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UNJUSTIFIED BURDENS ON GENERAL PUBLIC
SHAMIM AHMED RIZVI
Feb 16 - 22, 2009
In its all-out efforts to boost its revenue to meet the budget deficit, the Government took three decisions last week out of which two have directly hit the consumers, and the industry already in crises. First was a decision not to pass on the benefit of the reduction in the prices of oil in the international market to consumers in Pakistan for the 3rd month as well i.e. January 2009.
During these three months the prices of crude oil have fallen by about 50% in the international market.
Through the second decision the authorities decided not to decrease the lending rates by the banks for which the industrial sector suffering from rising input costs was making earnest appeals. The third decision related to rise in regulatory duty on the import of 379 items considered luxury or non essential items.
The prices of petroleum products were reviewed on fortnightly basis till December 2008. The 31st of December was the 2nd fortnight when the Government, despite recommendations for a sizeable cut in the sale prices of petrol, and petroleum products, decided to keep the prices unchanged. On January 2009, the Government announced a major shift to review of the prices on monthly basis. A source in the ministry of Petroleum told this correspondent on condition of anonymity that under pressure from Finance Ministry which was all out to boost its revenue by hook or crook to meet IMF conditionalities, the government has decided not to pass on any benefit to the consumers as long as possible.
It was of the view that the public at large had mentally accepted the existing level of prices and there would be no uproar in the country if the present level of prices is maintained till June if possible. Through this mechanism the government may be able to meet the short fall in the revenue target fixed by the IMF for the financial 2008-09. The tax collection efforts of the FBR do not hold promise to come up to that level.
According to an estimate the government is earning an additional Rs15 billion per month by not passing on the benefit of reduced crude oil prices to voiceless consumers in an effort to meet the IMF's condition of limiting fiscal deficit to 4.2 per cent of gross domestic product (equivalent to Rs562 billion) in 2008-09. In the wake of a substantial revenue shortfall in the first half (July-Dec) of the current fiscal year, the government is bridging the fiscal gap by not passing on the benefit of lower oil prices in the world market to the consumers.
No relief seems to be in sight for people because the government is finding it an easy solution to continue with higher prices of petroleum products in order to cover the fiscal deficit. The government, sources said, was adopting ad hoc measures to avoid borrowing from the central bank and was arranging financing from other banks in order to meet the International Monetary Fund's condition.
Chaudary Nisar Ali, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly while speaking at a meeting, alleged that the Government was making over 100% profits on sale of petrol and diesel. Its imports were costing Rs29 and Rs 25per liter while it is being sold at Rs55+Rs50 per liter. Oil and oil products are, at present, the most heavily taxed items having a direct bearing on inflation specially the food items, he said.
Newly appointed Governor of State Bank of Pakistan, Mr. Salim Raza, announced that the mark-up rate will remain at present level till inflation comes down. Briefing newsmen during monetary policy announcement, he said that monetary policy will be reviewed every 3rd month instead of six months. The Government is making all out efforts to bring down the inflation and stabilize the economy and this target will be achieved soon, he added. He said that deficit in national budget and inflation were causes of all problems of the economy. "We do not have the habit of saving, and recovery of taxes was very limited," he added.
According to him, Pakistan's GDP growth rate had declined from 8 percent to 3.5 percent in the past one year. "In the world recession, 3.5 growth rate is also a blessing, because a number of countries is more affected by the international recession these days. Although the prices of essential items have not come down, but its pace of increase was under control," he added.
The SBP Governor said that to balance the budget deficit, the previous government took extensive loans from commercial banks. He said that on the other side consumer financing under easy terms and industrial loans were given on large scale, due to which inflation went up in the country.
"The present government has undertaken stiff monetary policy to correct things. At present, inflation rate in the country is 14.8 percent. If the rate of interest were not increased then surplus liquidity of government capital security would have been up by more than 10 percent." Moreover, he said, in order to consolidate national economy, it was imperative to meet the Prime Minister's target of 40 percent decrease in government expenses, at all cost. "For this reduction, non-development expenses were decreased and reduction of POL products subsidies was essential," he added.
He said that for achieving this, one has to rethink on development outlays of projects and increase in the rates of taxes. He observed that taxes were received in such limited terms in the country that the national budget was constantly in deficit. He pointed out that the people could receive the benefits of development only when the government has ample resources for development projects.
"Under the new monetary policy, the government, instead of commercial banks, would utilize cooperate bond market and equity market for financial resources. Bank deposit resources are integral to economic system and we would use them to supplement the national economy," he said.
The Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) that met under the chairmanship of Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin decided to raise regulatory duty on import of several items. It may be recalled that in July last year the government had imposed regulatory duty on 379 non-essential and luxury items. The objective at the time was two-fold. First, to reduce the pressure on the then precarious foreign exchange reserve position as an increase in duty of non-essential or luxury items would, it was argued, reduce their demand in the local market with a corresponding decline in the quantity of imports thereby saving valuable foreign exchange. And, second, to raise revenue in an effort to reduce the 7.4 percent 2007-08 budget deficit that was acknowledged as one of the primary reasons for galloping inflationary pressures.
The recent decision taken at the ECC meeting to raise regulatory duty, therefore, is indicative of two rather disturbing facts: (i) that the foreign exchange reserve position remains precarious in spite of the 7.6 billion dollar stand-by arrangement with the International Monetary Fund out of which around 3.1 billion dollars had already been released to the government in November and (ii) there are concerns over meeting the rather ambitious 4.2 percent budget deficit target agreed with the IMF as against the 7.4 percent achieved in 2007-08.
Pakistan has extremely porous borders. Thus any attempt to subsidise prices of essential items in Pakistani markets have, invariably, led to smuggling to neighboring countries with devastating implications, namely, that our government is subsidizing prices of essentials for the citizens of neighboring countries.
Policing our borders to stop smuggling has been a task that is simply too challenging given our long porous borders with India and Afghanistan. Thus the only viable policy option available to the government is to ensure that the prices of essentials not be subsidized to the extent that smuggling becomes attractive. And, by the same logic, the government must ensure that the levy of duty is not so high that it becomes profitable for smugglers to smuggle these items into Pakistan. Thus one would have hoped that the ECC had deliberated on the prices of these products in neighboring countries and ensured that the domestic price not be too much above that prevalent in India or Afghanistan.
Be that as it may, it is significant to note that our governments, past as well as present, have exhibited a tendency to tax those sectors that are relatively easy to milk. Thus increasing duties and sales tax has become the norm as a means to raise revenue - taxes that are essentially regressive in nature and whose incidence is higher on the poor relative to the rich. What Pakistan needs is tax on say income of the rich landlords, not of the poor and medium income farmers, as well as on the stock markets in an effort to raise tax collections in an equitable manner.


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| May 6, 2014
| 9:47 AM
When Kim Kardashian, in a draped petrol blue Lanvin gown, is one of the best dressed, you know it was a crazy night.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala for the fashion exhibition "Charles James: Beyond Fashion" was beyond fashion...
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The Met Gala honored...
| Apr 16, 2014
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| Apr 17, 2014
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| Apr 26, 2014
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| Apr 28, 2014
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| Apr 29, 2014
| 8:12 AM
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| May 2, 2014
| 7:51 AM
Heroin was "likely to have played a role" in Peaches Geldof's death, according to the results of an inquest. Toxicology reports showed the 25-year-old socialite and television personality had the drug in her system when she died suddenly last month....
| May 2, 2014
| 2:35 PM
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| Apr 23, 2014
| 10:42 AM
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Augmented reality games seem to be everywhere these days, and their inspiration is coming from some pretty interesting places.
Coming soon, renownded director David Cronenberg will see some of his amazing films turned into an AR game. Using GPS software, smartphone cameras, social media tools and more, developers are going to bring Cronenberg's films to life for gamers in what is being described by the Toronto International Film Festival as "stylized social-media meets psychological-thriller game play."
In fact, TIFF has created a job posting for a Project Manager on the Cronenberg AR project. Anyone interested in applying?
For my part, I'm just excited to see what movies will be included in the game, which should be released by the end of next year. eXistenZ is an obvious choice, as is Videodrome. But I wouldn't mind playing an Eastern Promises-themed game either. As long as it isn't too true to life.


