiences which is exactly what this campaign aims to promote.”


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May 29, 2019 For the seventh year in a row, Amway was named the world’s No. 1 direct selling company by Direct Selling News’ Global 100 list. The list is a ranking of the top revenue-generating direct selling companies in the world.
Celebrating its 60th Anniversary this year, Amway saw a two percent increase over 2017 sales numbers of $8.8 billion. As the company looks to 2019 and beyond, strategic investments will focus on driving future growth through social commerce, product personalization
AMERICAN direct-selling company Amway has brought to the Philippines the second collection off of its Artistry Studio line which takes its name and design cues from Paris. It features three eyeshadow palettes, cheek and lip duos, liquid lip colors, brow shapers, and a setting spray.
“Artistry Studio is all about helping beauty lovers have fun, express who they are, and ultimately treat themselves,” Amway Philippines Country Manager Maria Elenita Olmedo, was quoted as saying in a press release.
In alignment with the Indian Government’s ‘Skill India’ initiative, Amway has been significantly contributing towards skill development and nurturing entrepreneurship in the country by focusing its training strategy on enhancing skills and competencies of its direct sellers
Shopify is an easy to use online store builder trusted by over 800,000 stores. Fully customizable store design with a shopping cart. Shopify currently powers over 500,000 businesses in approximately 175 countries and is trusted by brands such as Tesla, Red Bull, Nestle, GE, Kylie Cosmetics, and many more. Start your 14-day free trial today. http://bit.ly/2ImmPN7
BitMEX, a bitcoin derivatives exchange, has surpassed $1 trillion in annual trading volume, according to a tweet by founder Arthur Hayes.
It comes as bitcoin futures trading volumes explode to record highs on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) platform. Demand for bitcoin derivatives, which allow users to open up long and short positions on bitcoin’s price movement, is booming.


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Titan Machinery, a network of full-service construction and agricultural equipment stores, including a number of rental branches, posted a 64.9-percent revenue increase for its fiscal 2012 fourth quarter ended Jan. 31. Total revenue was $607 million for the fourth quarter, compared with $368.1 million the previous year’s quarter.
Equipment sales totaled $517.1 million for the quarter, compared with $310.0 million, a 66.8-percent leap, while parts sales were $45.7 million for the quarter compared with $29.9 million in the year-ago quarter, a 52.8-percent spike. Equipment rental and “other” more than doubled, from $7.6 million in FQ411 to $16.9 million in the recently concluded quarter.
For the full year ended Jan. 31, total revenue leaped 51.6 percent to $1.66 billion compared with $1.09 billion the previous year. Equipment rental and “other” also more than doubled for the full year, from $23.6 million in fiscal 2011 to $50.2 million in fiscal 2012.
In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, Titan completed three acquisitions, two agricultural equipment dealerships in the United States and two agricultural dealerships in Europe. Since the conclusion of the quarter, Titan acquired three construction equipment dealership locations in the U.S., and one independent equipment rental center.
The company expanded its construction footprint into Colorado with three locations and increased its rental business with an additional rental company acquisition. Titan is continuing to strengthen its contiguous network of dealerships in the Upper Midwest.
“We are pleased with our strong fourth-quarter and full-year results, as we delivered another record year of revenue and net income for Titan Machinery,” said chairman and CEO David Meyer. “In fiscal 2012, we generated strong organic and acquired growth, as a result of several factors, including the continuation of a robust agriculture equipment market, an improved construction equipment market in the region in which we do business, and growth in our construction equipment rental business. In the fourth quarter, equipment demand was driven by strong net farm income for calendar year 2011 and an improving construction market, enabling us to exceed our fiscal 2012 annual revenue and net income guidance.”
Meyer was optimistic about Titan’s prospects for fiscal 2013. “We expect to benefit from continued organic and acquired growth, including our international expansion into Romania and Bulgaria and our expanding footprint in our core Upper Midwest market. In addition, the operating environment remains favorable for our customers for both of our business segments.”
Titan Machinery is expecting fiscal-year 2013 total revenues to range between $1.95 billion and $2.1 billion.
Titan is based in West Fargo, N.D. It owns and operates a network of 96 North American dealerships in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming, Wisconsin and Colorado, and 10 European dealerships in Romania and Bulgaria. The dealerships represent one or more of the CNH brands, including Case IH, New Holland Agriculture, Case Construction, New Holland Construction, Kobelco, and CNH Capital.


