text:
He raised $1.2 million from friends at VC firms True Ventures and Harrison Metal in 2009 and has collected a total of $73 million from investors. “They’re just scratching the surface of what we think is a massive market,” says Pete Jenson, a partner at Spectrum Equity, which led a $65 million Series C round in 2018. Neither he nor the company would discuss the company’s valuation or their ownership stakes other than to confirm that Rosenberg has a minority stake. Based on the one publicly traded competitor, Liquidity Services, the company is likely worth at least $130 million, but that is likely low, given how fast it is growing.
“That is why Spectrum wrote us a check for $65 million. They like big markets,” agrees Rosenberg.
B-Stock isn’t the only option, of course. Washington, D.C.-based Optoro operates one warehouse but these days mostly sells software that helps chains identify the best way to offload unwanted inventory, whether by restocking merchandise, returning it to a vendor, refurbishing, donating or sending it to a secondary marketplace. It also operates Blinq.com, which sells one-off returns to consumers, and Bulq.com, a smaller B2B competitor to B-Stock. Happy Returns installs pop-up receiving sites for chains that have limited brick-and-mortar presence, and Liquidations.com similarly sells excess inventory via auction.
Rosenberg has taken a different tack, putting all of the burden back on the original sellers, who deal with sorting, packing and shipping items to buyers. No inventory risk, no shipping costs and all the pricing decisions are made by the buyers and sellers. Even the warehouses where all that stuff sits in are the domain of retailers or third-party logistics companies. Sellers pay an estimated 5%-to-10% transaction fee based on the amount of merchandise they move through some 175,000 auctions every year. That keeps overhead low–85% of Rosenberg’s costs consist of doling out paychecks–and that, he claims, has helped him produce net profits since the day he started in 2009.
To help retailers get the best price, B-Stock tinkers with things like whether to sell stuff together or separately, how big a lot should be, how long an auction should run, what pictures to use and what day it should close. It also helps leverage the power of brands–trusted retailers can command a 15% premium–with separate marketplaces for each customer.
“There are times when we get bogged down with returns,” says a manager at a Fortune 500 company that has worked with B-Stock for six years and declined to speak on the record. “We needed someone to help us find homes for product that might beforehand been thrown away.”
Who’s buying all this? People like Clayton Cook, 33, who runs three discount stores in Salt Lake City. He spends an hour every morning browsing B-Stock and typically places about 150 to 200 bids for toys, apparel and other items sold by Walmart, Target and Costco. He doesn’t have time to haggle, so he lowballs his bids and figures he will only win a fraction of them. “The biggest plus is that I get it directly from the source. Because of that I get a better variety and a better product,” says Cook, who expects sales of $8 million in 2019. The site has also attracted a lot of eBay and Poshmark sellers, although the company doesn’t keep track of just how many.
That’s not to say the business is hassle-free. The company’s Better Business Bureau page is littered with complaints from unhappy buyers, most of them upset by the actions of a retailer but blaming the middleman as the face of the transaction.
Rosenberg says the marketplace model has allowed him to build the biggest online liquidation business in town, yet he still only lays claim to less than 2% of a liquidation market that totals $100 billion. To continue cashing in on the returns boom, he wants to bring on outside companies who can offer various logistics services, including sorting and shipping, for an extra fee. He also has plenty of new business to chase: Only 18 of the top 100 retailers in the country are working with B-Stock, plus his current customers could be liquidating even more stuff through his platform.
“It’s a huge opportunity,” says Rosenberg. “And a really, really big market.”
I am a staff writer at Forbes covering retail. I’m particularly interested in entrepreneurs who are finding success in a tough and changing landscape. I have been at Forbes since 2013, first on the markets and investing team and most recently on the billionaires team. In the course of my reporting, I have interviewed the father of Indian gambling, the first female billionaire to enter the space race and the immigrant founder of one of the nation’s most secretive financial upstarts. My work has also appeared in Money Magazine and CNNMoney.com. Tips or story ideas? Email me at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Tej Kohli’s name is up in lights in Paris, flashing on the walls in giant, bold type inside the new high-ceilinged headquarters of French e-sports Team Vitality, a 20-minute walk from the city’s Gare du Nord train station. Some of Europe’s top video game players, influencers, journalists and sponsors have arrived on this November day to buoyantly pay tribute to Kohli, a U.K.-based, Indian-born entrepreneur, now heralded as the lead investor in the e-sports team. Team Vitality has raised at least $37 million and scored partnership deals with Adidas, Renault, telecom firm Orange and Red Bull, with a stated goal to become the top team in European competitive gaming.
E-sports, Kohli proudly tells Forbes, “encompasses the entire spectrum of business … [and is] not very different from other things we do in technology.” His wavy mane of dark hair stands out in the room like a beacon, as he beams amid the buzz and recognition.
London is home to 55 billionaires, with more on the outskirts, and they generally fall into two camps: those who completely shun publicity, and those, like Richard Branson and James Dyson, who enthusiastically embrace it. Kohli, who lives in a multimillion-dollar mansion in leafy Henley-on-Thames, aspires aggressively to the latter. In April, Kohli told the FT’s How To Spend It supplement that, “Sometimes in business it’s important to show you can sell yourself by way of your lifestyle.” His website describes him as “Investor, Entrepreneur, Visionary, Philanthropist,” with photos of an apparent property portfolio, with about half a dozen apartment buildings in Berlin, one in India and an office tower in Abu Dhabi. He claims to be a member of two exclusive London private clubs, 5 Hertford Street and Annabels, and publicly gives tips on “foie gras … roast chicken” and places where “the steaks are huge.”
Kohli has employed a large coterie of PR consultants and actively courts the media, pushing grand visions that back up this image. In a 2013 article he wrote for The Guardian, he offers advice on how to get a job in the tech industry (“Learn to code”). In 2016 he told a Forbes contributor: “The one mission that every entrepreneur has, as a person rather than as an entrepreneur, is to extend human life.” And his Tej Kohli Foundation Twitter bio brags that “We are humanitarian technologists developing solutions to major global health challenges whilst also making direct interventions that transform lives worldwide.” A press release issued in mid December boasted of more than 5,700 of the world’s poorest receiving “the gift of sight” in 2019 at Kohli’s cornea institute in Hyderabad, India.
Kohli also aspires to be validated as a billionaire. Over the past two years, his representatives have twice reached out to Forbes to try to get Kohli included on our billionaires list, the first time saying he was worth $6 billion—more than Branson or Dyson—and neither time following up with requested details of his assets. (Kohli’s attorneys now claim that “as a longstanding matter of policy,” Kohli “does not, and has never commented on his net worth,” suggesting that his representatives were pushing for his billionaire status without his authorization.)
There may be good reason for his reticence. It turns out that Kohli—who in a July press release describes himself as “a London-based billionaire who made his fortune during the dotcom boom selling e-commerce payments software”—has a complicated past. Born in New Delhi in 1958, Kohli was convicted of fraud in California in 1994 for his central role convincing homeowners to sell their homes to what turned out to be sham buyers and bilking banks out of millions of dollars in loans. For that he served five years in prison.
Kohli then turned up in Costa Rica, where he found his way into the world of online gambling during its Wild West era in the early 2000s. He ran online casinos, at least one sports betting site, and online bingo offerings, taking payments from U.S. gamblers even after U.S. laws prohibited it, according to seven former employees. He was a demanding, sometimes angry boss, according to several of these employees.
A spokesman for Kohli confirmed that he ran an online payments company, Grafix Softech, which provided services to the online gambling industry, between 1999 and 2006—and that he acquired several distressed or foreclosed online gaming businesses as a limited part of the company’s portfolio. “At no point was any such business operated in breach of the law,” Kohli’s representative said in a statement.
Though his representative claims that Kohli has had nothing to do with Grafix since 2006, Forbes found more than a dozen online posts or references (some deleted, some still live and some on Kohli’s own website) between 2010 and 2016 that identify Kohli as the chief executive or leader of Grafix Softech—including the opinion piece that Kohli wrote for The Guardian in 2013.
Even in a world of preening tycoons, this juxtaposition—the strutting thought leader who actively gives business advice while he just as actively tries to stifle or downplay any sustained look into his business past—proves eye-opening.
According to Kohli’s back story, he grew up in New Delhi, India, and he has told the British media that he’s the son of middle-class parents. Per his alumni profile for the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (about 300 miles southeast of New Delhi), Kohli completed a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1980 and developed “a deep passion for technology and ethical and sustainable innovation.”
At some point, he wound up in California, and set up a “domestic stock” business called La Zibel in downtown Los Angeles. Kohli still uses the Zibel name for his real estate operations today. By the end of the 1980s, Kohli was presenting himself as a wealthy real estate investor who purchased residential properties in southern California to resell for profit. The truth, according to U.S. District Court documents, was that from March 1989 through the early 1990s Kohli, then reportedly living in Malibu, had assembled a team of document forgers and “straw buyers” to pull off a sophisticated real estate fraud.
Kohli and his coconspirator Charles Myers (also known back then as Loren Ferrari) would buy residential properties from homeowners with a combination of cash and promissory notes using a sham entity. Kohli and Myers recruited and paid fake buyers to purchase the home in a second bogus transaction, and had other coconspirators forge documents to make the fake sale look real and inflate the sale price. Kohli and his team would then take out loans in the name of the fake buyers using fraudulent paperwork, diverting the loan proceeds to themselves. The original sellers didn’t get the money they were promised.
By 1993 the game was up. Kohli and Myers pled guilty—Kohli to ten counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy in 1994. According to court filings, Kohli and Myers took out $7.5 million in fraudulent loans from banks, pocketing $2 million, and stiffed homeowners on $4 million in promissory notes. He was sentenced to 80 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $5 million in restitution to his victims. Kohli appealed his sentence in 1997 but lost. Richard Steingard, who represented Kohli while the federal criminal case was pending, says his client was legally obligated to make his victims whole, but doesn’t believe he ever did. “To my knowledge, as his former attorney, the restitution was never paid,” says Steingard. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice said it does not comment on restitution payments. A spokesperson for Kohli had no comment on the conviction, prison sentence or restitution.
Lavkumar Barot, 67, was one of Kohli’s victims. In 1989, Barot responded to an ad in the Los Angeles Times from Argent Alliance Corp., where Kohli was the CEO, promising investors a 14% to 20% return in 6 months to a year (minimum investment: $10,000). Barot invested $100,000 and lost all of it. One check he got from Argent Alliance—for an interest payment of $1,500—bounced. He had to work six days a week to make up for the lost funds. Even today, as Kohli promises millions to others as a philanthropist, Barot hopes for some financial restitution from Kohli. Dennis Mahoney, 75, now lives in Honolulu. Mahoney, according to court documents, lost $446,800 to Kohli’s escrow scam—after he agreed to sell his house. Mahoney claims that he received no restitution from Kohli and only got $25,000 from a state fund that helped victims of escrow fraud. He lost his home in California and blames himself. “Naturally you look in the mirror and say—how stupid could I be,” he tells Forbes, “But that naivety was a good learning experience.” Talking of Kohli, he adds: “What you see isn’t always what you get.”
Chris Painter, a cybercrime expert who was an assistant United States attorney in Los Angeles in the 1990s, says he remembers trying the case and the “sophistication of the fraud … defrauding just about everyone, from the sellers of the properties to everyone in between.” Altogether Kohli and his cohorts scammed banks and homeowners out of more than $13 million, according to court filings.
Kohli’s alma mater bio says that in 1997, Kohli “plunged into entrepreneurship and established his own company Grafix Softech,” which specialized in e-commerce payments. The timing seems off—he was in prison until 1999.
Regardless, sometime before the turn of the millennium, Kohli headed south to Costa Rica and tells Forbes he “focused on payment solutions … interfaces and payment gateways.” Asked about the exact source of his wealth, Kohli chuckles. “We were at the right time in the right place,” he says.
The business empire that, he claims, made him a “billionaire” has variously been described by Kohli, in press releases and on his websites, as operating in e-commerce, online marketing and payments processing. But 12 former Kohli employees told Forbes that Grafix Softech and other businesses operating out of the San Jose, Costa Rica, offices of Grafix Softech, were actually running unregulated online casinos and at least one sports betting site that targeted American gamblers. A spokesperson for Kohli said that any suggestion that his business broke the law “would be wholly false.”
The gaming and sports book entities operated under names like Cool Cat, Cirrus, Virtual and Royal. The websites—some of which are still active (under unknown ownership)—were an online shop front for gamblers, who could place bets from the comfort of their sofa. The biggest target market, according to former employees and executives, was American gamblers.
At first, such marketing represented a gray zone of sorts. Then in 2006 a new U.S. law, The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (known as UIGEA), effectively prohibited online gambling—and put operators like Kohli on a collision course with the U.S. legal system if they continued to knowingly accept online bets from Americans. An archived Web page from 2015 for Cool Cat Casino links to a list of “country restrictions.” There the U.S. is curiously marked green for go: no restrictions for U.S. gamblers. While a “tips” page on the same site simply states: “Cool Cat Casino is the top online casino in the United States!”
Warwick Bartlett, chief executive of Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, tells Forbes that UIGEA put most Costa Rican gambling sites out of business. “Those that remained,” he adds, “had to come up with unique ways to counter banks not wanting to process credit card transactions.” Bartlett cites the British chief executive of BetonSports, David Carruthers, who according to court documents was arrested by U.S. authorities in July 2006 while en route to Costa Rica and sentenced to 33 months in prison as an example of the kind of sentences given to those who broke the law.
Kohli, however, was undeterred by the new legal restrictions, say former employees. Cynthia Paniagua tells Forbes she worked as a human resources consultant for Kohli’s Silver Arrow group between 2009 and 2010 in Costa Rica. She describes online casinos as the beating heart of Kohli’s businesses. “He had around 15 to 25 casino brands,” she says. Who would be the end beneficiary of a $10 bet—placed and lost—on a sports result back then? Paniagua is unambiguous: “To him. His accounts are tied to him.”
“Sometimes in business it’s important to show you can sell yourself by way of your lifestyle.”
Alexis Calderon worked for Silver Arrow and Tej Kohli in customer service between 2012 and 2014, transferring callers to the VIP team that, he claims, helped big money clients wager “literally millions of dollars” at a time on Kohli’s online casinos and games. Calderon says Silver Arrow used Canadian checks to pay gamblers their winnings and would instruct the clients to cash the checks “in small unions that don’t ask questions.”
Another former employee tells Forbes that after the law change in 2006, Kohli “doubled down … because he figured everyone was getting out of the market.” The source adds, “All his competitors were fleeing because regulation hit in, and he was like—great. Like picking money off the ground. It’s gonna be a lot easier now.”
New Zealander Mike Miller was brought in as consulting CEO of BetRoyal (also known as Royal), Kohli’s sportsbook, for ten months between 2006 and 2007. Miller describes Kohli courting him before he decided to join, flying him in business class to London for the interview and putting him up in a five-star hotel. But Miller later soured on Kohli. “He had a slightly flawed view of the online gambling world,” Miller says. “He felt that when anyone deposited money to any of his businesses—and there were 50-80 of them—that money was his.”
Kohli’s sites also failed to pay out winnings in a timely manner, according to four former employees and gambling industry review websites. His Virtual Casino group received industry ratings site Casinomeister’s “Worst Casino Group” award at least three times—in 2002, 2007 and 2008—for slow-payment issues. Bryan Bailey, founder of Casinomeister, wrote in 2007 that the award was given because of its “habitual stalling of player payments” and its unpleasant sounding “September 11th Twin Tower bonus.” One staffer who worked for Kohli from 2008 to 2010 in Costa Rica was tasked with customer service, which included handling complaints about the slow payment of winnings. She tells Forbes that when people called, chasing their winnings, “I did the best I could to help people, but … it was just no, no, no with no reason.”
As an entrepreneur, Kohli was passionate about his reputation in the industry. In 2005, news broke that John Walker, who worked in Costa Rica as the founder of gambling news site Sportsbook Review, was allegedly threatened over an article naming Kohli as the new owner of a sportsbook called Royal Sports. According to Walker, Kohli was angry because “his reputation was so bad for not paying people … he didn’t want people to know he was buying Royal.” Walker says he took the article down from the Sportsbook Review website because he was intimidated by people who appeared to work on behalf of Kohli.
At their peak, Kohli’s casino operations netted at least $1 million a month, say former employees. Under the name Navtej Kohli, he was a director of a Panama-based shell company, Wisol International, which is tied to 642 domain names, many of which are online gambling sites—at least six of which are still live today.
Kohli’s San Jose Costa Rica office, which employed around 100 people, was not a nice place to work, say several former employees.
