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One month ago, an Australian millionaire “discoverd” the cause why US housing refuses to rebound to its pre-crisis levels, and tangentially why Millennials were – at least anecdotally – living if not in their parents basement, then destined to a life of renting: avocado toast. (For a more in depth discussion on Millennials’ housing habits, read “Will Millennials Ever Become A Generation Of Homeowners: BofA Has A Troubling Answer“).
Tim Gurner, a luxury property developer in Melbourne told 60 Minutes in Australia that young people can’t afford to buy property because they’re wasting money on fancy “avocado toast” and overpriced coffee.
“When I was trying to buy my first home, I wasn’t buying smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees at $4 each,” he said. “We’re at a point now where the expectations of younger people are very, very high.”
— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) May 15, 2017
He added: “We are coming into a new reality where … a lot of people won’t own a house in their lifetime. That is just the reality.” Asked if he believes young people will never own a home, he responded: “Absolutely, when you’re spending $40 a day on smashed avocados and coffees and not working. Of course.” The 35-year-old executive then offered a point of comparison, describing how hard he worked when he was young.
Gurner was not the first to suggest that young people’s love of avocado toast was making it harder for them to buy homes. According to the Guardian, demographer Bernard Salt wrote in the Australian last year that if young people stopped going to “hipster cafes”, they could purchase property. He wrote: “I have seen young people order smashed avocado with crumbled feta on five-grain toasted bread at $22 a pop and more. I can afford to eat this for lunch because I am middle aged and have raised my family. But how can young people afford to eat like this? Shouldn’t they be economising by eating at home? How often are they eating out? Twenty-two dollars several times a week could go towards a deposit on a house.”
Well, we have bad news: as of today, the price of raw avocado just hit an all time high, and if the gentlemen mentioned above are correct, it assures an entire generation of Millennials will be doomed to rent or continue living in various parental basements.
Among other thing, the record high price has been blamed on soaring demand as American per-capita consumption jumped to 6.9 pounds in 2015, versus 3.5 pounds in 2006, according to government data. People are being drawn to the fruit not just for its taste but also for its healthy oils and fats, a trend borne out in the U.S. by Starbucks Corp.’s announcement last month it’s selling avocado sandwich spread.
“You have increased consumption in China and other areas of the world, like Europe,” said Roland Fumasi, an analyst at Rabobank in Fresno, California. “They’re pulling a lot more of the Mexican crop, so there’s less available for the U.S.”
As Bloomberg reported in April, Mexico supplies 82 percent of the avocados eaten north of the border. Its shipments into the U.S. surged to 1.76 billion pounds in 2015 from just 24 million pounds in 2000, according to data from the Hass Avocado Board in Mission Viejo, California. As a result, in late April a 10-kilogram (22-pound) box of Hass avocados from the state of Michoacan, Mexico’s biggest producer, cost 530 pesos ($27.89). The price was more than double what it was a year earlier and the highest in data going back 19 years.
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Meanwhile, piggybacking on the meme of avocados-as-homeownership-equivalent, SoFi, an online personal finance company geared toward younger moneymakers, said today it would “award” anyone who takes out a mortgage through the service a month’s worth of avocado toast, delivered straight to their door. So… take out a mortgage that locks you in for 30 years, but get free avocados for a month.
From the purposefully absurd press release:
SoFi Is Offering Avocado Toast for Buying a Home—Yes, Really
Who says you can’t have avocado toast if you want to buy a home? Oh, right—an Australian real estate developer who made the comment heard ’round the world about how it’s preventing millennials from becoming homeowners.
Obviously, buying a home doesn’t mean you have to chuck avocado toast out of the picture. In fact, buying a home now comes with avocado toast.
What we mean by that is, for the month of July 2017 only, anyone who takes out a SoFi mortgage to purchase a home will receive a month’s worth of avocado toast delivered to their door. Buy a home using a SoFi mortgage, and you’ll receive an email asking whether you want regular or gluten-free bread. Avocados and bread will then arrive in a series of three shipments—though you’ll still need to toast the bread yourself to get the full experience.
Why avocado toast? Because with a SoFi mortgage, you don’t have to skip out on the avocado toast while saving up for a down payment. SoFi mortgages make it possible to buy a home with just 10% down and no borrower-paid private mortgage insurance required, which could get you into your dream home sooner. It could also make it possible to do that while brunching.
Plus, the SoFi pre-approval process is mostly online and exceptionally fast (paperwork is kept at a minimum). And with flexible debt-to-income limits, SoFi mortgages make it possible to qualify for more financing than you might with a traditional lender. For millennials with student debt, this could be your ticket to a home, rather than opting out of an occasional morning treat.
So, want to buy a home and have your avocado toast, too? Apply for a SoFi mortgage, and once it goes through we’ll email you with details about sending you fancy breakfast to pair with coffee on your new kitchen countertop. (Instagram filter optional.)
While it remains to be seen if this gimmicky ad campaign is successful in spurring millennial homeownership, even if it means soaring bad debt for SoFi in just a few short year, for now a far bigger threat to the US housing market is how financially challenged millennials will be able to juggle both their favorite bourgeois meal as well as saving up for that down payment or simply staying current on their mortgage.


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The retail real estate sector is increasingly polarised between secondary locations and shopping destinations with a luxury profile. This divergence reflects two factors: the increasing significance of e-commerce and the growth of luxury shopping tourism. Can we expect this trend to continue?
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was elected in 2014, investors expected him to enact sweeping economic reforms. While progress has been slower than expected, India is moving in the right direction, writes Will Ballard.
Although oil demand is growing rapidly in India, the pace of expansion has moderated in other emerging markets including China and Brazil. As demand from emerging markets is vital in the global context, might the risks to the oil price be on the downside in 2017?

domain: news


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Newswise — Experts will explore “Global Trade During COVID-19 and the WTO Response,” in a free webinar presented by the Center for Global Business (CGB) at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Monday, July 27.
Maryland Smith Research Professor and CGB Academic Director Kislaya Prasad and Emmanuelle Ganne of the World Trade Organization will discuss COVID-19’s impact on global trade, WTO's responses worldwide to support the economic recovery and how countries are thinking about the future of trade.
Ganne is a senior analyst in WTO’s Economic Research and Statistics Division, where she leads work on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and blockchain and conducts research on MSMEs, global value chains, services and digital technologies. She recently authored "Can Blockchain Revolutionize International Trade?”
For webinar registration and more information, go to https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/events/distinguished-speaker-series-global-trade-during-covid-19.


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MAN dies of heart attack outside Tesco store as staff refuse to hand over life-saving equipment
A pensioner in his 90s sadly died after a staff member in a nearby Tesco Extra reportedly refused to hand over potentially life-saving defibrillator, claiming that it was no for public use. The elderly man suffered a cardiac arrest outside the store in Gillingham, Kent, and passerby Samantha Badger, who also happened to be the man’s neighbour, phoned the 999 before beginning CPR. Emergency services advised her to grab the defib machine from Tesco, and another good Samaritan ran to get it.
However, much to everyone’s dismay, the security guard of the store reportedly refused to hand the defibrillator over, and even called the police to report its ‘theft’. The pensioner passed away shortly before paramedics arrived on the scene.
Ms Badger, understandably devastated by the events, vented her frustration of Facebook.
She wrote: “I’m absolutely disgusted with Gillingham Tescos at Bowaters roundabout!” She went on to describe how another passerby went to the store on her instruction to collect the vital piece of kit while she desperately continued to perform CPR.
“Heartbreakingly, the patient had passed away and defib never did turn up because as the workman ran into Tesco and collected it as he was running out of the shop with it, the security guard stopped him and told him that it wasn’t for public use!
“The distraught man was so upset and explained that the 999 emergency services said to come and get it whilst a lady (me) was performing CPR on a suspected heart attack patient, but they wouldn’t let him leave the store with it.
“This may have saved this gentleman’s life, but instead the poor chap and myself fighting desperately to save his life, whilst being denied emergency equipment, meant he sadly didn’t make it!”
A Tesco spokesperson told The Sun: “We’re incredibly sorry to hear about this and are shocked to hear the reported circumstances.
“It wouldn’t be appropriate for us to comment further while we are investigating these reports.
“We have 2,600 defibrillators in stores across the country which are available for anyone to use and we are reminding colleagues of this.”
Thank you for taking the time to read this news article “Man Dies Of Heart Attack As Staff Refuse Life-Saving Equipment”. For more UK daily news, Spanish daily news and Global news stories, visit the Euro Weekly News home page.


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Guest lecture on GST
Resource person Sumit Thapar gave overview of GST
Jalandhar: The PG Department of Commerce & Business Administration, Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar organized a guest lecture on GST. The resource persons were D.S. Garcha, Assistant Commissioner, Excise and Taxation Jalandhar and Sumit Thapar, Excise and Taxation officer (ETO) Jalandhar.
The speakers were given floral welcome by the Principal Dr. Gurpinder Singh Samra along with Head of the Commerce Department, Dr. Rashpal Singh Sandhu. Resource person Sumit Thapar gave an overview of GST along with the explanation on various queries asked by the students. He also elaborated that main issue of decline in collection of GST is the economic slowdown in the market. As the GST is of recent origin needs more time to ensure effective implementation. The purpose of GST is to ensure one tax one nation as well as simplification of indirect taxation both for goods and services. He also explained that it is moral duty of every citizen to pay taxes honestly for the development of nation. The various teams relating to GST including ITC, TCS, IGST, UGST, CGST & SGST place of supply in case of e-commerce players were discussed in detail along with practical examples.
D.S. Garcha explained GST as taxation reforms for nation development. He also explained about the reduction of GST rates by the govt. from time to time. He also asked to inform the GST department regarding any information or complaint regarding GST practice. All the queries by the students were elaborately explained by the resource persons. To conclude the program, Head of the department, Dr. R.S. Sandhu thanked the resource persons for their presence on this occasion wherein a large number of students and faculty members were present.


