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With the release of this new video from Nokia, they have officially joined Samsung and the rest of the manufacturers in a move to bash/tease the iPhone by highlighting some features that is not found on the new Apple smartphone.
In this animated video, we can see a long queue of people looking exactly the same getting the iPhone 5. One guy suddenly asks if he can get a phone with colour instead of the usual black and white. Alarms rang and the group of common-looking people were all shocked and couldn’t accept the change.
Watch the video below. We feel that the animation is very well done.


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its 2008 fourth quarter financial results.
"SGI today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year
2008 ended June 27, 2008. The Company achieved its stated objectives for
the fiscal year of strong growth in bookings, a strengthened leadership
team, an array of new products and services, and penetration into new
to post comments)

domain: news


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The gaming industry has been buzzing with rumors about the release of the next installment in the Grand Theft Auto series, which is still reportedly in development. Finally, we may have some good news. It is now suggested that the announcement may come soon. Here are the details.
GTA VI Launch Confirmed?
GTA VI could finally be announced during an investor call by Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games on May 17. Hip Hop Gamer, a well-known figure in the gaming industry, recently tweeted a mysterious message along with a photo of himself with Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive.
The tweet included the phrase, “Grand Theft Auto 6 will be a forever moment to remember,” which has led many to speculate that Hip Hop Gamer may have inside information about the game. He might even be part of the new game for all we know. It’s unclear what his involvement may be but his tweet has certainly fueled excitement among fans.
Tez2, another reliable source of information about Rockstar Games believes that Rockstar Games could provide information on GTA VI during GTA V’s 10-year anniversary this year. While this is far from a confirmation of the game’s release, it’s another piece of evidence that suggests that Rockstar is gearing up for a big announcement.
Fans of the series have been waiting for a new Grand Theft Auto game for ten years, ever since the release of GTA V in 2013. Despite its age, GTA V is still incredibly popular, thanks in part to the immersive atmosphere and stunning visuals that Rockstar Games created. It goes without saying that fans would be eager to welcome the game.
While details about GTA VI are scarce, there’s no shortage of leaks and rumors about what we could expect from the latest GTA. According to some sources, the game might take us back to Vice City or to a new location entirely (possibly a fictional city based on Rio De Janeiro). The game might also, for the first time, feature a female lead character.
Regardless of what the game will entail, fans of the series are eagerly anticipating any news about its release. We will keep you posted on the details, so, stay tuned to this space. What do you expect to see in the latest Grand Theft Auto game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.


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The new RDX comes with a small price premium over the outgoing model.
Read This Article
As a sales leader and de-facto flagship, you can't blame Acura for not messing with success when it came redesigning the MDX.
Honda is adding Made-In-USA stickers to its Acura MDX, as it plans to move production from Canada to its plant in Lincoln, Alabama.
Earlier today Acura announced a voluntary recall of about 76,000 TSX models ranging from 2004 to 2008 model years.


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ArmInfo. President Vladimir Putin, on the proposal of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), ordered to deal with the automated system of pricing for air tickets. Russia is the main aviation destination for Armenia, and Russian airlines enjoy a dominant position in the air transportation market of the Republic of Armenia.
The head of the FAS Igor Artemyev drew attention to the situation with the prices for air tickets during the meeting on the development of transport infrastructure, RIA Novosti reported. The head of the FAS told the president that Russian airlines had previously imported from the US and Europe special computer-based dynamic pricing systems that set tariffs for tickets depending on demand. At the same time, in his opinion, the work of these algorithms is the result of collusion between the world's air carriers. In this connection, Artemyev suggested studying this system in order to stop the unmotivated rise in prices for air tickets. "I completely agree with you, I definitely have to completely understand what is happening there, I know about these computer systems, which set prices themselves," Putin said.
According to the online booking of Aviasales.ru air tickets, prices in 2017 decreased slightly in almost all directions entering the Moscow top 20. The only exception is tickets to Yerevan. So, if in comparison with last year tickets in practically all directions have fallen in price, in the case of air tickets to Yerevan the situation is different. It is noteworthy that almost three thousand rubles fell in tickets to Tbilisi and back, to Bourgas and back, almost five thousand less will have to pay for the flight to Tivat and back. However, it is much more expensive than last year, only a flight to Yerevan costs 17.184 rubles for a round-trip ticket versus 13.484 in 2016. Other serious price increases on popular destinations in Aviasales.ru are not noted.
Meanwhile, Russia is the main aviation sector of Armenia - only 14 flights are operated daily to Moscow airports and back. It is not difficult to guess what kind of competition has developed in this direction. However, after October 23, 2013, when the Armenian government approved the "Program to ensure the provision of competitive and long-term air transportation services in Armenia", the national air carriers of Armenia ceased their activities. As a result of Open Skies policy and effective implementation of the program, in comparison with the current situation over the next 3-4 years, it was expected to provide additional GDP of $ 0.3-0.4 billion, creation of 18,000-23,000 new jobs, mainly in Air travel and tourism, an increase in the volume of passenger transportation by 20-25%, and a decrease in ticket prices of about 10%. In fact, the Armenian market of air transportation lost its national carrier, as Armenian airlines were not ready for such competition and found themselves in a position "out of the game". As a result, Russian airlines began to dictate their "rules of the game" by raising the prices for air tickets. Many citizens of Armenia started using aviation services of neighboring Georgia. The Armenian consumer also did not wait for the promised reduction in prices, since it is already usual to force-majeure events at the Upper Lars checkpoint or after the summer holidays, when Armenians should return to Russia, the prices for air tickets have traditionally skyrocketed.


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Samsung Electronics plans to build a production line for its newer EUV 5nm chip in Pyeongtaek, Korea, and start pumping out them out by next year.
The Extreme Ultraviolet-based 5 nanometer (EUV-5nm) is a new method for building the microarchitecture of a chip.
As semiconductor geometries grow smaller, the adoption of EUV lithography technology enables scaling down of complex patterns on wafers and provides better results for applications with 5G and AI.
This 5nm process is the newer version of Samsung's line of chips and its production is expected to be in full swing in the second half of 2021.
Dr. ES Jung, president and head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics, said: “This new production facility will expand Samsung’s manufacturing capabilities for sub-5nm process and enable us to rapidly respond to the increasing demand for EUV-based solutions.
The production lines pumping out EUV chips are coded as V1 by Samsung. Currently the company operates a V1 line in Hwaseong, Korea, for the 7nm chips. However come next year this line will be joining Pyeongtaek in building 5nm chips. Samsung hopes to be developing a 3nm process eventually at these lines.


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For labels, signing an artist to this comprehensive deal is not about the instant hit anymore, says Stiffelman, who also teaches music law at the University of California Los Angeles. “Now a manager can say, if we put out an extra single I think I can get my artist on the Black Eyed Peas opening act. Now they’re not limited to how much they can sell, labels are looking at the broader picture.â€
But he warns against companies assuming greater control of an artist’s image and brand. Adding that with labels holding a share in much of an act’s deals artists can find their image exploited.
Though Branch is a proponent of the deal (arguing, “If a label invests millions of dollars in an artists and [the label] brings the artist to the world, why can’t [the label benefit from that?â€) he says that if a company does not have the proper team in place to develop an artist, than the deal is counterproductive.
Many labels, because of downsizing, are left with less staff, and with one person responsible for several jobs, some are going above and beyond their skill level, he says.Â Thus, the onus of marketing and branding can fall heavily on the shoulders of the artist and its personal management team while the label still shares in the profits.
So, where will this new business model taking the industry? In the next five years, Branch sees labels transitioning from music companies to full-service entertainment companies.
“I think we’re going to see companies establish recording divisions, touring divisions and so on, to run these talented people,â€ he says. “Labels are going to see artists as brands and not just people who can sing or rap really well. The time is right.â€


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New York -- A Wednesday report by Women’s Wear Daily said Libby Wadle been named president of the J. Crew brand, charged with overseeing both the retail and direct businesses of J. Crew, Crewcuts and J. Crew factory outlets. She was previously EVP.
Former chief administrative officer James Scully has been promoted to COO.
In other moves: Two SVPs of merchandising, Laura Willensky and Charlie Phillips, were promoted to EVPs. Tom Mora and Frank Muytjens have been elevated to SVPs of women’s and men’s design, respectively. Mark Demott, formerly SVP, has been named EVP of brand creative. Charlie Miller, formerly a VP, has risen to SVP of asset management.


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The adorable clan enjoy a day out together! Plus, see more photos of celebs spending time with their loved ones!
Jan 9, 2014 at 11:09AM
What a big family outing! Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker held hands with their twin daughters Marion and Tabitha as they escorted them to school in NYC on April 29.
Yummy recipes, DIY projects, home decor, fashion and more curated by iVillage staffers.
The very dirty truth about fashion internships... DUN DUN @srslytheshow http://t.co/wfewf
Behind-the-scenes pics from iVillage.


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Harrods, the world's most prestigious department store, is implementing a series of Merchandise Planning applications from Predictix. The software is being rolled out for Harrods' Knightsbridge store as well as its airport locations and online site.
Harrods is the world's most prestigious department store, with more than 360 departments spread over seven floors of its iconic Knightsbridge building. The store's vast selection of merchandise ranges from international haute couture to cutting-edge technology, as well as an unrivalled choice of exquisite food and drink in the world-famous Food Halls.
Harrods recognised a need to upgrade its current planning system to allow for more in-depth and more efficient forecasting processes. Rupert Symes, Merchandise Director, said, “The Predictix application was very flexible in presenting information to the users, and it provided detailed forecasts by season and merchandise class, with far more measures than before.”
Harrods can set financial performance goals prior to each fashion season, adjust budget parameters, and then buy according to the plan. The Predictix software then gives Harrods the agility to review critical performance data each week, determine what adjustments are needed in order to meet financial targets, and instantly adjust the merchandise forecast.
“Harrods is an iconic luxury brand that combines one of the most prestigious retail properties in the world with best-in-class financial performance,” said Molham Aref, CEO Predictix. “It is an honour to be working with Harrods, and we look forward to bringing a new level of effectiveness and efficiency to their merchandising processes.”


