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A Columbus maker of hot sauces has found a sweet spot with a product that supports the country’s only chili pepper research institute.
CaJohns Fiery Foods Co. is selling bottles of Holy Jolokia sauce made from the hottest pepper on earth, the Bhut Jolokia out of India.
It launched the product as a way to help fund the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University. A dollar from each sale of the $10 product goes toward an endowed chair at the institute and improved facilities for visitors to its plentiful chili gardens.
CaJohns co-owner Sue Hard said she and her husband, John, got involved in the fundraising effort during a March visit to the institute, where they’ve gone for advice and seeds.
“My husband said we should do a sauce and help New Mexico State University,” she said.
They decided to base the sauce on the Jolokia, which Chile Pepper Institute Director Paul Bosland is credited with discovering. A variety of Jolokia he grew was certified in 2006 as the world’s hottest pepper by the Guinness Book of World Records, with a Scoville heat unit rating of more than 1 million. An average jalapeño averages less than 10,000.
Hard said the response has been terrific since sales began in late April, with orders coming from as far as Denmark and Germany. She said CaJohns has sent 50 cases – 600 bottles – to New Mexico State in the last two weeks.
“We can’t ship them out fast enough,” she said.
CaJohns is selling the 5-ounce bottles at its shop in the North Market and through its Web site at cajohns.com. The company is on track for overall sales from its sauces, salsas and other products of $2 million this year.
Sports backers hope thousands turn out for Big Ten baseball
Columbus sports officials hope to make the most of their first turn at bat when the Big Ten baseball tournament is held May 20-23 at Huntington Park in the Arena District.
It will be the first time in 15 years that the tournament has been held at an off-campus ballpark, and Columbus will get one shot at proving it’s worthy of hosting the event again, said Greater Columbus Sports Commission Executive Director Linda Logan.
“We hope the tournament is here more than a year,” she said, “so we can have an opportunity to build a base for it.”
To drum up ticket sales in the business community, the commission has sent direct mail pieces to 700 companies in recent weeks, Logan said. The Columbus Clippers and Ohio State University also have been trying to tap their fan bases for ticket sales.
Sales pitches have been made to the Central Ohio alumni chapters for the 11 Big Ten schools, Logan said. Local restaurants have agreed to be the designated gathering spot for each of the alumni groups that have teams in the tournament.
Eleven games will be played over the four days at Huntington Park, the new home of the Clippers. Four teams – Ohio State, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana – have locked up four of the six tournament slots. The final two qualifiers will be determined when the regular season ends May 16.
Logan said the commission hopes to draw an average of at least 3,000 fans per game at Huntington Park, which has a capacity of 10,100.
Tickets are $10 per game, or $100 for an all-tournament pass. Group tickets are available for $7 each, but at least 20 tickets must be purchased. For more information, go to columbussports.org or bigten.org.
Delaware County chipping in for zoo hotel feasibility study
Delaware County Commissioners are considering chipping in on efforts to bring a hotel to the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium.
The zoo has asked the county to contribute half of the $15,000 needed for a feasibility study on a zoo hotel, and so far the reaction has been favorable, said County Administrator Dave Cannon.
“I think all of the commissioners feel this would be a worthwhile project to help them fund,” he said.
The funding request received its second public hearing before commissioners May 11, and is expected to go up for a vote May 28, Cannon said.
“The zoo is a big part of the economic development of our county and of our economy,” he said. “And other businesses would be able to benefit from lodging and an expanded zoo.”


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5 March 2020, by customer insight
Prof. Dr. Mark Heitmann and Dr. Thomas Schreiner publish their research on product design in the Journal of Marketing Research.
What we recognize easily, we find more beautiful - and that has an impact on our purchasing decisions. Mark Heitmann and Thomas Schreiner from the Chair of Marketing & Customer Insight at the University of Hamburg have for the first time used objective design features to investigate how brands can take advantage of this fact and discovered differences between known and unknown brands.
You can find the publication in the Journal of Marketing Research here.

domain: news


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SecureNet Payment Systems, payment processing technology provider, today announced the appointment of Joni Floyd to its executive leadership team as Executive Vice President Merchant Operations. Floyd began consulting for SecureNet in January 2012 to assist the organization in its high growth efforts and will assume her role effective December 31, 2012.
Floyd comes to SecureNet from The Octane Group, a consulting and investment firm, where she served as Executive Vice President and engaged in advisory and investment services with early stage B2B technology and payments companies. Prior to The Octane Group, Floyd held numerous executive level operations positions, including Chief Operating Officer of TransFirst Holdings, Inc., the 9th largest payment processing organization and Affiliated Computer Services (now a Xerox company), leading the eCommerce Division.
Floyd will be responsible for overseeing the company’s operations strategy, new customer implementation, onboarding, underwriting and risk management; customer support and help desk functions; and integration services for partners, merchants, and enterprise clients.
“Joni is a seasoned and trusted leader, uniquely qualified to drive strategic operations and accountability while aligning SecureNet with industry-leading operational practices,” said Brent Warrington, SecureNet CEO. “
Judges have picked Clever as the overall winner of the Money 20/20 Hackathon 2016 taking place in Las Vegas.
As the demand for immediate payments implementation grows in the United States, Iliad Solutions have identified one of the largest risks to face the payments industry over the next few years.
Barclays has signed contracts with six of the fintech startups that just graduated from its second New York accelerator programme.
Company card killer Pleo has raised $3m in new funding as it prepares for public launch in the UK and Denmark.


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Swiss BETA PECTIN is the latest innovation from Schweizer Zucker AG. Already a specialist for comprehensive sugar beet processing, the company is now also establishing itself as an expert for sugar beet pectin with a new extraction plant in Frauenfeld.
Locally grown sugar beets have been processed into natural sugar in Aarberg, Switzerland, for over 100 years – and for half as many years in Frauenfeld. The entire production chain is geared towards the greatest possible sustainability. Sustainable sugar production yields numerous valuable by-products, such as pressed pulp for animal feed, molasses, biogas and natural fertilizers.


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Windows Phone Sales On The Rise
Posted: June 7, 2013 by Maja Johnson
It looks like Nokia's decision to jump into the smartphone market together with Microsoft is paying off. Despite the fact that Android still remains to be the leader among the operating systems for smartphones, Windows has shown great rise in the numbers as the sales of Windows phones have increased in the past few months.
Based on the Kantar Worldpanel Com Tech report, the sales of Windows phones grew 1.8 percent on a year-to-year basis. This compared to iOS and Android may seem small, but it is a big step for Windows on a wider scale. Android has the lead with 51.7% of the sales, followed by iOS' 41.4% of the market sales. Windows has the third place with 5.6% of the sales.
It was believed that Windows phones are attractive only to older audiences between the ages of 50 to 64. However, it turned out that the new Nokia Lumia devices attract young customers as well. People between the ages of 25-34 find the Nokia Lumia a better option than the other smartphones on the market. Besides Nokia, the reasons behind the increase in Windows popularity may lie in the feature phone. These devices made 42% of all Windows devices sold last year.


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LastPass has patched a bug that would have allowed a malicious website to extract a previous password entered by the service’s browser extension. It was reported that that the bug was discovered by Tavis Ormandy, a researcher in Google’s Project Zero team, and was disclosed in a bug report dated August 29th.
Despite this vulnerability, where there is no current evidence that bad actors have stolen user data, password managers are still the best way to manage passwords so that consumers always have a different, strong password, for each account. As cybercriminals have become accustom to consumers using stolen credentials on different accounts, it is mandatory that consumers have a different password for every account, limiting their exposure to the ongoing wave of data breaches. Passwords managers help consumers keep track of their strong, unique passwords in a user friendly way.
Even if there was no theft recorded from this vulnerability, it is advisable for consumers to update their high value passwords and make sure they have installed LastPass’ latest security updates. For those accounts that allow it, end users should activate two-factor authentication for further security.
Luckily, companies are moving away from using only a username and password for authentication, opting to add more layers that include behavioural analytics and passive biometrics, so that vulnerabilities like this one thwart future fraud. If a user has the correct password but is behaving suspiciously, these technologies can be stopped it before any fraud happens.


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Kyodo News, Japan
Japan, India to agree on FTA by year-end: sources
17 August 2010
TOKYO/Kyodo Japan and India are expected to reach a bilateral free trade agreement by the end of this year, sources close to the matter said Tuesday.
It will mark the 12th such trade deal for Japan and the first since the Democratic Party of Japan-led coalition wrested power from the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party in September 2009.
Through the arrangement, Tokyo aims to stimulate Japan’s economic growth by boosting exports of vehicle parts and other products to India, which with a population of 1.2 billion is the second-most populous market after China.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s government has been promoting the establishment of closer economic relations with emerging Asian countries through FTAs under the nation’s growth strategy, as Japan aims to benefit from fast-growing Asian economies.
The government is seeking to expand Japan’s network of FTAs by accelerating similar free trade talks with South Korea and Peru, in addition to India.
For the Japan-India trade deal, both countries’ governments appear to have made concessions to reach an agreement, with the Japanese side moving toward simplifying approval procedures for the sale of medical goods in its domestic market, while the Indian side looks set to cut tariffs on vehicle parts, the sources said.
After holding a working-level meeting in September, the two countries are expected to strike a basic agreement on the FTA in the fall when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Japan and meets with Kan.
By reaching an FTA with India, where Japanese manufacturers of cars and electronics appliances are expanding their output, Japan is aiming to benefit from tariff cuts on parts and materials imported from Japan for production in India.
India, meanwhile, is seeking to boost exports of generic drugs to Japan.
According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, trading with India accounted for only 0.9 percent of Japan’s total trade value in fiscal 2008.
When then-Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama visited India in late 2009, he agreed with Singh to accelerate the countries’ FTA talks to strike an agreement at an early date.
So far, Japan has agreed FTAs mainly with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations such as the Philippines and Indonesia.
Japan is hoping to reach FTAs with other countries at an early date as it is lagging behind South Korea in FTA negotiations with big markets such as the European Union and the United States. South Korea has already agreed an FTA with India.
Some Japanese vehicle and electronics manufacturers that are facing tough competition from South Korean rivals in the global market have expressed concern regarding the Japanese government’s slow FTA negotiations with other countries.