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Proofpoint plans to introduce a new automated online ordering process this week.
“We’re going to make it very, very easy to quote, fulfill, get an order processed to Proofpoint,” says Joe Sykora, the vendor’s senior vice president of worldwide channels and partner sales.
The new procurement system arrives some two and a half months after the rollout of Proofpoint’s Element Partner Program, which also emphasizes simplicity. The new offering has just two tiers, a “core” level for most members and an “elite” level for roughly the top 10%.
The Element program, in turn, arrived just months after Proofpoint’s acquisition of identity threat detection and response vendor Illusive for an undisclosed sum. Illusive’s software will help bridge the gap between Proofpoint’s Aegis threat protection platform and Sigma information protection platform, according to D. J. Long, vice president of strategic alliances and business development.
“What we’re doing with Illusive is slowing lateral movement of malware, because inevitably there’s going to be penetration,” he says.
Technical integration of Illusive’s solutions and the rest of Proofpoint’s portfolio is ongoing. Partners can resell those systems now though.
“We’ve been doing training and enablement,” Sykora says. “It’s our fastest growing pipeline out of any of the products we’ve ever acquired.”
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In early announcements made at the start of this year’s Black Hat USA security conference, Webroot has launched a new certification program, Fortinet has unveiled a threat intelligence service, and NETSCOUT has integrated two advanced threat products.
McAfee has a recurring revenue program coming. Of course, any renewal revenue share program is only as good as the products involved, and many of you may not have looked at McAfee lately. So, let's take a look at six McAfee products you can be offering to your SMB customers today and find out who wins, and who loses.
On the second and concluding day of its annual partner event, one of Autotask’s top executives shares candid thoughts on the company’s products, partners, and competitors.


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MUAR: Most of the 543 workers who tested positive for Covid-19 at Poh Huat Furniture Industries Sdn Bhd (PHFI) here displayed no symptoms, according to a company official.
The official, who declined to be named, said about 1,400 of its employees in the Bukit Pasir industrial area here underwent a Covid-19 screening on Jan 21 and results showed 543 of them to have contracted the virus, of whom 31 were locals.
“Only a small number of those found positive showed flu symptoms, ” he added.
Following the incident, the Muar health office ordered the company to temporarily close its premises from 4pm on Jan 25 until Feb 3 for disinfection to be carried out.
The board of directors of PHFI’s parent company, Poh Huat Resources Holdings Bhd, issued a statement yesterday, saying that it had temporarily suspended its Malaysian operations as advised by the Health Ministry.
The company said it voluntarily took the Covid-19 full screening exercise as a precautionary measure to contain and prevent the spread of the virus among its employees and the surrounding community.
“PHFI is cooperating and working closely with the Health Ministry to implement the mitigating steps to contain the spread of Covid-19 at the premises and safeguard the health of employees who may have been exposed to the virus.
“The group’s Vietnam operations are free of Covid-19-related incidents and remain in full operation, ” it added.
It is understood that following the results, the company also sent out a notice to its business partners informing them of its temporary closure and apologising for any inconvenience caused.
The company said the temporary closure was expected to result in a delay in the shipment of several orders to its customers in the United States.
“The management is currently in discussion with the affected customers for the rescheduling of delivery dates for these orders and expects there will not be any adverse impact on the group, ” it added.
The Muar Furniture Association, when contacted, declined to comment.
Meanwhile, Johor Baru Furniture Association chairman Albert Ng said the situation in Muar was worrying for the furniture manufacturing industry as many surrounding factories there had positive cases.
“The situation in Johor Baru is considered manageable because the industry here is not as big as that of Muar, which is the furniture hub of not only Johor but Malaysia as well.
“Our association has successfully negotiated for affordable prices for Covid-19 tests with health laboratories, so we urge our 230 member companies to take the opportunity to send their employees for tests for their safety as well as that of the community, ” he said.
Johor Health Department director Datuk Dr Aman Rabu said, without elaborating, that investigations were being carried out at PHFI.
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Activision has announced the introduction of a new service that will act as a companion to the next Call of Duty game. Call of Duty Elite will provide players with exclusive maps and content, assuming they are willing to pay a monthly fee. The company has yet to decide how much to charge for the service, but executives are aiming for a lower price point than services such as Netflix.
The system will have elements of social networking included, which will be part of a smaller set of features offered for free. According to the Wall Street Journal, users will be able to meet up and play games against each other based on their likes, dislikes, and other attributes. Similar to Halo's online features, players can also analyse previous matches to work out what their best strategies were, such as which weapons were most effective.
Call of Duty Elite will be a risky move for Activision. While PS3 and PC users can play online for free, Xbox 360 owners have to fork out around £40 per year. Asking those users to pay an extra monthly fee on top of their current subscription could provoke a serious backlash. On the other hand, the series has its fair share of dedicated fans, who may see the extra features as a bonus worth paying for. If the service takes off, it could set a dangerous precedent for other franchises eager to keep their users hooked in.


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Ikea is the popular furniture giant based in Scandinavia. It has many branches all over the world but it is different from a school furniture supplier which is dedicated in making ergonomic furniture for the use of the students. While it already has a store located in West Australia, there are reports that the company is scouting for a second site located in the southern suburbs where they can build another IKEA store.
The people in West Australia know that the furniture giant is already asking for available sites for the past few months but they were not able to secure a lease agreement yet. According to one of the speculations, the company might have been eyeing Jandakot because it is currently housing other large stores in the area that are making furniture and home wares.
Despite the rumours, IKEA said that they are not planning to open up an additional store in Western Australia. From their official statement, the company said that they are open to exploring opportunities when it comes to expansion in order to make the brand more accessible yet as of the moment they are not planning to build a second store within Western Australia.
One of the media outlets in the area reported that IKEA is already preparing to launch a store in Midland which is the same site that houses Bunnings situated in the Great Eastern Highway. Bunnings lease will not expire until the end of 2020 before it moves to its new location in an old sale yards also in Midland.
The locals know that IKEA might not be eyeing Midland because it is not a populated area and the location might not be feasible for a store. If IKEA is to build another store, it will most probably be in a location within a metropolitan area. Just like in the case of school furniture supplier, the most strategic location should be accessible and close to an area with large number of residents. Jan Gardberg who is IKEA’s leader in Australia has previously expressed his desire to double the sales of the company in Australia in the next ten years.


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Virtual happy hours are the latest thing and now some huge brewers and winemakers are asking you to join them!
Thrillist made a list of the who, what and where… (Well, the “where” is your kitchen, living room, couch, etc!)
Wednesday, May 20:
Big Cork Vineyards
Join Big Cork and Master Winemaker Dave Collins at 7:30pm to talk about vineyards in Maryland, as well as Big Cork’s 2018 Russian Kiss, 2018 Viognier, 2016 Cabernet Franc, 2017 Petit Verdot, and Black Cap Port.
Every week the whiskey company is hosting an 8pm EST happy hour on Instagram with a different bartender demo a new cocktail each time.
Thursday, May 21:
Guinness and BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse
At 7pm EST, Guinness and BJ’s are hosting a virtual happy hour hosted by BJ’s SVP of Brewing Alex Puchner, BJ’s Brewery General Manager Aaron Stueck, and Guinness Brewery Ambassador Eoghain Clavin. The happy hour includes a history lesson, tips on pouring a half and half, a Q&A session, and a tasting.
Seven Hills Winery
At 8pm EST, Founder and Winemaker Casey McClellan and Associate Winemaker Bobby Richards will host a virtual tasting of their Bordeaux-style blends. The wines that will be tasted can be ordered in advance through the Seven Hills website.
Slane Irish Whiskey
Founder Alex Conyngham is hosting a virtual happy hour every Thursday at 4pm EST on Instagram.
Friday, May 22:
Ampelos Vineyard and Cellars
Head to the link to find details on how you can join the weekly tastings from Ampelos. This week, they’re tasting the vineyard’s 2019 Viognier “Phi.”
The tequila company hosts a weekly virtual happy hour with discussion and cocktail demonstrations. The happy hour starts at 6:30pm EST.


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CARBO Ceramics CEO bemoans use of frac sand “experimentation” as ceramic proppant sales slide
Published: Thursday, 30 October 2014
This is the first bearish set of results from the oilfield minerals sector for Q3 2014, and it comes as a surprise given the shale gale which continues to sweep across North America. The company however has a long-term view and believes its product will win out eventually.
US proppants producer CARBO Ceramics pointed to an
oversupplied ceramic proppant markets and
experiments with raw frac sand being behind its
lower Q3 revenues and earnings.
The third quarter marked a period where a combination
of events impacted the ceramic proppant market, CEO Gary


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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said the government would make adjustments to the top ceiling of duty-free items as well as import taxes. Right now, the maximum value of duty-free goods is US$ 75 per person per day.
Sri said that the limit has not been successful in preventing rogue importers from cheating, whether by shipping the goods separately or by manipulating prices.
The minister added that her department will work with the Trade Ministry to determine a value that can prevent the entry of imported goods, "especially for those with an upper limit of US$75, which are consumer goods," she said in Jakarta Tuesday, December 17.
Meanwhile, Customs and Excise director general Heru Pambudi said he would further study and review Minister Sri's instructions.
A threshold revision, Heru said, is needed considering the uptrend of e-commerce transactions, which has now reached an average of 45 million transactions per year.


