text:
SMFB Net Income Up 20% to P15.4B in First Half
August 08, 2018
San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc. (SMFB), the food and beverage flagship of conglomerate San Miguel Corporation, registered consolidated revenues of P137.4 billion for the first half of 2018, up 15% from the same period last year, as combined net income and operating income went up 20% to P15.4 billion and P22.9 billion, respectively.
SMC completed the consolidation of its food and beverage businesses last June 29, 2018, thus, the performance numbers reflect the consolidated financials on a comparative basis with last year.
San Miguel Brewery Inc. (SMB) continued its solid performance delivering strong volumes for the first half driven by increased consumption of beer products nationwide and boosted by implementation of new campaigns and consumer and trade programs that further strengthened the equity of SMB brands.
SMB consolidated revenues reached P62.5 billion, 18% higher vs last year. Operating income rose 23% to P17.3 billion.
Ginebra San Miguel Inc. (GSMI) also recorded a strong first semester performance as net income almost doubled from last year. Core brands Ginebra San Miguel and Vino Kulafu continued to drive growth momentum. Revenues and operating income rose 19% and 57% to P12 billion and P862 million respectively from previous year.
Meanwhile, SMFB’s Food Group posted consolidated revenues of P62.9 billion, 12% higher mainly driven by the strong performance of Feeds, Poultry and Meats and the Branded Value-Added businesses. Operating income grew 6% to P4.7 billion.


text:
Rob Baughan to develop business in East Anglia and North London
Following its appointment by The Ali Group as UK distributor of the Comenda ware washer range, Hubbard Systems is expanding its sales and customer support team. The latest recruit is Robert Baughan, whose role is Business Development Manager for East Anglia and North London. He will look after both the Comenda and the Scotsman brands.
Rob is a sales professional who has spent most of his career in the media. “The focus there is to drill down to find out exactly what the customer wants, then to provide a solution to match,” he says.
Visitors are impressed by versatile nugget
On Jan 31 Hubbard Systems took a group of consultants to visit the Scotsman factory in Milan. The trip was an opportunity for the visitors to find out about Scotsman’s latest nugget ice machine technology.
“Nugget machines are incredibly efficient – but it’s difficult to explain the technology without seeing them in action,” says Simon Aspin, commercial director of Hubbard Systems. “The new nugget icemakers were very well received. Nugget ice is relatively new to the UK. It’s very versatile – for example, if can be used both for drinks and for food display – and its method of production is very eco-friendly. Plus, a small machine can make big volumes of ice.”
Hubbard Systems says new icemaker is the hassle-free, competitively-priced ice solution
The new Scotsman NW 608 ice machine, distributed in the UK by Hubbard Systems, combines ultra-reliability with ultra-simple controls and a compact, industry-standard footprint. According to Hubbard it delivers hassle-free, high volume ice production in a quality, stainless steel build at a very competitive price.
This latest Scotsman makes dice ice in either standard 12g cubes or half cubes, weighing 6g. It can produce up to 280kg of ice per day, or over 23,300 standard cubes, making it ideal for high volume sites requiring a reliable supply. A modular machine, it sits on top of a separate storage bin and is compatible with a variety of different bin designs.
Hubbard questions suggestion that faecal bacteria came from water that made the ice
Once again the issue of ice hygiene is in the media, with a researcher from the BBC’s Rip Off Britain finding bacteria from faeces in ice cubes served in a big-name takeaway.*
However, a suggestion that the bacteria could have come from the water used in the icemaker has been questioned by the ice experts at Hubbard Systems, the company that markets Scotsman ice machines in the UK.
“The water in the icemaker will have passed through a filter system that will help to prevent any bacteria present from getting into the machine,” says Mark Stebbings, technical and aftercare manager at Hubbard Systems. “The bacteria that was found is most probably the result of poor personal hygiene standards, presumably on the part of a member of staff.”
Hubbard believes it is the first ice machine supplier to be 100% BIM-compliant
Hubbard Systems has made Revit BIM files available for all Scotsman’s ice machines and accessories. The company believes it is the only icemaker supplier to be 100% BIM compliant.
“We know how important it is for designers, consultants and specifiers to have the right tools for the job,” says Simon Aspin, commercial director of Hubbard Systems. “Operators are increasingly looking for specialist ice equipment, to make specific types of ice – be that nugget, gourmet cube, dice, flake or whatever. So it’s vital that anyone putting together a BIM-based project can put in the right equipment models. That’s why we’ve taken the step to produce files for the entire Scotsman range.
“We believe Scotsman is the only brand of ice machine to have all its models available in BIM format.”

domain: news


text:
Greg Jackson, CEO and founder of Octopus Energy
Octopus, the success is based on Kraken, the proprietary technology platform in the cloud
The big English energy company aims to land in Italy, following the same winning path as in the United Kingdom: the goal is to combine both the proposal of energy to the final customer and the use of renewables at innovative rates, which can allow customers to benefit from cheaper and green energy.
Octopus Energy is the fastest growing energy provider in the UK, with 3.1 million customers since its launch a little over five years ago. Its success is based on Kraken, the proprietary cloud technology platform which, in addition to guaranteeing maximum operational efficiency, is also able to enable excellent customer management and widespread use of renewable energy thanks to smart tariffs. The target company, Sato Light and Gas is an Italian energy supplier based in Ascoli Piceno, in central Italy.
In 2016, the new CEO Giorgio Tomassetti started the company on a path of growth with the aim of building a modern energy supplier that was able to guarantee the highest standards of customer service, also through the use of a multi-channel approach. Sato is now active in eleven Italian regions and supplies thousands of customers.
Greg Jackson, CEO and founder of Octopus Energy, comments: “We have great ambitions for Italy and we have found an amazing team that will grow our business and be at the forefront of leading the green energy revolution in Italy. We know that the model proposed by Octopus works: Our teams in the US and Germany have seen their customer base grow five and seven times, respectively, in the past year. Now we want to focus on Italy and we can’t wait to see what results we can achieve in this market “.
According to Giorgio Tomassetti, CEO of Sato Luce e Gas: “Octopus Energy represents a business model fantastic with an almost obsessive attention to the customer, made possible also thanks to the innovative technology available “.


text:
Cops nab New York women involved in credit card theft ring
GREENWICH -- One of two women in a statewide credit-card theft ring has been arrested by Greenwich police following a five-month-long investigation by numerous state and federal agencies.
Deisha Bennett, 24, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was arrested on March 12 by warrant, police said.
Bennett is charged with numerous felonies including first-degree larceny, five counts of credit-card theft, illegal use of a credit card and identity theft.
Bennett also faces 18 counts of conspiracy to commit credit-card theft and 36 counts of conspiracy to commit the illegal use of a credit card, according to police.
Police said Bennett participated in a "far-reaching credit-card fraud ring" in which two women would steal credit cards from libraries, medical offices and businesses and immediately use them to purchase thousands of dollars worth of goods at retail at stores along the Interstate 95 corridor.
In each incident, one of two women would distract an employee or staff member while the other entered employee-only areas to search through purses for credit cards, according to police.
Investigators said they connected Bennett in six incidents occurring between May and August 2009 at six different locations in town, police said. In those cases, credit cards were stolen from employees' wallets at three retail businesses, two medical buildings and one library.
The total amount of fraudulent purchases from those incidents topped $20,000, police said.
Bennett's arrest was part of an investigation between departments throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and the Secret Service. Bennett has already been charged by Fairfield police and officials said numerous other agencies in Connecticut and Massachusetts hold warrants for her arrest.
The second suspect in the case is expected to be charged by Greenwich police soon, according to police. That suspect is currently jailed in New York awaiting extradition, police said. Her name was not released.
Bennett and her accomplice caused alarm this summer as police began to track stores that were hit by the two unidentified individuals. In August, police released a picture of one woman leaving a store where a theft had occurred.
Bennett was held on a $50,000 bond and was remanded to the custody of the state judicial marshals.
following her arrest last week.
She is scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Stamford March 26.


text:
ASK Computer Systems, Inc.
Sandra Kurtzig had launched ASK and it was growing rapidly. The company faced the difficult decision of whether to port its software to a key new microcomputer Hewlett-Packard had recently introduced. The company was enjoying excellent sales momentum on its current hardware platform and was cautious about the timing and risk of moving to new hardware. Compounding the challenge was a serious buyout offer that Hewlett-Packard had just made to acquire ASK.


text:
No price cuts at £6m Harvey Nicks
Upmarket stores group Harvey Nichols is determined to remain aloof from the price-cutting fever sweeping the retail sector, despite suffering a fall in sales at its famous Knightsbridge store over the first half.
Reporting static profits of £6.1 million, chief executive Joseph Wan said he would not join the discounters: 'It's suicidal. What will those retailers do next year when their customers don't want to pay full prices again?'
Although the group struggled in the first half, like-for-like sales were ahead by 1.4% in the second half so far. Wan says designer party frocks are selling well, ahead of the millennium celebrations.
Helped by a higher contribution from the restaurants side, overall group turnover edged 1% higher to £62.3 million in the six months to 2 October. Sales from stand-alone restaurants, which include the Oxo Tower and Prism in the City, were ahead by 9% to £5.6 million, producing operating profits of £466,000.
Earnings were unchanged at 7.6p a share, and the dividend the same at 2.1p. The shares fell 22 1/2p to 176 1/2p.
Most watched Money videos
- Age UK explains what is Pension Credit and how it can help you
- DriveNow: the flexible car sharing service available across London
- Fiat Panda spectacularly fails Euro NCAP test with zero stars
- Here is how the Help to Buy Equity Loan scheme works in England
- Toyota launches promo of new fifty thousand GR Supra on Instagram
- Would a Brexit deal bring a stock market bounce?
- Analyst explains why Fiat Panda received zero stars on NCAP test
- Wilbur the penguin is part of the British Gas advertising campaign
- A close look at the Audi A8 'intelligent drive' in new promo video
- Mini release a 60th anniversary edition of the iconic car
- Listen to the new snarling 700bhp Ford Mustang GT500
- A UK guide to buying a used car


text:
On Thursday, the Oppo A77s was introduced in India. The most recent mid-range smartphone from the firm has an 8GB RAM and a Snapdragon 480 SoC. It has a 50-megapixel AI dual rear camera array and a 6.56-inch LCD screen with a 90Hz refresh rate. A 5,000mAh battery within the smartphone supports 33W rapid charging. According to the business, the Oppo A77s is sold in Sunset Orange and Starry Black colour variants and will be accessible for purchase starting on October 7.
Oppo A77s Price in India & Specifications
The smartphone Oppo A77s is launched in India in a single variant. It comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. Oppo A77s price in India is Rs 17999. It will be available for purchase starting 7th October. In terms of colors, the phone has Starry Black and Sunset Orange.
Oppo A77s Specifications: The Oppo A77s is a dual-SIM (Nano) phone that use ColorOS 12.1, an Android 12-based operating system. It has a 6.56-inch, HD+ (720×1,612 pixels), 90Hz refresh rate LCD screen. The smartphone has an 8GB LPDDR4x RAM and a Snapdragon 680 SoC as its power source.
The Oppo A77s has a dual back camera system with a 50-megapixel primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture lens and a 2-megapixel monochrome camera with an f/2.4 aperture lens for photographs and videos. It has an f/2.0 aperture front camera with an 8-megapixel resolution.
The smartphone has 128GB of internal storage that can be increased further using a microSD card slot. The Oppo A77s has dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, a USB Type-C port, and other connectivity options. The Oppo A77s features a fingerprint sensor for biometric authentication and packs a 5,000mAh battery with support for 33W SuperVooc charging.