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You can tell it is now nearly summer in the northern hemisphere, festival season is now underway, and there are few better ones than the annual Luminato Festival in Toronto, Canada. Stretching over 10 days, the festival literally covers all aspects of the arts ranging from traditional disciplines to tech-centric ones. It is thus not surprising that the seventh annual gathering, starting June 14, is the place chosen for a very interesting endeavor by CrowdOptic, a maker of crowd-powered mobile applications regarding the use of a new mobile app, and its employment in the world’s first crowd-powered heat map logo. To borrow an almost cliché phrase, this is “very cool!”
Be there to be illuminated
Here is what’s happening. CrowdOptic will be providing the technology that will power key features of the virtual art gallery smartphone app being launched by its partners, the Location Based Marketing Association (LBMA) and Lancome Canada, a division of L'Oreal Canada.
Lancome will present a special project entitled “20 Bloggers for a Rose: The Lancome Virtual Gallery,” with the installation being presented from June 14 to 20 at David Pecaut Square. It presents a modern twist on the curation of photographic work done by some of Canada's top beauty, fashion and lifestyle bloggers in a virtual gallery installation. The bloggers were asked to share in pictures their take on Lancome’s iconic emblem, the rose, which has been the company’s logo since 1935.
At the virtual gallery, which can only be seen with a smartphone during the festival, attendees will be invited to download the smartphone app (available for iPhone or Android) created exclusively for the project. Once downloaded, people will be able to view the gallery virtually mounted in David Pecaut Square on their phone via an augmented reality technology.
But wait, there’s more. As the creators state, “In addition to the Virtual Gallery, the 20 photos have been purposely distributed in a predefined fashion so that when seen from an aerial view, it creates a map in the shape of a rose, the Lancome logo. While the festival viewers will be interacting with and sharing the gallery images, the aggregate effect of their engagement over the length of the festival will create the Worlds' First Human Heatmap Logo.”
"This will be the first time a crowd will actually contribute to augmented reality, the result their activity culminating in a completely new virtual experience. It's a unique opportunity for festival goers to contribute to the worlds' first art experience," said Asif Khan, founder and president of The LBMA.
''This project with the Luminato Festival stems from Lancome's natural passion for the arts," said Stuart Leitch, general manager for Lancome in Canada. ''We see the virtual gallery as an opportunity to combine art, with social media and innovative technology, creating truly unique experience for festival goers.''
Lancome Canada and LBMA selected CrowdOptic because its technology is the only one in the marketplace that can support such group/collaborative experiences using augmented reality technology.
LBMA's Khan sees Lancome Canada as an early adopter and pioneer of the direction in which many of LBMA's partners will eventually be heading. Having witnessed a similar transformation of the Web in its infancy into Web 2.0, Khan expects similar needs and end user expectations will apply in the Augmented Reality space, where apps will evolve away from static displays toward dynamic displays, built from group interaction and inputs from end users.
"Industry is leapfrogging right past static AR directly to group-connected, collaborative AR, where the emerging technologies like smart glasses are inevitably taking us," said Khan.
If you are like me, the term “crowd-powered” is new. I will even admit that the term “augmented reality,” given its new techno-centric and enhanced context, was something I needed to research.
What CrowdOptic is terming “crowd-powered” to mean is rather ingenious. It takes a "heat" signal –what it says is the next evolution of location-based services that recognizes the hottest crowd activity in real time as it occurs, and also after the fact – using powerful analytics. It uses the information it has about where smartphone cameras are located and where they are pointed to instantly filter mobile media and create new opportunities for eyewitness engagement. This is the augmented reality.
What CrowdOptic does is identify, tag and rebroadcast the live event augmented experience to the world, on mobile, social TV and second screens. It has already been used to power a wide range of apps that let users aim their phones to connect, report news, find friends, alternate broadcasts, cast a vote and discover others who share their focus and interests.
If you are interested in learning more about crowd-powered experiences, AR and CrowdOptic, the company will be presenting the technology at Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley Talks on Computing Systems (TOCS) on June 4, 2013 and at the Augmented World Expo. There is never a bad reason to go to Toronto, and I think kicking the tires at next year’s Augmented World Expo is something I am going to investigate.
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When Uber driver Liu Mindong hits the road in Beijing, she's watching more than the rush hour traffic.
(LIU ON MOBILE)
Every day Liu fires up her Uber app to find passengers -- earning at least 1300 dollars a month - nearly three times what she earned in her last job as an assistant.
But she's never quite sure if the next pick up will be her last.
"We Uber drivers all concerned about our cars being stopped and detained," she says.
That's because Uber operates in a legal grey area in China.
(TRAFFIC THEN LIU)
Unclear regulations for all ride-sharing businesses here has led to government raids on Uber offices and spooked drivers like Liu who fear being caught by the authorities.
[Liu Mindong, Uber Driver] "All Uber drivers discuss the police sting operations every day in online chat groups," she says.
Uber's seen spectacular growth here. Thanks to its People's Car campaign, It has 11 percent of the market... and boasts more than 1 million trips a day.
Uber also faces stiff competition from local rivals like Car Inc which launched a campaign featuring celebrities to Beat U - as well as taxi hailing apps like Didi Kuaidi - backed by internet giants Alibaba and Tencent.
Uber's success has also threatened the livelihood of drivers for the traditional taxi business.
"Taxi drivers complain companies like Uber are putting them out of business. So many have been organizing strikes across the country - in protest."
Driver Liu hopes Uber will work out what she believes is the biggest obstacle of all.
"We hope Uber headquarters can coordinate with the government and give us Uber drivers a sense of security."
Eunice Yoon CNBC Beijing.
(PKG)Tourism is the single most important industry in Greece, providing more than 20 billion euros in revenue last year. July and August are the peak of the season.
This is the period where I should say that everything's going fine. We're in the middle of july, things are in a period where everything should be running well. It's quite the opposite right now.
Alex Angelopoulos is on the Board of directors of the Hotel Association and says cancellations are rolling in.
"because we are in the front page of every newspaper in the world. I'm really hoping this is not going to last for very long"
But businesses of every kind are suffering. As a result of the crisis, the banks have been shut for more than a week.
Although online banking is permitted inside Greece, no one is permitted to transfer money outside of Greece, meaning business owners can't pay foreign suppliers.
Kosta Kanaroglou is the CEO of Cana laboratories, which distributes pharmaceuticals and manufactures products like anti bacterial soap. He needs to purchase materials and products from overseas.
(SOT)--the fact is i can't transfer money, its creating some issues with our providers. we import a lot of products, we import raw materials and although a lot of our partners have us some room to breathe, it this goes on for longer, its going to become a real issue.
The crisis which started in 2009 has been tough on the company. Five years ago revenues were 60 million a year, not they've fallen to only 25 million a year.
"I haven't been sleeping ok in the past five years. To be honest."
Even internet companies based in Greece are having a tough time.. Manolis Nikforakis, the founder of a weather website hosts his site on servers in the United States.
(SOT--You need servers on the cloud, like amazon, google, microsoft, rackspace, this kind of infrastrucuture. So in order to rent the mahcines and deploy your software, you obviously need to pay them.
But right now he can't.
Unemployment had finally shown some signs of improvement last year, but if this crisis continues, you can be sure unemployment will start to rise again.
Follow us on Twitter: @CNBCWorld


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Amazon is hiking the cost of Prime membership in the US from $99 to $119. The company has already increased the cost for new members and it will begin charging the higher rate for renewals next month. We see this as a risk, and in this week’s note, we outline why.
In the US, almost two-thirds of consumers have access to Prime. When we surveyed US consumers in January, some 43% of respondents said that they have a personal Prime membership and a further 21% said that they have access to Prime benefits through someone else in their household, indicating that a total of 64% of Americans have access to the program. The remaining 36% of those we surveyed said that did not have any access to Prime membership.
That high overall access rate means that Amazon’s opportunity to grow Prime memberships is becoming more limited, which may be te,mpting Amazon to try to recoup some more of the costs associated with Prime through higher fees. However if you want to use Amazon you’ll need to verify your email in the process, so if you want some advice look at the top 10 bulk email list verification services compared and get that set quick and easy.
Prime Members Drive Sales, Including in Nontraditional Amazon Categories
The risk with the fee hike is that Amazon could be jeopardizing the rate at which it grows sales in newer categories. Time after time, Coresight Research consumer survey results have underlined that Prime membership correlates with a greater likelihood to shop on Amazon for categories that have not traditionally been core to the retailer’s offering, such as food, beauty and apparel.
As we chart below, our January consumer survey found much higher penetration rates for these kinds of categories on Amazon among Prime than among those without Prime membership. The obvious implication is that having a Prime membership encourages consumers to shop across categories on the site and to try it out for purchases of categories that they might not have associated with Amazon in the past.
Amazon’s price hike therefore looks dicey, as any slowdown in new Prime memberships threatens to drag on the company’s growth in categories such as groceries and apparel—huge total markets that form the cornerstones of retailing.
US: Categories Bought on Amazon in the Past 12 Months, by Prime Membership (%)
Which Competing Retailers Could Benefit Should Prime Members Cancel Their Subscriptions?
We do not anticipate substantial numbers of Amazon customers will cancel their Prime memberships. But, if major numbers of consumers do start canceling their Prime memberships and shopping less frequently at Amazon as a result, Target, Costco, Nordstrom and Old Navy could be among those to gain shoppers. Our recent consumer surveys on the grocery and apparel markets found that Target and Costco shoppers had significantly higher Prime membership rates than average grocery or apparel shoppers did. And our apparel survey similarly found that Nordstrom and Old Navy shoppers had higher-than-average Prime membership rates.
Potentially Sacrificing Retail Growth to Invest in Nonretail Benefits?
Amazon’s Prime membership price hike comes at a time when the company is significantly investing in the video content that Prime members enjoy as part of their membership: Amazon is on course to spend around $5 billion on video content this year, up from $4.5 billion in 2017, according to JPMorgan, as cited on MediaPost and Business Insider. This compares with its 2017 revenue of $9.7 billion for its subscription services across Prime, audiobooks, e-books, digital video and digital music.
So, Prime members will continue to get more (nonretail) benefits for their money as their membership brings them a Netflix-style offering. The question is whether Amazon risks softening the retail side of its business as it pumps around half of its subscription revenues into services such as video.