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Amazon’s ad business grew 60 percent this quarter
In its fourth-quarter earnings today, Amazon reported that “other” revenue, which mostly means advertising, plus its co-branded credit card agreements, increased to $1.7 billion in the fourth quarter. That’s 60 percent growth year over year.
In the third quarter, “other” revenue grew 58 percent year over year to $1.12 billion.
“Advertising was a key contributor [to strong growth],” director of investor relations Dave Fildes said on the earnings call. “We continue to make the offering more valuable. We’re focused on finding ways to work with those companies – vendors or sellers — coming to us and offer them a great experience on the website and ability to reach customers.”
The company hinted more was to come in terms of building out the platform. CFO Brian Olsavsky said that Amazon has found itself as a “key lean-in from brands and agencies into the e-commerce marketing space,” which has helped bolster that growth.
In comparison, Google parent Alphabet, which also reported earnings on Feb. 1, reported overall revenue increased 24 percent year over year, with its ad business posting $27.3 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter.
At Facebook, advertising revenue grew 48 percent from a year ago. Total revenue grew 47 percent to $13 billion.
Over the last few months, Amazon has begun giving the duopoly a run for its money thanks to growth in Amazon’s search marketing offering, Amazon Marketing Services. The platform has gotten somewhat of a face-lift recently, media buyers say. From October to December, ad spend on sponsored product ads and headline search ads have increased 64 percent and 75 percent quarter over quarter, respectively, per a new report from Merkle.
Speaking at an industry conference earlier this year, Seth Dallaire, Amazon’s vp of global ad sales and marketing for Amazon Media Group, said the business has grown.
“Two years ago, we oftentimes had to explain why we had an advertising business,” said Dallaire on stage. “But now, we go beyond that, and the tenor of the [client] conversation is more urgent, centered on how advertising on Amazon works. Holding companies are looking to build capacity in data interpretation and e-commerce marketing, while boutique agencies are very focused on search and programmatic display [on Amazon].”
This week, Citi analysts predicted that ad sales at Amazon will be $10.2 billion this year, with revenue expected to rise to $50.6 billion by 2028. That was the highest estimate heard yet. JPMorgan Chase has estimated Amazon will bring in $4.5 billion in ad revenue this year.
Amazon’s pitch to brands and agencies is that it is able to create a “total wallet” perspective — actually figure out what people are searching for with what they’re buying.
‘Right thing to do at the right time’: The definitive oral history of Hyundai’s assurance program
Here’s the story of how the Hyundai Assurance came to be and how it was revived in recent weeks.
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ShortList mulls men's lifestyle web offering
By Nick Batten, campaignlive.co.uk, Thursday, 13 September 2012 10:35AM
ShortList Media, which publishes ShortList and Stylist magazines, is considering the launch of a men's lifestyle version of its e-mail and web-based female offering, Emerald Street.
According to industry sources, the working name of the men's title is "Theobald" and the product is scheduled for release in the autumn. However, it is understood that a definite launch date has yet to be fixed.
There have been persistent industry rumours surrounding the launch of a new product from the ShortList stable, initially believed to be a third freesheet magazine.
Emerald Street, which launched in April 2011, is a daily e-mail news service that arrives in subscribers' inboxes from Monday to Friday and is created by the journalists and editors of Stylist. The digital brand is named after the company's address in London's Bloomsbury.
Mike Soutar, the ShortList Media chief executive, would not comment on the launch. However, he said: "ShortList Media is built on developing new media brands and we are constantly in a loop of research and development."
ShortList launched in 2007 and, according to recent Audit Bureau of Circulations figures, has a circulation of 529,010.Follow @nickbatten2
This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk
- Mid Weight Planner - ATL Daniel Marks London £30-£50K + Excellent Benefits, Central London
- Business Development Manager Pure360 £20,000 - £25,000 depending on experience. £45k OTE uncapped, Brighton
- Comms Planning Manager PFJ £30000.00 - £35000.00 per annum, London
- Marketing Partnerships Director PFJ £40000.00 - £45000.00 per annum, London
- Assistant Category Manager Jarlett de Grouchy £27000 - £30000 per annum + + Bonus + Benefits, London
- Cobra introduces bra-making brewer 'The Boss'
- Anti-slavery charity creates '12 Years a Slave' tactical ad after Oscar win
- Majority of 15m Twitter users in the UK follow a newspaper
- Hooch appoints More and MJ Media for Keith Lemon campaign
- OgilvyOne loses BA business
- Birds Eye kicks off £60m pan-Euro campaign


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BEIJING - Ninety-eight per cent of physicians in China use the Internet, and they spend 5.1 hours a week on activities related to their practice and on specialty-related activities, said a new study.
According to the Digital Life Physician China survey, Chinese physicians spend about 42 per cent of their online time - or 2.6 hours a week - on knowledge-based activities.
This includes searching for articles, books, and information on diseases, hospitals/departments, conferences and exhibitions.
Continuing medical education (CME) takes up 1.9 hours a week, and they spend approximately 1.4 hours a week connecting with their peers online, including writing blogs, articles and reviews.
Physicians spend only 0.6 hours a week interacting with their patients online, including answering patients' questions and participating in patient education and support programs.
The study was conducted by Kantar Health, a healthcare-focused global consultancy and marketing insights company, and DXY, the largest online academic portal for Chinese physicians and life sciences professionals.
The survey was aimed at uncovering physicians' attitudes, needs and motivations to provide insights to drive marketing success in the digital world.
"The Digital Life Physician survey showed that Chinese medical professionals are more digitally savvy than anyone expected - almost 100 per cent have web access," said Simon Li, General Manager of Kantar Health China.
"This indicates a huge potential for using digital channels to support marketing efforts," he said.
Mr Li added that the Internet is a significant source of information for physicians, but it's currently underused by manufacturers to engage and influence them.
Manufacturers have two huge opportunities for engaging Chinese physicians online: by providing new content and educational materials, and by influencing the online opinion leaders and monitoring the hubs to manage and control online marketing influences, he said.
The data was compiled via 4,857 online surveys and 2,070 offline surveys. The results were analyzed by Kantar Health.