“There was quite a culture of intimidation. People were afraid of Kohli,” says one former staffer. A high-ranking employee from the early days in San Jose told Forbes, “He had a temper on him that could melt down the office. It was hard. His joy was in making grown men cry … break them down till they were on their knees begging for forgiveness.”
Kohli seemed to have mellowed over time. One long-term employee who worked at Silver Arrow after 2007 never saw anyone receive any physical aggression. This person describes Kohli as often “verbally abusive” but “not to employees, to managers.”
“Show me an opportunity with global potential and I will create an empire.”
A spokesperson for Kohli says, “Like any successful businessman Mr. Kohli is from time to time confronted by false claims from disgruntled ex-employees and competitors. Any suggestion of wrongdoing by Mr. Kohli in any business or other matter are rejected absolutely.”
Kohli’s gambling business in Costa Rica was shuttered in 2016, according to former employees, who were laid off. While some of the executives helped build another business in Prague around 2016 (Kohli does not appear to be involved), Kohli emerged on the social and philanthropy scene in London in a very public way.
Positive clips began with random biographies on the likes of IMDB around 2011 and progressed to more of the same and listicles on little-known publications like The Start-Up Magazine. Kohli then began to appear in laudatory articles on the pages of The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, Inc.magazine’s website and the Financial Times.
A couple of admiring articles even appeared on the Forbes website. In 2014, a contributor named Drew Hendricks published a post entitled “Top 15 Entrepreneurs Who Give Back To The Community” on Forbes.com, listing Kohli at number two, right behind social media billionaire Mark Zuckerberg. Kohli makes special note of the Forbes article on his biographical page tied to his alma mater. (Hendricks was removed from the Forbes platform for violating editorial standards, and this article was removed from Forbes.com.) Another favorable article, from a different former contributor, remains online.
Based on the available financial information, Forbes estimates Kohli’s net worth to be in the hundreds of millions, not billions. The only U.K. company in his name is a dormant entity called Osac Management with just $129 (£100) on the books as of November 2018. Forbes values Kohli’s personal property in Henley-on-Thames at $8 million based on an estate agent estimate and similar listings in the surrounding area.
It’s very likely that Kohli earned most of his fortune amid the cash-rich gambling business in Costa Rica. Former HR consultant Paniagua told Forbes that while she worked there in 2009 and 2010, Kohli “would clear a couple of million a month. Free and clear. After he paid his houses, after he paid his cars, after he paid his lifestyle–net, net.” One former employee sent Forbes an Excel file with purported financial info for all of Kohli’s casinos for the month of October 2006; the profit for the month: $1.06 million.
“The one mission that every entrepreneur has, as a person rather than as an entrepreneur, is to extend human life.”
Kohli’s wealth has since spread around the globe. In India, where he has a solar panel startup, the government undertook a tax investigation regarding the startup and earlier this year found $21.6 million in assets in a multifamily office tied to Kohli as of December 2016, $20.9 million of which was classified as “long-term loans and advances.” A representative for Kohli did not comment on this matter.
In June, Kohli issued a press release saying he’d invested $100 million into an entity called Rewired, “a robotics-focused venture studio with a humanitarian bent.” Forbes was not able to confirm whether $100 million was really invested. One company mentioned was Open Bionics, a startup creating artificial limbs in Bristol, U.K, endorsed online by Star Wars star Mark Hamill. Open Bionics did not reply to repeated requests for comment. Forbes confirmed that Rewired invested in Aromyx–a Silicon Valley firm involved in producing bio-based scents for use in various consumer products (the dollar amount invested was not disclosed), and that Rewired was a backer of a $3.5 million seed investment round in U.K. firm Seldon, a machine-learning platform for sharing data.
And those nine properties, including the Berlin apartment complexes, listed on Kohli’s website? It’s unclear whether Kohli owns all of them or just a portion. A spokesperson for Kohli says his investments “have lain in real estate.”
This wide array of seemingly legitimate projects offer a way for Kohli to invent an image that belies his past as a con man, a casino boss and convict. That bothers his previous victims—the ones reached by Forbes are still out money. (Forbes could not confirm, with Kohli or elsewhere, whether Kohli paid his $5 million in restitution, and if he did, who got it.) It doesn’t seem to bother Kohli. “Show me an opportunity with global potential and I will create an empire,” Kohli boasts in his online bio for his alma mater. He already created an empire—just not the kind he wants people to believe in.
I am a wealth reporter at Forbes, based in London covering the business of billionaires, philanthropy, investing, tax, technology and lifestyle. I studied at Goldsmiths, University of London and joined from Spear’s Magazine, where I covered everything from the Westminster bubble to world of wealth management, private banking, divorce law, alternative assets, tax, tech and succession. Notable bylines include an investigation into Switzerland’s bi-lateral bonds to the European Union, and a journey through Bhutan – testing the hunger for democracy, and the love for their King. I joined Forbes in May 2019.
… a scalable, accessible and affordable technology solution to end corneal blindness worldwide. VIDEO: Wendy & Tej Kohli Discuss The Mission And Purpose Of The Tej Kohli Foundation https://www.businesswire.com/news/hom…
The jury is out on whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs will one day make the world a better place. But this much is pretty clear: They’re already benefiting the companies that have implemented them. And in some unexpected ways.
Specifically, CSR has become the weapon of choice for what is known as, in corporate speak, the three R’s: Investor Relations, Human Resources, and Public Relations.
But before we dive into details, a CSR mini-lesson is in order. First off, CSR isn’t an overnight sensation. Over the past couple of decades, companies have been embracing the idea that they need to do more than just make a profit for shareholders. Do-good efforts slowly evolved from passive and limited corporate philanthropy programs—giving to the United Way, for example—to broader and more active CSR programs. Those would take on major social issues like Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women program, which in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (World Bank) has delivered $1.45 billion in loans to women-owned businesses in developing countries.
Now, they have evolved even more. Many companies are now incorporating impact-on-society considerations into core business activities. For example, Starbucks only uses “ethically-sourced coffee.” Programs like these are often focused on “sustainability.” In August, 181 CEOs of the country’s largest corporations signed a Business Roundtable statement committing to managing their companies not just for shareholders, but also for customers, employees, suppliers, and communities.
The idea behind all of these efforts is the well-worn slogan “doing well by doing good,” which means that being a positive force in the community will enhance a company’s reputation, which in theory will pay off in more sales, lower costs and over the long term, more money for shareholders.
Can you even measure something like this? Stephen Hahn-Griffiths, chief reputation officer of the Reputation Institute in Boston, says you can. He reels off a string of statistics, like “40% of the reputation of a company is related to corporate responsibility” and says his organization’s research proves that reputation is a leading indicator of stock market capitalization, or the total value of a company’s shares. In other words, he adds, “CSR has a multiplier effect” when it comes to a company’s value. But CSR can be risky. And take a little guts.
According to analysts, CVS’s 2014 decision to stop selling tobacco products cost it $2 billion a year in sales and caused the stock price to drop. (Investors took a $1.43 billion hit that year according to Martin Anderson of UNC Greensboro.) In 2010, Campbell Soup announced it was reducing the salt levels in many of its soups, a decision they reversed the following year when sales fell by 32%.
Meanwhile, in 2018, Dick’s Sporting Goods stopped selling assault rifles. On a panel at this year’s Aspen Ideas Festival, CEO Ed Stack said that decision cost them customers and employees. He notes that many of the customers who applauded the decision at the time seem to have forgotten, but those who were in opposition have not. “Love is fleeting,” he says. “But hate is forever.”
But many companies feel the do-gooder dividend outweighs the risks, both in relations with consumers and in day-to-day operations.
Brad McLane, who recruits high-level positions at RSR Partners, says, “Companies aren’t doing it just to say they have it. My clients are incorporating it into how they do business—what ingredients they use, where they source, how they design products.” Megan Kashner, clinical professor at the Kellogg School of Management’s Public-Private Interface agrees. She’s says that we’ve moved from “greenwashing programs that mimic CSR” to an era of “authentic CSR.” Greenwashing is the practice of making misleading claims that make a company appear more environmentally or socially conscious than it is, for example, when BP began touting itself as being environmentally conscious through a $200 million public relations campaign, only to have a string of environmental disasters—some of which, according to a government report, were caused by corporate cost-cutting to boost profits.
Simon Lowden, Pepsico chief sustainability officer, says, “It’s woven into how we operate as a business. For instance, we need to maintain our license to operate in water-stressed regions, so we’d better focus on being responsible stewards of water. It’s not only the right thing to do, it’s important to our business.”
CSR is particularly useful in human resources. Rebecca M. Henderson, holds the John and Natty McArthur Chair at Harvard and is finishing a book on this topic, Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire. She says: “CSR has a tremendous impact on the morale of employees. Authentic purpose, which may mean occasionally sacrificing profits, accesses a whole range of emotions difficult to get at otherwise, like trust and engagement.”
In other words, it gets through. And that is a good thing. It leads to higher levels of productivity and employee retention.
CSR can also be a big factor in recruiting, particularly for younger employees, says Eric Johnson, executive director of graduate career services at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He says, “Social impact is a big piece of the recruiting process. Probably 50 percent of that initial conversation is about what the company is doing to make the world better.”
“Beer companies used to talk about fun and sports. Now they talk about their programs to save water in the world. Social impact can tip the scales. Is a student going to choose an $85,000-a-year job over a $125,000 job because of social impact? I doubt it. But my observation is that jobs heavy in social impact often pay up to 10 percent less than comparable jobs that don’t.”
Professor Kashner adds, “These newly minted MBAs care and they care about the type of work they’re going to be doing. Maybe previous generations drew a line between work and personal life and values, but those boundaries no longer exist.” Korn Ferry, the giant executive recruiting firm, recently surveyed the professionals in its network. “Company mission and values” was the No. 1 reason (33 percent ) they’d choose to work for one company over another.
CSR is increasingly part of the conversation with individual shareholders and investors, like the world’s largest investment firm, BlackRock, which manages $6.5 trillion dollars for its clients. In his last two annual letters, CEO Larry Fink has called on companies to do more and said that BlackRock will evaluate companies on more than just financial numbers. His 2018 letter said, “As divisions continue to deepen, companies must demonstrate their commitment to the countries, regions, and communities where they operate, particularly on issues central to the world’s future prosperity.” Many investment firms now have someone in charge of building portfolios around companies based on their performance on Environmental, Social and Governance or ESG. (Measuring which companies are woke is an industry in and of itself.)
One aggregator of ESG ratings, CSRhub.com, lists 634 data sources. They range from the very broad (for example, Alex’s Guide to Compassionate Shopping) to the very specific (for example, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety).
For public relations, CSR is both an offensive and a defensive weapon. CSR can be used to pre-empt the conversation in areas where companies have been criticized. Procter & Gamble’s “Ambition 2030 program is heavy on recycling and biodegradability.
But CSR can also be a useful defense. It not only builds up a stock of goodwill with the media and the public, but it generates good news that crowds out the bad. Large corporations are going to get a certain amount of press and awkward questions each day—better that press and those questions be about CSR than, say, worker safety or GMOs. For example, in 2018 when Johnson & Johnson was accused of knowingly selling baby powder with harmful levels of asbestos, Harvard professor Bill George wrote a stirring defense of the company, focusing not on the merits of the claim, but on J&J’s “Our Credo,” a commitment to integrity and customers written in 1943 (and likely the first CSR document ever produced.)
Still, not everyone is convinced. There are many who adhere to the late economist Milton Friedman’s argument that the sole purpose of the corporation is to make more money for shareholders, who can then choose for themselves whether or not they want to save the world.
Judith Samuelson, vice president of Aspen Institute and founder of their Business and Society Program, who’s worked with many of the companies currently leading the way in CSR, says, “The shareholder primacy viewpoint hasn’t gone away. And even if attitudes have changed, measures haven’t. Many executives, including CEO’s, are still paid in stock, and those who manage portfolios for institutional investors are still bonused on the value of those portfolios.”
Samuelson worries that “Companies may think these (current) programs are enough and not make fundamental change.” Kashner is more optimistic. She cites work that says large public companies are increasingly incorporating CSR metrics into executive compensation contracts.
Those who oppose CSR programs argue that trying to do two things at once, like making a profit and serving society, will destroy the effectiveness of companies.
Samuelson scoffs at this. “Of course companies can do more than one thing. Public companies have to manage multiple objectives all the time. No public company in the world would last a week if the only people they cared about were shareholders. What about customers? Employees?”
She believes that CSR really boils down to responsible decision making, doing what it takes for companies to succeed in the long term. Whatever, CSR is here to stay. It’s become part of the fabric of investing, company operations, and business school curricula.
It’s now being tracked and measured, and in business, what gets measured gets done.
Alex Edmans talks about the long-term impacts of social responsibility and challenges the idea that caring for society is at the expense of profit. Alex is a Professor of Finance at London Business School. Alex graduated top of his class from Oxford University and then worked for Morgan Stanley in investment banking (London) and fixed income sales and trading (NYC). After a PhD in Finance from MIT Sloan as a Fulbright Scholar, he joined Wharton, where he was granted tenure and won 14 teaching awards in six years. Alex’s research interests are in corporate finance, behavioural finance, CSR, and practical investment strategies. He has been awarded the Moskowitz Prize for Socially Responsible Investing and the FIR-PRI prize for Finance and Sustainability, and was named a Rising Star of Corporate Governance by Yale University. Alex co-led a session at the 2014 World Economic Forum in Davos, and runs a blog, “Access to Finance” (www.alexedmans.blogspot.com), that aims to make complex finance topics accessible to a general audience. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
SoftBank stunned the venture capital world with its launch of the $100 billion Vision Fund in 2017 and its wide-ranging and aggressive investments. Now billionaire Masayoshi Son has announced an even larger fund with $108 billion to invest in artificial intelligence companies.
Announced on Thursday, the “SoftBank Vision Fund 2” will be the biggest tech fund in the world if it comes to fruition. “The objective of the Fund is to facilitate the continued acceleration of the AI revolution through investment in market-leading, tech-enabled growth companies,” SoftBank Group wrote in a filing with the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
SoftBank has upped its own stake in the new fund to $38 billion from the $25 billion in the original fund and has tapped leading tech companies like Apple, Microsoft and Foxconn, along with Japanese investment investment banks and Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund.
One noticeable omission from the second fund is Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which pumped $45 billion into the first Vision Fund. SoftBank has faced criticism over its ties with Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman following the grisly murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
However, SoftBank said discussions are ongoing with additional participants, so it’s possible Saudi Arabia will still participate in the second fund, while the total money raised may top $108 billion.
SoftBank used the first fund to make aggressive billion dollar investments into an eclectic range of technology companies around the world leading to some questioning the rational of the legendary investor and SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son. Uber, DoorDash, and WeWork have all been backed by the fund, European startups Improbable in the U.K. and travel booking website GetYourGuide in Germany.
The SoftBank Vision Fund, run out of an office in London’s exclusive Mayfair neighbourhood, is led by Son and Rajeev Misra, a banker who previously worked at UBS, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch.
I’m a Staff Writer covering tech in Europe. Previously, I was a News Editor for Business Insider Australia, and prior to that I was a Senior Technology Reporter for Business Insider UK. My writing has also appeared in The Financial Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Wired, The Independent, and elsewhere. I have also appeared on the BBC, Sky News, Al Jazeera, Channel 5, Reuters TV, and spoken on Russia Today and Shares Radio. In 2015, I was shortlisted for Technology Journalist of the Year by the UK Tech Awards and in 2016 I was nominated as one of the 30 young journalists to watch by MHP Communications.
Investor appetite in food delivery companies is growing, notwithstanding a rash of customer complaints about how these startups pay contract workers. On Thursday, DoorDash announced it had raised another $400 million in a Series F funding round led by Temasek and Dragoneer Investment Group. The cash infusion brings DoorDash’s total capital raised to $1.4 billion, of which $978 million came from funding rounds in the last year.


