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Nottinghamshire-based screen and digital printer, MiRiCal Emblems has been awarded a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade.
The award was personally approved by the Queen following an exceptional 58% growth in export sales over the last three years with exports now accounting for more than 75% of the company’s annual turnover.
In the official Queen’s Awards for Enterprise press book it was stated that MiRiCal has overcome stiff UK competition by entering new markets, predominantly in Europe, through a well planned and progressive strategy of establishing its own local sales and support staff in a growing number of locations. In addition, MiRiCal also engaged in licenced manufacturing further afield, which led to the significant increase in export sales.
Managing director, Jonathan Dul, said: “The Queen’s Award for Enterprise is a real honour that gives national recognition to the hard-working men and women in our team. To have the time and effort spent developing our export business recognised in this way is fantastic news and we want to go forward and continue to build this important area of our business.”
MiRiCal was one of six recipients of a Queen’s Award in the East Midlands and one of only 201 recipients nationwide.
Business secretary, Greg Clark, added: “These prestigious awards help shine a light on all that is great about UK business today. I am extremely impressed to see such a wealth of talent and innovation from across the UK being recognised by Her Majesty The Queen.
“These awards recognise the innovative products and services being provided by British businesses that are in demand across the world, as well as the sheer determination and hard work that comes with starting and running a business.
“Many of these winners are small businesses – the backbone of our economy – and we are backing them to grow, increase their productivity and create more jobs and opportunity across the UK through our modern industrial strategy.”
Established in 1993, MiRiCal is a second-generation family business and leading supplier of heat-applied garment decoration products to the workwear, safetywear and sportswear sectors.
MiRiCal will celebrate its award at a royal reception at Buckingham Palace for Queen’s Award winners in the summer.


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Chuck Out Your Goon, Post Malone Is Releasing His Own Rosè
It's a shoey free zone
It's happened. Post Malone is now a refined gentleman. Get rid of your dirty beer pong cups and pull out the good woine glasses because Posty is releasing his own drop.
Malone took to social media to make the announcement this week, revealing his new rosè is named after his favourite tarot card, the 9 of Swords.
“Rosé is for when you want to get a little fancy,” he said in a statement. “It’s a nice switch up and I have been thinking about doing my own wine for a while."
The wine will drop in June and you can pre-register for it here.

domain: news


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The 5th National Worker Cooperative Conference is happening in Chicago May 30 - June 1. Plan to spend the weekend with us celebrating 10 years of the USFWC and all the efforts spent building the worker cooperative movement over the last decade. Sign-up to receive updates and reminders from conference organizers. Full website and details will be posted soon.
Full conference website coming soon.


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Maisie Williams may be best known as Arya Stark from Game of Thrones, but in her latest role, she's channeling Elsa from Frozen.
The actress stars in Audi's Super Bowl LIV ad that highlights the Audi e-tron Sportback electronic car, while also confronting the problematic cultural norms in today's society. The minute-long spot starts out with a traffic jam during a heat wave, but quickly turns around when Williams begins to sing "Let It Go," which sparks a city-wide sing-along -- because how could it not?
"The future is electric, let the past go!" Williams wrote in a post about the commercial, which was filmed in Los Angeles. According to a press release, that's exactly what Audi wants to covey with its Super Bowl ad, "letting go of the past and embracing a more sustainable future."


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Niantic is discontinuing development on Catan: World Explorers. Announced in the , the studio had yet to release the game officially, and it was only available in early access in select markets outside of the US. Later today, Niantic plans to remove World Explorers from the App Store before shutting down the servers that power the game on November 18th, making it unplayable thereafter. With today’s announcement, the augmented reality title will not roll out to additional countries, and Niantic has removed all in-app purchases from the experience.
It’s not clear what exactly went wrong with development but it appears scope creep may have played a part in Niantic’s decision to cancel the project. “We had a vision for trading, harvesting and building up the world in seasonal play and resetting the board each month, just like you do for each new game you play at home,” the company said in a blog post spotted by . “But trying to adapt such a well-designed board game to a global, location-based Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game was a tough challenge."
Niantic notes that lessons it learned while working on World Explorers will go on to inform future projects. However, it’s hard to say what the cancellation will mean for the company’s other games. Following the , a variety of companies have partnered with Niantic to create similar AR experiences using their own properties. More notable examples include and . Those same companies may now realize replicating the success of Pokémon Go may not be as easy as they initially thought it was.


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Hyundai names new sales director
Rob Turnbull has joined Hyundai Motor UK as its new sales director.
He brings more than 20 years of automotive, sales and retail experience and has previously worked for BMW Group since 2000, most recently as head of sales at Mini.
Commenting on his new role, Turnbull said: “Over the last 10 years, I have witnessed the most incredible transformation of the Hyundai brand – it has moved from a challenger to a formidable top 10 player. Last year Hyundai outperformed the market and achieved a record market share in the UK. This year my role is to support Ashley in focusing on smart growth across the right sales channels – establishing a firm base from which we can grow in the years ahead. We have the right products and I believe we are ready for the future!”


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The past week has been tough as we confront head-on the systematic racism that plagues our country and, yes, this industry. Agencies, comprised of predominantly white staff, are under scrutiny to drive meaningful change through detailed plans of action.
One thing has become clear from all our reporting: The industry can't let the critical conversations that are finally occurring on race fizzle out. This isn’t the time to close doors but open them wide.
Don’t go forward with empty words
Gary J. Nix, a marketing strategy executive, shared some thoughts on brands that are “worried about their messaging” right now. As Ad Age has been documenting, there have been a slew of brands and agencies that have responded to the nationwide protests. But is it enough?
“Everyone is worried about their messaging,” Nix says in a video posted to LinkedIn. “Now here’s the thing that should be obvious: messaging without action means nothing.”
He goes on to criticize industry leaders for historically “dancing around" the issue of race instead of addressing it outright. Nix calls out the agencies and brands that have in the past tried to avoid conversations on race but assures that they “are coming” with or without their permission.
Watch the video, which Nix says will not be the last from him, below.
Read the full article here.
This content was originally published by Lindsay Rittenhouse. Original publishers retain all rights. It appears here for a limited time before automated archiving. By Lindsay Rittenhouse


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Arab Radio and Television (ART) will not offer its subscribers access to the FIFA World Cup because of differences with Al Jazeera.
ART blows whistle on World Cup coverage
Arab Radio and Television (ART), the largest pay-TV provider in the MENA region, will not offer its subscribers access to the FIFA World Cup, as it was originally planning, because of differences with Al Jazeera. In November, ART sold Al Jazeera the rights to its sport content, including this year's FIFA World Cup and the 2014 competition, but maintained a deal that allowed it to rebroadcast many of Al Jazeera's sport channels on its platform.
But the first real test of this arrangement, the Africa Cup of Nations in January, sparked anger among ART subscribers in Egypt who found that, despite ART's promises that it would show the games, Al Jazeera instead put them on one of its own channels outside of its sharing agreement with ART. "Since that time, people here at ART felt uncomfortable with the way things might go with Al Jazeera in the future, especially with the World Cup," said Nawaf Tamimi, the head of public relations at ART.
"So, since that time, the promotion for the bouquet has stopped. We prepared a marketing and advertising campaign for the sport and entertainment channels, but after that experience, we stopped everything." A spokesman from Al Jazeera Sport confirmed that the Qatari broadcaster would be the sole marketer of FIFA World Cup packages in the region this year. Only about 10,000 subscribers in Saudi Arabia who bought World Cup packages through ART before the rights sale will have access to the matches on ART, Mr Tamimi said.
Before it sold its sports rights to Al Jazeera, ART had invested heavily in the encryption technology required to protect its investment in the World Cup rights against piracy, buying technology from vendors such as Viaccess and Open Tech. Many in the industry believed it would try to recoup some of these costs by selling its services as a distribution platform to Al Jazeera. "It's a shame, but we are not working with Al Jazeera Sports on set-top boxes," said Alan Constant, the chief technology officer of ART. "Our secure Viaccess set-top box was not what they were interested in."
However, ART's encryption technology subsidiary, Multichoice Middle East, is still progressing with its plan to develop what Nick Grande, the managing director of ChannelSculptor, a Dubai-based television consultancy, once called "the Switzerland of smart cards" that could one day be the standard for the whole pay-TV industry. "My personal opinion is that there can be only one platform that delivers the pay-TV content," said Khaled Abu Namous, the general manager of Multichoice Middle East.
"Because right now, if you look at it, Al Jazeera has its own distribution, Orbit Showtime has its own distribution, and soon Abu Dhabi TV will have its own distribution, and if you want to watch all of them, you will have to get six or seven boxes in your living room. As a consumer, it's not convenient." Last year, ART placed an order with BS MediaSoft, the Korean technology company, to buy 500,000 so-called "hybrid" set-top boxes.
These have the ability to receive signals from satellite and internet. There are plans to roll them out by the third quarter of this year, according to officials at BS Mediasoft. @Email:email@example.com