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Accompanying this is a store push by another Betts brand, Airflex. With 23 stores throughout Australia, over the next seven months through to March 2016, at least one Airflex store will be opened each month, for a total of eight new stores.
A third business brand, Betts For Her, has 26 stores throughout Australia at present and will also form part of the company’s broader business focus as all three key brands look to expand moving forward, Jason Rhine GM, Airflex and Betts Kids, told Inside Retail Weekly.
For over 120 years – since 2012, this WA-owned and operated company has evolved and grown, and stores are dotted throughout the country in each state and territory except for Tasmania.
Its brand ethos – dubbed ‘chiconomics’ – is a, “perfect fusion of chic style and value for money”.
Culminating in winning the 2014 Shoe Store of the Year award at the Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards (based on 12 months of data), one of the strengths of Betts’ longevity lies in its being a family run business.
The fifth-generation, including Rhine, is now working within the business in key roles.
“We are a family-run business and have been since day one, so we’re actually in the fifth-generation of family members who are actively working in the business,” Rhine said. “A family type culture has been instilled throughout our entire organization, and I think this encourages loyalty, commitment and dedication with staff, whether you’re in our distribution centre, head office or out in our retail stores – the culture is that we’re one big family.”
Expanding product off
Betts is now looking at offering a variety of products at different price points to enable it to broaden its product offer. However, “the 100 per cent focus on products that we design and develop is still on premium quality materials”, Rhine emphasised.
Originally in the generic Betts shops, there was a dense offering with, for example, mothers in store shopping with their children side-by-side, with teenagers looking for fashion products, and more mature customers looking for comfort-based footwear.
The business was originally a real family shoe store, offering a men’s range, a ladies range, and a children’s range, as well as both a comfort and fashion product.
“We tried to offer an environment for every type of customer which, back in those days [up to the 80s], was, for us, a very successful model.”
With changes in the market, as well as in customer behaviour and attitudes, it was realised that for the business to grow, it needed to specialise its offer within the shopping environment to ensure customers’ specific needs could be met.
“It wasn’t the right shopping environment to cater to our specific target markets, which was a huge realisation in us becoming a lot more specialised and being able to really drive our specific brands within the marketplace,” Rhine said.
The company then separated its key brands and businesses – the kids specialty stores was one of the first brands pulled out in the 80s. These Betts Kids stores are presented as fun and inviting for children and parents, Betts Group CEO, Danny Breckler, told Inside Retail Weekly. “Providing an opportunity for specialised service in the area of fitting to ensure young children’s footwear needs are looked after,” explained Breckler.
In 2008 the Airflex brand was pulled out, followed by Betts For Her in 2010.
The stand-alone Airflex stores offer men’s and women’s footwear focused on modern comfort to the 30-plus age group, and a chief focus – not surprisingly, with this growing demographic.
“We want to be in the key centres nationally, around 90sqm to 100sqm from a footprint point of view,” Rhine said.
The Airflex brand DNA is all about ‘modern comfort’.
“We take international fashion trends – integrate the key looks, colours and materials for the season, as well as the styling and the fashion that’s on trend internationally, but then we ensure that every single product that we design and develop provides extreme comfort,” he said.
In addition, Betts is working on providing customers with a ‘holistic store offering’ where they can shop for complementary products while shopping for their footwear.
The expansion in store numbers is also being accompanied by growth in the online offering for the businesses. “We have seen significant growth so far this year in our online business,” Rhine said. “I am working on some key strategies to continue to create a seamless shopping experience for our customers, whether it’s online or instore.”


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According to Nintendo of Europe's internal sales panel NDS has become the best ever selling video game system in Europe with 40M units sold, they also claim Wii to be "the fastest selling home console in Europe by reaching the 20 million milestone in just over three years". Whilst they didn't give out annual sales, they previously gave out annual and LTD sales for 2008, making it possible to calculate 2009 sales.
2009 European Sales (2008) [LTD]:
NDS: 9M (11.2M) [40M]
Wii: 5.8M (8.3M) [20M]
That puts Wii down 30% and NDS down 20% during 2009.


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The recession is not without a silver lining. Hard economic times at home are forcing businesses to aggressively seek markets overseas. Yet though exports of Maryland-made goods rose 25 percent to $3.17 billion in 1990, much of the state's foreign trade potential is still untapped. Frederick County is a case in point. Only 63 out the county's 3,000 businesses are selling internationally, although many more could do so.
Up to now the county has not pushed exports in a coordinated fashion. But a state-sponsored survey of Frederick companies' foreign sales efforts has now led to discussion about forming an export council. Such a coordinating body could help small and mid-sized firms in particular to enter world markets.
A list of items Frederick County exports shows that the daring and the imaginative are rewarded. "Because Frederick has so many high-tech firms, many exports are electronic or computer technology," said James Graham of the county's Economic and Community Development Commission.


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January 2011 marks the 10th anniversary for Rubbertrax Inc. Unlike most manufacturers that produce rubber tracks as their secondary focus, Rubbertrax specializes in rubber tracks and undercarriage parts only.
“We have over 4,000 tracks in stock between our East and West Coast warehouses, which allows us to offer same day shipping,” said Larry Griffeth, owner and operator of Rubbertrax. “We carry inventory from the 180mm to 850mm wide tracks at all times.”
Manufacturers such as Bobcat and Takeuchi introduced rubber tracks into the market in the 1980s. By the late 1990s, machines utilizing rubber tracks were really taking off, however, for the most part the original equipment manufacturers were the only ones offering replacement tracks, according to Griffeth.
“After 30 years in the industrial tire industry, I recognized the strong need for aftermarket tracks and founded Rubbertrax in 2001. Rubbertrax has stayed successful because our motivated and knowledgeable staff provides excellent customer service.
“We offer quality aftermarket rubber tracks and undercarriage parts sold at a fraction of the original equipment manufacturer’s price. We have been an industry leader since our inception and continue to be a competitive force in the rubber track aftermarket,” Griffeth added.
For more information, call 866/431-5305 or visit www.rubbertrax.com.
Today's top stories


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U.S. consumers assume that the United States always leads the world in safety issues. For example, they expect federal regulations will ensure the trustworthiness of the food and medicines they buy. However, when it comes to the products they purchase online, things are less clear.
Millions of packages are shipped directly to U.S. consumers daily — but few are inspected. When Americans shop online, they frequently have no idea where the products they buy are manufactured. With unsafe imports causing safety issues, it’s time for Congress to mandate “Country of Origin” (COOL) labeling for all internet transactions.
How serious is the problem of unsafe e-commerce? A Wall Street Journal investigation found 10,870 items for sale on Amazon that had been declared unsafe by federal agencies were labeled deceptively, lacked federally required warnings, or were banned by federal regulators. This included many items that big-box retailers would bar from their shelves. Of the 1,934 sellers whose addresses could be determined, 54 percent were based in China.
China has become the epicenter of unsafe e-commerce, with 83 percent of all intellectual property seizures in the United States now originating from the People’s Republic. In fact, China accounts for 40 percent of all Amazon sales, and 75 percent of all new sellers on Amazon are Chinese companies. It’s even estimated that multiple new product listings are uploaded to Amazon from China every second.
Americans already know this is a problem, and polls show they want to buy American-made goods — 40 percent saying they’ll no longer buy anything made in China. They have already seen news stories about unsafe imports — like the Missouri man killed in a motorcycle accident due to a fraudulently labeled helmet bought online or the Georgia family whose home burned down because of a faulty hoverboard bought on Amazon.
Requiring country-of-origin labeling should be a no-brainer. Amazingly, though, some in Congress have blocked efforts to mandate COOL labeling. They appear to be following the whims of importers who claim that COOL labeling would add encumbrances to their business. That’s ludicrous since Amazon sales in Mexico already require this type of country-of-origin information. And Amazon recently started collecting similar information for new postings of products sold in the United States.
A Senate committee recently passed bipartisan legislation requiring clear country-of-origin labeling for all website product descriptions. This is a helpful first step, but the full Senate and the House must also take action.
More and more Americans are shopping online. They want to ensure the medicines, electronics, toys and household items they buy are safe. Country-of-origin labeling for this type of e-commerce would mark an important step toward reclaiming internet shopping safety.
Consumers deserve safe e-commerce. Requiring COOL labeling would be a small price for safe, reliable online shopping. Congress should move quickly to pass bipartisan country-of-origin labeling provisions and ensure that consumers’ lives aren’t put at risk by unsafe imports.


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Marks & Spencer has unveiled a travel-focused food ad as part of its ‘Spend it Well’ campaign.
The ad, which makes its debut today on the ITV Early Evening News, focuses on the Mediterranean flavours of its spring and summer food collection.
Continuing the ‘Spend it Well’ theme, the ad urges customers to “say no” to food that doesn’t excite or “stir your soul”.
The 40-second ad showcases M&S baklava, focaccia and glazed ribs, and urges customers to “pick up your knife and fork and get ready to travel”.
The food advertising will include shorter 20-second TV executions, as well as activity on Facebook and Twitter, cinema, print and outdoor.
The ad forms part of the ‘Spend it Well’ campaign, which launched last week with an ad that combined the M&S food and clothing divisions for the first time.
As part of the integrated campaign, the company will hold a ‘Make it Matter Day’ on June 1 calling on the nation to turn their decisions into “more enriching, empowered choices” and to say no instead of “defaulting to yes”.
M&S marketing director Rob Weston said the campaign marked a deliberately consistent approach across both food and non-food areas of the business. “We did a lot of soul searching and found both parts of the business stand for quality, style, taste, and ethics,” he told The Grocer. “The fundamentals stand behind the same brand promise. So that was a big part of what inspired our new advertising direction.”
M&S has stopped relying on demographic data to inform its advertising, Weston added, but is instead focusing on the attitude of the M&S shopper.
“We took a step back and said what really unites an M&S customer?” he said. “If you take age, it’s ridiculous to segment on that basis because there are very different habits within one age group. It’s much more to do with a philosophy and an attitude that says ‘I don’t want to compromise on quality or ethics or style’.”