text:
For the first time in seven years, Indian securities market has surpassed Germany’s in market capitalisation and is now the seventh largest in the world, reports Times Of India (TOI).
India’s benchmark stock market index, Bombay Stock Exchange’s (BSE) Sensex, has gained nearly 5 per cent this year (2018), though there were periods of intense volatility due to change in oil prices.
After Great Britain leaves the EU early next year (2019), France will be the only EU country that will be among the top seven stock markets worldwide. While the US continues to dominate the list, it is followed by China, Japan, Hong Kong, UK and France, in the respective order.
Germany, which is the largest economy in the EU, has been increasingly affected by the trade war between China and the US. Due to the US’s tariffs on goods imported from China, investors have turned wary of markets which are overly reliant on exports.
They appear to be favouring economies like India that have a robust domestic demand for goods. While 38 per cent of Germany’s GDP comes from exports, it is only 11 per cent for India.
Also, India is expected to be the fastest growing large economy in the world in the near future. With the current government steadily rolling out pro-business reforms, India’s Ease Of Doing Business (EODB) has improved substantially.


text:
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
DTCM CONDUCT DUBAI ROAD SHOWS IN JAPAN
The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) conducted Dubai Road Shows in three Japanese cities of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka recently.
The marketing and promotional drive offered an opportunity for Dubai tourism industry players to network with the Japanese travel industry decision-makers.
Nayef Ibrahim, Head of Australia & Asia Region at DTCM’s Overseas Promotions, led the Dubai delegation which included representatives of 18 co-participants. Emirates Airlines, Jumeirah Group and Desert Adventures Tourism were the co-sponsors of the road shows.


text:
Layered Guacamole and White Bean Dip
Serves: Serves 8-10 people
Prep time: 25 min.
Cook time: 25 min
Orange County is cracking down on food regulations and some LA based food trucks may soon be a thing of the past in the OC.
Michele Grant, Cheese Executive Officer, of the Grilled Cheese Truck will talk about how some of these new regulations might affect her business and other food trucks like hers.
Get all the latest on where to find the Grilled Cheess Truck here.


text:
The freight forwarding industry is evolving very fast, and for this reason the Cooperative Logistics Network has decided to expand its accessibility and offer as many opportunities as possible to all users.
The Coop’s IT department has added a new feature to its members-only TMS, FreightViewer, that enables members to send and receive quote requests to any of their partners both within as well as outside the Network. This quote request comes in the form of an interactive quotation link that can be filled up by the recipient.
This new feature allows members to easily communicate and exchange the necessary information with their partners. The most important advantage of this new tool is that henceforth members will be able to store the rates from independent freight forwarders outside the Network in FreightViewer. In other words, the addition of this new feature enables the agents to speed up the process of quote generation and even allows them to store all quotes provided by any freight forwarder in a unique platform.
Even though conducting business with the network partners is a tried and tested way to work in a safe and secure environment, many agents have already successfully partnered with several companies that are not Coop members before becoming a part of the network. This is precisely why the Coop’s FreightViewer department considered it essential to open the system to external agents.
This has enormously facilitated communication even with companies who are not part of the network alongside the trustworthy Coop partners.
“The digitisation of the freight forwarding sector has ushered in numerous challenges for logistics companies,” says CQR Founder and President Antonio Torres. “One of the most important challenges is the capacity to centralise and store all the data and exchange of information on one single platform. This where FreightViewer comes into play.
“Apart from allowing the agents to generate instant, accurate door-to-door quotations, it also simplifies the steps to request quotes from overseas agents thereby bringing more efficiency into the daily business operations.”
Regardless of whether the freight agent is a Coop member or not, all users can now send and receive quotations from this platform.
The logistics sector has recently been through several changes including globalisation and the rise in e-commerce trends. These changes have irrevocably altered the landscape of this industry and have given rise to a more international and multimodal form of business entailing a large number of components.
Added to that, the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown have also considerably influenced and affected the freight forwarders. The pandemic has made overseas travel extremely difficult. In this situation, freight agents can no longer consider travelling to a different city to meet their partner in person. This is why, now more than ever, it’s even more vital for freight forwarders networks to provide their members with efficient tools for facilitating the easy exchange of data.


text:
Purchases can no longer be made on its U.S. e-commerce site.
A new way to show you care involves an obstacle course.
“It’s like putting a puzzle together,” says Kay Covert, store manager of TSC Tractor Supply Co. in Patterson.
On the eve of the Business Women’s Forum, women-owned businesses in Connecticut are more dominant than ever.
Pitney Bowes’ former Newtown facility will be occupied by a New York-based moving company.
In September, Peyton Patterson becomes CEO of BNC Financial Group Inc., which owns Bank of New Canaan, Bank of Fairfield and Stamford First Bank....
Even as it hired the former CEO of NewAlliance, BNC was readying a small Bridgeport office with an eye on New Haven County.


text:
“Differentiate, differentiate, differentiate” – the three rules of branding according to Roberto Goizueta, the former CEO of The Coca-Cola Corporation (TCCC). The obvious and most essential differentiator is the brand name and accompanying graphic design. That is, after all, the intellectual property in which brand value is captured.
This week an eye-catching new brand identity was launched – eye-catching both because it changed the name of an organisation that had existed for over 100 years, and because it happened in the normally conservative sector of investment and insurance. Standard Life Aberdeen became Abrdn.
The world of marketing is littered with bold branding launches that become false starts or hastily withdrawn failures. PWC launched a new consultancy called Monday which didn’t last the month. BA stunned the world with its multi-coloured tailfins only to withdraw them in favour of the Union Jack.
Differentiation for differentiation’s sake won’t cut it. One of our golden rules to any client about to announce a new brand is: ‘Never launch a logo’. SL Aberdeen will not be agile because it’s dropped every letter ‘e’ in its name.
In our book On Purpose, we argue, like Goizueta, that there are three rules of differentiation which will build sustainable value for branded businesses. You can’t choose between them. You have to follow all three. They’re about strategy, experience and culture. We call them Stand Up, Stand Out and Stand Firm.
The first way to differentiate is through a strategic commitment to a brand purpose. Stand up for something important. By this we mean an extreme form of customer-centricity that sits at the intersection of the needs of your customer, the world in which they live, and your point of view about how you’ll improve both. Brands from Apple to Zappos have differentiated through a relentless pursuit of improving their customers’ experience and making a positive impact on society more generally. Our relationship with the power of computing is undoubtedly better because of Apple. It’s certainly possible to have a higher sense of purpose in the financial services world and solve problems for both customers and society at the same time. TIAA, one of the world’s largest financial service companies, was founded by Andrew Carnegie over 100 years ago to ensure teachers ‘could retire in dignity’. It now provides a guaranteed monthly income to its customers for the whole of their life after retirement. Given that funding the cost of an increasingly ageing demographic is a major problem for all Western societies, that purpose hits the sweet spot of doing good for customers and society as a whole.
Clearly the branding itself and the end-to-end experience you deliver for customers is the second source of differentiation. That’s not just about creating an eye-catching name and logo, but about consistently branding the experience with graphics and language that surprise and delight and reinforce the desired experience. When PayPal responded to customer concerns as to whether their transactions had been completed, they did so by introducing a simple message on screen at the point of completion: “Sweet – it worked”. We wait to see what positive change in the experience Abrdn customers around the world will enjoy.
The third source of differentiation is in a brand’s culture. 30 years ago, when Goizueta was at TCCC, a brand’s culture was neither visible nor of great concern to customers. That has changed dramatically. Societal demand for transparency, accountability and sustainability together with the rise of social media, whistle-blowers and sites such as Glassdoor, have enabled us to ‘lift the hood’ and look under the shiny exterior of corporate branding at the workings inside. Brands such as Patagonia have built a following based as much on their culture as their clothing. Amazon’s UK television adverts are all about what it’s like to work at Amazon – a way of making Amazon customers feel more comfortable about the speed and ease of their experience.
So what about the culture at Abrdn? The announcement of the new brand was accompanied by a commitment to a comprehensive engagement programme, which is welcome. The media, however, may well keep one eye on bonus announcements. Earlier this year, the CEO announced there would be no company-wide bonuses for staff. If the board are awarded bonuses (some reports have estimated the CEO could be in line for £2.2m), then to the casual observer that might look like old-fashioned corporate greed, or maybe new-fashioned grd. Others familiar with corporate governance will know that the decision will have been taken by a remuneration committee based on strict rules. Nevertheless, the ‘optics’ might not look good, especially given most people’s natural scepticism toward financial services.
So will Abrdn endure or will it go the way of Monday? If it fails to deliver, perhaps at some point the name SL Aberdeen will be reasserted alongside Abdrn, relegating the latter to the role of logo. Then a new logo might be quickly introduced, a new exciting chapter in the brand’s history announced, and Abrdn quietly abndnd. It will succeed, however, if what Abrdn provides for its customers and through its culture is a purpose-led experience that differentiates and delights meaningfully and consistently. Maybe the CEO is being very clever. Maybe he is giving us a subtle message that brand (and by extension the customer) will now be the centre of the company’s culture. Conspiracy theorists will have noticed that Abrdn is an anagram of ‘brand’.


