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DETROIT -- Chrysler LLC
will kick off a nationwide marketing campaign next week in an effort to reassure consumers it is safe to buy a car or truck from the bankrupt automaker.
Executives for the Auburn Hills-based company said Friday that Chrysler will run full-page newspaper ads on Sunday and Monday announcing the campaign, titled: "We're building a new car company. Come see what we're building for you."
Chrysler also will mail discount "loyalty" coupons to 9 million Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep owners, and will kick off a new round of incentives Tuesday.
Details of the incentives are still being developed, Chrysler officials said.
"Chrysler is remaining in business. We're continuing operations," said company President Jim Press. "While we have filed for reorganization, there is no liquidation."
Vehicle warrantees will be guaranteed by the federal government, which is keeping the company alive with billions of dollars in loan money.
The nation's third-largest automaker filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection Thursday. A flurry of motions to allow the company to pay workers, suppliers and otherwise conduct business were heard Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.
Those hearings are expected to continue next week as Chrysler attempts to rapidly reorganize and exit bankruptcy in 30 to 60 days.
Among other things, it is seeking court approval to form an alliance with Italian automaker Fiat SpA.
Chrysler intends to permanently shut five plants, including a December 2010 closing of the Sterling Heights assembly plant, according to court documents and company officials.
The suburban Detroit plant employs about 1,400 workers and produces the Sebring sedan and convertible and the Dodge Avenger.
But Chrysler said Friday virtually all workers who will lose their jobs at those plants will be offered jobs in the new Chrysler-Fiat company that emerges from bankruptcy.
Chrysler said its sales in April fell 48 percent from the same month a year ago. But it pointed out retail sales fell 39 percent, about the same as the industry as a whole.
Press said the extensive publicity about Chrysler's financial problems and its bankruptcy didn't hurt sales as much as tight credit did.
As part of its deal with the U.S. Treasury Department to pump an additional $7.5 billion in Chrysler, the automaker will replace Chrysler Financial with GMAC to finance consumer purchases and dealer inventory.
"It's like a weight being lifted off our shoulders," said Steven Landry, Chrysler's sales chief. "Our direction is a lot clearer now."
Chrysler dealers will be selling vehicles strictly from inventory because Chrysler has shut down all North American manufacturing plants while it reorganizes in bankruptcy.
The automaker said it has a 114-day supply of vehicles on dealer lots. It said it also is taking steps to ensure an adequate supply of repair parts during the shutdown.
E-mail Rick Haglund: email@example.com


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Damien Hirst’s diamond-encrusted skull, For the Love of God, will be sold at auction if it does not find a buyer, according to the artist.
In a long interview last month with the French newspaper, Le Figaro, Hirst said: “I sold 2/3 [of the diamond skull] to an investment company, I kept 1/3...We have an agreement. If they can’t sell it privately, within eight years, it will go to auction.”
In a separate interview also published last month, Hirst’s business manager Frank Dunphy told Time magazine that he and Hirst’s London dealer, Jay Jopling, are also investors in the work.
For the Love of God was first displayed in the exhibition “Beyond Belief” at White Cube in June 2007. Its asking price was £50m. In August 2007 Mr Dunphy told us that he was talking to “a group composed of a number of interested individuals who are looking to purchase the skull at its full price of $100m.” He has now told Time that he, Jopling and Hirst own the “controlling interest in the work”. He also says the price of the skull now “would be double” or £100m.
The revelation that the skull will be sold at auction if a private buyer cannot be found, follows Hirst’s decision to offer 223 new works at Sotheby’s in London on 15 and 16 September, a strategy which proved highly profitable.
When asked if Sotheby’s would be prepared to sell For the Love of God, the auction house said it was unable to answer “hypothetical” questions. The skull goes on display at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on 1 November, the first stop in a proposed global tour.
o For a report on Damien Hirst’s Sotheby’s sale, p63; For a feature article on the artist, pp39-41

domain: news


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July 6, 2017
Money 20/20 Europe, 26 – 28 June, Copenhagen.
Over 11 000 industry members participated into the “world’s largest payment & financial services innovation event”, Money 20/20 Europe. After a slowish start, the event kicked off and a lot of interest was shown towards modern authentication, especially towards solutions that are compliant with PSD2 SCA requirements. From the video below you can see what the event looked like from our perspective.
During our visit to the expo, we asked a few payment industry experts their thoughts on the latest and most significant trends in payments. They shared their views about trends as well as about PSD2 and strong customer authentication. You can take a look at their thoughts on the video below.
Thank you all for stopping by at our stand and a special thanks to the industry experts for sharing their thoughts. See you soon!


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Thousands of jewellers in India have gone on strike this week to protest against the introduction by the government of tougher tax control for large gold buyers, a local source said on Thursday.
The strike, which started on Wednesday and caused the de facto closure of the physical gold market in India, is in opposition to the implementation on January 1 of mandatory checks of Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) on jewellery purchases exceeding 200,000 rupees ($2,924).
“The bullion market is closed in India as traders protest against the government’s decision to make PAN cards mandatory for transactions of 200,000 rupees and above,” a source said.
“Some people buy gold to hide black money – now if they buy gold they have to show their income tax number, so they will avoid [doing it]. That’s why jewellers are on strike,” he explained.
Jewellers have complained about lower sales since the anti-money laundering legislation came in because most of the country’s population do not pay tax or do not have tax identification numbers.
Less than three percent of India’s 1.2 billion-strong population pays income tax, according to government figures cited by local media.
Moreover, only 20 percent of the population owns a legitimate PAN card, according to some estimates. In rural areas, few possess a PAN card although this sector is traditionally the largest domestic consuming sector – farmers use gold as their primary store of wealth because they have limited access to the formal banking system.
For more than five years, Indian citizens have been required to present PANs on any purchase above 500,000 rupees. But many jewellers have reportedly avoided the rules by writing up several different receipts of below 500,000 rupees to make up the amount of a consumer’s purchase, FastMarkets reported last year.
(Additional reporting by Ian Walker, editing by Mark Shaw)


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Building trust in the ‘next normal:’ How to chart a path forward
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended almost every facet of our society — from the way we work, to the way we live, to the way we shop.
Of course, while many of these transformations have given rise to entirely new perspectives about how we can, and should, view the world, others have merely exposed or exacerbated sentiments that retailers have long overlooked. As evidenced by the latest EY Consumer Future Index (EY Index), one trend in particular has illuminated a stark reality for retailers in a post-pandemic world: trust.
In May, the EY Index found that, with the exception of health care providers, the vast majority of U.S. consumers struggle to trust major institutions. Twenty-one percent of consumers stated they do not trust the brands they interact with, and another 20% do not trust the retailers they shop from.
Amid the uncertainties of the pandemic, we’ve begun to see many of these trends unravel, with 46% of respondents stating that in the next one to two years, they will prioritize brands they have purchased from before. What does this data tell us about the future of consumerism in America, and how can retailers adapt in order to better meet their needs?
To chart a path forward in today’s “new normal,” retailers must build a strategy with trust as its centerpiece. This includes:
Being authentic across all touchpoints
Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers want to understand the values of the companies they interact with, whether it is through ethical guarantees, supply and safety certifications, or locally-sourced products. Shoppers looking for luxury brands, for example, are far more likely to demand transparency throughout the purchasing process to make sure the high-quality products they buy online are the high-quality products they expect.
Furthermore, consumers today seek authenticity from the brands they interact with regularly, with 40% stating that authenticity and transparency were “extremely important” when making purchasing decisions. Specifically, American shoppers have grown to expect clear labels (37%), transparent sourcing (28%) and guarantees of origin (26%) from the products they buy.
This is particularly top of mind in the food industry, where consumers demand full transparency across all touchpoints, from the farmers sourcing their food to the safety and health protocols being implemented in stores.
It will be vital for brands to consider new ways to re-establish trust with the American consumer. Retailers and brands have a unique opportunity here to not just maintain, but expand, relationships with their key customer base — so long as they act before it is too late.
Reimagining the scope of your value chain
In past decades, consumerism has been framed by the pursuit of globalization. However, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers have shifted their collective focus away from international goods and toward what is closer to home. Fifty-two percent of consumers stated that over the next two years, they would prefer to buy domestic products produced within the US, with 46% stating that they would prefer to buy local and independent brands produced by businesses in their local community.
American consumers will look to decrease their reliance on foreign markets and help to support their community wherever possible. In order to tap into these new, locally focused mentalities, companies today should consider bringing parts of their value chain stateside to provide greater transparency and create more independence. In doing so, not only will customers feel heard, but time to market will be accelerated. It is a win-win scenario.
Shortening your supply chain
Make no mistake, parts of the world may be reopening, but supply chains will continue to see lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic for the foreseeable future. For now, the most efficient answer is shortening the supply chain to get shoppers closer to the production cycle, which streamlines processes to not only diversify sources of supply but also safely transport a product to its destination.
Now, more than ever before, consumers want their products delivered safely, ethically and efficiently and have little patience for brands that can’t keep up. To stay ahead of this ever-changing curve, it is critical for companies to use this unique opportunity to update existing processes and find innovative ways to increase efficiency without compromising integrity.
Getting back to normal
As we begin to focus on rebuilding our economy, we can expect some American consumer sentiments to return to some semblance of normalcy. And while many of our old shopping habits may reappear, trust will remain forever etched in stone. In the race to adapt to this new reality, either you lead the way or you’re left behind.
Kathy Gramling is EY Americas consumer industry leader. The views reflected in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ernst & Young LLP or other members of the global EY organization.


