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Somewhat-known cryptocurrency has surged by triple-digit proportion factors after a shock itemizing on a significant cryptocurrency change.
The utility token of gaming and non-fungible token (NFT) platform Gala Video games, GALA, surged by roughly 250% from $0.02 to hit an all-time excessive of $0.07 in simply 24 hours.
GALA boasts a market capitalization of over $379 million and is the 181st-ranked coin, in response to CoinGecko.
The GALA altcoin is predicated on the Ethereum blockchain which is used as a medium of change to buy in-game objects and NFTs within the gaming ecosystem. The undertaking can also be using GALA to reward the highest 100 gamers in one of many platform’s video games.
Gala Video games CEO Eric Schiermeyer, who additionally co-founded video games developer Zynga, says blockchain gaming is the subsequent part of the web.
“The whole lot that touches possession goes to be affected by what’s occurring right here. Artwork and music and every thing that has a digital life goes to be touched by this. Something that you just thought was digital that you just thought you owned however didn’t actually personal — that’s what’s about to be revolutionized.”
The surge in GALA’s value coincides with the itemizing of the utility token on international crypto change Binance. The crypto asset can now be traded in opposition to different cryptocurrencies particularly Bitcoin (BTC), Binance Coin (BNB), and stablecoins BUSD and USDT. Binance says withdrawals will start 24 hours after the beginning of buying and selling.
GALA has given up a few of its beneficial properties after hitting its all-time excessive. At time of writing, GALA is buying and selling $0.05.
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Every day Hodl usually are not funding recommendation. Buyers ought to do their due diligence earlier than making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital belongings. Please be suggested that your transfers and trades are at your individual threat, and any loses you might incur are your duty. The Every day Hodl doesn’t suggest the shopping for or promoting of any cryptocurrencies or digital belongings, neither is The Every day Hodl an funding advisor. Please observe that The Every day Hodl participates in affiliate internet marketing.
Featured Picture: Shutterstock/Tithi Luadthong


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Fetch your tin hat from the wardrobe, Gordon, there are signs that the mob is getting restless. A petition calling on the prime minister to resign is gathering signatures at an alarming pace. On Friday, about 800 people had signed the simple appeal “Resign” on the Downing Street e-petition website.
Yesterday there were more than 7,000 names.
“This could be big, very big,” says the blogger Guido Fawkes, who is backing the petition.
Other bloggers are going further. They are urging readers to send Gordon “the shirts off our backs”. This idea seems to have been launched by a blogger known as Old Holborn, but is now spreading to other sites.
“I am dispatching four different shirts from different post boxes tomorrow,” says one disgruntled – and possibly shirtless – protester.
A Downing Street spokesman says no shirts have arrived so far, adding: “I’ve no idea what we would do with them.”
Spread the word....

domain: news


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22 October 2018
The African Competition Forum (ACF) held its 2nd biennial conference on 11 – 12 October 2018 at
Marrakech, Morocco, hosted by the Competition Council of Morocco. At the conference, a new
Steering Committee was elected with South Africa as Chairperson and Tunisia and Mauritius as
Vice Chairperson, respectively.
The new Steering Committee comprises of Algeria, Botswana, eSwatini, Kenya, Mauritius,
Senegal, South Africa, The Gambia, Tanzania, Tunisia and Morocco.
ACF comprises 31 members and five regional competition agencies. The body was established
in 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya by 19 founding members. ACF is an informal network of African national
and multinational competition authorities. It aims to promote the adoption of competition principles
in the implementation of national and regional economic policies of African countries, in order to
alleviate poverty and enhance inclusive economic growth, development and consumer welfare by
fostering competition in markets, and increase investment, productivity, innovation and
The ACF thanks the Competition Council of Morocco for hosting the conference, which was a


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Asos investors seek reassurance over company's ambitious growth plans
Asos will update on whether it remains on track to achieve annual sales of more than £1bn after cracks began to emerge in ambitious growth plans.
Investors will be hoping the online fashion chain escapes issuing a profit warning after the first signs of a hiccup emerged earlier this month in the short two month trading update to February 28.
In fashion? Shareholders fear a profit warning
This showed total group revenues of 26 per cent – below the 32.5 per cent analyst consensus – wiping 20 per cent off the shares.
Asos will post half-year results on Wednesday.
Simon French, an analyst at broker Panmure Gordon, said: ‘The market will look for reassurance that the growth in the UK can return to more traditional levels after a disappointing February and that China remains a viable, scalable growth opportunity.’
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Cloth merchants to shut shops tomorrow
Traders also threatened to stop importing essential commodities from neighbouring states from March 31 protesting the government decision. The government has decided to impose the tax from April 1.
"We had observed a two-day bandh in June last in protest against imposition of VAT at 4 per cent. Due to our agitation the government rolled back the decision and assured the tax would not be imposed on textile, when other states will not do so," said president of the AOTCMA Rabi Mohapatra here.
"When no other states except Andhra Pradesh imposed VAT on textile, why state government is ready to impose it at 5 percent," he asked.
In protest, textile traders across the state will stage silent procession and submit a memorandum to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik appealing to reconsider the decision, said P Kameswar Rao, another official of the association.
Around five lakh people are engaged in wholesale and retail textile business in the state, while they have around 2500 different organisations, Mohapatra claimed.
Meanwhile, Odisha Byabasayee Mahasangha (OBM) also threatened to stop import of essential commodities from other states protesting on the government decision.
The actual tax will be increased to six and seven per cent on sugar and textile respectively with imposition of 5 percent VAT, president, Ganjam Chamber of Commerce (GCC) Ch Rabindra Kumar said.
The government has been collecting 2 and one per cent as entry tax on textile items and sugar respectively. While the Center has announced to implement GST, a uniform tax across the country, the state should reconsider and rollback their decision, Rabindra Kumar said.


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Boston Scientific should be bought on surgical mesh selloff, says Piper Jaffray
Piper Jaffray analyst Matt O'Brien recommends using the selloff today in shares of Boston Scientific after the FDA ordered all manufacturers of surgical mesh intended for transvaginal repair to stop selling and distributing their products immediately as a buying opportunity. Mesh products have been declining for several years at Boston Scientific and represented only ~1% of revenue in 2018, O'Brien tells investors in an intraday research note. The analyst estimates the company's revenue will be negatively impacted by less than $50M in 2019. Further, Boston Scientific is currently working with the FDA on a resolution, adds the analyst. Boston Scientific still has a "plethora of high-growth product launches fully intact" including Lotus, Acurate neo, and Watchman in Japan, "which should help cushion any lost revenue," says O'Brien. He has an Overweight rating on the shares with a $42 price target. The stock in afternoon trading is down 4% to $36.34.


