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The solar energy sector is seeing many advances both in the products it makes and in the way they are made.
JinkoSolar, which claims to be the world’s largest solar photovoltaics manufacturer, says it has set a new record for solar cell efficiency.
And it has achieved this through “new applications of cutting-edge technology such as IoT devices, intelligent mobile devices, and mobile robots to its manufacturing process”.
JinkoSolar makes a new type of solar cell called a “p-type monocrystalline perc solar cell”.
Perc stands for passivated emitter and rear cell, and it’s said to be different from the standard solar cells which have been in use for the past three decades, according to an explanation on Aleo Solar.
JinkoSolar says this new type of solar cell is capable of 23.45 per cent efficiency, beating its own previous record of 22.78 per cent.
The company says the breakthrough was made possible by “innovative applications”, which allowed it to:
- consolidate data collection;
- enable yield traceability;
- improve workflow efficiency; and
- optimize material transportation.
All these things ultimately allowed JinkoSolar to “continuously enhance its fab operating efficiency”, says the company.
JinkoSolar says it has further integrated functions such as advanced data analytics, smart diagnostics, self-reporting, and precise forecasting, with its operational know-how.
The integration has revolutionized its fab operations from “automated” to “intelligent”, allowing the company to achieve greater efficiency, flexibility, and quality, maximize cost-effectiveness, and accelerate overall innovation.
Through agile and intelligent operations, JinkoSolar continues its drive towards manufacturing excellence.
The company says its “agile operation system” has integrated demand and capacity modeling, lean manufacturing, and lot dispatching and scheduling, all of which provides short cycle time, stable manufacturing and on-time delivery.
The system also provides greater flexibility to quickly support customers’ urgent pull-in requests, says the company.
Kangping Chen, CEO of JinkoSolar, says: “World records have been shattered again and again at JinkoSolar as the company has broken five world records in cell and module efficiency just this year.
“Now with the assistance of intelligent manufacturing, we can translate these world record learnings into mass production, which will undoubtedly make a big splash in the market.
“As the world’s largest solar PV company, JinkoSolar has mastered its physical production processes and products.
“However, JinkoSolar has not stopped pioneering evident in the successful development and implementation of its own digitalization strategy.
“Effective introduction and implementation of smart manufacturing will help JinkoSolar further improve its production flows.
“Excellent technological know-how, manufacturing capacity, and customer loyalty that build on them are the foundation of JinkoSolar current success. Data-driven innovations will be the foundation of its future success.”
Blocking out the sun
While JinkoSolar congratulates itself for its achievements, one of its main competitors is making similar advances in automation, and is looking to overtake the company.
Tongwei, which recently unveiled what it claims is the “world’s first” unmanned, fully automated monocrystalline solar cell production line, is already said to be the fourth-largest solar cell manufacturer.
However, if its plan to produce a new type of high-efficiency solar cell pays off, Tongwei will become the world’s largest solar cell manufacturer by far, according to an article Elektrek.co.
As you might have guessed, a solar module is a collection of solar cells. And “module” can mean the same thing as “panel”, apparently.
So, while JinkoSolar and Tongwei attempt to block each other’s sunlight while they argue over who’s the biggest, below is a list of the largest solar module companies in the world, courtesy of PV-Tech.org.
Top 10 solar module suppliers in 2016
- Trina Solar
- Canadian Solar
- Hanwha Q-Cells
- JA Solar
- First Solar
- Yingli Green
PV-Tech.org also lists the top 10 solar cell manufacturers, along with a whole load of other data and information about the solar cell and module manufacturing industry in its PV Manufacturing & Technology Quarterly report.
Robots used in solar manufacturing
According to Photonics.com, there are four stages of solar power systems manufacturing in which robotic automation is increasingly being introduced:
- silicon ingot;
- silicon wafer;
- solar cell; and
- solar module.
This is a basic breakdown and there are of course many other details required to build up a complete picture.
For example, a variety of robot types are used, including delta, scara, cartesian, and robotic arms.
One well-known robot company which has specifically targeted the solar photovoltaic market is ABB (main picture).
The company says its photovoltaic industry-ready robots cover a wide range of applications in the solar power industry.
They include high-speed compact robots for the handling of wafers and solar cells, as well as large robots that can reach more than three meters to handle major components such as solar modules, says the company.
These robots are available with clean room specifications, which they would have to be for some of the aspects of solar power manufacturing process.
A wide range of other robots from other manufacturers also have clean room specifications, and are capable of solar power manufacturing work.


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PRAIRIE GROVE, Ark. (KNWA) — Anyone looking for one-of-a-kind finds is urged to get their family and friends and go The Junk Ranch.
The Junk Ranch is happening on 35-acres on Centerpoint Church Road Prairie Grove Friday and Saturday, Oct. 4 and 5, and everyone is invited.
Vendors will be on selling vintage, antique, handmade and re-purposed items including jewelry and salvage items.
Bands will be playing during the event.
The event will end 5 p.m. Saturday.

domain: news


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After a particularly rough patch following its 2011 IPO, Zynga Inc (ZNGA, Financial) has managed to stabilize as a company and become a leading player in mobile gaming with a management strategy based on a combination of solid in-house game development and pertinent strategic acquisitions.
The past few months have been mixed for the company. While the lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in increased game time and significant growth in in-app purchases, it also resulted in advertisers slashing budgets, which affected ad revenues. Also, Apple's new policy to curb access to users' unique Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) could have a long-term impact in terms of the company's revenues.
However, the management has dealt with the situation very well, in my view, and has carried out key gaming studio acquisitions over the past few months such as Peak and Rollic.
Zynga is a U.S.-based company that is a global leader in interactive gaming on mobile platforms. The company is known to develop and market many games on both the iOS and Android operating systems, as well as social networking sites such as Facebook (FB) and Snapchat.
Founded in 2007, Zynga has its headquarters in San Francisco, California with offices in Canada, U.K., Ireland, India, Turkey, and Finland. It employs close to 1,981 people and its games are played in around 150 countries all over the world.
The company's core revenue streams are through in-app purchases of virtual goods, advertising revenues and paid game downloads. The company has a vast gaming portfolio which includes games like Zynga Poker, Words With Friends, Empires & Allies, Farmville, Mafia Wars, CSR Racing, Toon Blast and Merge Magic.
Inorganic growth strategy
Zynga has made a series of acquisitions over the past few years as the management has pursued a strategy relying on a mix of inorganic growth and strong in-house game development to keep the company growing in a rapidly evolving gaming industry. Some of the key acquisitions by Zynga in the past few years include names like Small Giant Games for $560 million, Gram Games for $250 million and NaturalMotion for $527 million.
The management has slowly gained confidence from these smaller acquisitions and has gone on to do the biggest deal in Zynga's history by acquiring Istanbul-based game developer Peak for $1.8 billion earlier this year. The company financed this massive acquisition through $900 million in cash and $900 million in stock. It is worth mentioning that Zynga had already bought Peak's casual card game studio in 2017 for $100 million.
With Peak coming in, the company has added Toy Blast and Toon Blast to its portfolio of games and an additional 12 million daily active users, increasing its base by more than 60% while helping Zynga expand its international reach.
After acquiring Peak, the company moved on to its next Turkish acquisition when it acquired Istanbul-based Rollic, a fast-growing hyper-casual mobile game company, paying $168 million for 80% of the company. Rollic's games have more than 250 million downloads and its acquisition has resulted in Zynga's entry into the hyper-casual gaming category. Rollic will add another 5 million mobile daily active users and 65 million monthly active users.
Despite a base of only 100 employees, this high level of daily active users is truly phenomenal, and Rollic's games could generate excellent ad revenues for the company. Zynga is being a bit cautious in its approach to acquire Rollic and intends to acquire the remaining balance of 20% in the company in installments at valuations based on specific profitability goals for Rollic.
Zynga recently delivered a fantastic quarterly result with record bookings. The key acquisition of Peak games boosted its top-line and its daily active users. The company reported bookings of $518 million, above the management guidance of $500 million provided in early May 2020. The revenues also managed to beat the analyst consensus estimates of $504.59 million by a significant margin and were driven by significant growth in mobile revenues.
Mobile revenue and bookings accounted for 96% of the total top-line of the company. The management continues to be optimistic regarding third-quarter bookings and has provided guidance of $620 million resulting from the addition of Toon Blast and Toy Blast after the Peak acquisitions whereas the analyst consensus estimate is also close at around $615.72 million.
The company also reported a rise in profitability, with its earnings per share (EPS) at 10 cents, which was above the analyst consensus estimate of 8 cents.
The disappointment came in the form of the performance of the advertising revenues, as mentioned above. Apple's new policy is bound to hit the advertising revenues of all app-based advertisers on the iOS store.
As we can see in the above chart, Zynga's stock has had a strong run over the past six months and has appreciated by as much as 29%. One of the biggest factors that is helping the company survive and grow well despite competition from the likes of Activision Blizzard (ATVI, Financial) and Electronic Arts (EA, Financial) is its constantly growing portfolio of games.
Zynga already has Farmville 3, Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells and Puzzle Combat in the soft launch phase and is integrating and expanding popular brands within its live services such as Fast & Furious in CSR2 and Rick and Morty in Merge Dragons. The acquisitions of Peak and Rollic have also added some big names to its portfolio. The management expects to start releasing new games in the latter half of 2020 which are all expected to scale with time and add to its daily active users.
Given these promising new launches and additions to its portfolio through acquisitions, I think Zynga is well on track for continuing active user growth in the future.
Disclosure: No positions.
Read more here:
- Square: Helping Merchants Weather the Storm
- Zendesk: No Reason to Be Disappointed
- VeriSign: A Market Leading Cash Cow
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£120,000 crowdfunding campaign to help healthy food firm expand
A Leeds food production and delivery business has launched an online crowdfunding drive to take its model to workplaces across the UK.
Lean Lunch, which delivers chef-made dishes by bike to hundreds of time-poor workers across Leeds, wants to raise £120,000.
The company, which was set up in 2017, explained it has been targeting workers who are looking for a healthier, tastier alternative to sandwich and crisps meal deals.
It stresses that while it has seen heavy demand from individual customers, 70% of its sales come from b... You can carry on reading TheBusinessDesk.com for free, but you have reached the maximum number of pages an unregistered user can view. To register for an account, click here or login below...


