text:
Let’s flashback to the 1970’s, a really interesting use-case for economists to explain what the central bank deals with today, the fear of inflation!
If you know anyone who was alive during that time, they probably remember the long lines in gas stations! This is because Nixon, in 1971, made oil price increases illegal (Effectively, a price ceiling) and also cut the link of Gold to the dollar, in an attempt to control inflation. The spending on the Vietnam War and Johnson's “Great Society”, a government spending initiative to reduce poverty levels, was thought to be the root of even-higher inflation.
From the 1970’s to the 1980’s, more than 50% of Americans thought that inflation or general price increases was the single biggest problem facing the economy. Contrast to today, when you mention inflation, some people have been looking for it for the past decade or so! That’s because inflation has remained low. Despite the printing of money in the 2008 financial crisis, inflation has largely stayed around 2%. The doomsday warnings of economists who have long-studied Monetarism (ie. the link of excessive money printing and inflation), have been ignored.
Every economic policy for a while now, are rooted on the premise that inflation will be low. It is the reason our central bank has been buying up billions of dollars worth of bonds and are cutting interest rates to near-zero. Records being broken in 2020 for how much the government is spending on both monetary and fiscal policy.
How does 2021 expect to unfold? How can the Fed defend against the blow-up of prices?
News [00:00:05] Inflation, inflation, inflation, inflation, inflation, inflation,.
Jed Tabernero [00:00:11] So you're Robin Hood Dashboard's got a little red on it. Well, we might know why Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, while on a Wall Street Journal conference mentioned this. We think we're likely to see inflation move up during the course of this year. Businesses will be potentially hit by a lot of demand as the economy recovers, which is a good thing. But you could see bottlenecks, you could see prices moving up where we're inclined to see those as as transient. Transient, that means, well, maybe this is just happening temporarily. What I'm worried about when I hear that kind of talk, every grade inflation is made by a central bank that dismisses it as due to transient factors. And so at a certain point,
Larry Summers [00:01:06] when you start having a transition factor every month, then you've got a permanent faster going over going overall.
Jed Tabernero [00:01:15] Inflation basically means things are getting more expensive. Your three dollar toco might be six dollars after the pandemic is over. The issue with what he mentioned was that he followed it up with, well, I'm not going to do anything about it. Traditionally, the Fed exists to control inflation. It's a part of their mandate. Yet this time, the Fed just basically explained that they won't be raising interest rates to try to curb inflation. Is the Fed right? Is this a transient event or is it something that might turn into a far worse economic event? But really, what is inflation like, how does it really work and how do you protect yourself from it? Welcome to TCHC, where we unpack the ever changing technology economy
Adrian Grobelny [00:02:24] hangout with Jed, Shikher and Adrian as we tackle the industries of tomorrow.
Larry Summers [00:02:30] This is things have changed.
Adrian Grobelny [00:02:39] So in our last inflation episode, we didn't just cover inflation on the surface, we wanted to dove into a particular industry that has affected all of us the most, and that's the food industry. You know, through covid, our spending habits have changed. But one thing that's been consistent is the purchase of food and those caviar Doordash deliveries that were, you know, making to get through this pandemic
Jed Tabernero [00:03:06] at the same company. Now they are the same company.
Adrian Grobelny [00:03:10] And so today we wanted to touch on inflation again because things are starting to pivot and change a little bit. We've had massive amounts of stimulus. Things are starting to look like they're going to go back to normal as vaccines roll out. And there's a lot of uncertainty in the direction of the economy or in a kind of a a point where. There's really two ways the economy can go, either it bounces back and fully recovers and we start to see crazy amounts of inflation. Or we start to ease back into a normal economy and things getting back to normal as everyone is vaccinated, businesses open and we, you know, try to get some slim amount of normalcy. So currently, the US is still missing 10 million jobs. What does that mean? That means that there's 10 million people still looking for jobs and they haven't been filled up yet. So we shouldn't be worrying about inflation, right? I mean, 10 million jobs missing, there's still many people earning less than what they were already heavily impacted. Industries like the service industry are still trying to get a bearing into how they're going to keep moving forward.
Jed Tabernero [00:04:29] So in a traditional sense, right, what Adrian is describing, like why would 10 million jobs missing mean that we shouldn't worry about inflation? That's because of the Phillips curve. Right. In a very traditional sense, you think, OK, if there's high unemployment, there's low inflation period, which because of high unemployment, the thought there is because there's a scarcity of available workers, it's harder to get them for a specific amount, for a specific price. So prices for those wages will decrease because there's clearly little demand for these workers right now. Now, the fear is if we fill all those jobs with low unemployment right now, the fear is that there's a lot of demand for these employers and there's not enough supply for them.
Shikher Bhandary [00:05:23] They have to fight for them. They have to fight. The companies have to fight for talented employees.
Jed Tabernero [00:05:31] They've got to fight for talent. So wage prices will go up, right. Companies will start paying higher wages for each employee. What's critical to understand that relationship and even the Phillips curve is the relationship of supply and demand. Right. So if there's if there's too much supply in the market and there's very little demand, prices will drop inversely. There's very little supply in the market and there's a lot of demand. Prices will definitely rise. Think about it. As you know, one of Chicago's stupid high products. Right? Think about one of those. There's so much demand for those little products. They could go for around one hundred two hundred dollars per shoe. Really like the actual price that they want them. You know, they want to be out there. But because there's so much frickin demand and so little supply that price shoots up, they drop everything. They literally creates inflation for these type of of products. Right.
Adrian Grobelny [00:06:26] It all goes comes down to the trickle down effect. You know, if there's more people earning money and more people in the market working full time jobs, that means their incomes are higher. And if they have higher incomes, that means they're spending more and they're spending more. They're driving the economy. Things are going along smoothly.
Shikher Bhandary [00:06:44] So it's good to have a certain amount of that right, because it means the economy is moving like people are spending people that are engaging with the economy,
Adrian Grobelny [00:06:53] trade, having transactions are happening.
Shikher Bhandary [00:06:56] But the what happens when there is a supply demand mismatch, like what the pandemic created
Adrian Grobelny [00:07:03] were, you know, like suddenly
Shikher Bhandary [00:07:06] there's all this pent up savings that we spoke about. And now once the vaccine rolls out, everyone wants to go out and
Adrian Grobelny [00:07:14] spend go out.
Shikher Bhandary [00:07:15] We spoke about that trip to Hawaii, that trip to Paris. Everyone wants or wants to spend. Those are reasons that, like for the people in the highest age age bracket. So the boomers and above. They have seen a crazy uptick in airline tickets that they have booked since vaccine rollout started in February. And this is across the world, so you're seeing these guys already decide, hey, we sat at home for four years. Let's go out. And just
Jed Tabernero [00:07:51] people are sick of it. People are sick of this lockdown.
Adrian Grobelny [00:07:54] Do you guys remember when we had that supply shock and oil? There were 20 tankers off the coast of California. Oil prices went negative. That's, you know, partially due to covid and the shocks and the supply and demand of oil, uncertainty of what people are going to be consuming in terms of oil and transportation, travel.
Shikher Bhandary [00:08:16] What's crazy is that when did that happen like April and May when when covid just hit. So it's one that's like an extreme side, extreme end of the pendulum swing. And now it's coming back and we're seeing like almost twenty five percent increases in oil prices since Jan. So you're seeing people are moving around. They are doing these road trips. They are flying out, obviously, fuel costs, this sudden explosion in demand that's not only restricted to like oil, but it's also it's, you know, like the lumber lumber. We spoke about the housing issue where there's just not enough houses and construction projects are like tenias like there is. Ten month wait in construction projects right now, because, you know, the raw materials aren't there. Same with semiconductors, which will cover later where the whole world went digital. And suddenly, if software is eating the world, the chips are the teeth. Right. So without the teeth, you cannot have software eating up the world. So what happened when everyone went to was everyone, you think, using the cloud. But it's actually some sobering, like Utah, Nevada or someplace. It's just like a, you know, a mass storage in one of these isolated locations. So ultimately, it's the chips and no one can manufacture the chips, the chips. It's caused glass to not manufacture to transportation delays.
Jed Tabernero [00:09:49] Right. Because we expected so think about it early. Twenty, twenty. Right. When we started seeing things shut down and countries shut down, you know, businesses started shutting down to OK. And because businesses started shutting down, suddenly the supply for a certain amount of goods started decreasing. Of course, if there's not enough demand for your good, what are you going to do? You're not going to produce much of it anymore. Right. So maybe prior to that, you know, fucking I don't know, maybe handkerchiefs used in restaurants. Right. Maybe they're producing millions of those a day, but then all the restaurants closed, OK? And when all the restaurants closed, they couldn't produce the same amount of napkins as before. And they start reducing, reducing, reducing what they're producing in those factories. Right. And then another way to understand that is when you reduce that capacity, a lot of these supply chains are very feeble. OK, so when they're making these products, they have certain contracts for how much they expect to be producing at this time. And then they reduce those estimates and they don't lease out the same amount of spaces that they need to be able to produce this product X, Y, Z. That becomes a totally different calculation. Right. They're not prepared for this.
Shikher Bhandary [00:11:03] Also, like the world manufacturing in general, everyone's just optimized on demand and supply. So it's like everyone's lean. And when there is a shock that happens, you don't have the capacity to fill things. So you're like an extreme constraint to like to to meet demand. And that's the shortages that we saw earlier this year as well across the world.
Adrian Grobelny [00:11:28] So we've we've touched on how rising oil prices, shortages and raw materials and transportation delays and issues and bottlenecks are creating worries that inflation is going to come back. Well, there's another factor tied to that. Not only do we have all these variables going on, we're about to get one point nine trillion dollars and stimulus to help get get us through the pandemic.
Jed Tabernero [00:11:53] The more popular inflationary pressure is government spending, like when inflation started becoming the number one enemy of America in the 1970s. It was because of government spending on Vietnam, on all these social programs and whatnot, like government spending is a huge thing where economists go like, OK, hold up, that's going to cause inflation. Let's not do that. That's exactly what you know. Michael Burry, guy who was highlighted in the Big Short movie, if you've watched that and is is saying about the one point nine trillion dollar stimulus right now. Right. Is that there is a huge possibility that putting this much money in the economy, raising M-2 levels, is going to cause inflation to come back, you know, heavily. So that's one of the things that that is a worry on economy side when you think about, you know, government spending,.
Shikher Bhandary [00:12:46] The bill is quite staggering, one point nine trillion. You can't put like, you know, you can't even imagine that dollar amount. It's just got like 15 digits in it. But there are yeah, there are some good things in it. The fact that, you know, they're doing the child child care and stuff where they're going to cut child poverty by 50 percent. That's like, OK, that's so there are parts of that where of that package. When you unpack it, you're like, OK, we can see how. If we spend a trillion dollars on military shit, why not a one point nine trillion to make sure that your you have, you know, good health services for the people in such a deadly during such a deadly pandemic. And then, you know, small businesses, obviously states and schools get a lot of support. So and a lot of support to the vaccines and testing as well. Basically, this whole rollout is being fueled with that one trillion. Right. There are good aspects to it, but it's still such a huge dollar amount that it's like it's been taking a beating for a while now. The dollar against the basket of currencies that it's compared to, you know,
Jed Tabernero [00:14:06] as we're talking about inflation and where it's happening in the economy, why it's different this time. And, you know, the possibility of this becoming a really terrible event for twenty, twenty one. Why is inflation bad anyway? Right. We're talking about all this consumer spending, right. We're talking about all these jobs coming back potentially when it
Shikher Bhandary [00:14:27] seems positive.
Jed Tabernero [00:14:28] Yes, it seems positive prices rise. But if you see everybody else making money, like, what's the issue? So maybe, maybe we can go into why inflation is so bad. Well, the very first reason that comes to mind, you know, we talk about supply chain shocks, right? We're thinking about, OK, you know, if food prices rise, maybe I spend a little bit more on food. You know, if
Jed Tabernero [00:14:50] if the price of my shoes rise, I spend a little more on shoes. Right. But if we think about it, like from a business perspective, if you were if you were a huge scale business. And you were greatly affected by the recession or sorry, by covid, which actually is a recession, and then you would be trying to optimize for how you can produce exact amounts to be able to sell to your customers. Right. And I think one thing that inflation makes it very difficult is planning, right? That's one of the things. So for us to be able to avoid certain, you know, supply and demand mismatches to cause the inflation itself, we need to be able to tell what's happening in the next few months. And because it's so unpredictable, like literally every country and every state in the US has a different plan, right. To roll out vaccines, to really, you know, to go back to normal and whatnot. High inflation definitely makes planning difficult.
Adrian Grobelny [00:15:50] Uncertain inflation causes consumers to not know how much prices are going to be in the future, how much buying power they will have to purchase cars, homes, whatever big purchases they're going to make.
Shikher Bhandary [00:16:01] If you look at the whole supply chain, small event, and I don't know the source like, say, China has a big impact on the final product with regards to cost, quality, whatever. Right now, a global pandemic which are starting to like transportation and storage costs are up and oil is now increasing. So now that all gets. Put on to the consumers, so say Adrian's favorite taco shop is not for dollar tacos rather than three dollars, you know, things like that starts to happen and you realize, OK, I can purchase less with the same amount of money so my five dollars can purchase. My six dollars can purchase just one taco instead of two tacos a year ago.
Adrian Grobelny [00:16:56] I think one thing that our listeners should be wary of is, you know, we're going through tough times. People are being a little bit more conservative, putting money aside, saving, making sure they have that buffer for however many months. But you know what? This new rise of inflation, saving money isn't going to be the best place to put your money in. Savings rates are really low and inflation is just going to eat up your buying power of the money that you have put aside. So that's something that I think people need to be aware of.
Shikher Bhandary [00:17:28] Are you in there indirectly asking people to go YOLO long gone, like being stop and shit, bro, this is not that this is not that kind of Podcast dude.
Adrian Grobelny [00:17:39] I said no such thing.
Shikher Bhandary [00:17:42] So we have seen inflation pressures impacting us, but it hasn't been that crazy. Thousand eight happened the whole financial recession, and we had a similar like stimulus package back then, like how much was it? Eight hundred nine hundred billion, which seemed like a lot back then. Now we're printing like trillions like it's nothing but but it didn't really hit us. And that's an interesting aspect where people are like, OK, hang on, something's happening with that, where we are missing the boat. And that boat is the biggest boat in our economy right now, where four companies, five companies own 90 percent of the wealth, which is basically fang your Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google, blah, blah, blah. But what what do we mean by that? Well, technology, if you seen like a graph of the things that have actually. Deflated in value, right? We were just having a chat with prior to this call, like when I grew up in India, Bangalore, when the first 32 inch Samsung TVs came out. My family went out and bought it, and Costa just it was a thousand dollars. This was 10 years ago. Now, a sixty six inch TV is two fifty dollars. So you can see, like what technology and like just improving on scale can do to you, you know, your radios, your transistors, your Moore's Law, everything is like it. Technology has moved the ball so quickly over the last 20 years that things that have been touched by technology have really depreciated.
Adrian Grobelny [00:19:39] Are you saying that technology is our scapegoat out of inflation? That's our solution.
Shikher Bhandary [00:19:44] It won't solve everything, but even if the supply demand mismatch exists. Right. We have these incredibly complex Emelle algorithms and algorithms that predict with edge cases what could potentially happen and bake it into your model. So now say I'm a producer of avocados and I use this software to optimize what's coming out at the end, optimize how much to manufacture to meet the demand. Now, with that algorithm algorithm, I'm like, OK, I can manufacture one hundred and five percent of what we actually manufacture because that five percent is baked in. And if that does not sell. We can repurpose it into something else, like a good example is like flight tickets, right? Airlines always overbook flights. Why have you ever been on a flight where they're like, oh, there are more people on this flight than there needs to be so we can put you on the next flight and give you a thousand bucks? Technology has enabled so many such and such a clean operation with baking in. Like just random events in the in the market. It hasn't impacted our lives a whole lot, but the pandemic was a ridiculous black swan event, right? So that caused a whole lot. But even then, it wasn't really felt like. We are seeing crazy prices now increase like Soy, Corn, we spoke about that, but. You would imagine that the world is locked down for a year and a half. And you would think things have gone crazy, crazy, but right, but it has not. So that's an interesting insight to think about.
Jed Tabernero [00:21:49] We saw the general cash in the economy, M-2. We saw it grow to three trillion in six months. Ridiculous, right? That's how much we grew in six months. So, you know, what do we do? We're all scared. You know, prices go up, whatever. Maybe we invest in gold and something like that. What can governments do? Well, fiscal policy is out of the question. They can't spend their way out of this one. In fact, that's an additional you know, that's an additional inflationary pressure. Monetary policy, monetary policies, whole job. You know, what is monetary policy? That's the Fed, right. Their whole job is to try to control inflation. So what can they do to curb inflation, given how much we've spent their whole strategy on when inflation goes up and now they have a two percent target, they're OK with going a little bit about two percent. What can they do? Well, they hike rates, right? They hike interest rates, so. Every time we've seen a hike in interest rates, there's an upcoming deflationary pressure, money starts becoming expensive again. So as you're thinking about, you know, what am I going to do in the next few months if inflation does happen? You know, one is savings isn't really good. Spending might not be amazing. Investing in something that's deflationary might be helpful.
Shikher Bhandary [00:23:19] Hey, thanks so much for listening to our show this week. You could subscribe to us and if you're feeling generous, well, you could even leave us a review. Trust me, it goes a long, long way. You could also follow THC @THC_POD on Twitter and LinkedIn. This is things have changed.