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Texas could collect US$500 million annually in tax revenue, and create upwards of 40,000 new jobs if it legalizes recreational weed, a national law firm says.
With several key U.S. states expected to green light adult use by next year, Vicente Sederberg LLP released a report this week exploring the economic benefits of policy reform in one of the country’s biggest illicit markets.
A regulated, mature market in the Lone Star State would generate US$2.7 billion in annual sales, and save taxpayers an estimated US$311 million per year in criminal justice costs, the firm says.
Stakes are high in the state considering 1.5 million adults consume weed on a monthly basis, says Dwight Clark, a senior policy analyst at Vicente Sederberg who previously worked in the Texas Legislature.
“There are well over a million adults in the state who regularly consume cannabis, so enforcement costs are substantial,” Clark said in a statement. “If cannabis were regulated … criminal justice resources could then be redirected toward other, more pressing matters. Plus there would be significant revenue left over that could be used to fund other programs and services.”
Director of Sederberg’s Austin office Shawn Hauser notes how other states are realizing the economic benefits of legalization amid falling tax revenues during the pandemic.
In Colorado, which legalized adult-use in 2014, cannabis tax revenues have amounted to more than US$282 million this year alone. Based on Colorado’s combined tax rate of 20.6 per cent on cannabis, Vicente Sederberg estimates a mature Texas market would generate US$1.1 billion in tax revenues every two years.
“Texas is leaving an enormous amount of money on the table by keeping cannabis illegal,” Hauser said.
Yes BUT it would reduce tourism to Colorado, so make sure to consider Colorado first in any Texas decisions https://t.co/5Gh8bNBKu0
— Jared Polis (@jaredpolis) October 20, 2020
But legalizing weed would likely be a hard sell in Texas. While hemp production has been regulated since last year, state officials are trying to ban smokable hemp flower and CBD is only permitted for medical use if extracts are low in THC.
For now, Texans will have to wait and watch as other states advance reform.
Vermont became the 11th state to pass legislation for a regulated adult-use market this month, Maine launched its previously approved recreational economy Oct. 9 and Missouri medical patients bought their first licensed products on Oct. 17.
During the U.S. election on Nov. 3, five additional states could legalize.
New Jersey, Arizona and Montana will vote on recreational ballot measures, Mississippi will decide on a medical ballot and North Dakotans will weigh in on both recreational and medical ballots.
There’s a good chance that all six measures will pass, according to New Frontier Data, which forecasts US$3.3 billion in annual sales before 2025 if that happens.
In a new report, the market research firm estimates U.S. illicit sales are worth over US$66 billion per year.
Among states that haven’t legalized medical or adult-use, Texas commands the biggest unregulated market at US$4.3 billion in annual sales, the report states.
With stigmas dropping and established consumer packaged goods industries getting in the weed game, New Frontier projects legal U.S. sales to reach $35 billion by 2025.
That projection doesn’t include assumptions for any additional states passing legalization measures from now until 2025, nor potential federal policy changes in that time.
Top image of State Capitol building in Austin, Texas by Earl McGehee via Flickr


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Activist hedge fund Elliott Management has released a letter to Samsung’s board of directors, claiming that the South Korean tech giant needs to simplify their corporate structure, increase return of capital to shareholders, and most importantly to be listed on NASDAQ. According to the hedge fund, such changes could increase the company’s value on the stock market.
Samsung is generating about 50% of all its revenue from smartphones and tablets, as the Galaxy line has proved to be of high quality and innovative. Recently Samsung’s galaxy line reputation is on the line, as the Galaxy Note 7 has been reported to explode after overheating. The new product is a failure, but investors expect the next Galaxy to impress customers.
Elliott is also proposing that Samsung should separate Samsung Electronics from Samsung’s wider corporate holdings, “We see this as a defining moment and a tremendous opportunity for the forthcoming new leadership of Samsung Electronics to further advance the company’s remarkable legacy. Now is the time for real shareholder value, corporate governance and transparency improvements, which we believe will help Samsung Electronics achieve an equity market valuation that properly reflects its first-class portfolio of businesses. We sincerely hope that Samsung will seize this opportunity.”


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It was earlier reported that the Honda CB125F was patented in the country, speculating its launch. Now BikeAdvice opines that its launch will not happen. h
In a single day of Akshay Tritiya, the retail sales of Honda 2Wheelers grew by over 80%, breaching the highest ever mark for the first time. ] Also Read: 2018
Honda has revealed the 2019 Honda PCX150 for the United States market. The scooter will be available from July 2018. Prices start from USD 3,999 (INR 2.61 lakhs) for the ABS version and USD 3,699 (INR..
According to a report from GaadiWaadi, the Honda Navi has recorded zero sales in the month of March 2018, giving rise to speculation about its uncertain future in the Indian market.
As per BikeWale’s sources, Honda is developing battery-swapping technology for its scooters in India. ] The brand’s division in Japan is r
As per a report from Rushlane, Honda has patented its adventure scooter, the Honda X-ADV in India. The website reports that it could be launched in the country in 2019. However, this..
Honda has introduced a new Pearl Glare White colour variant for its quarter-litre, the Honda CBR 250RR for the Japanese market. The colour variant is only for the ABS model, and will be available from..
A report from the Times Of India states that Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) is developing electric scooters for the Indian market. ] Mino
The prices of the 2018 Honda CBR 1000RR and the CBR 1000RR SP have been dropped, according to a report from Autocar India. The price reduction is likely due to the recently revised taxation for CBU..
The patent images of the 2018 Honda CB 125F have been leaked. Gaadiwaadi reports that Honda will launch the bike as a part of its FY2018-2019 plan.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) announced its plans for Financial Year 2018-2019, with an eye on 2020.
The Honda Grazia has achieved a sales milestone of over 1 lakh units in less than five months of its launch. The scooter was launched in the country on November 8, last year. z
Honda has revealed the new 2018 Honda PCX125 for the European market. The scooter features a single-channel ABS with a 220 mm front disc and a 130 mm rear drum. v
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) has created a new sales record by becoming the first first two-wheeler company in the world to add 1 million plus incremental customers in a single fiscal...
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) announced that it will voluntarily inspect and if required, replace a suspected quality part in three of its scooter models – The Honda Grazia, Aviator and..
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India has officially launched the 2018 Honda CBR 250R and the 2018 Honda CB Hornet 160R. Both motorcycles were unveiled at the 2018 Auto Expo earlier this year in February..
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India launched the 2018 Honda CB Hornet 160R recently. It locks horns with a new entrant in the segment, the 2018 TVS Apache RTR 160 4V.
Following its debut at the 2018 Auto Expo last month, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India has launched the 2018 Honda CB Hornet 160R. The price starts from INR 84,675, ex-showroom, Delhi for the STD..


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The marketing group for American potato growers, Potato USA, says trade wars have put a dent in exports.
The group says potato exports in all categories in July, compared to July of last year. According to the Capital Press, the group says fresh potatoes took the brunt of it, falling by 31% in volume. Frozen and dehydrated potatoes were also off a couple of points.
The drops came after Mexico imposed tariffs on American frozen potatoes, and as China prepares to impose potato tariffs of its own.


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You don't have to work at Oracle or Apple to be among the top-paid executives in the technology industry, but it helps.
Viacom's chief executive Philippe Dauman enjoyed a whopping $50.5 million raise last year. What other top execs saw their pay jump tremendously in 2010?
J.P. Morgan Chase's Jamie Dimon made $20.8M in 2010, a hefty 1,541% increase from the dark paydays of 2009. See which other bank executives raked in big bucks last year.
Oracle's Safra Catz raked in a whopping $42 million in total compensation last year. See how much the other top earners took home
Which young executives at public companies brought home the most bacon this year? And, exactly how much bacon are we talking about?
There's one cardinal rule for holiday parties: celebrate in moderation. But why leave it at that? Here's the sage advice we have received so far.
Usually thought of as a budget brand, Kia has delivered a comfortable and engaging large near luxury sedan.
Thick smog in Shanghai has forced flight cancellations and school closures.
Small business owners are able to bring new, innovative products to market faster and cheaper thanks to 3-D printers.
A name change can sometimes cause a company more trouble than it's worth.
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A time-tested group of elite fund managers offer their best stock ideas for 2014.
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The effect the iPhone had on the mobile phone market is simply amazing. In Britain and New Zealand the handsets were sold at an incredible rate. Speed and observation capabilities were needed by any iPhone fan who simply wanted one of these shiny new devices in their hands.
It is now clear who read the news and who did not. The first surely got an iPhone, if not from the UK then maybe from New Zealand or from Belgium. We reported that in Belgium, Mobistar SA released an unlocked version of iPhones, meaning no subscription was necessary to buy the device. This came as good news to everybody who missed the chance to buy one in their own country. Of course, Mobistar could put their own price for the precious device, and they did. Even if it meant a few bucks (or pounds and euros) more the Apple’s handset sold incredibly well, there is no doubt in that.
In UK alone, the media reported that there are 13.000 iPhones sold per second. It is incredible as well how the mobile carriers could handle that many customers, but they did surprisingly well although some problems were met.
Friday was the big iPhone day. The iPhone 3G was unleashed in 20 different countries. Apple proudly came out recently and stated that over 1 million iPhone 3G were sold. The iPhone phenomenon surely made an impact on the mobile phone markets around the world. But question is: what makes iPhone so great? Is it its design or features? Or perhaps the worldwide trend to own and iPhone?
In any case, the iPhone has sold at record breaking haste and quantities. Apple’s product should surely receive the World Record for this move.