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In a look back at traditional pay-TV practices, the service requires a two-year contract, with packages starting at $ 59.99 a month for about 70 channels. After the first year, the price bumps up to $ 93 a month. Eligible customers can pack AT&T Internet service and TV from $ 89.99 a month for the first year of the contract.
"Not that big a difference," said Walt Piecyk, an independent telecom analyst. AT&T will not undermine competition prices, but it fits with the strategy. The company's priority is to reduce debt, and it has been willing to lose customers if they are unprofitable.
"It should come as no surprise to investors that AT&T is not going to be a price leader in the market," he said.
Multiple TV boxes cost $ 1
AT&T says it will waive an unlimited $ 30 monthly data fee for subscribers who pack the TV service with AT&T broadband. Like Comcast Corp. and some other broadband providers, use AT&T data. AT&T customers at lower-level plans are limited to 1 terabyte of data per month. The penalty for exceeding this ceiling is $ 10 for each additional 50 gigabytes.
"This is a pilot program," said Chip Wilson, a spokesman for AT&T. "We want to gather input from customers and find out what works or what doesn't."
Scott Moritz, Bloomberg


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Equities analysts expect Lithia Motors Inc (NYSE:LAD) to announce $2.91 earnings per share for the current quarter, according to Zacks Investment Research. Three analysts have provided estimates for Lithia Motors’ earnings, with the lowest EPS estimate coming in at $2.62 and the highest estimate coming in at $3.22. Lithia Motors reported earnings of $2.52 per share during the same quarter last year, which would indicate a positive year over year growth rate of 15.5%. The firm is expected to announce its next quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th.
On average, analysts expect that Lithia Motors will report full year earnings of $11.15 per share for the current financial year, with EPS estimates ranging from $10.71 to $11.76. For the next year, analysts expect that the company will report earnings of $11.72 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $11.00 to $12.75. Zacks Investment Research’s earnings per share calculations are an average based on a survey of research analysts that that provide coverage for Lithia Motors.
Lithia Motors (NYSE:LAD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.86 billion. Lithia Motors had a net margin of 2.25% and a return on equity of 20.68%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.07 earnings per share.
In related news, Director Sidney B. Deboer sold 15,433 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.00, for a total value of $1,759,362.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,144 shares in the company, valued at $1,270,416. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.21% of the company’s stock.
A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Harfst & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Lithia Motors by 3.4% in the first quarter. Harfst & Associates Inc. now owns 4,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund grew its holdings in Lithia Motors by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund now owns 14,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,125,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Lithia Motors by 1.8% in the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 8,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $809,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Mason Street Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Lithia Motors by 2.6% in the first quarter. Mason Street Advisors LLC now owns 7,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $666,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Lithia Motors by 100.5% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period.
Shares of LAD stock opened at $118.78 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 11.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $116.42. Lithia Motors has a fifty-two week low of $67.90 and a fifty-two week high of $121.96.
Lithia Motors Company Profile
Lithia Motors, Inc operates automotive franchises, and retails new and used vehicles in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Domestic, Import, and Luxury. It sells new and used cars, replacement parts, vehicle service contracts, vehicle protection products, and credit insurance products; provides vehicle maintenance, warranty, paint, and repair services; and arranges related financing.
For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com
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The Chinese smartphone makers are on a launch spree; the latest addition to the lot being OPPO’s A92, which was announced by the company on May 4. After having recently announced A52, the Chinese electronics manufacturer has laid out OPPO A92 in a mid-range budget. OPPO has previously launched multiple A-series smartphones such as A12, A92, A52 and others. Amidst such critical times, the new launches do bring the much-needed excitement.
Here is everything you need to know about OPPO’s new device on the block:
Competitive display and viable features
The new OPPO phone is moderately sleek and weighs 192g with dimensions of 162x 75.5 x 8.9 mm. The device offers a stunning 6.5-inch wide FULL HD+ TFT-LCD display with 2400*1080 pixels and a screen-to-body ratio of 90.5 per cent. In the mid-range segment, this screen size is a great deal to grab.
Among other features, OPPO A92 offers the standard side-mounted fingerprint sensor, a 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio, Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5, GPS/GLONASS, and USB Type-C support.
Fair processor and adequate storage
Speaking of the processor, OPPO A92 does a fair job. Even though it is powered by the two-year-old Octa-Core Snapdragon 665 11nm with Adreno 610 GPU, consumers can rest assured that the processor will provide hours of smooth, uninterrupted usage. The smartphone offers 8GB RAM with 128GB internal storage, externally expandable up to 256GB through a microSD card. Thus, on the storage front, there is no disappointment for the patrons.
Additional Read:- OPPO A12 with 6.2-inch Waterdrop Screen & 4230mAh Battery Announced
Marvel camera and strong battery
To focus on the camera of OPPO A92, the smartphone maker has done justice by providing a marvel quad-camera setup with a 48MP primary sensor (an f/1.7 aperture), an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera (f/2.2 aperture), another 2MP depth sensor (f/2.4 aperture) and a 2MP macro camera (f/2.4 aperture). For selfie lovers, there is a 16MP front camera lens with an f/2.0 aperture. With such astounding and affordable camera quality, OPPO A92 might be able to win consumers in no time. Another attractive feature of the phone is the power-pack 5000mAh battery with 18W charging. A sure buy!
Novel colours and affordable pricing
The new smart device is being offered in the polar region inspired colours, namely twilight black, aurora purple and stream white. With the starting price being 1199 Malaysian Ringgit (approximately INR 21,000), it is highly likely that OPPO A92 will attract consumers easily in the market.
Additional Read:- OPPO A31 with 4230 mAh Battery Launched – Check out its Price and Specs
As of now, the smartphone has only been launched in Malaysia with no official announcement of its global launch being made yet. However, the unveiling of OPPO A92’s Indian counterpart is expected to happen anytime soon. You can be financially prepared to be one of the first buyers of the phone. Tata Capital consumer durable loans allow you to borrow up to Rs 5 lakh to satisfy the gadget lover in you.


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TICKETS JUST RELEASED!
Charlotte, NC – TICKETS JUST RELEASED for the WIDESPREAD PANIC concert coming to Charlotte New Year’s Eve at Time Warner Cable Arena. Tickets are on sale now at Live Nation, the Time Warner Cable Arena box office, Ticketmaster or charge by phone 800-745-3000. This is a food drive event.
About Widespread Panic:
Widespread Panic believes that art education, and in particular music education, is integral to the overall education and advancement of children. Art allows for personal expression, appreciation of ideas, celebration of cultural awareness, sharing emotions, and gives purpose to life. Widespread Panic agrees with research findings that art education supports more traditional academic subjects as well as being a worthy pursuit in its own right.
For more information visit Widespread Panic.
About Live Nation Entertainment:
Live Nation Entertainment is the world’s leading live entertainment and ecommerce company, comprised of four market leaders: Ticketmaster.com, Live Nation Concerts, Front Line Management Group and Live Nation Network. Ticketmaster.com is the global event ticketing leader and one of the world’s top five ecommerce sites, with almost 27 million monthly unique visitors. Live Nation Concerts produces over 22,000 shows annually for more than 2,300 artists globally. Front Line is the world’s top artist management company, representing over 250 artists. These businesses power Live Nation Network, the leading provider of entertainment marketing solutions, enabling nearly 800 advertisers to tap into the 200 million consumers Live Nation delivers annually through its live event and digital platforms.
For additional information, visit Live Nation.


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It’s almost summer and Starbucks is ready with some new seasonal menu items. The chain has added a new pink drink – the Iced Guava Passionfruit Drink. The very Instagrammable beverage combines the flavors of guava, passionfruit, pineapple, and ginger and is hand-shaken with coconut milk and ice. Say hello to the new Iced Guava […]
Time for some more music news!
High school seniors have missed out on traditions like prom and graduation this year, but Pizza Hut is hoping to cheer these grads up with some free pizza. They’re teaming up with America’s dairy farmers to give away half a million pies to 2020 high school graduates. To get in on the freebie, members of […]
New Music Friday!! Back to back to back weeks built for POP music, and this week is probably the best we’ve had in months, with so many new songs to know. Starting with the big release and the massive collaboration from two powerhouses – Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande. “Rain On Me” taps into the […]
More Music News!!!!


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There's good news for all the Google Realtime Search fans, the service is soon coming back. This time around, though it will incorporate data from Google+ in addition to that other social networks, as reported by Mashable.
At a search panel in Mountain View, California, Google's Amit Singhal announced, when asked about reviving the service, that Google is “actively working” on breathing back life into the service. However this time, in stead of using Twitter data for generating realtime feeds, it is signaled that Google is experimenting with opting for data from Google+ mainly, amongst other sources.
As most of us know, Realtime Search offered a reliable method for delivering realtime data from various social networks like, Twitter, Facebook etc. So, whenever a major world event news made a headline, like the Royal Wedding or Osama Bin Laden's death, Google Search would display posts taken from Twitter and facebook to note people's reaction to these crucial world events. So, why was it taken down? Mr. Singhal clarifies the reason behind the Realtime Search discontinuation “The value the product was providing was not enough,”.
Whilst it sounds reasonable reason to take the service down, it can be questioned, as to why is it that soon after the success of Google+ , it is deciding to bring back the Realtime Search service? Like most Google services, this too will feature on its front page, does it not sound like Google is favoring it's own content over others?
Also, along with this attempt, Google is currently working on developing an internal search for it's social network, Google+. This feature will allow the users to browse through the stream of rather engaging public posts as further indicated by Amit, when probed about its absence from the social network currently, to which he responded “We are on it”.