text:
Argentina Second Largest Beef Supplier of Chile20 November 2013
ARGENTINA – An Argentinian trade delegation has revealed Argentina as the second largest beef exporter to Chile after Brazil.
A Chilean representative stated Argentinian imports accounted for 21 per cent of national beef buying.
The announcement follows a Ministry of Agriculture and Supply visit to beef slaughter houses in Chile, where Argentinian officials received export authorisation.
Traceability and monitoring programmes had been pronounced satisfactory by Chilean inspectors when the visit concluded on 15 November.
TheCattleSite News Desk

domain: news


text:
2019 is proving to be a difficult year for the consumer robotics industry.
Reach Robotics, famous for their MekaMon robot available at Apple Stores is closing.
News comes from the co-founder of the company himself, Silas Adekunle on LinkedIn:
“The consumer robotics sector is an inherently challenging space – especially for a start-up. Over the past six years, we have taken on this challenge with consistent passion and ingenuity. From the first trials of development to accelerators and funding rounds, we have fought to bring MekaMon to life and into the hands of the next generation of tech pioneers.
Unfortunately, for Reach Robotics, in its current form at least, today marks the end of that journey.”
MekaMon received global recognition as the world’s first gaming robot. How it works is that the robot itself is connected with the consumer’s phone where it is pointed towards the robot where it can battle augmented virtual reality games. It can battle other MekaMon owners in multiplayer battles or build custom programs for the robot on top of Apple’s Swift Playgrounds.
This is a step back for the consumer robotics industry with a similar announcement made earlier this year by Jibo, announcing it’s shutdown.
With this announcement though, further researches and advancements are being made towards the goal of one day providing social robots to all homes everywhere.


text:
The retail giant's earnings report contained good and bad, but the media had a hard time with the complexities.
The media didn't want to focus on the price and job cuts.
Success at the remodeling supply chain is not the recovery indicator the media would like it to be.
Why the company's stock fell after a seemingly decent quarterly earnings report.
Discounts could become a more regular occurrence at Apple, as customers begin to expect sales.
If one share purchase is news, what about the other three?
What went right in News Corp.'s earnings report could soon go wrong.
A dispute involving rival Walgreen has swung customers CVS's way -- but for how long?
Some media outlets assume that Apple spurned Google. But it's not so clear cut.
To explain diverging earnings reports, the media focused on different member profiles and ignored the issue of mobile.


