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“The last time there was a series of competitive devaluations, it ended in World War II,” said Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s president elect.
There has been growing concern about the US Federal Reserve’s latest $600 billion stimulus plan announced on Wednesday in terms of effectiveness and long-term impact. The stimulus aims to pump more money into the economy, lower interest rates and encourage consumer spending.
“Higher stock prices will boost consumer wealth and help increase confidence, which can also spur spending. Increased spending will lead to higher incomes and profits that, in a virtuous circle, will further support economic expansion,” wrote Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke in a recent article published in The Washington Post.
This was the first time the Fed has admitted to wanting the stock markets pumped. Equally important, it also provides a succinct insight into plans to resolve the crisis through increased consumer spending. All this comes at a time when US consumer debt and defaults are at peak levels.
Quantitative easing and currency wars
The Fed has been using quantitative easing, or money supply expansion, to introduce this credit into the market. This is done through electronic means rather than actually printing money.
The central bank credits its own account with extra money and then disperses it by purchasing financial instruments such as government bonds, corporate bonds and similar money market operations.
The Fed has also long been suspected of directly pumping this money into the stock market but this has never been confirmed.
While it purports all this is designed to spur consumer spending and create a virtuous cycle, another parallel reality is unfolding. Issuing billions of dollars of fiat currency has devalued the dollar resulting in cheaper US exports and costlier imports.
This puts pressure on other countries to respond by devaluing their own currencies to remain competitive in global trade. At the forefront of this battle is China, which let its currency slip by as much as 20 per cent since 2005 but pegged it back to the dollar in 2008, putting the greenback in a tough spot.
The US, in turn, is demanding that China raise its currency by 20 per cent.
Another perverse effect of the quantitative easing is that it has essentially issued the credit to financial institutions which are using it to purchase assets in other countries.
“The money isn’t going into the American economy. The lending is actually below what it was in 2007. In a globalised economy, the money is looking for the best place to go. And where is it finding it? In the emerging markets. So, the irony is that money that was intended to rekindle the American economy is causing havoc all over the world,” explains Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz.
The global financial crisis is far from over and it also brings into question Pakistan’s own policies on currency devaluation, stock markets and other financial operations.
The writer is heading Online Strategy and Development at Express Media.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 15th, 2010.
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This is the year that Thanksgiving lost its innocence. The holiday used to mark the start of the Christmas season, with all its attendant commercialism. But in recent years, that cultural barrier has been breached by degrees.
This year, it was cast aside in wholesale fashion. Target, Macy’s, and other retailers tempted shoppers first with November discounts, then with stores that were open on Thanksgiving Day itself.
This became its own cultural event, with widespread laments that the sanctity of a family-oriented day with a special place in American tradition had been compromised. There was sympathy for poorly paid store assistants who were forced to leave their own families to staff the cash registers. Activists staged protests outside Walmart stores nationally.
But after all this criticism and regret, Americans came out on Turkey Day in great numbers and shopped. Black Friday, move over for Thanksgiving Day shopping — “Shopsgiving,” as one enthusiastic customer described it.
Paradoxically, many customers who flocked to the stores agreed nonetheless that they should not be open on Thanksgiving. There’s no blaming shoppers who are trying to make a buck stretch, to make the holiday season better for their families. There’s no blaming the stores that depend on the season to make their yearly tallies and must cater to customers.
So will free enterprise wreck tradition? Maybe not. Early returns suggest that while more people went to the stores, the actual shopping done over the long Thanksgiving weekend was down.
Shopsgiving may have hurt Black Friday, perhaps also Cyber Monday. If that’s the final analysis, market forces may yet please Thanksgiving purists.
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Jim DeLorenzo, Head of Sports, Amazon Video: ‘ATP deal will give Prime members tremendous value’
By Community | November 28, 2017
New players are entering the sports broadcast market as shifts in consumer habits present new opportunities for companies and rights holders to prosper, thrive and grow.
But while talk of big moves into the market represent speculation in some quarters, Amazon has already made plenty of significant ones.
Perhaps none more so than the recent deal for live and on-demand distribution rights to the ATP World Tour in UK and Republic of Ireland. The new agreement will make Amazon Prime Video the home for practically all major men’s tennis, barring the four grand slam tournaments.
Jim DeLorenzo, Head of Sports, Amazon Video, believes the offering will bring “tremendous value” to Prime members. He told iSportconnect: “We always look to broaden the selection of compelling content we provide to our customers. Tennis is an exciting and truly global sport with a large fan-base, and the ATP is the leader in men’s tennis.
“This partnership brings more than 1,500 live matches from 37 top tournaments and extensive on-demand content to Prime Video, at no extra cost to a Prime membership. This adds tremendous value to Prime members in the U.K. and Ireland.”
But, having built Prime’s success on a broad range of television series and feature-length films, why has Amazon decided to move into the live sports sector?
The 2017 #NittoATPFinals brings a spectacular close to a memorable year. An all-time record 4.5 million fans attended @ATPWorldTour events in 2017. Recap: https://t.co/hL50GpBclx pic.twitter.com/lHMIfQgUnp
— ATP World Tour (@ATPWorldTour) 22 November 2017
DeLorenzo said: “For any video content we start with the customer and work backwards to bring them what they want. This month marks the 10-year anniversary of the launch of Prime in the U.K., and 10 years in we continue to invest in faster delivery, expanded selection and incredible content for members to watch, read and listen.
“We keep adding benefits and value to Prime because we know that we get a great reaction from Prime members every time we offer them new benefits or they engage with more of the benefits – both in terms of new members joining Prime, and members who use multiple benefits being more likely to stay with Prime.
“In the Prime Video business, the way we engage customers in the service is by offering them TV and movies that they love, that they’re passionate about, that they want to seek out, and that’s where sports is a great fit for us. We know many Prime members around the world are passionate about sports and that they want options of how to watch their favourite events and athletes.”
If Amazon Prime’s users’ collective appetite is successfully whetted, it appears to be likely that more international sports content could be on the cards in the future. But DeLorenzo opted not to speculate about future opportunities: “It’s too early for us to speculate how we may approach live sports content going forward.
“We streamed NFL Thursday Night Football games this season, and while we’ve been pleased with the audience numbers and the positive customer response, we are still in the early days and continue to learn.”
As for the ATP broadcast itself, plenty of potential ideas as to how Amazon will present their product have been suggested, ranging from special offers of merchandise for those watching to an additional social element. But we we will have to wait to discover how the finished product will look.
DeLorenzo added: “It’s too early to talk about anything specific, but I can say we are always looking to innovate in ways that enhance the customer experience.”
Broadcasting is dead – and more alive and dynamic than ever before in the digital world – but staying ahead of the curve has never been more difficult. Click here to sign up to iSportconnect’s Broadcast Masterclass.


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Posts Tagged «amazon»
Amazon smartphone event: Fire Phone announced, includes head tracking and object scanning (updated liveblog) June 18, 2014 at 3:10 pm
That’s it, folks. The Fire Phone looks neat, but a lot of that technology seems like a gimmick. Until I get to use the device myself, I’ll remain skeptical. Still, the pricing model and standard 32GB of storage puts even more pressure on Apple to up the specs on the next iPhone. If Amazon delivers on its promises on July 25th, the smartphone industry is going to get a lot more interesting.
Amazon teases glasses-free 3D holographic smartphone for June 18 unveil (video) June 5, 2014 at 9:00 am
Amazon, at long last, is set to launch a smartphone with a glasses-free 3D “holographic” display. Invites were sent out late yesterday for a special launch event on June 18 in Seattle. Accompanying the invite was a hilariously awkward teaser video (embedded below) with the new device just out of frame, with a bunch of starry-eyed first-time users wobbling and bobbling and gyrating to trigger the screen’s 3D effect.
Amazon deploys 10,000 robot workers, a year after Obama’s famous Amazon jobs speech May 30, 2014 at 1:00 pm
Amazon isn’t stopping at its initial 1,000 Kiva robots, with Bezos promising as many as 10,000 will be hard at work by the end of the year. That pales compared to the plans Foxconn has, likely helped by Google.
Amazon Prime nabs exclusive HBO TV shows, but Netflix isn’t under the gun just yet April 24, 2014 at 6:03 am
Amazon Prime has scored a major win by becoming the first streaming library to host HBO content — but Netflix still has some breathing room.
Amazon’s first smartphone leaked, has 3D display powered by multiple cameras April 15, 2014 at 5:03 pm
These days, the majority of smartphones are good, but a dime a dozen — the floor for a quality phone is higher, but the ceiling has plateaued. The only truly gigantic differences between competing phones nowadays are brand loyalty, display size, and operating system (or how much bloat is plastered on top of the same operating system). Regardless of this, Amazon is rumored to think that it can break into the market and make a splash with its own smartphone, and now, some leaked pictures of the device might just corroborate the company’s mentality.
Amazon unveils FireTV: A $99 set-top box that has three times the power of Apple TV April 2, 2014 at 11:56 am
After months of speculation, Amazon has finally announced its plans for a set-top box designed to stream Amazon Prime video. At its living-room-themed press event in New York, the Seattle company unveiled its plans for its very own $99 Android-based set-top box called the FireTV. Best of all, it’s shipping today.
Amazon’s game controller emerges: Now where’s the game console itself? March 14, 2014 at 1:42 pm
Thanks to some leaked images from the Brazilian equivalent of the FCC, it appears that Amazon’s long-awaited set-top box/game console is finally coming to market. The leaked images show a gamepad that is strongly reminiscent of the Xbox 360 gamepad, with some additional buttons in the middle, and some media playback buttons on the bottom edge. The buttons in the middle of the controller all but confirm that Amazon’s new game console/media streamer/
will run Android, too.
Microsoft to force Xbox Live on iOS and Android, will lead to disaster March 3, 2014 at 3:50 pm
Microsoft isn’t content with keeping its Xbox Live service in the living room. Based on a recent job posting, it’s evident that Microsoft is now trying to expand its gaming ecosystem directly into iOS and Android smartphones. While mobile games with Xbox-powered leaderboards and achievements might sound like a brilliant idea at first, this initiative is actually another disaster waiting to happen for Redmond.
Amazon could take on the PS4, Xbox One, and Apple TV all at once with its own game console February 11, 2014 at 10:45 am
Hot off the heels of the Xbox One and PS4 launches, Amazon is rumored to be releasing its first console later this year, and it will likely sell for under $300. With an incredibly low entry price, an existing content ecosystem, and a recent high-profile developer acquisition, Amazon is primed to take on Microsoft and Sony head-on.
How Google and eBay could save local retailers with same-day delivery January 22, 2014 at 11:08 am
The rising tide of online shopping has help speed the demise of many local retailers. Help may be on the way from two unlikely sources — Google and eBay.


