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A new eco dive resort in Raja Ampat has become the first to launch e-boats, an important step in the race to protect the world’s most biodiverse coral reefs.
Competition is healthy among the eco resorts of Indonesia’s most famous dive destination, Raja Ampat. And MahaRaja Eco Dive Lodge, which only opened 8 months ago, has just scored an important claim to fame.
The small luxury resort is the first in Raja Ampat—and possibly the first in Indonesia—to electrify its dive boats.
MahaRaja has fitted two traditional Papuan long boats with electric engines, beating rival sustainability-minded dive resorts such as Kri Eco Resort, which also has plans to build e-boats, to launch vessels that don’t pollute.
“We are the first [resort] to launch e-boats, and we sincerely hope the others will follow,” MahaRaja’s founder Mahasti Motazedi, a French former aeronautics engineer and Microsoft sales executive, tells Eco-Business.
With tourism growing rapidly Raja Ampat—although remote and expensive, visitor numbers have grown by 1,300 per cent in under a decade—the region’s reefs, the world’s most biodiverse, will hope she’s right.


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OnePlus teased us about a limited Star Wars edition of their latest flagship smartphone just a few days ago. Today, we have a definite launch date.
One of the disappointments during the recent OnePlus 5T launch was the limited color availability. But thanks to a partnership with the Star Wars franchise, a limited edition model is on its way.
Sony felt like another series of midrange smartphones is in order for the Indian market, and has so launched the Xperia R1 and R1 Plus.
Samsung continues to be the undisputed leader in smartphone sales around the globe, but when you focus on a certain region, the numbers can turn out much differently. Take the situation in India as an example.
A Hong Kong-based company, Chilli International Holding (HK), launched a new phone in India that’s both a mobile device and a toy. Called the K188, it’s the world’s first fidget spinner phone.
We recently detailed the release dates for the new 3310 in four different countries, and while we were expecting those nations to get the revived Nokia classic first, India cut the line for an earlier release. It’s cheaper than expected, too!
An information technology minister in India confirmed that Apple will indeed begin manufacturing iPhones in India soon, in what will be the company’s next major step in world domination.
Apple products may be a global force, but penetration hasn’t been too good in India. That’s because Apple is required to have at least 30 percent of its units manufactured in India for the company to be allowed to sell in physical stores. The Cupertino group hasn’t been able to set up an Indian factory to bypass this obstacle yet, but this could soon change.
In a study conducted by Kaspersky, the security network unearthed some disturbing statistics: out of nine Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries, Vietnam, the Philippines, and India have the highest number of computer users who experienced local threat incidents.
The continued advances in technology have transformed smartphones into commodities, and as companies continue to wage the price war, the market is coming dangerously close to a point where a company might do the unthinkable to stand out: sell products at lower than cost price and pray the gamble pays off with astronomical sales figures.
That is the situation a startup from India will find itself in when it begins shipping the world’s cheapest smartphone for $4 (251 rupees) this week. At that price, you’re basically just paying for the cardboard box that will presumably house the device.
Apple’s plan of selling refurbished iPhones in India may not see the light of day anytime soon, but its dream of opening its own retail locations in the world’s second-largest smartphone market isn’t as elusive. Speaking to an anonymous source, the Times of India had reported that the Indian government is looking to bend its existing 30-percent rule and give the American tech firm three years to comply with local sourcing norms.
As if to reflect the market’s sustained interest in big-screen devices, Motorola’s Moto G series of smartphones has grown up. Now, in its 2016 refresh, the Moto G4 and G4 Plus are more capable than ever, and, in the case of the latter, without adding too much to the cost of its predecessor.
After reports of Apple attempting to sell refurbished iPhones broke out last month, we finally have a verdict, and it’s not a good one for the Cupertino-based company.
India has flat-out rejected Apple’s push into the country’s market with used iPhones. This was the brand’s second attempt at penetrating the massive Indian population – and its 220 million active users – with iPhones priced competitively against the sub-$150 smartphones from both Indian and Chinese manufacturers.

domain: news


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Tesco suspends four executives as it investigates why profits were overstated by £250m
Embattled supermarket chain Tesco has suspended four senior executives, thought to include UK managing director Chris Bush, after appointing accountancy firm Deloitte to investigate a ‘serious issue’ which led to the retailer overstating its half-yearly profits by £250m.
Whilst Tesco will not publically comment on the individuals involved it is believed that Robin Terrell, Tesco’s head of online operations, is being lined up to perform Bush’s duties on a temporary basis.
Tesco had previously suggested that it would enjoy a half-year profit of £1.1bn but this was subsequently substantially marked down, prompting moves to get to the bottom of the discrepancy.
Markets reacted badly to the news with Tesco’s share price collapsing by 10 per cent in early trading, providing a major headache for the chain’s new head, Dave Lewis, who took up post on 1 September.
In a statement Lewis, said: "We have uncovered a serious issue and have responded accordingly. The Chairman and I have acted quickly to establish a comprehensive independent investigation. The Board, my colleagues, our customers and I expect Tesco to operate with integrity and transparency and we will take decisive action as the results of the investigation become clear."
The incompetence comes at a bad time for the store which has been suffering from declining sales amidst increasingly fierce competition from discount rivals such as Aldi and Lidl.


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Numbers in this table are calculated by Automotive News based on actual monthly sales reported by the manufacturers and may differ from numbers reported elsewhere.
Source: Automotive News Data Center
Note: Other includes estimates for Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Lotus
*Includes Mini and Rolls-Royce
**Includes Maybach, Mercedes-Benz and Smart
****Includes Saab through February 2010
†Includes Honda Division and Acura
††Includes Hyundai and Kia
†††Includes Nissan Division and Infiniti
‡The sale of Saab was final on February 23, 2010
‡‡Includes Toyota Division, Lexus and Scion
‡‡‡Includes VW, Audi and Bentley
MARCH U.S. AUTO SALES
Ford, Toyota soar as incentives fuel 24% industry gain
Automotive News — April 1, 2010 – 10:47 am ET
UPDATED: 4/1/10 4:45 p.m. ET
General Motors Co. deliveries rose 21 percent, enough to overtake Ford, which grabbed the top U.S. spot in February for the first time since 1998. Ford sales jumped 40 percent, while Toyota posted a 41 percent increase.
Total U.S. sales advanced 24 percent from the depressed levels of March 2009, when automakers were battling the weakest demand in almost three decades. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 11.7 million was lower than analysts’ forecasts but still marked the year’s strongest and the second healthiest since August, when the U.S. cash-for-clunkers campaign boosted sales.
John Paul Strong
John Paul Strong combines his two decades of automotive marketing experience with a team of more than 140 professionals as owner and CEO of Strong Automotive Merchandising.


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Midvale, Utah, residents can “get their Dunkin’ on” as a new Dunkin’ Donuts location will open on Tuesday, December 17, at 5 a.m. Midvale guests will be able to start their day with free Dunkin’ Donuts coffee during the grand opening. The new restaurant includes a drive thru and is located in the Family Center near Ross Dress for Less. After the grand opening, this new store and its drive thru will be open daily from 4:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Sizzling Platter LLC, a Utah-based restaurant management company, will open this location and has additional Dunkin’ Donuts sites planned for the Wasatch Front. “We chose this Midvale site for its proximity to a thriving business community,” says Gary Shatswell, VP of marketing for Sizzling Platter LLC. “We’re certain it will be a big hit with local residents.”
There are seven other Dunkin’ Donut stores along the Wasatch Front: one each in Sugar House, Taylorsville, Brickyard, Ogden, Bountiful, West Valley City, and Salt Lake City.
“Midvale is about to discover why ‘America Runs on Dunkin,’” says Ted Morton, Sizzling Platter CEO. “From your first cup of iced or hot coffee to our amazing breakfast and lunch sandwiches, there is an array of all day options.”
Sizzling Platter LLC operates and manages restaurant locations across seven Western states under the Dunkin' Donuts, Little Caesars, Sizzler, Red Robin, and Hoppers Grill & Brewing Company brands.


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Teaser: 2014 Chevrolet Silverado Pickup
Auto giant Chevrolet has announced that it will reveal its heavy duty pickup, the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado, on December 13th before the auto-show debut at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show. Along with the reveal date, Chevy has also teased us with an image of the Silverado’s headlight.
Riding on the new K2 platform that is slated to underpin the next gen Cadillac Escalade, GMC Sierra and Yukon, and the Chevrolet Suburban, the Silverado will be evolutionary in terms of design. From the mule videos that were posted earlier, one can render how this hard-working beast might look. Looks apart, the interior is also said to be receiving an overhaul, with higher quality materials and better, luxurious upgrades in its infotainment systems.
The upcoming rig will be powered by the new small-block V8 engines that will power the whole heavy-duty lineup in GM, along with a V6 base-engine.
Other details will be posted once GM officially reveals the Silverado.
Overall, we think that the 2014 Silverado will take a leap forward in terms of refinement and technology, and prove that it’s a worthy pick over competition like the Ford F-250 and the Dodge Ram.
So, are you truck fans excited yet?


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New Delhi: Panasonic India on Monday launched a new phablet Eluga Note in India. The Rs 13,290 Eluga Note comes with a 5.5-inch full-HD IPS (in-plane switching) display with bright and low-power consuming LTPS (Low Temperature Polycrystalline Silicon) display. "We are confident that ELUGA Note will enhance our market share as an emerging smartphones brand and further strengthen our position in the price band of Rs 10,000-15,000," Pankaj Rana, Business Head, Mobility Division, Panasonic India, told reporters here. The phablet is powered by 1.3GHz octa-core processor paired up with 3GB RAM and has 32GB internal memory that can be expanded up to 32GB. It runs on Android Marshmallow 6.0 operating system with Panasonic FitHome user interface. Eluga Note sports a 16MP rear camera with triple LED flash and features a F1.9 aperture for better low light photography and a 6P Lens for ultra-fast auto focus. The front 5MP camera features voice capture, smile shot and gesture based shot.
IANS The 4G VoLTE enabled phablet is backed by a 3000mAh battery unit.