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Heat, traffic and theft: Float Fest’s return was not all smooth sailing
The path to Float Fest is daunting. Off of U.S. Route 183, signs point festival attendees down an unassuming country road that quickly devolves into a dirt path, which coats cars in dust and jolts passengers as they navigate the bumps.
In the early afternoon of Saturday, July 23, lines of cars made their way through vehicle checks and traffic directors into a parking lot, where throngs of people emerged and prepared for a long day of tubing and dancing under the hot sun.
For those without VIP privileges, it’s a bit of a walk into the festival grounds, and there the vision unfolds: expansive campgrounds, rows of food and merchandise vendors, and two giant stages to host the musical acts.
On the banks of the Guadalupe River, mountains of inner tubes await those eager to float before the concerts. According to one worker who was distributing tubes, about 16,000 were inflated ahead of the festival.
Float Fest combines concerts with river tubing, aimed at celebrating the spirit of Texas. Attendees were able to tube the river in the morning and enjoy music from the two stages all night long. Headliners included Chance the Rapper, Vampire Weekend, and Kaytranada. This year’s festival was the first in this location, opening up a new chapter of the festival’s somewhat tumultuous history.
Float Fest was first held in 2014. In its early years, it was located in Martindale, a small town near San Marcos. But difficulties began in 2018, when Float Fest’s permit was denied. This decision was appealed and the festival went on but the same difficulties arose in 2019 and could not be overcome. Locals complained of congestion and excessive noise.
So, Float Fest decided to pack up and head to a ranch south of Gonzales, a town about an hour east of San Antonio. But weather and construction delays prevented the festival from going forward in 2019 and it was canceled. Due to the pandemic, 2022 is the festival’s official return and its first outing in Gonzales.
Ahead of the festival, Float Fest founder Marcus Federman was enthusiastic.
“The people of Gonzales have been great to us and it's just all around, it's a really, really great situation for a show like ours,” he said. “We have a lot of support here. It's been fantastic.”
Federman also showed a clear commitment to sustainability and keeping the river clean. He explained that there was a plan in place to thoroughly clean the river before, during and after the event.
“We've always had the environmental aspect of the festival at the top of our mind when we produce this festival,” Federman said.
Indeed, there were clear measures to protect the environment. For instance, at the bar nearest to the river entrance, beer is only served in reusable containers. Many attendees brought reusable water bottles but for guests without a container, bartenders allowed them to purchase a plastic water bottle, drink the water and then have it filled with beer.
Mesh trash bags were handed out to floaters as well, to prevent any cans from winding up in the water.
Coca-Cola, the event’s title sponsor, led a recycling initiative, with bright red boxes dotting the concert area, discouraging littering.
“The goal is leave no trace,” Federman said.
“Operationally, we've had a lot of time to correct a lot of things,” Federman said. “So I think that the fans are going to come out and be surprised because it's going to be a pretty seamless experience.”
Federman seemed determined to avoid the festival’s past mistakes, but not everything ran so smoothly. Despite his assurances, several Twitter users complained about heat and disorganization.
One tweet read, “float fest has no direction of traffic out of the festival and i’ve been sitting here for 30+ minutes not moving. absolutely unacceptable.”
Within the concert area, there was little reprieve from the 100 degree temperatures and little access to shade or air conditioning, though there was a water bottle refill station. The festival was forced to adjust the hours for tubing on Sunday due to heat.
One attendee, Wes Stephl, was excited about the festival, but struggled with the weather as well.
“I had trouble just having fun because it's too hot to even think,” he said.
The grounds included a section of vendors selling merchandise like clothing, art, and accessories, which proved to be another source of difficulty for the festival. Early Saturday morning vendors were unable to connect to Wi-Fi and had difficulties completing transactions. Cell service in the area was unreliable.
More seriously, several of the vendors reported that merchandise was stolen from their booths between their set-up on Friday night and their return in the morning. According to several people selling their wares, vendors zip-tied their booths for security and were told their goods would be safe.
The next day, however, they returned to find that zip ties were cut and merchandise had been taken. One vendor, Mama P’s Wholesome Grinding Co., reported that over $60,000 worth of merchandise was stolen.
The festival issued a statement afterwards saying that there was, in fact, overnight security and they were “looking into” how the alleged theft happened.
“We have plans to work with each vendor concerning any losses they have sustained. We appreciate all of the vendors that came out to Float Fest this year, and this unfortunate incident in no way represents the entire experience we sought to deliver to both attendees and vendors at Float Fest 2022,” the statement read.
Vendors were concerned on Saturday that they would be unable to profit from the festival, especially given that they paid significant fees to attend in the first place.
“It puts a damper because we want to try to make at least the booth fee back, but it's kind of hard,” said Selena Martinez, who worked a booth for Dime Bags.
Despite the losses, vendors were doing their best to look out for one another and make as many sales as possible.
Of course, many attendees enjoyed the event, especially as the sun fell and the star-studded lineup began to play. For music lovers, it was certainly an exciting weekend as acts like Chance the Rapper and Marshmello dazzled a large, intense crowd.
Before the festival, Federman discussed his plan for the future.
“We continue to keep growing and keep having a better lineup every year,” he said. “Once we get through this one, you can expect an even better one next year.”
For now, Float Fest has found its home and will no doubt return again next year with all the ups and downs bound to occur in such an ambitious summer spectacle.
Jia Chen contributed to this story.
Copyright 2022 Texas Public Radio. To see more, visit Texas Public Radio.


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ABINGDON, Va. (WJHL) – The Johnia Berry Toy Drive has provided Tri-Cities children with toys for years. This year, the toy drive will look a little different.
According to a release from Food City, the 16th annual toy drive will be virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The drive starts November 11 and runs through December 3.
Donations can be made online by clicking here. The tax deductible donations will be used to buy and ship toys to children across Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee.
“The pandemic has certainly made 2020 a year of unique challenges, but we feel the toy drive is as important as ever this year,” said organizer and mother of Johnia, Joan Berry. “The virtual option will allow us to safely continue to supply much-needed toys to area organizations as we’ve done for the last fifteen years.”
The Berry family has chosen the following agencies to receive toys from the 2020 drive:
- Tri-State Children’s Home
- Safe Passage Women’s Shelter
- Community Help Center of Northeast TN
- Cumberland Mountain Community Services of Cedar Bluff, VA
- ETSU’s Little Bucs
- HOPE Center of Greeneville, TN
- Local schools in both Virginia and Tennessee
“Last year’s toy drive was one of the most successful in our history, thanks to the tremendous generosity of our loyal customers and associates and outstanding support of our media partner, News Channel 11, WJHL-TV. We would like to encourage everyone to please participate in the virtual toy drive, as the need is greater than ever this year,” says Steven Smith, Food City president and CEO.
Johnia Berry was murdered in her apartment in 2004. On that same day, she was wrapping toys for under-privileged children.
The drive honors her memory by providing thousands of toys for local children.


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Malaysian satellite broadcaster Astro All Asia Networks plc said today it would go private after its holding company made a US$758 million buyout offer. Astro, controlled by Malaysian tycoon Ananda Krishnan and state investment firm Khazanah Nasional Bhd, said the move was aimed at “re-energising the company’s growth, both locally and internationally.”
It said the purchase of the 27.1 per cent of the broadcaster that Astro Holdings does not currently own would enable it to pursue expansion of its ventures in China and India, and its new Internet Protocol TV projects.
Astro All Asia Networks (AAAN) chairman Badri Masri said its board received a formal offer today at a price of RM4.30, a 24 per cent premium over the closing price on March 12 before trade was suspended.
“AAAN do not foresee any changes with the ongoing operations of the company and that the company will continue to be managed by the current board and management,” Badri said.
“As a publicly listed entity substantial capital requirements needed for its growth plans may potentially strain the cash flow position and may impair AAAN’s dividend payment capability,” the company said in a statement.
If you have the time, browse through the following postings on Astro and you will understand why so many have given up on the stock:
Again, as in the usual Malaysian markets, somebody somewhere got the news ahead of everybody. Look at the huge jump in volume prior to suspension. Surprisingly EPF reduced their stakes from 8.65% to 8.61% on the same day. They accounted for 50% of the trading volume prior to suspension in the afternoon. Looks like it wasn't just me who gave up on the Astro privatisation theory - even EPF took the opportunity to sell down a bit. Ooopss ... this time really got privatisation.
Can't win em` all ...
p/s photos: Gu Chen


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NVIDIA is a leader in the market of graphic cards and is undoubtedly the most beloved graphics designer in the market as well in the crypto mining community. However, the company continues to face substantial regulatory resistance when it comes to its acquisition plans for the British chip designer, Arm Ltd.
According to a statement released by UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the deal entails serious competition concerns:
“Should the deal go ahead, the CMA is concerned that the merged business would have the ability and incentive to harm the competitiveness of NVIDIA’s rivals by restricting access to Arm’s intellectual property (IP). Arm’s IP is used by companies that produce semiconductor chips and related products, in competition with NVIDIA.”
The CMA even went as to note that the reduced competition could “stifle innovation across several markets, including data centres, gaming, the internet of things, and self-driving cars.”
However, the CMA also further stated that NVIDIA has offered a behavioural remedy to counter competition concerns, but still, the CMA has concluded in their report that there is a further need for an in-depth phase 2 investigation.
As we know, NVIDIA is supposed to close the Arm acquisition deal by September 2022, however, if it fails to do so, then Japan’s SoftBank Group, which currently owns Arm, will win the right to retain $1.25 billion as a breakup fee. But, NVIDIA is smart enough to understand the importance of the deal and has already paid this amount to SoftBank as a down payment.
But it’s now just the U.K that’s troubled by NVIDIA’s acquisition of Arm, the graphics designer is also facing hurdles in China, where Huawei Technologies Ltd. has reportedly raised concerns that its access to Arm’s IP might be hampered by the deal. This is understandable as the US and China currently have the biggest tech ongoing rivalries in the world, with the US administration continuously blocking the access of Chinese tech giants from US technologies.


