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STOP ON IN — The Shamel Milling Company is located on Genesee Road in East Concord. Photos by Leo Mrugala.
SPRINGVILLE — Shamel Milling Company has been operating from its East Concord location, since 1935. Located at 9384 Genesee Road, the family-owned and operated livestock feed and farm supply store has been serving the Western New York community, for more than 70 years.
The business was originally owned by Howard Shamel, who opened the store in 1935. In 1946, Ruth and Rudy Engel of Hamburg purchased the store. The Engel family has been running the business, ever since. Son Bob Engel is now the owner and said he hopes to be serving the surrounding community, for many years to come.
“I’ve been doing this a very long time. I took over for my father in 1965,” Engel said. “This is a family-run business and we take a great deal of pride in providing high-quality products and personal customer service. We look forward to many more years of serving this great community.”
GRIND IT UP — Shamel Milling produces all of its livestock feed on its premises.
Shamel Milling produces all of its livestock feeds in its own mills. The owners also carry premium lines of Hubbard® Life Pet Food, Homestead® All-Natural Poultry Feeds, Hubbard Life Horse Feeds, McCauleys® Premium Equine Products and Crystalx®.
A CLEAN SWEEP — Pictured are some of the products the store offers its customers.
Shamel Milling offers a variety of supplies, to its customers, from garden supplies to grills. The Engels’ store is packed with products, that represent multiple levels of quality and affordability.
“We offer a little bit of everything, for our customers,” Engel said. “We specialize in our homegrown feed products, but we also have many other types of products. We do paint and paint hardware supplies, as well as gas grills. Our store has locally made products, lawn and garden supplies, muck boots, outer wear, wildlife food plot supplies and specialty feeds.”
Shamel Milling recently began offering online shopping, which can be found at its website, www.shamelmilling.com
. This new feature allows customers to browse through the many products that Shamel offers, from the comfort of their own homes. Jason Engel, Bob Engel’s son, has been working on the new addition for the company.
“I let my son take care of the online shopping,” Engel said. “Jason has been helping us out a lot, the past three years or so. He’s been working a lot on the online shopping feature that we’ve added and its been a great addition. It gives customers more freedom, to shop for our products, so it’s been good for business.”
Shamel Milling Company is open 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday – Saturday. On Sundays, the business is open 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Call 592-7700, or visit www.shamelmilling.com
for coupons and daily specials, as well as local events’ details and more information.


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TESCO has announced new five-year feed tracker contracts with its five shell egg suppliers in a move aimed at offering support to the beleaguered sector.
The retailer said its long-term contracts with Anglia Free Range Eggs, Glenrath Farms, Griffiths Family Farms, Noble Foods and Skea Eggs would help “to provide UK egg farmers with the confidence to invest and plan for the future”.
Feed represents 70% of the cost of production on egg and poultry farms and linking the price paid for eggs to the cost of feed gives farmers more security than contracts that offer fixed farmgate prices.
As we have reported, the UK’s laying hen flock is set to shrink significantly this year as producers struggle to realise returns on their investments in egg production.
Significant input inflation is leading to many egg farmers losing money on egg sales.
These new contracts will be a relief to those producers within Tesco’s supply chain on feed-linked contracts.
UK shell eggs
Dominic Morrey, Tesco commercial director for Fresh, said the move represented a renewed commitment to all of its shell eggs being produced in the UK.
“Like many in the food and agriculture industry, we know the egg sector is facing some challenging market conditions with input costs continuing to increase.
“To provide much-needed support, all of our shell eggs will continue to be produced here in the UK, but we know we need to do more to support our egg farmers.
“That’s why I’m pleased to announce long-term contracts with all our UK shell egg suppliers. Taken together with our well-established feed model, we hope we can provide the industry with some confidence and protection during these uncertain times.”
Figures in the egg sector welcomed the announcement by Tesco.
Mark Williams, chief executive of the British Egg Industry Council said: “It is encouraging to see that Tesco is taking a long-term and sustainable approach to its egg supplier relationships at a very challenging time when costs are running so high, while the industry continues to balance its commitment to providing consumers with the highest quality eggs at affordable prices for all.
Jonathan Griffiths, managing director at Griffith Family Farms, said: “The Griffiths family are looking forward to working closely with Tesco as part of a new five-year agreement starting later this year, and welcome Tesco’s responsible approach to working with UK egg producers.”
And Clair Bullen, of Anglia Free Range Eggs, added that the firm had supplied Tesco with free-range and organic eggs for the past ten years.
“The current economic climate is the most challenging it has ever been in all that time. In particular, for the poultry sector; feed, energy and inflation costs are all at record levels and this follows on from the worst season experienced so far for Avian Influenza.”

domain: news


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Well we all know that Verizon Wireless is going to add another smartphone to its DROID lineup, the HTC Droid Incredible 2, but we still don’t have official announcement regarding the launch date of this handset.
The folks over DroidDog have managed to an image, suggests that the Droid Incredible 2 handset might be launched on April 28th in all retail channels, but it didn’t reveal the price value. According to some previous leaks, HTC Droid Incredible 2 priced at the standard $199.99 with a new two-year contract.
HTC Droid Incredible 2 Specs:
# Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Sense UI experience .
# 4-inch Super LCD WVGA display.
# 1GHz Qualcomm MSM 8655 processor.
# 16GB Card in the box.
# 768MB of RAM.
# 8 megapixel dual-LED rear-facing , 1.3 megapixel front-facing cameras.
# Global roaming.


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5G has been a raging topic of discussion of late, with the industry and the government working hand in hand to lay the ground for its commercial deployment. The signs are clear that India aspires to be a 5G-ready nation by 2020 and steps are being taken to realise the goal on time. 5G, the futuristic opportunities it would open up and how it will be a catalyst for change have become the themes of symposiums, conferences and forums.
Discussions on 5G inevitably revolve around its unique use cases, especially in the Indian context, which were hitherto presumed to be impossible and fictional. Technologies such as driverless cars, smart transportation and logistics, smart farming, drone patrolling for road safety, holograms and remote robotic health care are expected to enter our world and become more and more pervasive by the day.
ICT industry is collaborating extensively for furthering the cause of 5G and providing the much-needed impetus to other innovations that are set to drive the shift – internet of things (IoT), machine-to-machine (M2M), artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR), amongst other technologies. A case in point is Ericsson’s plan of starting to export 5G-ready equipment from India as “Made in India, for the world”. The telecom major has established India’s first Centre of Excellence and Innovation Lab for 5G at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. Similarly, Intel inaugurated the Intel India Design Centre, its new research and development (R&D) facility for 5G and AI in Bengaluru. The centre plans to employ 3,500 researchers and staff, with an expected investment of Rs 12 billion.
The government too has clearly voiced its intention to make India 5G-ready and to this end, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had partnered with IIT Chennai to set up a one-of-its-kind test bed for 5G. The engineering institute will conduct R&D around 5G-based technologies such as IoT, AR and M2M. Rapid economic growth, brilliant technological advancements and the combined efforts of the government and the industry will ensure that India adopts 5G early. The industry is keen to make India a world leader in next-gen technologies and the setting up of the 5G India Forum is a confident step towards this goal. This forum has been collaborating with experts from around the globe and discussing challenges and opportunities to make India 5G-ready well in time.
It must be noted that 5G is not just about faster data speeds and top-notch connectivity, but it would actually foster use cases that were hitherto unthinkable. The innovations would demand sizeable investments also, but the returns are so gratifying that industry stakeholders are not holding back from giving it their all. 5G will mark a watershed moment in India’s technological journey and will revolutionise the communication industry for all times to come. Not only will 5G up the ante manyfold for domains such as health, agriculture, education, logistics, manufacturing, vehicle-to-everything evolution, smart grids, smart cities and smart homes, it would also catapult India’s transformation into a veritable digital economy by ushering in new business models and opening up new opportunities.
After all, India’s dream of digital empowerment cannot be dissociated from smart telecom and smarter internet infrastructure. As per industry estimates, by 2030, there would be 22.7 billion connected devices in the consumer electronics segment alone. The automotive and medical sectors will come a close second, accounting for 928 million and 406 million devices respectively. In the agricultural sector, for example, farmers installing smart sensors in farms will be able to aggregate information on soil status, humidity and temperature. This will provide updates on a real-time basis, which will further help in keeping a check on crop health.
In this 5G endeavour, spectrum efficacy cannot be ignored. Different use cases will demand different frequency bands, both licensed and unlicensed. With IoT making its foray in a robust manner, more and more devices will get connected to the internet. Demand for spectrum allocation is, therefore, expected to spiral. The National Digital Communications Policy, 2018 has recognised spectrum as a natural resource and has vowed to ensure adequate availability and efficient usage, and establish a fair and transparent allocation method for service providers. Since spectrum costs are high, the policy has also recommended optimum pricing models so that citizens have easy access to digital communication services that are affordable and sustainable.
As the country gears up for commercial deployment of 5G networks by early 2020, operators are ready, the wherewithal is in place and the intent is vigorous to leverage 5G, targeted at achieving India’s Sustainable Development Goals. With an anticipated collective economic impact of $1 trillion by 2035, the importance of 5G and its implication for India’s true digitalisation cannot be discounted.
In the coming five to seven years, over $100 billion worth of investments will be required to deploy 5G infrastructure and the government is leaving no stone unturned in formulating an action plan. The stage is now set and once implemented commercially, the new technology will unleash several high-octane revenue channels for service providers.