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n South African Food Review - Zoned in on quality : event
|Article Title||Zoned in on quality : event|
|© Publisher:||New Media Publishing|
|Journal||South African Food Review|
|Publication Date||Aug 2013|
IFEA (The International Food and Drink Event Africa) is taking place from 18-20 September at Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, organised by Fresh Montgomery UK and Montgomery Africa. According to Brad Hook, event director of Montgomery Africa (also organisers of Hostex and Propak Africa), the market is ripe for an event that showcases new developments in the food and beverage sector.
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KPMG LLP invites you to join us for a discussion highlighting some of the major developments in 2018 regarding value added taxes and goods and services taxes (VAT/GST) as well as providing an outlook of what to potentially expect in 2019. Businesses with activities in countries that impose VAT/GST and U.S. businesses that are remotely selling goods or services to customers established outside the United States may be affected by these developments.
What are the developments?
The calendar year ending 2018 was marked by major VAT reforms including the implementation of VAT in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, making them the first member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to adopt such a tax, with Bahrain following earlier this month.
Moreover, other countries, especially in Latin America, continued adopting new VAT/GST sourcing rules for sales of digital services to final consumers, which require nonresident vendors to register for and collect VAT/GST in the country where the consumer is established. In addition, Australia was the first country to adopt special rules for the cross-border sale of low value consignment goods in July 2018, while New Zealand and the European Union are aiming to adopt similar rules in near future.
Throughout the year, countries also introduced new VAT/GST compliance requirements, including mandatory e-invoicing requirements and real time reporting requirements.
Please join us for what promises to be an insightful and informative Webcast.


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This text is translated into Russian by google automatic human level neural machine.
EastRussia is not responsible for any mistakes in the translated text. Sorry for the inconvinience.
Please refer to the text in Russian as a source.
Yakutia lost the cement plant
The Vostokcement group of companies (Primorsky Krai), the largest cement producer in the Far East, has completely bought out the cement plant from Yakutia. The company acquired 48,88% of the shares of OJSC Production Association Yakutcement (Yakutia), bringing its share in this enterprise to 100%.
As Vostokcement's press service reported, the block of shares was bought in early January of the year 2014 as a result of auctions organized by the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The Republic in the person of SUE "Committee on Precious Metals and Precious Stones of the RS (Y)" received 400 million rubles from the transaction.
The acquisition of Yakutcement made it possible to make the management system more efficient within the framework of the Vostokcement holding company, as well as expand the possibilities for the modernization of production and investments in the enterprise.
“Thanks to the acquisition of a controlling stake in 2011 by the Vostoktsement group of companies, firstly, the cement deficit for the Yakut consumer was avoided due to supplies from other cement factories of the holding, secondly, the holding’s capacity allowed for the acquisition of expensive equipment and a long-awaited modernization one of the furnace in the shortest possible time, "- said in a statement.
We should note that at the beginning of the year there was an acute shortage of cash at the enterprise. Therefore, in January of the year 2014, OAO Yakutcement announced a share sale of cement at fixed prices in accordance with the 2013 price list.
Meanwhile, 2013 year was a very productive year for Yakut Cement OJSC. The only cement plant in Yakutia, according to the preliminary results of 2013 of the year, actually produced 303 000 tons of cement instead of 280 000 tons released for the same period of 2012 of the year. Scheduled task completed on 104,5%. The plan was also overfulfilled with the release of calibrated clinker (by 136,5%), over 17 000 tons of these products were sold to consumers. The release of rubble was also carried out over the plan - by more than 140%, Yakut builders this year received more than 897 thousand tons of this product.


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International Game Technology /zigman2/quotes/202670793/composite IGT +2.93% said it's selling Lottomatica Videolot Rete and Lottomatica Scommesse, its Italian B2C gaming machine, sports betting, and digital gaming businesses, to Apollo Global Management for €950 million ($1.15 billion). IGT said the deal was struck at an attractive multiple to comparable Italian transactions and provides enhanced financial flexibility.
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Its name stands for ‘Beyond the Car’.
Headquartered in Beijing with a design centre in Munich, Germany, and an artificial intelligence development hub in Singapore, BeyonCa has received a claimed RMB10 billion (£1.2bn) in investment from Changjiang Capital, a Wuhan-based subsidiary of Changjiang Securities, in a deal brokered by the Wuhan government.
Details of the financing have not yet been revealed, although the suggestions are that Renault and its Chinese joint-venture partner Dongfeng Motor are stakeholders.
In the public debut for the new Chinese car maker on 10 October, Su said BeyonCa was targeting the high-end premium segment with rivals such as the Audi A8, BMW 7 Series, Mercedes-Benz S-Class and Porsche Taycan.
“Our idea is to create something under a more nimble corporate structure. What we achieved in more than one year here would take seven or eight years at a conventional auto maker,” he said.
Others involved in the creation of BeyonCa and the development of the Optus 1 include Christian Klingler, former Volkswagen board member responsible for marketing, Hans-Joachim Rothenpieler, former research and development boss at Audi, and Dirk van Braeckel, former design boss at Skoda and Bentley.
The involvement of Klingler, who held a close association with former Volkswagen Group chairman Ferdinand Piech, has led to rumours within German automotive industry circles that the Piech family may be involved in the financing of BeyonCa.
Beyonca plans to begin production of the Optus 1 in China but is also eyeing production activities in other countries as part of a five-year start-up strategy. Su says the new company plans to release three to five new models over the next three to five years.
Dongfeng Motor will produce the Optus 1. The Wuhan-based car maker is said to have been active in the various elements of the development of the new saloon through its upmarket electric car brand, Voyah.


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In the first half of 2017, advertisers spent £699m on video ads – a 46% year-on-year rise – while spend on banner ads increased by just under 2% to £685m.
Video is now the fastest-growing ad format and now accounts for 35% of all spend going on display advertising.
"The time people spend watching online video has grown tremendously over the last few years, so it’s little wonder that video is now the fastest-growing ad format as advertisers look to tap into the changing way people consume content," IAB’s chief executive Jon Mew said.
In fact, the time spent watching short video clips has tripled over the last three years, from 51 minutes to two hours and 21 minutes per week, according to YouGov data.
Within video advertising, spend on outstream or social in-feed has nearly doubled and is now the most popular format, accounting for 52% of video spend (£363m), overtaking pre-and post-roll ads which account for 44% (£309m).
"There’s no doubt that video is digital’s most important and powerful format," Dave Counsell, digital trading director at the7stars, said. "It’s an extremely exciting time to witness the strong results video is providing for advertisers."
Display advertising as a whole grew 18% to £2bn, while search grew 15% to £2.8bn and classifieds remained flat at £692m.
Overall digital adspend, meanwhile, grew 13.8% to £5.56bn in the first half of 2017.
With half of UK internet time now being spent on smartphones, mobile’s share of digital adspend has risen from 35% to 43%, or £2.37bn. Mobile’s year-on-year growth was 38% and now accounts for 57% of all display adspend, 70% of video spend and 83% of social media spend.
Adspend on social media sites grew 42% to £1.05bn, accounting for over half (53%) of the display ad market.
"Historically, growth has been the major and constant theme about digital adspend. However, that’s only one indicator of the industry’s success, and as the IAB UK enters its 21st year, it’s about shifting focus to initiatives that will ensure the long-term sustainable health of the industry as it enters adulthood, and provide advertisers with the best possible environment," Mew concluded.


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The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB) will lead an impressive delegation of its Island Chapters and 52 industry partners next week to the world’s largest incentive and products exposition in Chicago, September 16-18.
Called “The Motivation Show,” the exposition combines the 70th National Premium Incentive Show and the 31st Incentive Travel & Meeting Executives Show, bringing together over 2,000 suppliers of travel services and merchandise worldwide. The show serves as a three-day gathering of incentive buyers for major corporations, as well as “incentive houses” that operate to organize programs for companies. More than 20,000 top business executives are expected to participate representing industries involved with sales, marketing, meetings, and human resources.
Conveying the show’s importance, HVCB’s Hawaii Pavilion will establish a dominating presence on the tradeshow floor with a sweeping, eye-catching display area promoting the culture, natural beauty, activities and attractions, and range of accommodations on all islands. Among the featured “incentives” to draw attendees will be live Hawaii entertainment, food demonstrations of local delicacies, continuous Hawaii refreshments, special gifts for attendees, and a daily Mai Tai Hour.
“Incentives is extremely lucrative for the state so this world-class exhibit display is needed to keep promoting that a trip to Hawaii is a key motivator to drive sales and improve profits,” said Michael Murray, CMP, CMM, CASE, director of sales for HVCB’s Corporate Meetings and Incentives (CMI) division.
“We’re using The Motivation Show to showcase Hawaii’s attributes, reinforce existing business relationships and establish new ones, and conduct competitive analysis of what other destinations are doing.”
HVCB has been participating in the exposition show for over a decade. “It’s proven to be a great source for developing business,” he said.
Hawaii has ranked as the nation’s number one incentive destination for more than two decades, reflecting the strong interest by travel industry partners and other organizations, including the National Football League, to join HVCB.
Murray noted that, despite the external forces affecting worldwide travel earlier this year, incentive business for Hawaii remains vibrant. Through June 2003, incentive business statewide was 50 percent higher than for the same period in 2002.
“It’s a credit to Hawaii’s visitor industry that companies are continuing to use Hawaii as the ultimate reward for outstanding performance. As a motivator, Hawaii is setting the standard for the rest of the world to follow,” Murray noted.
For information about holding meetings in Hawaii, the Islands of Aloha, visit HVCB’s Web site at www.meethawaii.com or call the CMI division at 1-888-424-2924.


