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Greenlab will sell 5,555 unique pieces created digitally by the artist Julián Majín.
Colombia has become a benchmark for the production of medicinal cannabis, generating investment, employment, and innovation in the Colombian field.
Following these foundations, Greenlab was born, an enterprise of young Colombians that seeks to improve the physical and mental well-being of thousands of people through the cultivation and production of medicinal cannabis.
Greenlab offers both cosmetic and pharmaceutical products that contain medical cannabis, prioritizing the sustainability of the environment and caring for neighboring communities.
But the startup did not want to stop there and took a technological leap: Greenlab got fully into the NFT trend and will launch its Space Resistance collection, which consists of 5,555 unique digitally created pieces.
The NFTs were designed by Cali artist Julián Majín, who has become a benchmark in cannabis because his work combines surreal worlds and trips to space with the plant.
“We will create an international community that sees the plant as a generator of change and Colombia as a world benchmark in its production,” said Juan Manuel Téllez, CEO of Greenlab.
It is worth remembering that an NFT is not only a digital work or piece but also provides a series of tangible benefits to collectors: they are digital assets that are associated with a certificate of authenticity through blockchain technology, the same used in the cryptocurrencies.
“In our case, we will plant one medicinal cannabis plant in our crop for each NFT created. Then, by harvesting the plant, it is transformed into a medical cannabis product given to collectors,” he noted.
Companies like Adidas or Nike are launching NFT collections as they have identified a market in which more and more people are interested in this type of asset, as they see them as a new form of investment.
What is revolutionary about NFTs is that, as they are associated with a certificate of ownership, they can be sold on technological platforms to generate a profit when the collection increases in value.
“This project aims to use technology to create a community around medical cannabis, where people have the opportunity to meet the best face of the Colombian countryside,” Téllez concluded.


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A through-the-line campaign by McCann Erickson will support the late September launch of Nescafé Original 3in1 and will begin in the next few weeks. Billington Cartmell, Dare and EHS 4D also work on the Nescafé advertising account.
The product has taken a long time to hit the UK market, having been launched in Europe in 2003.
Nescafé says the UK launch is to support the growing trend for more covenient coffee formats among the ’no-hassle’ generation.
Nescafé head of marketing Katy Hilditch says: “Convenience continues to dominate the hot beverage category but nowhere is this more prominent than when targetting consumers under 25.
“Targeting this group of young consumers and growing their consumption of soluble coffee presents a great opportunity for the category.
Research shows that they see coffee as providing them with a boost and as an aspirational rite of passage.”
The news comes three months after Nescafé pledged to increase investment in its brands after reporting a 6.5% increase in group sales for the first quarter of the year.
The Switzerland-based company reported group sales of 26.3bn Swiss francs (£23.9bn) in April, up from 25.2bn francs in the same period last year.
This story first appeared on Pitch, Centaur’s subscription-based online interactive marketplace for agencies and clients to share news, opinion and debate.

domain: news


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Data Breach News
Macy’s Customer Credit Data Hacked In Breach
Macy’s (m) has become the latest retailer to be hit by customer data intruders. The department store chain said on Tuesday that hackers had gotten hold of the names and passwords of some customers and …
Data Breach News tracked by SVPN AI.


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Sony "PlayStation Phone" is Now Official
February 7, 2011 3:30 PM
comment(s) - last by
Xperia Play is unveiled in a 30-second Super Bowl ad
After months of
, Sony Ericsson finally made the so-called "PlayStation phone,"
the Xperia Play
, official in a big way -- by airing
a creepy ad
during the Super Bowl.
The spot depicts a sweaty man running to deliver a pair of scissors to another man, seemingly performing a back-alley surgery, as ominous music drums up the drama. The surgery, it is revealed, was performed on a life-sized green Android who has been fashioned with a pair of thumbs. The scissors are used to cut off its bandages.
"Android is ready to play," the tagline reads, before cutting to a shot of the Xperia Play. A voice-over narrator proclaims, "The smartphone with everything you need, and the one thing you want," as a "PlayStation Certified" icon appears in the upper corner. "Coming soon," the narrator continues, "from Sony Ericsson."
The device depicted in the spot is the same one that appeared in the leaked photos from December, D-pad and all.
, the Android-based device, running Gingerbread, is set to make its first official in-the-flesh appearance next week at the
Mobile World Congress
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
RE: Do want
2/7/2011 11:11:38 PM
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Global payments system spearheads eventual rollout of full product suite.
Airwallex pushes into Canada on back of rapid growth in Americas
Airwallex has launched its global payment system in Canada as it seeks to expand its footprint in North America.
The Australian start-up said its system delivered quicker, more cost-efficient and transparent payments than traditional banks and it would eventually roll out its full suite of global products, including multi-currency cards, spend management, and online payments.
“To thrive in today’s challenging global economy, businesses must be able to scale without borders, move money across currencies with ease and manage their finances across markets with a single integrated platform,” said general manager of Americas, Ravi Adusumilli.
“Airwallex is excited to support the ambitious Canadian businesses who wish to grow internationally, quickly and economically, as well as international businesses who have operations in Canada.”
The payments system offers access local currency accounts in a dozen currencies, a multi-currency wallet that can hold 44 currencies and payouts to 150 countries.
Airwallex said it already had some Canadian customers in the e-commerce, professional services and technology businesses using its centralised platform to simplify payments.
“With the launch of global payments services in Canada, Airwallex will be able to empower local businesses even more, to stay competitive, grow their customer base and expand to new markets,” Mr Adusumilli said.
The move into Canada comes on the back of strong growth in the region, with a 300 per cent increase in customers in the past year.
Globally, Airwallex now covers more than 150 countries and enables US$50 billion in annualised transactions. Last month, the company secured an online payment licence in China, adding to its existing licenses in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, European single market, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and the US.
Airwallex was founded in 2015 in Melbourne by Jack Zhang and Max Li, together with university friends Lucy Liu and Xijing Dai. It is now one of the world’s fastest growing fintechs with nearly 1,300 employees in 19 locations.


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Roughly two years ago, the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced that it would finally be replacing its aging fleet of Grumman Long Life Vehicles (LLV) with next-generation models built by Oshkosh Defense, which will utilize some components – including powertrains – from Ford. We later learned that ICE versions of that new delivery vehicle will utilize a 2.0L I-4 engine of some sort from FoMoCo, though the agency also plans to transition to an all-electric lineup eventually. Now, shortly after USPS announced that it will also purchase a substantial 9,000 Ford E-Transit vans from the automaker, deliveries of the next-gen carrier have been pushed back nine months to June 2024, according to Reuters.
When the Post Office announced Oshkosh as the winner of its $2.98 billion dollar new supplier contract, it noted that it expected to take delivery of the first units of that 50,000 vehicle order in October 2023, but now, it seems as if it has run into a bit of a snag. Ultimately, the agency expects to purchase 165,000 Oshkosh next-generation delivery vehicles over the span of 10 years in a deal that could be worth as much as $6 billion.
USPS plans to purchase 66,000 all-electric vehicles by 2028, including at least 45,000 next-gen models and the aforementioned 9,250 E-Transit vans. The Post Office recently received $3 billion from Congress – part of a broader $430 billion dollar climate bill – $1.7 billion of which will go to add charging stations to support this expansion.
As it awaits the arrival of these Oshkosh delivery vehicles, USPS expects to take delivery of its first batch of E-Transits this coming December. Together, these vehicles will help it electrify 75 percent of the USPS fleet before it stops purchasing ICE vehicles altogether by 2026, as is currently the plan.
We’ll have more on the USPS next-generation delivery vehicle soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford Transit news and continuous Ford news coverage.
The only thing good is the Transits. Everything else smells real bad. From the ceo of Oshkosh to the postal service ceo. They are scamming to keep Oshkosh busy and to skim a lot of cash of each vehicle produced including the fords that are actually bought through Oshkosh.
Follow the ceo , follow the money
Where the government throws stupid amounts of money, corruption always follows.
The Transit is a good application for the USPS with it’s city driving, unloaded, warm temperature range of a 130 miles. Probably not so much for rural areas.


