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Changes are all over, particularly in the news reading. The traditional newspapers slowly are becoming obsolete & impractical with simple access of Internet and latest gadgets that allows simple access online. The online Phoenix local news websites are quickly becoming the famous media of events broadcast to masses across the world. Reason behind the fact is feasibility. Most of the people, even in the less developed areas, have simple internet access. Anybody with the computer and Internet access will immediately get information by one click of button. You do not have to buy any magazines or newspapers, listen to radio, and watch TV.
Reading News Become All Time Easy
Whereas television and radio news are focused over what they’re programmed to broadcast, internet news websites provide more. Person hungry for the news will read the unlimited range of events across the world. The ranges from the local news, breaking news, national happenings, world events, financial reviews, and more. And like conventional newspapers, many online websites have got classified ads for various categories. Each Internet user has got unlimited sources of the news just by browsing the internet.
Even old school types will find their most favorite newspapers offering them with the online editions, with similar news content as printed ones. Whereas traditional media houses are losing money because of online news, some organizations are finding different ways to maintain their profit. This new trend is becoming “in-thing” nowadays while it comes about news marketing online.
Whereas traditional newspapers are around, the life span is quickly becoming shorter as years go by. Internet news isn’t just feasible, but also practical in world today. When your laptop or phone is your main gateway to the world, often there is not any time to read the print newspapers.


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After launching its revamped Apple TV app last month, today Apple went over some changes and new features coming to the software that runs on its Apple TV streaming box, tvOS. Onstage at WWDC 2019, Tim Cook announced a redesigned home screen with richer, full-screen content previews. But in even bigger news, he said that tvOS will add multi-user support with personalized recommendations for everyone in your home for both the Apple TV app and Apple Music. Apple Music on tvOS will add lyrics that are in sync with the song currently playing.
When it launches this fall, tvOS 13 will also add support for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 game controllers. It already supports Bluetooth controllers, but many people are obviously more familiar with the gamepads from the biggest two gaming consoles.
At last year’s WWDC, Apple announced that tvOS 12 would add support for Dolby Atmos audio and a new “Zero Sign-In” feature designed to allow streaming apps from cable networks to automatically log in when used on a customer’s home Wi-Fi network.
Apple’s subscription video service, Apple TV Plus, is slated to launch sometime this fall. We’ll likely hear more details including the big one — price — at the company’s September event. But all that Apple had to show on that front today was a preview for its original For All Mankind.

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Dominos And Nuro Partners For Autonomous Pizza Delivery In Houston, Aims For Nationwide By 2020
Domino's will start delivering pizzas in Houston with fully autonomous vehicles called the "R2". The largest pizza company in the world has partnered with Nuro, a technology startup company in Silicon Valley that manufactures unmanned delivery vehicles.
Customers can place an order online and pay for it just the way an ordinary order works. They can then track the location of the vehicle using the app, and when the Nuro autonomous vehicle arrived, they can take their pizza from the vehicle using a special code that will unlock the compartment of the R2.
This partnership will expand Nuro's autonomous delivery operations, which have been carried out successfully and safely in the Houston metropolitan area since 2018. Nuro is transforming local commerce through delivery without drivers. The company develops and operates a fleet of autonomous vehicles that deliver local products of all kinds, from meals to dry-cleaning. Its latest partner before Dominos is the US supermarket chain Kroger Co., where the autonomous vehicle R2 delivers groceries.
As for Dominos, the partnership with Nuro will help the chain determine whether autonomous vehicles are a solution for their restaurants to meet the demand during peak times when drivers are in short supply. Domino's has more than 6,000 restaurants in the USA, and due to the tight labor market, the company experiences a shortage of drivers and has up to 10,000 vacant positions throughout the country.
Domino's is also betting that with the R2 autonomous delivery vehicle, the chances of their pizzas crashing along the way will be lower and delivery time will be cut shorter. This is because many of their delivery guys encounter road accidents as well as instances wherein the pizza delivery will be late and thus will result for it being free.
The test is scheduled to begin anytime now in Domino branches along Houston. The company aims that by 2020, this will expand into other branches and will be nationwide by 2021.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time Domino's decided to innovate with autonomous cars. Domino's began testing the autonomous car two years ago in partnership with Ford Motor Co., but in that case, each vehicle had a driver behind the wheel, for safety.
Domino's is also not alone in this idea as Pizza Hut is also investing in the same technology. In January last year, the company announced a partnership with Toyota for the development of a standalone vehicle with the same purpose.


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Most automakers offer Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, but the smartphone interfaces haven’t been universally adopted. Infiniti was one of the major holdouts. Now, the Nissan luxury brand is finally adding both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to certain 2020 models as part of an overhaul of its InTouch infotainment system.
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto have become popular because they let drivers access key smartphone features through their cars’ infotainment systems. This lets drivers stick with the smartphone apps they’re familiar with for features like navigation, music, and voice control, without having to pick up their phones. Instead, apps running on a connected smartphone are projected onto the car’s infotainment screen. While some automakers are rolling out wireless versions of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Infiniti drivers will still have to plug their phones into a USB port, as is the case in most other cars.
Besides adding Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Infiniti’s revamped InTouch infotainment system will feature over-the-air (OTA) software updates. These aren’t the Tesla-style updates that cover the whole car, just the infotainment system. But that at least means things like navigation maps will stay updated without the driver having to do anything. Navigation-equipped models will also have a built-in Wi-Fi hotnspot that can support up to seven devices, according to Infiniti.
InTouch retains the dual-screen setup used in current Infiniti models. The two screens are placed one on top of the other, with the top screen primarily used for display and the lower screen containing most touch controls. Infiniti said the new version of the system will have a faster processor, new Bluetooth module, and new HD microphone, however.
The updated InTouch system will roll out on certain 2020 Infiniti models. The Q50 sedan, Q60 coupe, QX50 crossover, and QX80 SUV are all slated to get the revised system, but it will only be available in certain regions initially, according to Infiniti. The automaker didn’t mention updates for the aged QX60 crossover, while the current Q70 sedan will be discontinued at the end of the 2019 model year. The system will also presumably be available on new Infiniti models at launch, starting with the QX55 crossover coupe in 2020.
- No mere EV, the sensor-stuffed EX90 is Volvo’s towering tech flagship
- 2023 Kia Niro EV first drive review: Practical doesn’t have to bore you to tears
- We tested the self-driving Mercedes tech so advanced, it’s not allowed in the U.S.
- The next generation of Apple CarPlay will power your entire car, riding the trend of all-screen autos
- Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class takes a subtle approach to tech


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If there is one thing that UX and UI designers should take away from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, it is that the next big thing is home automation, and we better be ready for it.
From dishwashers with digital interfaces to smartphone apps that can manage an entire home heating and cooling system, this shift in home appliances means that these new digital interfaces will need just as much TLC as a new web app.
These transitions present some incredible opportunities but also plenty of challenges. The team at ÄKTA sat down to discuss the matter. Here are both the opportunities and the challenges that will come with home automation.
Breakdown of Current Silos
We imagine that this shift will create a breakdown of silos. We will no longer see "product design" and "digital UX” as two different pieces of the building process. Rather, we will start to focus on a more holistic user experience that covers everything from the physical product to the digital interface.
Because of this breakdown, cross-system and cross-platform areas of expertise will become invaluable. Take for example a smart washer by LG that we spotted at CES 2013. A repairperson brought in to fix this machine will now need to know how to fix network systems in addition to plumbing systems.
It is unfortunately safe to say that Best Buy has seen better days. Announcing their plan to let go of 400 employees from their headquarters on Tuesday, the big blue electronics supplier released another bit of bad news on Friday — their earnings for the 2012 fourth quarter.
According to an official release, Best Buy announced a net loss of $377 million on revenues of $16.7 billion in Q4, against an analyst expectation of $16.29 billion. CEO Hubert Joly commented on the profit decrease, stating that domestic sales offset the company’s failures overseas. However, cutting expenses with job cuts helped to narrow the Q4 losses towards the end of the quarter.
Its loss totaled something like $409 million or $1.21 per BBT share for three months before February, compared to a loss o $1.82 billion or $5.17 per share the year prior.
Panasonic Announces Immediate Availability of New SOLID SHINE™ Series LED/Laser Light Source Projectors
SensyTouch Launches New Pedestal Multi-Touch Display System at DSE in Las Vegas Feb. 27 to Feb. 28 2013
Records 7996 to 8010 of 28575