text:
Bungie announced Destiny, which was previously expected to be released in spring 2014, will instead be delayed until September 9, 2014 across all of the platforms it’ll be released on. We’re sure many of you are bummed to hear we’ll have to wait nearly two seasons in order to experience Destiny, but to hopefully tide us over until its release, a new trailer for the game has been released.
The new trailer for Destiny features a lot of what we’ve seen already in past trailers, although the game’s newest trailer shows off a ton more enemies, more weapons and finally shows off some cool-looking modes of transportation. There’s even a clip of a Destiny player sliding underneath a rocket that was shot in their direction to pop up and kill the attacker with one shot.
Later on in the trailer, we get a glimpse of some of the locales you’ll be adventuring through in Destiny. As you’d expect from Bungie, each location looks like they’re filled with lush environments that set them apart from one another.
After watching the latest trailer for Destiny, we’re not sure where you’ll stand on the game, but we have a feeling you’ll be cursing the gaming gods for delaying the game until September 9, 2014.


text:
It’s a matter of taste for Alan and Le Bennett.
If you’re planning to open a restaurant in downtown Saskatoon, you better be prepared to deliver on taste, and Alan and Le plan on delivering.
“We feel it’s very important to maintain a high quality of food for our customers who demand a high standard,” says Alan, who just opened the doors to his downtown restaurant last week, in the same location as Truffles used to call home.
Offering quality means the Bennetts use high-grade ingredients like triple A beef when putting all their dishes together.
That ensures customers will have the best and freshest ingredients possible when they order succulent dishes such as their pho or noodle bowls, tuna tataki or beef wrapped asparagus. A couple of others good bets include all of their sushi offerings as well as the double grilled side ribs.
Even the California rolls use real crab meat, not pollock which is usually found in many other places.
For those customers on the go, the restaurant offers take-out service from either the lunch or dinner menus.
The Bennetts are quick to credit their chef, Ivan Ly. After spending seven years of intense training in Norway, Ly has brought his culinary skills to Saskatoon.
“Our chef has played a key role in the type of cuisine we wanted to bring to our customers,” says Alan.
He also says the location is one of the reasons he decided to enter the restaurant business.
“It’s a busy location with downtown providing a lot of traffic to this area.”
It appears the Bennetts have good taste in location as well as food.
Seasoned Fusion Tastes Restaurant
Owners: Alan and Le Bennett
Address: 230 21st Street East
Hours: Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Closed Sunday
Also look for them on Facebook and Instagram
Spotting a trend and staying ahead of the curve is a good sign for an entrepreneur.
That’s exactly what Eric Urzada has accomplished as he opens his first Saskatoon location of UBreakIfix. Already with two stores in Regina and two more in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Urzada opened the the doors to his new location in mid-May.
“I think the (cellphone and computer) repair industry has probable done itself a disservice over the last few years,” says Urzada. He says many people have become disenchanted in the repair business by having costly and timely repairs to the prized phones and computers.
Urzada says his shops provide an array of protections for the customer such as 90-day warranty and no obligation quotes on repairs.
“We recognize how important these devices are in peoples’ lives,” Urzada says. “That’s why important for us to fix the problem in a timely fashion.”
The 1,200-square-foot Stonebridge location is open, clean and bright and offers a retail area for shoppers looking for phone cases or cords and other essentials.
The back area has a tech station for repairs, a level 3 repair area for larger pieces of equipment like gaming consoles and a smart phone repair area.
One benefit UBreakIFix provides is a loyalty program which automatically gives people a five per cent reduction in price along with other discounts. And there is no cost to signing up to the program.
Born and raised in Regina, Urzada says it’s important for him to make sure his business gives back to the community. That is evident by his commitment he’s made for support for the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon.
Owner: Eric Urzada
Address: 160 – 3020 Preston Avenue near Sobeys in Stonebridge
Hours: Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
John Grainger is managing editor of The StarPhoenix. If you have started, expanded or moved a small business in Saskatoon within the last few months, contact him at firstname.lastname@example.org. Home-based and temporary businesses, as well as those without physical locations, will not be considered for publication. Follow John on Twitter @Real1John


text:
CAPE CORAL, Fla. Changes are coming to Southwest Florida’s largest city, according to manager Dana Brunett.
Brunett and consultant Joe Mazurkiewicz highlighted several business expansion projects that are expected to create additional economic development in Cape Coral:
- Nissan, Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep car dealerships
- A new conference center at The Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village on 5951 Silver King Blvd.
- A 30,000 square-foot organic grocery store on Santa Barbara Boulevard and Veterans Parkway
- Burlington Coat Factory will replace the former Sports Authority store on 1810 NE Pine Island Road
- A motor coach resort will break ground in 2018 near Burnt Sore Road and Durden Parkway
- A no-kill animal shelter will begin construction in 2018
- Panera Bread will open in south Cape Coral


text:
Midland, Michigan — Dow Chemical's earnings before tax were hit in the first quarter of 2016 by at payments totaling $1.235 bn in a legal settlement of the long running polyurethane price fixing case which it recently settled.
The company's first quarter 2016 financial statement shows that earnings before income taxes were $165m compared with $2.2bn in the same 2015 period because of the payment. The settlement was equivalent to $0.7/share, the company said. Earnings per common share were $.015 in the quarter compared with $1.18 in the first quarter of 2015.
Sales in the first quarter of 2016 were $10.7bn down from$ 12.3bn in the same quarter last year. This, the company said is "primarily due to local price declines and ongoing global currency headwinds." Sales volumes rose by 4% overall with 6% growth recorded in North America, 4% in Europe, Middle East Africa and India and Asia Pacific. There was a 4% decline in sales figures in Latin America, Dow added.
Dow's Performance Materials & Chemicals division saw first quarter sales decline from $3.2bn to $2.2bn as a result of the divestiture of Dow's chlorine business in 2015.
The polyurethane business "delivered volume growth on double-digit increases in demand for downstream, higher-margin systems house applications and specialty polyols and as the business continued to shift its mix into higher-value differentiated offerings, " Dow said.


text:
NERF Ultimate Championship is an upcoming VR arena shooter that’s getting ready to launch into closed beta later this month. If you’re looking to go hands-on, there’s still time to sign up for your chance to wall-run and blast your way to victory.
NERF Ultimate Championship is officially heading into closed beta in “mid to late March,” Hasbro and VR studio Secret Location say. “We will be contacting candidates as soon as we’ve matched them with folks in similar time zones and available timeslots.”
The NERF-brand 4v4 team shooter is headed to Quest sometime this year, so you might just get an opportunity to play it before everyone else, and even help guide development.
It seems the studio is selecting some specific criteria for the first round of beta testers—we aren’t sure what that is, so we can’t say for sure. The developers say selected participants should be contacted within a week however, which also includes an invite to the closed beta’s private Discord Server and instructions on the next steps.
We’re looking forward to seeing more of NERF Ultimate Championship in the coming weeks, as developers Secret Location are also known for bullet-hell shooter Blasters of the Universe (2017), VR retelling of Philip K. Dick’s The Great C (2018), and time-bending puzzle game Transpose (2018).


text:
Confirming rumours that have swirled for over a week, U.S.-based e-commerce giant Amazon has formally announced that Long Island City in New York City and National Landing in Arlington, Virginia will serve as the two sites for the company’s second North American headquarters (HQ2).
Amazon said it plans on investing $5 billion USD (roughly $6.62 billion CAD) and hopes to create approximately 50,000 jobs divided between the two locations.
The company’s current headquarters in Seattle, Washington has a total of 3,100 employees — roughly an eighth the number of employees that are expected to work at each of Amazon’s new headquarters.
“We are excited to build new headquarters in New York City and Northern Virginia,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, in a November 13th, 2018 media release.
“These two locations will allow us to attract world-class talent that will help us to continue inventing for customers for years to come. The team did a great job selecting these sites, and we look forward to becoming an even bigger part of these communities.”
The Long Island City space will span four million square feet, with an option to expand to eight million square feet if necessary, and is expected to generate over $10 billion USD (roughly $13.24 billion CAD) in tax revenue over the next 20 years.
In contrast, the Arlington space will span four million square feet, with the option to increase the space to eight million square feet if necessary, and is expected to generate approximately $3.2 billion USD (roughly $4.24 billion CAD) over the next 20 years.
Wages at the Long Island City and Arlington offices are expected to average out to approximately $150,000 USD (roughly $193,693 CAD).
Amazon is set to receive up to $1.2 billion USD (roughly $1.59 billion CAD) in tax credits through New York State’s ‘Excelsior’ program, as well as an additional $325 million USD (roughly $430.55 million CAD) as a cash grant from the ‘Empire State Development’ fund.
The company will receive up to $550 million USD (roughly $728.52 million CAD) as a workforce cash grant from the Commonwealth of Virginia, as well as an additional $23 million USD (roughly $30.47 million CAD) cash grant from the City of Arlington over 15 years based on incremental growth forecasts.
The e-commerce giant also announced that it plans on establishing an operations centre of excellence in downtown Nashville, Tennessee.
Amazon hopes to invest $230 million USD (roughly $304 million CAD) to create approximately 5,000 jobs in the region.
The Nashville site is expected to be home to a one million square foot, energy efficient office space that will handle a chunk of the company’s “customer fulfillment, customer service, transportation, and supply chain, amongst others,” according to the same November 13th media release.
“The Operations Center of Excellence will be the Eastern U.S. regional hub for the tech and management functions of this division,” reads an excerpt from the November 13th media release.
Amazon will begin hiring employees for all three sites in 2019. The company will continue hiring employees for its Seattle headquarters.
Amazon announced the search for its second North American headquarters in September 2017.
Shortly thereafter, a Toronto region consortium announced that it had plans to launch a bid for the HQ2 site.
The group was comprised of the cities of Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton, as well as the regions of Durham, Halton and York.
In January 2018, Amazon announced its shortlist of 20 cities in the running for the HQ2 site.
Toronto was the only Canadian city included in the list, despite bids from major cities across the country, including Vancouver, British Columbia, Edmonton, Alberta and Halifax, Nova Scotia.