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[net profit Park Ye -jin reporter] Mgame (CEO Kwon Lee -hyung) announced on the 16th that it recorded sales of 15.2 billion won, operating profit of W5.3bn, and net profit of 4.4 billion won in the first quarter of this year.
[Wemade Moon Young -soo] Wemade Play (CEO Lee Ho -dae) announced on the 11th that it recorded sales of KRW 34.4 billion, operating profit of 1.2 billion won, and net profit of 1.2 billion won in the first quarter of 2022.Sales compared to the previous qu
WMADIDIDe has revised its sales at W560.6bn to W337.2bn. I change the benefits of the wemids that have been controversial. Widade on the 16th, did the wemade have been disclosed in sales?
Sunday Tose (representative Lee Hoh) released sales of W105.6bn, operating profit of W8.3bn, and net profit of W15.6 billion, and 2021 earnings were announced on the 16th. The 2021 earnings decreased by 0.6% and 36% of operating profit, but net profit?
[Photo = Sunday Tose] [I News 24] Line Day Tose (Representative Lee Hooro) has recorded sales of W15.6 billion, operating profit of W8.3bn and W15.6 billion won, and net profit of W15.6 billion won.


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The safeguard duty on monosodium glutamate imported into Vietnam will be lowered from March 25, 2017, according to a decision issued recently by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).
VOV.VN - The Philippines Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has decided to extend safeguard measures against test-liner board importer from Vietnam for another four years.
VOV.VN - The Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) has called for urgent action by the government to address the steel industry crisis resulting from overcapacity and ensure that it remains strong and globally competitive.
VOV.VN - Vietnam imported 7.5 million tons of steel in the first four months of this year, up 48% against the corresponding period last year, according to the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA).
VOV.VN - The Vietnam Competition Authority on March 11 unveiled that Thai authorities have advised they are lifting the imposition of safeguard duties on the import of hot-rolled steel plates.


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Confor: Constructive industry meeting held with GLA
ConFor facilitated a constructive industry meeting with senior representatives of the Gangmaster Licensing Authority, at which proposals for improving the licensing system for forestry businesses were discussed.
“We were keen to explore ways of significantly reducing the burden on forestry businesses given the industry’s view that it is a low risk sector”, said ConFor chief executive Stuart Goodall. “I was pleased that the GLA was prepared to talk constructively with us and some really good ideas were identified and discussed.”
GLA’s chairman, chief executive and policy officer met with ConFor, FCA and forestry businesses to discuss each other’s views on the nature of gangmaster activity in forestry and on the impact of licensing on businesses in the sector. The industry made clear that, while it did not condone gangmaster activity, it believed that the current operation of the licensing system was having a counter-productive effect pushing many small businesses out of the sector and undermining achievement of government targets for forestry.
A key issue discussed was whether the forestry sector could act as a pilot industry for an enhanced risk-based approach to licensing. This could involve a reduction in the number of physical inspections and a significant, or even perhaps a total, removal of the one-off licensing fee. This idea will be explored further in the next few months.
The level of the annual fee was also discussed, with industry noting that the annual turnover of many businesses was far below that of the minimum band of £1 million. This issue, along with that of the scope of the Act, is something that industry will take up now with Defra.
The lack of clear, up-to-date guidance for forestry was raised and GLA welcomed an industry offer to help draft this.
“The impact of gangmaster licensing on businesses in the sector has been an issue of real concern. I hope we can work with the GLA to come up with an approach that will ensure we remain a sector that is not plagued by such activity, but that is also able to benefit from increased interest in planting, managing and harvesting trees”, said Stuart.


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Salesforce.com Touts Customer-Service AppsBy John Pallatto | Print
Desktop-as-a-Service Designed for Any Cloud ? Nutanix Frame
It expands its CRM offerings with Supportforce.com, a new service that will let companies set up call centers, help desks and other customer-service systems without installing and maintaining software at their own headquarters.Seeking to diversify beyond its sales-force-automation roots, Salesforce.com on Wednesday introduced a new on-demand call center and help desk application service called Supportforce.com.
The new service will allow companies to set up call centers, contact centers, help desks and other customer-service systems without installing and maintaining software at their own headquarters. Instead, customers will log on to the Internet to access these applications running on Salesforce.com's servers.
Salesforce.com has been working over the past two years to develop the customer-service applications, CEO Marc Benioff said. The service has gone live over the past two months with the first seven production customers, he said.
He claimed that companies can implement online call center and contact center applications for about 10 percent of what it would cost to install and maintain the typical client-server applications at their own sites.
"Companies are looking to us to expand our role into the customer-service area because we have done a great job of managing their sales forces," Benioff said.
Five telecommunications companies are providing the contact-center telephony infrastructure: Avaya Inc., Alcatel S.A., Aspect Communication Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. and Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc.
The five companies together represent about 70 percent of the global telecommunication that support call-center customer-service applications, Benioff said.
This is an important move for Salesforce.com because it advances the company's goal of becoming a full-service CRM (customer relationship management) service provider, said Sheryl Kingstone, program manager with the Yankee Group in Boston.
"That really is their vision. They want to be a real CRM player and not just a sales-force-automation player," she said.
Next Page: Appealing to the midmarket.
While it "might not amount to a huge new revenue stream for them," it will broaden the market opportunity for Salesforce.com, Kingstone said.
The service is likely to appeal in particular to midmarket customers for whom traditional customer-service applications were too costly, too complex and too difficult to maintain in-house, Kingston said.
Larger enterprises are more likely to have some kind of in-house customer-support application, such as those offered by Siebel or PeopleSoft Inc. But the Supportforce.com service also could appeal to larger enterprises if they see it as a way to cut costs, she said.
The Supportforce.com service is starting with seven production customers: Anystream Inc., Imceda Software Inc., Magma Design Automation Inc., Phoenix Technologies Inc., Polk Automotive Intelligence Inc., Neoforma Inc. and VF Imagewear Inc.
Supportforce.com online applications include broad customer support, help-desk functionality, knowledge management, Web self-service and performance metrics to enable companies to gather, manage and share customer information within the organization, Benioff said.
Each company that subscribes to the Supportforce.com service can create its own customer-service applications with a specialized user interface, workflow and data model. Salesforce.com has also extended its "Custom Tabs" interface to the Supportforce.com applications to allow companies to create specialized applications such as contact-center staffing.
Supportforce also provides its own sforce telephony API toolkit to link customers' contact-center applications with the telecommunications service of their choice.


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The product analytics suite you can host yourself (Sponsor)
With PostHog's open source analytics platform, customer data never has to leave your infrastructure.Featuring product analytics, session recording, feature flags, heatmaps, and more - all available for free.The best part is everything is seamlessly integrated, so you can spend less time configuring different tools and more time getting valuable insight into user behavior. Learn more.
Big Tech &
SpaceX moves a massive rocket with 33 engines to its launch pad for tests (4 minute read)
SpaceX rolled out its Booster 7 prototype of the Super Heavy rocket to its launch site on Thursday. It was lifted using the chopsticks on the launch tower and placed on its launch mount. The booster will go through pressure testing and potentially a static fire test in the coming days or weeks. Elon Musk has been pushing for an orbital launch attempt in July.
Apple's "game-changing" VR headset coming out in January (2 minute read)
Apple's VR/AR headset will be released in January 2023, according to Apple insider Ming-Chi Kuo. The mixed reality headset will be the most complicated product Apple has ever designed. It will be a premium product with very high-fidelity displays, Apple silicon power, and a very hefty price tag. The launch of the headset will likely lead to rapid growth in the industry.
New gene editing tool reduces errors by nicking DNA not cutting (2 minute read)
While CRISPR is one of the most groundbreaking inventions of the century, it has a relatively high error rate that can produce potentially harmful mutations. Researchers from Germany have developed a tool that reduces errors by nicking DNA instead of cutting it. The tool makes two smaller cuts, one on each DNA strand, rather than slicing through the entire double strand of DNA. The new method is about as effective at making edits as conventional CRISPR and it significantly reduces on-target mutation errors.
Artificial Photosynthesis Can Produce Food in Complete Darkness (4 minute read)
A group of researchers has developed a way to create food without sunlight using artificial photosynthesis. The method involves converting carbon dioxide, electricity, and water into acetate, and then feeding the acetate to food-producing organisms in the dark to grow. It is up to 18% more efficient for some organisms. The method can be used to grow green algae, yeast, fungal mycelium, tomatoes, rice, and green peas. It could be used to grow crops in areas currently unsuitable for agriculture.
Programming, Design & Data Science
XLite (GitHub Repo)
XLite is an SQLite extension written in Rust. It allows users to query spreadsheets as SQLite virtual tables. INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements are currently not supported.
IRedis (GitHub Repo)
IRedis is a terminal client for Redis with auto-completion and syntax highlighting.
OpenAI’s latest AI builds a Diamond Axe in Minecraft – why it matters (8 minute read)
OpenAI used a mix of video training and reinforcement learning to create an AI that can make a diamond pickaxe in Minecraft. Creating a diamond pickaxe in Minecraft is a complex task that requires many steps. The team used a method called Video PreTraining (VPT) that involved training the AI using massive amounts of raw gameplay video and human-processed video. VPT can be used for almost any software where there is enough video material.
Life Has Been Found in a Low-Oxygen, Super-Salty, Sub-Zero Arctic Spring (3 minute read)
Scientists have discovered life in the extremely cold and salty waters of the Lost Hammer Spring in the Canadian Arctic. The microbes had adaptations that allowed them to thrive in water with temperatures of around minus five degrees Celsius, less than one part per million of dissolved oxygen, and around 24% salinity. They don't depend on organic material or oxygen to survive. Similar environments may exist on ocean worlds like Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus.


