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With every passing day more and more rumors are being generated by the ever-productive online rumor mill with regards to the release of Sony’s PS4. The PS4 is the working name given to the PS3 sequel expected to hit shelves within the next 12-18 months. There has been no official word on the console from developers Sony yet, but this of course hasn’t stopped wild speculation that development will begin soon which is founded on several factors:
– Consoles tend to last for around six years before a sequel is released which is backed up by the gaps between PS1, PS2 and PS3.
– Nintendo is already beginning to leak information regarding its Wii sequel currently codenamed ‘Project Cafe’.
– PC graphics are beginning to leave console graphics behind, and games like the Uncharted series seem to have pushed the PS3 as far as it can go in terms of graphics capability and physics.
This all suggests we might see a PS4 on the market some time soon and rumors and speculation seem to support this theory.
So what can we expect from a PS4 once it arrives? Well first of all we should expect a giant jump forward in power and this has been noted in all previous examples of games consoles with the general trend being for consoles to roughly double in terms of their performance. This would result in photo-realistic graphics and that in turn would continue the trend towards more cinematic gameplay for the games. It is fair to anticipate that this graphical leap will be most pronounced for the PS4 as PlayStation has always aimed at the ‘core gamer’ market – the market of gamers who like realism and shoot ’em ups and who are generally an older male demographic. This is in stark opposition to, for instance, Nintendo, who tend to instead aim their products at a younger family market and both genders. This also means we can expect fewer ‘gimmicks’ when it comes to Sony. True to form on the other hand the Project Cafe has already been revealed to feature a controller with its own monitor. That said, it will be interesting to see whether the success of the Wii, Kinect and Move lead to any developments in controller technology – something like a motion sensor in the controller for instance.
Sony have also shown an interest lately into moving into the arena of downloadable content – as proven by the PS Go which featured entirely downloadable games. Something similar for a new home PlayStation device wouldn’t be out of the question then especially with the success of games on the PlayStation Network online service.
There are also many new technologies being constantly developed that could be implemented for a future PlayStation. For instance controllers that pick up brainwaves have always been shown to be possible and more and more devices and companies are now using the concept of a ‘cloud’ for storing information remotely. Perhaps we’ll see these in the next console or perhaps that won’t be a reality until the first 9th generation console… Yugioh trading cards


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Let’s check out the Yahoo Finance charts of the day.
Baidu (BIDU): Shares are up in early trade, at around .2%. The Chinese technology company will collaborate with BMW to develop autonomous driving technology in China.
Microsoft (MSFT): Shares are up here, at around .33%. The company is cutting prices on its Surface devices, introducing a $399 tablet to compete with Apple least-expensive iPads
Wynn Resorts (WYNN): Shares are up around 1.63%. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold saying the recent pullback in the stock’s price has created a compelling risk/reward for the casino operator.
For more on today’s big stock movers check out the Final Round, live at 3:55 p.m. ET, right here on Yahoo Finance.

domain: news


text: Hong Kong is in a recession, as five months of protests send tourism and retail numbers plunging. The Asian financial hub is expected to report negative economic growth on Thursday, which means Hong Kong is facing “a technical recession,” or two consecutive quarters of economic decline, Paul Chan, Hong Kong’s financial secretary, said in a blog post Sunday. Exports for the three months that ended in September plummeted more than 7% compared to the same period a year earlier, Chan said. That’s the largest quarterly drop in nearly a decade, he added. Chan said the city also may not reach its forecasted growth of between 0% and 1% for all of 2019. Hong Kong’s economy has been hit hard by the one-two punch of the US-China trade war and China’s economic slowdown. But those problems have been compounded by the protests, to which there seems to be no end in sight. Numerous violent clashes between police and anti-government protesters, often at popular shopping and tourist areas in Hong Kong, have turned visitors off from the city. Tourist numbers plunged 37% year on year for the third quarter, and the trend for the last three months of the year isn’t looking much better. The number of visitors to Hong Kong in the first half of October was down 50% compared to last year, Chan said. Hotels are on average only two-thirds full, a drop of 28% compared to the same period a year earlier, according to Chan. Retail figures are also taking a beating, he said, as some shops have been forced to close early or shut down for a full day several times over the last few months. Some protesters have targeted shops, restaurants and banks viewed as unsympathetic to their cause, smashing in windows, vandalizing storefronts with graffiti and even setting fire to some properties. Last week, Chan announced a new round of economic measures to support businesses affected by the ongoing unrest, including slashing rents in half at properties leased by the Hong Kong government, and providing fuel subsidies for taxi drivers and fee subsidies for local ferries. Those plans follow on earlier initiatives, including the allocation of 2 billion Hong Kong dollars ($255 million) to support small companies and a 19 billion Hong Kong dollar ($2.4 billion) stimulus package to help safeguard jobs and provide relief to “people’s financial burden.” Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, earlier this month pledged to give one billion Hong Kong dollars ($128 million) to businesses hurt by the city’s pro-democracy protests, saying at the time that the city’s economy “is facing unprecedented challenges.” Despite the troubled Hong Kong economy, the city’s financial markets largely appear to be holding up. The Hang Seng\n \n (HSI) Index is still up 4% for the year, and the political crisis hasn’t been a deal breaker for investors yet, many of whom still see the city as an important gateway to Asia. The IPO market is also proving resilient: In September Anheuser-Busch InBev\n \n (BUD) listed its Asia business on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising $5 billion in the second biggest IPO of the year after Uber. That deal pushed the amount of funding raised on the Hong Kong exchange to the third highest in the world this year after the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, according to Deloitte.


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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that New York City will begin to reopen on June 8, and he released guidelines on Phase 2 opening while giving the green light to five upstate regions that can immediately move deeper into the reopening process.
On the 90th day of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Cuomo offered some good news — the number of daily new cases fell to 152, “which is a dramatic, dramatic drop for us,” he said during his daily briefing May 29. “We’ll never get to zero, and what is the bottom of the curve? I don’t know, but we’re close.”
The number of COVID-19 deaths also declined to the lowest level ever — 67.
“We hope and we pray that that continues to be the case,” Cuomo said.
New York City is the only region in the state not to have begun Phase 1.
“Reopening in New York City is more complicated, as we know, but we are on track to meet all the metrics,” Cuomo said. Targeted testing is being ramped up and face coverings handed out in hot spots throughout the city. When it does reopen June 8, 400,000 people will go back to work.
Under Phase 2, office-based jobs, in-person retail, barbershops and hair salons, and real estate services, can reopen, all with restrictions, in the Finger Lakes, central New York, the Mohawk Valley, North County, and Southern Tier. Each industry is subject to specific state guidelines to maximize safety and social distancing, giving Long Islanders a glimpse of what is to come when it is allowed to move out of Phase 1.
For instance, retailers can open with 50 percent occupancy and store owners can refuse shoppers entry if they are not wearing a mask. Malls with 100,000 square feet or more of retail space, where shoppers may enter only from indoor, enclosed spaces, will remain closed. Stores in shopping malls that have their own external entrances — separate from the general mall entrance, like strip malls — may open.
Barbershops and hair salons will be open by appointment only and employees are required to be tested for the coronavirus every two weeks.
“We recommend that the professionals get a test before they reopen, that’s not a mandate — that’s a recommendation,” Cuomo said. “And we recommend to customers to ask the barber or professional in the hair salon if they had a test before you used their services.”
Business guidance for Phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan is available here.
The governor stressed that entering the second phase does not mean things will go back to the way they were.
“Life is not about going back,” he said. “Nobody goes back, we go forward — and it’s going to be different. This is about reopening to a new normal, a safer normal. People will be wearing masks and people will be socially distanced — it’s a new way of interacting, which is what we have to do.”
Nassau and Suffolk County officials hope Long Island will begin Phase 2 within the next two weeks, as long as the numbers continued their downward trajectory.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said during his daily briefing Friday that while Long Island is only a few days into Phase 1, they are already looking at Phase 2 guidelines. He said county officials are in contact with others in five upstate regions to learn how reopening went elsewhere, in hopes of learning more to get Suffolk transitioning smoothly to the next phase.
“We are in this position, having been impacted more significantly than just about any other area of the country,” Bellone said. “Fortunately, we’re now in a position to be able to see the experiences of those jurisdictions that have begun to open, and opened earlier than us, and learn from that.”
Daily hospitalizations figures in Suffolk County fell below 300 earlier this week, the lowest it has been since the third week of March.
The camping reservation system for county parks reopened on Friday at 4 PM. When it initially reopened last week, it was overwhelmed. People will be able to make reservations from June 15 onward.
Cuomo also announced a new COVID-19 early warning dashboard that shows the state’s expansive data collection that government officials are monitoring and reviewing to see how the virus is being contained. The site developed in consultation with internationally-known experts, and tracks new infections and their severity, hospital capacity by region, and other metrics.
As of Thursday, Long Island’s hospital bed availability, on a seven-day rolling average, was 32 percent, while it’s percentage of intensive care unit beds available was at 39.


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As the penetration rate approaches levels close to saturation in developed markets, mobile growth is increasingly focused on the developing world: by 2020, 80% of all smartphones will be located in emerging markets. Mobile technology plays a leading role across those regions, tackling a range of socio-economic challenges that the western world is not facing right now. For developed countries, mobile is the natural evolution of technology. For Africa, mobile technology means digital inclusion and access to information that creates a real globalization.
With more than 40% of Africans earning less than US$1.25, the scenario of owning a PC has always been truly cost prohibitive for them, thus paving the way for mobile tech to grow. More and more competitors are jumping on the opportunity to sell mobile devices on the continent, causing a significant drop of the average selling price of smartphones. Nowadays, most smartphones cost no more than US$100, which can still be way too expensive in places like Malawi, where people earn an average of US$21 per month1.
Many companies and organizations are stepping into the African market with more aggressive pricing strategies: in March 2015, Orange announced a partnership with Alcatel and Firefox to launch a sub-US$40 smartphone in Africa, in June 2015, Chinese-based vendor Xinwei Telecom launched mobile phones in the sub-US$20 range in Malawi and, since then, many global vendors like Google showed their intention to lower the price of their devices to meet the market’s reality.
Truth be told, the biggest remaining challenge for new customers in Africa is not the price of the devices themselves but the lack of access to affordable data plans.
According to the World Bank, a country's capacity to absorb and benefit from new technologies depends on the availability of more basic forms of infrastructure. The majority of unconnected people in Africa live in rural and geographically remote areas and, for mobile operators, the cost of rolling out and maintaining network infrastructure is clearly higher than the potential revenue coming from those low-income populations. However, those customers are the ones who would benefit the most from the digital inclusion that internet provides, such as: greater economic opportunities, that generate a reduction in poverty and hunger, improved access to healthcare and education services, increased empowerment and opportunities for women, stronger connections to the rest of the world, and much more. This is all supported by studies that suggest that a 10% increase in broadband penetration, in developing countries, can generate as much as a 1.35% increase in GDP.2
African countries are looking for new ways to improve the affordability of mobile services and extending network coverage: network sharing, government support, national broadband planning and alternative technologies are some of the possible solutions proposed to eliminate this coverage gap.
By the end of 2015, 4.1 billion people had no access to internet. By 2020, over 3 billion people will still remain offline, nearly all in developing countries. 3Achieving universal connectivity is thus a global challenge that will require the collaboration of many stakeholders through innovation and investment.
M-Health, defined as the use of mobile and wireless technologies for health, has become a popular means to fulfil the needs of the population, particularly among underserved regions.
The World Bank reported that there were more than 500 active m-Health projects in 2011 alone. Worldwide, the use of mobile devices for health may soon account for as much as US$60 billion a year in goods and services, according to estimates by McKinsey & Company and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Companies like mPedigree are now running m-Health solutions that are changing the lives of millions of Africans.
According to the World Health Organization, about only 50% of Africans have access to essential medicines and the situation is worsened by the weak regulatory capacity of African governments, such that about 30% of all pharmaceuticals now in circulation are either counterfeit or poor quality ones..4
Mobile money is delivering financial inclusion to the population, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 19 markets have now more mobile money accounts than bank accounts, and the number of adults with a mobile money account grew by 10 percentage points, reaching 34% in 2015.5
The World Bank Global Findex data reveals that in 13 countries, all in Sub-Saharan Africa, at least 10% of adults are using mobile money, with Kenya showing the highest level of penetration, at 58%. Nowadays, one in three mobile connections in Africa are linked to a mobile money account, and there are two particular regions showing impressive results: East Africa has the highest level of penetration, 55%, while West Africa achieved the most impressive growth as the percentage of mobile connections linked to mobile money accounts there increased 6%, to reach 19.6%.
Agriculture is the largest economic sector in most African countries and remains the greatest opportunity for economic growth and poverty mitigation in the whole continent, creating employment and contributing about 17% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 40% to exports. Despite this, the sector has been in decline for over 40 years now and Africa is currently the only region where food production has been dropping steadily, something that affects tremendously the 26% of Africans who are underfed. African startups, like iCow and Modisar, are keeping in mind the conclusions of The World Bank regarding the relevance of agriculture for the continent’s development: GDP growth generated by agriculture is up to four times more effective in reducing poverty than growth generated by other sectors. 6
There are over 1.5 billion people in vulnerable employment, representing nearly half the global workforce. For the International Labour Organization, the situation is significantly worrying in Sub-Saharan Africa, where over 70% of workers are in vulnerable employment, against the global average of 46.3%. 7 Most people in the region work on low-skilled jobs, in unsafe working conditions, earning low wages and facing a lack of training opportunities, as well as long working hours.
In countries like South Africa, people also face the ghost of the high unemployment rate. The country's unemployed has increased to 26.7% in the first quarter of 2016, the highest it's been since 2008.
Africa’s power sector is significantly underdeveloped. In 2010, only Algeria and Mauritius had an electrification rate of over 75% and, in countries like Uganda and Malawi, it hasn’t even surpassed 9% yet. McKinsey&Company forecast that electrification levels will only reach 70 to 80% by 2040, given the challenges associated with getting the power to where it needs to go – it takes on average 25 years to progress from a 20% electrification rate to an 80% electrification rate. 8If people don’t have access to electricity, where are they going to charge their phones?
African entrepreneurs are creating cutting-edge mobile technology
In regions like Africa, mobile phones are leapfrogging an entire generation of technology (and their infrastructural shortcomings), giving the users access to faster and more efficient solutions. According to the World Bank, 68% of Kenyans have no access to grid power, while around 95% are mobile phone users. It’s the confirmation that more and more people in Africa are carrying out their daily tasks using mobile phones. It is also the proof that success does not always come from disruptive technology, but from the way we tap consumer habits.
- GNI per capita, Atlas method (current US$), World Bank
- Colin Scott (2012): Does broadband Internet access actually spur economic growth?
- State of Connectivity 2015, internet.org by facebook
- The Africa Health Transformation Programme 2015-2020, World Health Organization
- Availability of mobile money services, GMSA
- eTransform Africa: Agriculture Sector Study, The World Bank
- World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2016
- Powering Africa, McKinsey&Company


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Our new home jersey has arrived! This is the first of our in-house brand Union Sixty. We have gone for the traditional yellow jersey with blue sleeves, blue shorts, and yellow socks. Our sponsor Lotto is also featured on the front of the jersey and on the right sleeve.
With Union Sixty, we pay tribute to the historic team that went undefeated for sixty games between 1933 and 1935.
As of Tuesday, July 19, the jersey will be available for sale online and in our fan shop at the Club House.


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Ocean point's primary objective was to target high earners, business owners & sport professionals living in affluent locations throughout the uk. Ocean point also wanted to raise brand awareness by inspiring new and existing customers.
Reach Solutions and its regional newsbrands recently partnered with Complete Property’s Ocean Point to run an integrated campaign across multiple platforms in the South & South West, including websites, mobile apps, social channels and newspaper titles.
With the use of Reach Solutions products, over different digital platforms, the campaign not only informed and educated existing markets but identified and attracted new key markets. The campaign was deemed a great success and reached thousands of people across our digital channels increasing their online presence massively, becoming a front runner in the property sector.
“The campaign has been extremely successful so far and the use of a highly demographic and geographic targeted approach really ensured that we were reaching the right audience and there was minimum wastage.”


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Tim Cook thinks you should get off your phone and stop ignoring your family at dinner. Or maybe go outside once in a while.
At this week’s TIME 100 Summit, the CEO of Apple (AAPL) discussed the way technology has affected society, and among his comments was an emphasis on the fact that mobile devices are not meant to dictate our day to day.
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“If you’re looking at a phone more than someone’s eyes, you’re doing the wrong thing,” Cook told former TIME editor in chief Nancy Gibbs during his interview.
“Apple never wanted to maximize user time. We’ve never been about that. We’re not motivated to do that from a business point of view, and we’re certainly not motivated from a values point of view,” Cook explained.
This insistence by Cook, who took the helm of Apple after Steve Jobs’ resignation in 2011, comes on the heels of the tech giant’s shift away from hardware. Apple’s new strategy of moving to a subscription-heavy business model arose in the wake of slowing iPhone sales, forcing the company to think outside the realm of its best selling product.
Last month, Apple announced its upcoming plans to enter the subscription streaming competition, going up against existing players like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. The anticipated keynote featured Hollywood heavyweights Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Steven Spielberg and Oprah, who have joined in on Apple’s big subscription bet.
The company announced several new sign-up ready products during its March keynote, including TV+, Apple News+ and a Goldman Sachs-powered rewards credit card. The company’s subscription news service is already seemingly off to a rocky start, while its premium TV subscription service isn’t due to launch until later this year—likely around the same time as the new iPhone release is due.
Cook claims that Apple doesn’t have an economic motivation behind customers’ mobile device addiction. However, by the looks of the slew of services the company is about to release, encouraging customers to wane off their iPhones won’t hurt their bottom line.


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Popular YouTuber and content creator ‘Dunkey’, aka Jason Gastrow, has announced the establishment of a brand new indie game publisher, known as Bigmode. The label will seek to publish games that boast quality, originality, and fun’ and will be involved with projects ‘from pitch to near-completion.’
The decision to found the company was reportedly born of a desire to not ‘sit on the sidelines’ – with Gastrow stating he’s tired of ‘waiting for great games to appear’. Notably, Gastrow does not have prior experience as a game publisher – although the breadth of his audience, which includes 7 million subscribers on YouTube, will no doubt aid his publishing and marketing efforts.
‘I have always sought out the very best indie games out there and have tried to do them justice, putting millions of eyes on the games that actually deserve attention,’ Gastrow said in a YouTube announcement. ‘For gamers that actually play and care about video games, my channel is where they come to find out what’s actually worth playing. Bigmode will be a harmonious continuation of my channel.’
The company will be run by Gastrow, alongside his partner Leah – and it appears they have a strong vision for the future. Bigmode will not take ‘creative control’ of projects, but will aid publishing efforts along the way, with Gastrow promising ‘insane value’ for developers. Notably, this will not extend to those working in the NFT, crypto or blockchain gaming spaces.
Bigmode is currently asking for developer pitches on its website, and is promising a range of services in exchange for support: PR and community management, QA, porting, funding, localisation, and more.
As Bigmode is currently in its establishment phase, it has no games on its roster just yet – but given the reach of Gastrow via his YouTube channel, it’s likely we’ll hear more from the publisher in short order. Content creation skills don’t necessarily transfer directly into game publishing, but there’s no doubt that Gastrow has plentiful experience with marketing and promoting a brand online.
Bigmode has potential to make a major splash, although we’ll have to be patient to see this company bear fruit.


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Two months ago, we reported that after the largest US bank had quietly exited the new loan issuance market, and hiked mortgage standards, JPMorgan also stopped accepting HELOCs, in what appeared to be a comprehensive withdrawal from the loan market ahead of the coming deluge of corporate bankruptcies spawned by the coronavirus shutdowns. This was confirmed just weeks later when in the latest Senior Loan Officer Survey we found that it has become next to impossible to get a loan as bank lending standards have soared for everything from C&I loans, to mortgages, to consumer loans.
Now, in the latest indication that banks are bracing for even more default pain, this time stemming from what even before the coronavirus crisis was the next subprime disaster-in-waiting, namely auto loans. According to CNBC, Wells Fargo is hitting the brakes on its auto loan business, until recently a major source of revenue for the company.
The bank, one of the biggest lenders for new and used car purchases in the U.S., sent letters to hundreds of independent auto dealerships last month telling them that the San Francisco-based company was dropping them as a customer, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
Wells Fargo confirmed that the bank, which only makes auto loans through car dealerships, will no longer accept loan applications from most independent shops which typically sell used cars, unlike franchise dealerships that focus on new vehicles from specific manufacturers.
The bank had "an obligation to review our business practices in light of the economic uncertainty presented by COVID-19 and have let the majority of our independent dealer customers know that we will suspend accepting applications from them,” Natalie Brown, the spokeswoman, told CNBC. “The independent dealers we will continue doing business with are those with deep, long-standing relationships with Wells Fargo.”
The move comes just as prices of used cars, which has crashed in late March and early April, had staged a modest rebound. However, with the fleet of 500,000 Hertz rental cars hitting the liquidation block after the company's bankruptcy, and expect to send used-car prices plunging even more in the coming weeks, it's not difficult to see why Wells is suddenly getting out of Dodge.
The move also follows Wells Fargo’s retrenchment from the mortgage market as the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the U.S. The bank is operating under a dozen consent orders tied to its 2016 fake accounts scandal, and one of those orders, from the Federal Reserve, limits the bank’s ability to grow its balance sheet until it fixes compliance shortcomings.
Yet the latest move was more related to concern about the credit quality of loans made by independent dealerships rather than the asset cap, a source told CNBC. This means that just like JPMorgan, Wells is now confident that the 'credit quality' of US consumers is about to disintegrate, resulting in a flood of defaults, and is trying to quietly eliminate all new loan exposure.
As we had reported previously, before the pandemic took hold, Wells Fargo had actually been growing its auto lending business. The company revamped the unit in 2018 after paying a $1 billion fine to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for fraudulently selling customers unnecessary auto insurance.
Since then, the company has steadily expanded the auto loans it held to $48.6 billion at the end of March, the bank’s second biggest category of consumer loans after mortgages. Auto loan origination climbed 19% in the first quarter to $6.5 billion, “reflecting our renewed emphasis on growing auto loans following the restructuring” of that business, the bank said in April. Needless to say, Wells wouldn't shut off one of its most profitable revenue streams if it didn't think that the coming losses would drown any possible upside from continued market penetration.
The silver lining is that - for now - the credit crunch focuses on a modest portion of Wells' overall auto loan business. Independent shops, which as noted above focus on used cars, make up less than 10% of the 11,000 dealers Wells Fargo uses to sell auto loans, according to the person with knowledge of bank operations. However, it is only a matter of time before new car dealerships are swept up by the bank's boycott of new loans.
Similarly to JPM, Wells Fargo has also been stepping back from parts of the mortgage market since the pandemic began this year. The bank told mortgage personnel that it was “temporarily” halting all new home equity lines of credit after April 30.
When analysts asked CFO John Shrewsberry in April why the bank was pulling back from the market, he said it was “one of the levers that we’re using to manage living under the asset cap” rather than concern about loan defaults.
As today's action confirms, the CEO was simply lying, and here's why.


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Dealer Profile #3 – Opticon Benelux
Welcome to the latest in our series of articles in which we profile members of our growing global dealer network. This month it is the turn of Opticon Benelux, which is based in the Netherlands.
Opticon joined the expanding Mini-Cam dealer network in March 2017 and is our sole distributor for the Benelux nations – Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
The company is based in Naarden, near Amsterdam, and is owned by Gerard Jungerling.
Opticon has operated in the sector for more than 25 years and specialises in the supply of camera inspection systems, sewer cameras and industrial endoscope and bore scope cameras for industrial and aviation applications.
Following this, Sven visited Naarden for talks, and Gerard and Ronald subsequently travelled to Mini-Cam’s headquarters in Warrington. Sven says: “We demonstrated our products, talked about market opportunities and our development plans for the business, and things took off from there. Gerard and Ronald saw Mini-Cam’s commitment to innovation and successful partnerships, how easy our products are to use, our attractive pricing and clear service offering. They and their team have hit the ground running, exhibiting our products at shows in Belgium and the Netherlands and achieving some impressive sales figures in a short space of time. We’re delighted that Opticon decided to join our network and we look forward to a long-lasting and mutually beneficial partnership.”
For more information visit: www.opticonbnl.com/en


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Enhancement Medical expanding in Wauwatosa with angel, MEDC funds
Enhancement Medical is ramping up operations in Wauwatosa with the help of a recent infusion of capital from investors and the Milwaukee Economic Development Corp.
The startup, which has developed an injectable filler primarily for wrinkle removal, in April closed a $530,000 funding round from eight investors, including local angel investors and doctors, said CFO Sean Dingeldein.
Enhancement Medical also received $300,000 from MEDC’s venture debt program, he said.
“It’s a round of funding for us to move from an R&D startup phase to more of a full-blown commercialization,” Dingeldein said. “We started selling our product in September of last year. We slowly have had a build-up of sales. But now we’re taking it to the next level.”
The company also received a $150,000 loan in 2011 through the city of Wauwatosa’s community development block grant program, he said.
Enhancement Medical was founded by Robert Hofschulz, who has extensive experience in sales to the aesthetics market, Dingeldein said.
The company’s staff of four is located in 5,200 square feet at 10201 Innovation Drive. He said it currently contracts with an East Troy company to manufacture its product under the brand name Expression.
The company will add jobs in Wauwatosa, but Dingeldein said there’s not a specific number planned currently.
The product is hyaluronic acid, a temporary application that can be administered with a prescription, Dingeldein said.
Hyaluronic acid has been used since the 1970s, but Enhancement Medical’s product is distinct because it’s made from a unique, pathogen-free material licensed from a company in Denmark, he said.
“They have a patented process,” Dingeldein said. “It creates a cleaner, raw material that we use to make our gel.”
Jeff Engel is The Business Journal's reporter covering the manufacturing industry and technology.
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PUBG Cellular is again in a new avatar, Battlegrounds Cellular India, in the place as a consequence of its months-lengthy ban. Although Krafton promises the new game is designed to handle issues in excess of its original model, it really is essentially not new — it is just what Chinese audiences have experienced all together. Battlegrounds Cellular India has emerged far more like a marginally tweaked model of PUBG Cellular, with just a handful of (pointless) discrepancies. And there’s no India-certain modifications here, with those tricolour posters relegated to the advertising and marketing teasers.
This week, host Akhil Arora talks about Battlegrounds Cellular India on Devices 360 podcast Orbital with Deputy Video clip Head Cyrus John, who performed Battlegrounds Cellular India, and Deputy Information Editor Veer Arjun Singh, a person of the most professional PUBG Cellular gamers in the team.
Battlegrounds Cellular India is at present offered in early accessibility for Android customers. Game publisher Krafton claimed just hrs right after the release of the fight royale title that it crossed the mark of 5 million downloads. But it has not been a clean original results for the game.
Months ahead of Battlegrounds Cellular India’s official start, Arunachal Pradesh Member of Legislative Assembly Ninong Ering urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ban the game. The government did not publicly reply to Ering.
Shortly right after its release, the Indian avatar of PUBG Cellular was located to be sending knowledge to servers outside the place, even in China. That knowledge-sharing challenge was, having said that, fastened when it was reported online. It is really humorous for the reason that the ties to China were being allegedly amongst the issues that resulted in the ban of the original title in September previous yr. Traders’ physique Confederation Of All India Traders (CAIT) has also demanded a ban of the new game citing it was sending consumer knowledge outside the place.
Battlegrounds Cellular India 1st Impressions: PUBG Cellular Similarities and Differences
Gameplay in Battlegrounds Cellular India is in essence as it was with PUBG Cellular. The modifications are simply due to porting in excess of the Chinese model. For occasion, gore and violence effects have been eliminated as the Chinese government doesn’t permit that in its game titles. Even conventional crimson animation of blood has been changed with green leaves. Certainly, leaves.
Krafton has authorized current PUBG Cellular customers to move their original saved game knowledge to Battlegrounds Cellular India. Even so, it is significant to position out that pals with whom you were being playing matches on PUBG Cellular are not mechanically added when you move to the new game – the pals listing has been shed in the changeover.
Further more hurting the community facet of points is the truth that several PUBG Cellular gamers have moved to PUBG Cellular alternate options, these kinds of as Phone of Duty: Cellular and Garena No cost Hearth, in the months that it was banned. Those aren’t possible to effortlessly move to Battlegrounds Cellular India — thinking of the truth that they’ve already made their communities on those other game titles.
PUBG Ban in India: Young Indians’ Aspirations Hit the Pause Button
Krafton has not yet delivered any details about when accurately it would make Battlegrounds Cellular India offered out of beta or on Iphone. Even so, the gaming community does have some information and facts. You can test that out in our dialogue.
You can pay attention to the full Orbital episode on PUBG Mobile’s India avatar Battlegrounds Cellular India by hitting the participate in button on the Spotify player previously mentioned. You can also adhere to the Devices 360 podcast on Amazon Audio, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and where ever you get your podcasts. Be sure to price us and go away a assessment.


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RAC offers innovative new Pay-by-Mile car insurance
Billed as “a new kind of car insurance”, Pay-by-Mile has been developed in recognition that the average driver covers 20% fewer miles compared to 20 years ago.
As such, RAC is offering a flexible monthly subscription-based product for those who drive less than 6,000 miles annually (approximately 110 miles per week).
Similar to other innovators in the space, such as Metromile, the company will charge a one-off ‘activation fee’ of £50, an affordable monthly ‘standing fee’, and then add a small per-mile cost for the distance actually covered. The service is not bound by a contract and can be cancelled at any time.
Innovative new technology
What makes RAC’s offering unique is its ‘drive tag’ - a small device that adheres to a car’s windscreen to measure mileage and calculate costs. Users connect their tag to RAC via a smartphone app.
The Pay-by-Mile service is available if the driver:
- Is over 21
- Travels less than 6,000 miles per year
- Has been a UK resident for more than five years
- Has an Android v.8 or iPhone IOS v.13 model (or above)
“Car insurance is a market that’s been ripe for a shake-up for some time, so we’re thrilled to introduce a truly pioneering new product which is ideally suited to drivers who don’t do that many miles,” said Mark Godfrey, Managing Director of RAC Insurance.
“So many of us are driving fewer miles now, which means we might well be frustrated at how much we’re having to pay for car insurance. With our fast and hassle-free online quote process, it’s easy for drivers to see if they could start saving money with Pay by Mile.”
Partnering on a new type of cover
Clive Upton, Head of Standard Private Car for LV= Broker, said, “We know customer needs are changing when it comes to car insurance, with fewer miles being driven and the need for more flexible cover that suits different lifestyles. By utilising new technology, this will provide transparent value for the exact number of miles driven.”
"We are excited about the launch of this innovative programme with the RAC and look forward to deepening our partnership with them,” added Nimesh Patel, CEO of Wrisk.
Image credit: RAC


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Tyson Foods has won through in the bidding war to acquire Hillshire Brands with an improved US$63 per share offer for the for the Jimmy Dean...
The dramatic M&A battle being played out in the US protein space comes as fresh evidence that food companies are willing to pay top-dollar f...
Tyson Foods entered fray today (29 May) when it issued a fresh bid for Hillshire Brands, trumping an earlier offer from Pilgrim's Pride. Lik...
With the bidding war for Hillshire Brands intensifying, it is pertinent to point out just how correct Sara Lee's management - and those on W...
US chicken group Pilgrim's Pride has booked an increase in earnings for the first nine months of the year, boosted by higher sales and margins.
US food group Hillshire Brands, set to be taken over by meat giant Tyson Foods, has reported a year of increasing sales and profits.
US poultry processor Pilgrim's Pride has reported higher half-year profits as a lower cost of sales helped offset a dip in sales.
Tyson Foods has struck a deal to sell its operations in Mexico and Brazil to meat processing rival JBS.
Tyson Foods and Hillshire Brands today (2 July) entered into a "definitive" agreement that will see the US meat processor acquire the maker of Jimmy Dean sausages for US$8.55bn.
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- Kerry Group plc - SWOT, Strategy and Corporate Finance Report


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Cruise Ship Trends
Royal Caribbean International says that its latest cruise ship, 'Quantum of the Seas', will make its home port in Shanghai (Baoshan), China The ship will reposition to China in May 2015,
In honor of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s work to spread peace, justice and democracy around the globe, Holland America Line has made a $100,000 donation to
New research by the UK's Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) claims the cruise industry is ignoring its responsibility to the environments and societies it visits.
New Orleans’ largest year-round cruise ship, the 3,646- passenger 'Carnival Dream', has sailed on its inaugural 6-day cruise from New Orleans. The Port explains
The captain of the Costa Concordia tried to persuade the crisis coordinator of the cruise line to pretend an electrical blackout had caused the shipwreck, a court was told on Monday.
It’s full steam ahead for Kiel’s Ostuferhafen construction work.
Kiel’s new cruise ship passenger handling pavilion at Berth No. 1 in the Ostuferhafen is rapidly taking shape.
Shipping activities in Arctic areas are certain to increase in the years to come and, as the Arctic is a challenging and
diverse environment, knowing how to manage its risks will be crucial.
Sembcorp Marine’s wholly-owned subsidiary Sembawang Shipyard has secured an agreement with RCL Cruises Ltd., a member of the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. group,
A cruise ship with more than 100 passengers and crew suffering from a gastrointestinal ailment caused by Norovirus, have arrived in San Diego, a cruise line spokeswoman said on Thursday.
With Carnival Dream, Carnival Cruise Lines to Carry More Than 400,000 Passengers Annually from Port of New Orleans – Most of Any Cruise Operator
The Port of
This year’s cruise shipping season in Kiel opened on Saturday, April 5 when the first cruise ship of the year, the AIDAcara, berthed in the port after sailing through the Kiel Canal.
ADEC Cruise Ship Program
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commercial Passenger Vessel Environmental Compliance Program is proposing to
Royal Caribbean International cruise line announced that Explorer of the Seas will join Voyager of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas for the winter 2015-16 season at Sydney.
From fall 2014 through spring 2015, Holland America Line will offer South America deployment with four ships positioned in the region. The line's ms Statendam, ms Maasdam,
Maritime service provider Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) said it was honored to join The World, Residences at Sea, in Miramar, Florida on Sunday, March 9, 2014
Silver Discoverer, Silversea's latest addition to its award-winning expedition fleet, welcomes her first guests today, exactly 20 years to the day since the company
MTN Communications (MTN) announced Fred.Olsen Cruise Lines has extended its four-year relationship with the company. Fred.Olsen chose to increase the breadth of communications,
The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) issued a notice to cruise passengers affected by the Houston ship channel oil spill stating that several cruise voyages have been altered or rescheduled.
Royal Caribbean International’s Explorer of the Seas will sail its very first Europe season in summer 2015. The cruise line’s Adventure of the Seas, which was originally
$2.3 million in renovations, expansions and upgrades are nearing completion at the Port of New Orleans’ Erato Street Cruise Terminal ahead of the arrival of the


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City street vendors hosted the first-ever vendor-run street fair “Pushcart Market” in Downtown Manhattan today, offering New Yorkers an array of food, crafts and clothing in what they hope will become a regular event. Borough reporter Rebecca Spitz filed the following report.
It's not often Park Place fills with vendors instead of cars, but Friday marked the first-ever vendor-organized Pushcart Market. Both vendors and attending consumers were enthused for the event.
"I think it's a great idea. Everything is so spread out, so to have everybody right here in one thing, without the cars and all the craziness, absolutely much better," said one participating vendor.
Among the items for sale were etched crystal towers, jewelry, crafts and genuine city street food:
"I'm just trying it for the first time. It looks delicious," said one customer.
"That was one of the things we had on our list to do, was to make sure we checked out some street vendors, and this was a great place where the kids could find something and we could all eat together," said a visitor from Nebraska.
Turnout was a little bit low for the day-long event, possibly because the idea had not caught on yet.
"Hopefully down the road, people will start to get excited and start to attend their neighborhood fairs more often and come to see all the different types of vendors New York City has to offer," said a vendor.
Vending advocates are worried about a bill being introduced last week by Manhattan Councilwoman Jessica Lappin, which would give the city the authority to yank the permit of any food vendor who gets three traffic violations in a year.
"It seems like an attempt to single out our smallest of small businesses, our street vendors. We don't know why she's doing that," said Sean Basinski, the director of the Street Vendors Project.
Lappin says the vendors are misunderstanding her bill, and that it does not apply to them but to the mobile food trucks set up on city streets all day, which feed the parking meters and idle.
"These food trucks are part of our city's landscape and I hope they continue to be but they should feed New Yorkers, not the meters," said Lappin in a statement.
There is a hearing on the bill before the City Council's Consumer Affairs Committee this Wednesday.
There is no date yet for the city's next Pushcart Market.


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SHANGHAI, Jul 14 (SMM) – China’s imports of cobalt raw materials are expected to fall 4% year on year to 86,000 mt in metal content in 2020, said Huo Yuan, cobalt senior analyst at SMM, citing coronavirus-induced uncertainty around raw materials supply from Africa and reduced supply after Glencore placed its Mutanda mine in the Congo on two-year care and maintenance.
China’s imports of cobalt raw materials in 2019-2020E (Source: SMM)
End-users demand has been subdued due to the COVID-19 impact, but consumption will revive in the 2021-2022 period given optimistic prospects for demand recovery after the pandemic, Huo told delegates at the 5th China International Nickel Cobalt Lithium Summit, which is organised by SMM in Ningbo, Zhejiang province on July 14.
In the cobalt sulphate market, inventories in China started to accumulate in December 2019, but demand and supply fundamentals may improve in H2 2020 amid supply uncertainty of cobalt raw materials and the recovery of downstream demand, said Huo.
China’s cobalt sulphate demand and supply balance in 2019-2020E (Source: SMM)
The analyst expected China’s cobalt (II, III) oxide market to continue destocking in H2, after stocks began to slide in June.
She estimated a rise of 15% in China’s lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) supply in 2020, bolstered by a rise in demand from 5G smartphones and tablets as the trend of online classes gains steam. Development of downstream sectors of high-voltage/capacity battery, e-cigarette, drone, TWS headphone and smart home appliance will also push domestic production of LCO.
The global cobalt raw materials market will likely achieve a balance of demand and supply by 2025, and destocking trend is expected after that, said Huo.
Global supply of cobalt raw materials in 2018-2022E (Source: SMM)
SMM assessed the average price of refined cobalt in China at 251,000 yuan/mt in 2020.
Global demand for cobalt in 2020 is estimated at 139,000 mt in Co content, up 2% year on year. Lithium-ion battery market may account for 61% of the global demand for cobalt in 2022.
Global demand for cobalt by downstream sector in 2018-2022E (Source: SMM)


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- adidas has partnered with AMSilk for the first premium innovation footwear made using silk biopolymers
- Concept shoe unveiled at renowned Biofabricate Conference in New York
New York City, Thursday 17 November 2016 – adidas has today unveiled the world’s first performance shoe made using Biosteel® fiber – a replication of natural silk – at the Biofabricate Conference in New York.
The adidas Futurecraft Biofabric prototype shoe features an upper made from 100% Biosteel® fiber, a nature-based and completely biodegradable high-performance fiber, developed by the German biotech company AMSilk. The material offers a unique combination of properties that are crucial in performance, such as being 15% lighter in weight than conventional synthetic fibers as well as having the potential to be the strongest fully natural material available.
In addition, Biosteel® fiber also provides a far more sustainable offering, with it being 100% biodegradable in a fully natural process. This continues adidas’ journey of sustainable innovation – from a starting point of virgin plastics, to recycled plastics, to its partnership with Parley for the Oceans and now a totally new frontier of investing in solutions that leverage science and nature as an integral part of innovation.
The shoe was unveiled at the renowned Biofabricate Conference in New York as adidas and AMSilk announce a partnership that will explore the use of Biosteel® fiber in performance products on a larger scale.
James Carnes, Vice President of Strategy Creation at adidas, said:
“In a year of ground-breaking innovations from adidas, the announcement of our partnership with AMSilk – and the unveiling of the adidas Futurecraft Biofabric shoe – is another step in our commitment to redefining the sports industry.
This concept represents premium innovation. By using Biosteel® fiber in our products, we have achieved an unrivalled level of sustainability. We are moving beyond closed loop and into an infinite loop – or even no loop at all. This is a pioneering stride forward beyond sustainability into a new territory of bionic innovation.”
Jens Klein, CEO of AMSilk, said:
“The sports shoes which have been developed together with adidas are the first products worldwide with a high-performance material made of nature-identical silk biopolymers. With this development we are setting new standards regarding the functionality of renewable textiles.”
The release of the adidas Futurecraft Biofabric shoe comes in a year where adidas has released a series of products that have pushed the boundaries of sneaker innovation. These include the Futurecraft Tailored Fibre, which utilised revolutionary manufacturing techniques to enable unique footwear designs and the Futurecraft M.F.G., the first product to be created at adidas’ industry-changing SPEEDFACTORY facility.
These cutting-edge product developments have been complemented by adidas’ commitment to sustainability, with its relationship with Parley for the Oceans having led to the release of the first mass-produced footwear created using Parley Ocean Plastic, the UltraBOOST Uncaged Parley.
About the adidas Group
The adidas Group is a global leader in the sporting goods industry, offering a broad portfolio of footwear, apparel and hardware for sport and lifestyle around the core brands adidas, Reebok, TaylorMade and Reebok-CCM Hockey. Headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, the Group employs more than 55,000 people across the globe and generated sales of around € 17 billion in 2015.
AMSilk GmbH is the world’s first industrial supplier of synthetic silk biopolymers and has its headquarters in Planegg near Munich, Germany. Sustainably produced using a patented biotechnological process, AMSilk high-performance biopolymers have the unique functional properties of the natural product they are based on. The organic high-performance material can be used in multiple ways, including in medical or technical products as well as cosmetic ingredients. AMSilk high-performance biopolymers give everyday products unique properties. Among other things, the polymers are biocompatible, breathable and robust. For more information visit www.biosteel-fiber.com
Biofabricate is the annual summit for the emerging world of grown materials, hosted this year by Parsons School of Design on 5th Avenue, NYC on Thursday, November 17. From yeast and bacteria to mushrooms and mammalian cells, international attendees will discover disruptive research, and companies, literally growing the materials of the future. From architecture to apparel, Biofabricate is the event to experience how biotechnology is facilitating a new material revolution.
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Kmart Plans to Cut Dividend; Loss From Operations Expected
Published: April 26, 1995
TROY, Mich., April 26— The Kmart Corporation said today that it was cutting its dividend in half and expected to report a loss from operations for its fiscal first quarter.
The nation's second-largest retailer said its board lowered the quarterly payout to 12 cents a share from 24 cents, an action that will save it about $55 million a quarter.
The dividend cut had been expected since its longtime chief executive, Joseph Antonini, who has been criticized for not taking tough steps to revive Kmart, including cutting the dividend and accelerating the closings of poorly performing stores.
"Antonini was significantly committed to the dividend," said Andrew Bischel, of Spare, Kaplan, Bischel & Associates, a leading Kmart shareholder. With his departure, "the last bastion of really strong support for maintaining it was gone."
Many analysts had said that Kmart would have to cut or eliminate the dividend to preserve cash for more pressing needs, such as renovating old stores or building large-format Super Kmart Centers.
In 1993 and 1994, Kmart paid out more in dividends than it earned, and some analysts did not think it could earn its dividend this year, either. For the full year, "96 cents is quite a hurdle," said Richard Nelson, an analyst at Duff & Phelps, who predicts the company will report earnings of 75 cents a share for 1995.
Kmart shares were down 50 cents at $14.875 in Big Board trading yesterday.
"The board feels it is prudent to reduce the dividend to a level more in line with current earnings expectations for the year," Donald Perkins, the chairman, said.
The company said it expected to report a loss for its fiscal first quarter, which ends this week, but it did not give an estimate. Sales and a cost-cutting program are going according to plan, but the gross profit margin is less than expected, the company said.
Kmart recently adopted an accounting change that will shift some earnings to the fourth quarter, at the expense of net income in the first three quarters. The change, which will cut 12 cents a share from first-quarter net income, is the primary reason for the expected operating loss, Kmart said.
The company added that the results for the first quarter would include a gain of 14 cents a share stemming from its decision to replace its pension plan with a profit-sharing plan.


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An Economic Force - The Impact of Small and Medium - Sized Businesses
In 2019, the U.S. Small Business Administration recorded a total of 30.7 million small businesses in the United States. This translates to small businesses making up 99.9% of American businesses. On the other hand, medium-sized businesses are making their own economic impact. The Government of Canada found that 21,926 of all Canadian companies (or 1.9% of Canadian firms) were medium-sized businesses.
While many may have their attention on Fortune 500 companies, these statistics prove that SMEs (Small to Mid-size Enterprises) help drive the economy of any nation forward. But what are the exact contributions of small and medium-sized enterprises? In this article, we list three specific impacts and how SMEs became an economic force to be reckoned with.
A job creation engine
The rise of SMEs provided employment to 59.9 million people. The Current Population Survey reported that the United States saw an improvement in employment rate in late 2018, and it continued to rise in 2019 as shown by the 4.1% unemployment rate in February 2018 dropping down to 3.8% by February 2019.
Another statistic proved that the size of the company does not always equate to how successful the business is. For example, firms who have fewer than 20 employees experienced the largest gains, providing 1.2 million net jobs.
As an average of 543,000 businesses are started each month, one can expect that the continued rise of new SME ventures will open doors for both unemployed and underemployed people to contribute their skills.
Cultivating international trade
Santander UK, a British bank, raises the potential of small and medium-size business when it comes to exporting, stating that these firms are the new face of international trade. SCORE, a non-profit association serving small businesses, found that 97% of the United States’ exporters are SMEs. This is mainly because exporting opens opportunities for these new firms. The fact that 26% of companies which trade internationally often outperform their competitors proves this, especially because extending their products beyond their borders also means that they are tapping a larger market.
These companies can also substantially change the way society does business digitally. In a Deloitte report, businesses which take advantage of the opportunities presented by technology are five times more likely to reach new international customers.
Drivers of economic growth
JP Morgan Chase & Co. states that small businesses are an anchor of the US economy. In 2010, these budding enterprises accounted for 45% of the country’s GDP growth.
In fact, in a survey conducted by Salesforce, 86% of the respondents said that they are willing to pay more when it comes to investing in small businesses. This gives some insight into how consumers interact with SMEs as 47% of those consumers answered that they are willing to go out of their way to shop in locally-owned businesses.
Other than its role in providing employment to millions of individuals, the reason why SMEs move economies forward is mainly due to their innovativeness. Small and mid-size enterprises have a higher and more active patent activity than their larger counterparts. This is a testament to their fresh and creative ideas, which can ultimately lead to a new type of demand, brought forth to society.
Small and medium-sized businesses have made their mark on the economy. The rise of digital opportunities will only push them further forward. SMEs proved this when 85% of surveyed businesses in a Deloitte report stated that digital tools have helped their company in some way.
As the small and medium-size sector starts to become even more competitive, businesses will find ways to get ahead. One thing is for sure – these budding enterprises will continuously be a major player in any country’s economy, and they are here to stay.
Business Catalyst Masterclass
To give back to the small business community, we have developed the Business Catalyst Program to help you retrench, move your company forward, and bridge the gap from where you are today to where you want to go.
We still have a few spots left for the catalyst program. Register through this link, then once we review your application, we’ll let you know if your business qualifies for it.
WistBooks Financial Management. Wise + Strategies to take your business financials further.(TM)
WistBooks provides integrated Bookkeeping, Advisory, and Financial Management services that leverage financial data to help small businesses execute a winning strategy. Through Quickbooks Online cloud accounting, financial dashboards and regular online advisory sessions, we support business owners and leadership in maximizing their financial decisions to maintain and support company growth.


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Men Are Attracted to a Sweaty Woman After Her Workout
For the women who put on makeup to go to the gym, according to a new study you are wasting your time.
According to Female First, a new survey about picking someone up during a workout stated 91% of men are turned on by a sweaty woman.
On the other hand, only 62% of women found a sweaty man attractive.
The survey also found that 53% of single people say they will flirt with people at the gym by giving them looks that say, "I'm interested."
31% of women admit they try to dress up for the gym and 46% will workout with makeup on.
About one out of four women say they have gone out with someone from the gym, while one out of seven men say they have.


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As more and more states cautiously begin to move toward reopening their economies, small businesses are balancing the pressure to reopen with concern for the safety of their employees and customers. Many states still lack adequate testing and business owners in states like Georgia are worried that state officials’ reopening announcements are premature.
At the same time, small businesses have taken the brunt of the economic hit from COVID-19. According to a recent Veem survey, 55 percent of small businesses report having taken a significant hit to revenue, with four out of five businesses saying that they expect the pandemic to affect them for at least another 12 months.
Thus, small business owners across the country are faced with the question: how do we move forward from here?
If you’re thinking about reopening your small business, here are some ideas to consider on how to do so safely:
- Follow the guidelines: The U.S. Chamber and the CDC have both issued new guidelines to help small businesses determine whether or not they are ready to reopen. According to the CDC, a good rule of thumb is to “only reopen when your business is ready to protect employees at a higher risk of severe illness, including those 65 and older and people of all ages with underlying medical conditions.”
- Put safety first: This includes offering hand sanitizer to both employees and customers, providing PPE to workers, and maintaining social distancing. This list of safety measures can help you keep your business as clean as possible.
- Lean on your digital resources: Digitally-enabled small businesses are staying at the forefront of innovation. By offering expanded delivery options, leaning on eCommerce, and taking advantage of tech companies’ relief resources, small businesses are finding innovative ways to minimize physical contact with customers by maximizing their digital presence.
COVID-19 has changed the course of small business, potentially permanently. Access to digital services and tools is more important than ever – which is why 3C members have sent a letter to governors across the country urging them to support, not restrict, affordable, and accessible digital tools.
Small businesses need all the help they can get to stay on their feet during this uncertain time. Until testing is available everywhere and the economy has recovered, we can’t afford to lose the digital tools that are keeping small businesses open for business.


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The Duchess of Sussex has been praised for being the driving force behind an “amazing initiative” in which high street shoppers support unemployed women through their purchases.
The John Lewis Partnership has warned the hit from a no-deal Brexit would be “significant” and impossible to offset as it tumbled to its first ever half-year loss.
Night time online shopping has increased by nearly a quarter in the past year, according to John Lewis Finance.
An Aberdeen department store has changed its rules on dogs.
Employees from an Aberdeen department store have helped by working shifts at a charity shop.
Staff at John Lewis in Aberdeen will swap one of the city’s biggest stores for one of its smallest when it takes over the Shelter Scotland charity shop on George Street.
An Aberdeen woman has admitted stealing more than £300 of designer clothes from a city centre department store.
The number of streams of Your Song by Sir Elton John nearly tripled in the wake of the singer’s turn in John Lewis’ Christmas advert.
Twitter UK has made John Lewis – the Virginia-based lecturer, not the retail store – the star of its latest Christmas advert.
The number of streams of the music of Sir Elton John has jumped 88% since the release of his John Lewis Christmas advert – and nearly half of those listening were millennials.
Viewers are predicting that a John Lewis Christmas ad starring Sir Elton John is about to be unveiled, after the theme tunes of many shows were given piano makeovers.
A man has been fined after stealing smart watches from a city centre department store.
A man has admitted stealing hair straighteners as a gift for his then girlfriend.
Tech giant Apple has been named the best company to work for in the UK, with staff praising an “enjoyable” work culture, good rates of pay and free or discounted goods.
Organisers of an upcoming farmers market in Aberdeen hope the event will encourage people in the community to live more sustainably.
Seeking sustenance after a shopping visit, we decided to head upstairs in John Lewis for a quick and easy meal.
A man has been handed unpaid work after stalking an Aberdeen shop worker.
Author and former children’s laureate Chris Riddell has accused John Lewis of “helping themselves” to his picture book for its Christmas advert.
Students from an Aberdeen school have received £10,000 of store credit to help transform a new building.
A popular department store is looking to recruit dozens of seasonal staff over the Christmas period.
An Aberdeen shop is hosting a summer fundraiser to help a cancer charity.
A city centre street was closed this afternoon after unattended bags were found abandoned near a shopping centre. Police Scotland sealed off George Street, near the Bon Accord Centre and John Lewis, at 3.20pm as a precaution. Specialist sniffer dogs were in attendance. The road reopened at 4.20pm once officers deemed there to be nothing untoward.
A historic Aberdeen building could be demolished or relocated under plans for a major shopping centre expansion.
Plans for a major expansion of an Aberdeen shopping centre have been lodged.
Businesses on one of Aberdeen's most famous streets have decided to reinvigorate the area as an artisan hotspot.
John Lewis has released an upbeat Christmas ad featuring wild animals and a family dog larking about on a new trampoline, in a departure from the emotion-laden tearjerkers of recent years.
Adorable cartoons? Check. Lilting acoustic music? Check. A storyline that will hit you in the feels? Check. Christmassy? Check.
DONS legend John Hewitt admits he’s “stunned” to find himself an internet sensation 16 years after hanging up his boots.
John Lewis has partnered with Age UK for its Christmas ad - fondly regarded as the pinnacle of festive retail - with a reminder to consumers to consider those who will be alone this year.
AN ABERDEEN man who shared his name with a well-known shop has changed it by deed poll.


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This screen grab made from Yahoo Inc.'s Tumblr page shows the company's new logo in a post published on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013. Yahoo has adopted a new logo for the first time since shortly after the Internet company's founding 18 years ago. The redesigned look unveiled late Wednesday is part of a makeover that Yahoo Inc. has been undergoing since the Sunnyvale, Calif., company hired Google executive Marissa Mayer to become Yahoo's CEO. (AP Photo/Yahoo Inc.)
Yahoo reveals first updated logo in 18 years
Yahoo has refreshed its logo for the first time since shortly after the Internet company’s founding 18 years ago. The new look is part of a makeover that Yahoo Inc. has been undergoing since the Sunnyvale, Calif., company hired Google executive Marissa Mayer to become Yahoo’s CEO 14 months ago. Mayer has already spruced up Yahoo’s front page, e-mail and Flickr photo-sharing service, as well as engineered a series of acquisitions aimed at attracting more traffic on mobile devices. The shopping spree has been highlighted by Yahoo’s $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr, an Internet blogging service where the company rolled out its new logo.
Initial jobless claims declined last week
Fewer Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, indicating the labor market is improving. Jobless claims declined by 9,000 to 323,000 in the week ended Saturday, less than the lowest estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, from a revised 332,000, according to Labor Department data. Employers are holding the line on dismissals, setting the stage for a pickup in hiring to meet any acceleration in demand as the effects of federal budget cuts and higher payroll taxes begin to wane. Growth in employment and rising incomes will help sustain consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy.
Factory orders down, but less than expected
Orders placed with U.S. factories fell less than forecast in July as rising fuel prices propelled the biggest gain in nondurable goods in a year. The 2.4 percent decrease in bookings followed a revised 1.6 percent gain in the prior month, a Commerce Department report showed. The median forecast of 62 economists in a Bloomberg survey called for a decline of 3.4 percent. Demand for nondurable goods climbed 2.4 percent, the most since July 2012, as petroleum sales shot up 7.3 percent. The report also showed that orders for capital equipment dropped more than estimated in last week’s durable goods report, a sign business investment was off to a slow start in the third quarter.
Sales of plug-in cars set record last month
General Motors and Nissan, the biggest sellers of rechargeable cars, posted record U.S. plug-in sales in August as their low-cost leases pushed battery-vehicle deliveries this year past 2012’s tally. GM delivered 3,351 Chevrolet Volt plug-in sedans last month, up 18 percent from a year earlier, and Nissan’s all-electric Leaf hatchback sales more than tripled to 2,420, the companies said. U.S. plug-in hybrid and battery car sales totaled 57,976 in 2013’s first eight months, more than the 51,938 for all of last year, data compiled by Autodata Corp. show.
United to recall all of its furloughed pilots
United Continental Holdings Inc., the world’s largest carrier, said it’s recalling all of its almost 600 pilots who have been on furlough to fill future staffing needs. Training classes for those pilots begin next month and will run through the end of the year, United said. The recalled pilots will join their 12,000 peers at United, which merged with Continental Airlines in 2010, surpassing Delta Air Lines as the world’s biggest carrier. United didn’t specify which types of airplanes the recalled pilots will fly, nor the average length of the furloughs.
FROM NEWS SERVICES


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The world at large is a crazy place, and the world of business is no exception. Hidden behind the at-times boring economic forecasts and earnings reports are a treasure trove of awesome factoids.
Nine fascinating business facts that will blow your mind
1. If the U.S. were to eliminate their $1 paper bills and replace them with $1 coins, it could save up to $4.4 billion over 30 years, according to a Government Accountability Office report.
2. In response to the polluted breathing air in China, millionaire Chen Guangbiao began selling fresh air in a can, going on to sell eight million cans in 10 days and earning $6 million in a year.
3. Ronald Wayne, also known as the third founder of Apple alongside Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, sold his shares for only $800 after 12 days working with the company. His stake, which was 10 percent of the company, would be worth almost $100 billion today with Apple’s current valuation.
4. Though it is best known for its smartphones and other electronics, Samsung’s other business areas include weapons manufacturing, life insurance and theme park management.
5. The world’s largest package delivery company UPS was founded by two teenagers with a bicycle and $100 borrowed from a friend.
6. In the year 2012, the 100 richest people in the world earned enough money to end world poverty four times over.
7. If you have $10 in your pocket and have no debt, you are in a better financial position than 25 percent of the American population.
8. In 1999, Google’s founders were willing to sell the company to a web portal called Excite for under $1 million. However, Excite passed on the offer.
9. In 1974, FedEx was on the verge of bankruptcy. It was saved when the founder took the last $5,000 of the company’s assets and turned it into $32,000 by gambling in Las Vegas. In fiscal year 2018, FedEx generated over $65 billion.


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Youku Tudou and Alibaba, the “biggest entertainment company” in the world, announced on Wednesday that the two companies will work together to drive the adoption of big data in video marketing in China.
Alibaba’s online marketing technology arm Alimama will use its data and technology to support the innovative online video marketing techniques of Youku’s View and Buy and Tudou’s Merchant’s Video Channel, as well as help small companies by making online video marketing service more accessible to them.
The announcement is another move by Alibaba away from its core business of e-tailing, and further into marketing, advertising and Internet services. Alibaba, much like Youku Tudou, has been very aggressive in diversifying its business, both companies most notably seeing movie production as a lucrative industry in the world’s second-biggest movie market.
Earlier this year, Alimama launched online video marketing services in collaboration with other major video websites in China to help widen the relevance and reach of online video marketing by Alibaba’s Taobao Marketplace and Tmall.com merchants to a broader base of customers.
Youku Tudou and Alimama will also jointly establish a Marketing Innovation Lab, the aim of which is to create online video marketing products like View and Buy and Merchants’ Video Channel. View and Buy’s technology allows consumers to click on merchandise that appears in the video they’re viewing and make a purchase without interrupting the playback. The Merchants’ Video Channel, on the other hand, gives merchants an opportunity to market their products and services by themselves where they can create fun videos to promote their products, get consumers’ attention and trigger purchasing actions.
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SPARK Hollywood, a coalition of local organizations focused on growing and supporting the technology sector and entrepreneurs in Hollywood, Florida, announced that it’s hosting its annual ‘start-up competition’, SPARK Hollywood, at 5 pm on May 17, at the new CIRC Hotel at Young Circle.
SPARK Hollywood is an event that promotes innovation and entrepreneurship for local inventors, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. The event will feature a ‘quick pitch’ competition where entrepreneurs and start-up businesses vie for cash and in-kind prizes. The event will be held on Thursday, May 17, at CIRC Hotel, 1780 Polk St. It is scheduled to run from 5 to 8 pm.
SPARK Hollywood has three main objectives: (1) to provide a quick-pitch competition for selected contestants to pitch their idea or invention to a panel of judges to win prizes; (2) to provide an opportunity for start-ups to showcase their ideas, inventions and products during a “trade show” open to the public; and (3) provide an opportunity for early-stage entrepreneurs to learn about resources available in the City of Hollywood and South Florida, while networking with potential investors and experts who may help grow their venture.
The quick-pitch competition will feature entrepreneurs and start-up ventures competing for cash and in-kind prizes by giving a three-minute presentation of their innovative idea/business to a panel of judges comprised of local investors and business professionals. To register for the competition or for more information, visit www.sparkhollywoodfl.com.
The event’s keynote speaker will be Scott Joseph, a local Hollywood entrepreneur, the founder and president of Healthy Tribe, a $15 million-dollar company and author of “The Chimp Diet.” He will share his experience on investing in and growing a food service business focused on Nutritional Biology.
SPARK Hollywood is co-sponsored by the City of Hollywood, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, and Leadership Hollywood 42.
For more information or tickets, visit www.sparkhollywoodfl.com contact Kara Lundgren at 954 500 1780 or via email at Klundgren@circhotel.com. As of this writing, there is still time for startups to register to compete and tickets are going fast.


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According to Norwegian news page digi.no, due to growing interest in Opera Mini for the iPhone, Apple has called Opera Software to discuss about the possible partnership between these two companies.
Although no more details were revealed, Håkon Wium Lie (Opera’s Chief Technology Officer) feels confident, that Opera Mini will be approved.
When asked about the possible pricing, he said: We have not decided yet. Typically, the way that you download and use Opera for free (*translated*).
About (Author Profile)
Vygantas is a former web designer whose projects are used by companies such as AMD, NVIDIA and departed Westood Studios. Being passionate about software, Vygantas began his journalism career back in 2007 when he founded FavBrowser.com. Having said that, he is also an adrenaline junkie who enjoys good books, fitness activities and Forex trading.


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How do print and mail service providers thrive?Thursday, Jan 13th 2022
How does a company overcome digital fatigue in a post-pandemic world?Friday, Nov 12th 2021
Following the pandemic, the concept of digital fatigue has become an unfortunate reality. Individuals are spending a majority of waking hours viewing devices, whether for professional or personal...
Why Print is still crucial in the digital workplace?Friday, Oct 15th 2021
According to IDC research conducted with Quadient customers, examining the U.S. print market recovery in the aftermath of COVID-19, print volumes dropped in 2020 as a result of the pandemic. In...


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Rodman & Renshaw promotes co-founder to chief executive
Rodman & Renshaw Capital Group has a new chief executive but the middle market investment bank said the changes at the top are unrelated to its recent rejected bid to acquire Cowen Group.
Rodman has appointed president and co-founder Edward Rubin as chief executive, to succeed Michael Lacovara after the board felt it was time for a change in leadership.
Rubin told Financial News that Lacovara, who joined Rodman in 2007, was hired to turn Rodman into a public company and grow the business through acquisitions.
Rubin said: “Having accomplished this, the board and Michael mutually agreed to a change in leadership.”
A spokesman for the firm declined to comment on Lacovara’s future.
Cowen, which focuses on growth companies in healthcare, technology, media and telecommunications and consumer sectors, was founded in the US in 1918 and acquired by Société Générale in 1998.
A spokesperson for Rodman said the change in chief executives was not connected to the proposed Cowen transaction.
Rubin said: “Michael’s departure is not connected to a change in business strategy. However, like all prudent companies, during this time of economic uncertainty and market volatility, we regularly review our plans and approach to our business and we will continue to do so.”
Rubin joined Rodman in June 2002. Prior to Rodman, he held positions at Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Tandem Venture Partners, Jesup & Lamont Securities Corp. and NCH Capital.
Rodman & Renshaw Capital Group’s subsidiaries, include Rodman & Renshaw, Rodman Principal Investments and Miller Mathis & Co.
—Write to Yael Bizouati at email@example.com


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The biggest deal in Nvidia's history and one of the biggest in the tech industry, Nvidia's merger with UK-based Arm, could be delayed indefinitely because of China's antitrust investigation. Since Arm has subsidiaries in other countries, the deal requires approval from their authorities.
Nvidia (NVDA) could take twice as long to get approval for its deal to buy the UK's largest technology company Arm Holdings, which is owned by Japanese financial conglomerate SoftBank Group.
After the companies announced the $40bn deal last September, the first hurdle was a class action lawsuit from Google (GOOGL), Qualcomm (QCOM) and Microsoft (MSFT), which filed applications to ban the deal with US antitrust authorities. The US Federal Trade Commission is reportedly currently investigating the takeover.
Already this year, UK authorities have launched their own investigation into the implications of the deal, pointing to national security risks.
Now the threat to disrupt the deal comes from Chinese antitrust authorities, whose approval is also required because Arm has a joint venture called Arm China with Chinese private equity firm Hopu Investments. ARM Holdings is the holding company for a number of subsidiaries.
Nvidia has applied for approval of the deal from China's antitrust authorities, which said it could take up to 18 months of detailed investigation to reach a conclusion, the Financial Times reported Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.
If the investigation by Chinese authorities takes that long, it could take more than 2.5 years to close the deal, as Nvidia originally expected that it could get all the necessary approvals and complete the deal in a total timeframe of 18 months.
However, global precedents for long approvals are known in the technology industry, especially if they are large merger deals.


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NIBCO has a manufacturing history that spans over a century and has operated under four generations of family leadership and employee ownership. Over the years, NIBCO has survived and thrived during the toughest economic times – a testament to exceptional product quality and adherence to its core values: Safety, Integrity, Teamwork and Continuous Improvement. Our accomplishments include significant industry milestones making NIBCO a leader in the flow control business..
Ashley Martin Promoted to NIBCO Vice President, Wholesale Sales
ELKHART, Ind. – (April 26, 2016) NIBCO INC. promoted Ashley Martin to vice president, wholesale sales, reporting to Steve Malm, president and chief operating officer.
Martin began her career at NIBCO in July 2012 as a sales train
NIBCO INC. proudly announces the launch of its new Press System® Lead-Free* Brass Ball Valves.
NIBCO INC. announced today that it has acquired the assets of the Sure Seal product line from OPW Engineered Systems, Inc. View the full line of NIBCO Sure Seal Valves.
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A book signing doesn’t often look like a cocktail party. But John Francis Trump, author of Still & Barrel: Craft Spirits in the Old North State published by Winston-Salem-based John F. Blair, Publisher, made the event at Greensboro’s Scuppernong Books on May 12 a conversation by talking from his chair and allowing guests to interject questions throughout.
Inspired by a distillery passport produced by the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services — which is now the app “NC Spirits” — Trump and his wife, Lisa Snedeker, traveled last summer to every North Carolina distillery with products on ABC store shelves. Snedeker snapped photos while Trump — the managing editor of the conservative Carolina Journal — talked with distillers about what they do and why they’re in a business that sees very little profit for the local guy.
“North Carolina liquor sales account for only 0.3 percent of alcohol sales in the state,” Trump said at the reading, echoing the introduction of his book. Scot Sanborn, owner of Sutler’s Spirits in Winston-Salem, had told him the profits from his business were “enough to buy sushi once in a while,” but not enough to get rich.
Particularly given the pace of the state’s current liquor laws. Senate Bill 155, known as the “brunch bill,” was referred to the finance committee on March 30, and has yet to advance. If passed, it will not only allow restaurants and bars to serve alcohol at 10 a.m. on Sundays; distilleries will be able to sell five bottles per customer per year on-site as opposed to the current one bottle per year limit.
Bill and Andrew Norman, a father-son team at Fainting Goat Spirits in Greensboro, were part of the panel discussion during the event. Bill noted that distilleries pay the same amount of tax on bottles whether they’re sold on-site or at ABC stores, but selling more than one bottle to tour participants would mean greater revenue in the long-term, as would being able to mix their liquor into drinks at the tasting room.
The backwardness makes sense when you consider the state’s history: As the first in the South to ban alcohol, it ended Prohibition four years after the 21st Amendment and lifted the ban on making liquor in 1979. Even then, North Carolina’s first legal distillery, Piedmont Distillers in Madison, opened in 2005.
Liquors like moonshine, vodka and gin can be sold immediately, but aged products such as whiskey and bourbon take time to barrel age, particularly in the traditional method with new American oak barrels. That’s why Fainting Goat Spirits’ Tiny Cat vodka and Emulsion gin are on the distillery’s and ABC stores’ shelves — and why their three whiskies aren’t.
“Kentucky has a 100-year jump on everyone else,” Trump said, since some distillers “barreled through Prohibition.”
And while it might sound nice that ABC stores have a North Carolina section, “it ends up being the opposite of what you want,” Bill said. Not only does the practice silo the local products, as distillers say; consumers go to the vodka section if they want vodka, for instance, but the North Carolina products aren’t there.
“Unless you know where to look for them, you won’t find them,” Trump said.
Often, the North Carolina section is in a corner of the store. And to put their products on ABC shelves, local distillers must visit the municipality’s board in person and show them the product, which is not tasted.
However, as Trump writes, “Craft distillers press forward because they believe their products pay homage to the distillers who once saturated North Carolina and because their spirits are better than those produced on a massive scale.”
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The number of mobile internet subscribers in the country increased by 7.38 lakh in February with the number of internet subscribers reaching close to 10 crore.
According to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission data, the number of total internet subscribers increased to 9.99 crore at the end of February from 9.92 crore in January this year.
It took one and a half years to reach 10 crore subscribers after attaining the ninecrore mark in August, 2018.
Of the internet subscribers, the number of mobile subscribers increased to 9.42 crore at the end of February from 9.35 crore subscribers a month ago.
The number of broadband and WiMax internet subscribers, however, remained unchanged at 57.48 lakh in February.
On the other hand, the number of mobile phone subscribers increased by 4.99 lakh in February.
The number of mobile subscribers reached 16.61 crore at the end of February from 16.56 crore a month earlier.
Leading mobile phone operator Grameenphone lost 6.09 lakh subscribers, pulling down its subscriber-base to 7.59 crore at the end of February from 7.65 crore a month ago.
The lone state-owned mobile phone operator, Teletalk, also lost 4,000 customers in February, dropping its subscriber base to 4.87 crore.
Banglalink and Robi gained 8.22 lakh and 2.9 lakh subscribers respectively in February.
The subscriber bases of Banglalink and Robi have now risen to 3.58 crore and 4.96 crore respectively. (Source: New Age)


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C&C Group has reported a 'modest profit' for the month of December, after the re-introduction of restrictions in the hospitality sector slowed its growth expectations.
In a statement, the maker of Bulmers and Tennent's said that its operating profit outcome for the second half of the year will be 'affected by the nature, extent and duration of government restrictions', which have been introduced to curb the spread of the omicron variant.
In October, the group said that it was expecting operating profit for full-year to come in at around €50 million to €55 million, and added that trading in the period from September to November was 'modestly ahead of expectation and the stated guidance'.
This was driven by positive consumer sentiment and the return of customers to on-trade hospitality, it added, and boosted by the firm's ongoing cost reduction model.
In December, however, the return of government restrictions meant that C&C delivered 64% of expected volumes, as opposed to expectations of 90%.
'Strong Capital Structure'
'The Group has a strong capital structure which provides more than adequate liquidity to support its current and expected business needs, together with its strong free cash flow generation and conversion characteristics,' C&C said in its statement.
'As the pre-eminent brand led drinks distributor in the UK and Ireland, we have demonstrated our ability to effectively service demand during this period. We continue to drive efficiencies throughout our business in the form of permanent operating cost reduction.'
C&C will provide an updated operating profit range in its FY2022 pre close trading statement in March.


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- Courtesy of Front Seat Coffee
- Tobin Myers Porter at Front Seat Coffee during renovation
A former vegetable farmer is opening a coffee shop in Hardwick, where Front Seat Coffee
will occupy the ground floor space at 101 South Main Street. Tobin Myers Porter will launch his business in mid-July with a grand opening planned for July 27.
The 24-seat café will serve coffee and espresso drinks made with beans roasted at Carrier Roasting Co
., a roastery in Northfield. Milk at the café will come from Sweet Rowen Farmstead
in West Glover. Front Seat Coffee, currently under renovation, will prepare baked goods and other food in its kitchen. Menu items will include cinnamon maple toast, avocado toast, curried chicken salad, and tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich.
Porter, 32, founded and ran a farm on the Amherst College campus, Book & Plow, before moving to Vermont. In the Northeast Kingdom, where he lives in South Albany, Porter worked at Pete’s Greens
organic produce farm in Craftsbury. More recently, he spent a year doing a variety of jobs at Myers Produce
, a food distribution company owned by his wife, Annie Myers.
During that time, Porter and Myers sometimes worked at their computers in the front seat of their car — and wished for a co-working space in Hardwick. This experience led to the creation of the coffee shop and later helped inform the name of the business. As Porter researched the prospect of opening a café, including a stint working at PK Coffee
in Stowe, the idea gained momentum, he said.
“I kept on hearing from people in Hardwick that there was this enormous desire for a coffee shop and a place to be able to work on a computer and a place to meet up with a friend or colleague,” Porter said. “I almost think of it as a daytime bar.”
Front Seat will be furnished with a communal table, café tables, a small couch and lounge section. It will provide free, high-speed Wi-Fi.
“The caliber is going to be really good,” Porter said. “At the same time, we’re really trying to have an affordable cup of coffee.”
The coffee shop, at the intersection of Vermont Routes 14 and 15, has big, plate-glass windows that look out on the crossroads at the center of town. "It feels like it’s the front seat of Hardwick," Porter said. "You see everyone going by that blinking light."
Front Seat Coffee will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends.


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The newly launched KTM 390 Adventure is not only being built in India for the local market but also for markets outside India. Speaking to Auotcar India, the company has said that exports of the new KTM 390 Adventure will commence from February 2020 onwards. KTM has been building the 390 Duke and RC 390 in India and exporting them for a while. So it's no surprise that the company is exporting the 390 Adventure as well.
That said, we expect the 390 Adventure units being exported to feature the same specifications as the bike that was shown in Milan at EICMA 2019. To elaborate, the India-spec KTM 390 Duke does not get the adjustable 43mm USD fork with compression and rebound adjustability.
The KTM 390 Adventure has been one of the most talked about and highly anticipated motorcycles over the past year. The bike was unveiled to enthusiasts in India at India Bike Week 2019. The bike was launched yesterday at Rs 2.99 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) which is pretty competitive, considering the equipment on offer, which includes traction control and a bi-directional quickshifter.
It uses the same 373.2cc, single-cylinder engine from the 390 Duke, with peak outputs of 44hp produced at 9,000rpm and 37Nm of torque coming in at 7,000rpm. The KTM 390 Adventure is the manufacturer’s first BS6-compliant motorcycle, and the rest of the range will soon follow suit.


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Apple expects China to overtake the United States as its biggest market, CEO Tim Cook told a Chinese government news agency, as reported by “ABC News” (http://tinyurl.com/b74hbej).
“China is currently our second largest market. I believe it will become our first. I believe strongly that it will,” the Xinhua News Agency quoted Cook as saying in an interview.
Apple sales in China more than doubled in 2010 and 2011 though growth has slowed in the past year.