text:
Mobile Communications is Uniquely Placed to Drive Economy Growth
16 February 2009, Barcelona, Spain
At the GSMA's Leadership Summit, bringing together 400 CEOs, government ministers and officials, industry leaders today stressed the unique role that broadband, specifically mobile broadband, can play as an economic stimulus. Those leaders called for governments to support the rollout of mobile broadband services to drive economic growth.
Speaking at a press conference led by Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA, Carl-Henric Svanberg, CEO of Ericsson, Alexander Izosimov, Chairman of the GSMA and CEO of VimpelCom, Franco BernabÃ¨, CEO of Telecom Italia, Jon Fredrik Baksaas, CEO of Telenor Group and Jeffrey Sachs, Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, set out how the wider use of mobile broadband services can stimulate growth and help the world recover from the economic crisis. Wang Jianzhou, CEO of China Mobile, spoke about the investment in mobile infrastructure that his company is making in China and its benefits.
The release of new spectrum for mobile broadband services in 2009 will ultimately add the equivalent of $211 billion to China's GDP, and could add the equivalent of $95 billion to India's GDP1, according to a new report by Professor Leonard Waverman and consultancy LECG for the GSMA, which represents the global mobile industry. The rollout of mobile broadband networks will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, encourage new businesses across the value chain, improve productivity and boost consumer spending.
As the mobile industry is one of the few parts of the private sector currently capable of providing an economic stimulus, governments need to ensure they adopt policies that encourage more investment in mobile services and networks. Wherever possible, governments should seek to create a stable regulatory environment, while licensing spectrum on the right terms to encourage spending on network infrastructure and services, stimulating economic growth.
It is also important that governments allocate the same spectrum as other governments in their region for mobile broadband services - this kind of harmonisation will allow the same devices to be used in many different countries and enable manufacturers to achieve economies of scale and lower prices for end users.
The switchover to digital television will present a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make low-frequency spectrum, in which radio waves travel long distances and better penetrate the walls of buildings, available for mobile broadband services. Of the 400MHz of low-frequency spectrum freed up by the switch-off of analogue television, the GSMA believes 100MHz should be used to enable the roll out of cost-effective mobile broadband networks.
Deploying a mobile broadband network using 700MHz spectrum, for example, can cost 70% less than deploying the same network using the 2100MHz spectrum underpinning most of today's 3G mobile networks, making rural areas and other 'white spots' economically viable to serve. Moreover, providing mobile broadband coverage is far more cost-effective than installing a new fixed-line broadband connection2.
'For mobile broadband to be a mass-market service worldwide and powerful engine of economic growth, the mobile industry needs both a stable regulatory climate and access to the right spectrum on the right terms,' said Rob Conway, CEO and Member of the Board of the GSMA.
'If the mobile industry can continue to grow and develop at the rate it has over the past 15 years, it could act as one of the few locomotives which can help pull our economies out of the current slump,' said Alexander Izosimov, Chairman of the GSMA and CEO of VimpelCom. 'Governments need to adopt policies that nurture this potential, rather than stifling it.'
'The rolling out and operation of 3G networks in China will create 300,000 job opportunities directly and indirectly,' said Wang Jianzhou, Chairman and CEO of China Mobile. 'On the one hand, 3G investments will directly boost the development of the telecom manufacturing industry; on the other hand, 3G handsets and 3G applications will drive consumer spending and help companies through the difficulties brought by the financial crisis.'
'The evolution of mobile broadband is proof that capital expenditure by operators lays the foundations for the growth of an entire ecosystem,' said Franco BernabÃ¨, CEO of Telecom Italia.
'In the currently uncertain economic climate, it is simply unimaginable that we will enter a new phase of European and worldwide growth if we do not have sufficient availability of bandwidth. Bandwidth is the necessary driver for direct investments such as radio access infrastructure and demand for fibre-optic backhauling; it is also a driver of indirect investment, through the emergence of new market players and new services. If we wish to repeat the successes of the past - successes in technology that, from GSM onwards, have made improvements to our lives - this potential may only be realized fully within a harmonious regulatory context.'
'Our industry and the authorities must work together to find sustainable business models for mobile broadband,' said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO, Telenor Group. 'If we get this right, mobile broadband will have the same deep changing impact on people's lives as basic mobile services have had.'
'Mobile broadband is essential for socio-economic growth and, with LTE, the industry has, for the first time, a true global standard,' said Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO of Ericsson. 'The deployment of mobile broadband is also particularly important for closing the digital divide and the allocation of low frequency spectrum is a prerequisite.'
'Mobile technologies are the most powerful tools we have for combating extreme poverty in the most isolated parts of the world,' said Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute. 'By closing the digital divide, mobile connections give the poor access to vital health services and students from all parts of the world a chance to learn through 'global classrooms.' Similarly, mobile phones are being deployed to expand agro-business, e-governance, banking, and commerce throughout poor countries. Private companies are taking in the lead in countless creative and path-breaking efforts, and these breakthroughs are being expanded rapidly through public-private partnerships. Digital technologies will play a core role in ending poverty and in enabling the world to join together through markets, social networks, and cooperative efforts to solve our common challenges.'
Notes to Editors:
In Europe, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, France and the UK have already committed to allocating some of the spectrum freed up by the switchover to digital television to mobile broadband services.
About the GSMA
The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites more than 750 of the world's mobile operators, as well as 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organizations. The GSMA is focused on innovating, incubating and creating new opportunities for its membership, all with the end goal of driving the growth of the mobile communications industry. For more information, please visit http://www.gsmworld.com
For more information please contact:
Daniel Lowther: +44 7747 636 687
Richard Fogg: +44 7887 845 236
1The long-term impact on GDP, on a purchasing power parity basis, resulting from a projected investment of $59 billion in 3G networks in China over the next three years and an investment of $20 billion in India over the next five years.2The World Bank estimates that connecting an individual to a mobile network can cost one-tenth of the cost of providing a new fixed-line connection.
Click here for images of the press conference


text:
PetersPolitics is now Live!
Gunslingers is now Live!
Spells of Magic is now Live!
Merentha Lib 1.2.0-A Released!
The Mud Slide now Live!
StoryBookCastle is now Live!
News - SpellsofMagic.com now Live
On January 1st, 2004 Spellsofmagic.com went live.
On the first day of the year we put this website live. Originally the Witches' Black Magic website we settled for 'spells of magic' as the website name.
When it became apparent how much work would be required to write oer 300 spells we came up with another idea. Instead of just having the website sit around doing nothing while we write the spells in our spare time, we quickly threw in a link to the Amazon Web Services and made an online store.
We are still plugging away at the spells and hope to be releasing a new website with them soon!
The MUD Slide
LPC Code Snippits
© Copyright 1996-2018
All rights reserved


text:
Expert, diplomats and speakers from India and South Africa came together in Johannesburg for the India-South Africa Business Summit 2018, where they discussed ways to expand trade relationships between the two countries.
India’s Commerce and Industry Minister, Suresh Prabhu believes that great potential exists between the two regions.
A meeting was held in New Delhi just a month earlier, to explore trade possibilities.
Says Prabhu: “We realised that some of these countries have so much capability which we were not aware of, so we can actually use that and bring it into India as well.”
“We are preparing for each and every country what it is that we can do together. We don’t want to offer one single solution to all the countries, but something befitting each of the countries in the southern African region.”
Prabhu added that India’s commitment to trade relations with Africa is “very strong” and efforts are on to find out how the credit extended for project financing in some of these countries can be further improved.
South African Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies detailed that South Africa has a strategic relationship with India.
“Our bilateral trade is growing and has increased from R68 million in 2012 to R107 million in 2018. Investment has also grown seeing 130 Indian firms investing in South Africa and 29 South African FDIs in India for R10 billion.”


text:
Dairy Farmers pull ad after complaints over alleged misleading the public
The print ad in question is part of the Dairy Farmers of Canada’s “Honest. Canadian. Dairy.” campaign.
Canada can end dairy trade dispute with US by ending pricing irritant: Saputo
Involves a pricing agreement struck in 2016 that restricts US exports of ultra-filtered milk used to make dairy products.
Managed dairy enticed Coca-Cola to build Ontario milk plant: Dairy Farmers
Beverage maker plans to build a plant adjacent to its 70-year-old Minute Maid frozen juice facility in Peterborough.


text:
State Economies Coast to Coast Benefit from Venture Investing
U.S. companies that received venture capital from 1970-2005 accounted for 10 million jobs and $2.1 trillion in revenues in 2005, according to a study conducted by Global Insight and issued today by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). This represents 9 percent of the total private sector work force and 16.6 percent of total U.S. GDP. Venture-backed companies also outperformed their non-ventured counterparts between 2003 and 2005 with a 4.1 percent compound annual growth rate in jobs and an 11.3 percent compound annual growth rate in sales versus total private sector growth rates of 1.3 percent and 8.5 percent respectively. The study further revealed that venture-backed companies comprise significant percentages of the jobs and revenues in the technology and retail sectors.
"Since we first measured venture capital's impact on the U.S. economy in 2000, we have seen that venture-backed companies consistently outperform their non-ventured counterparts for job creation and revenue generation across all industries," said Mark Lauritano, managing director of Global Insight's Lending & Payments Practice. "We took three different measurements at three different points in the business cycle with unwavering results. The economic contribution that venture-backed companies make is sustainable and growing."
Some of the nation's best known venture-backed companies include FedEx, Intel, Cisco, Starbucks, Genentech, Google, eBay, Apple and Home Depot.
"Venture capital is an integral and critical component of US economic growth and becoming more so every year," said Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association. "Consider the fact that venture investment itself represents just 0.2% of U.S. GDP but venture-backed companies account for nearly 17% of GDP. It is critical that key components of the venture capital ecosystem - support for our capital markets, funding for basic research and development, increases in H-1B visas, and more math and science graduates- remain conducive for fostering this kind of vibrancy," Heesen added.
The study, entitled Venture Impact: The Economic Importance of Venture Capital Backed Companies to the U.S. Economy, was commissioned by the NVCA and conducted by Global Insight, a leading economic analysis and forecasting firm. Global Insight analyzed a database of nearly 23,500 U.S.-based companies that received venture capital financing between 1970 and 2005. From this database, Global Insight measured the employment and revenue contributions of these companies to the national economy. The data was further broken down by industry and by state.