text:
Kitty Hawk Sports
Ralph Buxton, president of the six-location chain of Kitty Hawk Sports stores on the Outer Banks, admits that his stores don’t fit the mold of the traditional hardcore surf shop.
The main store in Nags Head has an extensive kayak department — located a few feet from a large, well-merchandised resort-wear section. However, surf apparel dominates the 7,000-square-foot store with clean displays and good sightlines throughout.
“We’re trying to put forth more of a water-sports store with a beach location,” he says. “It’s a very competitive area. Not only because of the number of surf shops, but also because of the outlet malls, Kmart, WalMart, and Wings.”
Founded in 1981, Kitty Hawk appears to comfortably straddle the line between its tourist and local clientele — something every shop deals with in its own way.
Buxton says summer sales were strong, if occasionally spotty. Sunglass sales were strong, swimwear universally flat. “Lycra — especially Quiksilver Lycra — was probably the hottest product,” he says. “Kids and families buy it for protection — it’s not a fashion item.” Kitty Hawk also is happy with Volcom sales, a line it brought in for the first time this year. Buxton says Quiksilver and Billabong “keep chugging along,” and both brands have a large footprint within the store.
While sales are good and Kitty Hawk Sports appears healthy, Buxton isn’t entirely content. Like many retailers on the East Coast, he’s grown increasingly concerned about distribution and the effect distribution has on sales.
“If you want something to be special, you’re going to have to limit its distribution,” he says. “There are no two ways about it. It bothers me to see some of the major surf brands opening their own outlet stores now. It concerns me to see the number of Pacific Sunwear stores. Maybe that bodes well for the manufacturing companies, but I’m not sure it bodes well for the beach surf shops. The proliferation of surf brands in the interior mall stores has taken away some steam. It’s not as easy anymore. It used to be you put it on the racks and it would fly out the door.”
Buxton stops for a moment to think, then continues in his thoughtful, Southern voice: “It does force you to stay on your toes — stay sharp and keep looking for new lines. With all the new lines coming along, something is going to fall out. My guess is that it’s going to be the middle tier brands. Maybe the recession, terrorist thing — whatever you want to call it — will accelerate that, but it would have happened anyway.”
Despite the challenges, Buxton says he remains fundamentally optimistic about his business, although he will be wary over the next few months. “We’re buying very cautiously for Easter,” he says. “We’ll wait to make our big commitments until Surf Expo — which is normally how it happens anyway. A lot could happen in our kind of fashion business in three or four months. My guess is that by next spring, people will be very weary of watching all this sad news on the television and they will be ready for some serious fun — somewhere where they can let loose.”
Window Brand: Quiksilver
Major Display Brands: Quiksilver, Billabong
Strongest Category: Lycra
Weakest Category: Swimwear
Strongest Brand: Quiksilver
Best Rep: Rick (Quiksilver)


text:
If you're a frequent reader of this blog, you know that childhood obesity and BPA are two topics that have gotten a lot of screen time as of late. As a parent and a blogger, I worry about these topics and their effects on our children's health. But I never before realized how connected they are.
Turns out, a new study published in a journal called Biotechnology Letters has found that certain chemicals may be effecting the way our bodies' take up and store fat — making us fatter than we would be without exposure.
Now, this isn't to say that diet and exercise don't play a part, because of course they do. According to a growing number of studies, some chemicals in the environment can also induce obesity. These chemicals are called obesogens, and they may be exacerbating an already serious epidemic. And you guessed it — BPA is one of those chemicals.
For the study, researchers identified two common environmental chemicals — bisphenol A and benzyl butyl phthalate — that can control the number of fat cells produced and the uptake and storage of fats in those cells. Both of these conditions — more fat cells and fatter cells — underlie weight gain in people.
Overall, five environmental chemicals were tested to determine their capacity as obesogens. They included the compounds benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), dipropyl phthalate (DPP) and bisphenol A (BPA); the poisonous herbicide dioxin (or TCDD); and a product of cooking oil fumes, tt-DDE. These chemicals were chosen because humans are widely exposed to them. They were also previously identified as endocrine disruptors, or chemicals that can alter the body's response to certain hormones.
Two of these chemicals, BPA and BBP, were found to be significant obesogens, meaning that they affected the way the body produced fat cells and the way it stored fat.
Kids (and their parents) today are facing enough challenges to health and fitness; we certainly don't need chemicals going behind the scenes to make us fat. This is yet another good reason to avoid BPA and to support legislation that bans the chemical from food containers.


text:
News about Chase Liquid.
August 24th, 2016
US bank JPMorgan Chase is to support Android Pay from 7 September 2016, claims a leaked internal document seen by Android Police. “According to an anonymous Chase employee, Chase will begin supporting Google’s NFC-based payment system in just over two weeks,” the publication says. “This includes Chase consumer credit cards that are Visa-branded, both business and consumer debit cards and Chase Liquid cards.” The bank unveiled its own Chase Pay mobile payments service in October 2015.


text:
Bear Meat — It's What's For Dinner
Posted: February 20, 2013
Bear meat has a bad reputation, according to Jaime Sajecki, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ Black Bear Project Leader.
“I’ve heard of some ways you can prepare it that is not very good, but then they are other ways that people rave that they just absolutely love it.”
One of the reasons for the variation is the meat’s fat content.
Joe Cloud, owner of True & Essential Meats in Harrisonburg, says bear has a “very high fat content with a slightly different quality than other meats. Where deer meat is extremely lean, bear meat is extremely high in fat with a unique fat composition.”
Cloud himself has sampled bear meat that has been prepared in a variety of ways, including roasted or barbecued.
“When you eat bear meat, it coats your mouth and stays there for a while — so you better like it.”
Sajecki has been working with bears for 12 years, and encourages those who harvest them to use the meat.
A survey conducted in Virginia asked those who have killed the animal what they did with it. Of those surveyed, 76 percent of the respondents said they ate it, 42 percent mounted the animal, 26 percent donated the meat, 31 percent tanned the hide and 26 percent preserved the skull.
David Steger, President of the Virginia Bear Hunters Association, says a lot of bear meat is wasted because people aren’t educated about how to take care of it.
“It’s got to be good when it goes in the pot, or no amount of barbecue sauce will help,” says Steger, who hunts annually with hounds beginning each December.
He explains the importance of immediately taking care of the meat after the kill: The animal has to be skinned, quartered and field dressed to release the internal body heat that will accelerate spoiling. Bears also have heavy coats that need to be removed quickly to allow the animal to cool.
“A lot of hunters, after a kill, will want to show off the bear, or take it to be weighed with the insides still intact. This will cause the meat to spoil,” says Steger, who added that, while hunting on warm days, meat needs to go in the cooler right away.
“These specific ways of treatment are what you need to do to get the best taste and taking these steps before it goes into the oven or pot is the most important thing for quality.”
To Prepare Bear
Ron Messina, media specialist for the VDGIF, says the flavor of bear meat can depend on an individual bear’s diet.
“Bears are scavengers and eat things such as garbage or road kill, and this can affect what they taste like. But they also eat things like acorns, fruit, and corn.”
Steger says steaks or chops can be cooked slowly in a skillet. A roast can be prepared in a slow cooker, to which his wife likes to add a can of cream of mushroom soup.
“Bear meat is real rich and real high in protein — probably one of the richest meats that you can eat,” says Steger. “And for those people who want to eat organic or farm-raised meat, wild game is on the top of the list.”
“Sometimes, I think people go to too much trouble to hide the taste of the meat, using too many seasonings or barbecue sauce, so you don’t even know what you are eating,” says Steger.
“I don’t look for everyone to like it, but it’s really good food if it’s treated right and treated clean,” says Steger.
For more information, visit www.virginiabearhunters.org or www.dgif.virginia.gov. Or call David Steger at (540)384-6506 or Jaime Sajecki at (804) 652-7921.
For local meat inquiries, contact Joe Cloud at T&E Meats, 256 Charles Street in Harrisonburg, or call (540) 434-4415.
Contact Aimee George at 574-6292 email@example.com.


text:
Shenzhen-based Royole has released a futuristic smartphone that can fold up.
The FlexPai is billed as the world’s first foldable smartphone and has a super flexible screen which can be bent from the middle.
With a thickness of just 7.6mm, the dual-camera handset is now available for pre-order online.
When the phone’s 7.8-inch screen is fully bent back from both sides, it provides three display screens for the user. In addition to the front and back displays, the spine will become a third albeit small screen showing incoming calls, messages or emails when they are received.
The phone’s price ranges from 8,999 yuan (US$1,294) to 12,999 yuan in China for either a consumer model or a developer model.
However, only the developer model has been released outside of China at US$1,557 for a 128G edition and US$1,738 for a 256G edition.
The phone has two cameras at the top.
Bill Liu, the 35-year-old founder and CEO of Royole, has given the screen a poetic name, Cicada’s Wings, to highlight its light weight, flexibility and durability.
Liu said the screen contains more than 20 million flexible high-precision devices, bendy integrated circuits and nearly 100 micro and nano structured thin film materials. Liu said his team owned more than 2,000 intellectual property rights.
Wire reported that flexible screens were more resilient and durable than glass-fronted touchscreen displays. Foldable screens cannot be broken when they are dropped and are also lighter and cheaper. (SD-Agencies)


