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Exhibition Place is thrilled to support the 4th annual Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID) on April 4th. The Princes’ Gates and the four entrance towers to Enercare Centre will be lit in blue in a show of solidarity for GMID, an international day of advocacy that brings attention to the boost that business meetings, conferences, conventions, trade shows and exhibitions bring to the Canadian economy.
The meetings and business events industry is a substantial economic driver; a recent Global Economic Impact Study indicates that Canada ranked 6th out of 50 countries within the business events sector.
This translates as direct spending of over $33 Billion, $19.3 direct GDP in Canada, along with the creation and sustainability of over 229,000 jobs.
Exhibition Place joins Meetings Mean Business Canada and industry leaders in celebrating Canada-wide for the fourth annual Global Meetings Industry Day.
We’re lighting up blue, for you!


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- OnePlus 8 Pro surfaces.
- Showcases the rear side.
- The leak confirms the camera setup.
Earlier today, we came across a report which suggested that the popular flagship maker OnePlus may unveil the upcoming and much-anticipated OnePlus 8 series via an online event and the founder of the smartphone brand seeking creative ideas for the live streaming conference.
Having said that, we already came across lots of rumours of the upcoming OnePlus 8 series and now we got a new piece of information that will definitely add fuel Into the fire as the live image of the upcoming OnePlus 8 Pro surfaced online.
Live image of OnePlus 8 Pro
Going through the image, we can see the rear side of the upcoming OnePlus smartphone and it has the triple rear camera setup which is placed at centre and that is in the vertical orientation, and the same also has a 3D ToF sensor as well at the left side of the camera module along with the LED flash.
Apart from this, there is no other information at this moment of time but we already have plenty of information about the upcoming smartphones which you can able to read on our dedicated page. So, what are your thoughts on the camera setup of the upcoming OnePlus 8 Pro? Do let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and stay tuned with us for more interesting news at your fingertips.
Having said that, if you are new on this website then don’t forget to smash the bell icon at the left side of the screen to get the update seamlessly.

domain: news


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Video - presented by CitNow
While video was described as one of the most important innovations in dealerships, dealer bosses urged caution in the way it is introduced to staff and shared with customers.
CitNOW chief executive Alistair Horsburgh invited bosses from Group 1 Automotive and Jardine Motors Group to share their experiences of video use in showrooms and workshops.
Darren Guiver, Group 1’s deputy group managing director, warned against the use of video without alerting the customer first.
“Video is an innovation, but if it arrives in an inbox unsolicited a customer could worry that it forewarns them of the need to spend money on getting their car fixed,” he said.
“So, at the point of booking the service, for example, or dropping the car off at the dealership, tell the customer they will receive a video via email or text – and then make sure you fulfil that promise.”
Jason Cranswick, Jardine’s operations director, agreed on the need to ensure appropriate business processes were in place, but said it went much further than the use of video.
“Simultaneous to introducing video, we re-established all of our sales and service core processes. We’ve given all of our team members a new operating framework – allowing for some latitude with video since it’s not a one-size-fits- all tool.”
“Dealers are challenged with building our own technological eco-system, of which video is a part, alongside the dealer management system and Live Chat and it only exists if our team members have the confidence, skills and behaviours to support it.
“The technology used by people doing great things is what will make the difference.”
Both Cranswick and Guiver emphasised the importance of taking a sensitive approach to introducing video to the business.
“We did a roadshow of our dealerships, allowing staff to try it, adding humour to it and then video use grew organically as it became recognised as a trust builder for customers. There is no financial incentive attached to video use – colleagues now want to make videos,” said Cranwick.
Guiver said: “Video is the new normal and the correlation between video open rates and improved customer satisfaction and profit levels speaks volumes.”
New cars - presented by Supagard
Advances in the way motorists buy finance and other add-ons mean “the power now lies with them” – putting greater demands on dealers to forge relationships.
Mike White, commercial development manager at Mapfre, told visitors to his ‘Maximising showroom profitability’ presentation at Automotive Management Live that car retailers must place greater emphasis on selling opportunities outside the dealership.
Early contact, as many customers are now starting their buying journey with online research, and a more targeted focus on follow-up calls, are musts.
White described research suggesting that 41% of online enquiries to car retailers went unanswered as “alarming”. He said as much as possible should be done to attract customers online and engage with them as early as possible.
Finance offers must be placed front and centre on any dealer website, he said, and efforts should be made to ensure retailers are given a head-start by data gathering ahead of any visit to the showroom.
White said many top AM100 retailers now have finance calculators on their websites and can gather customer data to ensure that those predetermined criteria are accessible at the dealership.
White said: “You don’t have to wait until you are sitting down face-to-face, ready to do the deal, to speak to them about their financing options.
“What we need to understand is that the customer can do all their research at home now, or even on the move. The power now lies with them.”
Taking this a step further, White suggested that video could be used to guide customers through their finance options as they grab a cup of coffee in the customer lounge once inside the dealership.
He said: “The dealer has to ensure customers receive good service and get all the information they need about the products on offer.”
Equally, he highlighted the need to contact customers after their visit – by email, social media or SMS – to provide additional information on relevant finance, GAP insurance or extended warranty products.
White said: “The deferred sale or just a call to deliver some TLC, they are all contact points where a dealer can ask about the car and discuss the customers’ buying decisions.”
Online finance - presented by iVendi
Dealers should be prepared for online retailing, which is just ‘weeks away’, and offering choice is the key to capitalising on it, according to James Tew, chief executive of iVendi.
He told delegates that three quarters (74%) of new car buyers already know how they will finance their next car before going to the dealership, and 71% start the process online.
More importantly, 71% also like to use comparison sites. Therefore, Tew believes dealers should offer a range of prices through different finance providers.
“You have to give choice – give prices from other suppliers. Keep your lead price, but show the buyer that they are getting a good deal. If you don’t give them choice, they will just look elsewhere,” Tew explained.
Selling cars should no longer be about the screen price, he said, as current research showed about 43% of buyers would like to search by monthly payment instead.
He added: “I think the percentage is a lot higher than 43% because I search on payment for everything in my life – everything I look at is a monthly cost. Payment search is front and centre of the consumer experience.”
To support this trend, iVendi has launched Car Finance Checker, an online service that can be embedded in a dealer’s website to pre-approve visitors while they are still in the research phase of their buying cycle.
Offering GAP insurance and other add-ons should also be considered at this point rather than the customer looking for it elsewhere.
“It’s too late in the process to give this to customers in the showroom, they may have already decided,” said Tew.
According to Auto Trader, only 7% of consumers trust used car dealers and Tew believes it is all down to offering choice.
“If transparency engenders trust, and trust is what we’re after, then we need to engender more transparency in the process,” he said.
Social media - presented by Marketing Delivery
Facebook is an untapped resource for dealers to significantly expand their online presence, but too many fail to exploit its opportunities.
As Google has matured as a marketing channel, and become overcrowded and more expensive, Facebook is providing a number of practical opportunities to boost customer reach, said Jeremy Evans, Marketing Delivery’s managing director.
Data-driven Facebook advertising is available with an average cost per click of 20p, 80% cheaper than Google AdWords, he said.
There are 50 million business pages on Facebook and Evans suggested the following to make them stand out: Use localised pages for each dealership (“customers don’t visit your head office”), post news of local events, breaking news about your brands, handover pictures – all with images. Manage your reputation through reviews, replying to both good and bad.
However, Marketing Delivery believes 40% of Facebook’s users don’t ‘like’ brand pages. The alternative way to reach them is via Facebook advertising – but only 10% of dealers are using this in their social media marketing campaigns.
Where they are using it, the results are positive: in September and October, Marketing Delivery clients using Facebook advertising found that up to 60% of their total new vehicle display page referrals came from the social network’s advertising, more than Google and Auto Trader.
There are several elements to Facebook advertising – users can access ratings and reviews on the platform and these now show up on the Google results page.
A Facebook remarketing pixel can sit on a dealer’s website and it will match a user’s details – via an email address - to its own profiles, if the user is logged into Facebook.
In a similar way, contacts from a dealer’s DMS can be uploaded to Facebook with customers matched to existing Facebook profiles.
Facebook will then serve the dealer’s ads on the site to these same people.
Google Analytics data can be used to see which users made enquiries and requested a call back, and dealers can use relevant Facebook ads to re-engage with them.
The pixel data can be used to target existing customers as well as a ‘lookalike audience’, where Facebook analyses characteristics of a large enough sample of users to create an expanded audience with similar demographics, interests and accounts.
Finally, Marketing Delivery’s ‘micro-audience’ targeting uses additional data from its eCRM system’s customer records to narrow down to a group of customers who have not purchased. They can be served ads about vehicles in stock or service reminders, for example, with the ads clicking through to booking pages or a Messenger function. Once they have transacted or made a booking, they will be removed from the targeted audience.
“This is data-driven marketing at every step of the digital marketing process and this is the next step from email and text messages to put you in front of customers via the technology they want to use,” said Evans.
Websites and digital - presented by GForces
The used car section of a dealer’s website is the most popular with users, but have they been designed to maximise the number of conversions (the completion of an online contact form)?
Paul Hilton, GForces’ retail sales director, used insight from traffic to dealers’ sites built by the company, which amounts to 90 million visits and more than 88m sessions for the 10 months to the end of October 2016. Of these, 57% were to used car pages. There were more than 76m used vehicle searches, equating to 200m page views.
With this volume of traffic, dealers need to ensure site layout and content are optimised to exploit the interest. He suggested a simple test to find some basic information: “How hard is it to find your dealership’s postcode? In one case, it took me four to five clicks and in another I resorted to Google to search for it.”
He gave a number of best practice tips: Don’t make the search experience too basic, but provide filters from the outset – when refining a search, 63% of users are looking for automatic cars and another 64% define diesel as their fuel choice. Also, ‘estate’ is the most filtered body style and favourite colour is black or white. Make it easy for users to specify their preferences from the outset, said Hilton: “Provide a drop-down that says ‘show me all diesels’ or ‘show me all automatics’”.
If you know you will always have certain brands’ cars in stock, make it easy to find them with a ‘filter by make’.
Hilton laid out the elements of the ideal vehicle detail pages, where typically 75% of all consumer enquiries to a dealer come from.
Hilton used the Croyland used car supermarket’s website (www.croylandcarmegastore.co.uk) as his best practice example.
Its vehicle pages have high-quality images, price, location, reviews, part-exchange pricing, finance calculator and four calls to action, all generating contact with the dealership, not ‘share with a friend’ or ‘print specification sheet’.
On mobile, he said, you can make seeing multiple images a clickable option, “freeing up real estate to display a prominent call to action”.
“It sounds so simple, but I could bring up 100 websites that have critical calls to action at the bottom of the page in a bland colour with the wrong terminology used,” Hilton said. “Let’s build sites based on what is going to have the best impact on conversion rates.”
Auctions and appraisals - presented by Cooper Solutions
Dealers must prepare to move away from paper-based processes as consumers are increasingly demanding a more transparent digital service, Simon Whicher, product head at Cooper Solutions, told delegates.
The session examined the customer experience, illustrating how a digital process such as a vehicle appraisal can lift a customer’s perceptions as well as providing a highly efficient and credible valuation method and help with FCA compliance.
“Look at your business – is what you are doing going to deliver the step change you want?” Whicher asked . “Change is definitely coming,” he added.
David Abel, business development manager, told delegates: “Customers expect an experience and most of all they want excellent service. So why are we still using paper? This is their pride and joy, possibly their most expensive asset – treat it with the respect it deserves.”
“Paper-based appraisals have served their purpose but, like a lot of things, they need changing and updating. The simplicity of taking digital images and using e-signatures at key stages in the sales process helps firm up the duty of care with the customer,” said Whicher.
He also described to delegates how a digital appraisal can generate the listing for that car to be sold on through Cooper Solutions’ auction service, speeding up the time from that vehicle arriving on site and being re-sold.
“Avoiding duplication when entering information and eliminating chances that paperwork could be mislaid creates a more professional and engaging process with customers when they arrive on site and their part-exchange vehicle is appraised.
“The use of technology makes for a slicker and more efficient operation, which is easy to track and measure,” said Whicher.
According to Cooper Solutions, transaction costs for online auctions can be nine times less than physical auctions. Meanwhile, vehicles that are more accurately appraised benefit from an average uplift of £125 per unit.
Aftersales - presented by eDynamix
Customer loyalty can be improved by streamlining aftersales processes and adopting new mobile app technology, according to eDynamix.
Nick Horton, managing director of Profit Box, eDynamix’s training partner, told delegates how over-complex aftersales systems can dampen employee enthusiasm and harm sales.
“Service advisers will usually have anything from three to six different systems and applications open in order to undertake their daily tasks, such as checking online bookings, obtaining service plan information and emailing video footage to customers.
“It makes working life overly complex, especially if these systems are not integrated. The consumer expects you to have all their information at your fingertips.
“As well as having to navigate between systems to provide the service level customers expect, the more applications a service adviser is using, the higher chance of process breakdown.”
During the seminar, delegates were asked how many systems they use outside of their DMS. Some were using up to 10 additional systems.
Horton went on to tell delegates about the importance of having a strong online presence.
“Customers want to feel connected,” he said.
Not only do apps allow dealers to monitor sales performance away from the showroom, but an upcoming app from eDynamix has been designed for the customer to use.
“Customers need to be connected to us. By using an app, we can send them reminders of maintenance work and allow them to book service and MOTs online,” said Horton.
eDynamix research has shown that average transaction values are 35% higher when customers are given the option to book online.
“The app also allows us to send a push notification to the customer asking for the vehicle mileage, this can be immediately updated on the system, along with changes to their contact details, meaning you are fully in control of that customer.”
Customer reviews - presented by JudgeService
Customer reviews on your website are not a ‘nice-to-have’ element , Neil Addley, managing director of Judge Service, told dealers at his masterclass – they should be considered an essential part of your business.
He supported the assertion in Auto Trader research findings that 30% of car buyers look for reviews of a dealer when buying a car, with more than 50% reading them as part of the buying process.
“With used car sales of 7.2 million in a year, this equates to 2.1m buyers wanting to see reviews of your business,” said Addley.
Citing Judge Service’s own findings, he said: “By using reviews, dwell time on your website can increase by about 10% and 88% of car buyers trust online reviews as much as they do comments made by people they know.”
It was also important to remember that most people will be looking at a dealer’s website when the business is shut – between 7pm and 9pm – and so “the only way of telling them how good you are is if other people have done that for you”.
Addley also stressed how reviews could “re-ignite” lost sales.
“About 40% of consumers who have been written off by sales staff as being mere tyre-kickers are actually still in the market to buy,” said Addley.
“When we asked these customers what the reality was, half of them were actually either waiting for information from the dealer or for someone to call them back. So, use reviews to sharpen your business practices and ensure this incremental business gets added to your bottom line and not a competitor’s.”