text:
TUCSON-The 26-year-old Manzanita Place shopping center has traded in an off-market transaction. Community Centers of America Glendale LLC in Glendale, CA has paid $11.6 million to Toronto-based Manzanita Holdings Inc. for the 117,256-sf asset.
David Vallecorsa with Bernstein Murphy Companies LLC in Scottsdale, AZ says the seller of the Safeway-anchored center at 3020 W. Valencia Rd. wanted to leave both the product type and the area. “This is the last asset in Arizona and they’re not even retail owners,” says Vallecorsa, who brokered the transaction with David Bernstein and David Murphy. “They’re mostly apartment guys, who wanted out of retail.”
Vallecorsa says Bernstein Murphy has a good relationship with the buyer. He tells GlobeSt.com that they brought in the buyer to make a bid when they learned the fully leased center could be bought. Although the new owner doesn’t have any immediate plans for upgrades, Vallecorsa says a fresh exterior and a new parking lot most likely are in the asset’s future.
“This is in south Tucson, which is in an area for growth, and in an established neighborhood,” Vallecorsa adds. “The Safeway has done very well and rents are extremely low, which is great upside.” He says the 52,000-sf grocery store lease runs until 2011.
Other tenants are Osco Drugs and the 99-Cents Only Store. “This is a pretty stable center,” Vallecorsa adds, “and there’s no immediate roll in the near term.” Cuna Mutual Insurance Society of Madison, WI provided $8 million of acquisition financing at a 69% LTV.


text:
A northwest Missouri couple Friday filed the first federal lawsuit against ConAgra Foods Incorporated over the salmonella outbreak linked to its peanut butter, and the Seattle attorney representing the family said more suits will follow.
The lawsuit filed in US District Court in Kansas City, Missouri, claims that Brian and Susanna Cox of St. Joseph -- and their two children -- are regular customers of a Wal-Mart Superstore where they regularly purchased Great Value Peanut Butter, made by Omaha, Nebraska-based ConAgra.
The suit says Susanna and the two children, Malachi and Elliot, began developing gastrointestinal illnesses in October after consuming the peanut butter, and the two children required treatment at an urgent care center. But unaware of the product's link to their illness, the family continued to consume it.
The lawsuit doesn't say how much peanut butter the family consumed since October, but the suit saud by the time ConAgra and the Food and Drug Administration announced a product recall Wednesday night, Elliott was sick again. The Cox family had four jars of the peanut butter in their home, all with the lot code 2111.
Shoppers across the country were warned to throw out jars with a product code on the lid beginning with "2111," which denotes the plant where it was made.
Seattle-based attorney William Marler said the lawsuit is the first in the outbreak that has sickened nearly 300 people in 39 states since August, including 13 in Missouri.
He said today that 450 people had contacted his law firm this week. He plans to file additional cases in the next few days and then move to consolidate them.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


text:
FX & CFD trading involves significant risk
The German Council of Economic Experts (GCEE) released its Annual Economic Report on Wednesday. The experts said that the economy in Germany and the Eurozone continued to recover, but there are the downside risks from the slowdown in emerging economies.
"Positive economic developments are likely to continue this year and next. But the arrival of refugees has made it even more important to ensure the future viability of Germany's economy by fostering the right economic conditions," chairman of the GCEE, Christoph M. Schmidt, said.
The German economy is expected to expand 1.7% in 2015 and 1.6% in 2016.
Eurozone's economy is expected to grow by 1.6 % in 2015 and by 1.5 % in 2016.
|remaining time till the new event being published|
All posted material is a marketing communication solely for informational purposes and reliance on this may lead to loss. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Please read our full disclaimer.


text:
Intel details Clover Trail tablets: three weeks on standby, 10 hours of use, ‘full’ Windows 8 experience
You only have to look at the tidal wave of Ultrabooks to know that Intel design specifications can carry a lot of influence with manufacturers. That’s why the chip-maker’s claims about its latest reference tablet, built around a dual-core Atom Z2760 processor (aka “Clover Trail”), likely give us a broad hint of what to expect from devices like the forthcoming Lenovo Think Pad 2, ASUS Vivo Tab and Samsung ATIV Smart PC.
In particular, Intel has shown us slides claiming that the dual-core 1.8GHz chip with Imagination SGX545 graphics will offer the “best Windows 8 experience” on a tablet with “compatibility and support for traditional apps and peripherals.” And if you think that sounds like a subtle jibe at ARM-based tablets running Windows RT — a version of the OS that doesn’t even try to play nice with existing software — then you could be right. To be fair though, the point of RT is to offer superior portability, and that’s why Intel is also keen to emphasize that Clover Trail won’t impact too heavily on your freedom of movement. Tablets should come in below 1.5 pounds (680 grams — similar to the RT spec and much lighter than a Windows 8 Pro tablet) and 8.5mm in thickness, with built-in 3G, 4G and NFC. You shouldn’t need to carry a charger either, since a new power management system promises a distinctly un-laptop-like three weeks on standby and a full day of “active use” — defined as being at least 10 hours.
Windows 8 tablets won’t be like Windows 8 Pro machines, however, so don’t go expecting USB 3.0, or a guarantee of 1080p visuals (most Clover Trail devices we’ve seen are 1,366 x 768) or souped-up security — the Atom Z2760 is very much an evolved Medfield processor, with similar silicon and firmware, rather than a shrunken laptop chip.
Needless to say, what really matters is how well manufacturers adopt this design and what price points they manage to hit. Intel says that at least 20 different Clover Trail tablets are already in the works, and early price tags seem to be around the $799 mark — a hefty demand for sure, but perhaps one worth paying for those who need full-fledged Windows 8 and true portability at the same time. RT tablets, meanwhile, will have to come in much cheaper than that in order to be worthwhile.
It seems like every ARM chip manufacturer wants a piece of Windows 8 here at Computex 2012 — and for good reason. Hot on the heels of Asus’ Tegra 3-equipped Tablet 600 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4-based development tablet, Texas Instruments is showing Windows RT on its very own OMAP 4470-based system. The 1.5GHz dual-core SoC features a PowerVR SGX544 GPU and leads the competition with a dual-channel memory interface. We chatted with Bill Crean, Product Manager of the OMAP Processor Business Unit who showed us Microsoft’s latest OS running on TI’s development tablet. The demo looked snappy enough, providing some insight about what to expect from some of Toshiba’s upcoming devices. No word yet on a quad-core version. Enjoy our hands-on gallery below and take a peek after the break for our demo video.
The issue of whether or not the ARM edition of Windows 8 will support both desktop and Metro-style apps has been pretty hazy. Some have claimed it would, others that it wont and, even when they’ve issued denials of the nay-sayers, Microsoft has stopped short of saying that ARM hardware would offer a desktop mode for non-Metro apps. Well, buried in a post about improving power efficiency over at MSDN blogs was a passing reference to “both desktop and Metro style apps” running on “System on Chip (SoC) architectures.” Some, including the well regarded Mary Jo Foley, have read this to mean that desktop apps will indeed work on ARM-powered Windows tablets. Now, this seems to make sense since all of the SoC coverage has been focused on the powerful new RISC chips getting crammed in new slates and smartphones, and we’ve heard that Win8 and Windows Phone 8 will share the same kernel. But, there is one tiny wrinkle in this narrative — Intel will have its own SoC solutions soon enough thanks to Medfield, so the passage could simply be a reference to those x86 chips. You’ll find the relevant excerpt at the via link.
Busy days at Broadcom, which has already forgotten about its earlier 5G WiFi announcement and launched a barrage of new chips for set-top boxes and home networking. The line-up supports the latest MoCA 2.0 standard for greater network bandwidth over coax wiring, but even more interesting is what some of the SoCs can do for smart TV and streaming. The BCM7425 dual-tuner HD gateway SoC will support Sling Media’s “place-shifting” platform, potentially making it easier for set-top manufacturers to enable TV streaming to mobile devices. A similar deal has been inked with Myriad over its clever Alien Vue software (shown above), allowing Broadcom-equipped boxes to run apps designed for Google TV and HTML 5 without the need for extra dedicated hardware. In short, if your service provider fails to make TV content smarter or easier to access in 2012, they won’t be able to blame it on Broadcom.
Sammy’s current Cortex A9-based chips are hardly slackers — the Galaxy Note already proved that to any lingering doubters. Nevertheless, the next-gen Exynos 5250 SoC promises to double that sort of performance, by harnessing two Cortex-A15 chips clocked at 2GHz each, along with a GPU that can output resolutions of up to 2560 x 1600 (WQXGA). It’s like big.LITTLE computing, except without the LITTLE. Samsung reckons it’ll start mass producing the 5250 for use in high-end tablets by the second quarter of next year, which should be just in time to stop NVIDIAfrom getting too cocky.
Fancy a glimpse of the future? That little psychedelic beauty on the right is ARM’s brand new Cortex-A7 processor. Its spec sheet might not seem so colorful at first glance, because it doesn’t really do things any faster than existing high-end smartphone processors. However, this UK-based manufacturer isn’t known for bumping its gums, so it pays to look a little deeper. For a start, the Cortex-A7 is built using a 28nm process that makes it five times smaller and more efficient than the current-gen Cortex-A8. It’s also cheap enough to power sub-$100 handsets, so we could be pulling GSII-like tricks on budget phones within a couple of years.
Is that it? Nope, there’s more: perhaps the most important feature of the A7 is that it can be combined with much higher-power cores like the Cortex-A15 side-by-side on the same chip. This allows a super-phone or tablet to switch between two totally different processing units depending on how much power is needed at the time. ARM calls this “Big.LITTLE” computing,” and a similar concept is already in use on NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 (aka Kal-El) SoC, which we’ll see imminently in the next Asus Transformer. However, the Tegra 3 uses five identical Cortex-A9 cores, whereas a device that mix-and-matches the A15 and A7 could potentially deliver higher highs and lower lows, giving you speed when you need it and amazing battery life when you don’t. How cute is that? Full PR after the break.
Apple’s fondness for anorexic handhelds knows no bounds, and if this alleged deal with the Asian foundry holds water, expect to see its waistband tighten further. Rumoured back before the iPad 2 launch, the house-that-Steve-built’s reportedly been eyeing Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp to produce an ‘A6′ for its upcoming iPhone refresh. While it’s easy to dismiss this purported move as a direct diss to Samsung, what’s more likely is that Cupertino’s engaging in a competitive bit of size does matter — specifically, the A5′s 45nm process. A transition to newer, lower power 28nm ARM chips would give Jonathan Ives’ employer a distinct market advantage, dwarfing even TSMC’s current 40nm in the process. While it’s all still just speculation for now, only time and an iPhone 5tear-down will tell for sure.
Thanks to one of our readers getting an early install, we’ve already dug deep into Comcast’s next generation Xfinity TV DVR, but on Thursday Brian Roberts will show it off in full (along with “new broadband speeds”) at the 2011 NCTA Cable Show . According to the press release the new guide that blends internet content with TV broadcasts will include customizations and sharing tied to Facebook along with hardware built by Pace around an Intel CPU — if anyone needs a suggestion for a service to add after Skype, we’re thinking OnLive could be a good fit. The detail we’re waiting to hear is when it will be upgrading the pitiful boxes currently available in our neck of the woods, but until then we have another tipster to thank for pointing out a cache of demo videos posted on the portal for initial testers in Georgia. The 17-minute compilation of walkthrough videos is embedded above, just try not to drool too hard over the HD formatted UI.
As you’ll no doubt be aware, Qualcomm currently enjoys a stranglehold on processing hardware inside Windows Phone handsets. Its Snapdragon chip stars in both Microsoft’s original and updated chassis spec for the platform, but its hegemony may soon be coming to an end. STMicroelectronics (the ST in ST-Ericsson) boss Carlo Bozotti is cited by Forbes as saying that Nokia will use ST-Ericsson hardware to power at least some of its Windows Phones. The dual-core U8500, a long-time Nokia favorite, is touted as the first such system-on-chip to appear, with its successors helping to populate Nokia’s expansive WP lineup in 2012. The only intel we’ve had so far on Nokia’s initial handsets for the new OS revolved around Qualcomm-based devices, so even if ST-Ericsson is indeed going to infiltrate the Windows Phone ecosystem, it doesn’t look likely to be among the very first Nokias out of the gate.
Qualcomm’s back again with yet another set of impressive numbers. For the second quarter of this fiscal year, the chip giant saw record earnings of $3.88 billion, up 46 percent from the same quarter in the previous year, and collected $999 million of sweet profit which is a 29 percent jump from last year. This is no doubt to do with the 70 percent increase in the MSM7000- and MSM8000-series Snapdragon shipments in this half of the fiscal year (compared to 2H 2010), and it should be noted that this quarter also saw the 100th Snapdragon-powered device announced by a Qualcomm client. Additionally, EVP Steve Mollenkopf reassured us that the recent events in Japan won’t have any significant impact on upcoming shipments, so the 30 Snapdragon tablets in the pipeline should arrive as scheduled. Excerpts from the financial report can be found after the break.
What might Android gaming look like on a Samsung Galaxy S II? You’re staring it in the face right now. We spotted Samsung’s Orion / Exynos 4210 at GDC 2011, showing off the power of its dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 CPU and Mali-400 graphics on a nice big 1080p television screen — with a completely playable asteroid obstacle course that ran at a butter-smooth 60 frames per second in stereoscopic 3D. ARM representatives told us the chip actually has even more headroom, but was actually constrained by its HDMI 1.3 port, and could push stereoscopic content at up to 70fps if their reference board had HDMI 1.4. When we asked if there were any plans to publish the TrueForce space shooter demo, ARM said it might indeed be done; the company’s thinking of releasing it on the Android Market as a benchmark of sorts.