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Elon Musk trolls YouTube for running ‘nonstop scam ads’ before its video clips after he threatened to walk away from $44B Twitter deal over bots
- Elon Musk slammed YouTube as ‘nonstop scam ads,’ mocking the Google-owned company for allegedly doing little to crackdown on the schemes
- Phishing scams are littered throughout the website promising its 122 million daily users cash and prizes through fake giveaways
- It’s the latest in Musk’s gripe against online scams after threatening to walk out of his $44 billion deal with Twitter over the issue of bots on the platform
- Musk claimed Twitter has not tole him how prevalent bots are on the site while the company warned it will force Musk to go through with the deal
Elon Musk has now turned his ire on YouTube.
On Tuesday, the richest man in the world tweeted, ‘YouTube seems to be nonstop scam ads,’ followed by a meme poking fun at the Google-owned video platform for allegedly not cracking down on the deceptive schemes.
Users on YouTube, which boasts 122 million daily viewers, according to Omnicore, can find examples of these scams throughout the website, often featuring the image of a celebrity or influencer promising free money or products through giveaways, Business Insider reported.
More often than not, the links lead to phishing scams sent out by bots designed to dupe them out of their money and personal information.
Google did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
In a statement regarding its policies on scams, Google said: ‘YouTube doesn’t allow spam, scams, or other deceptive practices that take advantage of the YouTube community.
‘We also don’t allow content where the main purpose is to trick others into leaving YouTube for another site. If you find content that violates this policy, report it.’
Elon Musk (pictured) set his eye on criticizing YouTube and its scam ads after threatening to walk out of his $44 billion deal with Twitter over the issue of bots on the platform
Musk poked fun at the Google-owned company for allegedly being lax on scam ads
Many ads work as phishing scams looking for users’ personal information. One such ad going around recently involved a fake ad of Mr. Beast, a popular YouTuber who often gives out money as rewards in his video challenges
Musk’s gripe against YouTube comes as he battles Twitter over pausing his $44 billion purchase of Twitter.
He accused the social media company of thwarting his right to know what percentage of their users base was comprised of bots or fake accounts.
So-called bots are automated accounts that send tweets, follow users and like and retweet others’ posts, but are not associated with any single real-life user.
Twitter has disclosed its bot estimates to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for years, while also cautioning that its estimate might be too low.
Twitter has warned it will force Musk to go through with the deal after he threatened to bail on the deal, which included a clause that he pay the social media platform a $1 billion breakup fee if it falls through.
Musk’s latest dig at Twitter saw him slam its chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde and threaten to torpedo the mega deal.
The Tesla CEO claimed he ‘reserves all rights’ to sink the takeover if the platform does not provide more about fake accounts on its website.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also revealed Monday that he was launching an investigation into Twitter for ‘potentially misleading Texans on the number of its ‘bot’ users.’
Paxton argued he has a duty to protect Texans from the company if it is indeed misrepresenting bot data in an effort to drive up revenue. Musk became a resident of Texas in December 2020.
The social media network claimed earlier in the spam account battle it had submitted all necessary details but Musk dismissed it as just the methodology on finding bots.
Monday’s filing is not the first time Musk has threatened to pull the blockbuster deal, with it being ‘temporarily put on hold’ last month while he looked into fake accounts.
He claimed spam bots could make up at least half of Twitter’s users, which is more than 10 times the company’s official estimate.
He also tweeted last month he ‘cannot move forward’ with the purchase until he is provided the requested data.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced he is launching an investigation into Twitter for potentially misleading Texans on the number of ‘bot’ users
The bot problem also reflects a longtime fixation for Musk. In April he promised to ‘defeat the spam bots or die trying’
TIMELINE OF BILLIONAIRE ELON MUSK’S BID TO CONTROL TWITTER
January 31: Musk starts buying shares of Twitter in near-daily installments, amassing a 5% stake in the company by mid-March.
March 26: Musk, who has 80 million Twitter followers and is active on the site, said that he is giving ‘serious thought’ to building an alternative to Twitter, questioning free speech on the platform and whether Twitter is undermining democracy. He also privately reaches out to Twitter board members, including his friend and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.
March 27: After privately informing them of his growing stake in the company, Musk starts conversations with Twitter’s CEO and board members about potentially joining the board. Musk also mentions taking Twitter private or starting a competitor, according to later regulatory filings.
April 4: A regulatory filing reveals that Musk has rapidly become the largest shareholder of Twitter after acquiring a 9% stake, or 73.5 million shares, worth about $3 billion.
April 5: Musk is offered a seat on Twitter’s board on the condition he amass no more than 14.9% of the company’s stock. CEO Parag Agrawal said in a tweet that ‘it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board.’
April 11: Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announces Musk will not be joining the board after all.
April 14: Twitter reveals in a securities filing that Musk has offered to buy the company outright for about $44 billion.
April 15: Twitter’s board unanimously adopts a ‘poison pill’ defense in response to Musk’s proposed offer, attempting to thwart a hostile takeover.
April 21: Musk lines up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter. Twitter board is under pressure to negotiate.
April 25: Musk reaches a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion and take the company private. The outspoken billionaire has said he wanted to own and privatize Twitter because he thinks it’s not living up to its potential as a platform for free speech.
April 29: Musk sells roughly $8.5 billion worth of shares in Tesla to help fund the purchase of Twitter, according to regulatory filings.
May 5: Musk strengthens his offer to buy Twitter with commitments of more than $7 billion from a diverse group of investors including Silicon Valley heavy hitters like Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
May 10: In a hint at how he would change Twitter, Musk says he’d reverse Twitter’s ban of former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, calling the ban a ‘morally bad decision’ and ‘foolish in the extreme.’
May 13: Musk said that his plan to buy Twitter is ‘ temporarily on hold.’ Musk said that he needs to pinpoint the number of spam and fake accounts on the social media platform. Shares of Twitter tumble, while shares of Tesla rebound sharply.
June 6: Musk threatens to end his $44 billion agreement to buy Twitter, accusing the company of refusing to give him information about its spam bot accounts.
Meanwhile Musk’s other ventures – SpaceX and Tesla – have been battered by his Twitter acquisition, with stocks plummeting amid fears he cannot juggle the work.
Last month, Musk said he wanted to pause on the purchase deal to verify false or spam accounts represented fewer than 5 percent of the company’s 229 million users during the first quarter, as Twitter reported.
If Twitter’s reporting was accurate, that would mean that there are fewer than 11.4 million fake accounts that are targeted for ads.
The billionaire said he and his team wanted to conduct their own audit of 100 Twitter followers to check how many are bots and spam accounts.
In Monday’s letter to Twitter, Musk stated if the company is ‘confident’ in its published spam estimates, he ‘does not understand’ the company’s reluctancy to allow him to ‘independently evaluate those estimates.’
‘As Twitter’s prospective owner, Musk is clearly entitled to the requested data to enable him to prepare for transitioning Twitter’s business to his ownership and to facilitate his transaction financing. To do both, he must have a complete and accurate understanding of the very core of Twitter’s business model—its active user base,’ the letter stated.
‘In any event, Musk is not required to explain his rationale for requesting the data, nor submit to the new conditions the company has attempted to impose on his contractual right to the requested data.’
The bot problem also reflects a longtime fixation for Musk, one of Twitter’s most active celebrity users, whose name and likeness are often mimicked by fake accounts promoting cryptocurrency scams.
The billionaire appears to think such bots are also a problem for most other Twitter users, as well as advertisers who take out ads on the platform based on how many real people they expect to reach.
However, some analysts speculate Musk is actually seeking the spam data in an effort to negotiate a lower price for the deal or pull out completely.
The Twitter sale agreement allows Musk to get out of the deal if there is a ‘material adverse effect’ caused by the company.
It defines that as a change that negatively affects Twitter’s business or financial conditions.
Financial experts claim Musk can’t unilaterally place the deal on hold, although that hasn’t stopped him from acting as though he can.
If he walks away from the merger agreement, Musk could be on the hook for a $1 billion breakup fee.
Though Twitter’s board agreed to the purchase in April, it still has not been approved by shareholders, and is not expected to close for at least several months.
In fact, late last month, a proposed class-action suit was filed against Musk and Twitter over the Tesla CEO’s acquisition of the platform.
The suit alleges Musk violated multiple California corporate laws and engaged in stock market manipulation.
The suit claims Musk benefited financially by delaying to disclose his stake in the platform and by ‘temporarily concealing’ his initial plan to become a board member. Musk ultimately declined the offered board seat.
The complaint, which was obtained by CNBC, also states Musk bought Twitter shares while knowing insider information about the company based on private conversations with board members and executives.
Musk revealed his stake in Twitter on April 4 and 10 days later proposed his $44 billion buyout.
He has sold a significant chunk of his Tesla shares in an effort to secure funding for the deal.
Source: Read Full Article


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StarStock, a NYC-based marketplace for sports fans and card hobbyists to buy, sell, and invest in their favorite athletes, raised $8m in Series A funding.
The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from several angel investors including NBA all-star Trae Young, Twitch Co-founder Justin Kan, Chief Operating Officer of BetMGM, Ryan Spoon, and Ilkka Paananen, Co-founder of Supercell.
The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand operations and its business reach.
In addition to the raise, Jonathan Lai, Partner on Andreessen Horowitz’s consumer investing team, will join StarStock’s Board of Directors; alongside existing members Scott Greenberg, Co-founder and CEO of the company and Nigel Eccles of Flick and FanDuel.
Founded in November 2019 by Scott Greenberg, CEO, StarStock enables sports fans to trade sports cards instantaneously in a marketplace. The company authenticates, grades, and stores cards in a centralized vault where fans can make trades at scale and gain instant ownership at the point of trade. In this way, StarStock enables users to buy and sell their favorite athletes without needing to ship or handle the cards.
Currently, StarStock has over 800k cards in its vault, 600k cards have been traded, and over 50k cards are added to the marketplace weekly.