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Malawi Government has expressed fears that the recent suspension of Malawi’s biggest mining venture, the Kayelekera Uranium Mine (KUM) in Karonga may widen the gap between imports and exports in 2014.
Secretary for Industry and Trade Alex Gomani has, however, banked hopes on the continued implementation of the National Export Strategy (NES) which he said could offset the loss of uranium export revenue as the strategy is targeting to boost export earnings from other non-traditional exports.
“We hope this suspension is temporal so that it doesn’t disrupt the programmes that government has of diversifying our export base,” he said in an interview last week in Lilongwe.
Paladin Energy Limited, whose subsidiary Paladin Africa Limited, on February 7, announced the suspension of production at KUM by placing the operations on care and maintenance until the price of uranium recovers on the international market.
The decision, according to the company, will preserve the remaining ore body until a sustained price recovery occurs and Paladin hopes that production may be resumed on a profitable basis.
“We are hoping that commodity prices internationally in as far as the concerned commodity of uranium will pick after the [nuclear] disaster that happened. We are hoping that if prices start picking up, that should lead to the reversing of such a decision,” said Gomani.
The decline in the uranium price on the global market is significantly linked to the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami in Japan almost three years ago which continues to negatively impact that on the price of uranium oxide on the global market.
Gomani said currently, government is implementing the NES and stated that the ministry and other stakeholders are now strategising on areas that may need incentives in the various value-chains, particularly under the sugar and manufacturing clusters.
While admitting that the gap between imports and exports value is widening, he said the implementation of the NES should narrow such a gap in the medium to long term as exports surge.
Currently, Malawi’s exports are valued at around $1 billion against the import value of about $2.3 billion and as such trade experts contend that the NES could help the country, dogged by recurring trade deficits, generate enough foreign currency to finance for its critical imports.
The NES, which was launched in December 2012, seeks to double Malawi’s value of exports in the next five years.


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In March 2021, with U.S. health officials struggling to convince millions of reluctant Americans to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 contagion, iconic doughnut maker Krispy Kreme sweetened the pot. Any customer with a valid vaccination card was offered a free glazed doughnut “anytime, any day, even every day” for the remainder of the year.
The press release, issued on BusinessWire, triggered a national news cycle that underscored the “Joy of Krispy Kreme” marketing campaign and the company's efforts to support its customers and employees during the pandemic. With Krispy Kreme finalizing a six-year corporate turnaround, the publicity also set the stage for a $500 million initial public offering.
“We believe our consumers’ passion for the Krispy Kreme experience, combined with our expertise in innovation, provide us with unique opportunities to efficiently create major media-driven events," the company said in a stock offering prospectus published in June. "For example, our recent promotion gifting doughnuts to individuals who received a COVID-19 vaccination resulted in over seven billion earned media impressions."
Seven billion earned media impressions.
The hot light was on.
An initial public offering, or IPO, involves selling stock in a company -- shares of ownership, literally -- to investors. For the business, an IPO is an opportunity to tap into capital -- money -- to fund expansions, pay down debts and cash out founders and early investors. For public relations, an IPO involves publicizing highly regulated communications with investors, and managing a media spotlight that comes with it.
Down to business
Krispy Kreme was founded in 1937 in Winston-Salem, N.C.., when entrepreneur Vernon Rudolph began flash-frying the iconic glazed doughnuts in a shop across from Salem College. As the story goes, Rudolph cut a hole in the wall of the bakery to serve hot doughnuts to people walking by, and what would eventually become an international franchise was in business.
Over the decades, Krispy Kreme standardized its production system, invented the patented doughnut-making equipment installed in its stores, and opened franchised locations across the U.S. Southeast. The company was eventually sold to supplier Beatrice Foods Co. in 1976, only to be bought back by longtime franchisees six years later, and taken public for the first time in April 2000.
That's where the official Krispy Kreme history ends, at least in the corporate version posted online. Five years after that initial IPO, Krispy Kreme was struggling with hundreds of millions of dollars in debt used to finance its international and wholesale expansions, and a securities class action lawsuit seeking billions of dollars in damages.
By 2005, Krispy Kreme was bankrupt.
A new executive team quickly began cleaning up the mess. Focusing on "three S's" -- survival, stability and sustainability -- CEO Daryl Brewster engineered a turnaround that tapped into Krispy Kreme's reputation for making a great doughnut and engaging with local communities through FUNdraisers.
"I come from a background in marketing and general management, so it’s a little like an ad campaign," Brewster said in a Deloitte study published as sponsored content in the Wall Street Journal. "Companies spend an enormous amount of time finding the right message for their customers. But we often need the same thing for our employees, particularly if they’re going through a difficult challenge."
The strategy worked. The once-bankrupt company was sold to JAB Holding Co., a private equity firm that also owns Keurig, for $1.35 billion in 2016. This past June, the parent company sold 29.4 million shares of Krispy Kreme stock to investors, raising $500 million in the IPO transaction that values the company at $2.7 billion. Offered at $17 a share under the DNUT ticker, the stock surged more than 23% on the first day of trading.
In the offering documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Krispy Kreme credited its marketing communications strategy for driving both brand loyalty and sales. The company's paid media is 100% digital, with a social media presence across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Tik Tok and Pinterest. Krispy Kreme has an online following estimated at nearly 10 million, and says consumers engage with its online posts nearly 20% more than its nearest competitor in what it calls "the global indulgence market."
"Earned media is also an important part of our media mix," the company said. "We create promotions and products that attract media outlets to our brand. Through the widespread dissemination of our programs through pop culture, entertainment and news outlets we believe we are able to achieve attention disproportionately large relative to our spend in a media environment populated by brands with far larger media budgets."
By the numbers
What exactly do 10 million online followers, 20% higher engagement rates and those seven billion media impressions from a well-timed jab campaign add up to for the business? Everyone knows Krispy Kreme, right? The Hot Light in the window. The glazed production line behind the plate-glass window. Paper hats for the kids. At its peak in early 2013, more than nine in ten consumers would say they had heard of the Krispy Kreme brand, according to YouGov BrandIndex online polling data.
By October 2019, with the pandemic on the horizon, brand awareness for Krispy Kreme had declined to about 80%, and was trending steadily downward. While Krispy Kreme was cleaning up its financials, the company from a brand perspective was becoming less relevant among its core market of indulgence consumers.
Why? On any given day, about one in ten people would say they heard or saw something positive about Krispy Kreme. On the chart below, that's positive Buzz. On the flip side, about three in ten saw or heard something negative about the company, and that negative Buzz had been gradually diminishing over the years. Net-net, before its digital marketing push, the Krispy Kreme brand was falling off the screen.
The hot light was off.
In the months leading up to to the IPO, Krispy Kreme deployed online media and publicity to get back into that media spotlight and burnish the company's reputation. On average, about 40% of American consumers now have a positive impressive of the iconic doughnut shop. That percentage has been ticking up steadily in recent years.
The Krispy Kreme brand also seems to be benefitting from a decision by competitor Dunkin’ Donuts in early 2019 to drop donuts from its name and rebrand as a “beverage-led” company. Since that rebranding, Dunkin’ top-of-mind name recognition has dropped below Krispy Kreme, although Dunkin’ has maintained a larger customer base and significantly higher purchase intent. Business for both brands also was affected by the COVID-19 crisis, which reduced their indulgent customer base by 30% at the height of the economic lockdowns.
A tactical PR roadmap
Communications has been credited as a key ingredient in Krispy Kreme's recent success. In its stock offering prospectus, the company cited 38 billion media impressions generated last year as proof of a "passionate" consumer base that purchased 1.3 billion doughnuts in 30 countries through the iconic Hot Light Theater Shops, along with retail partnerships, and e-commerce and delivery operations.
The prospectus, formally known as the Securities and Exchange Commission Form S-1 Registration Statement, is produced largely by investment bankers and legal teams. The highly specialized document typically contains detailed discussions about the company's financial performance, ownership structure business strategy, and potential risks.
For marketing and PR, the Management's Discussion and Analysis section doubles as a a handy roadmap for aligning communications tactics to business strategies. In the case of Krispy Kreme, for example, the company's key strategic goals in the wake of the IPO and corresponding PR opportunities include:
Increase sales: The average customer visits a Krispy Kreme shop less than three times a year. Linking new product launches with topical events -- a classic PR publicity play used by Krispy Kreme -- will increase consumption and brand engagement, the company said.
Expand in new and existing markets: Take a look at Krispy Kreme's social media feeds. Shared content typically generates responses from customers begging for a Krispy Kreme closer to their home. Social media listening is evolving as a business-intelligence tool.
Promote Insomnia: The "crave-worthy" Insomnia cookies have been a hit with college students. Krispy Kreme is looking to expand its network for "Insomniacs" into metropolitan markets, with more than half of sales through the e-commerce network. That's a digital marketing communications sweet spot.
Drive production efficiencies: New management, production and delivery processes are being rolled out to improve the company's efficiency. Lower costs mean higher earnings. For PR, this is an internal communications opportunity to work with the "Leadership Mix" -- company executives -- to reach and influence "Krispy Kremers" and the Insomniac teams.
How will Krispy Kreme pull this off? Heading into the recent IPO, Krispy Kreme managed PR through two outside agencies. The specialized One Nine Three Group managed financial PR around the IPO, a highly regulated and specialized communications campaign. Meanwhile, Fleishman has been handling media relations aligned to product promotions, generating earned media for the jab campaign.
Under the "keep quiet" provisions of the IPO, we have not yet had a chance to talk with Krispy Kreme marketing communications executives about the role of PR in the Hot Light marketing mix. Stay tuned.
For our class discussion, leaf through the Krispy Kreme prospectus,
which can be found on our Moodle site.
In the comment section below,
post a "fun fact to know and tell"
about the company's business, history,
social media presence or PR efforts.
TIP: Check out the Management's Discussion and Analysis section of the prospectus.
We'll talk about your personal experiences taking the NC State Krispy Kreme Challenge,
but for this exercise,
cite facts and pull a quote from the prospectus.


