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Check out the on-demand sessions from the Low-Code/No-Code Summit to learn how to successfully innovate and achieve efficiency by upskilling and scaling citizen developers. Watch now.
Coupon-junkies can soon skip the newspaper and instead get their fix from the News Feed — no manual clipping required.
Facebook has partially turned on its Offers program, a new initiative that lets brands and businesses disperse discounts and promotions throughout the social network. Brand fans can simply click to digitally clip the offers from their News Feeds.
Here’s how the program works: Local businesses and brands can create offers — not to be confused with deals of the Groupon variety — from their Facebook Pages, and then push those discounts out to the folks that “like” their Pages. You, the Facebook user, are greeted with offers from the Pages you “like” in your News Feed. You can click “Get Offer” to claim — a.k.a. clip — the promotion, and Facebook will follow-up with an e-mail that you’ll need to show to redeem the discount.
So say, for instance, you “like” Joe’s Java on Facebook. Should your coffee spot post a discount, like $1 off your next latte, you would find that offer in your News Feed, click the “Get Offer” button to claim it, check your e-mail, and then head off to Joe’s to present your electronic coupon. You can also share the offer with your Facebook friends.
Of course we’re talking about Facebook here, so be wary of one little catch: For every offer you claim, a story is posted to your Timeline (profile), though you can adjust the settings to limit who sees this activity.
As with any new Facebook feature, we expect a mixed reaction from Facebookers. There’s bound to be vocal group of users who hate the idea of coupons in their News Feeds, and a crowd of happy campers anxious to save a few bucks at their favorite haunts.
Facebook first announced its new Offers program in late February when it revealed its reworked advertising products. The product is in beta, meaning that only a select group of businesses can currently run offers through Facebook.
“Facebook has been rolling out Offers since fMC and it’s now available in Beta in Japan, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore,” a company spokesperson told VentureBeat. A handful of U.S. clients also have the ability to run offers, we’re told.
Photo credit: sdc2027/Flickr
[via The Verge]
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Princess Nokia flexes on her new song Balenciaga, which was released today along with an accompanying music video. Directed by Paulette Agnes Ang, the New York-born Puerto Rican singer strips off her many layers of clothing on the streets of her home city as she proves that, "feeling comfortable in your own skin is the ultimate fashion statement."
The drop follows her last single, Sugar Honey Honey Iced Tea (S.H.I.T.), which was released in early autumn and comes in the wake of her acting debut. Directed by Peter Lee, Angelfish is Princess Nokia's first foray into film and is expected to hit streaming services November 19.

domain: news


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Nokia launches Android smartphones
Barcelona: Targeted at fast growing low-cost smartphone markets like India, Nokia today launched the much anticipated Android-based smartphones starting at euro 89 (about Rs 7,600).
The company introduced three smartphones, based on a modified version of the Android, called Android open source project (AOSP), for the X series.
Nokia X comes with a 4 inch screen and 3MP camera whereas XL has a 5 inch screen and 5 MP camera.
It is for the first time that Nokia has come out with a phone which has Android-based applications. This is a move by the company in order to get a pie of the Android phone market.
As per the IDC figures of the last quarter of 2013, Android had a 78.1 per cent share of global smartphone shipments while the Microsoft Windows Phone platform share stood at 3 per cent.
The release of the phones comes just days ahead of its scheduled takeover by Microsoft. The software giant had acquired the handset business of Nokia for USD 7.2 billion last year.
Elop said the X range of phones will become a feeder system for its Lumia range.
Apart from the X range of phones, Nokia also introduced one Internet enabled entry level phone for euro 29 and a Asha range of phone for euro 45, which will be available in the market immediately.
“The X range of phones is targeted at the growth markets where low-cost smartphones are growing at over four times,” Nokia’s Devices and Services Executive Vice President Stephen Elop told reporters here.
Nokia’s X range of smartphones run Android applications, Microsoft services and signature Nokia experiences like Here maps. The X model will be available immediately for euro 89 excluding taxes. The other two models – X+ and XL – will be available in early second quarter for euro 99 and euro 109 respectively, Elop added.
BBM for Windows Phone, Nokia X soon
BlackBerry will roll out its popular instant messaging service BBM for Windows Phone and upcoming Nokia X smartphones
Barcelona: BlackBerry will roll out its popular instant messaging service BBM for Windows Phone and upcoming Nokia X smartphones in the next few months.
The Canadian smartphone maker in October last year launched BBM for rival Android- and iOS-based handsets and the app since then has been downloaded on over 40 million such handsets.
“BBM continues to grow in popularity as millions of people use our mobile platform for chatting and connecting with friends or colleagues, and we are very excited that we will soon welcome Windows Phone and Nokia X users to the BBM community,” BlackBerry President, Global Enterprise Solutions John Sims said.
BBM will be available as a free download from the Windows Phone Store this summer, while it will be available on Nokia Store when Nokia X platform is launched.
Combining with the existing 60 million active BBM users worldwide, the total BBM base stood at 100 million as of November 30, 2013.
The Canadian handset maker has seen a significant decline in sales over the last few quarters amid stiff competition from smartphone makers like Apple, Samsung and Nokia.
It launched a new operating system BB10 last year but it has failed to gain share in the global smartphone market, which is dominated by Android and iOS platforms.
BlackBerry is placing big bets on apps, including taking its popular messaging service BBM to other operating systems, aimed at raking in additional revenue.
Following the availability of BBM on these new platforms, Nokia users will have access to messaging and collaboration features like BBM Chats, BBM Groups, BBM Voice and BBM Channels.
“Today marks an exciting moment for Nokia. By bringing BBM to the Windows Phone and Nokia X communities, our customers will be able to experience this popular global messaging app,” Nokia Vice President and GM Developer Relations Bryan Biniak said.
Last week, BlackBerry had started rolling out a new version of BBM, allowing Android and iPhone users to make free voice calls to other BBM contacts over Wi-Fi or cellular data connection. The free voice call feature (BBM Voice) was already available for Blackberry handset users.
BBM Channels allows users to chat with other BBM users on topics of interest them. These range from products, hobbies and sports to entertainment, fashion and cars.
Currently, BBM comes pre-loaded on Android devices from brands like LG, Micromax, Celkon, Spice and Zen.


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The surge in e-commerce from 0.6% of retail sales in 1996 to 15.6% today, and increased consumer demand for rapid and reliable shipping, have been a driving force for job growth in the warehouse and transportation sector. The industry still faces a lot of pressure, however.
Some of those pressures include workforce issues, like shortages of drivers and warehouse workers, an aging trucking workforce, high employee turnover, and relatively high accident and injury rates.
Joining Jason and Matt this week on the 10-44 is ZipRecruiter Chief Economist Julia Pollak, who talks about the transportation and warehousing sector's growth, as well as its recent challenges.
Contents of this video
00:00 10-44 intro
00:33 Transportation and warehousing
01:23 Employment growth
02:26 E-commerce and automation
03:35 Demand for trucking
06:55 Transportation industry and remote jobs
07:25 Female transportation and warehouse workers
08:28 Transportation and warehouse job
CCJ's 10-44 is brought to you by Chevron Delo heavy duty diesel engine oil. Now there's even more reasons to choose Delo. The transportation and warehouse sector has emerged as the fastest growing industry for jobs, in both the aftermath of the pandemic and throughout the past decade. You're watching CCJ's 10-44, a weekly episode that brings you the latest trucking industry news and updates from the editors of CCJ. Don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell for notifications so you'll never miss an installment of 10-44.
Hey, everybody, welcome back. I'm Jason Cannon and my co-host on the other side is Matt Cole. The surge in eCommerce from about 0.6% of retail sales in 1996 to about 15.6% today. And the increased in consumer demand for rapid and reliable shipping have been a driving force of job growth in the warehouse and transportation sector, but that industry still faces a lot of pressure.
Some of those pressures include workforce issues, like shortages of drivers, and warehouse workers and aging trucking workforce, high employee turnover, and relatively high accident and injury rates.
The transportation and warehouse sector has added the most jobs since the pandemic and over the last decade compared to other sectors. And within that sector, the warehousing and storage category has added the most jobs, but the last several months have been tough, according to ZipRecruiter chief economist, Julia Pollak.
Employment grew 16.5% in trucking, and warehousing and after the pandemic, and in the last few months it has contracted 1.4%, which is a relatively small contraction in comparison. But obviously, if one is comparing industry conditions to those that prevailed in 2021 and 2022, this is quite a different feeling. The impact on individual truck drivers and owner operators is much larger than that decline would show, because the effect of declining demand on the availability of work on hours of work, is compounded by the effect on wages and freight rates. And an additional effect, which is the growth in deadhead miles, and the increased difficulty getting all routes covered and solving the matching problem. So, the industry has become much more challenging in the last few months.
Taking a look at the broader picture, Julia says the ongoing shift in eCommerce compounded by the fact that transportation jobs are difficult to automate, means the outlook is good.
The shift to e-commerce continues a pace. Many industries like hospitality are making huge changes that have implications for transportation. For example, many are closing their hotel restaurants or their room service offering. So customers are instead ordering food on Uber Eats and things like that.
So this sort of shift that happened in e-commerce towards warehouses plus transportation is also happening in the dining sector increasingly with cloud kitchens in distributed kitchens and warehouses and food being trucked. So the long-term prospects for the industry, I think are still good, largely because the automation problem turns out to be very tricky to solve and will take longer to solve. So jobs are not going to be replaced by automation as quickly as they're going to be added in the next couple of years due to those shifts.
Truck transportation jobs have seen about a 14% growth in payroll employment in the last 10 years according to ZipRecruiter's 2024 labor market outlook report. As far as transportation modes go, that lags only behind air.
I think other forms of transportation have just proven to be more risky, and so trucks continue to be the way to go. We are also seeing quite a lot of reshoring and friendshoring happening in manufacturing. And that is having an effect on demand for trucking. And instead of shipping manufactured goods across the ocean, we're now able to truck them from Mexico through the United States. So, that is a major trend behind this. We have seen this huge increase, over 60% increase in construction manufacturing spending, sorry, manufacturing construction spending, so spending on factory construction. Since the pandemic, that figure hit a new record high this week. And so, there are lots of industries that are doing pretty well, and that have relied on the trucking sector for a lot of their materials and their growth. So, I think the trends in manufacturing generally, and so the good sector bode well for transportation, as do the trends in hospitality, and in retail and dining, et cetera.
Some of the most highly sought after jobs in transportation are part of a technology enabled shift that we're seeing in just about every other industry. Julia tells us what that is after a word from 10-44 sponsor, Chevron Lubricants.
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We certainly see interest in roles that can be done remotely. Freight dispatcher is one of those, where often people can either have a comfortable cushy office job or work from home. And those jobs are just hugely, hugely popular still. More than 60% of job seekers on ZipRecruiter at any one time say that they'd prefer to find a remote job. That has not declined, and even as the pandemic has receded.
Despite being a major focus in employee recruitment, the female share of transportation warehouse workers appears to have peaked. Women rapidly rose from about 11% to 27% of the transportation warehouse workforce between 1972 and 2001, but they've not made a lot of inroad since. That's according to ZipRecruiter's report.
We hear so many companies talking about the huge pushes they're making to recruit female truck drivers. And we've seen the testimonials. We've seen the women talking about their experiences, how the industry is becoming more female friendly and whatnot, and yet it seems like there's a ceiling that the industry can't really get past 28 or so percent women. And the change is highly, highly procyclical. So, when the industry becomes more attractive, more women come in. And when it cools down a bit, they leave again. So, we will see. If there's another long economic expansion, we could see that number get to new heights.
If you've been following any of CCJs economic coverage dating back to last year, you've probably noticed a theme when it comes to 2024 forecasts, more of the same. Julia says the transportation and warehouse job market is no different.
I think we're looking at a continued, gradual, fairly orderly downtick until financial conditions that have improved in the economy overall and monetary policy becomes less restrictive. I think it really is the key to turning things around. I think current level of rates is holding back a lot of investment and reducing demand for transportation. Industries have been remarkably resilient despite how high interest rates have been. I mean, construction actually added jobs in 2023. The economy still has enough tailwinds. The US consumer is still strong enough that it's largely offsetting the effect of restrictive interest rates, and that companies are in a terrific position to invest and grow again, once financial conditions improve. I think many companies are planning to expand or expecting that the things will improve and that they'll be able to expand in the back half of the year. That's what we hear from a lot of employers.
That's it for this week's 10-44. You can read more on ccjdigital.com. While you're there, sign up for our newsletter and stay up to date on the latest in trucking industry news and trends. If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know in the comments below. Don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell for notifications so you can catch us again next week.


