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Guardian Unlimited introduces registration
Media section sign-up 'not prelude to charging'
The Guardian’s website has moved further towards its more commercial competitors with the news that, from today, readers will have to register before they can access stories in its Media section.
The registration page has been kept as simple and short as possible - just seven pop-down questions - and Guardian Unlimited’s editor-in-chief Emily Bell assured us that the reason for the move was to keep the content free. But nevertheless, the step marks a further shift in The Guardian’s online approach toward that of its rivals which charge for large sections of their content and restrict access to large parts of their sites.
Emily Bell stressed that the change was flagged up in July when The Guardian also introduced a number of other paid-for services. Strangely, she makes no mention of registration in her letter of the time. It does, however, mention that it will charge for the daily Media Guardian email. That will happen soon, Bell told us. This week, The Guardian also started charging for its (excellent) Digital Editions.
What does all this mean? Bell warns us not to read too much into the financial situation surrounding The Guardian’s online offering. "It would be nice to make money than it costs and becoming profitable is one of the ultimate goals," she told us, "but there are other aims, like reaching as wide an audience as possible."
The registration is purely advertising department-led. As Bell readily admits, they don’t know for certain who the Media Guardian readers are ("It could be 50 per cent students for all we know"). Anyone who has ever run a website will sympathise. But a careful look at the registration page reveals that a bias toward advertising and media buyer types. Why? Because they are the people that advertisers want and The Guardian wants to know about.
None of this should come as a particular surprise though. The issues faced by The Guardian now are precisely those faced by everyone else (except the BBC) two years ago. It’s just that due to The Guardian’s unique ownership structure, it hasn’t been under the same commercial pressures from owners and stockholders. This has held it in good stead. As others have had to introduce controls and charging, The Guardian has stormed out ahead on the online stakes and now sits comfortably at the front of the UK media - except, of course, for the BBC.
It is only inevitable then that with such a large lead on its competitors, the company would start trying to recoup some of the money invested over the past few years. Hence the new services - primed for charging - and registration.
Why the Media section? Because, as with the Monday media supplement in the printed edition, it has become the main stopping-off post for the UK media industry. Bell also says she hopes that with media people tending to be very savvy about such things as registration and content charging and the like, it won’t bother them as much as other groups to fill in a form to get access to free content.
She does remain a little nervous about the effect the registration may have on readers though. "It is an experiment. If we find we’re losing a lot of traffic and that isn’t coming through on ad revenues, we will take it off again."
So, the wonderful free gambol in the pastures is over and The Guardian is now having to share the cowshed with everybody else; even the BBC will find itself lassoed by the government sooner or later. Bell tells us that the registration will also help improve the site as they’ll have more idea of who is reading it, but this really is no more than the sugar to help the advertising medicine go down.
Of course, the move will also delight The Guardian’s competitors, who now have far more chance of regaining some of the market. And it is one more step toward the Holy Grail for online publishers - wide acceptance of paid-for content. ®


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New Delhi. The cost of smartphones and solar panels may come down in the coming days. Because India has got a big treasure in its hands. This is known as Lithium. Simply put, India has got huge reserves of Lithium. Large reserves of lithium have been found in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Let us tell you that this is the first time that large reserves of lithium have been found in India.
Why lithium becomes so important
However, the question arises as to how smartphones and solar systems will become cheaper after getting lithium, then let us tell you that batteries for smartphones, smartwatches, solar and electric vehicles are made from lithium. Every single rechargeable battery in India is made of Lithium. Till now, India used to completely import lithium from other countries to make lithium ion batteries. However, now India has got such a huge lithium reserve, that half of India’s needs can be met.
These products can be cheap
It is reasonable that India is moving towards making electric vehicles on a large scale. Also, India is a big smartphone market, for which lithium ion batteries are used. For these reasons, electric vehicles, smartphones, smartwatches and lithium ion battery based products can become cheaper in the coming days.
Lithium demand increased by 1000 percent
Explain that the cost of one ton lithium ion battery is Rs 57.3 lakh. 59 lakh tonnes of lithium reserves have been found in India. Its valuation is around Rs 3,384 billion. Australia is at the forefront of lithium production. After this, the number of Chile and China comes. In the last ten years, an increase of 1000 percent has been recorded in the demand for lithium.

domain: news


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A TOP Edinburgh law firm from has warned a retail giant could be made to give substantial back payments to workers put on zero-hours contracts.
A legal challenge has been launched to test the legality of the contracts used by Sports Direct, which has outlets at the St James Centre and Fort Kinnaird.
The company’s part-time staff are said to be contracts that do not guarantee hours or income each week.
Morton Fraser’s Innes Clark said: “It could result in the employment tribunal ordering that significant back payments should be made to a large number of workers. It would result in Sport Direct and many other retailers having to review their employment practices.”


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study released yesterday by the CIBC appears to put a shine on their windows they don't Look Out of
There are 2 comments on the www.thestar.com story from Jan 29, 2008, titled study released yesterday by the CIBC appears to put a shine on their windows they don't Look Out of. In it, www.thestar.com reports that:
as Dell cancels expansion, lays off 'best and brightest' in Ottawa
1 hr ago | Ottawa Citizen
A little more than a year after Dell Canada trumpeted a major expansion in Ottawa, the computer retailer has laid off employees and cancelled plans to hire up to 1,200 more workers.
OTTAWA The Canadian economy created an abundance of high-paying, high-quality jobs last year to offset the loss in the battered manufacturing sector, says a study released yesterday by the Canadian Imperial Bank ...
The credit for making up the losses in manufacturing goes mostly to a 3.6 per cent increase in the number of full-time employees in high-paying sectors such as oil and gas extraction, the public service and computer services.
Join the discussion below, or Read more at www.thestar.com.
#1 Jan 29, 2008
#2 Jan 29, 2008
Ontario will lose jobs if oil sands curbed: Premier
Petti Fong Jan. 29, 2008 A defiant Alberta premier warned that Canada's economy, already on the verge...
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Froth shouts Bunbury its first brewery
The owners of an award-winning brewery in the North West are frothing to expand their business to another region.
Froth Craft Brewery, initially located in Exmouth, has released the tender to build a venue in Bunbury after the local government approved construction.
The venue will be larger than the Exmouth site, with a progressive design and be capable of brewing in one day what the original brewery could in a week.
Froth Craft owner Pete Firth said after pioneering craft beer in the North West, it was time to expand and bring it to the South West.
“Bringing the first brewery into the North West, it spawned Whalebone and North West Brewing Co, and they are doing really well,” he said.
“So, it is great to be a catalyst for what is a trend and a change.”
Mr Firth said it was exciting to bring something new to the town.
“It’s massive to be able to bring something like this to a place that has so much going for it, like Bunbury, and to a region already that has an amazing amount of produce close by that we will be able to put into the kitchen and brewery.
Mr Firth said it was hoped the six-month build would begin in the next two months.
“The land presented itself a couple of years ago, and it has been a couple of years of logistics and red tape,” he said.
“The development approval was confirmed last week, and we are putting the building out to tender as we speak.”
Mr Firth said it was astounding that Bunbury did not have a microbrewery or producing facility.
“It’s really important that Bunbury gets its own brewery that it can take pride in,” he said.
Mr Firth said the design played into the culture that made them popular in Exmouth.
The venue design will include a bar, cafe, beer garden, children’s play area, and an internal pedestrian thoroughfare to allow for markets, exhibitions and performers.
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If it’s not apparent from the title then here it is once again: Donald Trump hates bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrencies as well, including Facebook Libra. He is suggesting that these bitcoins are not real money and that the US dollar is the only real currency in the United States of America.
However, he has proposed a banking charter for cryptocurrencies in America. Donald Trump is not the only one who considers bitcoin and other currencies like it dangerous. Several international government officials, including Bank of England governor Mark Carney, have raised their concerns regarding Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra.
Why Does Donald Trump Hate Bitcoin And Cryptocurrencies?
One assumption is that cryptocurrencies are a preferred mode of payment on the dark web where a lot of illegal activities take place. In his Twitter rant against cryptocurrencies, Donald Trump affirmed the same.
I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019
Trump then went on to explain how if Facebook and other companies want a virtual currency, then they should seek a banking charter and become subject to banking regulations.
Critics of Facebook and cryptocurrencies alike already have little faith in the company and its upcoming cryptocurrency. Interestingly, Facebook won’t be the only company in control of Libra, as several other companies will take ownership in handling it.
On the flipside in India, which is also Facebook’s biggest market. all types of cryptocurrencies are banned.
How Dangerous is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a virtual currency and it is used to facilitate trade in some shady illegal areas. For that part, Donald Trump is right. What none of us know exactly is the scale of the illegal operations being carried out by Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin isn’t only used in illegal trading, several legal transactions also take place through it. Big companies that consider Bitcoin as legal tender include Microsoft, Wikipedia, Subway, AT&T, etc.
Moreover, several people look at Bitcoin as not just virtual money but as a means of investment. Investing in Bitcoin is one of the most popular trends in the trade market. This is due to the highly volatile nature of Bitcoin, meaning it can go down in value as well as go really high up.
According to CoinDesk, the price of 1 Bitcoin at the time of writing this article is $11,346 or INR 7,77,427. On July 10 the price of Bitcoin was $13,021 or 8,92,198.
This constant changing nature of Bitcoin makes it dangerous and also gives it its rewarding appeal at the same time.
However, after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell had “serious concerns” regarding Facebook Libra, Bitcoin’s value saw a huge dip in 24 hours. And we cannot forget that Bitcoin became three times more valuable in the first half of 2019.