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Wheaties hands over packaging design via MapMyFitness partnership
In an example of how mobile and social are disrupting traditional packaging design strategies, General Mills? Wheaties is letting mobile consumers choose the next athlete to appear on the cereal brand?s packaging by logging workouts on MapMyFitness, a social network for fitness enthusiasts.
While Wheaties? association with health and fitness goes back a long time, by leveraging mobile ? a popular way for MapMyFitness users to track their workouts and engage with others on the platform ? the cereal brand is initiating a conversation maintained and owned by consumers themselves. Five emerging sports athletes will compete to be the box icon in the Wheaties NEXT challenge, with participants able to root for their favorite sportsperson when logging workouts through the MapMyFitness platform.
?Social network use has reached a point of near ubiquity, and the smartest marketers follow their audiences,? said Doug Chavez, global head of marketing research and content at Kenshoo, San Francisco.
?Brands who create campaigns centered around social are simply positioning themselves for the greatest levels of success.?
?Creating and utilizing unique campaigns for the channels at their disposal is a marketing best practice; generating engagement is all about delivering relevant content to an audience ? segmenting the audience based on their preferred channels only stands to strengthen the likelihood of success,? he said
Doug Chavez commented based on his expertise in digital marketing and is not associated with General Mills.
Playing by new rules
MapMyFitness users can register for the Challenge by visiting MapMyFitness.com/wheatiesnext or through the app by selecting and joining the Wheaties NEXT Challenge.
Once registered, participants can begin logging up to two workouts daily which will count as one vote for a selected athlete: Ryan Dungey representing motocross; Blake Leeper representing para-athletes and track and field; Rob Pannell representing lacrosse; Anthony ?Showtime? Pettis representing mixed-martial-arts or Christen Press representing women?s soccer.
At the end of the competition on August 31, the athlete with the most votes via workouts logged will be the next athlete to appear on the Wheaties box in early 2015.
As one-way messages are failing to compel and engage the modern consumer, brands are more commonly beginning to relinquish some control via social contests in an altered approach to advertising.
The Challenge places control of the communication and path between advertisers in the hands of the consumer, as they become the distributors of content and gorge on a customized, shared and collaborative model of marketing that leverages social as a digital extension to static packaging.
Reaching MapMyFitness users to building a community around health and fitness is smart for Wheaties as their targeted demographic is already tracking their physical activities through mobile tools.
Walgreens similarly produced efforts that involved the connected fitness app when it evolved MapMyFitness into its Balance Rewards program, giving members a way to earn points for their healthy activities that could be redeemed for any Walgreens product, including prescriptions (see story).
The results from the effort found that 8.5 percent of the targeted audience was clicking through or otherwise engaged with the program in more depth. During the campaign period, MapMyFitness iOS and Android users logged 680,000 user workouts and there were 16 million registered users on the platform. This exemplifies how compelling reaching mobile users with a relevant message can be.
Crave for customization
Before the boom in technology, marketers relied on buying time or space on fixed media in a controlled context where they knew where their ad would appear, how it would look and in what context it would be viewed.
The ultimate manifestation of user generated content, social platforms hold more potential for growth than any other digital content channel, as they continues to transform the media ecosystem. Although user generated content cannot guarantee the use case and delivery of a brand message, it epitomizes an unrivaled opportunity that General Mills has historically tapped to support larger multichannel programs.
In recognition of the ubiquitous consumption of cereal, last winter General Mills decided to highlight the dishes its fan were creating with GM products during National Cereal Lovers? Week. The Hello, Cereal Lovers campaign featured a brand agnostic approach on driving engagement and interaction via the sharing of cereal-based recipes, ideas, news and crafts on dedicated social media pages.
Following the campaign, General Mills cereal sales increased by 4 percent.
Mobile and social networking in collaboration represent a great opportunity and challenge to push high-value advertising inventory and target specific audience segments needed to capture more of the market share and reach.
Last September the CPG leader mobilized its cereal boxes to trigger engagement derived from smartphone activation when consumers had a few extra minutes to kill while eating breakfast. Using an augmented reality app to create hype for football season, when consumers scanned a Wheaties box, NFL star Adrian Peterson popped onto the screen and gave users two choices of how to interact with content (see story).
The first option was a mobile game that challenged consumers to help Mr. Peterson score a touchdown by avoiding a team of defensive players. The second option let consumers pick from two different poses of the athlete to take a picture with that could then be shared via Facebook, Twitter and email or saved to a mobile device?s camera roll.
While brands continue to experiment on best practices to reach the mobile consumer, many have found success in placing messaging in and around the context or by actually becoming part of the context, and General Mill?s brand architecture does will in constantly questioning, ?what is our purpose??
?Mobile and social complement each other perfectly; as smartphone adoption grows, so does user reliance,? Mr. Chavez said.
?By targeting these mobile social users with relevant content, advertisers can engage a rapidly growing audience. The audience exists, now it?s up to marketers to deliver relevant content to drive engagements.?
Michelle is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York


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Joe Budden Preps Sophomore Album For Spring Release
With his latest mixtape Mood Muzik 3 still scheduled for a retail release on February 26, New Jersey rapper Joe Budden has announced that he is partnering up with Boston-based indie label Amalgam Digital to release his official sophomore album Padded Room. Billboard.com has confirmed that Padded Room, Budden's first album since his 2003 self-titled debut, will be released some time this spring. "It's complete," Budden told Billboard. "It basically will be in the same vein as Mood Muzik, just a little more structure and the mood will probably be a little lighter. I'm definitely pleased with the direction that it's going."


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A new and exciting video was released today by Team DFT. According to the video description, Windows Mobile 6.1 is shown running on a HTC Gold. It appears to be an emulator of some kind which runs Windows Mobile 6.1 on top of Windows Phone 7. In the video, Team DFT claims to even be working on WM 6.5 version! It currently looks to be using virtual buttons to imitate hardware buttons. Check it out..
Thanks to lando84 for the tip!


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Confusion over which budget will cover free menstrual products in N.S. schools
Teachers in Nova Scotia are worried that the introduction of free menstrual products in schools will affect what they do in the classrooms.
They fear the cost will come out of their operating budgets, but Premier Stephen McNeil insists that's not the case.
A box of tampons costs between $5 and $10, while a pack of pads will run you around $5. On average, Canadian women spend between $30 to $50 a year on menstrual products.
"It's 2019," said Nova Scotia Teachers Union President Paul Wozney. "Half of humanity has always menstruated. It's not reasonable to force the cost of products that are needed … onto kids that can't afford them."
The NSTU commends government for supplying menstrual products in school, but is worried about where the money will come from.
"Within the existing operational budgets in the region, they are able to handle any additional costs," said Nova Scotia Education Minister Zach Churchill. "We've consulted with our regional centers of education and the cost associated with this can be handled at the regional level, so there is no additional investment needed to do this."
Supplying these products for female students will leave the province with a hefty bill and the NSTU says school budgets are already stretched thin.
"There's a reason this issue has come to be known as the issue of period poverty," said Wozney. "There is a cost attached to them. For many students they're not affordable, and so the idea that this simply will come out of school budgets, raises questions for teachers. It's very common in Nova Scotia for schools not to provide Kleenex because Kleenex is costly."
McNeil said it won't affect the classroom.
"This has to do with a separate budget that deals with the toiletries associated with our actual physical schools," he said.
So while both sides say the program is necessary, not everyone agrees with how it is funded.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Amy Stoodley.