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Uber and Nvidia Team Up on Self-Driving Cars
Uber announced that the ridesharing company has partnered with Nvidia for further development of the AI computing system in its fleet of self-driving vehicles. Speaking at the opening press conference of CES 2018, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said the collaboration utilizes Nvidia technology for Uber Advanced Technologies Group’s fleets of self-driving cars and freight trucks, running AI algorithms that enable vehicles to perceive the world, predict what will happen next and quickly choose the best course of action, even in complex environments.
“The future of transportation will be transformed by mobility services. Convenient, affordable mobility-as-a-service will reshape cities and society, and help support the billion-person increase in the world’s population over the next decade,” said Huang. “Autonomous vehicles are the critical technology to making mobility services pervasive.”
Uber began working on self-driving technology in early 2015, and launched the first city trials in Pittsburgh, in fall 2016, followed by a second pilot in Phoenix, starting in early 2017. Over this period, self-driving Ubers have completed more than 50,000 passenger trips and have logged more than 2 million autonomous miles.
Uber’s use of Nvidia technology reflects the reality that the computational requirements of self-driving vehicles are enormous. Self-driving cars and trucks must perceive the world through high-resolution, 360-degree surround cameras and lidars; localize the vehicle within centimeter accuracy; detect and track other vehicles and people; and plan a safe, comfortable path to the destination. All this processing must be done with multiple levels of redundancy to ensure safety. The computing demands of driverless vehicles are easily 50 to 100 times more intensive than the most advanced cars today.
Uber began using Nvidia GPU computing technology in its first test fleet of Volvo XC90 SUVs, and currently uses high-performance NVIDIA processors to run deep neural networks in both its self-driving ride-hailing cars and self-driving freight trucks. The development pace of the Uber fleet has accelerated dramatically, with the last million autonomous miles being driven in just 100 days.
Target Ditching Instacart for Shipt
After Target acquired same-day delivery brand Shipt for $550 million in December, the Minneapolis-based retail giant is reportedly dropping its previous delivery partnership with Instacart, according to a story published the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Since partnering up in 2015, Target has offered same-day Instacart deliveries in the Minneapolis/ St. Paul, Chicago and San Francisco markets. The article quoted Target spokesman Eddie Baeb who said there is no timeline for officially ending the partnership. Citing a source familiar with the matter, the story included the nugget that those three Target markets “account for less than 1 percent of Instacart’s entire volume.”
In announcing the Shipt partnership, Target said the majority of Target stores will offer the service before the 2018 holiday season. Once launched, the partnership will offer same-day delivery of groceries, home goods, electronics and other products, with a goal of including all major product categories by the end of 2019.
Founded in 2014 in Birmingham, Alabama, Shipt is a membership-based grocery marketplace and same-day delivery platform. The service leverages a network of more than 20,000 personal shoppers in more than 72 markets.
Grubhub Now Delivers White Castle (Just Not On A White Horse)
In hopes that maybe, just maybe, there are people jonesing for Crave Cases who are unwilling to leave their house to get them, White Castle and Grubhub have announced a partnership to deliver the famous mini-sliders from more than 120 U.S. White Castle restaurants.
Online ordering and delivery are currently available from Grubhub at more than 75 White Castle locations, including New York City, Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Detroit. Throughout January, Grubhub will bring delivery to an additional 45 additional White Castle locations.
To celebrate the arrival of Grubhub delivery from White Castle, the companies will deliver a Super Bowl meal via White Castle’s Crave Mobile food truck to one lucky winner during the game on February 4, 2018.
As the market leader and only public company in the delivery space, the latest partnership comes on the heels of momentum for Grubhub. In recent months, Grubhub has worked to provide delivery with national brands such as The Cheesecake Factory and BJ’s, while also announcing strategic partnerships with IHG Hotels and Yelp.
Restaurant Revolution Technologies a Third Front in Delivery Wars
Washington-based Restaurant Revolution Technologies is joining the fray to provide restaurants with yet another option to reach hungry consumers with as little friction (and human effort) as possible.
Previously branded as RRT, the newly appended Revolution is an omni-channel software-as-a-service ordering software suite for restaurants that allows restaurants to expand their off-premise ordering while maintaining customer data that’s proving to be increasingly valuable to restaurants.
Rich Earle, the company’s director of marketing, said off-premise restaurant ordering is currently 40 percent of the annual, $550 billion U.S. restaurant market with nowhere to go but up. “There’s no bigger trend within the industry, and a lot of that is driven by younger generations,” he added.
In describing the brand’s platform, Earle said Revolution integrates directly with existing point-of-sale systems to make delivery operations a more seamless process with fewer opportunities for human error. In addition, allowing restaurant brands to maintain control of customer data, he said, is Revolution’s primary claim to fame—as well as the option to improve delivery-specific economics compared with outsourcing to third-party delivery providers.
In addition to its rebranding, the company announced completing a Series B round of financing, which brings its total funding to date up to $23.5 million—yet another example of the investment community’s interest in getting a chunk of the profits as off-premise delivery continues to expand.
“Revolution continues to evolve as a powerful innovator of off-premise technology and services for restaurants in a time when restaurant traffic is migrating from dining-in to off-premise—in particular online ordering and delivery,” said CEO Brad Duea in a release announcing the latest financing.
With New App, 7-Eleven Joins the Delivery Game
Convenience-store chain 7-Eleven is testing delivery and in-store pickup ordering at select Dallas stores with its new 7-ElevenNOW smartphone app. Currently being tested in 10 downtown and uptown stores, 7-ElevenNOW is expected to roll out to other U.S. locations in 2018 as part of a “significant digital transformation,” according to the company. Customers can opt for direct delivery to their location or pick up their prepared order at a participating store. The company hasn’t named a delivery service partner, saying only that orders will be directed to a “courier service,” and customers pay for both delivery and pickup via the app. As part of its digital focus, the company also recently expanded its 7Rewards app-based customer loyalty program and launched 7-Eleven Bot on Facebook Messenger.


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MOSCOW, February 12. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s consumer inflation rate picked up the pace of 0.2% from February 4 through February 10, 2014, the Russian State Statistics Service says in its regular report, adding that the indicator has gone up by 0.3% since the beginning of February and grown by 0.9% since the beginning of the year.
Over the same period of the preceding year, consumer prices gained 0.2% on February 1-10, as well as had grown by 1.2% since January 1, 2013. In February 2013, the country’s inflation was estimated at 0.6%.
February 4 - February 10, the biggest growth of prices was registered for vodka (1.2%), the statistics said, adding that prices for frozen fish, milk, cottage cheese, sour cream, butter and granulated sugar edged up by 0.4-0.8%.
Simultaneously, average prices of eggs continued decreasing and dropped by 2.9% over the week. In addition, the prices of buckwheat went down by 0.4%, while prices of sunflower oil slid down by 0.2%.
In the period under review, prices of fruit and vegetables increased by 1.6% on average across the country, while the prices of cabbages went up by 4.2% and the prices of cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, and onions grew by 2.1-3.9%.
In the designated period, the Russian State Statistics Service registered 0.2% growth in the petrol prices, but no changes in the average prices of diesel fuel.