text:
According to documents seen by Bloomberg, the new subscription service is codenamed ‘Spartacus’ and will combine the current PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now services, phasing out the branding of the latter. It’s expected to launch for PS4 and PS5 this spring and to be structured across three payment tiers.
UFC 4 (PS4), Planet Coaster: Console Edition (PS5), and Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-shot Adventure will be available on February 1. (PS4). Last month, details on a PlayStation Game Pass competitor programme that was rumoured to be in the works surfaced.
The first tier will reportedly include existing PlayStation Plus benefits, such as online play and free monthly titles. The second will offer a large catalogue of games like Xbox Game Pass (although not first-party titles at launch). The third tier will add extended demos, game streaming and a library of classic PlayStation games.
The News Highlights
- PlayStation Plus games for February have been announced by Sony
- Check the latest update on Gaming news
For Latest News Follow us on Google News
- Show all
- Trending News
- Popular By week


text:
VIVA, Kuwait’s fastest-growing and most developed telecom operator, announced Norah Marzouq Al Otaibi and Ebtisam Mubarak Hussein as the second two lucky customers to win Vespa scooters with World Cup designs.
Ayman Salem Al Mutairi, Senior Manager Corporate Communications said: "On behalf of VIVA, I would like to congratulate the lucky winners Norah Marzouq Al Otaibi and Ebtisam Mubarak Hussein and thank each and every customer who made the effort to enter the draw. VIVA will continue to demonstrate its commitment towards its customers by delivering unique products and services and designing exciting offers that will allow VIVA to further engage with them".
VIVA invites its customers to participate in this exciting draw campaign which is applicable for existing and new postpaid (Voice and data) and prepaid (voice only) customers who pay their bills through VIVA’s website, VIVA’s application or by calling the Call Center at 102 giving customers a chance to win a brand new World Cup Vespa scooter.
The draw campaign started on 22 May and will last until 14 July 2014, where postpaid and prepaid customers will earn one point for every KD5 spent on their bill payment or recharge usage. Each point will count as one entry into the draw, so the more points accumulated by a customer, the more chances they will have of winning. The upcoming draws will take place on 26 June, 3 July, 10 July and 14 July 2014.
To find out more about VIVA’s numerous competitions, promotions, products and packages visit any of the 55 VIVA branches, one of the VIVA authorized distributors, the company’s website at www.viva.com.kw or contact its 24 hour call center at 102.


text:
Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc., a division of Safeway Inc., has filed for a public offering to take its gift card distribution business public.
From a Bloomberg article:
Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc., a gift-card provider owned by Safeway Inc. (SWY), filed for a U.S. initial public offering as consumers increase prepaid spending.
The company filed to raise as much as $200 million, which is a placeholder that may change. The stock will be sold by existing investors including Safeway, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Safeway will retain a controlling interest in the company, and Blackhawk’s business will remain closely tied to the grocery chain’s core operations. The company also has included anti-takeover provisions, which could limit the value of the stock, according to its filing statement. Additionally, Blackhawk will receive much in the way of additional funds to invest in growing its business or acquiring other companies, judging by the ‘Use of Proceeds’ statement in its S-1.
The selling stockholders are selling all the shares of Class A common stock being sold in this offering, including any shares sold upon exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. Accordingly, we will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of our Class A common stock by the selling stockholders in this offering, except to the extent such stockholders exercise options or warrants in connection with such sales, which amounts are not expected to be material. Safeway has agreed to pay substantially all of our expenses of the offering.


text:
The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) reported better-than-expected revenue and earnings for the fourth quarter of 2019. Analysts had projected earnings of $2.10 per share on revenue of $25.78 billion. Shares were up 2.5% in premarket hours on Tuesday.
Total sales were $25.8 billion compared to $26.5 billion reported a year ago. Last year’s topline results benefited from an extra week of operations, which contributed around $1.7 billion in sales.
Net earnings were $2.5 billion, or $2.28 per share, compared to $2.3 billion, or $2.09 per share, in the prior-year quarter.
Comparable sales increased 5.2% and comp sales in the US increased 5.3%. Customer transactions declined 6.4% during the quarter while average ticket and sales per retail square foot increased 4.1% and 2.8% respectively.
The company stated that its strategic initiatives are yielding value and that sales have grown by over $9 billion through the second year of the One Home Depot investment program.
Earlier this month, the retailer said it is planning to hire 80,000 associates for spring, which is its busiest season of the year. Most of the part-time workers will be staffed in the garden center, with the aim of helping customers with their spring projects.
In December, Home Depot had provided preliminary 2020 guidance which was below analysts’ expectations and this caused the stock to drop at the time.
For fiscal year 2020, the company expects total sales growth of approx. 3.5-4%. Comparable sales is expected to grow approx. 3.5-4%. Diluted EPS is expected to grow approx. 2% to $10.45. Home Depot plans to open six new stores during the year.
The board of directors approved a 10% increase in the quarterly dividend to $1.50 per share, which amounts to an annual dividend of $6.00 per share. The dividend is payable on March 26, 2020 to shareholders of record on March 12, 2020.
At the end of the fourth quarter, Home Depot operated a total of 2,291 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico.
Kin Insurance is a leading insurance technology company specialized in high-risk residential areas. The direct-to-consumer business model and use of advanced technology allow the company to offer affordable pricing without
Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) reported first quarter 2023 earnings results today. Enterprise revenue dropped to $10.6 billion from $11.6 billion in the year-ago period. Comparable sales were down
AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE: AZO) reported third quarter 2022 earnings results today. Net sales increased 5.9% year-over-year to $3.9 billion. Domestic same-store sales increased 2.6%. Net income decreased 0.6% to $592.6 million, while


text:
GST Panel recommends no extra tax incentives for digital transactions
Another ministerial panel chaired by Sushil Kumar Modi on Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM) recommended replacing the present Section 9(4) with a new Section 9(4) which will permit the government to notify specific class of registered persons who would be covered under RCM provision.
A ministerial panel formed by the Goods and Services Tax Council on July 8, 2018 recommended that there shall be no additional tax incentives for digital transactions for a year, citing revenue considerations.
The panel headed by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said that it may think about the proposal of incentivising digital transaction again after a year, once returns and GST revenues stabilise.
The panel claimed that it is not an appropriate moment to incentivise digital payments as it will have revenue implications.
The five-member Group of Ministers (GoM) on incentivising digital transaction include Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitinbhai Patel, West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra, Haryana excise and taxation minister Captain Abhimanyu and Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal.
The GST Council in its last meeting in May 2018 had discussed about offering a 2 percent concession in GST rate (where the tax rate is 3 percent or more) to consumers making payment through cheque or digital mode.
GoM on Reverse Charge Mechanism
• Another ministerial panel chaired by Sushil Kumar Modi on Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM) recommended replacing the present Section 9(4) with a new Section 9(4) which will permit the government to notify specific class of registered persons who would be covered under RCM provision.
• The notified class of registered persons would be required to deposit taxes on reverse charge basis. The conditions and the date for levying of RCM would be decided by the council.
• Under the Reverse Charge Mechanism, registered dealers are required to make tax payments in case they procure goods from unregistered businesses. At present, RCM has been deferred till September 30, 2018.
• Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal and Kerala finance minister Thomas Issac, among others, are a part of the panel which was constituted in March 2018 by the GST Council.
The recommendations of both these ministerial panels would be placed before the GST Council at its next meeting on July 21, 2018.
Take Weekly Tests on app for exam prep and compete with others. Download Current Affairs and GK app
एग्जाम की तैयारी के लिए ऐप पर वीकली टेस्ट लें और दूसरों के साथ प्रतिस्पर्धा करें। डाउनलोड करें करेंट अफेयर्स ऐपAndroidIOS


text:
The Groove Music app will no longer be available on Android and iOS. Users’ personal files however, will still be available in OneDrive.
Last year, Microsoft shut down its Groove Music service. Now, the company has finally decided to retire its Android and iOS apps too.
It was in 2012 when the tech giant introduced the service as Xbox Music. Users were able to stream music through subscription or by purchasing through the Windows Store.
In 2017, the company discontinued the music subscription service. Users however, were still able to play music stored and synchronized on OneDrive. Microsoft also started encouraging users to transfer to Spotify as an alternative. Users were allowed to move their playlists and music collections to the popular streaming app.
Now, in a support page update, Microsoft explains that the Groove apps are going to be retired on December 1. “After that date, the apps won’t work and should be uninstalled.” It will also be no longer available for download.
So what will happen to the personal files?
Microsoft has assured users that they will still be available in OneDrive. “You can access OneDrive online or through the OneDrive app on any supported device.”
Additionally, music and playlists are still playable in Windows 10 Groove Music apps on PC, Xbox, or Windows Phone.
Want to be more involved with the selection of what we report? Or buy us a coffee, maybe?
Be one of our patrons and help keep this place alive with the latest and trendiest tech, games and gadget news.
It doesn’t take a lot but it will help us loads. Click here for a SHORT explanation.
(We only give cool stuff. Pinky swear!)


text:
Fort Smith, AR (Ammoland.com) – In support of the airgun shooting sports, Umarex USA, Inc. today announced the donation of a laminated RWS Model 54 air rifle to the American Airgun Field Target Association (AAFTA).
The 54 is valued at over $750 and will go to auction at the 2014 AAFTA Nationals being held at the Evans Bridge Field Target Range in Heflin, Alabama, October 3rd through 5th. The donation was made in an effort to continue the promotion of Field Target as a competitive airgun shooting sport.
Last year Umarex USA funded the filming of the 2013 AAFTA Nationals by the American Airgunner TV Show. That episode about Field Target airs Friday night, October 3rd at 8:30 pm Eastern on the Pursuit Channel, a network dedicated to hunting, shooting, and fishing.
“The money raised at the annual AAFTA auction from the beautiful RWS Model 54 will be invaluable to Field Target in the United States. Not only does the money raised help AAFTA grow, but also shows field target shooters Umarex USA’s commitment to making quality products available to them.” Said Doug Vinson, on behalf of the AAFTA Board of Governors. He continued, “In fact, two shooters placed second and fifth at the world championships in New Zealand this year with RWS Air Rifles.”
The 2014 AAFTA U.S. Field Target National Championship is being hosted by Airgunning Atlanta and Mount Cheaha Airgunners. The origin of Field Target dates back to 1980 and continues to grow in popularity. Learn more about the airgun sport that simulates hunting by visiting AAFTA.
About Umarex USA
Umarex USA is one of North America’s fastest growing sport and recreation gun companies. Umarex USA develops and markets airguns under brands licensed by its parent company, Umarex Sportwaffen GmbH & Co. KG. Such brands include Walther, RWS, Smith & Wesson, Browning, Heckler & Koch, Ruger, Beretta, Colt, Magnum Research, IWI, UZI, and others. For additional information regarding Umarex USA visit UmarexUSA.com and follow us on social media via Facebook and YouTube.