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- Telco deregulation: Price controls, phone sex on the table
- NBN Co hits 105Mbps in limited FTTN trial
- Cyclone cuts through telecom networks in Queensland
- It's war: NBN Co responds to TPG's FTTB rollout
- 10 Big Data startups to watch
In case it wasn't clear already, Intel and Microsoft are no longer joined at the hip. Intel is trying desperately to grow its share of the tablet market, and with Windows flunking out on those devices, Android is where it's at.
Google is boosting Android security safeguards to better detect potentially harmful apps throughout their life cycle.
The Geeksphone Revolution, an Android smartphone that buyers can easily install Mozilla's mobile OS, is now on sale in France, Germany and the U.K., and will soon reach Italy.
The options are increasing for people who want an LTE smartphone, but don't want to spend a fortune or sign an expensive contract. Two new alternatives that won't drain wallets are Nokia's Lumia 635 and the Huawei-made Kestrel.
HTC is rebooting after a difficult year, with the launch Tuesday of an upgraded version of One, its flagship smartphone. But if HTC can't improve the marketing of its devices, the company will have a hard time turning around its fortunes.
Google did its best to court developers at this year's I/O conference with a much-needed integrated developer environment, API for better games and the ability to more easily translate apps. Their allegiance will become increasingly important as smartphone and tablet hardware sees fewer dramatic improvements.
HTC and Nokia are preparing to go head-to-head with new cameras on upcoming smartphones, as they hope to steal market share from Apple and Samsung Electronics.
Over the past year, patent battles have been fought by tech companies in courtrooms all over the world. The litigation is far from over though, however, and will continue throughout 2013. This is what's at stake on the patent battlefield in the near future.
Five years after its inception, Android is more dominant than ever in the smartphone OS market, despite facing a number of challenges along the way.
Google's Android 4.0 operating system is more than just another upgrade.
Finding a needle in a hay stack is hard, but the task pales in comparison to finding a specific needle in a pile of needles. Selecting the ideal Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution can feel just as daunting. ERP represents a serious investment for any organisation and is vital to future success. This report explores the strategies organisations are employing to find the right ERP fit that will give them the tools they need to thrive.
Why do we continue to pay the earth for global roaming? With Telstra increasing global roaming charges by 100-500% in over 180 countries, bill shock can only get worse. This paper investigates why, what and how your company can address the need for global coverage.
- Broadband Solutions offers unified solution for hotel phone and web access
- Liberal NBN plan unable to deliver tele-health: Jason Clare
- TPG fined $400,000 for blocking triple O call
- Public Cloud benefits can no longer be ignored: Bulletproof
- Central Coast NBN Fibre-to-the-Node trial delivers 105 Mbps
- Google revenue jumps 19 percent but still disappoints
- AT&T wearables to hit the smartwatch runway soon
- Fortinet, McAfee, Trend Micro, Bitdefender battle in socially-engineered malware prevention test
- Automakers show off in-vehicle Wi-Fi, new smartphone interfaces
- Court rejects Lavabit appeal, cites improper procedural handling
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- Data and analytics top spending list for marketers in Australasia
- Dell, Expedia share how they're striving to improve customer engagement
- Microsoft launches toolset for capturing 'ambient intelligence'
- Twitter brings the data back home by acquiring Gnip


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NEW YORK - A unit of Hain Celestial Group Inc. is recalling some peanut and almond butter because of possible salmonella contamination.
The company said Tuesday that there have been reports of four illnesses that may be related to the nut butters.
They were sold under the brand names Arrowhead Mills peanut butters and MaraNatha almond butters and peanut butters.
Also being recalled were some lots of private label almond butter from grocers Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Kroger and Safeway.
A total of 45 production lots are affected.
They were sold in Canada, the Dominican Republic, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates as well as the U.S.
A complete list of products involved in the recall can be found on FDA.gov.
The company is working with consumers and retailers to remove inventory from retail shelves and warehouses.
Customers are being advised to dispose of any potentially affected containers of nut butter and contact the company directly at 1-800-937-7008 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. CT for a replacement or refund.
The Lake Success, New York, company said it learned of the contamination risk after routine FDA testing.
The Food and Drug Administration said it did not know how many jars of nut butters were recalled. The company would not comment.
Typical symptoms of salmonella infection are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. These symptoms generally develop within one to three days of exposure to the bacterium and may last for up to a week.
While anyone can become ill from exposure to salmonella, health officials say the risk of infection is particularly high for children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems.
There have been several major salmonella outbreaks in recent years, including infected peanuts that sickened more than 700 people in 2008 and 2009 and Foster Farms chicken that is linked to a strain of salmonella that has made more than 500 people sick over the last year and a half.
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- Man arrested in hit-and-run crash with school bus
- Arts Around Town: SATORI's 'Shadows of the Samurai' involves specialized art in translation
- Smucker joins bipartisan effort to combat human trafficking


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Adidas is facing demands from a leading investor to disclose findings of a probe into its handling of misconduct allegations against Kanye West, the Financial Times reported.
This comes as shareholder ire over its ill-fated tie-up with its former business partner continues to mount.
Former employees in November accused Adidas of having turned a blind eye to alleged inappropriate behaviour by its former business partner also known as Ye, who was dropped by the German group last year over antisemitic remarks.
The sudden end of the Yeezy brand would wipe out €1.2bn in sales and €500mn in operating profit this year, Adidas warned in February. It said it could post its first net loss in three decades.
Union Investment, Germany’s third-largest asset manager and a top-20 investor in Adidas, will call on the company to reveal the results of its internal investigation at its annual meeting on Thursday, according to a draft of a speech seen by the Financial Times.
Janne Werning, head of ESG at Union Investment will urge Adidas to disclose the results of the investigation “here and now”, stressing that shareholders were entitled to know. He will also demand the company “transparently clean up the scandal”.
Union Investment, alongside Germany’s second-largest investor Deka, has already said it would not support confidence votes over the performance of the executive board and the supervisory board.
Shareholder proxy service Glass Lewis recommended investors not to support the supervisory board.
West, a US rapper and fashion designer, allegedly played pornography to staff in meetings and showed an intimate picture of his ex-wife Kim Kardashian in job interviews.
Rolling Stone magazine reported in November that former employees claimed in a letter that senior managers were aware of West’s “problematic behaviour” and tolerated “years of verbal abuse, vulgar tirades, and bullying attacks.”
In November, Union Investment wrote to Adidas demanding to know when executives and supervisory board members first learned about the misconduct allegations against West. Adidas at the time said it had launched an independent investigation into the allegations.
In the US, the German group is facing a class-action lawsuit from shareholders over its handling of the Yeezy scandal.
In a lawsuit filed last month in the US district court in Oregon, shareholders alleged that the group had long been aware of West’s offensive remarks and harmful behaviour but did neither disclose the risks nor prepare for them.
Adidas late last year replaced chief executive Kasper Rørsted, poaching Bjørn Gulden from smaller rival Puma.
It last week reported better than expected results for the first quarter, with Gulden saying that Adidas had turned the corner in China, where sales had cratered as the brand was hit by a backlash against western companies and the pandemic lockdowns.
Adidas declined to comment, adding it would address Union Investment’s questions at its annual meeting.


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Winebaum moves on from R.H. Donnelley; Fox News Radio taps Kiptronic for audio ad insertion; Bazaarvoice gets Maag and Zales.
Jake Winebaum has left his position as president of RHD interactive (RHDi) for R.H. Donnelley. The founder of Business.com joined local commercial search company as part of the acquisition of Business.com in July of 2007. Winebaum will remain as an advisor to the company and as a member of the RHDi advisory board.
Fox News Radio tapped Kiptronic to provide dynamic ad insertion for its online audio content. Programming includes the Fox News Radio Newscast, The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly and the Alan Colmes Radio Show.
Bazaarvoice appointed Andy Maag vice president of engineering. The hosted social commerce technology provider also signed Zales as a client. The jewelry retailer will use Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews on its Web site.
Sapient created a new site at OneHen.org to promote a new book on Microfinance by Katie Smith Milway, published by Bain & Company, Opportunity International. The site aims to educate children and adults on the concept of microfinance.
2015 Holiday Email Guide
The holidays are just around the corner. Download this whitepaper to find out how to create successful holiday email campaigns that drive engagement and revenue.
Three Ways to Make Your Big Data More Valuable
Big data holds a lot of promise for marketers, but are marketers ready to make the most of it to drive better business decisions and improve ROI? This study looks at the hidden challenges modern marketers face when trying to put big data to use.
December 2, 2015
1pm ET/ 10am PT
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
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Samsung could be working on a foldable laptop; patent shows an ASUS Zenbook Pro Duo-like design. For those who are catching up, the ASUS Zenbook Pro Duo has a conventional display and a secondary touch screen towards the top of the keyboard. However, instead of using a secondary display, Samsung's foldable laptop has one display that folds toward the bottom of the regular screen area and extends the display, pushing the keys towards the edge of the lower side.
Design & Display
A small part of the screen, right next to the keyboard, can be used as the trackpad. The publication has discovered multiple images of the design, all of which seem to depict a similar approach. As far as the user interface is concerned, it should show content in a continuous manner, i.e., the content should flow from the lower part of the screen (below the crease) to the upper part of the screen.
SAMSUNG FOLDABLE LAPTOP’S PATENT REVEALS DESIGN
Well, that could change soon as Samsung works on a full-size foldable laptop. According to a report by 91mobiles, the company filed for a foldable laptop back in 2020. The patent was filed with the United States Design Patent and published on November 22, 2022. The patent shows that the Samsung foldable laptop has an ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo-like design.
Additionally, most users are accustomed to having a large trackpad at the centre of the chassis. Hence, having a smaller trackpad towards the right corner might make it difficult for some people to use it. Additionally, the foldable display will have a noticeable crease.
DRAWBACKS of design
Hence, users could have a larger screen to interact with the device instead of having a secondary screen. Although the device approaches the concept of foldable laptops in a new way, there could be certain drawbacks. The images suggest that the laptop will have a full-size keyboard, but the keys could travel less due to less space.
However, the patent does not reveal any specifications of the Samsung foldable display; the laptop will likely be placed as a flagship product and hence, feature high-end components.