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Happy birthday, Shay Mitchell! In honor of the star’s 32nd trip around the sun, we’ve rounded up her best fashion moments because she never disappoints. Scroll through the gallery below to check out all of her amazing ~lewks.~
She’s got jokes! While the actress was on the carpet for the iHeartRadio Awards, she hilariously pointed out that she wasn’t a singer. “I felt like if I sort of dressed like a microphone or disco ball no one would notice that I don’t have an album to promote at the iHeart Awards,” she quipped.
The brunette beauty wore a green dress to the 12th Annual CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute in December 2018. “I couldn’t buy my own tree this year, so I decided to let it be my inspiration for this outfit,” she said about the ensemble reminding her of Christmas.
The suitcase designer not only debuted a bob for the Us Weekly Most Stylish New Yorkers party, but she wore this patterned black and silver short dress. “Tried out a new look for this party, and I have no regrets. (Yay for the non-committal bangs!) And huge thank you to @dundasworld for letting me wear this dress. I promise not to break the zipper next time,” she wrote on social media.
Shay attended the Harper’s BAZAAR Celebrates “ICONS” party in September 2018 and revealed a secret about her glittery outfit. “This dress was made entirely of metal and weighed roughly 30 lbs,” she said. “So, skipping my workout yesterday was a solid choice. #bazaaricons.”
The Lifetime starlet wore a sparkly black top and skirt while she promoted her new show, You, on September 6, 2018. “I LOVE THESE PEOPLE,” she wrote at the time. “I am So happy that this great thing we all created is finally premiering!”
Shay wore a sheer top with black pants and booties to an event in May 2018. “When I pack I always bring a pair of black denim, blue denim, a black top, white top and a leather jacket. These staple items can mix and match and pretty much work for anything,” she previously admitted in an interview.


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Many people using skin-lightening products are unaware of the harmful side effects, according to a new report.
Skin bleaching in the US is an expanding — and unregulated — industry, according to a new study published on Thursday in the International Journal of Women’s Dermatology, adding that it “not only poses risks to consumer health but also raises challenges to dermatologists.”
Researchers from Northwestern University surveyed 455 people — a majority of them black women.
Out of those who completed the questionnaire, 25% admitted they use products for general skin lightening, with 46% of them also reporting they don’t know the active ingredient in the products they use.
That’s an alarming stat considering some of these products are known to contain toxic substances, such as mercury, hydroquinone and steroids — all of which can have serious side effects.
“The vast majority of times, skin lightening is really used with the goal of treating a medical dermatological disease or post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation,” Dr. Roopal Kundu, the study’s lead author and founder of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Ethnic Skin and Hair. “But sometimes it is used in the space of wanting lighter skin and the constructs of beauty compounded by light and dark skin.”
Many respondents who used skin-lightening products admitted they’ve experienced colorism in their lives — which is discrimination or prejudice against individuals with a dark skin tone.
The respondents who used skin-lightening products were also more likely to believe that lighter skin tones are more beautiful, increase one’s self-esteem and increase one’s chance of finding love.
“We’ve done other work in that space trying to understand why people might use these products,” Kundu, continued, as per NBC News. “It gets back to lighter skin being more aesthetic or considered something of value among certain communities. This is centuries in the making, generations in the making.”
In 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration warned consumers about the illegally marketed over-the-counter skin-lightening products which contain hydroquinone, an ingredient with serious side effects such as skin rashes, facial swelling and discoloration of skin.
The FDA reminded consumers there are no FDA-approved or otherwise legally marketed OTC skin-lightening products.


