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OnePlus smartphone sales in India are nearly double that of Apple and Samsung
- OnePlus is leading the premium smartphone segment in India this quarter consolidating 42% of the market share, taking the lead back from Samsung.
- This is OnePlus' higher ever market share in the Indian market.
- It's also the first time that OnePlus has a 26% market share in the ultra premium segment after the launch of the
OnePlus 7 Procracking the ₹45,000 plus category of phones.
It is the highest market share that Chinese smartphone maker has ever had in the country.
It's also the first time that OnePlus managed to break into the elite club of the 'ultra premium segment'. It has gained a sizeable market share in the category which includes phones that cost upwards of ₹45,000 with the launch of the OnePlus 7 Pro.
Advertisement"OnePlus has more than 60% market share in the ₹30,000 - ₹45,000 segment and with the launch of OnePlus 7 Pro, we have a 26% market share in the ₹45,0000 plus segment. Collectively we have 42% market share overall, with a clear lead in ₹30,000 - ₹45,000 segment,"
Samsung slipped to 22% market share in the segment registering an yearly drop in shipments of 16% and now is on par with Apple at 21% market share.
The premium sector, as a whole, registered a yearly growth rate of 33% with users have more options in the premium segment than in any other quarter.
Regaining the lead from Samsung
Samsung has led the premium smartphone segment last quarter after launching the Samsung S10 Plus. The South Korean major tends to rule in the first quarter as it normally launches a flagship device around that time.
Sales are generally slow for most premium brands in the first quarter of the year. Samsung is an exception to the trend since it typically launches its premium flagship device right before.
Advertisement"There's always a spike in demand whenever you have a new product launch. It's why the market share changes in the premium segment every quarter," says Agarwal.
As Samsung made its phones cheaper, OnePlus launched a phone that was expensive tilting the balance in the segment.
"A lot of users have not been using OnePlus despite them wanting to but we do not have a product in the segment with kind of specifications that they're looking for. So, this year we decided to launch an ultra premium product that caters to those users who want to have a more premium experience," explains Agarwal.
AdvertisementDiversifying the variants of its device allowed OnePlus to go from zero market share in Q1 2019 to 26% share in the ultra premium segment in a mere three months.
"Currently, we don't see the need to have more premium devices. If you see the overall market, it's still less than 5%. Within this 5%, we now have devices that cater to the top 2% and the next 3%," shares Agarwal.
OnePlus has no plans to develop more premium smartphones and no plans to expand into other segments either.
"OnePlus has always remained focused on the premium segment because we feel have a better understanding of the market in terms of customer expectations," shared Agarwal.
The 'very young company' doesn't have the resources to support multiple product lines.
So, even though OnePlus won't be expanding its portfolio with new smartphones — it still has plans to launch new products.
"One of the things that we're doing is the Smart TV. We see a huge opportunity in the Smart TV space. Based on the trends that we've observed, a lot of users want to consume entertainment on smart devices," says Agarwal.
Despite the launch two devices in the first half of 2019, it's still likely that we're going to see a Diwali launch by OnePlus of upgraded variants of the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro.
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Amazon to start a free video service with IMDB for Fire TV devices
Amazon soon to introduce a new video streaming platform.
Amazon and IMDB are reportedly joining forces to introduce a new and free video service. The new service will be exclusive to the Amazon Fire TV device owners, regardless of whether they are Amazon Prime members or not.
The information on the collaboration is courtesy of a new CNBC report which cites "several people with knowledge about the matter" for the details. The latest report confirms the information provided in another report that came through in late August, while also adding details like the launch time.
Amazon is said to be looking at amplifying the content that the Fire TV offers by bringing a new video service which will be free of cost by adopting an ad-supported model. The ads will primarily be visible between videos and Amazon will look to make the prospect more appealing to advertisers by letting them use the browsing data of the customers.
Currently, the details on the content are under wraps, although it is understood the new video service will provide an on-demand level of access to TV shows and movies, and "at least three major media companies" will offer to programme on the new platform. The new service is said to be announced this week between October 1 and 4 in New York.
While this will be good for the Fire TV device customers as it offers free content, it will also be very beneficial for Amazon as well. Although the company has made a major hardware push towards a smart home, its dedicated content outside its Prime membership program remained limited. With the new service aimed at Fire TV users, Amazon will have a new way to capitalize on TV advertising revenue.
Amazon seems to grab a piece of everything it seems. Recently, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket company has just bagged a major contract. The company's BE-4 engine will go head-to-head with Elon Musk's SpaceX with its pricing and will power United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur suite of rockets. The first launch is slated for the year 2020.
"We are very glad to have our BE-4 engine selected by United Launch Alliance. United Launch Alliance is the premier launch service provider for national security missions, and we're thrilled to be part of their team and that mission," Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith said in a statement announcing the award.

domain: news


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Articles about "defeat devices" in Volkswagen diesel cars pose many questions about cheating on mileage figures ["German prosecutors open probe into ex-Volkswagen CEO," News, Sept. 29]. But more important is the issue of health denied to millions of Americans and others around the world. Some reports claim the vehicles produced nitrogen oxide pollutants at up to 40 times the legal standard.
At least one thing should be done immediately. Volkswagen should be banned from selling diesel-powered autos in this country for five years.
Peter A. Rogers, Miller Place


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They taste good, why do we care when they come out?
Christmas dinner for less than $20 per head including alcohol
Woolworths shrugs off complaints after customers filmed abusing baby formula...
There are “no nasties” in this store.
The Outrage Brigade missed an obvious detail.
Big savings on offer for savvy Coast drivers
“Why are you trying to force your workers to work on Christmas Day?"
Food & Entertainment
The lowdown on which states have biggest Christmas fare appetites.
There is now a push for supermarkets to go even further.
CASH-strapped Christmas shoppers are being given a helping hand by Woolworths.
“We just don’t seem to be getting anywhere"
Little Shop was always going to be a hard act to follow.
“It was a disgrace. I will never be buying cakes from (them) again.”
“Were the numbers greater than we expected? Probably a little bit"
A MUM has been dragged to court by Woolworths and is now facing criminal charges.
THE Palaszczuk Government’s new cash for cans scheme will short change...
Coles beating Woolies in supermarket war
Secret $1.2m trials are underway that could mean that never happens again.
Mouldy find in classic Aussie snack
“I feel bad for Australian parents."


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A nationwide inspection of the food-production industry has uncovered the use of a wide range of illegal ingredients in the processing of foodstuffs, the top quality watchdog said yesterday.
Industrial raw materials, such as dyes, mineral oils, paraffin wax, formaldehyde and the carcinogenic malachite green, have been used in the production of flour, candy, pickles, biscuits, black fungus, melon seeds, bean curd and seafood.
Some processors also use recycled or expired food in their operations, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
"These are not isolated cases," Han Yi, director of the administration's quality control and inspection department, said at a press conference.
He said most of the cases involved small, unlicensed food-processing plants employing less than 10 people. All plants caught engaging in illegal practices have been shut down, he added.
Administration figures show that about 75 percent of the 1 million food-processing plants in the country are small and privately owned.
Preliminary figures released yesterday show that since December, when the nationwide inspection was launched, quality inspectors have seized 200 million yuan (US$26 million) worth of contaminated or substandard foodstuffs.
At least 180 food plants have been shut down, and 37 had their licenses revoked. Eleven cases have been handed over to judicial organs.
Han said the inspection, which has been focusing on widely consumed foodstuffs, like wine, meat, milk, beverages, soy sauce and cooking oil, is not finished. Rural areas and the suburbs are still considered key areas for inspectors.
Scandals involving substandard food were the subject of many media reports last year. Red-yolk salted duck eggs contaminated with an industrial dye and turbot fish containing carcinogenic residue were two of the more high-profile incidents.
The issue burst into the international spotlight this year after melamine-contaminated wheat gluten and rice protein exported from China tainted pet food in North America.
Han said the administration always puts food safety first and had shown no mercy to violators.
Both the Food Hygiene Law and the Criminal Law ban the use of chemical ingredients or harmful substance in food production. Violators who cause serious poisoning or death face sentences of at least 10 years in jail or even death.
However, Ye Zhihua, a senior researcher of quality standards and testing technology with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, worried that the country's many small food plants and inadequate number of enforcement officers could hamper the inspection.
Ye said such small businesses, which usually have poor management and sanitary conditions, are scattered across the country, making supervision difficult.
(China Daily June 27, 2007)


