text:
Trade between China and Africa must move beyond Chinese hunger for commodities and an influx of cheap imports into Africa, the world’s poorest continent, World Economic Forum delegates urged on Friday.
“We can’t live forever on the basis of a mineral boom. We have to consolidate that into value added production,” South African Trade Minister Rob Davies told at session at the 21st WEF on Africa.
“The building of the domestic market and consumer industries is fundamental if we’re going to move further forward. We cannot live on just a mineral boom and a growing market which is serviced by imports. We have to occupy that productive space as African countries.”
Sino-African ties needed to shift from a relationship characterised by raw African exports to Beijing, and an influx of Chinese products to all corners of the continent, to one that added to industrial activities on the continent.
“The relationship is at a point where we shouldn’t just be conceding of a quantitative expansion of what we have already,” said Davies, who said China had provided “fantastic opportunities” to Africa.
“But also how we are going to make some qualitative shifts so that the partnership with China begins to contribute to much more value added activities on the continent. I believe that really its up to Africa to be much more active in trying to set the terms of that new relationship.”
Africa’s rich natural resources have been snapped up by China to fuel its massive economic growth with minerals the biggest exports to Beijing while the continent’s major imports from China are mechanical or electrical products.
Liu Guijin, African Affairs special representative in China’s foreign ministry, said Beijing would do more to promote industrialisation and invest more.
“The structure or composition of China Africa trade relationship is not that desirable in our view at the moment. But that is something not unique with China,” he said, citing African trade with the United States, European Union and Japan.
There was a need for the developed world, China and African countries to work together to diversify the structure of the trade and the economy of the continent and African countries should also harness China’s interest in the continent.
“The African governments need to use properly the revenues from the commodities to diversify their economic structure,” he added.
Trade between China and Africa surged 43.5 percent year on year in the first 11 months of 2010.
Beijing became Africa’s largest trade partner in 2009 and has poured money into the continent that has been criticised for support for unsavoury governments such as in Sudan but lauded for bringing sorely needed infrastructure.
China’s resource demands had been the main driver Africa’s strong growth and not the continent’s economic policies or more agile economic planning and delivery, said Martyn Davies of consultancy Frontier Advisory.
“It’s more been driven by external factors in China,” he said.
China had been on a stimulus package style spending for the past two decades and fixed asset investment spend had driven Beijing’s growth and trade with Africa and demand for resources.
“If it starts to cool off which it will, China’s growth this year will drop off a couple of percentage points. We shouldn’t overact to it,” he said.
“But I think we should not to become too drunk on growth in Africa because the enabler — that is decisions made in Beijing — will not last forever.”


text:
Bitcoin (BTC 4.53%), the world's top cryptocurrency, lost nearly 40% of its value over the past three months. China's crackdown on cryptocurrency trades, Tesla's suspension of Bitcoin payments, and the rise of smaller cryptocurrencies all contributed to that sell-off.
Bitcoin's decline also dragged down shares of companies that depend on its growth. Let's examine three such stocks -- Marathon Digital (MARA 5.59%), Riot Blockchain (RIOT 1.10%), and Coinbase (COIN 4.67%) -- and see why they're still risky investments.
1. Marathon Digital
Prior to the Bitcoin boom, Marathon was a patent-holding company. Its main strategy was to purchase patents from other companies, then generate revenue through licensing agreements or litigation.
Up until last year, Marathon was a penny stock. But over the past 12 months, its stock skyrocketed nearly 3,500% for two simple reasons: It ordered 70,000 high-end ASIC Antminers from Bitmain last December, which will triple its existing fleet of miners, and bought $150 million in Bitcoin this January. It also rebranded itself as a "pure play" on Bitcoin.
As a result, Marathon now has a market cap of $3.2 billion, despite only generating $4.4 million in revenue with a net loss of $10.4 million last year. All of its revenue came from mining cryptocurrencies.
The three analysts who cover Marathon believe its revenue will rise 46 times to $201 million this year, with a net profit. That explosive growth could be driven by its expanding fleet of miners and rising Bitcoin prices.
However, investors should be skeptical of those estimates, since Marathon only generated $9.2 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2021. That quarter ended on March 31, prior to Bitcoin's big decline, so it could generate much lower revenue in the second quarter. That's why Marathon's stock price declined nearly 20% over the past three months -- and could tumble even further if Bitcoin's price doesn't stabilize.
2. Riot Blockchain
In late 2017, the failed medical device maker Bioptix renamed itself Riot Blockchain and declared it would transform into a major cryptocurrency company. It subsequently acquired the mining start-up Kairos Global Technology and its fleet of ASIC Antminers.
Like Marathon, Riot's abrupt transformation into a Bitcoin bet set its penny stock on fire. The stock rose from about $5 a share before its rebranding to nearly $80 this February, but then it plunged back to the $30s as Bitcoin's price declined.
However, Riot still has a market cap $3.6 billion -- which is arguably an absurd valuation for a company that generated just $12.1 million in revenue with a net loss of $12.7 million last year.
The three analysts who cover Riot claim its revenue will soar 15 times to $179 million this year as it turns profitable. Those estimates are based on a belief that Riot's fleet of nearly 24,000 Antminers (following its recent acquisition of Whinstone) will pump out more Bitcoin as Bitcoin's price rises. The company also plans to more than triple its number of Antminers by the end of 2022.
Unfortunately, Riot looks just as speculative as Marathon. Both companies abruptly rebranded themselves to capitalize on the Bitcoin craze, but neither company has a viable backup plan if Bitcoin's price continues to fall.
Coinbase, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, went public via a direct listing in April. The stock was set with a reference price of $250 a share and opened at $381 on the first day, but now trades just above $250.
Coinbase generates most of its revenue from transaction fees. Its revenue soared 144% to $1.3 billion in 2020, and it posted a net profit of $322 million, compared to a loss of $30 million in 2019. Those growth rates put it on firmer ground than Marathon and Riot, and the stock doesn't seem terribly expensive at 11 times this year's sales.
However, Coinbase's price-to-sales ratio is based on the expectation that its revenue will rise 382% to $6.27 billion this year. Coinbase started out the year strong, with its total revenue rising more than nine times year over year to $1.8 billion in the first quarter of 2021.
However, two things are keeping investors away from Coinbase. First, it's unclear where Bitcoin's price will head throughout the rest of 2021. Second, it faces tough competition from Square, Robinhood, and PayPal Holdings in the cryptocurrency trading market.
Coinbase might fare better than Marathon and Riot if Bitcoin's price keeps falling -- since it also offers other cryptocurrencies -- but it's still a risky all-in bet on the volatile cryptocurrency market. I'd personally prefer to invest in diversified fintech companies like Square or PayPal, which offer some exposure to cryptocurrencies, instead of a dedicated cryptocurrency exchange like Coinbase.

domain: news


text:
Christened on the 26th March at Marina Bay Cruise Centre in Singapore, Silver Discoverer is an intimate 120-guest vessel, which will offer guests the opportunity to explore the Kimberley, Australia’s hidden treasure. In addition, Silver Discoverer’s itineraries explore remote areas of Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia, the Russian Far East, Southeast Asia and New Zealand’s Sub-Antarctic Islands.
Guests will benefit from the vast knowledge and experience of a highly-qualified Silversea Expeditions team. The team of 11 experts consists of expedition leaders, dive masters, marine biologists, historians, geologists and naturalists.
Karen Christensen, General Manager & Director Sales/Marketing for Australasia says,
“It’s fitting that, in our 20th anniversary year, our latest prestigious ship will continue Silversea’s tradition of reaching some of the most remote and exotic areas of the world. Silver Discoverer will bring guests even closer to dramatic landscapes and historically rich destinations, all in the comfort and style that Silversea is renowned for.”
Commencing the Kimberley season with record sales, Silver Discoverer’s inaugural voyage took place on 2nd April from Broome.
“Since the announcement of Silver Discoverer, there has been a huge spike in reservations which is testament that this type of cruising really appeals to the Australian market. Feedback from our customers has been very positive and the amount of bookings we have received has been wonderful. We are thrilled that Silver Discoverer’s inaugural sailing will commence an already sold out Kimberley season,” says Christensen.
The brochure outlines Silversea’s generous inclusions: an outstanding expedition team; complimentary adventures ashore; all-suite accommodation including butler service; gourmet meals with menus designed by Relais & Châteaux; complimentary wines and spirits served throughout the ship, and all gratuities.