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Benaroya Entertainment has restructured management at its research and consulting firm C4 with veteran exec Ben Spergel taking on oversight of the company.
Spergel, the exec VP of consumer insights, will report directly to Michael Benaroya, chairman of Benaroya Entertainment. Former CEO Vincent Bruzzese, who joined the firm in 2014, resigned from the firm on May 31.
“We are thankful for Vinny’s contribution during the first two years of the company,” Benaroya siad. “C4 continues to develop and implement innovative techniques to help our clients connect content and consumers across a variety of mediums. Ben brings strong leadership skills to his newly expanded position that will help manage and grow all of our business verticals.”
Benaroya noted that Spergel is a TV industry veteran, which help growing the client base in that rapidly expanding medium, in addition to nurturing established relationships in the motion picture industry.
Spergel said of C4, “In the end, No matter where you are in the process, whether you are a writer, producer or studio executive, the goal is generally the same – to create content that audiences will respond to positively and profitably.”
C4 will also be led by exec VP of Operations Wade Young, who will continue to oversee all of the internal operations of the company.
Additionally, three managers have been promoted to director of their respective divisions: Brendan Manley will continue to oversee content assessment; Jana Barber will remain as the head of direct consumer insights, managing all qualitative work for the company; Kirsten Young will run C4’s online consumer testing, including TV pilot tests.
Spergel oversees all of C4’s research consulting and strategy business. Before joining C4, he spent seven years at Ipsos as a VP and oversaw all business development, client service and strategic planning for TV Dailies, the company’s most profitable syndicated product.


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The paper or plastic driving licence could be consigned to history as India announces that it will allow motorists to store the documents on their smart phones.
Under its proposals the information will be kept in the cloud, with drivers able to keep digital copies of both their licences and car registration documents on their phones, Mashable reported.
They will need to install an app called Digilocker onto their device and register with the service. The police in India have confirmed they will recognise the documents presented for inspection on a smart phone.
India launched Digilocker last year, encouraging people to store official paperwork including identification documents, voter ID cards...
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SAN DIEGO, USA & BERLIN, GERMANY: Qualcomm Connected Experiences Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Inc. has announced the general availability of its AllPlay Click Software Development Kit (SDK).
Furthermore, several major hardware and content providers have announced launches relating to the Qualcomm AllPlay smart media platform. The AllPlay ecosystem allows manufacturers to develop and offer consumers the seamless streaming of high-quality local and cloud-based content with high performance Wi-Fi connectivity, including support for Spotify Connect.
A broad array of audio equipment manufacturers, networking companies and streaming music services have AllPlay products or services available today or have announced plans to release them this year – including Monster, FON, Astro Player, Digital Audio Recording FM (DAR FM), RecoChoku, Style Jukebox, Wahwah, WiMP and Qualcomm AllPlay Radio powered by TuneIn.
"It is our goal to continue to bring interoperability and choice not only to our consumers, but also to other leaders in the audio industry," said Rob Chandhok, president of Qualcomm Connected Experiences. "We have set out to expand our media platform so that as many developers and brands as possible can participate in this ecosystem. This not only drives the audio industry forward, but continues to provide the choice and flexibility consumers are looking for."


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Store promotes a candy-free check-out aisle
A banner hangs from the ceiling of Family Fresh Market in New Richmond inviting parents to enter one particular checkout lane.
Aisle #3 is the candy-free lane that has been offering families an alternative way to get their groceries without tempting the kids, or the adults, to grab an unhealthy snack on the way to the car.
Since opening as Family Fresh in 2009, the candy-free aisle has its fans, said Mary Jo Brunner, dietitian at the store.
"It's a place where moms and dads can go so they don't have to worry about their children picking out candy or asking for candy," she said. "And it gets people to think a little bit more about what impulse buys they're making."
Instead of candy, the special checkout lane offers such snacks as energy bars and nuts, and also displays items like lip balms, school supplies and hand wipes.
Brunner said the store hopes to add fresh produce (like bananas and apples) and healthy drinks (like 100 percent juice and single-serving milks) to the aisle to give customers some additional healthy snack choices.
"There is just so much potential to do this kind of thing," she said.
As part of Family Fresh's "Well Balanced" program, the candy-free aisle is just one way the local grocery store helps promote healthy food and snack choices, Brunner said.
The grocery store also offers cooking classes, weight-loss challenges, wellness programs and special nutritional signage.
"It's all part of our effort to educate consumers about making healthier choices," Brunner said.
Family Fresh is excited about the ongoing "Vitality Initiative" effort in New Richmond, noting that it takes a community effort to encourage people to eat better and live more active lives.


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Microsoft Is Working On Streaming From The PC To The Xbox One
At the Windows 10 briefing today, Microsoft announced that you’ll be able to stream Xbox One titles to a Windows 10 PC or tablet in your house. The company is working on making that a two-way street.
Speaking to a group following the event, Spencer says that Microsoft is exploring the possibility of bringing PC streaming to the Xbox One. This, in effect, could open the door to the type of streaming capabilities promised by the Steam Machines.
This would have broader functionality beyond gaming. Other types of applications could benefit from that type of wireless streaming, especially if there were simply a way to cede the Xbox One’s connection to a PC.
If Microsoft were to get this working in a user-friendly way, it would provide a much larger barrier to Steam Machines than already exists. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer showed off Steam running on his Windows 10 PC, and being able to connect a keyboard and mouse to the Xbox One to play those games would be an enormous competitive advantage.


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Softbank funded hotel aggregator OYO has set up its operations in Nepal, a year and a quarter after it set up operations in Malaysia, where it claims to have a network of 200 hotels. Its first hotel in Nepal is expectedly in the capital city of Kathmandu, but oddly enough is referred to as “Oyo 001 Kathmandu” on the website; the listing on Oyo says that the hotel name will be shared after booking. The price for the room is Rs 1600, and there’s an automatic discount of 25% applicable in this case.
According to the Department of Immigration, of the 174,803 tourists that visited Nepal in 2016, the highest number of travellers were reported from India. Kathmandu is the company’s second international foray, after Malaysia. When it launched in Malaysia last year, it had mentioned that it is targeting South East Asia, Africa and South America next; clearly something changed, since the company hasn’t launched in those regions, and focused closer to home.
Unlike AirBnB, which aggregates bed-and-breakfast options for users, Oyo aggregates small hotels, and typically rents out space from these hotels, standardises the experience, and rents it out to users. Earlier this year, it launched properties which it operates in their entirety, called Townhouse. It also has OYO Captains, to provide personalized on-ground local assistance to guests.
Note that AirBnB, which recently raised $450 Million, launched its Trips business in India last month. Oyo competitor Stayzilla has recently been in the news for all the wrong reasons: first, it shut down operations, and then its founder was jailed following a police complaint regarding non payment of dues to a vendor.
Regulation of hotel aggregators
India is currently working on guidelines for accommodation aggregators, which Oyo will be impacted by, along with entities such as MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Goibibo and Tripvillas.
According to unconfirmed reports in the Times of India, Oyo is close to raising $250 million from Softbank, at a reduced valuation of $850 million. This would be its second round of funding from Softbank, after it had raised $100 million in August 2015, led by Softbank, but with participation from Greenoaks Capital, Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed India. Previous rounds of funding:
- July 2016: Oyo raised Rs 413 crore via rights issue of shares to its shareholders
- March 2015: Oyo raised $20 million in a funding round led by Greenoaks Capital and other existing investors.
- March 2014: In its previous avatar of Oravel, it had raised funding from DSG Consumer Partners, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
- Seed round: From angel investors which included Shravan Shroff, founder of Fame Cinemas, and Ravi Kiran, former CEO – South East & South Asia – Starcom MediaVest Group and angels Anand Ladsariya, managing director of Everest Flavours, Amit Patni, co-founder and chairman of Nirvana Venture Advisors and Bharat Banka, CEO of Aditya Birla Private Equity invested in the firm.


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From RV Pro
Thetford will debut a new lifestyle booth at RVX. Booth No. 1329 is designed to share with attendees how they can incorporate the value of its products into their conversations with consumers about the RV experience.
This new lifestyle booth will feature all brands in the Thetford family, including Thetford Norcold, Aqua-Kem, Titan, Sani-con Turbo to name a few.
Read more at RV Pro


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Research in Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry line of smartphones, beat earnings estimates in its first fiscal quarter of the year.
The big reason why?: The company sold nearly 8 million BlackBerrys, remaining the clear leader in the smartphone market in terms of quantity sold. However, some data shows Apple’s iPhone and the new Palm Pre are making some strides in the marketplace.
The day belonged to the BlackBerry, though, as RIM’s revenue was more than $3.4 billion, up more than 50 percent from the same quarter in 2008. And despite the economy, RIM was able to nab 3.8 million new subscribers, down only slightly from the previous quarter.
RIM’s stock price was down a little less than 1 percent Thursday. The earnings news wasn’t released until close to the end of the trading session.