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It’s becoming a familiar phrase in 2020. But honestly, most analysts knew that, for most companies, second-quarter earnings would be brutal. And on a year-over-year basis that was true for Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO).
Earnings for the beverage company were down 33% on a year-over-year (YoY) basis. However, the 42 cents earnings per share (EPS) beat analysts’ expectations by two cents per share. Revenue of $7.2 billion was down 28% YoY and also missed analysts’ expectations by six billion dollars.
Coke shares are up just over one percent on the news in late-day trading. So the question is why? And for that answer, you have to remember this is 2020.
Look beyond the Coca-Cola earnings report
We’re getting into the dog days of summer. And that means the market historically starts seeing red. But 2020 hasn’t been a normal year. Stocks are showing an amazing resilience based on what many investors have to hope is not misplaced optimism.
Investors want to be reassured that the worst is over. I’m not sure if any company knows that for sure, but Coca-Cola seems to think so. In the quarter, the company reported a decline of 16% in unit case volume. But as bad as that number is, it’s an improvement from the 25% decline the company reported in April.
Not unexpectedly, Coke saw an increase in sales from residential consumers who stocked up on the company’s beverages throughout the pandemic. But by itself that is not sufficient. Coca-Cola needs to have the volume that comes from restaurants and bars. But it also won’t be all the way back until fans are allowed to attend sporting events and movie theaters are open. All of these businesses, and more, make up the “away-from-home” category.
To say the least, that is a category that has a cloudy outlook. With that in mind, company executives did not reissue full-year guidance citing continued uncertainty on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the company said the second quarter looks like it will be its most challenging of the year.
This was a similar sentiment expressed by Coke’s rival Pepsico last week. But there’s a difference between the two companies.
Coke is not Pepsi
Pepsico (NASDAQ: PEP) delighted investors last week by beating analysts’ expectations on both the top and bottom lines. But Pepsi has a line of snack foods that sets it apart from Coke which is more of a pure-play beverage business.
And that’s something that some investors will say makes Pepsi a better long-term investment than Coke. And when you look at the trajectory of the two stocks over the last five years, it’s clear that Pepsi has given investors significantly much more growth.
But Coke is not a growth stock and hasn’t been for years. It continues to venture outside of its traditional carbonated beverage products. But for Coke, there is no catalyst for meaningful growth at this time.
The single reason Coke stock is still a buy - the dividend
There are some things that investors can count on as surely as the sun rising in the east. And Coca-Cola delivering a dividend is one of them.
The company is in the elite group of Dividend Kings that has increased its dividend every year for at least 50 consecutive years. In the case of Coke, it’s now 57 years. The company barely made it this year, increasing the dividend by a mere penny, but they did it. And in a year when many companies are slashing or suspending dividends, that’s not a feat that should be overlooked.
There is some concern over when Coke’s string may come to an end. The company’s payout ratio is over 66% based on cash flow. That’s making some analysts uncomfortable. And Coke has a lower-ranked payout ratio than 63% of the 56 companies in the Beverages/Non-Alcoholic industry.
However, I think intellectual honesty demands that if Covid-19 is allowed to affect the company’s revenue and earnings, it also has to be taken into account when looking at the dividend. Over the past three years, Coke has managed to increase its dividend over 14% on an annual basis.
With baseball season starting (finally) I leave you with this. All good things come to an end. At one time, New York Yankees “iron man” Lou Gehrig ended 2,130 consecutive games played streak when he found the one opponent he couldn’t beat.
At some point, Coke’s dividend streak will come to an end. But at the same time, if you’re a value investor, you could very well look back over several years and consider yourself very lucky to have ignored the noise and buying shares of this dividend giant yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Featured Article: How to invest using market indexes7 Cyclical Stocks That Can Help You Play Defense
A cyclical stock is one that produces returns that are influenced by macroeconomic or systematic changes in the broader economy. In strong economic times, these stocks show generally strong growth because they are influenced by discretionary consumer spending. Of course, that means the opposite is true as well. When the economy is weak, these stocks may pull back further than other stocks.
Cyclical stocks cover many sectors, but travel and entertainment stocks come to mind. Airlines, hotels, and restaurants are all examples of cyclical sectors that do well during times of economic growth but are among the first to pull back in recessionary times.
Why do cyclical stocks deserve a place in an investor’s portfolio? Believe it or not, it’s for the relative predictability that they provide. Investors may enjoy speculating in growth stocks, but these are prone to bubbles. This isn’t to say that cyclical stocks are not volatile, but they offer price movement that is a bit more predictable.
In this special presentation, we’re looking at cyclical stocks that are looking strong as we come out of the pandemic. And some of these stocks held up well during the pandemic which means they’re starting from a stronger base.View the "7 Cyclical Stocks That Can Help You Play Defense "
Companies Mentioned in This Article
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L'ABUS D'ALCOOL EST DANGEREUX POUR LA SANTÉ. À CONSOMMER AVEC MODÉRATION.
#WEARESUPRA EURO TOUR PARTY
For the launch of the global #WeAreSupra campaign the Supra Skate Team, almost in its entirety, landed in Europe for … Read more
COREA CORNER INAUGURATION
The innovative concept “Corea Corner”, an ephemeral space to promote contemporary South Korean brands and creativity, will have its Paris … Read more
Christian Lacroix 30th Birthday Pop up Launching Party at L’Exception
Last Thursday on the occasion of its 30th birthday, the “maison de couture” Christian Lacroix launched a pop up store … Read more


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AIR Convention Digital Week, a virtual event designed to review the ways of survival for the aviation industry, unwraps in three weeks.
The event opens with the market overview. On Monday, June 15th, four speakers will share their thoughts on the market in the light of changes brought by the pandemic crisis. What will the post-COVID-19 world look like for aviation? How did it affect European traffic? Invited experts will examine scenarios after the COVID outbreak and discuss passenger demand models for a post-COVID aviation world.
Join the first day of Digital Week on June 15th to hear four different expert opinions:
- Gediminas Ziemelis from Avia Solutions Group
- Claire Leleu from EUROCONTROL
- Stanislav Solomko from Lufthansa Consulting
- Victor Vieira dos Santos from Embraer
The conference will be free to watch online throughout the whole week.
Register for free: https://digital.airconvention.com/


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Ottawa is postponing the enforcement of regulations regarding packaging of vape products in Canada to January 1, 2021 from July 1, 2020.
In a statement, the Convenience Industry Council of Canada said that, since the start of the pandemic, it has been advocating for the pause of non-essential regulations: “Our key message to government is that the health and safety of our staff and customers would be compromised if we had to undertake extensive inventory changes. We are also reiterating that now is not the time to bring in new regulations that will take time away from the increased burden of complying with safety and sanitization procedures.”
In December 2019, Health Canada proposed to ban advertising of vaping products in spaces where young people can see them in a bid to rein in the rise of underage e-cigarette use.
Minister Patty Hajdu put forward new rules Dec. 19 designed to prohibit vaping promotion in specialty shops, businesses and online platforms frequented by youth.
She also outlined requirements that vaping packages feature health warnings and be child-resistant, as well as plans to place limits on nicotine content in vaping liquids to reduce the risk of accidental child poisoning.
The move followed several months of consultations examining measures to restrict advertising for e-cigarettes in the face of growing evidence that vaping has taken off among teens.
In June 2019, the Minister of Health launched public consultations on proposed regulations that would set out new and updated requirements for the labelling and containers of vaping products. The proposed Vaping Products Labelling and Packaging Regulations would require that all vaping substances be labelled with a list of ingredients. In addition, vaping products containing nicotine would be required to display a standardized nicotine concentration statement and a health warning about the addictiveness of nicotine.
The new rules would have come into effect next month. However, convenience industry, like many others, is in the midst of updating operating procedures and, in some cases, dealing with revenue hits in the face of COVID-19.
The delay gives those in the industry time to focus on the essential work of ensuring a safe retail environment with proper social distancing protocols in the ongoing battle against COVID-19.
Industry lobbying Ontario for regulation extension
Ottawa's announcement comes on the heels of Ontario’s Ministry of Health announcing in April it was hitting pause on a series of new vaping regulations that were to come into effect on May 1.
The implementation of the new regulations, which have far-reaching effects on the convenience sector, were delayed until July 1, with an eye on giving all parties time to make adjustments, while also dealing with the business impacts of COVID-19.
At the time, Dianne Alexander, director Health Promotion and Prevention Policy and Programs Branch, Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Public Health Ministry of Health, said: “The government understands that some of the proposed amendments would require certain businesses to remove inventory from their stores, which may involve contact with others. Providing more time to implement would allow owners and employees of affected businesses to practice physical distancing.”
However, as c-stores continue to adjust to the new normal and the need for distancing continues, the industry is lobbying to further delay the implementation of Ontario's new regulations, which would:
- Restrict the retail sale of flavoured vapour products to Specialty Vape Stores and Cannabis Retail Stores, except for menthol, mint and tobacco flavours.
- Restrict the retail sale of high nicotine vapour products (>20mg/ml) to Specialty Vape Stores.
Unless a new agreement is reached, c-stores will have until July 1 to sell out or return to suppliers their existing inventory of higher nicotine and flavours that fall outside the new regulations.
Keep an eye on our website and social media for updates on this evolving situation.
UPDATE READ: Ontario agrees to delay enforcement of new vaping rules
With files from The Canadian Press.