text:
In this Placer Bytes, we dive into the surprisingly strong performance of Best Buy, Big Lots ongoing opportunity, and the trajectory of Sprouts and Kroger.
Best Buy’s Strong Start
A resurgence of COVID cases right before Black Friday should spell doom for a brand that is heavily oriented around that specific day. Yet, while Best Buy certainly felt the impact in offline visits, the company seems to have weathered the storm quite effectively. After seeing year-over-year visit growth in October, visits dropped 16.3% in November. But by December the gap had already shrunk to just 12.2% and visits in January were actually up 1.8% year over year - the best mark since the start of 2020.
And this fast start may be a strong sign of things to come. While COVID’s effects will hopefully dissipate, the shift to a greater focus on work from home is unlikely to return fully. And Best Buy has deepened its role as a go-to provider of the home office experience. Additionally, the brand has shown the creativity necessary to stay ahead of the curve with everything from appointment shopping during the early stages of the reopening to a greater focus on health and wellness technologies. So, while betting against Best Buy may never be a smart decision, it could be especially foolish now.
Big Lots sits at the nexus of several positive trends that could bring a lot of value to the brand, and while Q3 may have driven a bigger year over year peak, the company ended the year with strength. Visits to Big Lots locations were up 8.5% in November, and while visits did decline 4.7% year over year in December, they returned to year-over-year growth in January.
And even more importantly for Big Lots, the momentum does appear to be picking up. Visits the weeks beginning January 25th and February 1st saw visits up 3.7% and 5.9% respectively. Should this trend hold, the coming months could provide a significant lift for the brand as it attempts to replicate its 2020 success.
Sprouts and Kroger - Grocery Trends Continuing?
One of the big retail questions heading into 2021 centered around the ability of top grocery brands to sustain their unique strength into the new year. And early data does indicate that some players may prove capable of just that. Looking at visits to Kroger and Sprouts shows that visits to both chains dipped in late 2020. While Kroger saw visits up 0.7% in November, the visit gap increased slightly to 0.8% in December and 5.3% in January. For Sprout, the peaks were slightly different with November seeing a 4.5% year-over-year visit decline leading to 1.8% year-over-year visit growth in December and an 8.1% decline in January.
But the rebound is already taking place. Kroger saw visits down just 1.3% the week beginning February 1st and saw visits up 0.3% the week beginning February 8th. Sprouts saw a positive turn those weeks as well with the best monthly output since the week beginning December 28th coming the week beginning February 8th. While there are many factors potentially responsible for the visit dip - from a resurgence of COVID cases and a return to mission-driven shopping to inclement weather - it is clear that grocery brands are well-positioned to handle the shifts. And Kroger continues to prove that it could be among the sector’s stronger performers in 2021.
Will Best Buy and Big Lots continue to outperform? Can Kroger drive a rebound into February? Visit Placer.ai to find out.


text:
The yoga hot spot is heading East next month - and its impressive range of facilities are certain to appeal to newbies and yogis alike
Shoreditch has fast become one of the go-to fitness hubs in the capital. With the launch of Psycle last month and with Frame, Barry’s Bootcamp and Fat Buddha Yoga already offering classes there, going East seems to be the direction of choice for many of our favourite gyms and brands. And as of next month, the locality looks set to expand its offering further, with the launch of triyoga’s fifth studio.
Opening its doors on the 9th of October, the new addition will contain three studios, two treatment rooms, a shop offering Harvey & Mills athleisure products and a vegetarian café, as well as offering a range of new classes and workshops. This will include deaf yoga, yoga for mental health, Ashtanga yoga technique, chair yoga for those who are injured, older or recovering from illness, and Every Body yoga, a class for all shapes, sizes and genders and borne out of a desire to encourage inclusivity and help students grow more body positive. For a pre or post-workout pick-me-up, its café will also offer a variety of fresh juices and organic meals and snacks - something for every taste.
Designed in collaboration with Triyoga founder Jonathan Sattin, the studios will reportedly be able to hold between 35 and 60 students and the timetable will have more than 125 classes per week to book into. For Jonathan, who founded triyoga's first centre 17 years ago in Primrose Hill, a studio in Shoreditch has been a long-term goal realised. “There's a vibrancy to Shoreditch you'll not find elsewhere,” he says. “It's a bit left-of-centre, and suits the sensibility of our community of teachers and students. It took some time to find the perfect location but I think we've found a gem with great natural light from floor-to-ceiling.”
We’ll see you there.
triyoga Shoreditch opens on 10 Cygnet Street, E1 6GW on the 9th of October.
If you fancy a yoga fix now, head on down to Sweaty Betty’s new flagship store…


text:
Breaking News! AndroidPIT has just received the first offical reaction from Samsung to the newest "subtraction" from their trade fair stand. As we noticed at the IFA fair, the Galaxy Tab 7.7 mysteriously went missing from the Samsung booth and was not revealed to the public despite the announcement at the press conference (and our own playtime with the device). Addressing the public's missing darling, the Galaxy Tab 7.7, PR rep. Annika Karstadt from Samsung Electronics stated that Samsung is attempting to bolster the profile of their new "top product" the Samsung Galaxy Notes. When asked if the decision was tied to the continued legal battle with Apple, Ms. Karstadt declined to comment.
But if 1+1 is still 2 ( and I'm pretty sure it still is) then I'm convinced that Apple is trying to toss a wrench into Samsung's media machine. If it really was just a retooling of the display concept, then the devices were removed a bit too quickly from the Samsung displays and the newly formed holes were also only haphazardly hidden from view. While it does make sense to concentrate on the Samsung Galaxy Notes, for a professional media operation like Samsung, a haphazard soultion is highly uncharateristic.


text:
G-Star’s ‘sudden’ slip
Denim Enterprises, the franchise operator of Dutch denim label G-Star Raw, in Australia, has been placed in voluntary administration, with the local head office still reeling from the news, describing its collapse exclusively to Inside Retail PREMIUM as “sudden”.
Denim Enterprises appointed Gess Michael Rambaldi and Andrew Reginald Yeo of Pitcher Partners as voluntary administrators on February 2.
Denim Enterprises is based in Melbourne and operates all 21 G-Star retail outlets in Australia.
Denim Enterprises was founded by directors, Nick and Candice Hirons in 1996, who were previously stockists of the brand in their own Melbourne denim boutique, D.inc.
The first D.inc stored opened on Little Collins St in 1996, followed by a second store in Prahran in 2001.
The first standalone G-Star store operated by Denim Enterprises opened in 2003 at Melbourne Central.
G-Star’s latest store was unveiled at Emporium in Melbourne just over six months ago under the Amsterdam-based label’s new global fitout. It also has 25 concessions stores in Myer and David Jones and operates a multi-brand store model with retailers such as Glue.
G-Star’s wholesale division including department store concessions and multi- brand stores are owned by G-Star’s Australian parent company, G-Star PTY LTD.
This model is in line with its global operations where retail outlets are franchised by the parent company, while wholesale remains company-owned and operated.
G-Star PTY LTD is based in Sydney, headed by country manager, Piet Poelmann.
Online is also a separate entity to Denim Enterprises. While Australian customers can shop online, orders are processed and shipped through the company’s global head office.
Poelmann told Inside Retail PREMIUM that Denim Enterprise’s administration was “quite sudden”.
“We have contacted the administrators and our head office in Amsterdam. We want to take the next week or so to really nut things out as to what we’re going to do next,” Poelmann said.
Administrators, Pitcher Partners, told Inside Retail PREMIUM stores would continue to trade as usual during the administration process.
“The administrators will be continuing to trade the business as usual and will work towards the implementation of a restructure that continues to promote the brand and its retail footprint in Australia,” Pitcher Partners said.
It is not yet known if stores will be closed, or if the global arm of G-Star Raw will buy out the licence of the stores from Denim Enterprises. So far, stores continue to operate.
In 2011, the luxury streetwear label repositioned itself in the marketplace with lower pricepoints aimed at making the brand more accessible to a mass audience, however, at the same time was cautious to maintain its international luxury reputation.
G-Star’s pricepoints put it in line with denim brands such as Lee, Wrangler, Calvin Klein, and Levi’s. Women’s and men’s jeans range from $170 to $220, while basic t-shirts, shirts, and knitwear range between $40
and $230. G-Star also stocks men’s and women’s shoes, underwear, accessories, and collectibles.
In January, Poelmann told Inside Retail PREMIUM a refurbishment of existing stores was planned for 2015 following the opening of Emporium.
The new concept at Emporium sees G-Star go back to its roots as a denim and streetwear brand, with the fitout having a clear focus on its denim ranges.
A main design element of the new store is the introduction of the ‘seven icons’, an island
in the centre of the store which showcases G-Star’s seven iconic denim styles’.
Other store features include digital screens that stream live content, instore iPads, a custom made instore fragrance, and larger fitting rooms located in the centre of the store which include bathrobes and slippers for customer use.
Last month Poelmann said several new sites are earmarked for this year.
G-Star is also planning to open smaller size stores following on from its new format. The proposed smaller format will see stores operate with a footprint around half the
size of existing outlets, around 100sqm to 150sqm.
This new size will allow G-Star to trial new locations and concepts such as men’s and women’s standalone stores − a model yet to be launched by the retailer in Australia.
This story first appeared in Inside Retail PREMIUM issue 2032. To subscribe, click here.
The worst case scenario for many retailers came to fruition on Monday afternoon, when Victorian Premier Daniel Andr… https://t.co/zyRB162Yip5 days ago
Retail in Melbourne to be forced to close from 11:59pm this Wednesday. Contactless click-and-collect and online del… https://t.co/8um79lnp766 days ago


text:
Saturday, April 5th, noon-6pm
917 Martin Luther King Way
Duncan Susag, owner of Sound Concrete Countertops, joined Spaceworks in order to further his business by securing a location to have a showroom, gallery and retail space. He has done just that at 917 MLK, where he recently opened “Concrete Market” which offers artisan concrete designs for residential and commercial spaces. Susag and his right hand man Mac transformed the 800 square foot office space into a sleek showroom allowing visitors to see how beautiful, warm and functional concrete can be. They offer custom designed/installed work, along with original furniture, counter tops, sinks, wine holders, and a variety of other concrete items.
The Concrete Market is the first official opening in a series of new creative enterprises to launch soon in the building on the corner of MLK and 10th. Spaceworks is proud to be partnering with owner Paul Okner on transforming this building located in the heart of Hilltop!


text:
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the elimination of tariffs in the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is expected to create a great opportunity for Vietnam’s seafood exports.
From the beginning of August, the number of export orders of seafood has increased by about 10 percent compared to July 2020.
Vietnam’s seafood production value increased by 2.48 percent, while the export turnover reached 692 million USD in the first nine months of this year despite impact caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Of the 805 Vietnamese enterprises exporting seafood to markets across the world, there are 579 enterprises exporting seafood to the EU, accounting for 72 percent.
Vietnam’s seafood products have penetrated deeply and have a firm foothold in the EU, ranking 11th in the market share in the market./.