text:
According to fresh rumours out of China, the new Redmi Note 7 launched on 10 January isn't the only upcoming Xiaomi phone to get a 48Mp camera. The company's 2019 flagship, the Mi 9, will also receive the tech, along with faster performance and faster wired charging.
Xiaomi has confirmed it is holding a MWC press conference on 24 February, though it's not known whether it will be for the 5G Mi Mix 3 or the upcoming Mi 9. We're likely a good few months from the Mi 9 launch, with the Mi 8 appearing in May 2018.
If it's to be trusted a new leak gives away many of the phone's specs. That 48Mp lens is one of three on the phone's rear, with the Mi 9 also expected to sport a 12Mp secondary lens and 3D TOF camera. Around the front we may see the 24Mp selfie camera present in the Mi 8 Lite, up from the 20Mp snapper in the standard Mi 8.
With a Snapdragon 855 onboard the Mi 9 has the potential to support 5G networks - but only if Xiaomi decides it is practical at this price point, and that's a big if. It sounds as though the phone will feature the non-5G X24 modem rather than the X50. It's not a surprise, given that we're still yet to see such luxuries as wireless charging, Quad-HD screens and waterproofing in Xiaomi's flagship line, since it hopes to keep pricing lower than the competition.
5G is definitely coming to the Mi Mix line (also see Mi Mix 3S/4 rumours), but we don't think we'll see it in this upcoming flagship. And this suspicion is seemingly confirmed by the expected dimensions of the upcoming flagship - at 155x75x7.6mm it is identical to the Mi 8, yet adding the necessary chips for 5G would demand a larger chassis.
Then Snapdragon 855 should offer incredible performance, and a Xiaomi phone with the codename 'Cepheus' has just popped up on Geekbench confirming this. We're almost certain that this is the Mi 9, with the Cepheus recording 3524 points in the single-core component and 11,260 multi-core - a huge improvement over the Mi 8's 2456 and 8984 respectively.
Though no genuine images of the Mi 9 have leaked online just yet, at the top of this article you can see a concept of what it might look like based on rumours from Benjamin Geskin.
In the Mi 9 you can once again expect to see a Full-HD+ screen, this time a 6.4in 19:9 AMOLED display with a waterdrop notch. It's rumoured to come with an in-display fingerprint sensor, but there's no news yet on whether this will be reserved for the Pro model as in 2018.
Memory and storage options are expected to start at 6GB and 128GB respectively, so we don't expect Xiaomi intends to add support for MicroSD removable storage.
While the battery itself could get a boost, from 3,400mAh to 3,500mAh, wireless charging will remain unique to the Mix line. There is some suggestion the Mi 9 will see 32W wired fast charging, however.
When is the Xiaomi Mi 9 release date?
The Mi 8 arrived on 31 May 2018, a little later than we anticipated. Since flagship smartphone launches are typically annual, this would place the Mi 9 launch in mid-2019. However, early rumours suggest we could see an MWC (February) announcement, with a March on sale.
Xiaomi is, indeed, holding a MWC press conference on Sunday 24 February. But it could be for the 5G Mi Mix 3.
Xiaomi phones are now officially on sale in the UK, but they still tend to launch later here than in China. Should the Mi 9 launch in China before the UK, you'll be able to pick up a handset by importing it from the likes of GearBest or Geekbuying, though we urge you to look for a Global or International ROM model.
How much will the Xiaomi Mi 9 cost?
Rumours suggest the entry-level Mi 9 will be priced an CY 2,999, which converts to around £345. Expect pricing to be a little higher in the UK, where Xiaomi has less control over distribution. As a guide, the current flagship is available from £459 (buy here), and with few major upgrades here we wouldn't expect the Mi 9 to soar any higher.
Read next: Best new phones coming in 2019


text:
Those still waiting for the Verizon HTC One may not have too much longer to go as another reliable source has chimed in saying that the device might be out before the end of June.
For months now, the rumor mill has been hard at work, producing countless rumors in regards to the Verizon HTC One, a device that may or may not be the real deal. In the past few days though, things have been heating up, and right now, rumors suggest that the device is indeed real and that it may be coming before the end of June.
Yesterday, we heard that the device might be out before the end of June, something that backed up a previous rumor that suggested it would be out before the start of July. And now today, another well known HTC leakster is throwing his weight behind a possible arrival in June.
According to @LLabTooFeR, the Verizon HTC One might be landing before the end of June. The word “might” isn’t as strong as “confirmed” but it still seems to point to June as a possibility for an HTC One launch on Verizon.
It’s clear that HTC has gotten its supply under control as Google just announced an HTC One Nexus edition that will be coming to shelves on the Google Play Store on June 26th. So, it could be that the launch of the HTC One Nexus coincides with the arrival of the long-awaited Verizon HTC One.
Good news for HTC One VZW waiters, it might out before the end of June.
— LlabTooFeR (@LlabTooFeR) May 30, 2013
No specific date has been mentioned for the Verizon HTC One just yet and it’s unclear if HTC and Verizon will do something big for the announcement or simply release the device into the wild. The device has of course been available on AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile for quite some time so it would be surprising to see them utilize a launch event, especially after skipping CTIA.
The device is likely going to be exactly the same as the other models which means a 4.7-inch 1080p display, quad-core processor, Ultrapixel camera, Sense 5 and Android 4.1 or Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.
11 Best iPhone XS Cases
Here are the best iPhone XS cases you can buy for your new iPhone XS. While many of the iPhone...
12 Best iPhone XS Max Cases
The iPhone XS Max is a great looking iPhone with stunning design. With steel edges and a glass back, you might...