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Deloitte: 60% of Americans will shop over Thanksgiving weekend
New York — Sixty percent of Americans plan to shop in stores or online over the Thanksgiving weekend – up from 51% in 2011, according to Deloitte’s pre-Thanksgiving survey.
Among these weekend shoppers, 63% plan to shop in stores on Black Friday and 23% plan to shop in stores on Thanksgiving day (up from 17% in last year’s survey). Shoppers expect spend an average of $286 over the holiday weekend – up 28% from the 2011 survey
The survey also indicates:
Black Friday shoppers will hit the stores early: 22% of Black Friday shoppers plan to go to the stores at midnight on Black Friday, while 46% plan to head to the stores between Midnight and 5 a.m.;
Shoppers will do their homework: 39% of consumers surveyed plan to research online before shopping in stores over the Black Friday weekend;
Consumers have a long way to go to complete holiday shopping: Shoppers surveyed have completed only 19% of their gift shopping to date while nearly half (48%) haven’t done any of their holiday gift shopping; and
Consumers will be online shopping: 46% of holiday weekend shoppers plan to shop online on Black Friday; 44% plan to shop online on Cyber Monday.
Report: NRLB promises quick action on Walmart case
New York — Federal labor officials said Monday they will decide quickly whether to support a request by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to stop a union-backed group from pushing worker walk-outs at hundreds of stores on Black Friday, the Associated Press reported.
The chain on Thursday filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board to stop OUR Walmart, a group made up of current and former Wal-Mart workers, from holding protests at hundreds of stores.
Report: High demand, limited availability keep Manhattan real estate market strong
New York — Average asking rents on Lower Fifth Avenue in Manhattan rose 13% since the spring of 2012 to $1,021 per square foot (psf) and are up 51% since the same period in 2011, according to The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY’s) Fall 2012 Retail Report. The study revealed continued signs of improvement in the Manhattan retail market, with high demand and limited availability, which significantly drove up asking rents especially in the most prominent shopping corridors
In the Meatpacking District, as defined by the block on 14th Street between 9th and 10th avenues, asking rents rose 25% to $469 psf since spring 2012. The Flatiron shopping corridor along Broadway between 14th and 23rd Streets also had a significant increase in asking rents, with a 27% increase to $273 psf since last spring. Similarly in the Flatiron corridor along Fifth Avenue, asking rents also rose 16% to $350.
“With increased competition for the fewer prime spaces available in key locations, rents in those areas are at all time highs,” said Steven Spinola, REBNY president. “We believe the lack of more prominent spaces on Fifth Avenue between 49th and 59th Streets has led to a softening of the boundaries of this retail corridor. High-profile tenants are willing to consider space immediately south along Fifth Avenue, which has heavy tourist foot traffic. As the retail corridors evolve and grow our economy gets a positive boost and retailers have new options for growth.”
Three other shopping corridors showing growth in ground floor asking rents in this report period were:
- Broadway and 7th Avenue between 42nd and 47th Streets with asking rents up 31% to $1,833 psf since spring 2012.
- East 57th Street between 5th Avenue and Park Avenue with asking rents up 28% to $884 psf since the spring.
- Herald Square corridor as defined by West 34th Street between 5th and 7th Avenues saw rents increase 22% to $683 psf since the spring.


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Mere days into the new year, brands started rolling out star-studded campaigns for spring 2022. Take Cher’s turn in an Ugg advert: the actress, musician, and Twitter icon stepped into a pair of fuzzy black mini boots on the very same day that her campaign with Saweetie for MAC cosmetics dropped. Or, consider Kendall Jenner, who turned up the glam for Michael Kors’s New York City-centric campaign photographed by Inez and Vinoodh on the roof of the Prospect Tower in Midtown Manhattan. The ads to come this season will surely keep us guessing on who will turn up as a surprise model next—and we’re keeping track of them all, here.
This article was originally published on


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Fishmongers are considered a dying trade in Singapore.
According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), the number of NEA-licensed market-produce hawkers have decreased from 6,264 in 2006 to 5,485 in 2016.
Changing consumer behaviour in particular, is a huge contribution to this 12.4 per cent decline.
Nowadays, Singaporeans prefer to shop at supermarkets as opposed to wet markets; and with the rise of online delivery services, they are notably willing to fork out a little more for the convenience of getting their groceries delivered to their doorstep.
Adding on to these factors, there’s a lacking pool of willing successors to take over these stalls.
But 29-year-old Marcus Phang is an exception – he’s one of the very few millennials in Singapore who is willing to take on this traditional trade despite its ‘unglamorous’ nature.
Becoming A Boss Of 3 Fish Stalls
While some might see millennials’ unwillingness to take these hawking jobs as an adversity, Marcus saw this gap as a huge business opportunity instead.
He figured that since other millennials are not keen in this trade, he would stand to benefit in the long run if he joins the business.
“In future, if there are no youngsters that are going to do this business, I may be the lucky one who makes it big,” he told The Pride.
Marcus previously worked in an admin job, but he decided to start up as a fishmonger after studying the business model of a friend’s family who has been running a seafood supplies business for almost 30 years.
Inspired by its longevity, he wanted to expand the business further and roped in two friends as business partners.
But with zero experience, Marcus had to learn the ins and outs of the trade by studying various wet markets and learning from veteran hawkers.
As a complete newbie in the industry, Marcus figured that it would be wise to tap on other hawkers’ network of customers instead of starting out from scratch.
As such, he singled out stalls of retiring hawkers who have an established following and took over their reins.
Today, he helms three stalls hawking fresh seafood at different wet markets across Singapore, namely 112 Jalan Bukit Merah Market, Toa Payoh Lorong 4, and Hougang Ave 8.
Young Doesn’t Mean Inexperienced
Although Marcus and partners had a leverage, starting out still wasn’t easy for them.
He recounted the early days at Hougang, when he was learning from his elderly predecessor before the handover: “On days when (the elderly owner) wasn’t around, his regular customers would rather go to another stall than buy from us, even though the fish we were selling was the same.”
Bearing this incident in mind, Marcus learnt one important lesson: “At the wet market, it’s not just about how good your products are, but also how much the customers like you.”
So despite his reserved personality, Marcus puts in effort to be more friendly with his customers to build better rapport.
His customers are typically twice his age, usually in their 50s and 60s.
The age gap is indeed apparent, and Marcus receives a lot of surprised reactions from his customers when they see him selling fish at the market.
But this disbelief quickly turns into a haste judgement.
“They look at us and think that we don’t have enough experience,” he lamented to The Pride.
Brushing off such prejudice, Marcus stood strong in his bright red Supreme apron and rubber boots.
And over time, these once-distrusting customers gradually became “long-term regulars who come back every day”; and it has come to a point where he could memorise their usual orders.
One elderly customer who affectionately calls Marcus ‘Ah Boy’, commends him for preserving the tradition of wet markets.
“Ah Boy’s fish is very fresh and he gives me discounts every now and then. Even if it’s slightly more expensive than the other stalls, I would pay for it. I’m glad he’s here,” she told The Pride.
Being A Fishmonger Is Not Easy
The life of a fishmonger is hard – the hours are long, they constantly have to be on their feet, the working environment is hot and smelly, and the workload itself can get physically demanding.
According to Marcus, a typical workday for him usually starts at midnight if he needs to hand-pick stock with his staff at Jurong Fishery Port.
“I’ll do the purchasing, the packing, and the distribution to some shops and our retail outlets,” said Marcus in a video interview with The Pride.
Then on days when he doesn’t head to the fishery, he will start his day at the stall as early as 4am, and will only wrap up at around 2 or 3pm.
This means a good 10 or 11 hours on his feet, as he gets busy weighing, chopping, descaling, and deboning the fishes.
The irregular working hours meant sacrificing a lot of family time for Marcus, who is now married with a two-year-old daughter.
“I don’t have much time for my family. My body clock is completely different from others. I wake up at 12am and by the time I get home, I would have been awake for around 12 hours, sometimes more,” he said.
Spending time with them in the evenings is also not an option because he is always either exhausted or already asleep by then.
Commenting on his business so far, Marcus said that business isn’t particularly brisk all-year round and sales have been dipping as of late.
He didn’t reveal any financial figures, but understands that he’s serving a rather niche group of customers as the younger generation do not frequent wet markets and hardly cook.
“A lot of people prefer to eat out because they find it less troublesome compared to cooking at home. And many young people don’t really like to come to the wet market nowadays. Everyone is going to the supermarket,” he shared in a video interview.
Despite this trend, Marcus believes that his products are “cheaper and fresher”, and have a wider variety, compared to those sold at the supermarket.
Not ‘Paiseh’ Of His “Dirty Job” Anymore
Undeterred by the declining popularity of wet markets, Marcus still takes pride in his job as a fishmonger although many would typically label it as a “dirty job“.
“Singaporeans shouldn’t judge a job by the look and feel of it because at the end of the day, a job is still a job. [Most importantly, I earn] an honest living”.
“Majority of my friends and family were quite shocked to see me work at a wet market and do what they call ‘hard labour’. But if no one wants to be a fishmonger, who is going to sell fish?”
“Probably if I was younger, maybe in my early twenties, I might feel a bit paiseh (embarrassed). But now that I’m older and have a kid, I simply think of it as a job.”
His 25-year-old wife, Emmeline Sng, also expressed her support towards his career in a separate interview with The Pride: “We all need the services of a fishmonger, yet nobody wants to do it because it’s a hard and dirty job.”
“Still, somebody has to, and I’m proud of him for earning a decent living to provide for our family.”
She doesn’t feel that his job is ‘low-class’ and understands that there’s a lot of work involved in his job.
Spurred by the encouragement, Marcus trusts that there’s a potential for more young hawkers to run stalls at wet markets, especially since there’s a rising trend of young ‘hawkerpreneurs’ in Singapore now.
“I don’t think it’s exactly a dying trade. Like any other industry, there are those who do well, while those who don’t will die out slowly.”
Featured Image Credit: The Pride