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Apple’s head of retail Angela Ahrendts has sent an internal memo to employees, detailing the future of the retail experience and some of the failures of the Apple Watch launch.
"Are we going to launch every product this way from now on? No,” said Ahrendts in the leaked memo. “We all love those blockbuster Apple product launch days — and there will be many more to come. They're the moments where you, our teams, shine. And our customers love them as well!"
It seems like the Apple Watch launch did not go as smoothly as planned. The goal was to have people pre-order online, send the watch to the store and have customers try it on before taking it home - but even before the launch Apple has ran into supply and demand problems.
On the supply end, several Apple Watch components are in limited supply, including the Taptic Engine and LG display. It has forced Apple to delay most of the products until June, with some already pushed back until July due to super-high demand.
The demand end has forced Apple stores to be more aware of certain customers that have appointments to check the Apple Watch, without having facilities set-up in order to account for the hundreds of potential customers.
The Apple Watch is the most customisable and personal product Apple has launched, with several different models, colors and iterations. The set-up process alone is enough to warrant a trip to the store, meaning Apple needed to beef up support and store staff well beforehand.
The retail experience for the iPhone and iPad will remain the same way it has been since the start, although the Apple Watch will continue to be online only until May. Ahrendts and other executives will make a decision after May on whether the Apple Watch should be bought in store.


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Via its Twitter feed, Verizon has announced that it is currently inviting readers to sign-up for news updates regarding LTE capable Samsung Galaxy Nexus handset, but the carrier has yet to announce the release date of the handset. But, the enthusiasts in the United States will have the opportunity to grab the Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone for themselves very soon. According to the various rumors, December 8th could be the launch date of this beast. Fuelling to those previous rumors, the first set of the press shots of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus handset from a VZW .xml file. On the back side of the handset, you can see “Verizon”, “4G LTE’” logos. It looks like, the color scheme of the LTE version is slightly darker than the GSM version. Earlier, there was only the front face image of the Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus stored on Samsung’s website.
Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the first phone to come with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS locked inside. There might a 32GB variant of the Galaxy Nexus handset from Verizon. Other features are including 4.65 Super AMOLED HD display with 1280 X 720 pixels of resolution, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 5MP rear camera with LED flash, 2MP front facing camera to make video calls, 1080p HD video recording capability, 1GB RAM, 16GB/32GB internal memory storage, Wi-Fi, 4G LTE capability, Android Beam, NFC capability, 1750mAh battery, and many more.
More images after the break.
Interested folks can sign-up on Verizon’s website (hit the link) to know the upcoming details of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus handset from Verizon.


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Статья на языке оригинала:
Ukrainian pharmaceutical company Farmak has been around since before World War II.
Founded in 1925 under another brand name, Farmak hasn’t only managed to continue producing medicines. It has also become the leader of Ukraine’s pharma industry, with the largest market share.
Now, CEO Volodymyr Kostiuk, 34, who has served Farmak in various capacities for 12 years, aims to expand the firm’s presence in foreign markets, including in the United States.
Over 60% of the money Ukrainians spend on medication goes to foreign brands, even though there’s almost always a cheaper Ukrainian equivalent of any drug.
Kostiuk thinks it’s wrong to give preference to foreign firms over Ukrainian ones when buying medicines, but he would only trust well-established local pharma companies, including heavyweights Farmak, Arterium and Darnytsia.
In all, 115 pharmaceutical firms work in Ukraine, and Kostiuk “would not trust everyone” because some of them produce drugs that damage the reputation of the local market.
Kostiuk is an infrequent pharmacy-goer himself. But when he catches a cold, he buys medicine made in Ukraine — it’s the same, but cheaper.
“It’s effective and efficient, and with the money I save, I’ll buy something else,” he says.
There’s no way Ukrainian medications are worse, according to him. Medicines produced by major Ukrainian pharma companies must abide by European standards because they sell the same products in the European Union, a key market for many of them.
Farmak, for example, sells 37 out of its 250 medications in the EU. There, it sets nearly identical prices for medicines made from ingredients it imports from 30 countries, including Germany, India, and China. In fact, the only Ukrainian thing about Farmak drugs are the labor and packaging — printed manuals, ampoules, packs, and bottles.
“We are trying to develop medicines that won’t have any borders,” Kostiuk says. “By exporting to the EU, we show our medicines are quality enough to be sold everywhere.”
Apart from the EU, Farmak has sales offices in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan. In 2021–2022, it will start sales in the U.S.
“The U. S. pharmaceutical market is the biggest in the world. It takes over 40% of global pharma,” Kostiuk says. “Working there is a huge advantage for a pharma company and a serious challenge. (But) entering the U.S. will make it easier to enter other well-regulated markets.”
As of today, Farmak exports to 28 countries. Post-Soviet states are “a classic destination” for the export of all Ukrainian drugs, but Farmak also trades with Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. In all, the company sells 25% of its production abroad and plans to increase this number to 40%.
That focus on sales, including abroad, starts from the very beginning of developing a new generic drug, because pharma is, first of all, a business.
There should be a detailed business plan and research to show there are customers, patents allow its production, Farmak can produce it and its production is actually profitable.
Once the board makes a decision to produce a drug, it takes the company about four years to get certifications from the state regulator and a signature from the health minister to start producing and marketing it. It takes another year to start selling it.
“Decisions in pharma are made today, results are seen in years,” Kostiuk says. “I thought it was boring at first, but I’ve gotten used to it.”
As of today, Farmak has 250 medications and 100 in the making. The products range from simple eye drops to complex pre-filled syringes. Farmak medicines can treat the heart, hormone issues and other diseases.
Only two of Farmak’s drugs are original: antiviral Amizon and liver and gallbladder treatment drug Antral. The rest are generics. Farmak’s bestseller is nasal spray Eucazolin, which secured 7.4% of the firm’s sales in 2019.
On this portfolio, Farmak generated $253 million revenue in 2019 and is planning to earn 15% more in 2020. Last year’s net profit was about $40 million and 95% of it was re-invested into research and development.
“Crazy money for Ukraine,” Kostiuk says. Expenditures, he adds, are needed to compete not just on the Ukrainian market, but abroad too. Farmak even attracted a 15-million-euro loan for development from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Currently, the company is investing in ramping up production, expanding labs, and producing its own active ingredients — key elements in drugs — to save on imports.
“We aren’t trying to transfer anything to Europe. We are building Europe in Ukraine,” Kostiuk says. “We want to develop, enter new markets. We’ll do it from Ukraine.”
Scientists around the world regularly come up with more efficient chemical substances that have fewer side effects. Once a chemical substance is created, it’s creator gets an exclusive patent on its development and sales for 20 years. Once a patent ends, generic companies like Farmak can replicate the drug and sell it too. The company monitors expiring patents and starts making new drugs every year.
These drugs, excluding export, go to pharmacies and hospitals through at least five large distributors that work in Ukraine, including BaDM, Optima Farm and Venta.LTD. A company also must have marketing specialists who talk to doctors and to pharmacies about new drugs and even negotiate how packaging is displayed.
In Ukraine, 12% of drugs are bought with state budget money. These are mostly critical medications for people with cancer, breathing problems and HIV.
This means that 88% drugs sold in Ukraine are sold to individuals. The lion’s share of these medications usually aren’t prescribed, as self-medication remains popular: 82% of Ukrainians prefer to buy medication themselves without seeing a doctor if they have mild ailments, according to German pharmaceutical company STADA.
Kostiuk thinks this is part of the post-Soviet mentality and says it’s wrong. “People should get treatment only if it’s really needed,” he says. “I have always been against self-treatment. A doctor knows better what pills to take.”
“If you’re making money in pharma,” he adds, “then you should make it the right way — not on someone’s grief, but trying to help.”
SAP SucсessFactors – система для управления сотрудниками. Она автоматизирует все HR-процессы: от поиска и найма до оценки и развития членов команды. Систему уже используют 120 млн человек из 7000 компаний по всему миру. В спецпроекте с IT-компанией SAP редакция MC.today расспросила специалистов «Метинвест» и «Фармак», как SuccessFactors помогла им сэкономить...
Как выпустить миллион таблеток и ни разу не ошибиться С точки зрения рядового потребителя лекарств, у таблетки есть нечто общее с магией. Ведь подавляющее большинство людей не знают химии и физиологии, но они очень хотят, чтобы фармпрепарат, который выписал врач, сработал. То есть вылечил их, насколько это возможно. Правда, это незнание часто оборачивается с...
АО «Фармак» — крупнейший отечественный производитель лекарственных средств, его доля на рынке лекарств в Украине оценивается в около 6%. Помимо продаж в стране, компания активно экспортирует. В 2019 году география продаж на внешних рынках охватила 25 стран. Экспорт составил 24,2% от общей суммы выручки. Согласно стратегии развития, компания ...