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Every so often, Seven Days produces special issues — i.e. the Animal Issue, the Money Issue, the Hunting Issue, etc. This week's theme is "The Innovation Issue." It's in conjunction with the Vermont 3.0 Innovation Jam that we're sponsoring on Monday at the Sheraton.
This week you can read about local defense contractors, an iPhone game designer who lives in Huntington, a family-owned Winooski company that makes life-saving sensors and new robotic milking machines. Here's a complete list of stories.
This issue also gave Eva Sollberger an excuse to visit the Emergent Media Center at the Champlain Mill in Winooski, which she profiles in this week's episode of "Stuck in Vermont."
Shameless plug: If you're looking for a job, or want to start a business, or want to network with local techies, check out the Innovation Jam on Monday. There are 60+ exhibitors, workshops offering business start-up help and a CEO-founder speaker series featuring execs from six local companies. Plus, it's free. Here's the schedule.


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Be One of the First Visitors to New York’s Legoland Resort
Legoland's largest resort will open next year in New York, and you can be one for the first visitors to the new park!
The excitement for the Legoland Resort in Goshen has been building ever since the park's development was announced a couple years ago, and for those who are super excite for it's arrival, there is an opportunity to be one of its first visitors.
New York Upstate is reporting Legoland is selling 'First to Play' passes that will give access to the resort during a special event that will take place before it's official opening. The passes will be god for 12 months and will include other special events and perks. Supply is limited for these passes though, with only 21,000 up for sale right now at the Legoland website. NYUP says when these passes sell out, other pass options will eventually be released for sale.
This park looks like it is going to be a lot of fun, especially if you have kids. Even though it is a couple hours away in Goshen, it looks like it will be worth the drive! Legoland New York is currently on track to open in about a year, in the Spring of 2020, according to the resort's website.


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March 20, 2014 By Anthony Capkun
March 19, 2014 – Legrand North America claims it has surpassed $1 billion in sales in 2013, and credits “organic growth from new products, successful innovation and R&D initiatives, and strategic acquisitions”.
President and CEO John Selldorff noted some market factors that enabled Legrand NA to “enlarge its product offering and customer base, keeping all business units profitable”:
• Emergence of high-performance building initiatives, standards and solutions to reduce energy usage
• Expansion of datacom centres
• Evolution of home automation
• Continuously expanding DIY market
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The first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, El Salvador continues to expose its economy to cryptocurrency. The country has just invested 15 million dollars to buy 410 additional bitcoins under the leadership of its president Nayib Bukele. The latter proceeded to announce the news himself on Twitter last Friday as bitcoin hit its lowest level in more than six months. Details in the following.
A cheap investment
This new investment brings El Salvador’s total holdings to more than 1,800 bitcoins according to Bloomberg, or approximately $66 million at the time of the events. President Bukele notably bragged in his tweet about allowing the country to buy the cryptocurrency at a cheap price. The value of bitcoin continued to fall after this announcement, reaching a low of $35,422 before rebounding slightly to $36,653.56 on Friday evening. She then displayed a 46.72% drop from its high of $68,789.63 in November.
Four months prior, El Salvador had already made a major purchase of bitcoin as the cryptocurrency suffered a plunge. At the time, the country distinguished itself by becoming the first to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. President Bukele then pledged to build a city dedicated to cryptocurrency and to accelerate citizenship for certain investors ready to invest locally in the cryptocurrency. mining bitcoin. Its main objective is to make El Salvador a hot spot world of this activity now that it is banned in China.
A policy that is struggling to bear fruit
In July, Moody’s downgraded the country’s credit rating to Caa1, which means very high credit risk. According to Moody’s, bitcoin transactions from El Salvador increase the country’s credit risk. However, President Bukele decided to issue bonds denominated in bitcoin for an amount of one billion dollars. His government recently announced that it would submit a bill to give legal support to this decision.
Pending the formalization of this, the situation of bonds denominated in El Salvador dollars has become catastrophic. Despite the adoption of bitcoin, the country’s national debt has notably climbed to more than 50% of its GDP. The situation had notably prompted economics professor Steve Hanke to issue a warning to President Bukele. In particular, he invited the latter to stop exposing the country’s economy to bitcoin or risk seeing it collapse for good.
The current bitcoin debacle therefore does not seem to worry President Bukele unduly. He remains convinced that the salvation of El Salvador depends on greater exposure to cryptocurrency. However, this is a risky bet that could permanently damage the country’s economy.
Receive a digest of news in the world of cryptocurrencies by subscribing to our new daily and weekly newsletter service so you don’t miss any of the essential Cointribune!
Luc Jose Adjinacou
Far from having dampened my enthusiasm, an unsuccessful investment in 2017 on a few cryptos only increased my enthusiasm. I therefore resolved to study and understand the blockchain and its many uses and to relay with my pen information relating to this ecosystem.


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Lindsay Whiteaker and Pete Halupka have grown their locally sourced food business, Harvest Roots, as if following each lesson in a primer on homegrown.
They started in a Falkville farm incubator before moving to a 150-square-foot kitchen in Mentone. As demand for their products increased, so too did their production space. They upped the kitchen to 450 square feet, along the way turning to crowdfunding through Kickstarter and opportunities such as Neighborhood Concepts’ North Alabama Revolving Loan Fund.
Their products are equally organic, as well as effervescent.
Leader among their products is a line of kombucha — that tea concoction from ancient Mongolia now on the shelves of every grocery in America. And, like kombucha, most of their products are fermented — alive with nutrients in microbial abundance. Other fermented foods include kimchi and krauts.
The couple began as farmers but soon shifted their focus to fermentation. They’ve sourced about 75,000 pounds of local produce for vegetable ferments, and they use local fruits in their seasonal kombucha keg series.
The transition to Birmingham will take time and money. Production will occupy a 3,700-square-foot space. Coupled with an on-site taproom, Harvest Roots will occupy 5,000 square feet in the city’s East Avondale neighborhood, adjacent to the restaurant Tropicaleo.
“We were able to find partners that both see the mission and vision behind what we’re doing, but also understand the financial potential there, as well,” Whiteaker says.
Mentone served as an incubator of sorts for the young couple. They were able to grow Harvest Roots one bottle at a time, from a kitchen tucked into Little River Hardware. The community support was unmistakable. Friends would text to alert the couple of an excess of pears, prime for picking, or offer repair know-how when the business’ walk-in cooler went out.
But the location’s limitations were impossible to ignore. Until October of this year, Halupka personally distributed all of Harvest Roots’ products. He racked up miles pinging between north Alabama, middle Tennessee, eastern Tennessee and central Alabama. Demand at 50-plus retail locations often exceeded the amount he and Whiteaker were able to create.
Now that the company has inked a deal with Pinnacle Imports, its products will show up on shelves throughout Alabama.
Birmingham is a more central location from which to distribute, and already the city is the source of 85 percent of Harvest Roots’ sales. Turning over distribution will allow Halupka and Whiteaker more time to focus on production, and moving into a larger facility also will allow them to grow the business and their staff.
Whiteaker and Halupka want to be certified as a B Corporation (B for “benefit”), a company certified for meeting certain social and environmental goals. They find inspiration in businesses like Patagonia and Alabama Chanin and hope to build a workplace that supports employees personally and financially while investing in the community.
The couple has long considered Birmingham their urban home. Whiteaker attended college there, and Halupka grew up skateboarding and playing soccer in the city. They have family in the area, and they look forward to living among the community they’ve found through six years of selling at The Market at Pepper Place.
Halupka and Whiteaker are serious about fermentation, but they also hope to inject the fun, often silly, side of their personalities into their taproom.
“We’re bringing to our practice of fermentation a level of craft and seriousness through our sourcing and knowledge of science. But we also love to have fun, and we want our space to be a balance,” Whiteaker says.
Workshops and other events will take place in the taproom. Halupka and Whiteaker hope the business will be an extension of their home, where people can gather for both conversation and education.
The retail space will include 15 taps from which Harvest Roots will serve kombucha, kegged kombucha mocktails and seltzer. They hope to explore alcoholic kombucha in the future. Over time, the business may offer other artisan food products, such as high-quality olive oil, sea salt and home fermentation tools. Guests will be able to order from a menu of snack-sized fermented goods, such as kimchi toasts, and meal-appropriate dishes, including grain bowls.
They’re toying with the idea of an interior mural that would read “Welcome to our home.” The sentiment runs deep, Halupka says.
“We want to welcome you into our literal space. But we also want to welcome you to a state that a lot of the country feels they don’t have a reason to visit,” he says. “We want to welcome a diverse community into our space. We want the space to be about communing with food.”
Whiteaker says the taproom will allow them to dabble in projects that weren’t feasible without a retail model, such as small batch Southern pea miso. The space will allow them to sell directly to customers. When demand is appropriate, Harvest Roots may then make a product more widely available.
But the taproom won’t only be about experimenting with pet projects.
Halupka says, “The idea of the taproom that Lindz and I have is that it’s going to be, more or less, an Alabama natural history museum—”
“—with kimchi-dusted popcorn,” Whiteaker adds.
The two recognize food’s innate connection to ecology and want to ensure that their customers do, too. Soil and climate contribute to food, and tell the story of a place.
“We feel a responsibility and also a pride in communicating what this place means to us,” Halupka says.
As a result, they hope the taproom, which will open in the first half of 2020, will be a source of community and education about Alabama’s ecological riches.
Whiteaker says, “We’re inspired by a lot of people who choose to explore home and sink their roots into that and the beauty that can come from choosing to stay in a place that you’re from.”
Carla Jean Whitley and Cary Norton are freelance contributors to Business Alabama. Both are based in Birmingham.