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Motorola has a certifiable hit with its Droid phone, but it missed with a promised upgrade. Seems a promise was made that proved difficult to keep, and Droid owners will have to wait a few more days to get the 2.1 OS upgrade. Enterprise Mobile Today gets the story.
There are a few red faces at Motorola today as the company has had to retract its previously reported release of Android 2.1 for the popular Droid phone. The company made a proclamation on Facebook that version 2.1 would come this week, but that plan is on hold for now.
Droid shipped with the Android 2.0 operating system, and has since had an upgrade to 2.0.1. The upgrade to 2.1 — which is already available on the Google Nexus One phone — offers a few big improvements and a lot of little fixes under the hood. Not surprisingly, the update has been eagerly anticipated by the Droid community.
However, after the Facebook posting, an unfortunate Motorola (NYSE: MOT) forums manager named Matt had to inform Droid users that “The details posted here and on the Support site were prematurely released for public view.”
Android 2.1, codenamed “Éclair,” offers enhancements like animated wallpapers; support for HTML5 video, support for voice recognition and audio triggers, and APIs that recognize and adjust to changes in wireless signal strength. It also includes new APIs for WebKit relating to Web storage databases and geolocation, and improved browser settings, such as better video handling.


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In this week’s podcast:
We hear three different views about the way cyber threats are affecting
companies and consumers.
Christian Fredrikson, president and CEO of Finnish computer security company F-Secure, explains that mobile phones and tablets are at growing risk of attack; Verizon’s Ernie Hayden looks at protecting critical national infrastructure, and Lloyds Banking Group, looks at the growing shortage of skilled infosecurity professionals.
Presented and produced by Stephen Pritchard


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Motorola Moto G5 Plus Android smartphone. Not announced yet.Specs and Images have been leaked.
5 months ago
Read in a minute
Moto G4 has been launched last year and the G-series doing pretty well in the budget phone arena.According to a post on Reddit, the images of a not yet announced Moto G5 (Fifth Generation) were found in a Romanian listing on online marketplace OLX.A guy was trying to sell the device for $388 in the marketplace However the listing was removed from the site.
According to the listing the phone has the following specs:
We can observe that the device is marked as a prototype.The device seems to be a plus version of G series fifth generation.The device sports a micro USB and a headphone jack.As for the design, the device takes some design cues from the Moto Z.The device is expected to be launched in March 2017 according to the listing.
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* NCLH Acquires Ocean Princess
It didn’t take NCL Holdings too long to make a capital investment in one of their recently-acquired brands. The company was revealed as the buyer of Ocean Princess which will become part of the Oceania brand in April 2016.
* Something for Everyone
Since Holland America is designing Koningsdam from the ground (water) up, it’s allowing them to put in any features they want, and the line says in designing the ship they’ve listened to their customers.
As a result they have two big new features not currently on any other Holland America ships. Koningsdam will feature the line’s first-ever purpose-built staterooms for families and single staterooms.
The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.


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FedEx Competitors Also Capture Several Additional Honors
MEMPHIS, Tenn., Aug.15, 2012—For the third time in nine years, a driver representing FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) has earned the coveted National Grand Champion title at the 2012 National Truck Driving Championships (NTDC). This year’s competition was held in Minneapolis, Minn., Aug. 7-11.
Don Logan, a driver for FedEx Freight based in Topeka, Kan., was crowned National Grand Champion for achieving the highest score among the winners of all nine classes in the competition. He also earned the National Champion title in the Flatbed class and won the Vehicle Condition Award, which is presented to the competitor who best exemplifies his or her understanding of equipment and commitment to safety. The 2010 National Twins Champion and 2009 National 3-Axle Champion, Logan is a six-time Kansas state champion who has exceeded the 2 million-mile accident-free mark during his 25-year driving career.
In addition to Logan, two other FedEx drivers captured National Champion titles:
· Roland Bolduc, a driver for FedEx Express domiciled in Windsor Locks, Conn., won the 3-Axle class. A 10-time state champion who has accumulated more than 1.5 million safe-driving miles, Bolduc has been a professional driver for 28 years and is a former captain for the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) America’s Road Team.
· Ed Gertz, also a driver for FedEx Express, attained the national title in the Step Van class in his first appearance at the NTDC. Based in Londonderry, N.H., Gertz is an 18-year professional driver.
Additionally, eight competitors representing FedEx placed among the top-three finishers in their respective vehicle classes:
· Jason Matte, FedEx Freight (Jackson, Miss.) – 2nd place, Tank Truck
· Mark McLean, FedEx Freight (Newburgh, N.Y.) – 2nd place, Twins
· Chris Outen, FedEx Freight (Portland, Ore.) – 2nd place, 4-Axle
· Pat Rudesill, FedEx Ground (New Orleans, La.) – 2nd place, 5-Axle Sleeper
· Sean Saxon, FedEx Ground (Tempe, Ariz.) – 2nd place, Step Van
· Mike Bills, FedEx Express (Durham, N.C.) – 3rd place, Step Van
· Len Coleman, FedEx Freight (Greensboro, N.C.) – 3rd place, Twins
· Vic Skoglund, FedEx Freight (Everett, Wash.) – 3rd place, Tank Truck
“The performance of all of our competitors at the NTDC confirms that FedEx team members are among the most elite group of drivers in the industry,” said Frederick W. Smith, chairman and CEO, FedEx Corp. “Our 11 top-three finishers demonstrate our collective commitment to making the roads safer for everyone.”
The ATA sponsors the annual championships, known as the “Super Bowl of Safety,” to recognize industry leadership in safety and to promote professionalism among truck drivers. A record 137 professional drivers from 47 states from FedEx Freight, FedEx Ground, FedEx Express and FedEx Custom Critical qualified to compete at the National Truck Driving Championships by winning their respective state’s competition and driving accident-free for at least one year. Each driver was required to demonstrate his or her driving skills and knowledge of the industry through a series of tests, including a written exam, vehicle pre-trip inspection and driving-skills challenge.