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Rumors of a Facebook phone have been flying around since 2010. The following year, HTC released the HTC ChaCha (also known as the HTC status) and the HTC Salsa. The build and design resembled other HTC phones released at the time but they both had a dedicated Facebook button that would glow if it can be used with the active app. Basically, Facebook did massive contributions in the software end while HTC handled the hardware and retained the Android experience. Of course, these phones werent exactly what the press were hoping for. The circulated rumors were more focused on Facebook actually releasing a branded Facebook phone complete with its own operating system or at least a fork of Android. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg kept denying those rumors of building a Facebook phone but that didnt stop the media from spreading more rumors.
Then on March 28, 2013, Facebook made a surprise announcement to tech journalists to come see our new home on Android. This added fire to more rumors regarding Facebooks partnership with HTC and willingness to do a real Facebook phone. During the actual event, Facebook and HTC announced the HTC First which will be the first phone to run the upcoming Facebook Home software the star of the Facebook phone experience. Here is what you should know about the new Facebook phone.
The HTC First doesnt emphasize on specifications because that is what the HTC One is for. The 4.3-inch phone features a 720p display, 16 GB of storage space, a gig of memory and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.4 GHz.
While this phone runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, it has Facebook Home preinstalled. Facebook Home is essentially a launcher that replaces the standard lockscreen and home screen with an interface that deeply integrates Facebooks core services. Right from the lockscreen, you can see any missed call notifications and new Gmail messages. The top portion of the lockscreen shows news feed items with the background showing an image associated with the feed. The lockscreen is interactive so you can read or cycle through news feed items through gestures without even unlocking the phone. Double-tapping a news feed item instantly likes the news feed item. Touching the circular profile picture shows you the swipe options for loading things like the app launcher and the Facebook messenger. Facebook calls this new experience the Cover Feed.
Unlike other Facebook launchers, Facebook Home focuses on people rather than apps. This means you wont be able to do things like add Android widgets to the home screen (at least for the meantime). The people aspect is highlighted when you use the integrated Facebook messenger. Whenever you receive a message from a Facebook friend, a circular icon containing the friends profile picture shows up. Facebook refers to these icons as Chat heads and they offer an easy way to engage in conversations. Even if you are focused in another app such as your Web browser, the chat head can appear so you can immediately shift your attention to that user.
What you should know about the new Facebook phone is the fact that there is no real Facebook phone. Facebooks goal is to turn all phones into Facebook phones through the Facebook Home app. US owners with Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note II, HTC One or HTC One X phones can install the app directly from the Play Store on April 12th. Of course the HTC First will come with Facebook Home out of the box although you can disable it. In the future, more phones and even tablets should support this new Facebook app.


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Google is improving its Search algorithms, which have been
recently updated to highlight content quality and depth, as opposed to
displaying content from websites that have been primarily created to rank well
in search engines and suck in more traffic.
According to Google, the update “will help make sure that unoriginal, low-quality content doesn’t rank highly in Search, and our testing has found it will especially improve results related to online education, as well as arts and entertainment, shopping and tech-related content.” Google also claims that the update will help show “results with unique, authentic information, so you’re more likely to read something you haven’t seen before.”
This means that websites that have been functioning to
provide low-quality content by merely using keyword matching, could soon
experience a decline in their rankings on Google Search. In a nutshell, Google
would no longer support the SEO system.
In addition to this, Google’s review ranking process that was
updated last year to provide quality, helpful reviews in Search results, is also
being enhanced further. The improved review ranking systems would make it
easier to find high-quality, original reviews. “We’ll continue this work to
make sure you find the most useful information when you’re researching a
purchase on the web,” says Google.


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People who consume lots of vegetables and fruits, it is easier to stop smoking. This may be due to the fact that the fruit contains a large amount of fiber as well as their ability to degrade the taste of cigarettes.
Regular consumption of fruits and vegetables may help some people to give up cigarettes. It found American scientists from the University of Buffalo, according to Foxnews .
They conducted telephone interviews with 1,000 smokers aged 25 years. A year later, with little to be contacted again and asked if they could give up the habit. Among those who consumed large amounts of vegetables and fruits, has refused to drop more. In addition, fans of such products smoked fewer cigarettes per day, after lighting a cigarette first morning, and generally showed less dependence on nicotine than participants not consuming fruit.
Scientists note that the results remained stable, regardless of age, sex, education and income level of participants. Also, they are not related to the amount of alcohol consumed and any drugs.
“We may have found a new way that can help to stop smoking,” – said the study’s author, researcher at the University of Buffalo Jeffrey Haibach.
He noted that the mechanism of the phenomenon is unclear, and further studies will be aimed at trying to figure out the causes which impel lovers of fruits and vegetables is easier to give up nicotine. Among the assumptions – the ability to degrade the fruit taste of cigarettes, as well as high levels of fiber, which nourishes the better. It helps smokers not to be confused with the desire to smoke ordinary hunger, said Jeffrey Haibach.


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After a year of innovation, we'd like to take the opportunity to thank our clients and suppliers for their continued support, and our team for their dedication. You inspire us to keep designing, keep creating, keep striving to do better - and that passion will be what drives us throughout 2016.
Christmas Opening Times
We will be taking a short break over the Christmas period. We will close at end of business on Wednesday 23rd December, and will reopen again on Monday 4th January.
2015 at Coda Plastics
2015 has been a busy year. As well as innovating exciting new products, we have been continuing to work with our longstanding clients including Imperial Leather.
Having the opportunity to learn and share with other leaders in the plastics and packaging industry has been one of the most rewarding parts of our year. We travelled to the Birmingham NEC in February to be a part of the Packaging Innovations Exhibition 2015, which gave us some fantastic inspiration and ideas for new developments in packaging. In March we were invited to the Agri-Tech Innovation Unlocked Conference in Peterborough, a brilliant opportunity to address challenges in agriculture and food manufacturing. We also had a stand at the Med-Tech Innovation Expo 2015, the only trade show completely dedicated to medical device manufacturing.
We were also able to share our passion and our new developments when our Sales Director, Simon Girdlestone, was interviewed for Packaging Europe Magazine. He spoke about our certifications for high standards, our bespoke packaging solutions and our investment in new equipment, including new Krauss Maffei injection moulding machines.
2015 has seen several enhancements to our services, as we have expanded our bottle blowing capacity with a new extrusion blow-moulding machine, and launched our new responsive website - honouring our commitment to staying up-to-date with the latest advancements in technology.
Looking to the Future
In the New Year, Coda Plastics will continue to design, develop, prototype and manufacture, staying at the forefront of the plastics and packaging industry. We will be further expanding our operation and launching new standard products to the market - so watch out for announcements in early 2016.
The whole team at Coda Plastics would like to thank our valued clients and suppliers, and wish you all a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.


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Well, it is that time of the year again where authorities go after The Pirate Bay. Usually they go after the domain name as that is easier, however this year they actually raided one of the website’s servers, taking the website down.
It is impossible to stop torrents that violate copyrights. One reason why The Pirate Bay won’t disappear because of the huge demand for torrents. The war on drugs can be another example. The website made tons of money from ad revenue, and its users saved tons of money. This combination means sites like The Pirate Bay, and other torrent sites will continue to run. It will just take a few weeks to get back online like last time this happened.
What is the other reason why the Pirate Bay will stay? The sheer size of the website. While the torrent list is large, the website is very toned down taking up only 90mb of space.
Here is how the Bay was set up via TorrentFreak
In recent years The Pirate Bay took several steps to make the site as resilient as possible, moving from a full-fledged BitTorrent tracker to a trimmed-down and highly portable torrent index.
The infamous torrent site canceled nearly all central servers and moved most of its operation to the cloud, where it ran on 21 virtual machines scattered over several commercial cloud hosting providers.
Yesterday, however, the site was pulled offline with a single raid at the Nacka station, a nuclear-proof data center built into a mountain complex. Despite various rumors of TPB reincarnations there is still no sign that the site will return anytime soon.
If the system was so lean and complex then, I could only imagine how much more secure they will make the website if it comes back. Sites like eztv, a popular uploading site is already back:
The target of the raid was The Pirate Bay but collateral damage caused several other torrent sites to go down as well. This included EZTV, the go-to place for many torrenting TV fans.
After nearly two days of downtime EZTV is slowly starting to crawl back up. TF spoke to the EZTV crew who confirmed that several servers are up and running again and that the site’s services are coming back online.
Torrents can really damage sales. Take for example the recent hack on Sony. The movie Fury was downloaded over 2.5 million times illegally. I saw the movie in theaters, and I would say it was a very good movie. Sony lost many sales from this hack. Small businesses suffer this hit all the time from illegal downloads.
How can any company take down torrent sites when they are operated like The Pirate Bay which enables them to come back very fast? Some companies ask Google to remove search engine results, however this will not work because users will just use the search on the torrent sites. Almost all users already do.
Remember when the FBI took down icefilms.com, a site that linked to video hosting sites? They were up again within a week at icefilms.info and have been at that domains for years. The FBI learned just how hard it is to stop these lean operations.
Just because these sites are very lean and are easy to set up, that does not mean companies and police should ignore them. If they will win if a different question. Leave a comment on what you think.
In the future, almost all brands will experience what companies like Sony experienced. With 3d printing getting cheaper and cheaper, brands will have a lot harder time protecting themselves. Cell phone cases, shirt, etc, will be easily made featuring a brands logo. These files will be on torrent networks just as music is today.
3d printing will change manufacturing and brands forever. Firearms are easy to make, and with metal printers becoming cheaper, soon you will have factory standard firearms straight from a computer file. One of my favorite models, the .45 1911 is already printed and made out of metal. The printer is the expensive part, but with all electronics, they become cheaper and cheaper each year.
Update 15 December 2014
The site is back online as predicted: Isohunt resurrects torrent search site The Pirate Bay


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The firm describes itself as a “human performance company” and provides a “personalised 24/7 digital fitness and health coach” aimed at making “meaningful” lifestyle changes via “actionable feedback on sleep, recovery, strain and health”.
Its subscription model includes supplied hardware and the digital platform, with its insights coming from measurements of key health indicators like heart rate variability, resting heart rate, respiratory rate, and sleep staging.
The US company recently raised $200m in a Series F funding round at a $3.6 billion valuation, and also launched two new products, Whoop 4.0 and Whoop Body. Whoop says it has hired seven staff in Ireland and is recruiting more right now. Details here.
Communications company Poly plans to open an EMEA Centre of Excellence in Galway, creating over 200 jobs over the next five years. Roles in engineering, sales, human resources, customer support, legal, and finance now open to applicants here.
Poly, founded in California in 1961, is also receiving taxpayer-funded State Aid from IDA Ireland and says it is investing in the EMEA region to meet growing demand for its premium audio and video products as businesses adjust to managing highly distributed workforces.
Photo: Olympic gold medalist Fintan McCarthy brandishes his Whoop device. (Pic: Dan Sheridan/Inpho)


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01/10/2013 5:50amJay and Amy share a few gems from the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Samsung rolled out their latest tweaks to emerging flexible display technology, iFrog's new mobile gaming case and Sesame Street's latest apps.
01/10/2013 11:20amThe Browser brings a few gadgets from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. With the new virtual dressing room, trying on clothes is as easy as few hand gestures. LG rolls out smart appliances that can tell you what's in your fridge and how to cook it.