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The Prime Minister of the Junta de Andalucía announced a little before 21.00h last night an extension to opening times for restaurants and night clubs.
Starting at 00.01h on the 2nd (Thursday) restaurants, bars and chiringuitos can remain open until 02.00h, although they have to stop serving at 01.00h.
Similarly, pubs, discos and night clubs, etc, can remain open until 03.30h but again, they cannot serve drinks 30 minutes befofe; i.e. after 03.00h.
Ice-cream parlours can stay open until 02.00h, but they can’t sell alcohol after 01.00h. Theme parks can also remain open until 02.00h
Regarding maximum table seating in restaurants, eight people can now occupy the same table inside. Furthermore, you can now be served and consume at the bar in Level One areas – that’s us.
Weddings etc, there is a maximum of 250 in interiors for Level One municipalities.
Editorial comment: a lot of expectation and little change, despite much improved 5th-wave figures. Anyway, more details will be known when the BOJA is published later today.


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An £85 coat from River Island is flying off store shelves after being given the seal of approval by style bloggers on Instagram.
A crucial addition to any well-dressed woman’s wardrobe at this time of year, finding a coat that will keep you warm and look stylish at the same time can prove a tricky and time consuming task.
But this season just a quick scroll on your Insta-feed promises to do all the hard work for you.
Part of River Island’s autumn/winter 2018 collection, the “Brown Vinyl Tie Waist Trench Coat” has dominated social media in recent weeks with a range of fashion bloggers and even model Adwoa Aboah sporting the glossy style.
In fact, it’s proved so popular that earlier this week the high street brand confirmed sales of the trench were up by 40 per cent.
Priced at just £85, the coat that everyone’s talking about bears a striking resemblance to similar versions seen on the autumn/winter runways of designers like Fendi, Miu Miu and Louis Vuitton for a fraction of the price.
It also taps directly into the new season trends for high-shine finishes and rich, autumnal brown hues.
River Island recently shared a video on their Instagram of the coat being styled three-ways, going from day to night, which garnered more than 43,000 views.
On a separate post, commenters showered the item with praise, with one person exclaiming: “This jacket is needed in my life”.
Another added: “I need this coat in my wardrobe now”.
Unfortunately, River Island has confirmed to The Independent that the coat is now sold out and that the company currently has no plans to re-stock.
But fear not because a whole host of high street stores, from Topshop to Amazon and & Other Stories, offer alternatives with their own takes on the laminated look.


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Midsummer Place Shopping Centre will have the rare opportunity to display British professional road racing cyclist and winner of the 2013 Tour de France, Chris Froome’s Bike this week.
The bike will be on display at the Shopping Centre from 10am to 5pm on Friday outside Hollister, for sports enthusiasts to view and have their photo with.
The bike showcase is to promote the next Milton Keynes Sky Ride cycling event at Willen Lake, on Sunday.
Sky Ride Milton Keynes has been set up for family and friends to be able to enjoy a traffic free bike ride around the city. The 5km ride starts at 10am outside the Willen Lake Cafe, and will be open until 4pm.
To find out more visit www.midsummerplace.co.uk .


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AO World raises full year profit guidance
Online appliance retailer AO World has raised its full year guidance as actions to reduce costs and improve margins take effect.
As a result, its board now expects adjusted EBITDA to be in a range of £30 million to £40 million for the the year to March, which is ahead of a previous guidance of the top end of a £20 million to £30 million range.
AO has been prioritising more profitable cash generative sales and reducing costs in its current financial year. While UK revenue continued to be in line with expectations in the three months to 31 December with a year-on-year decrease of 17.2%, AO said initiatives to reduce costs and improve margins are gaining traction, and profitability is now running ahead of its prior forecasts.
AO said: “We remain cautiously optimistic and yet mindful of the continuing macroeconomic uncertainty and tough consumer environment, whilst also taking into account both the extent to which these and inflationary pressures can impact our contract assets.”
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The last time you could buy one of the best graphics cards for anything close to MSRP was nearly two years ago, just before the pandemic hit. At the time of the GeForce RTX 3080 launch, we mistakenly thought it was just initially high demand and recommended that no one pay scalper prices of $1,000 or more. Hindsight shows just how wrong we were. But now, with the recent downward trends in GPU prices showing another 11% month-over-month drop, there may be light at the end of the tunnel.
We've gathered the data for the month of February and compared it with pricing from January — using eBay prices, since that's readily available. (Most retail outlets don't provide historical sales and pricing information.) The good news is that, at least for the time being, it appears we've passed the peak and are headed down. The bad news is that there's still a long, long way to go. Here's a look at the past two generations of GPUs, all in one table:
Not a single GPU managed to hold its former price, which is great to see. Normally, there's a bit of variance where maybe a few GPUs still go up in price even though most drop, but that's not the case this time. The biggest losers were the GTX 1660 Super, RTX 3070 Ti, GTX 1650 Super, and RTX 2060 — though we're not counting the RX 6500 XT and RTX 3050, since both of those launched in January and only had limited availability during that month.
The majority of GPUs showed double-digit percentage drops in pricing, with 20 of the 33 cards falling in that range. In fact, only two GPUs showed less than a 7% drop in price, the RX 5500 XT 4GB and 8GB cards. Perhaps that's because they were already near the bottom of the pricing ladder, or maybe it's because the RX 6500 XT proved to be quite anemic, often trailing its ancestors in performance.
If you prefer a more granular look at prices, the above gallery shows the eBay pricing trends for all 16 of the current generation RTX 30-series and RX 6000-series graphics cards. Some show an obvious downward slope over the entire month of February, while others tended to be a bit more variable. But when we look at the GPUs sold for the entire month, the trends become clear.
Taken as a whole, this is great news, but prices remain drastically inflated. The best "deals," if we compare current eBay prices to the official AMD and Nvidia MSRPs, are still at least 35% higher than the MSRPs. Even then, MSRPs on many of the cards are quite a bit higher than what we would normally expect. The RX 6500 XT, for example, "only" costs 36% more than the $200 MSRP, but historically, a budget design like this with a 64-bit memory interface would have sold for closer to $120. The 3070 Ti and 3080 Ti likewise suffer from inflated MSRPs.
Based on theoretical price and performance, the most desirable cards are the RTX 3080, RTX 3060, RX 6800 XT, and RX 6600. Of those, only the RX 6600 has a somewhat reasonable price that's only 40% higher than the MSRP. The RX 6800 XT costs 80% more than the MSRP, while the RTX 3060 and 3080 sell for more than twice the official Nvidia price.
The GPU Outlook for the Rest of 2022
Looking forward, how long will it take for things to return to "normal" if the current trends continue? First, big disclaimer: It's impossible to predict where prices will go in the coming months. The extremely volatile cryptocurrency market has a strong influence on GPU prices, and there are still a lot of difficulties with the supply chain. But if these latest trends were to continue, best-case, we'd start to see some GPUs like the RX 6600 and RX 6500 XT selling at MSRP in about three months. Cards like the RTX 3080 would require closer to seven months. But again, there's basically zero chance we'll see a steady and continuous 10% drop in prices each month for the next half a year.
There are plenty of other things to look forward to in six months as well. Most pundits (including us) expect Nvidia to launch its next-generation Ada Lovelace / RTX 40-series GPUs in the fall. With all rumors and leaks indicating a move to TSMC's 5nm N5 process instead of the current Samsung 8nm 8N, we could be in for a major performance improvement. At the same time, TSMC N5 wafers will cost significantly more than Samsung Foundry's 8N wafers, and there's a good chance we'll see generational pricing increase quite a bit.
AMD has also stated that it plans to launch RDNA 3 / RX 7000-series graphics cards this year. Again, late fall would make the most sense, and there's a good chance TSMC's N5 node will get the nod again. If correct, that will make for an interesting apples-to-apples comparison, as both companies will have access to the same lithography, leaving the underlying GPU designs to fight it out and declare a winner.
And let's not forget Intel, either. We're not expecting Intel Arc to attack the top of the performance stack, but there's definitely an opportunity for Intel to undercut the pricing offered by its competitors. Rumors suggest the fastest Arc GPUs could come close to the RTX 3070 and RX 6800 in performance, and both of those are still selling for around $1,000. So if Intel can deliver similar performance for $600, it could win a lot of friends in the gaming community. That's assuming, of course, that drivers don't sink the ship.
It's shaping up to be an exciting year for GPUs, with pricing heading in the right direction and plenty of new offerings slated to launch in the coming months. We'll be reviewing the cards when they become available and adding them to our GPU benchmarks hierarchy — which now offers a more granular look at performance, with and without ray tracing. Fingers crossed, hopefully the upcoming launches will be better than what we've experienced over the past two years.
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Jarred Walton is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on everything GPU. He has been working as a tech journalist since 2004, writing for AnandTech, Maximum PC, and PC Gamer. From the first S3 Virge '3D decelerators' to today's GPUs, Jarred keeps up with all the latest graphics trends and is the one to ask about game performance.
I think we're doomed to higher GPU prices now that all of the mfgs have seen that the public will pay the higher prices. $500 USD used to be buying into the upper range; now it will be the lower range of dGPUs. The upper range will be closer to 4-digits than 3. Sadly, this will be pretty much guaranteed for any upcoming new Nvidia/AMD product launch. Crypto/scalpers/low-supply-high-prices have locked it in going forward for all now.Reply
I suspect the 4080 level of performance will indeed be around the $999 mark, officially. Then there will be 4080 Ti and 4090 or whatever at even higher prices. However, much of the inflated pricing goes back to the effects of the pandemic coupled with the mining boom. Both of those are tapering off, so if miners aren't buying the cards, they're more likely to sit on shelves if they're priced too high. There's a false demand being created by impatient people as well, driven by the limited supply. With Ada, RDNA3, and Arc all launching this year, supply of GPUs should improve and help drive prices down. We'll see, but I don't think Nvidia will be too crazy on the prices. RTX 3080 was arguably priced too low for what it provides and could have easily been an $899-$999 part at launch.2Be_or_Not2Be said:I think we're doomed to higher GPU prices now that all of the mfgs have seen that the public will pay the higher prices. $500 USD used to be buying into the upper range; now it will be the lower range of dGPUs. The upper range will be closer to 4-digits than 3. Sadly, this will be pretty much guaranteed for any upcoming new Nvidia/AMD product launch. Crypto/scalpers/low-supply-high-prices have locked it in going forward for all now.