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Apple says that its new iPhones will go on sale in Italy, Russia, Spain and more than 25 other countries on Oct. 25.
The phones also will be available in more than a dozen other countries, including India and Mexico, on Nov. 1.
The iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C both went on sale in the U.S. last month. They are also currently being sold in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
The 5S starts at $199 in the U.S. when bought along with a new wireless plan. The 5C, a cheaper version of the phone geared to emerging markets, starts at $99 in the U.S. with a new wireless plan.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Original headline: New iPhones to launch in more countries on Oct. 25
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Perstorp Holding AB (Publ.) parent company for world leading specialty chemicals company Perstorp today announces its Q2 2015 Interim report.
For the Perstorp Group’s continuing operations, sales in January to June 2015 amounted to SEK 5,940 m (5,640), which is an increase of 5% compared to the same period previous year and is mainly explained by a combination of increased volumes and positive foreign exchange effects but partly offset by lower sales prices following the decline in raw material prices.
"The results of the second quarter of 2015 show that our commitment to this industry is long-term and that our goals are clear and realistic. We are moving ahead with confidence in the next quarter, focusing on continuing to increase the quality of our margins and this is the 8th quarter of consecutive earnings growth", states President & CEO Jan Secher in the report.


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Seraphine says it is focusing on profitability ahead of sales growth in the face of “significant inflation” in marketing costs and a challenging economy – and as it reports falling first-half sales and narrowing pre-tax losses.
The retail brand, which sells clothes and accessories for pregnancy and beyond, has seen shoppers return in store, post-pandemic, although footfall has yet to recover to pre-Covid-19 levels. Online sales have fallen at the same time from pandemic peaks, both on its own website and via partner websites. It is now reevaluating its partnership with Zalando in order to improve the contribution of the channel and has hired a performance marketing director to focus on marketing spend metrics.
The update comes as Seraphine today reports revenues of £19.7m in the 26 weeks to October 2 2022. That’s 9.3% down on the £21.8m it reported a year earlier.
Pre-tax losses of £3.9m have narrowed from losses of £7.4m a year earlier. Operating costs rose by 17.7% over the period. The retail brand has agreed revised debt covenants with its lender.
Seraphine chief executive David Williams says: “The period was challenging, as seen across the broader retail sector, with the combined headwinds of the macro-economic backdrop and inflation in marketing costs.
“Despite these challenges we are pleased to report improvement in some key operational KPIs, in line with our renewed focus on profitability and the actions we have taken to streamline and sharpen our internal business functions. We have achieved higher basket sizes and improved gross product margin versus the previous year, reflecting our resilient demographic and careful balancing of promotion and price increases.
“We remain focused on our strategy of bringing our innovative and stylish product to more customers worldwide and have been encouraged by the growth of our new markets. In the short term, we will pause the rollout of further international markets and focus on product innovation and improving our service proposition in existing markets. We have some exciting new products planned for the months ahead – including a highly innovative baby carrier – and with a niche yet loyal customer demographic, whose custom is often non-discretionary, we are confident that we are building a strong platform for the future.”
How shoppers are buying across channels
The maternity-wear multichannel retailer says that revenues have grown in its stores in France, the UK and the US, following their reopening in the wake of Covid-19 restrictions. As yet, however, sales volumes are still below where they were before the pandemic – and have weakened further in the first nine weeks of the second half.
As more shoppers go into stores, online product sales have fallen back at the same time, declining by 8.8% to £16.1m on its own website, and by 34.2% to £1.2m on third-party partner websites. During this year, says Seraphine, its focus has been on maintaining profitability ahead of revenue growth – so that it has needed to assess the best combination of products, pricing and promotion both by territory and by partner. It is reassessing its partnership with Zalando in order to improve the contribution of the channel.
Traffic fell by 3.6% to 7.4m, while basket values grew by 13.5% to £153. Conversion rates fell to 2.6% from 2.9% previously. The retailer says that returns rates have increased, but that they are no greater than they were before the pandemic. It has now appointed a performance marketing director who will focus on marketing spend metrics.
Product sales grew in its US market (+8.5% to £6.6m) but fell in the UK (-11.7% to £4.3m), the EU (-18.8% to £7.2m) and the rest of the world (-18.8% to £0.8m).
Seraphine is a Top350 retailer in RXUK Top500 research.


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Mobile gaming in India has been steadily increasing over the past few years and the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic has further enhanced this growth. With people bound within the boundaries of their homes, virtual entanglement has become paramount. Mobile gaming, in particular, has attracted a large number of people and gives them a chance to not only pass the time, but also enjoy it in the safe place of their home. Multiplayer games have allowed players to be with their friends at a time when we were all feeling cut off and isolated.
To understand how this is affecting the sports industry in India, Gadgets 360 spoke with Rajan Navani, Vice President and Managing Director JetSynthesys, Developer of such games Sachin Saga Cricket Champions, WWE Racing Show Down, And Ludo Game: Super Ludo, To discuss the mobile gaming landscape in India and the impact of COVID-19 on the mobile gaming industry.
Gadgets 360: How has the landscape of mobile gaming changed? How do you think COVID-19 is responsible for the change?
Lockdown has taken this industry forward. People have turned to virtual worlds for work, entertainment and staying connected. Due to this, an increasing number of older people are also playing the game during this period. A recent Nielsen report states that smartphone usage among Indians has increased 9 percent compared to pre-lockdown time of 3 hours 40 minutes per day; The gaming platform seems a clear winner as the time spent on them has increased from 22 percent to 30 percent. At JetSynthesys, we have seen an average 40 percent to 60 percent consumption of our products per user on average during this period.
What is the role of Digital Gaming Society of India?
The Indian Digital Gaming Society (IDGS) of CII was established in 2018, not for profit organization, to provide a platform for stakeholders in the ecosystem, including the government, Indians on mobile, PC, console To nurture and develop a global opportunity for the gaming market. , And e-sports. The IDGS serves as a catalyst for the Indian digital gaming industry, contributing effectively to India’s economic growth and becoming a trusted global partner. The Society works closely with the Central and State Governments and academics towards enabling the development of the digital gaming industry. IDGS has set a strategic direction to help envision future opportunities for growth in gaming, capabilities, and competition, etc., and to open new avenues of skilling and create more employment opportunities in India. By creating an international network of industry associations, IDGS has enabled access to state-of-the-technology and has helped to establish locally developed technologies in the public and private sector. It is a platform for youth start-ups, gaming community and youth to highlight their creativity and contribute to the country’s digital economy.
Do you still have Sachin’s IP and which is your most successful game?
Yes, in an exclusive partnership with Sachin Tendulkar, we created India’s first motion capture cricket game – Sachin Saga Cricket Champions (Review), The ultimate Little Master cricket experience packed with exciting modes, 108 iconic cricket matches and stadiums located all over the world, and Sachin Saga VR, India’s first virtual reality cricket game to give consumers as a legendary master blaster Lets play cricket. Right on the cricket field. The Sachin Saga is the first innovation of its kind in the VR gaming industry, bringing gamers closer to a vast social and virtual reality experience with their favorite game and its legend, blurring the lines between real games and mobile games is. Sachin Saga Cricket Champions was the first cricket game to have more than a million registrations, and in just one month of its launch, the game surpassed 2 million downloads on the Google Play Store, making it the most downloaded cricket on the platform The game became one of them. And the fastest cricket game to reach this milestone. Currently, the game has seen 15 million + installs and counting. It is one of our favorite sports, however, our biggest success is ahead of us.
We are continuously innovating and investing in technology, talent and quality content and enabling the development of world-class mobile games with high fidelity and network play, deepening our presence in global e-sports, and Strategic partnerships with gaming powerhouses in key markets such as Japan, the United States and Europe are helping us build and create large global IPs. In an exclusive partnership with WWE, we will launch the WWE Racing Show Downdown, a one-of-a-kind, high-octane, vehicle fighting game featuring the best of mobile action, sports and racing. We want to create massive success stories across different demographics, geographies, and socio-economic classes.
What differences have you felt between the iOS App Store and the Google Play Store? What do you like to publish on and why?
For our products, we leverage both the App Store and Google Play Store to expand that audience and diversify the audience we are able to reach out to. We want to ensure that consumers across the board can access all our offerings seamlessly. Unique in its own way, both platforms offer state-of-the-art technology that gives us the opportunity to manage in-app purchases and subscriptions, configure distribution and beta test our app before releasing it. Both platforms offer unique benefits and technical capabilities and as a game developer and publisher, we want to deliver the best experience by reaching the maximum consumer base that these platforms provide.
What is the status of mobile game education in India? Do you have to train your work?
Gaming is the fastest growing entertainment industry in the world except for the movies and music industry. But, in India, the industry quickly gained traction in Western markets and countries such as China and Japan. Gaming is a comparatively new industry in India and began to gain some recognition almost a decade ago. We need a formal academic curriculum in gaming, so that it becomes a mainstream option for students in India. The Indian Digital Gaming Society of CII is promoting digital gaming technology and management as an integrated multi-domain course and facilitating skill development programs for the digital gaming industry through partner organizations.
A professional working in the gaming industry needs to learn to match market quality and rapid innovation. Therefore, to ensure that our employees deliver the best on the products they are working on, we periodically conduct customized internal training to help them adapt And employ knowledge of globally maturing talents while acquiring knowledge and education on the subject. Gaming market.
Is eSports increasing the popularity of mobile games?
Due to the current epidemic, the world of sports has become largely virtual, with athletes now competing through online games.
Additionally, during this time of social disturbance, an increasing number of consumers are playing online games and others are watching them play at home from computer and TV screens. In fact, the eSports Federation of India reported about 264 million Indian gamers, about half of whom joined the online war. To keep this audience engaged, gaming companies across the country are also organizing e-sports tournaments. In addition to offering cash and other prizes, these tournaments offer consumers the opportunity to interact and compete with friends without venturing out from the comfort of their own homes.
Along with JetSynthesys, we are discovering new formats through e-sports ventures that we co-founded – Nodwin Gaming, offering users a subscription-based model for others to play and some games By giving permission.
What are you currently working on?
We recently announced an exclusive partnership with WWE, which features the WWE Racing Showdown, a unique, high-octane, vehicular combat game featuring mobile action, sports and racing. It is currently in the pre-launch phase and will be officially launched later this year. Additionally, we have some other very interesting projects, which we are very excited about, which we will reveal in due time.
Do you see a market for cricket outside India or is it mostly sub-continent?
It is an undisputed fact that cricket is the biggest sport in India; About 70 percent of the ICC’s revenue and 90 percent of the 1 billion cricket fans globally belong to the Indian subcontinent. That being said, the sport’s popularity extends beyond the country, and is well received worldwide. Cricket is a global sport and with IPL and similar formats, the popularity is growing even more worldwide.
Will Xbox Series S, PS5 Digital Edition Fail In India? We discussed it Of class, Our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe through Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, or RSS, Download episode, Or simply hit the play button below.