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Google announced recently that it has improved its mobile search service to allow users to find applications both online and in mobile application stores. As expected, users will be able to find apps in Android’s Market from within search. But they will also be able to find applications in Apple’s App Store, making it a useful application for those who don’t want to use the built-in search in those stores.
For its part, Google is being careful to give users the option of finding apps within search without pushing them in one direction or another. It’s a smart move. It also shows how powerful Google has become.
Google is arguably the only company that has the ability to overcome Apple. As this latest move has shown, the company can work its way into some of Apple’s core operations and attract customers. Admittedly, an improvement to search likely won’t be enough to take Apple down.
As time goes on, the chances of Google dominating Apple will be slim, given the success the hardware company has achieved over the past few years. But overtaking Apple as the top tech company is a long-term campaign. This has nothing to do with ruining Apple, only replacing it as the de facto leader in the industry. It’s something that no other company but Google can do. This is how it can happen:
1. Google appeals to consumers
Like Apple, Google does a fine job of appealing to consumers. That’s an important element in its ability to compete with Apple and potentially overtake the hardware company at some point in the future. For years, Apple’s key selling point has been its appeal to consumers. Without it, the company wouldn’t have been nearly as popular as it is today. Meanwhile, other companies, such as Microsoft, simply don’t have that same appeal. And that will only hurt its chances of coming close to supplanting Apple as the dominant company in the tech business. Thanks to consumers, Google is the only company that can do it.
2. Google knows how to innovate
Google understands the value of innovation. The vast majority of other firms in the industry simply don’t. Rather than sit back and follow the lead of its competitors, Google, like Apple, has gone out and found ways to innovate beyond what’s already available. That was especially true with its search-and-advertising efforts, but it’s quickly becoming clear that it wants to do the same in the mobile business, in the operating system market and in the living room. Going forward, as long as Google continues to strive for innovation, it will have a better chance of overcoming Apple.
3. Apple is huge
One of the main reasons why no other company can overtake Apple in the tech industry is its size. With Steve Jobs presiding over Apple, the hardware company has become more valuable than Microsoft. That significantly bolsters its standing as the leader in the market. After all, with more than $40 billion in cash on hand and no other major competitor that has both its size and vision, Apple can rest easy knowing there is little chance of it being supplanted as the top company in the industry. Except, that is, if Google can get its act together. The search giant is extremely big, and it’s starting to see the value of innovation. If it can continue, it might give Apple something to worry about.
4. Microsoft won’t cut it
Microsoft might be a hugely successful company that continues to do well each quarter, but its influence in the industry is slowly diminishing. Years ago, there was little debating which company was the biggest and most important in the tech space. Today, all that has changed. Microsoft has failed to innovate, it doesn’t have a vision, and all the while its financial success has diminished over time. A few years ago, Microsoft might have been a real threat to Apple, but as the hardware company has shifted away from computers, it has left Microsoft far behind.
Google Keeps Its Eye on the Prize
5. The market is changing in Google’s favor
There is one place where Apple has failed to adequately see the future: the Web. So far, Steve Jobs and Company have focused heavily on hardware and the mobile industries. Given its success, it was the right move. But by doing so, Apple has lost sight of the next frontier in the tech industry. Google hasn’t. The search giant is ready to invite more consumers and companies to the Internet. It not only has all the services ready to go, it also has Chrome OS, the operating system it needs to introduce folks to the cloud. Google’s Trojan horse could be Apple’s Achilles’ heel.
6. Steve Jobs won’t be at Apple forever
A quick glimpse at Apple’s history reveals one important fact: Apple needs Steve Jobs. For the foreseeable future, Jobs will remain at Apple and lead his company. But a time will come when he needs to leave Apple. And when that happens, it might be the opening Google will need to take charge of the industry. It won’t happen overnight, since Jobs is smart enough to have plans well into the future. But once his influence is gone, Google can step in and supplant Apple as the top tech company in the industry. Given Jobs’ recent health issues, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that he leaves Apple sooner than some might think.
7. The right strategy is in place
Google has the right strategy in place to take over the tech industry from Apple. Not only has it cornered the search market-a key battleground going into the next decade-the company has also revealed itself as the go-to advertising firm on the Web. That alone should help it eventually surpass Apple. But it goes beyond that. Google is also positioning its Android OS as a fine mobile alternative to iPhone iOS. Plus, the company is branching out into other areas, such as building a fiber network, to expand its operation even further. Google isn’t just a search company anymore.
8. Mac OS X is a big question mark
Mac OS X could be a problem for Apple going forward. Although the software is beloved among designers and those that want to get away from Windows, it still holds a small portion of the operating system market. And now that Google is preparing to release a Web-based operating system, it might only be a matter of time before Apple’s lack of focus on Mac OS X catches up to it. That said, computers are still a key component in what Apple brings to the consumer’s table. It just needs to realize that if it’s not careful, Google will pass it by.
9. Android is a force
Android OS is arguably the biggest threat to Apple right now. A recent NPD report found that more consumers bought Android-based phones in the first quarter of 2010 than iPhones. Granted, Apple is only offering a single device, while Google’s operating system is running on multiple phones. But it effectively highlights that Google is starting to gain traction in the single market where Apple has tied much of its future. If Google can continue to perform well, things could get worse for Apple. And it could eventually lose its standing as the top tech company to Google.
10. Touch isn’t everything
Although Apple has made multitouch functionality a key component in its business plan, it’s important for the company to know that, as Google has shown, touch isn’t everything. To stay atop the tech industry over the next 10 years, Apple needs to branch out beyond iPhone iOS and find a way to stay ahead of the curve in more areas than the mobile sector. At the same time, it can’t be everything to everyone. It should determine its core competencies, find out where it can make an impact and focus its efforts there. Let Google be the company that does it all. If Apple focuses too much of its time on multitouch and not enough on other businesses, the company could be in for a rude awakening when Google supplants it as the top tech company in the industry and never looks back.


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NJ businesses can receive major discount for purchasing electric vehicles
There will soon be $45 million up for grabs for businesses across New Jersey that are interested in purchasing zero-emission vehicles.
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority on Monday announced the upcoming expansion of its New Jersey Zero Emission Incentive Program (NJ ZIP) that has already been accepting and approving applications in seelect cities.
NJEDA also announced that the pilot program will be widened to include purchases of heavy-duty vehicles, such as buses and tractor-trailers — up until now, the program applied to medium-duty vehicles, such as vans and shuttles.
"We anticipate being able to support 200 to 500 vehicle purchases," said Victoria Carey, Clean Energy Manager for NJEDA.
The voucher program, funded by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, can reduce the cost of a business's purchase by as much as $100,000.
While zero-emission vehicles feature higher upfront costs, Carey said, they are less costly to operate over time. So, businesses that take advantage of the program would benefit doubly on the financial side, and run a more environment-friendly operation.
Information for interested participants should be available on the agency's NJ ZIP page once the program's approval goes through a mandated 10-day review period.
As of last month, NJEDA had approved 144 applications totaling $32.2 million in vouchers. According to Carey, more than 90% of the program's participants have been small businesses, and 57% are woman- or minority-owned enterprises.


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Subscription management platform Chargebee has acquired collections management platform numberz and launched Chargebee Receivables. Subscription businesses will now be able to smartly automate their entire receivables process from purchase to payment, in addition to managing subscription products and invoices, leading to better data collections and insights for more confident decision-making.
On average, it takes about 72 days for the world’s fastest-growing SaaS companies to get paid on their invoices according to internal analysis of the Cloud Index Report. This is particularly significant in comparison to an average US company, getting paid in 45 days. Contrary to popular perception, the biggest reasons for late payments are neither customer intent nor the customer’s own cash flow issues. These challenges arise due to the seller’s internal process inefficiencies that persist despite the usage of ERPs or Accounting solutions, which account for as high as 50-60% of the delays.
Krish Subramanian, CEO and co-founder of Chargebee, said: “Over the last year, we have focused on strategic acquisitions that grow our platform and solve a wide range of customer problems by building a unified solution that connects data points from all aspects of the business. With the acquisition of numberz, we are focused on solving bottlenecks that often occur due to clunky Accounts Receivable systems that leave collections delayed and bills unpaid. When businesses are growing at a fast rate, it’s critical that decision-makers have full visibility into receivables so they have clarity into available working capital needed for growth.”
The numberz team joins Chargebee in various offices and remotely across India, including the addition of executive team members to Chargebee’s leadership team. The acquisition comes directly on the heels of the recent additions of Brightback and RevLock to Chargebee, and a new round of funding co-led by Sequoia and Tiger Global, signalling rapid product and talent growth for growing global startup Chargebee.
“We are excited to be a part of Chargebee and to add Accounts Receivable Management capabilities that help finance leaders better manage their entire order-to-cash cycle, aid business growth and unlock massive value,” said Aditya Tulsian, Co-Founder and CEO of numberz.


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Electrical automobiles (EVs) have emerged as a promising answer to scale back our reliance on fossil fuels and reduce the unfavourable results they’ve on the atmosphere. That is the primary cause why they’ve gained huge recognition everywhere in the world. In addition they value much less to gasoline and supply higher efficiency.
Nonetheless, there are numerous electrical car myths and misconceptions that proceed to persist, making folks forged doubt on their viability and advantages. On this article, we’ll discuss 4 of the commonest electrical car myths and misconceptions, and supply proof to point out why they’re not true.
Widespread electrical car myths and misconceptions
Fable 1: EVs are worse for the atmosphere than gasoline vehicles
Some folks declare that EVs should not actually higher for the atmosphere than gasoline vehicles due to the emissions from energy vegetation and battery manufacturing factories. Nonetheless, that’s only a delusion, and it must be put to relaxation. EVs don’t launch any air pollution from their tailpipes (they don’t have tailpipes). Which means that they’ve zero emissions and don’t contribute to international warming.
Additionally, electrical automobiles have a considerably smaller environmental impression in comparison with gasoline vehicles, even when accounting for the emissions from electrical energy era and battery manufacturing. Emissions throughout the battery manufacturing course of are balanced out by the truth that EVs produce a lot much less air pollution over their complete lives in comparison with gasoline vehicles.
A examine performed by the Union of Involved Scientists revealed that on common, within the US, electrical automobiles produce 54 p.c fewer carbon emissions than gasoline vehicles. This determine will enhance as extra renewable vitality sources are built-in into the grid.
EVs additionally cut back the necessity for oil extraction, refining, and transportation, which have vital environmental impacts. Subsequently, when contemplating the entire life cycle of a car, EVs are nonetheless higher for the atmosphere than gasoline vehicles.
Fable 2: EVs are too costly and never definitely worth the funding
One other frequent false impression that many individuals nonetheless have about electrical automobiles is that they’re too costly and never definitely worth the funding. It’s true that EVs have a better preliminary buy worth than gasoline vehicles, however this isn’t the entire image. Although the upfront value is greater, electrical automobiles can really prevent cash in the long term. It is because they’ve decrease working and upkeep prices since they don’t want oil modifications, filters, spark plugs, and many others. Moreover, recharging an electrical car battery prices a lot lower than filling up a gasoline automobile with gasoline.
EVs even have fewer transferring elements than gasoline vehicles. Subsequently, they don’t endure from frequent issues related to gasoline vehicles, like engine or gearbox put on and tear. This offers them an extended lifespan and higher resale worth.
Fable 3: EVs have restricted vary and charging choices
It’s true that electrical vehicles had restricted vary and charging choices, however that was previously. Their batteries didn’t maintain as a lot vitality because the gasoline tanks in common vehicles. So, electrical vehicles might journey shorter distances on a single cost in comparison with gasoline vehicles on a full tank.
Nonetheless, expertise has improved considerably. Fashionable electrical vehicles now have greater and higher batteries, which allow them to journey a lot farther on a single cost. Many EVs at this time have ranges that may simply cowl day by day commutes, usually exceeding 200 miles (320 kilometres) on a single cost.
The provision of charging stations was additionally restricted previously, which might make long-distance journey with EVs difficult. Nonetheless, this case has been altering quickly. Many international locations are actually engaged on constructing extra charging infrastructure. Which means that charging choices are now not restricted like they had been previously; they’re turning into extra accessible and handy.
Fable 4: EVs should not as protected or dependable as gasoline vehicles
One other electrical car delusion some folks consider is that they aren’t protected or that they break down extra. Nonetheless, the reality is that EVs are as protected or safer than gasoline vehicles and have fewer mechanical points and breakdowns.
Identical to common vehicles, electrical automobiles undergo rigorous testing and certification to verify they’re protected. They’ve a number of options that improve their security, reminiscent of decrease middle of gravity, stronger physique construction, and superior driver help techniques.
Relating to reliability, electrical automobiles are literally higher. They don’t have as many transferring elements as their gasoline counterparts, in order that they don’t get worn out as rapidly. This makes them extra dependable and fewer prone to have points.
These are simply among the myths and misconceptions that encompass electrical automobiles, however there are numerous extra information and advantages that make them a sensible and sustainable selection for transportation. EVs should not solely higher for the atmosphere but additionally for the economic system, society, and drivers. As expertise advances and consciousness will increase, electrical automobiles will turn out to be extra accessible and enticing to everybody.
#Widespread #Electrical #Automobile #Myths #Misconceptions #TechGuy