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We’ve all read the stories about CBD oil and the miraculous health benefits it has. However, now President-elect Donald Trump and his newly appointed DEA Acting Administrator, Chuck Rosenberg, have listed CBD as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it has zero medicinal properties and is classified amongst dangerous drugs like heroin and LSD. This absurd ruling is clearly an attempt to protect pharmaceutical companies, but that’s not the only reason this new law is complete and utter BS.
1. CBD has no psychoactive properties
The two main active components in cannabis are CBD and THC. THC is the chemical that gives users the euphoric high, sought out by most recreational users.
While this high can also bring pain relief and help combat some conditions, such as insomnia, medical patients generally prefer CBD oils or compounds, which give them the much-needed relief, but no psychedelic side effects.
2. CBD is strictly medicine, without any harsh side effects
By listing CBD as a Schedule 1 drug, the DEA is effectively saying CBD has no medical value when CBD is used strictly for medical purposes.
CBD is not addictive and does not produce harsh side effects, like vomiting, dizziness, diarrhea or death, commonly associated with many other prescription drugs used to treat the same types of medical conditions.
3. The government knows CBD is a powerful medicine
With the DEA saying that CBD has no medical properties, it seems strange to learn that the National Institute of Health supported 281 projects researching the medicinal properties of cannabis and CBD.
In 2015 alone, the NIH spent more than $111 million researching cannabis as medicine, with $49 million used just on cannabinoids and $9 million used exclusively for proving CBD’s medical necessity. These findings are in direct conflict with the DEA’s new Schedule 1 listing of CBD.
4. The DEA overstepped their authority by classifying CBD
According to a Denver-based cannabis attorney, Robert Hoban, the DEA doesn’t actually have the authority to decide the scheduling of drugs and the new ruling will probably end up going to court for a final decision.
This action is beyond the DEA’s authority. The DEA can only carry out the law, they cannot create it.
Here they’re purporting to create an entirely new category called ‘marijuana extracts,’ and by doing so wrest control over all cannabinoids. They want to call all cannabinoids illegal. But they don’t have the authority to do that.
5. The DEA are hurting sick people
When it comes down to the bottom line, the DEA’s new ruling is only going to hurt sick people, many of whom are children. CBD is not used for social purposes, it’s not passed around a party or abused by individuals. It is strictly used as medicine to help relieve the pains felt by many patients who are in dire need.
CBD has been proven to be one of the most effective treatments for seizures in epileptic children. Not only does it decrease the frequency of seizures, but CBD has the power to make children seizure free.
For the DEA to take this life-saving component away from patients is condemning them to a greatly shortened lifetime of suffering and pain.
There’s a petition online to get this new ruling repealed. You can sign it here.


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Apple has announced iPhone 5 sales are over the five million mark in the first three days after the new smartphone’s release.
A press release by the company announces that no less than five million of the new smartphones have been sold in the first three days after its release. This is an incredible figure even by Apple’s standards. The the last model before the iPhone 5, the iPhone 4S, had sold around four million units in the first days after its release.
In case you’re dying to get an iPhone 5 and haven’t already, Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO says that the initial supply has been sold, stores will get shipments on a regular basis and online orders are possible and customers will get a date when they can pick it up at an Apple Store. He also said the company would be working hard to build the device for everyone.
The same press release says more than 100 million devices have been updated to iOS 6, which it calls “the world’s most advanced mobile operating system.” But I’m sure Android users will quickly disagree with that statement.
Advanced operating system? Can’t do maps, though!
Apple said it, not me. :)
Well I guess everyone needs to have a V1 however I think everyone was disappointed in apple’s V1 this time around…


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SEGA’s newest game title, The Virtua Tennis 3, will support 1080p on the PS3. SEGA showed off the title at a press event held in Tokyo yesterday running on 1080p screens. This makes Virtua Tennis 3 the second PS3 title confirmed to run in 1080p, next to Gran Turismo HD.
Sony Computer Entertainment America announced that they will release the Sony PlayStation 3 in North America on November 17, 2006. It will feature the new advanced RSX graphics chip with two choices of hard drive capacities, 20GB and 60GB. Sony will use a new motion-sensing controller which will feature an integrated six-axis sensing system. Using a Blu-ray drive, Sony confirmed that they will launch a handful of game titles. The price tag will be $499 for the model with a 20GB hard drive and $599 for the model with a 60GB hard drive. For more information you can visit PS3 Informer. Via PeepCulture.
Sony just announced that the Sony PS3 will come with a 60 GigaByte Hard Drive as a standard, however the storage can be upgraded. The Sony Playstation 3 is scheduled to release in November. Info via Engadget.


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|Soaring food prices are threatening to push millions of people into poverty [AFP]|
The United Nations is hosting a three-day food summit in Rome where more than 40 world leaders are discussing a global crisis that is pushing 100 million people into hunger, provoking food riots, and threatening world stability.
Price rises are being blamed on high oil prices, expanding populations, flawed trade policies, market speculation, growth in biofuels production, changing diets, urbanisation and extreme weather.
Al Jazeera speaks to key individuals about the crisis, potential solutions, and perspectives on the current international rules on agriculture.
Vandana Shiva, ecologist, farmer and author
“We could solve the climate problem and the food problem tomorrow with investments, but not the level of investment the World Bank is talking about, [but] by supporting ecological agriculture supporting local economies.
“Food riots and food wars are not just taking place in the streets of Egypt and in Mexico, they are taking place in the corridors of the FAO [Food and Agricultre Organisation of the UN].
“On one hand, the world’s movements and concerned communities are asking for ways in which we will address food scarcity by growing more food sustainably with less fossil fuel inputs and more fair systems of distribution and trade.
“On the other hand, the very people who have shaped industrial chemical agriculture and created food scarcity in local economies – and the very people who shaped the agreement on agriculture with the WTO [World Trade Organisation] – are saying ‘let there be more investment but let it be turned into a subsidy for us, so we can spread the second green revolution in Africa, and so we can get the subsidies for hybrid seeds and chemical fertilisers and we get new subsidies for supplying the poor world with food.'”
“What we need is to make local economies robust.
|Global food crisis facts|
High food prices are pushing 30 million Africans into poverty
About 850 million people are suffering from chronic hunger worldwide
Food prices have hit the highest levels in real terms in 30 years
Price of rice has gone up by 75 per cent globally
Global food prices rose by 43 per cent in 2007 alone
The US has diverted about 40 million tons of maize to produce ethanol
An acre of maize produces only 50 gallons of gasoline
EU plans to get 10 per cent of auto fuel from Bio-energy by 2020
“The food war in the corridors must now become open and we must recognise the greed and monopolies of agro-business as the real reason people starve in the world.
“Farmers commit suicide and women and children go hungry, but people are capable of producing food.
“Let the governments and international trade rules stop the obstruction and let the unfair subsidies go into agro-business. Stop the unfair markets.
“[US] President [George] Bush made a statement a few weeks ago, [and] the biofuel industry put huge adverts in the IHT [International Herald and Tribune] to say it was the Asians, Indians eating more, rather than biofuel diversion.
“The first point is that India’s consumption increased by two per cent over the last year in cereals. US consumption of cereals increased 12 per cent and most of that was for biofuel. So if you are looking at pressure, it is coming quite clearly from the US for biofuel, not from countries like India.
“The real cause of the rise in food prices is the forced integration of local economies into an international economy controlled by speculative monopolies. If five grain giants control food trade, it does not matter how much food there is in the world, they will make their super profits.
“A second very big reason for the decline in food availability at the local level is a very false model of increasing agriculture production. It depends on the name of the green revolution … it goes by the name of industrial agriculture.
“Unfortunately, the World Bank’s package of $1bn for increasing investment in the south is in the form of new seeds, largely non-renewable, and chemical fertilisers. This package is a disaster for poor countries.
“First, the farmers go into debt. They have to sell their food and can not buy it back at the price at which they sold it.
“Secondly, climate change has been caused 25 per cent by industrial agriculture. Add another 10 per cent because of rising fuel prices and you’re talking about 35 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions coming from a non-sustainable farming system.
“We could solve the climate problem and the food problem with investments, but not the level of investments the World Bank is talking about by supporting ecological agriculture. It is about supporting local economies, and the most important point is a valid international assessment.”
Alexander Sarris, director of trade and market for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
“There is a big problem with the government of developing countries. Certainly not for some of the countries in Asia, but with the countries that have not made agriculture a top priority for investment and for poverty reduction.”
“Despite that rhetoric, this is one of the main obstacles for re-launching agriculture and I think both the FAO as well as the World Bank are calling for a new strategy to put agriculture first or at the forefront.
“The position of the FAO [is] that the major solution to the problem of high and soaring food prices is definitely to increase world food production … in developing countries because they have already achieved very high productivity levels but they are lagging very much behind.
“The technology is already there for them to increase production and achieve better levels of self sufficiency.
“A lot of people blame the international system, and there is a lot to be blamed there, but the largest markets for food products are going to be the developing countries themselves. So the domestic markets in many developing countries in the regional markets offer tremendous possibilities for the output of increased production when that is forthcoming and that can be managed by regional agreements and various other trade agreements among the developing countries themselves in addition to the WTO [World Trade Organisation].
“Prices are soaring because of several factors that seem to be coming together simultaneously. On one hand, we have increased demand from countries whose income is increasing quite fast, mostly countries in emerging countries like China, India, Brazil and others.
“Second, we have some of the protection that is being diverted to biofuels but that is because of the mandates imposed by many developed countries to deal with the climate change issues.
“Every little disturbance leads to excessive reaction, like the recent reaction in the rice markets, so the most important structural change that has affected food markets in the last few years is basically the relationship between the petroleum markets and the food markets.
“The reason they are inter-related is because of the high petrol prices which make the production of biofuels from agricultural food stocks way competitive – this diverts resources from production of food to production of ethanol.”
Sylvia Borren, co-chair of Global Call to Action Against Poverty
“What is interesting to think about is how to change the situation – $15m is needed to make sure that women and families can actually buy food.
“That sounds like a lot of money and the World Bank is not putting up that $15m. It’s much less at the moment. When you consider how the American reserve bank and the European bank have just, in the last six months, put up 70 times that amount to stabilise the financial structure of the world, then it’s an amazing thought that this money cannot be available straight away for the people who are now suffering from hunger.
|Global food crisis facts|
Financial speculators, rising populations, floods, droughts, increased demand from developing countries, and removing crops from the food chain to produce biofuels have been cited as factors
Price rises have led producing nations to enforce export restrictions, further putting the squeeze on supply, especially in countries relying on imports
“Citizens of the world … are demanding the countries of the West stop the fair trade and the dumping of agriculture.
“They are demanding that investments are made in local agriculture.
“On one hand in the West, we have the problem of obesity and food waste and, on the other hand, we have 100 million people going to bed hungry every night.
“At the moment, the estimates are that 20,000 people, especially women and children are dying daily of hunger.
“The worst thing about this is that it is solvable.
“The immediate support can be given to the people who need cash who need to get food, and a decent work agenda coming from the trade unions who will make sure people will get proper wages.
“We know how to increase and make sustainable agricultural systems, but that means that the 14 leaders we have heard today have to put their actions where their mouth is. They have to be supported by the UN.
“I have been listening to world leaders today saying time and time again the things that NGOs have been saying for the past 20 years. We have been saying that everyone has the right to food. We have been saying that the lack of food is a man-made problem, and that women and children suffer the consequences.
“We have been saying that we need investment in local trade and particularly we have been saying ‘would you please stop the unfair trade rules, would you stop subsidising agriculture products into the developing world which undercuts the production possibility of local farmers?’
“The big question is … can we actually organise the Doha round of trade to make for structural changes in the trade rules and particularly when are we going to invest in the local farmers in developing countries?
“Such a little amount of money is needed to solve these problems.
“[But] the rich countries, the developed countries, are not prepared to stop subsidising their agricultural products and dumping them and undercutting the local farmers in developing countries.”
The interviewees were talking to Al Jazeera’s ‘Inside Story’