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SÃO PAULO—Researchers and doctors are sounding the alarm over a new, more aggressive coronavirus strain from the Amazon area of Brazil, which they believe is responsible for a recent rise in deaths, as well as infections in younger people, in parts of South America.
Brazil’s daily death toll from the disease rose to its highest level yet this week, pushing the country’s total number of Covid-19 fatalities past a quarter of a million. On Tuesday, Brazil reported a record 1,641 Covid fatalities. Neighbor Peru is struggling to curb a second wave of infections.
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As the number of demat accounts continued to rise in June, monthly active users fell to the lowest this year, spurring concerns for discount brokers targeting retail investors.
“Discount brokers have been luring traders. They have onboarded a lot of first-time traders who do not risk in turbulent markets,” Deven Choksey, managing director of KR Choksey Holdings Pvt. told BQ Prime. “Unlike long-time investors, these retail players stay away from turbulent markets due to risk of higher losses leading to reduced activity in lean markets.”
The resumption of work from office may be another reason for the decline in online trading activity as people dabbled in stocks as they worked form home, according to Choksey said. Since offices have resumed active trading is no longer possible, reducing the trading activity by around 20-25%, he said.
“Only a turnaround in the market sentiment could bring back better times for discount brokers.”
Waning interest among retail investors coincides with market volatility stoked by the pandemic and the global energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. India’s benchmark Nifty 50 has fallen nearly 9% year to date. That’s reflected in slower addition of new demat accounts.
Total demat accounts were around 9.7 crore in June. But the pace of addition fell the slowest in the year in June.
The number of Indians participating in the capital markets has fallen below one crore on the national stock exchange, the Reserve Bank of India said in its financial stability report 2022. This come off the January peak.
This mismatch in demat account numbers and monthly active users could be attributed to multiple factors, according to Prakarsh Gagdani, chief executive officer at 5Paisa Capital Ltd.
A lot of people now keep two demat accounts since it is very easy to open such an account to hold securities in an electronic format, he told BQ Prime’s Niraj shah. “If you can you take out those duplicate ones, the number may come down a bit.”
Retail turnover is also down from over Rs 40,000 crore on NSE cash to around Rs 20,000 crores in June. “We are almost half in terms of turnover.”
This, he said, could be due to initial public offerings like LIC, mid and small -caps going down and the overall market activity not offering returns that were seen in the last two years.
And millions of people who entered the market last two years were first-timers. “Now they are experiencing this entire thing–the last four months of bearish markets for the first time in their life,” Gagdani said. “Their reaction would be very different from a seasoned player. When a person starts new, he would retract a bit more faster because he’s used to good returns.”
This fall in number of monthly active users maybe a temporary impact of the market gone sour, he said.
Total industry active user clients in June rose to 3.8 crore, a jump of 70% year-on-year and a marginal increase of 0.8% over the prior month, according to the National Stock Exchange’s activation data. Sequentially, most of the discount brokers grew at faster pace than traditional brokers.
While the cash market turnover has gone down in the past couple of months, the reading for derivatives has risen consistently, Gagdani told BQ Prime.
With the peak margin circular getting implemented last year, the trading turnover shifted from cash to derivatives, he said, referring to rules that mandate collection of minimum margin from clients upfront. 50-60% of the cash segment turnover now is purely delivery driven, which goes up and down with market movements, he said.
Derivatives is non-seasonal and “you can trade in every type of market”, Gagdani said. For the first time, he said, that there is no correlation between the turnover between these two cash and derivatives segments.
“We are also seeing a good amount of retail customers participating in derivatives,” said Gagdani. Earlier, the derivative turnover was largely towards institutional and and large retail customers like the high net-worth individuals, he said.
Choksey attributed participation of retail investors in options to algorithm-based trading. In the past, he said, non-institutional investors did not have the resources to trade on a part with institutions or HNIs. But algorithm-based trading services providers have changed that.
“Traders have been deploying funds into algorithm-trading strategies which are operated by professional service providers who trade on their behalf, thereby leading to a growth in volumes in retail futures and options,” he said.
Gagdani said 5Paisa Capital has seen a 15-20% drop in the new client activation from the quarter ended March. “There’s a demand drop, traffic drop on the website and the app, since it’s very difficult to figure out what markets will do in the near term.”
However, he said, this is a cyclical business. When the tide is good, they put money in but it’s also important to control costs during volatile times, he said referring to its business. “We are a digital business, so we believe in keeping less of fixed cost.” The focus, he said, will be on improving efficiency in terms of cost for the next one to two quarters.
“I’m really optimistic about this year. A lot of people are saying that it’s going to be a bad year,” Gagdani said. “[But] from an activity perspective, it is not going to be a bad year, it will be an average year. Why? Because if you consider 2021, it was very good so this year would be an average.”


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British farmers would rather supply local food hubs and foodservice operators than supermarkets and large manufacturers, a survey has found.
The Sustain alliance worked with market researcher Agrismart to explore how 500 farmers from across England and Wales feel about issues of centralised buying and long-distance supply chains.
The results showed just 5% of farmers would prefer to sell to a supermarket, processor or manufacturer despite 86% currently doing so.
The top three preferences were to sell to a food hub (55%), direct to customers (36%) and/or into foodservice (29%).
Overall, 56% of respondents said they want to supply into a different market than they do currently and a further 20% of farmers said they would consider doing so.
The main perceived benefits farmers saw for changing supply chains were better margins, more direct links to the customer, delivering more for climate and nature, and building more resilience into the business.
Many also felt that changing supply chains would help them deliver on soil management, animal welfare, public engagement and better wages for staff.
To successfully move away from the current approach of supplying into supermarkets and larger processors and manufacturers, farmers said they need better access to local infrastructure, affordable finance, marketing knowledge, and market outlets like established box schemes or food hubs.
Sustain is recommending that, to help farmers diversify, the government, local authorities, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) and stakeholders work together to create growth action plans to increase the market share of farmer-focused supply chains and local and regional food systems to 25% by 2035.


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Kellogg’s, Mondelēz, Pepperidge Farm and Flowers Foods have recently recalled bakery and snack products after a whey powder ingredient supplied by Associated Milk Producers has been suspected to be contaminated with the Salmonella bacteria.
Kellogg’s woes continue with the CDC advising that all packs of Honey Smacks be tossed, Utz potato chips fails to declare soy and a new Dutch egg safety report shows need for higher standards: a quick update of some of the latest recalls in the bakery...
The European Food Standards Authority (EFSA) emphasised the
importance of the farm to fork approach in combating the continuing
high prevalence of infectious diseases transmissible from animals


text:
Release dates: every game confirmed for 2016 and 2017
Pokemon Sun & Moon guide: walkthrough, best starter, QR codes, TM locations, tips
Ubi’s released a video walkthrough of Driver: San Francisco, showing some of the game’s features, new and old.
Martin Edmunson headlines
Martin Edmunson latest
Check out the Driver video walkthrough from E3


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Stina Sayre Designs on Main Street Vineyard Haven is hosting the Seize Your Beauty fashion show July 31. The event is a fundraiser for Friends of Family Planning Martha’s Vineyard.
Nine models will walk the runway wearing 27 different outfits. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the runway show, expected to last 30 minutes, will begin at 6 p.m. Wine and champagne will follow.
Ms. Sayre has also designed a tassel necklace that will be sold throughout the summer, with 50 per cent of the proceeds going to Family Planning.
Fashion show seating is limited. For more information call 508-693-5180


text:
Verisign released their Q3 domain report (read it here) and in it shared some pretty interesting data. One site covered the report and highlighted something about .NET that wasn’t directly mentioned in the report:
The popularity of .net TLD is decreasing. As compared to 15 million domain names registered with .net TLD in Q3 2017, the count has been declined to 14 million in Q3 2018. (Source – DazeInfo.com)
Rewind fifteen years ago and if you couldn’t get the .COM, you went for the .NET, maybe the .ORG, but in most cases the .NET is what you’d go for. Then domain extensions like .CO, .ME, .CLUB and .IO changed the game and gave people an alternative to .COM that was shorter and more brandable than .NET.
Then all the new gTLDs hit and now there are tons of new domain extensions for people to pick if the .COM is taken. The reality is, over the last 15 years .COM has remained king, but the second choice has gone from .NET or .ORG only to a zillion different options with about 5-10 extensions being more popular than the rest (i.e. I think it’s safe to say people would much rather have a .ME name than a .HOLDINGS name).
So, if you look at the Verisign report you might think – .NET is less valuable now than it was last year…but that’s not at all what the data is showing. All this report says is that there are less .NET domains registered y/y, it says absolutely nothing about the value of .NET.
I think what’s happening with .NET is the same thing that is happening with all the other .COM alternatives, the best names are valuable but people aren’t out there hand registering a ton of junk like they do with .COM.
Think about it. We’ve all been there, and it usually happens late at night. We think of something, maybe a brandable or two or three word domain and check to see if it’s available in .COM. If it’s not, most people don’t decide, well I’ll just register it in another TLD – they don’t buy it. Domain investors aren’t stock-piling random .NET domains like they do with .COM either, they still invest in them but usually focus on the high quality names.
Now think of someone that wants to call their company something like “Cool” – well Cool.com is a six or seven figure name, so that’s out of the question for most people. So then they look at Cool.net, Cool.me, Cool.club, etc. Good domains in extensions like .NET are still incredibly valuable and I think we’ve actually seen these prices rise as .COM prices have continued to go up.
So don’t get confused when you read the Verisign report, sure, there are less .NET domains registered but that doesn’t mean they are any less valuable. Or at least that’s my two cents.
Now it’s your turn, I want to hear from you – comment and let your voice be heard!