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IN quenching the thirst for good health, Lumin Spring International Group Sdn Bhd has launched Lumin Spring, the world’s first premium halal mineral water for a refined taste of wellness.
Certified by the Health Ministry and Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) as safe for consumption, Lumin Spring takes pride in being a nourishing mineral water with halal accreditation.
Speaking during a press conference at Nexus, Bangsar South, Lumin International Group Sdn Bhd executive director Datuk Dr Ting Chung Cheng hopes the new product will redefine the business frontier for the halal market.
“We intend to enter the global halal market with our new product.
“The accreditation from Jakim opens a new market and more opportunities for us,” he said.
Lumin Spring mineral water is sourced from the natural spring cluster in Heavenly-Lake, Changbai Mountain of Jilin province, China.
It is packaged in an elegant bottle.
Joining the green movement, Lumin Spring also incorporated environmentally-friendly features in its gold-tinted water bottle, which is fully biodegradable and made from non-toxic materials.
Matching the tropical climate of Malaysia with high temperatures throughout the year, the heat-resistant mineral water bottles are able to withstand up to 150°C for a sustainable shelf life.
The Lumin Spring mineral water is expected to be priced between RM6 and RM6.50 and is available at exclusive partners of the company and online purchase at www.luminspring.com.my in December.
– The Star


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Ten plaintiffs from across the country filed a class action lawsuit against America Online (AOL) in St. Clair County Circuit Court, claiming the Internet giant unlawfully collects extra fees.
David Wendt of Illinois, Mary Duessent of Bellflower, Calif., Andrew Sheldon of Carlsbad, Calif., Robert and Wendy Coffey and Patricia Webb of Tennessee, Linda Rubin of West Virginia, Vince Motley and Tapetha Spencer of Alabama and Terry Day of New York filed suit Nov. 17.
“Plaintiffs bring this action on behalf of themselves and a nationwide class of consumers who subscribed to AOL’s Internet service and were assessed charges by AOL for AOL memberships accounts and goods and services they did not authorize or consent to pay,” the suit states.
The plaintiffs claim AOL exploits its subscribers' confidential billing information to unlawfully generate additional revenue by charging for additional membership accounts.
They also allege that AOL has received hundreds of complaints from members who were charged extra--but "intentionally and recklessly" refuses to refund or credit money collected for unauthorized goods and services.
According to the plaintiffs, AOL’s acts constitute unjust enrichment, conversion, violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act and violations of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act.
Though only one plaintiff is a resident of Illinois, the suit states that venue is proper in St. Clair County because transactions at issue occurred locally and that AOL does business in St. Clair.
AOL is headquartered in Dulles, Va.
The plaintiffs state that no individual recovery will exceed $75,000.
They are represented by David Nester of Belleville, Brooks Cutter and Stuart Talley of Sacramento, Calif., Daniel Girard and Allison Ehlert of San Francisco and James Smith of Tuscaloosa, Ala.
05 L 669 (20th Circuit)


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When private equity firm KKR announced the $3 billion sale of CHI Overhead Doors to steelmaker Nucor on Monday, it generated a windfall for hundreds of hourly workers at the plant in tiny Arthur, Illinois, who will receive between $20,000 and $800,000 each when the transaction closes. .
The deal represents a huge return on investment for KKR, which bought the garage door maker for $600 million in 2015. For the employees, who were given a stake in the company at no cost, the sale is potentially a life change.
“I had no idea it was going to be a big deal,” said Rhonda Jamison, 60, an office manager for CHI Overhead Doors.
Jamison, a 17-year veteran of the garage door company, learned about the sale and its six-figure payout at an all-employee meeting last week. Payments vary based on seniority and salary, with some longtime truckers, the highest-paid hourly workers, taking home more than $800,000 from the sale.
More than 630 hourly workers and truckers will receive an average of $180,000 through the sale, the company said.
Located in Arthur, a town of about 2,100 people south of Champaign, the 41-year-old company manufactures garage doors for commercial and residential use. When KKR bought the company in 2015, it allowed all 800 workers, including salaried employees, to participate in the stock ownership plan as a free benefit.
Employees who earned more than $100,000 per year were also allowed to invest their own money in the stock plan.
The program has been implemented by New York-based KKR across 25 portfolio companies since 2011. The garage door manufacturer, which generated KKR’s highest return on investment in more than 30 years, demonstrated the value of capital plan for both property and employees.
“We do it because it’s obviously good for the workers,” said Pete Stavros, 47, co-head of private equity at KKR and president of CHI Overhead Doors. “And it turns out it’s also smart business. It leads to a workforce that is more engaged, stable, financially resilient and less likely to quit, leading to better results for companies and investors.”
Stavros, an Arlington Heights native whose father was a unionized road grader at a Chicago construction company, developed the model to give hourly employees free stock ownership. In addition to an ownership interest, the employees were allocated $1 million per year to improve the factory, investing in everything from air conditioning to new break rooms and a cafeteria.
Productivity boomed, Stavros said, with revenue growth of 120% and profit margin rising from 21% to 35% during KKR’s ownership of CHI.
Last month, Stavros helped launch a nonprofit, Ownership Works, to help spread the employee-ownership model in more companies.
Founded in 1981, CHI Overhead Doors is the largest employer in Arthur, which is about three hours south of Chicago. The manufacturer, which has had four private equity owners during the new millennium, plans to continue operations in the same location under new ownership, Nucor, a North Carolina-based steel producer.
The sale, which is expected to close in June pending regulatory approval, will generate more than $360 million in payments for 800 employees. Hourly employees will receive about $114 million of the earnings, while salaried employees will receive about $250 million, the company said.
When Stavros announced the deal in front of about 400 employees last Wednesday, with potential payments projected on a big screen, Jamison and his co-workers were overwhelmed by the news.
“The whole crowd went crazy,” Jamison said. “The grown men were crying. I was about to pass out.
Jamison, who lives near Atwood, will receive “several hundred thousand dollars” from the sale. She plans to pay off the mortgage on her house and several loans, and use part of the proceeds from the sale to help a grandson with special needs.
However, he does not plan to stop working any time soon.
“There’s no reason for me to leave,” Jamison said. “I want to stay as long as they have me.”


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The venture-capital backed coffee chain that Silicon Valley is obsessed with is expanding to three new cities this fall.
James Freeman, founder of Blue Bottle Coffee, tells Business Insider that the company is doubling its US market size with new locations in Boston, Miami, and Washington, DC. It's the first regional expansion since the company set up shop in Tokyo, Japan, in 2015.
Blue Bottle, which operates 26 cafés globally, mostly in California and New York, has become hugely popular with hipsters and tech workers since it was founded in the early 2000s. Baristas craft one cup at a time using vintage brewing machines and artisanal blends.
The going rate for a cup of pour-over coffee is about $3.
The specialty coffee roaster has raised some $120 million in venture capital, from Morgan Stanley Investment Management, GV (formerly known as Google Ventures), Twitter cofounder Evan Williams, venture capitalist Chris Sacca, and WordPress cofounder Matt Mullenweg.
Fans herald Blue Bottle as the "anti-Starbucks," where customers are treated as individuals and the coffee provides a transformative culinary experience. Freeman says he doesn't worry about how expansion will affects its reputation.
"All cafés are somebody's local café," Freeman says. "Our process is just to regard every café like that: It’s somebody's local café. They don't care how many Blue Bottles or Starbucks or Stumptowns there are. They go to their one café, and it better resonate with them."
Blue Bottle will apply the same approach that made it a household name, according to Freeman.
Each café will be designed to match the culture of its host neighborhood. Baristas will receive intense training, and only coffee that's been roasted in the last 48 hours will be served to ensure quality. Customers shouldn't expect to find giant drip-coffee-making machines in stores anytime soon.


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The Sriracha Situation Gets Worse, Company Stops Shipments Because of New Regulations
We just want everything to be spicy and delicious. Is that so much to ask?
Sriracha maker Huy Fong Foods just can’t catch a break. First they’re ordered to halt production for bothering neighbors with irritating aromas, and now as California enforces stricter health laws, they can’t even ship the Sriracha they have on hand until at least mid-January. It might be time to start panicking.
We’ve been hesitant to buy into the hysteria around the possibility of a world without Sriracha, but now we’re wondering if we should begin stocking up and rationing the supplies we have on hand.
The reason for the hold is that new guidelines from the California Department of Public Health say holding the sauces, which are ground from fresh ingredients and not cooked, for 30 days will mean they’re safe from any contaminants.
Considering the recent legal trouble Huy Fong has had with neighbors over complaints that the smell coming from the plant was causing health problems and being a general nuisance, the timing for this delay couldn’t be worse.
With any luck, the 30-day hold will be the last of Huy Fong’s problems, but with how their luck’s been going so far we’re not willing to bet on it.
(via The Braiser, image my own)
- Last week we learned that the Sriracha plant had to shut down
- …because the factory basically maces local residents — allegedly
- Pediatricians say spicy snacks are bad for kids, we say “duh”
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]


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Lenovo is adding software from Intel to two laptop models, saying the new services will improve security and make maintenance more convenient.
The world’s No. 2 PC manufacturer also says is is the first company to offer the package of services from chip maker Intel that’s called Small Business Advantage.
The ThinkPad Edge E430 and E530 laptops will be featured at Lenovo’s second annual North American channel partner conference May 14-16 in Las Vegas.
Intel’s service includes security monitoring at the hardware level of the PC rather than the operating system, checking for any changes in machine settings such as the turning off of a firewall.
The maintenance service is designed to run during off hours.
“Not all SMBs have the resources to support IT departments, which can leave their PCs unmanaged and vulnerable to security threats and data loss,” said John Bischof, director Small and Medium Business at Lenovo, in a statement. “LSSB on the new ThinkPad Edge products is simple to manage and intuitive for maintaining performance and providing security coverage.”
For more details, read here.
Lenovo maintains its executive headquarters in Morrisville.
[LENOVO ARCHIVE: Check out six years of Lenovo stories as reported in WRAL Tech Wire by clicking here.]