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BISSELL Calls All Pets to its Fourth Annual Most Valuable Pet Photo Contest
Most photogenic U.S. and Canadian pets wanted
BISSELL Homecare, Inc. today launched the Most Valuable Pet (MVP) Photo Contest, the fourth annual search for the nation’s most photogenic pets, which has garnered more than 150,000 entries since its inception. The MVP Photo Contest runs January 5 - April 5, 2011, and invites pet lovers to submit and vote for their favorite pet photos at www.bissell.com/mvp. New this year, the competition is open to Canadian pets and pet lovers, who, like their American colleagues, will compete for the grand prize of $10,000 to donate to the pet charity of their choice, plus a $500 shopping spree and the opportunity to be featured on BISSELL pet product packaging.
“Each year, BISSELL looks forward to demonstrating our company-wide commitment to pets with an initiative that gives back to the pet community,” said Ryan McLean, BISSELL’s senior director of marketing. “Since its launch in 2008, the MVP Photo Contest has given more than $53,000 in support of pet charities in the U.S. We are delighted to open the competition to pet parents in Canada and broaden our support of pet charities in 2011."
To enter, pet parents can once again submit photos of their pets on bissell.com, and can now upload photos from their Facebook, Flickr and Shutterfly accounts as well. Entrants can even share their photo entries on Facebook to gather votes from friends, family and fellow pet lovers. The five pets with the highest number of votes from each week of the contest will move on to the semi-finals, from which the grand-prize winner and second through fifth prize winners will be selected. As in past years, BISSELL will announce the weekly winners and offer exclusive contest news via Twitter and Facebook.
In addition to the MVP Photo Contest $10,000 grand prize donation, runner-up prizes include a $5,000 donation to a pet charity for the second-place winner and $1,000 donations for each of the third-, fourth- and fifth-place winners. Each of the runners up will also be featured on a BISSELL pet product package and receive his or her choice of BISSELL's pet clean-up products. The five pets with the highest number of votes from each week of the contest will receive a $25 VISA gift card, with the top vote getter also receiving a BISSELL pet product.
Last year, Gracey, a mixed domestic short-hair feline, triumphed over nearly 50,000 entrants to claim the title of 2010 MVP Grand Prize Winner. Gracey is the inspiration behind the children’s book The Tiniest Tiger and the Conservation Cub Club, a feline education and support community. Gracey and her pet parent, Joanne McGonagle, selected the PurrEver Ranch Sanctuary to receive the $10,000 grand prize donation. PurrEver Ranch Sanctuary is a non-profit hospice for senior and special needs cats that suffer from disease or behavior issues, one of very few feline-specific hospices. In 2009, Norman, a golden retriever from Columbus, Ohio was the grand prize winner. He and his “foster pet parent,” Tara Driscoll, donated their $10,000 prize toward the cost of a seizure dog to assist two special needs children in their community. Brewster, a Bernese mountain dog from Anchorage, Ala., was the contest’s first grand prize winner in 2008. The Peoria Park District received the $10,000 donation for construction of a new dog park in Peoria, Ill.
For further information on BISSELL’s MVP Photo Contest or to enter your own pet, please visit www.bissell.com.
About BISSELL Homecare, Inc.
A 135-year-old company, Grand Rapids-based BISSELL Homecare, Inc., is the top-selling brand in floor care appliances in North America* with an expanding presence worldwide. As an innovator of cleaning products, BISSELL produces and sells vacuums, sweepers, deep-cleaning machines, bare floor cleaners and cleaning formulas at retail locations across the globe. The company is in its fourth generation of family leadership.
*based on NPD sales data


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Apple Is Not Winning In China
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) released a stellar earnings report for the first three months of 2014, and the company’s future is being touted as secure on the back of better than expected earnings. The world’s largest smartphone maker is doing well, but assertions that its Chinese performance, seen as a key driver of Q1 beats, will save the company are preposterous. Apple is not winning in China, despite what Jared Newman over at MacWorld wants you to believe.
Parameters have got to be laid down before deciding whether something is a win or a loss. Is Apple outselling competitors in China? Is Apple laying the groundwork for future over competitors? Is the company increasing its takings an impressing investors? The answer to the first question is no, followed by a maybe and a yes.
Why Apple Is Doing China Right
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is winning under a limited definition of victory. The Cupertino company has done its best to enter into the Chinese market in a way that saves its margins and increases sales. Those increases may not have been all that dramatic in the first three months of 2014, but the year-on-year 13% increase in revenue from Greater China is solid, and beats the company’s across the board growth.
What Apple is doing right in China is brand building. The East Asian giant is likely to be a more important hardware market with each passing year. Right now the iPhone is likely to sell in large numbers in China, and that will pad the financials at Cupertino. Revenue from China now accounts for around 20% of the firm’s total. That’s likely to head higher in future.
There is no doubt that Apple is winning in China when the market is viewed in a certain light. The company is pulling more money out of Asia than it ever has before, and it’s building a quality brand that is likely to extend money making opportunities through the next decade. There are problems in China, however, and wider problems for the rest of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).
Apple Cannot Rely On China
Samsung is still the biggest seller of smart phones in the world, and much of the company’s success comes from the Chinese market. Apple is doing well in China, but it could have gotten in earlier and become the premium device seller. Now it’s forced to compete with Android models that barely affect it sales in the West. That’s a loss for Apple.
In terms of its wider business a win in China is not a victory to rely on. There are several reasons for this. Concentrating all, or almost all, growth in a single geographic segment is a recipe for disaster. China has its own problems, as attested to by KFC and IBM. Apple needs to grow in the West, or its shareholders will begin to peel off in advance of collapse.
Apple’s most recent earnings report showed two of the most important themes at Cupertino in recent years. The first is that the company’s growth is coming from China, being relatively flat everywhere else. The second is that Apple is willing to do a lot of purely financial mechanics in order to keep its stock price high. That’s not the mark of company that’s winning.
Disclosure: Author represents that he has no position in any stocks mentioned in this article at the time this article was submitted.