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Indonesia is rapidly emerging as an economic powerhouse. Tackling its opportunities does not mean replicating what works in China or other emerging markets.
To succeed in Indonesia, businesses will have to deeply understand the surprising extent to which the economy is driven by consumers. They will also have to match—indeed, exceed—the expectations of a growing cohort of digitally enabled citizens in the nation’s rapidly growing cities as well as its countryside.
Compiled by Accenture, this report looks at what it will take to thrive in the digital Indonesia of 2020.
There are four key factors behind the digital surge in Indonesia:
The rise of Indonesia’s ‘”mass-consuming class”—those households with incomes between US$5,000 and US$30,000 a year.
Indonesia is urbanizing at a rapid rate. Currently, the population of about 240 million is split roughly half and half between country and town but by 2020, the split will be much closer to 60-40 in favor of the cities.
Indonesia’s youthful population—today, almost 30 percent of Indonesia’s population is under the age of 15.
The phenomenal growth in use of mobile phones—to a significant extent, mobile technology is shaping the digital landscape.
At the same time, the rapid removal of digital bottlenecks tomorrow will have an outsized impact on Indonesia’s digital standing. Large-scale public investments in both hard and soft infrastructure, like the Palapa Ring initiative, will address the voices clamoring for better Internet and communications infrastructure nationwide—not only in Indonesia’s fast-growing cities. And improvements in price-to-performance ratios will make smartphones accessible to and affordable for many more users.
As a result, the Indonesian consumer’s digital experience is going to become rapidly richer and more varied in terms of digital access, devices and content. While today mobile phone use dominates the digital experience of most connected citizens, tomorrow it will also involve digital TVs, tablet computers and PCs, and even digital household appliances. As consumers diversify their device usage, this may decrease the strain on the country’s mobile Internet capacity, whose limited bandwidth has become increasingly overloaded by demand that is fueled by cheap data plans.
In looking anew at opportunities for growth in Indonesia, many business leaders may be tempted to rip a page or two from earlier “emerging markets” playbooks. That would be a mistake. Indonesia will follow a different course from that of other emerging markets.
Accenture’s detailed research has uncovered three areas where digital will have the greatest impact on business growth there:
It’s seen to strengthen all important community ties: While community is cherished in many nations, it occupies a special place in Indonesian society. People tend to identify themselves as members of a community before describing themselves as individuals.
Traditionally, the core community has been the first point of reference for daily decision-making. When it comes to purchasing decisions in particular, Indonesians’ personal connections have enormous impact; they place a lot of trust in people they know, and will regularly refer to those in their communities on product and brand choices, and to stay updated with information about products and brands.
But with the onset of digital, Accenture observes that the Indonesian consumer’s purchase journey will be significantly influenced in the future by digital interactions. For example, when making choices about products, we fully expect that recommendations from consumers’ online social networks and interest-based communities will become important complements to offline recommendations from friends, family, and colleagues.
It’s not just about clicks—it’s about bricks with clicks: Indonesians love shopping—not catalog shopping or shopping online, but actually going to the physical stores. Shopping is very much a time for family bonding and it is a huge leisure activity. But that should not lull businesses into thinking that traditional in-store interactions will suffice for the future. Indonesia’s digital surge will have a profound effect on shopping there, following a markedly different trajectory from that taken in the Western world.
Digital’s biggest impact will be to enhance the consumer store shopping experience. Indonesians are already treating shopping as an experience and not just as a series of functional purchase transactions. Accenture’s projections are that shoppers will be immersed in a new environment that blends the realities of the physical world with the discovery and entertainment facets of the digital world.
It’s social, but for far more than fun: Indonesians are arguably the world’s most assertive users of social media. For most digital consumers there, “Internet” translates as “social networking.” Nielsen reports that Indonesia is the only ASEAN country where four out of five of its top online activities involve social networking.
So whereas other markets have been progressing to social “Web 2.0” in stages, Indonesia’s digital consumers are leapfrogging ahead, largely because of their cultural traits of readily exchanging and sharing information with their communities and because of the interrelated importance of maintaining gengsi, or status, within the community.
With such precocity in social media come higher expectations for more collaborative and inclusive relationships with consumer brands. Sixty percent would like to see companies getting directly involved in contributing to discussions in a social media environment—and 56 percent of Indonesian consumers are “more likely to do business” with such companies.
As Indonesia’s consumers become more digitally empowered, the nation’s businesses need to substantially ramp up their digital efforts. Yet most are overwhelmed by the challenges that the digital upsurge is creating. New research from Accenture shows that half fear losing control over their brands. More than a third worry about meeting customer service expectations. And more than a quarter fret about tailoring products and services to their customers’ changing needs. Among the companies that are taking action on the digital front, the actions are too often ad hoc and piecemeal.
Accenture recommends the following five strategic moves to help Indonesian companies position themselves for digital success:
Ensure that digital has an impact on business functions beyond IT. Although digital strategies are a consideration for 94 percent of Indonesian companies, in practice the greatest impact of digital is most felt within the companies’ IT divisions.
Look beyond traditional mediums of online customer engagement. Indonesian companies are active across digital channels, but they still focus on traditional mediums of online customer engagement.
Start putting growing volumes of customer data to strategic use. Excluding their customer-facing websites, only a small minority of Indonesian companies collect customer data and use it to its maximum efficacy.
Begin measuring the impact of increased spending on digital strategies. Nearly two-thirds of Indonesian businesses plan to increase spending on their digital strategies, but more than half are not yet measuring its impact.
Cultivate a pervasive digital culture across the company. Accenture’s study shows that 63 percent of Indonesian companies have created internal digital teams, but these teams are not encouraging the use of digital to its full potential across their companies.
October 8, 2012
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Following up on the ban on the importation and use of Styrofoam products, the government will, this year, implement a number of policies aimed at further protecting the environment.
Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves said in the Budget Address on Monday that this government intends to deepen its commitment to environmental stewardship through four additional measures:
The government plans to curtail severely the free availability of single-use plastic bags in supermarkets and other retail centres, while promoting the use of reusable or recyclable bags.
It will also ban the importation of used automobiles over 12 years old, and increase by EC$1,000 the surcharge for vehicles over 4 years old.
Gonsalves said that his government will limit phosphate run-off by incentivising the importation of phosphate-free detergents, which is less damaging to aquatic life.
The government will also be regulating the manner in which refuse and grey water is disposed of by businesses and residences, particularly in the vicinity of coastal areas.
“We are not unmindful of the fact that the problem of localised sewage disposal in other developed tourist destinations has been sufficiently severe so as to prompt various logistical and public relations challenges. We hope, in the development of our tourist product, to pre-empt or minimise some of the unfortunate environmental side effects of mass tourism,” Gonsalves said.
He said that, as with the Styrofoam ban, the public and the business community can expect to enjoy sufficient consultation, notice and education on these environmental measures before they are implemented.
The Styrofoam ban came into full effect at the end of January.
The finance minister, who also has ministerial responsibility for sustainable development, said that though not perfect, he is proud of the level of implementation so far and thanked the business sector and consumers for their willing acceptance of the measure.
“The amount of garbage clogging our drains and waterways has been markedly reduced, and the ecological benefits are undeniable. Of course, challenges in the implementation will persist as we all adapt to these new regulations, but I am confident that we will solve these challenges in the same spirit of cooperation and goodwill that we have demonstrated thus far,” Gonsalves said.