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June 16, 2016
Walmart in the ad business? You bet.
If you are a marketer with products on the shelves of Walmart, you know that specifically targeting Walmart customers has always been a challenge. The retailer’s new Walmart Media Exchange (WMX) makes that chore easier.
Amazon and other e-commerce powerhouses have been nibbling away at Walmart and other brick-and-mortar retailer sales for years. Amazon has offered manufacturers selling their wares via the online retailer the ability to run digital ads on the site to boost awareness and sales. WMX is Walmart’s response.
Walmart is America’s top retail chain with 4,500 stores, 250 million weekly customers and $288 billion in sales in 2014. Easily overlooked, Walmart also operates the third largest retail website with 61.4 million unique visits per month. There are more than five million items for sale on the Walmart site, accounting for $12.2 billion in 2014 sales.
But a big name and a busy website are only half of the story. Walmart owns the proprietary data on every purchaser through data captured either with your barcode scans or with online checkout. If you use a credit card as payment, Walmart can tie what you purchase with you and your buying habits (and likely your e-mail) for extraordinary targeting by a manufacturer. Even if you just browse Walmart.com, the site captures the data and cookies your search. Thus, WMX now offers a new path for targeting a Walmart customer.
Targeting opportunities include in-store and online purchase behavior, online browsing behavior, in-market category browsers for geo-targeting down to the zip code, search term targeting, social traffic and mobile homepage and category ad placement. WMX also offers contextual integration based on an online user’s search with articles, tips, recipes and videos.
WMX has emerged as a new revenue stream for a retailer best known for selling everything from cereal to Calamine lotion. Selling ad space to its suppliers is the first step in the retailer’s adjustment to an online retail space. Walmart is now investing heavily in developing an even greater e-commerce presence to combat Amazon.
For now, if you have been stymied at effectively targeting Walmart shoppers, contact us and we’ll be happy to share more info on WMX.


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XCIENT Fuel Cell, a Present-day Reality | Digital Premiere Highlight
Hyundai recently has successfully shipped to Europe the world’s first mass produced heavy-duty trucks, XCIENT Fuel Cell.10/29/2020 Hyundai Motor Company Homepage Link
Hyundai Motor Company
Hyundai Motor Company aspires to be more than just a driving partner.
It hopes to be together with consumers as a life companion.


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Bengaluru, 06 August 2021: Chiratae Ventures announced the closing of its fourth fund at $337 Mn oversubscribed by 25%.
Chiratae Ventures is backed by marquee global and Indian investors. Over half of Fund IV is from Indian investors including Family Offices and industrial families from India. Global investors include those from the US, UK, Europe, Japan and Singapore. Chiratae Venture Funds are ESG compliant.
With a cumulative AUM of approximately $ 950 Mn Chiratae Ventures has invested in more than 100 deals since its inception in 2006, delivered 2 IPOs, 4 unicorns while completing 38 exits with a record 8 consecutive years of capital distributions to investors. CloudCherry, Flipkart, Manthan, Myntra, Newgen, PlaySimple, and Xpressbees are some of the portfolio companies that have been fully exited. Today 40% of the early-stage Tech VC’s portfolio has scaled globally to more than 35 countries. Chiratae Portfolio has filed a total of 120+ patents, with 27 of these granted.
Commenting on the Fund close “We are pleased to continue to back stellar Indian entrepreneurs in technology startups assisting them to grow to dominant leaders in India and globally. It is a testimony to the startup ecosystem in India and high-quality tech entrepreneurs. We have the backing of Marquee Global and Indian Investors repeatedly. Chiratae has delivered stellar exits including a recent 43X return from PlaySimple”, said Sudhir Sethi, Founder and Chairman, Chiratae Ventures
Chiratae Ventures has backed homegrown unicorns such as FirstCry, Flipkart, Lenskart, and Policybazaar. PolicyBazaar just filed its DRHP. Its portfolio also includes Tech leaders such as Agrostar, Bizongo, Bounce, Cropin, Curefit, Emotix, GoMechanic, HealthifyMe, PlayShifu, Pyxis, Uniphore, and Vayana, among others.
TC Meenakshisundaram, Founder and MD, Chiratae Ventures, added “We are seeing over 3000 new companies every year. This number will increase further as India grows to a $ 5 Trillion economy. Indian Insurance companies have also now backed us which is a game-changer for us”
In addition to capital, Chiratae also offers its portfolio businesses access to the expertise and insights from the team and from its Global Advisory Board. Chiratae Venture’s Global Advisory Board has Mr. Ratan Tata – Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan – Co-founder of Infosys, Mr. Bruno E. Raschle – Founder and Non-Executive Vice Chairman of Schroder Adveq, Mr. Manish Choksi – Non-Executive Vice Chairman of Asian Paints and Dr. Andreas Hettich, Chair, Hettich Group Advisory Board and Dr. Ferzaan Engineer – Co-founder and Chairman of Cytecare Hospitals from the India Advisory Council of Chiratae. Chiratae Ventures
India leadership team includes Sudhir Sethi – Founder & Chairman and TC Meenakshisundaram – Founder & MD as well as partners Karthik Prabhakar, Karan Mohla, Venkatesh Peddi, Ranjith Menon, and Swaminathan Shankar – Chief Financial Officer.
Chiratae continues to focus on investing in startups with technology at the core, irrespective of end-use applications such as but not only limited to Consumer Tech, Enterprise Tech/SaaS, FinTech, Health-Tech, Deep-Tech, Ed-Tech, Agri-Tech, etc.
About Chiratae Ventures
Launched in 2006, Chiratae Ventures India Advisors (formerly IDG Ventures India) is India’s leading technology Venture Capital funds advisor. The funds advised by Chiratae Ventures India Advisors collectively $ 950 Million under management and 100+ investee companies across Consumer Media & Tech, Cloud/Software, Health- tech, and Fin-tech. Notable portfolio companies include Bounce, Cure.fit, FirstCry, Flipkart, GoMechanic, Lenskart, Manthan, Myntra (acquired by Flipkart), Newgen (NSE: NEWGEN), PlaySimple, PolicyBazaar, and Uniphore among others. To date, the fund has recorded 2 IPOs, 38 exits, and 4 Unicorns.


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It is usually the big brands who are first to try out innovative ways of doing business because of their financial capability to risk new ventures and strategies.
The Philippines is considered as one of the top countries with the best business process outsourcing industry, showing potential for businesses all around the world. And now, working conditions are being looked into and will now change, allowing more Filipinos to join the workforce. More talents coming aboard the industry, the more employees are available […]
When it comes to outsourcing, the Philippines has been known to be the leading country, businesses from all over the world are flocking the Philippines in order to get low-cost properties and employees that are talented but cost more than their local workforce. Currently, the Philippines is pushing for a better pay and welfare of […]
Since automation and artificial intelligence are now on the lesson plan, companies in the business process outsourcing industry should find the time and allocate the budget so that their workforce can adapt to emerging technologies, as well as be able to hire new employees backed up with the necessary knowledge. Ezy Outsourcing Hub offers outsourcing […]
Even though is a looming presence of fear in the workforce of losing their jobs due to the arrival of automation in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry of the Philippines, not only experts are stepping in to alleviate the panic, but the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), too. For NEDA, it believes that […]
The Philippines and India are considered as among the top countries of the world when it comes to being a destination for IT-BPM where the world’s most recognizable businesses and tech pioneers have established operations in both countries. During the recently held ASEAN summit in Manila, India’s Prime Minster Narendra Modi has praised the country’s […]


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Revolution’s Corner, which sells desserts such as pecan pies and entrees such as cheese pizza, opened in September 2015. Photo courtesy Revolutions Corner
Revolution's Corner is a downtown destination that's living up to its name. Located in a sunny storefront at the intersection of Roach and Pearl streets, the corner bodega with cafe aspirations opened in September.
After five short months, the grocery concept has taken a back seat, while the cafe has evolved into a pizzeria.
"We originally opened as a bodega and cafe," co-owner Abraham Santa Cruz says, "but here there were delays with getting a food permit. Once we got it going, the cafe aspect took off. It seemed like people were looking for something different. That's how we came up with the pizza idea."
Revolution's Corner is a collaborative venture that Laura Manning, India Clark, James Rader and Santa Cruz co-own and operate. With half from New Orleans and half from Mississippi, they are a multicultural team that strives to represent and possibly redefine people's ideas about Jackson.
Working closely to create a distinct menu, their recipes are a fusion of city and country. Half the items on the menu, including the pizza, are team creations.
With four cooks in the kitchen, the process of creating the cafe's pizza recipe was a long and sometimes challenging process. Determined to get it right, they worked their way through 28 different variations before they nailed it.
"It's been tough at times, but the experience has bonded us as a team and has helped us to create products that we're really proud of," Manning says. "A lot of our menu items are not just one person's recipe but a combination of different approaches. The result is something better than any one of us could come up with on our own."
Santa Cruz says people are saying its thin crust and red sauce remind them of classic New York-style pizza.
Specialty pizzas priced from $9 to $25, mirror their sandwiches—pork, chicken and roast beef—seasoned and simmered for 10 hours. Veggie toppings include green peppers, grapes, onions, mushrooms, black olives, jalapenos, spinach and pineapple. Most are purchased from local sources, and all are prepared the same day they're served.
"We hit the farmers market every Saturday, and we go to the weekly market on West Street," he says.
"We make a point of buying local."
The other half of the menu is devoted to family recipes that have been passed along from a mother or grandmother. "Mama's Punch," a fruit drink that Santa Cruz's mother, whom people call Ms. A, created is offered by the glass for $3 or take-home jug for $18.
"Mama's Punch is like taking a cruise to the Caribbean," he says. "When you drink it, you just experience bliss and happiness. It's a recipe my mom created in her late 20s. She's 60 now. That recipe was passed down to me; no one else has it."
The menu it still evolving. A few Italian dishes that will complement the pizza are in the developmental phase. Mini pies—sweet potato, pecan and apple—are recent additions to the sweets menu. While brownies, cookies and homemade Rice-Krispies treats are popular staples with wide appeal, Revolution's team see the game-changing potential of the mini pies and punch.
"People come here with their preconceptions about Jackson and the South. Apart from fried catfish, chicken and the Blues, they don't have anything else to associate with Jackson," Santa Cruz says.
"We want to make and sell products that might help to redefine (the city)."
Revolution's Corner serves breakfast, lunch, pizza and sweets. It is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to midnight, and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information, call 601-454-1228 or find the business on Facebook.