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Shares of Sears Holdings Corp. sank in active trade Monday, after the chief investment officer of the second-largest shareholder stepped down from the struggling department store chain’s board of directors.
The stock US:SHLD closed down 11.5% to $5.99, the lowest close since Feb. 9. Volume swelled to about 5.5 million shares, compared with the full-day average of 1.1 million shares.
The retailer said earlier that Bruce Berkowitz, CIO of investment adviser Fairholme Capital management, would step down from the board effective Oct. 31 after a 20-month stretch as a member.
“In accepting the invitation in February 2016, Mr. Berkowitz believed that his board service would enable him to better communicate Fairholme’s perspective in substantially greater depth and detail than would otherwise have been the case,” a Fairholme spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement to MarketWatch. “Mr. Berkowitz believes that he has achieved that objective, and was pleased to have the opportunity to provide input during the formulation of the company’s strategic restructuring program, which was announced earlier this year.”
Fairholme Capital owned 28.9 million shares of Sears common stock as of June 30, according to the latest filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. With 26.9% of the shares outstanding, that would make Fairholme the second-largest shareholder, just behind the 30% stake owned by Chairman and Chief Executive Edward Lampert, according to FactSet data.
Fairholme hasn’t disclosed any sales of Sears shares, or purchases, since its latest filing of equity holdings on Aug. 14. If Fairholme’s June 30 stake remained intact, that stake could now be worth about $85 million less.
“The company has not been informed of any decisions with respect to Berkowitz’s investments in Sears Holdings,” a Sears spokesperson told MarketWatch.
The stock’s decline has erased virtually all the gains it made since Sears announced on Feb. 10 a restructuring plan aimed at cutting yearly costs by $1 billion and to improve its operating performance.
After closing at a record low of $5.54 on Feb. 9, the stock soared as much as 153% to close at $13.99 on April 18, before turning back down. During the time of the rally, Sears’s stock took a hard hit in March after the company said it had “substantial doubt” of its ability to continue as a going concern, but then soared again after Lampert and Fairholme had disclosed that they used that dip to buy more shares.
The stock has plunged 35.5% year to date, while the SPDR S&P Retail exchange-traded fund
The company has reported operating losses for 18 consecutive quarters, and has sold off large chunks of its assets and its Craftsman brand, and reorganized debt, as it struggled to turnaround its business.
Earlier this month, Sears Canada,


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Google Stadia Now Finally Lets You Use The Wireless Controller With Android Devices
Stadia continues to roll out new features, and an important one has just been added that will benefit players who are using an Android mobile for their gaming. In the latest update on the Google Stadia community blog, it’s been announced that the wireless Stadia controller now works with Android devices.
The latest Stadia update, which is availabble now, allows you to connect the controller as long as your device and controller are connected on the game Wi-Fi network. Follow the pairing instructions on your screen and you’ll be good to go.
You’ll also be able to experience audio through your headset once it’s connected. This will be a feature that many players have been waiting on for a long time, so it’s good that it has finally arrived.
Four new games have been added to Stadia Pro as well, as of July 1. Those games are Crayta (which is premiering on Stadia), Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, SteamWorld Dig, and West of Loathing. You’ll be able to play them on your Android phone with a controller, too.
Stadia recently dropped the price of the Premiere Edition, which is designed for people who want to play their games on a television.
Source: Read Full Article


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2015 will be a historic moment for Pepsi as the 100+ years old company has decided to enter mobile phone business for the first time. Well, Pepsi hasn’t set up a plant to manufacture phones. It has given permission to a Chinese company named Scooby communications to use the brand name as a result of which Scooby has launched 2 handsets, Pepsi P1 and P1s in China.
The 2 smartphones are an exact replica of each other and their 99% of features are the same. Pepsi P1s is a dido (version 6.1) customized Android 5.1 ROM powered handset.
It offers fingerprint sensor for data security and privacy. It has 7.7 mm thickness and a length of around 152 millimeters. It uses a 2.5D curved glass in a full HD touchscreen 5.5 inches display.
Pepsi P1s is retailing in Gold, Blue color options. It has lower power 2GB DDR3 RAM and a large 3000 mAh capacity battery.
The phone has a 1700 MHz octa core 32 bits Mt6592 chip and 16GB storage. It detects 64GB microSD cards. For graphics processing, Pepsi P1s includes MP4 450 Mali chip.
This smartphone offers 2 powerful cameras. The back side has 13 million pixels and the front side of P1s boasts 5 MP sensor. Both sides are built with aluminium metal
Pepsi is a legendary organisation that has been into food and cold drink manufacturing business since the year 1890. This organisation has launched several types of soft drinks and food products since it started the operations.
The company reports 50+ billion dollars revenue every year. But instead of spending Pepsi’s money in marketing/manufacturing P1 and P1s, Scooby has used listed the phone on Chinese crowdsourcing platform JD.com. Around million dollars have been already raised for the same.
1st 1000 units of P1s were sold for just 5200 Rs. The next lot of phones are priced at 7200 Rs. When this stock is completely sold, the price tag will increase further to 13K. So if you’re in China right now, visit JD and grab the phone immediately.
Pepsi p1s will be considered as an outdated and overpriced device when its price is increased up to 13000. It will have to compete with LeTV Le 1s, the upcoming Xiaomi Redmi Note 2, MI5 and many more powerful handsets with the latest hardware. Le 1s costs in the same range and it includes latest Mediatek Helio X10 processor, 3 GB RAM and a non-expandable storage module with a capacity of 32 GB.


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Chinese diners hit by bad news on processed meat
Updated: 2015-10-28 07:20
By Wang Xiaodong(China Daily)
A lot of Chinese people who think they can't live without processed meat, including ham and hot dogs, may be saddened by the report released on Monday by the World Health Organization saying that processed meat contributes to cancer.
Foods containing preserved salted pork and ham are a culinary tradition in many parts of China.
It has long been suspected that processed meat damages health, according to Fan Zhihong, a researcher in nutrition and food safety at China Agricultural University. Studies have found that frequent consumption of processed meat increases the risk of colorectal cancer and may also contribute to breast cancer, she said.
"A major reason for the rapid rise of incidence of colorectal cancer in China in the past few years is that of people are consuming more unhealthy food, including processed meat and fried or smoked food," she said.
Nitrites added in food processing may be the culprit because of chemical complications, she said.
According to a report released by China's National Health and Family Planning Commission in June, an unbalanced diet, including the excessive intake of fats and an inadequate intake of vegetables, is a major contributor to rising chronic diseases and weight gain in China over the past 10 years.
About 30 percent of people age 18 or above in China were overweight in 2012, a rise of 7.3 percentage points from 2002, the report said.
In 2013, the average consumption of red meat in China was 60 kilograms, almost twice as much as 20 years ago, according to media reports.
Fan, from China Agricultural University, said other substances are more dangerous than meat for causing cancer－tobacco, for instance－so there is no need to panic if consumption is light.
According to Kurt Straif, head of the IARC Monographs Programme, a group that evaluates cancer risks, "For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal cancer because of their consumption of processed meat remains small, but this risk increases with the amount of meat consumed."
Wang Ying, an employee at a financial business in Beijing, said she understands it is a good idea to reduce the consumption of processed meat, including ham and sausages. "But I don't think it is realistic to reject processed meat entirely, as they have been consumed for thousands of years."
Processed meat is carcinogenic to humans, according to a report released by the WHO on Monday. Eating 50-grams every day increases one's risk of colorectal cancer by 18 percent, it said. Processed meat includes hot dogs, sausages, corned beef, beef jerky, canned meat and meat-based sauces.


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NEW DELHI: Sacked AAP minister Kapil Mishra
alleged at a press conference on Friday that the Delhi government had allowed a company , Dashmesh CNG Impex, “formed by the owners of a fraud company“, to sell duplicate CNG kits in the capital. Mishra claimed that around 10,000 such kits have been installed in cars in 10 months, putting people's lives and insurance policies at risk. This company sold Chinese CNG kits in the mar ket claiming they had been manufactured in Canada,“ alleged Mishra.
According to Mishra, before Dashmesh was formed, its directors had formed a company, TA Gas
, which had been issued a notice by the Delhi high court for allegedly selling duplicate parts. He said the company was subsequently closed in 2014 and the owners opened another company , Tech Gas Canada
, which had the same address and email address as TA Gas. This company was authorised by the Delhi government 10 days after the odd-even exercise in April last year to install CNG kits in the capital.
Mishra claimed he had documents to prove that no such company existed in Canada and, in fact, there was a restaurant at the given address. “In a building in Dabri Chowk
, these parts are assembled,“ he claimed, showing photographs of what he claimed were the addresses provided.
The director of Mumbaibased Dashmesh CNG Impex, Tarlok Singh Talwar, rubbished Mishra's allegations, threatening to lodge a case in court. “I am ready to come before the press. I challenge Mishra to prove that these CNG kits are fake. If he proves that, I will leave the CNG business.Otherwise, he will have to quit politics,“ he told TOI over the phone from Mumbai.
Talwar claimed that Tech Gas Canada is not owned by them. “We import some CNG kits from that company besides several other companies in different countries,“ he said.
Responding to Mishra's allegations that Chinese CNG kits were being sold by Dashmesh, he said: “ A CNG kit is made of components procured from different countries, including China. Some components of our CNG kits are also made in China.“
Talwar claimed that TA Gas never existed. “We wanted to start a CNG kit company of that name, but before it could be launched, it ran into trademark infringement violations (with TA Gas, the brand name of another company),“ he said. “The case was withdrawn after the parties entered into a compromise and we abandoned the idea of opening a company with this name. How can a company which was never established be a fraud?“ he asked. He claimed that Dashmesh was opened in 1994, well before TA Gas, dismissing the documents Mishra had produced as “bogus“. TOI could not independently verify the documents.
TOI also visited the unit at Dabri Chowk which Mishra had mentioned. The owner of Pro CNG, an authorised CNG retrofitment centre, rebutted Mishra's allegations that this place was being used to assemble fake CNG kits.
“We repair CNG kits which are being used in cars,“ said owner Akshat Pandey . No such assembly unit was found when TOI inspected the one-room shop of the building. Mishra had released a photograph of the building where Pro CNG is located. Meanwhile, Mishra produced a document naming a company in China which, he alleged, was supplying “fake“ CNG kits of many brands. He alleged that this was part of a big scam worth crores of rupees and linked to the Canada visit of some senior AAP functionaries. He said he would go to the anti-corruption branch on Monday to lodge an FIR in this connection.