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Sky High Ocean Freight Rates From Asia Attract Government Scrutiny
Ocean carriers have been skipping sailings to shore up their bottom line during the virus-induced downturn in manufacturing and consumer demand. Tactical blank sailings combined with record breaking rate spikes in the trans-Pacific trade have increased carrier profitability now that manufacturing and demand are coming back online. Decreased capacity and increased rates are helping ocean carriers recover at the expense of the global economy while suppliers struggle to meet pent up consumer demand. Government regulators have begun to exert pressure on ocean carriers to restore capacity and restrict rate increases. It has been customary to blank sailings during the Chinese Golden Week holiday, however the threat of intervention will surely impact carrier cost manipulations and capacity decisions.
Read more about this trend at:
(Photo credit: OOCL)
Walmart And Amazon Drones Battle For Last-Mile Delivery Supremacy
Walmart and Amazon are engaged in a war of delivery drones. Although Amazon may be the largest e-commerce retailer, Walmart may have a structural edge enabling them to deliver groceries and household items by drone more quickly. Both players introduced short-range drones to transport small packages up to 5 pounds. According to Amazon, about 90% of products they sell weigh under 5 pounds.
Walmart claims they have a store within 10 miles of 90% of Americans. Amazon, by contrast, delivers from its fulfillment centers, usually located near major cities. That gives Walmart an edge until Amazon ramps up their rural presence.
Meanwhile, Amazon has patented a futuristic Jetson-style idea for distribution towers that look like beehives. The towers would function as fulfillment centers with landing pads for delivery drones, strategically located near high-density residential towers.
The current need for social distancing has accelerated a paradigm shift from brick-and-mortar stores to online shopping with contact-free delivery.
Read more about the drone war between Walmart and Amazon at:
(Photo credit: Amazon, via FreightWaves, and Walmart, via FreightWaves)
The Largest Energy Project In Canadian History Requires Import Of 1 Million Tons Of Oversized Construction Equipment
Shipments of massive excavators for the $40 billion LNG Canada energy project are shipped on board roll on/roll off ships to the Port of Tacoma, Washington. The equipment is driven on and off the ships via an enormous ramp with under-deck access. After arrival in Tacoma, they are hauled to Kitimat, BC for construction of the LNG facility and a 420 mile pipeline. The removable goose-neck trailers are fitted with 7 to 9 axles because transport is restricted to 34,000 lbs per axle most of the year. In snow and freeze/thaw conditions, the trailers are upgraded to 10-12 axles to redistribute the weight of the heaviest equipment.
Read more about this project’s complex logistics at:
(Image: Spruce Hollow Heavy Haul moves an excavator from Port of Tacoma to Kitimat, BC, on a 9-axle rig. Photo credit: Spruce Hollow Heavy Haul.)
Airlines Retrofit Passenger Aircraft To Handle Cargo
Cathay Pacific supplements their cargo capacity and cuts some of their losses related to the pandemic by removing economy seats from Boeing 777 planes to transport more medical supplies, PPE and other critical shipments. They are required to keep the front and rear seat rows in place to protect the aircraft from cargo that could shift due to turbulence. Cargo is placed in fire-retardant bags because passenger cabins aren’t equipped with fire-suppression systems. The airline follows in the footsteps of Air Canada and Lufthansa who have reconfigured some passenger planes for cargo.
Read more about this trend at:
(Image Credit: Cathay Pacific)
Drone Delivery System Aims to Make Mid-Size Retail Chains Competitive With E-Commerce Giants
Deuce Drone announced a test of their last mile delivery system which is intended to make delivery directly from stores to consumers faster and more affordable. Rouses Market, which operates 64 grocery stores in the south, has partnered with Deuce Drone to test a same day delivery system by drones in order to make last mile delivery faster and less costly than vans, so they can compete with Amazon.
(Image courtesy of: Commercial Drone Professional of Deuce Drone)
New Drone System Developed For Long Distance Delivery
Civil drone operators are currently restricted to line-of-sight operation of one drone at a time to avoid collisions. Satellite operator, Inmarsat Group Holdings, has partnered with Altitude Angel LTD to operate drones over long distances safely by integrating a backup satellite connection for areas with no land-based communications . If they can prove safe operation to regulators, fleets of remotely operated drones could be deployed to transport tons of goods. Read more about this development at:
Read more about this development at:
(Photo Credit: Chip Chipman/Bloomberg News)
Drone Manufacturer Asks FAA To Approve Unmanned Medical Supply Flights In Response To Pandemic
Zipline is offering to setup a drone-based supply chain across the US for distribution of emergency supplies such as medicine, PPE gear, test kits and even blood to ease supply chain blockages. The drones are launched by catapult and recovered by an arrestor system. The company has been operating the drones to deliver emergency medical supplies to remote locations in Africa for several years. Medical supplies are dropped by parachute to healthcare workers and rushed to areas suffering severe shortages.
(Photo credit: From Zipline via AOPA:
Manufacturers Who Cut Inventories And Profit Margins To The Bone Are The Most Vulnerable To The Current Crisis
In order for western manufacturers to remain competitive, many components are sourced from China. When China delays manufacturing, western manufacturers’ ability to finish their products and deliver them to market is impeded. To compound that problem, inventories are typically stockpiled for just 15-30 days due to cost-saving inventory management methods such as “just in time delivery”. That spells double trouble for manufacturers and consumers alike.
Read more about how the current crisis is impacting global supply chains at:
(Photo credit: Julius Silver)
Trade Continues Despite US Border Closures with Canada and Mexico
Recent announcements of US border closures with Canada and Mexico state that the borders remain open for trade. Canada’s Transport Minister Marc Garneau explained that truck drivers, train and airline crews are exempt from the restrictions.
Read more about the border closures at: https://www.ttnews.com/articles/us-canada-agree-close-border-remain-open-trade
(Photo credit:Trucks on the road. (John Sommers II for Transport Topics)
Passenger Travel Ban From Europe Causes Severe Disruption Of Air Freight Industry
Some US importers are unaware that the travel ban for passenger flights from Europe will impact their air cargo shipments. The reality is that over 60% of air cargo is carried by passenger aircraft. As a result of the travel ban from Europe to the US, shippers are competing for space on a handful of freighter aircraft, pushing up rates, delaying cargo and diverting traffic through non-European airlines.


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Tag Archive: Coney Island Brewing Co.
•After a challenging first quarter, Boston Beer showed signs of recovery in its second quarter ended in June, posting a revenue rise of 1% to $247.9 million on the same period last year. Continue reading →Posted in News on July 31, 2017
•Vermont’s The Traveler Beer Company—a subsidiary of Boston Beer Co.—is releasing Aloha Traveler Pineapple Shandy as its latest limited edition offering. Continue reading →Posted in News on January 10, 2017
•Bushmills owner Casa Cuervo has unveiled plans for a £30 million ($45m) expansion of the Irish whiskey’s distillery in County Antrim that will effectively double production capacity. Continue reading →Posted in News on December 14, 2015


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How decor queen Cath Kidston made her fortune, and top tips for a seamless bathroom renovation.
Did you know this storage device can do much more? Marchelle Abrahams investigates...
From rose-print mugs to polka dot tablecloths, her brand has gained her a legion of fans across the globe.
Cape Town based sanware specification specialist Sandy Warner and go-to-architect Robyn Connors provide valuable insight into creating your dream bathroom this festive season.
Domestic boreholes are the most recent addition to the growing eco-friendly and energy-efficient property trend.
Drinking glasses could contain potentially harmful levels of the metals lead and cadmium, a study has found.


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7/14/2008 12:36:00 PM
Second system crash hits 3G iPhone
Another wave of complaints has been levelled against the 3G iPhone after customers able to purchase the device were left unable to activate it when they got back home.
While the iconic handset appears to have been a big hit so far in terms of the demand it has generated, that success has been undermined by two large system failures, for which O2 and Apple are accountable respectively.
The latest problem occurred when customers attempted to use Apple’s activation system, which involved registering the phone through their iTunes program. The crash reportedly occurred because the system folded as worldwide users attempted to negotiate the process at the same time.
That hitch followed problems in stores on launch day, when O2’s credit check system collapsed under the weight of demand, leaving staff to have to process orders manually.
Technology chat rooms were filled with complaints about the latest system crash. One poster on engadget.com said:
‘Was this Apple arrogance or incompetence? Or both? Truly an unacceptable business decision by all Apple execs. If Microsoft and RIM are not our today filming a commercial for their software and phones, respectively, then they are even more incompetent than Apple.’
Apple was unavailable for comment.


