text:
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “laboratory studies show that pesticides can cause health problems, such as birth defects, nerve damage, cancer, and other effects that might occur over a long period of time.” These effects can be especially harmful to children because they weigh less and their natural detoxification mechanisms are still developing.
Due to the effects result from low levels of long-term exposure, choosing pesticide-free organic options will reduce your family’s exposure to toxic pesticides.
Organic vs. Inorganic
The Environmental Working Group has released the 2015 version of its “Dirty Dozen,” a list of fruits and vegetables most likely to contain pesticide residue. For the second year in a row, this list has grown (adding summer squash, zucchini and hot peppers). It is now called the “Dirty Dozen Plus.”
The EPA has tested and approved the use of more than 1,000 synthetic pesticides. All of which are poisonous if exposed to excess.
Organically grown foods are raised without any of them. As a result, they contain significantly less pesticide than conventional foods. Even areas with limited access to truly organic foods can now benefit from online sources that offer a wide variety of toxin-free, all-natural whole foods.
People absorb toxins in one of three ways: inhaling, consuming and absorbing through our skin. Eating foods containing the residues of pesticides and other toxins is the most common cause of increased toxicity.
Though peeling and washing your fresh produce is an intelligent practice, it will not completely rid your fruits and vegetables of pesticides. Toxins—especially pesticides—will seep into the flesh of a fruit or vegetable.
Simply scrubbing the outside of a contaminated apple will not prevent toxins from entering your body.
Reducing your Toxicity
A recent study from the Harvard School of Public Health demonstrated that eating organic produce can significantly reduce bodily toxicity. The study provided five consecutive days’ worth of organic food to children who typically ate a non-organic, conventional diet.
After just five days, almost all pesticides had disappeared from the subjects’ urine samples.
“This shows there definitely is a beneficial effect of eating organic produce,” said study leader Dr. Alex Lu, associate professor of environmental exposure biology.
Breaking Down the ‘Dirty Dozen Plus’
Each of these foods—when conventional, not organic—made the list because test results revealed alarming levels of pesticide residue. Here is the 2015 list:
- Apples. The dirtiest of the bunch. Ninety-nine percent of apples contained at least one pesticide.
- Celery. At worst, a single sample revealed 13 pesticides.
- Cherry Tomatoes. Similar to celery, one sample also contained the residue of 13 different pesticides.
- Cucumbers. The third most contaminated vegetable, these should always be peeled and rinsed before eating.
- Grapes. “A single grape tested positive for 15 pesticides.”
- Sweet Peppers. Previously not on the list, recent tests showed these contain the seventh greatest amount of pesticide residues.
- Nectarines (Imported). Every imported nectarine tested was shown to contain pesticide residue.
- Peaches. Contained the fourth highest amount of pesticides among all fruits tested.
- Potatoes. “The average potato had much higher total weight of pesticides than any other food crop.”
- Spinach. After celery, the second most contaminated conventional vegetable.
- Strawberries. Ranked as the second dirtiest conventionally grown fruit on the market.
- Snap peas (imported).
Collard greens and hot peppers made the “Plus” portion of the list because they were found to contain pesticides that had previously been banned from agriculture. The toxic organophosphates that landed green beans on last year’s list are now being found in leafy greens.
Organophosphates and Organochlorines
According to the EWG, “Tests in 2008 found that some domestically-grown summer squash–zucchini and yellow crookneck squash–contained residues of harmful organochlorine pesticides (like DDT) that were phased out of agriculture in the 1970s and 1980s but that linger on some farm fields.”
Both organophosphates and organochlorine are “exceptionally toxic to the nervous system,” and may cause many of the following:
Organochlorine pesticides have been strongly linked to increased risk of breast cancers, according to the Oxford Journal “Toxicological Sciences.”
What You Can Do
Shop organic and take the steps to detoxify your body. This does not mean you must immediately drop everything for a juice cleanse, but you should make efforts to utilize glutathione, vitamin D and other powerful antioxidants that protect your body.
By eating clean, organic foods and choosing high-quality, whole-food supplements, you can help your family avoid the pain and illness associated with chronic toxicity.
Image Source: Environmental Working Group


text:
Announcing the Shortlist for the AWNewYork 2023 Future is Female Awards!
The wait is over! Meet the extraordinary women who make up this year’s Advertising Week New York Future is Female shortlist, presented by Warner Bros. Discovery.
We had a record-breaking number of submissions for this year’s Awards! It was incredibly challenging to narrow the list of awe-inspiring, deserving women down to just twenty-five nominees, but we…did it!
The following women were chosen due to their work ethic, impact and change they have created and their ability to live by the values of a Future is Female leader.
MEET THE SHORTLIST:
- Christina Wootton, Chief Partnerships Officer, Roblox
- Constance Schwartz-Morini, Co-Founder & CEO, SMAC Entertainment
- Denise Vitola, VP Brand Integration, PR, Social and Influencer, Bayer US Consumer Health
- Dereca Sims, Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Omnicom Group
- Dia Simms, Executive Chairwoman of the Board, Lobos 1707 Tequila & Mezcal
- Donna Murphy, Global Chief Executive Officer, Havas Health & You and Havas Creative Network
- Dorothy Kilroy, Chief Commercial Officer, ŌURA
- Ellie Bamford, Chief Strategy Officer, Wunderman Thompson
- Erin Gallagher, CEO and Founder, Ella
- Francia Cohen, Client Investment Lead, Mindshare
- Gabrielle Gambrell, Senior Communications Lead, Amazon, and Chief Communications Officer, Gift of Gabrielle
- Janet Lee, SVP/CMO Mobile Experience, Samsung Electronics America
- Jenifer Willig, CEO and Partner, WRTHY
- Jody Shiroma, Vice President, Communications, PBS Hawaii
- Juie Shah, Strategy Director, DDB Chicago
- Julia Petryk, Head of PR, MacPaw Co-founder, PR Army, Founder Tech PR School
- Kory Marchisotto, Chief Marketing Officer, e.l.f. Beauty
- Latraviette Smith-Wilson, EVP, Chief Marketing & Equity Officer, Horizon Media
- Laurel Stark Akman, Global Marcom Creative Director The Sims, EA
- Melissa Newhart, Executive Music Brand Partnerships, UTA
- Nicole Simpson, Director DE&I US, RAPP Worldwide
- Perry Howell, Vice President of Marketing, 11:11 Media
- Sabrina Browne, Vice President and North America ERG Leader, BCW
- Sandra L. Richards, Managing Director, Head of Global Sports & Entertainment (GSE) and Segment Sales & Engagement, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
- Simmy Bhargava, Content Director, Dentsu Good
The winners will be announced at our invite-only Award ceremony during Advertising Week New York on Monday, October 16, 2023.

domain: news


text:
The global standardization organization ASTM International has announced the acquisition of Wohlers Associates, Inc., a leading additive manufacturing consulting company with 35 years of experience in the 3D printing market. As part of the acquisition, ASTM International will also acquire the Wohlers Report, an industry-leading, annual market study for 3D printing.
Wohlers Associates will operate as “Wohlers Associates, powered by ASTM International”. Terry Wohlers, the company’s founder and president, will join ASTM International as head of AM (Additive Manufacturing) Market Intelligence. Noah Mostow of Wohlers Associates will become ASTM’s new AM Market Analysis and Analysis Manager.
“I couldn’t be more excited to join the world-class team at ASTM International,” said Wohlers. “With ASTM, we can now take on more projects than in the past, and our consulting service team is now bigger than ever.” We are pleased that ASTM has committed to publishing this report in the coming years. “
Future Wohlers’ report releases are expected to be integrated with the flagship product of ASTM Compass, an online subscription platform. Wohlers has expressed its confidence in ASTM International upholding the quality, neutrality and value that customers expect from its flagship report.
ASTM intends to leverage the existing Wohlers brand and capitalize on its market impact and access to decision makers in the 3D printing industry around the world. The acquisition is expected to bring new value to many industries, thereby enabling the wider adoption of additive manufacturing products and services.


text:
AOL (s aol), a little over two years after paying $850 million for popular UK social networking site Bebo, has admitted in an internal memo to employees that the business is “declining” and that it simply doesn’t have the resources to invest in the site while waiting for its numbers to turn around. The memo says that the company will be actively looking for buyers for the Bebo unit, and expects to make a final decision as to its fate by the end of next month. AOL plans to file financial details with UK regulators tomorrow stating that it’s “currently evaluating strategic alternatives with respect to Bebo,” which could include a sale or shutdown of the company.
More than anything else, this move by AOL makes it obvious that a) the purchase of Bebo was an expensive mistake, and b) Facebook has effectively won the social networking war. The text of the memo is as follows:
The strategy we set in May 2009 leverages our core strengths and scale in quality content, premium advertising and consumer applications, positioning us for the next phase of growth of the Internet. As we evaluate our portfolio of brands against our strategy, it is clear that social networking is a space with heavy competition, and where scale defines success.
Bebo, unfortunately, is a business that has been declining and, as a result, would require significant investment in order to compete in the competitive social networking space. AOL is not in a position at this time to further fund and support Bebo in pursuing a turnaround in social networking.
AOL is committed to working quickly to determine if there are any interested parties for Bebo and the company’s current expectation is to complete our strategic evaluation by the end of May 2010.
When AOL, then still part of Time Warner (s twx), bought Bebo in 2008, AOL Chairman and CEO Randy Falco talked about how the acquisition was just like Microsoft’s (s msft) investment in Facebook in that it was “the perfect complement to AOL’s personal communications network and puts us in a leading position in social media.” Falco said the purchase would allow the online company to leverage its social platform across its combined global audience and position it “to offer advertisers even greater reach and marketers significant insights into the desires and needs of consumers.”
That obviously never came to pass. The advertising business AOL was relying on got sucked into the economic downturn along with everything else, and there were rumors as far back as last year that AOL was looking to sell the company. At the time it was acquired, Bebo said it had more than 40 million members and was one of the leading social networks in the UK, as well as number three in the U.S. The company said that its users were heavily engaged, viewing an average of 78 pages a day (although there were reports that the network had the worst uptime record of any major social media site).
Former Bebo CEO and AOL President Joanna Shields
left to join Facebook joined Facebook several days ago as VP of sales and business development in Europe.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):