text:
The 2013 National Doughnut Week will take place between 11th and 18th May and is open for craft bakers and high street coffeeshops, food retailers and their customers, across the UK, to take part in amassive celebration of doughnuts and the pleasure that comes from eating these delicious bakery treats.
The brainchild of Christopher Freeman, President of NAMB and winner of a baking industry lifetime achievement award, the event raised over £20,000 for The Children’s Trust charity in 2012, taking the grand total raised to date to £755,000.
“National Doughnut Week is one of the best loved, publicity raising events in the calendar for high street bakers and food retailers and their customers. There is something about doughnuts that just makes people happy. This year we hope to raise in excess of £25,000 to help children with complex health needs, brain injuries and multiple disabilities – all through eating and enjoying a scrumptious doughnut or two!,” says Christopher Freeman.
The event is sponsored by bakery ingredients supplier CSM United Kingdom Ltd. UK Country Manager, John Lindsay said: “We are extremely proud to be associated with this event. It is a huge testament to the generosity of the baking community that in excess of three quarters of a million pounds has been raised over the years for the benefit of countless children and their families and making a real positive difference to their lives.”
CSM (United Kingdom) Ltd is Britain’s leading supplier of bakeryingredients, frozen and ambient bakery products. With over 135 years of innovation, the company provides in-store, foodservice and craft and plant bakeries with a whole range of ingredients and products from its five hero categories; bread ingredients, icings & toppings, cake mixes, cookies and doughnuts and impulse mini bites.
CSM is committed to product research and development and is constantly investigating new methods and products to respond to consumer demand. As part of CSM, the world’s largest bakery ingredients supplier, it can utilise the expertise and product portfolio of sister companies operating throughout Europe and North America, as well as its ownhighly trained and dedicated UK based team.
CSM (United Kingdom) Limited
0800 783 4697