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Apple said Wednesday night that it is making it impossible for the company to turn over data from most iPhones or iPads to police — even when they have a search warrant — taking a hard new line as tech companies attempt to blunt allegations that they have too readily participated in government efforts to collect user data.
The key is the encryption that Apple mobile devices automatically put in place when a user selects a passcode, making it difficult for anyone who lacks that passcode to access the information within, including photos, e-mails, and recordings. Apple once kept possession of encryption keys that unlocked devices for legally binding police requests, but will no longer do so for iOS 8, it said in a new guide for law enforcement.
‘‘Unlike our competitors, Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access this data,’’ Apple said on its website. ‘‘So it’s not technically feasible for us to respond to government warrants for the extraction of this data from devices in their possession running iOS 8.”
As the new operating system becomes widely deployed over the next several weeks, the number of iPhones and iPads that Apple is capable of breaking into for police will steadily dwindle to the point when only devices several years old — and incapable of running iOS 8 — can be cracked by Apple.
Apple will still have the ability — and the legal responsibility — to turn over user data stored elsewhere, such as in its iCloud service, which typically includes backups of photos, videos, e-mail communications, music collections, and more. Users who want to prevent all forms of police access to their information will have to adjust settings in a way that blocks data from flowing to iCloud.
Apple’s action comes less than five months after the Supreme Court ruled that police in most circumstances need a search warrant to collect to information stored on phones. Apple’s action makes that distinction largely moot by depriving itself of the power to comply with search warrants for the contents of many of the phones it sells.
The move is the latest in a series in which Apple has sought to distinguish itself from competitors through more rigorous security.
Though the company’s security took a publicity hit with the leak of intimate photos of celebrities from their Apple accounts in recent weeks, the move to block police access to the latest iPhones and iPads will thrill privacy activists and frustrate law enforcement officials, who have come to rely on the extensive evidence often found on personal electronic devices.


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Google announces Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL on May 7: After six months of various rumors and leaks, Google finally announced the announcement date for Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL smartphones.
According to a teaser on the Google Store website, the event will take place on May 7th.
What is known?
The younger Google Pixel 3a model will be equipped with a 5.56-inch OLED-display without a cutout with a resolution of Full HD + (2220 × 1080p), as well as a plastic case, a USB-C port, and a headphone jack.
The device will be responsible for the eight-core Snapdragon 670 processor. A 12-megapixel main camera, an 8-megapixel front camera and a 2915 mAh battery with support for Quick Charge 4+ will be installed in the smartphone.
The older Google Pixel 3a XL will have a 6-inch screen, a more powerful Snapdragon 710 processor and a larger battery. The price tag of devices will be about 450-550 euros. New items will appear in three colors, including purple with the name Iris.
Source: Google Store


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McDonaldâ€™s Worldwide Convention, TED Conference, and Cisco Live top the list of the most innovative meetings, conventions, and conferences in North America
Online PR News – 11-September-2013 – Los Angeles, CA – BizBash, the leading trade media for event professionals, has announced its 2013 list of the Most Innovative Meetings. After reviewing meetings and conferences from across the country, BizBash ranked the events on this annual list by several factors including attendee engagement, social media integration, pricing, and sustainability.
â€śMeetings are getting smarter and adapting much faster to new trends and technologies,â€ť says BizBash executive editor Anna Sekula. "Thereâ€™s a lot of movement toward creating gatherings that are not just cost-efficient, but cost-effective, too. And there's more attention being paid to the attendee experienceâ€”increasing engagement and encouraging participation through physical and virtual elements."
The 15 Most Innovative Meetings for 2013 are:
1. McDonaldâ€™s Worldwide Convention: The innovation of the fast-food giantâ€™s annual gathering lies in the massive scope of sustainability initiatives.
2. TED Conference: The brand continues to test new ways to create meaningful, engaging experiences for participants.
3. Cisco Live: The multinational tech company created a prominent social media command center to monitor and respond to online comments at its 2013 conference.
4. SAPâ€™s Sapphire Now: The software giant redesigned the layout of its largest annual event to create a more engaging experience for attendees.
5. H.I.M.S.S. Conference: The health care organization made a bold change to its online program that challenged prior notions of how to structure pricing and content.
6. Further With Ford: The automaker is targeting nontraditional media with an event that mixes behind-the-scenes tours, driving experiences, and celebrity speakers.
7. Oracle OpenWorld: The California software company continues to be at the forefront of the green meeting movement, creating continuous improvement at its annual events.
8. Educause Annual Conference: The nonprofit association provides free personalized training and support for speakers.
9. Pack Expo: Customized programs and specialized sections of the show floor aim to make the huge event effective and efficient for attendees.
10. National Automobile Dealers Associationâ€™s Convention & Expo: A mix of playful and personalized activities added energy to the show floor and enticed attendees to linger.
11. International Manufacturing Technology Show: One of the oldest trade shows in the country continues to grow by staying on top of industry trends.
12. Hallmark Gold Crown Retail Summit: The countryâ€™s largest manufacturer of printed greeting cards demonstrated how to go paperless for its annual conference.
13. Dad 2.0 Summit: Sponsors are signing on to the new event to tap into the online community of new media focused on fatherhood.
14. Hello Etsy: In its third year, the digital marketplace brought its conference to New York and demonstrated simple changes to enhance sustainability.
15. PS Engage: The Canadian event for public service employees added a dose of creativity to foster learning and networking.


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"What can be done?" Carrillo-Rivera asked rhetorically. "Well, we haven't given up. We support the federal government and trust them."
To trumpet the downtown area and Calexico in general, Carrillo-Rivera will propose a "shop at home campaign."
"We need you to shop in Calexico now. You need to shop here now," she said.
Managers at Sam Ellis department store, Garlan's Department Store and Super Shopping-Apple Market agree.
Benito Mendez, manager of the Sam Ellis men's wear department, said business has been "very, very slow" since Sept. 11.
"I can say 40 percent," he added of the drop.
The problem, according to Mendez, is the time it takes most border-crossers to get to Calexico and back into Mexico.
"I cross the border every day and it takes almost two hours to cross the border if I want to walk; sometimes an hour and 30 minutes," he said.
"But it's not just me. It's a problem for everybody who crosses the border. The inspections are very slow. They ask you a lot of questions," he added.
Mendez said, "If things continue like this it will the be the worst winter we've ever had. The inspectors need to hurry up."
Another problem is the inspectors on the Mexican side of the border.
He said his customers don't buy as much because, "When they go back to Mexico they inspect every car and every bag. They (the customers) are afraid to lose the merchandise."
Luis Macias, manager of the downtown Garlan's department store, said his store has been one of the few not affected negatively by the attack aftermath.
"We're doing the same — slightly better than last year," he said.
"For us it was slow for only three or four days after the attacks, but I've heard that some businesses are doing less," he added.
Joe Moreno, manager of Super Shopping-Apple Market, hasn't seen his business suffer too badly — down 6-10 percent since the attacks — but he's heard the stories Macias has.
"I've talked to other merchants and they have ghost towns in their businesses — slow, slow, slow," he said.
Moreno said "the merchants will address these issues at Wednesday's meeting."
Moreno has not been to Mexico since the attacks and he's heard tales from his customers and employees who have held back unless they really needed to go there.
"I think it's vice versa, too," he said, referring to Mexican tourists and shoppers avoiding the U.S. unless they really need to come.
While some downtown merchants might grumble, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service agents are working as hard as they can to move people through the border according to Port Director Michael Freeman..
He said all pedestrian lanes have been opened and all vehicular lanes are open.
On Monday he released some statistics.
According to Freeman, 140,591 people crossed the border on foot in the week preceding the attacks.
He acknowledged there was a 20 percent dip in the number of pedestrians the first week after the attacks but said the numbers have rebounded.
Last week traffic increased 3.5 percent to 145,741, he said.
Meanwhile, vehicular traffic is up 2.1 percent when the increase at the Calexico East Port of Entry is factored in.
Traffic at the downtown port is down 14.1 percent since the attack, he said.
Freeman said his office door is open to any merchant or businessperson who wants to talk about ways to make things better.
Staff Writer Aaron Claverie can be reached at 337-3419 or firstname.lastname@example.org