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The situation around battery cell production at Tesla Gigafactory 1 is coming into focus over the past few days following reports about Tesla and Pansonic slowing down their investments into the battery factory.
Now Tesla CEO Elon Musk weighs in and confirms that battery cell production is indeed still limited at Gigafactory 1 in Nevada.
Last week, a report came out of Asia claiming that Tesla and Panasonic suspended investments in the expansion of Gigafactory 1.
Tesla partly denied the report saying that they still plan to continue investments, but they want to first focus on getting more production out of their existing equipment:
“Both Tesla and Panasonic continue to invest substantial funds into Gigafactory. That said, we believe there is far more output to be gained from improving existing production equipment than was previously estimated. We are seeing significant gains from upgrading existing lines to increase output, which allows Tesla and Panasonic to achieve the same output with less spent on new equipment purchases. However, we will of course continue to make new investments in Gigafactory 1, as needed. Most importantly, contrary to what is implied in this report, our demand for cells continues to outpace supply. It remains the fundamental constraint on Tesla vehicle and Powerwall/Powerpack production.”
In following comments over the weekend, Musk reiterated what was said in Tesla’s official comment regarding the automaker being cell constrained, but he added that the production is currently not effectively at 35 GWh, which was previously thought to be the current annual production rate.
Last year, it was believed that Panasonic achieved an annualized production rate of 35 GWh and there were even talks with Tesla to increase its investment at Gigafactory 1 beyond the 35 GWh capacity.
Now Musk says the production lines are only running at two-thirds of the capacity:
There is 35 GWh/yr “theoretical capacity”, but actual max output is ~2/3. It was physically impossible to make more Model 3’s in Q1 due to cell constraints.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2019
Tesla disclosed having produced 62,950 Model 3 vehicles during the first quarter.
At an average of 63 kWh per battery pack (the average between Standard Range Plus and Long Range battery packs), it would mean almost 4 GWh of battery cells or almost 16 GWh at an annualized rate.
When Tesla and Panasonic first announced plans for Gigafactory 1, they planned to gradually increase production capacity at Gigafactory 1 to up to 105 GWh of battery cell production and 150 GWh of battery pack production in order to support Tesla’s growing business.
This is significant news. The production capacity at Giafactory 1 is much lower than most people previously thought.
For a while now, we thought that Gigafactory 1 wasn’t a production bottleneck anymore.
Elon seems to say that Model 3 is still cell constrained, but it doesn’t seem to be the case at a production of ~63,000 units last quarter unless there were specific problems with battery cell production during the last quarter or energy storage production was way higher than anyone expected.
Either way, I think it is still fair to say that Gigafactory 1 is still the largest battery cell factory in the world.
My understanding is that Tesla and Panasonic have invested in the capacity for 35 GWh, but they currently can’t get out more than ~23 GWh due to production issues.
We will keep an eye out on production issues at Gigafactory 1 going forward as it is a very important part of Tesla’s future growth.
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Of all the new Surface products announced this week, the one that caught most everyone off guard was the Surface Headphones, an upcoming $350 set of headphones with Cortana integration, capacitive touch controls, and advanced noise cancellation. But as it turns out, Surface Headphones could be the first step in a bid to "[complete] the Surface experience," according to a new interview with Surface head Panos Panay.
Speaking with The Verge, Panay commented on the impetus behind creating the Surface Headphones, driving towards that idea of a complete Surface Experience. From Panay:
Further in the interview, Panay also hinted that Microsoft isn't done with exploring new ideas for this complete experience. Turning his attention to the Surface Hub 2, Panay hinted that we could eventually see a USB-C camera based on the Hub 2's high fidelity shooter.
Surface Hub 2 notably also features a modular design that allows users to upgrade its internals. And it turns out that is something Panay could see trickling down to the Surface Studio at some point – though that's far from a guarantee. When asked whether a modular design may be in the cards for Studio, Panay responded:
In any case, Microsoft is certainly focused on filling out its Surface lineup with a cohesive experience that encompasses more than just its PCs. The Surface Headphones and various mice and keyboards are just a part of that, but we could potentially see more surprising additions going forward.
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Beta nets Nuffield integrated account
By Matt Williams, campaignlive.co.uk, Thursday, 20 October 2011 12:05PM
Nuffield, the UK's largest health charity, has appointed Beta to handle its integrated advertising account.
Beta picked up the business without a pitch and will now work on a relaunch of the brand, starting with an overhaul of its website. The charity said that it plans to spend £4 million on advertising to back the relaunch.
Nuffield is a not-for-profit organisation that operates more than 200 facilities across the UK, including a number of private hospitals and health clubs.
The brand previously used Gyro on its advertising business. The agency started working on the account in September 2009, and oversaw a repositioning of Nuffield to help promote it as a one-stop destination for healthcare, fitness and wellbeing.
David Grint, the Nuffield group marketing director, said: "We have been hugely impressed by Beta's integrated capabilities and look forward to working closely with it across a range of projects."
This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk
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Brick-and-mortar retailers are testing intelligent shopping carts that are billed as a way to improve the in-store experience. Canadian food retailer Sobeys, for instance, is bringing the technology to grocery stores with the rollout of the Sobeys Smart Cart, which will offer shoppers a “highly engaging, fun and fast way to shop,” per an announcement.
The pilot is taking place at the grocer's Glen Abbey location in Ontario, Canada. The Sobeys Smart Cart seeks to solve the pain point of in-store checkout lineups. Its technology weighs and scans items as shoppers put them in their carts, shows a running tally of purchases and lets customers pay on the spot.
The cart is equipped with machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Going beyond fast checkout, it will eventually make product suggestions, highlight promotions and help shoppers navigate stores. According to the announcement, the test is "part of Sobeys' customer-focused innovation approach to learn and continuously improve through customer feedback."
Mathieu Lacoursiere, vice president of retail support at Sobeys Inc., said, "While products and customer eating habits have evolved, the in-store grocery shopping experience has remained relatively static for the last 100 years. This is a unique way for us to test innovative new technologies aimed at enhancing the customer shopping experience and learn how best to make it faster and easier.”
The cart will also expand from “scanning” merchandise to “identifying” it. Currently, the device offers multiple high-resolution cameras that capture 120 images each second as the merchandise enters the cart, so it can learn how to identify each grocery product. With its sensitive weight measures, shoppers will one day be able to toss their items in the cart without the need to scan barcodes or input any information.
Beyond Sobeys, multiple companies have been inspired to offer new methods for shoppers to grab items from stores and avoid the checkout line. Startups like Zippin and Standard Cognition are tapping into technology that is reportedly similar to that of Amazon Go, with cameras powered by machine learning software and computer vision. Other innovators are aiming to reinvent the shopping cart with advanced technology with the goal of improving the commerce and payments experience at the grocery store.
In Other Brick-and-Mortar News
Amazon unveiled the expansion of a network of staffed pickup points, called Counter, where customers can retrieve packages in-store at partner locations. Shoppers can now access thousands of additional Amazon Hub Counter locations at the eCommerce retailer’s new store partners: GNC, Health Mart and Stage Stores. Delivery to a Counter location is available for “the tens of millions of items sold on Amazon.com,” per an announcement from the company.
Amazon Hub Worldwide Director Patrick Supanc said in the announcement, “The response we’ve heard from our customers and partners after the launch of Counter earlier this year has been tremendous. This new network of pickup points gives customers a pickup experience that is fast, flexible and convenient, and partners are thrilled with the strong engagement and additional foot traffic Counter is driving for their stores.”
In other news, Uber Eats has entered into a partnership with Costcutter, marking the delivery app’s first foray into the U.K. convenience sector. Retailers within the symbol group operate with the Costcutter, Supershop, Kwiksave, Mace and Simply Fresh banners. CSG retailers can sign up for the platform, with multiple regional roadshows to take place.
Items from sweet treats to alcoholic drinks can be delivered via the app. Costcutter Marketing Director Sean Russell said, per reports, “With 28 percent of food and groceries now purchased online in the U.K., our partnership with Uber Eats is a great way to reach new customers and demonstrates our continued commitment to helping our independent retailers thrive.”
On another note, Walmart is starting its holiday shopping season early, noting fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The company is advertising deals for the season beginning on Friday (Oct. 25). Walmart said it would debut new deals regularly as the season goes on, and it is also providing free next-day delivery for the first time.
To keep tabs on the latest retail trends, check next week’s Retail Pulse.