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Just Eat and the video games developer King investor Index Ventures has denied investors were "hoodwinked" into buying at inflated valuations despite their disappointing stock market listings.
Shares in the online takeaway portal Just Eat and the Candy Crush Saga games developer King fell below their listing prices earlier this year, and both are still trading below their IPO pricing.
The London-based venture capital firm Index Ventures was an early investor in both companies and sold shares into both public offerings.
Ben Holmes, a partner at Index, said: "With all these businesses that have gone public, there's no way in which we feel that we've hoodwinked investors and got them to buy into something at a crazy price. They're all great businesses.
"The share prices have gone down but the businesses have done quite well. I think it's important to decouple that. They are very difficult businesses to value – they're both growing incredibly fast in potentially massive markets. Historically many of the great companies did not have a big first-day pop – Facebook and Google being good examples. We're not overly concerned."
Other digital businesses such as the online whitegoods retailer AO World have also struggled on the public market, and the German investment bank Berenberg last week expressed concerns that a tech "bubble" could be emerging, similar to the one that crashed stock markets at the turn of the millennium.
Holmes dismissed such fears, saying: "I think there's a very different complexion to businesses going public now compared to the type of businesses going public 15 years ago, where the market seemed to lap up anything with an internet flavour. The market is still very discerning, particularly in Europe."
Holmes' comments come as Index Ventures launches its seventh fund to invest in early-stage technology businesses. Index will focus investment from the $550m (£330m) fund on key "hubs" around the world – London, San Francisco, Berlin, New York, Stockholm and the Nordics, Tel Aviv and Paris.
Index's past investments include Skype, Dropbox, LoveFilm and Asos.Reuse content


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Applied Software, a building information modeling (BIM) services provider as well as a provider of Autodesk 2D and 3D CAD products and services, announced it has earned the new MEP Systems Engineering Specialization designation for value added resellers (VARs) from Autodesk Inc. As an Autodesk Specialized Partner, Applied Software has shown it has made significant investment in its people, has a solid business plan specific to the specialization area, has strong customer references, and can provide a high level of knowledge and support to companies in the AEC industry.
The new Autodesk Partner Specializations enable VARs to highlight and brand their expertise in delivering services in key industry areas. By completing the required curriculum and training, as well as meeting required levels of service and standards set by Autodesk, companies can demonstrate what it means to be a trusted adviser to Autodesk customers.
“Earning the Autodesk MEP Systems Engineering Specialization certification is an important achievement and a testament to our extraordinary team of MEP systems engineering experts,” said Steve Foran, Applied Software’s VP of Operations. “This distinction verifies our success in helping customers get the most out of Autodesk products used for mechanical, engineering, and plumbing design projects, especially 3D design and building information modeling.” +


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As the gaming industry gets deeper into Fall with video games coming out of every conceivable corner, a certain conversation around the now infamous Loot Box system has been anywhere and everywhere. With loot boxes seeming to be in almost every game, many have taken to saying it’s a form of gambling. The ESRB, however, does not see it this way.
In an article with Kotaku news editor Jason Sheer, the ESRB has stated “While there’s an element of chance in these mechanics, the player is always guaranteed to receive in-game content (even if the player unfortunately receives something they don’t want). We think of it as a similar principle to collectible card games: Sometimes you’ll open a pack and get a brand new holographic card you’ve had your eye on for a while. But other times you’ll end up with a pack of cards you already have.”
Where does this leave players then that feel slighted with the contents of said loot boxes? Not in the best spot. Whether playing Destiny 2, Forza 7, Shadow of War or upcoming Star Wars Battlefront II, loot boxes will be there waiting for players to buy them up hoping for whatever content they may want. Just like opening a pack of playing cards, however, sometimes that holographic is there and sometimes it’s not. This means players are left to keep spending money in hopes of getting the item(s) they want.
Players might then feel slighted and possibly turn towards venomous bouts over their favorite games. For those who might not be able to afford many games, loot box content this can leave an especially sour taste in the mouth. Loot boxes haven’t always been around, but with more games picking the system up, it doesn’t look they are going anywhere anytime soon.
It will be interesting to see how the companies making these games respond to players feeling this way over a now much used system. Video games are costly to make and companies are trying to figure out how to get the most bang for the buck to keep making the games players love. It’s two sides of the same coin. 2017 has proved Loot Box heavy, but maybe there’s hope for games in the future.


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- San Jose Sharks Welcome ThreatMetrix As the Team’s Newest Corporate Partner
- ThreatMetrix Selects Verne Global to Expand Data Center Footprint
- Digital Identity Summit 2017: Brian Krebs Named as Keynote as Call for Speakers and Award Nominations Open
- Top 5 Reasons to Vote ThreatMetrix for the MRC People’s Choice Technology Award!
- Organized Fraud Rings Target Online Lenders and Emerging Financial Services, Reveals New ThreatMetrix Report
Who’s responsible for the breaches that permit cybercriminals to rip off consumers’ data — Banks? Retailers? Credit/debit card issuers?
Why not ask consumers? Which is exactly what Brunswick Group, a business communications firm, did in their online survey of 750 U.S. consumers, “Main Street vs. Wall Street: Who is to Blame for Data Breaches?”
The survey found that consumers blame retailers for not doing enough to protect customer information. More troubling for retailers is what the survey says consumers are doing about it: “heading to the exits – with a significant number changing their buying habits.”
An article about the survey on digitaljournal.com (Link to article) has these key findings:
- Ninety-four percent of consumers surveyed are concerned about retail data breaches.
- Consumers are nearly as likely to hold retailers responsible for data breaches (61 percent) as the criminals themselves (79 percent). Only 34 percent blame the banks that issue debit and credit cards.
- Seventy-five percent believe that retailers are not doing enough to prevent infiltrations into their customer data and payment systems.
- Seventy percent of respondents believe that retailers should be held financially responsible for consumer losses that result from a breach; not banks or card issuers.
- Finally – and most troubling – 34 percent of those surveyed report that they no longer shop at a specific retailer due to a past data breach issue.
How about Wall Street?
Brunswick’s analysis showed that of the 13 companies that recently experienced a large data breach, each experienced a sustained drop in their average daily stock price. On average, six months after a breach, company valuation had not yet rebounded to pre-breach value.
“A data breach hits a company at the cash register, on Wall Street and at the heart of their relationship with the customer,” said Mark Seifert, partner at Brunswick Group. “If consumers don’t feel the retailer is doing enough to protect their data, they will protect themselves by shopping elsewhere.”
Brandon Borrman, partner at Brunswick Group, added, “It is no longer acceptable for retailers to look to banks and issuers to protect customers; instead, the onus is on retailers to address the issue head on in their security systems.” He continued, “What is clear is that the traditional approach to addressing the inevitable data breach no longer works. Consumers, press and regulators expect more transparency and clarity, and companies must be prepared.”


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Flipkart has been offering deep discounts, even up to 80%, across categories as it looks to widen its lead over rivals Snapdeal and Amazon.
"We were shocked to see our product being sold at a discount which is lower than our buying price,“ said a senior exec at a leading electronics retail chain.
Experts estimate that e-commerce companies will spend about $150 million (Rs900 crore) on advertising over the next 12 months.
In the fund-raising stakes, Snapdeal, which, till date, has garnered over $330 million across rounds, is now a distant third, lagging behind Flipkart.
Last November, IIT Bombay grad Manish Goyal quit his job and founded Foodies Compass, an e-platform that solves the ‘what to eat?’ dilemma.
Firstcry gifted newborns in over 6,000 hospitals across 18 cities with hampers containing diapers and other such goods sold on the site.
Firstcry has set up a team and built special technology platforms for analytics, which helps brands track post-trial sales online.
Some of these ventures such as Bangalore-based YCook and Soulfull and Delhi-based Zea Maize have gained investor attention with their protein-rich and quick-serve foods.


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Virgin reduces Kununurra-Perth flights
One of the airlines servicing Kununurra has cancelled its Monday wet season flights in and out of the Kimberley town.
Virgin Australia will now have three flying days which are Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.
A company spokesman said the move was in line with market demand.
“Virgin Australia has reduced the number of services from four to three per week between Perth and Kununurra for the period of November 2017 to March 2018,” he said.
“Virgin Australia has a range of alternative travel options for customers who have booked on affected services.
“We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.”
People affected by the change in services can rebook without charge for another service to the same destination no later than 14 days from the original travel date. If anyone wants to book to a different destination they will have to make up the fair difference.
The airline is also offering a full refund or travel bank for anyone who wishes to cancel their flight which would be valid for 12 months.
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DETROIT- Detroit is one of three cities nationwide chosen for a new program that rewards entrepreneurs and is sponsored by A+E Network, Comcast Cable and crowd-funding site RocketHub.
The Project Startup Entrepreneur Forum, which will be announced this week, will reward three small businesses with money, advice and technology services after a competition at TechTown Detroit on June 4.
Small businesses can apply for the program by signing up at projectstartuplive.com through May 19. They will pitch their ideas to a group of panelists.
“Comcast knows firsthand the vibrancy of our entrepreneurial community,” said Michelle Gilbert, vice president of public relations for Comcast’s heartland region. “I think small businesses have kept this region alive.”
The competition is open to any small business in Michigan. The grand prize winner will receive $5,000 and two years of Comcast Business phone, Internet and cable services. Each of the two runners-up will receive $2,500 and a consultation with the CEO of RocketHub.
“Because of what we do day in and day out, we understand the importance and role technology plays in businesses growing to the next level,” Gilbert said. “We also understand how important it is for a startup to invest from the get-go in the right tech.”
The other cities participating in the new initiative are Boston and Provo, Utah.
The event is free and open to the public. Guests must RSVP at projectstartuplive.com. There is no fee to enter the pitch competition.
The evening will also feature a panel discussion about launching and growing small businesses.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140422/BIZ/304220020#ixzz2zcWWowb8