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Hooters has just announced that they are celebrating Valentine’s Day of 2024 by offering customers the chance to “Spin The Bottle” for a variety of different rewards and offers.
The special event is only available for one day only on February 14, 2024 and can be found at all participating locations nationwide.
Basically, the way this event works is that customers are able to step up and play Spin The Bottle on a prize-wheel. And depending on what you land on, you might be able to win a variety of deals such as $1 Wings, Free Appetizers, Desserts and so much more.
Note: According to the brand, every customer is a winner and that nobody will walk away empty-handed.
The only thing to know is that when you play the Spin The Bottle game, all prices and offers must be redeemed on the same day which is on February 14, 2024, Valentine’s Day. Only one prize can be won per person and is only available for on-site visits only.
Valentine’s Day is on February 14, 2024
Image via Hooters


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Posts: 7,895 +82
Something to look forward to: Are you a Microsoft Word user who isn’t the fastest or most accurate typist? Then you might appreciate a new feature being developed for the software that's set to arrive in March. As the name suggests, 'text predictions' should help users write more efficiently by predicting text quickly and accurately.
The text predictions feature appears in the “in development” section of the Microsoft 365 roadmap—it released to some beta testers in September. Microsoft writes that not only can it reduce spelling and grammar errors, but the tool also learns a user’s writing style over time to offer tailored recommendations.
The feature will be familiar to anyone who uses Google Docs, where a similar version has been available for a while. It's also part of Gmail.
An example of Microsoft's predictive text feature
Microsoft’s text prediction feature simply requires users to start typing in a Word or Outlook document. Any predicted text appears in gray and can be accepted by pressing the tab key or rejected by hitting escape. It can be disabled via the status bar (Word) or in the options section (Outlook) and is currently available to 50 percent of those in the Windows Beta Channel.
News of the text prediction features comes soon after Microsoft announced a perpetually-licensed Office 2021 for Windows and macOS would arrive later this year. Rather than paying the usual $69.99 per year/$6.99 per month, regular users and small businesses can get Office 2021 for a one-off price.


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Major fire breaks out in South Mumbai's Crawford market, no casualty reported
A major fire broke out in South Mumbai's busy Crawford market in the wee hours on Sunday, gutting over 60 shops.
Mumbai: A major fire broke out in South Mumbai's busy Crawford market in the wee hours on Sunday, gutting over 60 shops.
Fire officials said there was no casualty reported in the blaze.
"Our control room received an alert at 5:23 am that a massive fire broke out at Crawford market. Soon 10 fire tenders and eight water tankers were pressed into action," a fire brigade official told PTI.
The official said the blaze has been brought under control but efforts to douse it completely was still on.
Over 60 shops, mostly of perfumes and packaging material, were gutted, and the cause behind the blaze is yet to be ascertained, he said.
Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta visited the spot and asked locals who gathered around the market to keep a safe distance from the mishap site.
Crawford market is located in the vicinity of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the shops were mostly housed in old structures.
Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison.
Heading into an Emmys season eclipsed by both Black Lives Matters protests and the COVID-19 pandemic, the question was whether we would see new trends.
Guterres said it was deeply concerning that new coal plants are still being planned, when renewables offer thrice as many jobs, and are cheaper in most countries.
Specifications-wise, OnePlus Nord is a good smartphone, but when it comes to durability, the smartphone does not fare well.


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A new trade deal had been signed by the leaders of the USA, Canada and Mexico. This comes after several disagreements and a tense relationship between Trump and Trudeau. Trump had earlier called Trudeau a weak and dishonest person. He had also accused Canada of burning the White House.
The new trade deal was signed after 14 months of negotiation. The leaders appeared to have a cordial relationship as the agreement was signed, but the link does not look as warm as it was before.
Trump called the deal a model agreement that would change trade as we know it. Trudeau urged Trump to remove punishing tariffs on aluminum and steel from Canada. The Canadian news media presented the deal as a sign that there was a temporary truce.
Canada won concessions that included a system for resolving disputes for companies are that feel that they had been targeted unfairly with taxes. Canada will also receive exemptions from future American tariffs on about 2.6 million vehicles that are imported from America. Canada agreed to crack open the dairy market that had been long protected.
In June, after a G7 meeting, Trudeau ended the session by saying that Canadians are nice but won’t be bullied. Trump replied by calling Trudeau a feeble person and a liar. The director of the White House trade office, Peter Navarro then responded and said that there was a special place in hell for Justin Trudeau.
Canadians were angered at the insults thrown at their Prime Minister, and his approval ratings even soared ahead of the elections next year. Some Canadians boycotted summer vacations to parts of the USA, and they boycotted some American products. A lot of Canadians were happy that Trudeau stood up to Trump.
But Senior Canadian officials said that Mr. Trudeau was not angered in any way by Mr. Trump’s insults, and he was instead working for open, multilateral world order. Trump and Trudeau have often been on opposite sides on issues like immigration, women rights and climate change.
Early this month, Trump was heavily criticized for missing a World War 1 commemoration ceremony because of poor weather. Video clips of Trudeau attending a ceremony in pouring rain were soon shared online.
A lot of Canadians see Trump as a bully. Their perception of him as a bully increased after he imposed aluminum and steel tariffs on Canada. Trump framed this move as necessary for national security. But Canadian foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland retorted that the pretext of national security is insulting and absurd to Canadians. Canada retaliated by placing import duties on industrial pipes, ballpoint pens and about $12.6 billion of American products.
President Trump has said that he does not like Freeland, but she and the United States trade representative Robert Lighthizer had become friendly during months of talks and Freeland had even hosted Lighthizer at her Toronto home.
The Canadian government took a lot of time before posting the trade deal on their website as they said that their lawyers were going over the deal. The trade deal also included concessions over Canada’s protection of its dairy market, thus making things favorable for American farmers to sell milk, cheese and other dairy products to Canada. This had always been a major talking point for Donald Trump.


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July 9, 2013
Senate Energy Committee Should Press FERC Chair Nominee on Consumer Protection Plans
Advocacy Groups Write Letter to Committee Chairman Wyden Naming Four Demands for Incoming FERC Chair
WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Barack Obama’s nomination of former utility regulator and consumer advocate Ron Binz to chair the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is a welcome development. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee should question Binz to ensure his support of several key consumer protection issues before confirming him, a group of consumer and labor advocacy groups wrote to Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Ranking Member Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) today.
The groups wrote that they “urge a new FERC chairman who is committed above all to protecting consumers by ensuring that all electric rates are just and reasonable, and that markets are transparent and accountable to consumers.”
The letter lists four key reforms that Binz should support:
1. The new chair should create a consumer advocacy office at FERC, with a director appointed by the president, adequate funding, political independence and the ability to conduct investigations and intervene on behalf of consumers. The office should be able to provide funding to consumer groups to facilitate their participation in FERC proceedings.
2. The new FERC chair should increase transparency and accountability of private market monitors – known as regional transmission organizations – that have significant influence over energy rates but are more beholden to financial firms, power generators, utilities and retail service providers than to consumers.
3. FERC should undertake a comprehensive investigation of the “justness and reasonableness” of wholesale power supply prices in the centralized markets administered by regional transmission organizations. FERC rejected a widely supported proposal for this kind of investigation in 2007 under President George W. Bush.
4. The chair should review the way incentive rates are used to encourage transmission investment and ensure that the incentives are not increasing costs to consumers without improving system reliability.
Binz’s background suggests that he has an inclination to support consumer protections and not shy away from taking a stand on important issues.
The letter was signed by Consumers Union; National Consumer Law Center, on behalf of its low-income clients; Public Citizen; Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO; Citizens’ Utility Board of Oregon; Low Income Utility Advocacy Project of Illinois; Ohio Partners for Affordable Energy; Public Utility Law Project of New York, Inc.; Texas Legal Services Center; Texas Ratepayers’ Organization to Save Energy; TURN-The Utility Reform Network (California); and Virginia Citizens Consumer Council.


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First plug-in electric Audi shown at Hamilton Island 243 more words
Tags » E-tron
Audi have released news that they are concentrating heavily on developing more plug-in hybrid models over the next few years.
Audi’s development chief Ulrich Hackenberg has said ” plug-in hybrids will be prioritised over other plug-ins, as they best meet Audi’s customer expectations”. 216 more words