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BRISBANE, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance today announced it is investing over USD$2.5 million in TravelbyBit, the Australian startup responsible for facilitating the world’s first digital currency-friendly airport in Brisbane. The cryptocurrency powerhouse will work with TravelbyBit to introduce a global point-of-sale (POS) payment system, incorporating blockchain technology into major airports around the world.
Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, said:
“Real, on-the-ground, just-when-you-need-it use case is key for further crypto adoption. In this light, there is no better fit than being able to use your crypto when travelling, just after you land in a foreign country, where you may not have the local currency.
“Look for TravelbyBit and put your coins (hopefully the Binance Coin or BNB) to use. Let’s start with airports and go from there.
“Long term, TravelbyBit shares our vision and values, and we are excited to work together with them to bring a blockchain-enabled economy.”
In 2018, Binance became the fastest company ever to hit a valuation of USD$1 billion. Over the course of this year, it expects to net as much as USD$1 billion in revenue, as well as add to their already impressive base of 10 million users. These users will soon be able to spend their crypto in participating airports around the world.
Making travel a breeze
At selected international airports such as in Brisbane, travellers will now be able to visit airport merchants and use a digital currency mobile wallet for quick, easy, and secure POS payments.
TravelbyBit offers a multi-currency payment platform. While it currently supports payments in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC), airport visitors will soon have the option to also use Binance Coin (BNB) as payment at TravelbyBit merchants.
Caleb Yeoh, CEO of TravelbyBit, said:
“Blockchain payments have the ability to make global commerce extremely efficient by removing much of the friction of multiple exchange rates.
“Imagine travelling with multiple stopovers and only needing a single currency. We’re working with the most innovative airports and retailers who want to offer their consumers non-traditional payment options and a chance to experience cutting-edge technology.”
Why is Binance and TravelbyBit the perfect pair?
Binance has close to 10 million users with few places at which to spend their digital currency. For over a year, TravelbyBit has been bringing onboard mainstream businesses to accept digital currency. Together, the two companies are looking to push the adoption of blockchain technology around the world.
Through its global reach, Binance will also help generate interest amongst its 10 million users around the possibilities of traveling to Australia and paying with digital currency. Binance’s investment of over USD$2.5 million (AUD$3.5 million) will help TravelbyBit significantly scale up operations, creating more jobs in Queensland.
Queensland's Minister for Innovation and Tourism Kate Jones said, “It is great to see a local company partnering with one of the most established multinational companies in the blockchain ecosystem.”
The Palaszczuk Government (state government of Queensland) is proud to support TravelbyBit with a AUD$100,000 Advance Queensland Ignite Ideas grant to grow their business, take on the global market and ultimately create jobs more jobs in Queensland.
Binance is leading the charge to a blockchain-based future, with the launch of an investment fund in Binance Labs, creation of the Blockchain Charity Foundation (BCF), progress in building its decentralised exchange, and recent investments into blockchain-based eSports –– and now, TravelbyBit.
Representatives from major airports and retailers can contact Caleb Yeoh CEO and the retail payments team at firstname.lastname@example.org to explore options to integrate blockchain payments into their existing POS systems.
Binance is a blockchain ecosystem comprised of Exchange, Labs, Launchpad, Info, Academy, and Blockchain Charity Foundation. Binance Exchange is one of the most popular and fastest growing cryptocurrency exchange platforms in the world, capable of processing over 1.4 million orders per second, making it one of the fastest exchanges in the world. The platform focuses on security, robustness, and execution speed - attracting enthusiasts and professional traders alike.
Based in Queensland, Australia, TravelbyBit is a global blockchain payments provider for the travel and tourism industry, enabling merchants to accept payments in digital currencies like Bitcoin and providing booking services for digital currency travellers. TravelbyBit has a growing network of crypto merchants and is building bitcoin tourist routes around the world starting with Australia and New Zealand where travellers can pay for their entire travels with digital currency.


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Police were called to Famous Footwear at 1621 E. Monte Vista Ave. at about 5:20 p.m.
The store manager told police she confronted a man in the store who was trying to steal shoes. The man got angry and left.
While the manager was on the phone with police, the man came back and sprayed her and an assistant manager with Mace, grabbed some merchandise and fled in a silver Toyota Camry with tinted windows, police said.
Police searched the area but did not find the man.
He was described as a black man about 5 feet 7 inches tall with a thin build. He was wearing a grill in his teeth, a black leather jacket and a New York baseball cap.
Anyone with information about the crime is asked to contact the Vacaville Police Department at (707) 449-5200.


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Teen charged in fatal shooting of Chinese food delivery worker in Connecticut
A 17-year-old has been charged with multiple felonies in connection with the fatal shooting of a Chinese food delivery worker in Bridgeport,...
Student food delivery driver in China splashed with soup by customer over poorly packaged $2 order
A student working part-time as a food delivery driver in China recounted on social media how a customer verbally abused her and splashed so...
Duck sauce suspect charged with murder of Chinese food delivery worker raises $500K bail
Glenn Hirsch, 51, who is accused of fatally shooting Zhiwen Yan in Queens, has managed to raise $500,000 for his bail, according to his bro...
Chinese food delivery worker punched, robbed and shot at while dropping off order in Brooklyn
A Chinese food delivery worker was reportedly punched, robbed and shot at while dropping off an order in Brooklyn on Saturday night.


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Health consumer organisations accept millions of dollars a year in sponsorship from pharma companies and this may be having an undue influence on their activities, academics say.
Pharmaceutical company funding of $8-9 million a year is channelled to a handful of patient groups for conditions that are treated with high cost medications marketed by those companies, Sydney University researchers have found.
In a review of pharma industry sponsorship of 230 patient organisations from 2013 to 2016 they found that the lion’s share of $34.5 million funding went to groups representing people with conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, arthritis and IBD.
The review also found that the biggest pharma industry sponsors tended to have drugs under consideration for the conditions covered by the most highly funded groups.
“This raises concerns about potential commercial influence on the activities of health consumer organizations,” they wrote in the International Journal of Health Services.
“Considering the important role that consumer groups play in education, advocacy, and health policy, strategies to prevent undue influence from corporate donors are urgently needed,” they added.
|Health consumer organisation
|Industry funding (2013-2016)
|Macular Disease Foundation Australia
|Lung Foundation Australia
|Rare Cancers Australia
|Crohn’s & Colitis Australia
The researchers derived their findings from transparency reports that have become a disclosure requirement for pharma industry members of the Medicines Australia lobby group.
Between 2013 and 2016 there were 1482 sponsorships provided to 230 health consumer organisations by 34 pharma companies. The average amount per sponsorship was $23,206, and almost all were for information activities such as newsletters, meetings and disease awareness programs.
Funding was highly concentrated, with 70% of sponsorships provided by 10 companies, and similarly almost half the funding (45%) directed to just 10 patient groups. And with a few exceptions, the main funding companies had drugs covered by the patient group under review by the PBS for subsidy. This raised potential conflicts of interest if patient groups were lobbying the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) in favour of PBS listing, the researchers said.
However a lack of transparency in the PBS application process meant they were unable to identify whether individual patient groups had made submissions in favour of listing drugs marketed by their sponsors.
“Public access to this information would allow analyses of potential associations between industry funding and positions of consumer organisations,” they wrote.
In addition, the pharma industry sponsorship reports were released in a cumbersome format that made it difficult for anyone to search them or readily analyse them, they noted.
“Interactions between the pharmaceutical industry and consumer organisations are common and require careful management to prevent biases that may favour sponsors’ interests above those of patients and the public,” they concluded.


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Digital TV News: NOW TV
Slow recovery in European pay TV revenues expected
Oct 14, 2021 – According to Dataxis, the pay TV market in Europe is expected to slowly recover from the blow it suffered during the pandemic. Pay TV revenues in Europe should reach €33 billion in 2025, eventually topping its 2019 level.
News categories: Dataxis, Cable TV, Digital TV, Europe, IPTV, Market Research, Satellite, Terrestrial
PCCW Media selects Viaccess-Orca for Euro 2020 'Watch Party' playback
Jul 6, 2021 – Viaccess-Orca (VO) has announced that the VO Secure Player is enabling PCCW Media to offer a 'Watch Party' feature for its Now TV customers during the ongoing UEFA EURO 2020 football tournament.
News categories: Viaccess-Orca, PCCW, Dokyung Lee, Belinda Chan, Digital TV, Hong Kong, IPTV, Media Player, UX
Amino working with PCCW Media to renew Now TV UX
Jun 15, 2021 – Amino is working with PCCW Media to upgrade the UX of its Now TV service. PCCW Media will use the AminoOS STB software stack and Amino Engage, Amino’s SaaS service management solution.
News categories: Amino, PCCW, Donald McGarva, Derek Choi, Digital TV, Hong Kong, QoE, Set Top Box, UX
UK broadcasters launch ad campaign measurement tool
Jun 9, 2021 – Sky, ITV and Channel 4 are working together to launch CFlight, an advertising metric that captures live, on-demand and time-shifted commercial impressions across all mainstream viewing platforms in the UK.
News categories: Sky Media, ITV, Channel 4, NBCUniversal, Tim Pearson, Kelly Williams, Veriça Djurdjevic, Kelly Abcarian, Advertising, Digital TV, UK
Finecast extends TV reach with new UK ad inventory partners
Apr 7, 2021 – Finecast has extended its UK inventory beyond traditional broadcasters with the onboarding of four new supply partners, Roku, Rakuten, Pluto and YuppTV, enabling advertisers to further extend their reach to consumers.
News categories: Finecast, Harry Harcus, Advertising, Digital TV, Streaming, UK
Amazon wins as British viewers are desperate for more sport
Jan 21, 2021 – According to Kantar's Entertainment on Demand service, Q4 saw 1.3 million British households take out a new video streaming subscription, with Amazon Prime Video capturing almost half of these.
News categories: Kantar, Digital TV, Streaming, Subscribers, UK
PCCW revamps Now TV with ContentWise personalization
Jan 11, 2021 – PCCW Media has selected ContentWise’s digital experience automation and personalization software, to revamp its IPTV and app user experience personalization infrastructure in Hong Kong.
News categories: ContentWise, PCCW, Paolo Bozzola, Derek Choi, Big Data, Digital TV, Hong Kong, IPTV, UX
Hong Kong's Now TV adds personalized home screens
Dec 22, 2020 – Now TV is taking its user interface to the next level with the addition of support for multiple users and personalized home screens that aggregate subscribed channels, VOD and PPV programs in one destination.
News categories: PCCW, Derek Choi, Digital TV, Hong Kong, IPTV, Set Top Box, UX
Amazon Prime Video to launch on Sky; NOW TV on Fire TV
Dec 14, 2020 – Sky and Amazon have announced a partnership that sees Prime Video launch on Sky and NOW TV devices across Europe, while the NOW TV and Sky Ticket apps will also come to Fire TV devices.
News categories: Sky, Amazon, Stephen van Rooyen, Jay Marine, Apps, Digital TV, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Satellite, Set Top Box, Smart TV, Streaming, UK
- Insys Video powers new Olympique Lyonnais OTT streaming service
- Kantar appointed for TV audience measurement in Azerbaijan
- Frontier Communications and YouTube TV announce partnership
- Jamaica's switchover to digital television begins in 2022
- WISI powers multiscreen ABR video service at Cable Bahamas
- InterDigital report details impact of AI/ML on video entertainment
- Vodafone Deutschland expands GigaTV service with Velocix
- NEXTGEN TV begins broadcasting in Greensboro, NC
- Intertrust ExpressPlay added to Vewd Operator TV ecosystem
- rlaxx TV available for iOS and iPadOS
- NEXTGEN TV launches in Houston, Texas
- Progressive Generation Studios launches PG Kids with OTT from Red Bee
- NEXTGEN TV begins broadcasting in Charleston, West Virginia
- MediaKind and Arqiva partner on cloud-based fully-managed video service
- AWS powers global rollout and increased personalization of discovery+
- Xandr standardizes video content descriptors on its platform
- FAST growing quickly in the U.S. and across the globe
- Antenna Hungária partners with mediaClass to launch advanced DTT service
- Verizon teams up with B&O to launch soundbars with Stream TV built-in
- VIZIO adds AVOD content to its WatchFree+ streaming service