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IT asset management company OnePak recently began documenting the carbon footprint of every asset shipment, with an eye toward providing a way to offset that carbon output.
The Boston-based company on Feb. 17 announced the initiative, which OnePak framed as a way “to provide carbon-neutral asset recovery logistics.”
OnePak provides a variety of logistics services, picking up and shipping loads of used IT equipment to ITAD vendors.
“Going forward, an element of Carbon Offset Management Services will be built into every service OnePak provides,” the company stated in the announcement. “For example, much like a fuel service charge that is common in the logistics industry, OnePak will be reporting a Carbon Offset Cost for each pickup.”
With the carbon value of each shipment calculated, OnePak will then offer clients a way to “offset” those emissions. The company is working with Nori, which describes itself as a “carbon removal marketplace.” Companies can buy “carbon removals” through Nori, currently priced at $15 per metric ton of carbon.
Carbon removal refers to a variety of methods of removing carbon from the environment, through ecological or industrial means, or a combination of both. For example, Nori identifies afforestation – creating forests or stands of trees where they didn’t exist before – as a natural method of carbon removal. An industrial method is direct air capture, using machines to extract and concentrate carbon dioxide into various products.
A hybrid method example is using “biomass to remove carbon dioxide, generate energy at a power plant, and produce gaseous emissions which can be captured and stored underground,” according to Nori.
OnePak, which has been active since 2005, says its long history equips it to provide these carbon data points for the reverse logistics sector, which can be “fragmented and difficult to manage, even without the challenge of measuring its emissions.”
“If we hadn’t spent the last 15 years investing in a technology ecosystem that digitally connects all the stakeholders in these complex transactions, we would never have been able to accurately calculate and report on the environmental impact, but here we are, and now we can,” said Steve Andon, CEO of the company.
Other players in the IT asset management space have brought the carbon offset concept into the sector in different ways. In 2017, Canadian ITAD provider Compugen began offering carbon credits to its clients, connected to Compugen’s refurbishment of those devices. Retiring devices for reuse would partially offset the manufacturing carbon output associated with purchasing new devices, the company stated.
More stories about processors
- EV battery recycler raises funds for facility
- First America expands into solar panels, EV batteries
- Amid T-Mobile suit, Belmont Trading files for bankruptcy


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Aquiline Drones was heralded as a shining example of Connecticut’s economic growth by Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont during his press conference on February 23, 2021 in Hartford. Aquiline Drones (AD) hosted the update on real estate, population and business at its penthouse headquarters located at 750 Main Street. The drone enterprise, founded by Barry Alexander, recently opened the first drone manufacturing and assembly plant in Connecticut.
Governor Lamont began his remarks by saying “If I was making anything today Barry, it would be drones”. He said “We’ve [CT] done helicopters and planes and now we’re doing drones. The takeaway today is the state offers incentives as companies grow and hire. We make sure financing is available for companies that want to grow.”
City of Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin also lauded AD for landing in Hartford while expressing concern about office vacancies in the city of Hartford and the need to attract “growing companies like Aquiline Drones and other startups to make Hartford a hub for innovation.” He believes “businesses in big cities like Boston or New York may assess their cost per square footage and find Hartford offers world class talent while saving an extraordinary amount of money on office space.”
When asked why he chose downtown Hartford for Aquiline Drones, Alexander answered, “I have family here. I also started my aviation career in Connecticut – started flight training to eventually become an airline pilot at Brainard Airport, next to downtown Hartford. I knew that opportunities abound. I wanted to capitalize on Connecticut’s rich aviation, aerospace and manufacturing ecosystem and build upon it.”
Carol Christiansen, the 2021 CT Realtors President and Joanne Breen, Immediate Past President of CT Realtors, shared home sale statistics for the Hartford area, which drew national attention last fall for being among the hottest home sale metros in the country. This January, closed sales climbed nearly 8%, as a cross-section of buyers sought new living spaces in a pandemic that brought work and school into the home. Some of the changes, particularly remote working, may become more permanent even after the pandemic subsides.
Metro Hartford Alliance COO Julie Daly Meehan shared positive news about restaurant openings and expansion.
AD has a team of twenty-five technicians working in its new 7,000 square foot, state-of-the-art drone manufacturing and assembly facility. Amid the pandemic, AD employed several of its new manufacturing employees with the support of Capital Workforce Partners (CWP), a Hartford-based workforce organization that helps adults develop skills and connect with employers, as well as CT Hires.
Aquiline occupies 15,000 square feet in the Stark Building, an historic architectural landmark located in Hartford's financial district. The company is now constructing a street-level showroom and retail store for drones and sensors, as well as maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) of various drone models. AD’s future expansion plans include adding a second shift of production workers and scaling into larger facilities in Hartford, with the assistance of Mayor Luke Bronin as well as a possible location in Bridgeport, CT.
About Aquiline Drones
Aquiline Drones (AD) is an American drone and cloud solutions company located in the financial district of Hartford, Connecticut. Founded by highly experienced aviators, systems engineers, IT gurus, and business strategists, AD delivers a vertically integrated blend of products and services. Aquiline's ecosystem includes a hybrid aviation cloud with edge capabilities for commercial drones, U.S.-based drone manufacturing, 'maintenance-repair-overhaul' services, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) solutions for large enterprises and governments.
Complimenting the company's technology is its superior line of Spartacus AI drone products, a robust UAS training academy, and the country's first 'drone-on-demand' service, enabling customers to order drone services through a proprietary mobile app. AD's full-spectrum of technological solutions are widely applicable across industries and environments for superior, real-time data processing, modeling, and insight. Visit www.aquilinedrones.com for more information.
PHOTO: (from left) Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont shares the podium with Barry Alexander, Founder and Chairman of Aquiline Drones, during a February 23, 2021 press conference at AD’s headquarters on the positive economic impact of the recent population growth in the state.


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Having emerged from its national Covid-19 lockdown in April 2020, China embarked on a massive stimulus programme, financed through special bond issues at the provincial government level.
Prior to the pandemic, the Chinese market was expected to decline in 2020 following three years of growth. However, the stimulus spending saw equipment sales surge by just over 30 per cent, to take the total for 2020 to 482,788 machines sold. This includes earthmoving, compact and road building equipment, alongside mobile cranes.
Such high sales had not been seen in China for almost a decade. The last boom of this magnitude was in 2010-11, again as a result of a vast stimulus spending boom – that time in response to the global economic crisis. The number of machines sold last year almost exactly matches the previous peak of 2011. However, with modest growth forecast to follow in 2021, the Chinese market is likely to rise to more than 500,000 unit sales, which would be a new record.
Full details of last year’s boom, split across the 14 construction equipment types covered by Off-Highway Research, are available in the newly updated Chinese Database Service. This includes details of sales and production of each equipment type by OEM and by year. Commentary on the data will be available through the Chinese Annual Review, which will be published in April, and which will be available to subscribers to both the Chinese Service and Chinese Database Service.
The Chinese market will also be discussed in the forthcoming Off-Highway Global Briefing webinar on 30th March. Click here for more details and to book your place.


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Is appreciation the best gift retailers can give workers this Christmas?
According to a survey of small and medium-sized business owners (SMBs), 61 percent are celebrating the holiday season as a way to thank employees.
More than half (54 percent) planned to purchase holiday gifts for co-workers and employees, and 50 percent also planned to host formal or informal gift exchanges. Forty-eight percent planned to host parties for their office during this holiday season. The survey of nearly 2,900 SMBs was conducted from July to September,
While hosting parties and Secret Santa gift exchanges seem appropriate for retailer or vendor headquarters, the events aren’t likely to be seen on selling floors. The biggest reason is that stores are too busy during the holiday period.
The fact that many in-store workers are temps is also a factor. The same survey found that nearly one-in-three SMBs (30 percent) indicated they could benefit from hiring temporary employees during the holidays. Of those, 87 percent planned to hire temporary employees, with the majority (37 percent) planning to hire six to 10 seasonal workers.
Office Depot advised hiring seasonal staff to not only help with increased business needs but to allow full-time employees to take time off during the holidays. Office Depot wrote in a release, “Only one-in-four SMBs (27 percent) plan to work during the holidays, which shows that a majority of small business owners understand the benefit of taking a step back to reorganize schedules and prioritize family time.”
- Office Depot, Inc. Helps Small Businesses Celebrate the Holidays – Office Depot
- Office Depot, Inc. Shares Tips for Small Business Success During the Holiday Season – Office Depot
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What are the best ways for retailers to show appreciation for valued frontline employees during the busy holiday season? What common mistakes do employers make this time of year when attempting to show their appreciation to workers?


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Developers can use the Google Firebase AdMob Android SDK to initialize advertisements in mobile applications. Google Firebase AdMob SDKs offers a number of different ad formats, including Banner, Native, Interstitial, and Rewarded Video. The SDK can also be used with or without Firebase
Sendbird has announced the addition of voice and video calling APIs to augment its existing chat and messaging API offering. The technology relies on the World Wide Web Consortium's WebRTC standard and offers customers an opportunity to consolidate their in-app communications down to one vendor.
Sunnyvale-based Telenav has released mobile SDKs for both iOS and Android so developers can power the navigation and location components of their applications with the crowdsourced-based OpenStreetMap. In addition to offering flexibility over styling, the SDKs and APIs are designed to give developers the ability to brand their own maps. According to the company, hybrid online/offline navigation is one of the key differentiators from Google and Apple's mapping services.