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For entrepreneurs, the line between business and personal is occasionally blurred, and often erased completely. So, in putting 75 startup founders together in one room for last Thursday’s inaugural Startup Soiree, it’s perhaps no surprise that the discussion gave equal weight to relationships and credit lines.
For every tip to keep equity close to the vest, there was also talk of the personal sacrifice involved in starting a business, and room for quips about gingers.
Held at the Pixilated Photo Booth headquarters off South Caton Avenue, the event was made up completely of startup founders (with the exception of a couple reporters). Co-organized by Pixilated’s Patrick Rife and Intrinsic Events, the mixer is envisioned as a last-Thursday-of-the-month get-together where local founders can network and listen in on roundtable discussions about the ups and downs of the startup life. Of course, there was also a photo booth.
Familiar faces like SmartLogic President Yair Flicker, OrderUp CEO Chris Jeffery and Allovue CEO Jess Gartner made the local tech scene well-represented, but many attendees commented that the guest list extended outside of the usual tech faces to include marketing pros, event planners and at least one make-up artist.
The “Founders Only” gathering made for a relaxed atmosphere. “Moderator” Ethan Giffin, the founder of Groove Commerce, didn’t mind talking about his early days of running the business out of a cramped apartment in Federal Hill and posting ads on Craigslist. At another point, he referenced the tumultuous month that led to the company’s founding.
“I’m oversharing, aren’t I?” he quipped after talking about how there were too many desks in his initial apartment to have guests over.
The added honesty also brought out pride in starting a business in Baltimore. When he started Groove, Giffin said he was at a point where he was spending time in multiple cities, and determining where to throw down roots. But the ability to affordably start a business and have access to top talent ultimately led the Maryland native to stay home. The community didn’t hurt either.
“I loved it because I thought the community of people that I met along the way were so interesting and talking so much about how to grow an organization,” Giffin said. “All of that together really sold it to me. And I was at a point where I could have gone anywhere.”
The declaration gave way to plenty of cheers from the crowd. Soon, Pixilated’s Rife was espousing his love for Baltimore while standing on a chair.
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Two entrepreneurs, time zones apart, are working on building cutting-edge blockchain tech and communities in a big office they call the world.
Typical of the times we are in and the digital industry they promote, these two entrepreneurs work closely together, but in separate time zones.
Their work? Creating an open-source blockchain that will change the way we purchase and use digital assets.
We meet Riccardo Spagni in Johannesburg at 6.30 on a cold Johannesburg evening. Spagni, dressed in a pink t-shirt with an imprint of a pony on it, in his Woodlands office, is the lead maintainer of the Monero project. Dialing in for this meeting is his colleague and co-founder, Naveen Jain, who is based in Oakland, California.
This is an everyday mode of communication, in building their open-source blockchain protocol to help businesses and people manage, transfer and use digital assets. And they’ve called it Tari. For the uninitiated, the open-source model is a decentralized software-development model that encourages open collaboration.
“I like to see myself as the Elon Musk of South Africa, because I’m from South Africa as well,” says Spagni.
He has had a knack for cryptocurrencies ever since 2011 when he found himself mining around in the ecosystem. In 2013, he founded Monero, which provides increased privacy through encryption of transactional information by using robust and recent encryption tools available to safeguard investments. It basically protects any transaction by offering parties absolute anonymity.
Jain got involved in Monero as a miner and also fell in love with cryptocurrencies.
“So when Naveen said to me ‘wouldn’t it be cool to like put natively digital assets on a blockchain’, I was like ‘hmm why’,” recalls Spagni.
Through research and understanding the advantages, Spagni changed his mind.
“I came to realize there was nothing in the market that fit the needs for a highly-scalable and highly- robust native digital assets protocol. So that’s basically what we set out to build,” he tells FORBES AFRICA.
The Tari project will exist to allow companies transfer assets such as loyalty points, gaming points and tickets from one platform or user to another without losing value.
“The people issuing loyalty points remain the people issuing loyalty points. And the people writing games remain the people writing games. We are not disrupting any of that. What we are disrupting is them having to provide all that infrastructure on the backend for the issuing of their natively digital assets,” says Spagni.
The team already has investors backing them but they are working two years ahead of the actual launch.
“The real secret of sophisticated software systems is it takes long to build over time…We are doing something that hasn’t been done before, so we are not expecting this to be a walk in the park and our real mission right now is to build the best team in the world that wants to overcome the challenges along the way,” says Jain, on the call from California.
They aim to build a global team able to contribute and work on the project with them, which is one of the stages they are currently at.
“From our point of view, blockchain systems are global systems, they are not geographically focused in any way, shape or form, the network is a global network and so it’s very important that we take a global perspective from the beginning of the project,” says Jain.
Their key focus recruiting contributors has been in Johannesburg.
“There’s an incredible wealth of untapped talent in South Africa,” offers Spagni.
There’s a huge opportunity to bridge the gap and create a Tari lab in Johannesburg where developers can come and work on cutting-edge blockchain tech.
But the developers in Johannesburg will only be a segment of the team. The rest would be scattered around the world creating not only an ecosystem of blockchain but an ecosystem of a working community through online interactions.
“It’s weird because there are people all over the world and there are tons of people in this space that I respect and they are scattered all over the globe so we are constantly talking. It’s like being in a big office with some of the brightest minds on the planet,” says Spagni.
“Sharp people like to work with other sharp people and when you are exposed to that global community of people who are all throwing in and developing this open-source software that’s pretty amazing,” he adds.
One of the biggest industries the team aims to tap into is the gaming industry worth $10.3 billion in the United States alone.
Usually users would buy a game, play it and accumulate points. Once they get bored of the game, they play another and the points they accumulated in the first game goes to waste. But with Tari, the user would be able to transfer their end-game wealth into another game.
“Then nothing is ever wasted and they don’t have to build up infrastructure in one game to abandon it. So that excites me a lot,” says Spagni.
Similar to Bitcoin, Tari’s software will be open-source as well, meaning anyone would be able to have access to it. Jain believes this will allow them to gain the trust of users and businesses.
“The most powerful mode you can build is community so if you have a large group of people that are philosophically and ideologically aligned with your mission, and then you don’t really need to keep the software itself under lock and key,” he elaborates.
“You can open-source it with a highly permissible licence. Because anyone can use it and what it does is it creates trust. I think we’re in a new world.”
Although to some businesses, this may be a problem as they choose to keep their intellectual property, open-source is seen as a disruptor many have an appetite for.
A survey done by Black Duck Software and North Bridge in 2015 found that 78% of companies run on open source. What may have sounded as crazy a few years ago for businesses to put out their data has now became the norm. They found that open-source systems are critical to reducing potential security, legal, and operational risks while allowing companies to reap full benefits.
“To actually create this kind of a system, to earn people’s trust, that’s just a huge challenge and tremendous amounts of fun. I wake up every day, really excited about this incredible opportunity that we have within the Tari community to pull this off and make it happen,” says Jain, before ending yet another call to his colleague in Johannesburg and beginning yet another day of building an open-source world.
The Bolt And The Beautiful
From cheers on the track and field to cheers of a different kind, Jamaican sprinting champion Usain Bolt was in South Africa recently to launch his signature champagne.
Widely considered the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, the nine-time Olympic gold medalist who has broken records, is now breaking new ground in the business world.
He was in South Africa in January to launch a limited edition champagne in collaboration with champagne producer G.H. Mumm.
Having graced some of the world’s biggest Olympic stadiums, the retired Jamaican sprinter was at the swanky The Maslow hotel in Johannesburg, promoting the pink bubbly as it poured endlessly into fluted glasses.
As the $45 Mumm Olympe Rosé bottle was being passed around, all attention was on the world champion.
“In Jamaica, we do this naturally; we mix cognac with champagne, and it’s something I enjoy. So when we sat down in the first meeting and we were trying to figure out what direction we wanted to go with for the bottle and with the drink, I mentioned it and asked ‘is it possible?’ and they said ‘yes’. So for me, that was something I was happy about. When you taste it, you’ll taste the cognac and together it’s very nice, trust me,” Bolt tells FORBES AFRICA, aptly marketing his product.
The A-list sports star poses with two bottles, symbolic of the two years it took to create what he calls a premium drink.
G. H. Mumm’s Senior Global Brand Manager, Etienne Cassuto, says collaborations of this magnitude have to be a reflection of authenticity and teamwork.
“This is not something we created and said ‘great, put your name on it, sign it and we sell it’; he created this wine with us and that is why it is something that is truly collaborative and that is where some brands get it wrong,” he says.
“It took a long time to really get to know Usain Bolt… as an athlete, as someone who has broken records and who has surpassed everything in life to get to where he is today. This desire to partner with Usain Bolt, who is now a retired athlete but still pushing the limit to what he can achieve and really daring himself to go beyond to find his next victory… that is why since 2016, we have been collaborating to try and understand how we can build something in common.”
Bolt, who retired from athletics in 2017, has since pursued a career in football; he decided to hang up his boots in 2018.
His short-lived football career saw him play for Central Coast Mariners, and train in South Africa with Mamelodi Sundowns F.C.
The Olympic sprint champion says athletes should focus on building a brand beyond the track.
“In sports, I was always trying to be the best and do things that have never been done before, it is the same thing in business. You have to find things that no one has done before… As athletes, you should focus on trying to build your brand. Try to work hard and try to develop a personality.
“I think I get sponsorships because I have a personality. I am different, and I stand out. Develop a personality, a brand that people know, this is Bolt, this is Simbine, this is Wayde. I always tell Wayde ‘it is good to be fast and to be great, but if you want to build your brand you have to show your personality’. People will want you to be a part of their brand’,” he tells us.
Akani Simbine and Wayde van Niekerk are South African athletes.
And Bolt loves South Africa. “When they called and told me we are launching in South Africa, I was happy. Last year, I had so much fun. The energy was different. It felt like home because this is the only place I have been to that I have danced so much. In Jamaica, we dance a lot, but in Africa, you guys dance. A lot!” he says joyfully.
The whole vibe is that of celebration.
“Africa is an exciting market for champagne. African consumers want more premium goods; they want to really discover new things, new products, new categories and they want to spend a little more to discover high-quality products, whether it is luxury or premium goods,” adds Cassuto.
South Africa’s affluent market is no different, and Bolt attests to that – the man fast on the track and faster with his soundbites.
This Bioengineering Startup Just Raised $90 Million To Make Your Veggie Burger Taste Better
One of the ag tech world’s few unicorns is spinning off a new food ingredients company called Motif Ingredients with a $90 million Series A.
Motif will leverage intellectual property and facilities from its parent company Ginkgo Bioworks, which was last valued in 2017 at $1.38 billion, when it raised a $275 million Series D. Gingko is known for the ability to rapidly produce DNA for applications from microbes that replace fertilizer to ones that produce perfume fragrances.
At Motif, that technology will be inserted into yeast cells. The yeast is then fermented, as in beer brewing, except that instead of producing alcohol, the yeast creates whatever by-product Motif’s customers want.
These ingredients can be customized to mimic flavors or textures similar to those found in protein products like beef and dairy—a potential game-changer for the budding industry of plant-based foods, which has seen everything from burgers to cheese alternatives gain popularity in recent years.
READ MORE | The Foodies With A Drive For Business
Take Impossible Foods, backed by top investors from Bill Gates to GV. Its soy-and-vegetable-based burger still bleeds like the traditional beef version because of an added ingredient called heme, a molecule found in nearly all living plants and animals.
Impossible’s products rely on this ingredient, which is hard to source. But, as Jason Kelly, Ginkgo Bioworks cofounder and CEO says, Impossible doesn’t manufacture its own heme in-house. And that’s where labs like Motif come in.
“Instead of making another Impossible, we’ll be an ingredient supplier. We’ll supply the Impossible nugget or the egg-free whatever. There are many people who have branding and food development expertise who’d love to make new products in this space, but only a handful have the funding to do,” says Kelly.
“We’re focused on what you’d add to the existing supply chain to make it better. All these companies need it to make a veggie fish stick that tastes good.”
Motif investors include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Louis Dreyfus Cos., Fonterra and Viking Global Investors.
Ginkgo Bioworks was first founded in 2008, based largely on research developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by scientist Tom Knight, one of the company’s cofounders who came to biology after decades of work as a computer scientist. Knight’s philosophy of synthetic biology is to treat it as akin to computer programming, and Kelly sees his company as being a biological programmer.
“We’re like app developers writing a microbial app,” he said. “And our customers come to us and say, ‘Hey can you make me an app that does this?’”
This is Ginkgo’s second spin-off. In 2017, Ginkgo formed a joint venture with Bayer called Joyn Bio, which leverages the company’s assets and IP to create microbes that can replace or supplement fertilizer for different crops.
That company kicked off with a $100 million Series A round with investments from its parent companies and Viking Global Investors LP.
Similarly, Kelly sees Motif as a company that will operate in the same way for food ingredients, and he expects that as Ginkgo grows, it will spin out others. “We want to keep, in many, many verticals, popping business up that have access to our platform and ask for specs in different markets.”
-Chloe Sorvino and Alex Knapp; Forbes Staff
Handcrafted In A Cottage, Bottled For The Globe
The sisters had no idea their love for healthy food would catapult them into the international food market.
Siblings and foodies Mosibudi Makgato and Rosemary Padi grew up in a yard filled with fruits and vegetables in South Africa and with a mother who could rustle up any healthy dish using produce from the garden.
It was only natural that they started a catering business as a hobby in 2003.
The growing interest from customers drove the business to become a success until recession hit in 2008. The demand for catering decreased because people had less money to spend. However, the wedding season would always bring more customers for the sisters.
That avenue led to the birth of an idea – to develop an authentic South African drink known in some black communities as gemmer, which is commonly known as ginger beer.
“We catered at a wedding and guests kept saying it would be nice to have gemmer. We did the gemmer and people were raving about it more than the food. From the response we got, we thought this would be a nice way to push it into the industry,” Makgato recalls.
With the help and advice of their mother, the sisters did numerous tests and were impressed with the 18-day shelf life of their product. The pair decided to introduce the beverage at a contact’s shop that sold scones – Vero’s Cakes in the north of Johannesburg.
“Gemmer and scones go well together,” 37-year-old Makgato says.
Business was initially slow. They would deliver bottles at the Vero’s Cake store and two weeks later, the spoiled drinks would have to be replaced because they were not sold. This led to them hosting tastings for market research. As a result, they were able to establish that some people had bad experiences with gemmer in their childhood.
The duo went back to the drawing board, and worked on changing the perceptions of people and assuring them that they don’t use yeast in their product compared to the traditional way of making the drink. This was a healthier alternative and it was African, which meant it did not contain preservatives, Makgato says.
“We would set up a table, put cups, serve people at weddings and funerals and have conversations about gemmer with guests or attendees. We would invite ourselves to women’s gatherings, ask to be guest speakers and educate people about food, in general, because we are from a green-fingered family.”
In 2010, the sisters left catering completely to focus on the beloved South African drink. They registered their company as Yamama Gemmer after they had mastered their mother’s lessons on how to brew gemmer.
In just two years, people bought bottles without questioning and business was growing. They made enough money to buy their own double-door fridge instead of using the one at Vero’s.
The business finally had assets, at this time, Makgato and Padi were producing from a cottage in Randpark Ridge, about 33kms north of Johannesburg’s Central Business District. The cottage was once a storage facility and kitchen. Now, it has evolved into a factory filled with gas stoves and pots leftover from the catering business.
“In 2013, things were becoming busy; I would always have stock with me, I would go to functions and sell from the boot of my car, and would have to meet people who wanted to buy at petrol stations. People were talking about it. Gemmer was becoming a thing. In 2014, Rosemary left her high-paying position in banking to do gemmer,” Makgato says.
While Padi focused more on the business, it boomed further and they moved to certified premises, with a full-time employee at the store.
“When customers come in, I explain everything about gemmer. Customers are very happy, especially after the first introduction to it, even those that know ginger beer are happy with our product,” says Lynette Seleke, who has been working for the sisters for two years now.
The sister duo has also established distribution channels, reselling throughout Gauteng. Managing stock at Vero’s Cakes was becoming a challenge, so they opened a store in the same area in 2016, located not far from a restaurant selling African cuisine.
“Every year, we almost double the previous year’s turnover since 2016,” Makgato says.
Yamama Gemme has catered at a number of international events in South Africa like the Sanlam Handmade Contemporary Fair, the Delicious International Food and Music Festival, and they also had a stall at the popular Neighbourgoods Market.
The appeal is in their presentation. They infuse the drink with fruits and herbs and sometimes encourage people to have it with gin or rum, turning the drink into a cocktail.
“We guarantee that you will not have a hangover because ginger beer is a rehydrate. When you have a hangover, it’s because you are dehydrated, gemmer pulls those fluids that you were missing in your body, that’s why athletes love gemmer,” she says.
Padi adds: “Over the years, the demand has morphed to include a ready-to-drink bottle.” The two have since shown interest in the international market and have rebranded, as they have qualified to export globally. They could well be on their way to becoming known as the ginger beer baronesses of Soweto.
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Stocks stabilized Wednesday after Tuesday’s hotter-than-expected inflation data sparked Wall Street’s worst selloff in over two years.
Inflation remained in focus today with the early morning release of the producer price index (PPI) for August. Similar to yesterday’s consumer price index (CPI), the PPI – which measures what suppliers are charging for goods and services – rose at a slower annual clip in August than it did in July. However, on a month-over-month basis, both PPI and core PPI, which excludes energy and food prices, were up from July’s figures.
“There is a divergence in headline and core inflation building, where headline is cooling and core is heating up,” says Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group. “That’s an odd phenomenon and likely influenced by the shift from goods to services post-pandemic. The Fed should proceed with caution and not hit the emergency brake on rate hikes.”
While yesterday’s selling was broad-based, today’s action was more mixed. In terms of sector performance, real estate (-1.2%) and materials (-1.2%) were the biggest laggards, while energy (+2.8%) outperformed as U.S. crude futures rose 1.3% to settle at $88.48 per barrel.
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As for the major indexes, the Nasdaq Composite ended up 0.7% at 11,719, while the S&P 500 Index (+0.3% at 3,946) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1% at 31,135) also finished with modest gains.
Other news in the stock market today:
- The small-cap Russell 2000 rose 0.4% to 1,838.
- Gold futures fell 0.5% to end at $1,709.10 an ounce.
- Bitcoin shed 1.7% to $19,968.03. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m.)
- Starbucks (SBUX) jumped 5.5% after the coffee chain raised its long-term growth targets. The company is now projecting annual earnings-per-share growth of 15% to 20% over the next three years, and same-store sales growth of 7% to 9% – up from previous guidance of 11% and 4.5% growth, respectively, at the midpoint. SBUX also said it plans to build around 2,000 new U.S. stores by 2025, bringing its worldwide total to 45,000 locations, and will start buying back its shares in its next fiscal year. “Starbucks has set a high bar for itself and while we believe it is achievable given brand strength and new management capabilities, we believe skepticism persists about the challenges of accelerating growth – in particular at a time of macro uncertainty,” says BofA Securities analyst Sara Senatore (Buy).
- Rail stocks like Union Pacific (UNP, -3.7%) and Norfolk Southern (NSC, -2.2%) were lower today as negotiations between freight railroad …….