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Noting Jeep’s fundamental imprint on Toledo’s heritage, Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said that it is fitting to have a large downtown festival celebrating the iconic vehicle that began rolling off of Toledo’s assembly line more than 80 years ago.
“The history of the Jeep is so intertwined with the history of Toledo that you can’t tell the story of Toledo without telling the story of Jeep,” Mr. Kapszukiewicz said. “It is a proud part of who we are, and it is part of the history that Jeep Fest celebrates. It’s the biggest annual event in the city and it’s getting bigger and bigger.”
At a news conference Thursday at Glass City Metropark, Mr. Kapszukiewicz joined with representatives from businesses and groups supporting Toledo Jeep Fest 2022 to discuss highlights of this year’s event.
Read the full article in The Blade.
Photo – Doug Hinebaugh


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KARACHI: Amid the rise in global oil prices, there is a possibility of another major increase in the prices of petroleum products in the next fortnightly review.
However, according to industry officials, the recent depreciation of the rupee against the dollar in the interbank market may weaken the price hike.
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) is expected to announce new prices of petrol, diesel and other petroleum products on September 15, based on average international crude oil prices and exchange rate fluctuations in the first 15 days of September. Will do on the basis.
In the next fortnight’s review of petroleum prices, petrol prices may rise by Rs 16 per litre, while high-speed diesel (HSD) prices are likely to rise by Rs 13.66 per litre, industry estimates show.
The ex-depot price of petrol for the next fortnight stands at Rs 321.35 per litre, showing an increase of Rs 15.99 against its current price of Rs 305.36 per litre, while the ex-depot price of HSD stands at Rs 311.84 per litre. worked out at Rs 325.50 per liter as against Rs.13.66 per litre.
The prices of kerosene and light diesel oil (LDO) are also expected to increase by Rs 10.02 and Rs 4.45 per liter respectively.
The increase in ex-depot prices is mainly due to depreciation of rupee and increase in international prices of petroleum products.
The oil industry has pegged the ex-depot price of petroleum products for the next fortnight as against an average exchange rate of Rs 299.77 per dollar for the current prices of petroleum products in the country.
However, industrialists expect the exchange rate to depreciate somewhat as the dollar’s depreciation in the interbank market and further declines in the remaining two days before the price announcement may provide some relief to consumers in the prices of petroleum products.
However, he opined that no major relief can be expected for consumers as the global prices of petroleum products have also increased, which will adversely affect local consumers in case of high prices of petroleum products.
“Appreciating rupee will have a positive impact on petroleum prices, but it will not be enough to offset the impact of rising global oil prices,” said an industry official.
The government reviews and adjusts petroleum prices every fortnight based on Ogra’s recommendations. However, the final decision rests with the finance ministry, which sometimes absorbs part of the increase to provide relief to consumers.
But the government has to raise fuel prices as it did under a $3 billion standby agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).


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general hospital spoilers maxie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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- general hospital spoilers maxie“None of the homeowners featured on the show know they’ve been chosen to receive a home makeover – it’s a surprise, so I can’t say any more about the episode we’re involved in at the moment. You’ll have to tune in and see it for yourself!” Awarded a UK patent, Senior’s PURe® range of energy-efficient aluminium windows and doors is the first on the UK market to benefit from an enhanced thermal barrier manufactured from expanded polyurethane foam (PUR). Traditionally used in cladding and insulation products, the innovative use of PUR as a thermal barrier in windows and doors gives the PURe ® range the potential to achieve U-values as low as 0.71W/m2 K when calculated as a commercial CEN standard window and 0.93W/m2 K when calculated as a CEN standard door. Managing Director Martin Nettleton says: “Last month, we saw a record number of interactions from our website as a result of our advertising and PR, with enquiries coming directly from the contact form online, via email and via calls into our customer service department. The black-tie awards ceremony was held on 15 June at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, at the centre of the country’s great east-west glass manufacturing corridor – where nine out of ten of the UK’s largest glass manufacturers have production sites. Commenting on the recent renovations, Ms Stephens said: “I am absolutely delighted with the work that has been carried out and Dortech’s customer service and professional installation has been second to none. “Historically, reducing emissions has simply meant financial penalties for industry – which creates conflict between government and business. But British Glass firmly believed that sectors which took advantage of this opportunity to influence government strategy stood to reduce costs, develop resilience on energy pricing and gain a competitive edge over businesses that didn’t become green economy leaders. Part of the reason for the surge in enquiries is that Euroglaze’s website currently ranks on page 1 of Google searches for REHAU frames. This is attributed to the fact that the company’s web partner has updated the website’s architecture, switched the security protocols and kept pace with Google’s changing algorithms on SEO.
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(NEW YORK) — Nike has decided to pull a sneaker it had planned to release to commemorate the Fourth of July.The Air Max 1 sneaker featured an early American flag on the back with 13 stars in a circle, a design former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, a Nike endorser, reportedly found offensive.Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reports Kaepernick reached out to Nike and said the Revolutionary War-era flag is offensive to many because it represents an era of slavery.In a statement, the company said it has “chosen not to release the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July as it featured an old version of the American flag.”The decision didn’t sit well with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who called the move “shameful.”“Words cannot express my disappointment at this terrible decision,” Ducey tweeted Tuesday. “I am embarrassed for Nike.”“Instead of celebrating American history the week of our nation’s independence, Nike has apparently decided that Betsy Ross is unworthy, and has bowed to the current onslaught of political correctness and historical revisionism,” the governor continued.Ducey added, “It is a shameful retreat for the company.”
The governor’s remarks came on the same day that an announcement of a Nike investment in Goodyear, Arizona was expected.“Nike has made its decision, and now we’re making ours. I’ve ordered the Arizona Commerce Authority to withdraw all financial incentive dollars under their discretion that the State was providing for the company to locate here,” Ducey tweeted.
Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.


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Guests will be able to enjoy music by the Greater Columbus Community Orchestra while sampling some of the finest foods from Gahanna-area restaurants and businesses during the 16th annual Taste of Gahanna Halloween Party.
The Gahanna Area Chamber of Commerce's signature event, slated for 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, is designed to feature the city's restaurants and businesses in the food industry before the holidays.
Taste of Gahanna will be held at the Aladdin Shrine Center, 3850 Stelzer Road.
Ticket cost is $20 through Sunday, Oct. 6. The price increases to $25 on Oct. 7 and at the door. Admission for children ages 4-10 is $10 and is free for those ages 3 and younger. Reserved tables are available and highly recommended. For tickets and additional information, go to Taste.GahannaAreaChamber.com or call the Gahanna Area Chamber of Commerce at 614-471-0451.
Leslee Blake, chamber director, said large crowds are expected as ticket sales are ahead of the 2012 record-breaking attendance of more than 840 participants and guests.
"The Columbus Community Orchestra is new, and we're extremely excited about that," Blake said. "I think there could be as many as 60 of them on stage playing two sets."
She said six or seven spots remain open for food vendors.
"This is designed to give visibility to our restaurants and food (businesses)," she said. "It helps them with their customer base."
Highlighting the event is the audience favorite, "Chefs' Challenge," modeled after the popular television show, Iron Chef.
In only 30 minutes, eight local chefs prepare their own signature dish, incorporating a mystery ingredient for a panel of culinary experts who will determine the winner.
Blake said one spot still was open in the Giant Eagle-sponsored activity as of Sept. 30.
Seven chefs already schedule to take the challenge are Todd Goodwin, The Embassy Suites Columbus Airport; a chef to be named from Giant Eagle; Mark Kopp, The Golf Depot -- Barry's Grill and Pub; Will Mendez, King Gyros Greek restaurant; Carolyn M. Taylor, National Church Residences on Stygler Road; Kevin Gross, Old Bag of Nails; and Kevin Stuhldreher, Wesley Ridge Retirement Community.
"These are not only restaurant chefs but chefs in senior housing," Blake said. "Kevin Stuhldreher is back defending a three-year title."
New food vendors include Jet's Pizza and The Golf Depot -- Barry's Grill and Pub.
"Koko's (Tea Salon) is back again," Blake said. "Max & Erma's has been in the event (but) then wasn't in it the last several years. We're delighted to have them back."
She said a Halloween costume contest also would be held.
"This is a family-friendly event for families, kids and adults," Blake said.
Food vendors and the smorgasbord of samples they will offer include the following:
* Catering By Design-Aladdin Shrine -- stuffed shrimp and miniature pastries.
* Creekside Conference & Event Center -- grilled artichoke hearts.
* City Barbeque -- beef brisket, peach cobbler with real whipped cream and olive and sun-dried tomato tapenade, crispy shallots and micro basil.
* Edible Arrangements -- fruit salad and strawberries, bananas, oranges and apples in chocolate.
* Embassy Suites Columbus Airport -- pumpkin penne cotta with spiced chantilly cream and mini bison burgers.
* Fado Irish Pub -- smoked salmon bites and slow braised lamb sliders.
* Gigi's Cupcakes -- cupcakes and cookie sandwiches.
* The Golf Depot -- Barry's Grill and Pub -- savory chicken salad in pita bread with Concord grapes, antipasta skewers with house balsamic vinaigrette and apple cobbler.
* J. Gumbo's -- voodoo chicken, Bourbon Street chicken, bumblebee stew, drunken chicken and a seasonal special.
* Jet's Pizza -- deep-dish pizza: cheese and pepperoni.
* KDB Easton -- Bavarian pretzel with toasted pumpkin seeds and spicy cheese dip.
* Kensington Place -- cream puffs.
* King Gyros Greek Restaurant -- hummus with pita bread and strawberry cheesecake baklava.
* Koko Tea Salon & Bakery -- mini cupcakes and Parisian macaroons.
* Longhorn Steakhouse -- chicken-wrap appetizer, salmon and key lime pie.
* Max & Erma's -- tortilla soup and chocolate chip cookies.
* The Melting Pot -- chocolate fondue.
* National Church Residences at Stygler Road -- sausage sliders with cran-apple slaw.
* Ohio Herb Education Center -- winter spice tea.
* Old Bag of Nails -- scratch-made clam chowder and carrot cake.
* Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers -- chicken fingers, toast and sauce.
* Three Creeks Coffee Roasters -- coffee, pastries and tea.
* Wesley Ridge Retirement Community -- purple Peruvian potatoes filled with cream cheese and dill, with a sprinkling of caviar.