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RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - The Food and Drug Administration says drinks, like Four Loko, are unsafe. Now some local convenience stores say people are buying up the remaining drinks while they still can.
You'll still be able to buy drinks like Four Loko, but it won't have caffeine in it anymore.
Some people say they're not crazy about Four Loko being taken off the shelves.
"I like to drink them because of how drunk they get you, to be honest," said Stephen Bridges.
His friends are buying up the remaining bottles they can find.
A can of Four Loko has about as much alcohol as four beers and as much caffeine as several cups of coffee - all for two and a half bucks. Some say banning alcoholic energy drinks won't stop Four Loko fans from getting their fix.
"If people want to drink an energy drink with alcohol, they're going to do it, whether you provide it in an convenient form or not," Bridges said. "If they get rid of those, what's going to stop me from getting a Red Bull and a 40?"
Others say taking the caffeine out of Four Loko won't stop people from mixing alcohol and caffeine.
"I've been at many a restaurant and had a drink with my meal and finished it up with a cup of coffee," said Craig Elrod. "What's the difference? I don't see it."
Four Loko drinkers say they'll try to find as many drinks as they can find before it's too late.
"Everybody is going out and buying a bunch of them," Bridges said. "The plan is, if you hold on to them long enough after they stop selling them, you can either start selling them at colleges for more money or hold on to them."
The FDA has not officially banned the drink but Four Loko has already been banned in five states. It's still legal in Virginia.


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Remember when you were young and used to sit at home playing video games all day? Probably not because your Asian parents will beat you silly for wasting time playing games.
What, only me?
Well, times have changed because it's not a waste of time anymore. Video games can provide large streams of money regardless if you're in the streaming, development, or competitive scene.
There is a dense gold mine of money to be dug. In a 2018 report, the video games industry made more money than the film and music industry combined.
A Whopping US$101 billion to be exact, compared to film and music which brought in only US$49 billion and US$16 billion respectively.
But not everyone has the means and capability to be an esport player or game developer. However, streaming is a market open to all.
And in Southeast Asia, Facebook is taking the lead with its streaming platform Facebook Gaming.
Mashable Southeast Asia recently attended a virtual briefing by Facebook Gaming and found some interesting information about the streaming scene in Malaysia and around the world.
The stigma about video games is that it's primarily a male-dominated market. But that's far from the truth when it comes to streaming. Facebook Gaming reported that women represented more than 40 percent of the overall audience on its platform.
More than 55 percent of video game streamers are women.
Let's bring it closer to home. In Malaysia, Facebook Gaming saw an 87 percent increase in viewership from 2019, proving that people do like watching video game streams.
The company also released a program called Level Up, which allows streamers to monetize their streams once they qualify for the program.
This allows streamers to set up ads on their streams to make some extra cash on the side. It also has a donation program where viewers can send some money in the form of Stars to their favorite streamer.
In April 2020, Facebook Gaming recorded 20.7 million stars that were sent to streamers, which roughly amounts to US$207,000. This value comes from Malaysian audience only.
Facebook Gaming Head of Southeast Asia and APAC games partnership Michael Rose had a chat with us during the briefing and said, "Southeast Asia has grown into one of the most popular markets for Facebook Gaming, driven in large part by the popularity of gaming video and our gaming creators in Malaysia.
"Facebook is here in Malaysia to support Malaysian streamer gamers to build strong communities and create meaningful interaction with their fans, while at the same time, providing multiple ways for these creators to build the business that best suits their content and audience."
So if you’re looking to start your streaming career in Southeast Asia, this might give you a hint on which platform you should stream on.
Cover image sourced from New Straits Time.


text: Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has partnered with multinational financial services giant Mastercard to launch a prepaid card in Brazil. This follows their successful launch of a similar card in Argentina last summer. The card is still in beta testing and should be available to users in the coming weeks. It is part of Binance’s goal to “broaden the connection between traditional finance and crypto”. Customers will be able to use the card in any shop that employs Mastercard’s payment services, with a maximum withdrawal of 45,000 pesos ($241) per day or up to 180,000 pesos ($964) per month. The prepaid cards launched in Brazil and Argentina could potentially boost the interest in digital currencies and improve financial inclusion in the region. Brazilians are among the global leaders in cryptocurrency adoption, with 41% of the surveyed admitting they are HODLers. This is likely due to the country’s political turmoil, galloping inflation, and general financial issues. Similarly, Argentina has seen a surge in popularity of digital assets, especially bitcoin and stablecoins, due to their own financial issues. Both countries could benefit from the increased access to financial services provided by the Binance and Mastercard prepaid cards.


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Super Mario Odyssey will introduce a photo mode, allowing players to take snapshots of Mario and co. at any point throughout the game, including (but not limited to) when he’s running around topless on a beach.
Photo mode has become a popular addition to modern games, allowing players to zoom in on the action and share images with their friends. Super Mario Odyssey will be no different, with Switch owners able to upload their photos to social media and save them to their library.
The photo mode also allows players to add a variety of filters to their photos, along with rotating them and transforming them into fun wallpapers or backgrounds for their desktops or mobile phones.
Super Mario Odyssey wrapped up today’s Nintendo Direct presentation, which featured little in the way of new announcements in favor of elaborating upon both the Switch’s and 3DS’ upcoming releases. The photo mode was arguably the biggest new announcement to be taken from Super Mario Odyssey’s showing during the presentation, with the game now having been shown multiple times by Nintendo, including an extensive gameplay demo at E3 2017.
Super Mario Odyssey is set to launch on October 27, 2017, so players won’t have to wait long until they can start taking photos of Mario splashing around on the beach in his shorts. Put some clothes on, Mario: you’re embarrassing us.


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Apple is hosting a media event on March 9.
This event will likely be to go over the final features, pricing, and other details on the Apple Watch, which will launch in April.
Here’s the invitation sent to the press:
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Malabon City ‘tricycle tours’: Narrow streets, wide choices
While giant malls and fast-food chains dominate the commercial landscape in other cities, Malabon is counting on its “provincial” charm and home-based businesses to draw in tourists.
And its latest items on the menu, so to speak, are dining and heritage tours on tricycles, the go-to mode of transport in a city where the narrow streets can offer wide-ranging delights that are always worth the trip.
Launched by the city’s tourism office on March 14, the tricycle tours take customers to eight heritage sites and at least six of the most popular local restaurants that have held their own against ubiquitous food franchises.
The cultural itinerary includes the prewar Ibaviosa and Raymundo homes (the latter built in the 1860s), Artes de Paseo gallery, Angel Cacnio house and gallery, San Bartolome church, the 11-story City Hall, the Oreta Sports Complex and even the Concepcion public market.
The six destinations for adventurous diners are the Lugaw Xperience, Hazel’s Puto, Jamico’s restaurant, Dolor’s Kakanin, Nanay’s Pansit and Betsy’s Cake Center.
The six make up the initial selections out of the estimated 400 eateries around the city. Despite competition from fast-food chains, these home-based eateries have thrived because their delicious dishes or pastries can be found only in Malabon, said Mayor Antonlin Oreta III.
“Most of them were put up simply because the owners love to experiment on new recipes and preserve the old ones that have been passed on through generations,’’ Oreta said.
The tricycle tours are the brainchild of Oreta’s wife Melissa, a professional chef, who thought of adding a culinary aspect to the heritage tours that were launched by the local government in December last year.
The new concept was most welcome to the Federation of Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association of Malabon Inc. The transport group’s president, Jonie Aguilar, said the project has been a “big help” to the initial batch of 24 drivers who had applied for accreditation.
For now, there are separate packages for dining and heritage tours for two to three passengers (since seating is limited in tricycles). For the heritage sites, the driver charges P400 per tour, the rate already covering all passengers.
The food trip, meanwhile, costs P600 per passenger: P400 covers the food served in the six eateries while P200 goes to the driver.
The trips start at 9 a.m. and have enabled an accredited driver to exceed his usual income, with 10 to 40 tourist hiring him daily since the project began, Aguilar said.
The drivers have been issued IDs and uniforms as they also serve as “tour guides,’’ said Jean Armas, chief of the Malabon City Tourism Office.
The city government doesn’t get any direct income from the project since all payments go to the drivers and establishments, Armas explained. ‘’But this means more business for our small and medium enterprises (SMEs), more reasons to put up SMEs here, and ultimately a more vibrant local economy.’’
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VW Gigafactory Coming To Canada?
Hey, offering companies a competitive edge for local manufacturing is working. If your definition of “local” has room for interpretation.
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Volkswagen and Canada have agreed to explore opportunities to have VW EV batteries produced in the country. The company is seeking a location for North American battery production due to the US's new EV Tax Credit laws.
VW's Chattanooga, TN plant has started producing ID.4 EVs, but the company informed customers they may not be eligible for the credits because the batteries are produced outside North America.