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Korean electronics company Samsung has refuted reports claiming it started accepting crypto payments through a deal with crypto solutions CopPay.
South Korean electronics company Samsung denied reports claiming that it has welcomed crypto payments for some of its products in a number of northern European countries. These articles reported that the company formed a partnership with CopPay—a Lithuanian crypto-payment blockchain start-up—to facilitate crypto transactions for Samsung products in the region.
An unnamed Samsung official, in an email to The Next Web’s Hard Fork, wrote:
“Our official response is that the rumor is not true.”
The denial came after CopPay announced on a blog post dated July 20 that Samsung stores in Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia have partnered with the start-up to process crypto transactions. The now-deleted post also claimed that the company has set up payment terminals in at least 30 Samsung stores across the Baltic region.
“Great news! Samsung embraces their slogan to ‘Turn on Future.’ Customers in Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, and Kaunas can buy Samsung smartphones, tablets, laptops, TV-sets, and more with digital money. The crypto-payment feature will be available soon at Samsung’s internet stores.”
The start-up added that these stores, using CopPay’s technology, can accept eight of the biggest virtual currencies in the market, including Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Dash, among others.
After reports of Samsung denying the existence of a deal, CopPay’s top executive came out with a statement reiterating that it has signed a partnership with Samsung, albeit a Samsung reseller and not a direct outlet.
In a communication with Hard Fork, CopPay CEO Ina Samovich explained that the start-up has inked a partnership deal with the official reseller of Samsung products in the region. In addition, Samovich asserted that her company’s partner has conducted crypto transactions with the reseller’s stores two weeks before. However, the reseller supposedly failed to notify the Samsung headquarters about the partnership with CopPay.
“The official reseller has [signed] agreement with our company and several transactions occurred during [the] last two weeks. So we can prove that the crypto payment method was used and was powered by CopPay. We were not aware that [the] reseller did not inform HQ about our cooperation.”
Less than 24 hours after the digital correspondence, Samovich released a statement addressing the controversy surrounding CopPay and Samsung. According to her, the start-up has started training Samsung store clerks on how to use its payment terminals. Moreover, CopPay was already preparing to meet some representatives from Samsung’s public relations division.
Ina Samovich, CopPay CEO, said:
“CopPay provided its solution to the Baltic premium reseller of Samsung that sells mobile phones, tablets, TVs and other products under its brand. The reseller is a separate entity and was [excited] to add an additional payment method for its customers. The official agreement was signed… Unfortunately, after Samsung officially announced that it doesn’t have any plans for the crypto and blockchain payments, the reseller decided to suspend cryptocurrency payment method.”
The executive clarified that CopPay never claimed to have formed a formal partnership, pointing out that the company only announced “the possibility to buy Samsung products with cryptocurrencies in its Baltic stores.”
While CopPay was technically correct, customers have already misconstrued the announcement. That caused Samsung’s denial of any plans accepting crypto payments in the near future. With the Korean company having none of crypto transactions, the reseller CopPay partnered with has subsequently suspended accepting crypto payments for Samsung products.


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Medical, Health & Hygiene
On 28 May 2014, the German ESA astronaut Dr Alexander Gerst will take off from the cosmodrome in Baikonur, in Kazakhstan, bound for the International Space Station (ISS).
During the six-month Blue Dot mission, Dr Gerst will be responsible for almost 40 different experiments including the Spacetex project, the first clothing physiology experiments to be carried out in a weightless environment.
The DiloGroup, represented by DiloTemafa, DiloSpinnbau and DiloMachines, has provided widespread information about numerous applications of nonwovens showing various products at Index nonwovens trade fair that took place from 8-11 April in Geneva, Switzerland.
Nonwovens producers, raw material suppliers and machine manufacturers came together to present and see latest developments and trends in the industry.
The International Association for the Nonwovens and Related Industries (EDANA) and MP Expositions, the organiser of ITMA 2015, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), intended to support the organisation of a conference on nonwovens during ITMA 2015 that will be taking place from 12-19 November in Milan.
Pierre Wiertz, General Manager of EDANA, commented: “For more than 40 years, EDANA has served its member companies through a number of programmes and events designed to bring the industry together. We share a common objective of helping the textile and, in our case, nonwoven industries reach out to a wider audience through greater innovations and education.”
What’s the collective noun for a group of Futurists? A “ponder” perhaps? I’ve never knowingly met one before but there were a whole bunch at London’s wearable technology show, which took place at Olympia last month. Inevitably, there were also quite a few Google Glass explorers (a “gaggle” of glass…? No? OK. I’ll stop that now).
Eastman Chemical has received the EDANA INDEX14 Innovation in Raw Material Award for its Eastman Cyphrex microfibres.
EDANA, the international association for the nonwovens and related industries, presented the award last week, on the opening day of INDEX14 in Geneva, Switzerland.
International technology Group Andritz has received an order from DDN Beijing Dongfang Dayuan Nonwoven-Fabric, China, to supply a new spunlace line for the production of wipes from viscose/PES (30-80 g/m²).
Start-up is scheduled for the second quarter of 2015. DDN is one of the leading Chinese nonwovens producers and has already had two Andritz lines in operation for many years now.
The new Andritz neXline spunlace with an annual capacity of 8,000 tons is equipped with an eXcelle VarioWeb card with three doffers, a Jetlace Essentiel hydroentanglement unit, and a Perfodry Avantage through-air dryer.
JEC Group, the largest organisation exclusively dedicated to the composites industry, has announced the ten winners of its prestigious 2014 JEC Americas Innovation Awards programme, which highlights the most pivotal advances in composites design, manufacturing and application.
JEC will recognise the ten winning companies and their innovation partners during the third annual JEC Americas exhibition that will be held from 13-15 May at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
Lenzing, the leading producer of the manmade cellulose fibres, believes it is satisfying the trend of the times in the nonwovens industry with its short-cut type cellulose fibre Tencel that is said to be ideal for high quality wipes and care wipes, due to its flushability properties.
The market for wipes will grow by 6.5% per year, the company reports. In an increasing number of households one can find practical wipes for hygiene and care applications and the trend is on the rise. Many wipes are disposed of in the toilet whether they are flushable or not, which may lead to problems with blockages in public sewage systems.
With Tencel, Lenzing supplies a raw material which is of botanic origin, contains no additives, and is biodegradable. When processed in the right way, practical wipes can be produced, which are environmentally friendly.
Albaad, the leading Israeli hygiene products manufacturer, Truetzschler Nonwovens & Man-Made Fibers and Voith Paper teamed up to realise an innovative technology for flushable nonwovens.
Albaad independently developed an innovative confidential technology of flushable fabrics (in accordance with EDANA/INDA definitions of flushability) with proofed advantages versus the existing technologies, the company reports.
Index14, the largest meeting place for the nonwovens supply chain and its customers, has started yesterday, with a ceremony to showcase excellence in the nonwovens and related industries.
EDANA, the international association serving the nonwovens and related industries, has announced the winners in each section of its Index 14 Awards.


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The waiting is over. After months of industry expectation, focus groups and beta tests, DirecTV Inc. earlier this month launched the first of its new interactive services. Within a month, any direct-broadcast satellite receiver capable of activating the DirecTV Active services should receive the software downloads via satellite.
Initial applications include a variety of options, including instant access to local weather, horoscopes, lottery updates, mosaic screens called Mix Channels with interactive links to several networks within a given programming genre, and an enhanced programming guide with video previews and suggestions for TV viewing, DirecTV senior vice president of advanced services and content Eric Shanks says.
Despite the huge selection, some analysts question whether there will be a strong consumer demand for ITV. Forrester Research Inc. has done surveys for years on what consumers want from their television. Instead of clamoring for interactivity, consumers want to skip commercials, record all their favorite shows, and have better picture and sound, says Forrester vice president Josh Bernoff.
“The only interactive TV feature that’s always been in the top 10 is a one-button weather feature,” Bernoff adds. “Weather and games tend to be popular in the U.S.”
TVPredictions.com president Phil Swann has been closely watching DirecTV’s interactive television launch. “Consumers don’t know it’s coming,” Swann says. “There’s no pent-up demand.”
Shanks says the DBS provider would promote DirecTV Active more heavily in the fall, after there’s a more sizable base of customers with interactive-capable receivers. All DirecTV boxes sold since last May are capable of receiving the DirecTV Active software downloads, he says.
Later this year, DirecTV will add a games service and movie trailers, says Shanks, who adds the company is also trying to work out a way to offer local traffic reports.
“We work on probably 10 killer applications, and if one of them sticks, that will be great,” Shanks says. He predicts the interactive component to the National Football League’s NFL Sunday Ticket, due later this year, will be an “unbelievable killer app.” Subscribers who have ITV capabilities, along with a newer digital video recorder with NDS technology that ships in July, will have access to game highlights, statistics and condensed games through the DVR.
NFL Sunday Ticket customers with interactive receivers will also have access to Mix Channels created specifically for the NFL games. DirecTV Active launched with three Mix Channel genres: news, sports and children’s. The Mix Channels were available earlier in the year without the interactive links to the individual genre channels.
“In focus groups, Mix Channels test off the charts,” Shanks says. “I was surprised that there was such a consistent positive response from different demographics — not just younger viewers or sports fans or news junkies.”
Leichtman Research Group president Bruce Leichtman calls the mosaic channels “pretty compelling.” Though not necessarily a strong draw for new subscribers, the Mix Channels might get people to stay with DirecTV, he says. It’s also a strong demonstration tool for interactive services at retail.
DirecTV’s challenge in rolling out new services, Leichtman warns, is that not all subscribers can get them. DBS companies are often “much kinder to new subscribers,” Leichtman says. “A box switch costs money.”
Shanks says existing subscribers can upgrade to new DirecTV Active capable boxes for as little as $49.
In addition to providing killer apps for consumers, DirecTV hopes to find new revenues through its interactive services. “Probably the only one with a proven business model is games,” Shanks says. He adds that there are multiple ways to charge for games, by the day, by the month, or in some cases, on a pay-per-play basis.
DirecTV also plans to take a cut of the interactive advertising and shopping revenues likely to grow as traditional television ads face new challenges. Earlier this year, the DBS provider signed automaker DaimlerChrysler Corp.’s Chrysler Group as its first interactive advertising partner.
At this point, Shanks says, the overarching goal is research. The partners are trying to determine which interactive advertising tactics generate the most viewer response and the most time spent with the brand.
With DirecTV Active, viewers who respond to a 30-second spot can click out to a longer form ad, request to have information sent to them via e-mail, or play a Jeep driving game, Shanks says. As a client, Chrysler will also be able to examine DirecTV’s upcoming HD and DVR technologies for potential advertising opportunities there.
“Over the long term, the most interesting interactive advertising opportunities will likely be the ones we haven’t even thought of yet,” Shanks says.
DirecTV still hasn’t worked out all the specific revenue-sharing models that will allow viewers to shop over their television sets. It’s still unclear, for example, whether a programmer will get a cut of the television commerce revenue if a viewer clicks through an ad on its networks to buy a product. Shanks says DirecTV would probably work out the kinks by initially offering television commerce only on DirecTV Active or home-shopping channels.
Eventually, DirecTV plans to negotiate with programmers to add interactive elements to certain shows, perhaps consumer polls or voting on reality shows, although nothing is immediately in the works.
Tellus Venture Associates president Steve Blum says he expects the cable industry to respond with its own interactive services, which will have the advantage of more individual, two-way, point-to-point connections.
Shanks says the fight is less about two-way capability and more about programming connections, creativity and the overall consumer experience: “This is not a technology war.”