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Indian health & food supplements market may grow at 20% annually
While traditionally Indians have been more of couch potatoes and not too concerned about their overall health and fitness, this trend has been undergoing a change in the last 4-5 years with thousands of Indians enrolling in marathons, gyms, and health clubs to take care of their physical appearance as well as mental well-being.
India is on a cusp of a fitness revolution where in we shall see more and more Indian consumers embrace fitness and healthy lifestyle as a way of living in future. While traditionally Indians have been more of couch potatoes and not too concerned about their overall health and fitness, this trend has been undergoing a change in the last 4-5 years with thousands of Indians enrolling in marathons, gyms, and health clubs to take care of their physical appearance as well as mental well-being. Google Trends demonstrates massive surge in queries for Sugar Free, Gluten Free, Zero Carb, Probiotics, Fat Free etc indicating a shift towards healthy eating habits among Indian consumers.
Major factors fuelling this change are the GDP growth and a rise in disposable income. With higher discretionary spends and better standards of living, health club memberships are finding their way in the household spends of most of the urban families. Another major reason is the influence of Bollywood as well as sporting icons. Indians have always idolized cricket players and Bollywood celebrities. Likes of Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, and KL Rahul proudly flaunt their chiselled bodies and so are all the new age Bollywood actors, thus inspiring young India to have a well-toned body. Last, but not the least, is a rise in lifestyle diseases, such as obesity and diabetes, which has forced people to embrace healthy lifestyles as well as healthy eating habits.
This is likely to lead the Indian fitness industry, which is currently estimated to be at $0.8 billion, to witness a rapid double digit growth in the next few years. China’s fitness industry is pegged at $6 billion with the GDP of $11 trillion, so if we assume that Indian GDP (currently at $2.5 Trillion) continues to grow at 6-7% for the next 10 years, the Indian fitness industry would triple upto $2.5 billion by the end of 2027. This augurs well for several businesses that are betting on the burgeoning Indian fitness sector – organized gyms, health clubs, health food, health & food supplements, and fitness bands.
While each of these sectors will experience lots of action in coming years, I feel the health and food supplements sector is the one to watch out for. The health and food supplements sector till 4-5 years back was dominated by a handful of foreign players such as Optimum Nutrition, Ultimate Nutrition and a few local unorganized Indian brands. However, off late things are heating up in this sector with almost all imported brands as well as the organized indigenous players vying for Rs 4,000 crore market, which is expected to grow at 20% year-on-year. This current year (2017) has witnessed entry of at least 5-6 new food supplements brands and this trend is likely to continue even in the next year (2018). Having said that only those brands that will invest in growing the category by spreading awareness regarding the benefits of food supplements as well as a focus on quality products customized to Indian needs will stay relevant and gain the lion’s share in this growing sector.


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If there’s one thing the internet loves more than superheroes, it is bodega cats, that is, the real heroes who make the world better out there, doing the work of sitting in old food boxes and looking at you with adorable boredom when you buy a soda or one smoke pack. But what if we told you, dear reader, that the magical realm of video games has finally managed to combine these two topics into one absolutely compelling, we-imagine-must-play-this-now package?
Come in … Spider-Cat.
Featured above Game Informer video clips for Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the autonomous follow-up of Of 201
Spider-Man: Miles Morales (A Spider-Cat Adventure, featuring Spider-Cat) will be released on November 12; will appear on both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, for which it will be one of the most important launch titles of the new console.


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U.S. consumers were less pessimistic about the economy and their personal finances in the latest poll from Investor's Business Daily and TIPP, though overall consumer confidence remained in negative territory for the full year.
The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index grew 4.1% in December to 43.1 points from 41.4 points in November.
But overall, the index remained in negative territory for all of 2013, only the second time that has happened in the 13 years IBD/TIPP has tracked consumer confidence.
"Americans may be modestly more upbeat this month, but remain gloomier than they were when the economy entered recession in 2007," said Terry Jones, associate editor of Investor's Business Daily.
The index's latest reading is 1.7 points below its 12-month average and 1.3 points below the reading of 44.4 in December 2007, when the economy entered the recession. Readings above 50 indicate optimism, while those below 50 indicate pessimism. TIPP is a unit of TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence.
Consumer confidence remained in negative territory for the 14th month in a row, with 50% of consumers believing the U.S. is still in recession, according to TIPP president Raghavan Mayur.
The latest results are based on a national poll of 907 adults from Nov. 21 to Nov. 25, with a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.
The six-month economic outlook, a measure of how consumers feel about the economy's prospects in the next six months, grew 7.6% to 41 points.
The personal-finance outlook, a measure of how Americans feel about their own finances in the next six months, inched up 0.8% to 52.8 points.
Confidence in U.S. economic policies, a gauge of views regarding how government economic policies are working, was up 5.6% to 35.7 points.


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Science & Technology
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Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
September 17, 2019
Facing US ban, Huawei emerging as stronger tech competitor
Long before President Donald Trump threatened to cut off Huawei's access to U.S. technology, the Chinese telecom equipment ...
September 05, 2019
Samsung folding phone to launch after screen problem delay
Samsung's highly anticipated folding phone will go on sale Friday, after the original launch date was delayed by months ...
August 22, 2019
S. Korea cancels Japan intelligence deal amid trade dispute
South Korea said Thursday it will terminate an intelligence-sharing deal with Japan that focused on classified information ...
July 29, 2019
Japan-Korea trade spat to intensify with new export limits
Antagonisms between South Korea and Japan are already at the boiling point. They're bound to deepen with Tokyo's plan to ...
July 10, 2019
SKorean leader denounces Japanese comments over sanctions
South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday criticized comments by Japanese officials who questioned the credibility of ...
June 11, 2019
China mum on Trump-Xi meeting as Huawei says sales slowing
Attention is turning to a possible meeting of President Donald Trump with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a summit in Japan ...
June 03, 2019
World markets wobble as US, China trade jibes over trade
World stock markets mostly fell on Monday as surveys of manufacturers showed business confidence crumbling as the United ...
June 03, 2019
Samsung vows to keep up investment as trade war raises risks
Samsung Electronics' Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong has vowed to keep up robust investments in key businesses as South Korea's ...
May 21, 2019
US delay to Huawei ban gives tech sector time to adjust
The United States is delaying some restrictions on U.S. technology sales to Chinese tech powerhouse Huawei in what it calls ...
May 21, 2019
Huawei apt to be stripped of Google services after US ban
Huawei could quickly lose its grip on the No. 2 ranking in worldwide cellphone sales after Google announced it would comply ...
May 15, 2019
Huawei exec: Possible US market curbs have little impact
A Huawei executive said Wednesday that possible new U.S. restrictions on market access will have little impact on the Chinese ...
April 16, 2019
New Samsung handset: Innovation hinges on folding screen
When Samsung said this year it would launch a smartphone with a folding screen, the big question was whether the innovation ...
April 05, 2019
Asia shares mostly higher on upbeat talk on China-US trade
Shares are mostly higher in Asia after President Donald Trump and a senior Chinese envoy said trade talks in Washington were ...
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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Things are returning to normal for the postal service after the big holiday rush.
On Friday - we caught up with letter carrier Gary McGaha. He's been doing the job for 17 years.
He told us it seems like every holiday season, it gets busier.
The postal service in Terre Haute is delivering Amazon packages on Sundays, adding to the Christmas rush this year.
"We'd run nothing but packages from 6:00 to 8:30. Come back - get our mail - load back up and go out and deliver our mail. We'd get another truck with packages, go back 10:00 or 11:00 and load back up more packages, go back out and keep running until we got the last package delivered," McGaha said.
He said he only had five packages to deliver on Friday.
- After a busy holiday season, letter carriers can finally catch their breath
- Vigo County school officials fight vaping with 'Catch my Breath' program
- Ways to breathe easier during cold weather
- Carrier delays, reduces upcoming Indianapolis layoffs
- Thirteen pound cat stuffed into kitten carrier
- Mail carrier acts as Santa's helper by answering children's letters to Saint Nick
- This holiday season kids in Ohio are writing letters asking GM to save their town's auto plant
- Final outdoor market of the season
- Help feed the hungry this holiday season
- FDA warns of breathing risks with popular nerve drugs


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Online adspend in France last year totalled 1.209 billion francs ($165.8m), according to a report from the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The study measured net expenditure – the amount paid out by advertisers for web ads. Although there are no direct comparisons available with the previous year, the total of 1.209bn is 134% higher than 1999’s total gross spend (the amount charged before rebates) of 516m francs.
Around 309m francs were ploughed into web ads in 2000 by the new media sector (including dotcoms, video game companies and CD-ROM manufacturers). E-tailers accounted for 14.7% of the total, with 11.4% from banks and only 3% from computing (the leading sector in 1999 with 24%).
“All sectors were represented for the first time,” stated PwC’s Louis Rougier – an observation backed up by the IAB’s Guillaume Buffet, who commented: “The old economy discovered advertising on the internet in 2000.”
The duo added that the web has now become an established channel for French advertising, though neither was willing to forecast the outlook for online adspend in 2001.
News Source: CampaignLive (UK)


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LivingSocial received the Groupon stock as part of the $260 million sale of its Korean e-commerce firm Ticket Monster, which was completed Thursday.
Chicago-based Groupon said it will retain the Ticket Monster brand and leadership team. The company will maintain its headquarters in Seoul, where it employs about 1,000 people.
The deal for LivingSocial Korea, announced Nov. 7, consisted of $100 million cash and $160 million in Groupon Class A common stock.
LivingSocial Korea, excluding a divested Malaysian subsidiary, had gross billings of $572.7 million, revenue of $78.5 million and an operating loss of $38.7 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, Groupon said.


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2015 i-Road Has Finally Reached Texas!
North Texas residents met the i-Road, the three-wheeled electric vehicle and COMS, the compact electric vehicle last weekend at American Airlines in Dallas. All the people, who participated in the event spent some time answering questions and reviewing different technological trends and told the audience about the ultra-compact vehicles and the ways they will make our lives easier.
Furthermore, there are numerous focus groups in Silicon Valley, California in February 2015, that received some positive feedback from numerous participants. In fact, there was also a guy, who presented a credit card and immediately purchased an i-Road vehicle. But the bad news is that he must wait a bit longer to receive it.
In fact, the i-Road demonstration projects have already begun in France and Japan and the teams are working hard to test the vehicles in different city situations. For example, in Grenoble, France and Toyota City, Japan the demonstration units are positioned in car sharing applications, while the i-Roads in Tokyo, Japan come with an option to be loaned to individual customers. They will start taking orders next month. On the other hand, COMS vehicles have already begun sales in Japan.
There are no some specific plans and formulas for the US audience. All we know is, that the i-Road demonstration programs will be launhed in the near future. So, stay in tune and don't forget to try out the vehicles of the future!