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ARRI holds dealer’s meeting before IBC
A day before the 2016 IBC technology expo opened in Amsterdam, around 80 of ARRI’s international dealers attended a meeting so they could learn about the exciting new products and developments being showcased by ARRI.
Opening the proceedings, Dr. Jörg Pohlman of the ARRI AG Executive Board took the opportunity to welcome and thank the distribution partners present. “A very big ‘Thank You’ to you all!” he said. “Without the great collaboration and cooperation we have with you, the record-breaking year we’ve experienced at ARRI would not have been possible.”
Stephan Schenk, Managing Director of ARRI Cine Technik and General Manager of the Business Unit Camera Systems, added: “We really appreciate you giving us an extra day of your valuable time before the beginning of IBC.” He went on announce the availability of the much-anticipated ALEXA SXT cameras.
“The first 20 ALEXA SXTs have already been shipped and many more are on their way soon,” reported Marc Shipman-Mueller, the Product Manager responsible for the ALEXA lineup, who gave an overview of the technical and creative advantages of the SXT cameras.
Another innovation being presented by ARRI at IBC is the new Master Grip handgrips for handheld control of lens and camera functions. Product Manager Hendrik Voss, who is responsible for the Electronic Control System of which the Master Grips form a part, commented: “For the first time, camera operators now have fingertip control of everything they need, as well as fantastic comfort and stability when shooting handheld. The Master Grips combine a classic, proven ergonomic design with state-of-the-art technology and exceptional ease-of-use. They can be used with ARRI cameras, but also with cameras from other manufacturers.”
Curt O. Schaller, Product Manager for ARRI Camera Stabilizer Systems, had some interesting tools in his luggage: he unpacked and displayed the TRINITY stabilizing head, MAXIMA gimbal and artemis mechanical stabilization rigs, all of which are now supplied exclusively by ARRI.
A major part of ARRI’s message at IBC – and one of the biggest talking points in the industry right now – is HDR, or high dynamic range imaging. Florian “Utsi” Martin, Lead Digital Colorist of ARRI Digital Workflow Solutions presented the subject to the gathered dealers and commented: “By the end of this year there will be HDR-ready TV sets on the market starting at USD $1,000. HDR is clearly an emerging trend, but ARRI digital cameras were designed to be future-proof from the beginning and we have offered the best solution for HDR capture since the release of ALEXA in 2010.”
Visitors to ARRI’s booth at IBC will be able to experience the ‘HDR tunnel’ and watch amazing HDR content that was captured with ARRI cameras, including scenes from the Amazon series MOZART IN THE JUNGLE and director Florian Gallenberger’s film THE COLONY, starring Emma Watson and Daniel Brühl.
André Rittner, Key Account Manager for Corporate Customers at ARRI Media, then took the floor to explain how virtual reality technology is no longer just a dream of the future: virtual reality content produced by ARRI Media is already being used for showpiece projects by major clients such as Volkswagen and Bosch.
The afternoon session was dedicated to ARRI lighting technology. Markus Zeiler, General Manager of the Business Unit Lighting, described 2016 as “already a great year.” He went on to comment: “In particular, the SkyPanel family of LED soft lights has become a real success story, with huge demand for these fixtures on top-level productions. The upcoming blockbuster ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, for example, used a large number of SkyPanels during production.”
Michael Wagner, Senior Lighting Product Manager, explained how the SkyPanel story is continuing, and the family growing, with the release of the new S120-C, which is being announced at IBC. “Twice as long as the S60 but nearly the same weight, the S120 has multiple uses when used horizontally or vertically, and the quality of the light is really amazing,” said Wagner. The new light met with a warm reception from the dealers, who responded to the announcement with a prolonged round of applause.
The dealer’s meeting wound up with the general consensus being that ARRI has an impressive range of products at this year’s show.
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Daniel Shadbolt of Veneziano Coffee Roasters has won the 2020 AMC Australian Coffee Roasting Championship, held on 5 and 6 February at Criteria Coffee in Port Melbourne.
Coffee-making was once a mysterious artform, with baristas hidden behind the bulk of their machines, and roasteries situated in the dark backrooms of a building. Industry Beans is part of the specialty coffee movement which has changed this in Australia. And their new facility in Fitzroy, Melbourne attests to this fact – bringing light to roasting and coffee-processes – and creating an immersive coffee experience for customers. Read more
Coffee Machine Technologies (CMT) has opened a new store showroom for retail in the heart of Carlton on Lygon Street in Melbourne.
Bondi based specialty coffee roaster Will & Co has launced a limited-edition takeaway cup created in collaboration with local artist and long-term friend Chris Nixon.
Australia’s hospitality industry is rejoicing at today’s announcement from the federal government that international borders will reopen to fully vaccinated tourists from 21 February 2022.
Dalla Corte has announced Hamish McKinstry as its new National Sales Manager. Hamish has worked in the beverage industry for nearly eight years, starting off in the tea sector before making the switch to specialty coffee over five years ago. Read more
Simonelli Group has won the 2021 Italian Industrial Excellence Award, which recognises excellence in the industrial and service sectors.
New Zealand company Flight Coffee has announced its latest cold brew cans ‘Sparkling Cold Brew’, infused with manuka honey and mandarin.
Following an intensive and contemporary renovation over spring and summer 2021, Veneziano Coffee’s West End space in Brisbane is set to welcome back regulars and a whole new crowd alike.


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The Savanna Comics Choice Comedy Awards in partnership with Savanna are back and these are some of your winners to the 11th installment of…
Earlier this month fintech startup JUMO — which was founded by SA entrepreneur Andrew Watkins-Ball in 2014 — celebrated a new milestone, having helped connect over 15 million people to credit and savings in their six markets in Africa and Asia to date.
The startup, which is registered in Mauritius, helps facilitate digital financial services such as credit and savings in emerging markets.
In a statement on 5 November JUMO claimed it has helped disburse over $1.6-billion in funding to small and micro enterprises and is growing its base of savings products.
JUMO currently partners with financial service providers and mobile network operators to provide credit and savings solutions in Pakistan, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Zambia.
The company plans to enter new markets in Asia and Africa in the coming months.
In this Q&A, JUMO’s director of corporate affairs Susie Squire (pictured above), explains how the idea for JUMO first came about, how the startup earns revenue and which mobile operators and financial sector providers it works with (the company’s media liaison told Ventureburn that Watkins-Ball was not available for a telephonic interview — Ed).
Squire declined to detail what share each shareholder has and what kind of return JUMO has so far generated for investors.
How did the idea for JUMO first come about?
Between 2000 and 2007 JUMO founder and CEO Andrew Watkins-Ball worked with Salomon Brothers Leveraged Finance business in London and New York to develop a new strategy for the bank.
Looking at ways to invest in high growth (but less developed) financial services environments, he found that while banks were sitting on large amounts of capital, the majority of people in emerging markets had no access to even the limited investment needed to start a small business. This brought him to two important realisations:
There was lots of capital available to reach new customers, but serious constraints in how to reach them sustainably.
This unbalanced access to capital, especially for micro and small enterprises is the number one barrier to economic development for a lot of emerging economies.
Andrew believes financial access has only ever been a problem of limited information and unsuitable unit economics, not a financial risk problem. In founding JUMO, he set out to solve these problems using data and technology.
What does JUMO stand for (is it an acronym?)?
The name JUMO is not an acronym, it evolved from the words “just mobile”, but the company is far more than just a mobile financial services solution.
It is a full technology stack for building and running financial services for emerging market customers, using any interface.
How does JUMO earn revenue and what is the fee structure you charge clients?
JUMO’s partners use our technology stack to offer savings, lending and insurance products (in the pipeline) to entrepreneurs in emerging markets.
JUMO’s advanced data engine, end-to-end banking technology and flexible operating platform work together to create ultra-lean infrastructure that delivers financial services at a fraction of typical banking costs.
Revenue is generated from the fees charged on the platform which is then shared between all partners in the ecosystem.
What are some of the company’s biggest operating costs?
Being a geographically dispersed company with offices in 11 different countries has its challenges.
JUMO’s facilities, manpower and travel costs require careful management and the company is learning to strike the right balance between hiring the right skills in the right places at the right time, selecting optimal travel opportunities and implementing policies or trialling progressive ways of working that can contribute to reducing opex, such as our remote working policy.
When it comes to resource and capability planning, we are at heart a data-driven organisation and we use key metrics, which the entire company is aware of, to examine operational efficiency on a regular basis.
This allows us to make changes where necessary, driven by the changing requirements for delivering in our markets.
How many financial sector providers and mobile network operators is JUMO currently working with?
For loans built and run by JUMO, these are:
- Qwikloan via MTN and Letshego (Ghana)
- Xpressloan via MTN and Ecobank (Ghana)
- Kopa Cash via Airtel (Kenya)
- Easypaisa via Telenor and Telenor Microfinance bank (Pakistan)
- Nivushe via Tigo (Tanzania)
- Timiza via Airtel (Tanzania)
- Wewole via Airtel (Uganda)
- Kasaka loans via MTN and Barclays Africa (Zambia)
- Na Sova via Airtel (Zambia)
For savings built and run by JUMO, these are:
- Timiza Akiba via Airtel (Tanzania)
- Kasaka savings via MTN and Barclays Africa (Zambia)
How big is the market that JUMO is currently operating in?
JUMO currently has 120 million people under integration. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) estimates that 40% of small and micro enterprises in the formal sector in developing countries have an unmet financing need of $5.2-trillion every year.
While there are a number of companies using alternative data for credit scoring, JUMO’s approach is unique in that instead of seeking to disrupt incumbents, we’re working to enable local players to be more efficient.
Through this model, we are able to offer credit products at around 2c per dollar disbursement and we’re operating at roughly one fifth of the cost for fulfilment that a bank would. This makes JUMO’s model compelling for banks.
JUMO has raised over $91-million over eight rounds, according to Crunchbase. Where has the money gone to all?
JUMO’s investors have helped fund expansion into new markets, attract and retain key talent, improve the engineering capability, and test product and business model innovations.
Much of JUMO’s investment has come from development finance and social impact institutions who have provided capital to support the company’s mission to extend finance to entrepreneurs and individuals in Africa and Asia who have been largely excluded from formal financial systems.
What return have investors received so far on their investment and what return are they ultimately expected to see?
Goldman Sachs, Proparco (the private sector financing arm of the French Development Agency AFD), Finnfund, Gemcorp Capital, Leapfrog Investments, Vostok Emerging Finance, Athena Capital and Odey Asset Management are some of the principal investors in JUMO.
Due to confidentiality agreements we are unable to disclose information on returns.
Who currently are the biggest shareholders in the business and what stake do each have?
Due to confidentiality agreements, we are not able to comment on this question.
How have you sought to source, attract and retain good talent?
The startup environment is a fast-paced one that demands high performance from exceptional people who can be focused, flexible and are comfortable with change.
The talent acquisition team at JUMO works hard at attracting and retaining critical expertise in our core business areas.
On the whole, we have found that what really works for us is building small, highly specialised teams that work across a flat structure.
Like most businesses, JUMO uses sourcing and attraction tools, but these don’t mean much without a compelling employee value proposition.
At JUMO this starts with culture, knowing who we are and who we want to be and then communicating that coherently to the external market.
What have been some of the biggest challenges that the business has faced? And what lesson does this hold for other startups?
Doing business in emerging markets that are new to fintech products and services is challenging. Evolving regulation, consumer education and infrastructure pushes us to constantly seek new ways to build and grow our business.
As a five-year-old company, JUMO continues to learn to navigate existing and new markets, and we’re fortunate to share the learning experience with our incredible partners who have been navigating these markets for decades.
These challenges force us to be creative in finding solutions and to adapt our approach to solve particular pain points in specific markets, while appreciating the underlying nuances of different countries, cultures and people.
The results speak for themselves. We have served 15 million customers across Africa and Asia and are continuing to grow our reach.
Read more: SA’s JUMO, Retail Capital, Mauritius-based 4G Capital honoured at Global SME Finance Forum Awards [Updated]
Read more: SA fintech startup JUMO appoints Africa and India CEOs [Updated]
Read more: SA fintech JUMO selected to join second cohort of Google Launchpad Studio
Read more: JUMO’s $12.5m deal from UK investor, brings funding raised to $64.5m in 2018
Read more: SA fintech JUMO closes $52m round led by Goldman Sachs
Read more: Are these the 10 biggest disclosed African tech startup deals of 2018? [Updated]
Read more: SA fintech JUMO closes $52m round led by Goldman Sachs
Read more: SA fintech JUMO secures first two commitments in new funding round
Read more: Five SA tech startups that are expanding into the rest of Africa [Updated]
Read more: Funder’s focus on making social impact key in $24m deal says JUMO founder
Read more: SA startup JUMO awarded $150 000 prize by Mastercard Foundation for client help
Read more: JUMO first SA startup to be selected for Google Launchpad Accelerator
*Correction: Subsequent to the publication of this article, JUMO said it had misstated the mobile partner for its Timiza Akiba savings product in Tanzania, as MTN and Letshego — when it is in fact Airtel. We have updated the article to reflect this correction.
Featured image: JUMO director of corporate affairs Susie Squire (Supplied)


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Shark Tank Stars and Cyber/Crypto Pioneer To Make Booth Appearances For Their Startups At CES 2018’s Eureka Park.
It’s just hours after the Christmas dust has settled and all of our eyes are on CES 2018 and Eureka Park. This year Eureka Park is playing host to over 800 startups from across the globe. Nibletz is already the #1 Google News source for Eureka Park, you can see our coverage here.
While you’re roaming the crowded aisles of CES’ startup expo, now in it’s 5th year, you’ll be able to see the latest in connected devices, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, robotics, food and beverage technology, and even a device to retrofit your dumb refrigerator and make it smarter. Tens of thousands of investors, buyers, partners and startup enthusiasts will take in Eureka Park, just a fraction of the entire CES extravaganza, the largest consumer technology event in the western hemisphere.
One of the other big attractions is the stars that come out to see the latest technology, help pitch companies they’ve invested in or find new investments themselves.
While there are no official plans for the other shark’s from ABC’s hit show Shark Tank, we can count on both Mark Cuban and Kevin O’Leary to make appearances in Eureka Park.
Cuban is no stranger to CES. He often appears on panels and can be seen walking the aisles at Eureka Park checking in with entrepreneurs and stopping to see the latest technology. This year he will be supporting Kino-Mo a London startup that he’s invested in. The company is shaking up the world of display advertising through the use of holograms. Kino-mo’s technology costs a fraction of what other hologram technology companies charge. This holographic advertising can put images of products right before the consumers eyes.
O’Leary will be at Eureka Park to support recent Shark Tank investment, BenjiLock. Robbie Cabral’s rags to invention story brought American audiences to tears as he talked about bringing his easy to use biometric padlock to market, and to the show. O’Leary has been working tirelessly to put partnerships in place for BenjiLock and will stop by the BenjiLock booth to talk about this technology and show people why he invested in not just BenjiLock but Cabral as well.
Cybersecurity pioneer, bitcoin analyst and tech visionary for MGT Capital, John McAfee, will make another appearance this year at Eureka Park to support EveryKey a company the technology rebel backed in it’s infancy. Two years ago he appeared at the same booth fresh of the heels of his Presidential bid where he came in third in the Libertarian party, as well as right after a string of new commercials promoting the password alternative technology had arrived on the scene. In addition to EveryKey, McAfee has a highly secure smartphone on the way, what’s believed to be the most secure smartphone in the world. Also, he’s rolling out his own crypto-currency and regularly appears in the global media as a supporter of crypto-currency.
All appearance times are TBD. We will update this story as the event draws closer.


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The latest member to join the BAYC is the “queen of pop” Madonna.
In a Twitter post, the 63-year old pop star announced entering the Metaverse after acquiring a Bored Ape NFT valued at more than half a million dollars. Madonna bought Bored Ape #4988, which is a six trait DMT primate with a sleeveless logo tee, an S&M hat.
MoonPay, the crypto custodian and payments processor that serves as a “concierge” service for celebrities interested in buying NFTs, was behind the latest transaction.
For the uninitiated, the company previously launched MoonPay Concierge, a new service for high net worth individuals interested in purchasing crypto and high-value NFTs. Snoop Dogg, Gunna, Meek Mill, Lil Baby, Gwyneth Paltrow, Diplo, and Kevin Hart are some of its well-known clients.
We heard it call your name
And it felt like home https://t.co/5wqKotV63n
— MoonPay (@moonpay) March 25, 2022
The latest data on the NFT marketplace OpenSea revealed that MoonPay acquired 180 ETH (approximately $564k) ten days ago, then transferred to the singer’s wallet on March 23rd.
Despite high-profile artists increasingly tapping the world of NFTs, many fans on Madonna’s Instagram post were not happy. Some called it a disappointing move, while a few asked the singer to delete the post. Another user complained,
“Madonna. I’ve always looked up to you, but this is very disappointing.”
The pop star’s tryst with the cryptocurrency industry dates back to 2018 when she partnered with Brad Garlinghouse-led blockchain company Ripple to raise funds for orphans in Miami.
Celebs in BAYC
With the latest development, the singer joins the growing list of celebrities who have grabbed an ape of one of the most prominent NFT collections. Canadian musician Justin Bieber, for one, appears to have an appetite for Bored Ape NFTs as he made two purchases in a span of a few weeks – the latest one being $470k worth of ETH. Earlier, he bought a Bored Ape NFT for a whopping $1.3 million (500 ETH).
Marshall Mathers, better known as Eminem, also joined in the craze by allocating 123.45 ETH ($462,000) his first Bored Ape NFT #9055.
Featured Image Courtesy of Vanity Fair


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* First-qtr adjusted profit $0.43/share vs est. $0.48
* First-qtr revenue $10.38 bln vs est. $10.4 bln
* Shares fall 8 pct in extended trading (Adds details, shares)
April 23 (Reuters) - Electronic products distributor Ingram Micro Inc posted a weaker-than-expected quarterly profit due to a rise in costs, sending its shares down 8 percent in extended trading.
The company said it expected revenue to grow in low-to-mid single digits in the quarter ending June and the year ending December.
“The company accelerated its strategic investments and ramped up spending ... first quarter earnings per share growth was impacted by the combination of these investments and higher interest and other expenses,” Ingram said.
The company’s costs rose 10 percent to $542.2 million in the first quarter ended March 31.
Net income halved to $24.8 million, or 16 cents per share, in the quarter from $49.8 million, or 32 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, Ingram earned 43 cents per share.
Revenue rose 1 percent to $10.38 billion.
Analysts on average had expected a profit of 48 cents per share on revenue of $10.40 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Ingram said the benefit of strong sales in Europe and Latin America was offset by lower handset sales in Indonesia.
The company, whose rivals include Avnet Inc and Arrow Electronics Inc, said it faced tougher competition in the United States.
Ingram’s shares closed at $30.27 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday. (Reporting by Soham Chatterjee in Bangalore; Editing by Kirti Pandey)


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Picnic® Works Expands Team to Automate the Future of Food
Picnic accelerates growth and innovation to solve food service industry challenges for kitchens around the world
SEATTLE (Mar. 10, 2022) – Picnic Works, Seattle-based innovator of food automation technology, today announced several important growth milestones. With increased customer demand for its automated kitchen equipment, Picnic made several key executive level hires and grew by more than 83% in 2021 to help kitchens lower costs through robotic automation and human innovation.
“We are customer-obsessed at Picnic, working every day to solve industry pain points such as labor shortages, food waste, and the ability to meet diner demand,” said Clayton Wood, CEO of Picnic. “The pandemic made these issues even bigger, so we’re ever expanding our team of the best engineers, roboticists, food engineers, marketing, and customer success to deliver the makeline of the future.”
Picnic continues hiring across all areas of the company, as momentum and customer demand increases. Recent hires draw on decades of collective experience at Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, the USDA, Boeing, General Electric, and numerous food service and technology startups. Maintaining a focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion in everything from recruiting to vendor selection, notable recent hires include:
• Bahador Behdad, Senior Controls Engineer
• John Duffy, Director of Hardware Subsystems
• Scott Erickson, Senior Vice President of Marketing
• Benjamin Gyori, Senior Product Engineer
• Christopher Haberle, Senior Director of Product Management
• Michael Hahn, Senior Manager of Learning and Development
• Sally Hall, Senior Customer Success Manager
• Laura James, Director of Customer Operations
• Vincent Liew, Senior Customer Success Manager
• Gabriella Mendes, PhD, Senior Food Scientist
• Prosper Nwokocha, Financial Planning and Analysis Manager
• Rick Page, Vice President of Supply Chain
• Steven Remis, PhD, Senior Director of Systems Engineering
• Rebecca Staffel, Director of Marketing
• David Stewart, Senior Mechanical Engineer
• Stephanie Thomsen, Controller
• Orlin Wetzker, Director of Program Management
Picnic is working to address ongoing restaurant labor shortages with technology that fills open jobs and enables employees to do more important work. While shortages existed prior to the pandemic, there is new pressure that demands high quality food with hyper fast delivery. The Picnic Pizza Station can provide kitchens immediate short-term success through automation, helping restaurants reduce labor by 66% and creating consistent, quality food at large volume. Also, the station helps reduce food waste to around 2%, a significant reduction from the average 10% most kitchens experience today. In addition, the cost of the machine subscription includes free shipping, installation, training, software, and maintenance—delivering a positive ROI from day one.
“We’ve seen a significant increase in efficiency with the Picnic Pizza Station. What used to take three people now only requires one, which allows us to free people up to do other critical duties in the kitchen,” says Marc Cruz, Chartwells Higher Education’s District Executive Chef.
Picnic announced its partnership in February with Chartwells Higher Education, a recognized leader in contract food service management. The first to bring the pizza assembly station to a college campus dining facility, Chartwells and Picnic are helping Texas A&M Dining reduce food waste, while using cost-effective technology. Industry relationships also include Crystal Mountain ski resort, Ethan Stowell Restaurants, Orion Land Mark, National Service Cooperative, and Baseline Hardware Financing. Additional customer announcements across managed food service, grocery and convenience, hospitality, and pizza restaurants will be made in the coming weeks.
Following a successful showing at CES 2022, the Picnic Pizza Station will be on display next at The International Pizza Expo, Mar. 22-24, in Las Vegas. Customers can visit hellopicnic.com to get more information, see demo videos, and reserve a system. A cost savings estimator is available online, allowing customers to plug in their own numbers to see how much they might save. As Picnic continues growing to meet customer demand, the expanded team and added abilities will help restaurants save money and fill open positions. The Picnic Pizza Station is a must-have solution for the transformation of food service.
Founded in 2016, Picnic Works (hellopicnic.com) has collected an experienced team of food and technology industry veterans to develop and provide specialized intelligent technology and exclusive solutions for the food service and hospitality industries. Restaurants, convenient and grocery stores, university and corporate campuses, casinos, hotels, cruise lines, sports venues, catering groups, healthcare cafeterias, small kiosks, ghost kitchen operators, mobile food operations, food trucks, delivery, and military sites are among the many segments poised to benefit from the company’s automated food assembly platform integrating RaaS, software, cloud, and deep learning technology.
Find Picnic online at hellopicnic.com or on social media at facebook.com/picnicworks, linkedin.com/company/picnicworks, twitter.com/picnicnews, and instagram.com/picnicnews.
Business Inquiries for Picnic:
Media Inquiries for Picnic:
Aaron Blank or Julie Fogerson, Fearey


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Resonate, a of SaaS-enabled real-time consumer intelligence and engagement solutions, announced today that it has raised $8 million in growth capital, in a round led by NYC-based private equity firm Argentum with participation from existing investors Revolution Growth, Greycroft Partners and other private investors. In connection with the transaction, Walter Barandiaran, Co-founder & Managing Partner at Argentum, has joined the Resonate Board of Directors.
he Company will use the funding to accelerate go-to-market activities, with a significant expansion in its sales efforts targeting key B2C brand verticals, as well as agency partners. The investment will also be used to further innovate Resonate’s market-leading Consumer Intelligence platform, deepening investment in Resonate’s “always on” primary research and behavioral infrastructure, as well as its artificial intelligence and deep learning capabilities. In addition, Resonate will add new customer facing mobile and location-based analytics.
Resonate has seen 10x growth in its real-time consumer intelligence SaaS platform business in 2017 year-to-date, and has been recognized by industry analysts as a leader in providing real-time consumer intelligence to marketers, resulting in better marketing strategies, and more precise media activation based upon the same rich, “single source” data describing hundreds of millions of U.S. consumers.


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IncGamers, Blizzard has revealed that tickets to the just-announced BlizzCon 2010 sold out earlier than ever before -- before the tickets even went on sale, in fact. Apparently, due to a high rate of calls on Blizzard's tech support line suffering from "3 - 4 hour wait times," the company released early tickets to some customers. "We didn't intend to sell all of them already, but I guess the vast, password-losing World of Warcraft community spread the word, and one thing led to another," CEO Mike Morhaime said.
He added that he's "looking forward to another great show, with some of our most passionate, patient, credit card-possessing fans," speaking from a recently purchased yacht, allegedly. You can check out the full press release right here, which you might have realized by this point is not legit.
April Fools: BlizzCon already sold out ... before tickets go on sale
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.


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Reports out of Japan on Tuesday, February 5, suggest Waymo is prepping a partnership with the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance to develop driverless taxis and other services connected with the technology.
The companies are in the final stages of discussions regarding the partnership, with an announcement expected in the spring, the Nikkei Asian Review reported.
Born out of Google’s driverless-car program, which launched in 2009, Waymo has already inked deals with major automakers such as Fiat Chrysler and Jaguar Land Rover in a bid to drive its ambitions forward.
In its report, the Asian Review notes how the global reach of the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance could help those involved to take self-driving technologies to many more markets over time.
Progress has been steady for Mountain View, California-based Waymo. In 2018, for example, it announced it had clocked up 10 million miles of testing on public roads and was covering on average 25,000 miles a day with its autonomous vehicles.
Signaling its intention to massively expand its fleet, the company last year revealed plans to purchase more than 60,000 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans — adding to its current fleet of 600 Pacificas — as well as a deal to purchase up to 20,000 Jaguar I-Pace electric SUVs, for its autonomous-vehicle projects.
Waymo scored a big win at the end of 2018, too, when it launched a driverless taxi service in and around Phoenix, Arizona, becoming the first company in the U.S. to charge for rides in such vehicles. Called Waymo One, the service is similar in many ways to ridesharing outfits like Uber in that you use a specially designed smartphone app to request rides and manage your account.
As for Nissan, it’s also been testing a robo-taxi service that it hopes to have ready in time for the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2020. It’s also had fun showing off its autonomous technology with self-driving chairs, and even self-parking slippers.
Despite the successes, there have been a few bumps in the road for Waymo as it seeks to carry forward its vision of a world where cars drive themselves. For example, in January 2019 reports surfaced of disquiet among some Phoenix residents who were opposed to Waymo testing its autonomous cars there. In some neighborhoods, a handful of residents have even taken to attacking the cars and harassing the occupants. Road safety issues and potential job losses caused by the technology appear to be the main motivation behind the incidents, according to local media reports.
- Cruise’s robotaxi service suspended by California regulator
- Robotaxi firm Cruise ordered to halve fleet following incidents
- Waymo taps the brakes on its autonomous-trucking project
- Waymo doubles service area for its robotaxi rides
- Autonomous cars confused by San Francisco’s fog


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A group of businesses at a shopping center in Arvada are getting together Tuesday for a Valentine’s Day event that doesn’t focus on selling roses or chocolates but on donations to feed low-income children.
“When we opened, we wanted to have a bigger purpose, but now when we see how businesses are willing to join us, it’s been real special,” said Robyn Kuhlmann, owner of Smart Cow Yogurt Bar, on the southeast corner of Wadsworth Boulevard and West 88th Avenue.
Kuhlmann opened the Yogurt Bar last May and has held school fundraisers twice a month since.
But it’s the first time she asked other local businesses to join her for a Valentine’s Day event.
“I’m so pleased with how it’s turning out,” Kuhlmann said. “It’s such a show of businesses coming together to give back to the community.”
The “Share the Love” donation campaign will raise money on Valentine’s Day to donate to a program run by the Arvada Community Food Bank, which gives teachers sacks of food to hand out to low-income students for the weekend.
The food sacks that went out this past weekend included a pound of spaghetti, a can of spaghetti sauce, a can of green beans, two apples and a fruit snack.
“We know there are a lot of children that rely on getting a breakfast at school each morning, and on their school lunch,” said program coordinator Mary Ross. “A lot of kids are hungry on the weekends.”
The program, called Feeding the Future Backpack Program, started with one school in October 2006. Since then the program has grown, and now more than 100 volunteers pack more than 1,200 sacks of food per week to distribute to children at 12 schools in Arvada and Wheat Ridge.
Ross said school nurses notice behavior and health changes in kids on Monday mornings, and surveys of participating families always return appreciation, she said.
About one-fourth of the food that goes into each child’s sack is funded by federal dollars. The bank relies on a few small grants and lots of community donations to cover the rest — about $2.50 per sack.
Later this month, the program will add another school.
“The community has been so wonderful to us,” Ross said. “It’s the reason we’re able to keep growing.”
Tuesday’s contributions will vary by store.
Tokyo Joe’s will donate 20 percent of sales proceeds from 3 p.m. to closing. The Rooster Men’s Grooming Center will donate 20 percent of proceeds from the day’s sales, and Larkburger will donate 15 percent of sales proceeds between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Kuhlmann said her Yogurt Bar store will donate 20 percent of proceeds from the entire day’s sales.
The shopping-center management company also got on board and will donate $200.
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372 or email@example.com


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Nigerian Fintech startup, TeamApt, which provides financial services for the underserved mass market in Africa has completed its series B funding round.
The entire process was led by Novastar Ventures with participation from FMO, Global Ventures, CDC, Oui Capital, Kepple Africa Ventures, Soma Capital, and a syndicate of local angel investors including Gbenga Oyebode.
According to startup, the funding would see the company extend their offerings directly to customers and micro-SMEs, giving them access to the financial access lifelines, which they need to succeed, while expanding its solutions beyond Nigeria.
Citing a recent statistics, which stated that over 50 per cent of Nigeria’s 99 million adult population is financially underserved, comprising 36 million unbanked and 14.5 million underbanked people with distrust and access cited as key drivers of this exclusion, TeamApt said given its operation across the 36 states of Nigeria, it would tackle the exclusion profitably with its hybrid solution. It promised to bridge the gap through a current distribution network of over 100,000 agents and reliable technology-enabled payment solutions.
TeamApt has in less than two years, rapidly scaled its agent banking product, Moniepoint, to serve the 29 million previously underserved individuals who had limited access to financial services. Through Moniepoint and payment gateway Monnify, TeamApt said it processed $17.5 billion worth of transactions in the past 12 months, which is a 1,081 per cent increase from the previous year, with an average of 68 million transactions performed on its platform every month. With this raise, it is expected that it would further leverage its agent network to provide wider financial services to the underserved consumers and businesses in Nigeria. The company also has its sights on other markets in Africa where there are significant opportunities for leveraging technology and offline distribution to provide financial services to the mass market.
Announcing the fundraise, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of TeamApt, Tosin Eniolorunda, said: “Universal access to financial services is key to the advancement of any society. We built Moniepoint because we believe everyone deserves to enjoy financial happiness and this can only happen when they can access financial services effortlessly.”
According to him, “This fundraise is happening at a significant time in our growth as a company. In the past years, we have exceeded several strategic milestones without external funding, helping accelerate the Central Bank of Nigeria’s target of 95% financial inclusion by 2024, but as the hurdles of financial access are not unique to Nigeria, this funding allows us to extend our solutions to other parts of Africa”.
Head of West Africa at Novastar Ventures, Brian Waswani Odhiambo, said: “TeamApt has swiftly and successfully established its agency network to become the leading operator in Nigeria, a testament to the team’s capabilities and the platform’s superior user experience. We are glad to catalyze their vision by providing TeamApt with sufficient capital to pursue its new phase of growth.”
Director Private Equity at FMO, Jaap Reinking, said: “TeamApt’s promise to deliver ‘financial happiness’ for the underserved mass market in Africa makes the company an excellent fit with FMO’s Ventures Program. We are excited to contribute to closing the financial inclusion gap in Nigeria, and invest in the company alongside FMO investee fund manager Novastar Ventures and other like-minded investors.”


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Tractor Supply ups its store growth potential
Tractor Supply has increased its estimated domestic store growth potential to 2,100 locations from a previously estimated 1,800 stores.
Jim Wright, chairman and CEO, said: “Over the past four years, we have effectively tested and validated the viability of the Tractor Supply store model in small markets. We are pleased that we are able to generate a comparable rate of return on investment in these markets, which opens up additional growth opportunities for Tractor Supply stores. We believe we have a long runway of growth ahead of us.”
In working toward its expanded goal of 2,100 stores, Tractor Supply will continue to target square footage growth of approximately 8% annually, which has been a “very manageable” growth rate for the company, Wright said.
Also, building on its momentum in fiscal 2011, Tractor Supply increased its long-term operating margin target to 9.5% from its previous target of 8.5%. (The chain’s operating margin was 8.3% in 2011.)
Greg Sandfort, president and COO, stated: “We have achieved record operating margins the past two years as structural changes including our Consumable, Useable, Edible (CUE) strategy, customer acquisition strategy and continuous improvement program have contributed to our strong results. Additionally, we are still in the early stages of executing our strategic gross margin initiatives, which we remain intensely focused on and from which we believe we will continue to gain traction.”
Serial shoplifter is caught, again
A man recently released from prison after serving two years for five shoplifting convictions was arrested on Feb. 29 — for shoplifting.
According to an article in the Tulsa World, Stacy Gene Bunch, 39, has been accused of stealing $2,385.52 worth of merchandise from six Tulsa stores between Sept. 16 and Nov. 2. The merchandise includes $759.94 worth of tool sets from Ace Hardware and a vacuum cleaner and another item from Home Depot.
Bunch was released from prison Aug. 12. A sixth conviction for shoplifting had Bunch on probation until April.
Along with larceny convictions in 2009, Bunch was convicted of larceny in 2004 and 2007 and also has several drug convictions. A charge of armed robbery against him was dismissed in 1988.
Jail records list his address as a hotel in Tulsa, according to the newspaper. He was released on $15,000 bond the night of his arrest.
Boise posts sales increases for full year and Q4
Boise, Idaho-based Boise posted fourth-quarter sales of $600.4 million, up 14.6% from $524.1 million in the same quarter of 2010.
"The past year was our most successful year since our inception four years ago," said Alexander Toeldte, president and CEO of Boise. "Our EBITDA excluding special items was a record $340 million, we generated $121 million in free cash flow, and returned $169 million of capital to our shareholders through share repurchases and dividends."
Net income for the quarter was $16.3 million, down from $26.2 million in the same quarter last year.
For the full year, sales were up 14.7% to $2.4041 billion, and net income was up 19.9% to $62.7 million.


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In the past, investing in music was only available to record labels. However, blockchain technology is gradually changing this as it opens up the opportunity for fans to invest with the artist even with a small amount of money.
In the long run if you want to invest in music, you need to spend more than millions of dollars buying artist catalogs to reap the rewards of getting paid every time a song plays. But electronic music artists Justin Blau and JD Ross – co-founders of home-buying startup Opendoor – are looking to change that and make it possible for people to invest in music using blockchain technology.
The duo launched a new platform called Royal on October 21, which sells the rights to songs through non-fungible identifiers (NFTs). Their goal is to provide fans with the opportunity to earn money with their favorite artists by disrupting the way ownership in the music industry.
“It is inevitable that the public wants to invest in music. It’s just that they don’t have the resources to do that right now. So when we developed Royal, we looked at how to democratize investing in a new asset class,” said Blau.
|DJ 3LAU – aka Justin Blau – at a gig in Miami, Florida. Photo: Sergi Alexander / Getty Images.|
Before the NFT, investing in music publishing rights was virtually impossible, unless you had millions of dollars. So this limits investors to mainly record labels, hedge funds and accredited investors (individuals with a net worth of more than $1 million). That means buying a catalog of a famous artist — like Tina Turner, for example, who just sold her catalog for $50 million. Now with platforms like Royal and NFTs, people can invest in individual songs instead of whole albums and even small parts of a song.
Royal will split royalties of a song into small pieces and sell them as NFTs, making it much more affordable for small investors.
“Imagine you buy a vinyl record and there are only 100 vinyl records on the album. By owning physical artwork, you also participate in increasing the song’s royalties. We like to call it a transfer of rights for the purchase of artwork,” Blau said.
The idea is to invest in a new artist and earn royalties when that artist becomes famous by allowing them to monetize the streaming revenue rights to the songs.
“I think it would be great if fans could co-own music with their favorite artists. Fans are the factors that make artists famous…So why not let fans participate in the growth and development of the artist” – Blau said.
Blau says this business model also creates a community effect that is hard to replicate. He argues that music fosters an emotional connection with listeners – they stream, share songs with friends, add songs to playlists, and dance to them on Tiktok. Fans are the driving force behind a song’s popularity, but they don’t have any ownership or value in any way beyond the emotional connection. According to Blau, when an artist shares their royalties with fans on Royal, they are making that relationship even more valuable to fans, who will be financially motivated. mainstream to stream and promote that song more.
The singer, who goes by the stage name 3LAU, is releasing a song on Friday called “Worst Case,” which will be the first song he co-owns with fans. He gives away 50% of his streaming royalties to 333 winners, who will get paid every time a song is streamed. Soon after, Royal will host a series of live performances by exclusive artists of their choice before reaching the final destination of opening the platform for more artists to participate next year.
|A visitor looks at an “NFT digital art piece” being auctioned on May 20 at the Millonosystemque auction house in Brussels, Belgium. Photo: Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD.|
How has the music industry been impacted?
Spotify disrupted the way music is distributed and listened to when it launched in 2006. Now Blau is looking to disrupt the way music is owned, to redefine what it means to own a song. He believes that blockchain technology will change all aspects of the music industry, especially royalties. Blau envisions a future where physical ownership of the song’s primary revenue rights allows artists to leave the wheel of the music industry to reap value with their fans. they deserve it.
“The use of NFT and all sorts of blockchain technology to spread ownership and eliminate middlemen in the music industry is incredibly powerful and will certainly happen in the future,” said Blau. We’re excited to build a layer on top of the current music industry.” (The non-fungible identifier is the only digital asset associated with the blockchain. NFTs can represent virtually any digital asset, including artwork, music, or movies. , virtual items and audio files).
Cryptocurrency investment firm Paradigm is a trust partner, co-leading the $16 million seed round of the Royal with Founders Fund. Fred Ehrsam – co-founder and managing partner at Paradigm and co-founder of Coinbase – said: “Crypto changes the game for creators. They can go directly to the fans, without the need for intermediaries or big labels. Conversely, fans can invest in their favorite creators. Investment and culture are merging.”
Artists also benefit. For decades, they had to enter into unfavorable contracts. On average, artists receive only a small percentage of the revenue their music generates. They also lose control over a lot of decisions about their music. Blau said that by allowing artists to sell the rights to their music directly to fans, they can decide how much they want to sell and for what price, while still being in control of what happens to fans. their songs.
Royal will feature songs by emerging independent artists as well as the big stars represented by the label. Blau said: “We definitely want to work with emerging artists to connect directly with fans on Royal and kick-start their careers… just like artists who work with end-of-life labels enjoy the same connection,” says Blau.
Similar to NFT services on platforms like OpenSea, Royal users will be notified of the launch ahead of time and will be able to purchase a limited edition identifier of the song copyright, which they will be able to deliver. translated on Royal and other platforms. Royal is using Ethereum to start, but plans to incorporate more blockchains in the future.
|Rock band Kings Of Leon. Photo: Press/NME.|
The NFT markets have been hot, with investors pouring hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency into digital art, while artists gain additional income from using blockchain to monetize their music. surname. Grimes – Canadian musician (and ex-girlfriend of Elon Musk) and rocker band Kings of Leon auctioned off their music in the form of tokens. Blau – an early investor in NFT – sold the world’s first tokenized album, raising $11.7 million in less than 24 hours and quickly holding the record for irreplaceable identifiers. Most expensive ever sold.
Royal is not the first player of its kind. Royal Exchange – an online marketplace for buying and selling copyrights – started selling music publishing rights as NFTs in June 2021.
Nguyen Minh (according to Yahoo Finance)
NFT Music – From collection to community
Following the NFT deals in music, especially the boom during the past 12 months when nearly $70 million poured into this market, Nftnow has researched and published a number of long-term reports on trends in the music industry. next time.
NFT in music – Transferring power to the artist
Many artists in the world music industry are making a fortune thanks to NFT. However, many experts believe that the NFT could also revolutionize the transfer of power from labels to artists.


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Yes. This is not a typo, 3.7 Million. According to Andy Rubin on Twitter, there were 3.7 million Android devices on December 24th and 25th. This is 1st time activations too, it does not include factory data resets and upgrades. If it did, I would have contributed a couple to that total while I was trying out some ROMs.
If you recall, Andy Rubin announced earlier this month that they were up to 700,000 activation per day average now. With that many activations per day, the Christmas and Christmas Eve numbers are only about 2.5 times a normal day. Last December, he announced that there were around 300,000 activations per day and in June 2011, 500,000 announced.
1 million a day by Summer 2012?
That doesn’t sound too far-fetched. I called it a couple of years ago, Android is the new feature phone. I actually said that when Android was a lot less refined than it is today in a jab at the OS, but I still stand by that statement. Now Android is grown up and has become the “new feature phone” in a good way. Many consumers are buying affordable Android devices over that simple flip phone they got last contract. Smartphone saturation in the US is at like 60% based on numbers I read from an analyst on Twitter. I can’t recall the analyst that shared that, but he’s reputable.
If you compare Mobile/Tablet Operating System Market Share for 2008 against 2011, you can see that feature phones are losing ground and Android is gaining ground. Android took Windows Mobile’s share and some, going from 2% to 15% . Windows Mobile and Windows Phone are at 0.42% and 0.21% respectively. Symbian dropped off 8% and somehow, BlackBerry gained 1%.
Android is catching up to iOS. With so many Android devices being released each year, there’s no reason that they can’t catch Apple’s iOS.
Did you activate an Android Device on Christmas?
Market Share data taken from NetMarketShare.


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(From left) See Hua Marketing Sdn Bhd’s assistant manager – sales Henry Tiong, senior advertisement sales manager Lionel Tiong; Yeo Hiap Seng (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd’s senior mManager (corporate communications) Joe Wong, manager (public relations) Janice Lim and executive (public relations) Janet Lim.
Shortlisting the top three winners are (from left) Lionel Tiong, Joe Wong and Janet Lim.
KUALA LUMPUR: The thrilling Yeo’s Natural Beauty Contest has finally unearthed the winning pack after a month-long search of the most zestful ladies who ooze the essence of ‘natural beauty’.
Running from 1st June 2016 – 30th June 2016, Yeo’s Natural Beauty Contest received yet another round of overwhelming response from the enthusiastic participants (both the female models and their photographers) from all walks of life, exceeding the expectations of the organisers in terms of the number and quality of the entries, including the greater effort by the photographers.
In the end, three sweet ladies won the hearts of the judges with their charming ‘natural beauty’ to clinch the top honours.
The top three winners are Ellie Wee Pek Choo (24, Kuching; photographer: Toh Hong Joo) in first place, second prize winner Angel Chin (19, Miri; photographer: Lex Teo), and third prize winner Ateka Mohamad (19, Kuching; photographer: Kelvin Chan Wan Li).
The models won themselves RM3,000, RM2,000 and RM1,000 respectively while the daily winners (female models) and their photographers were rewarded with RM100 each.
The prize giving ceremony will be fixed at a date to be announced later.
The much anticipated contest drew inspiration from Yeo’s Green Tea, a favourite beverage among ladies.
The drink is freshly brewed from premium green tea leaves, which contain no added preservative and no added colouring.
Furthermore, green tea is loaded with anti-oxidant properties to combat free radicals in the body and increase body metabolism for better weight management.
On a proud note, The Borneo Post, See Hua Daily News and Utusan Borneo are the joint organising partners for the second time in Yeo’s Natural Beauty Contest.
Yeo’s is certainly looking forward to more enthusiastic participation in the future, according to Joe Wong, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, Yeo Hiap Seng (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.
The three winning models will be prominently featured in a series of roadshows throughout Yeo’s marketing campaign at major malls across East Malaysia in the near future.
They will be greeting the public with their captivating smiles and energy.


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Bad hair days connected to confidence?
London: As if one bad hair day wasn’t enough to ruin a woman’s day, a new study reveals that women spend 20 years of their lives suffering from a bad hair day, and that can affect their mood and confidence.
The study, conducted by budget hotel chain Travelodge, surveyed 2,000 women to investigate how their tresses affect their mood when they wake up in the morning. Findings showed that eight out of 10 women believe their glory, self-worth and beauty lies in their hair, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
However, on an average, women wake up with unruly hair at least three times every week. This means that the average British female will have 7,332 bad hair days in a lifetime -- equivalent to 20 years of her life suffering from bad hair.
This results in mood swings and leads to their feeling depressed for at least four hours and 26 minutes during the day, and also reduces their confidence.
“Women feel like entirely different individuals when their hair does not behave. Having unmanageable tresses can make a woman feel tired, grumpy and less confident. In contrast, a great hair day will make a woman feel sexy, confident and ready to take on the world,” said Shakila Ahmed, spokeswoman of Travelodge.
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- Eco-friendly rakhis are made of organic edible colours, handmade paper
- Aim to introduce eco-friendly rakhis to protect the environment amid COVID
- The rakhi boxes by My Pooja Box consist of one coconut husk planter
New Delhi: The festival of Raksha Bandhan, which is just around the corner, is celebrated by Indians annually to mark the special bond between siblings. This year the occasion will be observed on August 22. Celebrating the unique bond, the festival holds a special place in everyone’s heart. On this day sisters tie rakhis on their brother’s wrists and both of them exchange gifts. This year, eco-friendly Rakhis are much in demand, as people are getting mindful of the consequences that non-eco-friendly materials cause to the environment.
Ahead of the auspicious festival, with the aim to introduce eco-friendly rakhis to protect the environment amid COVID-19, MyPoojaBox, a one-stop-shop for festive gifting, decor and pooja essentials in India, has launched ‘Eco-friendly plantable rakhis,’ along with 1000 plus additional rakhi designs this year. These eco-friendly rakhis are made of organic edible colours, handmade paper and tulsi seeds.
They intend to popularise the concept of ‘Don’t use and throw,’ instead ‘Use and grow’ for a cleaner, greener, happier environment with these biodegradable products. This green initiative would not only provide customers with a different variety of rakhis, but it will also help siblings to celebrate this festival in an eco-friendly manner.
The rakhi boxes by My Pooja Box consist of one coconut husk planter, one coco peat disk, one mini plantable pencil, roti and rice packed in cork capsules, reusable, recycled boxes and handwritten notes for brothers. They also come with sweets and dry fruits and even provide an option for customers to create custom rakhi boxes, which can be availed through the brand’s website. Expressing excitement for the new rakhi collection, Ms Kaveri Sachdev, Co-Founder and CEO of My Pooja Box, said,
Women are choosy about their rakhi threads and look for exclusive designs. Keeping in tune with the latest trends and customer preferences for Raksha Bandhan, we have come up with myriad choices for our customers like gold and silver rakhis, quirky and fun rakhis, designer rakhis and more. Additionally, people can send these rakhis anywhere in India and overseas on demand. With eco-friendly rakhis, My Pooja Box aims to make sure that no rakhi goes into the trash, and the rakhis can be re-used for planting trees. It can keep growing just like the bond between a brother and sister.
Other than the organic plantable rakhis, My Pooja Box also offers a wide variety of creative and unusual rakhis, which were high in demand last year. This year, it has launched rakhi designs such as crystal rakhi, evil eye and quirky rakhis, along with 18k hallmarked gold rakhis, which are among the rarest from the collection. These intricately designed and curated products with high-quality raw materials fall in the price range from INR 99 – INR 50,000.
Considering the current COVID-19 situation with limited international travel options available, My Pooja Box has even launched a special offer for siblings staying abroad – ‘Ship your rakhi anywhere in the world for INR 1999’. Customers can place their order from the My Pooja Box website and get their rakhi delivered to any part of the world. The company provides an on-time gift delivery service across India and worldwide, ensuring that the products are delivered at the same time as promised, with consistent product quality. So, this year, why not mark the most revered festivals in India by purchasing something that’s pretty and eco-friendly at the same time.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign is an extension of the five-year-old Banega Swachh India initiative helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. It aims to spread awareness about critical health issues facing the country. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign highlights the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children to prevent maternal and child mortality, fight malnutrition, stunting, wasting, anaemia and disease prevention through vaccines. Importance of programmes like Public Distribution System (PDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyan and the role of Aganwadis and ASHA workers are also covered. Only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and become a Swasth or healthy India. The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene.


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Apple has found the first TV series it’s going to produce in-house for its upcoming TV Plus streaming service: a third entry in Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Gary Goetzman’s Band of Brothers franchise.
The miniseries is expected to run north of eight hours, and will reportedly cost more than $200 million to make, according to Deadline. The new series is based on Donald L. Miller’s book, Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought The Air War Against Nazi Germany, and will focus on members of the Air Force during the Second World War. The first two installments in the Band of Brothers franchise, Band of Brothers and The Pacific, focused on the United States’ Army and Marine divisions.
Both Band of Brothers and The Pacific found a home at HBO — and helped earn the network a number of Emmy awards between 2002 and 2010, including 43 total Emmy nominations and 14 wins. The shows became a staple of HBO, with Band of Brothers helping usher in one of the network’s most prestigious eras. Masters of the Air was supposed to go to HBO as well, according to Deadline, but the network let the show go. Apple is “better situated to make the requisite financial commitment,” Deadline reports.
‘Masters of the Air’ marks the first series that will be produced entirely in-house
Although Apple already has a slate of original series, including The Morning Show, See, and For All Mankind, Masters of the Air marks the first series that will be produced entirely in-house, whereas The Morning Show is being produced through Echo Films (co-owned by Morning Show star Jennifer Aniston). See, the Jason Momoa-starring fantasy series, is being produced through two other companies: Chernin Entertainment and Endeavor Content. Apple is still buying series from other developers, and then launching them as Apple TV Plus exclusive content.
This is an industry standard. Even Netflix Originals are often produced outside of the company, despite Netflix working on more shows in-house. Ryan Murphy’s The Politician, for example, is made through Fox 21 Television Studios, but is streamed exclusively on Netflix. It’s still a “Netflix Original,” but it’s not made in-house. Stranger Things, however, is made entirely in-house.
Buying content from other studios and running those shows as exclusive content on a streaming service like Netflix or Apple TV Plus is still an industry norm, but that could change. Fox 21 Television Studios is now a division of Disney and, it could be argued, Disney might want to use Fox 21 Television Studios productions to bulk up its general streaming service, Hulu. Whether that will happen is yet to be seen.
It’s unclear when Apple’s studio will be operational, and when development on Masters of the Air will begin, but the announcement is further proof that Apple is committed to being a major player in the streaming wars.


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Okay, let’s be honest. We’ve all imagined a funny scenario involving the Xbox One being shut off via it’s Kinect 2.0 enabled voice command feature. Apparently the developers working on the Xbox One presently have already been making this happen. For instance at Insomniac Game’s studio, where Senior Engine Programmer Andreas Fredriksson is already tired of his co-workers shouting “Xbox Off” over the PA, thus causing a mass shutdown of the console dev kits.
Shouting “Xbox off” over the studio PA is already getting old.
— Andreas Fredriksson (@deplinenoise) October 10, 2013
You have to admit, this sounds like a pretty hilarious workplace prank. At least whenever it works. Andreas went on to answer someone who asked if it did with the following:
So my dreams of going to a pro gaming event and screaming “Xbox Off” have dwindled just a bit assuming that the noise would make it less possible. Of course, one could always just unplug the Kinect to avoid such a thing from happening and these are just the dev kits, but the fact that it’s even possible is definitely worth a chuckle or two.


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An interview with TV news show 60 Minutes can either help or hurt you depending on how it goes. For the famous Harlem Children’s Zone, sitting down with 60 Minutes has paid off in a big way! Artnet.com reports that William Louis-Dreyfus, the billionaire businessman, art collector and father to actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, is donating his art collection to the Harlem Children’s Zone. Louis-Dreyfus has a collection estimated to be worth between $10 million and $50 million.
Louis-Dreyfus told a business publication that “he made the decision to donate the proceeds from his collection to the Harlem Children’s Zone after watching a segment about the non-profit on 60 Minutes.”
The Harlem Children’s Zone is a non‑profit organization for poverty‑stricken children and families.


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Our children are the lights of our lives, but raising them can often be a very worrying experience.
Bidding wars are set to be the hallmark of this year’s selling season. Home listings are drying up yet buyer demand remains high, which means shoppers are set to face intense competition this spring
Turned down by Harvard? Don’t feel bad. So was Warren Buffett.
Google is warning of a new email phishing scam that directs users to what looks like a Google sign-in page, in order to steal personal details and steal the user’s contacts’ details and passwords.
Follow Inc. wants to give real estate agents and their clients a helping hand with the launch of the Follow app, a new mobile app for iOS and Android phones that lets drivers follow each other on trips or for work purposes.


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The story DLC sees Ada Wong fighting cultists and other horror in pursuit of the mysterious Amber. It launches on September 21st.
The DLC's newest trailer showcases Ada Wong, Albert Wesker, and Luis Serra, and glimpses of their side of the horror shooter's story.
The remake's paid expansion, which will cost $9.99, will launch for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC on September 21.
An expansion focused on Ada Wong is coming later this month, while The Mercenaries will also get a free update.


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On 28 October 2021, the House of Lords is due to debate the following question for short debate, tabled by Lord Popat (Conservative):
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking (1) to raise awareness among United Kingdom businesses of commercial opportunities in African markets, and (2) to support UK exports to Africa.
Value of trade with Africa in 2019
According to the most recent HM Treasury Pink Book, which details the UK’s balance of payments and trade figures, in 2019:
- UK exports to Africa totalled £18.5 billion, representing an increase compared to 2018. This was 2.7% of total UK exports.
- UK imports from Africa totalled £16.7 billion, a decrease from 2018. This represented 2.3% of total UK imports.
The next Pink Book is due to be published on 29 October 2021.
Government promotion of business with Africa
The Government has signalled its intention to increase trade and business opportunities with countries across the African continent. For example, in January 2020, the Government held a UK-Africa investment summit and stated that it wanted to “ensure the continent’s growing demand for investment is met by the UK’s expertise and innovation”. It said that the Department for International Development and the Department for Trade were engaged in programmes in the region to “boost clean energy supplies, digital networks, and jobs and business opportunities for women, as well as improving trade infrastructure”. The Government also highlighted deals that had already been agreed:
£6.5 billion of commercial deals have already been signed by British companies to deliver jobs, growth and investment across the UK and Africa, with deals worth billions more expected to be made during the course of the day. They are expected to mobilise billions of pounds in private sector investment for Africa, marking a new era of trade between the UK and Africa.
Commenting on the Government’s plans to improve business links with Africa at the same time, the then International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss, said:
Trade with countries across Africa has never been more exciting. As opportunities there grow, it’s great to see so many British firms paving the way in trading and investing in the region to drive growth, create jobs and boost vital infrastructure.
We want the UK to be the investment partner of choice for African businesses and their governments. Our world-leading expertise in finance, tech, and innovation should make us the obvious choice and mark the UK and Africa out as natural partners for mutual prosperity.
Trade agreements after Brexit
Following the UK leaving the EU, the Government has also worked on trade deals with the region and ways to reduce trade barriers. For example, in response to a written question in January 2021, Greg Hands, then Minister of State for Trade Policy, highlighted the eight free trade agreements that have been signed with African countries and also stated that it was focusing on reducing import duties:
On 1 January 2021, the United Kingdom introduced its own generalised scheme of preferences that provides duty-free, quota-free access to the United Kingdom’s market for more than thirty African countries and tariff reductions for other eligible African countries. This year we will launch improvements to the scheme, which will offer the lowest income countries improved terms when trading with the United Kingdom.
Full details on the eight free trade agreements can be found on the Government website. The agreements cover the following African countries and regions:
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Eastern and Southern African trade bloc (Mauritius, Seychelles and Zimbabwe)
- Southern African Customs Union and Mozambique (six countries, including South Africa)
The Government has also stated that it is providing support for developing the African Union’s African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which began on 1 January 2021.
International Relations and Defence Committee report
The House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee’s July 2020 report, The UK and Sub-Saharan Africa: Prosperity, Peace and Development Co-operation, discussed many aspects of the UK’s relationship with sub-Saharan African countries (comprising 49 of the countries in Africa).
The report included a chapter on the UK’s trading relationship with the region. The committee made the following comments and recommendations for building trade and business links following Brexit:
Leaving the EU provides an opportunity for the UK to re-cast its trade relationships with African countries and remedy some of the defects in the EU’s Economic Partnership Agreements. We were surprised to hear that no detailed work had yet been done to identify ways in which the UK could offer better access to African exporters than was possible when the UK was in the EU. This gap needs to be filled in [a] UK government action plan on Africa […]
There is appetite within Sub-Saharan Africa to improve trade with the UK; the UK should explore these opportunities with countries in the region. African partners are working to develop the AfCFTA and are likely to seek new agreements which are consistent with this planned continental agreement. In its post-Brexit trade policy, the UK should explore ways of giving better access to Africa’s agricultural exports and supporting the processing in Africa of a greater proportion of its agricultural products.
UK trade with and investment in Sub-Saharan Africa has flatlined over the last decade. The appetite of UK businesses is uncertain, and a concerted effort will be needed by the Government if it is to deliver on its goal significantly to increase trade with and investment in the region. The UK–Africa Investment Summit was a high-profile beginning to this initiative, but concerted follow-up will be required. The Government should set out the steps it is taking in this regard.
The Government must ensure that its provision of export credits is consistent with its commitments to tackling climate change. It should match its announcement at the UK–Africa Investment Summit that it will no longer invest in new coalmining or power production projects with similar commitments on gas and oil.
The Government provided a detailed response to the committee’s points in September 2020, again outlining its commitment to building trade and business with the region. It described its “trade and investment push in Africa” as a “long-term and cross-Government endeavour”. It highlighted the then Department for International Development’s (now part of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) agricultural programmes on the continent and other programmes being run to help UK and African businesses work together.
Further information on the committee’s report, and on other developments affecting the UK’s relationship with sub-Saharan Africa, can be found in the House of Lords Library briefing: The UK’s Relationship with Sub-Saharan Africa, 10 August 2021.
- Sir Richard Ottoway, ‘UK-Africa: Britain must act quickly to boost trade and investment across the continent’, Africa Report, 23 March 2021
- Overseas Development Institute, Africa and the United Kingdom Challenges and opportunities to expand UK investments, January 2020
- Andrew Skipper, ‘Doing business in Africa’, Law Gazette, 24 May 2021
Cover image by James Wiseman on Unsplash.


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Lidl planning up to 10 new stores across Nottinghamshire, including two in Mansfield
Supermarket chain Lidl is eyeing up 10 sites across Nottinghamshire for new stores, it has revealed on its website
The German discount retailer wants to double its existing portfolio and to continue its ‘phenomenal growth’ it requires further sites.
According to a property requirement brochure published on the Lidl website two new stores are being looked at for the Mansfield area (north west and south ) one in Kirkby and one in Hucknall.
The chain is seeking freehold, leasehold or long leasehold opportunities on prominent sites in town, district, edge of centre or out of town locations.
The brochure states: “Stores could be stand alone new builds, conversion of existing buildings or new build retail parks.
Ideally they should have main road frontage with easy access and strong pedestrian or traffic flow. Unit sizes would be flexible between 14,000 and 26,500 sq ft; 1.5 acre plus stand alone units or up to 4 acres for mixed use.”


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The Maine hemp industry was dealt a win today when their Governor Janet Mills signed a bill to make adding CBD to food products legal. Before the bill passed, only products labeled as
One of the emergency measures in the bill addresses the change in Maine’s definition of hemp and state allowance of CBD food sales goes into effect immediately. The bill is also being described as a clarification bill for growers, retailers, and consumers of the popular hemp products. Hickman also wanted to issue an apology for not being clear to retailers and suppliers in the first legislation that allowed the sale of CBD products in Maine. Hickman also expressed praise he has heard from his constituents in regards to the benefits received from using CBD oil and CBD-infused foods as a dietary supplement, and that there is now a clear definition in language between the two according to the Press Herald.
Also in the bill is legislation designed to align the definition of hemp in Maine state law, with the definition used in the new U.S. Farm Bill. CBD products available to the general public are derivatives of hemp, not marijuana. Even though marijuana has been legal in Maine since 2016. THC based CBD is only available through prescription, this bill pertains to hemp-based CBD products.
Hemp farmers lobbied hard for the bill as they say it will level the playing field for small growers and businesses, but not everyone is pleased with the outcome. Detractors have questions still on oversight and packaging labeling requirements, however animal products with hemp based products that contain CBD must indicate that they do.
CBD has been a big boom to Maine’s agricultural industry since it started it’s Maine Hemp Pilot Programs in 2016, with farmer’s earnings growing rapidly in the
Stay tuned to our blog for more on this Maine CBD bill, and other related information developing related to industrial hemp and CBD.
- “Deadly Vaping” – The New Anti-Marijuana Campaign
- USDA to Offer Crop Insurance for Industrial Hemp Crops
- Earn Money Watching Games Online
- DEA Announces Federal Government to Expand Cannabis Research
- Pure Gold Hemp Stix Pre-Roll CBD Reviews – Original Flavor
- Press Herald of Maine – https://www.pressherald.com/2019/03/27/mills-signs-bill-allowing-sale-of-cbd-items/
- U.S. Senate Committee
ofAgriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry – https://www.agriculture.senate.gov/2018-farm-bill
- Maine Hemp Pilot Program – https://www.maine.gov/dacf/php/hemp/


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A lawsuit has been filed by a construction worker in the US against South Korean electronics giant Samsung after his Galaxy S7 Edge device caught fire in his pocket and resulted in second-degree burns.
This incident comes days after the company's mass recall of its recently released phablet flagship, the Galaxy Note 7, due to widespread reports of battery explosions. While the battery explosions of the Note 7 resulted in its mass recall, cases of battery issues with the S7 Edge have been extremely rare seen since its release.
According to Daniel Ramirez, who filed the lawsuit with the help of classaction.com, the Galaxy S7 Edge was purchased by him from a Best Buy store in Modesto, California in March 2016. In 30 May, while working at a bookstore in Ohio the device caught fire and smoke was coming out of it while still in his pocket. When he reached his pocket to take out the phone, Ramirez suffered burns to the right hand soon after which the device suddenly exploded leaving him seriously injured with second and third-degree burns.
The product liability lawsuit filed against Samsung now urges the company to address the safety of batteries in the Galaxy S7 Edge as well or at least investigate what the issue was with the device in question and why it exploded. The firm representing Ramirez has encouraged other Galaxy S7 Edge users who may have faced a similar fate to come forward.
In contrast to the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, which exploded when the handsets were being charged, here the Galaxy S7 was in stationary mode. It is not clear if this is an isolated incident or faults lie with the S7 Edge battery, too. It is worth noting that some batches S7 Edge phones contain batteries from Samsung SDI, the same company whose battery component was found faulty in the Note 7.
Samsung is yet to comment on this isolated incident and is currently dealing with the massive recall of its Galaxy Note 7 handsets which have been banned on board many airlines globally due to safety concerns. Samsung itself has asked owners of the phone to come forward for the exchange program in view of their safety.