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Now that cholesterol reducing Lipitor has lost its’ patent, what is in store for the future of this blockbuster cash cow of a drug? Quite frankly….nothing. Its’ reign is officially over and its’ owner Pfizer Inc. is quietly giving up on it for good because more generic versions will soon be going on sale.
But, they didn’t give up without a fight! The world’s biggest drug maker actually conducted an intriguing experiment in brand marketing this year, aggressively pushing the cholesterol-fighting drug Lipitor in the U.S. even after its patent expired on Nov. 30.
Normally, when a drug goes generic, drug companies generally give up on it right away and move on to the next thing that can potentially create major profits for them. But Pfizer didn’t want to do that. Lipitor had brought in so much money, as much as $12.9 billion annually at Lipitor’s peak, the company was hoping that it could find a way that it could continue to be a revenue stream.
So, with a combination of discounts, coupons and payer contracts, the drugmaker aimed to protect market share as long as possible, with their goal of keeping 40% of the market. And although they were somewhat successful, they kept upwards of 30%, and actually managed to bring in $383 million in domestic sales for the first quarter, making it the company’s third best-selling drug in the U.S. after spending more than $87 million promoting the medicine; nonetheless it is time to throw in the towel.
But, why now? Simply put, it has now been 180 days. Brand-name drugs take their biggest hit after 180-day exclusivity expires and increased competition pushes prices downward. And that’s what Lipitor faces as of June 1. So it is no surprise that Pfizer chose to pull back now.
So, was it a successful marketing scheme? Some think so. They believe that Pfizer’s approach will probably inspire other companies facing generic rivals to their blockbuster products. “It’s helped them hang on to additional volume compared to other generic erosions,” Ben Weintraub, of Wolters Kluwer’s inThought, told The Wall Street Journal.
Ultimately only time will tell whether or not it was a sucessful scheme, apart from the money that Pfizer ending up making. As for if it truly inspires others to be creative and attempt something as well, we could soon find out as Sanofi and Bristol-Myers Squibb lose patent protection for their megablockbuster Plavix later this month.


text: What Facebook, Google video chat means for TV - Lost Remote From the article: - "It's a no-brainer for Google to include some kind of hangouts implementation within its Google TV platform, although they haven't dropped any hints. Facebook already has a variety of TV apps spanning Xbox Live and Samsung, so video calling would be a natural addition. And Apple could bring Facetime to Apple TV. Comcast, too, has teamed with Skype to bring video calling to TV. As TV manufacturers continue to build cameras in their TV sets (and as Xbox sells more Kinects), video calling will become just as common on a TV set as it will with laptops and tablets."


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Anyone wondering what 2012 will look like for the cloud computing market can look at 2011 and add a lot more of the same. If cloud computing is the tree trunk, its two strongest branches are mobile and social technologies.
Amit Singh, vice president of Google Enterprise, told eWEEK that the cloud computing sector is leaning heavily on mobile and social in 2012. He said the trend is to move from the era of individual productivity to one of teamwork, in which users work together on projects and share content, all through a Web browser.
To augment this, Google is ensuring greater integration of the Google+ social network across Google Apps, the company’s suite of Gmail and Google Docs-a marriage that makes those cloud collaboration apps more social. As a practical example, Apps users can use Google+ Hangouts to collaborate with either ad hoc or scheduled video chat sessions.
On the mobile front, Singh said Google recently addressed BYOD-bring your own device. In this trend, the IT department supports employees who use their personal smartphones and tablets to communicate and share information at work.
To meet the needs of Google Apps customers that practice BYOD, Google rolled out mobile device management software. It lets IT managers control Android, Apple’s iOS and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile devices from the Google Apps control panel.
“Everybody now has a computer in their pocket and is connected to a data center,” said Singh. Those users are all connected in common with a multitenant architecture, which is shared through massively parallel processed servers.
Peter Coffee, vice president and head of platform research for Salesforce.com, sees the cloud helping end users break through barriers that previously existed between devices and content. For example, while employees may not author complex documents on their tablets, they can create this content on their laptops and review it on the road from their tablets.
“People do not want to be burdened by what device is holding a piece of content,” said Coffee, adding that making content accessible in a device-neutral and context-neutral way is imperative in the business world.
Salesforce.com is practicing this concept via Data.com, where it pulls information from LinkedIn, Dun & Bradstreet and other sources as part of a crowdsourced database of social customer data. This enables sales teams to get information on people they do business with on their laptops, tablets and smartphones before they meet.
Forrester Research analyst James Staten thinks cloud technologies have “entered the awkward teenage years,” searching for identity and independence in the high-tech sector. He said several trends will bubble up next year.
Staten said the industry will see a shift away from stand-alone mobile apps to what Forrester calls the App Internet, which entails “specialized local apps running in conjunction with cloud-based services” across smartphones, tablets and other devices. He pointed to Amazon’s Silk Web browser on the Kindle Fire tablet as an example of this trend in the consumer sector.
Cloud outages will continue to plague the industry following a year in which Google, Amazon Web Services and others experienced downtime. It’s how companies come back from the downtime that matters.
“Your company will survive a major cloud outage,” Staten said. “It happens to every cloud service. The sooner you learn to deal with cloud outages, the better off you will be.”


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Bangladesh government has decided to allow rawhide exports in order to ensure the well-being of leather sector in the country. The decision will be in effect immediately.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said, “The syndication in the rawhide and tannery markets has put the whole industry at risk. We will provide all the necessary assistance to the exporters to control ongoing meltdown of the rawhide industry.”
During the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha this year, prices of collecting rawhide have hit the lowest in recent history causing small traders a huge loss.
The decision came into effect following the observation that rawhide is not being traded as per the government set prices, even though the prices were set after discussing with all the stakeholders. The diversion of the market prices from the set prices has led to the decision.
“In order to ensure the safety of the grassroots level rawhide traders, the decision of export has been taken,” affirmed Tipu.
However, the industry stakeholders are discontent with the government’s decision and demanded its withdrawal. Bangladesh Tannery Association (BTA) claimed that it would affect the local leather industry. Shaheen Ahmed, Chairman of BTA said, “From August 20, we will be collecting raw hides at the price determined by the leather traders.”
Image Source: https://c.tribune.com.pk


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// HMV missed out on up to £3.35m in tax relief for business rates
// New figures emerge a week after HMV officially fell into administration
HMV was denied a £3.35 million government tax cut before it entered administration, new figures have revealed.
The iconic entertainment retailer, which filed for administration between Christmas and New Year, blamed a “tsunami” of retail challenges, including business rate levels.
It said it paid £15 million on sales of £277 million, meaning £1 in every £18.5 going through the tills went on property taxes.
Real estate adviser Altus Group said HMV should have been a big “winner” under the 2017 business rates revaluation, when the rateable values on 87 of the retailer’s stores used to calculate business rates liabilities fell by almost a fifth to 19.4 per cent.
However, in order to help pay for caps and limits on how quickly bills could increase for those firms facing sharp increases, strict limits were imposed by the government on tax reductions.
Premises with rateable values over £100,000, which saw their property values plummet in struggling areas, were restricted to tax reductions in business rates bills of just 4.1 per cent before the effects of two per cent inflation in the 2017/18 financial year.
For the 2018/19 financial year, they were limited to just 4.6 per ent before the effects of three per cent inflation.
Restrictions were also imposed on reductions for small and medium sized premises.
Analysis of official government data by Altus Group reveals through the policy of “Transitional Relief”, which only applies to tax bills in England, HMV were denied tax reductions of £1.88 million for 2017/18 and £1.47 million for the current financial year.
This means the retailer missed out on a total of £3.35 million worth of reductions.
For example, HMV’s Stockport store saw its rateable value fall 53.44 per cent from £305,000 to £142,000.
Under the system of limiting business rates reductions, its bill only fell marginally by £5340 in 2017/18 to £146,245, and £7,850 during 2018/19 to £143,735.
Altus Group head of business rates Robert Hayton said places where respite was needed were “not getting the fair deal they need” to respond to changing markets, leaving even more stores vulnerable to closure.
“Where local economies are struggling and rental values fall significantly, businesses must benefit from the full tax reduction immediately at a revaluation or you are left with the absurd position of certain premises having to pay a tax rate of over 100 per cent of a property’s estimated rental value,” he said.
“Caps on large increases are an important part of rating and act as a shock absorber but could be paid for by a small supplement.
“It would be like an insurance premium against a steep future increase in liability.”


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[UPDATED] Terraria coming to PSN today… and PS Vita in the summer!
Terraria was originally released on PC in May 2011, and quickly developed a cult following. A couple of months ago the game was also announced for consoles, and today it finally arrives on PSN!
Upon its release, Terraria was often lazily described as ‘Minecraft in 2D’. While it does share some similarities with Mojang’s megahit (mining, randomly-generated worlds, etc.), the reality is that the gameplay fuses many different genres, and is most akin to classic platformers and action/adventure games like Castlevania and Metroid.
It’s retro appeal genuinely resonated with gamers, and it was even the best-selling game on Steam in its debut week, beating off fierce competition from the likes of Portal 2 and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. It went on to sell over 2 million copies.
Terraria was created by independent developer Re-Logic, otherwise known as Andrew ‘Redigit’ Spinks and Finn ‘Tiy’ Brice, with music by Scott Lloyd Shelley. The PSN port is being handled by 505 Games, and includes brand new content including weapons, armour, enemies, tutorials and pets.
The game will be available from later today on the North American PlayStation Store. Unfortunately a release date for Europe hasn’t been announced yet (presumably it’s another victim of SCEE’s prohibitively slow QA process), but let’s hope it arrives soon!