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As the recession remains to unravel, the monetary solution industry deals with significant difficulties. The crisis is rooted in continual inequalities, consisting of long periods of low rate of interest, swiftly increasing asset rates, and also enormous credit scores as well as savings imbalances. The 2007 as well as 2008 Records from the Globe Economic Online forum forecasted these adjustments as constant danger to the market.
Earlier years of extraordinary development and also commercialism at its ideal have actually currently triggered the marketplace to adapt to tighter credit, expanding federal government intervention, slowing down speed of globalization, and also no financial growth. With raising regulations in the USA as well as lowering accessibility of credit rating, the sector encounters a substantial threat of stunted development. The global economic crisis is likewise affecting the monetary sector because of capital markets and decreased aggregate need, according to Max von Bismarck, Supervisor as well as Head of Financier Industries.
This post will offer leaders, staff members and also investors in the monetary service industry with 5 timely and also special fads to keep in the center of their growth strategies for the following five years. These five key fads will form the post monetary dilemma in a systematic and all natural way.
5 KEY PATTERNS
In order to expand, the economic sector will have to infiltrate emerging markets. For business that have an extra hostile development technique, the spread to emerging markets such as Africa and Asia offers unparalleled possibilities for earnings and also boosted market share.
Network World validates that economic service companies’ business approaches need to be altered for the new dynamics and ins and outs of today’s market. One expense reliable campaign is the usage of system sharing; like cell phone companies that collaborate with regional companies in order to lower price as well as rise gain access to, economic companies can do the exact same.
A special report from The Economist sees that with 3.5 billion individuals with cell phones and also an anticipated 10-20% year over year development, individual and service banking transactions are performed with cell phones much more and more. E-banking capacities supply business with necessary flexibility as well as differentiation in the market through Internet-based solution applications.
The increase of mobile phone use in emerging markets makes mobile cash a secure, low cost initiative for the economic industry. M-Pesa, an early programmer of mobile money, ended that mobile cash “has huge social as well as financial benefits.”
Self-service and the client must be a primary emphasis for firms in this brand-new monetary solution globe, according to IBM. AppViewXS is a self-service site companies can acquire, so customers can inspect the condition of their account and also gain immediate accessibility to available solutions.
Monetary service firms require to have lasting, consistent development in the emerging markets in order to grow in the future. Deloitte and also Touche Study reports that economic service firms have not placed themselves to maximize even more geographically distributed chances. Greater than 93 percent of the execs talked to for this report recognized that their companies “are not running in an internationally incorporated fashion.”
The same report states that monetary firms require to invest far from professional or mature markets and toward emerging markets because “by 2025, veteran markets will be rivaled by various other markets with faster growing economies and also significantly innovative financial item appetites.” USA based firms can look towards Japanese and also African markets for development chances. Kennedy Consulting analysts believe that the market will certainly rebound from the global monetary crisis in 2011, however there will certainly not be any go back to the robust levels before 2007 till much later on in the decade; ideally, the five vital fads in this record will certainly help the leaders, employees as well as capitalists in the financial solution sector to look towards a robust sound future.
In order to Holborn Assets Dubai expand, the economic industry will have to penetrate arising markets. Network World validates that monetary service firms’ business strategies must be altered for the brand-new dynamics and details of today’s market. The increase of mobile phone use in arising markets makes mobile cash a risk-free, reduced price initiative for the economic industry. Financial solution firms need to have lasting, stable development in the arising markets in order to expand in the future. Kennedy Consulting experts believe that the market will rebound from the global financial crisis in 2011, but there will not be any return to the durable degrees prior to 2007 till much later on in the years; with any luck, the five key fads in this record will assist the leaders, employees as well as investors in the financial solution industry to look towards a robust audio future.


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The Greenfield, Mass.-based trade group says it is launching an advertising and PR campaign in February, and hopes that the $2.5 million effort will reach some 25 million consumers next year. Because of the rapid growth in organic sales in the last several years, "the demographic for those who buy organic has broadened, and there are so many more venues now selling organic products," says Barbara Haumann, senior writer/editor for the group. "But there's also a lot of confusion, and we wanted to help set the record straight."
In addition to advertising, which she says is likely to begin in February, the group--which represents the $23.6 billion industry--is also adding blogs and beefing up its newsletters to help consumers look more closely at organic claims.
To encourage sampling, it is expanding its existing "Go Organic! for Earth Day 2009" retailers program, and so far has commitments from almost 3,400 storefronts, including Publix, some Kroger divisions, Roundys, Giant and SuperValu Wholesale. It expects a total of 4,000 or so stores to participate in the event.
While some industry measures have shown a fall-off in organic purchases in recent months, "we won't actually know until February how 2007 sales stacked up," she says. "In our latest data, which was through June of 2007, the growth rate is 18%," she says--adding that while growth may have slowed, "we believe we'll still see considerable growth going forward. It may not be 18%, but we believe it will still be double-digit."
This year, a recent analysis by Nielsen reported that growth in organic sales slowed to 13% for dollar sales and 8% for unit sales through September, even before the stock market's turbulent October performance.
Haumann says that while consumers are certainly making trade-offs at the supermarket, "they are also looking at values and what are the wisest choices, in terms of sustainability, in terms of global climate change. There seem to be a lot of people saying, 'I'm going to go buy food and make a really nice meal for my friends and family--that's important to me.'"
So far, the latest financial results from key organic companies seem to bear that out: While growth at the high-end Whole Foods Market is slipping, companies like Green Mountain Coffee, for example, recently reported a 45% increase in its third-quarter sales, and the Hain Celestial Group--which owns such brands as Celestial Seasonings teas, Arrowhead Mills baking products and Earth's Best Organic baby food-- reported a 22% sales increase in its most recent results, to a record $237.2 million.
"And we're seeing many mainstream stores add and expand private-label organics," she says, pointing to growth at chains like Safeway.


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Starbucks’ “Sippy Cup” Strawless Lids Now Permanent for All Iced Drinks
Move over toddlers, adults now have their own 'sippy cups' thanks to Starbucks.
The coffee chain announced this week that its strawless lids are now the standard for iced beverages in company-operated and licensed stores across the U.S. and Canada. The move is part of Starbucks effort to eliminate one billion plastic straws globally per year.
“Recyclable, strawless lids for customers across the U.S. and Canada is another step in our journey to reduce our environmental footprint,” said Michael Kobori, chief sustainability officer at Starbucks. “As we move closer toward our 2030 target of a 50 percent reduction in waste sent to landfills, the long-standing history of innovation within Starbucks, partnership across the industry and changing consumer behavior remain fundamental to our purpose and our prosperity as an organization.”
You have probably already had your Starbucks served locally, ( just had mine served that way in Grand Blanc), featuring one of the new lids. Starbucks has just completed a year-long test run to see how they were received. The lid was modeled after the lid customers recognize from Starbucks hot drinks and has approximately nine percent less plastic than the flat lid and straw historically used for iced beverages, according to the press release.
The lid will now be the standard for all iced coffee, tea, espresso, and Starbucks Refreshers® beverages as Starbucks continues with their commitment to helping the environment. “A recyclable, strawless lid becoming the standard for iced drinks is one small way we can give more than we take from the planet. This is a significant moment for Starbucks as we work to reduce waste and safeguard the environment", said Andy Corlett, director of global packaging solutions and innovations.
If your are picking up your Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew anytime soon and still need to sip it through a straw, like I did, you're still in luck. You will still be able to get one at Starbucks upon request, but it may not be for long. The chain said it is testing alternative options like compostable straws and will be announcing more innovations in that space in the future.
CHECK IT OUT: 10 Items Might Be in Short Supply This Winter


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Seventy three years and three generations is a long time to operate a jewelry store. Especially when, according to a Jewelers Board of Trade statistic, over 1,500 jewelry business owners ceased operating in 2016. Yes, that includes wholesalers, manufacturers and Canadian businesses, but surviving in today’s retail environment where competition is both around the corner and around the world pits independent jewelers against almost insurmountable odds.
But Bill Spencer, second generation owner of Spencer’s Jewelers in Athens, Georgia, sticks to his father’s decades-old business approach: “Quality is your best value.” He, like his dad, believes in the basics of business, including providing good service and high quality products at a fair price. Call it simple, even old-fashioned, but Bill knows word of mouth advertising is the best there is and, like his dad, he wants every customer to tell their friends about the positive experience they’ve had in his store.
And there’s no denying his approach works. Spencer’s proudly welcomes 3rd generation customers whose grandparents tell stories of buying jewelry from Jewel (yes, you read that right) and Eva Spencer, founders of the store back in 1944. The two met while working at Fickett’s Jewelry Store in Athens, GA in the early 1940s. He was a war veteran hired to manage the store where she worked. The two bought the store from the original owners and opened their own store in 1944 as business partners and subsequently married in 1949.
Like so many multi-generation business families, Bill grew up in the store, dressed in his best coat and tie helping customers. At age eight he may have needed help calculating sales tax, but he was never told he was too young to work in the store. In fact, he remembers making the two-block walk to the local post office carrying merchandise to ship out, something unheard of today.
Today his son and daughter have joined the business. Chris and his dog Champ, now the store mascot, help manage the day-to-day business alongside Bill’s daughter, Kim, who designs jewelry.
“Having this third generation helping to run the business brings a new flavor to our store,” explains Bill. “Chris brought Champ to work a few times and now people stop in just to see him. And Kim’s designs were different than any other line we carried, yet it sells well and customers love it. I’m proud to work alongside my children and my wife and make a living with my family.”
Looking back on his four decades in the business Bill makes note of an important shift: “Today, more than ever, you can’t pressure a customer when they walk in the door. We educate our customers, especially when they’re shopping price. They often don’t realize what they’re looking at in our case is not the same as what they found on the web. That’s the sticky wicket. We want to make sure they’re comparing apples to apples. Customers, in general, are loyal, but I’m not sure that customer loyalty is as strong as it used to be.”
Bill’s right. Customer loyalty is shifting sand, especially when your store is only a few miles from the famed arches of the University of Georgia. College towns are transient communities, and yet Spencer’s continues to succeed in spite of the revolving student and faculty population by serving the Greek community and the student body, many of whom come back to purchase engagement rings from him.
Perhaps Spencer’s possesses that unique ability to make every customer feel special. “Whether it’s a former local celebrity like Mrs. Kenny Rogers, a family friend, or a UGA graduate who’s come back to make a purchase, we want to make every customer feel special, even the ones who graduated from Georgia Tech.”
Leading the Georgia Jewelers Association
Currently Bill Spencer, is serving as the president of the Georgia Jewelers Association (GJA); a state professional jewelers organization that promotes the jewelry industry through continuing education and the practice of high ethical standards. This non-profit organization promotes and protects the welfare of retail jewelers across the state making their collective efforts reap greater benefits than could be achieved individually. Their upcoming annual convention, co-hosted with the Alabama Jewelers Association, is scheduled for March 31 – April 2 at the Marriott Grand National Resort in Opelika, Alabama.
Judy Lince, GJA executive director, remarks on Bill’s contribution to GJA saying: “Bill has worked hard to ensure the vitality of GJA not only promoting a reception at the Belgium government’s consulate in Atlanta, but also encouraging participation in the Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC) inaugural trip to Belgium in September. He has also visited retail stores inviting them to join GIA, as well as spearheading phone drives reaching out to current members. All of that while he’s busy helping coordinate plans for our annual convention.”
GJA also advocates for the highest ethical standards for all members and promotes professional business practices. For more information about GJA, including membership information, please visit georgiajewelers.org or call 770-367-2809.