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BHP Billiton’s $US40bn offer for a Canadian fertiliser maker has a few pundits scratching their heads.
IF you believe BHP Billiton it makes sense to spend $US40 billion buying control of a Canadian fertiliser maker. But, if you look behind the spin there are ‘logic holes’ that might be saying more about Australia and BHP Billiton’s ‘problem’ with excess cash than an expansion opportunity.
On the table is an all-cash offer for Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, a company that controls about 20 per cent of the global market in potassium oxide, an important fertiliser seen as a key ingredient in boosting world food production.
BHP Billiton’s official line is that it will add value to the Canadian business through its skills in mining and transporting bulk materials, and in an ability to extract maximum value by changing the way potash is sold – switching from the current long-term contract arrangement to shorter-term, market-linked, pricing – much as it has done in iron ore.
So far, so good. Now look behind the timing, location, and nature of the potash business, which critics argue fits BHP Billiton like King Kong trying on a pair of Tony Abbott’s budgie smugglers.
• The timing of the bid is curious, coming as BHP Billiton’s attempt to merge its Western Australian iron ore operations with those of Rio Tinto run aground with most of the world’s anti-monopoly authorities.
• The location of the investment is equally curious, and perhaps the latest example of a mining company shifting funds offshore to avoid Australia and its anti-mining tax policies.
• The potash business itself can be extremely cyclical and BHP Billiton has worked hard to avoid exposure to cyclical metals, with its dislike of nickel on prominent display at the mothballed Ravensthorpe mine, and in regular reports of the entire nickel division being for sale.
There are other reasons to question the timing and price of the Potash bid, not least being that BHP Billiton has previously said that it did not want to get too big too quickly in potash, preferring to grow its own business to get a greater understanding of how it worked.
It is entirely possible that BHP Billiton is reading the signals about global demand for food better than anyone else, and that it knows enough about potash to put $US40 billion at risk.
But that possibility flies in the face of the fact that potassium is the world’s seventh most common element and while it is mined in only 12 countries (and used in 150) it is one of those materials that has never been high on anyone’s exploration list – but might be soon if demand really is about to take off as BHP Billiton appears to be indicating.
Then there is the question of supply, price, and capacity utilisation. World demand is currently being comfortably met with capacity utilisation running at 70 per cent – meaning abundant spare capacity if demand does suddenly jump.
Market analysis by the investment bank UBS claims that demand for potash will rise by 43 per cent between 2008 and 2020 – but supply will rise by 50 per cent, and that the price is likely to rise slowly from the current $US340 a tonne to $US400/t by 2013 – and still be at $US400/t in 2020.
Interesting as BHP Billiton’s bid for Potash Corporation is, it is hard to ignore the curious timing (the Rio merger-door closes, the Potash door opens), the location (anywhere but Australia for spare cash), and the cyclical nature of a business exposed to agricultural risks.
All that is before asking questions about the conflict between management needing to do something with the surplus cash being generated by copper and iron ore profits, and shareholders asking why not return it to them rather than put it at risk in a new business adventure – as BHP Billiton has done in the past.
GOLD is back on the lips of top investment advisers, with the US economic recovery sputtering and fear rising of an outbreak of inflation, as governments around the world resort to printing more money to try and kick-start their economies.
The latest convert is Gerard Minack, head of global developed market strategy at the investment bank, Morgan Stanley.
Mr Minack’s thesis is based on a belief that the US will do whatever it takes to avoid to disaster that is deflation, even if it means risking a dramatic break-out of inflation.
Deflation, which is what ails Japan, is a condition of falling prices whereby no-one is confident in buying (or investing) because the price tomorrow will be cheaper than today. Inflation is the opposite, which means people rush to buy to beat the price rise.
According to Mr Minack’s latest analysis, the $US has failed for the best part of a century to keep pace with inflation. He reckons a 1913 $US is now worth US4c.
Gold, however, has tracked inflation and, while not in complete harmony, there is a long-term record of gold being a rock-solid investment in the face of an inflationary break-out, which is what the US could unleash in a desperate bid to revive its economy.
To complete his argument, Mr Minack quotes from a speech by US central bank boss Ben Bernanke, who famously said: “By increasing the number of dollars in circulation, or even by credibly threatening to do so, the US government can also reduce the value of the dollar in terms of goods and services, which is the equivalent of raising the prices in dollars of those goods and services.”
We have been warned.
Ructions over rates
THE flipside, and a very nasty flipside of an inflation outbreak, is that the preferred central bank control mechanism is to raise interest rates, something we have seen over the past 12 months in Australia, but which could be much worse in Europe and the US.
In the most disturbing interest rate comment for some time, the British personal finance adviser Moneyfacts is tipping a home loan mortgage rate of 14 per cent within two years, caused by a combination of inflation and banks focusing on repaying their own debts to government rather than wanting to do business with home buyers.
“Statistics are no substitute for judgment.”


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New Corporate Design at Roto
Roto has created a new global implementation of a new corporate design across all Roto companies and Roto divisions. The three divisions (Window and Door Technology, Roof Window, RPS/Maintenance) will now have a corporate identity as one.
The new modern appearance and visual language support the identity of Roto and the company’s focus on our customers. This update includes new templates in Microsoft Office and Adobe to showcase a homogenous feel to the group and a cohesiveness among the different divisions. A new secondary logo called “german made” has also been implemented.
This logo will identify continuity, consistency, reliability, experience, foresight, knowledge, and capability.
The updated Roto corporate design will have no change in the manufacturing of products. Roto North America will continue to produce North American window and door hardware in our Chester, CT and Mississauga, Ontario plants. There will be no action needed by customers for day to day communication with Roto, as the corporate design changes will only further emphasize Roto’s proud heritage.


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GoldBet Launches World Match Online Casino Information
Developer and provider of on-line casino games and related industry solutions World Match announced so it has partnered with Italian gambling operator GoldBet. The developer’s games have gone live with GoldBet’s Italian website under the terms of their partnership agreement.
Thus, the casino that is online has enlarged its item providing. After releasing the World Match content, GoldBet now offers a total of 117 casino that is online on its .it domain. The gambling portal also provides its customers by having an online poker platform and has recently introduced a brand new bingo brand name. The gambling operator was certified by Agenzia delle Dogane, considered to be the gambling operator that is italian. In terms of World Match, this has further expanded its presence in the nation’s online video gaming market.
Commenting in the announcement that is latest, World Match Executive Director Andrea Boratto stated that they’re extremely pleased with the partnership along with the opportunity to have their games launched on GoldBet, with the latter currently being among the most popular gambling operators supplying their services in the united kingdom. Mr. Boratto further noted that working with an operator that is major indicative to the fact that his business https://online-casinos-vip.com/casino-action/ and its own product offering are well-trusted.
During this 12 months’s version of ICE completely Gaming, World Match revealed it has released eleven of its many gaming that is popular in HTML5.


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The third-generation owners of De Lorenzo's Tomato Pies have known how to make great pizza for decades.
Seven years ago, they showed how much they know about running a business.
In 2007, sensing a customer shift away from their historic location in the Chambersburg section of Trenton, the family opened a second store in Robbinsville.
“When our demographics changed, we moved out seven years ago to where our customers are,” owner Sam Amico said.
The original Chambersburg location, which opened in 1936, closed its doors for good in 2012. Business at De Lorenzo's has never been better.
De Lorenzo's Tomato Pies has seen steady growth since it opened in Robbinsville — a feat in and of itself in the industry.
“Steadiness is an accomplishment all on its own,” Amico said. “You never know what's going to happen in the restaurant business from one day to the next.”
There's one thing, apparently, that you can count on: De Lorenzo's being honored as having the best pizza in the state.
De Lorenzo's Tomato Pies has been top-rated by Zagat as the “gold standard” of pizza and the “holy grail” of tomato pies, chosen as the New Jersey choice by USA Today Travel's “Great American Bites,” ranked No. 8 among the Top 38 Pizza Places in the country by the website EATER — and most recently, profiled as one of the four New Jersey pizzerias featured on the 101 Best Pizzas in America 2014 Slideshow by the robust culinary news resource TheDailyMeal.com.
Amico feels there may not be a direct correlation between polls and increased business, but you never know.
“(It's) definitely a great feeling to be ranked amongst your peers and recognized for your hard work and traditions,” he said.
At No. 31, De Lorenzo's Tomato Pies was tops among New Jersey-based joints in The Daily Meal rankings.
Amazingly, it was one of two Robbinsville-area pizza places on the national Top 101.
Papa's Tomato Pies — ranked at 75 — “coexisted with us in Trenton for over 75 years,” Amico said.
“(They) saw us here and moved here, too, about a year ago.”
Perhaps Papa's Tomato Pies saw how well De Lorenzo's was doing in the area after making seating more accessible and parking more convenient to the customer base that had enjoyed dining at its original row-house location.
“There are at least 20 pizza places within a couple miles of us now,” Amico said.
“To be ranked at all — even if it were just amongst the 20 surrounding pizzerias, let alone the thousands in the country — is a huge accomplishment.”
E-mail to: email@example.com
On Twitter: @megfry3
Biz in brief
Company: De Lorenzo’s Tomato Pies
Founded: 1936 (Robbinsville location opened 2007)
One more thing: North Jersey had two representatives on the recent Top 101 list: Star Tavern in Orange came in at No. 37; Santillo’s Brick Oven Pizza in Elizabeth was ranked No. 51.