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Retailers, consumers and prices
It is one of the oldest tricks in the book and a big problem for retailers. So big, in fact, that some estimates suggest that “sweethearting” and other types of employee theft account for almost half of all annual retail theft, or $19.5 billion out of $41.6 billion overall.
Massachusetts-based StopLift Inc. says the answer is just waiting to be liberated from all of the security camera tape that retailers typically don’t monitor until something goes really, really wrong.
We’ve all seen the video of outrageous things that can happen in grocery stores, convenience shops, and retail outlets, but the reality is that watching the security feeds from cameras mounted above every register is time-consuming — so most of that video information goes unused.
Last month, in a poll conducted by SheSpeaks, a women’s insights marketing firm, almost 50 percent of respondents said they would spend less this holiday. That was up from nearly 30 percent who answered the same way last year.
In a new poll, SheSpeaks asks where shoppers intend to spend fewer dollars. Here are the results from the updated poll:
We know many consumers are dining out less often. Just look at the weak results at chains like Red Lobster and Olive Garden. Still, some people aren’t making home-cooked meals either. They need a place to buy pre-made meals and some groceries. Enter the latest new twist on quick grocery shopping — Supervalu’s test store, Urban Fresh by Jewel, in Chicago. About half of the products in the new store are prepared.
We wonder, though, if some parts of the store launch were rushed a bit. Supervalu’s Jewel-Osco chain, which is running the store, took out a two-page ad in the local, free Red Eye newspaper on Thursday (including the back page where commuters get their daily scoop of celebrity news).
In a bid to stretch shrinking grocery dollars, U.S. consumers are shunning restaurants for home-cooked meals, clipping coupons, scouring grocery store flyers for deals and consolidating trips to save gas.The U.S. Agriculture Department has warned that 2008 could bring the biggest increase in food prices in nearly 20 years. If shoppers’ words match their actions, it seems that frugal will become the new fashion.
Roughly 80 percent of respondents to a recent survey said they planned to continue those penny-pinching ways even after the economy turns up and they have more coins jingling in their pockets, according to retail consulting firm Precima, which commissioned the online survey that polled more than 2,000 U.S. consumers.
Check out why Heinz didn’t suffer like Hormel did in the past quarter.
Food companies have found it tough going as commodity costs shoot up, but Hormel was particularly hard hit. The reason? It raises the turkeys that it eventually sells — meaning spiking corn feed costs hurt its results.
Supervalu, whose chains include Albertsons and Save-A-Lot, didn’t see any increase in its total quarterly sales. Its food sales were actually down 0.7 percent, but the company saved itself in part with lower expenses, and reported a higher quarterly profit.
“Kroger continues to help customers stretch their budgets in a number of ways, including lower prices and our expanded generic drug and gas discount programs,” chief executive David Dillon said in a statement.
Food safety officials in the United States are still searching for the cause of a Salmonella outbreak that has sickened 167 people in 17 states and is believed to be linked to raw round, plum and Roma tomatoes.
If you want to see whether your state has reported a case, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a site that shows the state-by-state breakdown.
This year, that tax refund check likely means another sobering trip to the grocery store or gas station.


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Red Dead Redemption 2 is the biggest game in the world, dominating the current conversation of video games and popular culture. It also represents the industry’s decades-long struggles to mature from creative experiments in garages and small office complexes to international, 24-hours, 7-days a week consumer products made by thousands.
You may have read stories about “crunch” and poor working conditions during the creation of Red Dead Redemption 2. The issue, for both Rockstar Games and the industry at large, is complex. Here is a primer.
What started all this?
On Oct. 14, New York magazine published a lengthy feature about the development and highly anticipated launch of Red Dead Redemption 2. In it, Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser described the workload necessary to deliver such a richly detailed open world and video gaming experience. “We were working 100-hour weeks,” several times this year, Houser said. The story went on to tout the 300,000 animations, 500,000 lines of dialogue and voluminous codebase in the game.
Reaction within the gaming community was swift and intense. Working conditions in games development, particularly long hours and expectations of overtime, have been a mainstream topic in the subject going back to 2004. Though Houser later gave a statement saying he intended his remarks to reflect RDR2’s senior writing team’s workload within a limited timetable, the fuse on this controversy had been lit.
What is crunch and why is it controversial?
“Crunch” is an industry term describing a period up to a game’s launch when the development team is putting in longer-than-normal hours to finish and polish the game. In 2004, a woman writing a blog as “EA Spouse” wrote in detail about work practices her fiancé faced at Electronic Arts, bringing the issue to mainstream attention. It ultimately led to a class-action lawsuit against the publisher, who settled with employees for millions of dollars.
Houser’s remarks, though he said they concerned a single three-week period for himself and three others, appeared insensitive to the issue of crunch. Adding to appearances is the fact developers of the first Red Dead Redemption also faced extremely demanding schedules, hours and workloads. This was brought to light in 2010 by a letter claiming to be from spouses of Rockstar San Diego employees, who made Red Dead Redemption.
Houser later, in a profile by GQ magazine’s U.K. edition that carried the same tone as New York Magazine’s, spoke patronizingly about development. “Sam [his brother and Rockstar co-founder] and I talk about this a lot, and it’s that games are still magical. It’s like they’re made by elves,” he said. “You turn on the screen and it’s just this world that exists on TV. I think you gain something by not knowing how they’re made.”
Crunch is a complicated subject. Some consider it an abusive or exploitative labor practice, or a sign of poor management. Others have pointed to the hours they’ve spent on a creative project as a sign of their dedication. Fans who enjoy the games want to buy them as a credit to their makers, but are troubled by the encouragement it sends to the industry status quo.
What did Rockstar developers say about their work?
As reaction on social media moved to condemn Houser’s remarks and industry practices on the whole, Rockstar Games moved to contain the damage. First came Houser’s follow-up remarks, in which Houser insisted “we obviously don’t expect anyone else to work this way.”
“I believe we go to great lengths to run a business that cares about its people, and to make the company a great place for them to work,” he added.
The company also, in a note sent to employees, gave developers permission to speak on social media about their experiences at Rockstar Games. Not all were glowing, but none were harsh or critical. A developer at Rockstar North said he pulled a month of 70-hour weeks working on Grand Theft Auto 5, but noted that his boss was telling him to go home in that time, and that “work practices have definitely improved.”
“It’s not the result of anyone forcing me to stay late or giving me impossible deadlines, but rather my own drive as a programmer,” said Vivianne Langdon, a programmer at Rockstar San Diego. But the comments had to be considered in light of the fact they were made after their employer all but suggested them.
Then came the Kotaku exposé.
On Tuesday, Kotaku’s Jason Schreier published a 9,500-word story about the “culture of crunch” at Rockstar Games, which comprises eight studios. Over reporting done well before the New York magazine story published, Schreier interviewed dozens of Rockstar employees. They described a working environment where overtime was expected; where not being in the office late factored into performance reviews and questions from their superiors; where many employees felt “watched”; and where the working lifestyle severely damaged personal lives, including depression, broken marriages and heavy alcohol use.
Rockstar, made aware of Schreier’s work midway through his reporting, invited him to the company’s New York offices for video conference interviews with a dozen employees and the company’s head of PR. The company also provided internal statistics showing average work weeks, for all employees, between 42 and 46 hours from April through September. Jenn Kolbe, Rockstar’s head of publishing, acknowledged that “There are absolutely people who, at various times, worked really long hours,” but “there are also individuals who are exaggerating what their actual hours were.”
How can overtime be ‘mandatory’?
Rockstar’s quality assurance office in Lincoln, U.K., has been described as an especially demanding workplace, even relative to the rest of Rockstar. Schreier’s post spoke to several developers there. Eurogamer, in a story published on Red Dead Redemption 2’s launch date, focused more on what they’ve gone through.
Eurogamer’s Tom Phillips said every employee he spoke to who worked at Rockstar Lincoln said overtime there was considered mandatory. Some described workweeks of greater than 100 hours during development of Grand Theft Auto 4. Others talked about sleeping under their desks. “You were expected to live your life 24/7 around what Rockstar wanted you to do,” an unidentified former staffer said.
Implicit within all this is that jobs in video games development are very desirable and Rockstar makes some of the best and most popular ones in the industry, where a resume credit delivers an enormous career boost. So developers have said they feel powerless to confront long hours or expectations and immediately replaceable if they don’t like them.
On Friday, Oct. 19, Rockstar Games told Kotaku that Rockstar Lincoln was changing its overtime practices in light of the publicity. Though never saying the studio worked under “mandatory overtime,” Kolbe acknowledged that “the requested scheduled overtime felt like an obligation to some, if not many of the team.” Here, “requested” means a manager requesting overtime of an employee.
“We therefore spoke to them to make sure it is clear that the OT is not mandatory,” Kolbe said.
Kolbe elaborated on Rockstar Lincoln’s overtime environment to VentureBeat. Rockstar Lincoln uses a great number of contract workers for its QA testing. Kolbe acknowledged that because of the nature of that work — getting another contract, or promotion to staff, depends on doing diligent work — some may have felt overtime was mandatory. But, “it is absolutely not the case that we have based decisions around contract renewals or long term hiring purely on hours worked,” she said.
Though some reviews (including Polygon’s) acknowledged the working conditions under which it was made, the stories seem not to have harmed Red Dead Redemption 2’s critical or commercial reception. Review scores came in yesterday and nearly all check in at the industry-coveted 90 or better.
As for the workers, the issue of organizing video games developers into a union has rarely gone beyond the level of a robust discussion. Having this topic attached to 2018’s biggest game, in advance of its launch, certainly gains some traction and visibility for labor advocates. At Game Developers Conference 2018, Game Workers Unite, a grassroots labor campaign, had a significant presence. It’s likely this will again be a major topic at the developers gathering next year.
Legally, it’s important to remember that in all of the stories alleging abuses or bad practices against Rockstar, the evidence is anecdotal. It’s repeated in numerous accounts, but it doesn’t immediately point to the likelihood of a lawsuit or labor prosecution the way other workplace issues, such as discrimination or sexual harassment, have. It also depends on the labor laws in the locations where these allegations take place. That said, the workers in the original case making crunch an issue did win a class action settlement. In many cases, it rests with the employees to bring an action, and with careers and creative dreams at stake, the will to do so is unclear.
Red Dead Redemption 2’s next development will be when the companion multiplayer world Red Dead Online, expected to be an enormous revenue driver for parent company Take-Two Interactive, launches sometime in November.