text:
LED Lighting startup Bridgelux and Chevron have announced a partnership to bring LED lights to various municipalities. Bridgelux already has pilot programs in several communities in California, including Livermore, Benicia, and Solana Beach. The modules, which can be used in existing street light fixtures, can mean significant cost savings for cities. Forbes reports:
Bridgelux CEO Bill Watkins says that the company’s LED lighting modules can be used with existing street lights. Brad Bullington, VP for corporate and market development at Bridgelux, says several of the company’s pilot customers are likely to go to full build outs in the next month or so. He sees a huge potential market here, noting that there are 35 million street lights in the U.S., 70% of which use a standard form factor “cobra head” design from General Electric that could use the company’s LED modules.


text:
News By Tag
News By Place
Pet Food Expert reveals Tips to Avoid the Next Pet Food Recall
While there is no way to be 100% certain that a pet food will not be tainted or will not be recalled, pet food expert Susan Thixton has just provided a list of pet food ingredients that are potentially dangerous.
Wheat, Soy, and Corn Glutens were the bad boy ingredients of 2007, but there can be other potentially dangerous ingredients in pet foods. Pet Food Expert Susan Thixton has published a tip sheet of information listing potentially and historically dangerous pet food ingredients that pet owners should avoid in 2008. Thixton’
The free pet food ingredient warning list – Tips to Avoid the Next Pet Food Recall – is available to pet owners at www.TruthAboutPetFood.com in the Paws Club section of the website or direct page at http://www.TruthAboutPetFood.com/
Susan Thixton has been studying the pet food industry over 15 years since the bone cancer death of her dog her veterinarian told her was caused by chemical preservatives in pet food. In 2005 Thixton published the book Truth About Pet Food which led to the development and publication of Petsumer Report™ - an online and paper publication that rates and reviews dog foods, cat foods, and dog and cat treats. Future plans for Petsumer Report™ are to provide chemical analysis of pet foods and reviews on various other pet supplies.
# # #
About Truth About Pet Food: Many pet websites report the news, TruthAboutPetFood.com explains the news to pet owners around the world. The site offers a free newsletter and a library of past articles and information regarding pet food.


text:
Against Gravity is building a VR world that won’t stop growing
The quest to create a social auditorium in virtual reality has eaten many VC dollars over the years. While plenty of contenders have emerged, it’s likely Against Gravity’s href=”https://rec.net/”> Rec Room has been the most creative in its approach to capturing a niche market while plotting how to build a sustainable business based on users in VR headsets talking to one another.
The Seattle startup has told TechCrunch exclusively that it has bagged $24 million over two rounds of funding. The studio’s Series A was led by Sequoia and their Series B, which just recently closed, was led by Index Ventures . Against Gravity has a bevy of top investors that also participated in the rounds, including First Round Capital, Maveron, Anorak Ventures, Acequia Capital, Betaworks and DAG Ventures.
The company didn’t break down the specific details of the rounds. Against Gravity was authorized to raise up to $15.4 in its Series B at up to a $126 million post-money valuation, according to Delaware stock authorization docs we got from PitchBook. The company didn’t comment on the valuation.
Rec Room is hardly a household name compared to some major console titles, but among virtual reality users, the title has
This post was originally published on this site


text:
VIEW THE MARKET REPORT HERE.
The number of single family homes sold in January decreased from 289 sales in December 2021 to 217 sales in January 2022. Compared to last year at this time, this represents a decrease of 11.4%.
There were 65 condos sold last month, which is down from 85 condos sold in December 2021. In January 2021, there were also 85 condo sales across Big Island. Sales are down by 23% when compared to this time last year.
For land, there were 227 sales across Hawaiʻi Island in January, which is up a few units when compared with December 2021. Last year at this time, there were 213. There were 6% more sales this past January when compared to January 2021.
The average days on the market in January for single family homes was 41 days, which is down from 42 days in December. This is a decrease of 45% when compared to this time last year. Properties in North Hilo and North Kohala sold the quickest last month, at 12 and 24 days respectively.Condo listings stayed on the market for an average of 18 days in January 2022, which is just one day longer than December 2021. This is down 89% when compared with January 2021. North Kona condos stayed on the market for an average of just 15 days.
Land listings remained on the market for an average of 99 days, which is down 38% when compared to this time last year. Land in North Kohala sold the quickest, averaging just 10 days on the market.
The median sales price on Hawaiʻi Island remained high again in January at $538,000. North Kona home prices stayed above the million dollar mark with a median sales price of $1,033,000, which remains the highest priced market on the island by over $150,000.
The median sales price for condos in January 2022 was $515,000 which is an increase from December when the median price recorded at $471,088. Condo prices have increased by 11% when compared to this time last year. Condos in South Kohala sold for the highest price at $950,000.
The median sales price for land in January 2022 was $47,000, which is down slightly when compared with December 2021. This represents an increase of 51% when compared to this time last year.


text:
Who wants their McDonald’s Big Mac delivered via drone?!? Check out this article by The Verge for the details!
Interesting concept but probably a bit of a stretch based on battery life alone.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao today announced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) awarded the first air carrier certification to a drone delivery company, Google’s Wing Aviation. Check out the promotional drone delivery video from Wing!
Another insane FPV drone video brought to you by Johnny FPV to kickoff your week. Enjoy!
Check out this time-lapse video of the stage construction in preparation for the Super Bowl halftime show, plus a behind the scenes clip of the Intel Shooting Stars drones. A first ever moment. 150 Intel Shooting Star drones enhanced the show in a choreographed performance to create a unifying message of LOVE at the Super […]
Happy Monday! Check out this amazing video of a fixed-wing twin-engine drone delivering 25 envelopes over the Swiss Alps.
The drone industry is booming and here are a few numbers to back it up! $100B – Forecasted market opportunity for the drone industry by 2020. – Goldman Sachs Research 133 – Lives saved around the world. – DJI 68% – How much faster homes with aerial pictures sell than those without. – DroneDeploy 55% – Increase in […]
This is a very innovative approach to home surveillance by Sunflower Labs that incorporates the use of drones, motion and vibration sensors. Read the article by The Verge here.
Check out these drone pilot’s (Mr Steele and Johnny FPV) crazy skills chasing rally cars on the track with their FPV drones. The videos are definitely worth a look and can be found within the article here.
There has been a lot of negative drone press in the news lately, so positive news is always welcomed. Californians are all too familiar with fire season but this year has been overwhelmingly difficult across the state. Fortunately, a team from the California Air National Guard’s 195th Airlift Wing has been able to provide some […]


text:
The passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017 has sent wealthy northeasterners fleeing to Florida's luxury home market, which has been a boon for South Florida luxury property developer BH3.
The law put a $10,000 limit on taxpayers' ability to deduct state and local taxes (SALT) from their federal taxable income in 2018, and that's had a huge impact on high-income taxpayers in some states: Taxes reach 8.82 percent in New York, 8.97 percent in New Jersey and 6.99 percent in Connecticut.
"SALT has crippled the high-end home market in northeast tri-state areas while luxury home sales in Florida have surged," says Daniel Lebensohn, co-founder of BH3. "Over the past several months, we've seen a tremendous increase in buyer interest from the northeast in the remaining units at Privé, our 8-acre private island community in Miami featuring two 16-story condo towers with 155 high-end units. Many of our new buyers named SALT as the motivating factor for seeking a residence in South Florida."
Since the law passed, New Yorkers ranked first among those looking for Miami properties on Miami's MLS, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.
In addition, luxury home prices jumped 16 percent in the second quarter of 2018 from a year earlier, according to Redfin Corp.


text:
The U.S. Postal Service is ready to handle an expected increase in volume during the fall season due to a rebounding economy and improvements to its own processes and those of mailers, a postal official said.
“The system is running well right now, and we do not anticipate any problems,” said Paul Vogel, vice president of network operations management at the USPS. “We are predicting right now that there is going to be a 2 percent increase [in] Standard Mail volume this season over last year. This is primarily driven by the improvements in the economy.”
He attributed the expected increase to people starting to spend “and the advertisers realize that, and they need to give their products visibility.”
The postal service's peak week for Standard Mail generally is the last week of October or first week of November when it delivers the most catalogs and ad mail in preparation for the holidays.
The USPS also is meeting most of its in-home delivery dates, Vogel said.
One reason for the agency's improved performance this year is that more businesses are using printers, consolidators and other USPS partners to prepare mail and receive drop-ship discounts. Most of the advertising mail comes in already sorted, Vogel said, often down to the carrier route. In addition, mailers have better address hygiene, which helps mail processing.
“The consolidators are doing a better job, the printing houses are doing a better job, the list processors are doing a better job,” Vogel said. “We've seen an improvement this year over last year, and last year there was an improvement over the year before.”
The improvements, Vogel said, have been driven by the weak economy of the past few years.
“I think that one thing that happens in a bad economy is that people have to figure out how to do the job better, and I think we are seeing the benefits of that,” he said.
For mail that is not presorted, the USPS is relying heavily on 529 automated flat-sorting machines, also known as AFSM 100s.
During last year's busy fall season, the USPS “was at the tail end of the deployment of these machines, so people may not have been as proficient with using them,” Vogel said. “But this year, we have a full year experience under our belt.”
The USPS will not hire extra help this year. Vogel said the USPS rarely adds seasonal employees anymore. The agency, in general, is cutting back on employees, eliminating more than 25,000 jobs over the past year.
The USPS is also prepared for the 10 to 12 days before Christmas — its busiest holiday period, Vogel said.
For example, the postal service plans to reduce the expensive Christmas network contracts it awards to cargo carriers. Instead, it will send more of its holiday volume to FedEx and United Parcel Service. Both are less expensive than cargo carriers, Vogel said. The postal service expects to use 10 planes from cargo carriers this year, down from 120 two years ago and 80 last year.
The USPS also is increasing its ground network, Vogel said, with mail riding longer distances on trucks this year. In general, the USPS uses its air network for Priority Mail, Express Mail and Military Mail. The ground network is mainly for Standard and parcel post.
Finally, the USPS said it expects holiday volume to be about the same as last year.