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Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) will release its December quarter earnings on February 9 wherein brokerages believe pick up in cargo volumes will support growth prints.
Brokerage firm Antique Stock Broking highlighted that Adani Ports significantly outperformed All India Port growth during Q with overall Cargo/Container growing 20 percent/30 percent year-on-year (YoY) during Q3.
Antique expects the company's topline to grow 19 percent YoY, led by 37 percent YoY growth in Port revenues.
"Port volumes for Q3 are higher 37 percent YoY at 76.5mnT (including KPCL); on an organic basis, volumes are higher 20 percent YoY during Q3," Antique said.
The brokerage expects a 12 percent YoY growth in EBITDA and believes the appreciation in rupee during Q3 would positively impact reported PAT by about Rs 200 crore.
"Adjusting for Forex, we expect 8 percent YoY growth in PAT," said Antique.
Brokerage firm Kotak Institutional Equities expects a 23.1 percent YoY rise in the company's December quarter net sales.
Reported PAT is likely to rise 18.9 percent YoY while adjusted PAT may climb 18.9 percent YoY, Kotak said.
Further, EBITDA can climb 19.4 percent YoY but the EBITDA margin may see a decline of 209 bps YoY.
However, Kotak expects a sequential improvement of 271 bps in EBITDA margin on continued strong port EBITDA margin in existing portfolio and cost efficiencies at Krishnapatnam port.
"We model 36 percent YoY increase in volumes on 17 percent YoY improvement in cargo throughput for APSEZ's existing portfolio and incremental 10MT to come from Krishnapatnam during Q3FY21. We continue to build in lower SEZ income for Q3FY21 too," Kotak said.Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.


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GTA REALTORS® Report August Resale Market Figures September 2, 2009 -- In August 2009, Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 8,035 sales, up 27% per cent from August 2008. The average price for August transactions was $387,921 – up by six per cent compared to the same month last year. See details.
Click here for complete Market Watch. pdf
Posted by Martin Minda
on September 11, 2009


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According to Content Marketing Institute’s 2015 Benchmark, Budgets and Trends report, 86% of businesses now use content marketing. Of those, 70% are creating more content than they did a year ago. So, what’s the one thing that is driving content marketing strategies of most organisations today? You are right. It’s the ‘USERS’. User generated content is a key element for the success of a social media campaign. Social media contributors have increased by 176 million in the last year. Nearly, 92% consumers trust online content from friends and family online above all forms of brand messaging. (Source: Social Annex).
Northern Ireland is packed with some of the most incredible tourist destinations. From castles to cruising to caravans and beaches, there is something in it for everyone. However, the country has still not realised its true potential. Tourism is currently worth 5.2 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), attracting 4.1 million visitors and generating revenue of £723 million.
A showpiece event aimed at helping Northern Ireland’s attractions, hoteliers, tour operators, restaurateurs and publicans to raise their profile among local and international tourists around the world by embracing digital technology has been announced by Digital DNA and Tourism NI.
Digital Tourism, which takes place in Titanic Belfast on November 24th, will bring some of the world’s leading tourism, hospitality and technology experts to Belfast to help inspire local businesses to embrace digital to fuel their growth locally and internationally.
Search Begins for Next Generation of Young Leaders Pitching for the Trip of a Lifetime to Silicon Valley
A unique programme aimed at finding the next generation of young and innovative entrepreneurs kicks off this week when the Digital Futures roadshow rolls into schools across the country.
The 2016 programme, created by the team behind Digital DNA, launched today in conjunction with official travel partner Aer Lingus. Digital Futures challenges young people aged 12-17 across Northern Ireland to work in teams, putting their creative minds together to overcome a challenge or harness an opportunity faced by businesses or consumers through digital technology.
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council has joined forces with Ireland’s leading technology event, Digital DNA, to create an exclusive, cutting-edge event to help local businesses and organisations to fully embrace their online potential and compete with the best.
On September 29th, the iconic Armagh Planetarium will become Northern Ireland’s biggest creative digital hub as part of a packed tech-focused programme that will drive new thinking and inspire new ideas to help advise, shape and transform new ways of working.
We are now very proud to reveal that you raised £1,635.21 for the Cancer Fund for Children! You’ve raised enough money to pay for a weekend residential for 24 children to the Narnia Log Cabin in Newcastle Co.Down!
Digital DNA partnered with the Cancer Fund for Children as the Official Charity Partner of our June event. Through a number of means from the VIP dinner donation envelopes to the buckets for cash donations and the text to donate, delegates had the opportunity to win flights to London courtesy of our travel partner Aer Lingus! With the anticipation so high during our inaugural awards, we were thrilled to close the night by announcing the winner of the competition thanks to our host Pete Snodden.
We’re approaching one month since we took over St George’s Market in our most ambitious and successful Digital DNA yet. We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive feedback and we can’t thank you enough for being part of it.
We brought 1,121 delegates to Belfast City Centre, delivering 75 thought leaders, and 20 workshops across 5 stages.
We will be rolling out a number of blog posts to summarise each element of Digital DNA and we’re excited to share some of our record breaking figures with you!
The Notion of The Sticky Floor – What is really holding women back from leadership. Is it right below their feet? This notion is when women hold self-limiting beliefs, assumptions, and behaviours that can curb their ability to achieve their career goals and bring their greatest gifts and value to their teams and organisation.
Whats all this fuss about networking for business? I am sure you would agree that its quite hard to find customers first and then retain them after that. This is where building contacts with people comes into the picture. Mary McKenna and her team of IIBN members demystified this whole game of networking at the Global Business Networking workshop. All of them spoke about their personal experiences and showed how building contacts is very important in this digital age.
According to PwC’s latest Northern Ireland Economic Outlook report (21.01.2016) Northern Ireland is projected to be the poorest performing of the 12 UK regions in 2016. PwC says Northern Ireland will deliver gross value added (GVA) growth of around 1.4% in 2016 – down on 2015’s estimate of 1.5% – and well below the anticipated overall UK growth of 2.2% projected for 2016.
It’s been really hard to avoid politicians recently.
As the dust settles on the recent local elections across Ireland, momentum gathers for the vote on Europe and all the while we have at least one eye on the unfolding drama of US Presidential election and the gift that keeps on giving, Donald Trump.
It’s all a bit overwhelming – a never-ending PR machine where the voter is often left alone to sift through the selfies, flyers and TV debates to determine what and where the real content and substance is.
It may not make for a welcome comparison but there is much for a business and in particular sales teams to learn from politics and politicians.
Whilst there are many great marketing, advertising, design and digital agencies in Northern Ireland (and the UK and Ireland as a whole), there are many more start-up businesses who simply can’t afford to appoint one. Yet, they still need to engage in some form of marketing to get their business off the ground. So what’s the solution? Put simply, it’s a recipe that requires a mixture of creativity, commitment and common sense.
Nine weeks ago a new national daily newspaper was launched in the UK. Today it was announced that they had printed their last.
New Day was said to be for ‘normal people who do not want to read newspapers’. It appears they were right. The warning was there. Right in front of their eyes. In today’s world ‘normal’ people do not want to read newspapers.
But what, I hear you ask, has the demise of an embryonic new daily newspaper got to do with helping us all to navigate our way through the increasingly densely populated digital world which we all now inhabit? From a marketing perspective it actually speaks volumes about the opportunity that exists for us all to change the way we approach the production of content for our target audience.
“Blogging is simply talking about what you know and love so that consumers will grow to know and love you too.” Blogging sounds like hard work, and it can be to begin with, for those who haven’t done it before (which explains why it’s often outsourced to people like me). But with free tools like WordPress or even the new Articles feature on Facebook allowing for microblogging straight onto your business page, it’s never been easier to become an expert publisher in your industry. It’s that old “show, don’t tell” thing. Blogging allows you to show you know your product, your service or your customers inside out, while offering them much more than just the initial transaction.
Remarketing lets you reach people who have visited your website but did not convert, or target previous customers when they are active online. People who have visited your website are more likely to visit again, and those who have bought from you previously are also more likely to become repeat customers.
As well as driving sales activity, remarketing campaigns can also be used to increase registrations and newsletter sign-ups, increase brand awareness and increase engagement with new website content.
In this blog we are going to look at how we can drive sales and encourage repeat purchases and upselling with remarketing campaigns through Google AdWords.
Content strategy has become a bit of a buzz phrase in the world of digital media over the past few years but what does it mean and do you really need one?


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Polystyrene food container manufacturer Dart Products has opened its first polystyrene collection centre, servicing the West Midlands.
Available for free to local firms, residents and organisations, the centre is also one of the first in the UK to accept polystyrene used in food containers alongside foam used to protect goods in transportation.
Few local authorities in the UK actively collect polystyrene, so Dart hopes the new site will pioneer polystyrene recycling in the region.
Once the foam is dropped off, Dart sends it to reprocessor Alwin for recycling. This is then sold on as a raw material for making garden furniture, building insulation, office desk products or more protective foam packaging.
Dart Products environmental affairs director Phil Pearson said: “Polystyrene foam is an excellent packaging material and disposing of it in a landfill should be a last resort if possible. Businesses often have to pay to dispose of the bulk amounts of foam packaging they receive.
“The new collection site is a welcome extension to Dart’s continuous efforts to raise awareness about the benefits of foam recycling. Dart’s commitment to encouraging polystyrene foam recycling is important and timely as we celebrated Recycling Week last week.”