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Rising seafood demand from recovering markets boost Lerøy’s Q2 earnings
Citing the gradual easing of COVID-19 restrictions in a number of key markets that led to stronger demand and higher prices for seafood products, Lerøy Seafood Group (LSG) reported its second-quarter 2021 revenues saw significant increases over the same period in 2020.
The company reported revenues of NOK 5.3 billion (USD 589.9 million, EUR 504.3 million), up from the NOK 4.7 billion (USD 523.1 million, EUR 447.2 million) that it made in the corresponding period of last year. Its operating profit before fair value adjustments climbed by NOK 280 million (USD 31.2 million, EUR 26.6 million) to NOK 583 million (USD 64.9 million, EUR 55.5 million).
The Norwegian fish farming and fishing group, which trades publicly on the Oslo Stock Exchange, also acknowledged that its earnings benefited from increased productivity in the whitefish sector.
Lerøy Seafood CEO Henning Beltestad said in the company's earnings report there has been “a good development” in demand for seafood in 2021.
“Demand in retail was strong in the first-quarter. This continued in the second-quarter, when we also saw demand gradually picking up in the hospitality and catering segments further to the easing of COVID-19-related restrictions. We're seeing a very strong position for seafood in the markets,” Beltestad said. “In the second quarter, we've seen a significant improvement on last year within [the] wild-catch [segment] and good progress in downstream activities, although we're not exploiting the full potential of our farming segment. We can and will improve, and the last quarter shows that we have a robust business model with significant potential.”
LSG operates in three farming regions in Norway: Lerøy Aurora, located in Troms and Finnmark; Lerøy Midt, located in Nordmøre and Trøndelag; and Lerøy Sjøtroll, located in Vestlandet. The company's farming segment’s operating profit before fair-value adjustment related to biological assets was NOK 388 million (USD 43.2 million, EUR 36.9 million), compared with NOK 216 million (USD 24 million, EUR 20.5 million) in Q2 2020. Some 36,756 metric tons (MT) gutted weight of salmonids were harvested, down from 38,896 MT in Q2 2020.
Its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) per kilogram was up from NOK 5.50 (USD 0.61, EUR 0.52) in Q2 2020 to NOK 10.60 (USD 1.18, EUR 1.01).
While the retail sector continued to be the key driver for LSG's salmon in the quarter, it was “very pleasing to see demand picking up in the hospitality and catering market too,” the group’s second-quarter report stated.
LSG reported its average price for salmon it sold in Q2 2021 was NOK 62.50 (USD 6.95, EUR 5.94) per kilogram, compared with NOK 57.90 (USD 6.44, EUR 5.51) in Q2 2020 and NOK 52.10 (USD 5.79, EUR 4.95) in Q1 2021. Norwegian trout export volumes have continued a declining trend this year, which has also led to improved prices.
Its estimated harvest volume of salmon and trout for 2021, including the share from associates, is currently 205,000-210,000 MT.
Within the group’s wild-catch segment, Havfisk's whitefish landings in the last quarter totaled 16,345 MT, down from 19,708 MT in Q2 2020. This catch included 3,241 MT of cod, 2,435 MT of haddock, 3,347 MT of saithe, and 1,521 MT of redfish. Some 5,174 MT of shrimp was also caught.
LSG said prices for its most-important wild-caught species, cod, are down 12 percent compared with Q2 2020, while prices for haddock and saithe climbed 3 percent and 13 percent, respectively. The company said its current expectations are that the further easing of COVID-19-related restrictions could result in a positive price development for the remainder of 2021, including for cod.
The group's quotas for 2021 are up 17 percent for cod, 22 percent for haddock, and 16 percent for saithe north of 62 degrees latitude and down 43 percent for saithe south of 62 degrees.
However, in June, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) published its recommendations for the total quotas of cod, haddock, and saithe in 2022, which include reductions in the cod and haddock quotas of 20 percent and 23 percent, respectively. For saithe north of 62 degrees latitude, a quota roughly equivalent to 2021 was recommended, while a 24 percent reduction was recommended in the total quota for the North Sea. Final quotas will be set in the autumn by Norwegian authorities.
Meanwhile, Lerøy Havfisk’s sister processing company Lerøy Norway Seafoods (LNWS) experienced “a substantial improvement in underlying operations,” which also led to an improvement in the financial results for the quarter.
In total, the segment reported an EBIT of NOK 65 million (USD 7.2 million, EUR 6.2 million) for Q2 2021, compared with a loss of NOK 5 million (USD 555,962, EUR 475,481) a year previously.
LSG’s value-added, sales, and distribution segment achieved revenues of NOK 5.1 billion (USD 567 million, EUR 484.8 million) in Q2 2021, up from NOK 4.5 billion (USD 500.3 million, EUR 427.8 million), with its operating profit before fair-value adjustment of biomass reported amounting to NOK 161 million (USD 17.9 million, EUR 15.3 million), up from NOK 114 million (USD 12.7 million, EUR 10.8 million) in the same period in 2020.
"The business is developing well this year. We're seeing the impact of new activities and the improvement measures we've put in place, but are still absorbing start-up costs for the new factories in Italy and Spain. We believe we're well-positioned to continue our earnings growth in this part of the business," Beltestad said.
With regards to its first-half 2021 results, LSG’s total revenues increased slightly to NOK 10.2 billion (USD 1.1 billion, EUR 970 million), while its operating profit for the six months fell by NOK 100 million (USD 11.1 million, EUR 9.5 million) to less than NOK 1.14 billion (USD 126.8 million, EUR 108.4 million).
Its profit before tax and fair-value adjustment related to biological assets for the period slipped slightly to less than NOK 1.04 billion (USD 115.7 million, EUR 98.9 million).
Photo courtesy of Lerøy Seafood Group


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In the last 2 years of operations of the GeM portal, the overall cumulative procurement was worth Rs 11,000 crore. We are targeting Rs 40,000 crore worth of transaction on the marketplace by end of the current financial, GeM extra CEO
AK Kamra said here. GMV is the price credited the consumer increased by the number of products offered.
He said that given that mid-July, GeM has begun imposing a deal cost of 0.5 per cent from the sellers in order to recuperate its operational expense.
GeM was released in August, 2016 to help with online procurement of common-use goods and services needed by both central and state federal governments, organisations and public sector units.
Asked what caused a four-fold increase in procurement target, Kamra said there has been a steady rise in noted items and the number of purchasers have actually increased substantially.
Around 25 state governments have actually signed arrangement with the national website for procurement, consisting of West Bengal.
Kamra said the website has now 1,900 different product categories and 4 lakh products are readily available on the portal including IT equipment, requirements of para-military, defence and police modernisation, clothing and products for sports authorities.
Kamra said GeM is for makers and direct buyers and have started the procedure to weed out the intermediaries.
Based on the public procurement policy, 358 product categories have actually been booked for small and medium enterprises he stated, including that more than 44 lakh systems have actually been signed up in the portal.
We are attempting to bring all the product classifications scheduled for the MSEs in the portal. Some of them have already been included. We have actually asked for the Ministry of MSMEs to provide specs of the reserved product categories,” he included.


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Worldwide Betting Providers Start to Withdraw from Singapore As Unique Betting Costs Nears
A number of online gambling businesses have withdrawn their operations from the country as the Remote Gambling Bill in Singapore passed its second reading earlier this month. The bill is going to limit the Singapore playing sell to best operators that are non-profit locally. The implementation that is official of costs isn’t however determined however it is likely to be sometime in 2015. Nevertheless, numerous international companies already started getting in touch with her website’ customers to share with all of them of this closure that is incoming of programs.
The most important operator that is international start packing is UK-based Bet365, which delivered announcements on October 15, saying that customers will no longer have the ability to wager on the internet site. The business, which includes recently become troubled due to the article that is guardian its gambling operations in China, keeps conveyed the regrets for having to close off the web site for Singaporean users and expected these to withdraw the balance of these accounts. Bet365 was reported to own generated around £1.28 billion in sales in 2013. The Guardian stated that the firm try generating around half of just what it earns from opportunities whenever it doesn’t have a license that is official provide gambling services.
Another huge gaming user, IBC choice, furthermore accompanied the pack of leaving organizations. Continue reading article


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Adult Industry News
Sat, Nov 10 2012 06:00am PST
Hustler magazine, in association with Galaxy Publicity, "Inside The Industry" radio program, and Reload Male Enhancement Pills, will be hosting a promotional party on Wednesday at Hemingway's Nightclub in Hollywood.
Fri, Nov 09 2012 04:00pm PST
Elegant Angel announced today the upcoming release of "Performers of the Year 2013."
Fri, Nov 09 2012 03:00pm PST
A suit that seeks class-action status has been filed against New Frontier Media and LFP Broadcasting by a shareholder who alleges that LFP's proposed $33 million takeover of the company is "grossly inadequate."
Fri, Nov 09 2012 02:30pm PST
For a limited time only, Swan is releasing one of its best-selling designs in a new color, which makes it unique from the rest of the collection, attractive new packaging, and a watch bundled in every limited edition box.
Fri, Nov 09 2012 01:30pm PST
"Starlet," an indie-drama about the unlikely friendship between an elderly widow and a young porn star, opens Friday in L.A. and N.Y.
Fri, Nov 09 2012 12:45pm PST
Larry Flynt said that production will go on at LFP if Measure B is enforced — but perhaps in far-flung spots such as Hawaii, Mexico or in the deserts of the Southwest.
Fri, Nov 09 2012 12:30pm PST
Dreamgirl has increased its offerings in the Diamond line of packaged lingerie to include bedroom costumes and the Fetish Collection first released in 2011 under the Red Diamond banner.
Fri, Nov 09 2012 11:00am PST
The CineKink kinky film festival is bringing its annual tour to Chicago for a two-night stand Nov. 16,17 and then heads to Washington, D.C. for double-feature on Nov. 24.
Fri, Nov 09 2012 10:30am PST
SegPay has announced that it will offer daily celebrity content feeds and new revenue stream opportunities for its clients from Mr. Skin.
Fri, Nov 09 2012 08:30am PST
The Australian government has axed its “Cleanfeed” porn-filtering plan that's been shrouded in a campaign to fight spam and malware.