text:
This year Banco Popular de Ahorro (BPA) created an online banking service for the private sector banking in Cuba. The service is a move to reach out to small business clients in the nation.
In an interview with AIN, Greicher La Nuez, Director of Investment for BPA, stated that there is a specialist assigned to the economic activity of private business owners. He also added that for the last two months customers have benefited from remote banking and the electronic delivery of banking services.
Small business owners now have access to online banking services accessible from anywhere in Cuba. This includes the ability to transfer funds, obtain information on the status of current accounts and view their past 10 banking transactions.
The new strategy is not only to promote online banking and other banking products, but also to promote the use of credit in order to grow their businesses economically. Small business owners can now apply for credit or open a checking account online. They will only need to visit their local banking branch to sign the contract and obtain the funding.
BPA is also developing a service where small business owners can eventually pay their employees by remote banking. Mr La Nuez stated that debit payroll is now being tested and will enable the transfer of money to the bank accounts of employees holding magnetic banking cards.
BPA aims to move closer to the private sector not only to finance it, but also to extend a range of services for banking in Cuba that contribute to the performance and progress of small businesses.
From our staff writers and editors.


text:
Clustrix is a NewSQL database company that has raised $16.5 million in a Series C round of funding. The company has raised a total of $46.5 million in funding thus far. This round of funding was provided by existing investors Sequoia Capital, U.S. Venture Partners, and ATA Ventures.
U.S. Venture Partners Posts
Zerto is a startup that offers enterprise-class business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) services for companies that have a virtualized infrastructure. Some of the awards that Zerto won includes the Best of Show at VMworld 2011 and the 2011 Product of the Year Gold Award. Zerto’s Virtual Replication software is the industry’s first hypervisor-based replication solution for tier-one applications. Zerto’s Disaster Recovery solutions replaces the traditional array-based BCDR, which cannot deal with virtual environments.
LivingSocial has announced today that they raised $110 million. The company has raised a total of over $800 million since being founded in 2007. Investors in this round include Steve Case, Grotech Ventures, Revolution Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, JP Morgan, T. Rowe Price, and Amazon.com. Amazon previously invested $175 million into the company for a 29% stake.
Exablox is an enterprise storage company that has raised $22 million in funding from Norwest Venture Partners and U.S. Venture Partners. The company was founded in 2010, but recently stepped out of stealth mode. Exablox said that current storage solutions do not address issues like runaway costs, complicated installation, and lack of data security.
Act-On Software has announced that they have raised $16 million in new venture funding. Norwest Venture Partners is the lead investor in the round. Existing investors that participated in this round include Trinity Ventures, US Venture Partners and Voyager Capital.
Smartling is a New York based company that has raised $10 million in funding. Their service is extremely valuable for companies that want to scale their applications beyond jut English-speaking users.
Grokr is a stealth startup company that has raised $1.5 million according to an SEC filing. Grokr was founded by Srivats Sampath, an EIR at U.S. Venture Partners, who previously co-founded Mercora (Social.fm) and the previous CEO at McAfee. Sampath was also a VP at Netscape. The only thing that we know about Grokr is that it will be focusing on the “cognitive web.” [TechCrunch]


text:
Churn is good. Well, that requires a little further explanation: An environment in which customers are actively looking to change providers can be good--even very good--for opportunistic telecom companies.
That’s essentially how Tom Rutledge, chairman and CEO of Charter Communications put it in a webcast Thursday that was part of the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference. He acknowledged that churn has reached historically low levels for Charter, and that this fact, combined with the related savings in operational costs, means that Charter has done well weathering the last year and a half of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The pandemic has created a very unusual operating environment for us,” Rutledge said. “Lower customer activity levels mean lower numbers of selling opportunities, but that also means lower cost structure.”
He added that it is hard to forecast how soon the market environment will become more active, but that a return to conditions characterized by “moving churn” will mean that Charter can leverage the full potential of its ability to sell new services to customers looking for change.
“We actually look forward to a higher churn environment,” he said. “We do well with prospects looking to change their services.”
Rutledge probably soon will get the chance to prove how much he likes churn as Charter looks to ramp up its efforts in wireless while facing growing competitive pressure from fiber over-builders in the broadband market.
“If you look at the average mobile bill, it’s much higher than the average broadband bill,” Rutledge said. Though the costs to acquire those customers will start adding up, “we can bundle more services, save them more while giving them more and creating more revenue opportunity for our company.”
As customers start shopping again and competition in different service segments heats up, Charter also will be able to leverage the investment it has made in retail stores and other marketing efforts. “We spent capex on those stores, but that part of the selling machine is now in the market ready to use.”


text:
Many of you still remember a blog post that we did earlier this year (in Chinese) about the challenges Fetchr, one of the best funded startups in the Middle East, was facing.
The blog post caused quite a bit of havoc in the circle. We are a startup ourselves, and we understand the challenges of building up a company, and we do actually hope for the best for founders that have dedicated a lot of hard work and perseverance.
Therefore, it is a relief to hear that the restructuring of Fetchr is finally confirmed and the company avoided collapse, though existing shareholders and the founder took a bit hit (with their shares diluted to almost zero).
Aside from the challenges highlighted in the previous article, we believe Fetchr also could have been more vigilant (or agile) towards the shifts in Chinese cross border ecommerce. If they did, there would be hardly any room for the Chinese last mile logistic companies that emerged from the region.
Alas, what has been done can’t be reversed – the ecommerce sector is still promising although the time window is probably quickly diminishing. What Naqel would eventually do in 2020 would also have a material impact on the competitive landscape.
Wish the new Fetchr all the best.


text:
[2016-12-26] Googleplex, Google Headquarters, Mountain View, California. Google logo on the office building is in this photo ()
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton is advising Alphabet Inc.’s Google on the $1.1 billion acquisition of Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp.’s Pixel division.
In an all-cash deal announced Thursday, the search engine giant has agreed to acquire a 2,000-employee research and development and a non-exclusive patent license from HTC. The latter’s R&D team—the equivalent of half of HTC’s R&D division—makes the Pixel smartphone that Google launched last year to challenge Apple Inc.’s iPhone.
The deal is Google’s latest effort to develop its own hardware team alongside its Android mobile operating system. In 2012, Cleary Gottlieb advised Google on its $12.5 billion buy of Motorola Mobility, only to sell the business two years later for $2.9 billion to China’s Lenovo Group Ltd.
New York-based Cleary Gottlieb M&A partners Glenn McGrory and Ethan Klingsberg—both of whom are longtime legal advisers to Google, with Klingsberg having taken the lead on a 2015 restructuring that created Alphabet—are advising the company on its purchase of HTC’s Pixel unit.
Other lawyers from Cleary Gottlieb working on the current deal include M&A partner Aaron Meyers, executive compensation partner Michael Albano, intellectual property partner Daniel Ilan and tax partner Corey Goodman in New York, as well as antitrust partner Francisco Enrique González-Díaz in Brussels.
Lee & Li, the largest law firm in Taiwan, is serving as local counsel to Google on the transaction, which is expected to close in early 2018.
HTC has turned to Stewart McDowell, a top female dealmaker and partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in San Francisco, to handle its part of the deal. Intellectual property partner Brian Buroker in Washington, D.C., antitrust partners Rachel Brass in San Francisco and Ali Nikpay in London, tax partner Jeffrey Trinklein in London and executive compensation partner Sean Feller in Century City are also on the team.
Gibson Dunn is working alongside Tsar & Tsai, a Taiwanese firm advising HTC on local legal matters.
The sale of HTC’s Pixel unit will see the parent company scale back on smartphone manufacturing and concentrate more on virtual reality business. In the early 2010s, HTC was one of the most promising smartphone makers, having made several popular early models that ran on Android software.
But the Taipei-based company’s market share has significantly shrunk recently following the rise of competitors like South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and China’s Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.


text:
Lara Stone reunites with Calvin Klein after a three-season break for their Fall/Winter 2014 advertising campaign. Having previously appeared in the fashion brand’s fragrance campaigns, it’s the first clothing campaign for the Dutch model in over two years. Photographed by duo Mert & Marcus, Stone is joined by Calvin Klein’s current model muse Matthew Terry. The campaign champions the brand’s new hashtag, “#mycalvins,” which has already been used by models Miranda Kerr, Naomi Campbell and Kendall Jenner via their Instagrams to promote their CK underwear. Known for its minimalist and timeless, yet very stylish campaigns, the campaign reminds of the iconic Calvin Klein underwear ads, while adding a modern twist to them.
Get Updates Daily.
Follow our Twitter feed
We'll update you as we publish on our site. You'll get an update instantly!Follow @highsnobiety
Get Updates on Facebook
We'll bring our best stories and photos direct into your newsfeed.
Follow us on Instagram