text:
Press Release: Blockchain Start-up Proof of Impact Announces Close of Investment Round led by Franklin Templeton
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Proof of Impact (“POI”) today announced it closed its first institutional investment round led by Franklin Templeton, a global fund manager managing around $700 billion in assets. Proof of Impact is building a global marketplace on the blockchain where one can donate or invest directly into measurable impact outcomes. In connection with the investment, a representative of Franklin Templeton will serve on the Proof of Impact B.V. board, offering their expertise in the application of blockchain technology and impact investing as well as scaling the POI offering globally. Proof of Impact’s co-founder Fleur Heyns will be pitching the company during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2020.
In addition to Franklin Templeton, the following leading venture capital firms have joined in this investment round: Ausum Ventures (San Francisco, USA) a fund dedicated to blockchain projects with social impact at their core, Crypto Valley Venture Capital “CV VC” (Zug, Switzerland) the leading early-stage blockchain start-up fund in Crypto Valley and Pangea Blockchain fund (Switzerland). The investment follows a growth trajectory that has seen Proof of Impact establish milestone projects addressing several Strategic Development Goals (SDGs) across the globe. The POI marketplace will launch in The Netherlands in Q1 2020.
Next Generation Impact Investing
“From the outset, we were adamant for Proof of Impact to attract commercial capital that can add long-term strategic value at the “technology – impact – finance” intersection we would like to dominate,” said Proof of Impact co-founder Fleur Heyns from The Netherlands. “We are extremely pleased that a global financial institution with extensive emerging market investment product experience and distribution capacity is committed to build the next generation impact investment market with us.”
This first investment round allows Proof of Impact to continue its fast growth and execute its ambitious goal of securitizing proven impact and bringing proven impact investment products to global capital markets.
“As a firm, Franklin Templeton has committed significant capital to blockchain technology as we believe it offers a very effective future infrastructure for fund management. Furthermore, our client base is increasingly demanding impact returns in addition to the financial returns conventional portfolios offer. It therefore made sense to invest in Proof of Impact for its ability to generate impact content in digital form. Proof of Impact has created an entirely new paradigm for social impact investment and management,” said Roger Bayston, Executive Vice President, Director of Quantitative & FinTech Strategies, Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group.
Photo courtesy of miuenski miuenski.
Source: Press Release


text:
- Business of Brands
- 3 min read
Poll-bound states to dial local phone companies
Three states in talks to procure, distribute 10-15 m phones, however, some firms are wary of the extra investments such orders would entail
People aware of the developments said the three BJP-ruled states, likely to go to polls towards the end of this year, have discussed the issue with the phone makers over the last couple of months. Industry insiders said the total numbers of phones that could be ordered are likely in the range of 10-15 million.
“There have been talks, the tender for Chhattisgarh has been out,” said Hari Om Rai, chairman of Lava International. The Chhattisgarh government has plans to hand out 5.5 million phones under the Chhattisgarh Communication Revolution Scheme over the current fiscal and the next.
A financial plan of spending Rs. 230 crore on the implementation of the scheme has been chalked out.
According to industry insiders Reliance Retail’s Lyf brand of smartphones is the top contender for the state’s massive order, and that the deal is likely to be closed soon. The company didn’t respond to ET’s queries as of Wednesday evening.
Congress and BJP are to face tough contests in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in assembly elections scheduled for the end of this year.
“Some state governments are planning to bring out proposals as they have some requirements of smartphones… talks are ongoing,” said Rajesh Agarwal, co-founder of Micromax Informatics. He added that while most would be interested in such large orders, only those with capacity to supply high volumes would be contenders.
A senior executive said Rajasthan was still formalising the number it would require, although it was already holding discussions with interested brands.
Analysts said the large volumes hold a lot of promise for Indian players that have been rapidly losing ground to Chinese rivals that have more than 57% of the smartphone market where 10-12 million devices are sold each month. Indian players’ share is down to 14%, Counterpoint Research data showed.
“Indian handset makers are looking at every possible way they can sell phones that is exclusive to them. This will be a very critical opportunity for them,” said Faisal Kawoosa, head of new initiatives at Cybermedia Research.
While such deals would generate huge volume sales, some are wary of large, extra investments such orders would entail. Besides, payments for such bulk orders usually take time which would be a big risk for the cash-stricken Indian players.
“The numbers are very high, but a lot of investment will be needed to supply these stocks… and I don’t think most Indian brands have the wherewithal to meet the demand within a short period of time, say around two or three months,” said a senior industry executive who did not want to be identified.
The executive’s company is not participating in the bids, but he said that the order would require a pool of players to meet the estimated volumes.
“There’s also little guarantee of when the actual payments are made by the respective governments,” the executive cautioned. Offering free phones have been gaining currency in India before elections.
In Karnataka, the BJP said in its manifesto that women of BPL (Below Poverty Line) families will get free smartphones under ‘Mukhyamantri Smartphone Yojana.’ The Congress has promised the same for students.
BJP leader Mukul Roy recently stirred up a controversy after he promised smartphones to first-time voters in Jalpaiguri district in Bengal, if the party emerged victorious in the Zila Parishad.


text:
Ok, we have the ability of being in virtual reality experiences, but in most cases these visual experiences, except in the case of HTC Vive also allows you to interact with the controls, everything enters the eye and stops side ear, which makes the immersion is not total because everything comes from the same source, which is no longer consistent with what you’re seeing.
Thus, now a device that promises to bring virtual reality experience straight to our ears arises, this through headphones capable of reproducing 3D audio and base audio transmission on physiological characteristics of the user, so that we can get into virtual reality through sounds. We are learning about X OSSIC.
OSSIC X: The Oculus Rift ear
A few months ago, Samsung presented an experiment that consisted of a 4D headphones, which had galvanic vestibular stimulation to “trick” our inner ear so you can “feel” the virtual reality. In the case of the X OSSIC the idea is less complex, because everything rests on a calibration according to the size of the user’s head and the characteristics of their ears.
In addition, it relies on the development of algorithms that emit sounds throughfour conductors in each ear that change according to the movements of the head, as they detect the position of the head or when the user rotates or look up or down, so you can sync with the virtual reality experiences even movies with Dolby Atmos, or music with 3D audio settings.
You may also like to read another article on TheKindle3Books: Making friends in the virtual reality of Facebook, Samsung and Oculus
At first glance this might sound to some fantastic point, but the company presented its first prototypes at CES 2016 and in February this year launched a funding campaign on Kickstarter, which grossed $ 2.7 million from an initial target 100,000, which has put this company on the map and many companies are interested in learning about this project.
Ty Ahmad-Taylor, CEO of THX, has been among the first to approach the company to test the X OSSIC, and is currently interested in working with them to create individual 3D audio experience in movies and animated series. Of course the main focus of these headphones are your possibilities in the field of virtual reality , which already have begun working with game developers to synchronize audio to 3D images.
Today the company has opened the reservations of the X OSSIC on its website, which can be purchased for $ 299 for first -time buyers, who will receive them in December this year, at which time we will know if it’s true what they promise.


text:
Apr 3, 2020
As social distancing continues due to COVID-19, we review video conferencing apps: Zoom, Houseparty, Messenger and Skype.
Mar 26, 2020
News is slow so we're sharing some of our favorite tips for telecommuting.
Mar 20, 2020
The New iPad Pro has trackpad support and the tech industry is in self-quarantine due to the Coronavirus.
Mar 12, 2020
Tech conferences are getting cancelled left and right, major iOS 14 features were leaked and podcasting is getting shaken up.
Feb 27, 2020
Walmart is taking on Amazon, Facebook cancelled a conference and YouTube had a complicated week in court.


text:
(The following post is 100% free of political commentary. But it does mention a few blowhards.)
When's the last time you bought a well-made suit? Not the Haggar separates some retailers sell, but a good suit that would last a few years, until fashion dictums made it obsolete?
Probably not anytime recently. Casual Fridays at many businesses extended to Casual Everydays. Which, outside of Wall Street, law firms, and TV anchor desks, usually meant fewer suits and ties. My last suit was hand-tailored with Italian silk, and cost the equivalent of a mortgage payment. I don't need to buy another suit anytime soon.
This only partially explains why Tailored Brands, the parent company of Men's Wearhouse and Joseph A. Bank, announced last week that 250 of its 1,500 stores would close this year. Not good news for a brand that had some cachet with consumers.
|By Ed!(talk)(Hall of Fame) [CC BY-SA 3.0] via Wikimedia Commons|
Tailored Brands' CEO reported last week that year-over-year sales dropped by a third, in the wake of the company dropping promotions and sales that the Bank stores famously promoted. Offering three free suits if you bought one at full price sounded like a great idea. Except men wear fewer suits and sport jackets at work today, so four suits could last for years. Assuming leisure suits don't make a sudden comback.
Tailored Brands made a tough decision to scale back promotions, disregarding the painful lesson J.C. Penney learned in 2012-2013, when its CEO did away with the sales shoppers had grown to love. After the company cratered, Penney ditched its sale-free strategy and Ron Johnson, the CEO who forgot that consumers like a sale.
Even ex-Men's Wearhouse Chairman George Zimmer saw disaster lurking. He told Bloomberg Business that buying the Joe Bank stores was a bad decision: “They had a problem,” Zimmer said. “Joe Bank had really damaged their brand over a number of years by running incessant promotions so that nobody wanted to go there and pay regular price.”
Consumers want sales -- or, at minimum, the idea of getting a great deal. That's a hard habit to break. And Tailored Brands may have sold its investors on the wisdom of ditching the 3-for-1 deals, but it didn't talk or listen to consumers, whose interest in worsted wools had declined to the point where it required prodding in today's Casual Workplace world.
The rag business isn't easy. But, there's still a source of good-looking suits, offered by a would-be presidential candidate -- who, for better or worse, knows how to tell an audience what it wants to hear.