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Statistics about thesalmonella montevideo and senftenberg outbreak linked to salami and pepper were recently updated. According to the CDC, 272 people were sickened by Salmonella montevideo from since July 2009 after consuming salami that was manufactured using salmonella-contaminated red and black pepper. The salami was manufactured and sold by a Rhode Island company called Daniele
More on black pepper recall due to Salmonella contamination
Yesterday, Heartland Foods, Inc., an Indianapolis, Indiana company recalled "all sizes/containers of COARSE GROUND BLACK PEPPER shipped from their facility at 6815 E. 34th Street, Indianapolis IN. Potential distribution took place on or after October 19th, 2009 to February 17th, 2010."
This recall comes on the heels of a major national outbreak linked to pepper-coated salami…
Answers in the Salmonella outbreak linked to salami and pepper
This evening, Wholesome Spice and Seasoning Company, a Brooklyn, NY, spice wholesaler, recalled "all lots of 25 lb boxes of Crushed Red Pepper sold between 4/6/09 and 1/20/10." See FDA Recall Notice. The reason for the recall is, of course, that the recalled red pepper is contaminated with Salmonella, thus explaining (partially, fully?) a national…
Daniele, Inc. expands salami recall again
Daniele International Inc., an establishment with operations in Pascoag and Mapleville, R.I., is expanding its January 23 recall to include approximately 115,000 pounds of salami/salame products that may be contaminated with Salmonella, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.
The recall is being expanded as a result of a…
CDC update on Salmonella Salami/Pepper outbreak
The CDC now counts 217 confirmed cases in the Salmonella montevideo outbreak linked to contaminated salami and pepper.
As of 9:00 pm EST on February 8, 2010, a total of 217 individuals infected with a matching strain of Salmonella Montevideo have been reported from 44 states and District of Columbia since July 1, 2009. The
The slow flow of information about food outbreaks
Today, the Rhode Island Department of health announced that the pepper that Daniele Inc used to produce its salami–now the subject of a major recall and outbreak–was contaminated, not the meat itself Pepper has been suspected as the source of this outbreak since at least January 23, 2010, if not before. A little frighteningly, Rhode Island also…
A good point about the Salmonella salami/pepper outbreak
In response to my AM’s blog post about the true scope of the Salmonella salami/pepper outbreak, a reader states as follows:
Can’t you read between the lines Drew. The contaminated pepper was sent to
food plants all over the country, to supermarkets, restaurants etc. Its
everywhere. The only safe products now may be from Daniele


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Official figures show that consumer prices fell slightly in January compared with the same month last year.
The Central Statistics Office said there was an annual rate of -0.1%. Consumer prices in January decreased by 1.7% from December. The CSO says the last time there was negative annual inflation was in 1960.
A breakdown showed that prices of clothing and footwear tumbled by 13% in January due to the winter sales, while lower mortgage repayments and falls in petrol and diesel prices also contributed to the overall drop.
The housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels category showed a monthly fall of 7%, due to the effect of ECB interest rate cuts and a fall in home heating oil prices. Transport costs fell by 0.8%, while household equipment prices dropped by 2.6%.
But increases in health insurance and car insurance premiums pushed prices of miscellaneous goods and services up 4.6%.
The annual rate of inflation for services was 1.3% in January, but the annual rate for goods was -1.6%. The EU harmonised inflation rate, which excludes mortgage repayments, was 1.1%.
Goodbody's Dermot O'Leary said the annual rate of inflation was likely to remain negative for the next 12 months at least. He said that, in January, the main reason for the significant fall in consumer prices was falling mortgage interest costs.
But a note from Davy said that, excluding mortgages, the rest of the consumer basket actually increased by 0.4% in price in January when seasonal factors such as the January sales are accounted for. 'We forecast that prices will decline hugely in 2009 as interest falls further and the recession bites. The CPI may drop by 3.9%,' it said.
Ulster Bank's Pat McArdle also said he now expect the CPI to remain negative for all of 2009, going below minus 4% in several months.


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Players will soon be able to pick up a handful of amazing PS4 titles on the cheap.
Need for Speed Payback's February update brings with it online free roam, catch-up packs, new items, and more.
Ghost Games has started the year off with a Need for Speed Payback announcement.
Performance increases, handling adjustments, bug fixes, and more feature in Need for Speed Payback's first update.
EA has revealed the full car list for Ghost Games' upcoming entry in the Need for Speed series, Payback.


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Tribune Publishing on Wednesday reported weaker quarterly net income, failing to meet analyst expectations, as revenues declined, partly due to a decrease in advertising revenues. Fourth quarter net income came in at $15 million or $0.60 per share, down from $33 million or $1.29 per share in the prior year period. Analysts expected EPS of $0.83, according to Capital IQ estimates.
Revenues in Q4 were $457 million, down 5% from Q4 2013, but ahead of projections of $446 million. Advertising revenue declined 10%.
Tribune Publishing CEO Jack Griffin noted 2014 was a “watershed” year for the publisher, which became publicly traded on August 4. Griffin said the company is now focused on growing its digital revenues, which are expected to produce expense savings as high as $70 million in 2015.
For 2015, Tribune expects total revenue to be in the range of $1.65 billion to $1.67 billion, in line with estimates. TPUB shares fell nearly 8% in early trading to $18.54, in a 52-week range of $15.00 to $26.90.


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Some Product Endorsements May Be Hard for Consumers to Swallow
You have probably seen Michael Jackson moon walk. You might have seen his hair catch on fire while filming a TV spot. Maybe you even saw him attack a car with a tire iron in a recent music video.
But there is one thing you’ve most certainly never seen Jackson do: Sip a Pepsi.
Such trivialities do not bother Pepsi one bit. Last week, the soda giant announced that it was once again turning to Michael Jackson to promote its soft drinks worldwide. Just because Pepsi has paid Jackson an estimated $25 million over the span of three endorsement deals, that doesn’t mean he actually has to drink the stuff, does it?
“It’s not important to us whether he drinks it,” Pepsi spokesman Barry Holt said. “He has millions of fans who drink it.” What’s more, Holt pointed out, Jackson “has a Pepsi vending machine at his home that we supply. We presume he serves it to his guests.”
So, what’s good enough for Jackson’s guests--and the general public--might not be good enough for Jackson. But the question at hand--and very possibly at the heart of all advertising--is this: Why does Madison Avenue believe that it can hoodwink consumers into believing the very things that it knows are not true?
“When Michael Jackson comes dancing down the stairs singing about Pepsi, people have a right to presume he drinks it,” said longtime Los Angeles adman and radio commentator Stan Freberg. The fact that he doesn’t, Freberg said, “gives advertising a black eye.”
Certainly, Jackson--who spurns Pepsi in favor of vitamin-fortified liquids--is not the first celebrity to promote a product he doesn’t use. But the pop star’s latest link with Pepsi is surely the most visible example of marketing gone haywire.
For years, it was generally accepted by consumers that when celebrities represented products in commercials, they also used them. No one ever doubted that comedian and longtime Texaco spokesman Bob Hope filled up at the pump with the Texaco brand. And veteran American Telephone & Telegraph spokesman Cliff Robertson insists that the only reason he agreed to start pitching Ma Bell in the first place was because he always liked the company and its service.
But these days, celebrities rarely have such strong associations with the products they promote. A growing number, in fact, have none at all.
While actor Don Johnson was being paid to promote Pepsi, a photo in People magazine showed him downing a Diet Coke. While promoting beef and L'Oreal hair products, actress Cybill Shepherd was quoted--her publicist says misquoted--saying she didn’t eat red meat or dye her hair. Likewise, shortly after actress Meryl Streep appeared in an American Express ad last year, a newspaper article quoted her saying that she did the ad so American Express would make a donation to her daughter’s school--where the ad was filmed. Streep later denied saying that.
Although Cher has appeared in numerous ads for Bally’s Holiday Spa health clubs, don’t expect to find her pumping iron there. “She has her own gym and workout room at home,” Cher’s spokeswoman, Mara Buxbaum, said. “It’s more like she’s a spokeswoman for a regimen of exercise.”
Last year, shortly after master chef Julia Child played a bit role in a Nike TV spot, she confided in an interview that she actually wore New Balance sneakers. But Nike pointed out that Child’s role in their commercial wasn’t to endorse the sneakers, but to add to the humor.
Then there’s the Philadelphia 76ers’ former star, Darryl Dawkins, who shocked Nike executives when--while under contract to Nike--he walked onto the basketball court in the 1982 playoffs laced up in Pony sneakers. He’d signed contracts with both firms.
“It wasn’t really embarrassing--it was funny,” Nike spokeswoman Liz Dolan said. “It’s an example of how, if you’re not careful, this endorsement thing can be so misleading.”
In particular, athletes on the decline will often sign with anyone willing to pay them. “When their popularity wanes, so does their ethics,” said Dave Burns, a Chicago-based sports marketer.
These days, many celebrities simply auction themselves to the highest bidder. Most of them don’t care if they’re hoisting cans of Coke or Pepsi--or strapping on Nikes or Reeboks. What matters is endorsement money. What doesn’t matter is integrity.
“It’s theater of the absurd advertising,” Freberg said. “I can’t imagine creating a campaign for someone who doesn’t use the product. It’s not only deceitful--it’s stupid.”
Beyond that, some advertising experts say, when Madison Avenue warps truth for the sake of image, it denigrates the very fabric of society.
“People grow up and assume a certain amount of bull in advertising is part of life,” said Ivan Preston, a University of Wisconsin professor who specializes in advertising ethics. “As a result, advertising contributes to this tendency toward falsity in our society as a whole.”
Executives at Pepsi don’t even pretend that their highest paid pitchman would actually swallow a mouthful of the soda. But what are they asking consumers to swallow by presenting Jackson as their worldwide wunderkind ?
“We’re not in business with him to have him drink our product,” said Bill Katz, who oversees Pepsi advertising internationally for the New York ad agency BBDO Worldwide. “We’re in business with him to attach ourselves to his character.”
For his part, Freberg said, about the only thing that he believes the animal-loving Jackson could convincingly advertise is “food for chimpanzees or llamas.”
But Jackson’s disdain for drinking Pepsi may be “a mere inconvenience” for Pepsi, said Jeffery Goodby, partner at the San Francisco ad agency Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein. “It’s still amazingly seductive and fun to watch Michael Jackson do a Pepsi commercial even though you know he doesn’t drink the stuff.”
Briefly. . .
The Los Angeles agency Horlick Levin Advertising was selected by Torrance-based Phonemate Inc. to handle the launch of its private answering machine advertising. . . . The Los Angeles agency Dailey & Associates will be adding employees as a result of last week’s $30-million Sizzler ad account win. . . . The sales promotion account for the California Lottery is expected to be awarded to the Irvine agency Alcone Sims O'Brien. . . . The Western States Advertising Agencies Assn. will host a dinner March 4 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel for the “Leaders of the Year,” Bob Kresser and Jean Craig, founders of the Santa Monica agency Kresser/Craig. . . . The Los Angeles agency Alpern, Langer & Strong will handle marketing for National Medical Enterprises’ USC University Hospital. . . . The Los Angeles Public Library has named Saatchi & Saatchi DFS/Pacific as its pro bono agency. . . . Kielhorn & Associates, a full-service ad agency with expertise in health care services, opened this month in Los Angeles. . . . Team One Advertising of El Segundo has announced an affiliation with the Honolulu marketing consultants Garvey & Gramann. . . . The Newport Beach marketing firm Arthur I. Rothafel & Associates has been named to oversee marketing for the Los Angeles medical management firm MediCorp.