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- Formula E Debuts With A Bang In Beijing [VIDEO]
September 15 2014 4:56 PM
The first all-electric motor racing championship race ended with a spectacular crash -- and no one was hurt.
- Law Enforcement Can Subpoena Your Car’s Data
September 15 2014 3:24 PM
As the "Internet of cars" emerges, so too do questions of privacy that face other mobile technologies.
- GM Recognizes 19 Deaths From Ignition Switch Failure
September 15 2014 11:26 AM
The lawyer handling General Motors' victim compensation fund says he has received 445 claims, including 125 for death.
- Ford Recalls 74,000 Hybrids
September 15 2014 10:17 AM
The U.S. automaker says electric coolant pumps need to be checked in nearly 74,000 cars dating back to 2005.
- Uber Eyes Delivery Niches
September 14 2014 4:56 PM
Uber chief Travis Kalanick says global expansion in ride-sharing underway as he tests U.S. markets for delivery services.
- RIP Apple IPod: 2001-2014
September 14 2014 3:11 PM
The deck-of-cards sized portable digital player that changed the way we listen to music is now moot.
- Report: Banks Handled Cocaine-Tainted Cash
September 14 2014 12:53 PM
DEA highlights how global drug proceeds can make their way into the pockets of the Colombian kingpins.
- Ukraine Cease-Fire Holds, With A Couple Of Exceptions
September 14 2014 12:53 PM
Ukrainian troops beat back pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk, as Russian nationalists send aid to separatist-controlled Luhansk.
- Indonesia Nabs Four Turks, Says They’re Terrorists
September 14 2014 11:36 AM
Officials in Jakarta say they were meeting three Indonesians in an area that has seen Muslim-Christian clashes in recent years.
- Hurricane Odile Makes Landfall Near Cabo San Lucas
September 14 2014 10:25 AM
Maximum wind speeds hit 125 mph as Odile swirls offshore on a track skirting Mexico's West Coast.
- 2014 Toyota Tundras Recalled
September 11 2014 1:22 PM
A plastic interior piece might block side airbags from deploying in the proper shape to protect heads, says the Japanese carmaker.
- Connected Cars: They Know Where You’ve Been
September 11 2014 12:59 PM
The ‘Internet of cars’ will make roads safer, but how much personal data drivers will secede is a lingering question.
- Nissan Leaf Goes To China
September 11 2014 10:29 AM
The Venucia e30 launches in China. Nissan hopes Chinese version of the Leaf will take significant market share.
- Nevada Reveals More Details On Tesla's Huge Tax Incentive Deal
September 10 2014 1:22 PM
Economic impact study says Tesla employees will pay more in local, state taxes over 10 years than their employer.
- Tesla's Nevada Tax Breaks In One Chart
September 10 2014 12:56 PM
The incentives offered by Nevada's governor to Tesla for its battery plant are generous but complicated. This should help clear things up.
- How Toyota Plans To Attract Hipsters Who Shop At Farmers Markets (PHOTOS)
September 10 2014 10:25 AM
The world’s biggest car company is aiming its U-squared concept’s flexible architecture at the small, urban business.
- Precedents Of Tesla's $1.25B Incentive Package Raise Questions
September 09 2014 3:00 PM
State and local governments spend more each year on tax breaks and credits. Are the benefits worth the costs?
- Another Bomb Blast In Chilean Capital
September 08 2014 10:46 PM
At least 14 people were injured in the blast. This year, many bombings have occurred in Santiago.
- Hundreds Dead In India, Pakistan Flooding
September 08 2014 10:04 PM
More than 350 people have died and thousands of homes have been destroyed due to the worst monsoon flooding in many years.
- Local ‘La Familia' Cartel Boss Gunned Down In Mexico
September 08 2014 8:03 PM
Sunday’s attack shows remnants linger of a cartel known for using beheadings as a fear tactic.


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General Motors will start selling a tiny electric car in China this week that will cost about $5,300 after national and local electric vehicle incentives, according to GM.
For that sort of price, the Baojun E100 is no Cadillac, of course. The two-seat car’s wheelbase — the distance from the center of the front wheels to the center of the rear wheels — is just 63 inches. That’s about 10 inches shorter than Daimler’s ( Smart ForTwo, a car that is already remarkable for its stubby proportions. )
General Motors could not immediately confirm the full price of the car before incentives.
The E100 is powered by a single 39-horsepower electric motor and has a top speed of 62 miles an hour. The E100 can drive about 96 miles on a fully charged battery, according to GM (. )
The E100 does offer some amenities, such as an entertainment system with a 7-inch screen and built-in WiFi. All versions of the car will have parking sensors and pedestrian alert systems among other safety features. High-end models are available with a touchpad and keyless entry.
Baojun is a mass-market car brand from General Motors’ SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture in China. It’s China’s eighth most popular car brand, according to data from LMC Automotive, ranking below brands like Volkswagen, Toyota (, )Honda ( and Buick. )
The E100 is Baojun’s first electric car.
More than 5,000 people have already registered to buy the first 200 vehicles, according to GM. Another 500 vehicles are being made available this week. Sales will initially be limited to the Guanxi region of southern China. GM couldn’t immediately say how it will choose which potential buyers get to take home the E100.
China is the largest automotive market in the world, and its government is making a big push for electric cars. Already, China accounts for 40% of all electric cars sold worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency.


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Godfather’s Pizza Unveils Take-and-Bake Concept
A familiar name will be bringing more than 40 years of pizza industry experience into the take & bake pizza arena this spring.
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with Godfather’s Pizza
In celebration of Valentine’s Day, Godfather’s Pizza is offering two “love-inspired” food options.
Godfather’s Pizza to Hold Franchising Info Sessions
Godfather’s Pizza announced it is accepting franchise applications in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metropolitan areas.
Godfather's Website Gets a Makeover
Godfather’s Pizza announces the release of its new website, designed with a fresh new look and user-friendly navigation, to include the latest informa...
Godfather’s Pizza Celebrates 40th Anniversary
“The taste worth doing anything for.” “Pizza, the way pizza was meant to be.” “Pizza pie piled high.” ...
Godfather’s Pizza Opens and Re-Opens in NM, IL
Godfather’s Pizza in Pekin, Illinois, will hold a grand re-opening event at its newly remodeled unit on Friday, July 19, from 4 to 8 p.m.
Godfather’s Pizza Set for Albuquerque Return
Albuquerque, New Mexico, will become home to the newest Godfather’s Pizza location when the company opens its new restaurant on July 15.
Godfather's Social Media Contest Engages Customers
Godfather’s Pizza has launched a photo-sharing campaign in which their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram followers are encouraged to submit photos for ...
Godfather's Pizza Expanding in the Southwest
Godfather’s Pizza will open a location in Albuquerque this July, according to franchise owner Laura Olguin.
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On Thursday, Amazon.com announced the launch of the Amazon MP3 store optimized specifically for iPhone and iPod touch. This will allow iPhone and iPod touch users to discover and buy digital music from Amazon’s 22-million song catalog using the Safari browser.
Customers will also have access to favorite Amazon features like personalized recommendations, best-seller lists and Amazon customer ratings. Music purchases are automatically saved to customers’ Cloud Player libraries and can be downloaded or played instantly from any iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Kindle Fire, Android phone or tablet, Roku, Sonos home entertainment system, or any web browser, giving customers the freedom to enjoy more music, from more devices than any other major cloud music service.
Commenting on the occasion, Steve Boom, Vice President of Amazon Music said,“Since the launch of the Amazon Cloud Player app for iPhone and iPod touch, a top request from customers has been the ability to buy music from Amazon right from their devices. For the first time ever, iOS users have a way do that – now they can access Amazon’s huge catalog of music, features like personalized recommendations, deals like albums for $5, songs for $0.69, and they can buy their music once and use it everywhere.”
Some of the key features of the Amazon MP3 store on the mobile web browser are:
- It is built on HTML5, which means customers can make purchases directly from the Amazon MP3 mobile website on their iPhones and iPod touches
- It has selection of over 22 million songs and over two million albums at everyday low prices
- It gives access to everyday deals like $5 albums, $0.69 songs, and free songs from artists on the rise
- It provides individualized recommendations based on purchase history
- Immediate availability and seamless playback of purchases in the Amazon Cloud Player app
- Free storage of all Amazon MP3 purchases in Amazon Cloud Player


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Disney becomes the latest company to withdraw ads from Facebook, which is suffering from a boycott by its advertisers over its policies on so-called “hate speech” and other content. But Disney was the leading advertiser on Facebook for the first six months of this year, according to estimates from Pathmatics Inc., so its withdrawal is particularly painful.
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Such large companies as Starbucks, Unilever, Verizon, and Ford have also cut back or withdrawn advertising on the social media platform. The call for a boycott came from such groups as the Anti-Defamation League and NAACP, who claim Facebook has not enforced policies on so-called “hate speech” and misinformation.
Disney didn’t make a public announcement on its Facebook cutback, and the WSJ report cited anonymous sources. The report said the advertising that was pulled focused on the Disney+ streaming service. Disney+ has consumed the bulk of Disney marketing money this year, and the company spent an estimated $210 million on Facebook ads for the streaming service. Other divisions of Disney may also be cutting back, the WSJ report said.
Besides Facebook, Disney has also stopped spending on Facebook-owned Instagram for its Hulu service. The WSJ said Hulu spent $16 million on Instagram from April 15 to June 30, according to Pathmatics.
“We know we have more work to do,” Facebook said in a statement. It claimed it was working with civil-rights groups, a leading ad trade group, and others “to develop even more tools, technology and policies to continue this fight.”
Facebook claims it invests “billions of dollars” to keep its platforms safe, and banned 250 white-supremacist organizations from Facebook and Instagram. It also claims artificial intelligence helps discover so-called “hate speech” before anyone flags it.
Facebook has around $70 billion in annual advertising revenue, generated from over eight million advertisers.
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- Hong Kong Filmart Postponed Due To Coronavirus Fears; Event Moves Two Weeks Before Toronto