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LONDON — It has four legs and a tail like a dog or a cat, so why shouldn’t man’s best friend be a … rat?
Demand for rats as pets has surged thanks to the latest Disney/Pixar animated film, “Ratatouille,” which features the adventures of a gourmet rat named Remy demonstrating his culinary prowess in the top kitchens of Paris.
Britain’s Pets at Home domestic pet chain said rat sales have surged 50% since the film opened in Britain on Oct. 12.
“It’s early doors yet, but it seems ‘Ratatouille’ has done wonders for the image of rats,” company spokesman Steve Fairburn said on www.ukpets.co.uk.
“Contrary to popular opinion, rats are actually one of the cleanest and least smelly pets you can own. They are incredibly responsive to learning and can be taught to do amazing tricks, much in the way that dogs and cats can,” he added.
Indeed, the British experience appears to have been echoed wherever the film has been screened.
The U.S. reported a surge in demand for pet rats during the summer, and pet groups in Germany and Sweden have also said rat sales have surged thanks to the film.
But they also warn that, as with demand for pet puppies and kittens that can fade once the cute factor diminishes with age, a rat is for life not just the holidays.
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With Christmas Day now just days away, stock up on winter vegetables for 19p at Aldi and Lidl.
What’s the deal exactly?
Discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl have both launched a Christmas offer, which sees them selling a range of winter vegetables for 19p a pack.
Included in the offer at Aldi are:
- Broccoli (360g)
- Brussels sprouts (500g)
- Carrots (1kg)
- Parsnips (600g)
Also included in its ‘super six’ offer are loose swedes and 2.5kg bags of Maris Piper potatoes, both priced at 28p each.
Moneywise has asked Aldi to confirm the original price of these items and we will update this news story if we get a response.
Lidl is offering the following discount veg for 19p a pack:
- Brussels sprouts (500g) – reduced from 65p
- Carrots (1kg) – reduced 44p
- Mini potatoes (1.5kg) – reduced from 89p
- Parsnips (500g) – reduced from 56p
Why should I care?
Consumers are expected to spend a record £20 billion on Christmas this year, according to Halifax, with the big Christmas food shop an integral part of that figure.
These offers can drastically reduce the cost of both your Christmas Day meal, and other meals during the festive period.
What’s the catch?
The discount veg offers are available until Wednesday 27 December at Lidl and Sunday 31 December at Aldi.
However, Aldi says this offer is “while stocks last”, so buy early to avoid disappointment.
What other options do I have?
If you don’t live close to an Aldi or Lidl, other supermarkets have also cut the cost of winter vegetables.
Elsewhere, Tesco is offering carrots, cauliflower, parsnips, potatoes, and sprouts for 29p – a saving of up to £1.06 per item.
Morrisons hasn’t joined in this price war so far, but Moneywise does like its large ‘wonky veg’ boxes of visually imperfect vegetables for £3. Boxes include carrots, onions (red or brown), potatoes and parsnips, as well as a minimum of three of the following products: cabbage, cauliflower, leeks, peppers and swede.


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Due to the weak initial sales of the device, Amazon has decided to slash the price of the Fire phone to 99 cents with a two-year contract with AT&T, the exclusive carrier for the device. That is a price difference of nearly $200 from the time that the phone was released. Individuals that purchase the Fire phone also get a free year of Amazon Prime, Amazon’s shipping and video club, saving $99 on the cost of the membership.
The release of the Fire phone occurred last June with great fanfare and a dramatic presentation from Jeffrey P. Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief executive. The creation of the Fire phone was an expensive project, involving four years of work and thousands of employees. Nearly 60,000 people wanted to attend the unveiling event, but the company has not been able to create that same interest in purchasing the phone. The innovative Firefly feature, which identified products and made it easy to order them from Amazon, was not enough to draw in new customers. Neither was the Dynamic Perspective feature, which was designed to enhance maps, shopping and games.
Amazon is basically giving the phones away now to clear its inventory and to get as many people using the Fire phone as they can. Amazon has seen previous success with basically giving away hardware and making up the cost in additional orders from the users. However, history is not on Amazon’s side this time. The same issue of weak sales and slashed prices occurred when Facebook released its phone and, even after the price was slashed, the phones failed to move and never gained a foothold in the market.
When the Fire phone was first released, Amazon expected to sell between one million to two million units over the first year. The estimated sales so far are much lower than that, averaging around 35,000 total units sold. However, learning exactly how many units were sold will be difficult, as Amazon does not release sales numbers for its devices. An AT&T spokesperson has also declined to disclose or estimate how many Fire phones have been sold through AT&T stores.
This story was originally published by sleekmoney (https://sleekmoney.com) and is the sole property of sleekmoney. If you are reading this article on another website, that means this article was illegally copied and re-published to this website in violation of U.S. and International copyright law. You can view the original version of this story at https://sleekmoney.com/weak-sales-spur-amazon-to-slash-fire-phone-price-amzn/15382.html
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We are using McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 7.0 on our PC's. I have used Symantec Corporate before, and with that product you can set up an 'anti-virus server' that has a console that lists all clients with the software installed, their virus status, and also the date of their current definitions.
Does anyone know if McAfee has a similar application? I have searched on their website but cannot find anything relevant.
Max points because I've tried and tried to find this to no avail!
With the new era of mobile computing, smartphones and tablets, wireless communications and cloud services, the USDA sought to take advantage of a mobilized workforce and the blurring lines between personal and corporate computing resources.
February 24, 2017 — On February 23, Travis Ormandy, a vulnerability researcher at Google, reported on Twitter (https://twitter.com/taviso/status/834900838837411840) that massive stores of data have been leaked by CloudFlare, a company that provide…
Sending a Secure fax is easy with eFax Corporate (http://www.enterprise.efax.com). First, just open a new email message.
In the To field, type your recipient's fax number @efaxsend.com.
You can even send a secure international fax — just include t…
Email security requires an ever evolving service that stays up to date with counter-evolving threats. The Email
Laundry perform Research and Development to ensure their email security service evolves faster than cyber criminals. We apply our Threat…


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Trouble in paradise
Will Netflix have a starring role in “The Easter Island Effect”? The Internet video service seems to be using up resources faster than it can produce them. New series like “House of Cards” lure customers, at a cost. Netflix cash flow remains negative and obligations are rising. It’s starting to evoke the centuries-old Polynesian society that eventually exhausted its means of sustenance.
After some strategic missteps, Netflix has pleased the investment gods again. An 18 percent rise in revenue in the first quarter from a year ago helped the company’s shares to surge by nearly a quarter, adding $3 billion of market value. The heavily shorted stock has quadrupled from a recent low last July.
The company’s disruption of the entertainment ecosystem also is expanding. Adding another 2.4 million paying U.S. streaming customers – bringing the total to almost 28 million – will be a further catalyst for more services that don’t require a cable or satellite subscription. What’s more, the success of new series like the 13-episode thriller “House of Cards” and the highly anticipated “Arrested Development,” made available all at once, are altering behavior with a binge-viewing option and forcing broadcasters to confront TV’s long-standing linear model. Both trends could threaten carriage and advertising revenue.
The durability of Netflix’s growth, however, is questionable. Free cash flow drained away again, with a $42 million shortfall in the latest quarter. Its balance sheet is also looking increasingly depleted. Include $3.3 billion of off-balance-sheet items, and programming obligations grew from under $5 billion last year to $5.7 billion.
Moreover, content resources could become more precious. Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings said Amazon and Hulu are bidding more aggressively for the same films and programs. Netflix reckons its capital position is just fine, with $1 billion in cash and short-term investments on the balance sheet.
Even so, the inhabitants of Easter Island discovered the hard way the perils of underestimating the shorter-term price of growth. Netflix will need to husband capital or find a way to generate more of it to avoid becoming just a curiosity of financial anthropology.


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During regular inspections, CARB investigators found that Albertsons failed to comply with the program’s requirements across Albertsons stores between 2016 and 2018.
Grocer Fined For Refrigerant Violations
Absolute Airflow continued its rapid expansion last week by acquiring BWR Heating and Cooling. The move extends their foothold in the inland empire part of Southern California.
Trane® is accepting applications for the 2022-2023 Trane Technician of the Future Scholarship through March 1, 2022.
HB McClure Named ACCA’s 2021 Commercial Contractor of the YrHB McClure Named ACCA’s 2021 Commercial Contractor of the Yr
ACCA announced HB McClure Company in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as the ACCA 2021 Commercial Contractor of the Year.


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Tickets for the June 8 show at the venue go on sale 10 a.m. Saturday at all Ticketmaster outlets, the Palace box office, or by calling (800) 745-3000 and range in price from $29.50 to $92.50.
There's an eight-ticket limit.
New Kids on the Block, according to a tour press release, has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide and has back-to-back international No. 1 songs: "Hangin' Tough" in 1988 and "Step By Step" in 1990.
What do you think the band's return?
Let us know in our comments section.


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Euro vs UK Sterling (FX:EURGBP)
1 Year : From Mar 2017 to Mar 2018
At 4.30 am ET Friday, the Office for National Statistics releases UK retail sales for March. Sales are forecast to drop 0.5 percent on month, in contrast to a 1.4 percent rise in February.
Ahead of the data, the pound pared its early gains against its major rivals.
The pound was worth 1.2809 against the greenback, 139.87 against the yen, 0.8372 against the euro and 1.2780 against the franc as of 4:25 am ET.