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[This article was originally published in 2020 by Trucks, Parts, Service. It has been updated to include more timely information.]
Fleets have many choices when spec’ing their trucks and trailers to reduce aerodynamic drag in an effort to increase fuel economy.
It would seem if a fleet wanted to save the most money per gallon, it would equip its trucks with as much aerodynamic equipment that could be spec’d or retrofitted. That is not the case, however, as certain factors come into play, such as vocation, government regulations, return on investment (ROI) and real-world practicality.
Truck and trailer OEMs and dealers see firsthand what customers choose. They also see what aerodynamic equipment has recently fallen out of favor or deemed flat out impractical by their customers.
“Customers have different operating environments. Things like length of haul, time at highway speed, dock backings, etc., all have an influence,” says David Giesen, Stoughton Trailers vice president, sales. “Some aero devices can be more susceptible to damage than others and some people are more concerned about compliance with state and federal regulations versus actual fuel savings.”
What customers want
Giesen says side skirts are the most popular by far, with other aerodynamic equipment for trailers garnering little overall interest. “They have the best actual fuel savings and pricing makes them very attractive, [providing the] best ROI,” he says.
Doug Kenney, director of national fleet sales, East Manufacturing, who has over 40 years in the trailer industry, agrees. “When fleets are incorporating aerodynamic devices on platform trailers, side skirts are almost always specified,” he says.
“When we talk aerodynamics, especially for the over-the-road fleets, we talk about the Kenworth T680,” says Cameron Nichols, marketing manager, Palmer Kenworth. The T680 is Kenworth’s most aerodynamic model and has received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency SmartWay designation.
“The Advantage T680 package is popular with numerous customers. The fuel efficiency savings provided by state-of-the-art onboard technology, the Paccar MX series common-rail fuel injection system and additional fairings and skirts leave a lasting impression in the marketplace,” Nichols say.
“A lot of my customers are looking for improved aerodynamics and the drive axle wheel covers are widely accepted,” says Mike deLong, sales consultant, Fyda Freightliner.
deLong says the wheel covers, which used to be difficult to remove to check tire pressure, have greatly improved. “For a company concerned about aerodynamics, it’s usually associated with fuel savings, so regularly checking the tire pressure on all of the tires is important,” he adds.
Fyda Freightliner customers also prefer longer sleeper fairings, which minimize the gap between the cab and the trailer, deLong says. Freightliner offers the fairings in three lengths, 12 in., 20 in. and 24 in.
“When trailer skirts first emerged on the market, they represented the vast majority of aftermarket trailer aerodynamic retrofits. As skirts have become nearly a standard offering on new trailers, our retrofit activity today is focused more so on tails, wheel covers and vented mud flaps,” says Velociti President Deryk Powell.
While not aerodynamic equipment, fleets also are opting for complementary methods of achieving greater fuel efficiency.
“With regard to platform trailers, other options often are incorporated to meet fuel-saving benchmarks without using aerodynamic devices. Low rolling-resistance tires and tire inflation systems are examples of alternative options,” Kenney says.
What’s not so popular
In close proximity to wheel covers but far apart in the customer preference spectrum are the drive wheel fairings mounted between and behind the tractor’s drive wheels.
“If you look at a used truck on a lot, most of the drive wheel fairings are dinged up. If the driver runs over a curb, he can damage one of them. It’s not too hard to do. A retread coming off or a blowout would most likely tear them up,” says Fyda Freightliner Fleet Consultant Ken Sekerak.
Sekerak adds it’s not uncommon for a customer to spec a standard aerodynamic bumper instead of one lower to the ground that provides less wind resistance. It has been his experience that customers don’t want the full aerodynamic packages with the decreased ground clearance because of the damage they can sustain.
“A lot of my customers don’t want those anymore because, quite frankly, the drivers keep tearing them off,” he says.
Giesen says trailer tails have dropped in interest with customers. “Most customer feedback is they get in the way, get damaged and aren’t utilized enough,” he adds.
Powell says manual trailer tails have fallen out of favor with customers because of the challenges to deploy them before trucks hit the road as well as maintenance and repair costs. That said, “the latest evolution of compact, automated trailer tails is driving a lot of interest currently,” he adds.
[RELATED: Class 8 orders hit six-month low]
Jeff Eberhart, Fyda Freightliner sales manager, says customers are looking at total cost of ownership, which involves weighing fuel efficiency with the cost of replacing damaged aerodynamic equipment, such as low front bumpers, side skirts, wheel fairings, rear fairings, etc.
“The small percentage of incremental increase an owner may see in fuel economy due to aerodynamic options can sometimes be overshadowed by the cost of repairing any damage and downtime due to the damage repair,” Eberhart says.
With the national average cost of diesel hovering around the $2.40 mark, the focus on maximizing aerodynamics, in general, among fleets might not be as significant at this point in time.
“Fuel mileage enhancements maybe aren’t as critical now. If fuel prices increase significantly, there could be a different attitude and renewed evaluation of these options,” says Sekerak.
Eberhart agrees. “When fuel was close to $4, fleet managers were running the numbers and figuring if they could get 0.1 percent better fuel economy because of certain aerodynamic equipment, they could make up for the cost of the option in a year and a half or whatever their ROI requirement might be,” he says.
“But with the current price of fuel, the breakeven analysis/payback period on the aerodynamic options is substantially longer. Given the possible risk of downtime and CSA violations due to damaged components, extreme aerodynamic options are not a fleet priority for the majority,” Eberhart says.


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“Over the next several weeks, they’re going to be opening at a very rapid pace.” – Marcus Lemonis, Gander Outdoors Owner.
Gander Outdoors, the rebranded phoenix of bankrupt Gander Mountain, will rise from the ashes in the coming months with dozens of store openings across the United States.
Marcus Lemonis, the celebrity owner of the rebranded outdoors retailer, took to Facebook Live for the announcement on Wednesday.
Lemonis explained the revamped Gander Outdoors sales strategy and announced store locations in the post.
Distinct Specialties Within Gander Outdoors
“Rather than just opening up a big box, we decided to change it up a little bit,” Lemonis said. “What you’ll see is very distinct departments with very distinct specialties and brands.”
The “Legend” department, he said, will carry firearms and hunting gear. The “Overton’s” department will sell everything marine, such as boating, fishing, and “everything you can think of on the water.” A final department, “Erehwon,” will cater to camping, active sports, bikes, hiking, kayaking, paddleboarding, and more.
Those businesses will live inside of Gander Outdoors, and some markets may have additional “standalone stores” included, Lemonis said.
Gander Outdoors Locations and Opening Dates
All stores will open by the end of May or middle of June, Lemonis said.
Two stores have already opened. Lakeville, Minn., was the first store to open, followed by Utica, Mich. Stores in Janesville, Wisc., and Fredericksburg, Virginia, will open in the next couple of weeks.
The video goes on to show a long list of stores that will open in the coming months.
According to the post, stores will open in Montana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Ohio, Illinois, Alabama, Iowa, Kansas, Florida, Colorado, and Georgia.
Lemonis showed 69 locations in all, plus a few that have not yet been “approved.” It remains unclear as to whether Gander Mountain, which had 162 brick-and-mortar shops across the country at the time of its bankruptcy in May, will open more locations at a later time. However, the brand did state on social media that it is always looking for opportunities.
We’ll be visiting a Gander Outdoors to check out the brands and prices offered soon.


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The graphics card add-in-board market fell 0.8 per cent year-on-year in Q2 2016, and 20.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
AMD gained market share during the quarter, reported analyst Jon Peddie Research (JPR).
"The news for the quarter was encouraging and seasonally understandable," JPR said in a statement.
"AIB shipments during the quarter decreased from the last quarter by 20.8 per cent, which is below the ten-year average of 9.7 per cent. On a year-to-year basis, we found that total AIB shipments during the quarter rose 0.8 per cent, which is greater than desktop PCs, which fell 0.2 per cent.
"However, in spite of the overall PC churn, somewhat due to tablets and embedded graphics, the PC gaming momentum continues to build and is the bright spot in the AIB market.
"The overall GPU shipments (integrated and discrete) is greater than desktop PC shipments due double-attach-the adding of a second (or third) AIB to a system with integrated processor graphics-and to a lesser extent, dual AIBs in performance desktop machines using either AMD’s Crossfire or Nvidia’s SLI technology Improved attach rate.
"The attach rate of AIBs to desktop PCs has declined from a high of 63 per cent in Q1 2008 to 34 per cent this quarter, a decrease of 22.7 per cent from last quarter which was negative. Compared to this quarter last year it increased one per cent, which was low."
AIBs using discrete GPUs are found in desktop PCs, workstations, servers and other devices such as scientific instruments. They are sold directly to customers as aftermarket products, or are factory installed by OEMs.
In terms of overall GPU shipments, AMD market share increased 0.4 per cent from last quarter and 2.8 per cent from last year, Intel increase market share 2.4 per cent from last quarter, and Nvidia overall share decreased 2.8 per cent from last quarter.
Overall GPU shipments (rounded up) decreased four per cent from last quarter, AMD decreased one per cent, Nvidia decreased 20 per cent and Intel decreased one per cent.
Year-on-year total GPU shipments decreased 10 per cent, desktop graphics decreased six per cent and notebooks decreased 12 per cent.
JPR’s full report is available at www.jonpeddie.com.


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British businesses that export their products or services internationally remain in the minority.
According to Government data, some 10% of UK SMEs export abroad, while 42% of large companies are doing so. Putting to one side the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the general trend was that these figures were on the rise; indeed, exports have generally been increasing quite steadily. For example, the Office for National Statistics reports that UK exports increased by £9.6 billion (5.4%) to £188.3 billion in the three months to January 2020 when compared with the preceding quarter.
Nevertheless, there remains huge untapped potential. If we can find ways to encourage more businesses – just 5% or 10% more, say – to export their goods overseas, not only could it open the doors to significant commercial growth for the exporters, but it would undoubtedly boost the UK economy.
It begs the question, therefore, of what is holding businesses back from exporting?
First things first, we must obviously acknowledge that for many companies, it is simply not something they can or want to do. Their offering might be too niche or too localised; they might be perfectly content with their business as it stands, with no desire to branch out into new markets.
Yet for others, they will have a product – physical stock currently sat in storage somewhere – that is just as desirable, necessary or beneficial for markets abroad as it is here in the UK. It would seem that in these instances there are two key perceived barriers to exporting: knowledge and cost.
In fact, in May One World Express released a new study that was conducted independently among over 900 UK businesses – their size and sector was mixed. Below are some interesting findings (or you can read more about our research on Global Trade Review):
- 57% of the companies we spoke to are currently considering expansion into new international markets as they look for ways to ride out the coronavirus storm
- 45% of decision-makers say the pandemic has made them realise they are overly reliant on one particular marketplace
- However, 51% say a lack of knowledge about international markets prevents their organisation from expanding outside the UK
- And 43% feel the cost of doing so would be prohibitively high for them to make a profit from the move
This snapshot demonstrates that international expansion is being discussed by business leaders – this is likely a result of companies’ usual customer-bases being depleted or entirely cut off by the pandemic. But, actually taking that leap to ready business operations to market, sell and distribute cross-border is evidently seen as an expensive and complex task.
In truth, these findings mirror conversations the One World Express team have on a weekly basis; CEOs have piles of stock that is selling steadily in one country, but they simply do not know how to simultaneously export into other markets. Interestingly, however, it is not nearly as complicated or costly as most would assume.
Logistics firms take most of the pain out of the process, and by comparing rates of different carriers, the costs quickly become very competitive.
Like every business decision, expanding into overseas markets will require research, strategy and investment. That is true of growing a company in general though. As long as the appetite for global growth is there and you have the right mindset, it can be achieved more quickly and more easily than many would think.
At One World Express, we are on a personal mission to help business leaders see the potential of cross-border trade and understand how to make it a reality. That is why we have been offering free consultations with businesses throughout April, May and June 2020 – if you are interested in learning more, get in touch while our fees are still waived.