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In a recent poll conducted by Mambo Sprouts Marketing, a natural products marketing company, eco-conscious consumers are becoming less confident in a widely used, and traditionally “green,” marketing term.
Mambo Sprouts surveyed the organic buying habits of 1,000 consumers who typically buy eco-friendly fare and discovered that trust in the word “natural” on a product or package has fallen.
The survey highlights an interesting twist on an already prominent aspect of purportedly green products: consumer confusion abounds. In the case of “natural,” there are no strict regulations on the use of the word, meaning that a multitude of products can say they are “natural” without meeting any certain criteria.
According to Mambo Sprouts, 34 percent of respondents were either “not very” or “not at all” confident in current natural labeling. Sixty-five percent were very interested in a uniform standard to certify natural products, their ingredients and the processes utilized to create them, and 25 percent were “somewhat interested.”
In related findings, more than one-third of U.S. consumers state a willingness to pay a premium for environmentally friendly products, according to a 2010 Mintel study. Mintel’s results indicate that consumers must be educated about what they are buying specifically, before they take out extra cash for green products.
The results of both of these, and many other, studies are one of the myriad reasons why the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is working to revise its Green Guides, which are the standards that describe the proper ways to use eco-friendly marketing claims in a non-misleading manner.
The current proposed revisions to the Guides write that “At least in part because of the difficulties in developing a definition of ‘natural’ that would be appropriate in multiple contexts, both the [Food and Drug Administration] and the FTC have previously declined to establish a general definition.”
Although the proposed revisions do not call for a specific definition of “natural,” the document suggests that the word will have to follow the same rules as other general environmental claims, which will require some form of substantiation in order to be used.
This is not to say that there are not truly natural products available for purchase, as many companies strive to use simple ingredients and processes that are more along the path of how these products exist in nature. And, there are many eco-labels and terms that are more strictly defined and regulated, such as “organic.” However, it is important for consumers to be educated about these various terms and claims, to help ensure that they are buying a product that meets their expectations.


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Drones are unmanned flying aircraft operated by remote controls, and users do not require any special licenses to operate. Drones have become popular world over,with a whole range of applications. Their usage has become part of the norm with the Military using them in warfare, wildlife services such as the KWS using them to tackle poaching and Internet companies like Amazon using Drones to deliver goods that consumers have purchases. They have been used for rescue activities, where a drone helped rescue two boys from drowning.
In the recent past, drones have come under sharp scrutiny, as they continue to pose serious danger to air travel operations. In one incident in May, a commercial airline almost collided midair with a drone near the LaGuardia airport in New York. In another incident, a drone nearly collided with a Lufthansa plane approaching Warsaw International Airport. To avert such cases, Google and Amazon announced last year plans to push for the creation of a super highway specifically for drones. The drones would communicate their positions to a centralized communication system available to all operators as the case with aviation operators. NASA was to lead the efforts to create the traffic system aptly called the Unmanned Aerial System Traffic management.
Now an incident took place over the weekend where a drone hit a British Airways flight from Geneva at the front. British Authorities have been especially stringent on the flying of drones near airports and have been calling for their registration. Other than the possible dangers of collisions posed by drones to aircrafts they may also damage critical flight equipment or the drone may get sucked into the engine of the plane, causing a stall as happens with birds.


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From Jeff Jarvis‘ column in the Guardian:
TimesSelect was essentially a cynical act. Faced with the goal of finding something to put behind a pay barrier, the paper offered up content that was, indeed, uniquely valuable: its columnists and history. But this was also content with no significant ad revenue attached. So they can say they tried. But the endeavour cost the Times in other ways. It took the paper’s best-known writers out of the conversation and reduced their influence worldwide. Worse, it diluted the paper’s Googlejuice by shutting off search and bloggers’ links to much of its content. Google is no doubt the reason why the paper has now opened up much of its archives – from 1987 to the present and before 1922 – to free access and search. Google has been trying to convince media companies for years that if they made their archives available, they would make more money from advertising than from consumer fees – and they would improve their position and branding in Google searches, gaining yet more revenue. And that is the economic moral to this story: the death of TimesSelect heralds the continued triumph of the open, free Google media model. If Google bought a newspaper (which they’re no doubt too smart to do), they surely would make its content as freely available as possible: the more clicks and links you get, the more you can make.


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FRAMINGHAM, MASS. -- Apple Inc. Tuesday added an option to its Mac Pro desktop line that lets customers build out systems equipped with two of Intel's fastest quad-core Xeon processors, marking the first time users have been able to buy a Mac powered by eight -- yes, eight -- processor cores.
The Mac Pro, which starts at US$2,499 for a standard-configuration desktop machine with dual 2.66-GHz dual-core processors, jumps $1,498 when the option for two 3-GHz quad-core Xeon chips is selected. That makes the cheapest eight-core Mac $3,997. Buyers at the other end of the scale can also order a Mac Pro with two 2-GHz processors; that model sells for $2,200.
Intel introduced the quad-core Xeon 5300 series processors last November and aimed them at the server and high-end gaming PC market. Other computer makers, including Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., have been selling Xeon 5300-equipped servers and workstations since then.
A Dell Precision 690 system configured close to the lowest-priced eight-core Mac Pro -- two 2.66-GHz quad-core Xeon chips, 1GB RAM, a 250GB drive and no monitor -- checks out at $5,432.
Intel's Xeon line officially tops out with the 2.66-GHz 5355 processor, which is the fastest chip that can be dropped into Dell's Precision workstations. According to reports, however, the brand-new 3-GHz chip offered by Apple is in "limited production," and the computer maker grabbed what supply was available. Intel did not immediately return calls for confirmation on the availability of the 3-GHz Xeon.
Apple is targeting developers, animators and other high-end workstation users. "The eight-core Mac offers greater performance for some processing-intensive tasks, such as 3D modeling, animation and scientific applications," said company spokeswoman Teresa Brewer in an e-mail.
In a separate announcement today, Apple reduced the prices of its Apple Cinema Dislay LCD monitors by between $100 and $200 depending on model. The 20-in. display, for instance, is now priced at $599, down $100, while the 30-inch model now costs $1,799. It was $1,999.
Dual quad-core Mac Pro machines can be ordered at Apple's online store. Systems ship within three to five days.


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07/29/2011, 12:07 pm
Windows-based PC makers looking to challenge Apple's extremely successful line of ultra-lightweight MacBook Airs with designs based on Intel's "Ultrabook" platform are losing hope that they'll be able to do so and still turn a profit on sales of the notebooks any time this year.
06/29/2011, 09:06 pm
A teardown of Apple's just-released $49 Thunderbolt cable has revealed an "active cable" with transceiver chips on each end.
06/29/2011, 10:06 am
Availability of Apple's current $999 white MacBook, built with hardware that is now getting long in the tooth, has become constrained, potentially signaling a forthcoming update to the entry-level notebook.
06/28/2011, 12:06 am
Sony on Tuesday took the wraps off a redesigned VAIO Z laptop, which is scheduled to arrive in Europe at the end of July and will feature a proprietary version of Intel's Thunderbolt technology. Meanwhile, Apple has issued a firmware update to improve Thunderbolt performance.
06/27/2011, 08:06 am
Apple is rumored to further distance itself from its rival Samsung starting with the "A6" chip in 2012, when the iPhone maker will allegedly transition production of its custom ARM chips to a new chipmaker.
06/24/2011, 09:06 pm
Peripheral and storage maker LaCie's Thunderbolt and Solid-State Drive "Little Big Disk" is coming this summer, with one hands-on preview demonstrating read speeds of 827 MB per second.
06/17/2011, 08:06 pm
According to one analyst, the market for consumer tablets could top 215 million units by 2015, with the iPad expected to dominate the market's explosive growth.
06/10/2011, 10:06 am
The second-generation of Apple's revitalized MacBook Air notebooks are scheduled to enter mass production during the month of June, with an initial build volume hovering around 400,000 units.
06/01/2011, 12:06 pm
Apple, Intel and Hewlett-Packard have all been hit with a new patent infringement lawsuit that takes issue with Apple's iMac and its use of Intel processors.
05/31/2011, 01:05 am
Intel has unveiled design guidelines for a new category of thin-and-light laptops, dubbed "Ultrabooks," that take cues from Apple's iPad and MacBook Air.
05/26/2011, 04:05 pm
An executive with chipmaker Intel said on Thursday that his company "wouldn't blink" if given the opportunity to build a custom chip based on the Intel architecture for a major client like Apple.
05/20/2011, 10:05 am
Though Apple originally filed for ownership of the "Thunderbolt" trademark associated with its new high-speed data port, the rights will be transferred to Intel, the company with which it cooperatively developed the new standard.
05/19/2011, 02:05 am
Intel CEO Paul Otellini said on Tuesday that Google Android is currently undergoing growing pains from the transition from chaos to order as the platform moves toward Apple's strategy of exerting more control.
05/18/2011, 09:05 pm
Counter to early indications that Intel already owned the trademark for the Thunderbolt high-speed I/O technology, recently discovered applications with the U.S. and Canadian trademark offices reveal that Apple has filed for the mark.
05/17/2011, 10:05 am
PC maker Hewlett-Packard reportedly looked at the new high-speed Thunderbolt port created by Intel and Apple, but has decided for now to stick with USB 3.0.
05/06/2011, 10:05 am
The new iMac lineup with quad-core Intel Sandy Bridge processors is consistently 25 percent faster than its predecessors, and 70 percent faster than the Core 2 Duo all-in-one desktops Apple released in 2009.
05/06/2011, 08:05 am
A new rumor claims that Apple plans to ditch Intel processors to instead adopt the ARM architecture currently found in devices like the iPhone and iPad.
05/04/2011, 04:05 pm
A new class-action lawsuit takes aim at Apple, Google, Intel and other tech companies for allegedly "conspiring to suppress compensation of their employees."
05/04/2011, 11:05 am
The new iMac all-in-one desktops released this week include Intel's yet-to-be-released Z68 chipset, which could allow faster solid-state drive caching performance in the future.
05/04/2011, 08:05 am
A look inside Apple's new 21.5-inch, Thunderbolt-equipped iMac desktop discovered the ability to swap out the graphics processing unit board for a new one.