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Robot to conduct your medical tests for Dubai visa soon
A special robot then conducts the tests. - Supplied photo
Dubai - The centre uses the latest AI technology to identify a customer through facial and Iris print.
A robot could soon be doing all the medical fitness tests required for processing your employment visa in Dubai. The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) on Saturday unveiled its 'Salem Innovative Centre', the first fully autonomous medical fitness centre in the region powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
The centre is the first of its kind to utilise AI and Internet of Things (iOT) to provide medical fitness and health occupation screening services, the DHA said.
Maisa Al Bustani, director of medical fitness services department at the DHA, said the centre aims to offer the services without any human intervention. It would be a one-stop destination for all medical fitness tests required for processing employment visas.
The centre uses the latest AI technology to identify a customer through facial and Iris print. A special robot then conducts the tests. After the tests are completed, the system automatically sends the results to the parties concerned in a secure way.
Instead of taking the vital measurements (such as BMI, weight and height) of customers manually, the centre uses a smart scale that will take all these measurements automatically as soon as a customer steps on the scale. The measurements are then sent to the Salem system electronically.
Customers can make payments via smart channels such as Apple pay, Samsung pay, mPay And ePay.
Al Bustani said the service, which is paperless and requires no data entry, will have no errors. The centre is on display as part of the DHA's participation in the UAE Innovation Month.


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Martin Lewis discusses mortgage payment holiday extensions
Mortgage holidays were among the first support measures announced by Rishi Sunak and they were quickly followed by additional freezes. The FCA went on to extend such rules to credit cards, car payments and other debt obligations.
Understandably, as these schemes were rolled out many consumers in the UK expressed concern on how they may affect their financial standing or credit scores.
The FCA and other institutions such as Experian stressed that utilising these schemes would not impact a credit history but it appears that that message is still being missed.
Recently, Experian conducted a survey of 2,035 UK nationally representative participants which found a worrying level of confusion.
The results detailed that while most British people may have increased their financial awareness during lockdown, there is still a sizeable portion who are somewhat lost.
Some people may cancel their direct debits which could hurt credit scores
The research highlighted that:
- 35 percent of British people wrongly believe that taking a payment holiday as a result of the pandemic could impact their credit score.
- Nearly half (46 percent) are not sure or don’t think that interest will continue to be charged if a payment holiday is taken – something that would in fact happen for the duration of the payment holiday.
- Almost one in five (18 percent) Brits have already cancelled a direct debit during the pandemic before speaking to a lender, which can lead to penalties on their credit score.
ISA and mortgage rules have been changed – check now [INSIGHT]
Martin Lewis serious credit score warning on mortgage holidays [EXPERT]
Mortgage holiday: FCA confirm new extension rules [EXPLANATION]
James Jones, the Head of Consumer Affairs at Experian, commented on these troubling findings: “It is essential that people discuss their circumstances with their lenders if they are struggling, certainly before cancelling direct debits.
“Unauthorised missed payments can lead to penalties and impact your chances of getting credit in the future.
“Where payment holidays are agreed, interest will still be charged meaning subsequent payments are likely to increase.
“Therefore, it’s advisable that where people can continue to make payments, they should continue to do so.”
Consumer credit scores have been protected from these issues since March.
At the time, the UKs three major credit reference agencies (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) came together to agree on an “Emergency Payment Freeze” plan which ensured credit scores would remain untouched.
When the plan was announced Jonathan Westley, Experian’s Chief Data Officer, provided these additional comments: “In addition to the Government guidance on mortgages, lenders may be able to make special arrangements across other forms of credit, which may include a payment holiday, reduced payments, paused payments or increased credit limits.
“These other forms of credit are all covered by the CRA emergency payment freeze agreement, which means that any impact your credit score will be minimised.”
The same announcement, which can still be found on Experian’s website, provided advice and support on some frequently asked questions that consumers may have.
These questions included:
- How will a payment freeze be reflected on my credit report?
- Will the payment freeze be recorded anywhere on my credit report?
- How will a payment freeze affect my credit score?
- Could the payment freeze impact my ability to get credit in the future?
- What if I fall behind with payments without an agreed payment holiday in place?
- I tried to call my lender but couldn’t get through. Could I just cancel my Direct Debit?


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Microsoft, through its Africa Transformation Office (ATO), announced its planned
A conference to recognise game creators across more than 50 African countries will run from 15 to 16 July 2023, and is open for applications today.
With soaring interest African youth, the gaming industry is set to grow exponentially across the continent, as more people get connected to the internet. According to the 2021 GSMA mobile economy report, 303-million people, about 28% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa, are connected to the mobile internet, a number that is set to grow to 474-million by 2025, offering many more opportunities for gaming and local creators to grow and develop in the market.
A report commissioned by Newzoo shows that the number of Sub-Saharan gamers has more than doubled in the last five years and the region is projected to be the fastest-growing globally for both mobile gamers and people who pay for games. The State of the African Games Industry 2022 finds that South Africa has the highest saturation of gamers, with 24m people playing within a population of 59m (40%). In Ghana, 27% of people play games, with 23% in Nigeria, 22% in Kenya, and 13% in Ethiopia.
Game Camp is a Microsoft initiative that unifies various Xbox initiatives under one umbrella where talent is celebrated, and game developers are empowered to pursue their dreams. While the camp, including presentations, panels, and workshops, is available online for all registered campers, Game Camp will host four in-person locations for campers during the two days in Cairo, Johannesburg, Lagos and Nairobi.
These sites will offer viewing parties, on-site panel sessions and opportunities to meet with Microsoft and Xbox personnel.
Now in its second year and 5th event, the Xbox Game Studios Game Camp programme aims to empower creators across the world to realise their potential in the gaming industry through learning experiences from industry leaders.
“At Xbox, we’re on a mission to bring the joy and community of gaming to the world’s 3-billion gamers and we recognise that Africa is home to the largest population of youth in the world, many who love to play,” says Phil Spencer, CEO of gaming at Microsoft.
“In 2019 I attended the opening of our Africa Development Centre and met with tech leaders, educators, and developers from across the region to understand their vision for the future of game creation. Through the inaugural Xbox Game Studios Camp Africa, in collaboration with Microsoft’s Africa Transformation Office, we have an opportunity to continue to deepen our relationships with talented developers in region and help African games studios realise their vision and role in the global gaming industry.”
To participate, individuals must be of legal age, reside in any country on the African continent and be studying or working part or full-time in the field of software development, visual arts, 3D, music and audio, web design, narrative design, or professional project management. See the complete list of participation requirements at Xbox.com
Participants will join remotely via Microsoft Teams or take part in person at four open-house locations in Cairo, Johannesburg, Lagos, and Nairobi. Xbox personnel and external programme partners will facilitate workshops on various game development topics throughout the training.
The two full days are themed “The Journey of a Game” and will offer multiple perspectives on the many times complex craft of game development. In addition, there will be significant online learning components to the camp, which will allow participants to engage with focused training modules on topics that align closely with their skills and interests, before and after the event.


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As tech journalists, finance professionals and others try to read the tea leaves on the rapidly advancing technology and practices of the banking industry, researchers are getting some mixed signals from consumer markets in some parts of the world, including the Gulf region.
One example is a recently announced study of smartphone users in the Gulf Coast region, the EY GCC Digital Banking Report 2015, which uncovered some interesting habits and trends among banking customers in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.
The study found was that although 98 percent of respondents owned a smartphone, only about 14 percent used their phones for online banking. Even when broken down into age demographics, the younger groups didn't seem much more prone to online banking than their seniors.
Usage trends also differed around specific types of online banking functionality. While 22 percent of those under 35 and 23 percent of 35 to 50 year olds reported using smartphones for balance inquiries, only 15 percent of the younger group and 19 percent of the older group reported using smartphone banking services for payments and transfers. That number went down quite a bit for respondents over 50 years old.
“What we discovered is that there was very little awareness of mobile banking, which is a surprise, as it is a part of day-to-day banking in other parts of the world.” Dominique Corradi, digital banking leader at EY Middle East, said in a press release on the subject. “Enabling real time to happen within banks, which is not the case at the moment, these elements might change due to the new technology and could be a complete revolution and threaten a few intermediaries that we have right now.”
Fareed Raja is a content strategist at Kin HR Software in Chicago who travels to the Gulf area routinely.
“There are a number of reasons why people in these countries aren't using mobile banking.” Raja told the Gulf News Journal. “One reason is usability; people are more likely to use smartphones for entertainment purposes.”
Also, Raja said, people in the region often don't open a bank account until they find a job, which can be after their college years. He contrasted this trend to the habits of American demographic groups, where children may open bank accounts at 13 years old or younger, for instance, and where parents open accounts for their children in order to introduce issues around money.
“Culturally, people around here also prefer face-to-face interactions over digital.” Raja said. “This could be one reason why traditional ways of business are still more profitable than e-commerce.”
Raja said a move toward better advertised banking security would lead consumers to trust the systems more and might increase the use of smartphone online banking.
As for innovation and finance, Raja said, Bitcoin is “the name of the game.”
“It’s changing the way we think about the financial market.” Raja said. “You see a growing number of investors finally getting on board. Many big time companies like Amazon and Target have expanded into Bitcoin.”