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Brian Ingram, New Bohemia chief operating officer and longtime restaurateur, believes that in 2017, if people can Instagram it, they’ll come.
So when he saw that the sprawling, under-construction space attached to his newest New Bohemia location was up for grabs, he jumped, with the idea of creating a social-media-targeted palace of food and drink.
Seventh Street Truck Park (truckparkusa.com) — a slight tweak from the original name of Seventh Street Truckyard — debuted at 214 W. 7th St. in St. Paul last weekend to standing-room-only crowds, and is already cropping up on iPhone apps across the Twin Cities.
“Everything you can do here is an Instagrammable moment,” said Ingram, who owns all seven New Bohemia locations and, over his career, has opened restaurants in all 50 states. “And we really designed it that way. We wanted it to be a social media check-in.”
These days, that often means finding a flair for the outrageous — a characteristic that Truck Park certainly embraces.
The $1.5 million, 8,000-square-foot space houses a central bar and six trucks: another bar, an ice cream shop, a pizza shop, a taco shop, a stage and a chicken-and-ribs destination. But the offerings get wackier from there. Think Kool-Aid cocktails, 40-ounce beers in paper bags, rattlesnake and rabbit pizza and 20-pound ice cream sandwiches — the latter for a cool $99.
Of course, more traditional-sounding fare, such as pork carnitas tacos, fried chicken and sausage-and-peppers pizza, is available, as are gluten-free pizza crusts.
“It’s a fine line because you don’t want to be too kitschy,” Ingram said. “That’s why, for me, having authentic food trucks [and not food truck cutouts as some other spaces have] was so important.”
Adopting the tagline “the great indoors,” Truck Park boasts State Fair-esque games: a gambling wheel, ring toss and basketball toss, among others. There are plans to host a number of events, including live music and stand-up comedy on the small stage, and celebrity chef pop-ups in the various trucks.
Oh, and Ingram — whose New Bohemia won the Nation’s Restaurant News’ “hottest concept” in the country award for this year — is already eyeing expansion. His bid for the Tin Fish (3000 E. Calhoun Pkwy., Mpls. tinfishmn.com) location at Lake Calhoun, which recently announced that it will close after this season, is one of three finalists. He’s already gotten clearance to enlarge the footprint of the space if he is awarded the lease.
“This [Truck Park] has gotten more PR than any restaurant I’ve ever done,” he said. “And I’ve done hundreds. People want to be somewhere hip and cool, and these days you have to give them that.”


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With more than a billion users, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is effectively the third largest country in the world. The amount of user information the social media giant knows about its users is just staggering. As a result, the revenues of the company have been growing rapidly, primarily driven by the display ads shown to users in its user-driven ad model. And earlier this year, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) unveiled the workings of a search function in its vast platform, which has potential to not only transform the search market, but also multiply the company’s top line revenues.
Going after a Big Market
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), armed with loads of user data, has already begun the process of developing its search engine. Progress towards building a search platform that utilizes user data and gives out very solid search rankings is in the works.
If the organic search on Facebook doesn’t have meaningful results, the outside search will be backed by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Bing search engine. The impact of implementing a search function in Facebook’s ecosystem can translate into hundreds of millions of incremental advertising dollars stemming from search ads.
Creating a Whole New Category
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s foray into this new social search has aspects, which can be very useful for the end-user, and can take away a lot of traffic from other competing social media sites like LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD), Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP), etc. Users can look up places their friends have visited, or even read restaurant reviews. While these functions are in their early stages, it should be noted that Facebook has in excess of 12.8 million local businesses with fan pages, which can be a very good breeding ground for adding these social tools and monetizing with sponsored stories.
Also, other information consisting of videos, news, photos etc. shared on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) from the millions of other third party sites through the Facebook Connect tool, and the ones generated by users themselves, all combine into gigantic proportions of data, which will enable the creation of the structured Graph Search.
As people tend to rely on the advice and information gathered from their trusted friends and family, as opposed to taking it from complete strangers. The usage of filters and the social context of graph search makes it a very useful one for users.
Mark Zuckerberg thinks Graph Search has great monetization potential for the long haul, but in the short-term the company will be more focused on developing better ad products and a better social experience on Graph Search. The structured search tool that enables users to find people, places, photos and other content has launched along with a new home page which incorporates a more social look on Facebook.
However, Facebook intends to take time to build this tool steadily and doesn’t expect it to be a major revenue driver in the near-term. But in the long-term, this will be a major cornerstone for Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s revenue fortunes. Right now, Facebook is rolling it out to collect more data, and then use that data from the users to improve the rankings and do a much broader full-fledged roll out.
Microsoft is No. 2 and Effectively No. 3; Makes A Perfect Partner for Facebook
The search engine marketplace is a very lucrative one for both the companies and for the advertisers. And the market is heavily dominated by Internet giant, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) for years. Google’s market share of the global search market has been consistently above 65%. And in the U.S. Google’s market share for search was roughly 67.5% in February 2013, according to comScore.
Google keeps on gaining ground at the expense of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) . The struggling Yahoo lost even more ground with only 11.6% market share in February, down from 12.1% a month ago in the U.S. Not to be outdone, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) also gained market share and now holds second place in the U.S., with 16.7%, according to comScore.


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Uber officially launched in the Philippines in 2014.
Do they have Uber in the Philippines?
MANILA — Ride-hailing operator Uber Technologies informed customers Sunday night that its app will shut down in the Philippines on Monday, as the U.S.-based company moves closer to completing its regional integration with Grab, the rival that acquired its Southeast Asian businesses last month.
Why did Uber leave Philippines?
The regulators had banned the ride-hailing app for a month for violating an order to stop accepting new driver applications. The ban was lifted early after the company paid a penalty of 190 million Philippine pesos (£2.88m; $3.72m). Uber also paid $5.87m in financial assistance to drivers.
When did Uber start?
New South Wales
NSW was the second Australian state to legalise ridesharing on the 17th of December 2015. Uber drivers were initially restricted from Sydney Airport, but recent changes mean that they can now pick up passengers from a designated pick up zone.
When did Uber left Philippines?
The Philippine business of Uber was supposed to shut down on April 8. The anti-trust body also tasked Uber and Grab to maintain the independence of their business operations, including ride hailing and delivery platforms, and customer and rider database.
When did Uber leave Philippines?
The country’s antitrust watchdog, the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) asks Uber and Grab to continue using their own platforms beyond April 8, Uber’s last day of operations in the region.
Did Grab copy Uber?
In this deal Grab would control all Uber operations in countries like Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and Myanmar. Grab would also control the UberEats operations there.
Why did Uber fail in Asia?
In connection with Uber’s failure to operate its business in the region, this paper discusses Uber’s business model, business expansion, competition in the market, and the factors that led to Uber’s failure in the Southeast Asian market. … Different market characteristics require different approaches.
Why did Uber pull out of Asia?
On those terms, Uber seems unstoppable. The day’s big news is that the U.S. ride-hailing firm is leaving Southeast Asia after it agreed to sell its business to local rival Grab. That much is true, but claims that Grab beat Uber out may be overstating the situation.
Where did Uber originate?
Uber CEO Founded The Company Because He Wanted To Be A ‘Baller In San Francisco’ … They all wanted to ride in style, which is actually the exact reason that Kalanick founded Uber in the first place. “We just wanted to push a button and get a ride,” he said. “And we wanted to get a classy ride.
When did Uber go international?
The first city outside the US that Uber expanded to, was Paris. The company’s app started working in Paris in September of 2011.
When did Uber start in DC?
The company, whose popular ride-hailing platform UberX allows drivers to use their personal cars as cut-rate taxis, made Washington its seventh launch city in 2011 and has scored legislative wins in all three jurisdictions since.
What country is Uber not in?
Ridesharing companies are banned from or have voluntary pulled out of, due to legal restrictions, the following jurisdictions: parts of Oregon, Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary, and parts of Germany. The UberPop level of service is banned in Italy, France, Netherlands, and Finland.
What countries banned Uber?
10 Countries Where Uber Isn’t Available
- 3 Italy.
- 4 Bulgaria. …
- 5 Romania. …
- 6 Germany. …
- 7 Canada. …
- 8 Thailand. …
- 9 Hungary. Hungary is a beautiful country located in Central Europe. …
- 10 Denmark. Denmark is known as a quaint country in Scandanavia. …