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The expanded polypropylene (EPP) foam market is projected to register a CAGR of over 6. 5% during the forecast period (2022-2027). The market was negatively impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
New York, July 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Expanded Polypropylene (EPP) Foam Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06309351/?utm_source=GNW
However, the condition recovered in 2021, and it is expected to observe a stable growth trajectory over the forecast period.
Over the medium term, the non-toxic and recyclable nature of the material and the rising demand from packaging industries may drive the market’s growth.
On the flip side, higher prices among other structural foams are likely to act as restraints for the market studied during the forecast period (2022-2027).
The rising demand for bio-based polypropylene foam and its emergence as a replacement for other products are likely to act as opportunities in the future.
The Asia-Pacific region dominated the market, and it is expected to witness the highest CAGR over the forecast period.
Key Market Trends
The Automotive Application is Expected to Dominate the Market
The automotive sector is currently the largest consumer of EPP foams. The demand for EPP foams has increased over the years, as the EU regulations pertaining to emissions have become more rigorous and laws on recycling of vehicles withdrawn from use have been introduced.
Increasing usage of EPP foams in seating and other automotive components reduces the overall weight of the vehicle by ~10%. The fuel consumption was reduced by ~7%. The share of recyclable materials in vehicles that can be reused is increasing simultaneously.
In addition, increasing electric cars are promoting the EPP foam market’s growth, as EPP plays a significant role in making electric cars lightweight and thermally insulated and enhancing the energy absorption capabilities.
EPP foams are also used in the manufacturing of door pads, headliners, and mats. They make it possible to maintain a constant air temperature in the cockpit and generate ideal conditions for battery operations.
The automotive industry observed about 10% growth in the first nine months of 2021 when compared to the same period in 2020.
The aforementioned aspects may result in the automotive application dominating the market.
China is Expected to Dominate the Asia-Pacific Market
The Asia-Pacific region dominated the global market share. In Asia-Pacific, China is the largest economy in terms of GDP.
China is the largest consumer and manufacturer of EPP foams in the Asia-Pacific region. The growing manufacturing activities in the country are increasing the consumption of plastics and polymers in the region, which is expected to drive the expanded polypropylene (EPP) foam market.
The country’s automotive sector has been shaping for product evolution, with the country focusing on manufacturing products that ensure fuel economy and minimize emissions, owing to the increasing environmental concerns (due to mounting pollution in the country).
The Chinese automotive manufacturing industry is the largest in the world. The country observed a growth of 53% in the first nine months of 2021 in automobile production in comparison to the same period in 2020.
Additionally, the market competition in China has become increasingly fierce in the food and beverage industry, which has enabled companies to tap into overseas markets with an aim to seek more resources and business opportunities.
Hence, based on the above-mentioned aspects, China is expected to dominate the Asia-Pacific market during the forecast period.
The expanded polypropylene foam market is consolidated, with the top five companies accounting for a major share of the overall market. The major players (in no particular order) include BASF SE, JSP, Hanwha Group, Izoblok, and Kaneka Corporation, among others.
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- Karen Wilson
New and repeat buyers secure rams
Principals, Craig and Karen Wilson sold 175 Poll Dorset rams for an average of $3050 which was a significant increase from their inaugural sale in 2020.
" It was pleasing to see people latching onto data," Mr Wilson said after the on-property auction at Yarragundry.
He was humbled by the support of both new and repeat buyers, and said it was evident people were confident in securing the younger ram lambs, that were backed by commercially-focused statistics.
"For me the most pleasing thing is the rams are being purchased by really progressive and professional businesses," he said.
"That's a big tick for the breeding program (at Kentish Downs)."
Mr Wilson said he believed the sale represented good value for purchasers.
He said the returns were there at a commercial level and ram purchasers were demonstrating that.
Mr Wilson said the catalogued information and figures helps to provide clarity around potentially selling an old ram and buying a new one.
With increased demand from buyers he confirmed there were opportunities to sell more rams in the future, both at physical on-property sales and also with the AuctionsPlus interface.
The sale also reflected confidence in the prime lamb industry in general.
Repeat purchaser Goorama Limited of Galong secured six rams, to the equal top price of $4400. This purchaser also bought the top-priced ram at the sale last year.
Fletcher's International Exports, Condobolin bought six rams to a high of $4200.
Chris Wilson of Oivi Lamb at Wantabadgery secured six rams to a high of $4000, he said he was buying the sires based on commercial merits and figures.
Repeat buyer Paling Yards Trading Co of Taralga took home 22 rams to a top-price of $3800.
Desava Limited of Boorowa bought five rams to a top of $3800. Woodstock Pastoral of Cooma secured two rams to a high of $3600.


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By guest blogger Michael Cohen:
Wednesday I warned about the dangers of not reading the labels on the over-the-counter (OTC) medications. But there's something else to keep in kind about the required "drug facts" labels on such drugs.
For OTC drugs, the list of product ingredients, as well as other safety information is sometimes hidden underneath a label overlay that must be peeled back to expose the information. There is a small icon and the words "peel here" in the far upper right-hand corner of the label.
Some patients have told us that they failed to recognize they needed to peel off the overlay, and they missed important information. Others have told us they thought they weren't supposed to peel off the overlay without first purchasing the product, because they thought the label might not re-stick. Don't let that concern you. Most times it will re-stick.
We've asked FDA to look into this and we've also encouraged manufacturers to include dosing information on the front panel or, at a minimum, to prominently display the need to peel back the label.
Perhaps there should be a requirement for all products to have a standard minimum amount of information immediately visible.
Meanwhile, be sure not to miss important OTC drug facts!
For information on the Institute for Safe Medication Practices' consumer website go www.consumermedsafety.org
To check out more Check Up items go to www.philly.com/checkup.


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The brand, which merged with Alaska Airlines in April, is retiring its iconic safety videos.
Virgin America, the airline founded by entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, flew its first flight in 2007. The airline initially found it difficult to attract investors as a new entry to a crowded market, but quickly became a well-loved choice for transatlantic travelers and began flying to dozens of destinations across the U.S. and beyond. Its bright red color scheme, mood lighting and upbeat music differentiated it from other airlines. The Virgin America frequent flyer programme, like many other airline loyalty schemes, offered points for every air mile traveled, which could be exchanged for flights, upgrades or hotel rooms. In April 2016 it was ranked the best airline in the U.S., around the same time it was sold to Alaska Airlines. People with points on the Virgin America frequent flyer scheme could transfer them to the parent airline, but the iconic branding was eventually stripped from the fleet of planes in 2018.
Virgin America announced a sale on Monday, though the airline that's buying it isn't that bad, either.
Some fares fell by as much as 40% when Virgin America started a new route. Will that stay the same after the Alaska Airlines purchase?


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The mission continues
The VICIS story continues to evolve as we to push forward to usher in the newest advancements in helmet technology. There are many stories circulating as to the current state of the company, but we wanted to inform our customers and set the record straight:
- The VICIS brand and all assets were recently purchased by Innovatus Capital Partners. With this, we have formed an entirely new company, yet have retained the VICIS brand name. Innovatus has also chosen to retain the core team of VICIS engineers, product developers, and designers responsible for the ZERO1, and the recently revealed ZERO2.
- To further improve our manufacturing and distribution capabilities, VICIS has partnered with Schutt, another Innovatus’ portfolio company, who will be responsible for a portion of final VICIS helmet assembly and national distribution of the forthcoming ZERO2. This partnership allows VICIS to better serve our customers and allow the product development team to focus in on continued innovation and further product developments, while improving manufacturing capabilities and quality.
- The VICIS design and engineering team will remain operating out of our Seattle, WA headquarters. Here, we will continue to utilize our state of the art testing facility and advanced rapid prototyping technologies.
With our new strategic partnership and company structure, we look forward to providing further protection advancements to athletes of all ages and to always challenge ourselves to reimagine what a helmet can do.