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The Madhya Pradesh Assembly passed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Amendment Bill.
State’s Law Minister Rampal Singh moved the GST Constitution Amendment Bill in the house for the approval.
Finance Minister Jayant Mallaiya said Madhya Pradesh will benefit from the GST as it is basically a consumer state.
He further said that the GST will simplify the tax structure across the country and bring transparency in the tax system.
Madhya Pradesh became the seventh state to ratify the GST Amendment Bill after Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.


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Mobile agency Fetch wins eBay's media and creative business
By Nick Batten, mediaweek.co.uk, Wednesday, 21 November 2012 11:31AM
Fetch, the mobile marketing agency, has been appointed by the global online marketplace eBay to manage all of its mobile media and creative campaigns across Europe.
The agency won the brief following a competitive pitch against eight undisclosed agencies and its work with eBay will launch later this year, with a campaign geared towards the Christmas trading season.
Fetch claims that mobile already accounts for a considerable amount of eBay's business, and will play a significant role in its Christmas media strategy.
James Connelly, managing director for Fetch, said: "We have long considered eBay to be one of the most innovative brands in the mobile space, so, as an agency that’s passionate about innovation, we're extremely excited about working with them.
"We've been using eBay as a best-in-class case study for years, and we're looking forward to helping eBay strengthen its mobile offering, and engage with consumers across multiple platforms."
The eBay win follows a run of new business wins by the agency, including Square Enix and Bloom FM.
Earlier this year, Fetch hired Bigmouthmedia founder Steve Leach in the newly created role of chairman.
In September, eBay redesigned its logo for the first time in 17 years.
This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk
- CREATIVE DIRECTORS Live Recruitment Negotiable, England
- DIGITAL DESIGNER - DIGITAL AGENCY Live Recruitment £23000 - £28000 per annum + BENS, Surrey
- GRAPHIC DESIGNER - AGENCY Live Recruitment £NEG + BENEFITS, Hertfordshire
- DESIGNER - AGENCY Live Recruitment DEPENDING ON EXPERIENCE, North West England
- DESIGNERS - DIGITAL, INTEGRATED AND PRINT Live Recruitment £competitive, West Midlands
- Land Rover to move global ad account into Spark44
- Martin Sorrell talks Maurice Lévy, Tesco, and the global outlook
- Viacom to bring Breaking Bad to Freeview with Spike launch
- 'Advertisers are snake oil salesmen', says Peter Oborne
- Group M retains £80m Lloyds media
- WPP's Martin Sorrell reconsiders strength of newspapers


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Please allow me to share with your esteemed readers that last week, an Indian Agro Company, Arjun Beeswax Industries registered their business with Rwanda Development Board (RDB) under the name “Arjun Beeswax Industries (Rwanda) Limited” and are working towards launching their manufacturing facility in the Kigali Economic Trade Zone, in the very near future.
What is special about this investment is the fact that this company will use waste which is just being discarded by farmers at present, as their raw material. They will then convert this waste into beeswax and other waxes, which is much needed in the pharma and cosmetic business.
Since Rwanda presently, does not have these industries, Arjun Beeswax (Rwanda) will export their products, thus earning valuable foreign exchange for the country.
As Dr. Belay Begashaw has very rightly remarked, “We should start looking at agriculture as a business.”
This is precisely what Arjun Beeswax will do for our farmers. Such innovations will surely enhance Rwanda’s economic growth and we wish the Indian investor every success here in this beautiful land of a thousand hills and a million smiles.
Reference to the story, “Millenium devt villages official tips on agric” (The New Times, March 11)


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People shop for vegetables on a street in Hyderabad on Saturday. Associated Press
Government’s efforts to reverse the slowdown on the back of a sluggish GDP growth is expected to induce volatility in the Indian equity markets during the coming week.
India’s federal government on Thursday asked state administrations to raise $32 billion in loans, as part of a proposal to cover a shortfall in fiscal receipts that could see a surcharge on the country’s luxury goods tax extended beyond 2022.
Continuing with the opening session losses, Indian equity benchmarks settled sharply lower on Friday, in line with the weakness in global markets.
India has forecast its economy will grow 8 per cent to 8.5 per cent for the fiscal year starting in April, down from 9.2 per cent projected in the current year, as it fights a spike in COVID-19 cases and rising inflationary pressure.
The company announced two weeks ago that it would cancel 900 connections in July. Now it will take out of the system a further 2,200 of a total of 80,000 flights, Lufthansa said, dpa news agency reported.
According to data from hotel management analytics firm STR, Dubai ranked No.1 globally in hotel occupancy, ahead of other international destinations including New York, London and Paris for the January-April 2022 period.
A day after endorsing Ukraine’s candidacy to join the European Union, the bloc’s leaders turned their attention on Friday to the severe economic turbulence looming over


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The chairman of Alibaba — Jack Ma—warned on Monday that over the next three decades, Artificial intelligence and other technologies will cause people “more pain than happiness.”
Before you get your face in this mood:
There is more.
He also said that Robots could replace CEOs. In his words:
“30 years later, the Time Magazine cover for the best CEO of the year very likely will be a robot. It remembers better than you, it counts faster than you, and it won’t be angry with competitors.”
“In the coming 30 years, the world’s pain will be much more than happiness, because there are many more problems that we have come across,” Ma said.
Ma said this in a bid to encourage businesses to adapt or face problems in the future. According to him, 15 years ago, he gave hundreds of speeches warning about the impact of e-commerce on traditional retailers and few people listened because he wasn’t as well-known as he is now.
However, Ma is of the opinion that machines shouldn’t replace what humans can do, but instead, the technology community needs to look at making machines do what humans cannot. This would make the machine a “human partner” rather than an opponent.
The problem is that in the past, there has always been some new job to shift to. Blue collar job to white collar. Now, automation is hitting all across the board which means that in the future, many of these jobs will be gone with nothing to replace them as AI will do the new jobs too.
By the way, I wonder why some tech CEOs (Bill Gates, Elon Musk and others) are scared of AI? Shouldn’t they be saying how great AI is?


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Amid new data that U.S.-made goods hold high cachet overseas, especially in the blooming China market, American manufacturers are in a favorable position to export. Exporting enables companies to expand markets, generate new distribution and revenue streams, and weather changes in the domestic economy.
As ideologically divided lawmakers in Washington continue to threaten to let the country fall over the fiscal cliff, exporting might no longer be just a competitive advantage but a means of business survival.
"We're in Europe and Asia. Our strategy is to diversify and protect against conditions by being in more markets," said Michael Araten, president and CEO of Hatfield, Penn.-based plastic part manufacturer Rodon Group, which makes the popular K'Nex building toys. He noted that due to amenable currency exchange rates, shipping costs are "not outrageous," and with the Made in U.S.A. brand finding popularity again, "it is easier" to export now.
"Of course, it's not a cakewalk, but if your product is compelling and priced effectively, you will gain business," Araten advised. "We've been at it for decades. For companies starting now, look to Canada and Mexico. There are 50 million people to sell to."
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, 95 percent of the world's consumers are outside the United States, yet just 1 percent of American businesses export, and 58 percent of those only sell to one foreign market. But there is good news: the number of exporting businesses is growing, and the vast majority of new exporters are small and midsize firms - the profile of most manufacturers. The federal agency also notes that exports support 20 percent of all U.S. manufacturing jobs and 70 percent of new-job growth is created by small businesses.
Unsurprisingly, one of the White House's goals is to continue to raise exports in order to generate job growth and continue the momentum in the manufacturing sector, which has slowed in recent quarters.
In his 2010 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama announced the National Export Initiative (NEI), with a goal of doubling U.S. exports by the end of 2014. Under these auspices, 19 federal agencies now offer businesses - particularly small and midsize ones - export assistance programs and international sales strategy planning services, all of which are listed under Export.gov, an information site run by the Commerce Dept.'s International Trade Administration.
One of those assisting agencies is the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which has been running a pilot program called the State Trade and Export Promotion (STEP) Program under authorization of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. Designed to increase the number of small-business exporters, the program awards a total of $30 million in financial aid each year to U.S. states that apply.
Whether a manufacturer is selling finished goods or industrial goods, before exporting can actually happen, groundwork must be laid, such as outreach and promotion. Face-to-face contact is still the most effective marketing method, and trade shows are still the best F2F vehicles for convincing buyers. STEP grants thus go to state economic development organizations, or EDOs, for supporting small business participation in overseas trade missions and trade exhibitions, as part of an NEI mandate.
Big manufacturing states such as California ($2.5 million), Illinois ($1.3M), Michigan ($1.5M), Pennsylvania ($1.7M) and Washington ($1.6M) command some of the largest STEP funding.
"A second round of STEP funding just took place," noted Larry Turner, president and CEO of Hannover Fairs USA, which is coordinating with a number of state EDOs on their participation in Hannover Messe, the world's biggest industrial technology trade show, which will take place April 8-12 in Hannover, Germany. "Each state has a different STEP program, but states are putting together delegations [to Hannover Messe]," Turner, a veteran international business marketing and development specialist, added.
Last year, for example, Washington exhibited under the state's commerce department's Clean Technology Export Program and one company, B&G Machine, was able to enter into a multi-year contract with German diesel engine manufacturer. The state is participating in the show again in April.
As states disburse their STEP funds, Turner is currently traveling around the country to help owners of small manufacturing firms get into a select number of "STEP seats" among the EDO delegations but recently stopped in New York to speak exclusively with ThomasNet News.
For small manufacturers looking to benefit from government assistance and resources, "the delegation programs are not well known, so they're a best-kept secret," Turner explained. He said that with a softening domestic market, short-term to midrange overseas opportunities can provide a safe haven of sorts.
Hannover Fairs USA is the U.S. subsidiary of industrial trade events organizer Deutsche Messe, the company that teamed with the Association for Manufacturing Technology on co-locating the Industrial Automation North America show at IMTS 2012. Hannover Fairs USA facilitates small-business participation in Hannover Messe and other Deutsche Messe trade shows, including the machine tool fair EMO and business digital technology event CEBIT, both of which are also held in Hannover.
Hannover Messe, which consists of 11 co-located trade fairs covering industrial automation, power and transmission control, and industrial supply and production technologies/services, among others, is one of Deutsche Messe's flagship annual events.
Covering nearly 2.5 million net square feet of show space and attracting over 6,000 exhibitors and 200,000 trade visitors in high-watermark years, Hannover Messe carries the Commerce Dept.'s Trade Fair Certification, which means it is federally recognized as an export-centric trade show and attended by the U.S. Commercial Service of the Commerce Dept. The government's official list of sectors covered by Hannover Messe includes chemical production machinery, composite materials, electronics production, plastics production and materials and robotics.
For the third straight year, the U.S. Commercial Service will have a group exhibit at Hannover Messe, showcasing U.S. manufacturers and business development organizations while providing marketing, promotional and resource support. The U.S. Commercial Service will be helping EDOs and businesses with subscriptions to Commerce Dept. services, building contacts with foreign governments and business leaders, supplying bilingual trade assistants to match-make and set up meetings.
On a state-by-state basis, companies that can get into those STEP seats can benefit from a 50 percent reduction in exhibit space costs, matchmaking services, assistance with travel and lodging expenses and a listing in a supplier pocket guide. Turner added that Hannover Fairs offers U.S. firms turnkey exhibitor packages that include furnished booth space, catering and marketing help.
For 2013, in particular, Turner said the Commerce Dept. agency will be looking at trade opportunities for U.S. businesses in growing markets, such as the BRIC nations, Turkey and South Africa. Its pavilion, called the USA Investment Center, will be among 150 international delegations in the 50,000-square-foot Global Business & Markets networking area at the show.
According to Oliver Frese, Deutsche Messe's senior vice president based in Hannover, who joined Turner in New York to visit ThomasNet News, Hannover Messe produces some 5 million business matchmaking opportunities over the show's five days. One in five visitors is a CEO or company owner. "It's a platform to get in touch with the world market," he noted.
Out of the event's 200,000-plus attendees representing approximately 90 countries, 60 percent are European, followed by 25 percent from Asia, but Americans make up only 10 percent of the total. So while it's a "very international fair," Frese said, the competitive field between U.S. companies is relatively small. And Turner added that more than eight out of every 10 American firms at Hannover Messe are small companies, with fewer than 100 employees.
Turner said Hannover Messe might see around 30 U.S. EDOs in April. His word of advice to companies looking to take advantage of government-backed export help: "Contact your state EDO. The states are driving it."