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In a land where geckos walk upright, mayhem rules and Flo-bots are everywhere, an auto insurance startup is making a go of it with something a little less sexy: an elephant.
But the goal for Elephant Insurance Co. is the same as that of its bigger rivals: to stand out in a fiercely competitive category where the shift from traditional agent models to do-it-yourself rate shopping has sparked an ad war. "It's a memorable name," said Greg Minkler, Elephant's marketing manager. "From an imagery perspective, it portrays a lot of the things we as a company are about." Ads, for instance, tout "big" savings and stability, while employees are referred to as "the herd" and the advertised phone number ends in "TRUNK." The company even contributes to Tusk, a charity that aims to preserve African wildlife and endangered species.
That sounds good, but how to you build a brand from scratch in a category dominated by big-spending giants State Farm, Allstate, Geico, Progressive and Farmers? Together, these insurers control 52% of the U.S. market, according to data from SNL Financial cited by the Insurance Information Institute. That leaves dozens of smaller players to scrap over what's left or take share from the big five, which combined spent more than $1.4 billion on measured media plugging their auto insurance in 2011, according to Kantar Media.
Although it's named for a massive mammal, Elephant is starting small in here, having launched in Virginia in 2009 before adding Maryland, Illinois and Texas. The parent company, U.K.-based Admiral Group, however, is big in its home country, where it operates multiple car-insurance brands, including Admiral, Bell, Diamond and Elephant.
On a recent earnings call, Admiral CEO Henry Engelhardt summed up why the company would even take a shot in the U.S.: "In just these four states, we have now access to a vehicle population larger than the U.K."
The trick, of course, is signing up some of those drivers. And the U.S. market presents hurdles not present in Europe. Elephant operates in the direct-to-consumer market, conducting business online or over the phone as opposed to with a traditional agent. This is a growing segment in the U.S., where 23% of shoppers now exclusively use web quotes, up from 15% in 2009, according to J.D. Power & Associates. But online purchases are far less common here than it is in the U.K., where some 75% of car insurance business is done online, according to Mr. Minkler.
Moreover, web-buying patterns are different here. In Europe, shoppers frequently use aggregator websites where multiple quotes are obtained through a third party (think: Priceline for the U.S. travel industry).
But aggregators have not taken off in the States. Why? "The insurers are not dummies," said Jeremy Bowler, senior director of the global insurance practice at J.D. Power. "They look at Europe, and they recognize that ... the aggregators have totally taken over." And that 's not a good thing for business, he noted, because aggregators have a vested interest in getting consumers to shop and switch carriers multiple times over. "Their role in the market has created phenomenal churn, which is destructive to profit for the insurers," he said, adding that companies make more money from tenured customers.
As a result, the big U.S. insurers are spending mightily to lure drivers to their own websites and keep them there. This essentially creates a bigger barrier for newcomers and smaller players, which must either win business through the aggregators that do exist in the U.S., rely on independent agents or build their own brands in the crowded ad market.
Elephant seems to be taking the last route. The company's latest TV ad features Tai, an elephant who appeared in the movie "Water for Elephants." In the spot, a man spots the pachyderm in his front yard. "It's just hanging out," he says. His wife replies, "Honey, it's auto insurance. It's supposed to be there when we need it," while the voice-over steers viewers to Elephant.com. The spot is by Barber Martin Agency in Richmond, Va., where Elephant is based.
Still, Elephant is not interested in matching the ad spending of its big rivals or does it come anywhere close. The marketer spent a mere $3.35 million on measured media in 2011, according to Kantar Media.
The big marketers have "almost created this expectation that you've got a have a flashy new ad every week, and that gets really expensive," Mr. Minkler said. "You've got to have a presence and it's got to be memorable on TV" but "there's a point at which it becomes overkill and it becomes about agencies trying to win awards or a company trying to say they've found the cool next character people will talk about."


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Tax-free holiday kicks off Friday in N.C.
The economy may be struggling to gain its footing, but consumers can score some savings during the tax-free shopping weekend that kicks off Friday.
North Carolina’s annual tax free holiday — an event held annually since 2002 — will begin at 12:01 a.m. Friday and end at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday.
Shoppers will be able to buy clothing, footwear and school supplies of $100 or less per item tax free. School instructional materials of $300 or less per item will be exempt from the tax, along with sports equipment of $50 or less per item.
Even Apple Inc. fans will be able to save on the new iPad they’ve been eyeing: Computers, tablets and netbooks of $3,500 or less per item qualify as well as computer supplies of $250 or less.
Steve Branch, vice president of the Guilford Merchants Association, which has about 1,000 members, said the tax-free weekend is always a welcome boon to local merchants. For merchants, it creates some “volume opportunities,” he said. For consumers, it means savings.
“I think it’s extremely helpful,” Branch said. “I think it creates a spark, if you will, for folks.”
Craig Williams, an employee at the Omega Sports store on Stratford Road in Winston-Salem that opened earlier this year, said he’s expecting a 30 to 40 percent increase in traffic flow this weekend.
“Historically it has been,” said Williams, an employee with Omega since 1987. “We don’t feel this year will be any different.”
Omega will also run its own store sale to lure shoppers, he said. Williams said he expects the weekend’s big sellers to be running shoes, North Face backpacks and tennis rackets and gear as consumers get ready for the fall tennis season.
Kathie Strauss, marketing manager for the Four Seasons Town Centre in Greensboro, said tax-free weekend has traditionally been a busy weekend and she anticipates that it will be again this year, capping off a strong summer for the shopping center.
She added that she expects stores that appeal to a younger demographic such as American Eagle Outfitters, Inc., Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and rue21 Inc. to see higher traffic during the tax-free holiday.
For more information about the tax-free weekend, click here.
Katie Arcieri covers manufacturing, transportation/logistics, aviation, textiles, tobacco and furniture. Contact her at (336) 370-2913.
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Complete Coverage: Cable Show 2013
The cable business has many innovative wins it can point to, but still has many challenges to overcome before the full revenue potential of multiscreen advertising is unlocked.
That was a central theme of "Redefining the Zone: Cable Advertising's March to Multiscreen Addressability," a panel session held late Monday at the Cable Show. The title fit the tenor of discussion - it's not quite a "sprint" to addressability.
"As much as people say they like the future, they like the status quo," said Billy Farina, senior VP of ad sales at Cox Media, generalizing about the industry. "Cable companies were the ones who initially created change in the media marketplace. They were the disruptors... Now everyone has a survival rate of zero. Customers have more control than they've ever had and they want more."
Another panelist took note of how much the business has already been transformed, even if more change is certainly due. "Creating a media plan used to be pretty easy," said Andrew Ward, group VP at Comcast Media 360. "I remember years ago when I was at Young & Rubicam, you'd put a signpost on primetime TV and the customers came to you."
The conversation covered a lot of ground, including structure of ad teams on the sell side and the need for restructuring on the buy side; the risk of clutter; and VOD load versus linear load. Of any topic, dynamic insertion of ads into on demand content generated the most vigorous discussion.
"In the satellite world, around 20 million homes, it's already happening," noted Michael Bologna, director of emerging communications for GroupM. "We can identify people's income, credit, whether they have children. We identify people with a certain income with a credit score of over 750 and send them a credit card ad."
Panelists from Canoe and Blackarrow described major leaps forward in the technology of sending targeted ads to certain viewers, but others expressed concern about appropriate creative or about overwhelming viewers with too many ads.
"If I could, I would watch TV without any ads," Bologna dryly concluded. "I hate 'em. But with no ads, there would be no programming and we'd all be playing Scrabble."
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Wood is chairman of the business, which owns Sheila’s Wheels as well as Esure, which is 70 per cent owned by Lloyds following its takeover of HBOS earlier this year. He owns 24 per cent of the business, with management owning the rest.
However, legal clauses mean Wood has control. It is thought Wood has lined up financing for the deal, which could value Esure at between £200million and £250million, from buyout firm Penta Capital and hedge fund Toscafund. Both are chaired by Sir George Mathewson, the former chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland. However, it was said Mathewson was not personally involved in the deal.
Wood is best known for founding Direct Line, now owned by RBS, in 1985. The business is now up for sale.


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Turn Your World into a Touchscreen
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
Chris Harrison’s inventions may one day let you surf the web, flip through your iTunes playlist or send a text message on any surface — even your arm.
By Melissa Pandika
Everyone from JLaw to your Facebook friends may be getting their Google Glass on, but Chris Harrison thinks the “cyborg” technology falls flat. Wearers control the glasses with hand gestures, but “rarely do we claw at the air for no reason,” said the 29-year-old Carnegie Mellon University engineer. “It’s not very natural at all.” What’s more, the specs only suck people deeper into digital la-la land.
“We want to bring computers to the real world and not just put people in a virtual world,” he said. “Wearing head-mounted displays and just sitting there … sounds like the worst possible future.”
That’s where Harrison’s technology comes in. In his quest to liberate us from our screens and make technology feel more natural, he’s developed a number of devices that transform any surface — from a sofa to your own skin — into an input device.
These inventions solve the human side of the technology equation. As our devices get smaller and faster, our eyes strain to focus on tiny screens, while our fingers fumble with cramped keyboards. The genius behind Harrison’s systems is that they adapt to how we work best — on large surfaces.
We want to bring computers to the real world and not just put people in a virtual world.
The WorldKit, for example, lets you “paint” interactive apps on any surface with a swipe of your hand by pairing the Kinect’s ceiling-mounted, depth-sensing camera with a projector. The camera interprets hand gestures and tells the projector to beam certain interfaces onto a desired surface. Trace a circle on the arm of a sofa and WorldKit projects an image of a dial. Swiping the dial to turn it adjusts the TV volume.
Harrison and his colleague, Carnegie Mellon Ph.D. student Robert Xiao, demonstrate other applications in the video below. Besides dials and switches, WorldKit also lets you paint message boards, calendars, indicator lights and more. For now, the projector and camera are on the bulky side, but they say the system could eventually fit inside a lightbulb.
How about turning your body into a touchscreen? A similar system called Skinput beams keyboards and other interfaces onto your skin from a tiny projector embedded in an armband. Each tap against your skin generates a unique pattern of sound waves. A sensor that’s also installed in the armband reads these patterns to determine which part of the display to activate, allowing you to text, play games or surf the web — on your arm.
WorldKit lets you “paint” interactive apps on any surface with a swipe of your hand.
Meanwhile, the Touché senses not only touch but also complex hand and body positions. A sensor registers changes in an object’s electrical properties caused by motions on or near it and translates them into specific computer commands. A person leaning forward on a Touché-equipped sofa would cause a TV to turn on, while a dog jumping on the sofa might trigger a noise, prompting it to jump off.
It may take five to 10 years for these inventions to hit store shelves, so until then, prepare yourself for technology designed to make you more human. ”Technology can be abused,” Harrison said, ”but with good design, it can make us smarter, longer living, more social and more loving.” Now that’s a technology takeover we can all get behind.
- Melissa Pandika, Melissa Pandika is a lab rat-turned-journalist with an eye to all things science, medicine and more. Likes distance running, snails, late-night Korean BBQ + R&B slow jams.Contact Melissa Pandika