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The Fair Labor Association conducted its audits of three plants owned by the Taiwanese based company Foxconn. In recent years Foxconn has caught headlines around the world for their employee suicides and reportedly terrible working and living conditions.
After years of allegations and bad press, the Fair Labor Association completed its review of Foxconn this week and the news is good for the manufacturing company. The president and CEO of FLA has said “Our verification shows that the necessary changes, including immediate health and safety measures, have been made. We are satisfied that Apple has done its due diligence thus far to hold Foxconn accountable for complying with the action plan.”
Foxconn has been accused of abusive working hours, though those hours provide employees with the opportunity to earn more money working overtime. One of the actions that the FLA has challenged Foxconn with is that it eventually achieves China’s limit of a 40 hour work week. Currently, Foxconn workers work around 60 hours, and it’s been more in the past. The full report is available here. While the FLA’s compliments have reached many ears, criticism of their assertions are quick to bubble up. The Hong-Kong based labor rights group Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior has been a persistent critic of the manufacturing companies practices, and has conducted their own independent research into the labor conditions over the past few years.
A spokesperson for the group says “Firstly, most of the actions completed by Foxconn are changes at the policy level only, but few substantial changes in labor practices were found at this stage,” she adds “Secondly, Foxconn has deliberately delayed implementing many of the actions called for in the remediation plan, even those that are almost cost-free. Thirdly, workers have had no opportunity to participate in the remedial action process. SACOM has repetitively demanded democratic trade unions at Foxconn as an indispensable step in reforming its labor practices.”
Foxconn maintains that they are working hard to cut working hours and increase safety. Salary increases have multiplied on top of themselves in the past few years, but critics may never rest. For now, take a look into where your iPhone, iPads, and Mac products are being made. Cheap labor works, but as open media allows us a closer view into the source of our favorite products; we have begun to demand a more American standard of working conditions.