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The joint venture will develop and own institutional-grade, state-of-the-art industrial and logistics facilities as well as acquire core assets, focusing on tier 1 and tier 2 cities across India, the companies said in a release.
The proposed platform will be seeded with around 2.2 million sq ft build-to-core asset, located in close proximity to Mumbai and Thane.
“GIC has been investing in India for more than a decade, and this investment is a testament to our confidence in the long-term potential of this market,” said Lee Kok Sun, Chief Investment Officer of Real Estate, GIC.
The industrial and logistics segment has emerged to become a key growth driver of India’s real estate industry. Growing e-commerce demand, changing consumer consumption patterns and rapid adoption of omnichannel distribution models by companies in the backdrop of Covid-19 outbreak are expected to push demand for warehousing and logistics spaces across the country.
“Continued e-commerce growth in India over the long term, reinforced by rising internet penetration, is expected to drive strong demand for industrial and logistics assets. This is further supported by the emphasis on infrastructure development, changing supply chains, and low vacancy levels. This joint venture is well-positioned to benefit from these tailwinds, bring institutional-grade assets into this market, and generate resilient returns,” said Kishore Gotety, Co-Head (Asia ex-China) of Real Estate, GIC.
ESR, a leading Asia-Pacific logistics real estate platform, has $22 billion of assets under management. Its projects are spread across eight cities with 10 million sq ft of development completed and over 35 million sq ft of ongoing and planned development.
“This strategic partnership provides us with immediate scale to capitalise on the early growth stages of India’s rapidly modernising industrial and logistics landscape and tap high growth potential opportunities and further expand our industrial and logistics portfolio,” said Abhijit Malkani and Jai Mirpuri, Country Heads, ESR India.
The company is currently developing warehousing projects at Chakan in Pune, Hosur in Bengaluru, Farrukhnagar and Bilaspur in Delhi-NCR, Kothur in Hyderabad and Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu.
Sunday, 10 Dec, 2023
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The IT services industry continues to be the top CEO paymaster in India despite business headwinds in the past two years, going by FY23 numbers when seven out of the 10 highest earning CEOs in the country were from this sector.Discounts Reign with Early Yr-end Sales
Big discounting is making a comeback as brands and retailers including ecommerce platforms are advancing their end-of-season sale events by 7-10 days, in a rush to clear unsold inventories and notch-up revenue that remained under pressure for most part of the year.
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CEVA commences regular trucking service between China and Europe
April 3, 2019: CEVA Logistics has further extended its highway to the west road service between China and Europe following on from its first ever TIR truck to Poland at the end of last year.
April 3, 2019: CEVA Logistics has further extended its highway to the west road service between China and Europe following on from its first ever TIR truck to Poland at the end of last year. This week, the company marked a new milestone with its first ever truck from China arriving safely at its destination in Spain.
Just 16 days after setting off, the 70 cubic metres load of 7000kgs of garments destined for a leading worldwide retailer in Spain successfully completed the door-to-door delivery. Departing from South China, the truck travelled via Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany and France.
No inspection was required during transit following the Customs sealing at Khorgos on the China-Kazakstan border and it being unsealed in Spain. The total distance covered was more than 13,600km.
"This was the last official trial for our new China-Europe trucking service before we begin a regular service this month," says Torben Bengtsson, executive vice president of CEVA Logistics North Asia. "Together with our partner Alblas International Logistics, we will further extend our trucking footprint through this unique service. The TIR trucking will change our customer's logistics flow significantly."
The newly developed trucking service has a broad prospects in the marketplace. "It's a very cost sensitive alternative to air and rail transport," said Kelvin Tang, director of road & rail, CEVA Logistics North Asia. "Compared to air transport, the cost is more than 40 percent lower. And it's at least 10 days faster than rail transport," he added.
The CEVA China-Europe trucking service will be operated as a round trip twice a week, with exact departure and destination being handled flexible according to customer's needs. In addition to FCL (Full Container Load), CEVA Logistics North Asia will also launch LCL (Less Than Container Load) service this June.


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Following on from the reasonably recent rumour that Cel Damage HD will arrive for the Xbox One thanks to a well spotted PEGI rating, Finish Line Games have now announced that the vehicular combat title will indeed be releasing for Microsoft's console.
Cel Damage originally released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube platforms to mixed reviews back in 2001. The game later released in high definition format on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita platforms.
Finish Line have not yet announced any release dates but promise us an announcement will be made soon. Let us know if you are looking forward to play Cel Damage HD on your Xbox One console.
Help TeamVVV grow by supporting us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/TeamVVV.


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By Tebogo Mashabela (Agricultural Economist)
Farm and factory-gate inflation, as measured by the annual change in the producer price index (PPI) for final manufactured goods, declined to its lowest level in five months in July 2019. Producer inflation slowed more than expected to 4.9% year-on-year (y/y) in July 2019, from 5.8% in June 2019. The consensus forecast for the inflation rate for final manufactured goods by economists polled by Bloomberg was 5.6%, and as such the 4.9% actual outcome was therefore significantly lower than expected.
The deceleration in producer inflation in July 2019 was largely due to lower fuel prices. The fuel producer price component has consistently been the largest contributor to the headline PPI reading. In July 2019, petrol prices dropped substantially for the first time in six months by 95 cents per litre due to a large drop in international oil prices.
Source: Stats SA
The producer inflation rate for agriculture, forestry and fishing accelerated, albeit modestly to -1.1% level in July 2019, from -1.9% in June 2019. The food producer inflation also accelerated to 6.1% in July 2019, from 5.7% in June 2019. This is, in fact, the highest such figure recorded since May 2017.
Part of the producer price food inflation increase is statistical in nature following the stagy decline in food inflation a year ago as the economy emerged from severe drought and the supply of food became more abundant again. It is also partly a function of a recovery in meat prices as the meat market returns to normality in the wake of the drought conditions of the past year as well as the outbreak of foot and mouth disease.
The producer inflation rate for meat and meat products accelerated to 2.2% in July 2019, from 0.3% in June after having risen progressively from a low point of -6.1% in January 2019. While producer inflation in most food products across categories accelerated from June 2019 levels, producer price inflation of grain-related products surprisingly decelerated to 11.8% in July 2019, from 13.0% in June 2019.
The recent acceleration of food producer inflation witnessed in July 2019 will have a negative effect on food inflation in the coming months, which eased more than expected from 4.5% in June 2019 to 4.0% in July 2019. In addition, the latest increases in fuel prices in August and September 2019 will, in fact, exert some upward pressure on food inflation in the short term.
In its last meeting in July 2019, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB)’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) clearly stated that food prices remain key risk to the inflation outlook this year and early next year. The latest acceleration in food consumer and producer inflation in July 2019 should, therefore, be a worrying concern to the MPC.
Can we expect an interest rate cut in three weeks’ time?
Producer inflation partially foreshadows consumer inflation, which is the key benchmark used by the MPC in deciding on interest rate increase and/or cut. However, the relationship is not perfect, as producers often can absorb price pressures to retain market share.
This can be seen with the latest data on consumer and producer inflation which clearly shows that retailers have not been able to pass on significant price increases to consumers. Businesses are just not able to pass on cost increases in the manner possible a year or two ago. A weak demand environment continues to hinder the transfer of costs further down the chain as retailers are finding it hard to pass the costs to consumers due to weak buying power.
Given that both consumer and producer inflation decelerated by even more than had been expected, there is 50-50 chance of a second consecutive interest rate cut at the forthcoming MPC meeting from 17th to 19th September 2019. The latest inflation numbers (i.e. both producer and consumer inflation) confirm that there is very little inflationary pressure in the wobbling South African economy. In addition, global monetary policy has inclined towards a materially softer stance in the wake of the escalation of the global trade war. As such, this together with little inflationary pressure could help support a rate-cut decision by the MPC in September 2019.
On the other hand, the MPC may place more weight on future price changes before deciding on the rate cut. For this reason, it might take a wait and see approach thus leaving rates on hold in September given the uncertain trajectory of the rand. It might retain a cautious policy stance, in view of the recently marked rand depreciation.
Tebogo Mashabela is an Agricultural Economist by profession with two master’s degrees, Master of Science (MSc) Agricultural Economics and Master of Business Administration (MBA).