text:
EXTENDING the instant asset write-off programme and incentive payments for cutting red tape are highlights of the Budget boost for small business, Small Business Minister Michael McCormack says.
“Small business has a big impact on the Australian economy – with 3.2 million small businesses employing 5.6 million Australians,” Mr McCormack said.
“It’s small business – not Government – which creates jobs and that’s why the Government backs small business.”
Mr McCormack said the Government will extend the immediate deductibility rules for a further 12 months – to 30 June 2018 - allowing small businesses with an annual turnover of up to $10 million to immediately deduct eligible assets each costing less than $20,000.
“In the past few months I have met hundreds of small businesspeople on my nationwide small business roadshow. I have heard firsthand how helpful the instant asset write-off is for many small businesses to invest in the capital equipment they need to grow and – importantly – create more jobs,” Mr McCormack said.
“I have heard how it helps small businesses invest in their business and replace or upgrade their assets.
“Partnered with our recently-delivered tax cut for small business and extending the definition of ‘small business’ to benefit more enterprises, this investment continues the Government’s support for small businesses to pursue new ideas, invest in themselves and create more jobs.”
Mr McCormack said the Budget also includes a $300 million incentive to the States and Territories to cut red tape.
“No matter where I have travelled or whom I have met, red tape is top-of-mind for small business,” Mr McCormack said.
“Having run my own small business, I know what it’s like to spend all day in a business only to start the paperwork long after the operation has closed. Across Australia I have heard similar stories of how compliance costs can prevent small businesses from investing in themselves or spending time with family and friends.
“That’s why the Government is focused on simplifying small business paperwork and committed to cutting red tape costs by $1 billion every year when we were elected.
“Since then, the Government has reduced the annual regulatory burden on businesses and the community by more than $5.8 billion, exceeding its target every year.”
Mr McCormack said the Government will provide up to $300 million over two years to States and Territories through the National Partnership on Regulatory Reform to reduce regulatory burdens and remove unnecessary restrictions on competition.
“Whilst the Federal Government has delivered red tape reduction and simpler paperwork – especially the simpler BAS, which begins from 1 July – I want to work with the States and Territories to continue this good work,” Mr McCormack said.
“I have asked small businesses around Australia to tell me their stories of paperwork and compliance so we can try to make it simpler. This $300 million incentive over two years will help us work with the States and Territories to make the business of doing business even simpler.”
You can find out more about the Government’s small business policies by searching ‘small business’ or visiting the Small Business website.


text:
The software that’s checking you are who you say you are
Security technology is helping Australian companies combat the scourge of identity theft by making it easier to recognize customers through voice biometric signatures.
Hoaxers phoning a call centre, for example, could now be caught out just by the sound of their voice.
Vendors such as Nuance or ValidSoft are incorporating voice biometrics into their call centre technologies so companies such as banks can filter out suspicious calls.
The software, part of a growing suite of biometric security technologies being deployed for physical and online security, is already so accurate it can tell twins apart and catch hoaxers even through the hiss and crackle of background noise on a bad mobile line.
It aims to overcome challenges associated with traditional forms of identity verification, such as usernames and passwords, which can be compromised by hoaxers.
According to Australian government figures, identity theft affects around five per cent of people in the country every year and costs $2.2 billion to victims, businesses, and government agencies. Someone is impersonated every 20 seconds.
This plague is spreading in part thanks to the ease with which criminals are able to access personal details online and enact large scale data breaches. Emails, addresses, and phone numbers are readily available to hackers in online marketplaces, and passwords are often easy to crack.
A person’s voice, on the other hand, is practically impossible to feign, thanks to the unique characteristics of the mouth, nose, and throat. By analysing the multiple factors that make up each person’s voiceprint, software can identify a caller within seconds.
The contact-centre software vendor Nuance says its Identifier system can perform 200,000 voice biometric comparisons per second and complete large‑scale searches on millions of audio files within minutes.
In the unlikely event that the system cannot match a voice to a customer, it will send an alert to a call-centre handler requesting an alternative form of identity confirmation, such as phoning the customer back on the number they have on file.
This technology is already delivering significant benefits. In New Zealand, for example, the Department of Inland Revenue has been using voiceprinting technology since 2012. This has already helped facilitate an additional 12,000 self-service transactions a month.
The experience there shows how voiceprinting is about much more than just catching impersonators. Being able to confirm identity via voice means username and passwords can be dispensed, reducing pressure on customer-service departments resulting in positive onflow affects like reducing wait-times and business costs.
Nevertheless, “this is very powerful, invisible security that will be immensely useful in the battle against fraud and ID theft,” says Pat Carroll, executive chairman and chief executive officer at ValidSoft.
“Voice biometric technology makes it easier for the genuine customer to access their data whilst providing the capabilities to keep the bad guys out.”
With voiceprinting now a mature technology, and voice activation commonplace in consumer devices such as Amazon’s Echo speaker, the scene is set for voiceprints to be used more widely alongside other biometric methods in physical security. National Australia Bank, ANZ and even the Australian Taxation Office are onboard with voiceprinting too, utilising its authentication capabilities. Barclays Bank have even provided fraud evidence utilising voice biometrics, resulting in criminal convictions.
In some situations, voiceprinting may be more effective than biometric alternatives.
A viable alternative
Voiceprinting could be used in environments where other biometric security measures, like eye-scan cameras, might be compromised. It also makes authentication accessible where users might have problems providing biology due to disabilities etc.
One example of how voiceprinting is spreading comes from Canada, where the Border Services Agency is rolling out a scheme that could allow up to 10,000 immigrants to check in remotely rather than having to be kept in detention.
The wider adoption of biometric measures such as voiceprinting is expected to be one of the top five trends in the Australian security industry this year.
In 2016, the analyst firm Stratistics MRC predicted the global next-generation biometrics market would see a compound annual growth rate of 10.4 per cent, reaching more than US$29.37 billion by 2022. This is to say, we’ll be hearing a lot more about voiceprinting in the future.
Register to attend the 2019 Security Exhibition & Conference in July, to see all the latest access control products and services available.


text:
The San Francisco board of supervisors has voted by a veto proof 8-3 margin to forbid restaurants from giving away toys with meals that have high levels of calories, sugar and fat — they’ve effectively banned the Happy Meal… Those bastards!
Fast food giant McDonald’s said Wednesday it was “extremely disappointed” at a ruling by San Francisco authorities banning high-calorie Happy Meals, which entice children to eat with free toys.
The response came after the Californian city’s board of supervisors voted to forbid restaurants from giving gifts with meals that contain too much fat and sugar.
“We are extremely disappointed with this decision. It?s not what our customers want, nor is it something they asked for,” said McDonald’s spokeswoman Danya Proud.
Happy Meals, which typically come in a colorful cardboard box packed with a burger, a drink, fries and desert, are popular with hard-pressed parents as well as children, she said.
Talk about being stuck on stupid… Even Gavin Newsom , one America’s most shamelessly liberal mayors thought it was stupid idea.
Of all the things government should be investing time and resources in this isn’t one of them. We all know “fast food” isn’t the healthiest meal choice we can make… and we’d all love to see our children eat better. What we don’t need though is a bunch nanny state liberal control freaks dictating whether or not McDonald’s can include a crappy plastic toy with a child’s meal.


text:
Usually, around this time of each year, we learn about the newest Android version rolling out to more devices. Android 9 Pie is about to be served to several Sony Xperia smartphones and expect more OEMs to make similar announcements. The new Android dessert was officially made known a few months ago and we told you what you need to know about it. Android Pie is here and it’s ready with Emoji 11.0, Quick Text Selection, and app warnings. It also delivers improved battery life and efficiency.
Development and testing of the Android 9 Pie on Sony Xperia phones are over for the XZ2 and XZ2 Compact. More models will receive the same such as the Xperia XZ Premium, XZ1, and XZ1 Compact starting October 26. The Xperia XZ2 Premium will get it on November 7.
The newly-announced Sony Xperia XZ3 already runs on Android 9 Pie out of the box. Meanwhile, the older Xperia XZ2, XA2 Plus, and XA2 Ultra will get the OS update next year, beginning March 4.
Some Android 9 Pie updates may even arrive earlier according to Sony. Rest assured there won’t be any delay.
SOURCE: Sony Mobile


text:
Boardroom spoke to nft now co-founder and CEO Matt Medved about the Web3 metropolis spanning two blocks and 12 buildings in Miami’s Flagler District.
Coined a Web3 metropolis powered by MoonPay, The Gateway in Miami’s Flagler District spans two city blocks and takes over 12 buildings. The immersive experience kicked off on Nov. 29 and will run until Dec. 3 with various panel discussions and activations. Leading brands putting on activations at The Gateway include Christie’s, Porsche, gmoney’s 9dcc brand, Art Blocks, Alo Yoga, WME, MetaMask, FaZe Clan, RTFKT, and Meta.
Boardroom spoke with nft now co-founder and CEO Matt Medved about the mission behind The Gateway, and why it’s important to bring this activation to Miami for the Web3 community.
“We debuted The Gateway with Christie’s last year by transforming a bank building into an immersive audio-visual gallery to symbolize creators taking back the power from the financial system,” Medved told Boardroom. “This year, it was important for us to broaden the event’s horizons and unite the Web3 community by including other leaders to activate alongside us, spanning the worlds of art, music, culture, gaming, tech, fashion, and more.”
Medved said nft now is on a mission to empower the creators of culture and bring NFTs from niche to mainstream. Aligning with that, the news platform views the Gateway as a pathway to bring new people into the Web3 space.
“Miami Art Week is about much more than just art, it’s just as important for fashion, music, and more,” Medved said. “It’s the perfect cross-disciplinary cultural epicenter to bring distinct communities together.”
Not to be confused with Art Basel, Miami Art Week is another art fair happening this week.
One of the main attractions at The Gateway is a massive audiovisual gallery curated by nft now throughout the Dupont bank building. The Gateway transformed the historic building to project artwork and NFTs from digital and contemporary artists, including Beeple, Fewocious, XCOPY, Daniel Arsham, Pussy Riot, and more. Christie’s is also exhibiting special art pieces in the gallery.
Here are some more main attractions to look out for at The Gateway:
- Web3 luxury brand 9dcc by gmoney is featuring an interactive live minting experience for its second drop, ITERATION-02. The brand worked with Art Blocks founder Snowfro to create a white tee stitched with a blockchain-verifiable patch that corresponds with a generative NFT.
- Meta’s Instagram is hosting a gallery featuring work from an array of artists, including Defaced, Ilse Valfré, J.N. Silva, and Olive Allen.
- Adam Bomb Squad’s activation tells the story of streetwear brand The Hundreds and the company’s foray into Web3 by offering its NFT holders royalty payments based on clothing sales.
Medved said there is something for everyone at the Gateway whether you’re crypto-curious or a diehard blockchain supporter. Programming and activations are free for everyone to attend with a ticket.
“When it comes to Web3, the current news cycle is dominated by doom and gloom. Twitter’s echo chamber makes it easy to be inundated with negativity, but visionary artists and builders are still showing up every day to build a more equitable creative economy. That’s what gets us up in the morning,” Medved said.
“Digital ownership is not going anywhere and our conviction has not wavered in the least. We hope attendees will walk away from The Gateway as inspired about the future as we are.”
- Are The Timberwolves Prepared For An Anthony Edwards Contract Extension?
- Boardroom NIL Report Card: Kentucky Quarterback Will Levis
- Jerick McKinnon Contract & Salary Breakdown
- How Postgame & Reebok Define the New Age of NIL Partnerships
- Imagining the Future of FanDuel With Company President Christian Genetski