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One time for the culture.
Deadline announced Thursday (June 8) that the “self-described Afro-urban” media company, Trace Urban, will be launching a streaming service to join the host of already-existing platforms. But Trace Play has potential for staying power.
In addition to 2,000 hours worth of on-demand programs, 30 digital radio stations, and nine live TV feeds, the media company is seeking to launch an accompanying Trace Prime TV network.
Co-founder and CEO, Olivier Laouchez attests to the fact that the company already holds the title of the “undisputed leading destination for afro-urban music and entertainment” in the international regions of Africa, France, and the Caribbean and Indian Oceans.
The media hub, originally launched 20 years prior in the United States and United Kingdom as a niche print magazine. Since, the company rerouted down the digital path as is pattern with most print magazines today.
Former CEO of Russell Simmons’ Oneworld Media John Pasmore joins the team proclaiming, “Trace is the only media company that has successfully connected urban youth and communities of color around the world while respecting their identities.”
Trace Urban also plans to respect the pockets and accessibility of their niche audience, providing their streaming package, Trace Prime for the low-low of $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year. Not to mention, they will be offered on both Android and iOS devices.
While the notorious battle of music streaming between the Jay Z-led Tidal and the dominating Apple Music continue to go head-to-head, Trace seems to be carving a lane of its own. There currently isn’t an app available that has been successful in dominating the streaming package of music and television, but Trace sure seems to be ready to give their competitors a run for their money.


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In the wake of the hustle and bustle Kim Kardashian wearing a historian Marilyn Monroe dress for Gala of 2022 Earlier this week, she revealed in a tweet on Friday that she had slipped another of the starlet’s clothes that night in her hotel room.
Kardashian posted a photo of herself in a sequined green dress that she described as Monroe’s “Norman Norell dress” which she wore to the Golden Globes in 1962 when she received the Henrietta Award for World Film Favorite.
Kardashian included a photo of Monroe in the dress with actor Rock Hudson.
HuffPost could not immediately confirm that it was Monroe’s real dress. Kardashian appeared to be wearing the dress differently than Monroe, with the shoulder pads in alternating positions.
It was a nervous post after the controversy erupted when Kardashian showed up at the Met Gala in the beaded Jean Louis dress Monroe wore when she sang a super sexy version of “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” to John F. Kennedy in 1962.
Several observers were shocked that the Kardashian risked damaging the iconic 60-year-old dress. Monroe had been the only person who had ever worn her dress.
Textile conservatives and fashion curators were particularly shocked.
“It it withdraws what is considered professional treatment for historical costume, “Sarah Scaturro, chief curator at the Cleveland Museum of Art and former curator at Met’s Costume Institute, told the Los Angeles Times.
“My concern is that colleagues from the historical costume collections will now be pressured by important people to wear them [historic] clothing, ”he added.
“We just don’t wear historical archival pieces,” said Cara Varnell, a longtime independent art restorer specializing in historical clothing.
Something that is “archived means that it has enough cultural significance that we appreciate it and want to save it,” added Varnell. “The dress represents something very important, it is part of ours collective cultural heritage. I’m speechless for this. “
The reality star said she first tried on the dress at her California home in Calabasas after it was flown there by private plane. The dress is normally stored at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Orlando Museum, Florida.
On the night of the gala, Kardashian donned the historic gown in a small room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with the help of a Ripley’s conservationist, he said.
After walking up the stairs to the Met, she changed Monroe’s dress and put on a replica, she said.
“I’m extremely respectful of the dress and what it means to American history,” said Kardashian. “I would never want to sit or eat or run the risk of damaging it.”
Kardashian said he “discovered” the second Monroe dress during his “search” to find the dress she wore to the gala, she tweeted.
In what appeared to be some kind of olive branch to critics, Kardashian tweeted Friday that “it will forever be one of the greatest privileges of my life to be able to channel my inner Marilyn in this wayon such a special night “.


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Approximately 50 analysts and investors accepted an invitation from SMA Solar Technology AG (SMA/FWB: S92) to the Capital Markets Day 2012. At the event, which took place within the context of the 27th EU PVSEC in Frankfurt/Main, SMA Speaker of the Managing Board and Chief Financial Officer, Pierre-Pascal Urbon, confirmed the sales and earnings forecast for 2012. The SMA Managing Board expects sales of €1.3 to €1.5 billion and an operating profit (EBIT) of €100 to €150 million, representing an EBIT margin of 8 to 10 percent.
“The distinct changes in subsidy conditions in important European photovoltaic markets were already having an impact on demand for our inverters in the third quarter,” explained Pierre-Pascal Urbon. The SMA Managing Board is forecasting sales of €330 to €360 million with an EBIT of €20 to €35 million (EBIT margin: 6–10%) for the third quarter 2012.
Demand drivers in the solar industry are changing rapidly. “The photovoltaic markets are shifting from a subsidized model to independent energy supply. In the long term, this means a promising outlook for photovoltaics. In the short and medium term, however, the changes in the business environment present major challenges to the entire solar sector,” said Urbon. “A reliable forecast for the following years is, therefore, not possible at this time.”
Attendees of the Capital Markets Day could convince themselves at SMA's booth at the EU PVSEC that the company has the proper solutions to key future issues at hand. There SMA presented, among other things, high-tech innovations for intelligent energy management and solutions for the control of solar diesel hybrid systems in sunny countries. “SMA is represented in 21 countries around the world. With our global sales and service infrastructure, our innovative products and our financial strength, we are well prepared to keep up with the rapid changes in the industry and to profit long term from the worldwide potential for photovoltaics, even under changed framework conditions,” emphasized Pierre-Pascal Urbon.