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About two weeks after debuting the latest beta build of Opera Mobile for Nokia and other Symbian/S60 smartphones, Norwegian software maker Opera is bringing the latest beta version of its custom mobile browser application to Windows Mobile-powered devices.
Microsoft’s operating system for mobiles is taking quite a hit lately, having lost one third of its smartphone market share since 2008 according to research firm Gartner.
But Microsoft still holds about 8% market share in the segment and it is currently prepping the 2010 release of Windows Mobile 7, so all is not unequivocally lost for Redmond in this space – whether you want to believe it or not.
Anyway, Opera Mobile 10 Beta is now available for Windows Mobile phones, and that means users can benefit from a more enjoyable browsing experience from their handsets than is usually the case with built-in and other third-party web browsing tools.
The Opera Mobile 10 beta for Windows Mobile looks and feels similar to the Opera 10 desktop browser and Opera Mini 5 beta and has all the features that were already available for Nokia and other Symbian/S60 phones: Speed Dial, tabbed browsing, a password manager and its super, server-side compressor, Opera Turbo.
It’s supposed to be way faster, too. Anyone still own a Windows Mobile smartphone want to take Opera Mobile 10 Beta for a spin and let us know how much of an improvement it is?


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Reserve Bank of Australia
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has lowered its growth forecast amid a slowdown in the country's non-mining sectors.
The central bank cut its growth forecast for 2012 to 3 percent from its earlier projection of 3.5 percent.
The move comes just days after the RBA cut rates to 3.75 percent in a surprise move to boost growth.
Australian retail sales grew at a snail's pace in February as consumers spent less on clothing, household goods and eating out, a long-running trend that will only add to industry calls for another cut in interest rates.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) holds its April policy meeting on Tuesday and while economists doubt it will cut the 4.25 percent cash rate this time, many do expect an easing to 4.0 percent come May.
Australian consumer inflation expectations remained relatively modest in June, taking some of the heat out of a widening national debate on the outlook for interest rates.
The Melbourne Institute survey of inflationary expectations for June showed consumers expect inflation to rise to 3.3 percent over the next year, just above the Reserve Bank of Australia's inflation target band, which is between 2 percent and 3 percent, and in line with the annual pace of inflation in the first quarter.
Australia's central bank left interest rates on hold on Tuesday, as economists predicted, but it also signaled that a policy tightening isn't too far off as inflation looks set to rise further.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) left its cash rate at 4.75 percent, where it has remained since November 2010.
RBA governor Glenn Stevens said in a statement a mildly restrictive stance of monetary policy "remains appropriate" for now, but he also warned that inflation will rise, even in the face of an Australian dollar at 29-year highs.
The Reserve Bank of Australia said rising household savings are likely to take pressure off inflation if cautious spending habits among the country's consumers continue. This suggests the central bank is in no rush to raise official interest rates.
The RBA remained upbeat overall, giving little attention to recent signs of a slowdown in parts of the economy, instead staying focused on the medium-term task of managing a resources boom that is expected to drive economic growth faster in 2011.
Australian consumer sentiment has shown resilience in the face of November's cash rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), a survey shows.
The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment rose by 0.2 percent in December to 111.0, up from 110.7 in November.
The rise in consumer sentiment followed a lift in the cash rate from 4.5 percent to 4.75 percent by the RBA on 2 November and mortgage rate increases by the banks that were bigger than 25 basis points.
Mounting evidence that economic conditions in Australia are quickly returning to normal drove a decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia to raise interest rates a further notch at the start of March. "On balance, members concluded that the evidence that had become available recently had confirmed that it remained appropriate for interest rates to move gradually towards normal levels," according to the minutes of the central bank's 2 March board meeting, released on Tuesday.


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Tokyo-based Sega Sammy Holdings eyes IR business in Japan
Gaming and Amusement Company, Sega Sammy Holdings aims to be heavily involved in Japan’s planned integrated resort (IR) projects, aiming to build one of the mooted venues.
The Tokyo-based company in its 2018 integrated report, stated: “we continued advance investment with a view to entering the integrated resort business in Japan.”
The report indicated that the company through its 2012 acquisition of Phoenix Seagaia Resort and a partnership with Paradise Co. is gaining knowledge and expertise in resort operations and development and operation of IRs.
ALSO READ: JAPAN ONLINE CASINOS
“Further, we are refining our strategies that are focused on participation by identifying and conducting value chain analysis based on more than 118 key components of casino operations,” the report read.
Speaking to an online publication CEO of Sega Sammy Hajime Satomi said he was under no illusions about the number of applications there were for potential IR licenses.
“I want the Group to hold the majority of projects and develop businesses in a broad range of fields with casino operations as the central focus,” he said.
According to him, the company plan is to invest proceeds from its gaming business “in a prioritised manner”.
“We have positioned the digital game area as a medium-term growth driver, while we are developing the Resort Business as a third pillar from a long-term perspective,” he said.
Satomi said if what the company plans becomes successful, it “will open up a wide range of possibilities for the Group going forward, including the expansion of businesses in the global market using the know-how gained from such successes.”
Sega Sammy posted a profit of ¥300 million ($2.7 million) for the quarter ending June compared to ¥11.5 billion ($102.7 million) year-on-year. It has estimated a ¥12 billion ($107.2 million) profit for the year ending March 31, 2019.


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About 22 months ago, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk fired an ominous warning that the shorts were about to experience ‘the short burn of the century.’ The heads-up came at a time of intense short interest in the company, with the CEO even threatening to take Tesla private. As usual, the bears quickly dismissed it as idle bluster and just another round of Musk’s marijuana-infused trolling.
Fast forward to the present and TSLA shares have nearly tripled since the cautionary note and rallied 115% in only the first two months of the year.
The foreboding [for the bears] came after Tesla posted a surprise second quarter profit that pushed the shares to an eight-month high. The second wave came after Beijing gave Tesla the go-ahead to build a $5bn gigafactory in Shanghai, the first facility outside the U.S.
The third act could come when Tesla converts its hordes of customers, investors and admirers into buyers of products from its sidekick business, SolarCity. That’s according to Piper Sandler who recently assigned a Wall Street high price target of $928 (from $729) for TSLA saying the company has managed to turn its customers into ‘unwitting climate warriors’ that could become big buyers of its clean energy products.
The latest upgrade has propelled the stock into record territory. Can’t say the bears were not warned.
Source: CNN Money
The Clean Energy Revolutionary
For a company that was once given an outside chance against deep-pocketed ICE heavyweights, Tesla is suddenly being hailed as a clean energy revolutionary and Wall Street cannot seem to get enough of the EV maker.
The latest bullish thesis coming from Wall Street based on renewable energy does not seem too far-fetched either.
Piper Sandler’s Alexander Potter and Winnie Dong say that Tesla’s next challenge will be to convince its EV customers that charging their vehicles using coal-based electricity isn’t very green and urge them to generate and store their own solar power. The analysts say that their experiment to install a solar system to charge a Model X has already yielded "illuminating" results and “shows significant promise” for Tesla's future in the energy-generation industry.
Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity for close to $5bn in 2016 left many observers scratching their heads given that it came at a time when Tesla needed large amounts of capital to expand production and solar companies were out of favor. But that purchase could turn into one of the company’s best decisions in hindsight.
Currently, it’s easy to overlook Tesla’s solar business considering that the solar-panel and battery segment brought in just six percent of the company’s revenue in 2019. But with meteoric rise in ESG investing over the past couple of years, many companies, including traditional fossil fuel companies, have been investing in clean energy projects including solar and wind energy at an unprecedented rate.
At the center of our green energy drive are solar and wind power, both of which are expected to contribute nearly half of the global power mix by 2050 as per Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Global supplies of renewable power are expected to grow 50% over the next five years led by a resurgence in solar energy.
Here in the United States, utilities are trying to cut down on emissions by implementing utility-scale solar projects coupled with battery storage units (one megawatt (MW) or greater power capacity).
In March 2019, NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) announced plans to build a 409-MW energy storage project in Florida that will be powered by utility-scale solar.
Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) plans to replace its Comanche coal units with a $2.5-billion investment in renewables and battery storage, including 707 MW of solar PV, 1,131 megawatts (MW) of wind and 275 MW of battery storage in the State of Colorado.
In October, Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) announced plans to build an energy storage project at the Anderson Civic Center, Carolina, including investments to the tune of $500 million in battery storage projects for electricity generation capacity of 300 MW.
It’s this ongoing clean energy revolution that has infused renewed enthusiasm into Tesla’s management which sees the energy generation and storage business competing with the core automotive business someday.
Tesla’s insistence on having a complete clean energy ecosystem and trying to make almost everything in-house has been criticized in the past by veteran automakers like Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz. But this kind of extreme vertical integration is beginning to yield dividends with the leading EV company with its EV consistently coming at or near the top in quality tests. Teardown specialist Sandy Munro has hailed Tesla’s electronics as superior to off-the-shelf components and compared them to the electronics of a fighter jet.
A lot of Tesla’s resources are currently dedicated to battery improvements. Tesla’s batteries stand out among its rivals in the EV marketplace primarily due to their superior efficiency and range. To this end, the company has made strategic acquisitions including Maxwell Technologies and Hibar Systems and partnered with CATL to produce batteries for its China gigafactory.
And this in-house model and dedication to quality is paying off in spades. Companies that were once viewed as Tesla rivals are simply unable to keep up due to supply shortages of critical components. For instance, the Mercedes-Benz EQC--once dubbed a Tesla Killer--has seen its 2020 production cut in half to 30,000 units because Daimler is unable to secure enough batteries. Meanwhile, another premium EV model--the Jaguar I-PACE--has had to halt production for weeks for the same reason.
Tesla already has a big head-start on its competitors on many critical aspects of production as the success of its gigafactories and extreme vertical integration model have demonstrated. The company has been winning the trust of even staunch critics by proving that it can consistently deliver.
Don’t be too surprised if it becomes a major supplier of some of these components—and give Elon Musk another opportunity to gloat.
By Anes Alic for Oilprice.com
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Pattaya is now seeing a slow tourism recovery, with hotel reservations increasing as the New Year approaches.
Phisut Sae-khu, president of the Thai Hotels Association-Eastern Chapter, said Friday bookings have steadily increased since Nov. 1 when Pattaya reopened to foreign tourists and Covid-19 vaccination rates approached 80 percent.
Additionally, restaurants are now allowed to serve alcoholic drinks until 11 p.m., which helps to encourage tourists to come out of their hotels and enjoy dining at different locations, he said.
As for the upcoming New Year’s long holidays, four- and five-star hotels along Pattaya and Jomtien beaches have received at least 80 percent advance bookings, while smaller hotels with fewer rooms and facilities are seeing 50 percent of rooms booked for Dec 31-Jan 3.
Those hotels had earlier closed due to the absence of tourists. Others, which had converted into alternative quarantine facilities, are now welcoming Thais and holidaymakers again.
Phisut said he expects a large amount of walk-in business when the holidays start.
The government’s “We Travel Together” subsidized tourism scheme will help those with less spending power to decide to take a trip at the last minute, he predicted.
Despite the rosy New Year’s outlook, Phisut said Pattaya still won’t be seeing a lot of foreign tourists for some time. However, he added, the association has seen travel agents from Russia and European countries contacting hotels for special promotions.