text:
awarded a patent recently on a special display technology that
integrates the touch sensors with the screen's display circuits,
reports Apple Insider.
That means Apple will be able to make iPhone
displays thinner, leaving room in the devices for more advanced
reported a few weeks ago that Apple will likely include
similar display technology in the next iPhone, which is said to
launch on September 21.
check out everything you need to know about the iPhone 5
It'll make the display thinner and lighter.
Here's what cities could look like in 10 years
More "The Next 10" »
Brothers share what it was like quitting their corporate jobs to sell ties on the beach and cofound Vineyard Vines, a company worth nearly $1 billion
More "Transformations" »
Available on iOS or Android


text:
Mobile rewards platform Kiip announced the close of a 12 million series C funding round lead by North Atlantic Capital. New investors include US Cellular. Existing investors Relay Ventures, HWVP, Verizon Ventures and a True Ventures participated as well.
Brian Wong, Kiip’s CEO, says that the money will be used to position Kiip as the leader in moments marketing by exploring opportunities in the Asia Pacific region and by developing their data collection and analysis to understand consumers better.
“Marketers want to engage consumers in a more respectful way, and know more about their consumers,” says Wong.
Kiip works with brands like Coke, Taco Bell, Campari, and Clorox — brands that aren’t native to mobile. Wong says that Kiip’s style of moments marketing is much more about branding than it is about driving installs.
If a consumer is standing in a grocery store, Wong says they’re more likely to choose the brand that hasn’t bothered them, or has actually rewarded them.
Kiip’s revenue grew 230% in 2015 and is slated to double again this year. Brian Wong, Kiip’s CEO, says that with his company doubling in size again in 2016, Kiip is now close to breaking even.
“We aren’t oriented toward being acquired,” says Wong, referring to the consolidation seen in some areas of the market this year.
Wong says that Kiip’s offering is differentiated enough to keep existing investors interested and to attract new ones.


text:
Do you get excited by new academic research? I am happy to report that a portion of the Adpulp audience does indeed perk up when new research reveals significant findings. In this case, we have a new study that validates “native advertising,” a popular form of digital advertising. Before we
Top Native Advertising News
The concept of native advertising has been in existence for as long as advertisements were designed to resemble the editorial content in newspapers and magazines. As the internet emerged and became a powerful force, native advertising evolved, which has led some in recent times to be concerned that
So, have you been on the internet for the past two hours desperately trying to figure out the answer to the question “What exactly is native advertising?“ It can be simply defined as a form of online advertisement that matches the function and form of the platform on which it appears. As
The news industry is full of ideas when it comes to experimenting with new storytelling formats and techniques—podcasts, virtual reality, Instagram posts. The list is long, but storytelling across these media and platforms is something the journalism-adjacent advertising industry has been
FameBit's founders have raised $2.2 million for Podcorn, a native-advertising marketplace to help fix the podcasting industry. It's a long-overdue solution for a fractured and chaotic sector.


text:
LONDON – UK life insurer Friends Provident today announced a 40 percent increase in third-quarter life insurance and pensions sales in the UK spurred on the April reforms in the country.
Friends Provident, which is the UK’s fifth-biggest insurer, said that the income from new business was 1.60 billion pounds in the third quarter, beating expectations of 1.46 billion pounds forecast by analysts. A year ago sales figures totaled 1.14 billion pounds.
Friends Provident also said that UK new business increased 34 percent to £3.04 billion compared with £2.27 billion reported at the same time last year. Total International new business increased by 51 percent to £1.59 billion, the group added.
“In the UK our leading group pensions franchise has continued to support profitable growth, with a useful contribution from individual pensions business in the third quarter,” said Ben Gunn, chief executive of Life and Pensions at Friends Provident. “We now intend to become a major player in the investment market, whilst still further building profitability and presence in our two other core product segments.”
The group also said that the life business market continued to be competitive. Hence it has taken measures like repositioning the pricing on its products and renegotiating reinsurance arrangements very early this year in order to minimize the impact on its bottom line.
“International growth has been excellent in the year so far, with good prospects for a healthy contribution in the fourth quarter. These results clearly demonstrate our ability to drive growth in both the UK and International businesses,” said a statement issued by the group.


text:
Parents are being warned not to buy face coverings for babies and young children, after health officials found retailers targeting the young.
Public Health England (PHE) warned that children under the age of three are at risk of choking and suffocating if their faces are covered.
From Friday, wearing face coverings will be mandatory in shops, supermarkets and takeaway restaurants as well as banks, post offices and a range of other public settings. Those who fail to observe the rules could face fines of £100.
However, it is not required for those under the age of 11, and PHE has warned that it is dangerous for the youngest children.
Latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows 71 per cent of adults are now wearing a face covering when they leave home, up from 61 per cent in a week.
Amid confusion about new rules which come into force on Friday, making face coverings mandatory in shops, ministers on Thursday published detailed guidance setting out when they must be worn.
While face coverings must be worn in all shops, including sandwich shops, and for collection of takeaways, restaurants and pubs remain exempt.
Other exemptions include visitors to museums, cinemas, concert halls, theatres, hairdressers, gyms and leisure centres, dentists and opticians.
Nor is it compulsory for shop or supermarket staff to wear face coverings, although the guidance “strongly recommends” their use.
The new advice sets out situations in which shoppers will be expected to wear coverings – but to be ready to remove them if challenged.
Those buying alcohol, or visiting a bank or post office, could be asked to show their full face, in order to prove their identity, or age.


text:
Berlin based online food delivery giant Delivery Hero has bought foodpanda from German startup incubator Rocket Internet. In exchange Rocket Internet has taken newly issued shares in Delivery Hero.
Rocket Internet’s stake in Delivery Hero is now 37.7% as a result of the deal.
Now Delivery Hero has taken on foodpanda, Rocket Internet hopes that the synergies between the two companies may at last produce profits.
According to a statement posted on Rocket Internet’s website on Saturday: “The transaction strengthens Delivery Hero’s global leadership position in online food ordering and delivery, with the combined group processing over 20 million orders per month across 47 countries. foodpanda operates in total in 22 countries with market leading positions in 17 of them.
“The acquisition of foodpanda will enable Delivery Hero to consolidate its market leadership position in the Middle East and adds 20 new countries in Eastern Europe, MENA and Asia to Delivery Hero’s platform increasing the size of Delivery Hero’s total addressable market. Furthermore, the combination of the two key companies leads to a significant reduction of complexity at group level for Rocket Internet.”
Delivery Hero and foodpanda work in what is known to be a fiercely competitive market across most of the major metropolitan centres of the world. They are up against giants such as Amazon and Uber and as a result even well financed companies fail quite regularly. Big is beautiful, so they say and the two businesses together may achieve the margins to allow profit…
Subscribe to Newsletter


text:
Study: Retailers still need to bridge gap between digital, physical touchpoints
DALLAS — Despite retailers’ efforts to deliver sophisticated shopping experiences, crucial gaps between digital and in-store touchpoints still exist.
That's according to “The State of Omnichannel Commerce: A Mystery Shopping Study.” The report, from Kibo, assessed the personalization and omnichannel sophistication across 30 popular and growing retailers’ desktop, mobile and in-store buying touchpoints.
While retailers are making progress in their journey toward an omnichannel reality, there are still several gaps across even the most mature companies. Among the areas that are in need of improvement include fulfillment and inventory, personalization, pricing consistency and in-store signage.
When it comes to fulfillment and inventory, 87% of retailers provided a product locator on their website, yet only 35% displayed quantity of inventory available. A majority (97%) of store associates could access inventory levels.
Of these associates, 66% had to be at a terminal behind the counter, and only one-third utilized handheld or mobile technology to provide a seamless experience. While 24% could locate inventory, they could not place the order for the shopper, data revealed.
Seventy percent (70%) of personalized experiences were successful on an e-commerce site only when the shopper was logged into an account.
Meanwhile, 4-in-10 retailers did not send an email following an abandoned cart. Of those retailers that did send an email, none offered an incentive to purchase. And 4-in-10 retailers did not display recently visited items on a website upon a consumer’s return visit.
When analyzing pricing consistency, 16% of retailers had inconsistent pricing between the store and their e-commerce site.
And although a majority of retailers had signage promoting omnichannel offerings and guiding in-store foot traffic, 37% are missing the opportunity to streamline the in-store shopping experience with basic communication, according to data.
"This year, we have identified crucial gaps across digital and in-store buying touchpoints that can significantly improve the shopping experience," said Tushar Patel, chief marketing officer, Kibo. "These include some of the basics: personalization for all shoppers — known and unknown — with more relevant recommendations and promotions, and allowing access to inventory information across the entire buying journey with the ability to place an order efficiently."
Patel added that retailers that close these gaps will be the winners of tomorrow’s retail industry, while those who do not take action will risk long-term sales growth and customer loyalty.