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Letter to the Editor: No more bars in Downtown Downey
So The Avenue is going to be another drinking establishment? (“Proposed Buyer of Avenue Theatre Asks to Extend Escrow,” 3/28/19)
First, Foxy’s became the Downey Brewing Company, a place that the new owners didn’t even bother fixing on the outside but is obviously succeeding in attracting the hardcore drinking crowd.
Then Club DB Lounge and Godtti’s on Firestone have been expanded and draw even more drinking crowds late into the morning hours.
Oh, then you have the restaurants that are truly bars with food that have gone through suspicious name changes: BRB (formerly Mi Cielo) and Tempo Cantina (formerly Cocina Distrito).
The part that seems the most deceitful is that many of these Downey businesses started off by saying they were going to offer “quality eating experiences” and shortly after they stop providing decent food and focus exclusively on the sale of alcohol.
What is there to draw anyone to the Downtown Downey scene? Only the farmers market on Saturdays, the new Studio Movie Grill, and a few legitimate eating establishments. Other than that, the revamping of downtown has sold out to the highest bidder, those who don’t care about creating a downtown with character and charm and instead focus on the monetary potential: alcohol sells!


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Apple has chosen LG as its sole supplier for flexible displays to be used in the iWatch, according to a new report coming out of Korea.
The report suggests that Apple is aiming to sell 9 million iWatch units by the end of 2014, that the device will be launched in September, and that the iWatch will come in two different sizes (1.3 inches and 1.5 inches).
This isn’t the first time LG has been linked to Apple’s long-awaited iWatch. A report in January suggested that LG would be the sole supplier of the panels for the iWatch, using the same curved OLED display technology LG debuted with its G Flex smartphone.
Apple is said to have chosen LG as its manufacturing partner because LG’s panels are light, thin and provide suitable brightness with minimal power consumption.
The iWatch is heavily rumored to feature a number of different biometric sensors, such as a smart pedometer recently patented by Apple.
It has been suggested that the iWatch will be released at multiple price points, with the highest-end, ultra-luxurious model selling for thousands of dollars.


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Marks and Spencer shoppers are considering ditching the Chinese takeaway this weekend after spotting a "fakeaway" alternative in stores.
With many of us trying to spend less, making the switch could save some money. Plus you can eat it exactly when you want it, with no waiting around for a delivery.
Shoppers are very impressed with the look of M&S' new Year of the Rabbit box. Billed as a "celebration for two", ahead of Chinese New Year, the product is currently on sale for £11.
Each box contains chicken and black bean sauce, crispy sweet and sour chicken, Singapore noodles, egg fried rice, and vegetable spring rolls. Sharing a video of the new box on Instagram, Marks and Spencer said: "Get ready for lunar new year with our Year of the Rabbit box! Tag a friend you'll be sharing this with".
Many people have been quick to comment. Tagging someone she knows, Lauren said: "No need to get a takeaway now", while also tagging a friend, Matt said: "Perfect for Friday?"
Lindzi said: "These are the best prefer them over a takeaway", and Nicola said: "Will definitely be trying this". Jane simply said: "Delicious". If you fancy visiting a Chinese restaurant this weekend instead, check out our favourites here
- Our five favourite places in and around Liverpool to inspire your 2023 days out
- George at Asda shoppers 'need' its 'pastel dream' jumper that looks 'expensive'
- Boots shoppers praise 'nourishing' anti ageing cream that 'removes fine lines'
- Primark's 'comfy' £4 activewear shoppers are buying in every colour
- John Lewis shoppers praise 'comfortable' £14 dress that 'washes like a dream'


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It’s a tantalizing question: who will Kate Middleton be wearing when she finally weds her prince on April 29?
Last Thursday, BBC World News America correspondent Katty Kay informed us that British designer Bruce Oldfield was the bookie’s favorite to create Kate’s wedding look. But that hasn’t stopped some of the world’s greatest designers from offering their suggestions on the garment that shall heretofore be know as…The Dress.
Fashion website WWD reached out to folks like Karl Lagerfeld, Alberta Ferretti, Gucci’s Frida Giannini, and others for sketches, and you can view their drawings and notes in a new slideshow. As a sample, Karl Lagerfeld’s sketch is below.
Who do you think should design Kate Middleton’s wedding dress?Read More