text:
I am right now facing the sad truth now, the N8, MY N8 is getting delayed for a week or so, according to the same Nokia Priority Dealer who promised me an N8 on 23rd.
Read on after the break.
What he said :
“Sir, we had a meeting today to decide what gift to package the N8 with and Nokia stressed that we provide a worthy gift such as the bluetooth music headset(BH-905? ).And so for packaging the gift with the N8, its getting delayed for mostly 6 days, you will get yours before the 30th of this month.”
I asked “So, the price remains the same?”
He said ” Yes, it is same and it is Rs.23,000”
So, this is the sad story of the N8 getting delayed for launch, which is drawing too much criticism from bloggers all around already.
Come on Nokia, why are you doing this to me? I promised and challenged all my friends that i will show them on 23rd how great the N8 will be, you are losing prospective customers, you know?
And also U.S and U.K pre-order customers are getting their N8s by the END of OCTOBER.
So why is it delayed?
we see this announcement from Nokia coinciding with the announcement of qt 4.7, which is supposed to run 4X faster on ARM devices thanks to the optimizations done by the Trolltech team along with Texas Instruments. So , maybe this is the reason why the N8 is getting delayed? for installing qt 4.7? or maybe the new browser(that Nokia hinted at the Nokia World) based on qt is being installed along with 4.7? I clearly dont understand, but i keep telling myself, its better late than never,
aal izz well.


text:
Valo Motion, the Finnish maker of active mixed-reality products, is thrilled to announce that RPM Raceway, a popular New York-based Family Entertainment Center (FEC) chain, has ordered and installed a second ValoArena for its Stamford, CT location.
This decision comes after RPM Raceway experienced success with the first ValoArena installation at its Long Island location in Farmingdale. NY.
“Valo Motion is truly humbled by RPM Raceway’s decision to invest in a second ValoArena already,” said Raine Kajastila, CEO and Founder of Valo Motion. “RPM’s continued trust and support of ValoArena underscores our belief that there is definitely a place in FECs for immersive attractions that are physically active and fun experiences.”
RPM Raceway has five locations throughout the East Coast and has been in business for over a decade. The company’s tagline, “RACE. PLAY. MORE,” reflects its dedication to offering a wide variety of attractions to customers.
ValoArena’s innovative technology and unattended design initially caught the attention of RPM’s owner, Eyal Farage. RPM’s Long Island location became the first US location to install ValoArena after operations manager Chris Kimlingen conducted extensive research and communications with Valo Motion’s Sales team to ensure the new attraction would be a valuable addition to the FEC.
Within just four months of installation, ValoArena became the top attraction at RPM Raceway, outperforming other VR experiences and even several top-tier arcade machines. As a result, RPM Raceway decided to purchase a second ValoArena at November’s IAAPA Expo. “What’s so impressive about ValoArena is that it generates more than enough revenue to substantiate its large footprint,” said Kimlingen. “The numbers don’t lie, investing in a second ValoArena was really a no-brainer.”
ValoArena is an unattended 6-player mixed reality playground that requires no wearables, wires, or controllers and offers active social gameplay, high throughput, and exciting ROI potential. By seamlessly blending physical and digital experiences, ValoArena caters to a broad audience, with five games to drive customer engagement and repeat visits. This groundbreaking attraction not only enhances a venue’s entertainment value for customers but also presents a highly lucrative opportunity for operators, solidifying its position as a smart investment for any FEC looking to maximize revenue and provide guests with an incredibly fun, physically active experience.


text:
A new case against Juul Labs is the latest in a series of missteps for the slowly-flailing company that's blamed for perpetuating a vaping crisis among young people in the US. This time, Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey presents perhaps the most damning evidence to date that the company did in fact target young people with its marketing when first launching in 2015.
“Juul knew it was selling to kids,” said Healey in a news conference on Wednesday, announcing the lawsuit against the company. “They plastered the internet.” The "selling to kids" Healey is referring to specifically points to new evidence that the company placed strategised advertisements that would attract minors.
According to released court records, Juul Labs purchased ad space on several websites aimed at teens and children including Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Seventeen magazine, as well as educational sites meant for middle school and high school students. The lawsuit alleges that Juul was originally presented with a marketing proposal by a hired firm called Cult Collective that clearly defined their target audience as adult smokers. The ads showed outdated tech, popular in the 80s, with a picture of a Juul product and the slogan “Smoking Evolved.” But that advertisement never came to fruition.
Juul reportedly rejected the marketing proposal in favour of hiring their own in-house team to create a more youth-oriented campaign with the tagline “Vaporised.” The “Vaporised” ads showed more younger-looking models against bright, colourful backdrops that might appeal to a more millennial or Gen Z audience. According to a Buzzfeed report, Juul employees — and even its board of directors — claim they expressed concern that the models looked too young, but that the campaign moved forward regardless.
Nevertheless, Juul Labs decided to move forward with the ads, placing them in front of young people with both network and print strategies. Internal documents show the extent to which the company went to market directly to young people, playing a significant role in sparking the teen vaping crisis. In 2018, a spokesperson for Juul told the New York Times that the original ad campaign was aimed at adults in their 20s and 30s and insisted that it was abandoned after five months in the fall of 2015. The lawsuit claims that was not the case and that Juul continued to reach out to underage users after it claimed to have abandoned the campaign.
“The information that we uncovered in our investigation demonstrates Juul’s intent – they didn’t accidentally create an advertising campaign with young and attractive people – that’s what they were going for all along,” said Healey. Massachusetts is among a number of states including Arizona, California, Illinois, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, as well as the District of Columbia to sue Juul over their marketing practices.
Juul also allegedly marketed to underage people by email. The company collected hundreds of thousands of emails on their website. In the summer of 2017, Juul asked an independent company to check 420,000 addresses from its mailing list. In the end, 83% of the overall list couldn’t be matched to people who were 18 or older, reports the NYT. Still, Juul reportedly kept sending marketing emails to that list for another year. When the Washington Post published an article outing Juul for its email list, only then did the company add a requirement for each email to pass an age-verification process.
The last, and maybe most damning piece of evidence in the lawsuit accuses Juul of knowingly shipping e-cigarettes to consumers who gave student email addresses associated with Massachusetts high schools. Some even gave obviously fake names. In one instance, a Juul customer service email advised an underage customer how to get around age restrictions. “The legal age to purchase nicotine products in Milton, Mass. is 21 years old and above,” the support email sent in February 2018 reads. “If you have friends or relatives in Quincy, Mass., you may use their address as a shipping address for your order.”
Juul, and the entire e-cigarette industry, has been struggling with its public image ever since studies began to emerge that vaping was disproportionately attracting teens and new, young smokers. Juul and its competitors have until May to apply to FDA approval if they want to stay on the market. One major consideration the FDA will address is whether Juul can keep underage children from buying its products.


text:
India and the United Kingdom (UK) are likely to begin the formal negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) from the second week of January onwards, reports Economic Times.
“The idea is to launch the negotiations and the first round of talks this month,” an official in the know of developments was quoted in the ET report as saying.
The deliberations will be launched during the visit of a group of representatives from the trade ministry to India.
However, the two sides may also consider virtually inaugurating the negotiations on the backdrop of the increasing cases of Covid-19 in both the countries.
According to the report, the two sides are planning an interim agreement, involving early tariffs or market access concessions on certain important high-priority products and services, by March 2022.
Following the interim agreement, a comprehensive agreement will be rolled out later.
While India wants better mobility for its professionals among other things, UK is looking for reductions on tariffs for Scotch whiskey along with a bilateral data adequacy agreement before a comprehensive free trade agreement is finalised.
India is also pursuing duty cuts for basmati rice, vaccines, yarn, wool, whisky, instant coffee amongst other products.
Doing away with barriers in trade of the medical devices, food and drinks, services along with removing or reducing tariffs on automotive products are reportedly the stated objectives of the proposed agreement between the two countries.
As you are no doubt aware, Swarajya is a media product that is directly dependent on support from its readers in the form of subscriptions. We do not have the muscle and backing of a large media conglomerate nor are we playing for the large advertisement sweep-stake.
Our business model is you and your subscription. And in challenging times like these, we need your support now more than ever.
We deliver over 10 - 15 high quality articles with expert insights and views. From 7AM in the morning to 10PM late night we operate to ensure you, the reader, get to see what is just right.
Becoming a Patron or a subscriber for as little as Rs 1200/year is the best way you can support our efforts.


text:
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Michael Ted Wasikowski was arraigned Thursday on charges of resisting and obstructing and retail fraud.
According to authorities, just before 10 a.m. on Oct. 18, the Lowe's on Telegraph Road reported a retail fraud. Police were informed a known suspect from a previous retail fraud case was in the store and under surveillance.
Wasikowski reportedly selected a $400 chainsaw and left the store without paying. When confronted, police said he resisted arrest and fled the scene. He was later found and taken into custody.
He was given a $200,000 bond and is expected to return to court on Nov. 8.


text:
I heard that… Apple is going to announce the new MacBook today(Tuesday). I also heard that… MacBook will be thinner than current iBooks. Beside that, it will be available in both black and white configurations. Also. the bad news, it will cost slightly higher than previous iBook models. What is the time now in US? Just keep on waitng, but from reliable sources, Apple has confirmed to announce it today.
Apple has postpone the annoucement to next Tuesday. Wondering why they like Tuesday 😛