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SF wages go up; video honors Orlando victims; Kanye and Adidas
Number of the day
That will be the minimum hourly wage in San Francisco starting on Friday, a 75-cent bump from the current level. That puts the city $3 an hour above California’s minimum, while the federal wage remains at a whopping $7.25, the same level it has been since July 2009.
Remembering Orlando victims
The Human Rights Campaign has released an 18-minute tribute to the 49 victims slain this month at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub. Entertainment Weekly reported that the video, directed by Ryan Murphy and Ned Martel, features appearances by such celebrities as Lady Gaga, Kerry Washington and Chris Pine, describing the victims’ lives.
Adidas feeling Yeezy
Rapper Kanye West and Adidas are expanding their partnership with retail hubs for his Yeezy products and additional sportswear designs. The sportswear company said retail stores will serve as outlets for the new products, and there will also be performance designs to offer options for both street wear and sportswear. The partnership illustrates “that anyone with a dream can dream without limitations,” West said.


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Earlier today VMware announced that they had acquired the assets, people and operations of online storage service Mozy from EMC. Almost immediately, the Twitterverse was calling out VMware for abandoning their current business model, primarily acting as a vendor, selling to Enterprise/Commercial businesses and Service Providers. Mozy currently operators as a Cloud Storage provider (to both consumers and small-business), so questions arose about whether this now put VMware in competition with their existing (or future) Service Provider customers.
Considering how rapidly the IT landscape is changing, I had to step back and think about whether an action like this completely forces VMware to change their business model or if there were alternative ways to think about it. My immediate thoughts are recorded on the whiteboard picture above. [NOTE: I have no inside-information about what the VMware strategy might be, these are purely guesses. Don't bet your 401(k) on any of my scribbles.]
Putting the VMware/Mozy specifics aside, what was interesting to me in this 10 minute exercise were a few things:
- Looking at VMware's competitive situation (bottom right of picture), against the dominant software vendors in the industry, do they have any choice but to have at least a portion of their business delivered as a direct cloud service?
- Given that most experts agreed that public cloud computing will be at least a portion of every businesses IT portfolio, is it possible to envision a major IT vendor that doesn't have a portion of their portfolio delivered via public cloud computing?
- Is it possible for any existing IT vendor that currently delivers their portfolio via direct channels (direct, channel partners, service providers) to migrate their portfolio in a way that doesn't completely disrupt their existing revenue models?
IT vendors constantly struggle with the costs of training indirect channels &/or delays in customers adopting the latest R&D creations, which puts them squarely in the middle of a classic Innovator's Dilemma. Yet this is not a unique challenge to IT vendors. As far back as the 1910s, buggywhip makers and blacksmiths were faced with the decision of becoming auto mechanics or watching the adoption of the automobile significantly reduce their revenue opportunities. In the IT industry, these decision to adapt, change or stay-the-course are faced by both vendors and channels. Steve Kaplan (@roidude, INX) and I discussed this on The Cloudcast this week.
The more I think about this transaction and it's place in the bigger IT marketplace, it highlights that this isn't just an inflection point for the vendors but also for every other piece of the value-chain between technology creator and technology consumer. And since there isn't a clear winner or definitive business model in this transition to cloud computing, the new rules are still to be defined. And just as more analysts are predicting Hybrid Cloud models for many IT usage models, I also suspect that over the next 2-5 years that we'll see the leading IT companies having the capabilities to deliver their technology through a hybrid set of models.
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There have been various rumors prior to now that the brand new Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone would include an below the show digital camera.
In line with a latest report, Samsung could not use an below the show Selfie digital camera within the new Galaxy S22 vary of handsets.
It appears to be like like subsequent years Galaxy S22 will skip this digital camera and we should wait till the next 12 months, though the cameras will include a variety of upgrades.
The brand new Galaxy S22 vary of smartphone are anticipated to get various upgrades over the present line up, this may embody a brand new design, a brand new processor, extra RAM and up to date cameras.
We predict Samsung to launch their new Galaxy smartphone vary a while in early 2022, most likely in February or March of subsequent 12 months.
Filed Below: Android Information, Cellular Cellphone Information
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Disclosure: A few of our articles embody affiliate hyperlinks. If you happen to purchase one thing via one in every of these hyperlinks, Geeky Devices could earn an affiliate fee. Be taught extra.


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Rogers recently announced their “Rogers Alerts” initiative that gives customers who opt-in various coupons to their smartphone. When this launched last October, Rogers noted that it’s “a new location-based mobile solution that allows Rogers wireless customers to access personalized, location-based offers from their favourite retailers on their smartphone.” Rogers is now forging ahead in this
It’s true. Defying the words spoken by the President of HTC America, we’ve been receiving tips that the update to Android OS 4.4.2 KitKat is now available to download for Rogers, Bell, Virgin, TELUS, SaskTel and WIND HTC One users.
Here’s some news for HTC One owners in Canada. Jason Mackenzie, President of HTC Americas, took to the company blog yesterday and stated that they wouldn’t make the 90-day target they initially proposed for the One upgrade to OS 4.4 KitKat. Mackenzie sincerely stated that “We are currently in the certification phase across all of
According to Motorola’s main blog, Rogers and Fido customers can expect to taste Android 4.4.2 KitKat on their Moto X this week.The Google-owned manufacturer stated that “KitKat Comes to Moto X in Canada” and that the rollout “started this week.” It’s also the first Android 4.4.2-based version of KitKat for the Moto X, as the
Advocacy groups say ‘Bell is trying to double-dip by taking your subscription fees and then selling information’
Back in November Bell adjusted its terms and conditions and stated they will use “certain information about your account and network usage for select purposes, such as continuing to improve network performance and product offers through new business and marketing reports, making some of the ads and marketing partner offers you see more relevant to
Canadian carriers, according to the various software update pages, stated an upgrade to KitKat for the HTC One should arrive by “Late January 2014.” Of course, the fine print noted that the date was subject to change at anytime. With a week left in the month there’s a glimmer of hope that Android OS 4.4
Have you ever noticed that the price of upgrading a Rogers device on an existing account is actually $50 more than what it says on the sticker? The company’s current policy is to charge the sticker price on new activations while users going through a hardware upgrade (HUP) pay $50 more, which is later rebated.
When Motorola unveiled the Moto G in November the company promised a quick upgrade to KitKat. Motorola held true to their word and went live with OS 4.4 earlier this week. At the same launch event, Dennis Woodside, Motorola’s CEO, also declared the flagship Moto X would see KitKat arrive “in a matter of weeks.” A
The Nokia Lumia 625 was officially announced last July, then arrived on TELUS in October. Coming this February to both Rogers and Fido is this entry-level Windows Phone 8 device. An internal doc we received reveals that Rogers and Fido will launch the Lumia 625 on February 11th for $0 on a Voice-only or Voice
CIBC has been working with Rogers to bring its NFC-based suretap mobile payment technology to more devices, and the bank is adding two more to the list. CIBC partnered with Rogers in 2012 to allow its credit card holders to make payments at any point-of-sale around the country; most terminals used in retail stores across Canada