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People hunt for bargains this weekend as the Big Apple headed for what threatens to be its gloomiest holiday season in decades.
Recession-hit rich jostle for bargains
NEW YORK // Even the rich were hunting for bargains this weekend as the Big Apple headed for what threatens to be its gloomiest holiday season in decades. With the lions of Wall Street facing a new year without their regular six- and seven-figure bonuses, the fur-clad ladies at the swanky Bergdorf Goodman department store on Fifth Avenue were eyeing the discreet notices offering 40 per cent discounts on designer luxuries. "Black Friday" and the post-Thanksgiving weekend is traditionally a time when retailers offer mega-bargains in the hope of securing their profits for the year. At the height of a financial crisis, however, nothing is certain. Among the less well-heeled, shops saw a mad scramble past consumers to grab some bargains with their rapidly diminishing stores of cash. A worker at a New York branch of Wal-Mart, the cut-price supermarket chain, was trampled to death on Friday as shoppers stampeded the store. The city's Dickensian aspects are becoming more pronounced. A vast army of often immigrant cleaners, laundry workers, drivers and caterers is watching its prospects diminish as a core group of the wealthy elite they serve sits out the economic decline. Tiffany's, the upmarket jewellers, and Barney's, another designer department store, saw lighter traffic than usual but this allowed the rich a more airy atmosphere in which to spend money. Foreign accents were still ubiquitous even though the dollar has strengthened in recent months, proving the city remains a draw for the globe's wealthy. For most New Yorkers, tougher times beckon. The city is heavily dependent on Wall Street, which could lose as many as 48,000 jobs if a recession plays out beyond next year, said the state comptroller recently. The financial services sector contracted 8.7 per cent as of October after a long list of companies weakened, including Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, American International Group and Washington Mutual. The turmoil was bound to feed through to most levels of society, but its earliest effects on philanthropic donations showed the arts suffering less than soup kitchens. In particular, cultural organisations dependent on donations from the upper crust have not been hit as hard, at least not yet. A black-tie gala for the New York Public Library with celebrities including Salman Rushdie and Nora Ephron raised more than $2.9 million (Dh10.7) in November. Dick Fuld, the former Lehman Brother's chairman who was castigated in the press for his poor management, was one of the co-chairmen of the Library Lions event. Another gala for the New-York Historical Society was on track to raise more than $1.3m. But charities that serve the poor, hungry and those without medical insurance are finding themselves at stretching point - soup kitchens received record turnouts on Thanksgiving last Thursday. "It's amazing how services to the poor suffer cutbacks while the rich carry on with their preoccupations," said a woman who works for the publicly funded New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. Organisations ranging from museums to homeless shelters all benefit from non-profit status, meaning they do not pay corporate or property taxes. A survey released by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger found there was a 28 per cent rise in people using emergency food providers and a bigger number was expected next year. Of 308 food banks surveyed, 89 per cent said they believed the need for them would rise in the coming months and 69 per cent said they did not have enough supplies. State government budgets will feel even more strain next year, meaning cuts in grants to soup kitchens and other charities. The politicians geared up for a fight. Legislative wrangling meant David Paterson, governor of New York State, was forced to delay reaching a deal on tackling the budget deficit until next year. A glimmer of hope for New York was to be found in figures showing how universities and hospitals were accounting for a growing share of private-sector jobs. Two hospital operators, New York-Presbyterian and Continuum Health Partners, now have more employees in the city than does Macy's, the department store, or Time Warner, the media conglomerate, according to The New York Times. Some commentators might be tolling the bell for capitalism but the city's leaders said they are committed to free markets and economic diversity. The arts might suck up philanthropic dollars but they also provide an economic benefit by drawing in tourists. Steven Strauss of the New York City Economic Development Corporation said the city's investment attractions would be reiterated in a roadshow to be taken across the Middle East next year. He said New York generated about $1 trillion in gross domestic product, more than the combined member countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council. "We've been around for hundreds of years and have a very large, diversified economy," he said. email@example.com Hard Times is an occasional series focusing on the economic crisis's impact on people around the world


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As reported in July 2022, Brazil-based Klabin confirmed it is making an investment of R$1.6 bn (approximately $287m) for the construction of a new corrugated board plant in Piracicaba (São Paulo). The plant is being built on a plot of 950,000 sqm, allowing for future expansion. With the startup of the factory and other expansion projects already announced by the company, Klabin will have an installed capacity of approximately 1.3m tons of corrugated board per year, further consolidating its leading position in the Brazilian market.
The new factory is scheduled to start operating in the final quarter of 2023 and into the first quarter of 2024 and will have an annual production capacity of 240,000 tons of corrugated board.
As confirmed in the original announcement, the company will be installing multiple corrugators and converting lines. Included in this order is five machines from MHI. These lines include:
- Three EVOL 100 with Dual Slotter and MPF M pre-feeders;
- Two EVOL 115 with Dual Slotter and MPF W pre-feeders.
“This is a significant order, one which we are rightly proud of,” confirms Giovanni Bettini, Head of Sales, MHI EMEA and South America. “It is an honour for us that Klabin has chosen these market-leading casemakers for this new flag ship facility, which will open in late 2023. We will be delivering two of the lines ready for the opening of the facility, with the remaining three machines being delivered in early 2024.”


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Today – or at least some point in the very near future – the world’s population will hit the 7 billion mark. Anyone alive in 1940 has seen the number of humans on this planet triple. No matter what day we actually cross the 7B milestone, that’s a lot of people, and growth is expected to continue for some time – by 2050 we could be up to a ten-thousand-million folks sharing the globe.
This presents a problem, as Earth’s resources are limited, and The Drink Nation has calculated that very soon there will not be enough beer to go around. Water will become more and more scarce, and since it takes somewhere between 8 and 24 gallons to create each pint, that glass of tasty brew probably won’t be readily available much longer.
Beer will become like ambrosia, the drink of the few who are wealthy enough to afford the luxury. And the rest of us? It’s likely we’ll end up as zombies (this whole thing started on Halloween, after all), stalking the 1% in search of a forever-out-of-reach satisfying sip of tasty malted ale. Unless – and we swear we’re not trying to start a sixpack stampede here – unless we start stockpiling NOW. Is there enough for 7 billion in your beer cellar?
Photo via Flickr user thepoweroflard
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‘Sunspring’ might seem like any other budget sci-fi film, but this wasn’t written by a Hollywood scriptwriter.
» Currently browsing: Culture
Tim Shank can guarantee you that he’ll never leave home without his keys. Why is that? Well, his house keys are located inside his body.
Since Elon Musk founded a start-up space company over 14 years ago, the goal has always been the same: Establishing a colony on Mars. You’ll be amazed at how he’s planning to get there.
Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are some of the largest social media platforms in the world. When it comes to online shoppers, they’re no match to Pinterest.
Foxconn, Apple’s favorite manufacturer, was replacing 60,000 of its workers with robots. Everyone from the BBC to Apple fan sites soon reported the ground-shifting news. However, there was just one problem: It was mostly false.
The US is only now warming up to the idea of electric cars and other eco-friendly modes of transportation, however Norway is whole-heartedly embracing them. It might become the first country to actually ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles in its aim to reach zero vehicle emissions by 2025.
Winners of Inc.’s Iconic Design Awards come from all varieties of categories this year, including toys, sportswear, environment-saving home goods, and more. However they all share one key quality: they nail what customers want now.
By now everyone has heard of Google’s RankBrain. It’s the new artificial intelligence machine learning algorithm that is supposed to be the latest and greatest from Mountain View, California. What you might not realize, however, is just how fast the SEO industry is changing because of it. This article will take you through some clear examples […]
After 17 years of construction, the Gotthard Base Tunnel has opened. It’s a 35-mile high-speed rail connection beneath the Swiss Alps and is now the longest transit tunnel in the world. You better believe that Hyperloop engineers are paying attention.
Drones are the new hotness in the gadget world and no one makes better drones than DJI. But while DJI’s Phantom 4 is both super smart and easy to control, it’s nowhere near as easy to carry around as the Dobby selfie drone.