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Retailers with physical stores have been urged to avoid focusing too heavily on transactions.
According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), shoppers now expect physical retailers to look beyond this area and make a point of offering richer customer experiences as well.
Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the body, also said consumers expect firms to play a much greater role in their lives and help to enhance the lives of their community.
As a result, she believes marketers need to adopt a different approach in order to engage effectively with their target audience.
“There is a need to think differently about the retail offer, whether digital or in store,” Ms Dickinson commented.
She was speaking after a study by customer experience agency Rockpool indicated that retailers in the US are better at offering an omni-channel retail experience to customers than those in the UK.
The research suggested that British companies could improve significantly in areas such as personalising communications and offering top-quality customer service.
However, Rockpool Chief Executive Bruce Griffin stressed that omni-channel strategies are not a “silver bullet” for businesses.
Indeed, he said companies still need to be offering the right products and make sure they have the best people in certain roles.
“If you’re selling the wrong products, omni-channel is not going to make your business successful,” Mr Griffin commented.
He went on to stress that marketers should see an omni-channel approach as an “accelerator” for a business, rather than a “replacement for the right product portfolio or the right mix of pricing.”
Big retailers are lacking in their omnichannel offerings Marketing Week


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THE treatment meted out to cement industry is a case study in how to stifle a sector where Pakistan enjoys substantial comparative advantages and where regional demand presents a huge opportunity that is slipping out of its hands.
While the private sector performed magnificently whenever provided with an enabling environment, the response of the present government remains mired in confusion and inertia. Installed capacity was a paltry nine million tons in 1990, much of it being grossly inefficient as it was based on the outmoded wet process technology. As demand rose, the industry responded by launching a massive expansion programme. Over time, the installed capacity rose to nearly 44 million tons, a magnificent feat by any standards and a credit to the entrepreneurial spirit of the private sector.
However a number of adverse developments from 2007 onwards have brought the GDP growth to some two per cent. It is being reported by the media that the revised allocation after the latest cut, is a measly Rs180 billion. High inflation combined with slump in real estate and increase in the cost of production due to weakness of the dollar, resulting in a spike in coal prices, electricity and freight rates and accounting for 70 per cent of the cost, has adversely affected consumption while production cost soars, retarding construction activity in the private sector.
The current economic environment including low public spending has had disastrous consequences for the cement sector.
Local sales during the first half of the current fiscal year have witnessed an eight per cent year on year drop to around 10.1 million tons. Simultaneously, exports fell from 5.6 million tons to 4.6 million tons. The bad news does not end here. On top of low volumes, the average cement FOB prices fell to $48 per ton during the corresponding period--- a level low enough to hardly break even.
Consequently cement sales through the sea route alone declined by about one third. Cement sales to India were also hard hit on account of non renewal of BIS certification (a quality control licence). Burdened with high energy and freight costs as well, the manufactures are desperate for some government support.
But no support is forthcoming. One would expect the government’s economic planners to appreciate the tremendous odds against which the industry is battling. If care of the cement industry is in short supply, then some thought may be given to the enormous exposure of the banks which have provided financing to the tune of $1.5 billion to the sector during 2003-2008.
If the cement industry were to go under, it is sure to take some banks down with it.
The government can help ease the industry’s burden by giving some relief on taxes and levies on cement. Tax on cement in Pakistan is perhaps the highest in the world. Federal exercise duty is Rs700 per ton in addition to 17 per cent GST, one per cent special excise duty, as well as provincial duties, taxes and royalty payments. The taxes add up to Rs80 per bag— the highest in the world.
The high incidence of taxation on this sector may be adding to the woes of the manufacturers in another way as well on account of possible evasion of government duties because of discontinuation of the supervised clearance system. The continuing decline in reported cement dispatches from a peak of 72.6 million metric tons in 2007-2008 to 20.5 million tons in 2008-2009 and a continuation of the declining trend in the first eight months of the current fiscal year strongly suggests a possible evasion of taxes as some units take advantage of unsupervised clearance.
The industry’s mechanism for self policing by posting auditors of reputable firms of chartered accountants also had to be discontinued as a result of misunderstandings about the . role of monitors. Since this harms the predominantly bonafide producers as a result of unfair competition, the Federal Board of Revenue must act immediately and restore the supervised clearance system.
If this cannot be done immediately, the All Pakistan Cement Manufactures Association may be permitted to appoint independent auditors at it’s own expense to ensure that no unrecorded dispatches take place.
Excise duty is basically a tax to discourage consumption the primary targets being products like cigarettes and alcohol.
Given the huge shortage of housing, cement should be the last product to deserve this rap on the knuckles. Currently, Pakistan has a per capita consumption of 131 kg of cement, well below the world average of 270 kg. The average per capita in the case of Iran and China is 470 kg and 625 kg respectively. Why must we be so out of sync with basic common sense?
The cumulative effect of market forces and government short sightedness is a sharp decline in consumption, which fell 15 per cent during the previous year. Consumption continues to show a negative trend, with most companies recording unbearable losses due to low demand and reduced capacity utilisation.
The failure of the government to make good on it’s duly notified commitment to encourage export of cement by sea, means that an opportunity to increase cement export to more than $1 billion per year has been lost. All that was needed was to provide a freight equalisation mechanism to units located at large distances from Karachi, making it possible for them to export greater quantities of this high volume, low value commodity by absorbing part of the freight cost.
Considering that 80 per cent of the capacity is located in the North of the country, this would have had a huge impact on export volumes. The government agreed to provide a freight equalization subsidy and notified the decision along with the procedure. More than a year has passed but it has failed to disburse a single rupee.
Is this the way to treat an industry which meets the demand for an input so vital for creation of physical infrastructure and which provides jobs to more than 150,000 persons directly or indirectly? And it is an industry which doubled it’s contribution to government revenue from Rs15.65 billion in 2001-2002 to Rs30.89 billion in 2009-2010.
The way forward must be based on spending and developing ourselves out of trouble. Growth in the GDP can only be reinstated by spending more on development of infrastructure and the housing market. Unfortunately, our economic team has adopted exactly the opposite strategy. All the steps they have taken adversely affects aggregated demand, thus pushing the economy in a further downward spiral.
If growth in the construction business can be reinvigorated, this will have a salutary effect on about 40 associated industries and provide employment to the teeming young unemployed. The question to ask is that while ‘we have a large unutilised base of cement capacity, why do our economic planners continue to take measures which exacerbates the problems rather than alleviate them?
The writer is former chairman All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association


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When the news landed that BlackBerry's upcoming slider was to be named Priv, it was clearly a leak for the company. In a rather brilliant, seizing the moment move, BlackBerry took the leak as an opportunity to reach out to the very customers they're looking to attract while also introducing the Android-powered Priv by BlackBerry. In a new spot appearing on The Wall Street Journal, BlackBerry highlights how even they are affected by privacy breaches.
Yesterday we awoke to the news that the name of our newest smartphone was leaked to the public prior to its official launch later this year. At a time when your personal privacy is increasingly compromised, we wanted you to know that you are not alone.
We found this breach of privacy extraordinary, and at the same time the best demonstration as to why BlackBerry's products, technology and brand are essential to the world.
In recognition of our long history of valuing our customers' privacy we've named our next generation phone Priv, a name that has tremendous value for everyone worldwide.
We are so thankful to the BlackBerry Community for all their support.
BlackBerry CEO John Chen also didn't miss the chance to reach out to current BlackBerry 10 customers either. In a new CNBC post, Chen noted while some may see the move to Android as a surprise, there is continued demand for devices such as the BlackBerry Passport and Classic by consumers, enterprises and regulated industries. 'I want to be clear: fans of BlackBerry's workhorse BlackBerry 10 smartphones can continue to depend on us, and we appreciate their commitment. We will be releasing new updates of this powerful OS in the upcoming year.'