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The new laws require that producers are able to trace the GM content of all products and that all food with more than 0.9 per cent genetically modified content is labelled. In separate measures, new directives enable individual EU countries to impose restrictions on how GM crops are grown to prevent contamination of organic crops by GM varieties.
Campaigners were dismayed in the days before the vote when the UK government lobbied MEPs to vote against regulation that would tighten the rules on GM labelling.
A briefing document for UK MEPs, produced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Food Standards Agency, described measures to deal with contamination as “unhelpful” and criticised the 0.9 per cent limit as “unwelcome.” The document argued: ‘the lower the threshold, the more difficult it would become to make the regulation practically effective to the benefit of genuine consumer choice.”
But Friends of the Earth, who obtained the document, rubbished the government’s claims. They said: “Most supermarkets and food manufacturers already have systems in place that can detect GM material at much lower levels to a 0.1 per cent limit of detection. The government’s own Central Science Laboratory has confirmed that this level of detection is accurate.”
Despite government worries about the stringency of the new EU laws, some critics believe they are not strong enough. In a report, ‘Towards a GM free Europe – Halting the spread of GMOs’, Green MEP Caroline Lucas argues that the new rules do not properly address the risk of contamination and will not protect the consumer. She said: “Research conducted by the European Commission, Defra and the European Environment Agency all conclude that licensing GM crops will almost inevitably lead to widespread contamination of non-GM crops.
“If we are to ensure the public has the right to choose whether to reject GM, we must ensure not only that GM is labelled, but that non-GM continues to exist. Unless we can address the problems of contamination, that cannot be guaranteed.”
Lucas argues the EU’s five-year-ban on new GM products should therefore remain. She said: “It is essential the moratorium stays in place at least until liability rules are agreed and, crucially, until someone works out if there is a way of maintaining the co-existence of GM and non-GM crops.”
The UK government launched a debate on GM products in early June called the GM Nation debate. It was scheduled to end on 18 July although a group of MPs, led by former environment minister Michael Meacher, have tabled an early day motion calling on the government to extend the debate until more research evidence is available.
The government must decide how wide buffer zones between organic and GM crops must be, and whether or not the GM-food industry will be liable for any genetic pollution or possible health and environmental impacts of GM crops.
Friends of the Earth campaigner Pete Riley said: “the government is clearly trying to rush through this debate as quickly as possible, with as little input from the public as possible. European politicians must take action to enable consumers to say no to GM.”
#236: The War Racket: Palestine Action on shutting down arms factories ● Paul Rogers on the military industrial complex ● Alessandra Viggiano and Siobhán McGuirk on gender identity laws in Argentina ● Dan Renwick on the 5th anniversary of Grenfell ● Juliet Jacques on Zvenigora ● Laetitia Bouhelier on a Parisian community cinema ● The winning entry of the Dawn Foster Memorial Essay Prize ● Book reviews and regular columns ● Much more!
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Jake Woodier explores the purported widespread havoc of herbicide Glyphosate, industrial scientific sabotage and the destructive agricultural system
New platforms and data analytics are helping big agribusiness take over Indian agriculture. Ordinary farmers are losing out, writes Bikrum Gill
Marcus Rashford is challenging neoliberal framings of poverty. We should call him a hero, argues Siobhan McGuirk – without letting his sponsors off the hook
Leander Jones looks at the role of community supported agriculture as a 21st-century antidote to the destructive and increasingly fragile corporate agricultural model
Oli Carter-Esdale explores the weaponisation of the pint and asks: where next for the hospitality sector?
Whether it’s growing your own food or enjoying the countryside, people of colour are asserting their right to the land in Britain. Amy Hall reports


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The country's rice exports is likely to reduce by 0.5-1 million tonne (mt) in the current financial year due to a possible reduction in imports by Bangladesh, a report said here.
In last financial year, the country's exports increased nearly 18 percent year-on-year to 12.7 mt in FY18, due to increased demand for non-basmati rice from Bangladesh, Africa and Sri Lanka.
The imports by Bangladesh are likely to reduce in 2018-2019, as its domestic output rebounds due to a crop recovery and expansion in area sown because of high prices in 2017, India Ratings said in its report here, adding as a result, India's exports could reduce by 0.5 mt to one mt.
The country's exports may also reduce barring a recurrence of floods in Bangladesh, in light of the heavy pre-monsoon rains, the report said.
Bangladesh accounted for around 15 percent of India's total exports in last financial year, against only one percent in FY17.
The neighbouring country imported around 3.7 mt of rice between July 2017 and April 2018, which is the highest ever rice import in Bangladesh, as production fell due to flash floods and rice blast attacks, India Ratings said.
Among other major importers, Iran, the largest buyer of India's basmati rice, and Saudi Arabia accounted for around 7.5 percent and 7 percent to the total exports, respectively, in FY18.
Exports to Iran are likely to increase in FY19, according to the report.


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By Jeff Berman and Chris Tribbey
This is the second of two stories previewing some of the post-production solutions being showcased at this year’s NAB Show in Las Vegas. The first can be found here.
Some of the members of the Media & Entertainment Services Alliance (MESA) representing the post-production solutions space at the 2018 NAB Show discussed here include IBM Watson Media, Ooyala, Oracle, Testronic Labs, Thinklogical, Sony, Vistex and ZOO Digital.
Here’s a look at what each company is bringing to the show:
IBM Watson Media
IBM will share how it’s combining AI and streaming technology to deliver video experiences that enable both content owners and distributors to improve both viewer engagement and loyalty. IBM executives and industry experts will be on hand to showcase the company’s offerings, covering enhanced metadata via AI, automated closed captioning and transcription processes, OTT, VOD and TV Everywhere services, live and on-demand streaming, and secure video sharing. SL5305, [email protected]
IYUNO Media Group
At the NAB Show, IYUNO Media Group will introduce MSX, a new, licensable, cloud-based software platform for subtitling, captioning, and dubbing that streamlines demands and offerings among vendors, freelancers, clients, platforms, channels, and influencers. MSX will be available for per-seat-licensing at various pricing tiers and with optional usages costs for vendors and clients, and for free to freelancers. SU11017, [email protected] [email protected]
Ooyala will be in Las Vegas to unveil its the Ooyala Flex Media Platform, a video production and delivery platform that aims to streamline the process of managing, analyzing and monetizing content.
The Ooyala Flex Media Platform promises to offer a unified framework that optimizes the content supply chain, from pre-production all the way to publishing, providing central workflows, shared metadata infrastructure and APIs. The platform leverages both automation and artificial intelligence to streamline video workflows and processes, connect teams and tools for collaboration, and enable better metadata and analytics. SV1000 in the Silver Parking Lot, [email protected]
Oracle’s full suite of media and entertainment solutions will be on hand, offering secure and intelligent media experiences combined with performance and efficiency for transcoding, media access management, metadata annotation, digital animation rendering, and active archiving. Oracle’s offerings are designed for running both on-premise as well as in the cloud, allowing media and entertainment companies to maximize the value of their archived digital content, while also lowering their storage costs. SL8011. [email protected]
Sony will be showcasing new end-to-end workflow solutions at the NAB Show in Las Vegas that are designed to help its many professional customers thrive amid the rapidly changing media landscape, according to company executives. The company’s customers can use Sony’s latest solutions for high dynamic range (HDR), 4K, IP and media workflow to help them transform their operations, he said.
A massive video wall — 32 feet wide by 18 feet high — at the booth will showcase footage shot on Sony’s new 8K studio camera that will be used at the Tokyo Olympics in summer 2020, he told reporters. Sony will also heavily tout HDR workflow solutions.
Also touted at Sony’s NAB Show booth will be its latest pro audio devices and the booth was also arranged to showcase Sony’s workflow efficiency solutions. Sony’s latest over-the-top (OTT) and cloud computing solutions from its Media Solutions Division will be featured as well. C11001, [email protected]
Testronic Labs will be on hand to discuss its quality assurance and testing solutions, covering games, content and hardware, across entertainment, media and games, publishing, e-commerce and consumer electronics. [email protected]
Belden Brand’s Thinklogical will showcase a new all-in-one solution for extending virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) architectures in media and entertainment, with live demonstrations at its booth. The TLX Client Integration module is a full-featured virtual machine processor combined with a high-performance keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) extender, eliminating the need for a separate client device in VDI implementations.
The system can be installed in point-to-point applications or implemented in conjunction with a Thinklogical matrix switch, enabling connectivity between multiple sources and user destinations for enhanced productivity and collaborative workflows.
“With our new Client Integration module, Thinklogical is disrupting the media and entertainment marketplace by delivering the quality and performance of no-added-latency KVM and 4K video extension and switching, combined with a cost-saving virtual machine client,” said Olivier Bojarski, president of Thinklogical. “Content creation professionals no longer need to compromise on productivity, performance and image resolution quality when working in a virtual desktop environment.” SL6328, [email protected]
This year with Vistex at the NAB Show: new cloud solutions for managing content, rights, and royalties.
Rights management plays an incredibly important role in the overarching story of media and direct to consumer streaming. Vistex continues to enrich it’s solutions to meet consumer demand for content anywhere, anytime, on any device. Never before has it been so important to get content out broadly and quickly – across platforms. Securing the right to use IP sits at the very heart of it all. Knowing what a distributor can and cannot distribute at a moment’s notice is critical. Vistex provides a view into rights availability that can be cleared, scheduled, analyzed, and leveraged in real time. A true game changer in today’s economy.
Equally important are the relationships between producers and distributors of high value content. Using Vistex solutions, royalty and participations payouts are accurately calculated and shared with both parties to support transparent reporting and trusting relationships that sit at the very core of the media and entertainment industry.
Vistex has been working with some of the largest and best- known content aggregators in the world with our rights management and royalties solutions for over two decades. We have the subject matter DNA, technical resources (over 1300 employees, across 21 offices, worldwide), and innovative tools to deliver and support solutions that scale easily to meet changes in the market. N4435, [email protected]
At the NAB Show, ZOO Digital will show off new technology to identify dialog changes in different proxies of TV and movie content, to speed up the dubbing and subtitling process. Known as Delta, the technology automatically tracks dialog changes between different versions — removing the need for manual tracking, duplicated work and unnecessary delays.
By automatically analyzing and identifying the dialog changes between each successive proxy, Delta enables the differences to be determined accurately and reliably, removing unnecessary delays in the dubbing and subtitling process. Delta is being used within ZOO’s cloud-based scripting service, which manages changes to localized TV and movie scripts. This removes the need for manually completing spreadsheets to track changes between script versions.
Delta is just one of a half dozen innovations for the TV and movie industry that ZOO Digital will be showcasing, with the entertainment industry’s first cloud dubbing service, a digital distribution planner, enhanced content security using facial recognition, and a cloud-powered scripting service also among the demos.
“We’re streamlining the subtitling and dubbing process for our customers when it comes to managing changes between new proxies prior to release. Compared to how it is done today, the real benefit is how the data from this technology then flows through to the subtitling and dubbing workflows, so we can control change efficiently within our systems,” said ZOO Digital president Gordon Doran.
“We’re always looking at new ways of making localization easier. For content owners, dealing with versioning can clog up the system and cause delays. Using Delta, we’re able to manage change and make localization far more efficient for everyone involved.” SL5724, [email protected]