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Apple will launch a new 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air later in 2020, both of which will be powered by Apple Silicon processors, according to DigiTimes. The same report also claims an iPad in a new 10.8-inch size will launch at about the same time.
DigiTimes cited sources indicating that backlit units for the MacBooks and iPads will begin shipping in the third quarter of 2020 before the launch of the final products later in the year.
The report comes to a similar conclusion as one recently released by noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Earlier in July, Kuo stated he believes Apple could potentially launch the MacBook Air first. The 13-inch MacBook Pro might come a little later, with Kuo suggesting it could go into production in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Both Kuo’s report and the one from DigiTimes suggest Apple is on track to release its first Apple Silicon Macs by the end of the year. This was something explicitly promised by the company at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2020, where Apple CEO Tim Cook announced it would begin transitioning away from Intel processors and toward its own custom-made chips. This switch would take about two years to complete, according to Cook.
Apple does not currently sell a 10.8-inch iPad; instead, its closest offerings are the 11-inch iPad Pro, the 10.5-inch iPad Air, and the 10.2-inch iPad. The new 10.8-inch could feature the same redesigned chassis that the iPad Pro received in 2018, with slimline bezels and no Home button to make room for a much more spacious display.
Given DigiTimes’ mention of the upcoming iPad’s low cost, the 10.2-inch iPad seems the most likely candidate for this redesign.
The DigiTimes report also notes that its sources expect the device to sell well: “Sales prospects for the new 10.8-inch iPad devices are also bright as the new lineup, which feature high-performance CPUs, will be available at more affordable prices, the sources indicated.”
According to leaker L0vetodream, that “high-performance CPU” will be the A12 currently used in the iPad Air. In fact, the only iPad not currently on the A12 generation of processors is the 10.2-inch iPad, which uses the A10 processor launched in 2016. That lends further credence to the idea that the 10.8-inch iPad is a redesign of this particular model, bringing it in line with the chip capabilities of Apple’s other iPads.
Equipped with such a powerful chip and a very affordable price, the 10.8-inch iPad could be the tablet to beat when it launches later this year. We will be on hand with our impressions as soon as we get one.
- This Acer OLED laptop (almost) beats the MacBook Air 15 — and it’s cheaper
- My last hope for Mac gaming is the iPhone 15 Pro
- No, Apple won’t launch a $99 MacBook for this simple reason
- Apple could soon kill off the Mac Pro, new report claims
- The MacBook Pro 14 still obliterates this Windows laptop


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Khieu Thy, President of the Association of Khmer Tourist Guides of Angkor, said that opening the kingdom to foreign tourists is now important. More precisely, it is the dream of the Cambodian tourism industry.
Suffering from a shortage of foreign visitors for over a year, Mr. Tai stressed that the tourism sector is facing an unprecedented drop.
“If Cambodia reopens its doors to foreign tourists in the fourth quarter, it will restore jobs and income for those working in the sector,” he said. A report from the Ministry of Tourism showed that 1,306,143 foreign tourists visited Cambodia last year, down 80.5% from the previous year (6,610,592 tourists in 2019).
The decline in tourist arrivals from overseas last year cost the Cambodian tourism industry more than $ 3 billion in lost revenue. International tourism revenues generated just $ 1.023 billion in 2020, down 79.2% from the $ 4.919 billion generated in 2019.
This year the situation is gradually changing for the better. Tourism Minister Tong Hon announced that Cambodia registered a total of 194,025 domestic tourists in May. The figure showed a sharp increase of 696.33 percent over the previous month. In April, all resorts in the country were temporarily closed by order, and a travel ban across the country was introduced to prevent the spread of Covid-19 during the Khmer New Year and beyond.
The travel ban and closure were introduced on April 6 and 17, respectively. On April 25, the government announced it would lift the inter-provincial travel ban and reopen most of the country’s tourist attractions, with a few exceptions.
Since then, the Ministry of Tourism has recommended that all provincial and municipal tourism departments and tourism-related businesses, as well as other interested organizations, strengthen health prevention measures and help ensure the safety of all tourists and service workers during the current pandemic.


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In May 2005 ALDO was introduced to India with the first store opening in Mumbai, Phoenix High Street. ALDO India provides an unparalleled selection of the latest footwear and accessories for both men and women, with on-trend styles at a fair price. It is being run in India by the famous franchiser- Major Brands.
Famous footwear and accessories brand, Aldo has filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in the US. This move would be applicable for its stores in Switzerland, the US, and its home country Canada. The outbreak of COVID-19 has put a lot of pressure on the brand, therefore, in order to seek protection, the company was forced to takes the stride.
The bankruptcy process is being managed by consulting firm EY.
“ALDO is one of the world’s leading fashion footwear and accessory brands with a solid track record of growth and profitability for almost half a century. It is no secret that the retail industry has experienced rapid and significant change over the last several years,” Aldo CEO David Bensadoun said in a statement released May 7.
“We were making strong progress with the transformation of our business to tackle these challenges; however, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has put too much pressure on our business and our cash flows,” Bensadoun added.
Filing for bankruptcy is a way to reach a settlement with its creditors and help the business stay afloat. With this, the brand aims to focus on its operations and bounce-back. Aldo is an enormous fashion retailer with a total of 8000 employees and 700 across the globe
“Aldo has reiterated its engagement towards its franchisee network and the fact that they are an integral part of their success… The protection afforded by the reorganization proceedings will allow the retail organization to “right-size” our owned and operated brick and mortar business while enabling us to confidently supply our franchisee partners without disruption,” the group said in a statement.
However, this decision does not have any major impact on the brand’s business in India. “We have a long-standing association with Aldo Group International and share a strong relationship with them,” said Tushar Ved, President, Major Brands (India). “We don’t see this transition affecting India operations in any way. We launched the first-ever Aldo store in India, in Mumbai,


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Oh, the wonders of Microsoft’s Kinect technology. Last month, we told about the space docking system that uses Kinect technology to align a nanosatellite. Early this week, we also wrote about a Kinect technology used in vascular surgery. Well, if you think that Kinect is cool, there’s more to that. Have you imagined equipping your house with Kinect sensors so that you can keep track of all your things down to the smallest detail? Two computer scientists from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville were able to develop a system called “Kinsight” using Kinect technology to record specific locations of household items such as keys, wallet, mobile phones and remote controls.
Shahriar Nirjon and John Stankovic said that Kinsight works by tracking people and the objects they interact with. To do that, objects in the house, for example, will have to be manually tagged in order for it to be searchable in the system. New Scientist explains that every object is compared to Kinsight’s database and that the system can locate fist-sized objects with an accuracy of 13 centimetres. Creators Nirjon and Stankovic said that they are planning to develop a smartphone app for Kinsight in the future. We’d definitely love to see more of Kinsight’s capabilities.
Filed in Kinect.. Read more about


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Samsung India has just announced its Galaxy A9 Pro smartphone in India priced at Rs 32,490. The smartphone will be available for sale in India from September 26 in Gold, White and black color options. The newly launched smartphone flaunts a 6-inch display along with the 5000mAh battery.
Coming to the specifications, the Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro features a massive 6-inch full HD Super AMOLED display with 1080×1920 pixels resolution. It runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS. The display of Galaxy A9 Pro is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. The device is gets the power from Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 1.8GHz octa-core processor coupled with a 4GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage. The storage of Galaxy A9 Pro is expandable up to 256GB via microSD card.
The device is based on metal and glass design similar to the other smartphones in its 2016 Galaxy A series. On the camera front, the smartphone has a 16MP primary rear camera with LED flash, optical image stabilization, and f/1.9 aperture. While the front camera sports an 8MP sensor with wide-angle support and aperture at f/1.9. The camera features like HDR, face beatification, and palm selfie is provided herewith.
The Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro was previously launched in China in March this year. The Galaxy A9 Pro is an upgraded version of its predecessor Samsung Galaxy A9. With the ‘Pro’ moniker, the company has upgraded the hardware specification. The Galaxy A9 has featured a 3GB of RAM, a 4000mAh battery, and a 13MP camera. While the new Galaxy A9 Pro offers 4GB of RAM, a 5000mAh battery, and a 16MP camera.
The Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro is a dual-SIM smartphone with connectivity options like 4G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, and USB 2.0. The sensors on board include a fingerprint scanner, accelerometer, magnetometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, and ambient light sensor. The device is powered by a 5000mAh battery with the fast charging capabilities and weighs around 210 grams. The smartphone is just 7.9mm thick and flaunts a narrow bezel of 2.7mm.
The Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro will be available in retail stores from September 26 in Gold, Black, and White color variants.