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A popular misconception has emerged about Elon Musk and Tesla: The mega-billionaire’s love affair with Twitter is the main reason why Tesla shares have lost so much value this year. But Tesla̵[ads1]7;s steep stock selloff this week proved that the problems at Musk’s car company go far beyond Twitter.
Even as Musk signals he may relinquish the CEO title on Twitter, investors have worried that the outlook for Tesla’s sales and profits is taking a turn for the worse. A sign of the weakened demand: Tesla has announced a rare sale. The company offered two discounts for buyers who take delivery of a vehicle before the end of the year, initially offering a $3,750 discount earlier this month. Tesla then doubled the discount to $7,500 on Thursday.
“Tesla is clearly starting to see demand explode in China and in the US at a time when competition for EVs is increasing across the board,” said Dan Ives, technical analyst at Wedbush Securities and a Tesla bull who cut his price target on the stock on Friday. from $250 to $175. “The price cuts that Tesla adopted were the straw that broke the camel’s back on the stock.”
Another reason Tesla’s stock is falling: The US economy could tip into recession next year, hurting car sales. Musk said on a Twitter Spaces call Thursday that he predicts the economy will be in a “severe recession” by 2023.
“I think there’s going to be some macro drama that’s higher than people think at the moment,” he said, according to Reuters, adding that homes and cars would be “disproportionately affected” by economic conditions.
Part of the problem with Tesla’s share price is that critics question whether it was ever worth the trillion-dollar valuation it had at the start of the year. At its peak, Tesla was worth more than the 12 largest automakers on the planet combined, despite having a fraction of the sales of any of them. Today it is worth $399 billion.
“It got ahead of itself in the short term,” said Gene Munster of Loup Ventures, another Tesla fan. “I still think this can be a much bigger company. I think it will see those kinds of numbers again. But it could take a long, long time to get there.”
Tesla’s growth prospects – a target of 50% annual sales growth – helped drive this valuation. It admitted in October that it will miss that sales target for this year.
The stock’s rise to dizzying heights — up 743% in 2020 alone — was fueled by Musk’s reputation as a genius who would disrupt the vast global auto industry.
“Tesla was seen as a disruptive technology company, not as an automaker, and a large part of that premium is tied to Musk,” Ives said.
Critics of Tesla said much of the skyrocketing value was based on promises Musk made about future products, many of which arrived years after they were originally promised.
A good example is the Cybertruck, the Tesla truck, which was first unveiled three years ago with promises that production would start in 2021. Now it is planned to start production next year, with a ramp-up in production in 2024, which leave it years behind. other electric pickup offerings from Ford and new EV maker Rivian, both of which have electric pickups available for purchase today. It may also follow planned electric pickup offerings from General Motors.
“Elon Musk has a pathological problem with the truth,” said Gordon Johnson, one of Tesla’s biggest critics among analysts. “When people say he’s a genius and innovator, it’s based on all the promises he never lives up to.”
Johnson said Tesla shares will have a much steeper fall going forward as they begin to be priced like other automakers rather than on their promises. He said that for Tesla to meet its growth goals, it must build new factories almost every year, but that new factories in Germany and Texas that opened in the spring are still not operating at full capacity. And he said that the factory in China has had to scale back production due to weak sales in the market in the face of the Covid restrictions.
“Demand in the United States has collapsed,” he said. “Two months ago, your waiting time was two or three months. Now you can get one immediately. They will build more cars than they sell for the third quarter in a row. That is the definition of excess capacity.”
Tesla remains by far the largest electric car manufacturer worldwide, although that title is being challenged in some key markets, by Volkswagen in Europe and BYD in China. And more competition comes from established car manufacturers such as Ford and GM.
That’s not to say Twitter hasn’t played a role in Tesla’s share price slide this year: Tesla shares have lost 66% of their value since Musk’s interest in Twitter was first made public in April, with a 45% decline since he closed the deal at the end October.
Investors have been disappointed that Musk appears to be paying for so much of his $44 billion purchase of Twitter by selling Tesla shares. Musk, Tesla’s largest shareholder, has sold $23 billion worth of Tesla stock since his interest in Twitter became public in April.
On Thursday’s Twitter Spaces call, Musk promised he was done selling Tesla stock until at least 2024, if not longer. But he has not lived up to one in the past promises in April that he was done selling Tesla stock, selling $14.4 billion of that stock since then.
“It’s been a Pinocchio situation for Musk to say he’s done selling shares. Investors want to see him walk the walk and not just talk the talk, Ives said.
Another Twitter factor: Musk named himself CEO of Twitter, the third major company he heads, along with Tesla and SpaceX. So many assumed that Musk’s loss of focus on Tesla has spooked the former fans on Wall Street.
But this week began with Musk running one Poll — on Twitter, of course — asking if he should relinquish the CEO title to his social media toy. He promised he would abide by the result, and 57.5% of those who voted said they want him gone.
That departure could take a while — Musk tweeted that he will step down “as soon as I find someone stupid enough to take the job!” And in the same tweet, he warned that while he’s giving up the Twitter CEO title, he’s not walking away entirely, saying he plans to “just run the software and server teams” after finding a new “fool” to be the managing director.
The gauge results late Sunday were enough to lift Tesla shares in early trading Monday, but the shares ended the day slightly lower, and have lost significantly more ground each day since. Tesla shares fell 9% on Thursday, and it ended the week down 18% after falling another 2% on Friday.
And then there’s the question of how much damage the Twitter debacle has done to the Tesla brand. Musk has fired thousands of employees, banned journalists while allowing Donald Trump and other previously banned accounts back online, called for the prosecution of Dr. Anthony Fauci, embraced conspiracy theories and made anti-trans statements during his short tenure as CEO.
That may have endeared him to some, but angered other potential buyers, including liberals who might be willing to pay a premium for a more eco-friendly vehicle.
“I think there was measurable damage,” said Munster, who believes the publicity over his time on Twitter cost Tesla 5% of sales.


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November 4, 2017 All Day
The 2017 Hot Rods at the Beach Car Show will be held at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk on Saturday, November 4th.
The accomplishments of the Hot Rods at the Beach Car Show over the last nineteen years are amazing! There first car show in 1998 raised money to rebuild a 1961 Chevrolet Biscayne Nostalgic Police Vehicle for the Santa Cruz Police Department. The vehicle can be seen at local parades, festivals, and at every Hot Rods at the Beach Car Show.


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Designer News is where the design community meets.
5 months ago from Nihar Gogoi, Seo Specialist at : https://www.lollypop.design/
To be clear, this article has nothing to do with building a design system. It's about building -sketch- design assets and style guidelines for a design system.
Where the design community meets.
Designer News is a large, global community of people working or interested in design and technology.
© 2020 Designer News Ltd.


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Microsoft has sold 8 million of the Kinect motion controller devices in just 60 days. Because of this huge demand for the device, shortages may perpetuate into 2011. Jose Pinero, a Senior Director of PR for Microsoft, spoke with Destructoid about the repercussions of the demand and what it means to the consumer. “There was so much demand that we had to pull some production from January and February, so I think we’re going to be hard-pressed to be able to fulfill demand.”
“A lot of retailers will be out of stock, or will have challenges making sure that their shelves are filled,” Pinero continued. “I don’t think we’ll be able to fulfill the demand in January and February. It’s a nice problem to have.”
It was announced at the CES that each and every Kinect unit that was being produced by the software company was being sold with zero inventory on hand for the device. Is anyone getting the same feeling that we had a few years back with the Wii? I am.
- This article was updated on:March 7th, 2018


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India is one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the world, and pretty much every other smartphone manufacturer is trying to make their way here and sell devices. On the other hand, the Cupertino-based tech giant has a well-established market share here. Apple has been selling iPhones and other Apple products in India for a long time now. And although the company’s global share didn’t really see any spike, they surely did sell a lot of iPhones here in India. According to the new reports which we have from Counterpoint Research, Apple managed to ship 2.5 million units last year i.e., the year 2016 in India.
It has been reported that most of these sales came after the company’s 2016 flagship iPhone 7’s launch in Q4. It could either be that a lot of people bought the new iPhone 7 & 7 Plus or maybe they purchased the older iPhones since the prices were sliced by a short margin. Well, regardless of which iPhone they sold, the company came in 10th place in smartphone sales in the country during Q4. However, they still managed to be the leader in the premium phone space which is usually above 30,000 INR. Even after pricing their smartphones at such a high price, they were somehow responsible for 62-percent of sales in this particular category, which is indeed in impressive.
Do make a note that India is a market where the smartphones that are priced below 25,000-30,000 INR gets welcomed with open arms and usually the smartphone that are priced above 40,000 INR, etc. get only half the traction. Hence Apple was definitely fighting a battle which was quite hard to win by any given chance. And not to forget about the fact that Chinese smartphone manufacturers such as Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, etc. are getting more attention in the market mainly because of the targetted price bracket. Now one might argue that Apple tried to win this battle by launching the iPhone SE which was supposedly the cheaper variant, however, even that ended up costing a whole lot of money in comparison.
While this is really surprising to see such results, it is indeed a good sign for the company to invest or look into India as a potential ground for making iPhones here and try to sell them here at comparatively lower prices. This will definitely allow them to grab more market share here in India. Well, what happens next is yet to be seen as we don’t have much info about the same. However, if you are considering the purchase of next iPhone i.e. iPhone 8, then you should be aware that it will be the company’s ten year anniversary since the launch of the first iPhone and hence we will be seeing some huge innovation or design change. With that said, stay tuned for more info on this.


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STAMFORD, Conn. — Westin Hotels & Resorts has launched a global competition to reinvent recipes for the brand’s Eat Well Menu for Kids.
Hotel associates will have six weeks to demonstrate their culinary creativity and recreate the brand’s kids’ menu; 40 of the best recipes will be chosen based on strict nutritional standards and provided to each property. Hotels can then select from these recipes to create a regionally relevant Eat Well Menu for Kids.
“At Westin, it is more important than ever to offer families healthy menu options and introduce fresh alternatives for today’s littlest travellers, who may or may not be adventurous eaters,” says Brian Povinelli, global brand leader of Westin Hotels & Resorts. “We are delighted to refresh the Eat Well Menu for Kids with input from our associates and their families with the goal to make eating well a bit more playful and appealing.”
This competition follows the recent launch of Westin Family, a global program offering interactive programming and signature amenities for families at all Westin hotels, as well as physical play spaces at many resorts.
During the recipe development process, several hotels will host taste-testing events, gathering feedback from associate families and younger guests. Foodies and families can also follow #missiondelicious on Westin’s social media platforms for updates throughout the competition.