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Until the new Cybertruck, Tesla’s model line-up spelt out S3XY. Now, Cadillac has debuted a clever naming structure of its own, but its one is a little more wholesome.
Cadillac is marketing its new electric SUVs in China as being the members of the LOVE series, with the word formed from the first letter of each vehicle’s name in the order of its launch there.
The latter three have yet to be locked in for Australia, though General Motors has filed to trademark each of their names.
Evidently, Cadillac is only using its electric SUVs for its acronym, as including the flagship Celestiq would make it CLOVE.
The brand has also trademarked the Ascendiq and Lumistiq names in the US, which could be Cadillac’s rumoured electric sedans.
The Vistiq is a three-row SUV slotting in above the Lyriq, serving as a rival to the Volvo EX90, while the Escalade iQ will sit at the very top of Cadillac’s SUV range.
All four line up neatly with Cadillac’s existing combustion-powered XT4, XT5, XT6 and Escalade SUVs.
The Lyriq will spearhead Cadillac’s return to Australia as an electric-only brand later in 2024, and will be available through a “reimagined luxury direct-to-consumer experience” with two “Cadillac Experience Centres” in our market: one in Melbourne, and one in Sydney.
But more will come, and indeed more products will come, though executives wouldn’t confirm which vehicles will follow the Lyriq.
Executives at a recent reveal event in Melbourne made multiple mentions of Cadillacs selling in “exclusive volumes”, though newly appointed GM Australia and New Zealand managing director Jess Bala was enthusiastic about the brand’s chances.
“It’s going to do incredibly well here,” said Ms Bala, saying Cadillac will appeal to luxury car buyers who want to stand out and who consider themselves trendsetters.
Despite all the talk of “exclusive volumes”, Ms Bala said pricing of the Lyriq wouldn’t be lofty.
“It’ll be priced competitively inside that mid-sized SUV [segment],” said Ms Bala, confirming the Lyriq will battle similarly sized electric SUVs from European luxury brands like the BMW iX.
Ms Bala most recently served as director of global product planning and product strategy for Cadillac, which saw her play a central role in the luxury brand’s transition to being electric-only by 2030.
Cadillac hasn’t officially sold vehicles here since the 1960s, but did come tantalisingly close to returning to Australia in the 2000s, only to have a global financial crisis and its parent company’s bankruptcy pull the rug out.


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Tender Closes for $1B Logistics Project in Hong Kong’s Kwai Chung
A government tender for an industrial site in Hong Kong’s New Territories closed on Friday, with international players Goodman, Mapletree and ESR said to have submitted bids for a chance to win the rights to build a logistics facility worth as much as HK$11 billion ($1.4 billion), according to sources who spoke with Mingtiandi.
The site, located at the junction of Mei Ching Road and Container Port Road South, less than 500 metres (546 yards) from the Kwai Chung customs house, is expected to bring in tenders in the HK$4.2 billion to HK$5.2 billion range, according to Alex Leung, senior director at CHFT Advisory and Appraisal.
Should a developer succeed in winning the bid for Kwai Chung Town Lot No. 531, it could build a logistics facility measuring up to 1.48 million square feet (138,000 square metres) on the site, according to earlier land sale documents. The plot is located less than a kilometre from Kwai Chung Container Terminal 7, which ranks as the eighth busiest container port in the world.
“The logistics industry is a very important part of the Hong Kong economy and makes significant contributions to (the) community,” said a spokesperson for the Transport and Housing Bureau in a statement announcing the tender in March. “With a view to promoting modern logistics development progressively, the government will continue to identify more suitable sites for the development of multi-storey modern logistics facilities, so as to strengthen Hong Kong’s role as a regional logistics hub.”
Spanning about 594,652 square feet, the industrial site in the Kwai Chung container port is about a 10-minute drive from both the Jordan MTR station in Kowloon, and the Tsuen Wan station in the New Territories. It is also about 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) across the bridge from the Kwai Tsing container terminals, located along the Rambler Channel on Tsing Yi Island.
With its proximity to the city’s container terminals, the site is limited to logistics use, said Leung, with the property approved for use in inventory management, consolidation and storage, according to the land sale documents.
The government arranged the tender for the the Kwai Chung parcel to replace a nearby logistics site in Tsing Yi which was withdrawn from the land sale programme in February of this year, and converted into a community isolation and treatment facility due to the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In comparison to the Tsing Yi plot, the site in Kwai Chung is smaller but in a marginally superior location, said Leung, who noted that once a developer wins full ownership of the site, it would likely build a modern logistics services center, which would “create synergy” with other cargo handling facilities in the area. China Resources Logistics also has a facility along Mei Ching Road, as does Hutchison Logistics.
Industrial Stays Hot
The Kwai Chung tender closed amid an upswing in Hong Kong’s industrial market, with transactions involving warehouses, data centres and manufacturing facilities having leapt 37 percent in the second quarter of 2022, compared to the same period a year earlier, to reach HK$9.2 billion, according to a report published by Colliers this past week.
The industrial surge was led by big-ticket deals in the city, including China Resources Logistics purchasing a pair of warehouses – one each in the New Territories’ Shatin area and in Chai Wan on Hong Kong Island – from Kerry Properties for a total consideration of HK$4.62 billion In May.
As one of Hong Kong’s traditional industrial hubs, Kwai Chung helped to contribute to the city’s second quarter deal total with fund manager Nuveen acquiring the Cargo Consolidation Complex at 43 Container Port Road in April for a reported HK$2.88 billion.


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Teva/Dr. Reddy's12 Jun 2016
Teva sells generic drugs to Indian rival for $350m
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories said that it has agreed to buy eight drugs from Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries for $350m, as the Indian drugmaker seeks to gain a foothold in the US market by selling more sophisticated treatments.
Teva is selling the "complex generic drugs" to Dr. Reddy’s as part of its planned $4.2bn acquisition of Allergan’s generics business.