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Funeral services were pending today for French fashion designer Christian Audigier, famed for his Ed Hardy and Von Dutch lines.
Audigier, who announced earlier this year he was suffering from cancer,
died Thursday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at age 57.
“I just heard the news and I am truly devastated, Audigier’s publicist
Michele Elyzabeth told the website www.latfusa.com. which she publishes.
“Christian was an incredibly brilliant man. He will be missed.”
Audigier sold his Ed Hardy line, known for its flashy logos and
rhinestone-enhanced designs, in 2011 for $62 million.
The native of Avignon, France, also worked on fashion lines such as
Guess?, Levi’s, American Outfitters and XOXO.
He is survived by a wife, daughter and three sons.
-City News Service


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The Zonta Club of Noosa has announced their annual Fashion Parade Extravaganza is coming up on 26 August.
With this year’s theme being “Swagger”, all funds raised at the event will go towards the purchase of swags for homeless people in our local area.
Following Zonta’s International’s 2022 theme, the Fashion Parade will feature sustainable and ethically made fashion and feature young designers and musicians from the Noosa area.
Fashion highlights will include natural fiber designs from Rani Wilkinson at Ella & Sunday, wearable art from young Noosa designer Teddie McRitchie, sustainable designs produced by Sunshine Beach State High School Year 12 Young Designers, and upmarket, pre-loved outfits from Ma Petite Boutique.
Zonta members seek to empower women through education and to encourage a fairer future for everyone. Saying NO to violence against women, promoting climate action and gender equality will help ensure women achieve their full potential.
Hosted by fashion editor Carlie Wacker this unmissable event will be held on the 26th of August from 3-6pm at the Sunshine Beach Surf Club.
Tickets are available for $80 at trybooking.com/CAMVP and include a free champagne on arrival, canapés and music performed by the Good Shepherd Lutheran College string quartet.
Join Zonta for an afternoon of fun, fashion and fundraising, helping women to create a fairer future for everyone,


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'Hoverboards' made legal in California
from The Guardian
California has passed legislation to allow use of electric skateboards and other motorized, wheeled devices, such as "hoverboards," anywhere bicycles are allowed, reversing earlier legislation that banned the vehicles.
7701 Las Colinas Blvd., Ste. 800, Irving, TX 75063


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Any iPhone user can instantly identify the notch on the newer phones. The top part of the phone that holds the camera and the speakers. The iPhone X and the XS come equipped with the notch, with other manufacturers opting for smaller notches or no notches entirely for a streamline effect. News, coming in from publication Chinese Times, is saying that Apple is intending to reduce the size of the notch on their phones or even remove it entirely. This will happen with the introduction of a new line of upgraded iPhone 12 models in 2020.
Apple will favor the under-screen technology for the front camera with their future designs, as some reports indicate, taking inspiration from the reveal of Oppo’s designs at MWC Shanghai. It will take some time until these, more futuristic, designs will grace the majority of phones. But it is looking like Apple will be among the first to champion the look and the tech behind it.
Reports suggest that not all phones will receive the implementation in 2020. With only some of the iPhone models getting this upgrade. 2021 will be the year when we will see a full overhaul of the esthetics that concern the notch and its function.
iPhone 12 Models Would Be Dropping The Notch
These changes will only start to happen in 2020 with the introduction of the iPhone 12. Do not expect to see anything of the sort in 2019 with the iPhone 11. Future improvements of Apple’s devices may have a strong chance to cripple their sales for late 2019. But it is Apple we’re talking about such hardened fans will definitely buy their stuff.
The iPhone 11 has been the main subject of rumor this year, but it has been overshadowed by its future successor, even before it had a chance to gain some spotlight. With one of the most exciting upgrades for the iPhone 12 being its 5G connectivity.
And that is a feature that is creating quite the buzz for next year’s phones in general. So, let’s wait and see what Apple brings us next year with its iPhone 12 models, or at least wait for the next leak. There seems to be a lot of them.
Dorothy has been a journalist for ten years and has been working with the Tech News Watch staff since the beginning of the news site. Her main contribution to Tech News Watch are mobile, IT and science news, with a focus on software updates and great outer space discoveries.


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San Francisco based software development house specializing in games development tools, Unity Technologies announced plans to support the iPhone with their Unity engine. Unity engine is the core technology that facilitates creation of games for the desktop, web, and now the iPhone.
The Unity engine offers all the features one would expect from a full scale engine, with anything from integrated editor, physics, shaders and terrain mapping support, network gaming support, and more. It is currently being used by Smashing Ideas, Trigger, Freeverse, Shockwave.com, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Flashbang Studios, ThreeMelons and Skyworks Technologies, among others.
“With iPhone support, Unity is poised to become the single source for game developers who want to create best-of-breed, 3D-quality games that can be easily and quickly ported to all platforms, including consoles, devices, PC/Mac, and now, the iPhone,” said David Helgason, CEO of Unity Technologies. “Specifically, Unity’s support of iPhone addresses the developer’s need to create more and better mobile/portable games that support the consumers ‘on-the-go’ lifestyle.”
Unity has created an iPhone beta program that will provide hands-on support to drive 3D content creation and deployment of mobile games. Game developers who are interested in joining the iPhone support program should contact Unity at email@example.com
Unity Indie, the more simplified edition of the engine costs a symbolic $199, while the Unity Pro will cost you from $1500 to $2000. Free trials are available, though.


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Tilray generated a US$23 million operating loss on $51 million in revenue in their most recently reported quarter (ending September 30, 2019). Sales, General and Administrative expenses alone amounted to $45 million, more than the total cost of sales from the products Tilray shipped in the period, so one might expect Tilray to start thinning out in the non-production divisions if they’re serious about the layoffs “reducing headcount and cost,” rendering the company “better positioned to achieve profitability,” as CEO Brendan Kennedy told The Post. But the premise of Tilray being profitable within its current footprint would take a more than tripling of the company’s Q3 sales, ignoring any associated scale-up expenses.
Neither Tilray’s rate of sales growth in the Canadian cannabis sector, or the country’s as a whole, makes that seem likely, making it reasonable to wonder how this money pit ended up with a $2 billion market cap in the first place.
The valuation isn’t a mirage. Tilray shares traded up +5.25% Tuesday after the layoffs were announced, indicating that the market believes in Tilray’s ability to turn itself into a conventionally profitable business. That faith is a stark contrast to the vote of non-confidence the market gave to Sundial Growers (NASDAQ:SNDL), who announced the cutting of their own staff last week, then dropped the news that the CEO and COO were among the staff cut, and got sold into the dirt.
Tilray’s Canadian cannabis operations consist of cultivation licenses in Nanaimo, BC and Toronto, ON, along with the purchase of a third Ontario license last year in Natura Naturals Inc. Among the five total licenses at the three sites are three of the nation’s 88 total licenses that allow for the sale of dried cannabis to the provincial distributors – the exclusive suppliers of the Canadian recreational market. The other 213 licenses sell most of their production weight to each other.
Tilray wasn’t able to make their access to the rec market pay off in Q3, booking $15.8 million in sales there, only $2.1 million more than they sold to other licensed producers in the bulk market and directly to patients. Q3’s business segment breakdown showed a clear pivot towards Tilray’s developing hemp business, where the company was able to bring in nearly as much revenue as they did from the adult use cannabis market ($15.6 million).
Tilray claims that subsidiary company Manitoba Harvest, acquired in February of 2019, is “the world’s largest hemp foods manufacturer.” The company spent the last year building out its hemp-based portfolio across the United States, where CBD products are legal to sell in all 50 states with no special license. CBD products haven’t yet gained commercial traction North of the border, where their sale is controlled in the same manner as cannabis products.
Seattle-based Tilray’s presence in the Canadian cannabis market is beginning to look like a vestige of a time when the scarcity of licensing was a means to an end in the capital markets. When Tilray first received its cultivation license in 2014, it was one of only 18 fully legal cultivators in all of North America. As Tilray’s stock price peaked above $300 / share in 2018, they were one the most advanced companies operating only 115 Canadian cannabis licenses in an industry that was still developing. Now, as it dawns on a market where scarce Canadian licenses aren’t valuable cornerstones of profitable businesses, Tilray appears to be adjusting their trajectory.
CORRECTION Feb 7, 2020: This post has been corrected to reflect the fact that the executives who left Sundial Growers were the CEO and COO, and not the CEO and CFO, as previously reported. CLN regrets the error.