text:
Expanding on its partnership with the Seattle Seahawks, Outerwall Inc. recently announced the #KioskSelfie sweepstakes, an interactive social media campaign incorporating the company’s popular consumer brands: Redbox, America’s destination for new release movies and games at an incredible value; Coinstar, and ecoATM electronics recycling kiosks.
Currently open and running through December 1, 2014, eligible residents in Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Idaho and Montana can enter for a chance to win a pair of tickets to one of four World Champion Seattle Seahawks home games by taking a selfie with any one of Outerwall’s kiosks and entering the #KioskSelfie sweepstakes at http://bit.ly/1o9D6Ad.*
Four randomly selected winners will each receive a pair of tickets to one of four Seattle Seahawks home games held at CenturyLink Field (one winner per game):
- October 12 versus the Dallas Cowboys
- November 2 versus the Oakland Raiders
- November 23 versus the Arizona Cardinals
- December 28 versus the St. Louis Rams
“We know many of our loyal customers are devoted Seahawks fans,” said J. Scott Di Valerio, chief executive officer. “With a mission to create a better everyday, we want to reward our long-time customers – and entice new ones – by offering the 12s an opportunity to have the best Sunday, with tickets to a Seahawks home game. Go Hawks!”
Coinstar coin-counting kiosks allow people to trade in their coins for cash, No-Fee eCertificates, or donate money to charity. Coinstar’s newest yellow CoinstarTM Exchange kiosk allows consumers to instantly exchange unused or partially used gift cards for cash. Consumers can find Coinstar kiosks in their local grocery stores or mass retailers, or locate a kiosk by visitinghttps://www.coinstar.com/kioskfinder.
Redbox offers new-release movie and video game rentals at an incredible value via conveniently located, self-service kiosks. To locate the closest kiosk, visit http://www.redbox.com/locations.
ecoATM is the only automated kiosk that pays instant cash for used and unwanted cell phones, tablets and MP3 players. To date, ecoATM kiosks have recycled 3 million devices, and that number is growing every day. Consumers can visithttp://www.ecoatm.com/locator/ to find an ecoATM kiosk.
*No purchase necessary. Open to U.S. residents 18+ in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Void where prohibited. Sweepstakes ends December 1, 2014. See official rules at www.outerwall.com/seahawks for details, including additional prizes and alternative methods of entry.


text:
Fitch Ratings on Tuesday said the Reserve Bank is likely to raise interest rates further to 5.9 per cent by December 2022, on deteriorating inflation outlook.
In its update to Global Economic Outlook, Fitch said India’s economy faces a worsening external environment, elevated commodity prices, and tighter global monetary policy.
Given the deteriorating outlook for inflation, we now expect the RBI to lift rates further to 5.9 per cent by December 2022 and to 6.15 per cent by the end of 2023 (vs. Previous forecast of 5 per cent) and to be unchanged in 2024,” Fitch said.
Last month in an unscheduled policy announcement, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised rates by 40 basis points to 4.4 per cent, and subsequently to 4.9 per cent last week.
The RBI has forecast inflation to be 6.7 per cent by the end of current fiscal.
The retail inflation for May came in at 7.04 per cent.
Inflation has risen to an eight-year high and broadens across more CPI categories, posing a severe challenge to consumers. In the past three months, food inflation has increased by an average of 7.3 per cent year-on-year, while healthcare bills are rising at a similar pace,” Fitch said.
According to Fitch, the April-June quarter growth is likely to improve on a rebound in consumption as COVID-19 cases subsided towards end-March.
GDP grew by 4.1 per cent year-on-year in 1Q22 (January-March) compared to our March forecast of 4.8 per cent. We now expect the economy to grow by 7.8 per cent this year (2022-2023), revised down from our previous forecast of 8.5 per cent,” Fitch said.
Fitch had last week upped outlook on India’s sovereign rating to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’ after two years citing diminishing downside risks to medium-term growth on rapid economic recovery.
The rating was kept unchanged at ‘BBB-‘.
The Outlook revision reflects our view that downside risks to medium-term growth have diminished due to India’s rapid economic recovery and easing financial sector weaknesses, despite near-term headwinds from the global commodity price shock,” it said.
The Indian economy grew 8.7 per cent in the last fiscal and RBI expects growth to be 7.2 per cent this fiscal.
Fitch said consumer spending sustaining the economy in 2022 given the potential for catch-up, as an easing in restrictions allows for greater spending on sectors such as retail, hotels and transport. Sectors of the economy that require greater face-to-face contact continue to lag behind others.
For Information Only
BuySellMergers.com, Economiclawpractice.com, Venturestreets.com, Yuvamorcha.com


text:
Looking for phones? CNET's reviews of the best phones include photos, video, and user reviews.
The retail store has started selling phones on U.S. Cellular's service in 12 states.
Flexible plastic bricks smoosh together like Lego, but could actually become building components for soft robots.
Prepare to get crazy-excited about Silent Hill again. Guillermo del Toro, Hideo Kojima, and Norman Reedus are all involved in the next installment.
The company is working with one of the world's largest smartphone makers in an effort to push VR beyond desktop computers and consoles.
Who would live underwater for weeks at a time -- and in view of the public? Get to know Fabien Cousteau and his crew doing it for science, bragging rights, and, uh, the freeze-dried food.
The famous supercomputer and the culinary magazine join forces to develop a cooking app that spews out new and innovative recipes. Fennel-spiced baby back pork ribs, anyone?
The business hasn't officially launched, but Pryte's team has access to wireless operators in emerging markets, which fits with a key Facebook goal.
CEO Tim Cook has promised for more than a year that Apple will bring out new products and step into new categories. At this week's event to talk up larger-screen iPhones, fans are hoping he'll finally deliver the next big thing -- a wearable device.
CEO Tim Cook delivers on a promise to move into a new product category, making a foray into wearable devices with the Apple Watch. Plus: Bigger-screen iPhones and a mobile service called Apple Pay.
A professor at UC Berkeley (in California's earthquake country) has created a prototype device that warns of pending quake-related rumbles and could be installed as easily as a home fire alarm.


text:
The Bay Area Real Estate Report - May 2020
Covid-19 having a huge impact on Bay Area Real Estate, but not yet in terms of home prices
Nearly 2 months into the statewide Covid-19 shelter-in-place, the effects of the virus, sheltering in place, and wide ranging business shut-downs continues to plague the country, California, and the Bay Area in more ways than imagined.
As it pertains to Real Estate, Inner Bay Area residential property sales declined 37% Month-to Month in April (vs March) and even more significantly, dropped a whopping 57% Year-to-Year vs last April. California Home sales are also down 28% since early March.
But while the full effect of the “Covid-19 economy” won’t be seen until the April statistics come out, the Greater Bay Area median home price was actually “up” 11% Month-to-Month in March, rising to $1,009,790 from $910,000 in February. The $1,009,790 March median was also a 7.4% Year-to-Year increase from the $940,000 Median in March/2019. This is more an indication of how strong our market was “going into” the Covid-19 situation, but according to the most recent Price/SqFt data for the Bay Area, the median sold Price/SqFt has only dropped 4.3% between the beginning of March and the end of April.
The recent economic date is as rough as expected, although there are also signs that we may have bottomed out. Let me summarize the bad news first.
In March, we saw the biggest 1-month decline in consumer confidence in nearly 50 years and there was a major pullback in consumer spending reflected by a 66.6% decline in retail sales, the biggest month-to-month decline in recent history and the biggest decline ever recorded since we started to track this data many years ago. And that’s not even accounting for a fully Covid-impacted month of March (since the shelter in place and shut-downs started in the “middle” of March).
Based on GDP growth tracked between 2010 and 2019, consumers play a huge role in today’s economy, representing 69% of U.S. real GDP. Thus there was a 4.8% decline in economic growth (GDP) for Q1. Since all of Q2 will be happening during the “Covid-19 economy”, industry experts are expecting Q2 numbers to be far worse at somewhere between 30-40% decline in GDP.
California job growth also went negative in Q1 for the first time in 10 years, losing nearly 100K jobs. Nationwide, over 30 million people have filed for unemployment over the past month alone. By comparison, during the “entire”18-20 months of the “great recession” (from early 2008 to mid 2009), a “total” of ~37 million people filed for unemployment. There’s an estimated unemployment rate of 18.6% for California as of the end of April and the rate is expected to eventually exceed 20%. By comparison, at the height of the “great recession”, the California unemployment rate was just 12.3%.
So far, none of this has had a palatable effect on Bay Area home prices since Sellers have taken as big a step back as Buyers have. C.A.R. has been polling Realtors weekly since late March and more than 40% of those Realtors have had a Buyer withdraw an offer due to Coronavirus. But on the Seller side, more than 50% of Realtors have had a Seller “remove their home from the market” due to Coronavirus.
And in the most recent (May) survey of the California consumer housing sentiment polling, only 31% of consumers felt that it’s a good time to buy a home in California, but conversely only 29% of Sellers felt it was a good time to Sell.
Thus, with Sellers taking as big (or “bigger”) of a step back as Buyers, pricing hasn’t yet been greatly impacted according to the latest available home price statistics. As I mentioned earlier, March home prices were up 7.4% Year-to-Year and the most recent Price/SqFt data for the Bay Area shows that the median sold Price/SqFt has only dropped 4.3% between the beginning of March and the end of April.
There’s also a big divide in the perception of the market from each side. 82% of Buyers recently polled are “expecting” that they’re going to see Seller price concessions now vs pre-pandemic. However, only 27% of Sellers recently polled are expecting/thinking that they will have to slash their price.
And nationally, nearly 75% of Realtors report that their sellers have not lowered listing prices to attract buyers during this time, according to a new survey conducted April 19-20 by N.A.R (the National Association of Realtors). This suggests that most home sellers are avoiding “panic selling” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The other good news is that we’re starting to get a feel for the bottom. The last week of April saw the 1st week-to-week uptick in sales for California since early March, even though just by .09%.
Bay Area week-to-week home sales also only dropped 3.8% the last week of April. New listings have been increasing the past 3-4 weeks, both statewide and in the Bay Area. And pending sales have been rising slightly week to week in the Bay Area the past few weeks and in California as a whole. New Purchase Loan applications have also been on the rise since mid-April.
The negative labor market impact is also decelerating. 6.87M unemployment claims were filed in the last week of March. But the # of claims has declined every week since then (down to 3.84M claims filed the last week of April)
Month-to-month double-digit declines for California home sales is expected until at least June, but price impacts are expected to remain in single digits in light of record low mortgage rates and only a small fraction of Bay Area home owners “needing” to sell.
This is a very different situation than the great recession in that the economy was on much more solid footing “going into” it, most home owners have low fixed rate mortgages, and most had much more equity in their homes going into this.
The big wildcard is as to whether the next wave of the virus ends up resulting in further nationwide business shut downs and shut-ins.
In the mean time, the Coronavirus pandemic situation and the lingering uncertainties surrounding it are having a huge impact on the Bay Area Real Estate market. Sales volume is way off, many Buyers have backed out of purchases, and consumer confidence is way down. Widespread unemployment, greatly reduced consumer spending, and negative GDP growth highlights the economic issues facing both the US and California. There are signs that key economic and real estate market indicators have already bottom out, but there’s also a wildcard as to what further effects a 2nd big wave of the virus might have later this year. While there hasn’t yet been a noticeable effect on Bay Area home prices, we won’t really know how “much” of an effect there’s been until April sale price statistics are released.
For now, until/unless a large swath of Bay Area home owners “need” to sell and/or a large portion of Bay Area tech workers are laid off, there’s no reason to think that home prices will take a nosedive in the near future.
Mortgage Rate News - May 2020
The average rate for a 30-Year Fixed Mortgage
appears to have hit a bottom point at the end of April at 3.19%. Since then, it has bounced up and down week
to week, and today it dropped back down to 3.19%
Assuming good credit and at least 20% down payment/equity, the rate for a
typical 30-Yr Fixed Conforming Loan (w/0 Pts) is now at about 3%, while a
typical 30-Yr fixed High Balance Conforming Loan (w/0 Pts) is at about 3.625%.
Keywords: san francisco real estate, san francisco property tax, SF MLS, SF open homes, Los Altos hills homes, los altos realtors, Santa Clara real estate, Silicon Valley Real Estate, real estate in silicon valley, silicon valley housing market, los altos hills real estate, berkley real estate,los altos home for sale, Marin County Real Estate, East Bay Real Estate, San Francisco Real Estate News, Bay Area Real Estate News, San Mateo Real Estate, San Francisco Realtor, Bay Area Realtor, Silicon Valley Realtor