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Huawei Technologies, Shenzhen’s biggest industrial enterprise, needs two years to resume growth and it will most certainly not die, says its pugnacious founder, Ren Zhengfei. This is despite suffering an attack at the hands of the US government that Ren says he had not expected to be as vicious as it turned out to be, resulting in around US$30 billion of lost sales opportunities.
As reported by SCMP, which has a video clip of Ren that is highly watchable, Huawei did US$107 billion of sales last year. Ren said the US attack will wipe out US$30 billion of growth over the next two years, and it had already resulted in a 40% plunge in smartphone sales. Do the math, dear reader: Either Ren doesn’t know his own income statement, or Huawei would have been, prior to the attack, about to launch itself into the stratosphere with new products that were due to come online in 2019-2020. We can only assume he had been thinking about 5G.
Huawei is a private company, even though it accounts for 10% of the entire Shenzhen economy, so there is no pressure on Ren to live up to these claims. Let’s see how he does.


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“One of the things we most looked forward to in iOS 8 was widgets,” Christina Bonnington writes for Wired. “Apple introduced widgets as a part of Notification Center, which you access with a downward swipe from the top of the screen. By giving third party apps access to this coveted space, users could quickly glean information about their day and more efficiently navigate their smartphone experience.”
“Except that it seems Apple is still undecided about what’s allowed in a widget, and what’s not,” Bonnington writes. “Apple rejected an update to the app Drafts this week because the buttons in the widget redirect the user back to the app in order to process or complete tasks. ”
If Apple does decide, uniformly, that such functionality isn’t allowed across its mobile platform, it’s going to severely limit the iOS 8 experience. However, it’s more likely that this is a growing pain,” Bonnington writes. “Apple’s app reviewers notoriously err on the side of caution when it comes to app approvals, so it’s likely these rejections are a result of evolving developer guidelines, increasingly complicated apps, and human error.”
Read more in the full article here.


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As cases of coronavirus continue to surge across England while the country is on national lockdown, members of the public are being urged to wear face masks when shopping.
Tesco, Asda and Waitrose are the latest supermarkets to take a tougher stance on customers who refuse to wear a face covering without a medical exemption.
The tough crackdown follows a similar move by Morrisons, while Sainsbury's says it will challenge those who flout the law.
The government's medical advisors have repeatedly described the importance of face coverings, with them reducing the spread of coronavirus droplets from coughs, sneezes and speaking.
They should mainly be worn to protect other people from coronavirus, rather than yourself.
When worn correctly, they should cover the nose and mouth, which are the main confirmed sources of transmission.
They can help to reduce the spread of the virus from people who are contagious, including those who have no symptoms, or are yet to develop them.
Current rules across England mean that face coverings must be worn on public transport, in shops, supermarkets, banks, post offices, places of worship, museums, galleries, entertainment venues and libraries.
People can be refused travel for not following the rules or fined as a last resort.
In England, the police can issue a £200 fine to someone breaking the face covering rules, while in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, a £60 fine can be imposed. Repeat offenders face bigger fines.
Face mask exemptions - all you need to know
The government currently says you don't have to wear a covering if you have "a physical or mental illness or impairment, or disability" and would experience "severe distress" from doing so.
- Children (under 11 in England or Wales, under 13 in Northern Ireland, under five in Scotland)
- If you're travelling with someone who requires lip-reading
- Those unable to put on or wear a face covering because of a physical or mental illness or disability
- People for whom wearing or removing a face covering will cause severe distress
- Anyone assisting someone who relies on lip reading to communicate
- To eat, drink or take medication
If you are travelling with someone who requires lip-reading or reading facial expressions, wearing a mask will not be compulsory.
The new rule will not apply to retail staff, but will apply to all members of the public. Children under 11 are also exempt.
What is the face mask exemption card?
The Government says you will not be asked to show written evidence if you're not wearing a face mask - with supermarkets and shops urged to be mindful towards those who may have special circumstances.
However, exemption cards and badges are available if you're worried about being stopped.
This is a personal choice, and is not necessary in law.
It's in the form of an e-document that you can save on your phone.
The charity Hidden Disabilities has also created a face mask exemption card for anyone with the right requirements to be exempt from the law.
This card simply indicates that you have a hidden disability, illness or impairment and have a reasonable excuse not to wear a face-covering.
The card costs 55p, but could provide you with the peace of mind in case you are stopped.
It can also make individuals feel better knowing they have something to show, if needed, a reason as to why they are not wearing a mask.
"Businesses who are members of the scheme are aware of our card and provide support, help, assistance or simply a little more time to those wearing the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower," the Hidden Disabilities website explains.
"However, please note that shops and public transport can still refuse you entry if you are not wearing a face covering."


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Today, on Weibo, Sony’s New flagship Device has leaked in images yet again. Sony’s new flagship model number is F833X. We earlier reported about Sony F8331 specifications from a GFXBench entry.
According to the leaked Specification, Sony’s New smartphone sports 5.1 full HD screen and will be powered Snapdragon 820 Processor. It has 21 MP rear camera and 12 MP front camera and should come with Android 6.0.1 pre-loaded. It will come with 32 GB inbuilt storage.
Leaked specification of SONY’S new Flagship:
- 5.1 inch 1080 Pixel display
- Gao tongxio 820 Processor
- 12 selfie camera
- 21 MP REAR CAMERA
- Android 6.0.1
- 32 GB INTERNAL STORAGE


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The earliest rocks in the solar system, from which the terrestrial planets were born, were more like candy floss than hard rock, according to a new analysis carried out by a team including researchers in the UK and Australia. This is the first geological evidence to support the idea that the first solid material in … Continue reading Earth grew from ‘candy floss’ rocks
Candy is dandy, but chocolate wine really seems to get taste buds in an uproar. “The reaction has been amazing,” says Don Opici, whose family-run company, Opici Wines, recently introduced Cocoa di Vine. Never heard of chocolate wine? Chances are you will. More vintners are amping up the decadence decibels with blends of wine infused … Continue reading Like chocolate? Like wine? You’re in luck
The Hershey Company says it is raising wholesale prices by 9.7% on most of its candy products. The maker of Reese’s, Kit Kat, Hershey’s Kisses and Twizzlers cited increased costs for raw materials, fuel, utilities and transportation. It was not clear whether customers would see the price changes before Easter, a big season for chocolate … Continue reading Hershey’s raises prices nearly 10% on candy products
The mugs, plates, key chains, ashtrays … and now the PEZ dispensers. Just when images of Prince William and Kate Middleton seem to have graced every imaginable memorabilia under the Union Jack, there comes one more. A pair, actually. The Austrian candy maker PEZ, also known for its collectible dispensers, has produced a pair of … Continue reading William, Kate candy dispensers to be auctioned for charity: sweet manufacturer
Geelong Football Club star Andrew Mackie was married to the stunning Georgia Clark in a beautiful ceremony that then advanced to the River Room at Crown Casino where they found a beautiful wedding candy buffet to greet them (as well as 150 close friends and family). The candy buffet focussed on whites and creams to … Continue reading Andrew Mackie Enjoys Candy Buffet At Wedding
At The Candy Buffet Company, we’re all about inclusion – gathering guests together to share memories over sweet goodness is as good as it gets. So, after months of preparation, we are proud (and honoured) to announce that The Candy Buffet Company is now Kosher certified. As many of you would know, the Jewish community … Continue reading Kosher Candy Buffet For All To Enjoy!
Kate Middleton’s feeling apprehensive about her wedding to Prince William on 29 April and stress is giving her the munchies. The princess-to-be has been popping sugary sweets. ‘Kate loves Haribo Starmix, they’re her favourites, and Tangfastics,’ Kate’s local shopkeeper Hash Shingadia reveals. Hash and wife Chan, who run a store in Bucklebury, Berks, will be … Continue reading Kate Middleton calms nerves with candy before her wedding to Prince William
By LESLIE JOSEPHS March 17, 2011 8:05 a.m. ET NEW YORK—U.S. baked-goods and candy manufacturers pinched by rising sugar prices are pressuring the government to increase imports of the sweetener. The U.S. needs to import sugar every year, but the Department of Agriculture operates a limit for low-tariff or duty-free imported sugar to protect domestic … Continue reading US Bakers, Candy Makers Seek More Sugar Imports
She teaches yoga at the Nashville Ballet. She’s an assistant to musician Buddy Miller. She’s a silk artist, a single mother, and she makes marshmallows — fancy, homemade square pillows of sweetness. Half dipped in chocolate, her flavors include espresso praline, chocolate chili, toasted coconut, espresso chocolate and rose cardamom. You might have spotted her … Continue reading She makes candy for grownups
Baltimore’s Goetze’s Candy is making a nutritional claim it cannot back up, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration charged in a March 4 warning letter to the company. Those delectable Goetz’s Caramel Cream Double Chocolates in the 9-ounce package should not make the claim on the label that they are “Fortified With Calcium,” FDA said. … Continue reading No, You Can’t Claim Candy is Good For You!
Local candy makers are at the height of the Easter season, with chocolate bunnies & chicks in full production. However, the cost of making the sweet treats is up this year, thanks to recent spikes in the price of ingredients like cocoa and sugar. “Some of it is due to natural economic progression, but a … Continue reading Easter candy costs more to make this year
You’ve probably noticed your Facebook friends posting declarations that they’re giving up treats like chocolate and gum for Lent. It’s a common sacrifice, but not one big enough to put a dent in candy sales. In fact, they go up — consumers spend about half a billion dollars on candy this time of year. “Lent … Continue reading Candy Sales Take a Hit During Lent?
Susan Boyle Gives Up Candy for Lent For Charity – The ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ hit-maker is taking part in the Christian tradition of Lent, which sees followers cut out a favourite food or activity in the run-up to Easter. And Boyle will be putting her sacrifice to good use by collecting the savings she … Continue reading Susan Boyle Gives Up Candy For Charity