text: A test version of the technology Microsoft Corp is developing to tackle the staggering cost of administering desktop computers appeared for the first time over Christmas. An alpha release of the software, known as Memphis, was sent under strict non disclosure agreement to a small number of OEM customers and software vendors, reports ClieNT Server News. The reason for the early look at Memphis, which is expected to reach the market as Windows 97 but is currently called Win9x, just in case, is to give developers a start on writing drivers for the thing. Memphis is the first operating system to use the WDM Win32 Driver Model that’s supposed to appear in both Win9x and NT 5.0, finally giving both of Microsoft’s 32-bit operating systems a common set of drivers. The hotter issue these days however is the $8,000- $12,000 a year it costs a company to tend each of its personal computers. Microsoft has responded with its so-called Zero Administration for Windows initiative. Built into the Memphis Developers Release, as Microsoft terms the alpha release, is a module that automatically downloads and updates system components from a corporate intranet site. The test version of this Internet System Update only works off of Microsoft’s own Website. System Update eliminates the cost of manually upgrading or patching operating systems over a corporate network. As part of the System Update test, Microsoft is expected to use the technology to keep Memphis beta sites supplied with current code. The WDM pieces in the early Memphis version include support for the Universal Serial Bus, the 1394 bus, digital data streaming, digital video disk, digital audio, imaging and input devices like mice. The few who got the Memphis alpha discovered last week that it looks just like Win95 for the simple reason that work on the Win97 graphical user interface, which will be based on Internet Explorer 4.0, hasn’t been finished, so the alpha uses the Win95 interface and shipped with Internet Explorer 3.01. The plan is to have Internet Explorer 4.0 and the Windows 97 graphical user interface ready for the first Memphis beta release, now penciled for delivery in March.


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How AI Helps Unlock the Secrets of Old Master and Modernist Paintings (Ars Technica)
Here are two ways that machine learning and artificial intelligence have been used in the world of art history and restoration.
AR, VR and MR Market Predicted to Reach $30 Billion Over Next Decade
New report was released from analysts at IDTechEx.
Video Technology 2020 – Apple and the PC Landscape
Going into 2020, Apple is offering a better line-up of professional Mac products than it has in years.
“Internet of Senses” To Compete With Screen-Based Experiences by 2030
The survey of 46 million early technology adopters from 15 cities around the world predicted that over the next decade, screen-based experiences will compete...
New Report Predicts Augmented and Virtual Reality Will Be as Common as Smartphones in the Workplace
New data suggests that tech-savvy consumers inside the workplace, not corporate IT managers, hold the keys to accelerating enterprise adoption of major technologies like...
Video: Deepfakes — Believe at Your Own Risk (The New York Times)
“Watch — very closely — as an ambitious group of A.I. engineers and machine-learning specialists try to mimic reality with such accuracy that you...
Is There a Place for Smartphones in Professional Video Production? (Futuresource Consulting)
“Another year, another iPhone. And with Google’s latest handset, the Pixel 4, unveiled only weeks later, the benchmark for all flagship smartphones has been...


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IDX development director Hasan Fawzi said the bourse would pass regulations by July that would allow companies to go public using special-purpose acquisition companies (SPAC) and to issue dual-class shares, both of which have been hot topics among tech start-ups worldwide.
“The nature of these new types of economies is different from traditional companies, so we need to anticipate their interest in going public,” he told The Jakarta Post, referring to tech startups such as fintechs and e-commerce platforms.
A SPAC is a shell company that raises money through an initial public offering (IPO) for the sole purpose of acquiring another firm. Because SPACs have no fundamental operation, they can conduct due diligence faster than regular companies and, therefore, allow the acquired firm to be listed sooner.
Hasan went on to say that the IDX was in the final steps of opening the bourse’s Main Board to loss-making companies with high valuation and good growth prospects, a characteristic of many big tech startups.
Attracting tech startups is one of the bourse’s many strategies to deepen Indonesia’s shallow financial market whose market capitalisation-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio of 46.8% is the lowest among the Asean-6.
The IDX’s decision comes at a time when many unicorns want to go public as private investments dwindle. Unicorn funding in South-East Asia only reached US$3bil in the first half of 2020 compared to the US$5.1bil in the same period the previous year, according to the 2020 “e-Conomy SEA” report by Google, Temasek Holdings and Bain & Co.
“Securing funding in the near future will likely get increasingly difficult as investors shy away from heavy cash-consuming businesses,” the study noted.
Indonesia has five startups valued above US$1bil: ride-hailing company Gojek, travel booking firm Traveloka, e-commerce outlets Bukalapak and Tokopedia, and e-wallet provider OVO. Despite their significant funding and soaring gross merchandise value (GMV), not one has recorded a profit.
The IDX also wants to introduce a dual-class shares system for listed companies, Hasan added. This would grant a startup’s founders and early backers greater voting rights than the public, even if they owned proportionally fewer shares than the public.
He said granting the founders greater voting rights was necessary because tech startups’ business development was very dependent on its founders’ ideas and innovativeness.
“Hopefully, there will be no barriers for these startup companies to list their company here (in Indonesia). They are, after all, an Indonesian company with operations and its largest customer base is in Indonesia,” Hasan concluded.
Bukalapak has become the latest unicorn reportedly considering going public in the United States through a SPAC. However, the company said it could not comment on its IPO plan at the time of writing.
Last year, Indonesia’s largest e-commerce platform, Tokopedia, appointed Morgan Stanley and Citi to advise on the possibility of a merger through a SPAC. The company also received a merger approach from blank-cheque acquisition firm Bridgetown Holdings Ltd, but they had not decided on a deal.
Tokopedia is also reportedly in talks to merge with Gojek ahead of plans to list their shares publicly. A listing of the combined businesses could raise as much as US$2bil, two sources told Reuters, in what would be one of the biggest IPO ever by an Indonesian company.
“We are considering accelerating our plans to become a public company. Currently, we are considering the market and methods for this step,” Tokopedia vice-president of corporate communications Nuraini Razak said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Traveloka is still deciding between an IPO or a SPAC, eyeing a valuation of US$5bil to US$6bil. Traveloka president Henry Hendrawan told Reuters in late 2019 that the company would consider a dual listing in Jakarta and in the US.
Traveloka corporate communications head Reza Amirul Juniarshah said the company was finalising its plan to go public as vaccine distributions and travel recoveries spurred the company’s confidence.
He said in an e-mail that the company had been approached by a number of SPACs and the conversations were “progressing rather quickly”.
“As a company with Indonesian heritage, Traveloka still places the IDX as a listing location for consideration. The US market, at the same time, is also proving to be more and more interesting,” Reza said, adding that Traveloka saw a positive outlook in the US capital market for travel companies.
SPACs have become increasingly popular in the US and Europe. SPACs listed in the US have raised US$60bil in the first two months of 2021, already more than 70% of last year’s annual deal value, Reuters reported.
However, Artha Sekuritas vice-president Frederik Rasali said that while startups would be interested in Indonesian SPACs, Indonesia might not see a similar SPAC boom as in the US. One of the reasons, he said, was because SPACs did not match Indonesia’s investors’ profile. — The Jakarta Post/ANN


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Waffle House accepting cold, hard credit cards
When manager Twananja Windley opened her new Waffle House at 8682 Asheville Hwy. Monday there was a special offering for traditional customers.
Waffle House, a restaurant that for more than half a century prided itself on serving the 'poor ol' cash customer,' now is looking to help diners who use credit cards.
"All the Waffle Houses in our division use credit cards," Windley said.
By the end of March, Visa and Mastercard will be accepted in all of Waffle House's 713 company-owned restaurants in the Carolinas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas.
"Cash-only" signs will disappear from the distinctly down-home, blue-collar eateries famous for offering inexpensive eggs, grits and hash browns "smothered and covered" in cheese and onions.
"For the longest, we've been cash-based, looking out for the 'poor ol' cash customer,' but customers expressed interest in use of credit cards," said Charnae Knight, spokeswoman for Norcross, Ga.-based Waffle House.
Knight said all of the Spartanburg County franchises are company-owned and will offer credit card usage.
"The non-franchisees will be on their own" to decide if they want to convert to using credit cards.
Beginning of acceptance
Customers have been able to use credit cards in Waffle House's 300 metro Atlanta restaurants since the end of January and another 800 franchise restaurants likely will follow suit soon, Knight said.
In the past, some franchise owners installed ATM machines in their restaurants so customers would have access to cash, she said.
Waffle House restaurants allowed only cash since the opening of the company's first restaurant in 1955 in the Atlanta suburb of Avondale Estates.
Knight said the decision to heed customer demand for credit cards will not affect prices and will not change the atmosphere of the restaurants.
"It'll still be the same. We're just taking plastic now," she said.
There are more than 1,500 Waffle Houses spread across 25 states, as far west as Arizona and as far north as Illinois.