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Elon Musk announced that Tesla may have a working prototype of the Tesla Bot, also known as Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robot, before September 30 – the end of the third quarter of 2022.
Last month, Musk announced ‘Tesla AI Day # 2’ with ‘many cool updates’ on August 19th.
The original “Tesla AI Day” held last year was an event focusing on the company’s self-driving program. The automaker also unveiled its Dojo supercomputer and announced plans for the humanoid robot “Tesla Bot” – now known as the Tesla Optimus.
AI Day # 2 was to be held a year to the day after the first, but Musk took to Twitter today to postpone the event until September 30th.
As a reason for the delay, the CEO said that Tesla may have a working prototype of Optimus at the time:
When Musk first announced the project last year, Musk said Tesla would have a working prototype by the end of 2022, and recently the CEO even said the company aims to start production of the robot in 2023.
This is an extremely ambitious timeline for such an ambitious project, but Musk said on several occasions that it has become a priority.
In January, the CEO said that Tesla will prioritize product development of the Optimus humanoid robot in 2022 over other products.
Tesla plans to leverage its existing expertise in power electronics and electric vehicle batteries to build the robot and use its AI expertise to give it a brain.
Musk said the robot would initially be programmed to perform simple and repetitive tasks, including in manufacturing operations like Tesla’s own.
Tesla plans to improve the robot over time and be able to perform a wider range of tasks that will make it useful for both commercial and consumer applications.
If successful, the project could have a massive impact on economies, which explains why Tesla has shifted its focus to it.
Most recently, Musk has even claimed that Tesla could play a role in making Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) a reality through the humanoid robot project.
It sounds like we should learn a lot more about it on September 30th.
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- Ikea is raising its prices due to supply chain challenges and the rising cost of raw materials.
- A spokesperson told The Guardian that prices would increase 9% on average.
- Companies around the world have been warning of supply chain challenges since the onset of COVID-19.
Ikea is hiking prices by an average of nearly 10%, due to supply chain bottlenecks and the surging cost of materials amid the pandemic.
The Swedish furniture maker has built a reputation for its economical yet stylish flatpack furniture, but a spokesperson told The Guardian that since Christmas it had raised prices in multiple countries.
The spokesperson said: “Since the start of the pandemic, Ikea has managed to absorb the significant cost increases experienced across the supply chain while keeping prices as low and stable as we possibly can. Now, like many other retailers, we have had to raise our prices to mitigate the impact on our business.”
Although the increases vary, the Ikea spokesperson said they remain in line with what the company has seen globally, which is approximately a 9% average.
The Guardian, however, estimates that some prices have increased by as much as 50%. For example, a Malm desk increased from £90 ($121) to £150 ($202), according to archive scans of Ikea’s website.
Ikea is yet to respond to Insider’s approach for comment.
Companies around the world have been warning of supply chain challenges since the onset of COVID-19. A combination of labor shortages, factory closures, increased consumer demand, and bottlenecks at ports have forced retailers to rethink their supply chains and raise prices, in some cases.
In October, Inter Ikea Group, which owns the Ikea brand, warned in its annual report that challenges would last well into 2022 and that the resulting costs may need to be passed onto customers.
Chief executive Jon Abrahamsson Ring said in an interview with Reuters that exporting goods from China, where around a quarter of its products are manufactured, was the biggest challenge facing the group.
Ikea has 463 stores worldwide, including 68 in North America.
It has typically been able to beat its competitors on price by building its model around its flatpacked furniture, which enabled it to save costs on transportation and logistics.


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Motorola Names Leader for Mobile Phone Unit
MOTOROLA, struggling to design a popular line of cellphones, tapped a semiconductor industry executive, Sanjay K. Jha of Qualcomm, to head its troubled mobile phone division and share chief executive duties for the entire company in an unusual power-sharing arrangement.
Motorola said Monday that it named Mr. Jha chief executive of the mobile phone division because of his operational experience and talent for managing change.
He will also share the title of co-chief executive for all of Motorola with the current chief executive, Gregory Q. Brown.
Mr. Brown was also given the title of chief executive of Motorola’s home and business broadband business, the other, more successful, part of Motorola’s business.
For several months, Motorola has been seeking a leader who could inspire innovation in its money-losing mobile phone unit. The company, based in Schaumberg, Ill., had been a leader in the cellphone handset industry, but lost momentum when designers and engineers failed to come up with a successor to the popular Razr phone.
Mr. Jha, analysts agree, is an experienced operations executive steeped in the mobile phone business and his appointment is a step in the right direction. He most recently served as chief operating officer at Qualcomm, the San Diego-based maker of chips used in handsets. There he was responsible for corporate research and development, including its Flarion unit, which created advanced fourth-generation wireless technology that makes it easier and faster for consumers to surf the Web.
“He doesn’t get a lot of headlines, but he is one of the key players at Qualcomm,” said Roger Entner, a telecommunications analyst for Nielsen IAG, a market research firm.
Investors applauded his appointment, driving shares of Motorola up 11.46 percent, or $1.01, to close at $9.82.
But one important question remains for Motorola: Is Mr. Jha too little, too late?
While Mr. Jha provides a much-needed injection of knowledge about the mobile Web, he is an unusual choice because his background is in cellphone semiconductors, not mobile phone design.
And it is the look and feel of Motorola phones where many analysts agree Motorola must focus its efforts if the company is to thrive.
“He’s a great operations guy and Qualcomm is a great training ground,” said Michael King, a research director at Gartner. “But I’m surprised they did not pick someone with more imagination in devices. I’m not sure whether a semiconductor guy does the trick. Can he green-light the next five great devices consumers want?”
Mr. Jha said in an interview that he did not know yet what was needed at Motorola to spur innovation, while not gutting the entire corporate culture and putting a new one in place. He said he will take 90 days to review the unit’s operations.
“That’s a balance I need to strike,” he said. “But I would not have taken this job if I did not believe in the organization.”
He said too that Mr. Brown, as sole chief executive since last December, “put in place a road map” for the mobile phone division to follow, including 34 new mobile devices in the second half of this year.
“My job is to build on that,” Mr. Jha said.
It won’t be easy. Morale is at a low as the company’s market share has slipped. Analysts contend even new products, like the Moto W755 mobile music phone for Verizon Wireless, are only so-so and have low hopes for anything on the horizon.
Mr. Brown said last week, after announcing sales fell 22 percent for the mobile device division in the second quarter, that the unit needed to produce more predictable results.
“Sanjay has a keen discretionary eye,” Mr. Brown said in an interview. “He sees things for what they are and changes things that need to be changed.”
Mr. Jha’s job is made a little easier because he knows a number of Motorola’s top executives who dealt with Qualcomm, a chip supplier to Motorola. He has met with — and says he has secured the support of — representatives of Carl C. Icahn, the investor who agitated for and won two seats on Motorola’s board after running a vocal campaign criticizing Motorola’s management and strategy.
Mr. Jha’s operational background should prove helpful if Motorola proceeds with its plans to spin the mobile phone unit into a separate, publicly traded company next year.
But shared-power arrangements, like the one with Mr. Jha and Mr. Brown, often lead to difficult management situations.
Mr. Brown acknowledged there will be “gray areas” where their authority will overlap. But, he added, “unique times call for unique structures.”
“I am optimistic that we will be good partners so, collectively, we make better decisions,” he said.
For his part, Mr. Jha said, “You can put any situation in place and it works because you make it work.”


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**UPDATED** Ed Markey is at it again…
Earlier this week we told you that Representative Ed Markey sent a letter to Disney requesting more information about their new MyMagic+ technology and how intrusive it is. Well Disney CEO Bob Iger blasted back at Markey with a letter saying the following:
”We are offended by the ludicrous and utterly ill-informed assertion in your letter dated January 24, 2013, that we would in any way haphazardly or recklessly introduce a program that manipulates children, or wantonly puts their safety at risk.”
He also went on to say that “It is truly unfortunate and extremely disappointing that you chose to publicly attack us before taking the time to review our policies and/or contact us for information, which would have obviated the need for your letter. Had you or your staff made the slightest effort, you would have found most of the answers to your questions already existed and were publicly available online.”
Do you think Disney was right on with their statement back to Markey? Or do you think Disney has to proove themselves more about their new technology?
via Local 6
If you are a coaster enthusiast, you know who Ed Markey is. For those of you that do not know, he is a Representative from Massachusetts who has been sticking his nose in theme park business for many years. His latest attack is on Disney and their new MyMagic+ Band wristbands.
Markey says the bracelets “could potentially have a harmful impact on our children”. Markey has sent a letter to Bob Iger requesting how the information Disney will retrieve using the wristbands will be used.
“Widespread use of the MagicBand bracelets by park guests could dramatically increase the personal data Disney can collect about its guests,” Markey said in his letter to the Disney CEO.
Click here to read the full letter in PDF form.
Do you think Mr. Markey needs to worry about what Disney is doing with its new wristband technology?