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Trafford Centre owner Intu has picked a new boss after a challenging year for the company amid the retail crisis and failed merger talks.
Matthew Roberts, the chief financial officer, will take the top job at the end of April after the departure of incumbent David Fischel.
Fischel said he would leave last July, a few months after Bullring owner Hammerson walked away from a £3.4bn takeover bid for the company.
He had planned to step down in the event that the merger went ahead.
The company was later the subject of another takeover bid led by Peel Group, valuing it at £2.8bn. This too ended in disappointment as the bidders abandoned the deal in November.
Intu has been affected by challenges in the retail environment, as several big retailers collapsed or closed stores last year.
In November it became embroiled in a public bust-up with Mike Ashley over rents on four House of Fraser branches. The stores were planned to close but a deal was struck at the last moment and they remained open.
Intu’s annual results for 2018 showed it swung to a £1.17bn loss and property valuations fell.
Roberts has been finance boss at Intu since May 2010. Before this he served as CFO at betting firm Gala Coral and as finance director at Debenhams.
Intu’s chairman John Strachan said: “Matthew has been an exceptional CFO at Intu. This, combined with his extensive and relevant experience, including his proven expertise in leading strategic transformation projects, means he is absolutely the right person to lead this business going forward.”


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The Super Eagles are truly suited for the World Cup as is evident from their smart, sweet-looking official suits they will be wearing at the World Cup.
The suits were designed by Nigerian designers David Bowler.
They also designed the Eagles suits to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Their designs were also to have been used by the country's contingent to the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil, but were ditched at the last minute.
This is another plus following the craze that the team's sexy home kits has caused as it went on sale worldwide this month.
They nailed it with their kits, and have delivered the goods yet again as they boarded their plane to Russia wearing traditional Nigerian clothes, Buba and Sokoto's.
From head to toe, the Nigerian squad have indulged in their culture and clearly have no intentions of blending in with the crowd other nations looking to upset the odds in Russia.
While sticking to tradition, however, designers of their outfits have also kept faith with the football team by placing football's on the collars of the white and green outfits.


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Builders of Google’s Go language are moving ahead with ideas to introduce generics into the language, with the capacity potentially arriving in August 2021, if all goes well. The deficiency of generics, indicating a purpose or style that normally takes style parameters, routinely has been cited as a shortcoming of Go.
Generics would be provided in the Go 1.seventeen release, owing at that time. But that timeline was explained as optimistic by Go project developers, who noted unexpected problems could occur. Generic programming permits the representation of data structures and functions in a generic kind, with varieties factored out. It has been considered as a system to make some programming jobs less complicated but there have been concerns that it could complicate the language.
Go project developers on June 16 released an current design and style draft for style parameters that replaces contracts with interface varieties. They also introduced a transition instrument to assist to translate generic code. The design and style draft authors identified that the distinction involving contracts and interface varieties was confusing, so they dropped the contracts strategy. Variety parameters are now constrained by interface varieties, when interface varieties now can include things like style lists, nevertheless only when made use of as constraints. Authors of the current draft hope developers will come across it a lot easier to realize.
The transition instrument, obtainable in a variant of the Go Playground, permits style examining and jogging code composed making use of the edition of generics explained in the draft. The transition instrument is supposed to assist the Go language developers choose how to even further refine the draft the instrument translates generic code into Go code. Whilst the translation procedure has restrictions, Go’s developers hope the instrument gives a glimpse of what generic Go code could appear like and understand irrespective of whether generic code makes perception.
The next action for generics in Go could be a formal language modify proposal. Go’s developers are in the early levels of sketching out a immediate compiler implementation. Also, the Go project developers have composed a style checker, a application that can parse Go code that uses generics as explained in the draft and report style errors. Case in point code has been composed.
Go at first was released in November 2009. Go 1.fifteen was released in beta kind last 7 days. The creation release of Go 1.fifteen is anticipated in August.
Copyright © 2020 IDG Communications, Inc.


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As the busiest shopping season of the year ramps up, the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity, Team DEO, is calling on all L.A. County residents to shop at local mom and pop shops and small businesses across the county during the holiday season.
To empower residents, we launched a brand-new holiday sweepstakes called “Shop Local Sweeps” to give residents a chance to win gift cards to their favorite local spot and a slew of other fun prizes. Any resident who takes the #ShopLocalLA Pledge will be automatically entered to win a $500 gift card to spend at a local business of choice. That’s right! You get to decide how to best invest back in your local community.
Here’s how it works:
-Visit the ShopLocal.LA website, take the Shop Local Pledge, and enter to win.
-Share the campaign with friends and family. Post on social media to encourage others to take the Shop Local Pledge.
-Take photos and leave reviews at your favorite local shops and restaurants. The more we amplify these neighborhood gems, the more our community prospers
Drawings will be held every week starting on Dec. 8 through the new year. Each week one $500 winner, two $100 winners and five swag bag winners will be selected. (Some restrictions apply, please visit the website for full sweepstakes rules.