text:
A wine company's 'sexist and degrading' advert has now been banned after it was criticised by viewers for allegedly objectifying women and making references to sexual acts.
Premier Estates Wine shared their advert for their wine with the hashtag #TastetheBush, a subtlety that wasn't lost on viewers when the glass was put down on the table in front of an actress.
The campaign caused outrage online and led to several complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), who have now banned the advert.
The Australian wine company's ad shows the woman taking a sip of the beverage before looking at the camera, saying: "Mmm, luscious, earthy, bursting with fruit and spice."
She then adds: "Australia practically jumps out of the glass - in fact, some say you can almost taste the bush."
The ASA confirmed they received eight complaints about the advert.
In a statement, the ASA said: "The ASA considered that most viewers would understand the claim "… some say you can almost taste the bush" to be a reference to oral sex, particularly given that it was accompanied with the image of the wine glass positioned directly in front of the woman's crotch.
"The line appeared towards the end of the ad and, in conjunction with the image, which emphasised the sexual connotation, created the final impression left by the ad.
"While the woman was immediately aware of the double-entendre and seemingly only mildly embarrassed as a result, we considered that it served to undermine her as, until that point, she had been portrayed as confident and in control while discussing the merits of the wine, in what appeared to be a relaxed and informal party atmosphere.
"For that reason, we considered that the ad presented the woman in a degrading manner, and concluded that it was likely to cause serious or widespread offence."
The latest 'bad taste' advert - followed Protein World's controversial 'Beach Body Ready' campaign and the Bic stationery fail - and showed that advertisers are working on any level to get their product known - even if it's for all the wrong reasons.
Twitter comments included Princess Pocket who told then: "Thanks for your ad. Now I know what brand to avoid like herpes".
Noel Douglas called it "sad", adding: "So Premiere Estates Wine don't believe in treating women with respect? Wow full on sexism."
Tuco added: "2015? I suggest a deliberate attempt to grab attention with a frankly deeply offensive piece of advertising."


text:
|Area News | Home | Marketplace | Community|
|Paynesville Press - November 10, 2004|
New grocer buys store in St. Martin
St. Martin Corner Grocery is now open with a new owner, new hours, and several changes. |
Formerly Hen'n Food Store, the Corner Grocery is now owned by Connie Messer, who along with her husband, Rick, is pleased to be part of the St. Martin business community.
Connie Messer rings up a customer, one of her many duties as the owner of the St. Martin Corner Grocery Store since September.
Messer took over the grocery in mid-September. Since then she has added new products, including hot dogs and hot deli sandwiches for lunch, hot coffee and cappuccino, and magazines. In addition, the store now accepts credit cards and food stamps.
The store is also open longer, from 6:30 a.m to 7:30 p.m. from Mondays through Saturdays and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays. Messer believed that her customers wanted their grocery items to be competitively priced, so she now has regular specials.
Messer, who is originally from St. Martin, always wanted to own a business, and when the Corner Grocery became available, she seized the opportunity, figuring it was a good one, she said. So far, business is good, she reported, and she's enjoyed getting to know her customers.
For now, Messer will be helped in the store by Rick, who is a contractor and doesn't work in the winter, and their parents, but eventually she may find it necessary to hire a part-time employee, she said.
The Messers have two toddler boys, Riley and Ryan. They enjoy taking weekend trips with their family, and taking care of their many pets at home.
Contact the author at firstname.lastname@example.org Return to News Menu


text:
World consumption of animal protein is everywhere on the rise. Meat consumption increased from 44 million tons in 1950 to 284 million tons in 2009, more than doubling annual consumption per person to over 90 pounds. The rise in consumption of milk and eggs is equally dramatic. Wherever incomes rise, so does meat consumption.
Trending on GRN
- DIY drip line irrigation – an efficient way to water your…
- Five safer ways to evict rodents — without poisoning…
- How to make your Keurig more eco-friendly
- Matt & Nat Tacoma-Mini Vintage Satchel Bag
- Food waste in America: a growing concern
- Is your city ready for electric cars?
- Buy local, organic food — sign up with a farm and join
- Save nature and free time — install a Pocket Prairie


text:
It has been nearly seven years since Edward Snowden blew the whistle on highly classified global surveillance programs, inciting a national conversation about privacy in the digital age. One of these revelations was that the NSA had access to the email content of Google users and the ability to map anyone’s cell phone location.
It’s now been two years since the Cambridge Analytica scandal came to light, revealing that the company had harvested Facebook user data and used it to manipulate for the United States presidential election. In 2018, Facebook also admitted that it let Netflix and Spotify access users’ private messages.
While these events spurned temporary outrage, they did little to change consumer behavior. Gmail has 1.5 billion users. Facebook continues to grow, going from 2.41 billion to 2.45 billion monthly users between Q2 2019 and Q3 2019 alone.
Why is that? It’s not because consumers aren’t aware of how their data is being used against them. Even casual social media users can see that their personal information, browsing history and online shopping activity is used to sell them ads. The problem does not lie with a lack of knowledge, but with a lack of alternatives. People don’t see any other options, so they’ve mostly given up. The best they can do is keep trying to avoid thinking too much about it.
Right now, these companies survive off user data. Facebook and Google have built multibillion-dollar advertising platforms and become some of the richest companies in the world by making the end user the product. When you think about the services that Facebook owns (Instagram and WhatsApp, for example, each with over a billion users) and all that Google operates (search, email, maps, YouTube), it’s nearly impossible not to come in contact with their services. The same is true for many other companies that we rely on for managing our finances, communications and much more.
The technology industry needs to develop consumer-friendly tools that deliver the same level of ease that people are accustomed to. People are ready to adopt privacy-focused alternatives, they just need access to them.
Even if you monitor your privacy settings and use encrypted apps, it’s not enough to protect your personal data. Encrypted apps are still collecting and also exposing metadata, which is data about data. Metadata includes information such as what time you sent a message, who you sent it to, and when it was received. Metadata gives companies plenty of information to work with, and is easily accessed by governments.
On the way to a decentralized world
The way personal data is manipulated by companies and governments is robbing not only our personal freedom, but our democracy. This is part of why blockchain technology holds so much promise. Decentralization empowers us to take out the centralization and create consumer products that let individuals communicate person-to-person, with metadata shredding. This combination will allow truly anonymous communications and payments to exist for the first time.
Our metadata shredding is based on breakthrough precomputation, which allows messaging at the speeds that consumers expect, but with ultra-high security. Metadata shredding on the blockchain works by allowing pre-computation of slots that are ready to each receive a message from any user during processing of a batch of messages through the eight nodes randomly-selected each second. Messages are distributed so that all eight randomly-selected nodes for each round would have to be compromised or collude to learn anything about the metadata.
Long story short, this keeps messages and payments from ever being linked or decrypted. While this may sound pretty technical, apps that use metadata shredding can work just as fast and seamlessly as the apps we already use for messaging and payments.
There are many reasons other companies don’t offer metadata shredding, ranging from economic to regulatory. Metadata shredding breaks many companies’ business models of monetizing user data.
Infringements on our privacy and manipulation of our data should be cause for grave concern. While it’s easy for people to give up, we’re getting closer and closer to a solution. As user-friendly decentralized technologies with metadata shredding reach widespread use, we as a culture can prioritize privacy and freedom.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Dr. David Chaum is one of the earliest blockchain researchers and a world-renowned cryptographer and privacy advocate. Known as “The Godfather of Privacy,” Dr. Chaum first proposed a solution for protecting metadata with mix-cascade networks in 1979. In 1982, his dissertation at the University of California, Berkeley became the first known proposal of a blockchain protocol. Dr. Chaum went on to develop eCash, the first digital currency, and made numerous contributions to secure voting systems in the 1990s. Today, Dr. Chaum is the Founder of Elixxir, Praxxis and the xx network, which combines his decades of research and contributions in the field of cryptography and privacy to deliver state-of-the-art blockchain solutions.


text:
In a surprising turn of events, Samsung has received an order to make 5G smartphone chips for Qualcomm, one of the biggest chip makers in the smartphone industry. Korean phone maker Samsung will be making 5G chips as well as mobile application processors (AP) for Qualcomm as part of the order.
According to a new report from Korean media, Samsung secured this order with Qualcomm in an effort to raise its presence in the foundry industry. Since the order is for budget 5G chips, Samsung will be aiding Qualcomm with its Snapdragon 400 series meant for entry-level smartphones. These chips are expected to land in the market by Q1, 2021.
Xiaomi, Oppo, and Motorola will reportedly be the first few companies to introduce these SoCs in their smartphones.
Additionally, Samsung is also helping Nvidia with the development of its next-gen desktop GPUs, the RTX 3000 series that was announced earlier this month. The Korean tech giant is currently the world’s largest memory chip maker, but it trails behind TSMC in the foundry industry.
Samsung currently holds a 17.4% market share in the global foundry market while TSMC dominates the industry with 54%. However, Samsung is expected to gain more ground in the future with all the orders it has been accepting.