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Obsessed4interiors is unique interior design blog showcasing interior design all over the world from amazing interior designers and artist
Author mimi Leonard
Hundreds of customer accounts in Mexico have been shelved by Uber after noticing two of its drivers had conveyed two passengers infected with coronavirus.
According to Uber, 2 drivers and 240 passenger accounts had been shelved in order to avoid contraction of the virus in case its aforementioned drivers had contracted it from the 2 infected riders unknowingly.
Although none of them had developed any symptoms, however the company will proceed with scrutinizing the case.
The passengers who have been affected have been banned from using the app for 2 weeks, as a precaution. The company had also relayed health care information to them on getting checked to be certain that none of them had contracted the virus.
Samsung Galaxy Home mini smart speaker with Bixby voice assistant and AKG-tuned speakers is set for unveiling on February 12..
The mini speaker is said to be $83.73. However, the global debut of the galaxy home details are not disclosed.
The Home Mini speaker has some certain features entirely different from the Galaxy Home. One of the features of the Home Mini is a standard flat base and a Bixby design while the Galaxy Home Speaker has a tripod legs stand. It is also believed to have an infrared (IR) sensor to deliver universal control functionality.
Its announcement was made in August 2019 and finalized on September 1. There’s a possibility that the unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy Home Mini could complicate things for large selling smart speakers; Google Home Mini and Amazon Echo Dot.
Mark Zukerberg has said that this year, measures will be taken on controversial issues his company is facing. He is initiating the change after receiving comments on his company not communicating its plans due to the fact that its management didn’t want to offend its users. “This led to some positive but shallow sentiment towards the company.” Mark Zuckerberg stated. “And my goal for this next decade isn’t to be liked, but to be understood. Because in order to be trusted, people need to know what you stand for.” He added.
Facebook has invested profoundly in scrutinizing whether the company and its team were highly valued and liked by the public, or deemed inventive.
Despite conducting regular polls to inquire from its users if it is making a positive influence on them and employing speech writers, and specialists with political experience, the company is facing still denunciation that it permits detrimental propaganda to spread too rapidly.
Users of older android phones and iphones may lose their chat history and shared media if they are not backed up before losing all data starting today. Months ago, Whatsapp had given warning to its users about the app no longer been supported on iOS and Android devices that are older versions.
The essence of this is to ensure that the instant messaging service safeguards the security of its users.
The affected smartphone versions are iOS 8, Andriod 2.3.7 or older versions. In order for users to continue using the instant messaging service, an upgrade of their smartphones version is necessary. From a statement by a CSS Insight analyst Ben Wood “Whatsapp clearly had no option but to ensure its service remains secure, however, its faces the difficult side-effect that the app is no longer compatible with older smartphones.”
“This is likely to disproportionally impact the long-tail of its users, particularly in growth markets where there is a high proportion of older devices.” Ben Wood added.
The alleged hack into Jeff Bezos’s phone by Saudi Arabia is undergoing an investigation by the FBI, reports The Guardian.
On May 18th, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was alleged to have initiated a hack into the Amazon’s CEO’S personal mobile phone via Whatsapp which was denied by Saudi Arabia as to having no involvement in the hack.
A report from a private organization Bezos hired FTI Consulting, has reported that The National Security Organization (NSO) may have a hand in the incident, however, The National Security Organization has repudiated its involvement in the incident which was termed “absurd” by Saudi Arabia.
Apple is shutting down all its corporate stores and offices in china over the epidemic virus; coronavirus.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman’s statement, through February 14th, its offices and stores will be shut down.
The essence of its closure is out of caution, due to the fact that over 259 people in china have been killed by the coronavirus and the virus has infected approximately 10,000 people globally, been declared a world public health emergency.
Hilary Clinton slams Founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg over the fact from her prospective that Facebook is willing to re-elect Donald Trump based on giving him all the support needed, now how is that possible? we all know Facebook has always been defining equality in terms of networking and other things, i believe Facebook will let its users decide in the next election, in a statement from Hillary Clinton; “I feel like you’re negotiating with a foreign power sometimes,” she said. “He’s immensely powerful. This is a global company that has huge influence in ways that we’re only beginning to understand.”
Samsung’s latest innovations foldable phone?! amazing… Samsung has been skyrocketing the telecommunications tech industry, possibly this next innovation will blow your mind, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip will apparently fold-style similar to Motorola’s upcoming Razr, and the beauty of this phone will have a glass screen, Samsung’s have been unfolding lots of superb products for the past couple of years, now let’s see what the rest of the companies such as iPhone, Tecno and the rest will shock us with in 2020.
Uber’s latest self-driving cars, will this advance transportation or will it just be another fiasco innovation?! Uber has been one of the leading transportation company of all time, their company has been in existence for so many years, their services has always been at the top in terms of luxury, but their terms of services are a bit strict, now we have discovered Uber’s next innovation is self-driving cars, to be sincere, it’s going to be difficult for me or anyone to ride a car without a driver, technology has really been advancing but this over here… i’ll pass, don’t know about you tho!


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To be completed in 2020, the new 110,000-square-foot building in Northville, Mich. will house approximately 400 employees.
Citing a disagreement over the deal’s interpretation, BASF is pulling out of its Synvina bioplastics joint venture agreement with Avantium, which was formed in 2016.
Headquartered in Georgetown, Ont., Mold Hotrunner Solutions supplies melt delivery systems for the injection molding industry.
The Celebration of Life service for Carteaux, who died on Dec. 10, will be held in the Atrium Ballroom of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.
Headquartered in California, Pacific Plastics Injection Molding offers custom plastic injection molding as well as design and custom moldmaking services.
The acquisition gives Magna four new facilities and more than 1,100 new employees.
Covestro calls the new line a first step in its global capacity expansion for films.
IQMS’s enterprise resource planning software is used by a wide range of plastics processing companies and moldmakers.
The deal is designed to expand Montreal-based Intertape Polymer’s woven business by giving it increased access to the U.S. market and a new facility in India.
The new engineering center will support the growing vehicle accessibility market in China.
Swiss-based MB Barter is a global distributor of commodity polymers, PET, and rubber globally, with 30 offices worldwide.
Ben Korving is the winner of the Create Your Canada contest, which allows people to submit ideas for new laws – and his idea was to reduce single-use plastics in food packaging.
The thermoplastic resins distributor is now the North American distributor of PP from Borealis’ new PP compounding facility in Taylorsville, N.C., as well as imported PP, polyethylene, and Queo polyolefin plastomers and elastomers.
To hit this target, the company is expanding its relationship with recycled resin supplier Plastrec Inc., of Joliette, Que.
The longtime president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based Plastics Industry Association had been battling leukemia since 2016.
The partnership involves extrusion blow molding machine maker R&B Plastics Machinery LLC, headquartered in Saline, Mich.; Sika, a custom blow molding machine maker in Taiwan; and Seecor, a technology company based in South Africa.
The sales figures are compiled by the Plastics Industry Association’s Committee on Equipment Statistics.
The blast occurred on Dec. 5 at Polyplas Dominicana, a preform and bottle molder located in the capital of Santo Domingo.
A sales, marketing, and business development veteran, Daniel was mostly employed as the vice president of sales and marketing at Comau, an industrial automation company in Turin, Italy.
Alan Jope, currently the president of Unilever’s beauty and personal care division, has been appointed as successor.