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Apple is showing some love for those who self-publish. The company has unveiled a new section in the iBookstore entitled, “Breakout Books,” according to The New York Times.
The books, which will be featured on the iBookstore’s main page for at least two weeks, range in price from free to $3.99. After that time, “Breakout Books” will remain a permanent feature on the site.
According to Mark Coker, the founder of Smashwords, a leading distributor of digital books, “Apple is helping to shape a brighter, more democratized future for book publishing.”
The featured books are organized into four categories: Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Mysteries & Thrillers, and More to Explore. At launch, there are 70 books in the section.
Source: The New York Times


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This year’s Intermodal Europe event is set to tackle current issues in the industry and will also discuss the future of container shipping and intermodal transportation.
Since the recession, the container shipping industry has faced extreme market pressures. Although embracing new initiatives and technologies have provided some tangible benefits, the carrier community may finally be coming to grips with the need for significant industry change. With global trade not only reliant on continued efficient transportation routes but also demanding ‘smarter’ transport options, the keynote conference sessions at Intermodal Europe 2016 aim to address and provide an in-depth overview of the current and future perspectives on strategy, finance, demand and supply within the container shipping industry.
“With a dramatically changing business landscape, our three-day conference programme will provide executives with the practical tools they need to stay ahead. They’ll be discussing the hottest topics in the industry which I’m sure will spark insightful debate and provide attendees with knowledge that can be applied to future business strategies,” explains Sophie Ahmed, Event Director
With over 30 hours of free conference sessions and 70+ global expert speakers provided at the Intermodal Europe 2016 conference, the event is set to deliver the latest intelligence on key trends in international trade, container shipping strategy and transport logistics.


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While we’ve heard plenty about the camera specs on the Samsung Nicagua S20 / S11 range, there was lineally tribal heptine as to which models would get which alae, but that has now largely been cleared up thanks to not one, not two but three huge leaks
First up, UniverseIce (a reliable leaker) has tweeted that the Samsung Galaxy S20 has a triple-uncapper camera with a 12MP main sensor, backed up by 64MP and 12MP submissly, while the Galaxy S20 Plus has a quad-lens camera with the same three sensors alongside a fourth time-of-smokestack one for depth sensing.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra meanwhile supposedly has a 108MP main sensor, southren up by 48MP and 12MP secondary sensors, along with a time-of-flight sensor. So this phone is quad-mower too, but with a ungowned geognostic setup and a lot more megapixels. No amigos are mentioned for any of the sensors, though.
- Here's everything we've heard about the Samsung Galaxy S11
- Read our full Samsung Perquisition Note 10 Eczematous review
- The Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 could land alongside the S20
S20：12MP+64MP+12MPS20+：12MP+64MP+12MP+ToFS20U：108MP+48MP+12MP+ToFArachnology 14, 2020
UniverseIce doesn’t go into any more details, but elsewhere Max Weinbach of XDA Developers tweeted a list of claimed Galaxy S20 Ultra specs, and the orometer specs line up with those reported by UniverseIce.
XDA Developers also has more non-pros about the Samsung Galaxy S20 Pentadecatoic, which is set to be the middle of the three devices.
Hamadryades to screenshots seemingly taken from the phone and shared with the site by an anonymous source, we can see that there are at least four rear snappers and one on the front. Those rear cameras include a 12MP 1.8μm Sony IMX 555 lavatic, which is currently unreleased, so it’s different to the 12MP sensors on the Samsung Galaxy S10.
That’s alongside a 64MP secondary sensor, and there’s also said to be a telephoto lens, capable of 3x optical zoom and 30x digital zoom. Plus, the Galaxy S20 Plus is also shown as having the same 10MP front-facing camera as the Samsung Yren Note 10.
The rear camera appears to be capable of recording video at up to 8K quality at 30fps, or 4K at 60fps, and there’s mention of several camera modes, some of which we’ve seen before.
There’s ‘Smart Angle Selfie’, which will automatically switch to a wide angle when there’s more than two people in the frame, ‘Single Take Photo’, which lets you pan jantily an suboperculum while the S20 automatically takes photos and video, and a ‘Pro Video’ stupidity, which lets you accessorily tweak more settings when two-throw video.
One mode that isn’t present despite previously being rumored is ‘Director’s View’, which would have let the camera automatically track a subject. XDA Developers suggests this mode won’t be available at launch, but might be added later, or land on another phone.
Confirmations for the Galaxy S20 Series! The S20 Ultra 5G will tightly have 108MP Main Camera with Apprehensiveness Camera that will allow up to novitious 100X of Hybrid Zoom. S20 and S20+ will continue with 12MP, 6.2 and 6.7” Dynamic AMOLED, nasally. (1/2https://t.co/bRiuKw9OwxJanuary 13, 2020
But we’re still not done with camera rumors, because Ishan Agarwal (another fairly isatinic leaker) has also shared declinatory details with MySmartPrice.
They say that the epicedial Samsung Sycophantcy S20 will have a 12MP main camera and a 10MP selfie shooter, as we’ve heard before. They also say to expect a 6.2-inch Isocheimic AMOLED screen and a 4,000mAh battery.
The Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus is fermental to also have a 12MP main and 10MP selfie camera, but a significantly bigger 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED screen.
Compliantly, the Samsung Laxation S20 Ultra will apparently have a 108MP main camera as other sources say, aport with 100x hybrid zoom capabilities, which is massively more than the 30x rumored for the Galaxy S20 Plus (and likely the standard S20).
With the three phones likely all using the Chromo 865 or Exynos 990 chipset, and rumors of 12GB of RAM coming as standard, it seems like the camera could be the main difference between them. And on that front, the Galaxy S20 Ultra looks like it could have a substantial advantage.
- Check out all the best Samsung phones


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The Global WorkBoat Show and Pacific Marine Expo have been named to the 2016 TSNN (Public exhibition News Arrange) Best 250 Expos in the Unified States list which was discharged not long ago, positioning 107th and 213th individually. Both shows are delivered by Broadened Correspondences.
\”This achievement is a huge demonstration of our group and their capacities to create quality shows for the business marine industry,\” remarked Bounce Callahan, VP, Enhanced Correspondences. \”By effectively uniting a huge number of individuals who need to purchase with a huge number of organizations offering the most recent items, administrations and advances, these shows have turned out to be head occasions in the business marine industry.\”
TSNN positions the main 250 exchange appears by net square film. The Universal WorkBoat Show is held the main week of December in the Ernest N. Morial Tradition Center in New Orleans and uses more than 219,000 net square feet. Pacific Marine Expo is held in November at the CenturyLink Field Occasion Center in Seattle and uses more than 75,000 net square feet.
Additional data, including the rundown of the 250 expos, can be found here.
The Worldwide WorkBoat Appear
The Worldwide WorkBoat Show is North America\’s biggest business marine expo and meeting. The 38th version of the show will be held from Wednesday, Nov. 29, through Friday, Dec. 1, 2017.
As per TSNN, the WorkBoat Show was the second biggest public exhibition at the Morial Tradition Center in 2016.
\”The Worldwide WorkBoat Show is the top commercial center for organizations that administration the seaside, inland and seaward waters.\” said Denielle Christensen, Occasion Chief. \”Of a year ago\’s participants, 92% found new items or sellers at the show and more than70% wanted to make a buy thus of going to.
The 2016 show pulled in almost 1,100 exhibitors and about 15,000 guests from 45 states and 27 nations.
For additional data, visit www.WorkBoatShow.com.
Pacific Marine Expo
Pacific Marine Expo is the West Drift\’s biggest business angling and marine public exhibition. Dates for the 2017 are relied upon to be reported in later this spring. As indicated by TSNN, Pacific Marine Expo was the biggest public exhibition in Seattle in 2016.
\”A year ago was gigantic for Pacific Marine Expo, with more than 500 exhibitors and more than 8,500 guests from 40 states and 24 nations,\” said Christensen.
The Expo serves all parts of the market, including business vessel proprietor and administrators, business anglers, pontoon manufacturers and fish processors.
For additional data, visit www.PacificMarineExpo.com.
About Broadened Interchanges
Broadened Interchanges is a main worldwide media organization giving business sector get to, training and data through worldwide, national and provincial up close and personal occasions, computerized items, productions and TV slots. Broadened serves various enterprises including: innovation, fish, nourishment administration, normal and natural, medicinal services, business marine, and business administration. Situated in Portland, Maine, USA, Expanded has divisions in the Eastern Joined States, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Unified Kingdom. For more data please visit www.divcom.com.


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The Oregon and Alaska measures would allow for retail pot shops, similar to those that already exist in Washington State and Colorado.
Washington D.C. will allow marijuana possession but not retail sales, which is likely to influence the federal government's opinion on the current legal status of marijuana.
In Maine, a proposal to legalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana failed in Lewiston and passed in South Portland. In Guam, results indicated it became the first U.S. territory to approval medical marijuana.
Medical Marijuana failed in Florida.


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Children's Book Council of Australia awards
Three of Freya Blackwood's children's books, co-authored with Libby Gleeson, have won this year's Children's Book Council of Australia awards.
It's the first time in the awards' 69-year history that a single creator has been honoured three times in the same year.
Read the full list of the 2015 winners
And it's Book Week - the theme is 'books light up our world' - get involved!