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Apple Seeks Android Source Code Records in Samsung SuitJoel Rosenblatt
Apple Inc., taking its patent fight to Google Inc. through its infringement litigation against Samsung Electronics Co., is asking a judge to force Google to turn over documents related to its Android operating system.
Apple told U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal in San Jose, California, that Google is improperly withholding information about what terms it’s using to find the documents Apple has requested in pretrial information sharing.
Apple, as part of its second patent-infringement lawsuit against Samsung in the same court, argues that Android is used in all of Samsung’s allegedly infringing products and “provides much of the accused functionality” in Apple’s claims, according to a court filing.
“It’s a question of transparency,” Mark Lyon, a lawyer for Apple, told Grewal yesterday, referring to the documents. “We have concerns that they’re not doing a full search.”
The dispute over evidence gathering comes in the case filed last year by Cupertino, California-based Apple covering technology in newer smartphones made by both companies, including its iPhone 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S III.
Matthew Warren, a lawyer for Google who also represents Samsung, told Grewal that Apple made a “strategic decision” in filing its case “to keep Google off the complaint.” As a third-party to the case, Warren said, Google doesn’t have the same legal rights that Apple and Samsung have, in particular with respect to “reciprocal discovery.”
Turning over the search terms Apple wants may lead to “future discovery that we don’t think they’re entitled to” and give Apple “ideas about how to proceed that they wouldn’t have had.”
The second patent suit follows a previous case in which a jury awarded Apple $1.05 billion, finding Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung infringed six of the iPhone maker’s mobile-device patents. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, correcting what she said was the jury’s error, lowered the damages total to $639.4 million and ordered a new trial in November for some of the products at issue in that case.
The earlier case is Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., 11-cv-1846, and the second case is Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., 12-cv-630, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).


text: Among other viewability challenges, digital marketers are struggling with “unreachable” audiences, and brand “overreach,” says Louise Clements, President at MRM//McCann East. Regarding the former issue, it can be especially problematic when you’re looking at smaller audience segments, Clements told attendees at MediaPost’s Programmatic Insider Summit, on Monday. The solution? A highly programmatic approach that looks at the overall brand, she said. That allows clients to better “supplement” data, and “drive much higher brand awareness,” according to Clements.


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NEXTLOOP, the PP recycling project led by Nextek Limited, has announced that its trial to sort food-grade plastic packaging waste using a label marker achieved 99.9% sorting purity at maximum production speed.
The trial, which took place at the Germany-based TOMRA test centre in September 2021, is part of NEXTLOOPP’s programme to develop new recycling initiatives for food-grade polypropylene (FGPP). NEXTLOOPP’s PolyPrism ‘plug-and-play’ marker system was used on TOMRA’s sorting equipment for commercial purposes, enabling it to be validated at the test site.
The PolyPrism technology is intended to differentiate food packaging from non-food packaging to meet standards required by the Food Standards Authorities in the UK and EU. This is achieved using an invisible marker on the label, which can apparently be identified by optical detectors and sorted at high speeds with air jets.
According to NEXTLOOPP, the technology can identify variations – such as between a milk bottle and a bleach bottle – in plastic packaging at a maximum production speed of more than two tonnes per hour.
Ralph Uepping, technical director at TOMRA, comments: “During recent trials held at our TOMRA Test Centre, we achieved very promising results on all polypropylene 3D samples in all test runs with state-of-the-art NIR/VIS technology.
“We exceeded the required 95% purity for food-grade in each test run.”
For the First Pass, 99.3% purity of sorted packs was achieved, while the Second Pass gave the 99.9% figure.
Uepping addS: “The next important milestones will be a field demonstration as well as demonstrating chemical compliance with food-grade regulation.”
NEXTLOOPP adds that the next step in its goal of creating a low carbon, circular economy for plastics is its patented decontamination process, PPristine, which should enable sorted and recycled plastics to be reintroduced to food packaging streams.
According to NEXTLOOPP, recycling 63,000 tonnes of PP per annum would save an estimated 105,600 tonnes in CO2 emissions in the UK each year.
Led by Nextek Limited, NEXTLOOPP brings together companies from across the value chain, including Danone, Viridor and Sealed Air, to prevent PP packaging from being sent to waste-to-energy, landfill, or down-cycled, low-performance applications – a misuse of food grade PP’s potential, the group says. In June 2021, Unilever joined the initiative as part of its commitment to increasing recyclable and recycled content in its packaging.
NEXTLOOPP was a finalist in Packaging Europe’s 2021 Sustainability Awards for its commitment to circularity for PP. It was named the overall winner at the awards ceremony at FachPack in September 2021, as well as achieving an award in the ‘Driving the Circular Economy’ category.