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Townsquare is Movin On Up.
The folks at Townsquare likes to operate below the radar, but there’s no hiding the fact that after only three short years, the company is now 3rd in number of stations owned, with 242, and, per BIA/Kelsey, was ninth in billing in 2012, with nearly $190 million. Continuing his yearly climb up Radio Ink's 40 Most Powerful People in Radio list, Townsquare CEO Steven Price moves from 16th to number 9, after another year of activity growing the company. Price says Townsquare’s story, in its 51 small and medium markets, is live and local for audiences, while for advertisers, the story is to help them grow their businesses. Here's more about one of our biggest movers on the list, Townsquare Media.
Oaktree Capital is the money behind Price’s vision of a media and entertainment company with radio, digital, and live event properties. Most recently, Townsquare purchased the digital assets of AOL Music and ComicsAlliance and Price says everyone understands the vision. “Townsquare has been focusing on continuing to build out our product offering and audience experiences within radio and across complementary platforms, integrating the Townsquare Media story into our business practices and culture, and sharing the Townsquare Media story externally with our advertiser and agency partners. We are focusing on creating what we call the ‘Townsquare experience,’ which is rooted in radio’s strength as a community engagement and activation medium. We attract desirable and scaled audiences through original and live and local content, we get them to lean in and participate with our content, and we motivate them to do something, whether it’s creating a relationship with a favorite on-air personality and following them across platforms or taking advantage of an advertiser’s product or service.
Price believes that getting the radio message out is key to the success of the industry. “Radio delivers an exciting and needed product to consumers,” he says. “It is local entertainment, supported by local brands, with human personality and community engagement. It is not a homogenized jukebox. In my view, the industry’s challenges have been less about the reality of our consumer offering and more about the perception of our medium. With that said, I do believe that the radio industry has been telling a much better story recently, both on the local and national levels, and that story is resonating with marketers, advertisers, and consumers alike.”
But telling a better radio story is only one piece of the puzzle, according to the Townsquare CEO. "Telling a bigger media story should be our focus as an industry. We need to stop talking about what we have and talk about what we do. And what we do best is drive demand for our advertisers’ businesses and services. This is bigger than a radio story, bigger than a media story, and bigger than a marketing story. This is an advertiser success and survival story. Radio works! We all have to redefine the business we are in. If we focus on our share of the radio advertising pie, none of us will be successful. If we focus on driving successful client outcomes and becoming a flexible, trusted, and indispensable business partner, then we will open up expanded revenue streams for our clients, ourselves, and our category.”
To Subscribe instantly to your own digital edition of Radio Ink Magazine for only $49.00 per year (20 issues) including the 2013 40 Most Powerful People in Radio issue GO HERE
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U.S. and Mexico Fail to Resolve Dispute on Trade Rules for Cars
The U.S. and Mexico failed to resolve a dispute over trade rules for cars during a meeting last week, a development – or lack of one – that appears capable of severely straining relations between the two countries a year after the new USMCA trade pact took effect.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Mexican Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier reportedly discussed the topic Thursday afternoon in Washington but could not reach a resolution.
Tai told Clouthier that the U.S. “remains committed to the full implementation of the USMCA, including the strong auto rules of origin,” her office said in a statement Thursday, without elaborating. The pair “agreed to stay in touch in the months ahead,” it said.
“The rules of origin have not been interpreted the way it was agreed at the moment we signed the agreement,” Clouthier told reporters in Washington Friday.
“We need more dialogue to understand the problems that can be caused if the interpretation continues to be the one that the previous administration had taken,” Clouthier continued. “That’s where we are at this moment.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not respond to an email from The Well News seeking comment or information, but the background on the controversy is this:
The U.S. is currently butting heads with Mexico and Canada over rules for cars shipped across regional borders.
The dispute focuses on how to calculate the percentage of a vehicle that comes collectively from the three countries under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement.
The deal took effect last July, replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, but the new rules of origin are designed to be phased in over several years.
The U.S. insists on a stricter method than Mexico and Canada believe they agreed to, for determining the origin of certain core parts including engines, transmissions and steering systems in the overall calculation.
That makes it harder for plants in Mexico and Canada to meet the new threshold of 75% regional content, up from 62.5% under NAFTA, in order to trade duty-free.
Mexico and Canada are each said to be considering filing a formal complaint against the U.S. under the year-old USMCA, which could result in a dispute panel which would hear arguments from the nations.
In the meantime, the Mexican Economy Ministry has released a statement that said in part, “Not abiding by USMCA rules may potentially disrupt the operations of the North America automotive industry.”
Cloutheir’s visit wasn’t all about cars and the origin of parts. She and Esteban Moctezuma Barragón, Mexico’s Ambassador to the U.S., also met earlier last week with Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Afterwards, Duvall released a statement in which he said, “we reiterated our mutual commitment to the USMCA and discussed concerns about seasonal produce imports and exports on both sides of the border.”
Among the subjects discussed during the session were recent decisions by the Mexican government that the Farm Bureau believes threaten the strong trade partnership between the U.S. and Mexico.
“I expressed the deep disappointment of America’s farmers and ranchers in Mexico’s decision to limit use of technologies – and food produced using such technology – that increase agriculture’s sustainability and ability to meet the growing demand for food,” Duvall said. “I urged Mexico to return to a science-based approach to corn produced for both human consumption and animal feed.”
Clouthier conveyed rising concerns in her country related to increased U.S. interest in country of origin labeling of meat.
“Beyond agricultural trade, I conveyed the seriousness of the situation for farmers and ranchers along our southern border who face an influx of migrants crossing their properties,” Duvall said. “I shared the heartbreaking stories about migrants left abandoned, dangerous smugglers on the run and the concerns of farmers and ranchers for their families’ safety and their farms’ security when homes are raided, fences are destroyed and water supplies are compromised. I was pleased to hear about efforts in Mexico to slow migration along their southern border from Central and South America and to increase border security along their northern border. Still, more must be done to address this crisis.”
In The News
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HMV administrators axe 190 head office jobs
JOINT Administrators of CD and DVD retailer HMV have confirmed 190 redundancies have been made across the company’s head office and distribution network – which includes an office in Solihull.
However, there have been no redundancies across the retail network and all stores are remaining open and continuing to trade.
Nick Edwards, Joint Administrator, said: “Since our appointment as administrators over two weeks ago, we have been assessing the financial position of HMV.
&ldqu... For the full story register now for free or login below...


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U.S. stocks were little changed Friday, after the Dow and S&P 500 closed at record highs in the previous session, as investors weighed better-than-expected earnings reports from JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC).
Jason A. Weisberg of Seaport Securities discusses next week's economic events which include China's second-quarter GDP, U.S. retail sales data for June and highly anticipated bank earnings from Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) and Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC).
China is preparing to announce second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) numbers on July 15, and economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the economy to grow 7.5 percent in the three months from April through June, down from 7.7 percent growth the previous quarter.
U.S. retail sales for June are scheduled for release on Monday. Retail Sales in the U.S. increased more than forecast in May and rose 0.6 percent, beating Reuters’ estimates of a 0.4 percent increase and following a 0.1 percent increase in April.
On the earnings front, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is expected to report second-quarter EPS of $1.17 on revenue of $19.76 billion, compared with a profit of $1.00 a share on revenue of $18.64 billion in the year-ago period, according to earnings per share and revenue estimates from Reuters.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) is forecast by Reuters to report second-quarter EPS of $2.82 on revenue of $8.03 billion, compared with a profit of $1.78 a share on revenue of $6.63 billion in the year-ago period.
Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) is expected to report second-quarter EPS of 25 cents on revenue of $22.82 billion, compared with a profit of 19 cents a share on revenue of $21.97 billion in the year-ago period, according to analysts polled by Reuters.


text: AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday local governments can require businesses to mandate customers and workers to wear face masks. That comes after one the state’s most populous counties ordered such a measure amid record numbers of new cases of coronavirus and hospitalizations. The order for Bexar County, which includes the San Antonio area, takes effect Monday and businesses could face fines up to $1,000 for failing to comply. Abbott, a Republican, has refused to order individuals to wear masks in his statewide orders but says other local governments can do the same as Bexar County.


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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina speaking at the ninth China-South Asia Business Forum held at a conference centre in Kunming, China yesterday. Photo: PID
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said allocating a separate economic and industrial zone in Chittagong for the Chinese investors is under consideration of her government.
“Our existing Export Processing Zones are also attractive for investment. In addition, the Economic Zones Act 2010 has created seven exclusive economic zones across the country. These would be of interest to the Chinese investors for whom we're also considering allocating a separate economic and industrial zone in Chittagong,” she told the 9th China-South Asia Business Forum at Haigeng Conference Centre in Kunming.
She sought duty-free excess of more Bangladeshi products to Chinese market alongside increased investment by Chinese entrepreneurs in Bangladesh.
The PM also sought Chinese participation in joint ventures or individual investment in pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, shipbuilding, agro-based industries, textiles, ceramics, leather, tourism, manufacturing, ICT, training and development of human resources, design and planning in high value-added sectors.
Chinese investors, said Hasina, may also find interest in Bangladesh's special investment programmes like building international airports, seaports, waterways transport, expressways under Public-Private-Partnership and build-own-operate-transfer schemes.
"I, therefore, invite the leaders of business, trade and industry of the People's Republic of China to visit Bangladesh and appraise the realities first hand," she said adding, "I'm sure you'll find the environment and opportunities most attractive. We in Bangladesh would very much like to have you with us as partners in sharing our profits and gains as we journey together on the road to progress and prosperity.”
Mentioning that Bangladesh's export to China was only $458.12 million in fiscal 2012-13 against the huge imports of $6.307 billion, she said more of Bangladeshi products need to get duty-free access to its market to reduce the growing trade gap.
China also needs to import more of Bangladesh apparels, pharmaceuticals, handicrafts, ceramics, leather products and fish, she mentioned.
“More investment by Chinese entrepreneurs in Bangladesh could also help reduce the trade gap. Their manufactures in Bangladesh could also benefit from our duty- and quota free access to the European Union, Canada, Australia and other developed markets,” Hasina told her audience.
The PM said Bangladesh's investment regime is the most liberal in South Asia as its National Industrial Policy 2010 allows 100 percent foreign equity with unrestricted exit policy, easy remittance of royalty, repatriation of profits, protection of foreign investment, and steady energy prices.
“Our young and industrious workforce with very competitive and affordable wages is also very attractive. Bangladesh's strategic geographic location also makes its exports accessible to a huge market of 3 billion consumers of South and South East Asia and China,” she noted.
Hasina added: Bangladesh has a vibrant trade, established manufacturing industries, undertaking human resources development, vibrant private sector, sound macroeconomic management, robust banking and financial sector, and increased flow of remittances and FDIs.
Besides, she said, Bangladesh's ever-expanding multifaceted social safety nets and the use of ICT and delivery of e-services have energised the country's socioeconomic activities, thus creating an enabling environment for business and investments.
Bangladesh is now producing products from 'ships to chips', and its seaports, land ports and airports are facilitating local and international business, mentioned the PM.
“In fact, Bangladesh is moving up the value chain by developing a knowledge-based economy, technical capacity building, enterprise development, and an integrated policy approach to investment. I believe that China as our trusted friend would support our efforts in achieving our targets,” she added.
The PM said Bangladesh-China relationship is based on close and comprehensive partnership, which has evolved through cooperation based on mutual trust, respect and earnest desire to strengthen the relations.
“We also believe that early realisation of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar-Economic-Corridor would bring socio-economic benefits for us all in the region,” she noted.
Bangladesh, she added, is today poised to become a middle-income country, thus, fulfilling “Vision 2021”, which will be a step towards realising “Sonar Bangla” or “Golden Bangladesh” as envisioned by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The premier also urged the South Asian businessmen to come up and invest in Bangladesh.
CCPIT Chairman Jiang Zengwei, CPC Secretary Qin Guangrong, President of Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry Yunnan Ismail Asif, Saarc Secretary General Arjun Bahadur Thapa and Maldives Vice-President Mohamed Jamil Ahmed also spoke at the programme, moderated by Iqbal Tabish, secretary general of Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry.