text:
OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G has been talk of the town for several days. Now, the brand has officially confirmed the launch date of the Nord CE 2 5G in India. The Nord CE 2 5G, the successor of the Nord CE 5G is launching on Feb 17 in the country. Apart from the launch date, the official teaser video has also revealed the design of the upcoming OnePlus phone.
— OnePlus India (@OnePlus_IN) February 10, 2022
OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G Design Teased
OnePlus took to its official Twitter handle to confirm the arrival of the upcoming OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G. The shared video confirms the phone will have a punch-hole cutout placed at the left corner of the screen to house the front-facing camera sensor.
The volume buttons are on the left edge, while the power button will be placed on the right side of the device. At the rear panel, the Nord CE 2 5G will have a triple camera system.
OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G Features We Know So Far
OnePlus did not reveal any key specs of the upcoming smartphone. However, multiple rumors and leaks have already given us an idea of what to expect from the device. The OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G is tipped to sport a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate.
The device is believed to ship with the MediaTek Dimensity 900 processor which will be paired with up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of onboard storage. The successor of the OnePlus Nord CE 5G is likely to include a dedicated microSD card slot for additional storage expansion.
For imaging, the phone will offer a 64MP main lens, an 8MP ultra-wide sensor, and a 2MP sensor. Upfront, the Nord CE 2 will come with a 16MP camera for selfies and videos. Additionally, the phone is expected to run Android 12 with OxygenOS 12 skin out-of-the-box. There will be a 4,500 mAh dual-cell battery with support for 65W fast charging.
OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G Expected Pricing In India
Separately, tipster Abhishek Yadav has shared the pricing of the OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G in India. The base 6GB RAM + 128GB model is said to be priced at Rs. 23,999, while the high-end 8GB RAM + 128GB model will cost Rs. 24,999. Since OnePlus has not revealed anything regarding the pricing, we will suggest you to take it as speculation.
Besides, a report suggested the brand will also launch a Lite version of the OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G dubbed the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G. The specifications of the smartphone were also revealed online. The smartphone is believed to be the first-ever Nord device that might launch under Rs. 20,000 in the country.
It is also tipped to launch arrive after July in the country. However, OnePlus is yet to confirm the existence of the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G. To know the detailed features of the Nord CE 2 Lite 5G, you can head over to our previous story.
Most Read Articles
Best Mobiles in India
You have already subscribed


text:
Disney's Dylan Mulvaney moment as it partners with gender fluid TikTok influencer Seann Altman to promote clothing for girls
- Seann Altman demonstrated how to dress up like Minnie Mouse as part of a partnership with Walt Disney
- The move divided some on social media who were quick to draw comparisons to Bud Light's disastrous March Madness marketing campaign
- Dylan Mulvaney sparked backlash after posting a series of videos with a personalized can of the beer
Disney has partnered with TikTok influencer Seann Altman to promote clothing for girls in a move that immediately drew comparisons to Bud Light's disastrous partnership with Dylan Mulvaney.
Altmann, who identifies as gender fluid but uses he/him pronouns, donned a red dress as he demonstrated to fans of Minnie Mouse how they can look like the iconic children's character, in a TikTok promotion for Disney Style.
'I look just like Minnie Mouse!' he said after layering white lacy gloves, red lipstick and a bow. 'Now I'm fashionable, bold and fun.'
Altmann's clip divided some on social media who were quick to compare it to Mulvaney's collaboration with the beer giant, which sparked a boycott that wiped more than $27 billion off the brand's market value.
The move also came not long before Walt Disney reported a rare but large loss in its second quarter filings on Wednesday, as the woke brand lost a staggering $460 million while visits to Disney World slowed.
Gender fluid influencer Seann Altman demonstrated how to dress up like Minnie Mouse
The social media star opted for a pair of white lacy gloves to help him mimic the iconic children's character
Altman felt the Minnie Mouse-themed dress and yellow shoes helped 'seal the deal'
After completing his look, Altman said he was now 'fashionable, bold and fun'
The promotion for Disney Style, which advertises clothing and accessories from the Disney range, saw Altman begin by saying he would 'look at the most iconic friend group' and delve into the Mickey Mouse family.
Altman has over 700,000 followers on TikTok
He said he opted to dress up like Minnie Mouse because the character was 'the most like me,' adding that he even had 'the perfect dress to start the look.'
After donning the red dress that was 'just like Minnie', the social media star paired it with a large white lacy necklace 'just to give it a little more flair.'
He then added a large white petticoat, white lacy gloves, a belt and a watch, before saying it was time to be 'as bold as Minnie' and applying red lipstick.
Altman continued building the costume with black tights and yellow shoes, and completed the look with a big red bow - which he felt was 'the biggest fashion statement.'
'I literally look like Minnie Mouse,' he said with a twirl. 'And I fit in perfectly with Mickey and his friends.
'The bow, with the dress and the shoes really seal the deal, now I'm fashionable, bold and fun just like Minnie Mouse.'
The move from Disney to push the promotion sparked some backlash online, with some questioning whether Altman was the correct choice to market children's costumes while others felt the brand was caving to woke pressure.
Conservative commentator and journalist Cassandra MacDonald slated the company for having 'clearly learned nothing from the Bud Light fiasco.'
She repeatedly referred to Altman as 'transgender' though that is inaccurate.
'(Disney) has has partnered with transgender TikTok influencer Seann Altman, a biological male who identifies as "gender fluid", to promote a line of girls’ apparel,' she added.
'In the video, Altman does a tutorial on dressing like Minnie Mouse.
'The transgender influencer has 717,000 followers on the platform and frequently makes videos where he is dressed up as a young girl, including a recent one where he is skipping around in fairy wings.'
'Can't imagine why Disney stock is crashing,' said one critic, as another said: 'Disgusting... I'm done with Disney forever.'
Another said: 'You know what to do folks - boycott Disney if you haven't already', referencing the public boycott following Mulvaney's Bud Light partnership.
'For Disney, this is pouring oil ahead of themselves on the slide they're already riding,' said one viewer, after MacDonald also noted how the company recently cast its first ever transgender actor to join the Star Wars franchise.
The criticisms come at a vulnerable time for the iconic brand, which reported a shocking $460 million loss in its second-quarter filings on Wednesday.
Amid its bitter feud with Florida Governor and 2024 presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis, Disney saw visits to Disney World slow while the number of subscribers to its streaming platform fell 7.4 percent.
Altman's appearance on the promo video was met with backlash, with some viewers questioning if he was the correct choice to market children's costumes
Disney's partnership comes months after Bud Light collaborated with Dylan Mulvaney to celebrate her '365 days of girlhood'
Anheuser-Busch lost a whopping $395million in US sales and over $27 billion in market capital after they partnered with the transgender influencer in April
The transgender TikTok star shrugged off criticism for her disastrous marketing campaign
Disney Style's marketing team will be hoping their partnership with Altman is more successful than their counterparts at Bud Light had earlier in the year.
It was the most popular beer in America for over two decades, but in April the brand released a promotion featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, sparking a huge boycott.
She was gifted a specialized can to celebrate 365 days of 'being a girl' - the phrase she used to describe her transition from male to female.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, the brand's parent company, lost a staggering $390 million in US sales in the wake of the crisis.
The world's largest brewer that sales to US retailers had plunged 14 percent, adding that it had been 'underperforming the industry.'
In a statement, the company put the declining sales down to the backlash they faced for partnering with Mulvaney.


text:
Subscriber BenefitAs a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
The president of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce said Thursday that the Trump administration is "gambling with other people's money" in its escalating trade war with China.
Kevin Brinegar's comments reflect the increasing worry among Indiana business leaders about the impact the trade war between the United States and China could have on the state’s manufacturing and agriculture industries. The Indiana Chamber said those impacts could be devastating for the Hoosier business community.
Last week, President Donald Trump announced plans to increase tariffs from 10% to 25% on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports that include a wide variety of products like aluminum and steel, frozen fish and meat and wood. The complete list of products impacted by the tariff hike spans 196 pages.
According to CNBC, consumer goods account for about 25% of the items impacted.
On Monday, China retaliated with tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods, targeting peanuts, sugar, wheat, chicken and turkey.
“The president and the administration are effectively gambling with other people’s money,” said Kevin Brinegar, CEO of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.
The tariffs, which are essentially a tax charged on goods imported to the U.S. or China, are typically paid by the company receiving the product. That means businesses that buy supplies from China could be subject to the 25% tariff, if the product is among the targeted items. The tariff is paid to the U.S. government.
The new trade barriers came as both nations days earlier had expected to sign a trade deal and end the ongoing battle.
Indiana exports about $2 billion in goods to China and imports about $9.2 billion in 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“In the end, this is just a lot of uncertainty in a marketplace that values consistency and certainty,” said Andrew Berger, vice president of governmental affairs and tax policy for the Indiana Manufacturers Association.
Berger said the impact of the tariffs for individual businesses will depend on how much a manufacturer is importing from or exporting to China and which specific products are involved, but in general, companies are nervous about the escalating trade war.
Brinegar said businesses across the state that export to China are worried their customers will look for other suppliers to avoid the retaliatory tariffs.
“We’re hearing significant and deep concern about that from our members,” Brinegar said. “Once you lose a customer as a supplier, it’s really hard to get them back.”
Business leaders say they’d like to see a level playing field with China when it comes to trade and have long been concerned about unfair trade practices, especially related to intellectual property theft, and so they understand the administration's intent. But they said there's concern about how long companies can weather the negative impact and whether the strategy will work in the long run.
“That theft is estimated to cost the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars each year, and it needs to stop," Brinegar said in a statement. "But there has got to be a better way than putting American businesses and jobs on the line. And we are communicating that to members of Indiana’s congressional delegation and the Trump administration.”
But it’s unclear what an effective or guaranteed solution would look like.
“There’s no question this is not an easy fix, and we acknowledge that,” Brinegar said.
“I don’t think anybody thinks this is the end of the story,” Berger said. “I don’t know what the result is going to be but I know there are a lot of people very nervous about the future of these issues.”


text:
BOISE, Idaho, April 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Albertson's, Inc. (NYSE: ABS) announced today that Sue Klug has been named senior vice president, sales and merchandising for its California food division, effective May 23. Klug, who most recently served as chief development officer for Catalina Marketing Corporation based in St. Petersburg, Florida, joins Albertsons with more than twenty-five years of merchandising and marketing experience including expertise in the areas of information technology, inventory management, strategic planning, consumer research, advertising, public relations and loyalty marketing for the supermarket industry. "Sue Klug is one of the most talented professionals in the supermarket industry, and we are thrilled to welcome her to the Albertsons leadership team," said Larry Johnston, Albertsons chairman, CEO and president. Klug's previous positions at Catalina included responsibility for the international, direct mail, research, internet and US Retail business units. She also previously served as senior vice president of sales and marketing for Lucky stores and Vons in California. Klug holds a bachelor's degree in Food Industry Management and a master's in business administration, both from the University of Southern California. She resides with her family in Anaheim Hills, California. Pete Van Helden, President and CEO of Albertsons California Food Division commented, "Sue's unique blend of leadership experiences and her proven track record across a broad spectrum of marketing and merchandising disciplines will be invaluable as we continue the transformation of Albertsons' largest division." In Klug's new role, she will report directly to Van Helden. Albertsons California food division consists of more than 500 stores in California and Nevada employing more than 41,000 associates. Albertsons is one of the world's largest food and drug retailers. The company's divisions and subsidiaries operate more than 2,500 stores in 37 states across the U.S. and employ more than 240,000 associates. Its banners include Albertsons, Acme, Shaw's, Star Market, Jewel-Osco, Sav-on Drugs, and Osco Drug, as well as Super Saver and Bristol Farms, which are operated independently.
SOURCE Albertson's, Inc.