text:
According to the market researchers at comScore, Russian search engine Yandex is now the fourth most popular search engine in the world, knocking Microsoft’s Bing down to fifth place. Meanwhile, there are no surprises at the top of the chart—Google continues to lead the global search race with more than 65 percent of the market.
GigaOm’s David Meyer first reported the news, writing, “Russia’s answer to Google may have a way to go if it wants to catch up with the search leader, but it’s just inched up into fourth place, knocking Microsoft and Bing down to fifth…. That actually first showed up in November’s stats, when Yandex processed 4.62 billion search requests to Microsoft’s 4.48 billion requests, but that meant each had roughly 2.6 percent share, and with such things you want to see a continuing trend. Sure enough, in December 2012 Yandex handled 4.84 billion requests (2.8 percent share) and Microsoft 4.48 billion (2.5 percent share). It’s a trend.”
SearchEngineLand’s Danny Sullivan noted, “Most attention has been focused on Yandex passing Microsoft to take over the fourth place spot as the world’s most popular search engine, based on searches conducted. That’s true, though when you look at unique searchers — the number of people who use the search engine, rather than the number of searches conducted — Microsoft still has a big lead over Yandex.”
East-West Digital News quoted Yandex spokesperson Tatiana Komarova, who said, “It’s thanks to the Russian audience that the number of Yandex searches grew. Internet penetration is still relatively low in Russia and it continues to grow by adding older people and residents of small towns.”
Michael Bonfils with Search Engine Watch added, “As you’d expect, Google still reigned supreme with 114.73 billion search queries and a 65.2 percent market share. China search giant Baidu was second globally with 14.5 billion (8.2 percent), and Yahoo came in third with 8.63 billion (4.9 percent).”


text:
New research showing that a low-carbohydrate diet is better for weight loss than a low-fat diet has renewed interest in low-carb eating. To help explain how the latest study is changing the way we think about dieting, the New York Times health writer Anahad O’Connor replies to an edited selection of comments and questions from readers.
Q. Not all carbohydrates are bad for you. Does the study distinguish between whole-food carbohydrates and refined carbohydrates?
A. You are certainly right that the source of carbohydrates is important. Most researchers and health authorities agree that highly processed carbohydrates — sugar and white bread being the most obvious examples — have a very different effect on blood sugar, cholesterol and weight gain than complex carbohydrates like fresh fruit, beans, plants, brown rice and other unrefined carbohydrates.
However, the latest study took this into account. People in the low-carb group were told to eat plenty of vegetables and even fresh fruit. They went to nutritional counseling sessions in which they learned to distinguish between complex carbohydrates and simple carbohydrates. They were encouraged to always choose complex carbs. So although they ate more fat and lowered their overall carbohydrate intake from about 50 percent of their daily calories to roughly a third, the carbs they were consuming were typically coming from unrefined sources.
Does the finding in favor of higher-fat diets mean we should increase our consumption of meat and animal fats?
The low-carb diet used in the study was not an all-meat diet. The subjects in the low-carb group went to nutrition counseling sessions in which they were taught the difference between saturated fats and unsaturated fats. They were told to focus on eating foods that are mostly higher in unsaturated fat — like fish, nuts, avocado, and olive and canola oils — but they were also allowed to eat some foods with more saturated fat, like cheese, meat and butter.
A typical dinner for the low-carb group would be some portion of vegetables and protein. Keep in mind that the protein did not have to be meat. Some people ate tofu, for example. This approach to eating can be followed by a vegetarian.
Can you provide some examples of foods that contain trans fats, saturated fat and other fats, so I can figure out what I’m supposed to eat?
Trans fats are typically found in highly processed and packaged foods, like cookies, potato chips, pastries and some fried foods. If you pick up a package of food in the grocery store and its list of ingredients contains the words “partially hydrogenated,” then it contains trans fats, which are heavily processed, manufactured oils.
Saturated fats and unsaturated fats are found throughout nature. And often they are found together in varying combinations in different foods. Fish, olive oil, nuts, avocado and plant sources of fat contain a lot of unsaturated fats (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated). Meat and dairy naturally contain some unsaturated fat but a higher proportion of saturated fat as well.
There is widespread agreement among experts that trans fats increase the risk of heart disease, so they are gradually being removed from the food supply.
Health authorities have historically told Americans to limit their intake of dietary fat and, in particular, saturated fat. But clinical studies have shown that the traditional low-fat, low-calorie diet does not reduce the rate of heart attacks and strokes in people at high risk. A large study in The New England Journal of Medicine last year showed, however, that a diet higher in fat – especially unsaturated fat from olive oil and nuts – could lower heart attacks and strokes in people who had Type 2 diabetes or were overweight.
One approach to eating that is widely recommended is the Mediterranean diet. which contains plenty of fresh produce, olive oil, nuts, beans and seafood. It also includes moderate amounts of poultry, eggs, cheese and yogurt, and some meat and sweets on occasion.
In recent years, health authorities have pivoted away from their advice to limit all fat and instead encouraged people to focus on restricting saturated fat. But recent studies have raised questions about whether saturated
fat is truly as harmful as the federal dietary guidelines suggest. Many experts say that refined carbohydrates like sugar play a more important role in obesity and cardiovascular disease.
Perhaps I missed it, but I haven’t seen how the latest study defines low-carb eating. Is it 60 grams a day? 150 grams a day?
In this study, people in the low-carb group lowered their carbohydrate intake to 127 grams a day, down from roughly 240 grams. The low fat group, meanwhile, consumed 200 grams of carbs a day.
Another way to think about low-carb eating is to look at the percentage of your daily calories that come from carbs and fat. Before the study, eaters in both study groups had been consuming diets that consisted of 46 percent to 50 percent carbohydrates and 33 percent to 35 percent fats. In the study, the low-carb group began eating a diet that averaged 34 percent carbs and 41 percent fat. By comparison, the low fat group ate 54 percent carbs and less than 30 percent fat.
Isn’t the simple answer to eat less processed food, junk food, fast food, candy, sugar, soda, cookies and cakes; eat more fruits and vegetables; and exercise more?
I have interviewed a wide array of top researchers and nutrition experts over the years. I think they all would agree with you.
What are the long-term implications for diets that include high levels of intake of animal proteins and saturated fats? While this study doesn’t address this, others do, and the outcome may not be that desirable.
Just to be clear, this was not a 100 percent animal protein diet. People on the low-carb diet could eat pork, red meat and tuna salad if they wanted, or they could eat tofu, soybeans, avocados and vegetables. The goal of the study was to see what happens when people lower their intake of mostly refined carbohydrates and increase their intake of mostly unsaturated fat.
There has been some nascent research suggesting that certain compounds in foods like red meat and eggs may have a deleterious effect on gut flora. But that research is very preliminary, and the compounds being studied are not saturated fats.
I spoke with Dr. Ronald M. Krauss, who studies atherosclerosis and was the chairman of the American Heart Association’s dietary guidelines committee. He said that the evidence against saturated fat is lacking. “Historically, there’s been so much focus on saturated fat that people like to think it’s the bad fat, that it’s artery clogging, and there’s really no direct data to support that,” he said.
Dr. Krauss added that this does not necessarily mean that everyone should eat red meat with abandon. For instance, some research has found an association between processed meat consumption and colon cancer. So there may be reasons to lower or avoid red meat consumption, Dr. Krauss said, but saturated fat does not appear to be one of them.
Are any long term follow-up studies planned? It would be interesting to see if the study subjects regain weight at a faster rate afterward.
Yes. The lead author of the study, Dr. Lydia A. Bazzano of the Tulane University School of Public Health, told me that she and her colleagues planned to further analyze their data. They expect to publish follow-up studies.
“We’re investigating changes in appetite that might have occurred and some newer appetite hormones,” she said. “We’re also looking at some biomarkers of inflammation and endothelial function.”


text:
Managers at the confectionery division of Germany’s Kraft Foods are in a mood for celebration. Last year saw turnover grow to more than DM1bn, and this year the famous purple cow symbolising the Milka chocolate brand is 100 years old.
General manager Dr Peter Reinecke claims that the division’s sales, with brands such as Suchard, Milka, Toblerone and Daim, grew well above the sector average. According to an article published in German trade publication Lebensmittelzeitung (LZ), Reinecke puts turnover growth at 8% with volume sales also showing a strong upwards trend.
The driving force of the confectionery division was the Milka brand, which has been extended far beyond the flagship chocolate tablet to include pralines, countlines and seasonal varieties. The Bremen-based group declined to specify how its turnover breaks down, but LZ estimates that about half of the confectionery sales derive from products other than the classic chocolate tablets, with the relaunched Lila Pause countlines growing particularly well.
Kraft intends to hike the retail price of its chocolate tablet in a two-step action this year, the second of which will be concealed by conversion to the euro, the new European currency.
Reinecke hinted at a number of promotional activities planned on the back of the Milka cow’s 100th birthday. He confirmed that the group’s marketing budget had been increased considerable to this end.
In order to focus efforts more intensely on the Milka brand, the group has agreed to outsource the distribution of pralines and tablets sold under the Suchard brand to the Wilms import enterprise , with effect from 1 April this year. Genuport Trade AG already distributes good sold under the Maribou brand, and in April the Daim brand will also be entrusted to Genuport.