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We’re back with more experiential trends from our strategy team. Enjoy, and as always, stay safe out there!
Kicking Off a Hybrid Year
As the awards and festival seasons kicks off, event organizers and venues are cultivating new approaches to enable hybrid experiences. While wrinkles still need to be ironed out, we are officially entering the ’hybrid era.’
- The 2021 Oscars will be hybrid
- How hotels and convention centers are stepping up to meet hybrid event needs
- Hybrid Future: How venues are adapting
Virtual Event Platforms Play With Fantasy
Animation, gaming, environmental design and avatars are just some of the weird, wonderful ways event platforms are adding a dash of playfulness to virtual experiences.
- SXSW builds a virtual Austin
- Skittish is a virtual event space built from the lessons of the pandemic
- Your next virtual happy hour could look like Burning Man
Digital Selves 2.0
From lifelike Metahumans, to anthropomorphic toys, to AR-powered beauty products, to fully-immersive digital happenings, the lines between physical and digital realities are continuing to blur as technology becomes more accessible and consumer-friendly.
- The company behind ‘Fortnite’ just made it shockingly easy to create life-like people
- Google and Snapchat turn to beauty tech for AR makeup try-on
- Lego Vidiyo turns figurines into music video stars
- Post Malone holds a virtual concert to celebrate Pokémon’s 25th anniversary
Recent “Out There” Experiences
Brands and marketers continue to push the boundaries of physical and digital experiences, with new and creative executions popping up across the globe.
- Walk through a virtual gaming museum with Activision Blizzard’s Gallery of the Gamer
- Cadbury’s Virtual Easter Hunt lets you hide an egg ‘anywhere in the world’
- P&G’s Old Spice to open first barbershop, doubling as content studio


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Time was at Road to VR that every other week we’d have a story on the Virtuix Omni, the omnidirectional treadmill that promises to capture your physical actions and use them to control VR applications and games. But the company has had its metaphorical head down as it finalises designs and prepares itself both for shipping units to Kickstarter backers but also release the product commercially.
You could argue that the Virtuix team at one point were near Omnipresent (sorry!) at trade shows and VR meetups after their hugely successful Kickstarter campaign netted over $1.1M back in February 2013. In the time since the Kickstarter closed, the company has been at the forefront of the media as one of the earliest examples that the VR revolution was inbound. Virtuix Founder and CEO Jan Goetgeluk even appeared on national US TV when he pitched the Omni on the reality show Shark Tank.
Now, the company has announced that it has secured $2.7M of funding to help push the Virtuix Omni forward into the commercial realm. “Virtuix’s mission is to take virtual reality beyond the chair,” said Virtuix CEO Jan Goetgeluk. “The Omni transforms VR into an active experience. These funds ensure that we can accelerate development of that mission beyond our upcoming commercial launch.” The company has already received $3M of seed investment, which it secured
To date, the Omni has sold 3,500 units and expects to reveal the finalised product ahead of their Q1 2015 retail push at CES in January. Road to VR will be on the ground at CES next year to see it for ourselves.


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Ulnar implant available in three sizes.
One of the fastest growing sectors in the additive industry is healthcare and we’re constantly amazed by the developments occurring every day in
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Tiny houses have gained immense popularity in the past couple of years. So much so that you can buy one on Amazon now. The online retailer offers a myriad of tiny homes that can be used for many
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The fountain pen design team at NEO has returned to Kickstarter this month to launch their latest magnetic Titanium Fountain pen the Namisu Neo.


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“MegaFon” announced lower prices for the most popular range of tariffs “All inclusive”. The changes will affect all regions of Russia.
Besides lower prices, MegaFon launches additional share for which in the first month of connection to any of the rates “All inclusive” will operate 50% discount on the monthly fee. With declining prices and promotions package tariffs from March will be 60% cheaper. After the promotion savings will amount to 25%.
The price of tariff plans line “All inclusive” (from Tarifa S) operating in your home region, now will be preserved during the travel of subscribers in other regions of the country. Terms and conditions apply to all services included in the package: the incoming and outgoing calls, SMS and Internet traffic, said in a release.
Also when connecting subscribers will be able to watch movies and shows on 50 TV channels within the service Megafont, traffic when the view is not paid.
On the background of General increase of prices for all types of goods, the prices for mobile telephony decline, said the company. “Thus we invest in our new loyal customers and plan to significantly expand the number of users of packet rates”, — said Leonid Savkov, marketing Director of “MegaFon”.
According to him, “All inclusive” is about half of the clients of the mobile operator. Savkov also added that the increasing number of smartphones, customers need not only voice communication but also Internet. Therefore, customers prefer to get all services in one package and under all circumstances.
As noted by the press-Secretary Yulia Dorokhina, “on the background of General increase of prices, we strive to help our customers to save money on mobile services”. “We not only provided a discount up to 60% on our main tariff line “All inclusive” and included the opportunity to watch movies and shows on 50 TV channels within the service Megafont,” Dorokhina said.
Before it became known that the operator “Beeline” has launched a new range of tariff plans “All”, the main feature of which is unlimited mobile Internet, independent of access technology. Now a similar proposal from the operator Yota, which is owned by MegaFon.


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Many jobseekers are familiar with hiring processes being long and drawn out, often with bouts of waiting around after interviews for feedback from would-be employers.
One Australian retailer, however, has taken steps to turn the hiring process on its head.
Dan Murphy’s, a liquor store chain with more than 250 outlets across Australia, has said anyone looking for a temporary role over the festive period will be given an on-the-spot 10-minute job interview if they take their resume into their local store.
The so-called “hiring week” will run from Monday until September 11.
“Every single Dan Murphy’s store is hiring,” the retailer’s incoming managing director Agi Pfeiffer-Smith said in a press release on Monday. “Just come as you are and our commitment to every applicant is that we will give you a short interview on the spot.”
She added: “We are encouraging people from all walks of life to consider spending a summer with Dan—from university students to retirees who are looking to fill in a few hours a day or a few days a week, and everyone in between.”
The company is looking for 2,200 people to fill positions over the Australian summer, with most roles offering a minimum of 20 hours per week and every new hire being eligible to receive “heaps of benefits.”
Australia is currently dealing with profound talent shortages amid its tightest labor market in decades, with the jobless rate hitting a 48-year low in July.
The phenomenon prompted the government last week to lift permanent immigration intake by more than 20%, meaning Australia will accept a record 195,000 immigrants in the current fiscal year.
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The UK's first fourth generation (4G) mobile service has today gone live in 11 cities, supporting superfast mobile internet speeds on mobile devices.
EE, the joint venture of Orange and T-Mobile, is now offering 4G in Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Sheffield and Southampton.
The EE4G service delivers speeds up to five times faster than 3G, but there have been concerns over the potential high cost to consumers.
More cities, including Belfast, Derby, Glasgow, Hull, Newcastle and Nottingham, will be added to EE's 4G network by the end of the year.
EE says that on average 4G mobile coverage will be available to around 2m more people in Britain every single month from now until the end of 2014, when the company hopes to have 98% coverage of the population.
EE has been able to offer 4G to consumers earlier than its rivals after controversially securing permission to reuse its existing spectrum.
Other providers, such as Vodafone and O2, will have until Spring 2013 to join the 4G market, as they will participate in a major auction of spectrum organised by Ofcom.
More than 700 EE stores are now open on high streets around the UK, offering 4G data plans and also handsets that can support the frequency, including the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3. On Friday (November 2), the stores will exclusively offer the 4G Nokia 920, a new handset running Microsoft's Windows Phone 8.
EE, formerly known as Everything Everywhere, is promising speeds of between 8 to 12Mbps on mobile devices, up to five times faster than 3G mobile services.
This will allow users to more easily download large attachments, as well as stream high definition movies and play multiplayer games and make high quality video calls.
"Today is a landmark day for our company, the UK mobile industry and, most importantly, the country's businesses and consumers," Olaf Swantee, the chief executive of EE, said.
"But this is just the start as our 4G network will continue to grow stronger and wider by the day. We're investing £1.5 billion in our network to be the first company to offer mobile 4G in the UK, alongside the biggest 3G network."
EE has a six-month head start to capture 4G early adopters, but critics have questioned the high price of its service and whether customers could be stung on their data limits.
The entry 4G tariff costs £36 per month and includes just 500MB of data. An hour of streaming a programme on BBC iPlayer can use up to 225MB of data, meaning base package users would expend almost half their monthly allowance in one sitting.
Beyond this, users must pay for add-on data, costing £3 for 50MB, and extending to £20 for 4GB.
EE clearly hopes to drive users towards more expensive plans. The tariff with 1GB of monthly data will cost £41 per month; the 3GB plan will cost £46 per month; the 5G tariff will be priced at £51 per month; and the range will extend up to 8GB for the heavy data user, which will cost £56 per month. All of these are 24-month plans.
All 4GEE plans come with unlimited minutes and texts as well as additional services, including EE Film (similar to the Orange Wednesday promotion), Clone Phone and access to nationwide BT Wi-Fi.
Alongside the mobile 4G service, EE is also offering fibre fixed-line broadband in 11 million premises, with superfast speed typically ten times faster than ADSL standard broadband.
The broadband service will offer maximum download speeds of up to 76Mbps, the same as BT's Infinity service, and allow customers to more easily stream HD TV, play online games and download content.
"Combined with our Fibre Broadband and revolutionary service model we have a pioneering and unique offer to customers across the UK - superfast speeds in the home, superfast speeds on the move and expert service on nearly every high street in Britain," said Swantee.