domain: news


text:
UPDATE 03-29-2017: Samsung has held simultaneous events in London’s Olympic Park and New York’s Lincoln Center to mark the unveiling of the Galaxy S8. This is undoubtedly a particularly critical moment for manufacturer, as the handset represents the first major device release since the disastrous recalling of the Galaxy Note 7.
Many indeed view the next couple of mobiles from Samsung as critical to the future of the hugely successful corporation. And with Apple due to release a majorly redesigned iPhone 8 to mark the tenth anniversary of the series this year, the Galaxy S8 will be entering into a hugely competitive climate.
Ahead of the event, it was expected that the Galaxy S8 would include an edge-to-edge display, two separate models with 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch screens, the inclusion of a personal assistant for the first time in the shape of Bixby, Android 7.0, and the retention of the headphone jack, seen as a direct response to Apple’s abandoning of this common feature.
So were the analysts correct, and how did the Galaxy S8 turn out in reality?
Samsung’s mobile chief, DJ Koh, was on stage to introduce the Galaxy S8 to the world, and there was no shortage of rhetoric and hyperbole to accompany its unveiling. Koh described the Galaxy S8 as “beyond the limits of what you have known before and bring you close to the things you love. A gateway to a galaxy of possibilities”.
The executive also asserted that the new smartphone will herald “a new era of smartphone design… an era without edges or limits”, and that it will continue to extend the Samsung “heritage of great innovation and stunning design”.
This preamble led to more concrete details about the Galaxy S8, and the smartphone will indeed come in two separate sizes, with the 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch displays that were anticipated indeed emerging. The wraparound display has also come to fruition, with the new design involving a screen that occupy almost the entirety of the front of the phone; perhaps the most striking aspect of this new device.
Interestingly, the screen resolution of the Galaxy S8 range also receives a minor boost over the last generation. Both models are capable of displaying 2,960 x 1,440 pixels, meaning that the Galaxy S8 is the first mobile phone to be rated as Mobile HDR Premium. What this means in layman’s terms is that it meets a requisite standard for high dynamic range and content, meaning that colors will be more pronounced and a larger range of brightness will be present than in most smartphone products.
The new design and wraparound screen means that the Galaxy S8 handsets are particularly compact. The smartphone version of the Galaxy S8 (although arguably both devices are now sliding into phablet territory) features dimensions of 148.9 x 68.1 x 8mm, meaning that the handset is 1cm shorter and narrower than an iPhone 7 Plus, despite having a significantly larger display.
It will be very much over to Apple to respond to this now, with the consumer electronics giant having already been linked with a similar screen for the next generation iPhone 8.
Samsung was fairly forthcoming with the specs of the Galaxy S8 series, with the Korean company revealing that both devices feature an octa-core chip. Four bundles of cores will be clocked at 2.3GHz in the Galaxy S8, with the other four being timed at 1.7 GHz. It is notable that the chip is also the first to feature in a smartphone that has been manufactured in a 0.1 micron production process, meaning that this is a highly refined product.
Both RAM and storage have been frozen from the Galaxy S7, with 4GB of memory and 64GB of internal flash available. However, as was largely expected, Samsung has included a micro SD card slot, enabling users to expand the storage of the device.
One difference between the two Galaxy S8 releases is that the larger Galaxy S8+ benefits from a heftier battery. The Galaxy S8+ cell is a 3,500mAh unit, with the smaller release featuring a battery of 3,000 mAh capacity.
As was entirely predictable, the Galaxy S8 will ship with Android Nougat. This is due to be replaced by the Android O release in the third quarter of 2017, with the Galaxy S8 being fully compatible with this new software.
The cameras included in the Galaxy S8 series do not diverge hugely from previous devices. A 12-megapixel rear-facing camera, with optical image stabilization, and an 8-megapixel selfie camera are included. Both are notable for possessing an f/1.7 aperture. The fingerprint sensor is also present on the back of the device, located next to the rear-camera, while a facial unlocking feature has also been implemented.
As Samsung had previously made clear, its new personal assistant Bixby does indeed launch with the Galaxy S8. The proof will be in the pudding with this particular feature, but it was announced that Bixby will deliver a multi-modal feature similar to Google Assistant. This can be operated via voice control or camera, while it is also possible to interact with items on-screen with this function.
One slight disappointment is that this feature will not launch in the United States until May, with Samsung choosing to float it initially in Korea. However, other aspects of the camera and a text service will be available from day one in North America.
Samsung DeX, Gear VR
Another major new feature that Samsung was keen to promote was the worldwide launch of Samsung DeX, short for Desktop Experience. This will enable Galaxy S8 users to dock their phones and effectively utilize them as fully-fledged desktop computing environments. Access to Office and Autodesk will then be available through a virtual desktop service, while keyboard and mouse control will also be possible.
Samsung also demonstrated a relaunch of its Gear VR headset, with a wireless gesture-based remote control unveiled. The Gear 360 camera now also has the ability to live stream 360-degrees video, which Samsung believes could be a tipping point for the widespread adoption of virtual reality.
Price and release date
The full retail price of the Galaxy S8 will be $750, with the Galaxy S8+ retailing at $850. Both go on sale on April 28.
Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus are going up for pre-order starting March 30th, which precedes a full release on April 21 in stores and online.
GALAXY S8 RUMORS
UPDATE 03-24-2017: With Samsung due to unveil its latest Galaxy S8 smartphone in just days’ time, leaked photos and videos have emerged displaying details of the new handset. The latest leaks reveal that the Galaxy S8 will benefit from an edge-to-edge screen, while the physical design of the device is also significantly altered from previous releases.
It seems that the Home button will indeed be removed, while the new Bixby smart assistant benefits from its own dedicated button. Bixby is also showcased in the video. Footage suggests that Bixby will feature a broad functionality, enabling users to be supported in a wide range of tasks.
The video in question is believed to display an early version of the Galaxy S8, and