text:
CINCINNATI – A national animal rights organization wants people to go vegan while attending this year's Oktoberfest Zinzinnati.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) announced in a press release it is looking for a location to erect a billboard near the annual festival that reads "If you wouldn't eat your dog, don't eat a pig. Go Vegan." The billboard will also feature a lederhosen-clad dachshund asking, "You eat wieners?!"
"When it comes to feeling pain and fear, a pig killed for wieners feels exactly the same way that a dog or a human being would in that situation," said Ingrid Newkirk, PETA's president. "PETA's billboard calls on everyone to skip the sausage and say, 'Prost!' to delicious vegan foods such as franks, burgers, and pretzels."
Vegans don't eat any animal-based products – including eggs, dairy and cheeses – nor do they wear clothing made from animal hides.
Oktoberfest Zinzinnati will take place Sept. 21-23 on Second and Third Streets between Elm and Walnut streets Downtown. The festival features sausages, goetta and other pig-based foods, which reflect the city's German heritage and history as a major pork producer in the 1800s. That history is what earned the city the nickname "Porkopolis."
The "Running of the Wieners," a dachshund race that draws dozens of dogs and their owners Downtown, will kick off festivities at 11 a.m. Sept. 21 on Freedom Way between Walnut and Rosa Parks.
PETA launched a similar billboard campaign asking people in Baltimore to go vegan and not eat crab last month. Crab and crab cakes are as much a part of Baltimore's culture as pork is to Cincinnati's.


text:
Character and Gameplay details have been revealed for Bandai Namco's upcoming BC Project.
The game is based on the Black Clover series. It's set in a world
Black The Fall originally launched last year in July 2017 on PC, Xbox One and PS4. The game is now buffing its portfolio by arriving
Hyper Universe is the action-packed, side-scrolling brawler title that allows players to take on a series of enemies either through co-op or solo gameplay. Players
Developer, aheartfulofgames have pushed their 3D brawler title, Heart&Slash onto the Nintendo Switch as of the 22nd of December 2017.
Heart&Slash, which came out last year


text:
Shaquille O'Neal, a four-time NBA champion, told CNBC that one of the game's greatest players inspires his business ventures.» Read More
Apple shareholders Ross Gerber, Gerber Kawasaki CEO, and David Pearl, Epoch Investment Partners executive vp, discuss Apple's stock price and what they think about Icahn's proposed buyback.
Discussing Apple's growth, with Ross Gerber, Gerber Kawasaki CEO; David Pearl, Epoch Investment Partners executive vp; and Alex Gauna, JMP Securities senior research analyst.
Digging into Apple's Q4 data, with Max Wolff, ZT Wealth senior analyst, and Alex Gauna, JMP Securities senior research analyst. "the iPhone was a "nice refresh" for the company," says Gauna.
Apple is reporting Q4 EPS of $8.26 on revenue of 37.5 billion, with CNBC's Josh Lipton.
Should investors be optimistic for Apple's holiday season? Max Wolff, ZT Wealth senior analyst, and Alex Gauna, JMP Securities senior research analyst, discuss their forecasts.
Eike Batista's OGX is on the verge of bankruptcy. CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera reports OGX never found as much oil as it thought it would and the company missed an interest payment of $45 million on October 1st.
Herbalife is reporting Q3 EPS of $1.41 ex-items on revenue of $1.21 billion.
About 50 percent of companies have reported Q3 earnings. CNBC's Seema Mody reports lower earnings quality has to do with cost cutting.
Owens Corning's CEO celebrates the company's 75th birthday today. Its CEO, Michael Thaman, discusses the housing market, and says all its businesses improved in Q3, and is on track with its guidance for the year. We're not seeing big remodeling coming back yet, he says.
What's moving the markets, with Katie Stockton, BTIG; William Skeean, Edge Capital; Stephen Rosen, HighTower; and Michael Jones, Riverfront Investment Group.
Dissecting the current market environment, and what to expect from the Fed and Apple's earnings, with Joseph Quinlan, U.S. Trust, and Matt Cheslock, Virtu Financial.
CNBC's Phil LeBeau provides insight into Consumer Reports' annual Auto Reliability Survey. The list is no longer recommending the Camry, among others.
Discussing the recovery projects from Sandy in downtown Manhattan, with Rudin Management vice chairman & CEO Bill Rudin. "With tremendous leadership, we got the Federal money for recovery," he says.
If you're curious how you can find "ugly duckling" stocks worth your money, listen to Kevin Caron, Stifel Private Client Group, and Oliver Pursche, Gary Goldberg Financial Services, who share their strategies.
Some middle class Americans find the Affordable Care Act is less affordable than before. Deborah Cavarallo and Dianne Barrett are realtors and Obamacare consumers. Both discuss their experiences with Obamacare.
CNBC's Bertha Coombs reports the Federal data hub system was down for much of Sunday. Not only did this impact the Federal exchange, but those of all the states.
Is tapering off the table? Discussing market activity ahead of Wednesday's Fed meeting, with Lindsey Piegza, Sterne Agee; Troy Gayeski, SkyBridge Capital; and Barry James, James Advantage Funds.
CNBC's Maria Bartiromo shares her observation on the impact Washington uncertainties will have on Q4.
JPMorgan reaches a $5.1 billion settlement with FHFA related to the sale of mortgage-backed securities.
The government is stepping in after nearly 600 deaths are believed to be linked to pet treats out of China. Wendy Diamond, Animal Fair Magazine, weighs in.


text:
All year, Media Molecule has kept quiet about when Dreams will officially leave Early Access and launch in full. It appears an outside party may have done the job, instead. UK retailer ShopTo recently shared a February 14, 2020 release date for Dreams in a since deleted Twitter post. ShopTo’s post even came with a colorful graphic that certainly seems a Media Molecule original.
Though the post is no longer available online, we managed to save the image featured in the retailer’s tweet. Check it out below:
The post features both a £32.85 sale price, which may or may not be exclusive to ShopTo, and box art for Dreams. Since neither Sony nor Media Molecule have confirmed the February 14th date, this should be taken with a grain of salt. Still, it doesn’t seem farfetched. For one, 2020’s Valentine’s Day does fall on a Friday, a common launch date for PS4 exclusives. In addition, who doesn’t want to spend the day of love carefully crafting beautiful creations?
Should the February 14th release for Dreams prove true, it could help to fill out Sony’s exclusive releases for early 2020. This is especially interesting given The Last of Us Part II’s recent delay out of February. Nioh 2 hits stores on March 13th, with The Last of Us sequel following several weeks later in late May. Reports suggest that due to The Last of Us‘ delay, Ghost of Tsushima will now arrive later in 2020.
Dreams has been in its Early Access phase since this past spring. Players can join Early Access for the price of $29.99. Despite the alleged leak above, Media Molecule’s new creation-centric experience still lacks an official launch date.
[Source: ShopTo on Twitter]


text:
Palestine’s economy ministry has said that it will sue international e-commerce giant Amazon following revelations that it has been offering free shipping to Israeli customers in the occupied West Bank and in the illegal Israeli Jewish settlements while charging Palestinians for handling and delivery. Amazon has been offering the free delivery to Israeli customers on orders worth over USD 49. At the same time, it has been charging Palestinians handling and delivery charges upwards of USD 24, an investigation by the Financial Times published on February 14 found. To avail the free delivery promotion, Palestinians must select ‘Israel’ as their country, instead of ‘Palestinian territories’, forcing them to extend indirect recognition to their colonizer and occupier.
Amazon started selling its international products in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories since November last year and has been offering a free delivery promotional offer since then. Responding to the revelation, Amazon spokesperson, Nick Caplin, attributed the discrepancy to a “logistical issue”, insisting that it was not a “sign of any other consideration,” according to Middle East Eye. He said that the reason the occupied Palestinian territories were not included in the offer was because Amazon would be unable to “guarantee the high standard of delivery experience that Amazon customers expect”. This is mainly due to a labyrinth of Israeli checkpoints and border customs and inspections barriers in between the illegal settlements and Palestinian West Bank villages and towns, as well as on the borders between the occupied West Bank and Israel.
The news of this separate, discriminatory delivery policy for Israelis and Palestinians based on what they select as their country of location has been widely condemned by human rights organizations and activists. Palestinian lawyer-activist and former Palestine Liberation Organisation legal adviser Diana Buttu told the Financial Times that Amazon’s policy was tantamount to “allowing the settlement activity to be viewed as legal when it’s not.” She added that, “The issue is just how normalized the settlements have become, not just in Israeli eyes, but in international eyes, and that’s the problem, it’s that unless you begin to treat them as illegal, then it becomes so natural for them to become normalized.”
Granate Kim, communications director for Jewish Voice for Peace, told Middle East Eye, “I’m outraged yet unsurprised to hear that Amazon is discriminating against Palestinians like this. Amazon is essentially incentivizing Palestinians to choose ‘Israel’ as their address to get a free shipping deal. Corporations like Amazon need to be held accountable for such abhorrent practices and we’re talking with partners now to see how to do that.”
Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard accused Israel of blatant discrimination on the basis of nationality.
Last week, the United Nations Human Rights Office published a list of 112 companies which were blacklisted for doing business with the illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in violation of international law. Amazon was not named in that list. Well known multinational companies such as Airbnb, Tripadvisor, Expedia, Motorola and Booking.com were among those accused of engaging in and profiting from business activity in the illegal settlements.