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With the COVID-19 pandemic still being a disruption to normalcy, most events are still on hiatus. But we at INSYNC didn’t stop. With hope for a COVID-free year ahead in our hearts, INSYNC was glad to be able to come back with its annual event – INSYNCHRONY 2021. We adapted to the pandemic scenario and made our INSYNCHRONY event a success by adopting a hybrid model. To the uninitiated, INSYNCHRONY is the biggest annual corporate event at INSYNC. It marks the end of the previous financial year and lays down the roadmap to achieve success in the coming year. The event is a platform for each department to highlight its breakthrough innovations, showcase new products developed, get updates about business partners, get customer insight and bring new team members in sync.
With the upcoming second wave of the pandemic, the safety of all the team members was of utmost priority. To ensure the safety of all the team members, the INSYNCHRONY 2021 event was conducted as a hybrid event. The hybrid model allowed team members to join both in-person and online through Microsoft Teams. The user-friendly UI (User Interface), stable video streaming capability, and glitch-free performance of Microsoft Teams meant everyone digitally joining in on the event enjoyed had a seamless experience. With 80+ team members joining from both office and home for the six-hour-long event marked the event’s success.
With the global shift brought on by the COVID pandemic, both businesses and customers have to adapt to the changing tides. With customers getting accustomed to the comfort and convenience offered by the digital marketplace, companies are moving into the eCommerce industry to stay competitive. Both new and existing businesses are focusing on providing a superior online experience to their customers like never before. But providing a robust online experience is no easy feat. Building a rugged integrated eCommerce platform from scratch is an uphill task for most businesses. To help companies get started with a robust eCommerce platform, that comes with out-of-the-box integration with other business process applications, INSYNC developed INSYNC Commerce in 2020.
INSYNC Commerce is an integrated end-to-end B2B eCommerce platform. The solution provides to the user not only a robust B2B capable eCommerce platform but also streamlines all their other business processes and operations through seamless data integration. INSYNC Commerce was a flagship product launch for INSYNC in 2020 and remained a key focus area. The popular iPaaS solution by INSYNC, APPSeCONNECT, also saw a lot of feature updates and enhancements. How these products helped merchants grow their businesses even though the pandemic and the key milestones achieved, all were highlighted at INSYNCHRONY 2021.
Event Highlights of INSYNCHRONY 2021
The Age of Digital B2B Commerce
With the COVID-19 pandemic locking people up in their rooms, digital stores came to the forefront. The pandemic has drastically accelerated the shift towards the digitalization of the industry. A study by Gartner predicts that, by 2024, 15% of the B2B organization will use digital commerce platforms to support both its customer and sales rep in all sales activities.
Due to the COVID pandemic, supply chains have been disrupted. Many customers are not able to get the things they need in time. By adopting a digital infrastructure, businesses will be able to better communicate any delays to their customers and even supply customers the insight to order beforehand while stock is still available.
Businesses are looking into methods of digitalizing their business process. The pursuit of finding improved ways of implementing business process digitalization has led to the development of many new digital commerce technologies and trends. Some of the upcoming trends in digital commerce technologies include:
- B2B sales and commerce platform evolution.
- More online revenue from services attached to products.
- Increased diversity for digital commerce go-to-market.
- More success with third-party marketplace models.
- Global digitalization to efforts to reduce cash.
Another avenue of digitalization is through automation through business application integration. The benefits provided by the integration of business-critical software applications through cloud services have led to the widespread adoption of iPaaS into the industry. An iPaaS or an Integration Platform as a Service is a cloud-based integration tool that connects all business applications to enable streamlined bi-direction data flow across all applications. The global iPaaS market has grown at a steady CAGR of 40.4%. The CAGR for the forecasted to reach $4,054.8 million by the year 2022.
Gartner also predicts that by 2022, at least 65% of the larger organizations will be implementing a Hybrid Integration Platform to power their digital transformation. To cater to this rising demand for a cloud-based integration APPSeCONNECT by INSYNC has seen several feature updates, such as ProcessFlow, to supply businesses the tools to integrate and grow effortlessly.
Growing and Scaling the Established Ecosystem
A business is not just an organization but a complex ecosystem consisting of employees, customers, business partners, and much more. How well the business grows is depended on the growth of the ecosystem. If the ecosystem experiences healthy growth, then the business grows along with it. Keeping that in mind, five key areas have been found for the growth of the business ecosystem.
- Growth through Channel Business
The previous financial year showed significant growth of deals made through channel businesses. Channel deals saw twice the growth and revenue increased by 30%. Thus, to achieve exponential growth in the B2B market, channel business is the only way to go.
- Focusing on Strategic Accounts
Strategic accounts involve customers that are not only profitable but also have the potential for expansion. These accounts have the prospect for us to provide to them a wider range of services in the future. The aim is to provide to these accounts long-term solutions and better services, nurture them and acquire new logos.
- Optimize the customer life cycle
This involves the entire experience the customer receives throughout while working with us. The customer journey starts from the very moment they land on the website and continues as long as they are working with us. So, it is crucial to perfect the customer experience so that they can receive the best-in-class service and reduce customers from churning out.
- Provide a wider range of solutions
Offering just a single type of solution to the customers limits the range of strategic accounts that we can supply services to. With INSYNC Commerce, we have expanded into the market of digital eCommerce solution providers. This improves our reach and increases the return on investments for the strategic accounts.
- Focusing on existing customers
Existing customers act as the safety net and insurance for every company. Businesses can run sustainably due to the long-term support and commitment of these customers. So, it critical to provide them with the best-in-class customer experience. A satisfied customer is also likely to bring in business as well. According to Esteban Kolsky, a renowned analyst, 72% of customers will share a positive experience with 6 or more people. On the other hand, if a customer is not happy, 13% of them will share their negative experience with 15 or even more.
Staying Connected Even in the Pandemic
The pandemic had isolated everyone. But INSYNC made great efforts to make sure everyone felt connected even in the darkest of times. All main events were carried out safely as online or hybrid events. Last year, the annual Hackathon, one of the biggest events at INSYNC was the first hybrid event. Team members joined the event both from home and office to make the 36-hour long Hackathon event a success. Other events such as our pre-Durga Puja event of Agomoni, Diwali, Secret Santa, and many more were conducted virtually. Birthdays were also not left out. Custom gift boxes were sent to all team members on their birthday to make sure they felt connected even if they could not celebrate their birthday with everyone.
Embracing the Age of Remote Hiring
As INSYNC grew in the last year, the need to expand the team also came along with it. But with the pandemic still ongoing, offline job interviews meant a health risk for all. So, for the first time ever, INSYNC conducted its recruitment process digitally. With the help of Microsoft Teams, job interviews were carried out digitally through voice calls and video conferences. With the help of online interviews, INSYNC was able to successfully grow the team with new talents.
While the big stage presentation and the magnificent food were missed due to INSYNCHRONY being a hybrid event this year but set forth the roadmap for the coming year and provide a platform for the new employees to know and interact with each other. With fun games and quizzes, the new team members were able to comfortably ease into the team.
INSYNCHRONY 2021 marked a major milestone for INSYNC. Learning from the earlier pandemic year, INSYNC was now equipped to face the uncertain times brought on by COVID. With new products under our belt, a vision for a brighter future ahead, and the hope to return to the earlier extravagance of the physical INSYNCHRONY event next year, INSYNC concluded the event.
INSYNC will strive to continue providing the most innovative technology and business application integration tools for organizations.
Hope to see you next year in a COVID-free world.
Till then, stay safe, stay home.
Get started with your B2B eCommerce store and gain a competitive edge in the market! Also, connect all your business applications under one single platform to automate the business process!


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From my Forbes.com blog The New Persuaders:
For a few months now, Google has been pushing a new vision of advertising in the mobile age: Advertisers, it says, must capture the “micro-moments” when peripatetic consumers land on an app, a video, a website or anywhere else.
That’s increasingly important because despite today’s “mobile first” mantra among tech companies and publishers alike, the fact remains that people use all kinds of devices throughout the day to find what they’re looking for online–their phone, their tablet, a laptop, a desktop computer, even an Internet-connected TV. What’s more, these people are often open to commercial messages for only short periods of time in just the right context: the age-old right-place, right-time, right-message but faster and more fleeting than ever.
And so Internet publishers and their advertisers need to reach not just faceless audiences but actual people, or at least detailed profiles attached semi-anonymously to real people. This “people-based marketing” is something Facebook has made huge coin on, and even companies such as Google are playing catch-up.
So today, Google is aiming to close some gaps in its powerful but (in the mobile age) rather less dominant advertising system. …
Read the rest of the story and interview with Google display and video ads VP Neal Mohan.


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A new fast-casual, daytime entry in the works for downtown San Diego will offer a menu whose standouts will undoubtedly be its baked goods. Developed in partnership with the University Club and landing on the ground floor of the Symphony Towers complex by mid-2024, Knead will showcase the pastry prowess of Adrian Mendoza, the club’s current pastry chef.
Mendoza’s culinary career in the 16 years since graduating with honors from the Art Institute of California has included positions as lead pastry cook at Spago, assistant kitchen manager at Wayfarer Bread & Pastry, director of pastry for the Puffer-Malarkey Collective, and the Urban Kitchen Group’s catering pastry chef.
Though the University Club is members-only, Knead will be open to the public. The artisan bakery and scratch kitchen will feature a variety of bread and pastries, from sourdough loaves, baguettes, and focaccia to bagels, cookies, and croissants, a Mendoza specialty. Along with a full coffee program, the cafe will also serve breakfast and lunch, including toast topped with house ricotta, prosciutto, and apricot conserve and roast turkey sandwiches on milk bread as well as soups and salads.


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Editorial: An issue of fairness
It seems inherently unfair that an online company would receive a nice tax benefit, while a locally based company that creates jobs and supports local government would not. That is the situation when it comes to the travel business.
Sen. Doug Overbey, R-Maryville, is trying to fix that inequity. He is preparing legislation that would force online travel companies such as Travelocity and Expedia to remit more in taxes when they make a sale involving local consumers. The legislation would allow counties and municipalities to collect hotel-motel taxes based on the amount consumers pay for rooms. Currently online travel companies (OTCs) remit tax on the lower amount they pay hotels for rooms, not what the consumer actually pays. OTCs negotiate with lodging businesses for lower room rates, then sell rooms to consumers at a markup.
“This is to address what you might call a loophole,” said Overbey, who noted that Tennessee’s legislation enabling the hotel-motel tax dates back to the 1970s and does not account for online businesses. “The consumer is not the online travel company, it’s you and me. Whatever price we pay is the price on which the hotel-motel tax should be charged.”
“It’s our tourism industry and our counties that are getting shorted,” said Greg Adkins, CEO of the Tennessee Hospitality Association, which represents hotel owners. “And when a county gets shorted on the lodging tax, a lot of that money would have gone to tourism promotion.”
For Sevier County, as much as $300,000 is at stake, Adkins said, and $8 million to $10 million statewide.
As expected, the online travel companies are fighting back. Their opposition led Overbey to withdraw his bill last year, but he vows to push for it this year. Online travel companies are represented by the Travel Technology Association. After Overbey’s previous bill stalled, the group’s president, Joseph Rubin, said, “We hope the bill supporters now recognize they were led astray by interest groups looking to use public policy as a competitive tactic to increase room rates for travelers ... taxpayers and the travel industry would be harmed by this tax increase.”
“What makes a difference to me,” Overbey said, “is that folks in Sevier County, who are actually on the ground engaged in the hospitality industry, see this as a matter of competitive fairness for them.”
It is an issue of fairness. Let’s hope Overbey’s fellow legislators see it that way as well.