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If you’re ready for a break from housing, jobs and oil-spill stories, here’s a potpourri of
The Wall Street Journal continues its series “The Road Back” looking at a company that purchased
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Uber has not had things its own way in 2014 due to a number of concerns that have seen the service banned in certain cities. However, these issues were only minor when compared to the latest controversy, as there are allegations that a female passenger in New Delhi, India was raped.
As a result the service has been banned in the city, and the Uber driver has appeared in court charged with raping the lady. This is terrible news, and one that we will not go too deep into, although you have to consider the future of this taxi service.
With the ban in New Delhi, there is now a feeling that rival services could also be banned in the Indian capital. While this may be a blow for these rival services and to the people that have enjoyed them, the main focus has to be on the safety of the public.
If you cannot feel safe using services like Uber, then that is the day they fail to become a reliable taxi service for the people.
Mixed views — We know that Uber has been growing in popularity in India, but the lack of checks on its drivers has led to some serious questions being asked.
Any Uber taxis seen driving around Delhi will be stopped and fined and their vehicle could also be impounded. According to BBC News, Uber has since condemned the incident with the victim and said they were in full support of bringing the perpetrator to justice, and also they would help in any way possible to help the lady recover.
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Financial policymakers from the world's top 20 economies agreed to keep a watchful eye on cryptocurrencies on Tuesday and opened the door to regulating the booming industry at a later stage.
- Huge rock, cracked windshield helps hacker land a $10k Tesla security bug
- Apple zaps Zoom web server on thousands of Macs
- Microsoft kicks off public preview of Azure AD password muffler
- GDPR fines roll in: After BA, Marriott faces £99m fine over breach affecting 383 million
- British Airways faces £183m GDPR fine over hack, four times Google's GDPR fine


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3 Apr 2019
Why the launch of Stadia is a game-changer for the gaming industry
Google’s launch of Stadia is a game-changer, and a move that will have Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony quite concerned. No downloads, no patches and no console makes this the cloud gamers dream, and Google is delivering this incredible service without compromising on graphics quality. With 2.3bn active gamers globally and 46 per cent of those (1.1bn) spending, the financial impact to the establishment is significant. More so with the forecasted growth of gaming from $137.9bn (£105.3bn) in 2018 to more than $180.1bn by 2021.
Generational changes in consumers have seen Millennials identify with nostalgia, and they recapture their youth through console gaming, just as they have been doing for over 20 years. Back in 1994 PlayStation appeared on the market and having sold 525m consoles. It's by far the most successful gaming platform ever.
Sony, together with Nintendo and Microsoft, has attempted to evolve the proposition and gaming to a digital platform with some degree of success. The most successful here is again PlayStation, with 80m active users on its PlayStation Network, up from 70m only a year ago.
However, PlayStation 4 Sony’s most up-to-date platform, is now six years old and accounts for a third of the total Sony turnover and profit. It’s no understatement to describe PlayStation as the jewel in Sony’s portfolio and that may just be about to be disrupted.
"A new generation platform"
Enter Google with its Stadia solution. As Phil Harrison VP and general manager at Google stated when launching Stadia: “It’s a new generation platform, rather than a next generation platform” which is what perhaps Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have failed to achieve. Instead they’re merely evolving the concept of their platforms, rather than recreating them. Stadia will be a tough act to follow, with sharing options via YouTube, which has 63m daily viewers worldwide, Google Assistant built in, 4K resolution games at 60 frames per second with HDR (High Dynamic Range), and a plan to support 8K resolution in the future.
To read the full article please visit Mobile Marketing.


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Bangkok, 28 March, 2016 – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding – on Cooperation in the Field of Tourism – with the Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) and the Korea Association of Travel Agents (KATA), with the objective of paving the way for collaboration between the two countries in several areas of tourism.
The signing ceremony for the MOU was held on 24 March, 2016, in Seoul, South Korea, with Mr. Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT Governor, representing the team from Thailand.
Mr. Yuthasak said, “This MOU signed with the Korean tourism agencies will serve to enhance tourism links between our two nations. On cooperation with the KTO, there are plans for personnel training, cultural exchanges, and for the future co-hosting of tourism activities together. Meanwhile, closer cooperation with the KATA will help to streamline and enhance the productivity of our tourism marketing and sales promotion as well as help in areas; such as, familiarisation trips for media and travel agents to promote tourism in both countries.”
Under the terms of the MOU, TAT plans to develop an online tourism application that can give vital information to Korean tourists and the business sector. The app will offer general tourist information and news updates with special recommended attractions to see. There will also be more specialised information about topics; such as, locations suitable for shooting Korean films or videos.
This implementation of this app is in line with the TAT’s strategic plan to promote film making in Thailand as well as to market Thailand as a tourist destination for Korean travellers. By promoting Thailand’s many attractions via foreign film and television, people will be inspired to travel to the kingdom to visit locations and places associated with their favourite movies and shows.
To-date, the current most popular destinations for Korean tourists include China, Japan, the US, Hong Kong, and Thailand.
Mr. Yuthasak said, “While the Korean honeymoon market to Thailand has been strong and remains so, there is an increasing trend for longstay tourists and for people coming here to study or for other educational purposes. The medical tourism market is also growing as Koreans recognise Thailand’s excellence for healthcare.”
With the strengthened cooperation with the KTO and KATA that this MOU brings, TAT expects that the number of Korean visitors to Thailand will increase by at least 10 per cent by 2018. That is an increase in numbers from 1.5 million to 1.8 million visitors annually.
International Public Relations Division
Tourism Authority of Thailand
Tel: +66 (0) 2250 5500 ext. 4545-48
Fax: +66 (0) 2250 0246
E-mail: [email protected]
Facebook: TAT Newsroom
Twitter: TAT Newsroom
Instagram: TAT Newsroom


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Gold gains for third day; up Rs 45 on higher buying, global cues
Prices rose to Rs 30,215 per 10 grams in the national capital today on increased buying by stockists and jewellers to meet the upcoming marriage season demand amid a strong global trend. Silver also jumped up by 490 to Rs 44,800 per kg.business Updated: Jan 11, 2014 15:38 IST
Rising for the third straight day, gold prices rose by another Rs 45 to Rs 30,215 per 10 grams in the national capital on Saturday on increased buying by stockists and jewellers to meet the upcoming marriage season demand amid a strong global trend.
Silver also jumped up by 490 to Rs 44,800 per kg on increased offtake by industrial units and coin makers.
Traders said increased buying by stockists and jewellers to meet ensuing wedding season demand mainly influenced gold prices.
Besides, a firming global trend where the precious metal gained the most in a week after payrolls in the US climbed less than projected, increasing speculation that the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of cuts to economic stimulus, also buoyed the sentiment here, they said.
Globally, gold rose by 1.4% to $1,246.90 an ounce, while silver by 2.7% to $20.22 an ounce in New York.
On the domestic front, gold of 99.9 and 99.5% purity added Rs 45 each to Rs 30,215 and Rs 30,015 per 10 grams, respectively. It had gained Rs 170 in last two sessions.
Sovereigns followed suit and rose by Rs 100 to Rs 25,100 per piece of eight grams.
In a similar fashion, both silver ready and silver weekly-based delivery shot up by Rs 490 each to close at the same level of Rs 44,800 per kg. The white metal had gained Rs 310 yesterday.
Silver coins also spurted by Rs 1,000 to Rs 85,000 for buying and Rs 86,000 for selling of 100 pieces.
First Published: Jan 11, 2014 15:32 IST


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LeEco, Gree Come Unplugged After Drifting Too Far From Home
(Beijing) — What do electric vehicles and smartphones have in common?
Both could well be the undoing of two of China's most visible high-tech executives and also even their companies — online video service provider LeEco, and air-conditioner maker Gree Electric Appliances Inc.
The two businesses have very different backgrounds, one starting as an internet video company and the other a traditional home-appliance maker. Each became a household name in its respective original specialty but has run into recent trouble for venturing too far from its core competency, including bets of $1 billion or more in areas where they had little or no experience.
Such behavior is more common in less-mature markets like China, where most companies are relatively young, have less-developed corporate structures and as a result are frequently searching for the next big thing, said Zhou Zhanggui, a market strategy consultant.
"China is like the U.S. was 70 or 80 years ago," Zhou said. "The Chinese companies are always thinking, 'This is a race, can you become a winner?' U.S. companies are more conservative. It's a more mature market."
Both LeEco, formerly known as LeTV, and Gree were regular headline fixtures in November, as scandals grew around their high-profile longtime CEOs, who brought the companies original fame.
LeEco's crisis began after reports emerged saying it was facing a credit crunch and was failing to pay some of its suppliers, following a multibillion-dollar expansion over the last two years that took it into smartphones, electric cars and film production, among other things. The company's charismatic CEO — Jia Yueting, 43 — denied his company was failing to pay some suppliers, but admitted that he had perhaps expanded too quickly and needed to become more conservative.
Around the same time, Gree's longtime and more-seasoned chairman — Dong Mingzhu, 62, often called China's most powerful businesswoman — received her own unexpected setback when she tried to take her company into electric-vehicle production by purchasing of Zhuhai Yinlong New Energy Co. Ltd. in a deal that valued the company at 13 billion yuan ($1.9 billion).
The major blow came from her own shareholders, who voted down 15 proposals to create an additional fund of 9.7 billion yuan to help cover the expenses of integrating Yinlong into Gree. The usually composed executive was taped after the vote blasting her own shareholders for what she saw as their greedy behavior. After that veto, Yinlong's own shareholders also voted down the deal.
Dong stepped down as chairman of Gree's state-owned parent company a short time later. She remained as chief of the publicly listed Gree Electric Appliances Inc., which quickly denied any connection with the shareholder rebellions and Dong's departure from its parent company.
Gree Shares Rise, LeEco Slumps
Gree shares have rallied about 25 percent since the Yinlong rejection — apparent evidence of its own shareholders' relief. LeEco shares have moved in the opposite direction, losing nearly 14% of their value in November, when most of the bad news occurred.
LeEco's overly rapid expansion at such a young stage of its development may have been a big factor behind its current woes, said Edward Tse, founder of consulting firm Gao Feng Advisory. He added that Gree is a more mature company, but still was making a big leap by attempting to go from its core competency in home appliances to the vastly different world of electric cars.
"It's quite usual for people to migrate and not get stuck in one area, but it depends on how far you want to make the jump," Tse said. "To jump from providing content to vehicles and mobility services, that's a huge jump for LeEco. … For Gree, to jump from appliances into making cars, that's also a pretty big jump."
Tse noted that some politics may have motivated both companies' move into electric cars, since China was offering big subsidies and other incentives in a bid to quickly build up the high-tech industry. But results of that campaign have been mixed, with many companies flocking to the field simply to cash in on Beijing's largesse, which totaled 90 billion yuan in various forms of support last year, according to an estimate by UBS Securities.
LeEco was a relatively recent arrival to the space, announcing its initial plans in 2014 and later pledging to build a $1 billion manufacturing plant in the U.S. state of Nevada along with U.S.-based Faraday Future. Yinlong is a more-typical domestic new-energy automaker, but Gree's 13 billion yuan buyout offer would have made it a costly investment for its shareholders.
"There's probably some (political element) involved," said Tse, commenting on both companies' decision to move into electric cars. "If you don't have the ability, the bandwidth to run the operation successfully, there's still some risk."
Both companies also made forays into smartphones last year, a controversial decision due to their own lack of experience in a space that was already rife with intense competition. China is the world's largest smartphone market, with more than 400 million units sold last year. But many of those are cheap look-alike models, sometimes costing less than $100. As a result, most companies are losing money due to stiff competition and failure to develop significant brand recognition.
Gree rolled out its first smartphones last year, and said it would carve out a niche by making products that worked with internet-connected smart home appliances like air conditioners and refrigerators. But more than a year later, it has made little headway into the market.
LeEco entered the arena around the same time, saying smartphones would become part of a bigger ecosystem it aimed to build involving entertainment delivered over a wide range of products like TVs, smartphones and car-based systems. It later purchased nearly 30 percent of Coolpad, an early smartphone maker that is now struggling. Earlier this month Coolpad said it would incur a loss of about HK$3 billion ($387 million) for 2016, reversing a HK$2.3 billion profit a year earlier.
"We can't blame them for taking risks," said market strategy consultant Zhou. "Sometimes they do the right thing, but sometimes they take too big a risk."
Contact reporter Doug Young (email@example.com); editor Ken Howe (firstname.lastname@example.org)
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Liverpool 2 mega cranes arrive from China
The first of the large quayside cranes to be employed at the Liverpool 2 container terminal, due to open next month, sailed up the River Mersey on Monday at the end of their journey from China.
The cranes set off from Shanghai on the Zhen Hua23 ship in August and travelled through South East Asia, past India and the Arabian Peninsula before rounding the Cape of Good Hope and South Africa and pausing in the Canaries for the past few weeks before the Port of Liverpool was ready to receive.
In total the journey took 18,000 miles.
The super-structures were produced by Chinese company, Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co, the largest heavy duty equipment manufacturer in the world, as part of a contract with Peel Ports worth more than £100m. A total of eight ship-to-shore megamax cranes and 22 cantilever rail-mounted gantry cranes are being supplied to Peel Ports as part of the company’s £300m investment programme to expand and develop the Port of Liverpool.
Liverpool2 is the UK’s largest transatlantic deep-sea port and container terminal and the investment in facilities will allow it to accommodate the majority of the world’s current container fleet, including vessels up to 20,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) or two 13,500 TEU vessels simultaneously.
Mark Whitworth, chief executive of Peel Ports, said: “The spectacular sight of these cranes sailing up the Mersey to the L2 site is unprecedented. Our investment in leading-edge infrastructure and technology will allow Liverpool to offer the quickest and most cost-effective route to market, not just for goods destined for the north of England but also for Scotland, Ireland, North Wales, opening up a new logistics routes estimated at four million TEU every year and increasing potential import and export trade.”
The cranes will have the ability to operate at speeds in excess of 30 moves per hour and will facilitate an anticipated 1,500 moves in each tidal window. They will be capable of twin-pick and outreach of 24 containers up to 10 high on deck, and safe working loads of up to 85 tonnes. They will also have the ability to operate in wind speeds of up to 55 miles per hour.