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The new Ford Police Interceptors are built to be very fuel-efficient. This is seen to be a great help to cities who are concerned about skyrocketing expenses as experts have made predictions that fuel prices will rise to record heights this year. The all-new Police Interceptor sedan and utility vehicle models were designed by Ford engineers to save fuel when they’re not running.
However, this was done in such a way as not to compromise pursuit performance. The city and highway fuel economy ratings for the new Police Interceptors are higher by 25% compared to the retired Crown Victoria, the best-selling law enforcement vehicle in the U.S. for the past 15 years. However, it’s a fact that many law enforcement vehicles spend most of their time idling.
This is where the new models can offer even more fuel savings. The Police Interceptor sedan and utility vehicle that are being shipped to law enforcement agencies are offered with efficient powertrain packages that have improved performance and fuel economy. They are combined with standard and exclusive all-wheel drive for optimized traction and control.
The Police Interceptor sedan is powered by the base 3.5-liter V6 engine that produces 288hp and EPA-certified fuel economy of 18 mpg city, 26 mpg highway. The Police Interceptor sedan brings an improvement of 4 mpg city and 5 mpg highway as well as an extra 38hp over the Crown Victoria.
The all-wheel-drive Police Interceptor sedan is offered with an optional EcoBoost 3.5-liter V6 that’s rated 365hp and is EPA-certified at 16 mpg city, 23 mpg highway. The EcoBoost Police Interceptor was subjected to 0-60 mph acceleration tests at the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department where it did better than all competitive police cars from General Motors and Chrysler.
The Police Interceptor utility is powered by a 3.7-liter V6 that produces 304hp. Its EPA rating of 16 mpg city, 22 mpg highway tops the class, doing even better than the Chevrolet Tahoe PPV. In the LASD tests, the Police Interceptor utility bested the V8-powered Tahoe. It can accelerate to 60 mph in 8.4 seconds while the Tahoe can do it in 9.5 seconds.
In law enforcement, the leading police car is the Ford Crown Victoria. However, the brand has recently revealed that it has come out with a model that will exceed the Crown Victoria when it comes to durability, performance, safety, and fuel economy. Dubbed as the Ford Police Interceptor, this purpose-built sedan is, without a doubt, for law enforcement personnel.
In addition, Ford revealed as well that it will be producing a utility vehicle. To come up with the Police Interceptor, engineers at Ford teamed up with the brand’s very own Police Advisory Board composed of law enforcement professionals. The Board was the one responsible for giving the needed input on a number of qualities like driver comfort, durability, functionality, performance, and safety.
Commenting on the new vehicle, Ford Americas President Mark Fields shared that many police officers across the country have been asking for a new weapon in the fight to enhance public safety.
In answer to this request, he added, the brand is offering a vehicle that is not only purposely built for this task but one that is both engineered and manufactured in the U.S. Fields continued by saying that this makes the Police Interceptor sedan as durable as it is dynamic. For 15 years, Ford has been the leader when it comes to police vehicles.
The new Police Interceptor was designed and engineered specifically to meet the demands of police work. It also has the technological advancements, safety, and powertrain that are found at the top of its segment. As mentioned, Ford will be launching a second version which is a utility vehicle. With this, the brand hopes to give customers a chance to drive a vehicle that is able to meet their needs. Ford disclosed that additional details will be announced by the third quarter of this year.


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Restructuring Plans. The Ohio PUC denied rehearing of its restructuring order for FirstEnergy issued two months earlier, rejecting arguments by all petitioners-utility, marketers, and consumer watchdog groups.
State regulators say they won't bargain under "threat of blackouts," but their complaint only highlights how the power is shifting.
The Michigan Public Service Commission is concerned about power supplies this summer - so much so that for the third year in a row it has ordered electric utilities in the state to file plans assessing their generation and transmission capacity for the upcoming summer.
Retail Energy Choice. At press time, Virginia issued proposed interim rules governing pilot programs for electric retail competition in electricity and natural gas, with comments due Feb. 24. The interim rules were not expected to resolve all issues, but only to provide a starting point to gain experience.
Among other points, the interim rules would require utilities to make information available through electronic bulletin boards on availability of commodity supply, ancillary services, and transmission and distribution capacity. Case No.
PUCs turn their attention to what they can still control.
The battleground has shifted. Utilities that last year worried about winning customers in pilot programs for retail choice now face public audits on the reliability of transmission and distribution.
With rate cases in remission, no nukes on order and generation planning left to the market, public utility commissions are turning their attention to what they can still regulate. That means service quality. Nor are PUCs the only ones involved.


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Marketing VP Patrick Starzan talks about the evolution of his site as a branding vehicle.
Austin, Texas -- FunnyOrDie.com was the brainchild of an aspiring comedian named Michael Kvamme, and then famous laugh-master Will Ferrell got involved. Four years later, according to recent data from comScore, it has been getting around seven million unique viewers a month.
The Los Angeles-based web site has even partnered with cable powerhouse HBO, which runs “Funny or Die Presents” episodes as part of its regular TV programming. And Hollywood stars like Lindsay Lohan, Jerry Seinfeld, and Patrick Stewart have made guest appearances.
With all of that going for it, brand advertisers like K-Swiss have naturally gotten on board. On Monday evening, ClickZ spoke with Marketing VP Patrick Starzan outside The Highball during SXSWi and learned what brands have been requesting from his site.
Christopher Heine was a senior writer for ClickZ through June 2012. He covered social media, sports/entertainment marketing, retail, and more. Heine's work has also appeared via Mashable, Brandweek, DM News, MarketingSherpa, and other tech- and ad-centric publications. USA Today, Bloomberg Radio, and The Los Angeles Times have cited him as an expert journalist.
2015 Holiday Email Guide
The holidays are just around the corner. Download this whitepaper to find out how to create successful holiday email campaigns that drive engagement and revenue.
Three Ways to Make Your Big Data More Valuable
Big data holds a lot of promise for marketers, but are marketers ready to make the most of it to drive better business decisions and improve ROI? This study looks at the hidden challenges modern marketers face when trying to put big data to use.
December 2, 2015
1pm ET/ 10am PT
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
5pm HKT / 5am ET


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The five-day VicenzaOro September 2016 show which run from 3 till 7 September was an international platform by excellence. The industry key players from every corner of the globe joined to make this edition a success in every term.
More than 1,300 brands from all of Italy’s gold districts as well as 35 other countries offered their latest collections to more than 19,000 visitors, buyers and trade professionals from 115 different countries. A wide array of products was on offer including, in addition to the best of Made of Italy by Italian exhibitors, the diverse and innovative collections of the foreign exhibitors which counted 37%.
The show conceptual and unique format VICENZAORO The Boutique ShowTM, its five communities ICON, LOOK, CREATION, EXPRESSION, and ESSENCE, proved to be very friendly and easy to for buyers who found it very efficient to target the most appropriate exhibitors.
NOW – Not Ordinary Watches is a new area dedicated to the world of watches and set inside the ICON section, the community for Global Brands in the Jewellery trade. NOW Plaza put together the different collections of a selection of independent brands, characterised by strong know-how and design and, including Altanus Geneve, Brosway, Didofà, Gagà Milano, Ju’sto, Locman Italy, Louis Erard, Lucien Rochart, Paul Picot, Save My Day, Sordi Spa, and Terra Cielo Mare.
VICENZAORO SEPTEMBER 2016 MORE THAN EVER AN INTERNATIONAL PLATFORM
A rich calendar of educational events accompanied the show dates: in addition to the presentation of TRENDBOOK 2018+ forecasting fashions that will influence the design, production and distribution of jewellery from 2018 onwards based on deep market analysis, this edition of VICENZAORO placed under the spotlight new jewellery consumers, at a seminar organised in collaboration with the CIBJO, entitled: “Marketing to the Millennials. Meeting the Expectations of the Next Great Consumer Generation.”
While other business sectors, like consumer electronics and the travel industry, are investing billions in marketing to attract the Millennials discretionary income, and the jewellery industry now needs to play catch-up and rethink the way it operates.
ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility were the core subject of another important seminar held during the show and entitled “Transparent as a diamond. Elegance and business.” It was organised by Federpreziosi Confcommercio and IGI – the Italian Gemmological Institute, with the support of Fiera di Vicenza.
The official opening of VICENZAORO September featured an on-stage discussion, between Mr. Ivan Scalfarotto, Undersecretary of State at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, Mr. Matteo Marzotto, President of Fiera di Vicenza, and Mr. Lorenzo Cagnoni, President of Rimini Fiera. It was followed by the awards ceremony of the NEXT JENERATION – JEWELLERY TALENT CONTEST 2016; a strategic project by VICENZAORO for scouting the international scene and promoting the new Millennial designers, who will be dictating the trends over the coming years.
The works of the 25 finalists in the Next Jeneration Jewellery Talent Contest 2016 were on display at an exhibition entitled “Il Gioiello e il Viaggio – Jewellery and Journeys,” at the Jewellery Museum in Vicenza, organised by Fiera di Vicenza and curated by Professor Alba Cappellieri, the head of School of Design of the Polytechnic University of Milan. It will remain open until January 2017.
Aiming at combining the most innovative, dynamic forces focused on the world of jewellery in strategic business alliances, Fiera di Vicenza Spa, has signed a cooperation agreement with the Club degli Orafi Italia, an independent association that brings together the most important businesses in the Italian gold industry.
Dates were announced for next year’s VICENZAORO Dubai show, now scheduled to take place November 15-18, 2017. www.vicenzaoro.com