text:
Tower 28 Has Had A Hot Start. Here’s The Multipronged Marketing Approach That Helped It Take Off.
There were no fancy analytics or agencies when Tower 28, a clean beauty brand focused on consumers with sensitive skin, started its marketing push before launching in April last year. Founder Amy Liu and an intern scrolled through Instagram to identify primarily micro-influencers interested in skincare, dealing with eczema and passionate about makeup.
“We were just trying to figure out who was interested and cast a pretty wide net. Had we gone into it thinking our audience was only the same as Glossier’s or a different lookalike audience, I think we would have really limited ourselves,” says Liu, a panelist at the entrepreneurial education conference BeautyX Demand Generation on Tuesday in Los Angeles. “It was a pretty labor intensive at the beginning, and the KPIs [key performance indicators] I was looking at were which people posted, what kind of posts they posted and the engagement on those posts. It’s hard to attribute sales directly.”
Tower 28 sent out 200 packages in its first influencer mailing and sprinkled in a few moonshots like beauty vlogger Nicole Guerriero. Guerriero posted about the brand, causing it to gain 1,000 followers and score 150 orders overnight. Three months later, in July, Tower 28 mailed packages to 300 influencers and, in September, scheduled with its debut on Sephora’s website, the brand had a mailing to 400 influencers. Today, its influencer list is closing on 500 social media gurus and, to date, it’s spent roughly $50,000 on influencer outreach.
Tower 28 hasn’t pursued influencer marketing in a vacuum. It’s widened demand generation strategies to encompass press relations, review efforts, events, retailer interaction and digital advertising. With the exception of hiring a firm after six months in existence to handle PR, the brand has run marketing programs in-house. “I really believe in creating real relationships,” says Liu, discussing her decision not to hire an influencer agency. “It can be expensive, and it dilutes the relationship you have with an influencer. We have chosen to take a more laborious, but more authentic route. It’s also more cost-efficient.”
The macro results have been covetable. Tower 28 has nearly 20,000 Instagram followers and achieved a 1.68% engagement rate on the platform, according to Phlanx, above fellow Sephora clean beauty brand Ilia’s .72% rate, but below Aether Beauty’s 2.01% rate. According to a forecast in WWD, Tower 28’s sales are on track to hit $2 million to $3 million this year, up from $300,000 to $400,000 last year. This month, the brand rolled out to around 500 Sephora doors across United States and Canada.
“So much of what we are trying to do is build awareness and leverage the influence of other people who genuinely like our products to do that.”
To assist with establishing credibility, Tower 28 includes makeup artists in its product seeding. That inclusion has led to Jillian Dempsey using its product BeachPlease Tinted Lip + Cheek Balm in the Magic Hour shade on Emilia Clarke, and Katie Jane Hughes posting about the brand on Instagram. Tower 28 participated in Jamie Greenberg’s swag bag in May last year, too, to connect with fans of the social media-savvy makeup artist. “We saw that celebrity makeup artists really like us. If you notice something works, you keep doing it,” says Liu. “So much of what we are trying to do is build awareness and leverage the influence of other people who genuinely like our products to do that.”
On the traditional media front, the brand has scored placements in Teen Vogue, Glamour, Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, to name a few outlets. Into The Gloss recently published a review titled “This Face Mist Has Become Most Of My Skincare Routine” about Tower 28’s SOS Daily Rescue, and Sephora’s site has been cleared of it. Sales on Tower 28’s site this week have tripled, partially due to the piece and partially due to the products selling out on Sephora’s site. To capture shoppers not finishing sales on its site, the brand two weeks ago initiated spending $100 daily retargeting those with abandoned carts to increase conversions. Prior to the retargeting, Tower 28 had outlaid minimal amounts—Liu approximates $5 here and there—on boosting social media posts, but pulled away from the boosting on the advice that sporadic social media advertising didn’t effectively harness algorithms.
Not all press has been absolutely perfect. “Because my own story is one of someone who has eczema, sometimes people talk about it as a brand that is for people who have eczema only, which feels narrow in scope,” says Liu. “If you have acne and read something about this brand for people who have eczema, I don’t want you to feel it’s not for you. That’s the hard thing about using someone else’s platform to tell your story. You don’t get to control the narrative.”
To drive interest in its in-store presence, Tower 28 is kicking off a contest urging people to tag and share pictures of its products inside Sephora to win a $500 gift certificate to the retailer and $500 worth of the brand’s merchandise. Previously, it’s done giveaways and events in collaborations with brands such as ZitSticka and Sonix. Referring to an event with Sonix, Liu says, “They invited influencers and so did we. They introduced us to a different audience than the influencers that we were already working with, and we expanded our audience.”
To encourage reviews, Tower 28 sends a travel-size SOS Daily Rescue to customers that screenshot their reviews on sephora.com and direct message the screenshots to the brand. Outside of its Sephora-related activities, the brand has been involved in Supergreat, a platform doling out rewards to community members that review beauty products. Liu estimates Tower 28 has provided Supergreat 300 products in three shipments to elicit reviews through it.
“Supergreat has a younger audience, and one of my initiatives this year is to tap more into the gen Z audience,” she says, detailing Tower 28’s core customers are 18- to 34-year-old women in California, Texas, New York and the Northwest. Liu says, “In general, if you believe as I do that your products are good, putting more products out there with the intention that people will tell other people is a good idea.”
Liu’s definition of an influencer is broadening as her company expands. She mentions, for example, that Sephora sales associates should be considered influencers. She pops into Sephora stores, and hands them products to inspire them to trial and spread the word about Tower 28. In July last year while Liu was at Sephora’s headquarters in San Francisco for a meeting, she passed out popsicles and lip gloss to staff. They were passed out not exclusively to the buying team, but to employees in e-commerce and operations as well, among various departments.
“Influence has always been and will always be a real thing. That’s how people make decisions,” says Liu. “It’s just a noisier landscape where it’s more democratized. It’s not only from an expert or celebrity. You need a 360 approach, where it comes from a lot of different places.”


text: 45070 story Mark Shuttleworth Tries To Lure OpenSUSE Devs 258 Posted by Zonk on Saturday November 25, 2006 @11:38PM from the trolling-for-talent dept. polar_bear` writes "A lot of developers are angry at Novell for its deal with Microsoft, but is it fair game for other vendors to try to capitalize on dissatisfaction with Novell? Apparently, Mark Shuttleworth thinks so. Shuttleworth sent an invitation to the openSUSE developers list inviting developers 'concerned about the long term consequences' of Novell's deal to participate in Ubuntu Open Week and consider jumping ship to Ubuntu. OpenSUSE and Ubuntu developers are not amused."


text:
As someone who travels by plane at least eight times a year, I consume a lot of airplane food. Of the variety plane food I've eaten over the years, Chinese airplane food has been probably on average the worst. Well, according to Chinese social networking site Weibo, I'm not the only one who feels this way.
As much as I love dogs, cats are the ones who rule the internet, and in China it's no different. Taking China's largest social network by storm in conjunction with the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, is this Beijing kitty, Piggycat KeLe.
Today is April 7th, the last day before the worldwide phaseout of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. While most people out West will be operating happily in either Windows 8, 7 and even, hahaha, Vista, close to 200 million people in China will still be holding onto XP.
The original Xbox and Xbox 360 weren't allowed to be sold in China due to the country's console ban. With the ban looking to stay in place for the foreseeable future, the availability of the Xbox One as well as other next-generation consoles in China is questionable.


text:
Google Inc. projected in 2010 it would get more than 35% of its 2013 revenue from outside its flagship search operation, anticipating three non-search businesses, including commerce, would generate more than US$5-billion each, according to internal company documents filed in court
Siri, Apple Inc.'s popular digital assistant for the iPhone 4S, could very well threaten Google Inc. over the long term by diverting search traffic
Get ready to meet the "Googlighting Guy," a character created by Microsoft who is starring in a new viral video designed to scare businesses who use Microsoft's Office software away from adopting Google tools.
Tech firms making news this morning: Apple Inc., Cray Inc., International Business Machines (IBM) Corp., VeriFone Systems Inc., Google Inc. and Twitter Inc.
Nearly all U.S. federal government websites are set to be disabled at midnight, Google Inc. ties employee bonuses to its social strategy success and a new Apple Inc. patent application hints at an advanced new iPhone display
Google Inc will allow people to personally endorse search results and Web pages, an important step in its efforts to add social networking capabilities to its products amid increasing competition from Facebook
Canadian pop-star Justin Bieber – who was brought to fame on the Internet via YouTube – topped Google’s fastest rising search list for people in 2010. Google released its 2010 Zeitgeist, which highlights the most searchable celebrities, events, news and more.
Google can now deliver more up-to-date search results more quickly than before
Trying out Apple Music? Here's how you can take advantage of its Beats 1 radio broadcast, tell Siri what you want to hear and enjoy music offline
Other stores offer better deals on items like DVDs, diapers and designer clothing than Costco, but you can't beat the famously cheap hot dog and pop at its food court
Canadian workers have told CFIB, in an Ipsos-Reid poll, they don't have the money to increase retirement savings, but if they did they don't favour putting it toward CPP
Walter Schloss is not as well known as Warren Buffett, but he has earned the Sage of Omaha's praise as one of the best value investors ever. And his secrets are surprisingly simple
Historically, the biggest moves in stocks and the global economy have come at the peak of summer — and with a whole series of fissures poised to break open — this August could be very rocky indeed