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More than half a year ago the Belgium government investigated the likes of loot boxes in videogames, specifically in FIFA, back in May. The Belgium Gaming Commission identified the feature allowing players to use real-time money in return for in-game currency as gambling under the nation’s legislation and would result with criminal prosecution for companies that held the practice.
Though publishers on either mobile or more prominent platforms like Steam held back when the Belgium government made the punishments for loot boxes clear, Electronic Arts chose to stand still and go to court on the situation. But leading up to 2019, EA has finally agreed to remove the feature from all FIFA titles.
Starting on January 31st for both consoles and PC, users will be unable to purchase FIFA points used for the series’ Ultimate Team mode. Those who currently hold any points on their account following the feature’s removal taking effect can still use the in-game currency.
Electronic Arts also made a statement regarding the prolonged case on the situation between the AAA publisher and the Belgium government:
While we are taking this action, we do not agree with Belgian authorities’ interpretation of the law, and we will continue to seek more clarity on the matter as we go forward.
Despite EA pulling out of the lawsuit, the statement illustrates that the company still believes that the business practice should still be present in their titles. For what other titles will be affected by the recent decision has not been expanded upon as of yet. But assuming that this is only the beginning, we could see more similar actions being taken leading into the next few months for 2019.
As government continues to pursue the topic that both themselves along with players agree with for the most part to remove loot boxes/microtransactions alike, this could influence titles at an international scale if getting enough attention. 2018 was a pretty busy time for elected officials going against the less desired business practice like in Hawaii as well as the Australian government.


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The following may be attributed to Tim McKone, AT&T Executive Vice President of Federal Relations:
“We commend the Senators for introducing the Strengthening and Enhancing Cybersecurity by Using Research, Education, Information, and Technology Act, and for their leadership in addressing a critically important issue for the U.S. economy.
“Successfully combating cyber threats ensures businesses can operate on the Internet and consumers can do their business online safely and securely.
“Cybersecurity is a complex challenge, requiring a collective and collaborative effort from everyone in the Internet industry and government. As the legislative process moves forward, we will continue to work with the Congress and others to keep consumers and businesses safe from cyber threats.”


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Modus Group plans to spend €110 million to turn CityBee into one of the biggest car-sharing companies in Europe
Modus Group is investing 110 million euros into a major upgrade of its fleet for CityBee, its car-sharing service in the Baltics and soon Poland.
The holding company or its subsidiary don’t appear to have raised external funding or issued new shares to finance the fleet expansion, but they’re clearly willing to spend big to try to make CityBee one of the largest car-sharing companies in Europe.
To wit, Modus has announced an international tender to purchase more than 5,000 new cars, roughly five times the amount of vehicles currently owned by the company.
“We intend to select the best tender offers and sign agreements with the winners in February and plan to acquire all 5,360 vehicles during 2019. They’ll expand CityBee’s portfolio of services, adding cars that are better for longer trips, electric cars, which are popular in cities, and vans and commercial vehicles,” CityBee CEO Aurimas Čiagus said in a statement.
CityBee will be up against the likes of DriveNow, Car2go, Drivy, BlaBlaCar, Turo, Zipcar and others.


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BANGKOK, 31 August 2012 – The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has declared the free tablet PC distribution and the promotion of internet access as its major achievements.
During the one-year performance statement, ICT Minister Anudith Nakornthap declared the ministry’s integration of all IT systems of the government and distribution of free tablet PCs as two of its major achievements in the past year.
Mr. Anudith added that the nationwide promotion of internet access from 10 percent to 37 percent through the establishment of 30,000 free wifi services has been noted as another of the ICT Ministry’s outstanding performance.
He stated that the ministry is aiming to boost the free wifi service to 250,000 spots and to promote public access to internet to 80 percent by 2015 and to 95 percent by 2020.
Mr. Anudith went on to say that the ICT Ministry has been active in the implementation of all IT- and ICT-related policies for the public, including the Cyber Security Operation Center project and the Cyber Scout project during the past 12 months.
Information and Source
Correspondent : Nopparat Chaichalearmmongkol Nopparat Chaichalearmmongkol
Rewriter : SUVICHA SUVICHA
National News Bureau & Public Relations : http://thainews.prd.go.th


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MOVING back to the to the UK from his previous role with Nissan as Regional Vice President Sales and Marketing, Africa Middle-East and India, Kalyana Sivagnanam has been appointed Managing Director, Nissan Motor GB.
He will report to Ken Ramirez, Senior Vice President for Sales & Marketing in Nissan Europe.
“I am delighted to welcome Kalyana to Nissan Motor GB,” said Mr. Ramirez. “His extensive experience, both within Nissan and the wider automotive industry, will be a tremendous asset as we accelerate plans to electrify our European product range and rapidly evolve our business in the years ahead.”
“I would also like to thank Andrew Sellars, NMGB Sales Director, for taking on the additional role of interim MD during the last quarter. His valued contribution and support have enabled a successful transition for our business as we closed the fiscal year.”
The appointment comes as the European automotive industry embarks on a period of unprecedented change. Three key trends – electrification, connectivity and autonomous technologies – are set to deliver new opportunities for Nissan dealers, while transforming the way customers interact with their cars.
Designed to meet the needs of these future customers, Nissan Intelligent Mobility clearly defines Nissan’s vision of how cars can be powered, driven and integrated into society.
With the LEAF and e-NV200 already firmly established as market leading electric vehicles across Europe, Nissan has ambitious plans to build on this success. It expects to electrify 42% of its range – almost double the forecasted industry average – over the next three years, as part of its Move to 2022 strategy, with the launch of new vehicles powered by a suite of new powertrains including e-power and fully electric models.
Sivagnanam, who has 14 years’ previous experience of working in the UK, said: “It’s a great time to be joining Nissan in Europe, thanks to established leadership in the crossover segments, exciting new model launches to come, and a clearly defined vision that will meet the needs of future customers, while delivering a profitable return for our UK dealer network.”


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Shedloads of interesting stuff from palmOne this week. The big news is that the company has increased the number of staff in the UK with a view to ramping up its European operations. According to Marketing Manager for Northern Europe, Colin Holloway, this will mean dedicated Treos for the European market, and possibly even phones without smartphone features or keypads.
palmOne has also rather reluctantly given out a little bit more info on its Mobile Manager PDA series – see here for more. Last week Amazon inadvertently listed the first model in the series, the Life Drive, and the company says it will give full details of the device next week.
Apparently it not pitching the device as a media player, though obviously it can play back audio and video files, rather the Life Drive is a top-end PDA aimed at business users who want to cart round with them large file with them. palmOne insists that the units are not really laptop replacements, rather laptop accompaniments.
There’s more on palmOne’s plans in this feature from The Guardian.


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Hurricane Dorian is a powerful storm that will leave destruction in its wake. Floods, power outages, and destroyed structures are some of the things that we can expect the storm to cause. Lines of communication might be cut, although with any luck cellular networks will remain up and running. As usual in the case of a natural disaster, the four major carriers are offering those in the path of Dorian some breaks as far as their wireless service is concerned. In addition, the wireless providers are bringing their mobile cellular assets into affected areas in an attempt to keep cellular service up and running in the midst of the hurricane. Some of the equipment that the carriers are moving to the area include COWs (Cellular on wheels) and COLTs (Cellular on light trucks).
Yesterday, Verizon announced
that its postpaid, prepaid and business customers in the path of the hurricane will receive unlimited calling, texting and data from Monday, September 2nd to September 9th. Verizon retail stores will remain open so that customers can charge their phones and receive assistance if needed.
Buy some extra power banks and have them fully charged before the storm hits
"Floridians are in our thoughts as they get ready for Dorian to make landfall. We know that people have a lot of work to do in order to prepare for a major hurricane, and this is one small thing we can do to ensure they are able to connect worry-free before, during and after the storm."-John Granby, president, Verizon's Consumer Group South Area
A tweet from AT&T
on Friday said that the carrier will wave data overage charges in Florida between September 2nd and September 8th. Essentially, that will give all of its customers in the path of the storm unlimited talk, text and data. But the change in the storm's projected path led the carrier to publish a new blog post on Saturday
. In that post, AT&T said that in addition to waiving data overage charges in Florida, it will also do so for its subscribers in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
AT&T disseminates a tweet to its customers affected by the storm
"Customers rely on us, especially during major storms. That's why we practice readiness drills and simulations throughout the year and do all we can to have our networks prepared when severe weather strikes. At this point, we are actively working to position equipment and crews, and are ready to respond to support our customers if needed."-Joe York, president, AT&T Southeast
Sprint, in a blog post published on Friday before the change in the storm's projected path, said "to assist customers in Florida in the areas expected to be hit hardest by the storm, we will waive call, text and data overages for Sprint customers from September 2-8, 2019."
Meanwhile, T-Mobile's blog has a post written on Friday
that points out that its customers on Magenta, T-Mobile One, or Simple Choice plans already have unlimited talk, text, and data. Prepaid customers using Metro by T-Mobile also have unlimited talk and text on all plans.
"T-Mobile teams continue to keep a close eye on Hurricane Dorian as it makes its way toward possible landfall in Florida early next week. Our teams are preparing equipment in north, central and southern Florida to make sure we are able to quickly mobilize as needed after the storm."-T-Mobile
To help you get through the storm you should go to a Walmart or Best Buy near you and buy some power banks. You might even find some 10000mAh banks available at Walmart for a decent price. Power them up fully before the storm hits and purchase some extra charging cables. Also, make sure that your phone supports Wireless Emergency Alerts and that notifications have been enabled on your device. Most of all, stay safe.