text:
NEW YORK (AP) -- Drugstore operator Walgreen Co. said Monday its profit fell 10 percent in its fiscal first quarter, short of Wall Street expectations, because of costs opening more than 200 new stores.
The company said it plans to slow the opening of new stores to save $500 million in response to the recession.
The Deerfield, Ill., company said earned $408 million, or 41 cents per share, in the three months ended Nov. 30. That total fell short of analyst expectations, and compares with $456 million, or 46 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue grew 7 percent to $14.95 billion.
Analysts expected 46 cents per share and $15.08 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.
Walgreen said its selling and general expenses grew 9 percent in the quarter as it opened 212 new stores, and profit margins dipped due to greater expense provisions.
Sales at its older stores grew 1.7 percent, with prescription revenue in older stores growing 2.6 percent. Front-end revenue, or sales of nonprescription products, was flat compared with last year, showing some resilience in a down economy.
The company said prescriptions filled grew 3.7 percent during the quarter, while industry data has showed falling prescriptions for its rivals. In total, 66 percent of Walgreen's revenue came from prescription sales.
At stores open at least one year, prescriptions filled were roughly flat with last year. However, more customers filled 90-day prescriptions instead of 30-day orders, leading to adjusted growth of 1.5 percent.
Walgreen said membership in its Prescription Savings Club grew more than 40 percent from the fourth quarter, and more than 30 percent of club members are new customers. The savings club was launched in late 2007 and allows members to buy a 90-day supply of many common generic drugs for $12.
The company also says flu shot demand is up "dramatically" this year, with more than 1.1 million vaccinations dispensed in the current flu season, compared with 440,000 in all of 2007.
In fiscal 2010, Walgreen said it will slow its organic store openings to a rate of 4.5 to 5 percent, with growth of 2.5 percent to 3 percent in fiscal 2011. In July the company said it would slow the pace of store openings down to 5 percent in 2011, from 8 percent. The reductions are expected to save the company a total of $1 billion in annual spending.
President and Chief Operating Officer Gregory Wasson said the cuts are a response to the U.S. recession. Walgreen currently operates 6,630 drugstores in 49 states. It plans to increase its store count by 475 in fiscal 2009, which ends in August.
Wasson said the company expects to name a new chief executive in early 2009. Former CEO Jeffrey Rein resigned on Oct. 10, two days after Walgreen withdrew a buyout offer for California-based rival Longs Drugs Stores Corp. Wasson said the company is looking at candidates from its own ranks as well as searching outside the company.
In morning trading, Walgreen shares fell $1.60, or 6.1 percent, to $24.48.


text:
DAILY BRIEFING: NSI extends contract with IFA Matrix to offer advice to premium bond winners
Premium bond jackpot winners will continue to get financial advice from Matrix Capital after National Savings & Investments extended its contact.
Matrix helps winners of the £1m prize use their money sensibly.
It was awarded a three-year contract which started in 2014, and has been given a 12 month extension until March 31 next year.
NS&I has extended the contract with IFA Matrix until April 2018
M&G Investments is ploughing £85m into property in a fresh vote of confidence for the UK’s post-Brexit fortunes. The firm has agreed a 35-year deal to build 1,450 homes in London with developer One Housing.
It suggests money managers are increasingly hopeful the country will avoid a downturn.
The Government is being urged to continue cutting the duty on beer to encourage investment in the industry and protect jobs.
The Campaign for Real Ale called on Chancellor Philip Hammond to consider reducing beer duty by 1p in next month’s Budget.
Camra said the UK still had one of the highest rates of beer duty in Europe at 52.2p on a pint.
CAMRA has asked for beer duty to be reduced by 1p in next month’s Budget.
Shares in struggling Italian bank UniCredit crashed more than 5 per cent yesterday as it launched an £11.2bn fund-raising drive.
Trading was suspended at one point as the bank sought fresh investment in a turnaround plan which also involves axing 14,000 jobs and shutting 944 branches.
Hasbro bucked the glum US Christmas trend and reported better than expected sales.
The US company, which makes dolls for Disney, including Cinderella and Snow White, said revenue rose 11.2 per cent to £4bn in 2016, while sales leapt 13 per cent in the last quarter to £1.3bn.
Better than expected: Hasbro's revenue climbed 11.2%to £4bn
Tata Sons has removed ousted chairman Cyrus Mistry from its board. Mistry was dismissed as chairman of Tata Group on October 24. Mistry’s family controls 18 per cent of Tata Sons.
The Government is selling £4bn of student loans issued between 2002 and 2006 to private firms. Its sale is being managed by Barclays, Lloyds, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan.
Lloyds is said to be on the brink of outsourcing responsibility for its data centres to IBM. It could see hundreds of staff transferred to IBM. Lloyds Trade Union has warned it could pensions.
Casual Dining Group, which owns Café Rouge and Bella Italia, has teamed up with Pretoria’s Gold Brands Investments to open at least 20 restaurants over the next five years in South Africa.
Commercial insurer Beazley has bought Canadian firm Creechurch Underwriters in a bid to expand in the country. The Toronto-based firm generated £22m of premiums last year.
Most watched Money videos
- Pierce Brosnan drives rare Aston Martin in GoldenEye trailer
- New Rolls-Royce Cullinan includes fold out seats from the boot
- Ford Europe teases the release of new Ford Focus in latest clip
- Aston Martin showcase the new Vantage with a top speed of 195mph
- Car shop shows their Seat Toledo 1.6 TDI 115 Style Advanced
- Young couple interviewed after buying their own home before 21
- A look at the new 2018 Mercedes-Benz A-Class A200 model
- Mercedes-Benz teases its new Ultimate Luxury SUV concept
- This is the new fourth generation model of the Ford Focus
- Take a look inside the classic Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 car
- Mark Carney: Economic growth down to 1.4% but interest rates on hold
- Will stock markets start to rise again?


text:
New Delhi: The Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council will meet today. This is to discuss a number of proposals including whether to bring petrol under the garb of GST.
The council chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be meeting in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
The council will review the GST rate. This will be on more than four dozen items. It includes online food delivery services. Also, the GST council is also likely to extend the last date for concessions on 11 COVID drugs.
Finance Ministry tweeted, “Finance Minister Smt @nsitharaman will chair the 45th GST Council meeting at 11 AM in Lucknow tomorrow. The meeting will be attended by MOS Shri @mppchaudhary besides Finance Ministers of States & UTs and Senior officers from Union Government & States.”
One of the primary topics that the GST Committee is to discuss is whether to bring petrol and diesel under the GST can or not. If the GST Council gives a green signal then petrol will sell at just Rs 75 per litre. Meanwhile, diesel will retail at about Rs 68 per litre, according to economists. However, such a decision is unlikely from the council.
Meanwhile, the council might reduce the tax rates on certain drugs. The current is at 12 per cent to 5 per cent.
Casirivimab & Imdevimab, 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose
Favipiravir are some of the drugs that could get cheaper.
Another category suggests bringing food delivery services under GST. The suggestion if accepted is likely to make online food deliveries more expensive.
Image credits: unsplash


text:
BCI and BIG lead banking syndicate for Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Plant IPO
Twitter (@AllexandreMZ )
The Premier Group, the Mozambican shareholder in the Espiga d’Ouro industrial bakery, inaugurated on Thursday in the southern city of Matola, has promised to provide bread at competitive prices, with loaves of consistent weight and quality.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, the chairperson of the Premier Group, Hussein Ahmade, said the bakery has four production lines which can work 24 hours a day, guaranteeing daily production of 1.5 million baguettes, 860,000 rolls and 135,000 sliced loaves.
A fleet of trucks will carry the Espiga d’Ouro products throughout the day to distributors in Maputo and Matola.
“We recognize that we cannot yet meet the full expectations of the Mozambican people”, said Ahmade. “At least in the initial phase we will not be able to meet the full demand of Maputo city and province, let alone of the entire country. But we believe we are bringing benefits to the public”.
He promised that Espiga d’Ouro will comply with good practices of hygiene and safety at work. The factory will employ 800 workers directly, in three shifts covering the entire day. When indirect employment is included, he added, Espiga d’Ouro will create 1,200 jobs.
Between them, Maputo city and province have a total population of about 3.5 million people, and Ahmade claimed that represents a daily demand for at least 5.25 million baguettes. Since Espiga d’Ouro cannot meet this demand on its own, Ahmade believed it does not threaten to suffocate smaller bakeries.Source: AIM


text:
Overstock.com hints at big announcements to come
April 24, 2014,
Salt Lake City – During an earnings conference call this morning, Patrick Byrne, Overstock.com ceo, said the company has two major announcements to reveal soon, but would only provide a minimum of clues.
The company will make a big announcement on May 5 to its partners regarding a major, pricey tech project, Byrne said. Another announcement is coming at the end of the second quarter, he said.
In addition, the company is now in the insurance business, offering home, car and small business insurance, with more carriers to come.
He also commented on his recent decision to step down as chairman. “It is better for me to reduce my workload. It’s not a good idea to be a chairman and ceo,” he said, noting Jonathan Johnson, who stepped into the chairman position, “has been a shadow chairman for several years now.”
Revenue for the first quarter 2014 was $341.2 million compared to $312 million, an increase of 9%. The company attributed the growth in revenue to an increase of 8% in average order size, from $153 to $165, coupled with a 5% increase in orders. Net income was $4 million vs. $7.7 million, $3.7 million decrease. The company has experienced increases in its sales and marketing and technology expenses.
The company has agreements to purchase land in Salt Lake City to develop or lease its future headquarters.
Related Content By Author
TEN Collection Wows High Point Market
Home Textiles Today eDaily
Most Viewed Articles
See the November 2017 issue of Home Textiles Today. In this issue, we look at Complex Colors, Complex Times--Trend forecasters and interior designers weigh in on 2018 palettes and motifs. Other articles include: Data: Exclusive HTT soft window research; Innovation: Material Changes conference preview; Country report: India invests in the future and Fabrics: Showtime preview.


text:
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (June 8, 2001)—Tire Kingdom is offering a new associate dealer program aimed at allowing participating retailers to maintain their independent status while enjoying the economies of scale and other advantages of being part of Tire Kingdom's operation.
Mike Cox, named to head the West Palm Beach-based chain's new division, said Tire Kingdom's associate dealer program offers the independent tire retailer the chance to do it the way the “big boys” do.
He said the company's associate dealers enjoy the same supplier discounts previously available only to big volume purchasers. Participants also will receive advertising support and a Tire Kingdom credit card offering customers 90-day, same-as-cash options.
A major plus of the new program, he said, will be the availability of a lower-priced entry-level tire that has, for years, allowed the majors to advertise customer-enticing values that most independent dealerships could not.
“We believe that the media negotiations and credit terms of 90-days-same-as-cash sets this program apart from all others, ” Mr. Cox said in a news release.
Tire Kingdom, owned by Memphis, Tenn.-based TBC Corp., has 170 stores throughout the Southeast and more than 1,600 employees.