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ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Wegmans Food Markets says it plans to add 10 new stores in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions over the next year or two.
Two of those planned stores are in the D.C./Baltimore area — one in Owings Mills, Maryland near the intersection of Reistertown Road and
Painters Mill Road, and one in Alexandria, Virginia near Telegraph Road and Beulah Road.
The Alexandria store may open as early as 2015. Opening dates for the other stores have yet to be determined.
The Rochester-based supermarket chain currently has 84 locations in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts.
The company is continuing to upgrade or replace stores in older markets, including New York state, where it has 46 stores.
(TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)


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HIPSTER PHOTO SHARING APP Instagram announced on Thursday that it will soon begin pushing advertising onto its service in order to gain revenue.
Instagram users are unlikely to be very happy about this. However, speculation has suggested that the adverts will show up only for users of the app in the US at first, and Instagram has moved to assure its hipster and selfie-taking following that the ads will be "beautiful" and will feel "natural" to the service.
We're assuming that this means that most ads will feature a picture of somebody's breakfast or a close-up of a cat's face, although the Facebook owned app hasn't commented on what users can expect.
Instagram said in a blog post, "Our aim is to make any advertisements you see feel as natural to Instagram as the photos and videos many of you already enjoy from your favourite brands. After all, our team doesn't just built Instagram, we used it each and every day.
"We want these ads to be enjoyable and creative in much the same way you see engaging, high quality ads when you flip through your favourite magazine. We'll also make sure you have control. If you see an ad you don't like, you'll be able to hide it and provide feedback."
Instagram has yet to announce which companies and brands plan to advertise on the service or when the rollout will begin. However, it's thought that adverts will start to appear to users, likely those in the US, within the next couple of months.
It's rumoured that some users in the US are already seeing photo and video based ads show up in their Instagram feeds. Lucky them. µ
Tags: Social Media
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Initially, Intel's (NASDAQ:INTC) third quarter earnings report, announced on Oct. 13, seemed to inspire investors. Immediately following the good news -- and much of it is, once Q3 results are fully digested -- Intel shares jumped nearly 2%. After further review, the Street seemed to do what it always does when it comes to analyzing Intel quarterly news: lament its declining PC-related sales and start selling.
For those in search of growth and income alternatives, the subsequent sell-off of Intel stock has made what was already a good opportunity even better. How can this be? After all, Intel reported flat revenue in Q3 compared to the year-ago period, earnings-per-share (EPS) declined 3%, and operating income was down even further, off 8% from 2014's Q3. It's what Intel did to temper its flat to slightly lower financial results that will pay off in the long-run, and in those regards Q3 was spot on.
Just the facts
The initial, positive reaction to Intel's third quarter was likely due to its exceeding vaunted analyst estimates for both revenue and EPS. As investment veterans know, besting the Street's estimates nearly always results in a quick share price pop, regardless of comparables.
Consensus estimates were for Intel to report Q3 revenue of $14.22 billion and earnings of $0.59 a share. Intel ended the third quarter with $14.5 billion in sales and EPS of $0.64.
Intel's Q3 may look a bit ho-hum given its lack of total revenue growth and earnings that were slightly off last year's $0.66 a share. Particularly worrisome for those who still consider Intel a PC-reliant chip maker was the 7% revenue decline within its Client Computing Group, home of all things desktop, tablet, and mobile. But growth and income investors should look at the "catastrophe" that was Q3 another way: despite PC revenue declining from last year's $9.2 billion to 2015's $8.5 billion, Intel still managed to post total sales essentially identical to last year's.
Not to mention Intel upped its ready cash and equivalents to nearly $21 billion (though its balance sheet also includes a boost in long-term debt), paid shareholders a 3% dividend yield, and spent $1 billion to buy back 36 million shares of stock last quarter. The manner in which Intel made up for the drop in its client computing group to report a sound third quarter is exactly why it should be on a short-list of investment alternatives.
How'd they do that?
As one analyst put it following Intel's earnings report, "Fundamentally, Intel is the cloud right now -- they are completely dominant with their family of chips. And that really is the opposite side of the weakness in PC." Exactly. The "cloud" the analyst refers to is reflected in Intel's Data Center Group, which grew by double-digits yet again last quarter.
At $4.1 billion, Intel's data center revenue improved 12% over last year, and even more importantly continues to make up a larger portion of total revenue. Now toss in a 10% jump in Internet of Things (IoT) revenue, to $581 million, and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich's transition to burgeoning markets, including cloud and IoT, is beginning to pay off handsomely.
Along those same cloud and IoT lines, Intel also said its partnership with Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) to build "the industry's first new memory category in more than two decades" has come to fruition. Intel and Micron Technology were in a race with several tech industry heavy hitters to get its 3D XPoint memory solution to market, given it's up to 1,000 times faster than old-school flash memory solutions.
With the advent of the cloud and IoT, faster computing, processing, and memory speeds are quickly becoming a necessity, rather than a nicety, and the new 3D XPoint is a significant step in the right direction.
At some point, investors will come to realize Intel isn't about PCs any longer -- Krzanich is making certain of that. Which is what makes the aforementioned analyst's statement regarding Intel being a cloud solutions provider so telling is that some insiders are finally seeing the light. Until the rest come on board, growth and income investors should consider buying Intel stock with each and every down-tick.