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Almost $3 billion a year in digital media advertising expenditure is wasted, according to an analysis by independent digital media agency Next&Co which says it arrived at the figure using its new media auditing tool.
The company has built the proprietary media auditing tool, which it calls Prometheus, and says it has a global patent pending.
The company claims Prometheus has been used by more than 300 organisations – from SMEs to large multinationals and ASX listed companies with multi-million-dollar advertising budgets – and an analysis has found that almost a third of digital media ad spend across the 300 advertisers is wasted.
“We built Prometheus because internal marketing teams and agencies’ first port of call to improve the commercial objectives for the businesses they are working on is to spend more rather than improve the efficiency of current spends,” Next&Co Head of Organic Search, John Vlasakakis, said.
“We have been testing Prometheus for the past 12 months. It has the ability to tell advertisers exactly where and how their ad spend is being wasted on digital platforms and by how much. Prometheus is able to accurately determine how well advertisers’ media agencies or inhouse digital teams are performing down to a very granular level.
“A financial services client used the platform and within one minute was able to determine that more than $333,000 of its digital spend within one platform was being wasted annually. It shone the limelight on the lacklustre performance and lack of service the client was receiving from its agency.”
The platform is designed to allow advertisers to find out the efficiency of their digital ad spend across Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Bing. Next&Co says it is also negotiating with TikTok and Snapchat to integrate with the platform. It can be used across any digital publisher with an API (application programming interface), including catch up TV.
According to the company, Prometheus has inbuilt KPIs advertisers can select from, including leads, customer conversions, ROI, reach and they can choose their targets across each metric. The auditing tool then determines the exact wastage of their total annual digital spend in dollars and where that wastage is occurring campaign by campaign and on a creative level.
The platform provides a score out of 100 on the overall performance of each metric and the exact amount of media dollars wasted. The data is then individually audited for each type of advertising activity run within the tool and an individual score for each.
The company says it can then predict how many conversions advertisers could potentially achieve, make creative recommendations and CPA (cost per acquisition) improvement recommendations.
“There is no tool anywhere which can calculate the exact amount of media dollars wasted on these platforms as this is a unique algorithm which checks each platform’s best practice for campaign setup and optimisation,” Vlasakakis said.
Prometheus is offered free of charge to advertisers and can also create bespoke reports for a fee.


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A recent report by Ovum predicts that mobile payment volume in South Africa will reach over R83 billion ($8 billion USD) by 2017 at a staggering 115 percent Compounded Annual Growth Rate between 2012 and 2017. Not only do mobile payments represent a significant market opportunity for business but they also offer the possibility to transform the social fabric of the local developing economy through greater financial inclusion.
Accenture recently surveyed more than 1,000 South African mobile phone users and interviewed business leaders in the mobile payment industry in the country to understand how consumers can be encouraged to make mobile payments.
Accenture’s research, “Driving the Adoption of Mobile Payments—What SA Consumers Want (January 2014),“ revealed three important findings:
Consumers are aware of mobile payments and more than 60 percent are planning to adopt. This percentage increases to 66 percent in the lower age groups surveyed.
Consumers can be enticed to use mobile payments through value-added services. More than 23 percent of consumers were even willing to share their personal data to receive such rewards.
While the industry is preoccupied with technology roll out, consumers are much more concerned about security, privacy, convenience and value. 82 percent of respondents who do not plan to make mobile payments said they were concerned about security while 59 percent had worries about privacy. Some 42 percent said they would not make mobile payments because of the convenience of their current payment method.
Technology continues to evolve quickly and dramatically. The digital economy is emerging in South Africa; but success requires a dynamic digital environment that meets the needs of its consumers and businesses. Mobile payments are no longer limited to the transfer of money but also the transfer of value and information.
While the development of the mobile payments market in South Africa has been slow and uncertain, what is clear is that consumers, even if not yet fully educated, are ready and willing to pay with their phones.


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Nothing says “Wisconsin” quite like beer, brats and cheese, and those food items – along with thousands of other state-made products – find their way daily to consumers across the globe. In 2014, thousands of Wisconsin businesses exported $23.43 billion in goods worldwide – the highest total yet.
That number is only expected to grow as Wisconsin companies look to tap into growing overseas markets. With 96 percent of the world’s population living outside of the United States and one billion people expected to join the global middle class over the next 10 years, the demand has never been higher for American goods, said Katy Sinnott, vice president of international business development for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp (WEDC).
“There is a huge demand overseas for products stamped with that ‘Made in the USA’ label; and the Midwest is known worldwide as a place where quality products are made,” she said.
Industrial machinery is the top Wisconsin export, followed by ag products ranging from cheese and sausage to animal feed components, plus ginseng and medical and scientific instruments. State companies export to 206 different countries, with Canada and Mexico being the top trade partners.
Cutting through red tape
While there’s easily a market for Wisconsin products beyond the United States, exporting isn’t simple. Businesses need to be aware of the myriad rules and regulations in different countries, plus currency exchanges, distribution networks and more.
“Exporting is a complicated process,” said Art Klein, director of Johnsonville Sausage’s international supply chain. “The regulations are always changing, depending on the country.”
Johnsonville is no newbie to exporting, and foreign sales continue to grow for the Sheboygan County sausage manufacturer, but when questions arise Klein turns to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) for answers. That department, along with the WEDC, provide businesses with the vital information they need to make sound decisions.
“Exporting is complex, but not impossible,” said Jen Pino-Gallagher, bureau director for business and market development for DATCP. “That’s why we work so closely with companies that want to export.”
Wisconsin has trade reps in 79 countries who provide vital “boots on the ground” for companies interested in exporting. And, according to Sinnott, if Wisconsin doesn’t have a presence in a particular country, a business can work with the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“The trade reps are a great resource to our Wisconsin companies looking to grow their businesses overseas,” she said. “For many businesses, going overseas is a great way to grow. But it’s not as easy as saying ‘I’m going to start selling in such-and-such country.’”
The first thing to understand is that every country has different rules and regulations, Pino-Gallagher said. For ag products, that means that what needs to be on a label for a country in Europe is not necessarily the same for a product going to Asia.
Sinnott said many companies become “accidental exporters.”
Learning the ropes
“They get in an order overseas from someone who found them on the web and suddenly they’re exporting, but that may not be the best place for that company to be,” she said. “They may not know the best way to price the products to take into account currency changes, extra shipping costs, taxes, added translation costs or other costs incurred along the way.”
When a company expresses interest in exporting, Sinnott steers them to ExporTech, an export accelerator program designed for a company’s top executives and sponsored by the WEDC, the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership (WMEP) and the UW-Stout Manufacturing Outreach Center.
Roxanne Baumann, director of global engagement for WMEP, said participants go through an intensive process that identifies the best markets for a company, then develops a plan for reaching customers and delivering products. Participating companies get specialized help and coaching during three one-day sessions.
“It’s much more effective than saying ‘let’s go to a trade show in Germany’ and then come away with nothing, but you’ve spent $10,000,” she said.
According to Baumann, companies who graduate from ExporTech increase their international sales on average between $600,000 and $900,000 within a year of finishing the course.
“I always encourage the top leaders of the company to come – the CEO, the CFO – they need to know about exporting and how it works,” she said. “We work very closely with them to develop a value proposition for their product. We tell them ‘we need to find out why you think someone would want to find you in Wisconsin for this product.’”
Baumann said ExporTech graduates identify the top three or four countries to target for their first exporting initiative and then develop a specific marketing plan.
“It sounds simple, but it really gets down to ‘who are the customers who need your products?’” she said.
While manufacturing companies mainly attend ExporTech, the WMEP has offered specific programs just for those in the ag sector.
“Dairy exporting will continue to grow as more people around the world enter the middle class and start eating dairy,” Pino-Gallagher said.
Once a business goes through ExporTech, Sinnott said the next step may be to go on a trade tour with the WEDC.
“We talk about goals and help set up meetings so companies can start to build those relationships,” Sinnott said. “We also have trade reps from different countries come to Wisconsin and provide opportunities for businesses to meet.”
WEDC and DATCP also offer seminars and workshops to help businesses learn more about exporting. The agencies are a go-to resource when businesses have questions.
“If someone from sales says ‘let’s go into Uruguay,’ the first thing I’m going to do is pick up the phone and call the Department of Ag and find out about what we need to know and do,” Klein said. “Every country is different and we just find it’s important to utilize the government agencies and ask for help. That’s what they’re there for.”
Joe Holz manages outside and international sales for Kasco Marine Inc. He said the WEDC has been invaluable when it comes to identifying distributors in countries where the Prescott-based manufacturer of aeration, fountain, de-icing and water-mixing solutions is interested in doing business. The company has been exporting its products for more than 25 years, but has greatly expanded its overseas operations the past five years with the assistance of the WEDC.
“WEDC will work with their local partners in each country to research and identify potential distributor prospects, conduct interviews to determine interest level and potential partnerability, then review the listings with us, allowing us to take the reins from there,” he said. “These searches have proven effective in some markets and helped us find good distribution in certain areas.”
Pino-Gallagher said one thing that DATCP likes to do is bring buyers to Wisconsin from foreign markets and set up meetings with interested companies. “They can have a meeting right here and start exploring options,” she said.
While most Wisconsin ag exporters are food manufacturers, some individuals – including ginseng farmers and ag professionals involved in breeding – sell their products globally.
“The key to ask yourself is: Are you export-ready? Don’t say you want to export until you’ve gathered all the information,” Pino-Gallagher said. “Don’t be afraid to ask questions.”
The WEDC offers a Collaborative Market Access Grant program that’s designed to help industry organizations, non-profits or regional economic development groups who work with Wisconsin companies to grow their exporting business.
Kasco Marine has used WEDC grants to help grow its foreign markets. The agency offers an International Market Access Grant to help companies attend trade shows overseas, translate their website or some other activity designed to boost their exporting capabilities. There are also grant programs available to help companies pay for the ExporTech course.
“We have used grants to attend industry trade shows and develop several translated, international websites to help grow the exposure and demand for Kasco products,” Holz said.
Learning how the exporting process works is the first step all businesses need to take if they’re interested in selling overseas, Holz said.
“Exporting can be daunting. There are a lot of hoops to jump through, from finding the customers, to making the sale, getting payment and delivering the product,” he said. “Practicing the process and continuing to stay on top of changes is ongoing. We now export to over 30 countries and our exposure seems to grow all the time, so our products are reaching new markets constantly.”