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Statesmen Chorus offers singing valentines
Instead of just another bouquet, give a lasting memory this Valentine's Day.
The Statesmen Chorus is offering singing valentines from one of its great quartets from Sunday, Feb. 12, through Tuesday, Feb. 14.
A barbershop quartet dressed in tuxes will deliver a special love song, a rose and a personalized card for as little as $50.
The chorus will perform from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12; 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13; and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14.
Price options include a performance delivered within a four-hour window that costs $50; a two-hour performance window for $60; and a one-hour performance window for $80.
For $20, a quartet will deliver a song by phone.
To schedule a song, visit www.thestatesmenchorus.org and click on "Order Your Singing Valentine" and fill out the online order form. Pay with complete confidence and security by using PayPal or a credit card. If you prefer, orders can be placed by calling 832-303-2873.
No online orders will be accepted after Saturday, Feb. 11.
Local Advertising by PaperG


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BYD recently launched the first pure electric taxi fleet in Panama and Central America in the City of Colón, in partnership with ENSA Servicios and TRASERVI. The three companies also inaugurated the first rapid charging station for electric taxis in Colón province, with the aim of building a solid foundation for promoting electric mobility in Panama.
The launch saw seven BYD e6 taxis enter the local transit system, soon to be followed by another 30 units. In the second phase, 60 additional units will enter the system by the end of the year. In the short term, there are plans to add 1,500 units to Colón province’s overall taxi fleet.
The charging station, which is located outside the local offices of ENSA in the city’s Arco Iris district, can help carriers in the region to move towards emissions-free electric mobility. ENSA will also deliver a fleet of six electric buses to Ruta Urbana de Colón, a local operator that plans to completely electrify some 100 buses in the short-term.
The launch of the first pure electric taxi fleet in Panama and Central America was both an exciting and monumental occasion,” said Stella Li, Senior Vice President of BYD. “We thank ENSA Servicios and the groups Ruta Urbana de Colón, Radio Taxis del Atlántico and Taxis Auténticos of Colón to have chosen BYD as their partner. We will work together to introduce more electric vehicles in the future and offer passengers a more efficient public transport system with environmentally friendly technologies.”
In addition, BYD announced the signing of a cooperation agreement to bring its K9 pure electric bus to Panama City, with local operators MiBus and ENSA Servicios, as part of a six-month pilot scheme that will integrate the K9 into the public transport system of the Panamanian capital.
BYD’s zero-emissions transport solutions are proving popular across Latin America, with the company delivering 12 K9 electric buses to the Argentinian city of Mendoza on May 24, creating Argentina’s first ever pure electric bus fleet.
BYD, with regional offices in Panama, has been the global leader in sales of electric vehicles for four consecutive years (2015-2018) and has delivered more than 140,000 electric vehicles, bringing cleaner and greener public transport to people in more than 300 cities in 50 countries and regions across all six continents.


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JOY ROY CHOUDHURY – Guwahati
“International class river cruise over the Brahmaputra, eco and tea tourism and wildlife will be the major thrust areas of tourism promotion in Assam in the coming years,” said Dhruba Hazarika, secretary, Tourism Department, Government of Assam in an exclusive interaction with Express TravelWorld recently.
“We feel that introduction of this luxury cruise will help the north eastern states to bring in more foreign and domestic tourists to the region,” stated Hazarika. MV Mahabahu was launched last year in Guwahati. It sails on the Brahmaputra from Pandu Port located in the western ghat of the city at Uzanbazar Ghat located in the heart of the city. The project, envisioned a decade ago, was an attempt to create a unique tourism experience of international standards. The cruise has been developed under PPP mode between Assam Tourism Development Corporation and Far Horizon India at a cost of over INR 26 crore. The cruise ship, comprising of 29 cabins, including two luxurious suites offers a week long journey including Kaziranga National Park, Majuli Island, Nimatighat, green lash tea estates and historical monuments. On its route, tourists will be able to visit other spots offering a glimpse of traditional villages and local cultures.
“Besides, we are working with six major tea gardens of the state, where we jointly plan to promote tea tourism in a big way,” Hazarika added. The international and domestic tourists visiting these tea estates will have a feel of how tea leaves are plucked, processed and produced at the tea manufacturing facilities set alongside these gardens. Besides, these gardens will have international class accommodation facilities to accommodate the guests. “As these tea gardens are situated on huge plot of lush greenery, we are also planning to promote golf tourism in these gardens,” he added.
There are 850 big and medium sized tea gardens in Assam. The average holding of a tea garden is 13 sq km. Hazarika said that no other state offers so much in terms of diversities like Assam, be it rich natural resources, art and culture, fairs and festivals, handicrafts, pristine landscapes, forests and exotic cuisine, wildlife. The state houses 10 wildlife sanctuaries and four national parks. “Our focus would be to promote these national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and the wildlife present here,” he added.


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Windows 11 can now be installed on a Android 13 smartphone
It’s been a few days since the first pre-release version of Android 13 was released, and even if it’s only available on a few devices, the new mobile operating system has a lot to offer.
It’s all about the system’s ability to run virtual machines quickly and efficiently. It has been demonstrated that the Pixel 6 can run Windows 11 ARM in a virtual machine already by a developer.
At long last, Windows could be used on smartphones
Microsoft’s failure to get its Windows Phone mobile platform to curdle, as well as Windows 10 Mobile and its Universal Windows applications concept, is notable (UWP).
— kdrag0n (@kdrag0n) February 13, 2022
Google Pixel 6 user Danny Lin, who goes by the Twitter handle “kdrag0n,” showed how he was able to run virtualized version of the Windows 11 ARM operating system on his device. Google’s newest operating system, Android 13 DP1, was already installed on his phone (Developer Preview 1).
Although the graphics were a little sluggish, Lin said that Windows 11 was “very usable,” despite its lack of hardware acceleration for graphics.
Though it was surprisingly fluid, the virtual machine created through the popular QEMU was playable, and the landscape mode captures showed that it had nothing to envy (except for resolution and screen diagonal) to the interfaces of a laptop or conventional PC (except for resolution and screen diagonal).
One of his most recent tweets shows him running a virtual machine of Linux (ARM) with “nearly identical performance to the native” at least in console mode, which is a result of the support for virtual machine creation on his Pixel 6′.
In the future, it will be fascinating to see how this functionality matures, but it already raises some interesting use cases, such as connecting the mobile device to a display with keyboard and mouse, and then operating Windows 11 ARM or any of those Linux versions on the device. After all, your smartphone could be your next computer.


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Overall consumer confidence rose for the fifth month in a row in January among respondents to a new poll from the Siena Research Institute.
The rise of .9 of a percent brought the index to 89.5, the highest level since December 2000, a mark the index first crossed last month.
Consumers are fairly confident, having had good economic news over the past several months, said Douglas Lonnstrom, the director of the institute, which is located at Siena College in Loudonville.
"Energy prices have come down and remain stable, weather was mild, interest rates are holding, the stock market is hitting new highs and employment figures are good," Lonnstrom said.
The state still trailed the rest of the nation, which saw its overall consumer confidence index rise 5.2 points to 96.9, as measured by the University of Michigan.
In upstate New York, the overall consumer confidence index rose 3 points to 86.7, but dropped .7 of a percent to 90.7 in New York City.
Statewide, buying plans rose for all categories.
The random telephone survey was conducted in January with 621 residents over the age of 18.


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Computational knowledge engine Wolfram Alpha has gone live, offering users an alternative way to search for information.
Unlike other search engines such as Google, the website aims to provide direct answers to questions posed by visitors.
Instead of returning results pages featuring links to other websites, Wolfram Alpha displays information and facts gathered via its internal knowledge base.
In terms of internet marketing, the search engine states that at present, it is focusing on major corporate sponsorships.
However, it adds: "In the future, there may be opportunities for more targeted advertising."
Wolfram Alpha points out that it is still in the early stages of what is a long-term project and reminds users that it is still working on some "kinks".
Last month, a white paper produced by Google concluded that the Google Content Network is the world’s top network for internet marketing, reaching more than 80 per cent of global web users.


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Highlights of the News:
- Nike has announced its acquisition of Celect― a data predictive analytics company, based in Boston.
- This latest purchase is a part of the string of acquisitions by Nike to establish its Direct-to-customer strategy.
- Celect will help predict the demand for Nike’s sneakers and apparel, which will help manage Nike’s inventory.
Nike has acquired a data predictive analytics firm, based in Boston named Celect.
This latest acquisition fuels Nike’s Direct-to-customer strategy in a way that will prove immensely beneficial for the brand. While Nike displays a great show to its customers, Celect will take care of the inventory management behind the scenes.
[As we were discussing inventory management here, you can learn more about how to create an intelligent inventory management app and enhance your process.]
With the help of Celect, a data science and demand sensing expert, Nike is trying to shift its focus from the wholesalers to the direct line with customers. So far, the only indicators of demand for Nike came in from wholesalers like Foot Locker: Their bulk order “signaled demand”.
The Chief Operating Officer of Nike, Eric Sprunk told in an interview that Nike desperately wants to break this co-dependent relation with the wholesale channels and connect directly with customers.
By integrating Celect’s technology with Nike’s mobile apps and websites, the sports merchandise company will be able to know what styles of shoes and apparel that customers want, when they want them, and where they want them from.
Talking about the need for real-time insight, Sprunk said, “Our goal is to serve consumers more personally at scale. We have to anticipate demand. We don’t have six months to do it. We have 30 minutes.”
Celect will help Nike analyze the demand and help reduce out-of-stock rates. This, in return, will bring hope for Nike that it would run into fewer situations where demand and supply are not on an equilibrium.
This would also lead to less pressure on attaining the profit margins, as Nike will be able to control the inventory and manage and curb the overflow of goods in the warehouse, which customers are no more interested in buying.
Sprunk remarked that the company thought it more practical to acquire Celect rather than “spending two to three years” on trying to develop a similar platform in-house. He said “It’s really difficult work … predicting the retail shopping patterns and behavior. … This [acquisition] gets us much more accelerated.”
This is not the first time we are hearing of Nike’s acquisition of startups. The brand has been on an acquisition spree for quite some time.
In 2016, Nike acquired a New York-based digital design studio Virgin MEGA (which was backed by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group) to assist in building the SNKRS app – a business platform for shoes launched a year before.
Later in March of 2018, Nike announced its acquisition of Zodiac― a consumer data analytics company, to speed up the process of its digital transformation, as they saw an unanticipated rise in their online sales. Then, in April this year, Nike acquired a computer-vision firm Invertex, which is based in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The focus of Nike on understanding customer data is a clear indication of the prominent role of AI in the B2C segment.
It is clear how AI amps up customer experience and proves itself as an eminent tool for organizations to predict customer behavior and better their services accordingly. There is no doubt that AI App Development is all set to take a wide range of B2C industries.