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Published on: August 15, 2018
by Kate McMahon
I had a momentary flashback the other day when I saw in a local store a beleaguered parent pushing a cart crowded with storage bins, twin XL sheets, a Dirt Devil, a case of flavored water, microwaveable popcorn -- and still carrying a lengthy list.
It’s peak Back to College shopping season across America, and I will not be behind a cart this year. Thankfully.
Some 19 million college students will be heading off to colleges and universities in the coming weeks, and retailers can expect parents to shell out $25.5 billion this year to get their kids settled in, according to a new survey from Deloitte.
Interestingly, the survey found that in-store sales are expected to account for more than half (54%) of back-to-college sales with online to account for nearly one-quarter (24%) of sales. This means 22% of spend share - $5.6 billion - has not yet been designated to in-store or online, presenting a major opportunity for retailers to engage those shoppers completing their list now.
Once the last duffle bag is unpacked, I think there is an even bigger opportunity for retailers near campuses - particularly supermarkets - to connect with this slew of potential new customers.
My research suggests that nobody does that better than Meijer. The Midwest retailer has been hosting its popular “Meijer Mania” college shopping parties for more than 15 years.
Starting this week, some 45,000 incoming college freshman are expected to attend a total of 22 events at 19 colleges in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky and Wisconsin. The kids are bused from campus to in-store evening parties that feature a DJ, photo booth and interactive contests - and, of course, the ability to shop for dorm essentials.
(If you’re processing that 45,000 number, consider this: Meijer is expecting some 6,500 students at the Purdue University event, and 6,000 for the Michigan State bash. At a store. From 8 p.m. until as late as midnight. Wow.)
Meijer’s Cindy Cooper says the “Mania” nights are an opportunity for the kids to have a fun bonding experience with new classmates, shop, get samples and coupons – and for some, to learn to pronounce the retailer’s name for the first time.
Now I’m not suggesting supermarkets aim to emulate “Meijer Mania” in the next two weeks but rather connect with new students through social media platforms, pop-up shops, targeted advertising or that old-standby, the student discount.
When my daughter went to college in Winston-Salem, NC, I was envious of her choice of supermarkets within a 10-mile radius: Harris Teeter, Lowe’s, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Fresh Market, Publix and Walmart.
It took only two days to find out that Harris Teeter offered college students a 10% discount on all purchases, and that became her go-to store for next four years. I’ve read that this discount is offered at select Harris Teeter stores, and select Kroger stores offer a 5% discount for college students.
Admittedly, college kids are a transient bunch on a budget, but it’s never to soon to start a relationship with the next generation of consumers.
Comments? Send me an email at email@example.com .
- KC's View:
Published on: August 15, 2018Kroger said yesterday that it will begin selling its Simple Truth private label brand in China, via Alibaba’s Tmall platform. It will be Kroger’s first venture outside the US.
Alibaba says that the arrangement will “meet Chinese consumers' growing demand for high-quality, organic food products.”
Yael Cosset, Kroger's chief digital officer, released a statement saying that "e-commerce enables Kroger to quickly scale to reach new customers and markets where we don't operate physical stores, starting with China.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that Kroger said the site will launch today “with an initial product offering that includes dietary supplements and private-label products, much of it natural and organic goods.”
And, the Journal adds, “Kroger increasingly sees its Simple Truth line as a way to attract new customers domestically and abroad. The goods reached $2 billion in sales earlier this year, Kroger said.
“Kroger currently sells those items online in the U.S. through Vitacost.com Inc., an e-commerce site it acquired in 2014. The grocer has generated strong sales of its natural and organic products on the site, including in parts of the U.S. where it doesn’t have grocery stores, Kroger said.”
USA Today writes that “Kroger is undergoing it biggest shift in strategy in two decades and has unveiled a series of online initiatives. It offers curbside pickup of groceries ordered through its own supermarket websites.
“In May, Kroger inked an exclusive U.S. deal with British online grocer Ocado to build automated warehouses to fulfill curbside and delivery orders. It also launched a beefed-up online shopping service called Kroger Ship that sends packages directly from its distribution centers via United Parcel Service Inc and FedEx Corp.”
The Journal notes that for Alibaba, “Kroger’s products could provide a leg up in the nation’s fiercely competitive online grocery market. Walmart owns a 12% stake in JD.com Inc., Alibaba’s biggest rival in China.
“Signing a deal with Kroger also adds to the list of U.S. merchants Alibaba has been seeking to woo over the past years as consumers there are increasingly shifting their purchases from brick and mortar stores online.” It also has distribution deals with Macy’s, Costco, Gap and Starbucks. Last year, the story says, “Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma traveled to Detroit … to urge small businesses to use its platforms to reach Chinese consumers hungry for U.S. brands.”
- KC's View:
We’ve noted here before Kroger’s discussions with Alibaba, so this does not come as a complete surprise.
It does reflect a couple of new realities, I think.
First, Kroger knows that it does not need to have physical stores in a market to have a presence, and that is a critical insight. I can apply to China, but I also wonder if it could apply to places like New England and Florida, where it does not have stores but could have a digital impact under the right circumstances.
Second, it points to the possibility that the relationship between Kroger and Alibaba could be just the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
I wrote the other day that Albertsons, having been denied its merger with Rite Aid, ought to call Alibaba and pursue an alliance before it gets boxed out by Kroer. It may be too late.
Published on: August 15, 2018In Montana, the Independent Record reports that “WinCo Foods is making progress on an 84,000-square-foot grocery store in Helena … In addition to Helena, WinCo is building a store in Billings. The two locations will be the first WinCo stores in Montana.”
The story notes that “WinCo does not require a membership, but keeps down costs by not bagging groceries for customers and only accepting cash, debit, checks, WIC and EBT cards.”
- KC's View:
I love the WinCo model, largely because of the employee-ownership that creates a wonderful customer service culture within a price/value model.
But there’s something else sort of interesting in this story. It points out that “the Helena store is expected to employ more than 140 full-time and part-time employees,” but also that “there are only 500 to 600 unemployed people in Lewis and Clark County, meaning a great deal of WinCo's workforce would have to leave an existing job.”
So two things are going to happen. One is that WinCo is going to drive down the unemployment level. The other is that it may raise the benchmarks for what makes an employer of choice.
Published on: August 15, 2018The Wall Street Journal reports that Sears Holdings CEO Edward Lampert “has offered to buy the company’s Kenmore brand for $400 million in cash.”
The deal, according to the story, “is contingent on obtaining equity financing from an unnamed potential partner, according to the letter. ESL also proposed buying the home-improvement business of the Sears Home Services division for as much as $80 million … The moves are an effort by Mr. Lampert to inject Sears with cash and stave off a bankruptcy filing, while at the same time allowing the hived-off businesses to grow by distributing their products and services beyond Sears and its sister chain Kmart.”
Lampert is Sears’ controlling shareholder, and he has made a series of short-term loans to the company in order to keep it afloat, while all the while closing stores and claiming to have a long-term strategy for survival. The Journal writes that he has urged the Sears board to gauge debtholders’ “appetite for a restructuring,” while simultaneously working “with third parties to solicit interest in purchasing all or a portion of Sears’s encumbered real estate, including the assumption of debt secured by the properties.,” which would “allow for the stores’ continued operation.”
- KC's View:
This continues to feel like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, except that they are moving the chairs around after the ship has hit the iceberg.
Maybe this all makes sense, but it all feels vaguely unsavory. The stores are going to collapse - this much seems inevitable - while somehow employees and creditors are going to get screwed. And Lampert, who has been on the wrong side of the competence line almost from the moment he bought the company, is going to end up with the only assets worth anything.
Published on: August 15, 2018Fast Company reports that Office Depot “is piloting its first-ever coworking space, neatly integrated into its Los Gatos, California, retail location. Yes, that means you can pull up to Office Depot and work alongside real office supplies. It sounds perfect for road warriors who are tired of working in their cars or, you know, anyone priced out of Staples’s coworking space.”
According to the story, “The coworking space comes as the company expands its Workonomy platform in a bid to be less reliant on retail revenue. In addition to the new coworking concept, Workonomy also includes services like DIY copying, printing, packing, and shipping as well as a new line of tech-support kiosks that will offer ‘direct, on-demand access to Office Depot’s technology experts,’ and whatever it takes to survive in the current retail landscape.”
Office Depot reportedly plans to expand the coworking concept to another 140 stores around the country in the coming year.
- KC's View:
Perhaps it is just because the concept is new, but when I went on the Office Depot Los Gatos site, I found that it does a really lousy job of promoting this innovation - some nice pictures, but no apparent way to schedule usage time and no hint at the fees. Compare this to Staples, which is testing its concept in several Massachusetts stores and is very clear about fees and scheduling.
I don’t want to be too critical, though. I’m a big fan of the coworking concept - I’m particularly intrigued by WeWork and Industrious - and I think it makes a lot of sense for office supply retailers to venture into this space as they deal with erosion in bricks-and-mortar retailing. I just think that Office Depot needs to do a better job in marketing it, and trust that they’ll get better as it expands its services.
Published on: August 15, 2018Starbucks said yesterday that it now is selling a plant-based protein beverage - the Protein Blended Cold Brew in almond and cacao flavors. The drink will be available through the autumn months, while supplies last.
USA Today reports that “the nondairy 16-ounce drinks are made from pea and brown-rice protein … The new almond drink is made with almond milk, almond butter and 12 grams of plant-based protein and contains 270 calories, 12 grams of fat and 22 grams of sugar, according to Starbucks. The sweetness comes from what the Seattle-based chain calls the Banana Date Fruit Blend as well as coconut sugar; there's no refined sugar.
“The cacao version comes with coconut milk, cacao powder and 10 grams of plant-based protein. It has 250 calories, 9 grams of fat and 26 grams of sugar.”
CEO Kevin Johnson has been quoted as saying that “plant-based beverages, plant-based proteins are a choice that many consumers are gravitating toward.”
USA Today notes that “from faux-beef burgers to infused energy bars, plant-based proteins are a growing trend in the U.S. – and not just among people who eschew eating animal proteins, such as beef, poultry and pork.
“Three out of five Americans say they want more protein in their diets, according to research firm NPD Group. Fourteen percent of U.S. consumers, or more than 43 million people, regularly use plant-based products, and 86 percent of them aren't vegans or vegetarian.”
- KC's View:
I note that this new drink is being positioned as being in the health-0and-wellness category, but 250-plus calories doesn’t sound all that healthy to me. Then again, compared to 420 calories for a grande Caramel Frappuccino Blended Coffee, that’s not so bad.
Published on: August 15, 2018The Financial Times has an interesting story about shifts in the economy that are having critical repercussions, and whether public policy needs to be changed to respond to these shifts.
“America’s biggest companies are grabbing a swelling share of revenues across major sectors while workers see pedestrian wage growth, teeing up a vexed debate over whether public policy needs to respond.
“So-called superstar companies are becoming increasingly powerful, allowing some to widen the mark-ups they charge on products and services. As these highly profitable businesses become more dominant, workers are capturing a smaller slice of the economic pie, some analysts say, contributing to income inequality.”
Indeed, FT writes, “Economists increasingly agree that some sectors are becoming more dominated by a few big corporate players. A standard measure of corporate concentration — the Herfindahl-Hirschman index — is up 48 per cent since 1996. There has been greater concentration in about 75 per cent of US industries in the past two decades, according to research from academics including Gustavo Grullon of Rice University … As big, highly profitable companies’ power increases, there is a risk the economy may suffer.”
You can read the entire analysis here.
- KC's View:
Published on: August 15, 2018• The BBC reports that in the UK, Sainsbury is testing a checkout-free store.
According to the story, “The Sainsbury's SmartShop app lets customers scan the contents of their trolley as they browse the aisles to reduce waiting time at the checkout. The app is already available in 68 stores, but customers in one location will now be able to pay with the app too.”
The BBC writes that “Clodagh Moriarty, group chief digital officer for Sainsbury's, acknowledged that some customers may find the experience uncomfortable at first. But she told the BBC: ‘As we've been looking at customers over the past few days, the level of discomfort dissipates as more and more people do it’.”
• 9to5Mac that Apple has filed for a new patent hinting that it is building technology that will allow its Siri voice recognition software that will actually be able to differentiate between different people, and therefore respond with far more personalized information than in the past. It would also allow the “digital assistant (to) perform tasks, including items that can only be performed just for that user.”
- KC's View:
Published on: August 15, 2018…with brief, occasional, italicized and sometimes gratuitous commentary…
• A group of 90 grocery home delivery drivers working for Safeway.com has voted overwhelmingly to ratify their first-ever Teamster contract last night. These drivers are now full-fledged Teamsters for the first time in their careers as Safeway drivers.
According to the Teamsters announcement, “The new agreement will bring many improvements to the working conditions and lives of these drivers. Wages will increase across the board, with some of the lowest-paid drivers seeing double-digit percentage increases. The group will also finally receive affordable health care, which most did not previously have access to as they were held to part-time hours and the costs were prohibitive.”
The deal was struck after a year of negotiations and, finally, a strike authorization.
• Ahold Delhaize is saying that, in addition to centralizing its various US e-commerce businesses on its Peapod platform, it also plans this year to update its Stop & Shop chain with a “fresh new format.”
CEO Franz Muller has said that more details about the new Stop & Shop format will be released in November.
I’ve argued here for a long time that I think Stop & Shop is in desperate need of a refresh, though I concede that this may because the two stores closest to my house are two of the smallest, most depressing stores in the fleet.
- KC's View:
Published on: August 15, 2018• The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports that Target Corp. has hired John Bauer, TJX's former executive vice president and chief logistics officer, to to be its senior vice president of global inventory management.”
- KC's View:
Published on: August 15, 2018Responding to Michael Sansolo’s column yesterday about hockey star Stan Mikita, MNB reader Joe Jurich wrote:
It is also worth noting that Stan Mikita was a “humble captain” for the Blackhawks. Watching him as a kid, I never sensed that his achievements were about him. He was always striving to make those around him better and to celebrate their achievements. His smile was infectious (another thing we can all learn from him). The fact that he had his “eyes open,” looked for ways to improve things and was willing to “break molds” (wearing a helmet at a time when it was considered that only “sissies” wore them) effectively changed the future of his industry. We need more, Stan “the Man” Mikitas!
From another reader:
Chicago native here. I’ll give Mike a pass for referring to the “Black Hawks” (now it’s one word, and being shortened to the “Hawks” in many instances)…
Other than that, thank you for the homage... and the business lesson!
Yesterday, we took note of a Bloomberg report that Walmart is facing the same challenge of rising costs as other retailers, and its size may not provide it with shelter from the storm. “Soaring costs for transportation and raw materials -- some related to tariffs -- have prompted” a number of manufacturers to raise their prices, the story said.
One MNB reader responded:
You nailed it on trucking costs ……..key question facing the industry is whether the big guys like Walmart,Amazon, and Costco will accept price increases and pass them on.
The supermarket retailers tend to agree to price increases, once the’ve seen Walmart move at store level. The Economist magazine reported last week that USA trucking wages are up nearly 10 % this year with the cost of road freight contracts surging 18 % while freight booked on spot market increased 28 %. Add in tariff’s for some.
All increased costs that manufacturers will desperately try to pass on. The labor shortage and restrictive immigration policies are beginning to hit the pocketbook.
We had a story yesterday about how Kroger is suspending its use of eggs from the Mahard Egg Farm facility near Sulphur, Oklahoma, since an investigation by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) “found the farm was torturing and brutally killing unwanted hens. PETA posted a video on its website and on social media showing Mahard workers beating hens’ heads against metal boxes and keeping them in sheds where temperatures reached 106 degrees. The workers also bludgeoned hens with a board and gassed many hens with carbon dioxide, which PETA says caused extreme pain.”
I don’t think there ought to be much of a question about how to punish people who treat animals this way. It would start with metal boxes where the temperature reaches 106 degrees…
One MNB reader wrote:
I agree KC, and I've always thought that people that could hurt animals and think it's funny will at some point hurt a human being…sad.
Finally, we had a story yesterday about big retailers beginning to invest in small stores, prompting one MNB reader to write:
Makes me wonder when Wegmans will try a smaller store format? They are too smart not to, and I'm sure it's only a matter of time.
- KC's View:


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Pohlad Denies Claims Twins Are Cheap Twins' Search For Baseball Ops Leader Moving Along Betty Jane France Leaves Assets For Children Twins Try To Soften Blow Of Difficult Season M&M's Back As NASCAR's Official Chocolate NASCAR Seeks New Superstars Darlington Throwback Theme Benefiting Many NASCAR's Betty Jane France Passes Away Twins Restructuring Baseball Operations Liberty Mutual Sponsoring NASCAR Spotters
SBD/31/Sponsorships Advertising Marketing
Published March 31, 1995
Anthony Industries, Inc. has announced that it has acquired Speed Zone, the creative outlet for Sam Bass Original Artwear and a manufacturer of officially licensed NASCAR merchandise. The new company will be called Speed Zone Race Gear (NASCAR Properties)....The cover story in today's USA TODAY Money section is the "sliding" baseball licensing revenues: Cap-maker Twins Enterprise reports retailers such as KMart are not ordering; baseball card production is at its lowest in 30 years; Starter blames some of its $5M loss in '94 on the lack of baseball sales; other goods -- miniature wood bats, wall clocks, figurines and balls -- are also affected (USA TODAY, 3/31)....Designer Nicole Miller and her famous sports-themed ties are profiled in the current issue of INSIDE SPORTS. "In the final analysis, maybe men go for Miller's ties because they prove there's at least one women out there who thinks it's attractive that men are sports fans" (INSIDE SPORTS, 5/95).


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Google has started deploying anti-phishing security checks for users of its iOS Gmail app, the Internet giant has announced. When users tap on a link Gmail believes to be suspicious, a warning is displayed, advising users to think twice before proceeding.
The rollout includes similar security checks to those offered to Android users in May, reveals the G Suite team, which provides information about new features and improvements for G Suite customers.
When users receive the warning pictured below, the team recommends that “you use caution before proceeding, because the link is likely unsafe. Only proceed if you’re confident there’s no risk.”
“These warnings are intended to prevent harmful phishing attacks and help you keep your account safe,” the team adds.
Phishing has taken a back seat to ransomware in recent years, but that’s not to say it is any less dangerous. In fact, like most other forms of malware, phishing attacks are becoming more sophisticated and harder to catch by the day.
In May this year, Google users were hit with an advanced phishing scheme involving a fake Google Docs application. The spoof posed as a regular email from someone the receiver knew, like a friend or family member. It included a fake Google Docs link that, when clicked, gave hackers full access to the user’s account. Then, using worm-like behavior, the fake Docs app used the account to send the same email to all the user’s contacts, replicating itself.
Phishing schemes involving file-sharing and cloud storage services soared in the first quarter of 2016, taking the lead as the most-targeted sector, ahead of the retail and payment industries.
Research by Bitdefender’s Antispam Lab revealed at the time that one in five malicious URLs used a file-sharing service to deliver malicious payloads.
“Phishing remains a highly effective attack vector that is responsible for an increasingly significant percentage of data loss incidents affecting both end users and companies,” Adrian Popescu, Team Leader of Bitdefender Antimalware Lab, said at the time.
In July, at the Black Hat hacker convention in Las Vegas, a security engineer working at a mobile payment company, showed how phishing scams are getting so good they can even trick tech-savvy users.
Typically, a phishing scheme impersonates a widely known website or service, like Facebook, or an email from companies like PayPal, Apple or Google, asking users to enter their credentials to download a certain file, or to validate their account. Hackers then capture the data and use it for financial gain.
Users should only click on links they can trust. If in doubt, simply hovering with the mouse pointer over the URL can reveal whether the source is what it claims to be.


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The British Institute of Kitchen, Bedroom and Bathroom Installation (BiKBBI) has called the kitchen and bathroom installation industry into action to tackle the key issues that threaten the reputation and viability of the UK’s KBB industry.
BiKBBI has highlighted these issues and the pathways to success in a landmark paper released today, titled ‘BiKBBI 2023: Pathways to support the success of the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom installation industry through times of challenge’.
The paper highlights that:
These issues have compounded the existing skills gap, resulting in longer lead times for retailers and consumers to access trained and skilled installers. This industry landscape is impacting retailers and consumers, and their capacity to complete home improvement projects. The current situation also exposes consumers to a greater risk of opportunist, unskilled traders.
BiKBBI has set out three key pathways to tackle these issues and support and grow the KBB industry in 2023 and beyond.
Learning and development:
Driving the success that BiKBBI has already achieved in 2021 with their apprenticeship programme further, with the creation of a dedicated Education Steering Committee. BiKBBI will work in partnership with the industry to directly tackle and communicate the skills gap issues.
BiKBBI will continue to develop further access to education and resources for KBB installers in partnership with the government and industry to support the growing need for a sustainable supply chain.
The current skills gap in the UK industry has highlighted the pressing need for retailers and consumers to have access to well-trained and skilled installers. BiKBBI has proposed two pathways to ensure this outcome.
BiKBBI will convene stakeholders and industry representatives to form a standards committee, with a primary goal to agree possible recommendations for regulation.
Damian Walters, Chief Executive of BiKBBI, said: ‘Our industry continues to face significant challenges as we start 2023, but the skills gap is, if anything, growing. We have made great strides with our modern apprenticeship programme, but we will continue to work in partnership with industry via our new Education Steering Committee to tackle this issue and grow the UK workforce.
We want retailers and consumers to access professional, skilled installers with confidence; our pathways for education and sustainability have been introduced with this in mind. However, we feel in 2023 we must, as an industry, discuss regulation and how this pathway could both protect and grow the KBB industry.’
EDUCATION | STANDARDS | SUSTAINABILITY | COMPLIANCE |