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Apple announced Monday that glass supplier Corning will receive $45 million as part of the Cupertino tech giant's Advanced Manufacturing Fund. Over the last several years Apple has invested $450 million into Corning's Harrodsburg, Ky.-based manufacturing plant.
Corning is a long-time Apple partner and its durable Gorilla Glass has been used on iPhones and iPads since the very beginning. Apple said the latest investment will go toward Corning's research and development and state-of-the-art glass processing, including its ongoing production of Ceramic Shield, the new glass on the iPhone 12 lineup that uses nano-ceramic crystals for high durability.
"Apple and Corning have a long history of working together to accomplish the impossible," said Apple COO Jeff Williams. "From the very first iPhone glass, to the revolutionary Ceramic Shield on the iPhone 12 lineup, our collaboration has changed the landscape of smartphone cover design and durability. Ceramic Shield is a prime example of the technologies that are possible when deep innovation meets the power of American manufacturing."
Apple launched its manufacturing fund in 2017 as a way to support "a new era of technology-driven manufacturing in the US," and Corning was the first beneficiary. Last month, Apple announced an expanded $430 billion investment package in its US operations, along with plans to add an additional 20,000 new jobs across the country over the next five years. The investment marked an expansion of a $350 billion investment and jobs plan that Apple announced in 2018.
As part of the investments, the Cupertino tech giant will spend around $1 billion on a new campus and engineering hub in North Carolina's Research Triangle area.
Last week, Apple announced a new $410 million manufacturing award for II-VI, a manufacturer of optical technology. II-VI manufactures vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) that help power Face ID, Memoji, Animoji, and Portrait mode selfies. Apple also works with II-VI to manufacture lasers used in the LiDAR scanner.


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Home » News » Xinwei Communication: In terms of Android customers, the company's LCP products have already been mass-produced, and customers who have received orders include domestic and foreign mobile phone manufacturers.


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Halfords Group (Halfords) has reported two-year revenue growth of 13.9 per cent in its third-quarter trading update, despite softening retail demand.
The cycling and motoring retailer has enjoyed booming business in its autocentres and services division, with a 90 per cent increase in revenue over the past two years and a 48 per cent like-for-like gain on last year’s figures.
The business particularly benefitted from the government’s MOT deferral programme in the first half of last year, which changed the seasonal profile of MOTs, creating a new third-quarter peak period for the autocentres sector.
It has now acquired Axle Group to secure its position as the UK’s largest vehicle service, maintenance and repair business.
Halford’s digital first business is also benefitting from extensive development, with sales up 71 per cent, delivered through strong traffic to its site.
The group’s retail record is much spottier with total sales down nearly two per cent on pre-pandemic levels two years ago and 8.5 per cent down on last year’s lockdown boom, when people rushed to embrace the great outdoors and remain active through cycling.
Halfords has revealed strong sales in the first half of the period were softened pre-Christmas as the emergence of Omicron impacted customer behaviour, as it has caused a 15 per cent fall in traffic during December.
In its retail motoring division, total revenue is down 1.5 per cent, although market data continued to show positive trends across key product areas such as car cleaning, oils and child travel.
Its cycling division has reported a 23.8 per cent drop in total revenue over the past 12 months, and a 2.1 per cent drop since 2020, with the initial splurge in bike sales not sustained over the course of the pandemic.
Premium adult bikes performed well, with a 20 per cent boost in sales, while e-bikes increased by over 100 per cent, however kids bike sales started well but softened later in the period.
Unexpected freight delays in junior bikes compounded the impacts of Omicron including lower footfall and general customer caution.
Chief executive Graham Stapleton said: “These results demonstrate the strength of our motoring services offer, and the outstanding performance from our autocentres business confirms the rationale behind our recent acquisitions.”
Halfords continues to target £80m to £90m in full-year profits before tax, after it upgraded its guidance in November.
The company’s guidance assumes the impact of Omicron continues to diminish, with no further experience with variants of similar severity.
Matt Britzman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown was encouraged by the performance of Halford’s autocentres, but argued “it’s not all rosy” for the company.
He said: “It seems the wheels have come off the super-fast pandemic pace of bike sales, with the lockdown induced cycling boom fading. It appears the lure of the great outdoors has worn off with a 23.8 per cent drop in total revenue compared to the same period last year. The group’s still confident in its recently raised full-year guidance, but markets seem wary of the fact it’s predicated on Omicron setbacks continuing to ease.”
Following the update, Halford’s shares have risen nearly one per cent on the FTSE All-Share after an initial fall of over three per cent this morning.


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Blue Effect was featured at this year’s Gamescom, and is a horror survival first person shooter (FPS) for the HTC Vive, and it is going to be released next month.
Developed by Czech developers DIVR Labs, Blue Effect places players into a dark and eerie atmosphere where they are forced to survive against wave after wave of enemies. The main threat, however, isn’t necessarily the biomechanical beings rumoured to be only a myth, but whether or not you are to fade away into the darkness that surrounds you.
It is not clear whether or not there are levels, bosses, or structured narrative in this title, but what is clear is that you are armed with a futuristic laser gun and the Blue Effect orb to light your way through the forgotten world you’re stranded in.
The developers of Blue Effect released a developers log to detail what has been put into the creation of the title.
Horror FPS Blue Effect will be released this September on Steam for the HTC Vive, but it isn’t clear how much it will be released for or when exactly. It previously featured on Steam for its Greenlight campaign, where it was very much successful in its endeavours.
For more on the latest HTC Vive releases, as well as all the news, updates, and features in the world of VR, make sure to check back with VRFocus.


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Source | economictimes.indiatimes.com | Sreeradha Basu, ET Bureau
Growth in India’s job market once again surpassed pre-pandemic levels, showcasing a 19% uptick vs Oct ’19. The country’s premier index was trending at 2523 in October 2021, recording 43% year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth Vs October 2020 according to the latest Naukri JobSpeak report.
IT (+85%) leads hiring among sectors followed by Telecom/ISP (+84%) and Retail (+51%)
Demand for tech professionals continued to soar as the sector witnessed a significant 85% Y-O-Y growth in Oct’21. The upcoming launch of 5G and related services coupled with the government’s product linked incentive scheme (PLI) and the recent relief package for players in the field has boosted employment opportunities in the Telecom/ISP sector that grew by 84% in Oct ’21.
Hiring activity has also picked up in sectors like Retail (+51%) and Hospitality/Travel (+48%) with the ongoing holiday season, opening up of major offline outlets and peak sale season for e-commerce retailers. Other sectors like Education/Teaching (+41%) and Banking/Financial Services (+39%) also experienced growth as compared to Oct’20.


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Tag Archives: Casual
Fri, Jan 13, 2012 | 06:35 GMT
History repeats: Age of Booty is coming right back around, hitting iPhone, iPad and Android devices in the near future, with developers working on an “all new version” of the game. If you don’t remember the original, you’re forgiven – it was a download-only title released in the mess that was holiday 2008, and died a quick and painless death.
Now though, it’s back (or nearly – no release date as yet), bringing with it a handy single-player mode, real-time multiplayer and even cross-platform support if you have friends who aren’t fans of fruit.
Tue, Aug 30, 2011 | 18:23 BST
Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has said he feels Wii was miscategorized by the media as a casual gaming console compared to PS3 and Xbox 360, and while he disagrees with the label, he admitted the console did not “cater” to every gamer’s needs.
Tue, Nov 16, 2010 | 15:14 GMT
Krome Studios CEO Robert Walsh has said the Australian firm is currently working on smaller games which fit more into the causal and DLC space, instead of focusing entirely on boxed products.
Tue, Jul 13, 2010 | 09:31 BST
Sony’s announced it will add a casual difficulty to ModNation Racers via an upcoming patch.
Tue, Feb 10, 2009 | 18:26 GMT
DICE producer Patrick Liu wants to reassure fans that the company is not going casual. The Battlefield and Mirror’s Edge developer plans to “continue to do what we are best at”.
Speaking with Videogamer.com, Liu’s comment stems from the fact free-to-play cartoon shooter Battlefield Heroes is aimed at casual PC gamers.
“We are definitely still making PC games, we’ve not forgotten about that”, he said.
“We are not going casual, just because that is the trend. We’re not good at that. It’s not our core focus for the studio.”
Hopefully the worried few will feel a bit better now.
Thu, Mar 06, 2008 | 06:47 GMT
According to this, 145 million Americans played a casual game in 2007, or roughly two thirds of all US citizens in the 12-65 age range. While casual game revenue is obviously a lot lower than that taken from discs – most casual games are free and played online – that piece estimates that $400 to $700 million will be made per annum by 2010.