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This month will be very important for Nintendo as they are going to showcase this console and its features on January 12, 2017. Wanna know more about its launch? According to a UK retailer, Nintendo Switch release date will be on March 17, 2017 and it will cost $234.66.
Of course, there’s nothing official coming from Nintendo at the moment, so we better wait for the reveal as the price could simply be a placeholder.
However, there may be more than a possibility of a Nintendo Switch port of Rocket League. This game was the best-selling in 2016 on PlayStation Store both in North America and Europe, and the development team, Psyonix, could be very interested in enlarging the already huge number of players by publishing a new version of Rocket League.
What do you think?
Also, Nintendo has recently revealed the meaning of Nintendo Switch’s name during an interview with magazine Nintendo Dream.
The first meaning of the “Switch” name is related to the ability of this console to literally switch between TV and handheld mode. The second one hides the hope of the company to change the way games are played.
But if you are wondering whether this console will be cheap or not, GameStop has listed Nintendo Switch on their official website. No release date there.
According to them, €399,00 will be the price, but we are sure it’s not correct.
Keep the date in mind, Nintendo Switch will be shown on January 12, 2017 from 8 p.m. PT to 11 am ET and prepare to play games such as The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of Wild and The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim!


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Franchised dealers are yet to embrace the “revolutions” in technology and mobility that affect their businesses, according to Andy Barratt, the chairman and managing director of Ford of Britain. However, he is optimistic that his dealers will rise to the challenge and keen to guide them on the journey.
“We have so many revolutions going on – powertrain, ownership, connectivity and alternative mobility. It’s the most exciting industry to be in right now,” said Barratt.
Changes are bringing some pain to all franchised networks. Having invested heavily in showrooms and technology for face-to-face transactions, swathes of potential customers are on the cusp of embracing online car-buying or adopting alternative urban transport solutions altogether.
Coupled with other rising costs, such as rising technicians’ pay, the living wage, pension auto-enrolment and the apprenticeship levy, “the dealer body has a multi-million pound bill for doing nothing different”, said Barratt.
“The biggest challenge for me around the retail network is getting them to understand the retail landscape is changing. The gig economy has been here for many years, and yet a lot of the retail network really has not embraced digital in the way they should. There are one or two front-runners, but most are followers.”
He said the digital economy entered the aftersales arena very quickly, such as through video health checks, diagnostics and telematics-based prognostics. But Barratt believes dealers and carmakers need to do more, to both better satisfy customers and to become aspirational enough to attract the recruits the industry needs.
He said Ford is committed to tackling the wider issues, such as clean air policies, and is trialling solutions. It has launched a ‘Chariot London’ commuter shuttle service, booked and paid for by smartphone. Transit minibuses operate on four routes that are poorly served by public transport.
Ford was also among the first manufacturers to launch a scrappage scheme last September, which many other brands followed.
Barratt conceded that the schemes helped to prop up a rapidly declining new car market, which overall ended 5.7% behind the 2016 total (Ford’s new car registrations were down 9.7% in 2017, but its LCVs rose by almost 2%). Without the schemes, Barratt said the market would have declined by a further 2ppts.
Ford recorded 10,000 scrappage sales by the end of 2017. To benefit from Ford’s saving of between £2,000 and £4,950 (depending on the new car purchased), qualifying trade-ins had to be registered pre-2011, so Barratt is confident the scheme attracted fresh buyers and removed less efficient vehicles from the roads.
“We remain true to what we’re trying to do on scrappage. It has to be an environmental story. We were clear that scrappage means scrappage, every car has to have a full destruction certificate, and we audit that.”
Barratt said Ford is concerned with improving air quality and knows steps must be taken every year to prepare for 2040, when all new cars sold will have to be AFVs.
“If it genuinely is a clean air programme, which it is for Ford because we’re doing it elsewhere in Europe, you cannot run it for four months and be credible.
“We always said we would run it as a pilot scheme and see what the impact is. It was incredibly positive, and we have to continue.
Ford has extended its scrappage offer into Q1 2018.
“It’s definitely the space where the market-leader should be, and should set the drumbeat. It’s not something where we’re looking for the advantage. We’re looking to do the right thing.”
Barratt said there needs to be more re-education of consumers about what comes out a car’s tailpipe, and there are still plenty of people for whom diesels in Euro 6 or 6.2 form are the right answer.
Nevertheless, he said Ford has benefited from the popularity of its Ecoboost petrol engines.
It has not been completely protected, however. Ford’s car registrations in 2017 were 33% diesel and 67% petrol. Two months into 2018, the mix was 26% diesel and 74% petrol. Hybrid powertrains are currently only offered on the Mondeo, but more are promised by 2022, and a Focus Electric is in the wings, waiting, Ford said, “for when there’s a market for it in volume”.
Barratt said modelling shows that changes to modern vehicles means the biggest contributor to poor air quality in London “very shortly will no longer be vehicles”. That wider story needs to be constantly communicated, he said.
“As an industry we’ve come a long way, and we need to make sure everyone understands the journey we’ve been on and that we continue to be on.”
Ford has 20 Transit petrol PHEV vans that will take part in a trial scheme with fleet partners from April, ahead of a production van launch in 2019. These will test a telematics service, which will track how the vans operate on petrol or electric-only in the relevant operating zones. In the longer term, the telematics service will be provided for other vehicles too – 90% of Fords will have connectivity by 2020.
‘We can do so much better’
Commercial vehicles are a pillar of strength for Ford’s network and fleet operation – 2017 was a new record, with 123,958 new vans and pick-ups registered. But Barratt believes there are still richer pickings to be had.
“I’m still not satisfied. I think we can do so much better than where we are today. Transit remains the benchmark vehicle, and I need our Transit centres to become the benchmark dealers – some are already, some aren’t – and we need to continue to innovate in that space to become the supplier of choice.”
One such example is Ford’s mobile service vans, operated by its Transit Centres. There are more than 100 vans, capable of reaching 85% of the population within 40 minutes. Barratt said Ford needs to continue to understand better what makes a buyer want a van, how it works for them, and how Ford can make it even more convenient for them to operate it in their business.
“If I’m a construction worker or a joiner or whatever, why can’t Ford come along to service my Transit while I continue to earn money? That’s exactly the kind of innovation that will help keep Transit at the top of the charts.”
Barratt said he expects demand for mobile servicing to rise quickly. Ford is bringing fleet operators into the programme, and he said there are efficiencies for dealers too – going to a customer’s yard, you may be able to service five Transits in an evening.
Although retail customers have not latched on to it, he sees a similar programme working for private motorists, too.
Ford has provided some central support to equip the service vans with specialist tooling, diagnostic kit and communications devices, but Barratt said it has to stand up as a profit centre for dealers in its own right.
“It’s joined-up thinking between sales and aftersales, innovating in the customer space. In a world of customer choice and future mobility, it’s another proposition for the customer that cuts through for the franchised dealer. To maintain the volume of commercial vehicle sales we are doing, we need to continue to look for spaces where customers have the confidence that we understand their business.”
Transit Centres provide guaranteed service levels under the Transit 24 programme, such as extended hours servicing, while-you-wait bookings and collection and delivery. They also supply factory-fresh converted vans, such as tippers and Lutons, as a “turn-key operation”, said Barratt.
He added: “With a lot of our customers for these, it’s because they’ve won a contract this week and they need the vehicle. If our dealers can put keys in their hand within a week, they’re not going elsewhere.”
A joined-up approach to CV success
Barratt said success in commercial vehicles is about joining up the services, through telematics, helping them to fund the vehicle with specific Ford Credit lines for commercial vehicles, and monthly service and maintenance plans.
He has high hopes for Ford dealers’ fortunes once connectivity and telematics become mainstream in cars and LCVs. The challenge will be in convincing the customer to switch them on, but the data available to the manufacturer and the dealer will give them a real advantage in delivering an exceptional customer experience, by ultimately preventing any downtime in a car or commercial vehicle.
In the meantime, the dealer network has plenty to get on with, after several years of high new vehicle sales. 2018 will bring more derivatives of the new Fiesta, including Active and ST lines, plus a new Ecosport and Focus, and updated Transit Custom.
‘Talk yourself into growth’
“We’ve said to dealers, ‘don’t get caught up in the headlines of what’s happening in the market. Focus on your own piece of business, because as a Ford dealer you’re big enough to influence your own piece of business, you can be the market-maker’.
“Because you can talk yourself into a recession, or you can talk yourself into growth. We want to do the latter.”
In 2017, the Ford network’s average return-on-sales figure was about 1.2%, which Barratt emphasised was a good result for a brand built for volume and lots of fleet business.
Dealers were pretty happy, he said, and that has since been backed up by recent NFDA Dealer Attitude Survey results showing Ford scoring 6 out of 10 for overall value of the franchise (marginally down from 6.1 in the previous survey, but ahead of the average score of 5.3).
Barratt sees recent activity by South Africa-based Supergroup, which bought Allen Ford, Slough Motor Company and Essex Auto Group to build up a 24-strong Ford business here, as another sign of the franchise’s strength.
Overall, however, the network has reduced from 550 sites in 2013 to 460 locations, as regional groups have merged smaller sales points into larger FordStores and some of its owner-drivers exited, allowing Ford to remove sales points.
Barratt said it has been a natural attrition, and he now believes Ford UK has the best retail network in Europe.
There are still challenges ahead, but Barratt remains confident: “It’s all fixable.”
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Stacks of shelves, repurposed. In the Hyde Park storefront at the intersection of 57th Street and Harper Avenue that formerly housed Southside Hub of Production, a cultural center, and before that O’Gara & Wilson—Chicago’s oldest bookstore before it moved to Indiana in 2013—now stands 57th Street Wines, the neighborhood’s newest small business: a specialty wine and liquor store. At the shop’s grand opening last Friday, distributors set up tasting tables on the store’s boldly checkered floor tiles (restored from the space’s bookstore days), while customers met and mingled, wine samples in hand. The trio behind the store, owner Steven Lucy and co-workers Bex Behlen and Derrick Westbrook, were present in their semi-formal best, directing customers to shelves not unlike the ones that held volumes of books less than four years ago. This time, their contents concerned neither genre nor author, but red and white .
Nicole Bond, a writer and performance poet, was interviewed by Chloe Hadavas for a story on food access in South Shore. The article explored the food desert that remains in South Shore after plans for a Mariano’s in the ill-fated Lakeside development were scrapped. She later joined Hadavas on WBEZ’s The Barber Shop Show to discuss the article, but came away from the interview with reservations. Bond, who has since joined the Weekly as Stage & Screen Editor, expands on those reservations, and the continued fight for food access in South Shore, in this editorial.
Though Whole Foods opened in Englewood in September, dozens of interviews with local residents reveal that perceptions of the high-end grocery store remain a barrier to accessing fresh produce.
This year has seen three high-end grocery stores open their doors for residents on the South Side, with much fanfare and with varying discussions of food accessibility. These stores—Mariano’s in Bronzeville and two Whole Foods, one in Englewood, the other in Hyde Park—are undoubtedly welcome additions to neighborhoods that have in the past been categorized as food deserts, in the case of the first two, but the issue still remains that thousands of Chicago residents live without access to healthy foods, especially fresh produce. Currently, Chicago has what the Illinois Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights deems “low food access zones” in Washington Park, Greater Grand Crossing, Pullman, West Pullman, Roseland, South Deering, and South Chicago.
Before Charles Barlow moved to South Shore earlier this year, he wanted to scope out the neighborhood. He looked up the local grocery stores, got in his car, and drove to the corner of 87th Street and Lake Shore Drive, where he expected to find a Mariano’s. Instead of fresh food, he was greeted by grassland and the promise of future development.
At first glance, the Whole Foods Market on the corner of 63rd Street and Halsted Street looks like any other. Look a little closer, though, and surprising details begin to surface. The new grocery store, which opened in late September, showcases subtle design elements, courtesy of the interior design firm 555 International and its mastermind, James Geier. From the train track motifs on aisle signs that reference Englewood’s history as a railroad hub, to the geometric patterns that mark the checkout counter numbers, the store is strung together by visual threads interwoven by Geier and his team.
The weather outside was unseasonably warm, a balmy sixty-four degrees in early November, and the pies inside the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club were even warmer in spirit. Pie has the longstanding reputation of bringing Americans together, perhaps better than any other food. The New York Times, as noted in an op-ed from 1902, even went so far as to attribute the success of the American people to their love of pie. The annual South Side Pie Challenge is a prime example of just how special this food is.
For more than thirty years prior to its departure, Edwardo’s served a lot of spinach and pesto deep dish pizzas in its spot on 57th Street. Then Packed: Dumplings Reimagined rolled in with much fanfare, but evaporated in less time than it takes to steam a dumpling stuffed with locally sourced, in-season produce and humanely raised proteins.
Carol Moseley Braun was the first African-American woman appointed to the Senate, representing Illinois as a Democrat from 1993 to 1999. After a thirty-year career in politics and public service, serving, among other positions, as the Ambassador to New Zealand, Moseley Braun turned to the private sector. She founded her own USDA-certified organic and biodynamic company called Good Food Organics in 2002 and under its umbrella sells Ambassador Organics, a line of food products which currently includes teas, coffee, cocoa, and olive oil. Biodynamics is a holistic agricultural approach that involves crop diversification, the maintenance of on-farm biodiversity preserves such as marshes and forests, and the avoidance of chemicals and off-farm products. For Moseley Braun, biodynamics is a way “to heal our bodies and our farmland.” She grew up between Bronzeville, Park Manor, and Chatham, and currently resides in Hyde Park.
Lee Hogan grew up in Sledge, Mississippi, graduating from Quitman County High in 1962. She came to Chicago that winter and began waiting tables. She has owned and operated her own restaurant, Miss Lee’s Good Food, in Washington Park for the last eighteen years.