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British chip maker Imagination Technologies, which lost 70 percent of its value following a dispute with Apple, has put itself up for sale, it was reported on Thursday (via Reuters).
Apple informed Imagination in April that it plans to stop using the company's PowerVR graphics technology over the next two years as it begins using its own in-house chips for products like the iPhone and iPad. The news came as a blow to the firm whose contract with Apple accounts for half its revenue.
"Imagination Technologies announces that over the last few weeks it has received interest from a number of parties for a potential acquisition of the whole group," it said.
"The board of Imagination has therefore decided to initiate a formal sale process for the group and is engaged in preliminary discussions with potential bidders."
When Apple announced it was ending its supply deal with Imagination the British firm's shares plunged 70 percent. Imagination said at the time that it doubted Apple could go it alone without violating patents, intellectual property, and confidential information.
In May the group said it had started a "dispute resolution procedure" with the American tech giant. The company said it was also selling MIPS and Ensigma – two of its three major businesses – in an attempt to shore up cash, allowing for a renewed focus on its PowerVR graphics technology. Imagination said on Thursday that it had received proposals for both businesses.
Apple has been a licensee and stakeholder in the company since at least 2008, and became a key investor in mid-2009 after raising its stake in the firm to 10 percent. Apple was reportedly in "advanced talks" to acquire Imagination Tech late last year after the British chip maker announced job cuts.
Despite confirming the talks, Apple later decided not to make a buyout offer, and instead recruited several Imagination employees as part of its efforts to build an in-house graphics team.


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December 11, 2015
A new update to Google Wallet today enables users to send money to anyone in the contact list using a phone number. The new version of Google Wallet app will become available on Google Play and App Store in the next few days, as promised by Google.
Before the update, sending money required an email address. With elimination of the requirement, Google Wallet simplifies the process to deliver a seamless experience.
Especially exciting is the fact that the recipient is not required to have Google Wallet to claim the funds. With this update, a recipient will receive a message with a secure link and can have money transferred right into a bank account by entering the debit card information. According to Google, funds will be available in the account within minutes.
Among other updates in Google Wallet are improved contact suggestions that will bring to the top contacts that users are sending money to the most. Google Wallet now also allows linking a second bank account.
Security wasn't ignored in the update: there is a new option to block the app by tapping a button. Also earlier this year, Google Wallet funds got even more secure with FDIC insurance.
With the rise of contactless payments options, Google Wallet had started losing its relevance. Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Android Pay by Google, and now Walmart Pay - Google Wallet needed to make a shift from payments to P2P transfers to provide enough value.
It is not clear yet if the new feature will boost usage and adoption as there are other services offering excellent user experience when transferring funds. However, Google Wallet now has two clear advantages that have not been outpaced yet - no requirement to have a Google Wallet account to receive funds and availability of those funds in a bank account within minutes.
With rising anticipation of faster or real time payments in the US, it seems that Google Wallet has taken a step forward for the whole payments industry towards real-time transfers to bank accounts. It remains to be seen how this service will be priced and how other players will respond to this move.


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Eagan, Minn. (PRWEB) July 30, 2009
Hubbard One, the legal industry's most comprehensive provider of solutions for marketing and business development, today released findings from its first "Pulse of the Industry" customer survey.
While the findings acknowledged many challenges ahead for legal marketing professionals, nearly all respondents shared a positive outlook for the future and underscored the importance of technology for continued business development success.
"Where firms used to spend millions on events, brochures, trade shows, newsletters and advertising to acquire and develop relationships, many legal marketers are changing their strategic focus," said Preston McKenzie, vice president and general manager of Hubbard One. "Many of our customers are turning inward and utilizing technology solutions to manage their firms' existing relationships with customers and prospects, allowing them to do more with fewer staff resources."
Opportunities Trump Challenges
The vast majority of survey respondents - more than 87 percent - view the current economic climate as an opportunity to focus firm strategies and improve the effectiveness of business development efforts. Many Hubbard One customers believe they can emerge from the economic downturn a stronger, more nimble organization, driven by sound business goals and ROI measurement.
"Our clients realize they need resources, and more personnel just isn't an option," McKenzie said. "The Pulse of the Industry survey results indicated greater collaboration between marketing and internal IT teams to look at what sort of infrastructure they can establish to manage information and relationships in a strategic, measurable fashion."
Technology Essential to Marketing Progress
Marketing and business development initiatives that utilize technology, rather than additional headcount, are helping legal marketers make better decisions and improve efficiency. Nearly 70 percent of respondents ranked technology solutions as their "most important" marketing priorities for 2009. The top three most essential business development tools were relationship management solutions (41 percent), marketing intelligence platforms (32 percent) and Web sites initiatives (33 percent).
Customers also flagged Microsoft SharePoint and other collaboration and document-sharing technologies in their responses, driven by an increased need to work across legal disciplines and practice groups, and a heightened focus on business development, cross selling and information-sharing using Intranets and Web sites.
"Collaboration technology is a high priority for our customers, particularly those expanding into global markets, such as Europe and Asia-Pacific," McKenzie said. "Tools like SharePoint can help streamline business development functions, allowing firms to make the most of their limited resources and effectively share information across the firm."
Hubbard One will be further exploring these and other trends in legal marketing as part of its next Pulse of the Industry survey, launching at the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) conference, August 23-27 in Washington, D.C.
Note to editors: A Westcast podcast featuring Jeanne Hammerstrom, chief marketing officer at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Arnoff LLP is available on the Legal Current blog, or go to iTunes and enter "Westcast" in the search box.
About Hubbard One
As the legal industry's most comprehensive provider of solutions for marketing and client development, Hubbard One offers a complete set of creative, consulting, technology and implementation services specifically designed for the complex needs of professional services firms. From Web sites, proposal automation, experience management to contact management, relationship management and SharePoint portals, Hubbard One focuses on bringing the right tools together to help marketers and technologists succeed. Hubbard One is part of Thomson Reuters.
About Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people in 93 countries. For more information, go to http://www.thomsonreuters.com.


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Isn’t it nice to hear a positive story coming out of the retail industry for a change?
In a challenging retail environment, sportswear company Fabletics has announced it will open a dozen new stores in 2017.
Read more: 10 items to always buy used
Fabletics: A retail success story
2017 got off to a rough start for the retail sector. Just days ago, Macy’s announced the closure of 68 stores with more closures to come. The very same day those closures were announced, Sears Holding revealed that it plans to shutter 150 Sears and Kmart locations in early 2017.
But not Fabletics. The ‘athleisure’ wear company co-founded by actress Kate Hudson is growing gangbusters.
Twelve new stores are planned for this year. Most will be around 2,200 square feet and open throughout the year. The new locations will join 18 existing storefronts that opened in late 2015, according to a press release.
March 2017 openings
- Frisco, Texas
Second quarter openings (exact date to be determined)
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Lexington, Kentucky
- Schaumburg, Illinois
- Boulder, Colorado
- Portland, Oregon
July 2017 openings
- Scottsdale, Arizona
- Cerritos, Calif.
- San Jose, Calif.
- San Francisco, Calif.
- San Diego, Calif.
- Paramus, New Jersey


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(WJW) — Pizza Hut is adding some spicy additions to its selection of specialty pizzas.
The new selection of Spicy Lover’s Pizza comes in three recipes featuring a new spicy marinara sauce with “a touch of heat and sweetness” with sliced red chilis and Fiery Flakes.
The Spicy Double Pepperoni is layered with sauce, classic and crispy cupped pepperonis, sliced red chilis and Fiery Flakes. The Spicy Hawaiian Chicken is topped with chicken, pineapple, sliced red chilis and Fiery Flakes. And the Spicy Veggie has green bell peppers, red onions, mushrooms, sliced red chilis and Fiery Flakes.
“Pizza Hut has been making iconic pizzas for generations, and that requires adapting for each new wave of pizza lovers,” Georgeanne Erickson, chief brand officer, said in a release.“As consumer tastes continue getting more adventurous, the launch of Spicy Lover’s Pizza allows Pizza Hut to satisfy the growing craving for a well-balanced, spicy flavor. No other national pizza QSR is offering spicy pizza in the space, and we’re excited to bring this thoughtfully crafted spicy pizza to pizza lovers across the country!”
The pizzas are available now at locations around the country for a limited time.


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According to the latest analysis from Jato Dynamics, the Volkswagen Golf has remained Europe's best selling car, with increased sales of 18.3% in August compared to a year earlier, although
Year-to-Date sales are still 3.9% lower than 2010. The Volkswagen Polo, with sales up by 3.4%, has retained second place, while the Ford Focus narrowly beat its smaller sibling, the Fiesta, to third place in August.
Jato's key year-on-year analysis of the market for August:
- The European new car market increased by 7.8% in August, but has declined by 1.1% Year-to-Date
- Of the top ten models, eight recorded increased sales in August, with five recording increases of more than 10%.
- Eight of the top ten brands recorded increased sales in August
- The five largest car markets in Europe, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy and Spain, all recorded increased sales in August compared to a year earlier
The new car market in August was very competitive, with less than 1,500 units separating the third placed Focus from the seventh placed Passat.
The Volkswagen Polo took second place ahead of the Ford Fiesta Year-to-Date. However, the new Ford Focus has clearly made an impact as it moved into third place in August with a 40.2% increase in sales.
Outside the top ten, Jeep has recorded a 46.4% increase in Year-to-Date sales, mostly resulting from increased sales of its Wrangler and Compass models in Italy with the brand now available through Fiat's large dealer network, and benefitting from increased marketing.
Lexus has also recorded significantly increased sales for the Year-to-Date, up 30.7%, following the introduction of the new CT200h model as an entry model to the brand's range.
Commenting on the findings, Gareth Hession, vice president, research said: "The increased sales in the European market in August are certainly welcome news for the industry. Hopefully this momentum can be maintained, but we are all aware that there is still much economic uncertainty across the continent."