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Phoenix-based Inventure Foods Inc. (Nasdaq: SNAK) announced Monday it will spend nearly $4 million on equipment to bolster its freezing capabilities.
The snack maker and food processor will buy two individually quick frozen (IQF) freezing tunnels for $3.9 million next year.
The purchase will help Inventure improve margins and meet demand for its frozen fruit products, said CEO Terry McDaniel.
“When this equipment is coupled with the freezing assets we acquired this year at Willamette Valley Fruit Co. and Fresh Frozen Foods, we will have made significant progress toward meeting our frozen fruit processing requirements internally,” McDaniel said.
The Phoenix company bought Georgia-based Fresh Frozen Foods in September for $38 million. The purchase expanded Inventure’s portfolio of frozen fruit products, as well as its footprint in the southeastern U.S. Last spring, Inventure acquired Salem, Ore.-based Willamette Valley Fruit Co. for similar reasons and assets.
Inventure anticipates installation of the new equipment to take place in the second quarter of 2014. The company will install the new tunnels at its berry processing facilities in Lynden, Wash. and Salem, Ore.
For its most recent quarter, Inventure posted record revenue on the strength of increases in its healthy food products, including its frozen fruit division, which saw net revenue climb 20.5 percent.
Overall, for the third quarter, Inventure recorded revenue of $54.5 million.
As of midmorning, Inventure shares were down slightly to $12.94 per share.


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“Whether you are interested in a career, looking for investment opportunities or just want to discover what the buzz is all about, it’s an exciting opportunity to learn and engage with a range of experts from our homegrown industry leaders to key players from Malawi and across the USA,” says Trenton Birch, CEO and co-founder of Cheeba Africa. “The unique format that brings more than 50 panellists and the audience together in interactive webinars enables people to dip into the topics that are most relevant to them or stay tuned for the full experience over 25 and 26 February.
Highlights of the Craft Cannabis Summit 2021 will include cutting-edge insights into the global industry and its immense potential as a sunrise industry to impact socio-economic development, community change and increased well-being. Attendees can get the latest news and views about the increasing development of Cannabis Clubs and how they work. Webinars on medicinal cannabis and the rise of the psychedelics industry will explore the inroads plant medicine is making across the world when it comes to improving health and well-being. The summit will close on a high note with a special music and cannabis session featuring South African rapper AKA on the panel which will explore the use of cannabis in the music and creative industries.
Tim Harris, CEO of Wesgro, the Western Cape’s official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency says:
The 2021 Craft Cannabis Summit will profile the immense promise of the cannabis industry in South Africa and Africa. From growing to investing, to marketing, the summit provides a unique opportunity for knowledge-sharing to help lay the foundation for a sustainable and profitable local industry.Q&A sessions and live chat rooms will enable attendees to get expert answers to their burning questions and inspiring advice. Attendance is free and registration is now open.
For the full agenda and registration visit cheebaafrica.com/pages/webinars


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Phishing attempts on Singapore targets rose 175% to 8,500, with banking sector most spoofed in 2022
The heightened cyber threat environment last year was fuelled by geopolitical conflict and opportunism as COVID-19 restrictions eased, says the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore.
SINGAPORE: The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) received about 8,500 reports of phishing attempts last year, an increase of 175 per cent from the 3,100 attempts reported in 2021.
The increase mirrors global trends, according to CSA, which published the data in its Singapore Cyber Landscape 2022 report on Friday (Jun 23).
The heightened cyber threat environment in 2022 was fuelled by geopolitical conflict and “cybercriminal opportunism” as COVID-19 restrictions eased, said Mr David Koh, Singapore’s first Commissioner of Cybersecurity and CSA's chief executive.
The agency pointed out that the Russia-Ukraine conflict brought about financial pressures and a rise in the cost of living, and that economic adversity creates opportunities that threat actors can exploit through phishing.
“They capitalise on psychological weaknesses as potential victims are more inclined to explore opportunities to make up for personal financial shortfalls,” said CSA. Organisations may also scrutinise their budgets and cut cybersecurity budgets, seen as non-essential expenditure.
“Emerging technologies, like Chatbots, are double-edged, as with many new technologies. While we should be optimistic about the opportunities it brings, we have to manage its accompanying risks,” added Mr Koh.
“The government will continue to step up our efforts to protect our cyberspace, but we need businesses and individuals to play their part too, so that we can fully reap the benefits of our digital future.”
"SPRAY AND PRAY"
Phishing is a social engineering technique used to fraudulently obtain sensitive information by impersonating a legitimate individual or reputable organisation in digital communication.
More than half of the reported phishing cases involved URLs ending with “.xyz”, which is popular with threat actors because of its low cost and limited restrictions on usage, said CSA.
Banking and financial services was the most commonly spoofed sector, making up more than 80 per cent of all phishing attempts on organisations.
CSA pointed out that phishing attempts involving China-based banks accounted for nearly half of all banking-related phishing attempts in 2022.
The agency observed a sharp spike in phishing reports that coincided with some rural banks in China becoming embroiled in a fraud scandal in June last year.
“Interestingly, several of these banks – Agricultural Bank of China, Zhongyuan Bank, and China Minsheng Bank – have little to no presence in the Singapore retail banking scene and are unknown to most retail banking customers in Singapore,” CSA said in its report.
“The threat actors were likely mass-targeting victims utilising the ‘spray and pray’ tactic, which capitalises on anxieties and concerns over developments in China’s banking sector.”
Singapore’s government and the logistics sector – in particular SingPost – rounded out the top three most commonly spoofed sectors.
The Singapore Cyber Emergency Response Team (SingCERT) facilitated the takedown of more than 2,900 malicious phishing sites last year.
RANSOMWARE A KEY CONCERN
CSA also said that ransomware – which involves malware that encrypts files until a ransom is paid for their decryption – continues to be a key concern in Singapore, with one case reported every three days on average.
The number of ransomware cases reported fell slightly to 132 last year, but this figure is still high, said the agency.
Ransomware cases mostly affected small and medium enterprises from sectors like manufacturing and retail, as they may hold valuable data and intellectual property while lacking dedicated resources to counter cyber threats, CSA added.
The agency will launch a scheme for subsidised cybersecurity consultancy services and tailored cybersecurity health plans for SMEs in the third quarter of 2023.
Under the scheme, cybersecurity consultants will take on the role of chief information security officers for SMEs facing manpower constraints in hiring cybersecurity personnel.


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The developers of Winter Garden’s successful Crooked Can Brewing Company is on the cusp of starting another downtown Winter Garden development just a stone’s throw away: an office building with three restaurants on the first floor and office space, including the Crooked Can headquarters, on the second floor.
Crooked Can hasn’t started construction — that is planned for April — but the 10,000-square-foot building dubbed 360 Plant St. is already fully leased, said Jared Czachorowski, partner in the company.
Matthews Steak House, a family-run business that used to operate in Ocoee, is opening a new restaurant on the first floor.
“They cook only on a wood-fire grill, it’s reservation only, a little more upscale fine dining,” Czachorowski said.
4 Locos Mexican, a new start-up restaurant with traditional Mexican recipes, is also planning to open on the building’s ground floor.
The third restaurant is a new chain called Burger Craft, which has a restaurant in Clermont and just opened another in Altamonte Springs.
Diners may choose their grass-fed beef on a bun or in a bowl and get to create their own personal burger with various condiments, said founder Suzanne Bonham. The restaurants feature “clean” food with no antibiotics or growth hormones, she said.
Czachorowski is developing the project. His contractor is CW Hayes Construction in Oviedo, and the development group already has a lender lined up and is awaiting final financing approval, he said.


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Student Designers Showcase ‘Faucets of the
NEW YORK CITY Sleek, sophisticated and high tech describe the
“faucets of the future,” as seen in the creations of three student
designers who won top honors in Price Pfister’s Faucet of the
Future contest. The contest, which recognizes the talents and
innovations of future industrial designers, was part of Price
Pfister’s 90th anniversary celebration.
With technology showing an increasingly powerful presence in the
design industry, manufacturers and designers will find themselves
relying more than ever on the skills and visions of young artists
and budding designers for fresh ideas that merge technology,
function and design aesthetics. In fact, design innovation always a
driving force in the kitchen and bath industry has become
inextricably linked with technology, making the younger generation
of “high-tech creatives” more important than ever before.
To that end, Price Pfister’s “Faucets of the Future” contest
“tapped the minds and skills of students at two of the world’s
premier educational programs for industrial design: the Art Center
College of Design, in Pasadena, CA, and the Parson School of Design
in New York City,” according to Price Pfister president Les
Ireland. “The assignment was to create faucet designs that were not
only original and inventive, but functional as well,” he
Designs of the top 11 finalists were put on Price Pfister’s Web
site, where over 1,800 people voted on them, and then a panel of
five industry experts selected the three winners.
“Water-Go,” designed by Silas Beebe from the Art Center College of
Design, won top honors in the contest with its modernistic design
and nature-related theme themes industry experts maintain will
continue to be hot long into the future.
“Everything around the faucet is derived from nature an organic
modernism,” Ireland notes. “The handles are even shaped like bell
peppers,” he states, adding that the design has practical
applications, as well. “The loop can be used to hold a candle,
razors, soap or washcloths.”
Second place honors went to Hlynur Atlason of the Parson School
of Design. His design, entitled “Arch,” combines the controls and
faucet into one entity, for a sleekly balanced design. By taking
the existing one-hand faucet and merging the controls with the
actual body of the faucet, he created a faucet that looks like one
solid object,” with the controls situated over the sink, allowing
the water, dripping off the hands, to fall into the sink, Ireland
notes. Again, this design of the future is focused on practicality
as well as a stylish, “more is less” type of simplicity.
A waterfall design with a high-tech twist won third place honors
for Shane Koo, of the Art Center College of Design. Shane’s design,
called “Chameleon,” uses the same type of film used in aquariums to
visually notify users as to how cold the water is. The color-coded
form of “communication” provides not only added convenience, but
safety as well, allowing even young children to identify water
temperatures and avoid hot water burns.
“You think about the trends and safety in Americans’ homes today,
and that is definitely an application I’d see being utilized in the
future,” Ireland says.


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San Francisco – Forget Ice Cream Sandwiches. Jelly Beans are the new tech delight.
Google unveiled a new tablet called the Nexus 7 at the company's annual "Google I/O" developer conference, as well as the next version of its popular Android operating system: version 4.1, code named Jelly Bean.
The $199 tablet weighs 12 ounces, has a 7-inch screen more like the Amazon Kindle Fire than the 10-inch Apple iPad, and has up to 300 hours of standby time.
"It’s built for Google Play. It’s running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. And here it is,” said Hugo Barra, director of product management for Android, showing off the new tablet for the first time. The Nexus, which was built for the company by Asus, has a 1,280 x 800 display, a chipset from nVidia with a quad-core CPU, and an eye-popping 12-core graphics processor.
“That’s basically 16 cores,” he noted. Few modern computers exceed four cores.
Google demonstrated several neat features of the Nexus, including improved mapping features thanks to a built-in gyroscope and accelerometer, a Google Play magazine app that works like a newsstand, and a variety of games that take advantage of the device's powerful graphics hardware.
"Who says mobile gaming has to be casual?" the company joked.
The device is available for pre-orders today starting at $199, Barra said, and will ship in Mid-July. It comes with a $25 coupon for the Google Play store as well.
Google also unveiled a "cloud computer" for the living room called Nexus Q, designed to stream music and videos to the television from your Google devices. The compnay called it the world's first "social streaming device," and will sell it in July for $299.
The show began with Barra touting the features of the Jelly Bean OS.
“Jelly Bean builds upon what we created with Ice Cream Sandwich,” Barra told the crowd of developers. The new software offers smarter resizing of screen icons, improves text input thanks to a predictive keyboard that guesses the next word you type, and boosts speed.
Jelly Bean can also see the future.
The operating system anticipates where your fingers will touch the screen and plans accordingly, explained Dave Burke, Android engineering director. This and other modifications designed to improve the operating system were part of a program called “Project Butter,” Burke explained.
The new version of the software rethinks search as well, based on the massive revamp to the company's search engine unveiled in mid-May.
The company calls it the Knowledge Graph, and it has more than 500 million such things, with 3.5 billion connections between them.
Earlier versions of Android used voice recognition to translate your speech into emails, but the engine doing the translation was online. If you’re on a plane, you can’t use it.
The speech recognition function has been built into the Jelly Bean version of Android, Barra said, so that it will work offline. Google also added 18 new input languages, including Persian and Thai.
A new dimension to the search experience is Google Now. “Google Now knows that I’m a Giants fan and knows that there’s a Giant’s game coming up in a few hours," Barra said. The app updates in real-time and if you want, you can conveniently buy tickets from Google Now cards.
A software development kit for Jelly Bean would be made available to developers immediately. Google said it would roll out update over the air to the Galaxy Nexus and Xoom devices in Mid-July.


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I’ve written about Weave Got Maille before – the super niche, super successful business in Ada, MN that manufactures chain mail. Think of what knights wear. I knew they talked the provider in the area into serving them fiber – what I didn’t know until I heard the story on MPR was that they are paying $800 a month for it…
And then there was the problem that plagues many small-town businesses: internet access.
“We were running an international online company with dial-up internet for a long time,” said Ramstad, who spent two years trying to get faster internet service to her headquarters in Ada. She finally paid for fiber optic cable to be laid and connected to her manufacturing plant, but internet access is still an issue: she pays more than $800 each month for the level of internet service that, in Fargo, often costs about $40.
Her goal for this year is to bring some internet competition to town and drive down prices for broadband service.
But Weave Got Maille isn’t the only business in town with needs…
That would make Ada’s mayor, Todd Sawrey, very happy. He runs West Main Pizza in town. The internet is essential infrastructure for his restaurant — and every business in town.
“If you do not have an internet presence, you’re not going to survive,” he said. “Edie has found [that] out, big-time. Even myself. If I didn’t have a website, if I didn’t have ways to do online ordering, you will die.”
Sawrey said he has been frustrated with government programs to expand broadband access, which he said often don’t account for the needs of rural communities.
The story in Ada bring up a few problems with access in rural areas: first – many areas don’t have access; second – lines are drawn that create have and have-not parts of the community…
Recently, he said, a local company received a government grant to expand rural broadband access by installing fiber optic cable.
“Well, they went and put it right down the main highways,” he said, but the cables “stopped at the edge of town, because the grant didn’t encompass being within the city.”
That project, while it wasn’t helpful for downtown businesses, means that Edie Ramstad can now get faster internet at her farm, three miles outside of town, than she can at her factory in Ada.
Weave Got Maille has moved a few times since its founding, and now operates out of a former service station in Ada. A refrigerated rail car that for decades sat abandoned next to the building is now used as storage.


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Luxury resort Six Senses rebounded from Vietnam’s early lockdown after a prompt and well-run marketing campaign featuring local A-list celebrities and KOLs, and a series of promotional offers that hit a market hungry to farewell the pandemic. But as parts of the nation return to lockdown, the future is uncertain.
While most international travel is suspended around the world, those who are staying in hotels are looking for check-in and service solutions that reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Hotels in China are using robots and smartphones to ensure safety.
When F&B Equipment Malaysia was founded 42 years ago, no one could have foreseen how it would evolve into an industry leader in e-commerce and online marketing, let alone embracing automation and robotics in the catering and restaurant industries.
After serious consideration and close consultation with stakeholders, exhibitors and partners in the industry, Informa Markets, organiser of Food & Hotel Thailand has decided to postpone its event, originally scheduled for 9 – 12 September 2020 at Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (BITEC) to 8-11 September 2021 at the same venue.
With the impact of coronavirus, more businesses are trying to shift their marketing budgets online, which means knowing the online trends can help you plan your promotions better. Let's check out the Top 5 keywords together...


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Mixmax, a sales engagement platform, launched a new SMS feature that’s designed to help revenue teams better engage with their prospects and customers. According to the company, this feature can be used across the customer lifecycle to speed up communication and stand out with more personalized messages.
Specific capabilities of solution include:
- Sending confirmations before meetings;
- Allowing sales reps to set up a nurture drip;
- Confirming next steps or answering quick questions; and
- Checking in and adding value to existing, stalled or cold leads.
“Over the past year, we’ve seen increased demand from revenue teams looking to leverage SMS as part of their multichannel outreach,” said Olof Mathé, CEO and Co-founder of Mixmax, in a statement. “Inboxes are overcrowded — it’s critical to stand out with the right message on the right channel to move deals forward, engage customers and build more pipeline.”


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The years came and went, but Dale Irby’s 1970s polyester shirt and coffee-colored sweater vest never got old.
Irby, 63, retired this year as an elementary school teacher in Texas, but not before making quite the career-long fashion statement: He wore the same cheesy outfit in his yearbook photo every year for 40 years.
It started off purely by accident.
“I was so embarrassed when I got the school pictures back that second year and realized I had worn the very same thing as the first year,” Irby tells the Dallas Morning News.
But Irby’s wife thought it was funny, and urged him to keep going. Irby did it for five years, and then figured: “Why stop?”
Forty years later, here we are. The shirt still fits, says Irby, “if I suck it in a little.”
The clothes have outlasted the store – and even the mall – where Irby bought them. Sanger-Harris was absorbed by another department store in the ’80s, while the Big Town Mall in Mesquite, Texas, was demolished in 2006.
What will become of the clothes now? Irby figures they’ll enjoy a retirement of their own – at the back of his closet.
“I don’t think the Smithsonian would want them,” he says.


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Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg has joined other auction houses in postponing a scheduled sale in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center.
In this case the Paris-based auction house’s sale of a rare blue diamond and other jewels planned for New York on Oct. 24 has been rescheduled to Dec. 3, Reuters reported.
The auction is being mounted around the sale of the diamond qualified as having a “maximum saturation of blue” and which is expected to fetch more than $5 million, Reuters reported.
Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg is a unit of the world’s biggest luxury goods group, LVMH Moet Hennessy-Louis Vuitton.
Its inaugural New York sale of rare jewels from private collections will include a 1.92 carat red diamond that auctioneers expect to sell for more than $1 million per carat. It also includes more recent creations from Bulgari, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Cartier, and an 8.59 carat “pigeon blood” ruby from Burma’s Mogok mines and mounted into a Tiffany setting from 1932.
Other auction houses have already announced postponement of planned sales. Antiquorum, a world-leading auctioneer in horology postponed its New York watch auction originally scheduled for September 20. Sotheby’s of London rescheduled sales at its New York location, including its Asian Week sales of Indian, Southeast Asian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese works of art (moved from Sept. 15 to Oct. 11 – 17). Christies revised the dates for 14 of it U.S. sales, including a Chinese ceramics and fine art sale, at its Rockefeller Plaza, New York, location (now, Oct. 16).