text:
Search Tags: fda
Just days after researchers warned of health risks from sugar-free diet soft drinks, scientists are sounding the alarm about regular sugary soft drinks.
Department of Agriculture inspectors could be furloughed for up to 15 days under sequestration. That would force meatpacking plants to intermittently shut down and would result in less meat in grocery stores. Prices would rise.
A 33-year-old man has been sentenced to five months in prison for selling misbranded, non-FDA approved prescription drugs.
The New York Times reports officials at the Food and Drug Administration have received notice of 13 deaths over the past four years linked to 5-Hour Energy, a caffeinated beverage packaged in two-ounce "shots" and sold in convenient stores.
Health experts say fish is a good addition to any diet, but new information suggests buyers should beware.
The FDA says about 40 medical facilities in the D.C. area bought other medications from the pharmacy linked to a nationwide meningitis outbreak.
Supernus Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Monday that the Food and Drug Administration approved its once- per-day epilepsy drug Oxtellar XR. Its shares jumped more than 10 percent in morning trading.
Over the past 18 months the FDA says 360 dogs and one cat have died in illnesses that may involve the jerky treats. Illnesses have been reported in 50 states and six Canadian provinces.
Tags: dog treats,
The Food and Drug Administration is warning people not to eat raw or partially cooked shellfish harvested from New York's Oyster Bay Harbor because they have been linked to cases of foodborne illness in several states.
U.S. regulators would inspect more drug manufacturing facilities in China, India and other foreign countries as part of legislation approved Thursday that aims to step up oversight of the nation's imported pharmaceutical supply.
Hi: 86 °F | Lo: 69 °F


text:
Meta-owned Facebook has been sued by the Texas attorney general’s office, alleging that the social media giant has illegally collected biometric data, using a facial recognition system, of millions of Texans without their consent. Texas suing Facebook for privacy violations is much like the previous lawsuit where the state of Illinois has sued Facebook over facial-recognition issues, which was later settled at $650 million in 2021.
Texas sued Facebook due to the illegal usage of facial recognition data for its own commercial use
The complaint filed by Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, accused the social media platform of collecting millions of biometric data gathered from photos and videos of users posted on the platform without their informed consent – that is the breach of state privacy laws – the data included the face-scan data from Facebook users as well as people who had not signed up to the platform but were featured in other users’ content. All of this was gathered in order to train the platform’s facial recognition technology for its own commercial gain.
According to the lawsuit, the state can enforce a civil penalty of up to $25,000 per violation of Texas’ Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act for each unlawful collection of a biometric identifier, disclosure of that data to a third party, and failure to destroy the data in a timely manner. Paxton said that Texas sued Facebook because the Meta-owned platform violated the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act by misleading consumers and asked for an additional $10,000 civil penalty for each violation of that law.
Discontinuation of Facebook automated tagging system
Previously, Facebook discontinued the Facial Recognition feature that was used to tag people in photographs and videos. But, the possibility of using the facial recognition was not foreclosed on other platforms such as virtual or augmented reality. According to Verge, Meta responded that these claims are without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously.


text:
From 30th August 2019, the school will use a new communications and online payment service for all communications to parents/carers and for online payments including school meals. Please visit the following page for details:
Countdown to the first Year 11 exam
Talented FGCS students impressed some of the world's top engineers and won £1,500 for the school with their plans to eradicate air pollution...
FGCS is set to switch to a four-and-a-half day week in a bid to create a “happier, more productive” environment. From next September, students...


text:
Japanese Online Casinos Industry News
Softbank is on way to turn out to be Japan's first online casino group to go into the online betting industry in order to diverse their business. As for now officials from the companies have yet to state their moves for 2006, it seems they are waiting to see what the new government's opinion on Japanese online casinos is.
Softbank runs Yahoo's broadband service and is preparing to set up an online casino portal that would present data and commentaries on the races and would make it possible for Japanese to place bets. Softbank are also preparing to broadcast races. The company already came in contact with the Iwate Prefecture Horse Racing Association regarding this issue.
In Softbank's Japanese online casinos would "catch action", as commented by an anonymous manager, they are predicted to generate more than 234 million Yen during the next year. For more information about Japanese online casinos and the industry feel free to browse our site for more information.


text:
More than a million chain saws are being recalled because they have a faulty power switch that could fail to shut off the tool. Other recalled consumer products include pottery wheels and playground slides.
Consumers, and millennials specifically, have clearly set a precedent: they want sustainability to be top-of-mind for brands when it comes to achieving their business goals, according to social media software provider Digimind Inc.
The latest news, analysis, services and systems regarding reverse logistics and its impact on global supply chains. Today’s companies are refurbishing and recycling more goods and managing more product returns than ever before thanks, in part, to the boom in e-commerce. New technologies for reverse fulfillment are transforming the way companies provide customer support - and allowing them to stay ahead of the competition in their industries. As these services continue to evolve, businesses are discovering new ways to increase efficiency and cut costs. Learn how companies are using reverse logistics solutions to power their supply chains.
Wake up to Coronavirus Updates and the latest Supply Chain News!
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter
Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.


text:
Just a block from the Salesforce Tower that dominates the Indianapolis skyline, Eric Christopher and his team are building what they hope will be Indiana's next big tech hit.
Founded by a group of techies with ties to local breakout ExactTarget, the email marketing company Salesforce acquired in 2013 for $2.5 billion, Zylo is a long way from rivaling Marc Benioff and co. for influence. But with a fresh $9 million funding round from Silicon Valley venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners and the venture arms of Salesforce and Slack, Zylo has the pedigree and what it hopes is the product to someday join those ranks.
Zylo's pitch is simple, if susceptible to irony: it provides business software to help track an excess of business software. "The irony comes up tongue and cheek with some companies," says Christopher, Zylo's CEO. "We call ourselves SaaS (software-as-a-service") for SaaS."
Customers stop laughing, however, when Zylo shows them how much they're spending on software across their organizations, Christopher says. The average Zylo customer manages more than 400 cloud subscriptions, often underestimating the cumulative cost by three to five times. Businesses have spent the past several years developing their cloud strategies; what they haven't figured out is the best way to manage what workflows end up moving online.
With Appirio and Instructure as early customers and partnership with many of the leading cloud players such as Google and Microsoft Office 365 as well as others including Concur, Okta and NetSuite, Zylo will use the money to speed up its product road map by staffing up on more engineers. The startup currently has 23 employees, half of whom work in product and research and development. "We're starting to feel that muscle where you know how you fit in the marketplace, so we thought, let's go get ahead of this," says Christopher.
Zylo's ties to ExactTarget and Salesforce talent run deep. It's one of the first startups to launch out of High Alpha, the venture studio for business software companies launched by former ExactTarget CEO Scott Dorsey in 2015 after his departure from Salesforce. More than half of High Alpha's nine studio companies have ExactTarget veterans on their founding teams, with seven based in Indianapolis, one in Chicago and one in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Zylo came about when Christopher, a onetime early top sales rep for ExactTarget who'd left to work at startups in Chicago, reconnected with Dorsey in late 2014 and kept in touch in the months after. Christopher was interested in improving the buying and selling process for business software; High Alpha partner Kristian Andersen had identified a similar problem when he realized how many subscription charges were hitting the corporate credit card at his digital agency.
The ExactTarget/Salesforce mafia got to work. Christophe was soon joined by Salesforce veteran Cory Wheeler to run services and ExactTarget and Salesforce vet Ben Pippenger to run product. Zylo's director of marketing and head of engineering also worked at both companies. "You don't find many startups that can sell to enterprises right out of the gate," says Dorsey. "This is one of the most compelling companies in Midwest tech."
In Bessemer, Zylo gains the backing of another powerful Silicon Valley VC firm, this one providing a board member in Byron Deeter with more cloud IPOs than any VC in recent years. Zylo had already attracted coastal interest, with SV Angel, GGV Capital and Haystack investing in its $3.3 million seed round in October 2016. New investors Salesforce Ventures and the Slack Fund, meanwhile, can help Zylo stay strategically aligned with each popular cloud platform. Zylo plans to offer tools directly to SaaS providers in the future to help with problems such as cost optimization, says Christopher; Zylo also plans to integrate more deeply with those and other leading vendors.
"This product wouldn't have made sense three years ago, and our hope is that three years from now it will be obvious," Deeter says. "They've got a roadmap a mile long that gets into the management layer and strategy roles, and our shared belief is that enterprises will want those insights."
Zylo might have the deep talent pool of ExactTarget to draw upon in Indiana, but outside of the state it faces growing competition from smaller challengers targeting the same opportunity, including Blissfully and Meta SaaS. Others focus more on security and corporate policies, such as BetterCloud, while still more companies working on infrastructure monitoring and cloud integration could attempt to move into the space. Christopher says he's not surprised. "People we talk to think this idea makes sense, so there's a category building," he says. "The time is now, and we're in a great position of winning a lot of customers."