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Liz and Celeste are on vacation, so we’re re-posting some content from our old site.
By Liz Borkowski, originally posted 11/3/09
New York-based Fairbank Farms is recalling more than 500,000 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. Gardiner Harris reports in the New York Times that two people – one from New Hampshire and one from New York – have died after eating the ground beef suspected of contamination, and more than two dozen people have fallen ill. [Note: This is a re-post from 2009, so don’t go running to look for this beef in your fridge. Up-to-date info on recalls can be found here.]
The products in question bear a stamp reading “EST 492” and were distributed to retailers (including Trader Joe’s and Giant) in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. A Fairbanks Farms spokesperson told the Times that the products had September sell-by dates and should no longer be on grocery shelves; however, some customers may still have these products in their freezers. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has posted a list of the products subject to recall, and notes that one product – cases of 10-pound “Fairbank Farms Fresh Ground Beef Chubs” – was sold to retailers for further processing and will likely not bear the package dates and sell-by dates being publicized.
Harris’s article and the FSIS press release about the recall highlight two food-safety issues that bear emphasizing.
In an NYT article last month, Michael Moss explained why ground beef is so often the culprit in E. coli outbreaks:
Ground beef is usually not simply a chunk of meat run through a grinder. Instead, records and interviews show, a single portion of hamburger meat is often an amalgam of various grades of meat from different parts of cows and even from different slaughterhouses. These cuts of meat are particularly vulnerable to E. coli contamination, food experts and officials say. Despite this, there is no federal requirement for grinders to test their ingredients for the pathogen.
The low-grade cuts of meat often used in ground-beef products come from areas of the cow that are more likely to have contact with feces, which research has found to carry E. coli. Since the meat is coming from multiple different suppliers, it would make sense for each of those suppliers to test their meat for contamination, and thus head off potential contamination of mixed batches. In tracing the story of a Cargill hamburger patty that caused severe illness and lasting paralysis in 22-year-old Stephanie Smith, Moss found that this kind of testing often doesn’t happen:
Yet Cargill, like most meat companies, relies on its suppliers to check for the bacteria and does its own testing only after the ingredients are ground together. The United States Department of Agriculture, which allows grinders to devise their own safety plans, has encouraged them to test ingredients first as a way of increasing the chance of finding contamination.
Unwritten agreements between some companies appear to stand in the way of ingredient testing. Many big slaughterhouses will sell only to grinders who agree not to test their shipments for E. coli, according to officials at two large grinding companies. Slaughterhouses fear that one grinder’s discovery of E. coli will set off a recall of ingredients they sold to others.
Over the summer, FSIS announced that it would begin testing the trimmings used in ground beef; previously, FSIS inspectors had tested most of the meat used in ground beef but not trimmings. On average, individual plants can expect to have these trimmings tested two or three times a year. Whether such infrequent inspections will be enough to spur improvements in meat suppliers’ processes remains to be seen, but the agency appears to intend this as a means to determine whether a systemic problem exists with contamination in these trimmings. If the inspections do turn up widespread and consistent contamination, then the agency will have to decide what’s necessary to solve the problem.
While this particular perfect storm of contamination risks may be unique to ground beef, there’s another challenge facing all food-borne outbreak investigations: /2009/04/21/thanks-minnesota/“>The ability to detect and trace outbreaks depends on state health departments, which are often under-resourced. The FSIS press release about this particular ground beef recall notes that the agency “is continuing to work with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Connecticut Department of Public Health, other state health and agriculture departments and the CDC on the investigation.” It’s great that the federal government seems to be serious about tackling food-safety problems, but it needs strong partners at the state level.


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On Wednesday 29 June 2016 the world’s largest uncut diamond found in more than a hundred years, the Lesedi La Rona, went on auction at Sotheby’s Auction House in London. This choice of a public auction, instead of traditional invitations to enter sealed bids, was made by the owners, the Lucara Diamond Corporation, and was the first time that an uncut stone of this magnitude went on auction. Lucara wanted to capitalise on the boom in gem prices and hoped to sell the stone directly to a wealthy buyer for a private collection. To the amazement of Sotheby’s and the bidding audience, this 1.109 carat tennis-ball sized white diamond did not reach the unspecified minimum acceptable bid reserve price! The pre-sale estimate was at least $70 million, but the bidding ended when the highest bid reached was $61 million, $68.3 million with buyer’s premium, $68,300 per carat is a high price to pay for an uncut diamond!
The uncut stone was withdrawn from the auction, and is currently retained by the Lucara Diamond Corporation. The Corporation may partner on the stone or hold a regular tender or perhaps display it in a museum. They have yet to decide the best way forward.
The auction was a gamble for both Lucara and Sotheby’s and perhaps Britain’s vote to leave the European Union may have affected the bidding interest. Potential bidders had a chance to view the stone in advance, but evidently they did not think that the diamond justified such a high price, even if it was cut into smaller stones.
David Bennett, Sotheby’s chairman of jewelry, had called the diamond “the find of a lifetime.” In a statement on Wednesday evening after bidding ended, Sotheby’s said, “Every aspect of tonight’s auction was unprecedented. No one alive today has ever seen a gem-quality rough diamond of this incredible scale; no rough diamond of importance has ever before been offered before at public auction; and no diamond — polished or rough — has ever been estimated at this price level”.
This unique rare stone, thought to be more than 2.5 billion years old, was discovered in November 2015 at the Lucara Diamond Corporation’s mine at Karowe in Botswana. The rough stone, named the Lesedi La Rona, meaning ‘Our Light’ in Setswana, the language of Botswana, has the potential to be the largest high quality diamond to have ever been cut and polished. Previously, in 1905, a 3,106.75 carat diamond was found at the Cullinan mine near Pretoria in South Africa: this stone yielded nine polished diamonds, now found among the Crown Jewels of Great Britain, as well as many smaller stones.
What was the reason that this unique sale failed? We can only speculate on why this auction bet did not come to fruition. Wealthy buyers may have felt intimidated that diamantaires did not exhibit clear bidding leads, and another possibility is that stocks and financial assets had been volatile after the Brexit vote. David Bennett suggested that “the market instability with Brexit may have just caused this to be a case of bad luck or bad timing”, while Tobias Kormind of online retailer 77 Diamonds said “the bullish gem market may have reached a tipping point and demand for large rare stones might just be saturated”.
Diamond analyst Paul Zimnisky told the CBC that the recent Brexit vote likely affected the market for the stone. “I think it was definitely the referendum that passed in the U.K. When you look at the potential bidders of a stone that’s close to a hundred million dollars, you know these are wealthy individuals and investors who have a lot of exposure to financial assets that sold off last week with that news”.
Lucara’s CEO and President William Lamb said “We understand that it is not easy to see the true value in a diamond when the only mechanism is to value the polished. The historical significance of the stone seems to have been missed based on the bids offered”. When asked what role he thought Brexit or other global economic situations might have had on the outcome, he said, “We cannot say. In today’s volatile times, there is always some level of economic uncertainty. Saying this is the reason the auction did not conclude with the sale of the stone would be incorrect, although it may have in some way played a small part”.
The record price for a rough stone was set in May 2016 when Lucara sold an 813-carat diamond at a private auction for $63 million, which is approximately $77,500 a carat.


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EnsembleIQ next month will unite two of its well-known industry events next month when the 14th annual Consumer Goods Sales & Marketing Summit will be staged alongside the 28th annual Path to Purchase Expo.
Take part in a 30-minute debrief presented by Path to Purchase Institute editors on the strategies and tactics driving success (or failure) at today’s leading retail chains including Amazon, Walmart, Target and more! Register Now!
Greg Kearns came from the agency world, starting in more traditional advertising with Hill Holliday in Boston and mostly with financial services clients. He saw shopper marketing as a growing discipline in the ad industry and was lucky enough to land with JWT Action (Geometry Global).
Retailers, often with the help of brand partners, are increasing the use of technology to enhance the store experience. To see what’s currently out there and determine the impact these technologies are having, Rise partnered with Field Agent.


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Parallels Desktop 6 appears on store shelves
No official announcement from the virtualization mavens at Parallels, but it appears that the next version of the company's Mac app for Windows virtual machines is already popping up at retail. Sharp-eyed reader Matthew Fern snapped this shot of Parallels Desktop 6 already on sale at Fry's Electronics in Roseville, CA.
We've got a call into the Parallels press office to find out about upgrade options and actual yes-we-admit-it release info, but chances are we'll have to wait until after the Labor Day holiday to get the final word.
Deals of the Daymore deals
Software Updatesmore updates
- Agile Partners releases Lick of the Day 2.0
- Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 Update 14.3.4
- Pixelmator 2.2 available with over 100 new features and improvements
- DabKick for iPhone lets you share photos, watch videos and now listen to music in real-time
- Google Now added to search app on iPhone, iPad
- GateGuru for iPhone has been updated and greatly improved


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Hake and sirloin steaks are being taken off pub menus as inflationary pressures ripple across the UK.
Jonathan Lawson, chief executive of Liberation Group, which operates 119 pubs and inns in Jersey, Guernsey and the south west of England, said the business had been hit by "huge inflation" on some ingredients on its menus and is being forced to swap out expensive items as a result.
He said: "I think people would be surprised how much inflation has already come through.
"Hake is a good example of this. It's massively popular at the moment and very expensive so we don't have it on the menu. Sirloin steaks are another, so we have to think, ok, can we develop a really good rump product and change the way we cook it to deliver a really good premium beef product to a customer who wants that?"
It comes as costs spiral for hospitality bosses, with official figures showing prices had jumped 4.2pc in the 12 months to October.
The Bank of England has suggested that inflation will reach 5pc by next spring, whilst Citibank has forecast it could even hit 6pc.
Mr Lawson said the company, which trades under the Butcombe brand in England, is constantly assessing the impact of rising costs but that a jump in utility bills after energy prices rocketed had made the biggest impact so far.
His comments echo those of pub operator Mitchells & Butlers which last week said cost rises were piling pressure on the sector. The chain's chief executive Phil Urban said that utility costs are on track to double this year, costing the business up to £70m.
Mr Urban, whose company runs the Harvester and All Bar One chains, said he would struggle to offset those cost increases if they spike as much as expected.
However, he said it would prove difficult to simply pass the increase along in full to customers.
Mr Urban said: "The notion that you can just pass this through is just wrong, because customers will vote with their feet."