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AON buys Insure.ie
THE WORLD'S largest insurance broker has acquired Insure.ie, the online personal lines brokerage.
AON said that Irish company Insure.ie was a well developed web business with more than 100,000 customers in Ireland across motor, home, travel and health insurance.
Declan Cahill will be joining as the new CEO of Insure.ie, subject to regulatory approval.
There will be no other changes to the senior management team and no redundancies or job losses.


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Today Super Talent announced the production of what they claim to be the "world's slimmest" 256GB solid state drive (SSD), surely a good piece of news for those eagerly awaiting the days that flash drives will rival spinning hard drives for capacity.
The FSD56GC25H crams all of those gigs into 12.5mm, which, according to the company, is 40 percent thinner than its nearest rival.
The company is also touting the drive's ruggedness which supports up to 1600G shocks and 16G vibrations. "We designed this drive for applications that need rugged and reliable storage in a very compact form factor. This is the world's smallest and thinnest 256GB SSD," said the company's marketing director, Joe James. "This product underscores our leadership in high density SSDs and demonstrates the technical capabilities of our Silicon Valley engineering team."
Since Super Talent sells directly to OEMs, no pricing was available.
Originally posted on Gearlog.


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- 2 min read
63% television advertisers were new in May: BARC
BARC India May 2021 Ad Volumes report says television advertising continues to stay strong and resilient...
Out of the total of 2142 advertisers in May 2021, 1347 (63 per cent) were new advertisers. The FMCG category continued to dominate ad volumes with 72 per cent share, followed by e-commerce with 10 percent share in May 2021. While over 70 per cent of advertising was dominated by the top 50 advertisers in May 2021, the top 10 advertisers had the highest share since 2018 with 54 per cent. Advertising by the top 10 advertisers continues to see steady growth.
Owing to the increasing consumption of regional content, advertising on south Indian language GECs registered a staggering growth of 103 per cent while the rest of the regional GECs witnessed 53 per cent growth in May 2021 vs May 2020. South Indian language movies and regional movies channels witnessed 85 per cent and 129 per cent respectively growth for the same period.
"2021 began on a high note for television ad volumes. Despite a marginal dip from April 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic, ad volumes in May 2021 have witnessed a significant growth of 64 per cent as compared to May 2020 and have remained at par with previous years. Moreover, television attracted over 60 per cent of the total advertisers in May this year, indicating that advertisers continue to bank on the medium. With lockdown easing up and upcoming big events, we expect TV Advertising to remain strong this year,” said Aaditya Pathak, head – client partnership and revenue function, BARC India.
The report added that growth observed in ad volumes in the first quarter of 2021 has evidently seeped into the ongoing second quarter of the year, despite state-wide partial lockdowns being implemented in various parts of the country. Moreover, the growth witnessed in May 2021 reinforces the strength and robustness of television as a medium, it added.


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VITEBSK, 22 February (BelTA) – In 2020 companies residing in the free economic zone (FEZ) Vitebsk turned out over Br1.6 billion worth of industrial goods, 17% up from 2019, the FEZ Vitebsk administration told BelTA.
Despite the business restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic the companies managed to increase earnings from sales by nearly 2% to about Br2 billion. Profit from sales rose by 34.6% to Br176.2 million, with net profit exceeding Br92 million. Merchandise export totaled $553.8 million or nearly one third of Vitebsk Oblast's export. Surplus of the foreign trade in merchandise totaled $177.5 million, with surplus of the foreign trade in services at $13.5 million. FEZ Vitebsk is the only free economic zone, which export exceeded import. Foreign partners bought $24.4 million worth of services. At the same time these figures were affected by the performance of large companies that manufacture and sell products made out of hydrocarbons. Those companies could not fully realize their export potential due to objective domestic and foreign reasons.
In 2020 FEZ Vitebsk companies raised $31.1 million in foreign direct investments, over 16% up from 2019. Net FDI totaled $16.1 million or 40.6% of Vitebsk Oblast's net FDI.
Labor productivity growth rate totaled 118.8%, with output per worker close to Br200,000. As many as 235 jobs were created or more than 1.5 times as much as last year's business plans stipulated. The average number of listed employees in FEZ Vitebsk companies was close to 16,600 people. The average monthly salary rose by 13.2% in 2020 to Br1,129.3 or 7.5% above Vitebsk Oblast's. The resident companies paid about Br154.6 million in taxes and duties, 5.5% up from 2019.
A total of 56 investment projects involving investors from 15 countries, including Germany, Czechia, Russia, Poland, UK, USA, Israel, Cyprus, and Estonia, are being implemented in FEZ Vitebsk. Six companies with the total volume of declared investments at $35.3 million were registered as FEZ Vitebsk residents in 2020. They intend to create at least 100 jobs. Three companies have been registered as FEZ Vitebsk residents so far this year. A number of projects are in the pipeline, with the companies tentatively scheduled for registration in H1 2021.
The free economic zone (FEZ) Vitebsk was established in 1999 and comprises 16 sectors with the total area of nearly 2,800ha. Eight sectors are located in Vitebsk, five in Orsha District, one in Novopolotsk, one in Postavy, and another one in Polotsk District.


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The founder of the gaming company behind Farmville has finally admitted defeating in taking it public, calling in the boss of Microsoft’s Xbox to help turn the company around.
Mark Pincus, founder and chief executive of Zynga, has named former Microsoft executive Don Mattrick as the company’s new chief executive, with Pincus stepping back to become chairman and chief product officer.
The announcement comes as Zynga loses its crown as Facebook’s leading gaming firm to London based King, the makers of Candy Crush Saga. King now has 150.4 million monthly users on the social networking site compared to Zynga’s 150.2 million.
Announcing Mattrick's appointment Pincus told employees in a note: “I’ve always said… that if I could find someone who could do a better job as our CEO I’d do all I could to recruit and bring that person in. I’m confident that Don is that leader.”
He added: “Zynga has so much more potential ahead.”
Zynga, founded in 2007, achieved early success on Facebook with games such as Texas Hold‘Em Poker and Farmville, but has seen its value plummet since listing on NASDAQ in December 2011. The company has struggled to keep pace with the transition to mobile web and app usage and has seen over $4.5 billion of its value disappear in under two years.
Mattrick, former head of Microsoft’s interactive entertainment division, is a 17-year gaming industry veteran who helped turn Xbox into a console powerhouse. Before that, Mattrick also helped develop hugely popular games such as The Sims and FIFA for Electronic Arts.
Pincus is the second high profile founder of an online business to lose control of their firm this year. In February Groupon chief executive Andrew Mason was ousted by the board.
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Marks & Spencer has at last halted a two-year trading slump after new ranges and an overhaul helped the embattled retailer to notch up a surprise pick-up in sales.
In a strong update, M&S yesterday posted its first quarterly sales rise since October 2003 and said profits would be at the top end of expectations.
Chief executive Stuart Rose drew encouragement from the performance, but warned it was still early days in the recovery battle - particularly with the key Christmas trading season just around the corner.
"So far, so good, but we ain't cracked it," Mr Rose said.
Shares in M&S responded by hitting their highest level in more than three years - within a whisker of the 400p level that retail tycoon Philip Green was willing to pay in last year's failed takeover attempt.
Mr Rose said: "This is an encouraging performance, but there remains much to be done.
"The environment remains very difficult and we have the important Christmas trading period ahead."
He said it was too early to say M&S was "calling the turn", adding: "If we get to January with similar numbers I might be prepared to go there."
The 1.3 per cent increase in like-for-like sales for the 12 weeks to October 1, compared with a decline of 5.4 per cent in the previous quarter, came despite the toughest conditions on the high street in years.
Experts had started to predict an upturn in recent weeks but were still surprised by the extent of the improvement.
Among changes, M&S has attempted to secure better deals from suppliers and kept tighter control of stock.
Mr Rose said products and stores were looking better and that offers such as £1 pairs of socks and £20 jeans were drawing in customers.
"There's a pile more to do. We're the most powerful retailer of clothing in the country and we need to use that to our advantage; we're going to be more aggressive and not less aggressive."
Yesterday's update was seen as the biggest test yet for Mr Rose, since the latest ranges reflect his ideas rather than the designs of previous management.
The results included a marked improvement in nonfood sales, which were 0.2 per cent lower on a same-store basis compared with a previous decline of 11.2 per cent.
Before yesterday's update, analysts had predicted pretax profits of between £240 million and £307 million for the six months to October 1.
However, some of the gloss was knocked off M&S's performance when fashion guru George Davies dramatically quit after talks over a contract extension broke down.
Mr Davies will step down in 12 months' time as consultant to the Per Una business he created.
The stumbling block is thought to have been salary and Mr Rose commented that "no relationship could continue at any price".
An M&S spokesman said: "We were exploring ways for George to continue to work with us, but found it impossible to come to an agreement."
Andrea White and Melanie Davies, finance director and head of merchandising at Per Una respectively, are also leaving.
Per Una accounts for only £350 million of sales a year compared to £8 billion for the whole M&S retail empire.
However, Seymour Pierce analyst Rhys Williams said: "It's a massive blow for M&S as we've been hearing that Per Una is one of its better sales areas in clothing. It's probably seeing high-teen sales growth at present.
"To lose not just George Davies but the entire top team is regrettable and is likely to have an impact in the near term."