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The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) announced today that Sunnex BVBA, the Antwerp-based diamond cutting and polishing manufacturer, has achieved certification meeting the ethical, human rights, social and environmental standards as established by the RJC’s Member Certification System.
“RJC is very pleased to congratulate Sunnex BVBA on its certification. The successful verification assessment was conducted by Stefaan Beirens from WF&Co, one of the independent third-party auditing firms accredited to the RJC’s Member Certification System,” says Michael Rae, RJC’s Chief Executive Officer.
“We are extremely proud to be a member of Responsible Jeweller y Council. The business of Sunnex BVBA is based on sound moral principles. The company believes in healthy working environment with high standard of code of practices.
Sunnex BVBA believes in generating consumer confidence by ensuring and committing to the highest industries ethics,” says Kaushal Shah, Managing Director of Sunnex BVBA


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Apple is looking in to customer complaints that its new iPhone 8 is coming apart while on charge, according to The Independent.
Pictures posted to social media show the screens on the devices are springing out due to the battery expanding. It's reported that the problem is so far isolated to a few phones in Asia.
One of the first reports came from a woman named Ms Wu, who bought a 64GB rose gold iPhone 8 Plus and started to notice the smartphone bulging after just three minutes of charging. That report says the woman used the charging adaptor included in the packaging.
However, there are others claiming that the screen on their phone had popped off before it was even turned on.
The iPhone 8 mixed up its battery technology to allow for wireless charging, so that could be the reason behind the unexpected swelling. According to the Telegraph, lithium-ion batteries can expand due to 'an unexpected build-up of gases caused by chemical reactions'.
Some people are also drawing comparisons with the battery issues suffered by the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. The electronics company had to permanently discontinue the device in October last year after reports the battery was causing Note 7's to overheat, combust or explode. That issue was caused by a design flaw which apparently made electrodes in the battery susceptible to bending, leading to short circuits.
The release of the iPhone 8 wasn't marked with the usual queues around the corner that we usually see with a new Apple product launch. There were much shorter lines at stores around the world, with some commentators noting that the 8 wasn't much of an upgrade from the 7 model.
Business Insider was provided with an 'Apple Insight' by KGI's Securities, which said: "While we acknowledge that queues outside SIM-free channels have been much shorter than after previous iPhone launches, we see stable first-weekend demand for the iPhone 8/8 Plus in carrier channels.
"Most of those camping outside unlocked-device outlets are presumably hardcore Apple fans and heavy users, whose plan this year is to gear up for the iPhone X."
Further data from Localytics shows that on the opening weekend of the iPhone 8 the device only managed to grab 0.4 percent of the iOS market. Compare that to the iPhone 7, which had one percent when it was first released and the two percent that its predecessor, the iPhone 6, received.
While some people don't think the 8 is much of a product, Apple claims the speakers are 25 percent louder than the 7, has a better camera and the most durable glass for a smartphone.
But hopefully this expanding battery issue is isolated to only a few devices and isn't systemic.


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Morgan Stanley: iPhone 8 may be delayed, pushing an upgrade super cycle to 2018
by Daniel Petrov / Jul 18, 2017, 4:05 AM
We've been on this rollercoaster before - analysts and supply chain sources predicting that upcoming iPhones will face production delays due to the scarcity of this or that part, or due to the complex nature of putting it all together. Such predictions usually bomb by Thanksgiving, when, whatever production bottlenecks Apple might have had, get ironed out. This year, however, Apple may be attempting something it's never done before - a brand new and complex design of a third iPhone 8 that is said to be announced together with the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus.
Thus, there might be indeed many pressing production problems, so Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty is the next in a long line of analysts who have by now predicted delays in launching the iPhone 8 at full speed. Last we heard, the problems with manufacturing yields for the new screen, camera, or Touch ID solution, weren't supposed to be fully resolved before November.
Morgan Stanley’s analyst, however, is a bit more optimistic, not because she doesn't envision any delays, but because according to her those will just push Apple's expected upgrade supercycle into the first half of 2018. Even if the iPhone 8 lands on the shelves later than the iPhone 7s or 7s Plus, she mentions, consumers will be hard pressed to resist an upgrade:
As you can see from the chart above, Morgan Stanley has altered their iPhone 8 sales predictions based on the supply bottleneck rumors, and have moved the bulk of its expected sales to H1 2018, with the respective huge increase in the average iPhone selling price for Apple. We can only imagine the quarterly profits Apple will be racking next year, if all of this goes to plan.
Posts: 2457; Member since: Apr 08, 2016
posted on Jul 18, 2017, 4:08 AM 0
Posts: 403; Member since: Sep 05, 2016
Apple stock would definitely take a hit if the iPhone 8/x/10 gets delayed. Good time to short the stock.
posted on Jul 18, 2017, 4:25 AM 0
Posts: 190; Member since: Feb 08, 2017
patience is success, GO APPLE!!!
posted on Jul 18, 2017, 4:14 AM 0
Posts: 30672; Member since: Feb 05, 2011
Then perhaps they should wait till 2020Hillary ;/
posted on Jul 18, 2017, 5:46 AM 0
Posts: 2188; Member since: Jan 23, 2014
Releasing the 7S in September and the 8 in Jan-March next year would be a terrible idea
posted on Jul 18, 2017, 4:19 AM 0
Posts: 296; Member since: May 05, 2012
Hmm.. Not good. Planning to buy the iPhone 8 this year. I don't think I'm going to settle for the 7S if it still has the same design as the iPhone 6/6s/7 (huge bezel) unless they manage to incorporate the all screen design of iPhone 8 to the 7s.
posted on Jul 18, 2017, 4:54 AM 0
Posts: 1470; Member since: Jun 19, 2014
Analysts : iPhone 8 will be relesed in september Analysts : iPhone 8 will be relased in december Analysts : iPhone 8 will be released september 2018 Analysts : iPhone 8 is delayed, Apple is doomed Does any of them actually know when it's going to be released ? So Apple is the fault, not a bad analysis that the next iPhone is delayed compared to "analyzated" release date. It's as single-sided arrogance as it can get.
posted on Jul 18, 2017, 5:31 AM 1
Posts: 30672; Member since: Feb 05, 2011
This phone had better big big, and it had better be worth it, if all these delay rumors come to fruition. It's getting crazy with the rumor mill.
posted on Jul 18, 2017, 5:45 AM 1
Posts: 6888; Member since: Mar 04, 2015
Isn't the i8 just a big rumor anyway. I mean unless I missed something apple has never said them selves that there is for sure 3 phones this year, the i7s , i7s+ , and the i8. Last year's rumors said there would be 3 and there were only 2. This article sounds to me they are hinting there will not be 3 phone's.
posted on Jul 18, 2017, 8:08 AM 1
Posts: 1131; Member since: Sep 28, 2016
Probably was never planned for 2017 in the first place and Apple saw how future forward looking it's competition was and slapped something ugly together. That's how the iphone 8 seems to be designed at least. lol
posted on Jul 18, 2017, 1:14 PM 1
Posts: 2869; Member since: Jun 30, 2014
Surely it was planned since more than a year ago. As the rumors started coming in early 2016, as far as I know. And from I believe, Apple never rushed an iPhone before due to the competition. Therefore I think it's release was already planned way ahead.
posted on Jul 18, 2017, 7:27 PM 0
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Best (And Worst!) of 2013: Lil Wayne, Kendrick Lamar, Best Man Holiday
Worst: Department Store Discrimination
Barney's and Macy's came under fire this year for blatantly discriminating against their Black clientele and then dragging their feet to apologize. The department stores, who are being sued by the customers they falsely accused of credit card fraud, ultimately did issue a mea culpa (thanks to urging from Jay Z, who has a deal with Barney's) and led a "special forum" to discuss racial profiling. Let's hope the new year will bring more openmindedness on top of the overpriced couture.
(Photo: AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)


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Belgian mobile operator Mobile Vikings recently launched VikingSpots, an experiment in which customers can earn free mobile internet service by participating in offers from local businesses.
It’s been a few years since we’ve looked at initiatives offering free mobile services, but the ones we’ve seen so far have generally used ads to make their free offerings possible. Recently, however, Belgian mobile operator Mobile Vikings launched VikingSpots, an experiment in which customers can earn free mobile internet service by participating in offers from local businesses. Now in beta, VikingSpots is currently open only to a small set of Mobile Vikings users in Belgium’s Hasselt area, but a broader roll-out is planned for the first half of this year. To make its free mobile internet service possible, Mobile Vikings — an initiative of CityLive — has set up a network of local “spots,” or participating local businesses. When Mobile Vikings users interact with those spots — such as by using the new, Belgian Carambla app to offer a free parking spot to a driver who needs one — they can earn free “Viking Points” which can be exchanged for mobile service, according to a report on ZDNet. Free love ia almost always a hit with consumers, but powering it through local business offers — with benefits for everyone involved — adds a new twist entirely. One to watch and learn from! Spotted by: Kevin de Caluwé