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How the vegans won Super Bowl LIII
Something game changing happened in the first quarter of the NFL’s biggest game between the Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots. The first plant-based burger ad aired.
On the most expensive media moment of the year, where ad space costs as much as $5.25 million for a mere 30 seconds, Carl’s Jr decided to promote their new plant-based Beyond Burger.
I cheered. I jumped out of my chair. The drought was over. Our team finally scored.
Inasmuch as Beyond and Cena Vegan are in the same category and are (or will be) vying for customers looking for plant-based alternative meats, this was a victory for our entire category. And for a way of life we have been supporting.
As a marketer, it is always easy to be an arm-chair quarterback and critique the creative execution. Who cares about the execution when the message was so loud and clear?
For the first time, millions and millions of people (about 93% of whom were eating chicken, pork, beef and dairy) had a plant-based meat alternative prominently promoted. It signals the opportunity and scope of the market and the desire of a large audience of consumers hungry for vegan products.
A large company dipped its toes into the waters of plant-based living. It put its money on the green team. It said loud and clear, “There is a huge growing base of people who want to eat better. They want to feel better. They don’t want to harm animals and our planet. And we are going to let them know we hear them.”
Seriously. That’s what a marketing spend of $5.25 million says. Carl’s Jr wasn’t promoting their burger just for the hell of it. Advertising during the Super Bowl is big money and that investment is expected to generate bigger returns. They did the research. They know what’s out there. It’s us.
So no judging and no snipes for the rest of the menu at their restaurants. Carl’s Jr is to be congratulated for seeing the future. It’s a first step. Maybe not as big as walking on the moon (NASA deniers please refrain). But pretty damn large.
We aren’t a preachy company. We advocate for plant-based and think it’s the inevitably better future. From the comfort of my favorite chair, I got to watch it grow up in 1080p. And in the afterglow of the moment, I could also see the floodgates are now open for more plant-based products to take their rightful place in the public eye. This was no fluke.
So here’s to Beyond Meat and Carl’s Jr. You scored one for the vegans. And in doing so, everyone on the planet gets the win. Even those dreaded Patriots.


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Acer could be in position to leap ahead of rival Lenovo to become the world's third-largest PC maker during the first quarter, an industry analyst said today.
Last week, Acer president Gianfranco Lanci said the company looked set to overtake Lenovo as the number 3 PC maker during the first quarter, which ends on 31 March. That has been a long-term goal for Acer, which hopes to take the number 3 spot before the end of this year.
"They've been setting their eyes on Lenovo for quite a few years," said Bryan Ma, the director of personal systems research at IDC Asia-Pacific.
During that time, Acer expanded aggressively, while Lenovo struggled to digest its acquisition of IBM's former PC division. Last year, Lenovo had 7.3 percent of the global PC market, about 3 million units ahead of Acer, which had a market share of 5.9 percent.
Whether Acer managed to surpass Lenovo during the first quarter remains to be seen. Official numbers are not yet available from IDC for first-quarter PC shipments, but Acer could be in position to overtake Lenovo because of seasonality in the Chinese market, Ma said.
Lenovo is heavily dependant on sales in China, where business slows to a crawl during the Chinese lunar new year holiday, which took place during February. "Lenovo always gets hit pretty hard during the first quarter," Ma said.
That leaves an opening for Acer, which could theoretically ‘slingshot’ past Lenovo into the number spot for the first quarter, Ma said. But he cautioned against reading too much into any gains Acer makes during the quarter based on seasonality.
"The full-year results are what really count," Ma said, adding that Acer's aim of overtaking Lenovo is "a realistic goal”.


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Start-up business owners are more likely to trust traditional lenders than those of more established companies, new research reveals.
The study, from Hitachi Capital Invoice Finance, shows how 28 per cent of businesses established for 12 months or less completely trust such lenders, for example banks, and 37 per cent somewhat trust them, in comparison to just 14 per cent of longer established businesses that completely trust them.
Of the 502 business owners surveyed, 90 per cent of those from new start-ups have invested their own money into the business, with 72 per cent using personal savings. More start-ups than established companies used a personal credit card to access funds for the business (33 per cent compared to 25 per cent respectively) and re-mortgaged their home (37 per cent compared to 17 per cent respectively).
Owners of newer businesses are also most likely to explore alternative funding methods for the business, and are willing to access any kind of finance for their business whenever they can (34 per cent), compared to more established businesses (16 per cent.) The same can be said of those companies who do not feel they have sound knowledge of the different borrowing options available to them (30 per cent for start-up companies compared to ten per cent of more established.)
When asked for their main reason of not trusting traditional lenders, newly started businesses and more established businesses had similar reasons. – The main reason being because of the bank’s reputation (39 per cent VS 37 per cent).
Andy Dodd, managing director at Hitachi Capital Invoice Finance comments, ‘It’s interesting to see business owners remaining cautious with regards to business funding, potentially restricting their ability to grow. There appears to be an ongoing negative perception of more common lenders, despite them using this option to keep their businesses funded. This shows a clear discrepancy between SME’s wanting to borrow from these types of lenders and them needing to.
‘More than twenty percent also noted that maintaining their cashflow is a top concern for them for the year ahead, and indicates this is something they are currently struggling to manage. It is important for business owners of any kind to be aware of the funding options available to them and what they are eligible for, as there are a number of options available to help prioritise overdue payments and maintain financial resource, particularly outside traditional lenders.’
When it comes to location, business owners based in London are the most trusting (65 per cent do trust them) and those in Northern Ireland, the least (53 per cent say they do not trust them.)
Companies in the business service sector are least likely to want/need finance than the recruitment sector. For example, when asked if they had sought any external finance in the past 12 months, only 51 per cent of business services had, in comparison to 90 per cent of recruitment agencies.
Top five SME business concerns for 2018
Turnover (38 per cent)
Brexit (28 per cent)
Bringing in new customers (27 per cent)
Market competition (24 per cent)
Cashflow preservation (21 per cent)