text:
Lakshmi Machine Works (LMW), which is celebrating its golden jubilee this year, is part of the Indian spinning sector's growth story. The country's textile industry is the second largest in the world, next only to China, and it continues to expand its global footprint. It is also unique as it is largely cotton-based. The industry is just reviving from a tough year.
Managing Director of LMW Sanjay Jayavarthanavelu shares his views with M. Soundariya Preetha on the challenges and opportunities for the textile industry. Excerpts.
At a time when the textile industry is showing signs of revival, the Indian economy is facing challenges. What are your views on the economy and the prospects for a growth rebound this fiscal?
We are fully into the globalised era. The U.S. and Europe are showing signs of economic strain. On the eastern side, China is showing signs of slowdown. Everywhere, there is concern and a feeling of economic stress.
In India, we are plugged into the global scenario. Further, there are issues of fiscal deficit, currency depreciation and inflation.
Inflation is a big issue for the manufacturing industry, in terms of sentiment and performance. These need to be addressed. This year, the Indian business is expected to reflect the global sentiments.
Though the spinning sector has faced several ups and downs, was 2011-12 one of the worst periods for it?
Two years ago, the Indian textile mills were doing good. Then came the sharp rise in the commodity (cotton) price and a steep decline in the price within a short period.
This had an impact on the cost and quality and set off a cyclical action. As the situation eased on the cotton front, power availability was a problem to many of our clients. Some States were affected more than others. Then, it was uncertainty in the global market.
All these have had an impact on investments in the textile industry. The interest rates were also high. Hence, many projects were deferred. Right now, for the last few months, there were signs of recovery. It will take some time for the industry to revive fully.
The second-half of the year will be more positive. We will definitely see better investments in the textile sector during the last six months of this financial year.
Cotton had been a major subject of concern to the textile industry. What is needed on the policy front for stability in cotton prices and availability?
In the long-term, I see it positive to be in the textile business. There is a strong demand for textiles for domestic consumption. The export potential is also huge.
The global textile manufacturing industry is moving to India, China and Pakistan. The textile equipment manufacturing industry moved to these zones. Cotton is one of our strengths.
Cotton, as an agricultural commodity, should be remunerative to farmers. The Indian textile industry should also be satisfied with the raw material. Rather than just exporting the raw material, the priority should be to meet the needs of the domestic industry. We need to add value to the raw material. Hence, the excess availability of cotton should be exported.
Today, the banking system is strong and the banks are reaching out to small farmers. More of it should happen so that farmers' exposure to banks improves. We need to be innovative in providing the required funds to the farmers at the right time.
Will India see greater development across the textile value chain?
The Indian spinner is, perhaps, the most efficient globally. Though the spinning industry faces several challenges related to raw material, capital, and human resource, it is efficient.
We must encourage value addition even for the benefit of the spinning capacity. In the long-term, instead of export of just yarn, it should be more of value-added products.
Though India will continue to be a major yarn producing country, value addition needs focus.
The value adding segments continue to import most of their machinery needs. Does LMW plan to expand to these segments?
For the textile machinery industry in India, it is a catch-22 situation. A large part of the machinery that is imported is second-hand that is available at throwaway prices.
The cost of acquisition of technology is high for the domestic manufacturers. Policy support is needed for the development of post-spinning machinery (weaving, processing and garmenting).
LMW offers a complete range of spinning machinery. Affordable price had been the foundation for our company. For now, we are not looking at any other segment in the textile value chain. We are giving the spinning industry new technology to keep it competitive. The spinning sector is energy, labour, and capital-intensive.
These areas will continue to pose challenges in future, too. We are trying to make the machinery more energy-efficient and offer higher automation. Our customers will soon be able to avail themselves of better technology for compact yarn systems from LMW.


text:
Bytedance, which is the parent company of TikTok, acquires Amcare Healthcare for $1.5 billion according to Bloomberg. Founded in 2006, Amcare Helathcare is a high-end healthcare organization that provides services of maternity care, pediatrics, and women’s health. Besides, it operates the main brand of Amcare Healthcare in China, which is Amcare Women’s & Children’s Hospital. The acquisition has been made by ByteDance’s healthcare unit in China – Xiaohe Health.
The reason for expansion in healthcare sector was not disclosed so far by Xiaohe Health. However, it is a trend for tech companies that helps them find new customers. It is rather common for companies in the USA and China, since it becomes a part of diversification strategy when they can use their capital and user base. For example, Tencent has tried to open its clinics, Alibaba and JD.com operate in online pharmacies.
ByteDance started its way in healthcare in 2020 when it bought a company that provides masses with health information. Later, it became Xiaohe Health, which portfolio, as of now, includes drug discovery company and the company that focused on DNA synthesis. The ByteDance’s way of funneling users from one older platform to the younger one, help latter grow. Its platform Douyin that in 2020 had more than 600 million daily active users could promote new healthcare services through its video clips.


text:
It's been reported that actor Tom Holland aided in Spider-Man's return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The wall-crawler was officially invited back into the superhero family last week after Disney and Sony Pictures previously came to blows regarding his third solo movie – resulting in Spidey's departure from the shared universe for a number of weeks, much to the dismay of his global fanbase.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Holland urged Disney CEO Bob Iger and Sony film chairman Tom Rothman to reconcile before a new agreement was made.
We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.
The Peter Parker star allegedly showed both of these decision makers the outpour of fan support, which included the hashtag #SaveSpiderMan, prior to the contracts being signed.
Digital Spy has contacted Holland's representatives for comment.
Meanwhile, Holland published a genius response to Spidey's MCU return on Instagram when the news broke, with a little help from Leonardo DiCaprio.
Digital Spy is launching a newsletter – sign up to get it sent straight to your inbox.


text:
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Show Up Drunk on The View, Get Your Own Booze Brand: DeVito's Limoncello
Danny DeVito showed up last November of The View still under the influence of multiple limoncellos enjoyed during a night out with fellow actor George Clooney. It made for a funny clip on a number of the entertainment television shows. Pushing any embarrassment aside, it apparently also spawned a desire by DeVito to get into the drinks business.
Danny DeVito's Premium Limoncello is being marketed by Harbrew Imports. The lemon liqueur is scheduled to be on store shelves by August.
The announcement of the new brand came as final preparation were being made for the opening of DeVito South Beach, a new Italian restaurant in Miami. DeVito is opening the place with restaurateur David Manero. Others could soon follow in New York, West Hollywood, Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla.


text:
Recent Press & Industry News
Budco Financial expects boost from dealer, health care clients
This article was originally posted on 7/28/2014 on Crain’s Detroit Business by
Sherri Welch. To view the original posting, click here.
Budco Financial LLC projects revenue will increase 33 percent this year to $10 million on the strength of new business with automotive dealer and health care clients.
The company is actively bidding on a contract with a health system outside of Michigan and expects to begin administration of medical payment plans by early August, Chairman Bud Brian said.
"If we can finance a service contract, we ought to be able to finance medical expenses for a patient checking out of a hospital," he said.
It's likely health care deductibles will go up for most people, Brian said. "More and more people are going to need alternatives to be able to pay their bills."
Through the new services, Budco Financial will finance a portion of the amount patients owe in medical costs and administer a medical payment plan for the health system. It will generate revenue from the interest for fronting the money to the health systems for those patient bills on payment plans and associated fees, Brian said.
At the same time, Budco Financial looks to expand the number of Ford dealers the company provides with an installment payment plan for their dealer service contracts. The plan enables dealers to offer customers interest-free financing on vehicle service contracts.
And it plans to pursue business with other, unnamed carmakers and other manufacturers like Caterpillar Inc., John Deere and Harley-Davidson about providing the same services to their dealers, Brian said.
"Our expectation is to double this business minimally in five years," he said.
Budco Financial and its 23 employees moved to 6,500 square feet of leased space at Fort Washington Plaza in downtown Detroit in March from the Highland Park headquarters of its former parent company, Budco Holdings Inc., which now operates as part of Dialog Direct.
Brian founded Budco, a marketing services company, before selling it in 2006 and buying the Budco Financial division back in late 2012 for $10 million.
Budco Financial is working with Southfield-based Moncur Associates Inc. on a new logo and plans to introduce it during an August open house at its new offices, he said.
< View All News


text:
The Obama Administration is championing their "sweeping financial reform" as a win for consumers. Don't be fooled by this. The very reasons our financial system is shakey is because Government has put their hands in it in the first place.
Here's the assumption this bill makes: that corporations (Capitalism) is the enemy of the consumer and that without these "protections" the consumers are left at the mercy of the corporations (Capitalism). This attitude neglects to see that the consumers are vital to Capitalism. With competion being allowed to take place, companies are battling for your dollar. But, they also know that you will spend your dollar and more of them if the service you receive is top notch. Companies do not prey on the consumers, as our Government wants you to believe. The idea of companies preying on consumers is counter-productive. The fact of the matter is that Government has been preying on it citizens and then blaming it on Capitalism.
We need sweeping Governmental reform - reform that protects us from the Government. Oh wait, we have that, it's called the Constitution. (Also known as a viable toilet paper alternative to Obama)


text:
An Irish cosmetics manufacturer plans to create 90 jobs through a €7.5m investment which was announced at the official opening of its new facility in Cork today..
Mayo-based Cosmetic Creations Ltd revealed its ambitious expansion plans as the Tánaiste Simon Coveney visited its new Cork campus in the former Yves Rocher plant in the Kilbarry Industrial Estate on the north side of the city.
Yves Rocher, the French skincare company, ceased operations in Cork last year, transferring production to Brittany, with the loss of 60 jobs.
But Cosmetic Creations took over the building within weeks and now plans to create 60 jobs there across operations, supply chain, quality and formulation development, to bring the workforce at the Dublin Hill plant to 100. Some of the former Yves Rocher staff have been rehired.
Cosmetic Creations said 30 of the new jobs have been earmarked for its head office in Mayo, a move which will increase its staff numbers there to 80.
The company also announced a new joint venture with Parnell Pharmaceuticals Limited, a California biopharmaceuticals company, which will see the US company’s European headquarters relocating from Dublin to its new campus on the northside of Cork city.
Cosmetic Creations, founded some 30 years ago, specialise in the creation of cosmetics such as skincare, self-tanning products and bodycare as well as food supplements and animal welfare products.
It will manufacture more than four million units in 2019, including more than 100 individual products, most of them formulated in-house, including skincare, personal care, self-tanning, supplements and base pharmaceutical line products.
It said it expects to almost quadruple this volume to more than 15 million units by 2022, shipping the products to more than 15 countries around the world.
Its clients include private label national brand names and Irish, UK and European retail multiples.
Cosmetic Creations owner and CEO, Aiden Corcoran, said the company has been working hard to scale the company to a high-volume large-scale operation.
“Following the significant investment into our Claremorris facility, the acquisition and expansion of the former Yves Rocher site in Cork is the largest and most significant step in that strategic growth plan. We are also delighted to have been able to rehire over 30 of the former Yves Rocher employees at our Cork site,” he said.
“Over the last 12 months, we have invested in advanced formulation and manufacturing technologies in both Mayo and Cork, significantly expanding output capacity.
Our target is to deliver over seven million units next year to Ireland, the UK and Europe, and we look forward to partnering with leading brands that wish to bring quality Irish-made products to the market.
"Our goal over the next five years will be to build on our current foundation in cosmetics and expand into the growing national pharmaceutical market to become a global life sciences brand.
“Beginning in 2020, our new joint venture with Parnell Pharmaceuticals to develop, manufacture, market and distribute its wide range of products in the EU and Ireland is expected to increase our production of health-related products by over 150%," Mr Corcoran said.
Mr Coveney said it’s great to see an indigenous company expanding nationally and he said it is particularly good news for the northside of Cork city.
“Manufacturing is hugely important to both the Cork and national economy, and I look forward to Cosmetics Creations’ continued success,” he said.