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Fivetran today announced that its data movement platform has been selected by Dropbox, Inc. (NASDAQ: DBX) to enable its marketing and customer experience teams to make faster, data-driven decisions. Fivetran is providing its platform to enable Dropbox to reduce data ingestion and reporting time from several weeks to 30 minutes, improving efficiency and helping the company uncover insights more quickly.
Previously, Dropbox built its own custom data connectors with data engineers taking up to 8 weeks for a pipeline to go live. Dropbox’s Customer Experience (CX) department tapped Fivetran to replace a critical Zendesk data integration that was not built to support its needs for real-time, self-service access to high-quality data for reporting.
“The CX team and I were able to turn on our first connector in less than 30 minutes,” said Lauren Lin, Data Engineering Manager at Dropbox. “Fivetran delivered tremendous time savings and has allowed Dropbox to transform how quickly it can access new data with the potential to unlock business-critical insights.”
Dropbox soon expanded its use of Fivetran as its enterprise-wide data platform. The Dropbox marketing team wanted more insights into their various channels to understand spend and ROI. Fivetran now regularly ingests data from LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter and Google Ads to provide the Dropbox marketing department a more complete picture of their return on ad spend. Now the team can make smarter decisions about where to allocate advertising dollars for the biggest impact.
Dropbox is now also ingesting terabytes of data from hundreds of sources and systems from the acquisitions of HelloSign, DocSend and FormSwift. With Fivetran, Dropbox is bringing data together to deliver key insights to streamline operations, eliminate redundancies, and empower leadership to answer questions they haven’t been able to previously address.
“Dropbox is a model example of what a data-driven organization looks like at scale. The company has invested heavily in giving its leaders the means to understand and drive decisions based on data, leading to a productive and engaged workforce as well as improving business outcomes and cost-efficiency,” said Rachel Thornton, Chief Marketing Officer at Fivetran. “Fivetran is a critical driver of the unified data environment that Dropbox has created across all lines of business to unlock new growth opportunities.”


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Coffee production is set to increase to 47, 000 MT this year compared to 45, 000 MT last year due to an expanded plantation area, a coffee directorate official has said.
According to Interim Director in the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) coffee Directorate Grenivile Miili the provision of subsidised fertilizer to farmers has increased yields hence the enlargement of area under cultivation by farmers.
“The land under coffee production has increased from 109,000 hectares to 114,000 hectares,” he said.
Farmers earned more than Sh23 billion in 2015/2016 coffee year from a total production of 45, 000 MT up from Sh22.3 billion achieved in 2014/2015.
In addition, he said there were strategies in place to increase the area under coffee to 130, 000 hectares by 2020 through implementation of the integrated coffee production and productivity initiative (ICPP).
The project targets 21 Counties, both in coffee emerging and traditional coffee zones for expansion of hectares under coffee.
“This will raise the production from the current 42,038 metric tonnes clean coffee achieved in 2014/15 coffee year to 92,000 MT by 2020,” he said.
About 800, 000 smallholder farmers are affiliated to 500 cooperative societies in the country and 4, 000 plantations are involved in coffee production which draw the livelihood from coffee earnings.
“Due to the industry’s effective forward and backward linkages it is currently contributing about 0.2 per cent to the GDP and eight per cent to the agricultural sector,” said Mr Miili adding that it contributes 30 per cent of employment in the agricultural sector.
The country sells off its coffee to more than 30 countries around the world where Germany, United States, Belgium, Canada being the leading off takers of coffee.
Mr Miili said AFA was currently seeking to diversify export markets of the cash crop which is most traded in the country next to oil.
He said through the supply to United Kingdom had significantly dropped for the last six years, supply to France and Korea has doubled since 2009 accounting to 78 per cent of exported coffee.


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Consumers can skip the trip to a bank branch and simply register their fingerprint at home
Mastercard unveiled a technology advancement for its biometric cards. With biometrics representing the next generation in securing payments, Mastercard developed a way for people to easily and conveniently register their fingerprint onto the biometric card in the comfort of their home.
Mastercard is on a mission to eliminate the use of passwords and recognize people by “what they are” instead of “what they know” through biometrics like fingerprints, facial recognition and iris scans. Advances in technology are making biometric payment a reality, and through significant research and development, a revolutionary battery-powered sleeve will now let people self-enroll their contact or contactless biometric card. Their fingerprint is scanned by the sensor on the card and an encrypted digital template is created and securely stored.
“Making life safer and simpler for consumers is the cornerstone of our efforts around biometrics and comes through the use of some incredibly sophisticated technology,” said Bob Reany, executive vice president of identity solutions at Mastercard. “People love the security our biometric card delivers because we put their needs first. The card draws power from the payment terminal so it can be used anywhere, we use a flexible biometric scanner so it’s more durable, and now we have a sleeve to register fingerprints so people don’t have to make a trip to a bank branch.”
Simplifying the registration process will help speed adoption of biometrics by issuers and consumers alike. The solution is a cost-effective way for issuers to deliver biometric cards at scale without requiring additional infrastructure in branches. With the biometric card, consumers get a secure experience they love and can use at any EMV terminal either by contact or contactless payment. Issuers benefit from improved fraud detection and prevention, approval rates and customer loyalty. And, for merchants, the biometric card works with existing EMV card terminals so there is no additional cost or burden.
In 2017, Mastercard was the first to introduce biometric cards that combine chip technology with fingerprints to securely verify the cardholder’s identity for in-store purposes – all without requiring an internal battery. When shopping and paying in-store, the biometric card works like any other card at EMV card terminals globally. The cardholder simply places their finger on the embedded sensor and either dips or taps the card as normal. Powered by the terminal itself, the fingerprint is verified against the template and – if the biometrics match – the transaction can then be approved with the card never leaving the consumer’s hand.
Mastercard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. Our global payments processing network connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MastercardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.


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Farm machinery maker John Deere will this year start leasing tractors to Kenyan farmer groups in an effort to enhance mechanised farming.
East and Central Africa divisional sales manager Janalize van Buuren said the contractor tractor leasing model will see smallholder farmers encouraged to form clusters of between 20 to 30 farmers.
“The typical smallholder does not have money to buy a tractor and this is the biggest obstacle to smallholder farmers wanting to adopt mechanised farming...,” he said.
A director at Mascor — John Deere’s dealer in Kenya — Francois Marais said it had established 11 remote service centres that will facilitate the partnership via provision of spare parts and servicing of the tractors.
“The contractor model allows smallholder farmers to solve the problem of access to expensive mechanisation equipment and provide employment that is a key mover to the economies of rural communities,” said Mr Marais.
The partnership will see John Deere facilitate access to funding for farmers to buy farm inputs and train them on the best practices.


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they can pay on a daily basis, and most importantly, the privacy of mobile internet – something which the users do not get on a desktop computer. Furthermore, given the increased frequency of power outages in the country, this service offers the convenience of browsing the internet on your mobile 24/7.
Karachi: April 15, 2010 – ZONG has announced an innovative mobile Internet package – the Daily Bundle – for mobile Internet in Pakistan. The Daily Bundle service offers the most affordable and convenient package for mobile Internet which is a first in Pakistan.
There is a huge market for dial-up Internet in Pakistan, as compared to mobile internet which is relatively costly. ZONG’s Daily Bundle is an attractive package which offers users the benefits of Internet on one’s mobile at a very low cost of Rs. 5+tax / day. It also allows the users the flexibility as
Expressing his views Awais Malik, Director Segment & VAS, ZONG said that ZONG is committed to continuous market innovation in Pakistan, and added, “The demand for using Internet is growing in Pakistan, however, the associated cost is an impediment. Through this very affordable package, ZONG’s subscribers will be able to experience fast and reliable Internet service using their mobile phones.”
In order to subscribe to the Daily Bundle, ZONG customers can Dial *906#.
The Customer will be charged a one-time Subscription fee of Rs. 10. Customers will get 60 Flexi minutes, which they can use any time during the day without additional charges. This is a great feature customers have now the power to use mobile internet whenever they want to without paying extra.
With the introduction of the Daily Bundle, ZONG has once again taken lead in the telecom industry by coming up with yet another innovative product for its subscribers. The brand continues to offer subscriber-friendly packages and develops attractive services for its customers so that they can communicate freely without having to worry about cost.
About China Mobile : Officially established on April 20th, 2000, China Mobile Communications Corporation (“China Mobile” for short) has a registered capital of 51.8 billion RMB Yuan and assets of over 400 billion RMB Yuan. China Mobile Limited has set wholly-owned subsidiaries in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) in China and went public in Hong Kong and New York Stock Exchanges. Currently, in terms of its market value, subscriber based and network coverage China Mobile Limited is the largest among all the overseas listed companies.


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For more food and drink videos go to www.potluckvideo.com
Every year The New York City Wine and Food Festival is an essential event for anyone who loves food. And this year was bigger than ever, starting off with a celebration of Food Network's 20th year.
We caught up with some of food's biggest stars on the red carpet to talk about the festival, the anniversary and to get their take -- the good, the bad and the ugly -- on how food television has changed over the years.
Giada De Laurentiis says it's now an inescapable phenomenon, noting: "Over the years I would say that there is not one single person that does not know what Food Network is."
A lot of chefs commented on how the medium has evolved over the years. Guy Fieri said that "Everything has changed -- presentation styles, visual styles, the ethnicities of food". Chefs like Bobby Flay, Robert Irvine and Marc Murphy and restaurateurs like Danny Meyer think the growth of food television has been a positive shift because it raises awareness.
But a few others are wary of where it could go. Aaron Sanchez of Chopped conceded that there's. "A lot more entertainment and reality." Ted Allen went further by noting that, "One thing that sometimes concerns me about the celebrity chef phenomenon is that a lot of young people are going to culinary school, getting expensive degrees thinking that they're going to immediately land a show -- you have to go into this industry because you love the craft."
For more watch the full video above! To learn more about the New York City Wine and Food Festival you can check out their website.