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Medical Marijuana Inc (OTCMKTS:MJNA) has appreciated the initiative by the United Nations World Health Organization’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) to focus on reviewing cannabis and marijuana-related substances in its 40th Annual Meeting. The first American publicly traded cannabis company also recently took part in the 5th Annual Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo (CWCBE) held from May 31 and June 2 in the New York City.
MJNA Expects To Continue As Leader
According to reports, the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Stuart Titus spoke on medical cannabis and cannabidiol (CBD) research on May 31. The company’s subsidiary, HempMeds is expected to exhibit its retail-ready cannabis products and also its line of CBD hemp oil products. Prior to the expo, the CEO of the company said, “I am looking forward to the opportunity to spread education on cannabis and specifically CBD so that we can begin to clear up some misconceptions and further cannabis research.”
He added that since the Real Scientific Hemp Oil (RSHO) has received its first-ever import permit from the countries of Brazil, Mexico, and Paraguay, it is a clear indication that the global market for the products of hemp cannabidiol (CBD) is expanding. He also stated that MJNA wants to continue being the leader in this industry.
Titus Expects WHO To Eliminate CBD From Drug Category
The CEO of MJNA recently also said that the company is very much excited for World Health Organization and United Nations as they made final recommendations regarding the CBD products after certain findings revealed the significance of these products. The details were released in November 2017 during the 39th ECDD meeting where the HempMeds President Latin America, Raul Elizalde spoke about how his daughter managed to become seizure-free due to the therapeutic benefits of CBD.
According to Titus, although the initial evidence from both animal and human studies establishes that CBD has some therapeutic benefits, the company is positive that after these findings WHO will surely eliminate CBD from the list of a scheduled drug. He further added that if WHO agrees to the selling of CBD as a nutritional supplement, it will open up a big market and new opportunities and the products could be sold in so many health and wellness retail locations around the world.


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Today at Electronic Arts’ E3 Press Conference the massive publisher announced a new a IP it has been working on called Unravel.
Unravel is a puzzle platformer and is an attempt to be more personal than past EA titles have been. The yarn represents love and, throughout the campaign, you’re trying to re-connect the memories of a long lost family, according to the developers. The story is told completely without words and Yarny, the player character, is what ties the family back together.
Yarny is a tiny character made from a single thread of yarn, and as you travel throughout the world Yarny will slowly unravel. You’ll also use your unraveled thread to swing and move through environments inspired by Northern Scandinavia.
Unravel is being developed by a team of 14 called Coldwood, is an exploration-based game and is very physics based. You can watch the first trailer for the Unravel here.


text: An Election Dinner was held at the Marketplace and Great Hall on Election Day, Tuesday, November 6. A few of President Obama's and Governor Romney's favorites were served with an opportunity for students to vote for the menu items they liked best. Among Obama's favorite foods were chili, arugula salad with mushrooms and goat cheese and pumpkin chess pie with Romney's favorites to include meatloaf, spicy red pepper hummus and peanut butter cups. After the votes were tallied Romney's food favorites prevailed with the favorite menu item being peanut butter cups! Many thanks to all who participated!


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Globally, the German car major sells around 30 variants of cars under the AMG portfolio. It started retailing AMG cars in India in 2008.
Mercedes Benz India head Eberhard Kern said the programme’ aims to act as a catalyst for youngsters in embarking into the world of professional motor racing.
Eberhard Kern, MD & CEO of Mercedes-Benz India, said despite being a niche category, the highly-aspirational AMG brand will form a key part of the company's strategy.
This is for the first time that Mercedes Benz is introducing the diesel variant of its popular S Class models.
German luxury car maker Mercedes Benz says it has witnessed more enquiries and improved footfalls following a stable government at the Centre.
Luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz today launched its seven-seater sports utility vehicle GL 63 AMG in India with a price tag of Rs 1.66 crore (ex-showroom Mumbai).
Some of the core group members from the Chakan plant have also been sent to other countries like China, Iran and Vietnam to train employees in these countries.
Expecting Indian luxury car market to grow further, Mercedes Benz said that "very high taxation" on luxury vehicles is the major challenge the industry is facing at the moment.


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‘Early bird’ breaks into Euclid furniture store at 4 a.m., police say
Published: Mar. 16, 2023 at 2:39 PM EDT
EUCLID, Ohio (WOIO) - A man broke into a Euclid furniture store in the middle of the night, police confirmed, and detectives need help identifying him.
Camera caught the man in the store at 4 a.m. on March 14, according to police.
Police said, “this early bird decided it was time to shop for some furniture, but was frightened off by the alarm.”
Take a close look the surveillance photos and video shared by Euclid Police:
If you recognize this suspect or have any other information on this crime, call the Euclid Police Detective Bureau at 216-289-8505 and reference report 23-01338.
Copyright 2023 WOIO. All rights reserved.