text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
Time: 8:00 am - 10:00 am
LivingSocial undergoes orderly transition of power
Wednesday is LivingSocial Inc. CEO Tim O'Shaughnessy's last official day at the helm of a company he co-founded seven years ago, then a comparatively humble maker of Facebook apps. His replacement, former eBay advertising exec Gautam Thakar, started on Tuesday.
The handoff marks LivingSocial's first CEO change, underscoring a larger transition for the D.C.-based deals company. Thakar has a massive job in front of him: bringing back LivingSocial's growth without the accompanying red ink. LivingSocial, coping with the public's shrinking appetite for daily deals, has slashed its losses in recent quarters, but at the same time sacrificed revenue as it tests out new models.
O'Shaughnessy hasn't specified his next gig, but in the meantime appears to be stepping up his role as angel investor, joining in a $1.25 million funding for customer framing startup Framebridge (itself founded by former LivingSocialite Susan Tynan).
Thakar has yet to give an interview on his new job. Hopefully, we'll be hearing from him soon.
Bill Flook covers technology, biotech and venture capital.
- Most popular
- Fannie Mae picks 15th Street NW site for its new headquarters
- JBG plans retail overhaul for Reston Executive Center
- Former Loehmann's Plaza in Falls Church a redevelopment target
- Carr readies The Wharf Intercontinental, an ‘urban resort’ (Video)
- ULA to freeze pension, change time-off policy
- Bowser team puts hold on five projects awarded by Gray
- FedBid barred from new government contracts
- Nike Factory store set to open in Hecht Warehouse in April
- Alexandria’s industrial enclave welcomes the gourmet goods (Video)
- Here's how you can apply for Amazon's 1,000 Baltimore job openings
Stay on top of the latest tech news from Washington and beyond.
Commercial Lenders C & I and Real Estate Essex Bank | Fairfax, VA
PRESIDENT University of the District of Columbia | Washington, DC
Grant Writer Differential Dynamics Corp. | Owings Mills, MD
Real Estate Assistant General Counsel Nellis Corporation | Rockville, MD
Business Development Specialist K&L Gates | Washington, DC


text:
Better get those last rounds in with the Wii's Channels before Nintendo starts flickering the lights at closing time, as the company has announced that a chunk of the console's quirky online features are shuttering on 28th June.
This will effect the Forecast, News, Everybody Votes, Check Mii Out and Nintendo channels — the icons won't disappear from the menu, but booting them up won't get you anywhere. Data exchange between friends over WiiConnect24 is also on the chopping block, so say goodbye to the Wii Message Board, sending Miis via the Mii Channel and other data exchanges in "some game titles." This puts the fate of the Mario Kart and Wii Fit channels in question; we've reached out to Nintendo to clarify what exactly this entails and will update once we hear more.
According to Nintendo, the Shop and Internet channels will go unaffected and the automatic receipt of “Today’s Accomplishments” on the Wii Message Board will continue. Online gaming and video services like Netflix or Amazon Prime will still function as well.
The Wii launched with the Forecast and News channels as part of a strategy to work the console into your daily life, but then smartphones blew up and rendered them fairly obsolete. Later channels sought to provide light entertainment and yielded many a crude-faced Mii. Tellingly, none of these shuttered channels have a successor on Wii U.
In early 2012 Nintendo of Japan dropped the Wii no Ma channel, an application that brought targeted advertisements to users as well as "Home Theatre" and shopping options. It never made it outside of Japan, though.
Frankly, we're surprised this hasn't happened sooner. How much use did you get out of these? Sound off!


text:
- SPECIAL REPORTS
Articles Tagged with ''manufacturing investment''
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in October for the fifth consecutive month, and the overall economy grew for the 53rd consecutive month, according to the latest data from the Institute for Supply Management.
NEW YORK—A new exchange-traded fund focusing on robotics and automation companies was launched on the NASDAQ Thursday. The ROBO-STOX Global Robotics and Automation Index ETF (Ticker Symbol: ROBO) closed at $24.94 per share.
Slowly but surely, the economy is recovering from the Great Recession.
WASHINGTON—For 2013 as a whole, manufacturing production should increase 3.1 percent from 2012, according to the Manufacturing Alliance for Productivity and Innovation. Manufacturing is predicted to grow 3.6 percent in 2014, 0.8 percentage points faster than the overall economy.
TALLAHASSEE, FL—Florida Gov. Rick Scott has proposed eliminating sales tax on manufacturing machinery.
WASHINGTON—Orders for the factory goods that signal business investment plans jumped last month by the most in more than a year, suggesting companies are confident about their business prospects. Orders for so-called core capital goods, which include industrial machinery, construction equipment and computers, rose 6.3 percent in January from December.
WASHINGTON—U.S. sales of machine tools totaled more than $5.7 billion in 2012, a 2.6 percent increase compared with 2011 and the highest total since 1996.
WASHINGTON—US sales of machine tools are up 5.3 percent in the first 10 months of 2012 compared with the same period in 2011, according to the AMT—The Association for Manufacturing Technology.
WASHINGTON—U.S. businesses and government agencies will finance more than $742 billion in equipment acquisitions in 2013, a record total, according to the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation.
BANGOR, ME—Nautel Inc., one of the world’s largest manufacturers of transmitters, has invested $500,000 in new equipment for its assembly plant here.


text:
The Li-Ning shoe company recently signed Miami Heat‘s Dwayne Wade to a new sneaker deal. His previous association with the Jordan Brand ended just a few weeks ago.
The new shoe, “Way of Wade” was revealed at an event in Beijing on Tuesday while the Miami Heat are in town for some preseason games.
Li-Ning had been preparing a shoe for an NBA sponsor, which is why they were able to put together this new shoe within just weeks. They reportedly brought the prepared model to Wade for approval and claim that D-Wade is and will be highly involved in the design process. We should see some modifications and new colour schemes for the signature shoe soon.
Check out his new kicks below:


text:
It's been a long time since we last saw a Marvel: Ultimate Alliance game (10 years in fact), but now Team Ninja and Marvel Interactive are gearing up to deliver us a third entry in the series on July 19 - exclusively for the Nintendo Switch - featuring plenty of heroes like the X-Men.
A new trailer for the game is actually dedicated entirely to the X-Men characters, ones that we're not too used to seeing since they're mostly absent from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, like Avengers: Endgame.
This is course features iconic good guys like Wolverine and Storm, as well as the classic villain Magneto, but in the video below we also get to see Beast and Psylocke fight it out alongside Cyclops, Colossus, Mystique, and Juggernaut.
We got some new details for the game earlier this month as well, so it should be one to watch out for if you're a Marvel fan, especially since the roster is already looking pretty packed.
Are you an X-Men fan?


text:
Joint business group raises growth outlook after reopening
published : 3 Nov 2021 at 14:57
writer: Bangkok Post and Reuters
The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JCCIB) on Wednesday raised its 2021 economic forecast to between 0.5% and 1.5% following the country's reopening to vaccinated foreign visitors without quarantine requirements.
The move will boost the tourism-dependent economy, it said in a statement. Last month, it predicted zero to 1% growth.
Sanan Angubolkul, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said the joint business group decided to revise upwards the forecast as the reopening of the country would boost spending. The economy had bottomed out and a recovery was picking up, he said.
The chamber is a member of the JCCIB.


text:
Brexit is going to be toxic for Britain and toxic for its businesses. The deal we look like we’re getting from the government is likely to be a halfway house which pleases no one and potentially leaves business even more confused about the future than it is already.
This is why business leaders from across the UK are coming together today to back a People’s Vote. A new campaign group, Business for a People’s Vote, will publish a poll of over 1,000 business leaders which shows majority support for a vote on the final Brexit deal at all levels of the business community.
Click here to READ MORE
The campaign brings together businesses of all sizes from across the UK – SMEs, entrepreneurs and big business – including mine, Nosh Detox, an award winning innovator in Europe’s health and wellness sector. We also have the entrepreneurs behind Cobra Beer, Innocent and the Reading & Leeds Festivals as well as a manufacturer of boxer shorts, the owner of a flower shop and the former bosses of Sainsbury’s and BT.
The launch will be followed up by business people contacting their MPs to tell them how concerned they are about the emerging Brexit “deal”.
The key problems are that the political declaration about our future trading relationship with the EU won’t give us good access to our biggest market, won’t be legally binding and will be ambiguous. Although the divorce agreement will keep the UK in the EU’s single market and customs union for 21 months after we quit the bloc, no business can make long-term investments on the basis of only 21 months of certainty.
Brexit is already hitting investment, growth and jobs and that’s not what we were told we were voting for. The best way through this muddle is a People’s Vote. At least then we will know if the country really wants to go down this path.
Read Full Article: Brexit will be toxic for UK and toxic for its businesses