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Kohlberg Kravis Roberts pulled out of the battle for Safeway on Monday, reducing the number of suitors to five.
But the US buy-out specialist has kept its options open and may return to the fray.
In a statement, KKR said that it 'has decided for the time being not to progress its potential offer for Safeway any further, but will continue to monitor the situation and keep its position under review.'
As Retail Week went to press Wal-Mart remained the favourite to land Safeway.
As expected, the proportion of Safeway shareholders that accepted the Morrisons offer by the first deadline of last Friday was tiny. Just 0.67 per cent gave it the nod.


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Brands and agencies seek better ways to coordinate marketing tools
Chicago – Sept. 24, 2014 – Marketing tools are rapidly evolving and marketers are spending more money on technology than ever before. But 1 in 2 marketers report that fragmented technologies impede their ability to create a consistent experience for consumers across the web, mobile and other channels, according to a survey released today by Signal, a global leader in real-time, cross-channel technology.
The first global study of its kind, Signal’s Cross-Channel Marketing and Technology Survey found that marketers clearly recognize the importance of integrating the data-driven tools they utilize for email, ad-serving, search marketing, data collection, attribution, CRM and more. A powerful majority (9 in 10) believe that connecting the disparate tools in their company’s marketing technology stack would improve their ability to innovate, personalize consumer interactions, send timely messages, boost loyalty, evaluate campaigns, and increase return on marketing investments.
However, 51% of marketers say they have yet to integrate marketing technologies beyond the most basic level. Fewer than 1 in 20 marketers reported having a fully-integrated technology stack. This lack of coordination is a key factor preventing marketers from reaching the holy grail of true, cross-channel engagement with consumers across their laptops, smartphones and tablets.
Signal conducted the survey in September to better understand the challenges faced by marketers in getting more value from their technology stacks. Survey respondents included 281 marketers spanning 16 vertical industries in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
“Marketing technology is advancing at lightning speed,”said Mike Sands, Signal CEO. “Marketers are spending more on technology and they’re under pressure to fully optimize their tools across channels and throughout the customer journey.”
“It’s not enough just to buy the latest technologies. In order to deliver cutting-edge customer experiences, marketers need to improve coordination between their tools and power them with high-quality, up-to-the minute data,”Sands said.
The survey found that:
- 67% of marketers believe the technology landscape is evolving rapidly or at light speed
- 53% have steadily or significantly increased technology spending in the last 3 years — and a significant portion are constantly evaluating new tools
- 63% report the tools in their technology stacks are underutilized
- 51% feel that their technologies don’t help them achieve true cross-channel marketing coordination
- Only 4% feel well-prepared to move forward with cross-channel marketing based on their technology stack capabilities
- Just 9% of marketers believe that technology is their strength
For many years the dominant strategy in digital marketing has been adding more and more single-point solutions to solve the challenges of the day. But consumer behavior has outpaced the ability of marketers to respond with the right message at the right time in the right channel.
“Consumers expect personalized and timely interactions as they move between digital devices and offline channels such as call centers, stores, and kiosks,”said Joe Stanhope, Signal’s Senior Vice President, Marketing. “It’s clear that marketers need a new approach to create the level of engagement today’s consumers expect, and meeting that goal requires a roadmap for making their data and technologies work better together.”
Signal is the global leader in real-time, cross-channel marketing technology. The Signal Open Data Platform helps marketers collect data from any offline or online source, synchronize that data across all consumer touch points, and deliver it to any marketing or analytics endpoint –all in real time. The platform is ecosystem-neutral and helps data and marketing technologies work better together, driving increased engagement, loyalty and conversions.
Signal’s technology runs on more than 40,000 digital properties in 158 countries. Our platform facilitates billions of data requests monthly, supporting top brands around the world that generate more than $1.5 trillion in commerce, including Allstate, Audi, Crate & Barrel, JetBlue Airways, Starcom MediaVest Group, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and many more. Visit www.signal.co to learn more and follow Signal on LinkedIn and Twitter.


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According to the Racine County newspaper, the full-size grocery store will employ 240 to 250. It plans to open by late fall, The Journal Times reported. Festival Foods said its store will be open 24 hours day, and will expand to increase the store’s size to about 70,000 square feet.
The former Sentry at 5740 Washington Ave. closed in January 2013, citing competition with a proposed Walmart that has since opened across the street on Washington Avenue.
Skogen’s Festival Foods, which was founded in Onalaska but now has operational headquarters in De Pere, owns 17 of the 19 Festival Foods stores in Wisconsin. The Festival Foods brand is owned by Supervalu.
The grocery chain broke ground in Kenosha, its first southeastern location, last summer.


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Kim Marques stands outside of the newly opened KRM Auto Repair shop located at 505 S. Pioche hwy No. 5. KRM Auto Repair is open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon. For more information on KRM, call 775-289-3545. (Teresa Stewart photo)
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Asda has earned plaudits from customers and the media after becoming the first UK supermarket to sell a full range of school uniforms tailored for children with specific needs.
The lifestyle website GoodtoKnow and various mainstream media outlets reported that Asda has launched its new Easy On Easy Wear collection as part of its George brand. Parents can choose from a wide range of items from school shirts, trousers, skirts, shorts, jumpers, and dresses for their youngsters with prices from as little as £2.50.
In designing the garments for children with specific or sensory-sensitive needs, Asda said it has “undertaken extensive research with customers and charities to ensure our clothing is suitable” and will make it easier for parents who are buying school uniform.
The new range has been introduced in response to a survey carried out by the supermarket that revealed nine in 10 parents admitted they get “distressed or upset” when trying to either dress their children or watch them try to do it themselves.
Asda found that children take nearly twice as long to get dressed wearing traditional clothing if they have specific needs and they put it down to the fact that most school clothing is designed with neuro-typical children in mind.
Caroline Hicks, head of schoolwear at George, said the brand “received a few letters from customers asking us how we could support their needs, focused around independence and easy to wear clothing.”
She said: “These customers supported us as we developed the range, and have given us incredibly valuable feedback along the way.”
She added that 71 per cent of children with autism attend mainstream schools: “We know that these children want to look the same as their peers, so we have designed the range to look just like the rest of the school clothing we offer.”
GoodtoKnow reported that features which normally make dressing problematic for children with specific needs include:
- tight necklines
- hard to-do-up buttons
- itchy labels
- irritating seams
- uncomfortable fabrics
- non-elasticated cuffs.
By comparison the Asda Easy On Easy Wear school clothing provides:
- buttons with easy close fastenings
- softer thread on seams
- elasticated waistbands
- care instructions printed on fabric instead of labels
Selina Maycock of GoodtoKnow wrote: “There’s enough for parents to worry about when making sure school uniform is Covid free, but what’s even better is that despite all of the above tweaks to the uniforms, the items look the same as what is sold in Asda’s regular schoolwear line.
“M&S currently sells an easy dressing uniform range but it is limited to t-shirts, shirts, trousers, skirts, and socks.”


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The novel coronavirus outbreak, nevertheless, appears to have taken its toll on the Disney+ Hotstar rollout as nicely. The scheduled rollout of Disney+ content material on Hostar has been delayed because of the unsure destiny of the 13th version of the Indian Premier League (or higher generally known as IPL).
In an official assertion, Mr. Uday Shankar, President – The Walt Disney Company APAC and Chairman, Star & Disney India stated, “We recently announced that Disney+ would launch in India through the Hotstar service in conjunction with beginning of the Indian Premier League cricket season. Given the delay of the season, we have made the decision to briefly pause the roll-out of Disney+ and will announce a new revised premiere date for the service soon.”
If you didn’t already know, the outbreak has delayed one of many largest cricketing occasion in India. IPL 2020 stays suspended till April 15, after which the federal government will provide you with new advisory and pointers. The match was set to kick-off on March 29, the identical day that Disney+ Hotstar was set to rollout as nicely. Here’s a fast have a look at what the brand new UI goes to appear like:
So yeah, you possibly can say that the Disney+ Hotstar rollout in India has been placed on maintain indefinitely. As for your whole favourite Disney, Marvel or Star Wars content material, it’s going to develop into accessible in India when the brand new dates for IPL 2020 are introduced. If IPL 2020 is canceled to additional curb the unfold of COVID-19, then will the Hotstar Disney+ launch be canceled as nicely? Or will it arrive someday within the subsequent couple of months?
The delayed Disney+ Hotstar rollout is disappointing information nonetheless as I had been eagerly ready to binge on all of the Marvel content material as soon as once more. What about you? Share your opinions within the feedback down beneath.