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While some might consider the era that we are “post-pandemic”, many businesses are still suffering.
Culture Cafe, an upscale restaurant at 1452 Brush St., within walking distance of Ford Field and Comerica Park, is the latest to feel the effects.
In early January, the popular restaurant announced on social media that it would be temporarily closed until further notice, but would soon start accepting takeout orders.
According The Detroit Newsthis “temporary closure” is permanent, as Le Culture Cafe has faced inflationary costs, staff shortages, and a dispute with its owner.
Despite the challenges, owner and chef Drew Matthews unveiled his new delivery location last weekend – dubbed Culture Soul.
Matthews said The Detroit News that Culture Soul, located at 24737 W. Eight Mile Rd., placed more than 2,000 orders in its first weekend.
“We opened Friday here and, with no promotions or anything, Friday, Saturday and Sunday we placed over 2,000 orders,” Matthews told the New. “We have a very, very, very large fan base and our customers…the support is real.”
Culture Soul serves many of the same menu items and is currently walk-in only with plans to expand to accept phone orders and online orders. Customers can view the full Culture Soul menu at leculturecafe.com/menu.
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Google used to be a weird word, and search engine, that no one really “got”. And then they BLEW UP! Well, now it appears they can add predictions to their list of abilities as they have predicted we are headed for a plant-based revolution (sounds good to me, especially if it’s truly organic)
From the article:
“Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet, has named the number one “game-changing” trend of the future as the consumption of plant-based proteins instead of meat. In a report by Fortune, Schmidt spoke to thousands of investors and business executives at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference. Schmidt has dedicated his career to identifying worldwide technology trends, and discussed plant-based food as one of six upcoming technologies that will significantly improve society, including mobile medical data, self-driving cars, and computers that pinpoint effective teaching strategies for individual students.”
Of the five technologies, in terms of global impact and overall improvement on people’s quality of life, plant-based proteins won. If we were to grow and harvest more plants, we could significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and in the process, fight climate change.
But not only would it help the environment, it would benefit poorer communities. Replacing animal protein with plant protein would lower food costs for impoverished communities, especially developing countries. Our world can be fed more efficiently AND less expensively with plant-based proteins.
However, if you hate tofu- don’t worry. Schmidt says, “The world is now ready to better produce synthetic food from plants with the help of computers and data crunching.” (What do you think of that part?)
Time is of the essence. As we continue to watch our environment suffer (degradation and global food scarcity, to name a few) it’s more important than ever to look to the future and it seems that future just might be- plants. Lots and lots of yummy plants, with real organic plant based products I hope.
Source: IDA USA


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Social Exposure Releases New Infograph on the Most Important Social Platforms
Social Exposure’s new infographic explains why and how businesses benefit from the three social media platforms.
In fact, social media is growing so rapidly that 89 percent of marketers say that the platforms social media generates more business exposure than any other type of of marketing. On Facebook, 8 million local businesses now have a Facebook page, up 100 percent from 2008, when only 6 million businesses had created a page on the platform. There are 1.1 billion active users on Facebook every month, and over 2 billion connections between businesses and customers have transpired through Facebook.
According to Globalwebindex, Twitter is the fastest growing social media platform of all time. There are over 288 million users a month, and 26 percent of all marketers have found a customer through the platform this year alone. Compared to just 40 percent of average internet users, 59 percent of Twitter users have visited B2B tech brand websites.
As for Pinterest, shareaholic says the social media platform generates more leads than Google+, Linkedin and Youtube combined, as one of the newest and fastest social media platforms on the web. Each month, there are 70 million active users and 86 percent of of visits from Pinterest are from new customers. In fact, 51 percent of the Interbrand Top 100 Brands are on Pinterest.
In conclusion, social media drives 13 percent higher conversion rates than average leads. To learn more on how to invest in social marketing, visit SocialExposure.net
Social Exposure offers quality social media marketing techniques and services on the top social media sites. As a team of down-to-earth professionals, SocialExposer.net is a leader in the social media marketing industry. Visit the website to learn how you can gain better exposure to your business through social media. See their newly released infographic here - http://socialexposure.net/main/heat-up-your-marketing-campaign-reasons-to-utilize-social-media/.
This is a press release. Press release distribution and press release services by EmailWire.Com: http://www.emailwire.com/us-press-release-distribution.php.


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CE Prices Set To Rise, As Brands Forced To Place Orders 12 Months Out
Consumer electronic prices are set to rise in Australia, with notebook and monitor sales along with TV and audio products tipped to climb by over 10% due to a sudden rise in component costs.
Analysts claim also affecting the market is a chronic shortage of processors.
Brands are being forced to place orders 12 months out for the Australian market.
Yesterday it was announced that notebook battery module makers are set to lift prices between 10-15% to reflect rising raw materials costs, according to industry sources.
Advantech, the world’s largest maker of computers said its revenues would be held back by a shortage of components.
Advantech Chairman K.C. Liu told an investors conference on this week in Taiwan that intensifying component and chips shortage will drag down its growth momentum in the June quarter, Advantech said.
“It’s a bit like everyone is crazily buying and hoarding toilet papers in a crisis. Everyone is fighting for resources at the same time, and I don’t see a turning point coming yet,” Liu said.
Advantech is the latest company to complain of the impact of a global chip and component shortage that has also hit swaths of the car industry and consumer electronics makers, blamed on a swift economic rebound that has led to surprisingly strong demand.
Advantech said it has mobilized hundreds of people across its 50 business departments to try to mitigate the worsening component and chip constraints.
Another issue facing Australian suppliers and CE retailers as well as the audio industry is that lead times are blowing out with suppliers now having to place orders in some cases 12 months out for the Australian market.
Some lead times have gone beyond 50 weeks for components including audio codec chips, which decode audio signals, and microcontroller chips, the company said.
Lead times are longer than 20 weeks for graphic cards, power management chips, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and liquid crystal diode displays, while central processing units and memory chips have a waiting time of more than 12 weeks, according to Advantech.
As carmakers, PC makers and smartphone companies rush to buy components and chips, other buyers are being squeezed. Acer’s chairman and CEO has also warned that the chip shortage is worsening and could stifle PC makers’ growing momentum.
Some clients whose computers will be used in production lines have even asked Advantech to ship products without audio codec chips, as the clients said they could put up with computers without sound during such a serious shortage, Chang said.
“For some clients, whose computers are used in critical medical equipment, it’s very challenging because every component needs a very long period of time to undergo qualification works,” the executive said.
Advantech has also started discussions to increase its prices by 5% from April to reflect the supply crunch and to deter customers from overbooking. The company said it was difficult to tell which customers were accelerating their orders to secure their resources and which were overbooking.
“We’ve started to tell our sales in the front line to be more cautious and not to accept every order,” Liu, the chairman, said.


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A new survey highlights the foodservice and hospitality industry’s tumultuous journey to economic recovery.
Since the start of the pandemic, shutdowns and limitations contributed to the loss of up to 249 days worth of revenue for some businesses, according to a new survey conducted by Hospitality Minnesota, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and Explore Minnesota Tourism. This has resulted in a projected total loss of over $15 billion in state revenue for the hospitality and tourism industry.
The two industries have also reported 32,000 fewer workers in comparison to pre-pandemic levels of employment, and the majority of hospitality operators reported tight labor availability.
The new report emphasizes the hospitality industry’s difficult journey back to economic normalcy as the pandemic continues into its second year. The food service industry has been hit especially hard these past two years as restaurants manage labor shortages, Covid-19 restrictions and industry turmoil.
When Chef Rob Giuliani opened his Duluth taco spot Tacos Tacos Tacos in March 2021, Giuliani said it was “almost nearly impossible” to find staff. Giuliani said he ended up working “crazy hours” when the restaurant opened to combat the shortage of workers.
Steve Hesse, a partner of Eclectic Culinary Concepts, has worked in the restaurant industry for most of his life. “I’ve been doing this for almost 30 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Hesse said. As the March 2020 shutdowns took place, Hesse was in the middle of opening the Edina Pajarito location. “All of a sudden, the pandemic happened and we were like, ‘this is gonna ruin us,’” Hesse said. When both the St. Paul and Edina Pajarito locations reopened to 50% capacity, it didn’t get any easier.
“Getting staff back in was extremely difficult. Getting guests back in was just as difficult. So, I mean, all in all, it was just a monumental occasion that I’d never want to see again, hopefully,” Hesse said.
According to the survey, the food service industry still remains “the most vulnerable” to insolvency. Forty-six percent of operators reported concerns of insolvency in the next six to 12 months or less, according to the survey.
“People don’t realize that restaurant owners aren’t millionaires. We aren’t even 100-aires. We’re living month to month, week to week, just like everybody else. Then getting into the pandemic where we’re shutting down, a lot of restaurant owners put everything we had into these restaurants. All of our money, all of our savings, we put up our houses. It was hard,” Hesse said.
Two years later, the state of Hesse’s restaurants seems to be incrementally improving. “They’re definitely not doing the sales that they need to do but we’re slowly gaining ground on it,” he said. Hesse did not receive relief from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, nor did two-thirds of restaurants who applied.
“When we started seeing restaurants close up because they were holding on to see if they could [survive] and now we’re starting to see more and more restaurants close up again because they just didn’t get that help,” he said. “I hope it comes. It’s really, really needed.”
Hospitality Minnesota is calling for state and local governments to step up and help restaurants. The organization pointed out that the state is looking at a $9.25 billion surplus and has an additional $1 billion in American Rescue Plan funding coming, and is urging citizens to advocate for legislative action.
Info: Learn more at Hospitalityminnesota.com.


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U.S. Airfares Surged 18.6% In April; Demand Remains Hot
Airfares surged in April by 18.6%, according to official inflation data released May 11, as tight labor markets and rising fuel prices force carriers to raise ticket prices at the fastest rate in years. But for now, at least, those higher fares have not been enough to dampen red-hot consumer travel...
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SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) provincial office here on Tuesday said vendors in the province have so far been complying with the automatic price ceiling (APC), which was put in place following the onslaught of Severe Tropical Storm Paeng.
DTI Antique officer-in-charge Lynna Joy Cardinal said in an interview Tuesday they have been conducting price monitoring in 18 municipalities since Nov. 7 with the help of their Negosyo Center councilors.
“Per our monitoring, the major retail stores in Antique are also compliant with the APC,” Cardinal said. The province remains under a state of calamity due to the effects of Paeng.
Cardinal said retail stores have been provided with prices of basic and prime commodities to help them comply with the APC.
Cardinal also assured the public that there is a sufficient supply of basic and prime commodities in the province.
“Unlike during the first week of November when the supply of noodles and sardines were highly in demand and almost running out because of the various relief operations, there is sufficient supply now,” Cardinal said.
She said the DTI Regional Office has also requested, through the Office of the Civil Defense, a Navy ship to transport goods from Iloilo province to Antique after Paeng left major routes impassable.
"The Navy ship has so far transported already the goods three times with the latest (being) yesterday, Nov. 14," Cardinal said.
Iloilo City is a center of trade and commerce in Western Visayas where most suppliers of the basic and prime commodities in Antique are based. (PNA)