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EMC Corp. will ask shareholders to approve Dell Inc.'s takeover bid on July 19, according to a Monday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The special meeting of shareholders will take place at 10 a.m. at EMC's headquarters in Hopkinton, Mass.
In addition, the filing says, owners of EMC stock will be asked to "approve, on a non-binding advisory basis, the compensation payments that will or may be paid to EMC to its named executive officers in connection with the merger."
This shareholders' vote is one of the crucial last steps toward closing the deal. Round Rock-based Dell Inc. has been working for months to get the cash it needs to close the deal.
It's rare for shareholders to vote against a merger and in this case, there hasn't been a ton of shareholder angst.
Shareholders are set to receive $33.15 per share, which includes cash plus tracking stock linked to part of EMC's economic interest in the VMware business.
Dell agreed to buy EMC last October for $67 billion, making it the biggest information technology purchase in history. When the deal is complete, the newly combined company will be called Dell Technologies.
News on Open Source is free and unlimited. Access to the rest of 512tech.com comes with an American-Statesman digital subscription, which also includes myStatesman.com and the ePaper edition. Subscribe at statesman.com/subscribe.


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Former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that he strongly oppose complete digital payment system in the country. Speaking at a programme organised by Manthan in Hyderabad last evening, after launching of his book “Fearless in Opposition: Power and Accountability”, a completion of essays, he termed demonetisation as a big “scam”.
Accusing that every day, Rs 1 lakh crore rupees transactions take place in digital mode, then the middlemen would get Rs 1,500 crore, he deplored one could deny the right of an aged person for buying medicines by giving cash. According to him it would take at least 12 to 18 months for the economy to be returned to normalcy after demonetisation.
The senior Congress leader said that if a one hundred rupee note changed 10 hands in 10 transactions in day from a buyer to purchaser, no middleman would benefit out of that transaction. “The purchaser will give Rs 100 note and take Rs 100 worth goods or services. The seller will get Rs 100 note. No middleman will benefit out of this,” he added.
If the same number of transactions were done through digital mode, then for each transaction 1.5 per cent charge would be collected by the middleman. “After the same Rs 100 note changed hands 10 times in a day, the middleman will benefit Rs 15,” he said.
Recalling that even before many people like him saw the new Rs 2,000 note, bundles of new notes were found in the residency of the Chief Secretary in Tamil Nadu. He wondered that till now no one, including RBI explained how politicians and officials got bundles of new notes till now.
He also slammed surveys that claimed that the public supported demonetisation. “Surveys suggested that Hillary Clinton would win the US elections. Better not to believe surveys,” he said.


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NatWest's profits fall, widely expected by the market, was the result of a loss of pounds 719m on sale of businesses that included Bancorp, its US banking operation, costs of pounds 186m on the redesign of its UK retail banking operations and a gain of pounds 224m on the sale of its stake in 3i, the venture capital company.
Stripping out the charges, underling profits at NatWest rose by pounds 339m to pounds 1.61bn. However, its share price fell 36p to 776.5p on disappointment that it did not announce plans to return capital to shareholders as Barclays did last week.
In contrast with Barclays, which announced sharply lower profits at BZW, its investment banking arm, NatWest's investment bank produced higher pre-tax profits of pounds 462m, up from pounds 304m. But the result, included a fall in bad debt provisions to from pounds 114m to pounds 18m.
Overall, NatWest increased its general provisions against bad debts by pounds 50m and made specific provisions of pounds 499m.
Lord Alexander, chairman, said NatWest was forecasting a slower pace of economic growth in the UK next year and would therefore adopt a more cautious approach to lending.
"Interest rates have to rise. This is our scenario whichever party wins the election," Lord Alexander said.
Derek Wanless, chief executive, said this would involve a more cautious policy towards lending to small businesses and the construction and property areas. This was the time in the economic cycle - rising growth and rising consumer confidence - that banks traditionally "lost it" by increasing lending.
NatWest did not intend to fall into this trap and therefore, based on economic forecasts by David Kern, its chief economist, was preparing for a slower economic growth next year which might make it harder for businesses to repay debts.
"Their management is at odds with what is being preached by management elsewhere," said Peter Toeman, banking analyst at ANM Amro Hoare Govett. However, he said this did not mean it would not proven to be correct.
Lord Alexander said 1996 was the culmination of the re-shaping of NatWest. Its retail bank, which laid off more than 3,000 staff during the year and has plans to make a further 10,000 redundant in the years ahead, included costs of pounds 186m as it shut down more than 300 branches around the country.
The bank expects to incur a further pounds 100m of costs in retail banking this year to cover the cost of introducing new technology.
Across the entire group, the bank will spend another pounds 100m to reprogramme its computers to deal with the date problem arising from the turn of the millennium.
The bank's retail operation recently saw a deal with Tesco to offer banking from its supermarkets fall apart, and Mr Wanless said talks were being held with lawyers about seeking compensation from the supermarket chain.
At NatWest Markets, the investment banking arm, staff costs shot up from pounds 510m to pounds 726m, largely as a result of higher bonuses.
Martin Owen, chief executive of NatWest Market, said the higher figure also reflected the costs of acquisitions through the year.
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Part-timers at beef restaurant get right to use paid holidays
A fast food restaurant chain, which is famous for beef dishes, has promised to allow its unionized young part timers to use their paid holidays.
Matsuya Foods, the operator of about 450 beef restaurants throughout the country, employs about 10,000 workers, mostly part-timers. It used to dissuade the part-time workers from using their paid holidays by not informing them of the right to use them.
Young part time workers at one of the "Matsuya" chain restaurants in Tokyo founded the Matsuya branch of the Young Contingent Workers' Union and negotiated with the company management. As a result, Matsuya Foods agreed to give nine-day paid holidays, paying for 5.5 hours (about 5,000 yen) per day to the workers who have been working there for 18 months or longer.
The Young Contingent Workers' Union runs a campaign of letting more Matsuya part-timers know about their rights by distributing cards stating, "Part-time workers have the right to use paid holidays." (end)


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British Home Stores has been a stalwart of retail on UK high streets for the last 88 years, and this week it joined Austin Reed on the roster of iconic British retailers that have entered The EDITED Teamistration in 2016.
For UK retailers, that’s already 14 in the year.
We’re left with a lot of questions, but the one that remains at the heart of them all is just a single word: How?
To say times are tough for retailers right now doesn’t convey even half the reality. Last year’s Q4 saw the highest reported number of profit warnings among retailers since the economic crisis. And according to figures released by the British Retail Consortium this week, full-time retail jobs in Q1 of this year of 2016 fell by 0.9% year-on-year. The largest decline since 2014.
Add all of that to what we know now about the retailer’s difficult rental terms and contracts and what you’re left with are some near impossible odds.
Competition Got Fierce
A lot changes in a near 100-year reign. As a budget-friendly family retailer, BHS found themselves competing on two fronts, on one against high street value retailers like Matalan, Primark and Uniqlo; and on the other the exceptionally popular supermarket apparel lines at Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Asda.
While retailers like Next have fought this competition off with the breadth of their trend-led offering, BHS, Marks & Spencer and Debenhams are still redefining themselves in a crowded landscape. Another vulnerability was BHS’ price architecture. Its entry and exit price points match Tesco’s F&F precisely but let’s remember Tesco have the edge in footfall. After all, their shoppers have to visit their stores in order to buy food.
The below chart shows that although the entry and exit points are in line, the core offering sits at a higher price point for BHS – between $14.26 and $35.65 (£12.83-£31.40) compared to F&F’s more compact $8.56-$22.81 (£7.13-£19.84). This results in an average price point at BHS 58% higher than F&F’s and 90% more than Matalan.
Drill down into specific products and the difference is stark. A women’s floral dress on average is $63.06 (£43.29) at BHS but averages $33.54 (£23.03) across competitors Matalan, F&F and TU. Women’s swimsuits are 51% up on the market and sandals 110%. Kids’ tees are priced 34% over the market average, kids’ sneakers 80% and men’s jeans are 77% ahead of the market average price. The EDITED Teamistration aside, it’s no surprise that BHS’ current discounting sees an average of 39% taken off nearly a third of its offering.
In retail, and more so in ecommerce, you’ve got to tell a story in order to engage with shoppers. Customers at every price point are used to shopping from ‘Trend Reports’ and having some narrative woven through their online offering. Matalan do it, Tesco do it, H&M excel at it. Lately, email newsletters at BHS have been low on scene-setting. Instead they’ve driven shoppers towards discounts and sales promotions.
Looking to the future, a BHS turnaround is not impossible. Some key areas that are seeing a lot of growth are:
‘Mature’ shopper offering
BHS could go after the ‘grey pound’ with a unique product mix. Stuff that’s contemporary, stylish, affordable and flattering. Longer lengths and more of those linens which sell so well. The UK population is aging. That market is wide open for the taking.
You’ve already heard, it’s an important category, and it has grown fast. Active lifestyles are coming to all segments, so BHS could tackle this space for their customer, with a focus on comfort and flattering fits.
BHS have had bridal on the high street since way back. Now that ASOS and H&M have got in on the game, there’s a chance to appeal afresh. With a few more directional pieces and introduction of some trend colors, BHS could have a winning offering for the family value market.
Focus on homewares. Let’s not forget the BHS didn’t build its empire on apparel alone. And it just so happens that BHS’ other strength, homewares, are doing well. According to Retail Week homeware accessories and decorations finished strong for the week ending April 17.
Retail is a flippin’ tough business, it’s no surprise even the one-time greats have their struggles. You’ve got to be market-aware, consumer-relevant and have a unique offering. It’s a tall (and exhausting) order. Those up to it are tapped in 24-7, are abreast of industry changes and able to move with them. Of course, we strongly believe that empowering the industry’s professionals with information and backing decisions with data is the way to do that.
An earlier version of this blog post was insensitive to the great people at BHS who have worked hard despite a tough retail climate – we’re really sorry about that. We’ve updated the post to reflect a broader view of the retail market, and to hopefully get our true intentions across a lot better.


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$50 Million Hudson Valley Lodge Breaks Ground
A new $50 million construction project in Sullivan County has broken ground and the 5-star luxury lodge will feature 50 rooms with room for another 50 if it takes off. The Times Herald-Record reports up to $100 million could end up being invested by Dream Hotel Group if The Chatwal Lodge is a success.
With room prices ranging from $500 to $5,000 the lodge isn't going to be affordable to everyone. The luxury lodge and retreat will be built inside the residential community known as Chapin estate in Bethel
Dream Hotel Group is currently undergoing massive growth with 20 hotels under construction They currently operate 20 hotels and 50 restaurants and bars around the globe.
The first phase of the project is expected to be complete in late 2020 and will feature a 13,000 square foot lodge, restaurant, pool, fitness center, and wedding area to go along with the 50 rooms. Perhaps some of the most unique accommodations on site will be a series of glass-roofed treehouses.


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What Collapse? iPhone Reaches Biggest US Market Share in History
iPhone X demand is said to be well below expectations, and people with knowledge of the matter revealed that Apple reduced orders for the next three months by as much as 50 percent, yet a study indicates that in the United States, the device just couldn’t sell any better.
A research conducted by Counterpoint reveals that Apple sold a record 22.39 million smartphones in the United States in the holiday season quarter of 2017, helping the iPhone achieve the highest ever market share for the domestic market. The device jumped from 37% to 44%, and it’s all thanks to the new lineup that debuted last fall and which includes iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X.


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The 3-D printer the Carroll County Career and Technology Center bought cost about $100,000 eight years ago. Now, the same kind of printer could be bought for about $15,000, said Jim Gilford, the manufacturing teacher at the center.
Affordability is what has taken the concept of 3-D printing out of labs and into classrooms and even homes, he said.
Wednesday, the Carroll County Board of Education approved a new 3-D printer for Gilford's class, which costs $40,000. That includes a three-year warranty and two years' worth of materials, Principal Bill Eckles said.
How a 3-D printer works depends on the computer programs and the capabilities of the printer itself. Most rely on computer-engineered designs, but others can use photo technology to scan an object and create a replica.
Think about a simple object like a chess piece. A 3-D printer takes the computer-engineered design of a chess piece and creates incremental layers in a machine.
It begins at the bottom of the design, creating a base using two kinds of plastic.
The first is a movable, thin, wire-like reel of plastic that's used to make the same materials from which LEGOs are made.
It also uses a water-soluble liquid that melts the layers together.
One computer program allows the user to design the object, and a second computer program translates that to the 3-D printer.
It can take anywhere from four to 12 hours to produce an item that used to take weeks or months prior to the kind of technology that exists now, he said.
Gilford's students begin using the printer by October, and often use it through senior year, he said.
The 3-D printer helps them think about affordability and cost, as well as engineering and mechanics, he said.
"As an engineer you have to save time and money," he said.
For instance, most of the chess pieces he makes come in two pieces, because they use less material that way, he said. Students also learn to think about size and tolerance - meaning how small or big the 3-D printer can produce an item.
While a computer can understand small, accurate sizes, the machine may not be able to translate that, he said.
The newest 3-D printer the Tech Center is getting will be more accurate and will allow the students to make more than one prototype at one time. Only one piece at a time can be made in the current model. The new one will allow for several of the same design. It also allows for different kinds of plastic, Eckles said.
Newer versions of 3-D printers allow for different kinds of metals to be used or even for the ability to take a photo of something and develop a program that will see how the product works, said Matt Day, the director of workforce training and business services at Carroll Community College.
As 3-D printers become more affordable, businesses could soon take advantage of the technologies that are offered. For instance, Day said, if a business needs one part for an item, they could simply get it made to order for them. Or make it themselves.
"The business opportunities for this are going to be tremendous," Day said. "We're seeing in some cases that businesses are starting to take advantage of that."
It also gives the ability for more innovation and creativity because of the opportunity to create just one or a few prototypes as opposed to getting it mass manufactured, he said.
"If you had an invention and it had to be manufactured, you'd have to find a company that would manufacture that and they would probably require you to order thousands of them," he said.
While Carroll Community College has ordered two 3-D printers, they haven't received either yet, he said. Companies are on waiting lists because of the demand for the products. The community college ordered its 3-D printer four months ago, Day said.
Denise Beaver, the deputy director for the Carroll County Department of Economic Development, said 3-D printing has the opportunity to change the way manufacturing is done due to the opportunity for prototypes.
"This is just going to revolutionize the whole industry," she said.


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Aptar Pharma, a leading drug delivery systems provider, is pleased to showcase its commitment to meeting new market trends at CPhI Worldwide this year. The world’s largest pharma trade show, held 9 – 11 October in Madrid, will see more than 100,000 pharmaceutical professionals coming together for exhibitions, conferences and online communities, and this year Aptar Pharma will be showcasing an industry first with its PureHale device – a new portable drug delivery device designed for upper respiratory care – at stand 4D10.
In addition to PureHale, AptarPharma will also reveal:
- A range of new connected drug delivery devices designed to help increase dose adherence and improve patient health outcomes
- A portfolio of gamma-sterilized drug delivery components to reduce bioburden
- Aptar Pharma’s Support Services initiative, a portfolio of stage-specific development packages to help customers in their journey from molecule to market
Along with showcasing its range of innovative drug delivery devices that address nasal, pulmonary, eye care, injectables and dermal drug delivery routes at Aptar Pharma’s exhibit stand, the company will also be sharing various new solutions in prescription and over-the-counter treatments.
Furthermore, Aptar Pharma executives will be delivering three Pharma Insight Briefings outlining the latest trends, technology and product innovations:
“Debunking the leachable myths of gamma sterilization: A migration study of steam vs gamma” – Julie D. Suman, R.Ph., Ph.D., President of Next Breath, a division of Aptar Pharma. Tuesday, 9 October, 11:50-12:20.
“Portable care for your respiratory tract: Exploring new technology platforms” – Guenter Nadler, Director Business Development, Aptar Pharma. Tuesday, 9 October, 12:30-13:00.
“Building a connected devices eco-system for digital medicines” – Sai Shankar, Director Business Development, Aptar Pharma. Wednesday, 10 October, 13:50-14:20.
Aptar Pharma’s team of experts will be on hand at our booth 4D10 to explain and demonstrate their latest drug delivery technologies and to discuss ways they can partner with customers to ensure their drug delivery challenges are met.
View the full press release for more information about Aptar Pharma’s presence at CPhI Worldwide 2018.


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And the entry of electric cars into the U.S. market continues apace.
The first 2011 Nissan Leaf was delivered in San Francisco on December 12, and the first 2011 Chevy Volt came three days later in New Jersey. Now, Smart has delivered the first example of its own electric car, the 2011 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive.
Its new driver is Mindy Kimball, of Silver Spring, Maryland. She's an early adopter--and a major in the U.S. Army--who has been a presenter with the Climate Project for four years and participates actively in the Electric Vehicle Association of Washington, D.C.
Smart will deliver 250 Smart Electric Drives over the course of the year, available for a $599 monthly lease payment with $2,400 down. Kimball is one of a very exclusive group, though: Only about 50 electric Smarts will go to individuals, with the rest targeted for corporate and municipal fleets.
[UPDATE: Smart USA subsequently contacted GreenCarReports to note that while the compnay had initially planned to allocate just 50 Smart Electric Drives to private drivers, that number is now being reviewed. So, at the moment, it's unclear right now how the 250 will be divided among fleets and individuals.]
First Smart ForTwo Electric Drive with Roger Penske and Smart USA president Jill Lajdziak, Jan 2011
All 250 new electric-car lessees, however, will become members of what Smart calls "Team 250,"a club with a concierge service. It offers personal access to a drive advisor, full-time roadside assistance, updates, and participation in surveys and dialogues about the experience of driving electric.
The 250 lucky drivers will also have the first chance to move from their leased vehicles into the next generation of Smart Electric Drive models, which will begin production next year.
The 2011 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive has a 16.5-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack, engineered by Tesla Motors, powered in 30-kilowatt electric motor that drives the rear wheels. Quoted range on a single charge is up to 98 miles.
The battery can be recharged from 20 to 80 percent in 3.5 hours using 240-Volt power, and roughly 8 hours for a full charge if it is entirely depleted.
In some ways, the driving experience in a 2011 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive may be more pleasant than that of its gasoline engined counterpart. The electric motor eliminates the ForTwo's automatic manual gearbox, which produces an unpleasantly jerky ride.


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Women’s iLab will sponsor several seats leading up to the 2015 accelerator for aspiring female entrepreneurs who will work out of the MassChallenge offices and tap into the accelerators vast resources including mentorship, training, access to funding, legal advice, and media outreach. These entrepreneurs will also then have the opportunity to apply for the 2015 accelerator program, which runs from June through October 2015.
While women-owned firms are the fastest-growing segment of U.S. businesses, women often face challenges that their male counterparts do not. According to a 2014 Senate report, women entrepreneurs have difficulty accessing training and counseling as well as loans and venture capital. Women-owned businesses only account for $1 of every $23 of conventional small business loans and women receive only seven percent of venture funds, despite accounting for 30 percent of all businesses in the U.S.
The challenges that female entrepreneurs face are often more marked in high tech fields, where there is still a glass ceiling, explains Womens iLab co-founder, Tara Chang. Yet, in the tech industry, women-led companies achieve 35 percent higher return on investment, and, when venture-backed, bring in 12 percent higher revenue than male-led tech companies, according to Women in Technology: Evolving, Ready to Save the World, research conducted by the Kauffman Foundation.
We started Womens iLab to bring to light these issues facing women-owned startups, while providing both the community and resources to support and encourage female entrepreneurship. Our partnership with MassChallenge is the embodiment of that mission, said co-founder of Womens iLab, Katrina Melesciuc. Dedicated seats for women-owned startups, and those with gender-equal leadership, in the worlds largest accelerator is the our first big initiative to help the next generation of female entrepreneurs get their ideas off of the ground.
In addition to sponsored seats, Women’s iLab and MassChallenge will partner on initiatives that bring women in tech to the forefront throughout 2015 program. Those initiatives include a series of featured female speakers from C-level execs to new company founders and angel investors at MassChallenge-hosted events, a dedicated column on womensilab.com as well as affiliate partner websites, and an effort to diversify the panel of judges assembled to judge MassChallenges end-of-program Awards Ceremony.
MassChallenge is the largest global accelerator, to date, to undertake such an initiative to empower female entrepreneurs.
Women are underrepresented in the startup world and have a harder time accessing those things which new businesses need to flourish and grow including mentorship, training, and funding. We must encourage the growth of female entrepreneurship for the health of the startup community, said Scott Bailey, Managing Director of MassChallenge. In partnering with Womens iLab, we hope to invite others to join us in creating their own initiatives that support female entrepreneurship.
The application period for a seat working out of MassChallenges accelerator opens February 13 and closes March 1. Parties interested in a Womens iLab seat should submit a resume along with a brief summary of your startups goals and objectives to Tara Chang and Katrina Melesciuc at email@example.com.
Companies interested in joining the Womens iLab movement through the sponsorship of seats and featured content should also contact Ms. Chang and Ms. Melesciuc at firstname.lastname@example.org.
About Womens iLab
Womens iLab is the champion of female innovators. Launched in 2014, the organization inspires the next generation of female leaders by empowering them with a platform on which to share their ideas, establish their brand, and support one another in pursuing their ambitions. Through this community, Womens iLab cultivates the leaders of tomorrow and inspires innovation across all industries. As members of Womens iLab, you have access to a wealth of content related to women and entrepreneurship, the ability to share your own stories and ideas, and the opportunity to network with distinguished leaders across all industries at our sponsored and hosted events.
Become a member of Womens iLab at WomensiLab.com and learn more about the work it is doing onFacebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
MassChallenge runs startup accelerators designed to catalyze a global renaissance by connecting high-impact startups with the resources they need to launch and succeed. Anyone can apply to MassChallenge, with any early-stage startup, in any industry, from anywhere in the world. MassChallenge does not take equity or place any restrictions on the startups it supports.
With programs in Boston, Israel and the UK, MassChallenge provides entrepreneurs with mentorship, office space, education, access to a vast network, and other resources during four months of acceleration. MassChallenge awards over $2 million in non-dilutive grants to the startups demonstrating the highest impact and highest potential. A nonprofit organization, MassChallenge is funded by corporate, public and foundation partners. To date, the 617 MassChallenge alumni have raised over $706 million in funding, generated $404 million in revenue and created 4,800 jobs. For more information, visit www.masschallenge.org.
Top MassChallenge Boston partners include: Jamestown, Fidelity Investments, Verizon, the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation, CASIS, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, The Deshpande Foundation, The Boston Foundation, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, Bler, American Airlines, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bose, EMC, Henkel, iNNpulsa Colombia, Mass Tech Collaborative, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, Microsoft, Pfizer, Smith & Nephew, Thomson Reuters, Turnstone, WGBH Boston, and Zapopan.
 21st Century Barriers to Female Entrepreneurship, Majority Report of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, July 23, 2014.
 When it comes to tech start-ups do women win?, Forbes, February 2, 2013.


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Coming off a slew of positive previews from PAX East, Square-Enix has announced that Sleeping Dogs will hit store shelves August 14th.
In addition to the release date, Square also detailed a set of pre-order swag for early adopters getting the game on Xbox 360 or PS3: Best Buy, Gamestop and Amazon will each have their exclusive bonuses for their customers.
Best Buyers pre-ordering the game will get the "George St. Pierre" pack, which adds three special moves and items related to the MMA fighter, including his signature move, the flying punch.
Putting money down early at Gamestop will get players the "Police Protection Pack", which includes an extra mission, "High Speed", and gives players a set of law enforcement-themed weapons and gear.
Pre-ordering from Amazon nets you the "Martial Arts Pack", which comes with an extra mission called "Shaolin Showdown" and some stat-increasing gear.
Square-Enix says there will be a different set of pre-order bonuses for anyone who pre-orders the PC version of Sleeping Dogs via digital distribution channels, which they plan to announce further down the line.
Planning to Pre-Order Sleeping Dogs? Tell us what version you're going to get in the comments!


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As Silicon Valley becomes embroiled in "growing controversy" around some of its biggest names, Australia’s largest start-up and growth conference, StartCon, reports "searching the entire Asia-Pacific region for the next global tech hotspots and their most promising start-ups".
These start-ups will then be given the chance to compete for $1 million at StartCon in Sydney on 30 November and 1 December.
StartCon chief executive Cheryl Mack said: “Silicon Valley’s reign as the world’s top tech start-up hub looks tenuous at best.
"The barriers to entry for young companies in Silicon Valley are skyrocketing because of soaring costs, and long-time locals fed up with the Valley are departing for greener, fresher pastures."
“In a way, Silicon Valley has become a victim of its own success. It has been the birthplace of some of the world’s biggest tech companies, many of which are now sucking up much of the local tech talent, leaving few resources for emerging startups that are just starting out.
“It’s no surprise that other regions around the world are emerging as new hotbeds of innovation, taking on some of the best parts of the Silicon Valley model and turning them into something entirely their own. Cities across the entire Asia-Pacific region, for example, are now vibrant breeding grounds for start-ups.
“These days, start-up founders are more likely to choose places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Shanghai, Brisbane, Seoul, or Melbourne as home. This is why StartCon is going to over a dozen cities in the Asia-Pacific region to uncover the best, most innovative startups these places have to offer, and perhaps find the next Silicon Valley in the process."
We're told that the theme for this year’s premier StartCon event in Sydney, "Silicon Valley is dead. Long live Silicon Valley!", will "contrast the tremendous change that has swept through the tech sector’s traditional Californian hotbed, and shine a light on the emerging startup hotspots throughout the region".
StartCon 2018 also notes that will "host a major pitch competition at which the very best start-ups from across Asia-Pacific, a region with a population base of over four billion people, come together to battle it out for a $1 million investment from Australian Venture Capital firm, Right Click Capital".
As the largest event of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, StartCon 2018 proudly boasts that it "showcase over 60 speakers who will appear in person in Sydney to share their insights with more than 4000 attendees.
"There will also be expert workshops, a tech expo, a blockchain hackathon, prizes, masterclasses, prizes a FinTech stage and an artificial intelligence (AI) stage."
As has been the case for the last two StartCons, the 2018 edition will once again be held at Sydney’s Randwick Racecourse. Tickets can be bought here.
More information on the keynote speakers can be seen here.
Just some of the StartCon 2018 Speakers include:
Krista Seiden, Google: Krista Seidens is a product manager and the analytics evangelist for the Google Analytics team. A leader in the digital analytics industry with nearly a decade of experience specifically in digital marketing, analytics, and product management. She has led analytics and optimisation at companies such as Adobe, The Apollo Group, and Google.
Laura Behrens, Shippo: Laura Behrens is founder and chief executive of Shippo, which lets ecommerce businesses, marketplaces, and platforms connect to multiple shipping carriers around the world from one application programming interface and dashboard, lowering the barriers to shipping for businesses around the world.
Alana Podreciks, McKinsey: Alana Podreciks is head of McKinsey’s New Ventures Platform, which takes a venture capital approach to identify, fund and incubate start-ups inside McKinsey, while leveraging the consulting firm’s access to leading companies and go-to-market channels to help them move rapidly from startup to scale-up.
IBM Watson: IBM Watson is a cognitive computing system which uses artificial intelligence to analyse high volumes of data and process information more like a human than a computer. It does this by understanding natural language, generating hypotheses based on evidence and learning as it goes. In 2011, IBM Watson competed on the Jeopardy! gameshow, and won.


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Sacre bleu! The French have all but banned the iPhone 12 because the radiation it, um, radiates is an intolerable .7 watts over the EU standard of 4 watts. Electromagnetic radiation is measured in wattage absorbed by every kilogram of human. Anyway, 4.7 watts is the amount of radiation absorbed by the body when using […]
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Intellyo @ Wexelerate
At Intellyo, we are delighted to announce we have joined the weXelerate startup accelerator in Vienna.
weXelerate has recently started in Vienna, Austria, aiming to become Europe’s largest startup hub, and kicked off their operations with a first batch of 55 startups joining their ranks in their Vienna office.
Mona Hübl, the Program Manager Accelerator at weXelerate commented:
weXelerate is excited to have Intellyo on board of its first accelerator batch. Intellyo stands out with its content marketing solution to drive growth. It was very clear from the beginning to pick Intellyo for our accelerator program.
Applications from over 70 countries confirm the attractiveness of Vienna as a startup hub and draw attention to startups all over the world. Our multi corporate accelerator concept competes and convinces internationally through incorporation of economy and industry. Corporations and startups are collaboratively developing disruptive solutions and businesses through open innovation. We invite everyone to have a closer look at our concept to see how we can accelerate innovation together at an even faster pace.
First week of WeXelerate
Intellyo, together with 54 other startups, kicked off the first week at WeXelerate's offices in Vienna. Startups had the chance to get familiar with each other's businesses and particiapate in several networking events, while a startup fair closed the week on Friday. Intellyo's representatives had the chance to meet several potential corporate sponsors, while we were assigned 3 mentors with different, intersting backgrounds.
The new Intellyo Dashboard
This news comes hot on the heels of the launch of Intellyo’s new Research Dashboard. This dashboard gives users access to a whole host of data about their performance on Facebook, as well as comparing them to their closest competitor.
The dashboard is currently in public alpha, while we are currently accepting applications for the private beta. The beta version of the dashboard will contain more social platforms and allow you to compare against an extra competitor.
For more information about Intellyo or the dashboard, check out the news article about its alpha launch, and sign up to our newsletter below for regular updates.


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A potent mix of demand slowdown, switchover to new emission norms and COVID-19 has pushed the Indian automotive market back by four to five years.
Sales of almost each of the vehicle segments, including commercial vehicles (CV), passenger vehicles (PV) and luxury cars, clocked in FY20 are at the same level as FY16, according to data available with the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
Domestic sales of trucks and buses (CV) in FY20 stood at 7.17 lakh units. FY17 had seen sales of 7.14 lakh units. In FY19 the CV segment saw its best year ever with sales crossing 1 million units for the first time.
The biggest cause of the fall in CV volumes last year was the excess load capacity created in the market due to changes made to the axle load norms. Though the loading norms, which legalised overloading by 25-30 percent, were changed in the middle of 2018, its effects continued well into FY20.
What impacted truck and bus sales further was the gradual scaling down of the now outdated Bharat Stage IV (BS-IV) stock from the dealerships year. Sales of BS-VI vehicles to the retail customers could not begin before April 1 due to non-availability of BS-VI fuel.
Frequently Asked Questions
A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.
There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.
Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.
Rise in insurance and vehicle ownership costs, price hike by companies and tighter lending norms by banks choked the passenger vehicle segment during FY20. The segment comprising cars, sports utility vehicles and vans contracted significantly to close at FY16 levels.
Domestic PV sales closed at 2.77 million units in FY20. It stood at a similar level in FY16 when sales were reported as 2.78 million units. FY19 proved to the best year for the PV segment too when sales reached 3.37 million units.
Last year also saw the elimination of several models which companies were reluctant to upgrade to BS-VI norms due to uncertainty over their demand. These included Tata Nano, Tata Sumo, Maruti Omni, Hyundai Eon and Renault Lodgy.
The drop in two-wheeler sales in FY20 was not as bad as other auto segments as their sales for last year were comparable to what the sales were four years back.
Comprising seven major two-wheeler manufacturers the two-wheeler sales clocked volumes of 17.41 million units in FY20 as against 17.58 million clocked in FY17.
The price sensitive two-wheeler buyer was hit by spike in insurance costs , product price hike and high ownership costs during FY20. The final quarter of last year also saw the launch of BS-VI models that came at a 10-15 premium than the outdated BS-IV models.
Luxury car volumes (comprising Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo) dipped to a three-year low during the calendar year 2019 to 35,274 units. The five companies had together sold 32,819 units during 2016 which was the segment’s previous low.
Outlook for FY21
April recorded a first-ever washout month in the history of Indian automotive scene when zero sales were recorded by each vehicle category. With a staggered ramp up in production beginning this month the first half of the year will be challenging, say experts.
“With the already existing slowdown during FY20, the industry is likely to suffer huge losses going forward. Even if the pandemic is curtailed, the consumer sentiments are expected to be unfavourable and demand is expected to remain muted during H1 FY21 led by volatile economic conditions. Also, government spending on infrastructure is expected to be low during the period, further impacting the demand for commercial vehicles,” stated a report by CARE Ratings.
Companies are looking to postpone new model launches and go slow on new capacity additions in light of the expected slowdown after the lockdown is lifted. Investments are being relooked and cost cutting is being pursued aggressively by every company.
“There is discussion about realigning and reviewing each and every plan. This could be about launch of new models, development of network infrastructure or even assessing the capacity utilisation for the future,” said Y S Guleria, director (sales and marketing), Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India.
“The outlook for FY21, especially the first half, remains weak given the macroeconomic headwinds in view of recent pandemic outbreak coupled with significant price hikes because of transition to the new emission norms. Any recovery in the latter half hinges on pick-up in construction activity,” said a report from ICRA talking about the medium and heavy commercial vehicle.
If there is no direct government intervention to uplift demand then the auto industry is staring at its worst year ever.


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Daily Flash Briefing news updates, a roundup of the daily economy, are available from various news organizations and can be activated using Alexa, Amazon’s voice-controlled virtual assistant.
Quartz's Flash Briefing is sponsored by iShares, BlackRock’s ETF business.
Alexa is most commonly used for daily tasks, such as updating users’ calendars, dimming the lights or playing music. But in March,The Washington Post (owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos) produced a daily political news brief focusing on the presidential election, written by Chris Cillizza, founder of “The Fix,” a daily political weblog for the Post’s Web site.
A Quartz spokesperson told Publishers Daily that the Daily Brief’s integration with Amazon Echo is an expansion to a new digital platform. It allows the publisher to reach Quartz readers in a new way, as well as secure a “tech-savvy” audience interested in business.
According to a Ipsos Global Business Influencers survey, Quartz ranks No. 1 for CEOs and young, ambitious C-suite executives in comparison with The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Forbes and The New York Times, among others.
Last week, Allrecipes partnered with Amazon to create a cooking skill for Alexa. The Amazon Echo can now be used to guide home cooks through more than 60,000 recipes, as well as create to-do and shopping lists.
Users can also control the pace of their cooking by telling Alexa to pause, next, repeat, skip or move forward.
Based on Allrecipes’ 2015 Smart Kitchen Technologies survey, millennial cooks are the most likely to buy connected kitchen technologies and three of five millennial cooks demonstrated an interest in voice-controlled devices that can recommend recipes based on ingredients they have on-hand.Users can ask Alexa: “Ask Allrecipes, what can I make with chicken, bacon and cheddar cheese?” or “Ask Allrecipes to find the world’s best lasagna recipe.”


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Sensors printed directly on the skin have been inching closer to commercial reality in recent years. The dream of highly sensitive sensors could have a wide array of applications, from robotics to medicine, but the field has been limited by its method of circuit printing. Currently, printing circuits directly on the skin requires a lot of heat – something the skin isn’t generally fond of.
Now, researchers believe they may have solved this problem. A team from Penn State University has developed a method of fabricating high-performance circuitry directly on the skin without heat. A soft body area sensor commits to wearable devices to integrate body sensors for network signal conditioner/readout and physiological signal monitoring for wireless transmissions and flexible printed circuit boards (FPCBs). However, its realization depends on various sophisticated imaginary methods such as lithography or direct printing on the carrier substrate before it is currently attached to the body. Here, we report a universal fabricated project to enable the printing of metal nanoparticles on paper/fabric for FPCBs and house-temperature synthesis and directly on human skin for on-body sensors with a novel centering aid layer. The combination of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) paste and nanomedicines in the water reduces the sintering aid layer. Together with the significantly reduced surface roughness, it allows the integration of submicron-thick conductive patterns with increased electromagnetic performance.
The sinusoidal methods of binding components inside sensors known as sensors require a temperature of about 572 degrees Fahrenheit (300 degrees centigrade) which makes the process incompatible with skin applications. The surface of the skin cannot withstand such high temperatures, obviously, Hanyu Larry Cheng, Dorothy Quigle Professor of Career Development at the Penn State Department, said in a statement. To overcome this limitation, we offer a centering aid layer – something that will not damage the skin and can help the material center together at low temperatures.
It can be recyclable, as the removal does not damage the device, Cheng said. And, importantly, the removal does not harm the skin either. This is especially important for people with sensitive skin, such as adults and children. The researchers say the sensors can monitor temperature, humidity, blood oxygen levels, and heart performance signals" and transmit them wirelessly over a network. But it can only be the tip of the iceberg. Some new devices are already in development or market for monitoring diabetes and neurological disorders. Wanting to use their discovery quickly, Cheng now plans to use adaptive technology to monitor patients with Covid-19 symptoms.


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On Saturday Landream launched their $116+ million Beecroft Place development with an overwhelming demand of sales and an incredibly successful result.
Over 95% of apartments were sold before lunch time and by 2pm the 130-unit project was completely sold out with over $110 million worth of real estate exchanged.
Prices for the one, two and three bedroom apartments ranged from $595,000 to $1.075 million.
CBRE Director Tim Rees said many buyers who purchased on the day live in and around the Beecroft suburb and have bought due to the limited supply in the area.
“People realise the value of Beecroft Place and the level of quality on offer, as well as the advantage of the mixed-use development and accessibility to the train station.
“Beecroft is a tightly held suburb with limited opportunities to buy in the area – locals rushed in to purchase as a result,” Mr Rees said.
Beecroft’s apartments were designed by award-winning firm dKO.
Construction is expected to begin in mid-August this year with completion expected mid-2017.


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Amazon’s use of robots in its warehouses has led to extra accidents for human employees, an investigation says.
The Center for Investigative Reporting stated it had acquired inner information for 150 warehouses over 4 years.
At the commonest sort of Amazon “fulfilment centre”, severe accidents are 50% increased for people who have robots than these with out, it says.
Amazon stated its numbers have been excessive as a result of it inspired the reporting of even minor incidents.
It accuses the large on-line retailer of “bald misrepresentations the company has deployed to hide its growing safety crisis”.
It stated Amazon officers had “profoundly misled the public and lawmakers” over its security document.
The firm, nevertheless, stated: “We strongly refute the claims that we have misled anybody.
“The reporter is misinterpreting information, and the very inner paperwork he claims to have obtained finally illustrate one factor – we now have a deep give attention to the security of our groups.”
Injuries rise with the robots
Amazon first introduced robots into its warehouses after acquiring a robotics manufacturer in 2012.
But workers speaking to Reveal said the robots ferrying items through the warehouse meant they were now confined to workstations, standing still and repeating monotonous tasks.
On top of that, the robots were much more efficient – meaning that productivity expectations for human workers had increased too. Pickers at the warehouse, for example, said they had seen their expected number of items to handle grow from 100 to 400 an hour.
Internal documents show that facilities with the robots have injury rates about 50% higher than those without, the report says.
Last 12 months alone, there have been 14,000 “severe” injuries – requiring days off or job restrictions – and the overall injury rate was almost double the industry standard, it says.
A few warehouses reported as many as five times as many injuries as the industry average, measured in serious injuries per 100 workers.
Amazon said that the injury rate in the reports used by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration was not a metric for “severe damage”.
The “Dart” rate – “days away, restricted or transferred”- was higher for Amazon because it “encourages somebody with any kind of damage, for instance a small pressure or sprain, to keep away from work till they’re higher”, the company said.
It did not, however, directly respond to the claim that the number of these incidents was higher in robotics-equipped facilities than those without.
The report also says Amazon’s public statements are misleading, based on its discoveries – something Amazon fiercely denies.
Jeff Wilke, Amazon’s chief executive of consumer business, argued in 2019 that robotics had a beneficial impact on safety.
“Making jobs safer by implementing robotics is only a win for everyone – making jobs extra fascinating, permitting folks to reap the benefits of their innate human creativity as a substitute of doing rote issues again and again,” he stated.
Reveal’s evaluation of the information it acquired discovered that 2019’s “Prime Day” sales period was “the 12 months’s most harmful week for accidents at Amazon fulfilment centres, with almost 400 severe accidents recorded throughout the nation”.
But Amazon said that was based on a misunderstanding because there were more workers employed at peak periods, and in fact the number of injuries per worker remained stable or even declined during those periods.
‘Millions spent on safety’
Amazon has long faced a public relations battle over how its treats its employees.
Responding to the allegations in the Reveal report, Amazon said it was constantly learning, and improving its safety procedures.
“We proceed to see enhancements in damage prevention and discount by programmes centered on improved ergonomics, delivering guided bodily and wellness workouts, offering mechanical workstation help tools, enhancing workstation setup and design, forklift telematics, and forklift guardrails to separate tools from pedestrians – to call a number of,” it stated.


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Tech billionaire Mark Cuban, who told Ryan Seacrest the “biggest mistake” an entrepreneur can make when launching a new business.
Businesses in townships - areas designated for non-whites under apartheid - have largely been ignored by big banks in Johannesburg’s financial district Sandton, even though some have tens of millions of revenue a year.
YouTube grabs the attention of many millennials and younger kids with instant and interactive videos of almost anything you could think of. However, YouTube has also become a form of income to many ambitious and creative individuals and if used correctly a way to boost business growth. We take a look at the world of Multi-Channel Networks which acts as a service provider for YouTube channels creating content programming, video editing and even sales. Joining CNBC Africa for more is Danilo Acquisto, CEO of Special Effects Media.
The inaugural Very Young Entrepreneur Education and Acceleration summit is underway at the Hilton Hotel in Johannesburg. CNBC Africa's Lubabalo Mashiqana caught up with Vanessa Ishimwe, Founder of Youth Initiative for Development in Africa about her journey and how the youth can go about getting investments for their businesses in Rwanda.
Valentine’s Day is known to be a gift-giving occasion for people who love each other, and a money making day to businesses. CNBC Africa’s Zwena Bachoo was on the ground to find out, how well businesses prepare for the day.
Climate change is going to have huge consequences all over the world, especially in Africa.
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United States Postal Service customers may want to send any mail that needs to go out in the next week because the price on stamps is set to rise to 46 cents starting Jan. 27th. The price increase, which was announced in Oct. of 2012, is the latest effort by the struggling service to curb its major cash flow problems (it posted a loss of $15.9 billion in 2012).
The Most Innovative Companies
The top 50 companies in entertainment, media, sports, technology, and more.
Most Creative People
Meet this year's inspiring leaders.
Innovation By Design
A showcase for ingenious design solutions.
Future of Philanthropy
Inside The Changing World Of Giving
World Changing Ideas
New workplaces, new food sources, new medicine—even an entirely new economic system.
The apps, tips, tactics, and brain hacks to help you work smarter instead of harder.
An award-winning team of journalists, designers, and videographers who tell brand stories through Fast Company’s distinctive lens.


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Wen shuyang, President of the Cambodian garment manufacturers' association (GMAC), said in an interview with local media that for more than 20 years, the garment and footwear industry has been an important part of the country's strong economic growth.
Currently, GMAC has about 600 members who work in clothing and footwear enterprises, providing a large number of job opportunities for cambodians.
Mr Wen said the garment and footwear industries had seen significant growth but were often threatened by external factors, such as the eu's "weapons-free" preferential tariffs.
Clothing and footwear exports in 2018 are expected to rise slightly from $7.6 billion in 2017.
If the eu repeals the EBA preferential tariffs in Cambodia, it will affect the development of the garment industry.
The channel emphasizes not to talk too much at this time, all information has not been confirmed, otherwise may cause the concern of ordering business, thereby divestment.
Mr Wen said 15 years ago Cambodian goods could still be exported to the eu without the EBA preferential tariffs.
The council says 40 per cent of clothing and footwear exports to the eu, followed by the us, Canada and Japan.
Meanwhile, GMAC is trying to tap new markets in Russia and mainland China.
According to a report by the Cambodian ministry of Labour and vocational training, the garment and footwear industry in Cambodia, one of the world's largest exporters of ready-to-wear, generated us $7.6 billion in revenue in 2017.
There were 1,154 garment and footwear factories in Cambodia in 2017, up 4.25 percent from 2016, providing employment opportunities for 770,000 cambodians, up 4.42 percent, among which 640,000 are female employees.
Twenty years ago, in 1997 there were only 64 garment and footwear factories in Cambodia, with $200 million in exports and 80,000 jobs.
Since 2000, the Cambodian government has set up a tripartite (labor department, management and labor) mechanism, so far workers have been paid 13 times, from $30 a month to $175 in 2018, and the base salary will rise to $182 in 2019.


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Gladi Reilly says she has found her “second act” in business — Barktown Willoughby.
Reilly plans to have a soft opening for Barktown July 7 and then a grand opening July 10.
“When I first saw Downtown Willoughby, I thought it was such a cute area,” said Reilly, the owner. “It’s fun to be down here. Over the last few years, my daughters bought places here, so we’ve been getting to be a part of Downtown Willoughby. We’ve met a lot of people and realized what a community it is. This store for me, it’s my second act.”
Reilly’s first act in business started 25 years ago — Viva Spanish. After she started doing after-school Spanish programs, business grew and she started offering Spanish classes to nonpublic schools.
“We started hiring teachers and bringing them into schools,” she said. “In the last 25 years, we have grown to over 70 schools in Ohio. We have 45 to 50 teachers in a year and a curriculum that we have built.”
Glad Reilly, the owner of a new Downtown Willoughby business, Barktown Willoughby, holds dog collars she got from Mexico.
Four years ago, Reilly saw the 4074 Erie St. building that is now Barktown Willoughby for sale and considered moving Viva Spanish to the location.
“We bought the building, and at the time, Traveline was in here,” she said. “Four years later, they’re still here. They finally moved out in May of this year.”
The building on Erie Street was then divided into three businesses — Viva Spanish, Barktown Willoughby and Chelle’s Paw Spa. (Chelle’s is owned by Michelle E Kilker.)
“We don’t need a big office for Viva Spanish because we don’t do classes here, “Reilly said. “We just operate out of here.”
With a goal of contributing to the economy of Downtown Willoughby, business ideas were tossed around before Reilly said her family landed on Barktown Willoughby.
“We have two storefronts, but we have this whole building. We thought, let’s have a dog store on one side, and then we could have grooming on the other side,” she said. “It’s a great marriage because the groomer brings us business, we bring her business, it’s all dog-related. She opened in June, and it’s one dog after another.”
At Gladi Reilly’s new business, Barktown Willoughby, many local vendors are represented.
After Chelle’s Paw Spa was underway, the building was remodeled, Reilly said.
“At that same time, we also have three apartments upstairs. Two of the apartments had already been rented,” she said. “There was one apartment that Traveline used as their board room. When May 1 rolled around, we got that to be an apartment so we could rent that out. Then Viva Spanish moved in May 18. It’s been a whirlwind.”
Reilly said her daughter Maggie who is a software developer, has been key in being the buyer of Barktown’s inventory.
“She really loves dogs and was the one who convinced us to do the store. She came up with the name,” Reilly said. “Hannah, my other daughter — I’m selling Viva Spanish to her. That transaction is complete June 30. I’m not really retiring out of Viva Spanish, but she will be the official owner. July 1 marks her first day as the owner of Viva Spanish and my first day as really the owner of Barktown.”
Reilly wants her customers to be able to come into the store surprised and amused as well as to have fun.
“I want it to be fun,” she said. “When we first came up with the idea, we were like let’s really build a dog community in Downtown Willoughby. There are so many apartments and there are dogs everywhere.”
Gladi Reilly, owner of a new Downtown Willoughby business on Erie Street, Barktown Willoughby, holds one of her four dogs. For Reilly, Barktown is her second act in business, she says.
Barktown offers many humorous products and signs that may surprise customers or make them laugh, Reilly said. Additionally, customers may also find gift sets, bowls and cups, La-Z-Boy couches and loungers, outdoor furniture, clothing for humans that talk about their dog.
“The store is really for dog lovers, people who have dogs, people who have friends with dogs, so I think there will be something for everyone,” she said. “We’ll also have some treats. We’re trying to look for things that are different that you’re not going to see elsewhere.”
Initially, Barktown will be open Wednesdays through Sundays. On Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, it will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“I still have to go around and ask some of the other store owners what’s their best days,” Reilly said. “It’s really a family affair — my husband, Mike, and my daughters Hannah and Maggie. Downtown Willoughby is a lot of individuals who like the area, and want to make it something.”
Originally Appeared Here