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October 2016, Las Vegas
Skyscanner strategy and the shifting metasearch landscape
As rumours that Amazon Alexa could soon be launching in the UK surfaced last week, Pamela Whitby heard how new distribution channels like voice search and virtual assistants are changing the face of meta
Does travel metasearch drive more direct bookings for airlines, hotels or car rental firms? Is it really an alternative platform to Google and the big bad OTAs? OTA versus meta: is there really a difference?
Not everybody thinks so.
Dan Wacksman, Senior Vice President, Global Distribution, Outrigger Hotels and Resorts, argues that “metasearch cost-per-acquisition (CPA) is really just OTA” and that you should “only shift share to this channel when the numbers work”. He also doesn’t buy the argument that meta drives more direct bookings.
Of course, Wacksman has a point. In the early days, the standard metasearch model was for partners – hotels, OTAs, airlines and so on – to pay a cost-per-click. However, with the arrival of facilitated booking like TripAdvisor’s Instant Book, partners must now hand over a cut of the booking value.
Metasearch has undoubtedly become more mainstream, not to mention so successful that even Expedia is considering an IPO for Trivago which CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently told analysts “is now five times larger and the growth rates are 40% plus since we bought it”.
At the same time, hotels and airlines, not to mention other travel industry suppliers, are grappling with the rising number of distribution channels, among them apps, voice search and virtual assistants.
So is meta really just the big bad OTA wolf in a sheepskin coat and, if not, what exactly is the point of it in today’s rapidly shifting landscape?
For Shane Corstorphine, GM Americas, Skyscanner meta is absolutely not OTA in disguise.
“Our DNA today is as a platform, where thousands of partners can come in, rather than as an intermediary comparison site that arbitrages between Google or some other distribution channel and the partner.”
Hotels and airlines spend millions, if not billions, on their brands and on the experience and contact with the customer. It’s important that metasearch doesn’t interfere with that
Shane Corstorphine, GM Americas, Skyscanner
Unlike Amazon in the retail space, Skyscanner doesn’t want to own the customer, nor does it want to fulfill the booking. It sees itself as an alternative to other paid sources of distribution rather than an intermediary.
“Hotels and airlines spend millions, if not billions, on their brands and on the experience and contact with the customer and I think it’s important that metasearch doesn’t interfere with that,” Corstorphine says.
He adds that: “If the user is booking with Spirit, British Airways or whoever, then that must be absolutely clear.”
That’s all well and dandy, but if metasearch engines are willing to work with every partner under the sun, what does that mean for hotels and airlines? Without any checks and balances, it means that any OTA upstart can join the party and that isn’t always great news.
One hotelier, who preferred to remain anonymous, had this to say: “When we give room rates to our wholesale partners, they are supposed to bundle the rates with airfare and sell it as a package. What happens is that other sites, like Amoma, will buy the room rate from our wholesalers and sell it as a standalone room product at a lower rate than we are selling direct”.
In the airline business, where price is an even more important differentiator for consumers, it’s a similar tale of woe. One Middle Eastern airline told EyeforTravel that cheap travel OTA sites like GotoGate pose a similar problem for their business. Customers book with a site like this but when there is a customer service issue, the airline takes the rap, losing brand equity as a result. GotoGate’s travel terms and conditions are very clear and the message can be interpreted as: ‘Any problems, don’t come crying to us’.
Not only does this mean lost revenues, it also undermines trust of the consumer in the airline.
Skyscanner is aware of such practices and asks hotel and airline partners to raise the flag with them wherever possible.
“Our job is to provide search for users and to match them with the best product. But where price parity is being broken we will work hard with partners to try to resolve that issue,” says Corstorphine whose says their goal is not to frustrate hotel or airline partners.
As research shows, he says, more often than not users do like to book direct with airline or hotelier.
Clearly, there is a huge amount going on in metasearch strategically, and today it’s not just about bums on seats or heads on beds. According to Corstorphine, its role is becoming one of a platform to enable partners to rapidly access new distribution channels like app, voice or virtual assistants.
In this rapidly changing environment Skyscanner has been aggressively signing new partners (it’s currently in talks with about 50). One important strategic move last year was its partnership with British Airways (BA), the first airline to use IATA’s new distribution capability (NDC). The move allowed users in some countries to browse elements such as cabin details, baggage allowance and upgrade options on BA flights, and then book using Skyscanner’s facilitated booking tool.
At all times, however, says Corstorphine it is “entirely obvious” to the user that they are booking with BA.
Facilitated bookings should be ‘entirely obvious’
These B2B partnerships are a fast growing part of Skyscanner’s business and another ‘industry first’ of 2015 was the integration of its flight API into Alexa, Amazon’s cloud-based voice service.
Among other things Alexa lets users select a playlist, write the shopping list and search for flight information without having to touch a screen, and rumours are that it could soon launch in the UK. Not stopping at just the one travel partner, Amazon has also integrated Kayak’s API because, after all, it wants to connect with, not just a handful of partners, but the world.
Aside from apps, Skyscanner sees this rise of voice search and virtual assistants as growing trends that cannot be ignored.
Today Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana and Google Now are already a feature of most smartphones. And then you only have to look to how it’s taking off in China, where 20% of users booking via mobile have made at least one using voice search, for a glimpse into the future. In a recent MIT Technology Review Andrew Ng, chief scientist at search engine Baidu, and associate professor at Stanford, said that voice “may soon be reliable enough to be used for interacting with all sorts of devices”.
No such thing as a beautiful API
When booking a flight through Alexa, the user is not aware that Skyscanner is powering the back end and they don’t need to be.
This, argues Corstorphine, is the future of metasearch.“Our goal is to connect the user and the partner and to provide as little friction as possible in this process,” he says.
There is no such thing as a beautiful API in travel
If that sounds a little too easy, think again. “This is not a straightforward thing to do,” says Corstophine, adding that, “there is no such thing as a beautiful API in travel.”
Right now Skyscanner in the US is talking to about 50 different partners all of which are at different stages evolution funnel. As strong advocate of NDC, Skyscanner says that airline compliant partners (like BA) “can very quickly be integrated from a facilitated booking point of view”.
Where Skyscanner is also hoping to steal a march is in the ancillary arena; the upsell is a major focus for all travel suppliers “We need to be as good, if not better, at upselling ancillary offerings than we are at converting the hotel or flight,” says Corstophine.
This, again, cements his earlier point that meta is no longer just about direct conversions (heads on beds, bums on seats). With close to 1000 A-B tests running at any time, Skyscanner says that it can test at scale how to make the customer experience better in a way that hotel and airline partners often can’t. (Though they can’t really say the same about big OTA partners, which also have significant clout).
Something for hoteliers like Wacksman, who argue that you shouldn’t “be blinded by the argument that metasearch is driving more ‘direct’ bookings”, to sleep on?
Join the distribution debate at TDS North America (Oct 6-7) next month when Skyscanner, Outrigger and other big travel names will be sharing their insights into the future of this fast-growing sector.


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The bylaw requiring residents to wear a face covering in enclosed public spaces has caused a raging debate in the community.
However, the President & CEO of the Greater K-W Chamber of Commerce sees the bylaw as a positive for businesses in Waterloo Region who have been unsure of where to stand on the issue.
On Wednesday, Ian McLean appeared on the Mike Farwell Show on 570 NEWS to talk about how the bylaw offered clarity for business going forward. That it was of a more educational approach, rather than the region out to charge people for not following the rules.
"One thing that's really important is certainty, and I think that there was a lot of confusion around whether masks were going to be mandated or not, " he said, referencing Guelph and Wellington County establishing their own mask bylaw early on.
McLean says it also helps businesses avoid the conversation about why they are requiring customers to wear masks, by putting it onto the region.
"It allows them to be able to say, 'it's not my choice, or it's not what I have necessarily said, it's what the region has said.'"
He suspects that come Monday, there will be more people choosing to wear masks rather than continue to argue the matter. He says the best thing for the economy and local business is to help avoid a second wave of the coronavirus.
"Some people may not like it, but the bottom line is this. Do you want the economy to close down again? And I would argue, that there's no one that says that that's a good thing, and so the price for individuals and business, to make sure that doesn't happen, is to wear a mask."
The mandatory mask bylaw goes into effect on Monday.