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Electrify America received approval for its $200 million California Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) plan. The investment will run from mid-2019 until the end of 2021 and will make up 25% of the overall $800 million 10-year ZEV investment for California. Learn more here.
AVERE, the European Association for eMobility, hosted its annual eMobility Conference, which drew mobility, energy, and sustainability experts from across the globe to listen to speakers and network with industry professionals on how to collectively drive the future of electric mobility forward.
It's time to start gearing up for the new electric cars that will hit the roads in 2019. Even if you aren’t considering purchasing a new electric car next year, you can’t avoid being excited about the 15+ new EV models coming in 2019. Check them out here!
Businesses must include sustainability as a pillar of their strategy, and there are more role models than one thinks. Here are our CEO Kristof's findings from the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco.
Dear Future Citizen, every prior generation has given you the comforts you’re enjoying today, but they also screwed up a little by leaving traces that are damaging for our climate, health, and safety. Here's how we're going to fix this together.


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Tesco could become a major player in a restructured Post Office – handing out pensions and benefit payments – as a government sponsored cost-cutting drive looks to replace traditional counters with a cheaper service offered at the checkouts of convenience stores.
Through its One Stop convenience chain, the UK's biggest retailer has been taking part in the Post Office Local pilot which sees traditional fortress counters replaced by a hybrid till service where staff in shops and petrol stations juggle mail and bill payments alongside baskets of groceries.
Postal unions are worried after comments made by the Post Office chief executive, Paula Vennells, at last week's Commons business select committee suggested One Stop was keen to offer the service in all 600 of its stores.
She told MPs: "I was in a meeting last week with the minister, so this was said in front of the postal affairs minister [Norman Lamb], where one of the operators who is running 25 of these new locals asked if they could have one in every one of the 600 stores they have."
Industry experts said the executive was referring to One Stop as it is the only multiple operating more than 20 Locals at present. There are 177 Locals with 28 run by One Stop. Other convenience chains involved include the Co-op, Spar and Martin McColl.
Vennells is understood to have been referring to a conversation at a round-table event hosted by Lamb to discuss the Post Office's "network strategy".
To become a Local a subpostmaster must give up an annual fixed payment from the Post Office and instead work on a commission basis. To encourage them to take the leap the Post Office is offering a payment of up to £10,000 for store refurbishments. On that basis One Stop, which was acquired by Tesco in 2002 as part of its £377m acquisition of T&S Stores, would have been entitled to up to £280,000 to revamp its 28 stores.
Vennells told the committee that retailers liked the new Local model because it increased staff productivity – specialist staff are no longer required to stay behind the separate counter and can serve shoppers – and boosted sales by an average of 9%. Industry sources suggested other retailers were less enthusiastic about adopting the Local model but would feel pressured to do so if the alternative was the business being handed to One Stop.
The Post Office was previously part of Royal Mail Group but became independent last month when the government created separate companies. Ministers are priming the Royal Mail for sale – either through a stock market flotation, or a private sale – but hope the Post Office will eventually be mutualised. The most recent annual report shows the Post Office making an operating profit of £21m on sales of £776m. It receives an annual government subsidy of £150m.
George Thomson, from the National Federation of SubPostmasters, said it would oppose any Post Office tie-up with Tesco: "I'd warn the Post Office they have to be very careful that they don't get in bed with Tesco because Tesco are seen as actually damaging local retail and damaging local high streets."
Vennells told the committee the Post Office network was already a "mixed economy" with independent and multiple retailers working side by side. WH Smith, for example, has 70 franchises. A Post Office spokesman said: "We have no plans to roll out additional post office branches into One Stop shops." One Stop also denied that a rollout to all of its 613 shops was on the cards: "Customers like the convenience of post office services in One Stop shops, but we do not have plans or aspirations to roll out services across all our stores," said a spokesman.
Earlier this year the government earmarked £1.3bn to begin modernising the Post Office network. The money is being targeted at half its 11,800 branches with Post Office bosses aiming for 2,000 "locals" and 4,000 so-called "main" post offices. Those running these larger outlets are entitled to grants of up to £45,000 for refurbishments but must also give up the fixed pay element of their income. The changes are designed to reduce the Post Office's £450m annual bill for sub-postmaster remuneration.
The Local model has come under fire from watchdog Consumer Focus which, in a recent report, found several problems with the new services, including basic errors such as second-class postage being sold correctly only one in five times. Large or heavy parcels were refused in a quarter of cases and special delivery was mis-sold in a third of cases.


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The USA economy has seen the biggest decline since 1947 due to the corona virus. USA economy economy has seen a decline of about 33%.…Read more Corona Virus Effect Biggest Decline in USA Economy
China’s One Belt One Road Project has now started hovering the danger. Anyway, it is not taking the name of difficulties to reduce these days.…Read more The feasibility of One Belt One Road Project in China is under question
The Government of India has made major changes in its trade rules. And these trade rules are going to have a direct impact on China.…Read more Is India’s new trade rules a setback for China?
Due to Corona virus, the Aviation Company Indigo will salary up to 35% of its employees. You have to tell for information, one of the…Read more Corona virus crisis IndiGo will cut salary by 35% of its employees
Countries around the world are now trying to protect their economy from the corona virus. Corona virus has been badly affected in India’s economy. And…Read more How the economy of India should survive the attack of Coronavirus?
If the recent speeches of the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, are heard, then all of them have one thing in common. Prime Minister…Read more How can India become dependent?


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March 21, 2015. Los Angeles, CA
On April 18th, 2015, for the first time in downtown Los Angeles, the State of Digital Money will paint a picture of a future vision shaped by the leaders of the digital currency community. Key speakers include, Jeff Garzk, Bitcoin core developer at Bitpay, Steve Beauregard, Co-Founder and CEO at GoCoin, and Connie Gallippi, Founder and Executive Director at the BitGive Foundation. Executives from innovative startups such as Factom, Changetip and Airbitz, will also be represented.
Hosted at rhubarb studios within the U.S. bank tower building in downtown Los Angeles, The State of Digital Money will showcase technologies and host expert conversations on the future of currency and financial activities in a developing global economy. With digital payments becoming increasingly more commonplace, new and emerging technologies are disrupting the global financial system. Blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies and decentralized applications are rapidly taking off as funding and investments continue to fuel the movement.
Whether you are new to the movement or are a seasoned professional in the space, attend and network with over 20 top industry professionals and 4 focused panels on regulation, investments, mainstream adoption and blockchain technology. Additional presentations will also cover the issues of digital currency security, social impacts, bitcoin mining and even bitcoin in space!
Confirmed Speakers Include:
Scott Bambacigno, Vice President, Alphapoint
Judd Bagley, Director of Communications, Overstock
Steve Beauregard, Co-founder & CEO, GoCoin
Andrew Beal, Associate, Crowley Corporate Attorneys
Flavien Charlon, Founder, Coinprism
Connie Lin Chung, Senior Payments Project Manager, Expedia
Edward Clements, Creator and Owner,Bitbrew.net
Adrian Fenty, Business Development, Perkins Coie
Connie Gallippi, Founder & ED, Bitgive Foundation
Jeff Garzik, Bitcoin Core Developer, Bitpay
Lingyun Gu, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Equinox Decisions
Alyse Killeen, Venture Capital Investor, March Capital Partners
Andrew Lee, CEO, Purse.io
Alex Rozman, Senior Manger, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics
Paul Puey, CEO / Co-founder, Airbitz
Matthew Roszak, Founder & CEO, Tally Capital
Marco Santori, Counsel, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
Paul Snow, Creator and Founder, Factom
Brett Stapper, Co-Founder, Falcon Global Capital
Marco Streng, Co-Founder and CEO, Genesis Mining
Nick Sullivan, Founder, Change Tip
Michael Terpin, Co-Founder, BitAngels
Micah Winkelspecht, Founder & CEO, Gem
Sam Onat Yilmaz, General Partner, Decentralized Applications Fund
To learn more about the event and to buy your tickets visit:
Bitcoin Magazine is the oldest and most established source of news, information and expert commentary on Bitcoin, its underlying blockchain technology and the industry that has grown up around it. Since 2012, Bitcoin Magazine has provided analysis, research, education and thought leadership at the intersection of finance and technology.