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Wholesale / Commercial Banking Systems Insights
31st August 2018
Amazon has been sitting pretty as the undisputed global king of ecommerce for more than two decades, and the multinational’s bold move into the payments sector has been relatively smooth. Since its quiet launch in 2014, the Amazon Pay mobile wallet has established itself as a strong and reliable competitor in the mobile payments space.
... read more
28th August 2018
Although the technology is in its infancy, financial services are now experimenting with use cases for quantum computers. While the systems are expensive, few and far between, and much of the technology is still at experimental phase, organisations in financial markets are finding ways of getting ahead of the competition.
“A lot of... read more
24th August 2018
It is impossible to ignore the effect of today’s mobile world, particularly in the financial services sector. Customers are increasingly turning to their mobile devices to manage all aspects of their daily lives, including their finances. This ongoing shift in consumer behaviour is certainly being felt by financial institutions who are... read more
9th August 2018
First published on our sister site PaymentEye.
At the beginning of 2018, bobsguide readers may remember that we published our list of payment predictions, with particular focus on PSD2.
We’ve revisited those predictions to see if they’ve come to pass or altered course. And who better to speak to about the future of payments... read more
8th August 2018
Innovative fintech products are fast-becoming the lifeblood of global economic prosperity. Fresh and exciting developments have the power to expand financial inclusion across developing economies, unlock new sources of funding for businesses and help individuals to better understand how they buy, spend and invest. Yet it’s worth pointing out... read more
7th August 2018
The digital ecosystem is fuelled by the creation, storage and transmission of data between servers, computers and mobile devices around the globe. This intangible plane is growing exponentially, with over 2.5 million terabytes of data being produced on a daily basis. It’s often said that over 90% of the data circulating today was created in... read more
3rd August 2018
The unprecedented success of service-oriented companies such as Airbnb, Amazon and Uber has made it clear that for many of today’s customers, experience is a vital part of the product. While that does not mean that an inferior product can be hidden by wrapping it in a superior experience, it does reinforce customers’ growing preferences... read more
31st July 2018
On April 17, 2018, GTreasury announced that it had acquired and will merge with Visual Risk. The prospect of combining GTreasury’s cash management software with Visual Risk’s risk analytics and hedge accounting software into a single treasury and risk management solution is exciting news for the treasury systems market.
... read more
30th July 2018
Since the advent of the digital wave, financial institutions have been focusing on user experience and personalization as a means to stay ahead of competition and drive revenue growth. For any financial institution, quality of customer insights serve as success factors across two key areas:
1. Creating an exceptional Omni channel customer... read more
25th July 2018
There are plenty of mobile payment services and solutions in the market. Luckily, systems tend to fall one of several key categories, so bobsguide has outlined each one to find the mobile payment technology that best suits the needs of your business.
Contactless payments is probably one the most well-known methods of paying for... read more


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Digital Media production is a broad term, but it’s one you should know. The phrase encompasses everything from developing animated commercials to building video games, and the industry that’s cropped up around those skills is booming.
To ensure Albuquerque and New Mexico are producing high-quality digital media candidates, CNM Ingenuity is offering a 12-week Deep Dive Coding Digital Media Bootcamp. The intensive course, which runs all-day Monday-through-Friday, will be taught by Dr. Rod Sanchez, who has worked with some of the country’s most important companies including Intel and DreamWorks.
Coursework will blend design, storytelling, and technology, and help students not only learn the necessary digital media skills, but also help them develop a portfolio they can use to apply for jobs with the help of CNM Ingenuity’s Talent Manager. A background in coding is helpful, but not necessary.
What can you do after successfully completing the Digital Media Bootcamp?
- Those students interested in advertising can use their digital media skills and portfolio to apply for jobs at firms like AdWallet, which creates custom animated commercials.
- Those who love video games can apply at game companies. Or, they might apply to the federal government, which is using video games and virtual reality to train security forces and first-responders.
- Students interested in entertainment can use their skills to apply to movie studios.
- Health-care organizations are now using digital media and virtual reality to create training videos.
- Architecture firms are using digital media to explain their projects, and the list goes on.
The bootcamp starts August 6 and the deadline to apply is July 6. Those wanting to reserve a spot will need to submit a deposit, but financial assistance is available for those who qualify. To learn more, click here.Visit News Source


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Chrysler Group LLC is reluctant to match the agreement the Canadian Auto Workers union reached with Ford Motor Co. last week, CAW president Ken Lewenza says.
The third-largest Detroit-based auto maker is concerned about rising fixed costs in the deal the union signed with Ford that was later agreed to by General Motors Co. in what is known as pattern bargaining, where a deal with one company serves as a framework for a contract with all three.
"The pattern is not negotiable," Mr. Lewenza said Tuesday. "The reality is, until the pattern is met, we're miles apart."
He said he is confident Chrysler will eventually agree to the deal the union reached with the other auto makers last week.
Chrysler is concerned about the $3,000 bonus scheduled to be paid to workers upon ratification of any deal, he said, noting that the company also has a problem with the restoration of a cost-of-living adjustment in the final quarter of the final year of the four-year deal.
GM also had problems with the restoration of the cost-of-living adjustment, he said after meeting leaders of the union's GM units, who approved a tentative deal the CAW reached with that auto maker last Thursday.
"General Motors was reluctant at first; now they're not reluctant," he said. "Chrysler is reluctant. We'll get them there."
In addition to the $3,000 signing bonus – which would cost Chrysler about $24-million, based on its unionized Canadian work force of about 8,000 people – the other companies agreed to pay bonuses of $2,000 to their unionized employees in each of the last three years of the deal.
One of the key cost-cutting clauses of the new contract is a reduction in hourly wages for new employees to about $20 from $24 now. It would take new employees 10 years to reach the highest wage level of $34 an hour, compared with the current six-year progression. But the union resisted demands that the wage for new employees remain at a lower tier permanently.
Reduced benefits for newly hired employees will also reduce costs for the auto makers, including a change in the way pensions are financed.
Employees at the three auto makers hired before 2009 receive pensions that are funded entirely by the companies. The deal Chrysler officials are assessing now would require employees to contribute between 5 per cent and 6 per cent of their wages to their pension plans.
Sources involved in the negotiations described Chrysler as the most rigid in insisting that the CAW adopt the agreement it signed in 2011 with the United Auto Workers in the United States, which called for a permanent tier of lower-paid workers.
Chrysler chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne told The Globe and Mail in Calgary earlier this month that he opposes so-called pattern bargaining.
"It's much easier to try and bargain when you've got all three lined up," Mr. Marchionne said. "It looks like a duck shooting; you pick a spot and then you go knock them down. That's nonsense."
Rank-and-file workers at GM's assembly plants in Oshawa, Ont., and an engine and transmission factory in St. Catharines, Ont., will vote on the deal Wednesday and Thursday.


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Nintendo of Russia seems to be having a pretty terrible week, so far.
Earlier, we reported about severe shortages of Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee in Russia, due to Nintendo Russia’s meddling. Now, the company is in a further downward spiral – after its CEO Yasha Haddaji decided to simply lose it on the internet.
While Nintendo Russia was hosting a live-stream for a ‘Level Up Days’ Event, Haddaji apparently started insulting employees loudly. Given how vitriolic he sounds, the CEO may not have been aware that his microphone was active at all. Of course, he only seems to get angrier once he realizes how he goofed up.
Check it out below, courtesy of Save Nintendo.
Nintendo in general has not made any statements on the matter. Let’s hope Nintendo Russia can clear up their act soon.


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The input of in-house legal teams at life insurers has come under the spotlight following warnings from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) that some companies are not exercising sufficient control over legal risk.
Prudential is just one company to launch a review of the level of its legal procedures and the overall input of its legal team in the development of products and marketing literature. This follows the receipt of an industry-wide warning letter from the FSA late last month.
Head of legal for Prudential Peter Maynard told The Lawyer: “We’re reviewing the input on product and marketing material development. We’re wading through the detail of our processes at the moment and will respond to the FSA in due course.”
The letter, sent out by the FSA to the chief executives of all life insurance firms and friendly societies, called for the companies to assess whether their procedures for managing legal risk during the development and marketing of financial products were sufficient, and whether more legal advice should be taken.
It follows research by the FSA showing that some companies did not have any procedures in place for obtaining legal input into the development of products or marketing literature.
As a result, all of the companies contacted have been asked to report back on the effectiveness of their legal functions and the actions proposed to correct any shortfalls to the FSA by 30 November.
Standard Life in-house counsel Gerrit Henstock said the company’s 76-strong in-house legal team was involved regularly in the development of products or marketing literature and it was unlikely that the company would need to adjust its procedures.