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For the past four years, toy executives, designers, marketers, and tech experts at the Hasbro
Hasbro is revealing the result of that work today, with the release of a video showing the first competitive game of a sport they are calling Nerfball. The full game has been posted on the Hasbro website.
Hasbro hinted at its Nerfball project a year ago in a press release that said it had partnered with former NFL star, Donald Driver to launch an organized team sport. It teased that the new sport would combine the excitement of paintball with the speed and agility of basketball, but supplied no real details, and kept those details secret until now, requiring all athletes, potential licensing partners, and observers to sign non-disclosure agreements.
Hasbro recruited and trained college athletes to play an exhibition game last week in Florida in front of a select group of Hasbro executives and employees, athletes, and potential licensing partners.
Hasbro now is hoping the social-media popular athletes who played in that first game - including Driver and Nerf and blaster influencer Luke Goodman; high school basketball stars Kiyan Anthony and Isaiah Elohim; college basketball stars Trace Young, Meechie Johnson, Jada Williams, Hannah White, and Lyric Swann; college lacrosse stars Sofia Chepenik and Mitchell Pelke; college track and field stars Jessica Gardner and Dontavious Hill; and college softball star Maya Brady - will help make Nerfball go viral, with their Instagram and TikTok accounts.
Here is a link to a Nerf Instagram post about the game.
There aren’t any reliable stats on the size of the Nerf and blaster gamer community, but Nerf is one of Hasbro’s top brands. The company sold 26 million Nerf and Super Soaker products in the United States last year, and it has sold enough foam darts over the past five years to circle the globe four times.
Hasbro Unlocks Hit Detection
The news today contains another reveal that could excite the massive Nerf and blaster fan community even more. Hasbro is announcing it has solved something that has been a Holy Grail for blaster enthusiasts - hit detection. Nerfball is played with suits enabled with “smart foam” that registers when a player has been hit by a dart and can relay that information to a digital scoreboard.
“When they told me about the suits I was like ‘No way, that’s not possible’,” said Goodman, who is known for his popular Out of Darts videos that draw thousands of views on YouTube and TikTok.
Nerfball said Goodman, who played and coached in the exhibition game, “is easily the best competitive game mode that I’ve seen” for blaster play.
Hasbro is playing the long game with its Nerfball strategy. The general public will have little opportunity to play Nerfball in the immediate future, and there isn’t any related merchandise immediately available for sale. But Hasbro is hoping this is the start of what will be a long-term sports franchise with the potential for youth leagues, and perhaps even professional competition.
The company is also hoping Nerfball will keep youthful Nerf enthusiasts playing with Nerf products longer, win over new players, and eventually drive sales of lots and lots of Nerf products.
The goal is bigger than immediate toy sales, said Tim Kilpin, president of Toys, Licensing, and Entertainment at Hasbro, in an exclusive interview.
“It’s about building that connectivity with the brand for a broader array of fans over a longer period of time,” Kilpin said. Creating those connections can pay dividends - and sell products - for years to come, he said.
Hasbro executives have been envisioning a bigger future for the 54-year-old Nerf brand for some time, and have done licensing deals with action park and theme park operators and explored possible Nerf-themed TV shows. But they now view Nerfball as one of their best ideas to grow the brand.
“We always felt we could build a sport that would work well for the youngest consumer, but was intended to keep that older consumer in the Nerf brand and give him a reason to stay and compete throughout their teens and 20s and 30,” Adam Kleinman, senior vice president and general manager for Nerf at Hasbro, said in an interview before the announcement.
Kleinman, said, they had two separate but complimentary goals before creating Nerfball. One was to master hit detection, the second was to invent a sport.
Smart Foam Tech In Nerfball Suits
Nerf partnered with Utah-based company XO-NANO, which makes smart foam that can register impacts, to create Nerfball uniforms that know when a dart hits a foam pad, and can send that information to a scoreboard.
When the Nerf team began developing the game, they drew inspiration from traditional sports as well as video games, and took their mission as seriously as if they were James Naismith creating the first game of basketball.
The guiding principles when the Nerf team set out to create a sport, Kleinman said, were it had to be “really fun to play,” and in this age of social media and YouTube videos, also “really fun to watch.”
They also wanted a modern sport with short games for shorter attention spans by viewers.
“We live in a world of much more short-form content,” Kleinman said. “So creating a sport that was two, three or four hours to play didn’t feel like a modern approach to sport,” he said.
Short-Attention Span Sports
Nerfball is played in four, four-minute quarters. With timeouts and breaks the entire game takes between 30 and 45 minutes.
The development team decided that a core element in any popular sport is a ball, or an object that gets moved toward a goal and that viewers can focus on as they watch the game.
They came up with a ball that can be kicked or thrown while the players also are shooting Nerf darts or running for cover to avoid being hit by opponents.
Players who are hit are out of the game until they run to the opposite end of the field and “respawn” – video gaming lingo for re-entering a game after being hit.
Hasbro plans to give the general public a chance to play the game starting next year, at the NERF Action Xperience, an indoor sports park at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J.
Hasbro also plans to sell equipment Nerf fans can use to play the game at home, in their backyards. It plans to announce additional details about how to purchase Nerfball gear soon, and future players can sign up for updates on the hasbropulse.com/nerfball site.
Official Nerfball is played using a Nerf Pro Stryfe X blaster, Nerf Pro Darts, inflatable barriers to use as cover while shooting, and a special Nerf Pro League ball. Players score one point every time they hit an opposing partner with a dart, and six points when they throw the ball into a net on the field.
Hasbro also created an official rulebook for the sport spelling out details like the preferred size of the field (155 feet by 85 feet), the length of the game (four 4-minute quarters), and how many darts a player can use (60 per quarter).
The rulebook recommends two teams of five players, but in the first exhibition game, each team had six players in addition to a player/coach who could sub in for other players, as well as an assistant coach who manages substitutions and gameplay while the coach is playing.
Driver, after playing in the exhibition game, said via email that players of all types and abilities can play Nerfball. “You don’t need the strenuous athleticism,” he said. “You just need the desire to have fun and compete.”
“There’s no denying that Nerfball can be a competitive sport,” Driver said. “It truly allows you to use different types of tools, social skills, physical development, confidence, and teamwork.”


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It's a contrarian view to consider Apple a manufacturer and not a tech company. But as we've argued, how else to describe the world's most valuable brand? Last year Apple spent about $50 billion with U.S.-based suppliers and manufacturers to build its suite of technology products. By any measure, a company that invests $50 billion in the domestic supply-chain is an American OEM.
For its part, Apple has avoided the "manufacturer" label. And who can blame 'em? Keeping its factories offshore has worked in Apple's favor in two big ways: keeping 700,000-plus "employees" outsourced and ensconced in offshore factories keeps labor costs down and working conditions obscured behind an "Asian Wall." It also enables the company to call itself a technology company versus the dirty-and-dying image associated with manufacturing.
We play along with this curious reasoning, because, well, who cares? We love a winner and Apple's certainly that.
But what if Apple had made more of an investment in American manufacturing early on? I quoted Harold Meyerson earlier this year, who wrote, "If those 700,000 were employed directly by Apple, of course, then Apple would be the world's largest manufacturer." What if billions in cash holdings had been invested in training, in apprenticeships, in factories, in resources to develop a more capable supply chain? What if Apple had wrapped itself in America's industrial legacy, instead?
Last week the company signaled plans to do just that.
Yes, a small percentage of Apple's $350 billion repatriation of cash and services will be invested in manufacturing infrastructure. But the company's stated intentions matter to U.S. manufacturing.
Contrast this with news emanating from Molson Coors.
With a blog post titled "Brewery Taproom Visits Dragging Down Sales at the Corner Bar," the company proclaimed, "As the number of local taprooms and brew pubs continues to grow, so does the number of legal-age drinkers bypassing their traditional neighborhood bars."
Further, "Total on-premise traffic fell 3.6 percent in 2017, according to data analyzed by MillerCoors. Even more troublesome: In five major U.S. cities (Denver, San Diego, Seattle, Phoenix, and Detroit), between 79 percent and 82 percent of consumers did not visit a bar following a trip to a tasting room, the data show."
Huh? Today the corner bar is a craft taproom. Where has Molly Ballash, the MillerCoors category development manager for on-premise, been the past few years? "Our bar partners are missing out on high-volume occasions like dinner and happy hour."
If Molson Coors' bar partners were today the craft breweries dazzling the sector, the company would be leading from the front. Its choice instead has been to diminish the entrepreneurs inspiring a new generation of beer drinkers, work to hamstring craft's tenuous distribution channels, and otherwise act like an out-of-touch legacy brand.
Like Apple, Molson Coors also has a choice. It could develop the Coors Craft Fund and award one deserving, early-stage brewery cash and resources. It could graciously return compliments from craft operators who admire the consistent excellence of its iconic pilsner, Coors Banquet Beer, and respect its outstanding malting operation and supply chain acumen.
Apple has decided to take America's shiny new manufacturing sector out for a test drive. Molson Coors could do the same by supporting its worthy beer-making heirs.
The time is now.
Bart Taylor is publisher of CompanyWeek. Contact him at email@example.com.


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Khalid Itum, who was promoted to a top role at MoviePass in December, is leaving the long-struggling ticketing service as it ramps up its film-production operation.
14 Mar, 2019FORTUNE.COM
MoviePass just lost another member.
Khalid Itum, executive vice president of the long-struggling movie-ticketing service, announced he was stepping down after just three months in the position, according to The Wrap. Itum had been handling the company’s day-to-day operations, which will now be overseen by company CEO Mitch Lowe.
“MoviePass has moved in a new strategic direction, and will be refocusing our business model to create a more closely connected relationship between our subscription service and original content production unit, MoviePass Films,” the company said in a statement, adding that Itum had left to “pursue his entrepreneurial and travel pursuits.”
The company is angling to move further into film production, having co-financed or released such films as last year’s John Travolta-led crime-biopic Gotti. The company currently has movies in the works starring Mel Gibson and Al Pacino, among others.
The news of Itum’s departure comes the same week in which MoviePass owner Helios & Matheson revised the company’s 2018 financial statement, noting it had lost millions more than originally reported. MoviePass, which allows users to pay a monthly fee for movie attendance, has been plagued with problems, from customer-service complaints to sheer confusion over its pricing plans. After rumors of bankruptcy last year, it received an additional $65 million in funding.


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For Windows Insiders wanting to perform a clean install of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update there is a new ISO available. Build 16251 is now available as a ISO download, it’s a relative new release as it was only released to the fast ring two weeks ago and to the slow ring last week.
This build introduced the new Android and iOS Continue on a PC option enabling you to start browsing on your phone and then continue on your PC. It also has new Cortana options, new reboot options and Microsoft Edge improvements.
You can read the full release notes on my blog post and here is my hands on video with Windows 10 Fall Creators Update build 16251: