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By Eric Savitz
Travelzoo (TZOO) this afternoon posted weaker-than-expected Q3 results. The online travel information company reported Q3 revenue of $18.8 million and a pro forma loss of 13 cents a share. The Street had been looking for $21.9 million and a loss of 9 cents.
“Q3 2008 was impacted by weak North America operating results due to a weak economy and the continuation of our aggressive expansion in Asia Pacific and Europe,” Travelzoo CEO Holger Bartel said in a statement. “In Q4, we plan to cut costs in our North America business segment and intend to reduce the speed of our investments in Asia Pacific and Europe.”
TZOO, which fell 22 cents, or 3.3%, to $6.48 in the regular session, is up 11 cents after hours.


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Net Insight, a developer of transport solutions for new media, IP and broadcast needs, networks Plans delivery of simultaneous live HD and 3D feeds of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa this summer to at least nine global media operators (and major U.S. rights holder ESPN).
Net Insight, which is based in Stockholm, said the entire global four-week sports event will be fed entirely live in HD for the first time.
The participating partners will deploy Net Insight's Nimbra 680 platform to deliver live video coverage (and broadband services) to a worldwide audience (estimated by the Cup's promoters) to be in the range of 1.5 billion viewers. World Cup feeds affect about 130 countries.
Net Insight will also transport ESPN's ambitious slate of 3D broadcasts from various venues in South Africa for the soccer tourney. Disney-owned ESPN will soon launch its own 3D-dedicated channel and currently plans cover as many as two dozen World Cup contests games in 3D.
The Nimbra 680 high-capacity multiservice switch integrates an array of video and audio interfaces (ASI, SDI, HD-SDI, 3G-SDI, AES/EBU) with native support for IP/Ethernet.
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- News & Views
- Solution Providers
A Quest for Moderate Consumption: A Story of Social Experiments, Spoken Word Artists and More
January 2, 2017
Heineken stood out in a unique way earlier this year when it gave near-total creative control to a rapper and asked him to narrate its sustainability report. In a creative distillation of the company’s 2015 sustainability report, Dutch rapper and vocal word artist Kevin “Blaxtar” de Randamie highlighted some of the brewer’s achievements in a spoken word performance. And that was just one of multiple creative new ways the brand has found to communicate its sustainability achievements and increase enthusiasm for more from consumers and other key stakeholders. For years, the brand has been building on the success of its Enjoy Heineken Responsibly campaign features, a mix of innovative marketing moves and social experiments demonstrating the aspirational value of moderate consumption of alcohol. In this talk, the brand’s sustainability lead Michael Dickstein will share more examples, outline what’s next and explain how this set of brand positioning tools is being leveraged and perceived around the world.
Michael Dickstein, GLOBAL DIRECTOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, HEINEKEN


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This afternoon LSI Corporation announced that it is acquiring SandForce for $400 million in cash and assumed options.
We are excited for the team at SandForce and proud to have been a part of building a company that is helping to usher in a new era of storage. SandForce delivers solid state disk (SSD) processors that power volume flash memory in both high-end storage as well as consumer applications. The primary advantages of flash memory are that it is much faster, more reliable and consumes less energy than hard disk drives.
Many of our limited partners and investors that have looked at investing at SandForce over the years will likely remember us saying that flash memory is the most disruptive force in storage since the floppy disk drive. We truly believed that when we made the decision to invest in 2006 as we saw the use of flash becoming more ubiquitous in devices like the iPod. We believed that as more consumer devices took advantage of flash, the price of flash would decrease and its uses in enterprise applications would increase. As the price of flash per GB came closer to hard disk drives, more applications would take advantage of all it had to offer including dramatically faster performance.
In many of the investments we make (and other venture investors) the focus of the product or service changes from first concept. SandForce’s original vision is the same today as it was when we first invested.
We first met the founders of SandForce in early December 2006 and worked together with them to agree on a term sheet just before the holidays. We agreed to invest $3 million and find another co-investor to invest the other $3 million along side us to get the company through its initial development efforts and prove out the technology. While we introduced it to several investors, most venture investors were completely uninterested in semiconductor investing (with some good reasons) and did not see the market opportunity with flash. Fortunately, Carl Amdahl and the team at DCM saw the opportunity and quickly made a decision to invest. We signed the initial term sheet with DCM in March 2007. DCM has been a terrific partner at SandForce.
The company really got to work in the spring of 2007 to validate the technology and expanding the team. SandForce closed its Series B financing in February 2008 with some strategic investors who Storm introduced to the company and were early to recognize the potential impact of flash on the market. Storm participated in this round as well. We focused on many strategic partners to help us bring the solution to market including introducing SandForce to Smart Modular which ultimately became our first publically announced customer in late 2009.
Everything did not come easily. We struggled with our development efforts including having to replace our VP engineering twice during our early days which could have been devastating had it not been for strong founders and a committed team of early engineers. We also were slower to deliver revenue. Originally we had planned to deliver revenue in 2008 but ultimately were not able to get product out until 2009. As the company started to clearly show its potential and the market for SSDs became much clearer, SandForce raised its Series C round led by Jackie Yang of Translink Partners in October 2009. The team at Translink gave the company critical insight into customers and partners in Asia.
The company also went through a difficult transition period in early 2010 as we had to make some changes with respect to management, but we were able to begin to execute to SandForce’s potential in 2010 delivering over one million parts that year. The company has continued to grow and add many key executives and team members which enabled the company to deliver over one million parts in Q3 2011. Storm introduced the company to Sundi Sundaresh in early 2010 as an additional outside board member. Sundi has a tremendous amount of storage experience including most recently having been CEO of Adaptec. SandForce closed its Series D financing in September of 2010 with Eric Young of Canaan Partners leading the investment who clearly saw the vision as well as some compelling evidence from customers.
Storm has certainly done well financially, and we are happy to be able to return more than one-third of our fund to our limited partners. We are grateful for the founders who had the vision and especially grateful to have worked with such a great team that executed so well. While almost five years later, it seems like only yesterday we were busy trying to get our first product out the door. We cannot say enough great things about the team at SandForce. We were fortunate to have worked with so many talented individuals. We are sure LSI will take the opportunity at SandForce and expand on it successfully with such a fantastic group of people and growing market.
We are just at the beginning of some amazing new markets with flash memory and exciting days are ahead for new applications. As many know, we have been predicting that within the next five years it is likely that the next laptop you buy will have an SSD. Apple proved us somewhat on the right track with the introduction of the MacBook Air. The windows-based Ultrabooks just coming to market all have SSDs. Once you use an SSD in a laptop – you will not want to go back to a hard disk drive – ever. We would not be surprised if many servers shipped in the next five years begin to have flash drives as standard configurations.
If you need the name of a good SSD – We know a company that makes the storage processor and can point you in the right direction. Just make sure it is SandForce Driven.


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John Legend has teamed up with Saweetie on his brand new single called “All She Wanna Do”.
Mozzy has enlisted 2 Chainz, YG and Saweetie for his brand new single titled “In My Face”. It comes with an accompanying video.
After dropping the song itself last Friday, Saweetie has now premiered the official video for her new single “Closer” featuring H.E.R.
Saweetie has teamed up with H.E.R. on her brand new single called “Closer”.
French Montana has premiered the official video for his single “Handstand” featuring Doja Cat and Saweetie.
Saweetie has delivered her second and third song within a week. The two new releases are titled “Attitude” and “Icy Chain”.
Saweetie has delivered a brand new song called “Get It Girl”.
Anitta and Saweetie have joined forces on a brand new song titled “Faking Love”.
After dropping the song itself last week, Black Eyed Peas have now premiered the official video for their new single “HIT IT” featuring Saweetie and Lele Pons.
Black Eyed Peas have enlisted Saweetie and Lele Pons for their brand new single called “HIT IT”.


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GENEVA SHOW: Peugeot shuns hot-hatch segment
Peugeot will not be going for the hot hatchback market with the 308 GT THP 175 unveiled at Geneva.
Head of product for Peugeot UK, Steve Lambert, described the new model, which will go on sale in April, as more of a "warm" hatch.
"This is not a GTi, I would better describe it as a swift, luxury hatchback with lots of equipment. It has a very high level of torque which makes for effortless performance."
This new top-line 308 petrol model is powered by the 1.6 litre turbo-charged THP 175 bhp petrol engine, first seen in the 207 GTi THP 175. The engine was co-developed with BMW (which uses it in the Mini) and is mated to a new six-speed manual gearbox.
The engine develops maximum power of 175bhp at 6000 rpm with maximum torque of 180lb ft - or 195lb ft with overboost at 1,600rpm.
"We will certainly not be marketing this car as a screaming GTi because we want to step away from the boy-racer image. We are not setting any volume objectives for this model either," said Lambert.
He said the new model would be sold in the UK with three and five doors while a wagon version was under review.
"We will be keeping an eye on the performance estate market," he added.
Meanwhile a decision is expected soon on the 308 RC2 concept performance model first seen at the Frankfurt show last year and on display here at Geneva.
Reaction from potential customers has so far been good and further market studies are being carried out.


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American Airlines Cargo begins offering widebody cargo service from Los Angeles (LAX) to Sao Paulo, Brazil (GRU). Service departing Sao Paulo begins Dec. 18.
The new service, operated with a B777-200ER, provides customers with a fourth gateway to and from Sao Paulo. American is the only airline to offer this daily nonstop service. Currently, American offers service between Sao Paulo and Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Miami (MIA), New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX).
“We’re excited to begin offering this new service, and we expect it to be a great opportunity for our customers moving freight from Asia to Brazil,” said Jim Butler, president of American Airlines Cargo. “This new service is just another way we’re growing our global network and continuing to provide our customers with more options for shipping.”
Automotive parts, equipment and infrastructure for mobile networks and international mail are expected to be the primary exports from Asia into Brazil. Perishables, leather and aircraft parts are expected to be the major exports from Brazil.
Last month, American launched cargo service between Miami (MIA) and Milan, Italy, Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and Bogota, Columbia (BOG), and southbound service from Miami (MIA) to Curitiba, Brazil (CWB) and Porto Alegre, Brazil (POA). American will begin offering widebody service between Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and Hong Kong (HKG) as well as Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and Shanghai, China (PVG) in June 2014.


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Bernard Arnault, CEO and majority owner of French luxury group LVMH, has briefly surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest person.
As per Forbes, Arnault claimed the top spot with a net worth of $186.4 billion surpassing Bezos whose net worth stands at $186 billion.
The French fashion tycoon has added over $47 billion to his net worth so far in 2021.
LVMH also includes other major fashion brands under it like Fendi, Christian Dior and Givenchy.
Read also: Jeff Bezos now worth a whopping $202 billion
Arnault oversees an empire of 70 brands including Louis Vuitton and Sephora. He owns a 96.5 per cent stake in Christian Dior, which controls 41 per cent of LVMH.
Earlier in January this year, LVMH completed a deal for American jeweler Tiffany & Co for $15.8 billion, believed to be the biggest luxury brand acquisition ever.
Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires rankings tracks the daily ups and downs of the world’s richest people.
The wealth-tracking platform provides ongoing updates on the net worth and ranking of each individual confirmed by Forbes to be a billionaire.
Christopher Sam is a savvy web designer and developer with advanced knowledge in Search Engine Optimization. The certified Google Trainer is also a trusty contributor to this website.


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Coggles’ administrators have received interest from “serious” players looking to make a bid for the business.
The York premium indie, which collapsed into administration on May 7 after failing to secure fresh investment, has attracted more than 40 enquiries in the wake of its demise.
Sales packs have been sent to interested parties and the date for final offers is May 31.
Joint administrator Andy Clay, from insolvency firm Begbies Traynor, said: “We have received a good deal of interest in the business from some serious potential purchasers and we’re optimistic that we can bring about a positive outcome.”
On falling into administration Coggles was forced to make half of its 60-strong workforce redundant.
It is understood that chief executive and creative director Mark Bage is among those to have left the company, despite two of the retailer’s three stores and its website still trading.
Prior to its collapse the indie had been seeking a second round of investment worth £4m to aid further growth, following an initial £3m funding from Manchester Square Enterprises, a subsidiary of Pentland Group, in 2011.


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TikTok Shop Launches “Books” Category
After the skyrocketing growth of the #BookTok community, the UK version of the TikTok Shop has announced its partnership with several organisations to create a “books” product category. The new category will allow TikTok users to purchase a range of titles they encounter whilst scrolling, as well as expose booksellers to a larger audience, all without leaving the app.
The change is the result of a partnership between TikTok, HarperCollins UK and retailers WHSmith and Bookshop.org (involving their large network of publishers and booksellers), allowing them to become TikTok Shop UK merchants. This is not the first time the success of #BookTok has driven the platform’s partnerships: earlier in the year, TikTok was announced as the official Digital Media Partner of the Hay Festival, where it subsequently sponsored three panels.
Recent commercial partnerships between TikTok and the literary world are best understood in the context of the massive success of #BookTok, which at the time of writing has close to 91.6 billion views on the platform. This community of readers has the power to make or break the success of a book and, as such, has become a powerful (and well-documented!) tool for most publishing marketers. One famed example is They Both Die at the End, which initially spent just two weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list when it was first published in late 2017, only to have found a resurgence of interest thanks to BookTok in 2020. It subsequently became a sellout, ranking first in Young Adult Paperback categories for months on end. Introducing a “books” product category on the TikTok shop seems like an obvious way to capitalise on the platform’s habit of creating international hits.
On TikTok’s official website, its Senior Director of eCommerce, Patrick Nommensen, gave the following statement:
“It has been incredible to witness the BookTok community sharing its passion for reading, and reshaping the publishing world in the process ... With these new partnerships, we're delighted to be making it even easier for book lovers to buy the latest BookTok recommendations without ever leaving the TikTok platform, whilst also providing new avenues for publishers both large and small to reach their audiences. We look forward to welcoming more merchants on to TikTok Shop UK in the future, as our platform continues to evolve as the ultimate destination for books and literature.”


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Home, Alternate and Pro Training Kits Unveiled
Last month we helped our client Umbro with a historic kit launch in line with the brand’s partnership with England Rugby. Launching the 2021/22 Home, Alternate and Pro Training kit ranges, we championed and unveiled a bespoke Women’s Rugby kit; a first in rugby’s professional era.
Umbro worked in collaboration with members of England’s Red Roses squad, taking inspiration from the player’s pride in the jersey, to create the new kits which features subtle rose thorn detailing around the collar and shoulder area.
In launching the new England Rugby range, and continuing to support the commitment by the British brand to champion the women’s game, we also spearheaded Umbro’s newest creative campaign, It’s Time.
The It’s Time campaign will begin to roll out across Umbro’s multi-sports properties and highlights the holistic preparation that goes on throughout a week to allow athletes to perform when it counts.
From rest, active recovery, analysis, training and travel, the It’s Time campaign tells the story of a week and how that directly links to performance on a match, race, or event day.
Our team managed all elements of content capture and talent management during three shoot days at Twickenham Stadium, adhering to strict COVID19 protocols in the process.
With the help of our creative team we created all launch assets and deliverables that would sit across England Rugby, Umbro, and retail partner platforms, alongside printed assets which now feature across the England Rugby Store.
The launch was amplified across Umbro’s paid, owned and earned channels with support from brand ambassadors in the men’s and women’s squads. As part of the launch we also announced Umbro’s partnership renewal with England Rugby, which sees their deal with the national team extend until 2028.


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The manufacturing sector in the Inland Empire added nearly 3,000 jobs since last year, according to data from the Economic Development Department, and experts say factories are doing much better here than in the rest of the state.
The addition of 2,700 jobs to the manufacturing sector in the Inland Empire represented 6 percent of all jobs gained in the past year, John Husing, chief economist for the Inland Empire Economic Partnership, said.
“The sector has been growing contrary to a good part of what’s going on in California and mostly in part because space and labor costs are somewhat lower than the rest of the state,” Husing said. “In addition, we have heavy manufacturing. Places like California Steel (Industries in Fontana) don’t exist very much in Southern California.”
Manufacturing was the fifth fastest-growing sector for the Inland Empire economy, Husing said, following logistics, construction, K-12 education and health care. The manufacturing sector, Husing said, should continue to grow slowly but not rapidly.
Jobs up, manufacturing down
Still, not all news was rosy. A new study from the Institute of Applied Research at Cal State San Bernardino indicates manufacturing in the Inland Empire experienced an 8-point drop in the sector’s Purchasing Manager Index score in the past month. The PMI score is based on such indicators as production, new orders, inventory, supplier deliveries and employment. It measures the health of the industry.
A score above 50 indicates positive growth. July’s score was the first drop below 50 on the index since December 2015.
Despite the score being at 46.5 in the last month of analysis, researchers say the PMI needs to have three consecutive months below a score of 50 to signify slowdown of the economic sector, according to Barbara Sirotnik, director of the Institute of Applied Research.
“It’s a pretty typical summer drop, so I am not ready to say the sky is falling yet,” she said. “It may remain below 50 one more month, then pop back up. That’s what I’m predicting.”
Sirotnik’s report says “Only 7 percent believe the economy will be stronger; whereas 36 percent believe the economy will be weaker (up from 23 last month). The other 57 percent think the economy will remain about the same.”
Nationally, the July PMI gathered by the Institute of Supply Management was at 52.6, a decrease of 0.6 percent from June.
Locals weigh in
Bud Weisbart, vice president of Fontana-based A&R Tarpaulins Inc., which makes fabrics for awnings, architectural structures, and protective fabrics used in aerospace, said July had been a slow month, but August orders are picking up.
“We expect sales will be up over last year and over the first six months (from the same period last year),” Weisbart said. “Last year we closed at around $3.8 million (in sales). This year we’re expecting about $4 million in sales.”
Weisbart said he believes many manufacturers in the region are focusing away from mass production into more specialized areas of production, similar to the kinds of goods his company produces.
“Dollar volume goes up but units go down,” Weisbart said. “You’re focusing on more of a customized manufacturing capacity. You’ve increased your margin because you’re truly selling on the basis of value, rather than price. … It’s almost back to the days when we were crafting products, rather than mass-producing them. I think we’re moving into a different philosophical interpretation as far as manufacturing goes.”
Staff writer Richard K. De Atley contributed to this report.


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KARACHI-Two special planes carrying relief goods from Saudi Arabia reached Karachi on Friday in continuation of humanitarian relief assistance for flood affected people in Pakistan.
Both the planes carried around 60 tons of relief goods including tents, food packages, blankets, dates and kits from the King Salman Relief Centre.
The relief goods were handed over to the representatives of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in Karachi. All the items will be distributed among affected people according to the needs of each affected area.
Meanwhile, Turkiye has also dispatched two more “Kindness Trains” loaded with relief goods for victims of the catastrophic floods in Pakistan, which have submerged one-third of the South Asian nation.
The eighth and ninth trains carrying 1,040 tonnes of disaster relief goods, including food and hygiene products, left the capital Ankara a day earlier.
Two days ago, the first flight carrying flood relief aid from Russia also landed at the Karachi airport with relief goods including food items, tents and water cleaning devices. Previously, countries including Germany, Tajikistan and the US also dispatched aid to flood victims in Pakistan. The aid consignments had urgently needed food, hygiene products and medical supplies.


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Hope Market provides platform for small business owners
HER ambition has always been to help others succeed and reach their dreams.
In her quest to fulfill that ambition, Hope Tsebetsebe who is the owner of Mphope restaurant which sells African attires, beads, and pots to name a few, had established a flea market in the heartland of Big-boy complex in Lebowakgomo where small business owners display their products and services for everyone who finds themselves in Lebowakgomo to see.
Hope Market is the name of the Pop-up Market which invites everyone to advertise their products and services regardless of where advertisers come from.
According to Tsebetsebe, she came up with this idea on the basis that she noticed that there are plenty of businesses which produce beautiful products which are unique but with less recognition from the public because they did not have platforms to display their products to potential customers.
She hosts the event once a month and has kicked off in August where business owners who sell also African Attires, food and carved statues of animals and humans are provided with spaces to advertise. Singers, Brass band and an academy which teaches kids Ballroom dancing were also welcomed to showcase their talents.
She said that they knew how difficult it is to locate potential customers and have always been saddened by grievances from people whose businesses were not booming due to lack of exposure.
“Our second event was held earlier this month and we can tell that we have seen positive returns in our businesses since we have started with this initiative and it is with pleasure to mention that a large number of businesses people came forward to advertise during the second event following the attention our pop-up market received which we held in the previous month. We are still not content with the numbers because we believe that there are still other artists out there which require the recognition most of the businesses have received since joining this initiative. Therefore we invite anyone in the business sector to come forward and we would appreciate it if people outside from Lebowakgomo could also come and advertise, ”she said.
Humphrey Sechaba who is a photographer and one of the advertisers at the pop-market at Lebowakgomo said that “ever since we have started advertising there I have received a plethora of phone calls from customers who have always been looking for someone to provide such services. I have been booked on a number of occasions such as weddings, Graduations ceremonies, and birthday parties to take photos”.
Sechaba who specialises in Arial photography said that he encourages other business owners to materialise and assured them that they will have positive results to their business.
Motlalepule Sebetha who is a Gospel Singer and also sings Sepedi wedding songs said that she that ever since she was seen at the market performing, she has since been booked from the 4th of November until December to perform at weddings. “Sales have increased on my CD’s and I still receive calls from customers for me to deliver them and I have been receiving compliments while performing at Hope Market and I would appreciate recognition from other provinces so that my career receives the attention it deserves”. Sebetha said.
SUPPORTIVE: Hope Tsebetsebe established a flea market in the Big-boy complex in Lebowakgomo where small business owners display their products.


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NYU Africa House Associate Director, Eddie Mandhry, participated in the The Africa Travel Association (ATA) 39th Annual World Congress in Kampala, Uganda from November 11-16, 2014. With the theme “Tourism is Everyone’s Business,” the congress brought together over 500 international and local delegates from the public and private sector to discuss the most pressing topics to advance the African tourism industry.
AFRICAN TOURISM MONITOR REPORT LAUNCH
The congress was officially opened by H.E. Yoweri K. Museveni, President of the Republic of Uganda. In his remarks, President Museveni urged Ugandan officials to increase promotions and marketing of the country as well as discussed the tourism potential of the nation. In a show of support of the Uganda tourism sector, First Lady of the Republic of Uganda, H.E. Janet Museveni, hosted the Congress Patron’s Dinner and ATA Awards Ceremony.The congress was hosted by the Uganda Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities under the auspices of Honorable Minister Dr. Maria Mutagamba and supported by the Uganda Tourism Board, local ATA Uganda Chapter, and members of the private sector. Additionally, during the ATA membership meeting Minister Mutagamba was elected to serve as the next president of the association.Delegates represented over twenty countries including Cameroon, Canada, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gambia, Italy, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Switzerland, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, the U.S., the U.K., Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Despite extraordinary times with the Ebola crisis and its far-reaching effects on the industry leading up to the congress, ATA Executive Director Edward Bergman stated, “We must remain strong and united in changing the perceptions of Africa tourism on the global stage.” Bergman also commended the Ugandan government for overturning the “Anti Homosexuality Bill,” which was hurting the local tourism industry and urged the country to “look forward and focus on tourism as a vital means of economic development, job creation, and peace and understanding.”
ATA’s 39th Annual World Congress featured a full-day Tourism Investment Forum where tourism business leaders, industry stakeholders, and investors discussed the latest tourism development and investment trends. The day started with a keynote address by the Eng. Dr. Ajedra Aridru, Minister of State for Finance, Planning and Economic Development who presented a range of investment opportunities in Uganda.In a session on tourism facilitation, representatives from the African Union, New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Computer Frontiers, and the Association of Uganda Tour Operators discussed policy development, strengthening intra-Africa partnerships, infrastructure development, visa processing, and creating linkages between the public and private sectors to advance Africa’s tourism growth.Moderated by CNBC and Forbes Africa, the panel on Africa hotel investment and expansion explored opportunities and challenges of development on the continent and attracting customers to a range of hotel types with representatives from Jovago.com,Protea Hotels, Serena Hotels, and W Hospitality Group.Led by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the “Africa Air Access” panel featured representatives from the continent’s leading airlines like Brussels Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Ethiopian Airlines, and South African Airways.CONGRESS PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
H.E. Scott DeLisi, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Uganda, welcomed ATA delegates on behalf the embassy and encouraged the Ugandan government to foster an environment friendly to tourism growth and foreign investment.World renowned travel journalist Peter Greenberg, Travel Editor for CBS News, delivered a thought-provoking keynote address to open the travel trade sessions and also moderated the Tourism Ministers’ Roundtable with Ministers from Kenya,Namibia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Greenberg emphasized the role government can play in engaging the media.The congress program included an overview of global tourism trends and outlook by Euromonitor International.In the session “Marketing African Destinations,” tourism boards and representation firms discussed destination branding and creating a competitive edge. The panel was led by the Uganda Tourism Board with panelists from the Kenya Tourism Board,Seychelles Tourism Board, The Bradford Group (representing Tanzania), andPartner Concepts (representing Botswana).
Led by the Association of Uganda Tour Operators, the Tour Operators’ Roundtable covered strategies for attracting American travelers, creating partnerships, product development, marketing, and health and safety concerns with front-line U.S. and Ugandan tour operators.
With an emphasis on social media and experiential marketing, E-Tourism Frontiersand RW Social presented trends and tools for destinations and private sector operators to increase exposure and engage with consumers. Additionally, ATA’s monthly #Africhat Twitter conversation happened live from Uganda and the congress hashtag trended for the day.
In the spotlight session on Diaspora Engagement, New York State Senator William Perkins and Ogo Sow, ATA International Board Member and Diaspora Affairs Liaison, emphasized how destinations can engage with Diaspora communities to support travel, tourism, and investment. The program also included spotlights on faith-based travel with the New York Abyssinian Baptist Church and romance travel with Bridal Guide. Leading African chef and author Pierre Thiam conducted Uganda market visits and presented the latest African culinary tourism products and trends.
Delegates learned about the effect of Ebola on West African tourism in a session led by the Liberian Honorary Consul in Atlanta, as well as the Unite 4 West Africacampaign, which was launched by industry leaders to support West Africa in response to the Ebola crisis.
This year, delegates had the opportunity to attend interactive professional development sessions focused on marketing and branding and product development. The marketing and branding sessions centered on topics like dark tourism with AJC’s Africa Institute, PR and crisis management tools led by Checkmate Public Affairs, tech for travel with ThoughtWorks, the power of storytelling by Unseen Africa, and accelerating destinations with RW Social.
The product development sessions focused on sports and mega-events tourism led byBoland Sports Practice Group, travel for good sessions with the International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) and Euromonitor International, empowering communities by Simply Experience Travel and Community-based Tourism Initiatives (COBATI), creating family travel products led by the Family Travel Association, and nature and wildlife protection by the Uganda Wildlife Authority and Tanzania National Parks.
FOCUS ON EDUCATION, LEADERSHIP TRAINING, & YOUTH
To supplement the annual Young Professionals Program (YPP), the program included an Educators’ Forum with leading experts from African and U.S.-based programs and academic institutions specialized in hospitality, tourism, leadership, and vocational training. The Educators’ Forum was moderated by a professor from NYU’s Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management and included panelists from Africa-America Institute, Kenya Utalii College, Makerere University (Uganda), MCW Global, and NYU Africa House.
In ATA’s 5th Annual YPP Forum, students and young professionals discussed issues such as entrepreneurship, self-branding and networking, job creation, leadership, and social media. The YPP Forum was curated by members of the YPP Global Chapter with support from RW Social.
EXPERIENCING THE PEARL OF AFRICA
During the Uganda Host Country Day delegates experienced the “Pearl of Africa” firsthand by visiting the adventure city of Jinja, the source of the mighty River Nile. TheSpeaker of Parliament in Uganda, Hon. Rebecca A. Kadaga, welcomed delegates to Jinja. “It’s been a blessing and a privilege for us to host you in our country, which is also your home,” Kadaga said.
In a gesture towards sustainable tourism and an ATA congress tradition, the Uganda Tourism Board gave each delegate a sapling to plant on the river bank. Each delegate registered their tree and Ugandan hosts encouraged them to return to Uganda in the future to check on the growth of their trees.
Following the tree planting ceremony, delegates encountered an exciting boating regatta and musical performances along the Nile River. Delegates then enjoyed a boat ride to the Jinja Sailing Club where they shared traditional Ugandan cuisine for lunch.
LOOKING FORWARD, UPCOMING EVENTS
Two special announcements were made during the congress. Hon. Phyllis Kandie, Kenya
Cabinet Secretary, East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism, announced that ATA’s 40th Annual World Congress will take place in Nairobi, Kenya in the Fall of 2015.
The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, ATA, and Global Strategies for good announced that the City of Atlanta, GA would host ATA’s Inaugural Aviation, Transport and Trade Summit from July 13–14, 2015.
Brussels Airlines, Official Airline of the 2014 ATA World Congress, organized special discounts for delegates attending the congress in Kampala originating from North America and across Europe. The official congress venue was the Speke Resort Munyonyo, along Lake Victoria. Media sponsors included CNBC Africa, Forbes Africa, and Travel World News.
The media delegation was organized by ATA; in partnership with the Uganda Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities; the Uganda Tourism Board; UN World Tourism Organization; local Uganda tour operators A.G.E. Safaris and Pearl of Africa Tours and Travel. Media outlets represented include: AFAR, Bridal Guide, African Diaspora Tourism, Canadian World Traveler, CNBC Africa, Evasion TV (Canada), Focus on Travel News (Turkey), Forbes Africa, L’Agenzia di Viaggi (Italy), Matador Network, National Geographic, The Network Journal, Sherman’s Travel, Travel World News, Voice of America (VOA) News, and West Africa Tourism Radio.


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Beverly Center, Forever 21 Draw Big Crowds During Fashion's Night Out L.A.
Lucy Hale hosted and "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" star Kendall Jenner walked the carpet, as thousands attended the shopping mall's multiple events.
Fashion's elite and fanatics came out to support an array of causes last night for Fashion's Night Out at the Beverly Center, hosted by Pretty Little Liars’ Lucy Hale. Everyone from reality stars to young designers were out sipping vodka cocktails and white wine at the after party on the eighth-floor deck. Most buzzed about at the Beverly Center: the Forever 21 fashion show from earlier that night.
STORY: Fashion's Night Out Fans Choose Kardashians Over Real Designers
Kendall Jenner (who also stopped by her sisters’ store DASH on Melrose) was the face of FNO on the Beverly Center's advertisements as well as the cover girl for Genlux magazine, the afterparty's sponsor. Wearing a black leather top with a sheer black skirt by designer Keny Cohen of the line Katriel, Jenner walked the red carpet with everyone's favorite "momager" Kris Jenner. The designer, also in attendance, said it was "amazing" to see Jenner in Katriel, adding that events like this "remind people to keep fashion alive and exciting."
Created to encourage consumers to shop and support the fashion industry during tough economic times, FNO happens simultaneously across 18 countries, with thousands of events in the U.S. This is the third FNO for the Beverly Center, with more than 100 stores participating. "Everyone sees what is inspiring to designers and you get inspired yourself,” said young designer Gabrielle De La Garza. “Fashion is so important -- it is an introduction to a person.”
The Forever 21 fashion show most prominently featured ankle booties and colored, printed pants for fall. Model Lee Greene, who walked in the show, said the clothes had a "punk meets rock ‘n’roll and very trendy" feel.
Beach Bunny swimwear had live mannequins in their windows and DJs across the Center, Maybelline had makeup artists on hand at their booth ready to glam up guests and most stores handed out discounts to the thousands of consumers in attendance.


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It seems that Microsoft is looking to make a splash in the handheld gaming market if an online patent is to be believed.
Filed last month, Digital Trends has discovered that the patent isn’t actually for a controller or device, but is instead a charging device for “removable input modules.”
From the looks of things, the device features two halves of a traditional-looking video games controller. Each of these halves will be able to attach to your smartphone.
Design-wise, it looks as though the end result is something akin to the Nintendo Switch, except that instead of a screen and JoyCons, you’re playing on your phone with added controllers wedged onto the sides.
In terms of the games you’re playing, it looks like you won’t be confined to your typical mobile titles. The patent suggests that the Microsoft device will control games streamed via Project xCloud.
Despite the patent being filed by Microsoft, there’s no mention of the Xbox branding anywhere in the application. However, thanks to the proposed button styles and the Microsoft name, it’s looking likely that this thingummy will be a part of the Xbox family.
Proposed features such as built-in speakers, a headphone jack, and wireless headphones support.
Yanko Design’s Sarang Sheth has used the patent information to create a mock-up of the potential design for the device, which you can check out below.
The website goes into some detail about the tech, writing: “Based on patented designs, these conceptual Xbox Cloud controllers give us an idea of what the real thing would feel like,
“Designed for immersive landscape gaming, the controllers come with two flippers that hold your phone gently but securely from the sides, while memory-foam pads make sure they don’t press any buttons,” they added. “These side flippers are ideal for phones with no bezel, because this makes sure the controllers don’t overlap the screen from the left or right. Both halves of the controllers connect to your phone via Wi-Fi to deliver a seamless gaming experience that’s absolutely lag-free.”
Featured Image Credit: Sarang Sheth/Yanko Design


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When the instances of overcharging and the use of “deceptive marketing” techniques to exploit customers are increasing in numbers, the decision by the federal government to order Citibank to pay $700 million to customers is exemplary.
Also read: OneCoin MLM Scheme References Bitcoin To Attract Investors
The official website of the CFPB says that 8.8 million customers will be compensated in the payout, which includes 7 million people overcharged directly by Citibank and another 1.8 million customers of the bank’s subsidiaries. The action was taken by the CFPB in coordination with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which is separately ordering a $35 million civil penalty and restitution from Citibank and Department Stores National Bank for some of the same illegal practices.
The CFPB Director Richard Cordray was quoted saying:
“We continue to uncover illegal credit card add-on practices that are costing unknowing consumers millions of dollars. In our four years, this is the tenth action we’ve taken against companies in this space for deceiving consumers. We will remain on the lookout for similar conduct and will address it as we find it.”
According to the judgment reached on by the CFPB between 2003 and 2012, Citibank which is owned by Citigroup (C) enrolled these customers in credit monitoring services or programs deceptively and promised to defer payments or forgive debt in the event of job loss or another financial hardship. The bureau also found that the all the while bank signed people on to the programs deceptively as it misrepresented fees and overstated the benefits.
Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Practices
The CFPB followed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, to deliver justice to the customers who were deceived and abused by the Citibank. The authority found that Citibank was engaged in unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices, or other violations of federal consumer financial law. The following have been held by the CFPB:
- Provide $700 million in relief to roughly 8.8 million consumer accounts.
- Provide approximately $479 million in consumer relief to about 4.8 million consumers for deception using dubious marketing or retention practices.
- Pay approximately $196 million to roughly 2.2 million consumer accounts that enrolled in the credit monitoring products and were charged while Citibank did not perform all of the promised services.
- Department Stores National Bank must provide about $23.8 million in consumer relief to almost 1.8 million consumer accounts for charging expedited payment fees on these delinquent accounts.
- Pay a $35 million penalty to the CFPB’s Civil Penalty Fund.
Affected Consumers Do Not Have To Take Any Action to Get Their Refund
The CFPB held that the Citibank will have to conveniently repay consumers affected by the dubious marketing and deceptive practices; thus, the affected consumers do not have to take any action to get their refund. Whereas for the unfair billing practices related to the credit-monitoring products, Citibank has completed reimbursement to eligible consumers, for eligible consumers who have not received refunds yet, the bank will initiate and complete a remediation process so that reimbursement is done effectively and conveniently.
Prohibitions and Limitations put on the Citibank
Not just penalties but a number of restrictions and limitations have been put on the Citibank by the CFPB; one of them is that the bank will have to end unfair billing practices. The authority held that now consumers will no longer be billed for the credit monitoring products if they are not receiving the promised benefits. Similarly, the bank will have to cease engaging in illegal practices i.e. it cannot market all add-on products by telephone or at the point of sale. This in effect is an end to deceptive marketing tactics from the Citibank. If the Citibank wants to retain consumers in its products by telephone it will have to submit a compliance plan to the CFPB.
Citibank Claims to have Paid Some Customers
In a statement issued earlier this week, the Citibank said it has paid some customers back. The affected customers according to the bank will automatically receive a statement credit or check and those no longer with Citi who are eligible will be mailed a check. The bank also claimed that it “fully cooperated” with the CFPB investigation and the first repayments went out in 2013. Following the judgment, the bank set aside money for remaining paybacks and according to it the programs associated with the overcharging have all been closed down.
What do you think about Citibank? Comment below!
Image source: PixaBay


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Google is expanding its bike sharing feature on Google Maps beyond New York City to 16 additional countries and 24 cities, the company revealed…
Samsung has this week launched two new smartphones specifically for the Chinese market. One, however, is of particular importance for an interesting reason.
Dubbed the Galaxy A6S, it’s the first Samsung smartphone to not be manufacturered by the Korean firm. The manufacturer in question is Wintech, a company owned by Samsung’s Chinese rival Xiaomi.
If it sounds complicated, that’s largely because it is, but using a manufacturer from China does help Samsung keep costs down. You wouldn’t really say that looking at the Galaxy A6S’s spec sheet though.
The A6S itself is a promising prospect on paper, featuring a 6.0 inch screen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset, 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage.
The dual SIM device also sports dual rear cameras, with a 12MP primary sensor and 2MP depth sensor below. There’s also a 12MP selfie cam up front.
A 3300mAh battery powers the system, while Samsung keeps the 3.5mm jack life alive.
As it’s made in China for China, it’s unlikely that other areas of the world will ever see the Galaxy. But its price is pretty competitive, at around US$250, if you’re ever in the Far East.
Feature image: Samsung


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Homeworld was a space RTS. And you might remember (I just found this out myself) that Gearbox bought out the Homeworld IP in April.
They were saying things like “we are making them accessible on today’s leading digital platforms.”
Well, apparently translated, that means HD remake.
Announced at Penny Arcade Expo in the land down under (Australia), Gearbox said that both Homeworld 1 and 2 will be given the HD licks of paint–also the expansion, Homeworld: Cataclysm will also be given some caring touches.
Also the original games will be released in digital platforms soon.
Gearbox has not said anything about whether or not this will just be a new paint job, or if they will be fixing any bugs, or improving AI.
Homeworld was originally made by Relic Entertainment.
The IP was picked up for the ‘bargain’ price of $1.35 million. Gearbox’s Chief Creative Officer Brian Martel has said that they “personally spearheaded the acquisition” of Homeworld.
What do you think of this?


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Islamabad: Pakistan is now all set to manufacture and export Coronavirus treatment medicine named “Remdesivir” with the partnership of the US pharmaceutical company ‘Gilead’.
On Friday, PM’s special assistant on health Dr. Zafar Mirza announced that Pakistan is amongst the three countries that are ready to manufacture and export the medicine.
He further added, “Pakistan’s local manufacturer Ferozsons Laboratories Ltd will not only manufacture but also export the medicines in 127 countries of the world.”
“Remdesivir is an injectable medicine. The production in Pakistan will start within six-eight weeks. Moreover, the registration will be done within five weeks which allows the company to starts its production right after.”
The CEO of Ferozsons, Osman Khalid Waheed announced that
“Gilead and our company we are dedicated to developing medicine at the lowest possible cost and making it accessible in the developing world.”
Remdesivir is an antiviral medicine that shows such promising results in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Sources have affirmed that this medicine reduces the 30% effect of Coronavirus.
This is to say that, Regulators in the USA allow this medicine to use in an emergency to cure Coronavirus.
Besides Pakistan, Gilead has signed the agreement with four drugs manufacturing firms in India.
Gilead said that under “unlicensed” agreements with South Asian partners, all companies would have the right to receive a technology transfer of the company’s process for Remdesivir to quicken the manufacturing of medicine.
Relaxing Lockdown in Pakistan
Pakistan has confirmed 39,473 cases from March from which 847 deaths occurred till now. Despite this breakneck situation the Government of Pakistan began lifting these lockdowns from the last few weeks.
Consequently, PM has defended this situation saying:
“There are 150 million people in Pakistan who are daily wagers, laborers, and low-income individuals. If we do not ease the lockdown they might die of starvation.”
Share your thoughts in the Comment Section below!


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Public Flower, a state-licensed cannabis dispensary, opened on Monday in Allentown, becoming the first cannabis shop in Buffalo that is owned by a Black woman. The shop, located at 232 Allen St., offers a variety of cannabis products, such as flower, edibles, vapes, and CBD.
Public Flower is owned by Sheldon Anderson and Moriah Kelly, who applied for their license in September 2022. They faced several challenges and delays, as the state’s rollout of its retail cannabis program was hampered by lawsuits and injunctions. They finally received their license in July 2023, and worked hard to open their shop by February 2024.
Anderson and Kelly said they were proud to be the first Black and woman-owned cannabis shop in Buffalo, and that they wanted to serve their community and provide a safe and professional service. They said they chose Allentown as their location because of its diversity and vibrancy, and because of its proximity to the medical campus and downtown.
Anderson and Kelly said they also wanted to use their shop as a platform for social justice and community enrichment, and to support other Black and women entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry. They said they planned to offer educational and informational materials, as well as community outreach and engagement programs, to promote responsible and informed consumption of cannabis.
The Products and Services of Public Flower
Public Flower offers a wide range of cannabis products, sourced from local and state-licensed growers and manufacturers. The shop has a modern and sleek design, with a spacious and comfortable waiting area, and a small and intimate sales room. The shop also has a security system and a staff of trained and friendly budtenders.
The shop’s products include flower, which is the dried and cured buds of the cannabis plant, available in different strains and potencies. The shop also offers edibles, which are food or drinks infused with cannabis, such as gummies, chocolates, and beverages. The shop also sells vapes, which are devices that heat and vaporize cannabis oil or concentrate, and CBD, which is a non-psychoactive compound derived from cannabis, known for its therapeutic benefits.
The shop’s customers must be at least 21 years old, and must present a valid ID before entering the sales room. The shop accepts cash and debit cards, and has an ATM on site. The shop also has a loyalty program, which rewards customers with points and discounts for every purchase.
The Future of Public Flower
Public Flower is one of the five state-licensed cannabis dispensaries in Buffalo, and the first that is Black and woman-owned. The shop’s owners said they hoped to expand their business and open more locations in the future, as well as to launch their own brand of cannabis products.
The shop’s owners also said they hoped to inspire and empower other Black and women entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry, and to contribute to the economic development and social equity of their community. They said they welcomed feedback and suggestions from their customers and neighbors, and that they were grateful for the support and recognition they received.
Public Flower is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday. The shop’s website is publicflower.com, and its phone number is (716) 555-1234.
Maria Garcia is an award-winning author who excels in creating engaging cannabis-centric articles that captivate audiences. Her versatile writing style allows her to cover a wide range of topics within the cannabis space, from advocacy and social justice to product reviews and lifestyle features. Maria’s dedication to promoting education and awareness about cannabis shines through in her thoughtfully curated content that resonates with both seasoned enthusiasts and newcomers alike.


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All articles by BRAIN Staff
BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — Nick Martin, the founder of eBay seller The Pro's Closet, was mentioned by name in a letter about the Trans-Pacific Partnership that President Obama sent to members of eBay Main Street, an organization of small business people who use eBay as part of their operations.
VIENNA, Va. (BRAIN) — Northern Virginia-based Spokes, Etc. held a ribbon cutting this week for its new store in Leesburg, Virginia. Mayor Kristen C. Umstattd and other town officials attended the ceremony.
EASTON, Pa. (BRAIN) — Genesis Bicycles will close its store on Black Friday, and the shop's employees have decided to donate their salaries for the day to a local charity.
Store owner Tomias Hinchcliff concedes it's a risky move to close his shop on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
ORANGE, Calif. (BRAIN) — The latest speaker to be confirmed for the Triathlon Business International Conference is U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who represents Arizona's 9th District. Senema is the first sitting member of Congress to complete an Ironman and currently serves on the Women for Tri Board of Advisors.
BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — A new title published by VeloPress, "How Bad Do You Want It?" looks at new strategies for mental toughness in sport and features stories about top athletes including Steve Prefontaine, Greg LeMond, Siri Lindley, Cadel Evans, Paula Newby-Fraser, Ned Overend, and Jenny Simpson.
OAKLAND, Calif. (BRAIN) — Hydrapak has selected Buffalo Brand Invigoration Group to lead a public relations program spurring awareness, affinity and sales in the United States.
SALT LAKE CITY (BRAIN) -- For the next two years, Scott Sports will support Ride 2 Recovery, a veterans program started in 2008 that promotes physical and mental rehabilitation through cycling. Aside from bikes, the company will support the program with sunglasses and helmets.
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (BRAIN) — Santa Monica is debuting its latest environmental initiative: Breeze Bike Share, presented by Hulu, this week. The program will offer 500 bikes across 75 stations and provide residents with a sustainable way to get around town, according to city manager Rick Cole.
MADISON, Wis. (BRAIN) — Trek Bicycle will turn-on its new website — with its much-discussed online bike sales feature — "very, very soon" a company spokesman told BRAIN on Wednesday.
AUSTIN, Texas (BRAIN) — BSX Athletics, which introduced a non-invasive blood lactate measuring cuff last year, has officially launched the second generation of the device


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HTC's phone keyboard is pestering users with ads (updated)
It looks like a mistake, but it's still creating plenty of headaches.
HTC’s squeezable U11 is its true 2017 flagship phone
Move over, U Ultra -- this is the HTC 10's true successor.
HTC has already cut the disappointing U Ultra's price
The 20 percent drop could help HTC fend off its latest rivals.
HTC U Ultra review: Bad decisions in a beautiful body
Great design alone can't make this phone a winner.
HTC's 'U Ultra' flagship phone pairs AI with a secondary screen
Also on deck: the mid-range HTC U Play.
HTC is readying a Vive-branded smartphone (update: not necessarily)
It's also banking on unusual phone colors and materials.
HTC's high-end Bolt is a fast, fascinating Sprint exclusive
It's basically an HTC 10 Plus.
HTC's Android Wear watch emerges in a photo leak
The Under Armour-badged timepiece would focus on the fitness crowd.
Google's Pixel phones make their debut
Apple has its iPhone, and now phones are 'Made by Google' too.


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We haven’t polled everyone, but we reckon you’d be hard pressed to find someone on this planet who doesn’t like crisps. Only sickos don’t like crisps.
Anyway, it pleases us to announce that there’s a new crisp on the scene, which is not like the others, namely Mackie’s Whisky & Haggis crisps.
Gie it laldy.
And that’s not all, as it will soon be joined by Venison & Cranberry flavour too.
The Ridge Cut affairs are in Scottish Co-ops RIGHT NOW, and will appear in Tesco and Asda in October, so petition/ mildly riot accordingly.
It’s a limited edition at the moment, but if it kicks off, it may be added to the range full time.
George Taylor, managing director of Mackie’s at Taypack, said: “We have been delighted with the uptake of our Ridge Cut range thus far, with sales already in line with our core range.”
“We felt it was time to add a Scottish twist to the range as our Scottish flavours have always been very popular. We were particularly keen to try a whisky seasoning as Scotch is so renowned around the world. We tried various combinations and the whisky and haggis pairing came out on top. We are very excited to see the market’s reaction to the new flavour lines.”
The gauntlet has been thrown down, beat that England. Oh and if anyone could source us a box for “research”, we’ll be quite grateful.
According to some research by the Kantar Worldpanel (sounds like a support act for Kraftwerk or Can), low inflation in the price of groceries, has seen sales grow by only 0.8% in the last 12 weeks, against figures from a year earlier.
The ongoing price wars and what have you, has driven inflation down to a record low of 0.2%. And guess what?
The main winners in market share again were Aldi and Lidl.
Aldi’s market share rose to 4.8% from 3.7% a year earlier, while Lidl’s share climbed to 3.6% from 3.1%. And it’s not all budget end, as sales at Waitrose were up 3.6% from a year earlier, and its market share edged up to 4.9% from 4.8%.
But it’s grim news for Tesco, as its sales were down 4% from last year’s period, and the market share dropping from 30.2% to 28.8%
According to Kantar Worldpanel director Edward Garner: “Competitive pricing among the big grocers and deflation in the price of staple items such as vegetables, milk and bread has driven inflation down yet again,”
“This naturally impacts on the overall growth of the grocery market, which has fallen to a 10 year record-low of 0.8%,” he added.
According to reports, Apple are launching a new iPad in the first part of 2015 with a new 12.9 inch screen.
This iPad size follows the 7.9 inch and 9.7 inch.
But don’t leap off a cliff just yet, an updated version of the 9.7 inch iPad and the mini will be in the shops by Christmas, according to Bloomberg.
The iPhone is now expected to increase to 5.5 inch screens, which should be announced at an event on September 9th.
And iPhones only scraped 35.2 million sales, short of the market predictions of 36 million.
Let’s all cross our fingers and hope things work out for them at this difficult time.
The marvellously named Bruno Monteyne, who is an analyst at Bernstein Research, says that Dave Lewis should split the supermarket into three separate categories: a high-end ‘Finest’ store (which will go toe-to-toe with M&S, Waitrose and the like), the regular, trad. arr. Tesco shops, and a discount chain to take on Aldi and Lidl.
Monteyne thinks that this is the only way Tesco can stay relevant in the current climate. Tesco need to do something, that’s for sure.
Monteyne is himself, a former Tesco executive, and he said: “Splitting themselves into different channels allows them to use different strategies with different customers.”
“Rip out 20 per cent of the range, have cheaper shelving and cheaper products in the more deprived areas and give customers a better deal. In London, where people want someone behind the counter who knows the difference between a parma ham and a serrano ham, that requires more investment.”
“By Tesco promising to have the same prices in the most affluent areas as the poorest areas, it’s basically tied its hands behind its back by committing to an uneconomical model. Tesco could probably be cheaper than Aldi in some areas, but national pricing would force them to do the same in Chelsea as well and Chelsea wouldn’t be successful.”
What do you make of that? Eccentric ramblings of a lunatic? Sensible thinking from leftfield? Sod Tesco, and here’s to them dying on their arse?
They’d been in a bidding war with Google for Twitch, which allows gamers to broadcast live streams from PCs, XBox and PS4 consoles of themselves playing video games.
Twitch, who we banged on about here, also run gaming events and redistributes content from Joystiq, Gamespot, and Destructoid, Manvsgame and more.
Twitch also has 55 million visitors, which might have something to do with the keen interest from both companies.
This is seen as another step in Amazon’s strategy to big up their entertainment services, and video games are a big old market where cash literally grows on trees (especially in the online game ‘Cash Trees’ where you play a tax-dodging entity having to hoover up as much cash off trees or something).
But what has Jeff Bezos to say, hmmm?
“Broadcasting and watching gameplay is a global phenomenon, and Twitch has built a platform that brings together tens of millions of people who watch billions of minutes of games each month.”
Tens of millions. Bet his pants tightened at that.
Food shop spending dropped in July for the first time in a quarter of a century.
According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, a year-on-year fall of 1.3% was the first seen since records began back in January 1989.
The price wars have had some effect, as the report says that prolonged discounting was affecting overall sales.
It goes on to suggest that the big supermarkets have been upping their game against having their market share arses kicked by the likes of Aldi and Lidl.
The headline figure for retail sales showed a weaker than expected 0.1% growth month-on-month.
However, a three-month on three-month increase of 0.3% was the seventh consecutive improvement, the longest period of sustained growth by this measure since November 2007.
It’s also quite good news for online shopping, as spending increased 11.2% in July on a year earlier but fell 1.9% compared to June.
Speaking some sense, and illuminating the caution, Ian Geddes, UK head of retail at Deloitte said: “Many consumers are yet to feel the benefits of the economic recovery and are reluctant to let go of their recessionary behaviours, particularly when shopping for food.
“Consumers continue to show a willingness to spend on non-food items, but are doing so selectively.”
Around 70% of the year’s hazelnut crop has been wiped out due to a March frost in Turkey.
The price of hazelnuts has gone right up, too, to a 10 year high, with worries that the prices will only increase as the shortage bites further.
Nutella fans should be very concerned, as it has 50 hazelnuts per jar.
Ferrero, who make Nutella, are the largest consumers of hazelnuts, having bought the Turkish supplier Oltan Group in July.
There’s no clear news at the moment of impending price rises on hazelnut-based treats, but we’ll keep you in the loop about exactly when and where to turn up with pitchforks and the like.
You can also contact the samaritans if you’re having any troubling thoughts regarding this news.
From next Monday, you’ll be able to buy clothes for ladies, including a leather-trimmed jacket for £14.99, ankle boots for £9.99, something called ‘stretch’ jeans for £6.99 and shirts for £5.99. Men – don’t feel like you’re being left out. You’ll be able to buy clobber for yourselves as of November.
Of course, Lidl have sold clothes before, but this time it is different. They’re describing the new ranges as ”high-end, on-trend”, which means they’ll be flogging stuff to go to the pub in, rather than basic undercrackers and fleeces.
This is all bad news for Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons who have seen their sales hamstrung by German budget supermarkets. Now, it looks like Lidl are going after Asda’s ‘George’ market, which has been lucrative for the Wal-Mart owned retailer.
Josie Stone, non-food buying manager at Lidl UK, said: “This is the first time ever that we’ve done such a high-end fashion promotion and we’re hugely excited about launching these lines on 25th August. Not only are these jackets bang on trend for this season but they’re also £15 a pop, which is unbeatable value for such high quality. So we’d advise customers to be quick getting down to stores on the 25th because they’re likely to be snapped up very quickly.”
Naysayers will no doubt turn their noses up at Lidl’s fashion choices and no-one expects them to win any awards for what they get in, but cheap clothes are big business – just look at how well Primark are doing at the moment.
Lidl is set to go from 600 stores to around 1,500 in the near future, and they’ve got a customer-base of 5 million shoppers per week in the UK.
Looks like they’re trying to take over the British high street, Lidl by Lidl…
An Apple bod posted a picture of the cable on Twitter, which helpfully showed the difference between the old school normal cable, and the new so-called “lightning” cable.
The Lightning cable can already be used in the latest round of iPads and iPhones, and so users no longer need to have freak outs about plugging them in wrong anymore.
According to a patent discovered by uSwitch, the cable is very clearly a thing. Designed to help rid the planet of “user frustration” and to reduce the potential for USB connector damage.
Another, new reversible cable was announced by the snappily titled USB Promoter Group, but that’s not compatible with ANYTHING useful at the moment.
So there you have it. Less swearing in your life.
The Reading branch of the superstore have geared up for this weekend’s annual A-Level knees-up by replacing everything with booze.
Approximately four aisles of the West Extra branch are currently loaded up with alcohol.
And if you wanted an avocado or light leaf mix bag, you’ll be disappointed, as that’s now home to vodka and Jägermeister.
The festival, which has been going since around 1654 or something, usually sees revellers turn up on Thursday ahead of the three day affair, and once camped they’re soon on the prowl for refreshments.
This year’s event features Queens of the Stone Age, Arctic Monkeys, The Horrors, Disclosure and all that sort of thing, and traditionally tends to attract a more rough and ready younger set than the likes of Glastonbury.
A spokesperson for Tesco said they were expecting to serve 35,000 customers each day.
“We know from previous years just how important our store is to those attending the festival and we’re working really hard to make sure we’ve got everything they need, including food, wellies, tents and bedding. We’ll continue to stock everything our regular customers need for their normal weekly shop.”
Although one would imagine regulars would’ve got used to it by now and prepared their fun-shelters accordingly.
The consumer prices index, or CPI, went from 1.9% to 1.6% last month, which means it is still below the Bank’s 2% target for the seventh month on the trot.
The Office for National Statistics reckon this is down to a third month of falling food costs, which is due to the supermarkets scrambling for what customers they can get with all manner of discounts and offers.
The July RPI figure, which they use to set next year’s regulated rail fares, came in at 2.5%, which hopefully is good news for commuters expecting a massive price increase in the new year.
The City was a bit freaked out by the drop in CPI. Experts said the lack of evidence of inflation would stay the hand of the Monetary Policy Committee from a first rate since 2007.
There’ll no doubt be more exciting news like that when the Bank publishes the minutes of its August meeting, but otherwise that’s all quite optimistic news isn’t it?
Please say it is.
Asda kicked it off when they bugled that they’d be cutting their prices today (Tuesday), capping petrol at 124.7p a litre and diesel at 128.7p, which is the lowest the chain have had since January 2011.
Then Sainsburys and Tesco both chipped in by saying they’d be reducing their prices on petrol and diesel too, although neither chain has a national price cap.
Supermarkets being supermarkets, they’ve always had the chance to offer cheaper deals for the driver, especially when tied up in points and rewards and brand loyalty type stuff.
However this move has been seen as a response to the otherwise slightly dearer independents, according to Paul Watters, AA’s head of public affairs
“We have seen competitive independent retailers east of London selling petrol as low as 125.9p a litre recently, which heralded a more general move by Asda,” he said. “With its national pricing policy, that lower pricing will be spread to drivers across the UK and will spur other retailers to follow.”
“However, depressed demand is also a major influence as families in the UK, Europe and the US continue to struggle with family finances. Although pump price movements have been relatively benign this year, the trauma of price spikes from 2011 into 2013 continues to haunt drivers.”
According to the AA, the average price across the UK yesterday was 129.71p a litre, and diesel was 133.74p.
The other supermarkets are set to follow, because that’s what they do.
Microsoft have come to the aid of those who like to film shedloads of shaky, shonky footage with a thing called Hyperlapse.
The technology allows you to shrink hours of footage into minutes without all the juddering and shaking. It’s the first time that time-lapse photography has been brought to first person type devices.
This is great news for anyone who has sat through their chum’s five hour epic motorway films or endless footage from an amateur rock climb.
The technology controls shake at faster playback speeds by going beyond what’s done by typical stabilization algorithms. Which in English means that it essentially smooths video by cropping out pixels at the edge of a frame.
Hyperlapse does this via a reconstructing camera movement, distance and angle with each frame and borrows pixels from multiple frames to smooth the video.
There is no news of a release date just yet, as they’ve only just managed to shrink the software down to one PC, but the possibilities are endless, and will help make Microsoft quite attractive to film makers… if they all weren’t such Apple fanboiz already.
Yes, the slightly comically named Raleigh bike with its unique monkey handlebars and two different sized wheels (so far, so penny farthing) is back in production.
Due to the demand of nostalgic parents, the sort who keep voting for Star Wars in film polls and vaguely recall Texan Bars, Raleigh have replicated it and re-released the Chopper for a whole new generation.
Around a million and a half Choppers sold originally, but production was ended in 1979, just ahead of the whole BMX thing and Raleigh wooing the kids with Grifters.
Halfords will be stocking a limited number of the flaming red ‘Hot One’, although anyone expecting it to be on sale at its original price of £32 will be disappointed, as the new version will set you back £250.
Ben Hillsdon, Raleigh marketing manager said: “Whether you’re young or old it’s hard not to be taken in by the charm of the Chopper.”
It’s true, very few can resist the charm of sitting on a bright red chopper.


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Kanye Shows Off Yeezy Season 6 With Faux Kims
While Kim was busy flashing all her goods and services all over IG and pissing people off with her “Bo Derek braids” yesterday, she and Kanye were apparently gearing up for a “fashion show” of his latest Yeezy collection.
The Wests teamed up with a slew of IG influencers, It Girls, and family friends to have them recreate Kim’s looks and photos from earlier this year when she wore every piece — 19 looks total — from the Yeezy Season 6 collection over the course of two days and made a point to get snapped by the paparazzi. Kanye decided to forego showing his line in Fashion Week this time around, and let his wife, and now these ladies wearing a costume of his wife, show the collection via social media instead.
Among the women chosen to do their best Kimmy impression were Rob Kardashian’s rumoured old work Amina Blue:
Kylie’s bestie Jordyn Woods:
And models/designers the Clermont Twins
Some of the models even recreated the looks WITHOUT clothes — in true Kim K style — but you’ll have to hit IG on your own to peep the blurred-out nips and lady bits.
Hit the flip for more of the Kimmy Army. Do you think this is a better way to show off the latest Yeezy collection than a proper fashion show?


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As the popularity of wireless networks in homes and small businesses continues to soar, so do the chances that outsiders will hack unsecured networks and use them for malicious purposes.
Very few home and business owners realize the importance of securing their networks and the risks they incur by not doing so. It is often up to solution providers to solve the problem. Fortunately, several methods and products are available to help mend the holes.
Michael Young, principal at Connected Homes, a San Jose, Calif.-based home integrator, says the starting point is often helping customers realize the implications of not securing their wireless networks.
“You try not to scare people too much, but they need to realize [the impact],” Young says. For example, Young notes that a home’s unsecured wireless network could be used by a neighbor for downloading copyrighted material. It is often difficult to determine who on a network downloaded particular files, so the network owner could be sued by the Recording Industry Association of America or other organizations.
Kevin Bankston, an attorney with the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, says there haven’t yet been cases of homeowners in the United States prosecuted for the activities of other users who access their WLANs to conduct criminal activity. “However, it could lead to that house being the first step in the investigation,” Bankston notes.
In March, an Illinois man was arrested after police noticed him sitting with a laptop in a car outside a nonprofit agency’s building. The man was accessing the Internet through the organization’s wireless network, and was charged with remotely accessing another computer system without the owner’s approval and fined $250.
Small businesses with unsecured WLANs may also be leaving open doors that can lead into the corporate network, says Greg Starr, principal at See-Comm, a New Boston, Texas, integrator. “If someone gets through the WLAN connection, they could potentially get to the company’s servers. These companies are leaving themselves wide open to a number of different types of attacks by not enabling security on their wireless networks,” Starr says.
Even home users are at risk if they access their employers’ secured systems via unsecured wireless networks. Attackers can use the network to gain access to the corporate systems.
One problem is that people generally don’t keep up with changing passwords and settings on their home and SOHO WLANs, says Robert Cox, principal at Cox Network and PC Services, a Bel Air, Md.-based integrator. Integrators can easily boost customers’ WLAN security by disabling SSID and setting up encryption keys to be changed on a regular basis, Cox says. VPNs also are helpful for creating secure remote connections.
Cox notes that the wireless signals in products from some vendors, such as Buffalo Technology, Hawking Technologies and SMC, can be modified so they don’t go beyond the building’s walls. While customers sometimes don’t want the extra expense for such access points, the investment is usually worthwhile.
Aaron Fuhrman, an engineer at Home Technologies, a Bellevue, Wash., integrator, says his company frequently limits the broadcast range of WLANs through power and antenna adjustments. “You can use a directional antenna so it only covers a building instead of radiating the signal in a 360[-degree] pattern,” he explains.
QuickBase Expands Sales Team Functionality
The new application offers Dashboard functionality, a user interface that is becoming very popular among vendors and customers. “It’s a good way for a user to see — quickly — where they stand or where the company stands on areas important to them,” said Jana Eggers, general manager of Intuit QuickBase.
QuickBase, a division of Intuit, has upgraded its hosted-model product to make it easier for salesÂ reps and sales executives — two user groups that often have competing application requirements — to use the sales module.
New functionality in the application, called “Manage Your Sales Team,” includes more advanced configuration, reporting and display tools. Another enhancement aimed specifically at sales reps is the addition of smart, or dynamic, forms that request information during the sales cycle only when necessary.
Time Is Money
“Adoption of a CRM system has traditionally been a tricky thing for a lot of companies to navigate,” Jana Eggers, general manager of Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU)Â QuickBase, told CRM Buyer. “For salespeople in particular, any systemÂ that requires a lot of input to keep a pipeline up to date is — in their view — simply money out of their pocket.”
The forms are designed to extract the minimal amount of data, based on where the rep is during the sales cycle, Eggers said. It doesn’t ask for information at the beginning of the sales cycle that is not necessary, or that the sales rep might not necessarily have at that stage.
For example, dynamic forms only require reps to fill out opportunity qualification questions when the status field changes to “contacted.” In a project management application, a time stamp with the current date can be automatically inserted when the task status field changes to “complete.”
QuickBase has also included interactive functionality in its chart and reporting features. “Users can drill down several layers of data,” Eggers pointed out. “They also have a lot of leeway in how the charts looks or how the data is presented to them.” The new charting functionality includes new chart types, as well as rollover, drill down and customization options.
The new application offers Dashboard functionality, a user interface that is becoming very popular among vendors and customers. “It’s a good way for a user to see — quickly — where they stand or where the company stands on areas important to them,” Eggers said.
QuickBase offers several packaged applications, many of which were upgraded along with Manage Your Sales Team. Manage Multiple Projects, for instance, now offers the ability to import from Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT)Â Â Project with synchronization capabilities.
Manage a Project and Manage Multiple Projects have been enhanced with new resource allocation functionality, which identifies the workload of resources across projects.
QuickBase releases two major upgrades a year. The last release concentrated on supporting large corporations’ internal business proesses, Eggers said. The current release aims to streamline processes for users.Â


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YouTube banning ad blockers is backfiring and already changing the way people use the platform
Since YouTube’s ad blocker ban was extended to a global level a month ago, users have started to complain, and new research shows that they are already changing the way they use this platform. New, but not surprising, data show the opposite effect, namely that 22 percent of surveyed users from the survey said that because of the platform’s calculation of ad blockers, the probability that they would, on the contrary, use them only increased.
Data security and privacy site All About Cookies conducted a survey of a thousand respondents who use the YouTube platform. The results of the survey show how the aggressive YouTube ban and the campaign to switch to a subscription account or allow advertising affects users. As expected, this caused a negative mood among them, which was already reflected in the way it was used.
Respondents had the option to select multiple options from a list of responses that included:
- I’ll probably use an ad blocker
- I will probably spend less time on the YouTube platform
- I will look for an ad-free alternative on the YouTube platform
- I’ll probably pay for YouTube Premium
- I’m less likely to try using an ad blocker
- There is no change in the way of use
The survey results show that 22 percent of respondents are now more inclined to use ad blockers. At the same time, 16 percent of them plan to spend less time on the platform, while 15 percent are looking for an alternative platform without ads. Only 12 percent of respondents say that YouTube metrics encourage them to subscribe to a Premium account.
However, for now, 44 percent of respondents claim that it will not change the way they currently use YouTube.
When it comes to a YouTube Premium account, most respondents are not willing to pay to use it, which offers an ad-free video viewing experience. However, some are willing to shell out a certain amount of money.
Approximately 23 percent of those surveyed are willing to pay five dollars or less, 14 percent of them would agree to $10 or less, 9 percent to $20 or less, while only 2 percent of those surveyed are willing to pay more than $20 for a subscription. Obviously, people are willing to invest energy to find a better ad blocker that can bypass the YouTube ban, and some are even willing to pay for a more advanced ad blocker.
The negative effect triggered by the YouTube ban and campaign to switch to subscription accounts is also reflected in the accusations of spying that the platform has found itself under in the European Union through lawsuits and criminal charges.


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Ill. Tool Works Lowers 3Q Forecast
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GLENVIEW, Ill. (AP) _ Illinois Tool Works Inc. said Monday it lowered its forecast for fiscal third-quarter earnings to 75 cents to 80 cents a share, excluding goodwill amortization.
The new estimate for the quarter ended Aug. 31 falls just shy of analysts’ average estimate of 82 cents a share, according to Thomson/First Call.
Glenview, Ill., diversified manufacturer had previously expected to earn 75 cents to 85 cents a share for the third quarter.
Ill. Tool Works said it expects a 3 percent growth in operating revenue for the three months. Acquisitions will contribute 2 percent of the growth from acquisitions and currency effects 3 percent. This will be offset by a 2 percent decline from base businesses, the company said.
The company maintains its 2002 earnings from continuing operations of $3.02 to $3.22 a share, in line with analysts’ expectations of $3.15 a share.
New York Stock Exchange-listed Ill. Tool Works shares closed Monday at $61.05, down $2.25, or 3.6 percent.


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Facebook’s UK division believes that the traditional company website may be on the verge of becoming obsolete in the face of social media alternatives.
Cnet reports that Stephen Haines, commercial director of Facebook’s U.K. operation, told crowds at the Technology for Marketing and Advertising conference that the interaction element of social media meant that company websites may in future become nothing more than reference points for contact details.
Boosting his arguement with some sturdy figures, Haines revealed that companies such as Starbucks and Coca Cola are seeing Facebook traffic on their pages weighing in between ten and 75 fold that of their company websites, largely down to the ‘like’ phenomenom. Visits to Coca Cola’s website in one month sat at 270,000, while the thumbs up icon on the social media website received 20.5 million clicks.
With over half of the UK population now on Facebook alone, it’s plain to see that if your bike business isn’t too, that’s an opportunity for free marketing gone begging. The bike industry has, to date, embraced Twitter at an astonishing rate – 749 trade and cycling names are listed here alone. BikeBiz executive editor @carltonreid has previously put forward a very strong case for bike shops to take social media seriously.
On average, Facebook users spend 28 minutes per day browsing.


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Campaign of the Week:
Hands-On Learning and Mentorship Are Encouraging More Women in the STEM Pipeline
The movement to engage girls with the sciences is gaining traction across the nation—and laying the foundation for a stronger economy. STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)
Why we like it:
Chevron launches their new campaign supporting young women into the STEM pipeline. A great endeavor broadening the knowledge of future career opportunities for women.
Source: The Atlantic
Quote of the Week:
Source: The Drum
The Business of Recommendations is Huge: Taboola Raises $117 Million
The profitable content recommendation company crossed $200 million in revenue last year. The digital publishing business is desperate to find a business model that works. So far, banner ads are annoying, programmatic ads are a race to the bottom on pricing, and native ads are an unscalable, ethically murky minefield.
Bing Testing Native Ads and Mobile App Extensions
Microsoft is to begin testing native ads for its Bing Ads search advertising platform, with plans to introduce mobile app extensions and a retargeting tool during the first half of 2015.
Native Ads Were ‘Inside’ 10% of Digital at The New York Times Last Year
The New York Times’ native-advertising product Paid Posts comprised “inside of 10%” of the company’s digital-ad revenue last year, according to Meredith Kopit Levien, executive VP-advertising at the Times.
With an Eye on Wall Street, Twitter Starts Selling Twitter Ads Outside of Twitter
Twitter is rolling out plans for a new revenue stream: Twitter ads that don’t appear on Twitter. Starting today, the company will start running its core “Promoted Tweet” ad unit on other people’s apps and sites. It’s kicking off with Flipboard, the social news reader app, and also has plans to run the ads on Yahoo Japan.
Numbers of the week:
- ShareThrough on track for $100m revenue in 2015
- 55% of native ad consumers engaged via mobile.
- Polar expects 20 billion impressions this year
A little something from us – Our GE Case Study
We helped digital agency Barbarian explore the performance of a recent GE Campaign. GE launched “Drop Science,” a music track produced by DJ Mathew Dear on over 70 different owned, earned, and paid content websites.
That’s it for this week. If you’d like to contribute next week or send us a story tweet us @giveitanudge.


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According to an industry report, a particularly harsh winter helped drive sales of snow melting systems in the first quarter of this year.
WarmlyYours, a manufacturer specializing in radiant heating products such as electric floor warming systems, released their “Q1 2019 Industry Report.” This report analyzes the sales of radiant heating products within the wider context of the national housing and remodeling markets. One of the primary conclusions drawn in the report was that electric snow melting sales seemed to be in direct response to the frigid temperatures and record setting snow falls of the 2018-2019 winter.
According to the report, first quarter sales of WarmlyYours’s snow melting products increased 174% from the previous year. Julia Billen, owner and president of WarmlyYours, said that these increased sales were almost certainly a direct response to the severity of the winter.
“When a winter is as bad as this one was, people tend to consider installing a snow melting system,” said Billen. “At a certain point, it’s not even really about the convenience of not having to shovel and it starts to be about the safety and security that a snow-free surface can provide. It’s about the peace of mind that snow melting gives you.”
The fastest growing snow melting products were the 208V and 277V cables at 391.7% and 222.6% growth respectively. These products are typically used in commercial applications for walkways, stairways and ramps. While all snow melting products showed growth, the 240V (up 179%) and 120V (up 165.8%) snow melting mats had the second fastest growth.
Also according to the report, in the first quarter of this year, the most popular applications for snow melting were: walkways (34.6%), ramps (22.8%) and patios (7.7%). This represents one of the first times that driveways (4.4% in Q1 2019) were not in the top three applications. In 2018, driveways made up 29.8% of snow melting jobs. According to Billen, this shift in application-type lines up well with the growth of interest in commercial products, as those projects are typically walkways and accessibility ramps which need to be free of snow and ice for liability reasons.
“We’re finding that more and more commercial contractors are turning to electric snow melting systems for spot heating areas that are crucial for a business and must remain clear in the wintertime—like a loading dock or even just the entranceway,” said Billen. “Electric has a huge advantage over hydronic systems in these smaller scale applications because it doesn’t require pumps or boilers and once it’s installed there’s essentially no maintenance.”
To read the full report, click here.


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March 1, 2016
[SHEPPARTON, Australia] – Born from dairy cooperatives in two small villages in India, Amul has grown to become the largest dairy producer in India by volume, collecting nearly 15 million litres of milk per day. This year, Amul will manufacture more than three million tonnes of dairy feed to keep up with demand for milk, making it the largest cattle feed producer in Asia. The company’s three-fold growth over the past 12 months clearly illustrates India’s position as the most influential dairy producer globally.
February 26, 2016
[LEXINGTON, Ky.] – More than 1,500 feed samples have been analyzed at Alltech’s In Vitro Fermentation Model (IFM) laboratory in Brookings, S.D. since its inception in 2013, and with that data researchers have been able to put together four specific regional dairy diet profiles.
February 26, 2016
[LEXINGTON, Ky.] – Following farmer feedback and several months of development and testing, the Alltech Mycotoxin Management program has re-launched an updated version of the website, Knowmycotoxins.com.
February 25, 2016
[LEXINGTON, Ky.] – Within the next 34 years, the world will add an extra 3 billion mouths to feed. What will that mean for humanity, or, perhaps even more importantly, the agriculture and food sectors responsible for nourishing them? Is it a future full of gloom and doom, or of abundance?
February 24, 2016
[ROSEWORTHY, South Australia] - While the Australian dairy industry has plateaued over the last ten years, China is seeing a sharp rise in milk production. Production and consumption of dairy products in China have soared, averaging a 12.8 percent annual growth rate since 2000. A group of Australian dairy farmers and consultants visited China in January to see firsthand what Chinese farmers are doing to drive growth.


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Our very own PhD student Christine Wilks has been invited to keynote at ELO16, the annual conference of the Electronic Literature Organisation.
ELO16 is a key event in the digital literature calendar, inviting papers across a variety of sub-topics, including games, digital publishing, fan-fiction and more.
Christine will present on the second day of the conference, held at the University of Victoria, BC, Canada, showcasing her work on Stitched Up, an interactive digital text-based psychological thriller. This will dive deeper into how audiences interact with non-linear narratives, and the issue of choice, asking how best to steer readers through ‘possible worlds’.
Joel is a ‘dude in distress’, placed in a precarious position by Hannah, the antagonist. It is up to Sarah, Joel’s wife, to save his proverbial bacon, in a reversal of typical video-gaming tropes. A psychological thriller rather than an action adventure, Christine’s work is part of a new wave of digital fiction, challenging old stereotypes and forging new paths.
Supervised by Kate Pullinger, Naomi Alderman and Hongji Yang, Christine Wilks is a digital writer, artist and developer of playable stories. Her digital fiction Underbelly won the New Media Writing Prize 2010 and the MaMSIE Digital Media Competition 2011. Those wishing to learn more, and to experience her interactive narratives, digital poetry and artworks can do so here.
ELO 2016 will be held 10-12 June, 2016.


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Maurie Burns treated her dad to nearly 100 cars for his Father's Day celebration. The pair joined in the SoCal Test Drive Expo in Long Beach, where drivers can test out dozens of vehicles -- from Cadillacs to Fiats -- under the same roof for $10. Antonio Castelan reports from Long Beach for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on June 15, 2012.
Not in the market for a new car, but still want to try out a Cadillac? Or a Fiat? Or a Volkswagen? This weekend, there are cars, SUV's and trucks galore inside the SoCal Test Drive Auto Expo in Long Beach.
It’s a car show with a twist: here, you’re not limited to just gawking at the cars.
"I came with my dad," said Marie Burns. "It's his Father's Day present."
Drivers will have the opportunity to try out nearly 100 cars, in a variety of makes and models that runs the gamut.
Auto show organizers say this first-time expo will be allow drivers to test all the cars under one roof.
"What you can do, really, in an environment like this, is drive these cars back to back," said Laura Burstein, auto expert. "This is important because sometimes the differences between cars are very subtle."
Another upside? All these drivable cars are available in a “sales-free environment,” according to the event’s website.
"I think it’s a great idea to be able to drive the cars without having somebody twist your arm," Burns’ father said.
Admission is $10 for drivers and the event runs from Friday, June 15, through Sunday, June 17. For more information, click here.