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As TikTok eats the world, YouTube makes a bid for creators’ hearts — and wallets
Gather within the company Historic Spruce Goose Hangar On Tuesday morning, a host of YouTube leaders laid out a roadmap for the platform’s growing relationship with both video creators and the music industry, announcing new monetization tools and industry partnerships in the cavernous event space where Howard Hughes once built a giant wooden airplane.
But tech executives seem eager to outline their plans The future of the creative economyThey were much more flexible in acknowledging the aggressively scaling industry that, in the past few years, has taken a huge bite out of the online video ecosystem: TikTok.
In fact, the Google subsidiary’s “Made on YouTube” press event went on for about an hour before anyone explicitly mentioned TikTok — and even then, it was an audience member, during the question-and-answer period, who first named the elephant in the room.
TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, is largely responsible for popularizing the short-form video format that YouTube, along with other imitators, is now using with its micro-video shorts platform. And while Shorts has become a serious TikTok competitor — YouTube Recently claimed At 1.5 billion monthly visitors, where TikTok is expected to be – the medium is still synonymous with its pioneers.
“We’ve always operated in a pretty competitive market,” said They are Walpert Levy, YouTube’s vice president for Americas and global content, in response to a reporter’s question about TikTok’s ongoing expansion in the United States, including Los Angeles. “Our vision has always been … that we want to be the home of creators.”
It’s a point the company’s leadership has returned to time and time again. YouTube Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki said in a video that the company is “doubling down.” [its] A commitment to empowering creators. Neil Mohan, Chief Product Officer, later described creators as the “heart” of YouTube.
The day’s big announcements seem geared toward honoring that creator-centric approach — and YouTube is backing away from its scripted content ambitions, in line with the company’s broader trajectory of renewed emphasis on user-generated videos.
A change is coming soon, which will allow Shorts creators to reach 10 million views within 90 days Apply for membership In the YouTube Partner Program, a revenue-sharing model the company launched in 2007 to give creators some of the profits from advertising Served around their content. (Shorts creators were previously paid from the $100-million fund based on their engagement metrics, not ad revenue.)
Revenue sharing for Shorts “This is the first time there’s true revenue sharing at scale for short-form video on any platform,” Mohan said, adding that revenue from ads running within Shorts will be pooled and paid to Shorts creators. Also used to cover music licensing costs.
Mohan said, short creators will keep 45% of the money. For long-form videos, that cut has historically been 55%; YouTube leaders attributed the short cut to Shorts, in part, as an effort to keep the program sustainable.
Another change will add a new layer to the partner program, which allows creators with smaller fan bases to earn money from their fans through features like membership programs.
As the creator economy continues to grow and digital artists demand better, fairer ways to get paid, YouTube’s announcements suggest the company thinks short-form filmmakers will play a big role in the company’s future — and perhaps it’ll push them away from TikTok. A business imperative.
It’s a move that capitalizes on the goodwill YouTube already has among some creators. In January, a video by longtime vlogger Hank Greene then went viral compare favorably YouTube’s revenue-sharing model is in TikTok’s Creator Fund, a static pool of money that the company splits among top creators.
TikTok’s approach is “a huge hole in the creator economy,” Green said at the time, because with a fixed amount of money up for grabs, the per-person payout decreases as the number of qualified creators increases. (Tick tock announced later It also had its own revenue-sharing system, TikTok Pulse, which was modeled after YouTube’s.)
At Tuesday’s event the company announced new infrastructure to help long-form video creators incorporate licensed music into their content — with singer-songwriter Jason Derulo to explain how close collaboration between artists and creators benefits them both.
“The biggest problem [with tapping into social media fan bases] Always had the right,” said Derulo, sporting a red jacket covered in Marvel movie-themed patches. “And from the artist’s point of view: I want my music to be heard. I want my song on your page.
Historically, YouTubers have had to give up ad revenue if they add licensed music to their videos, said Amjad Hanif, YouTube’s vice president of product management and creator products. But with the company’s new platform, Creator Music, creators will soon be able to browse songs and then license them directly or enter into a revenue-sharing agreement with the original musicians, Hanif said.
According to Derulo, it’s a move that points to how the entertainment industry as a whole is evolving in the age of internet-created celebrities.
“When I was growing up, a lot of people had Britney Spears or NSYNC on their walls,” the singer said. “But now … they can have a Bryce Hall or a Jake Paul.
“The modern day rock star,” continued Derulo, “has changed.”


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TimkenSteel to cut management, salaried jobs
TimkenSteel will cut management and salaried staff by 8 percent as part of on going efforts to reduce costs.
The company wants to eliminate $50 million in costs following a quarter that saw sales drop 46 percent from last year.
“The continuing impact from weak global commodity markets hit us harder in the third quarter than originally estimated,” Ward J. “Tim” Timken Jr., chairman, chief executive officer and president, said in a news release announcing third quarter results.
“With no sign of near-term recovery, we initiated another round of cost reductions, which will generate about $50 million in savings for the company next year,” Timken said in the release.
For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, the company posted a loss of $30.8 million, or 69 cents per share, compared with a profit of $25.7 million, or 56 cents per share, reported last year. Sales dropped to $232.7 million, which is $201.5 million — or 46 percent — less than the $434.2 million reported last year.
Through the first nine months, TimkenSteel has posted a $48.2 million loss, or $1.08 per share, compared with profits of $88 million, or $1.93 per share, last year. Sales this year are $899.6 million, down 28.9 percent from $1.26 billion.
TimkenSteel has been taking steps this year to reduce costs. Timken said $25 million in annualized savings from second-quarter reductions already are helping operating results.
A range of actions is being taken to generate savings in the manufacturing process, the company said. Steelworkers have been working alternating weeks in the company’s local mills. Plans now are to delay ramp-up of the advanced quench-and-temper facility under construction at Gambrinus mill.
As part of efforts to reduce salaried staff, the company will consolidate customer activities under Shawn Seanor, who formerly led the energy and distribution segment. He has been named executive vice president of sales and business development. Bob Keeler, executive vice president of the mobile and industrial segment, has announced plans to retire.
Other spending reductions are being made companywide. Meanwhile, sales engineers are generating new business and maintaining new product development, according to the release.
Sales fell during the quarter because TimkenSteel made and sold less product.
The company said melt utilization was only 40 percent in the third quarter, down when compared with 75 percent in the third quarter of 2014 and 47 percent use in the second quarter. Ship tons totaled 179,000, a 37-percent drop from last year.
The trend likely will continue during the fourth quarter, the company said.
It’s estimated that shipments in the industrial and mobile segment will be 10 percent lower than the third quarter, while shipments in the energy and distribution segment will drop 20 percent.
A drop in oil and gas drilling, indicated by lower rig counts and exploration spending, has contributed to sales for the energy and industrial segments, the company said. One positive note is strong automotive-market demand.
Reach Edd at 330-580-8484 or
On Twitter: @epritchardREP


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Madison Realty Capital is supplying a $585 million loan to Five Star Development for the completion of a $2 billion Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, Arizona mega-project anchored by Ritz-Carlton-branded assets.
The May 12 financing provided by the New York-based real estate investment manager will go toward the completion of The Ritz-Carlton Resort and Residences in Paradise Valley at The Palmeraie, which is currently 80 percent finished.
Josh Zegen, managing principal and co-founder of Madison Realty Capital, said the Arizona mixed-use project is one of the most impressive undertakings of a luxury master-planned community on the West Coast. He noted Scottsdale, Arizona-based developer Five Star has pre-sold each of the 80 single-level villas in the project and nearly half of the 32 single-family estate homes.
The project spans 122 acres on the border of Scottsdale and Paradise Valley in Arizona and features retail, dining and residential spaces across its footprint.
The centerpiece of the $2 billion project is the 215-room Ritz-Carlton resort being funded for completion by Madison Realty Capital’s $585 million loan. Bryan Clark, managing director of Chicago-based advisory JLL Capital Markets, arranged the latter financing.
The project’s retail and dining spaces comprise about 160,000 square feet of mixed-use space across 22 acres at the corner of Scottsdale and Indian Bend roads. The retail offerings currently include 60 luxury and specialty boutiques.
Atop this, FENDI Private Residences – developed by Five Star and branded under the Italian fashion label through a licensing agreement – will also be featured in the mega-project. The FENDI-branded ground-up residential component includes 52 residencies and five penthouses.


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03 January 2017
03 January 2017
AOC has increased the price of its resins, gel coats and pigments effective for all orders shipped on or after 15th January 2017.
The increase for resins is US$0.05/lb. for the US, and CND$0.15/Kg for Canada. The increase for gel coats and pigments is US$0.06/lb. for the US, and CND$0.175/Kg for Canada.
According to AOC, this action is due to continuing price pressure on critical raw materials. AOC’s global purchasing resources continue to work with their network of suppliers to manage costs and meet customers’ needs.
Further to this, AOC is also increasing the price of US$0.05/lb. for all products sold in Latin America, including Mexico and the Caribbean. This increase is effective for all shipments on or after 15th January 2017.
It explains that this action is due to continuing price pressure on critical raw materials. AOC’s global purchasing resources continue to work with their network of suppliers to manage costs and meet customers’ needs.
North Thin Ply Technology (NTPT) and Richard Mille have signed a long-term collaboration and exclusive supply agreement. The new multi-year contract will see NTPT develop and provide its lightweight thin ply materials exclusively to Richard Mille for horology, jewellery and luxury stationery items.
Global Composites, a new international conference jointly hosted by NetComposites and the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA), will take place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, US, on 27-28 June 2018.
The UK's Engineering Industries Association (EIA) and the Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) have received confirmation of government funding for UK engineering companies to exhibit at overseas trade shows.


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Full Moon Bar-B-Que coming to Pelham
Published 4:56 pm Monday, December 12, 2016
By BRIANA HARRIS / Staff Writer
PELHAM – The state’s 13th location of Full Moon Bar-B-Que is set to open in Pelham in spring 2017, according to a news release from the company.
The restaurant will be located in a completely renovated 3,200-square-foot space on the end cap of the Pelham Parkway shopping center at the corner of Alabama 119 and U.S. 31.
The restaurant will be the fourth location to be opened by Ajlo Foods, co-owned by Naseem Ajlouny and Chase Ajlouny.
“Having grown up in the city of Pelham, I have had my eye on bringing a Full Moon Bar-B-Que to the area for quite some time,” Naseem Ajlouny said. “We are very excited about this location and look forward to adding our southern-styled barbecue restaurant to the communities growing list of dining options.”
Full Moon Bar-B-Que has been in operation since 1986. The Maluff brothers, David and Joe, have grown the business while continuing a family-owned tradition that caters to people who love barbecue.