text:
Snow just keeps falling on Vail nearly a week after chairlifts shut down
Vail got another foot of snow last night, nearly a week after the mountain closed for the season, and the first part of the week saw probably another two feet fall. If the ski mountain was still open and they still measured snowfall at the top, we'd probably be pushing 600 inches of snow this season. Now I'd like to ask the snow gods to save some for next season.
Most Vail Valley locals scatter like snowflakes when the chairlifts shut down, which happened on Easter Sunday with a foot of fresh snow still on the ground. Especially when those cabin-feverish locals can't ski anymore and it just keeps snowing, which is what happened all week.
For the record, the final record-setting tally was 524 inches of snow at mid-mountain this past ski season, breaking the old marks of 505 at the top of the mountain (set in 1977-78) and 458 at mid-mountain (set in 2007-08).
A few diehards will keep ascending the mountain with climbing skins attached to their telemark skis and making powder turns in the morning before warmer spring temperatures turn any new snow into spring cement, but the vast majority of snow riders like their turns lift-served.
For those less hardcore folks who don't want to “earn their turns,” Arapahoe Basin ski area (about an hour to the east of Vail in Summit County) will stay open until early June. It's part of the Vail Resorts Epic Pass season pass, so there's no extra charge for skiing “The Legend,” as the Basin is known, almost into summer.
Loveland Ski Area, about an hour east of Vail on Interstate 70, is open until Sunday, May 8, and is offering $30 lift tickets to season pass holders from other resorts that are already shut down, which is most of them. Sounds like a good Mother's Day outing.
Arapahoe Basin is reporting eight new this morning and Loveland is reporting five. Once again, Vail got the lion's share, but what good is it if you can't ski it in your own backyard?
After a long, powdery ski season, the vast majority of us just want to trade in our ski boots for flip-flops and head to Cabo San Lucas, Maui or Moab, Utah, with our mountain bikes on the back of the SUV.
I've often said if we didn't push so hard to get the resorts up and running in the fall, when the snow is often marginal (sometimes nonexistent) and resorts are forced to rely heavily on snowmaking, snow riders wouldn't be so burned out by early April and ready to call it a season when the snowpack is often at its deepest.
The resort answer typically is that people in key destination markets like New York, L.A., Chicago and Dallas are surrounded by green grass and are far more focused on golf than skiing. My theory is they wouldn't be so much in that mind-set if ski areas set more realistic opening dates of mid-December (instead of pre-Thanksgiving) and then marketed April and even early May a little harder.
In the meantime, most ski towns become ghost towns when the lifts shut down, and that's certainly the case in Vail, but earlier this week I had lunch with a friend visiting from Washington, D.C., who said he found it strangely serene and relaxing. Nothing like a deserted alpine village with snowflakes gently wafting from the sky.
And restaurant, retail and lodging deals abound this time of year. You have to call ahead to make sure places are still open (a lot of shop owners shutter the place and head for the beach, too), but some of Vail's best restaurants offer half-off deals to entice any kind of off-season business.
For example, one of my favorites, La Tour, is doing 50-percent-off entrees, and with a coupon sent to anyone on their email list, the modern French-American fixture is offering a free “Intense Jasmine Cocktail,” which won the recent Taste of Vail Mixology Contest's “People's Choice Award” for best cocktail. That offer is good through April 30.
Since I have no travel plans until early June, you now know where you'll find me in May.
0 Comments on "Snow just keeps falling on Vail nearly a week after chairlifts shut down"
Be the first to comment below.


text:
The Brussels-based group said Europe's results were depressed because European car companies were delaying sales ahead of new strict EU emissions limits kicking over the next couple of years
Surging diesel consumption in India, the world's third-largest oil user, underscores the country's importance as a driver of global oil demand
The California-based firm has been aiming to accelerate Chinese sales that have been hit hard by the impact of Sino-U.S. trade tensions.
The company expects to upgrade most of its products to meet BS VI emission norms by the end of this year.
Tesla said in a prepared statement that General Counsel Dane Butswinkas (But-SWIN-kiss) will return to a legal practice in Washington, D.C.He'll continue to work for Tesla as outside counsel.
Solar panels cost only 40% of the cost required for installing solar plants, said Gopal, adding that as the UPS were already in place people need not to spend additional amount for the same.
According to the report, the offer will value each of Maxwell's 45.9 million shares at $4.75. The merger is expected to close in the second quarter of 2019
Trouble is, it took cost cuts at the $53 billion electric-car maker to eke out even that, which was less than half the profit in the previous three months - itself Tesla's first black ink in ages
The company has said it would begin delivering Model 3s to Europe and China in February
The 325-million-euro project is expected to supply batteries for more than 80,000 electric cars per year in Europe and create more than 700 jobs
In Germany, where the group makes more than a third of its underlying profit and has more than 3.6 million customers, the number of charging points stands at just 110, far behind local rivals Innogy and EnBW.
E.ON and EDF are already working with Nissan to develop services that allow power stored in electric vehicle batteries to be sold back to the grid - and now they're trying to persuade European carmakers to follow suit
Under the investment plan, LG Chem will spend 600 billion won each at an electric vehicle battery plant and a small-sized battery plant in Nanjing, the company said in a statement
The 48 charging sites will be installed in Denmark, Sweden and Norway and are expected to be operational next year
Bullish on his Chinese dream, Musk last July said he had excellent meetings with senior country leaders and will aim to invest long-term in the country
Musk, who visited China in May in July last year, said he wants to visit India in early 2019 but the country generally makes him feel hopeless due to tough government regulations
"This pooling of our eMobility business is our response to the current challenges of an increasingly fast-growing market", Innogy manager Martin Herrmann said in a statement on Thursday


text:
Dona Collins is a blogger and graphic designer, when she is free she writes for CreditLoan.com and other financial websites.
5 innovations in radiology that could impact everything from the Zika virus to dermatology
More "Digital Industry Insider" »
A new technology is being developed using just 1% of the finite resource needed for traditional MRIs
Available on iOS or Android


text:
Holiday Spending Growth at 5 -Year Low
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
A surge in spending over the weekend may not have been enough to rescue Target, Sears Holdings and Macy's from the slowest holiday spending season in five years.
MasterCard's consulting unit said yesterday that sales from Nov. 23 to Dec. 24 gained 3.6 percent. Spending in the week through Dec. 22 declined 2.2 percent, the fourth week of declines, even after sales increased almost 20 percent over the last weekend before Christmas, Chicago-based ShopperTrak RCT said Monday.
"It's not going to overcome the negative forecasts," Frederick Crawford, managing director at Southfield, Mich.- based AlixPartners, said of the weekend. "It's going to be a good start, a very weak midsection and a strong finish."
Gasoline at $3 a gallon and rising food prices have discouraged shoppers from spending during November and December, which account for 20 percent of retailers' annual revenue, according to the National Retail Federation in Washington.
Target, the second-biggest U.S. discounter, said Monday that sales at stores open more than a year may decline in December after customer visits slowed in the weeks after Thanksgiving.
Sales in November and December this year may rise 4 percent, the slowest growth since 2002, according to the National Retail Federation. MasterCard's holiday growth figure was the lowest in at least three years.
Less than one-fifth of consumers finished their holiday shopping by Dec. 16, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers in New York. J.C. Penney, Sears and Toys R Us tried to lure late buyers with discounts over the weekend, helping boost U.S. retailers' sales by 7.6 percent on Saturday.
Shoppers buying online led the growth in spending, with Internet sales gaining 22 percent from Nov. 23 though Dec. 24, said Michael McNamara, vice president for research and analysis at MasterCard Advisors.
"If you were expecting this holiday season to stimulate a new ramp-up in growth, I think you'd be disappointed," McNamara said. "I think the vast majority of people in the marketplace had modest expectations."
Apparel rose 1.4 percent from a year ago, McNamara said. Men's clothing climbed 2.3 percent, while sales of clothes for women fell 2.4 percent.
Luxury goods, excluding jewelry, rose 7.1 percent from the comparable period last year, and footwear sales increased 6 percent.
MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse surveys retailers across the United States. Its figures are based on sales in the MasterCard network and estimates of other forms of payment, including checks and cash. MasterCard is the second-biggest U.S. credit-card company.
Last year's holiday season grew 6.6 percent over 2005's holidays. Two years ago, retail sales grew 8 percent from the previous year, MasterCard said.
Although Target's customer visits increased for the week ended Dec. 22, "this increase was not sufficient to compensate for the unfavorable traffic trends that carried over into December from the week following Thanksgiving," the Minneapolis-based retailer said.