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1 MILLION CUPS Entrepreneur forum kicks off Weekly event part of national program to help businesses
Alocal 1 Million Cups entrepreneur forum began last week with about 50 people turning out to partake of free coffee and advice of how to succeed in business.
The event — part of a national program of the same name that started in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2012 — will be held each Wednesday, from 9 to 10 a.m. at Sweet Marlays’ Coffee, at 214 S, Beach St. in downtown Daytona Beach.
Each session will feature a short presentation by pre-selected owners of businesses that have been in operation between one and three years, to be followed by a question-and-answer session with veteran entrepreneurs and business experts, as well as other members of the audience, including owners of other businesses seeking advice.
The goal is to foster a free exchange of ideas that can improve area businesses’ chances for success.
The Daytona Beach program is the 63rd in the nation to join the growing 1 Million Cups movement.
The local organizers are Daytona Beach developer Jack White, a partner in White Challis Redevelopment, Stephen Lawrence of InFocus Media, Janice Huffstickler of Vann Data and Tammy Kozinski, the owner of Sweet Marlays’ Coffee.
Taylor Brown, program coordinator in entrepreneurship for the Kauffman Foundation, which created 1 Million Cups, attended the local program’s inaugural meeting last Wednesday to explain what the forums are all about.
“The reason why this program works is because it was created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs,” she said.
Those attending the first meeting included Ned Harper, director of the Small Business Development Center at Daytona State College, Connie Bernal, site manager of the Volusia County-funded UCF Business Incubator at Daytona Beach International Airport, and Daytona Beach attorney Jim Rose, who is this year’s chairman of the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Yung Wong, an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University graduate and a client of the business incubator, gave a presentation on his business, AquaSolve Ventures, which makes a mobile water-filtering system he developed as a student.
Wong explained the progress of his business and some of the challenges he has encountered thus far.
“We’re trying to expand, and that means we’re going to need space soon,” he told the crowd, adding that some of the biggest challenges he’s faced were during the patenting process.
Several audience members offered Wong suggestions on how to improve his business and talked about why they came to the 1 Million Cups event.
Matt Smith, who with his wife Tasha recently opened The Cultured Hound, a Daytona Beach business that makes and sells gourmet dog treats, said he came to network.
“I understand the struggles of opening a small business and I wanted to see what other businesses are doing in solving their issues,” said Smith, who also works as an insurance broker at Hayward Brown Insurance.
Hayley Besheer, who opened a New Smyrna Beach business called MADI Apparel, said she also came to meet other entrepreneurs.
“I attended the launch (of 1 Million Cups) in Orlando and presented my business there,” Besheer said. “I wanted to come to this one, too. It’s such a great program and I want to be a part of it.”
WHAT: 1 Million Cups — a weekly forum for entrepreneurs WHEN: Wednesdays, 9 to 10 a.m. WHERE: Sweet Marlays’ Coffee, 214 S. Beach St., Daytona Beach THIS WEEK’S PRESENTER: Magdy Attia, president of AbM Engineering LLC, will discuss his wind-turbine business COST: Free to the public WEBSITE: http://1mcdb.com/


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MEDINA, MN – To celebrate it's 60-year anniversary, Rockler will be showcasing stories and photos of woodworkers on its website.
The company is calling for submissions, with suggestions including shop memories, triumphs, bad glue-ups, lessons learned through woodworking, and favorite or most meaningful projects.
"We are proud to reflect on 60 years in the woodworking industry, but the Rockler story is not just about the company," says Scott Ekman, vice president of marketing.
"It's about generations of woodworkers who have created special memories through their projects," he adds.
In its 60-year history, the company has grown from a small mail-order business into a worldwide tool and lumber supplier with an international publishing division and a nationwide network of retail stores.
"Woodworkers, and our customers in particular, are at the center of everything we do," Ekman says. "We look forward to celebrating their stories which represent the heart and soul of woodworking."
Have something to say? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.


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Nier: Automata T-Shirt! Nier: Automata T-Shirt! Nier: Automata T-Shirt! This will make sense very quickly.
I advised you.
Nier: Automata followers had been handled to a particular message from sport director Yoko Taro that’s greatest loved by watching the video above a minimum of 3 times.
Meanwhile Xbox One homeowners obtained a nasty information bomb after Neowin reported that producer Yosuke Saito confirmed the studio has no plans for an Xbox One launch as a result of console’s poor gross sales in Japan.
“There are presently no plans to launch on this platform. The primary purpose for that is that the Japanese marketplace for Xbox One will not be robust, so the choice was made to give attention to PlayStation four reasonably than to separate our efforts throughout two platforms.
“The greatest profit to growing on one platform is that we didn’t have to separate our time, permitting us to focus extra on the standard. It will not be about whether or not one platform is best than the opposite, it’s that from a improvement viewpoint had been can dedicate extra time to at least one platform.”
Nier: Automata is coming to PS4 on March 7 in North America and March 10 within the UK and Europe. A PC launch is anticipated later this yr.


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Amazing pagdi! Modi's turban pics go viral!
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is known for donning unique headgears. And, continuing the tradition on the occasion of 72nd Republic Day parade, the Prime Minister wore a special turban.
Within moments, the pics of PM Modi sporting the unique pagdi went viral. In fact, his choice of turbans, particularly on the occasions of Independence Day and Republic Day, has made a distinctive statement of his personality.
The colourful 'pagdi' he wore this time is a gift to Modi by the royal family of Gujarat's Jamnagar. The bright-coloured turban was complemented by his grey jacket and cream-coloured shawl.
On the 71st Republic Day in 2020, Modi had worn a saffron bandhej headgear with a tail. On Republic Day 2019, the PM had worn a yellowish-orange turban which had a red tail.