text:
Samsung has filed for a patent with the US Patent and Trademark Office for a new laptop in its Notebook line. The (presumably) high-end machine is said to ship with a force-touch trackpad, in addition to a slew of sensors that can recognize contactless user input.
Unlike Windows Hello, however, Notebook users—assuming the technology comes to fruition, of course—will need to position their hands above the trackpad when mimicking a gesture, because the required sensors are embedded in the trackpad panel.
Air Gesture isn’t a new concept
Samsung has toyed around with contactless navigation in the past. The Galaxy S4 shipped with a fully-fledged Air Gesture feature, which allowed users to scroll through webpages and accept incoming calls, without even having to touch their device.
Air Gesture wasn’t around for long, though. When the Galaxy S6 hit the shelves, it was nowhere to be seen, presumably a result of a lack of interest. I, for one, was a proud Galaxy S4 owner and can’t recall using the feature even once.
With that in mind, we should note that Samsung regularly files patents, but hardly any of them ever see the light of day. Could this be one of the few that make it into the hands of the public? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean we can’t hold out hope.


text:
Dear reader, welcome to your monthly cannabis brief.
We discuss the Netherlands getting ready to launch the supply chain experiment in December, German legalisation delays and draft changes, Japan and Canada approving pharmaceutical cannabis products, and US rescheduling debates.
Australian, UK and Brazilian medical markets remain highly dynamic with new entries, Germany, Portugal, Israel and Australia publish import/export data, while market consolidation perseveres in Canada.
Clinical research on applications of CBD to treat glaucoma, heart disease, autism or melanoma shows that we are only scratching the surface of cannabinoid medicine.
We hope you enjoy this month’s cannabis brief!
1. Regulatory updates:
In the Netherlands, the political landscape is changing with the victory of far-right PVV in parliamentary elections, which was one of few parties to oppose the supply chain experiment.
- However this does not mean that the experiment is in danger, as a wider coalition will be required to form a government and repealling the supply chain experiment legislation would be a long process.
- Coffee shop owners are concerned by the inclusion of East Amsterdam in the experiment decided last month, arguing to the different rules that will apply to these clubs versus the rest of the city.
- The government has published the leaflet that cannabis flowers and hash will need to include in the packaging of products for the supply chain experiment.
- Fyta, a licensed supplier for the coffee shop experiment, has been rejected a license to produce and export medical cannabis as well as API registration.
- National Drug Monitor shows 1.1 million Dutch people used cannabis in 2022.
In Germany, the entry into force of the cannabis law is being delayed to April 1, 2024. Regulations for cultivation associations are postponed to July 1st, 2024.
- Some of the stringest regulations are being relaxed, such as the ban zone for the smoking of cannabis around schools and youth facilities, or the possession amounts that entail a criminal liability.
- A poll on public attitudes towards legalisation shows a stalemate in public support.
- A survey among cannabis associations carried out by CSC-Maps shows that clubs plan to offer lower prices than the black market, while finding areas for cultivation/distribution, and the financial support to carry out investments are their main concerns.
- Additionally, the tender process for medical cannabis cultivation is being scrapped, with an open licensing system being introduced, and removing limits on products that domestic growers can supply.
- Industrial hemp clauses allowing the prosecution of farmers for hot crops are not being scrapped in the new legislation for the time being.
Japan has legalised pharmaceutical cannabis production and use with the intended goal to allow patient access to Epidyolex, currently under clinical trials in the country.
- The Japanese government is considering the banning of HHCH and similar semi-synthetic cannabinoids, following intoxication of 5 individuals from unregulated gummies at a festival.
Canada has approved Jazz’s CBD pharmaceutical Epidiolex for child epilepsy.
- A petition to increase THC limits in edibles to 100mg gains traction in Canada, as current 10mg limit too low. This follows Health Canada stopping the sales of ingestible extracts (capsules) with higher THC content by package back in June.
In Argentina, the presidential victory of Javier Milei opens up uncertainty as to the future of cannabis regulations in the country. While in favour of drug liberalisation, the current model based on public-owned companies will suffer from budget cuts.
- Hemp grain has been included in the food code, opening up new opportunities for the use of hemp seed in the production of various food products.
- The Faculty of Agronomy of the Buenos Aires University (UBA) will carry out a hydroponic cultivation trial in its facilities.
In Israel the new medical cannabis dosing categories are rolling out soon, with the inclusion of more categories such as T22 and a reduction in content deviation vs label to only 10%.
- Changes on the law allow funding of medical cannabis from National Insurance for victimes of hostilities in the same grounds as disabled veterans.
- A Gallup poll shows highest-ever support for legalisation sitting at 70%.
- The state of Ohio has voted to legalize recreational marijuana.
- Marijuana lab-testing analysis finds routine THC inflation and data manipulation.
- Low-THC beverages allowed in general stores in Minnessota cause regulatory controversy.
- Rise of pharmacy compounding in Australia raises concerns of regulators.
- A proposal to legalise recreational cannabis by the Green party causes controversy.
In the UK a conservative MP is pushing for the creation of a ‘special fund’ to guarantee children can access medicinal cannabis.
In Spain the new left-wing cabinet has taken office with a pro-legalisation medical doctor as Health minister.
Thai government drafts rules to tighten up cannabis market with uncertain effects.
Rio de Janeiro in Brazil introduces a program to distribute CBD medicines free of charge.
In Morocco, the first legal shipment of cannabis took place in the Northern region of Chauen.
Infographic of the month: Australian market
2. Market and Company Updates:
A survey conducted by Medigrowth reveals 6% of Australians have used medical cannabis under prescription and 22% have considered obtaining it.
- Cannatrek, Australian medical cannabis market leader, doubles revenues in fiscal year 2023 up to A$89.6M with A$14.6 net profit.
- Medcan launches its owned branded flowers grown in Australia. A survey by Cann I Help clinic reveals that non-GMP product remains in the market.
- New Zealand LP Medical Kiwi launches first NZ-branded medical cannabis flowers through Alliance Healthcare Australia.
- BOD Australia develops technology to make water soluble compounds, but it is suspended from the ASX.
- Promethean BioPharma joins the race to register a CBD tablet for pain patients as an OTC.
- Danish cannabis company Stenocare launches new extracts to the Australian market.
- British CBD brand Dragonfly rejected to list on the ASX exchange.
The UK market remains in a state of flux with updates in both the medical cannabis and CBD sectors of the country:
- Curaleaf launches German subsidiary Four20 products in the UK through its manufacturer Rokshaw.
- Khiron launches first Jersey-grown flower products to the UK market – 24/1 unirradiated.
- Grow Pharma reaches new supply agreements with Portuguese LPs Cannprisma and Herdade das Barrocas. Its subsidiary IPS Pharma will launch vapes under new brand Vida Vapes.
- Domestic supplier Celadon inks £9 million yearly supply contract from H2 2024.
- Lyphe group announces that operations will be unaffected by the company entering administration.
- Kanabo will supply British Cannabis CBD products through its platform.
- Drugstore chain Holland & Barrett will begin trial of OTC medicines in 20 of its stores.
- Scottish brand Voyager Life stocks products on Pets at Home Website.
- Publicly-traded Cellular Goods lists CBD products on Chill.com.
- RASB Media cancels CBD show in London refusing refunds.
EMCDDA publishes analysis on the European illicit cannabis market: worth €11 billion, over 20 million Europeans have consumed cannabis in the last year. Trend towards a higher THC concentration perseverates in the unregulated market.
Germany saw a new records in imports of medical cannabis in Q3 2023, with almost 25 tonnes of flower or flower-equivalent extracts imported in the first three quarters of the year.
- Canada increases its lead as top supplier. Portugal, Colombia and Lesotho gain share of the import market. Denmark, Australia and Macedonian imports stagnate.
- Cantourage reports €17.2M revenues in the first 3 quarters of the year and reduces its negative EBITDA. Theh distributor has reached a new supply agreement with Canadian Oceanic Releaf.
- Cannamedical brings new Macedonian strains to market from EU-GMP grower Sinceritas.
- Leading mail-order pharmacy Grünhorn launches its own dispensary brand in the country through sales partner Canymed.
- A survey carried out in 2020-2021 shows that the use and health perception of cannabidiol-containing products have been increasing among the population.
Rescaling of Canadian licensed cultivation peseveres, with estimates that 1/3 of Canadian greenhouse and indoor cultivation have been taken offline.
- Beverages giant Constellation Brands will not expand its financial support to Canopy Growth, as it completes sale of subsidiary BioSteel and continues cost and debt-reduction efforts.
- British American Tobacco (BAT) doubles down investment on Organigram.
- Aurora boasts positive cashflow thanks to positive trend of medical sales in Europe and Australia.
- In Canada, Decibel announces C$30M revenue in Q3 with 43% gross margin as it plans to expand internationally in the US and abroad.
- Cronos LP will sell and leaseback its Peace Naturals Campus in Ontario.
- Australian cannabis producer Cannim, that produces also in Jamaica, has obtained facility to grow in Ontario.
- Acqualitas, a Nova Scotian organic producer, obtains EU-GMP from German inspectors.
- 430,000 patients are assumed to use CBD through the three access schemes allowed in the country (approved products, special imports and patient associations) generating annual revenues of $143M.
- Uruguayan producer GreenMed gets ANVISA GMP to enter Brazilian Market.
- Andalusian grower Medical Plants claims to obtain commercial growing authorisation after receiving its GMP early in the year, making it the second Spanish LP after Linneo Health.
- MM Flowers, owned by berry producers in Huelva, obtains permit to validate medical cannabis production processes.
In California, the largest cannabis distributor Grassdoor has collapsed, easing operations and laying off all employees. This follows the collapse of Herbl that closed doors in June.
- US multistate operators continue to exit markets to focus on more profitable states.
- Barcelona-based Dutch seed bank Royal Queen Seeds opens seed store in New York.
Israeli government published statistics on international cannabis trade revealing a sharp decrease in importations from 24 tonnes in 2022 to just over 15 tonnes in 2023.
- Canada remains the largest supplier by far, while Portugal and Uruguay decrease their share as suppliers to the Israeli market.
In Portugal, INFARMED unveils that 5.4 tonnes were exported in the first half of the year.
- While exports to Israel dropped to a halt, the Polish and Australian market are opening up to Portuguese production.
- Lisbon-based extractor Somaì inks supply deal with Cannaforest to manufacture APIs.
In France, the first domestic LP Delled-LaFleur has produced cannabis extracts for the first time.
Indian ayurveda medicine producer HempStreet bags $1M funding to expand product range, carry out clinical trials and explore international markets.
Jujuy public enterprise Cannava has registered the first Argentinian-grown CBD medicine for sale throughout the country.
The first private medicinal cannabis clinic Medicann has opened in Ireland.
Emilia-Romagna region seeks to develop hemp supply chain with €500k loan.
3. Science updates
CBD clinical studies to treat a variety of minor ailments are progressing:
- Skye Bioscience launches phase 2 study of CBD Emulsion to treat glaucoma.
- CardiolRx™ studies use of CBD for heart disease.
- Israeli SciSparc is developing a patented CBD solution for Autism Spectrum Disorder.
- MGC Pharma study shows antiproliferative effects of cannabis extract against melanoma cells.
- Sapient Therapeutics announces positive results of solid-dose CBD pharmacokinetics trial against Epidiolex.
DEMECAN and the University of Düsseldorf begin a study on spasticity in multiple sclerosis.
Study on Cannabichromene (CBC), a minor cannabinoid, shows anti-inflammatory potential.
Genetic factors are related to cannabis use disorder, a multi-ancestry genome study finds.
- French Aelis Pharma advances phase 2b study of its CB1 inhibitor to be used against cannabis use disorder.
A study on the impact of fertilisation and pruning shows nitrogen does not increase cannabinoid concentration, sunlight distribution is key for yields and potency.
Australian project seeks to identify the best-performing hemp varietiesin the country.
17th century Italians were using cannabis, a forensic analysis in Milan reveals.