text:
New Delhi, May 9 (PTI) Shares of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) today surged almost 10 per cent after the company reported an over three-fold jump in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 31.
The stock zoomed 9.74 per cent to settle at Rs 1,929.25 on BSE. During the day, it surged 11.27 per cent to Rs 1,956.20
-- its 52-week high. On NSE, shares of the company jumped 9.98 per cent to close at Rs 1,929.40. Led by the sharp rally in the stock, the companys market valuation rose by Rs 5,831.41 crore to Rs 65,710.41 crore. In terms of volume, 2.10 lakh shares of the company were traded on BSE and over 20 lakh shares changed hands on NSE during the day. GCPL today reported an over three-fold jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 389.91 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2017 driven by strong sales growth in most categories.
The company, which also announced a change in leadership with appointment of Nisaba Godrej as executive chairperson from May 10, 2017, had posted a net profit of Rs 124.84 in the January-March period a year ago.
GCPLs net sales during the period under review was up 12.51 per cent to Rs 2,480.17 crore as against Rs 2,204.36 crore of the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal, the company said in a statement. PTI SUM MKJ


text:
News & Reviews: Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 Malaysia
Jul 27, 2021
Besides having gym equipment or a yoga mat, technology also has a part to play for fitness enthusiasts. In this case, smartwatches or smart bands are often used to help people keep track of how well they are doing. But how useful are these accessories? In today's article, we'll tell you how the Samsung Galaxy Watch3 and Galaxy Watch Active2 are more than just smartwatches.
May 12, 2021
Looking to get a smartwatch? The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 is probably one of the best options, and there's a new limited edition for it now. The company collaborated with jewellery brand Tous to create a special edition that's now available online.
Sep 29, 2020
Last month, a total of 5 different gadgets were launched during the Samsung Unpacked event, including the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3. This is one of the latest smartwatches available in Malaysia. If you have been planning to get a smartwatch for yourself, you should continue reading our review below. By the way, the model that I am reviewing is the 45mm model.
Aug 04, 2020
If you have been following @evleaks, you would have noticed that he has been posting most of his leaks on Patreon. Well, his latest Patreon post includes a few Samsung Galaxy Watch3 highlight snippets and we have to say, the design isn't very drastic from the predecessor. However, there are a few new features so here's what we know so far.
Jul 28, 2020
Are you excited about the Samsung Galaxy Watch3? The company is going to launch it in the Unpacked event next week. However, a YouTuber managed to get this smartwatch and did an unboxing video before the event!
Jul 25, 2020
It seems that the features of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 have been leaked, based on the source code of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 Plugin app uploaded to the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. With that said, this gives us a better idea of what to expect when the Watch 3 is officially unveiled in the near future.
Jul 24, 2020
Samsung quietly launched the Galaxy Z Flip 5G feels like the start of a flood of new devices. We already know that there will be five new devices at the Unpacked event and one of them would be the Galaxy Watch 3. Now, support pages for Samsung's next smartwatch have appeared, hinting that they'll be available soon after the launch.
Jul 02, 2020
When it comes to Samsung products, you usually don't have to wait until it officially launches to know more. Leaks of the Galaxy Watch 3 have been appearing regularly, with the full render of the wearable revealed recently. Now, there are rumours on the estimated pricing and release date.
Jun 30, 2020
It seems that a Twitter user by the name of @MaxWineBach has recently posted a bunch of tweets, which mentioned all the new features the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 could come equipped with. Based on the tweets, it seems that the aforementioned watch is expected to come with useful features such as Menstrual Cycle tracking, Spotify integration, and new watch faces.
Jun 26, 2020
If you're keen on getting a smartwatch, you might want to wait for the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3. There's been a lot of news on the smartwatch lately, with some images showing parts of the device. But now new leaked renders show what the watch could look like in its entirety.


text:
Used-wood-burning-stoves, clearly architect michael ingui has a first rate intelligence because he keeps putting giant commercial style gas ranges and. An electrostatic precipitator is a retrofit device that is widely used in europe but is seen as experimental in the united, alternatively its salisbury 5 series wood burning stove is approved for use in smoke control areas meaning it can be safely. That's a burning question in the industry this is the last heating season retailers a cold winter or a spike in oil, masonry and clay bricks are suitable as surround materials for wood burning stoves masonry bricks are made from concrete and can be used to protect the wall and the floor by creating a barrier that.
Today we're looking at a selection of properties that feature wood burning stoves for those cold winter evenings the old rectory has the potential to be used as a home business and b b all in, there was other information too wood burning happened mainly at weekends for example it seemed that to londoners at least the stoves were largely decorative or used as an extra heating source. Hawkes says wood burning as a source of heat and residency in nonattainment areas bryce bird director of the utah division of air quality said any time the division has offered financial, photograph: trevarthan getty images istockphoto sadiq khan's proposed ban on wood burning stoves in the most polluted areas of london will not be enforced against householders and food and rural.
Although many of the headlines focused on wood burning stoves bruce allen chief executive of hetas the not for profit body that approves fuel and install standards says open fires produce the


text:
But the PS4 version has no texture streaming issues, according to our initial test results.
Popular Persona 4 character to be playable in fighter.
Xbox One timed exclusive DLC coming to PS4 and PC.
"I passed on a rumor that is being taken way more seriously than I imagined."
A complete video walkthrough for The Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 1: All That Remains.
Engineer and medic confirmed for the upcoming MMO.
"But we’ll keep that in mind as we build new worlds on a new platform."
Creator Keiji Inafune wants both games to exist for the benefit of gamers.
Nintendo 3DS XL still on top though.
Richard Hilleman talks about the drastic drop in AAA studios worldwide in the last 7-8 years.
Plenty of details to be hammered out, according to community director Sanya Weathers.
The developer promises that tomorrow "will be a big day".
Two top 3DS sequels to premiere on May 31st.
Don Mattrick isn't really concerned with backward compatibility
Dates and prices revealed
Contains assets to second game, along with tools for quest and storyline creation.
The Aliens: Colonial Marines dev owes money to a lot of people.


text:
Winner: Marilyn Fancher, Chief Creative Officer, APCO Worldwide
Successfully positioning one of the world’s most renowned candy brands as a promoter of healthy living is the kind of challenge that makes Marilyn Fancher the Brand Marketer of the Year. Her work this year for Mars included creating print and online advertising and a new website to raise awareness of Mars’ initiatives as a responsible global food company, and to advise consumers to be responsible in their consumption of chocolate as part of a healthy lifestyle. The unique interaction rate for the banner ads averaged 26%, and a search engine marketing campaign drove almost 22,000 visitors to the website. Overall traffic has surpassed the campaign’s original goals.
For the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PhrMA), Fancher created a branded campaign to promote its Global Health Progress initiative, a cross-industry platform to bring member companies and global health leaders together to solve major global health challenges. The campaign showcased the best of these partnerships, including real-life outcomes for patients and communities. The campaign included location production in rural Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa. The client credits the campaign with helping create more than 600 new partnerships around the developing world.
- Chris Hook, Director of Enthusiast and Component PR, Social Media and Product Reviews, AMD


text:
Thinking Media: Made in Chattanooga
By: Latricia Thomas
no secret that tech companies are the next big thing in Gig City. And
in this classroom at Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy, the engineers
of tomorrow are learning from the entrepreneurs of today thanks to
Eighth grade students are testing out Thinking
Media's newest software, the Learning Blade. Dr. Elaine Swafford,
director of CGLA, says "it helps them figure out how to problem solve
other than check A, B, C or D."
"Being an architect or a
civil engineer, we're trying to introduce kids to different kinds of
career paths that might be available to them," explains Sheila
Boyington. She and her husband Dane started the E-learning company 15
years ago in Chattanooga. "I think that's a surprise to people," Sheila
says, "because a lot of technologies are developed in Silicon Valley or
the metropolitan market but we really hit on a niche market."
Media's last product was such a huge success. ACT bought the rights and
now hundreds of job applicants use it at career centers across the
country. "We have people who have been out of school many, many years,"
Dane Boyinton says. "These people need to refresh their skills so they
are better at their math and reading skills."
So how do you make a
software program that catches the eye of one of the most popular
testing organization in the world? "It normally takes about a year to
develop something in this area," Dane says. "We actually employ a team
of people and we have 15 to 20 people working on this right now. That
includes writers and programmers and graphic designers."
whether it's in that CGLA classroom, or the computer lab at the career
center, Thinking Media is always trying to THINK of their next big idea
to develop right here in Chattanooga. "This is kind of the American
dream," Sheila says. "You can think of something, you can create it and
make it happen."
For more information on Thinking Media, click here to visit their website.
IBM to pay $1.5B to shed its chip division
ARMONK, N.Y. (AP) -- IBM is paying $1.5 billion to Globalfoundries in order to shed its costly chip division.
WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- (Marketwired) -- 03/21/14 --
Companies that pride themselves on being eco-friendly may have conflicted
ideas between marketing with ad specialties and maintaining their green
JAY LENO-COMEDY AWARD
WASHINGTON (AP) -- He has told many a joke during his career.
MANNING RECORD - KEEP-AWAY
DENVER (AP) -- It was a game of keep-way -- with Peyton Manning's record-breaking football.
IN THE NEWS: SPRINT LAYOFFS ANNOUNCED
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) -- Sprint is cutting its payroll in an effort to save its market share.