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by Tom Halford
Here is the reality about green homes: they reduce carbon footprints, save consumers money on utility bills, and improve the health of children living in the home as a result of better air quality and other related factors. In a society with a growing focus on environmental sustainability, green homes are not just a potential future; they’re forming a part of our present.
But the reality about green homes and what the public actually thinks about them are not always one and the same. In fact, they can be disparate enough that it would warrant continued action by organizations supporting green homes to increase awareness about the benefits of these homes and to dispel any myths.
Whirlpool Corporation is interested in seeing that green building takes hold in our society. Whirlpool has been a partner of Habitat for Humanity for years, donating ranges and ENERGY STAR® qualified refrigerators to new Habitat homes built in the United States and Canada as well as supporting Habitat’s work around the world, and engaging employees to volunteer with their local Habitat organizations. To gauge public perception on the topic of green homes, Whirlpool and Habitat teamed up with NAHB Research Center – an independent subsidiary of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) – to survey consumers and builders on what they think is the state of affordable and green housing in the United States. Whirlpool is releasing the results from this survey in a series, with the first set of results on the affordability of green homes released in November 2010 and the second, identifying barriers to green homes released in January 2011.
The survey found that builders and consumers generally perceive green homes as affordable to live in but more expensive to purchase. In fact, among consumers, 67 percent of high-income respondents said they believe a completely green home would be affordable to live in or maintain. The same answer was given by 65 percent of upper middle income, 59 percent of middle income and 48 percent of low income consumer respondents.
But, when asked if a green home would be affordable to purchase, only high income respondents answered mostly in the affirmative, with a total of 71 percent, compared to 47 percent of low-income respondents who said that they believe a completely green home would not be affordable for them to purchase.
The builder portion of the survey found that 87 percent believe green homes are affordable for middle-income families to live in, but 30 percent felt green homes were not affordable for the segment to purchase or build. The disparity is even more evident when asked about low-income families. A total of 70 percent of home builders said they believe green homes are affordable to live in for this segment, but almost 60 percent thought green homes were not affordable for low-income families to purchase or build.
However, the survey also demonstrated that the public is generally in favor of a continued effort for creating more green homes. It showed that 64 percent of respondents indicated that savings from green home features were sometimes worth the added costs and efforts. And, 77 percent of consumers feel that green homes are at least somewhat, if not very, important to them. And they note that green homes are important because of the positive impact on the environment, the long-term financial savings, and the health benefits for the family. It seems clear that the public believes in the importance of green homes, so what do consumers and builders believe will help them become more affordable? According to the survey, the answer lies in reduced prices on materials for construction. A total of 59 percent of consumers indicated that lower cost of products and materials is needed for green homes to become more affordable and 75 percent of builders agreed with this.
Another change consumers mentioned that can make green homes affordable is an increase in incentives for sustainable building and remodeling. Of all respondents, 53 percent felt that increasing incentives for homeowners would help with green home affordability, and 36 percent suggested increasing incentives for builders. In addition, 69 percent of consumers indicated they believe state and federal governments should provide incentives for purchasing green building products. Among builder respondents, 40 percent believed that incentives for both homeowners and builders would help promote green building.
This survey underscores a case for the viability of green building to protect the environment and save money. More findings from the study will be released throughout the year. While these will undoubtedly offer additional insight into how we can all help promote green building, the findings we have thus far clearly show us that this is something the public is looking for. It’s up to the companies and organizations involved in green building to help educate the public further on why this is such an important endeavor and why it can be affordable to all.
Editor’s note: In a earlier post in this series, Shon Anderson, VP of Energy Solutions at Schneider Electric points out that 70-75% of the total life-cycle cost of a building is in operation and maintenance and only 20-25% is tied up in the purchase price. Why then do we allow the high initial cost to be such a barrier? These costs should be amortized of the home’s life cycle. This would be a great opportunity, not only for government subsidies, but for the financial industry to step forward and provide mechanisms to make this happen.
Tom Halford is general manager, contract sales and marketing at Whirlpool Corporation.


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Losing ground in tourist market
American tour operator Greg Brown suggests Barbados needs to ramp up its image in the global marketplace to attract more tourists.
“I live in the Texas market. I have not really seen a lot of visibility in the US marketplace with this destination and there are a lot of other destinations – Jamaica, Dominican Republic – that are out there with a lot of image advertising and I think that as we head into 2014 Barbados needs more of a presence in the global market to get people to come here,” Brown told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY.
He is vice president, Caribbean product development for CheapCaribbean.Com, a company that was once the number one United States tour operator to Barbados. Speaking exclusively to BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY during the recent Barbados Tourism Authority’s (BTA) meeting for tour operators from its global markets, Brown harked back to the days of the BTA’s Best Of Barbados marketing programme, which, he said, “allowed us to attract a lot of the US marketplace that would have gone to different destinations”.
He said: “Back in the glory days when the US marketplace gave a lot of business to Barbados, Barbados was able to subsidize the price point, which would offset the higher cost of airline tickets to Barbados, and it allowed companies . . . that are also price-point focused to drive a considerable amount of business to the destination.”
But, he said, since the Best Of Barbados programme was cancelled “for a variety of reasons, we have actually seen a decrease in business as the overall price point to Barbados has increased”.
And the tour operator warned of threats facing Barbados from “a lot of competition out there in the marketplace”.
“Every destination is trying to get a relatively low up-front price point,” Brown said.
CheapCaribbean.Com is an online operation, and Brown said it was important to have that initial online opening into a potential market, “just to get people to click” and get excited about the destination.
Once this interest was ignited and potential visitors were attracted by the low price point, it was easier for operators to “upsell” them to the luxury hotels, to the all-inclusive hotels and to the other accommodations the island offered, he suggested.
The tour operator still considers Barbados “an exciting destination” with a lot to offer.
“I think it is exciting to see there are a lot of exciting things happening to Barbados. There is now this re-energization of new and exciting brands.” (GC)


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Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. (SNH.JO) said Wednesday that total group revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2018 fell 5% in the company's first earnings report since it was rocked by an accounting scandal.
The South African retailer said that total revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 fell to 4.86 billion euros ($5.97 billion), from EUR5.10 billion in the year-earlier period.
Steinhoff said it has appointed six new independent members to the supervisory board, following the resignation from the board of Len Konar, Claas Daun, Bruno Steinhoff and Theunie Lategan.
The company said these resignations will facilitate the transition of new members of the supervisory board.
In December, Steinhoff hired accountancy firm PwC to conduct an independent investigation into accounting irregularities. The company has since said that it needs to restate its 2015 and 2016 financial results, and has yet to release its 2017 results.
Earlier this month Steinhoff also said that it intended to recommend waivers for defaults under some of its financing arrangements and scrap its interim dividend, as it sought to create a window of stability until the end of June while it focuses on the performance of its individual businesses and development of a strategic plan.
Steinhoff said at the time that it has now largely addressed the near-term liquidity requirements of a number of its units, and was now looking to address its debt.
The company has also hired Richard Heis as chief restructuring officer.