text:
Business awards to celebrate best of South West
Nearly 40 businesses will vie for awards across 19 different categories when the South West Business Excellence Awards are presented at a gala event at the Quality Hotel Lighthouse on Saturday night.
Business South West chairwoman Dr Robyn Morris said the awards continued to play an important role showcasing local businesses in their 25th year.
“The board and staff at Business South West are passionate about the small and medium sized business community in the South West region,” Dr Morris said.
“We remain strongly committed to ensuring we continue to recognise and celebrate the achievements and successes of our great business community.”
She said that while the board had not specifically looked back to celebrate previous winners during its anniversary year, it was pleasing to see so many continued to thrive in the region.
“The great thing is that many of these award-winning businesses have considerable longevity and are spread across the region,” she said.
Categories for businesses with 21-100 employees have been reintroduced for this year.
Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.
Sign up for our emails


text:
Stephen Elop of Microsoft voiced vague indications at Web 2.0 Expo that Microsoft will eventually offer a mobile version of Office for the iPhone, a move that has been rumored for almost as long as Apple’s smartphone has been on the market. Elop said Microsoft recognized that there is a growing demand from smartphone users for access to a variety Web applications and productivity applications. For example he noted that many people are accessing their Facebook accounts with their iPhones because the devices and mobile operating systems had evolved to make it practical to access Web applications like Facebook and a host of others.
Get Latest News
Subscribe to Digital News Hub
Get our daily newsletter about the latest news in the industry.


text:
During a parliamentary session held on 4 October, Senior Minister of State (SMS) for Communications and Information, Tan Kiat How, defended Singapore Post Limited (SingPost)’s recent decision to raise postage rates for standard regular mail.
He cited the necessity to address financial challenges, accurately reflect postal service costs, and ensure sustainability in response to evolving postal dynamics.
Mr Tan explained that while SingPost’s overall business remained profitable in the financial year 2022, more than 90% of these profits were attributed to its logistics division, largely driven by overseas investments.
“SingPost’s core business in Singapore is post and parcel, which incurred operating losses of S$16 million, ” Mr Tan told Parliament.
He said this is due to the global decline in letter mail, as well as intense competition from logistics companies and e-commerce players growing their own parcel delivery capabilities.
On the 19th of last month, SingPost announced a rate increase of 20 cents, raising standard regular mail rates from 31 cents to 51 cents, effective from October 9, 2023.
This was the most significant rate hike since 2014.
Tracing the lineage of Singapore’s postal and telecommunication transformations, the 1980s and 1990s emerged as pivotal decades.
Key milestones included the merger of the Singapore Postal Services Department with the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS) in 1982, the corporatization of Singapore Telecommunications Private Limited in 1992, and eventually, SingPost’s public listing in 2003.
The then Minister for Communications, Mr Mah Bow Tan, during the 2nd Reading of the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore bill in 1992, remarked, “The need for the postal authorities to innovate and compete… applies also in the case of the postal authorities… Corporatisation of the postal authorities would also allow them to take advantage of these changes and to compete in the same arena, like the courier companies and so on.”
SingPost’s operating profit
Speaking of corporate competitiveness, let’s examine SingPost’s profit since its listing in 2003.
It is evident that SingPost’s operating profit experienced a gradual upward trend until it reached its peak in 2019.
Notably, SingPost’s core business, post and parcel services, generated an operating profit of S$165.8 million, the highest among profits from other business segments.
However, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had a global impact, causing SingPost’s overall operating profit to decrease. Nevertheless, the post and parcel sector still contributed S$127.4 million to SingPost’s earnings that year.
Subsequently, this sector experienced further declines but still reported profits of S$24.8 million for its post and parcel activities in FY2021/2022, S$43.5 million in 2021, and S$127.4 million in 2020.
In total, SingPost had a profit of S$2.48 billion from its postal service alone and had garnered S$9.9 billion in revenue.
It indeed prompts us to reflect: considering the substantial profits SingPost has accumulated over the years, where have these profits been directed.
Is it equitable to transfer this burden onto consumers?
It shouldn’t be the case where profits are taken up by shareholders when times are good, and when the company’s revenue drops, consumers are told to pick up the pieces. Is this yet another case of privatizing profit and socializing cost?
Even if the government argues that it’s primarily businesses utilizing these services, it’s evident that consumers will ultimately bear the expenses.
Have SingPost been operating efficiently?
Now, let’s examine the company’s expenditures. Has it been operating efficiently?
The chart below illustrates SingPost’s revenue in comparison to the operating profit from its postal services.
For example, in FY2021/22, the company generated revenue of S$604.7 million, but the operating profit from postal services amounted to just S$119.8 million.
Similarly, in FY2022/23, the operating revenue reached S$505.5 million, yet the post and parcel business incurred operating losses of S$15.9 million.
A review of SingPost’s announcement made in May of this year reveals its operating expenses for the full fiscal year FY2022/23, which were reported at S$1.78 billion, while it recorded an operating profit of S$93.2 million.
This represents an increase in spending from FY21/22, which was reported at S$1.56 billion, alongside a higher operating profit of S$112.1 million for that financial year.
Balancing logistics, essential postal services, and profitability
When examining SingPost’s revenue in relation to its expenses, one has to question: shouldn’t SingPost, as a government-held entity, operate more efficiently with less focus on shareholder profits?
While postal services have traditionally been SingPost’s core business, as emphasized by Mr Tan, an interesting shift was observed in FY2022/2023.
The bulk of its profit in this fiscal year originated from logistics. This shift suggests that while post and parcel might be the heart of SingPost, logistics has increasingly become its financial backbone.
Further complicating the picture is the overlap between the logistics and post and parcel segments. Though logistics is distinct from post and parcel operations, in the broader sense, it encompasses the entire essence of the postal business.
In essence, the infrastructure, facilities, and manpower dedicated to the postal services could potentially serve dual roles, allowing for cross-subsidization of expenses. Such a model would ensure SingPost’s continued commitment to offering essential postal services in Singapore.
Even though Mr Tan stated in Parliament that the majority affected by the hike in postal service fees would be businesses, he failed to realize that businesses would simply pass the cost on to the consumers. Is it reasonable, then, to raise prices simply because the postal services segment wasn’t as profitable as expected?
One potential strategy to remedy this is the strategic application of cross-subsidization. Using profits from the thriving logistics segment to support and perhaps modernize the postal services can ensure that they remain accessible and affordable for all.
The property segment, another arm of SingPost’s operations, further illustrates the potential for cross-subsidization. With properties like the eCommerce Logistics Hub in Kallang and the Kallang Delivery Base, there’s a clear opportunity to integrate property revenue streams with both logistics and postal services.
For FY2022/23, SingPost’s property business contributed a revenue of S$88.3 million. Although property revenues saw a dip post the divestment of the General Storage Company, they can still play a role in stabilizing the company’s overall finances, given a strategic cross-subsidization approach.
Reflecting on the broader historical context, one must ponder: had the postal service’s accumulated earnings, amounting to at least S$2.4 billion, been channeled into the Singapore reserves over the past decades, would the returns have been sufficient to offset the expenses?
This thought inevitably brings to mind the decision to privatize the public service in 1992, prompting us to question the long-term implications of such a move and the challenges of balancing profitability with public service obligations.
Gilbert Goh challenges MOE on Israel-Hamas classroom narrative
MOE responds to critiques on Israel-Hamas conflict education
Open Letter: Addressing MOE’s teaching of Israeli-Palestinian conflict
MSF Chief urges immediate ceasefire in Gaza, highlights dire impact on children
Leong Mun Wai steps down as PSP Secretary-General over POFMA directive received
Carousell halts sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets to combat scams
MHA: Singaporean influencers issued advisories over Gaza conflict content
Samlit executives investigated for suspected fraudulent business operations
Singapore Airshow faces criticism over recurring traffic and transportation issues
1M65 founder est. S$100k loss in interest from CPF Special Account closure for aged 55+
Singapore authorities heighten vigilance as Zika signals persist in Boon Lay Place
SDP Chief Dr Chee mulls legal challenge against govt’s stance amid POFMA spree
Featured1 week ago
PA surveys community & govt confidence amid pending general election
Singapore2 weeks ago
Singapore surpasses nursing recruitment target in 2023 amidst high attrition rates
Comments1 week ago
PAP Marcus Loh accuses WP’s MP of alleged dishonesty on debate about reserves
Civil Society1 week ago
Singaporeans stand firm in support for Palestine amidst police scrutiny
Civil Society1 week ago
At least 9 individuals summoned by police over Palestine solidarity activities on 2 Feb
Community2 weeks ago
Connectivity struggles in Tengah town prompt online user discussion
Singapore5 days ago
Kenneth Jeyaretnam issued 6th POFMA direction over Ridout Road saga
Singapore2 weeks ago
PSP NCMP Leong Mun Wai highlights financial struggles of unseen Singaporeans