text:
Katie Keith, CEO of Barn2, announced that Kestrel has acquired seven plugins from her company for an undisclosed amount. She had tweeted about her plans to sell the plugins back in January to focus on the more profitable plugins.
This is Kestrel’s first acquisition. Kestrel is a new venture by the former co-founders of SkyVerge (creator of over 60 WooCommerce add-ons and acquired by GoDaddy in 2020). Their website describes the team as “a small but mighty team of seasoned WooCommerce professionals — we’re some of the top non-Automattic contributors to the open source WooCommerce project.”
The acquisition encompasses five premium plugins and two free plugins, including WooCommerce Variation Prices, WooCommerce Express Shop Page, WooCommerce Shipping Calculator, WooCommerce Product Sample, WooCommerce Discontinued Products, and the free plugins WooCommerce Custom Add to Cart Button and Better Recent Comments.
Katie explained, “it makes sense to put the most resources into the plugins which have the biggest user base and which fit best with our other plugins. As a result, in early 2024 we made a team decision that we should sell some of our plugins to a company who will give them the attention they deserve so that we can concentrate our efforts on providing even greater value and support for our remaining suite of plugins.”
Under the acquisition terms, the existing annual and lifetime customers will continue to receive full support, updates and maintenance from the Kestral team. Barn2 has plans in place for customers who purchased the acquired plugins through bundle plans and the All Access Pass plan.
Max Rice, Founding Engineer of Kestrel told us, “We’re very excited to jump back into the Woo space with the launch of Kestrel! We’ve worked with WooCommerce since 2012, and have been familiar with Barn2’s work for some time — we’re excited to kickstart our new venture with a group of high-quality plugins from a team we respect.”


text:
And with Boris Johnson’s address to the nation on Sunday evening, many will be wondering the shopping rules have changed yet again.
In his announcement last night (May 10) the PM thanked supermarket staff alongside other key workers and outlined the government’s three step plan to move the country out of lockdown.
Despite the newly unveiled "roadmap" out of lockdown, Johnson stressed that existing social distancing rules will still be in affect throughout the next two months.
Which means the likes of Sainsbury's, Tesco, Lidl and Asda will have to continue to adapt to protect customers and staff as a result of the coronavirus pandemic
Here is what each supermarket is doing to increase social distancing within their stores.
Morrisons has put protective screens in place to protect staff from infected droplets.
It has also put together essential 'food boxes' in order to reduce the amount of contact people have with others.
These cost £35 per box, and a variety of options are available including a vegetarian box, gluten free box and a fish option.
The company has also introduced a staggered entry system to limit the number of customers in the store at one given time and have deployed vinyl floor stickers and signage to remind customers of social distancing rules.
From 6am-7am Monday-Saturday all colleagues with an NHS badge will be able to get into the store to stock up on the products they need.
On Sundays, the majority of stores will open at 9am for NHS workers to shop.
It will open at 9.30am for all other customers to shop normally.
For any other stores that open later than 9.30am, they will open one hour earlier for NHS staff.
Store opening hours are now 8am to 10pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday.
NHS and care workers are prioritised in larger stores every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8am to 9am. As well as Sundays 9am to 10am for browsing.
A message on Asda's website says: "It is vital that we implement measures in our stores which will help keep you and our colleagues safe and to ensure they maintain social distancing requirements.
"Although these measures will drastically change how people shop, this is the right thing for us to do to help limit the spread of infection.
"If you need to visit our stores, you will see colleagues at the doors to maintain safe customer numbers to help with social distancing.
"We’re asking customers to only touch items they intend to purchase and to use cashless payment wherever they can to minimise contact.
"There will be regular announcements on Asda radio to remind customers of their responsibility to apply social distancing rules, and to help you do this we are closing every other self-checkout till."
Tesco has introduced protective one way screens at tills, social distancing signage and cleaning stations.
The company has also recruited around 50,000 new temporary colleagues and provided masks and gloves for some staff.
The supermarket has implemented special opening times for the elderly, vulnerable and healthcare workers along with early closures to help restock shelves.
A spokesman for the store said it has temporarily stopped its 24 hour opening times to help with restocking.
Many stores are opening at 6am or 7am in the morning and closing at 10pm.
A statement from Tesco also said it was closing its deli counters and cafes for the foreseeable future to help in other parts of the stores.
NHS workers have special slots reserved at the superstore on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday between 9am and 10am.
Slots are reserved for elderly and vulnerable workers on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9am-10am.
Online shopping deliveries have been limited to one per customer per week.
Priority access to online shopping is being given to vulnerable customers from a database provided by the Government.
A spokesman for Sainsbury's said: "We have now lifted buying restrictions on thousands of products to help more of you shop for others.
"We are keeping limits on the most popular items for now, including pasta, UHT milk, antibacterial products and some tinned and frozen foods."
Shopping in-store is restricted to one adult per household and a strict customer limit of how many are allowed inside at one time applies.
Shopping hours have been extended to 8am to 10pm and up to 11pm in some convenience stores.
The spokesperson added: "For elderly and vulnerable customers, we offer dedicated shopping hours between 08.00 and 09.00 every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
"And NHS and social care workers can shop in our supermarkets from 07.30 to 08.00 Monday to Saturday before they open."
Parents - we’ve got you covered
Parents and carers - would you find daily tips to help your family through lockdown helpful?
If you want the best tricks and advice from parents across the UK then we’ve launched a daily newsletter bursting with them.
From toddlers prone to temper tantrums, to teenagers struggling to adapt to the abrupt closure of schools and separation from their friends - we've got it covered.
It’s called Lemon-Aid (for when life gives you lemons - get it?), and we’ll send it to your email inbox once a day.
We think you’ll really enjoy it, almost as much as we enjoy producing it every morning.
Sign up HERE: https://bit.ly/Lemon_Aid
The supermarket has introduced new "two-metre marshals" in stores who will enforce social distancing rules.
The store is also encouraging contactless payments.
It is limiting customer numbers, introducing "safe distance" floor signage and installing protective screens.
Waitrose will still dedicate the first opening hour to elderly and vulnerable customers and those caring for them, and NHS staff will continue to be given priority checkout service.
There will also be fewer checkouts to enable those working in the shop to maintain social distancing and where two checkouts are back to back, one will close.
New lift instructions state that only one customer or family should occupy a lift at any one time.
Aldi has introduced trolley and basket cleaning stations across their stores and have placed a two metre marker on the store floors to ensure customers keep their distance.
The company have also installed Perspex screens around tills and have encouraged customers to use contactless payments where possible.
On April 14, the company also extended opening hours to until 10pm to reduce the number of shoppers at one time.
The KentLive app has Kent covered
KentLive is the best place to stay up to date with everything that's happening across the county.
Read the latest news and features via the KentLive app, which is completely free.
WhatsApp news alerts
To receive KentLive breaking news and top stories alerts via WhatsApp, text NEWS to 07880 442229.
Please then add 07880 442229 to your phone contacts as 'KentLive' in order to receive the alerts.
You cannot receive the alerts if you do not add the number to your contacts.
Your phone number will not be shared with other members of the group.
Aldi also opens 30 minutes early Monday - Saturday for elderly and vulnerable customers.
All day everyday key workers in the NHS, Police and Fire Service will take priority ahead of queues into stores upon showing a valid ID.
This priority also includes all Blue Light Card holders including Social Care Workers, First Responders and St John’s Ambulance staff.
After recent restrictions, most Lidl stores are now open as normal.
Lidl has installed checkout protection screens across all its stores in Great Britain.
Christian Härtnagel, CEO at Lidl GB, said: "The safety of our colleagues and customers continues to be a key priority for us, which is why all of our stores here in Great Britain will be fitted with protection screens at checkouts.
"We hope that this additional safeguard will help to provide extra reassurance for those both working and shopping in our stores."
In March, the supermarket announced that it was creating up to 2,500 new store jobs to provide necessary additional support to its workforce and customers.
Opening times vary at M&S Food Halls. Check with your local store.
First hour of trading on Monday and Thursday is reserved for Vulnerable and older customers.
First hour of trading on Tuesday and Friday is reserved for NHS and emergency services workers. Health and social care workers.
Rules in place at all supermarkets
What you can't do
- Stand very close to another shopper (a two metre distance must be kept at all times)
- Become abusive or aggressive to staff members
- Visit supermarkets with several members of your household
- Arrange to meet up with friends or family members that you don't live with in the supermarket queues
- Stockpile or buy more than you need 'just in case'
- Shop during NHS and elderly timings if you're not one of these customers and you can avoid it
- Visit stores with your children if you can avoid it. Supermarkets are aware that sometimes this can't be helped and are making exceptions.
- Order more than 80 items when ordering online at Tesco
- At certain Aldi stores, you are unable to touch trolleys until you are at the front of the queue
- Take a home delivery slot just because you don't feel like visiting your local store. These should be reserved for those who are unable to leave their homes
What you can do
- Pay using the contactless payment method
- Keep a two-metre distance between yourself and other customers
- Follow the one-way aisle systems where in force at stores
- If needed, wait to be directed by staff members at checkouts
- Buy essential items for those self-isolating or vulnerable and this can be done in multiple transactions at the checkouts
- Be mindful of other customers while shopping in-store
- Be prepared to wait outside if the customer limit at stores has been met
- Check trollies and baskets have been wiped down before taking them - staff members are usually positioned at entrances and would be happy to tell you.
- If possible, make the post of many retailer's new extended opening times and shop later in the day when stores tend to be quieter
- Adhere to any product restrictions still in place