text:
Nacionsushi franchise arrives in Puerto Rico with $2.5M restaurant
Nacionsushi, a casual restaurant chain that was born in Panama in 2014, is making its debut in Puerto Rico with a location at San Patricio Plaza’s Liberty Square through a $2.5 million investment.
The sushi and Asian food restaurant will span 4,100 square feet and is still in the construction phase. However, an opening date for the restaurant with capacity for 185 guests is projected for November, franchisee Manny Reyes said in an interview.
A second location under this license will open in Miami in January, while plans for Puerto Rico call for opening between five and 10 more restaurants over the next six years, he said.
“Nacionsushi arrives with the commitment to serve as an engine of growth on the island to strengthen both the local economy and the hospitality industry,” said Reyes, who has more than 25 years of experience in the production and entertainment industries both stateside and in Puerto Rico.
“Through our expansion plans, we will continue to contribute to employment, creating memorable experiences while offering a unique culinary proposal,” he said, adding that he learned of the concept during a trip to Panama in 2021, and spent the better part of the last two years negotiating the terms of his agreement with the chain’s owners.
“This concept breaks with the scheme of what everybody sells today, and I come from the field of creating experiences. When I saw this restaurant, I was surprised by all of it, from the person who greeted me, to the decor, which transports you to each of the places featured in the menu, its vibrant colors, and that piqued my interest,” he said, adding that the menu includes dishes from Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and China.
The opening is expected to create more than 60 direct jobs, with positions available for sushi makers, cooks, bartenders, cashiers, dishwashers, runners and hostesses, additionally generating more than 200 indirect jobs. Interested applicants can email resumes or submit them through the restaurant’s website.
Nacionsushi offers a departure from traditional Asian restaurants, which often feature minimalist decor and a sober atmosphere.
As part of this immersive experience, the restaurant recreates six distinct spaces, each of which is designed with sounds and colors to transport patrons to different regions of Southeast Asia, including Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and China.
Beyond Panama, Nacionsushi has 48 locations in countries including Costa Rica, Spain, Guatemala, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay and El Salvador. The chain is looking to expand into Venezuela, Honduras and the U.S. mainland this year, according to its website.


text:
Could Samsung, reportedly the ousted manufacturer of processors for Apple, be able to control the Silicon Valley company by putting it on a rationed supply of NAND flash memory? How should Apple respond to the danger?
In 2011 Apple became the biggest purchaser of NAND flash memory in the
world and its use of NAND flash surged in 2012. And in 2012 Samsung was
the biggest maker of NAND flash memory with 38 percent market share,
according to market researcher IHS. The other suppliers
were Toshiba with 28 percent, Micron with 14 percent, SK Hynix with 12
percent and Intel with 8 percent, according to IHS (see NAND flash market surged in Q4). As much Toshiba's output is for SanDisk Corp it can be seen that there are not many options for buying NAND flash memory.
2012 and previous years there was an oversupply of NAND flash memory
which kept prices low and ensured plenty of supply. But it is looking
likely that 2013 will see an undersupply of NAND flash and increased
average selling prices. Now as Apple is the largest, or close to the largest, purchases of NAND flash memory it does have purchasing clout. But it also has the biggest need and could see problems if NAND flash memory suppliers start to mutter the dreaded "A" word; allocation.
And as Samsung is itself a major supplier of smart televisions, computers, tablet computers and smartphones, all of which
are already, or are likely to become, major users of NAND flash memory
either in discrete form or solid-state drives, one can imagine that more
of Samsung's output will be reserved for its own needs. As the largest producer of NAND flash Samsung is likely to be one of very few electronic equipment makers that will not see a shortage of the non-volatile memory.
It is a
questionable practice under anti-trust legislation around the world to
tie the selling of processors to the purchase of memory. However, for
Samsung to tell Apple it can't supply as much NAND flash memory as Apple
would like because it needs the lion's share for its own tablets and
smartphones would be a subtler matter.
Sometimes it's shocking how intertwined the supply chain is. But this is far from the first time a situation like this has come up.
If I recall correctly, IBM abruptly stopped buying disks from one specific vendor (Shugart, maybe?) which had a devastating effect on the supplier. That's the position Samsung is in.
The reverse risk to Apple is just as real. Antitrust laws may prohibit restraint of trade, but there are a lot of ways of holding back without going clearly afoul of the regulations.
The real interesting part here is that both Apple and Samsung stand to lose big from any kind of a supply war.
Do you really think it makes sense for Apple to essentially fund their largest competitor?
I do not see them destroying their product pipeline, though perhaps a slight delay. It was going to have to happen eventually, why not now?
Sure there is interdependence in many industries, but I have to imagine for Apple it was almost becoming uncomfortable.
They are also not destroying their whole supply chain, simply realigning it. That actually is good for the whole industry as it means not only can Apple build competitive advantage, but by moving supply out of Samsung which one could argue has far too high a concentration of Smartphone dollars on the supply side if Apple sticks with them, it grows supply chain competitors which helps other smart phone companies have access to top technology.
at some point there has to be an advantage to not being a dick, the way Apple has been. a company that genuinely has superior products does not destroy their whole supply chain and product pipeline as a defense against follower competition. playing such a defense game is tantamount to admitting your offense (innovation) is failing.
At some point there has to be an advantage in having captive fabs, otherwise no one would ever build any new ones. Samsung will reap the advantages of being more vertically integrated. Apple can certainly buy enough NAND for its use, but will simply pay more. If they are smart they will have at least two vendors. This situation is where Tim Cook can earn his pay.


text:
Apple faces "unprecedented" demand for the iPhone 3G, reports RBC Technology analyst, Mike Abramsky.
Citing recent research conducted on behalf of RBC Technology, the analyst told Silicon Alley Insider that 56 per cent of those planning to purchase a smartphone in the next ninety days plan to buy an iPhone – that’s up form 35 per cent in March.
The research also revealed that consumer interest in the iPhone has grown faster than in advance of any other phone launch recorded by the company. And 10.5% of those surveyed intend to buy a smartphone — any smartphone — up from 7%-8% average over the last few years.
– 25 per cent of those surveyed may buy an iPhone 3G in the future – twice the level of interest seen before launch of the first product last year.
– Top reasons for buying the iPhone include lower price (67%), 3G Internet connection (63%), GPS (47%), Microsoft (MSFT) Exchange email support (35%), and third-party apps (20%).
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.


text:
The programme is exclusively designed for students in colleges and educational institutes across the country.
Even though the US feigned ignorance, it may have been aware about the whereabouts of Sangeeta Richard, the maid of Indian Deputy Consul General in New York Devyani Khobragade.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs had organised as many as 306 investor awareness programmes across the country in November last year.
A first-of-its-kind campaign in the insurance industry, Bharti AXA GI's viral marketing campaign successfully capitalises the most potent communication medium today - the digital platform.
“We hope to raise the awareness among the large pool of retail customers on the need to have a trusted financial advisor and increase the equity ownership as a part of household financial savings with the launch of the AxisDirect Investment Kit," Mr. Shah said.
Financial markets may be more vulnerable to traders' stress levels than previously thought, according to a scientific study which found that high levels of the stress hormone cortisol can induce risk aversion.
The delay in tapering allowed India to bring about adjustment in the CAD and build buffers by replenishing its foreign exchange reserves.
The Reserve Bank of India has reported 6,034 cases of frauds involving credit cards and debit cards in 2013.
CRISIL and FLIP sign MoU; To focus on promoting financial awareness, creating knowledge standards in BFS sector; CRISIL, a global analytical company providing ratings, research and risk and policy advisory services, and Finitiatives Learning India Pvt. Ltd. (FLIP), India’s leading e-learning and certification services provider in banking and finance,... more
Crisil announces setting up of Crisil Foundation for spreading financial awareness and environment conservation.
Master Surya Girish and Master Siddharth M Joy of Chinmaya Vidyalaya HSS, Thiruvananthapuram were the winners of the RBIQ, an all India inter-school quiz arranged by the banking regulator for spreading financial awareness. Master Tanmay Kakati and Master Shreyas Sarkar of Maharishi Vidyamandir Public School of Guwahati were the runners up. The finals... more
Gartner: Financial: As ITAM changes from an inventory management function to a more strategic financial
CRISIL, a global analytical company providing ratings, research, risk, and policy advisory services has initiated national financial awareness initiative. The national roll out has started from Assam.


text:
The Public Face of Sulzer Medica
Sulzer Medica is one of Europe's leading medical device firms. But during the 1990s, though it grew nicely, it still trailed other, US-based multi-national device firms. That was because the company had struggled with product development and had no publicly-traded stock with which to acquire new businesses. Now fresh from a successful IPO, Suler is ready to play by a whole new set of rules.
You may also be interested in...
The once consolidating orthopedic implant business is, if anything, going in the opposite direction, given the decisions this week by parents of two of the leading companies to create stand-alone companies of their orthopedic businesses. Bristol-Myers confirmed what had been rumored for months: that it will spin off its Zimmer orthopedics business into a public company rather than sell the company to some other player. Earlier, Sulzer announced that it plans to spin off its medical device business, Sulzer Medica, in response to pressure from a large investor who was concerned about the industrial giant's declining stock performance. But these individual deals also represent a surprising industry turnaround--the consolidation of two years ago has largely stabilized pricing, allowing independent companies to thrive once again.
The Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety will consider available safety data for prostaglandin analogs isopropyl cloprostenate, ethyl tafluprostamide and others with known use in eyelash-growth cosmetic products in the EU. Currently, the substances are not restricted in cosmetic products.
Thermo Fisher Scientific has agreed to buy Mesa Biotech for $450m in cash and Hillrom will acquire Bardy Diagnostics for $375m in cash. Both deals will add complementary digital health solutions, which may be a continued trend in 2021.