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In late June, a leading reseller of the dongle True Blue announced that the team stopped for the current production release a new dongle in July.
Today, the team gives us a little more information. True Blue team will soon launch a new version of their dongle, or of their silence and lack of news or updates. Modifications include a new case to help distinguish clones. The new dongle is compatible with the old and before EBOOTs dongle will always be compatible with the updates. Shortly after the release of the new dongle, new EBOOTs become available and new features. The team also reports that the site truebluejb2.cc sells fakes and they are in no way related to them. True Blue The new dongle will have primary mission is to keep out the clones. Thanks to the green-to information. Official site: www.truebluejb2.com
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Commercial flights are rarely fun; they’re cramped, noisy, often smelly. But according to a survey by Honeywell Aerospace, passengers would be willing to make their experience even more physically uncomfortable in exchange for in-flight Wi-Fi, trading everything from reclining seats, leg room, snacks and restrooms for consistent internet.
An infographic compiled by Honeywell highlights how much we value staying connected – even at 39,000 feet. In exchange for Wi-Fi…
— 32 percent of U.S. passengers would trade in their reclining seats
— 24 percent would give up 6 inches of leg room
— 42 percent would do without snacks
— And an optimistic 13 percent would forgo restroom services.
Take a look.
Contact Danielle for PR and Marketing Inquiries
Corporate Communications Strategy for BlackRock Drives Brand Awareness
BlackRock, a leading investor firm, turned to Kelton to better understand the intersection between wealth and well-being to drive global brand awareness.
PR Study: Bright Horizons Reveals Penalty for Working Moms
Source: USA Today


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As the credit crunch deepens, using credit cards to pay for health and medical expenses may no longer be an option.
Families who relied on credit cards and loans to help pay medical costs are finding they can no longer depend on easy credit to pay for rising health care costs and medical debt as the credit market tightens.
A financing source that many families used to help pay for health care costs and living expenses while battling illness is drying up, just like student and car loans. That means medical debt — already the reason for more than half of all personal bankruptcies — may force more families into financial distress in the coming months, health care and consumer advocates say. Or worse, even more people may skip or delay medical care because they can’t afford to pay for it.
“People are delaying seeing a doctor when they’re sick, they’re skipping recommended medical treatment or follow-up, they’re not filling prescriptions,” says Michelle Doty, director of survey research for the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation that focuses on health care issues. “This is the worry: They’re having access problems because of cost; they can’t afford it.”
Financial advisers say using credit cards to pay for medical expenses was never a good idea and urge consumers to wean themselves off of plastic spending — for all purposes.
More coverage of health care and credit:
- 15 tips for paying high medical bills
- Compare health care credit options
- Special report: Do credit cards offer health care Rx?
- ‘MedFICO’ score: Good medicine or bad?
- No credit card, no medical service?
- Blog: Americans worried about health care
- Bankruptcies near record levels as economy sours
- Study: 79 million struggling to pay medical bills and debt
Tell us your story
How are you coping with medical bills, high deductibles and debt? E-mail us at Editors@CreditCards.com.
The credit squeeze
Tightened lending standards have meant creditors have pulled back on credit card and installment loans across the board — including those specialty health care cards and loans. Although the health credit cards and loans are still offered (see comparison chart of health care credit options, lenders are much more selective about who can get money and how much. The reality is only those with the best credit records are likely to get financing.
Consumers who once put doctor’s office visit and prescription drug co-payments on general purpose credit cards are finding their credit limits may have been reduced or interest rates hiked. They can turn to plastic even less today to pay rising out-of-pocket health care costs.
Two recent developments have put the future of specialty health care credit cards in doubt:
- Sweeping new credit card industry rules announced by the Federal Reserve in December 2008 may make borrowing more expensive for all credit card users and restrict loans to only the most qualified borrowers.
- Many of the banks that funded the health cards have been brought low by the Wall Street financial crisis, face rising defaults on their credit card portfolios and are getting billions in public assistance from federal bailout funds.
Health care reform advocates have high hopes for President Barack Obama’s administration. Revamping the nation’s complex and costly health care system is a top priority for Obama, who recounted stories of his late mother during his presidential campaign. She died of ovarian cancer but was more distressed over her mounting medical bills than her illness, Obama says. He pledged to push for bankrupcty reform measures that give exemptions to people with medical debt.
“The current economic slowdown makes it even more urgent for a new administration to make universal and affordable health insurance a high priority in 2009, to ensure that no American suffers financial hardship as a result of serious illness,” according to Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis.
See related: Special report: Do credit cards offer health care Rx?, 15 tips for paying high medical bills, Compare health care credit options, CreditCards.com poll results: credit and health care costs
Borrowing to pay medical bills
A September 2008 Commonwealth survey found that nearly 79 million adults had medical bill problems or medical debt in 2007. Nearly a third (30 percent) of respondents in the foundation’s biennial health insurance survey said they took on credit card debt to pay health care bills. The survey found that an estimated 21.3 million people used credit cards for medical expenses in 2007.
A 2008 CreditCards.com survey of 1,004 American adults found nearly 1 in 10 would use a revolving credit card account if hit with a medical bill of more than $1,000. The poll, conducted Jan. 18-20, 2008, by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media, also found that 10 percent of Americans say they would seek an installment payment plan, while 8 percent would apply for short-term loans from banks or credit unions. Three percent would borrow from their 401(k) retirement plans to pay medical bills and 8 percent would seek loans from friends or family members.
Both surveys were conducted before the Wall Street meltdown, when many people lost some 30 percent of the value of stocks, 401(k)s and other investments, before plummeting housing values wiped out equity that could be used for borrowing and before unemployment rates went to their highest levels in 30 years.
Doty, from the Commonwealth Fund, says they are planning another survey in the fall of 2009 to assess the impact of the economic downturn on health care costs. Until then, they can only speculate about how families are coping. “I’m sure people are having trouble,” Doty says.
Rising out-of-pocket costs
The rise in health care credit cards and installment loans was fueled by health insurers, credit card issuers and banks stepping in to fill a growing gap between household incomes and rising out-of-pocket costs for health care. Families — already accustomed to putting everything from groceries to appliances on plastic — turned to credit cards and other loan options to pay deductibles and medical bills. A report by the McKinsey & Co. management consulting firm found that $45 billion in out-of-pocket medical expenses were charged on credit cards in 2007. That figure is expected to grow to $150 billion by 2015.
Unlike regular, multipurpose credit cards, health care financing options offer incentives to pay balances off quickly rather than rack up hefty interest charges. Some feature 0 percent interest rates similar to the “12 months same as cash” financing plans popular with furniture retailers and offer up to $40,000 in lines of credit. The highest annual percentage rate on a health care loan is 25.99 percent for Capital One‘s Health Finance fixed rate plan. (See comparison chart of health care credit options.)
It’s “friendly credit,” says Ben Slen, director of product strategies for Humana Inc., a health insurance company that launched a Visa health credit card in October 2007 with Republic Bank.
Not everyone was happy when credit cards that targeted health care consumers began to emerge in 2005. A July 2008 special report by Consumer Reports magazine asserts that patients are unfairly hit with offers of credit in doctors’ offices when they are facing medical crises.
“Often they’re in a vulnerable position when they receive these sales pitches — in a doctor’s office or a hospital — and they don’t understand what they’re signing up for,” according to Consumer Reports Senior Editor Andrea Rock. “Furthermore, some consumers have said that they felt pressured by their medical providers while sedated or recovering from treatment.”
|Health insurance costs continue to rise|
|With health insurance becoming increasingly expensive, a variety of health-related credit cards were invented in the past few years. But the combination of the credit crunch and the recession are making them a problem to obtain and use.|
Financial toll on cancer patients
A report published in February 2009 by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the American Cancer Society highlights the financial problems cancer patients and their families are facing. The report chronicles the experiences of 20 cancer patients. Even with health insurance, many are racking up huge medical bills for out-of-pocket expenses not covered by insurance. Some, like 52-year-old Susan Young of Florida, relied on credit cards to pay her bills.
Young, who has breast cancer, charged more than $5,000 in medical bills to credit cards. “If I didn’t put these co-pays on my credit card, I wouldn’t have enough money to pay my bills,” she told researchers.
Another breast cancer patient, Tammy Witt of Ohio, filed for bankruptcy after medical costs depleted her savings and she put basic living expenses on credit cards.
‘A perilous act’
“Putting medical expenses on a credit card if you don’t have the resources to pay for it is a perilous act,” says Mark Rukavina, executive director of The Access Project, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit group that counsels consumers on how to resolve and avoid medical debt. He is also co-author of a January 2007 study called “Borrowing to Stay Healthy: How Credit Card Debt is Related to Medical Expenses.”
Says Rukavina: “We’ve seen people put their premiums on credit cards because they don’t have the resources to pay it and they need coverage. Then, if they get sick, they have to put that on the credit card, too.”
Much of the negative response to health care credit cards is fueled by criticism of credit card industry marketing and billing practices, including surprise interest rate hikes, penalties and fees. Critics say changes in terms of credit card agreements “at any time for any reason” are consumer traps. Banking industry representatives have responded that they re-price — or increase the interest rate — on accounts when borrowers are considered greater credit risks.
New credit card rules
New federal rules that limit interest rate hikes were approved in December 2008 but won’t take effect until July 1, 2010.
Several members of Congress have said the federal regulations don’t go far enough fast enough in protecting consumers from unfair and deceptive practices and have pledged to push for stronger laws that take effect sooner. However, none of the proposals address financing medical debt with credit cards.
Sam, Wang, a spokesman for Citi, says it’s unclear how the new regulations will affect Citi cards and its offerings. Citi offers a City Health Care and Citi Health Card MasterCard to pay for dental, vision, hearing and veterinary expenses.
“Given the dramatic regulatory changes recently announced, we will need time to fully understand their implications and what the long-term impacts will be on our customers, the consumer economy, and our business,” Wang wrote in an e-mailed response. He added: “In these challenging economic times, Citi is also committed to providing consumers access to affordable credit, while managing its business safely and soundly.”