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The following article first appeared in The Pilot on Sept. 18, 2019.
For the past six years, a Moore County businessman has been embroiled in a closely watched legal saga involving video slot machines.
Richard Frye, owner of Sandhill Amusements in Southern Pines, said he was surprised when the N.C. Court of Appeals on Tuesday overturned a 2017 ruling that found certain gaming kiosks, sometimes called sweepstakes machines, did not run afoul of the state’s gambling laws. The reversal will end a permanent injunction protecting businesses that operate the games.
The latest ruling, Frye said, is unfair to companies that market machines like the ones distributed by Sandhill Amusements. These suppliers usually share income with the restaurants, bars and convenience stores that house the machines.
“As far as I’m concerned, the court is wrong,” Frye said. “They didn’t follow the facts in the case or in all the many cases that led up to this final case, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”
The kiosks distributed by Sandhill Amusements are pre-loaded with slot machine games that allow players to win gift vouchers, which can be redeemed for cash or online prizes.
After determining the games were in violation of state law, sheriff’s deputies began seizing kiosks from businesses across Onslow County in 2013. Sandhill Amusements later sued the state and the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office. The N.C. Supreme Court ruled against the company in 2015.
Gift Surplus, the Arizona company that developed the kiosks’ software, then added features to give players more control over the games’ outcome. Finding that the updated games relied more on “skill and dexterity” than on chance, Superior Court Judge Ebern T. Watson III ruled in favor of Sandhill Amusements in 2017.
The recent appellate decision was issued with separate opinions from three judges, each of whom cited different reasons for tossing out the lower court’s ruling. With the injunction vacated, law enforcers will be free to seize Gift Surplus kiosks from businesses and to impose fines on people caught playing the games.
State gambling laws are enforced by the Alcohol Law Enforcement division of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. Erin Bean, special agent with the division, said ALE will not immediately begin cracking down on the machines.
“While the Court of Appeals issued an opinion (Tuesday), the court’s mandate, or official notification to the clerk of court of the opinion, will not occur until Nov. 4,” Bean wrote in an email. “ALE will continue to monitor this case and will take enforcement action as authorized by law.”
Frye said Sandhill Amusements will remove all of its Gift Surplus-branded machines from businesses before the court’s mandate goes into effect.
“There’s no real recourse for us at this point,” he said.
Caught in the Middle
Frye believes Sandhill Amusements was an innocent casualty in the state’s war on sweepstakes parlors, establishments he views as little more than clandestine casinos.
“What the state really wants to do is get rid of the big sweepstakes rooms, and my company doesn’t do those,” he said. “I’ve never owned a game room. I hate the game rooms, quite frankly.”
As the president of Entertainment Group of North Carolina, an organization that lobbies for the amusement machine industry, Frye has advocated for legislation banning sweepstakes parlors.
“We tried to get a bill passed to get rid of the game rooms, because that’s the major problem,” Frye said. “Everything they’re running is games of chance, and it’s highly illegal. They’re the big outlaw in the business, and I knew that if we got rid of them, then we had an opportunity to stay on the street in small, limited numbers.”
According to Frye, Sandhill Amusements never installed more than four Gift Surplus kiosks at a single location.
“The only way (the state) could get rid of the big game rooms was to get rid of everybody, so they shot us down,” he said, adding that many sweepstakes parlors have been “hiding behind” the injunction granted to Sandhill Amusements. “Now that the injunction is gone, I would say the game rooms are probably all going to be gone within 30 days.”
In one of the three written opinions issued on Tuesday, Judge Hunter Murphy said it is irrelevant “whether chance or skill predominates in the current iteration of Gift Surplus’s sweepstakes.” The statute relating to sweepstakes machines, he wrote, “explicitly proscribes sweepstakes conducted through electronic display, which is ‘visual information, capable of being seen by a sweepstakes entrant, that takes the form of actual gameplay, or simulated gameplay[.]’”
“The trial court erred in concluding Gift Surplus’s sweepstakes do not violate (state law) because the sweepstakes in question are run through the use of an entertaining display,” Murphy wrote.
An Embattled Industry
Frye, who rarely gives interviews, has been in the vending business for nearly 40 years. He started out with coin-operated Pac-Man and Donkey Kong games in the early 1980s.
“They were minting quarters,” he said. “It was very lucrative for several years.”
Demand has since waned for traditional arcade cabinets, and many manufacturers are increasingly focused on high-end golf and bowling machines that offer more immersive gameplay. These machines, Frye said, typically cost between $6,000 and $7,000.
“They’re terribly expensive, and at 50 cents a shot for players, it’s hard to recoup your investment,” he said. “It’s gotta make double what it’s worth because you’re splitting income with the location, and I’m not going to invest in any more equipment if it takes five to 10 years to pay for it.”
Frye suspects the latest ruling will have wide-ranging implications for the industry. He believes the state will “go back to the old redemption law,” which prohibited amusement machine operators from offering prizes worth more than $10.
If that happens, Key Master-style arcade games that give players a chance, albeit slim, of winning iPads and other electronic devices would be prohibited. So would the crane games that entice players with prizes like jewelry and wristwatches instead of plush animals.
And that’s a problem for small suppliers like Sandhill Amusements. Most restaurants and retailers have lost interest in traditional arcade cabinets. They want games that make money.
Frye appears to be losing interest, too. Or perhaps he’s simply drained after attending more than 50 court hearings related to his video slot machines since 2013.
“I’m 70 years old and I’ve survived two bouts with cancer,” he said. “I’m getting a little tired, to tell you the truth.”


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Louis Vuitton Store Headed to Trump Organization Building
Looks like Louis Vuitton is playing its Trump card.
The French luxury brand will relocate its store from 1 East 57th Street across the street to 36,000 square feet at the Trump Organization’s 6 East 57th Street while 1 East 57th undergoes renovations, the New York Post reported. LVMH — Louis Vuitton’s parent company — signed a five-year deal for the space with an asking rent of around $20 million a year, the Post reported.
The Trump Organization, LVMH and LVMH’s broker Robin Zendell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Louis Vuitton will take over the storefront from LVMH subsidiary Tiffany & Co., which was on a sublease with Nike for the 6 East 57th space while Tiffany added new elevators, a glass penthouse and an outdoor terrace to its nearby 727 Fifth Avenue store.
Ex-president Donald Trump and Alexandre Arnault, son of LVMH owner Bernard Arnault, handled the deal themselves, the Post reported. Trump previously posted on his social media site Truth Social that the two had met at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach in February.
“It was great having Alex Arnault of LVMH, and his wonderful wife, Géraldine, for dinner at Mar-a-Lago,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Feb. 15. “We were celebrating the deal we made on the former Nike Store on East 57th Street and Fifth Avenue. Alex is very excited about the reopening of Tiffany.”
But that’s not the only big deal on the horizon for LVMH. The fashion giant is reportedly in talks to consolidate its U.S. headquarters at 1 East 57th Street and 19 East 57th Street and relocate to the Olayan Group’s 550 Madison Avenue, though the deal has not yet closed, the Post reported.
Celia Young can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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CELEBRITY EX ON THE BEACH REVEALS CAST FOR UPCOMING SERIES
MTV has announced the arrival of a new series of Celebrity Ex on the Beach, alongside its celebrity cast line up.
Shake off the winter blues and get ready to be transported to our island getaway as the celebrity singles arrive at the Gran Canaria villa, looking for love and awaiting their fate with the arrival of their exes.
This series includes a shocking new twist in the form of the Shack of Secrets, causing havoc among the villa by unveiling new exes and dishing out secret missions when our celebs least expect it. Here's the cast for the latest series of Celebrity Ex on the Beach, with a few unexpected arrivals turning up along the way…
A’whora, also known as George Boyle, is a London-based drag queen best known for appearing on the second series of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’. A true fashion queen, A’whora designs all of her own outfits and has designed for some of the biggest names within the fashion industry during her career. Since appearing on the show, A’whora has gone on to sign multiple modelling contracts and brand deals, as well as appearing in a Little Mix music video.
JAMES ‘LOCKIE’ LOCK
‘Lockie’ is famous for his role on ITVBE’s ‘The Only Way Is Essex’. Since joining TOWIE in 2013, the 34-year-old has been known for his turbulent relationships but has now changed his ways by focusing on his career and health and fitness business. He has also starred on several other television shows such as Evil Monkeys (2018), Your Face or Mine (2018), MTV Cribs (2019) and Celebs Go Dating (2020).
Australian-born KC first appeared on screens in ‘Married at First Sight’ (Australia) but was never a stranger to the glitz and glamour of the spotlight. Before starring in the show, KC spent 10 years in L.A. where she recorded music with Christina Millian and performed as part of the Pussycat Dolls Burlesque Group in Las Vegas.
Kaz Crossley is a fashion, beauty and fitness influencer best known for appearing on Love Island as a Casa Amor bombshell. After leaving the villa, Kaz has become an ambassador for GymKing & Boohoo as well as launching her very own brand of hair accessories, ‘Kazbands’ in ASOS. Kaz has also hosted podcasts and events for the likes of the BBC.
Kori Sampson became an overnight star after appearing in Netflix’s ‘Too Hot to Handle’. The down-to-earth Plymouth lad swapped the building site for sunshine and stardom and has never looked back. He made such a big impression on the viewers he is now one of the most sought-after social influencers on both sides of the Atlantic, and with a keen interest in fashion and fitness he has been a brand ambassador for the likes of Boohooman, Protein World and Fashionova.
Megan Barton-Hanson is best known for her appearance in the 2018 series of ‘Love Island’. As well as being an ambassador for some of the leading global brands, Megan has since made a name for herself as a mentor for modern women. She writes a sharply-written column for VICE magazine about sex, relationships and self-love and also hosts her own chart-topping podcast ‘You Come First’ which focuses on her candid and unapologetic approach to life.
Michael Boateng appeared on the sixth series of Love Island in 2020, after a career with the police and playing professional football. Michael played at Sheffield United FC during his football career but his passion has always been the creative arts, Michael is currently focused on acting and scriptwriting.
Nathan Henry is one of the stand-out stars of MTV’s hit reality show ‘Geordie Shore’. Nathan has been part of the Geordie Shore family since 2015, initially joining the show as a bisexual and shortly after coming out as gay on the show, and speaking openly about it after in an interview with Gay Times. Nathan has also appeared on many other TV shows displaying his natural talent and is the co-host of the Geordie Shore podcast.
Sofie Karlstad is one of Norway’s biggest influencers and has been in the industry since she was 12, starting out with a successful blog and then growing her following on Instagram. Sofie appeared on the first series of Swedish ‘Love Island’ as well as reaching the final of ‘Paradise Island’ and has her own sportwear brand ‘Peechy’.