text:
From time to time, Google releases updates for its Android platform. Some of these updates might be minor and include things like bug fixes, patches for exploits and vulnerabilities, and sometimes these updates can be major where Google introduces new features that allow users to do new things, quality of life improvements, and more.
If the latter is something you’re more interested in, then you’ll be happy to hear that Google has announced that they are releasing a bunch of new updates for Android that will bring about some new features to the platform in time for the holiday season.
Google Photos and emoji mashups
One of the new changes will be to the Google Photos collage editor, where Google has worked with Australian husband-and-wife visual duo DABSMYLA and renowned watercolor artist Yao Cheng Design to offer up new styles for users to play around with. There will also be new seasonal emoji mashups that users can access via Gboard, creating new holiday-themed emojis that they can include in their messages to friends and family.
The update will also introduce a new accessibility feature in the form of reading mode, where users can better adjust things like contrast, text size, font type, page clutter, and more, all of which is designed to help make reading things on your screen easier, especially if you might be blind, visually impaired, or dyslexic.
Find content faster
There will also be the introduction of a new YouTube Search widget for the home screen that will help users find videos faster. Speaking of videos, there’s also a new tap to watch option on Google TV that will let users quickly cast content from the Google TV app to compatible TVs.
Digital car keys and Wear OS
Google has also made some changes to the digital car key feature (available on Pixel devices and iPhones first) where users can now share their digital car key with others. This means that if you’re away for the holiday and someone needs to move or borrow your car, you can send them a digital copy of the key which they can then use to unlock and start your car.
Last but not least, the latest update will also be bringing about some changes to Wear OS. This includes the addition of new tiles that give users shortcuts to features like contacts, seeing the sunrise and sunset times, and more. Google Keep on Wear OS has also been updated to be more optimized for smartwatches and will now support custom backgrounds, photos, and drawings.
There will also be the addition of support for Google Assistant where users can now quickly launch more than 30 types of exercises with the adidas Running app using your voice.


text:
Bankers are aggressively shopping online media assets in the hopes of getting a taste of some of that sweet DailyCandy cash.
The eye-popping $125 million sale of the shopping and culture newsletter and Web site to Comcast three weeks ago – which followed closely on the heels of the $23 million sale of Mediabisto.com and the $30 million deal for paidcontent.org – has created something of a bull market for online media assets, investment bankers said.
Reed Phillips, a managing partner with boutique media investment bank DeSilva & Phillips, said he is currently in “serious negotiations” with potential buyers on three separate online media deals that could close in the next 45 days.
Phillips declined to name the companies he is selling.
DailyCandy, a women’s fashion and lifestyle e-newsletter, was an attractive acquisition, perhaps, because of its 2.5 million subscribers in 12 US cities and in London. Each e-newsletter is embedded with paid advertising. It has just 55 employees.
There is no shortage of online media companies rumored to be for sale. Content aggregators The Huffington Post and Digg, as well as social networks like LinkedIn, have either held sale discussions in the past or are considered among the next most attractive targets for potential suitors.
“The appetite among buyers is always the determining factor for getting deals done in the online-media space,” Phillips said.
“Right now they are either looking to plug a hole or feel a need to move into a certain business area.”
Part of the reason for that can be gleaned from recent statistics from the Online Publishers Association. According to the OPA, 5 percent of Internet users spend their time online doing search, but nearly 53 percent of online advertising dollars are devoted to search.
Conversely, though Internet users spend 50 percent of their online time with content, it doesn’t generate anywhere near a proportionate amount of revenue.
The bet among buyers is that there will be a significant narrowing of the gap between time spent with content online and the money going to it.
Considering the spotty success of online media deals – Yahoo!-Broadcast.com, anyone? – the bet is a risky one.
But based on the robust prices being paid, buyers seem to think they have learned from past mistakes.
While valuations for private Internet companies have always been richer than their public market contemporaries because of the larger growth promise, this time around buyers also appear willing to pay a premium based on where they think they can take the target company.
“A lot of times the buyer is paying a high multiple [of cash flow] because they think they can develop the business to a level well beyond what the current owner has,” Phillips said.
Comcast, for instance, thinks that it can leverage the markets it controls through cable to expand DailyCandy’s audience and generate traffic to its broadband assets.
The company also thinks that it can bring in significantly more local and national advertising dollars by combining DailyCandy with its cable and Internet platform.
That said, even Phillips agrees that prices being paid for online media assets “are getting harder to rationalize.”


text:
Here’s a game that we’ll never write about again: Lapis x Labyrinth is coming to Western territories, courtesy of NIS America. The whimsical PlayStation 4 action RPG couldn’t look more Japanese if it put vending machine underwear on its head and started screaming kawaii, but we’re sure that it’ll be someone’s cup of tea. Right?
The game’s due out in 2019, and there’s an announcement trailer embedded above. In other NIS America news, a Danganronpa Trilogy featuring Danganronpa 1&2 Reload and Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony will release on the PS4 next year as part of a special physical package featuring an exclusive art book.


text:
The first public beta of the iOS 15.4 is already out but in the upcoming weeks, Apple users can anticipate new awesome features from the software update. Although the last update of iOS 15.3 launched a few days ago, the new one is already on its way with exciting updates including unlocking your phone ID with a mask.
The anticipated feature is only available for iPadOS 15.4, allowing you to use the same mouse, keyboard, and trackpad to control multiple devices like Macs and iPads. The mouse will effortlessly move across both screens when it's being controlled on one device. Users can see the cursor move on the display screen on two different devices, while smoothly transitioning between screens without any sudden jumps. The feature, however, not work with every Apple device, but only with iPad 6th generation and later, iPad Mini 5th generation and later, iPad Air 3rd generation and later, and any iPad Pro tablet.
Face ID unlock with mask
Apple Watch linked to your own iPhone could already help users to unlock their phones even while wearing a mask but the new software update will perform this same feature without the Apple watch. The company stated, “Face ID is most accurate when it’s set up for full-face recognition only. To use Face ID while wearing a mask, iPhone can recognize the unique features around the eye to authenticate.”
The feature uses your eyes and the area around them as ID recognition to unlock your phone and works with third-party apps as well, like banking apps and Apple Pay. The update also supports people who wear glasses but will not work with sunglasses yet. The update feature will only work with iPhone 12 and 13 series, the previous models are not included.
Notes in Keychain
The password keeper will help you guess your passwords by letting you add notes. This was previously only available to other apps and not the Keychain until now.
The three amazing features, highlighted by Forbes, also mention the upcoming Heath feature which will now support EU Coronavirus Vaccination records and an improved sign-in option for Apple TV. It is unclear when the software might be released but the magazine predicts it could be March or April.
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ


text:
Apple confirmed the iOS 7 release date for September 18th today at the company’s iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C event though the company said that that iOS 7 release date only pertains to owners of the iPhone and the iPad.
After months of rumors, leaks, speculation and iOS 7 beta releases, Apple finally confirmed the iOS 7 release date informing iPhone and iPad owners about when they can expect to download the new version of iOS.
September 18th will be the day that iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners will be able to download the software through iTunes and Over-the-Air, something that puts to rest any rumors of an iOS 7 for iPad delay.
iOS 7 not only brings a host of new features along with it, but it will also bring a new look to iPhone and iPad owners. Apple is calling the software the biggest update to iOS since the release of the original iPhone.
The software comes with a new user interface, vastly different than the one found in iOS 6 and below, an interface that was heavily influenced by Jony Ive, Apple’s design chief. The software will also bring a number of new features to iPhone and iPad owners including an overhauled camera app, AirDrop, and a new Control Center.
Of course, not all iOS 7 updates are created the same and iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 owners will be without some of the features contained within iOS 7. Apple previously announced that those devices, along with several several iPads would not be getting the entire version of iOS 7.
Older devices like the iPhone 3GS will not be getting the software at all, unsurprising given that Apple discontinued the iPhone 3GS with the release of the iPhone 5 last September.
Apple did not announce any more details in regards to the iOS 7 release date but iPhone and iPad owners can expect the software to roll out around 10AM PST for both the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch fifth-generation.
This article may contain affiliate links. Click here for more details.


text:
Two limited edition bottles of the Macallan which were 1926 and matured for 60 years in Sherry casks, have sold at auction for a whopping $1.2 million, which is twice the amount that they were estimated to bring in. It’s not only their age that makes these bottles special, but their packaging. These bottles are adorned with labels designed by artists Sir Peter Blake and Valerio Adami.
Each designer was roped in to create 12 limited edition labels for the Macallan and while these were initially intended to be corporate gifts for valued customers, but they are now among the editions most coveted by whisky collectors. These bottles were sold by Dubai Airport retailer Le Clos, who stated that the bottles were priced at $27,000 when they were first launched. The last known bottle was sold in 2007 for $75,000 at auction by Christie’s.
‘These represent some of the most exclusive bottles ever produced, making this an iconic sale that will be remembered worldwide for years to come,’ said Geoff Kirk, Director of Prestige at the Macallan. ‘It is incredibly rare for The Macallan 1926 to be made available for purchase, and the sale offers whisky connoisseurs the chance to secure historic bottles emblematic of 20th-century pop culture.’


text:
Khloé Kardashian wore a curve-hugging nude catsuit covered in tattoo-style prints to celebrate the launch of her sister Kim’s skincare line on Wednesday.
Ttswtrs — short for “tattoo sweaters” — is a Ukrainian label that offers clothing inspired by “the perception of the body as a canvas,” according to the brand’s website.
“We started with the main idea of creating an optical illusion of the naked body covered in tattoos,” designer Anna Osmekhina writes.
“SKKN anyone?” Khloé Kardashian, 38, captioned a series of Instagram photos of herself posing in the artsy outfit, which she paired with clear Yeezy heels and gold hoops.
The Good American co-founder, who turned 27 on June 27, also shared a few photos of herself modeling the hot bodysuit alongside Kim and family members like Kimora Lee Simmons, Jen Atkin, Sara Foster, Jennifer Meyer, and Jonathan “Foodgod” Cheban.
Travis Barker and Pete Davidson, both of whom are famously covered in real tats from head to toe, were absent from the shoot.
Khloé’s sexy nude suit is the latest in a slew of “naked” looks seen this summer.
Trompe l’oeil pieces from stylist Lotta Volkova’s racy collaboration with Jean Paul Gaultier have been worn by Kylie Jenner, Tove Lo, and “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Marlo Hampton, while Bella Thorne, Iggy Azalea, and Demi Lovato have stepped out in curve-enhancing creations by designer Sergio Castao Pea.