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Last week it looked like consumer prices are starting to break down: the core CPI turned negative (over three months) for the first time in decades. And small businesses seem gloomy about the economy, even as the recovery strengthens. What’s going on?
The two items are linked. When the real estate bubble burst a lot of banks lost so much that it threatened their solvency. To stay in business they had to raise cash and reduce risk, and they did that by cutting back on small business loans. So while we’ve cycled from recession to recovery, this has mainly helped larger companies.
That’s led to a situation where small businesses are hurting even while the economy is getting better, and employment is only slowly improving. Since small companies are the biggest employers, the lack of jobs is pushing down on prices.
While this is troubling, it’s nothing to panic over. As the economy slowly recovers, this does filter through, and prices will gradually move up. But inflation and higher interest rates aren’t likely to take off any time soon.
The economy seems like it’s “Waiting for Godot” here. Eventually, unlike the play, a full recovery will arrive.
Douglas R. Tengdin, CFA
Chief Investment Officer
Hit reply if you have any questions—I read them all!
Follow me on Twitter @GlobalMarketUpd


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A potential route to the end of U.S. federal prohibition on cannabis products was introduced in July 2022 in the form of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA), authored by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The CAOA is the first-ever bill by major party senators to propose decriminalization of cannabis; the bill also would expunge federal cannabis-related criminal records while also provide funding to law enforcement to shut down illicit cannabis growers and sellers. However, the CAOA is a hail-Mary bill that few believe will pass. “I don’t think we’re going to see much movement,” said Jennifer Fisher, partner and co-chair of the Cannabis practice. “Many in the industry, myself included, were very hopeful following the 2020 election that we would be able to achieve comprehensive cannabis reform at the federal level in President Biden’s first term. It has become abundantly clear that that’s not going to happen,” she added. Fisher explains more on Food Quality & Safety.
In The Press October 06, 2022


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Ethical beauty champions Dove and The Body Shop are calling on consumers across Europe to take a stand against cosmetics testing on animals with a bold new initiative.
The controversial announcement was made last week by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) that animal tests could once again be permitted in the region, threatening to undermine a decades-long struggle that culminated in the ban of all animal testing and the sale of cosmetics that have been tested on animals in 2013.
In response, Dove and The Body Shop have teamed up with Netherlands-based artist and activist Nina Valkhoff to create a striking new artwork that will be displayed via a mural in the centre of Paris, France, as well as being illuminated across key landmarks in European cities Berlin, Madrid and Milan over the coming week in an effort to inspire consumers to take action against animal testing.
The two brands are urging European consumers to take action against the suffering of animals by signing a European Citizens Initiative petition to uphold the European ban on animal testing, in partnership with leading animal rights organisations including PETA, Cruelty Free Europe, Humane Society International (HSI and affiliates), Eurogroup for Animals and the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE).
Firdaous El Honsali, Senior Director of Global Communications and Sustainability at Dove, said: “At Dove, we stand passionately against animal cruelty. We strongly believe that there is no role for animal testing for beauty products or their ingredients and have pioneered safe and humane alternatives to assess the safety of products and ingredients for many years.
“Together with our partners The Body Shop and leading animal protection groups, we urge both our peers in the beauty industry and the general public to lend their voice in the fight to end animal testing in the EU once and for all by signing this European Citizens Initiative.”
The Unilever-owned body care stalwart has been certified cruelty-free since 2018 and is a long-standing supporter of global bans against animal testing alongside Natura's The Body Shop, which famously became the first global beauty brand to campaign against animal testing in 1989 and has been at the forefront of the current pan-European ban as well as rallying 8.3 million people to sign a petition to end animal testing globally in 2018.
Christopher Davis, Global CSR and Activism Director at The Body Shop International, added: “The Body Shop was the first global beauty brand to fight against animal testing in cosmetics and this commitment has been at the forefront of our activist campaigns for over three decades.
“Today, we are calling the EU – home to the world’s largest cosmetics market – to stick to the trailblazing promise they made.
“We are proud to collaborate with Dove and speak as one voice, along with all those working towards a global end to animal testing for cosmetics, in support of this European Citizen’s Initiative.”


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17 models of ceiling fans recalled due to safety concerns
Safety concerns raised after a fan blade broke when in use, prompting further checks by Enterprise Singapore
More than 500 units of ceiling fans from 17 models by Elmark Marketing are being recalled after checks showed they could pose safety problems.
These fans could potentially fall, electrocute someone or cause a fire, product safety agency Enterprise Singapore, said yesterday.
Fan blades could also come loose when in use and cause cuts.
Although no reports of injuries have been made, Enterprise Singapore said it was alerted after an Elmark fan blade broke when in use.
This prompted further checks.
Elmark is recalling the 17 fan models and has posted a notice on its website to inform customers that they can trade in an affected model for a $150 voucher.
It said the 17 models were unregistered and sold without a valid safety mark as required for controlled goods under the Consumer Protection Regulations.
Elmark's website says the company - which was established in 1988 - distributes ceiling fans in Singapore and Malaysia.
The 17 recalled models are: AC 4054, E502 Aeratron, EC 888, EC 999, ED 866, EL03 Cane, EL03 Leaf, ELS 52 HHA, EL 3888 Elegant, ES 380S, ES 803, ES 803 Mini, Fanaway, Fantasy UFO 38, V6 Mini, V8 Jazz and VIP 99.
Elmark, which apologised for the recall, said the $150 voucher is valid for five years and is transferable.
The company is also offering to remove affected fans for free for customers who do not want to keep them.
Those who are unsure about affected models can take a photo of a product and send it to Elmark through WhatsApp on 9022-6365 to verify it.
When contacted by The Straits Times, the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) said it had received four complaints from consumers regarding Elmark ceiling fans from January 2018 to Dec 22 this year.
"In general, consumers complained of defective parts in their ceiling fans and unsatisfactory after sales service," it said.
Affected consumers can also contact Case at its hotline on 6100-0315 or go to www.case.org.sg for more help.
Online sites that carry the affected Elmark fans, like Qoo10, told ST that they have removed the models from their listings.
Anyone found guilty of supplying controlled goods that have not gone through proper tests and certification can be jailed up to two years, fined up to $10,000, or both.
Under Consumer Protection Regulations, ceiling fans are controlled goods that must be tested and certified.
They should also be registered with Enterprise Singapore and fitted with a safety mark.


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Kohl's is planning a downtown Milwaukee store. It will revive space last filled by Boston Store before that department store chain closed.
Kohl's Corp. is planning a downtown Milwaukee store — reviving vacant space last filled by Boston Store before that department store chain was liquidated.
The Kohl's store is to be on the first floor of HUB 640, 640 N. Phillips Ave., according to commercial real estate industry sources.
It will apparently be a small format store of around 35,000 square feet — compared to the more typical Kohl's store of 80,000 square feet.
An announcement is in the works for Friday — although one source cautioned it doesn't appear to be a done deal yet. A company representative didn't respond to a request for more information.
Kohl's plans, first reported by the Milwaukee Business Journal, are surfacing four months after Chief Executive Officer Michelle Gass said the Menomonee Falls-based retailer would roll out smaller stores to create "more localized experiences."
Gass said at a March 7 presentation to investors that the company plans to open 100 small format stores during the next four years.
“The smaller format store gives us greater real estate flexibility and the opportunity to go into markets and neighborhoods that couldn’t support full-size stores,” Gass said.
Those small stores give Kohl's the ability to experiment with selling clothing and other items that are specifically aimed at local markets, according to the company's first quarter earnings presentation on May 19.
Operating a small format store in downtown Milwaukee makes sense given the continued growth of people living in the downtown area, said Dick Seesel, who operates Mequon-based consulting firm Retailing in Focus LLC.
Also, the Milwaukee location gives Kohl's executives a location in the retailer's "back yard" to better evaluate the new format, Seesel said.
The retailer is facing pressure to increase its revenue even after fending off a hostile takeover attempt that resulted in a July 1 announcement that Kohl's is no longer in talks to sell the company.
Also, the company has warned that its second quarter earnings, to be released Aug. 18, would be lower than forecast amid a weakening retail environment.
The small format stores are a key part of the company's strategy — with Kohl's calling it an opportunity to generate $500 million in sales.
A small format store at HUB 640 would take about half of the building's 66,000 square feet of first-floor retail space. HUB 640 also has 232,000 square feet of office space on floors two through five.
The building has been redeveloped by Chicago-based North Wells Capital LLC.
So far, North Wells has attracted three office tenants: nursing home and assisted living center operator North Shore Healthcare; Eight Eleven Group, which provides technology and business staffing and consulting services, and Abacus Architects.
Kohl's for most of its history has avoided urban locations in favor of stores in the suburbs.
Its only Milwaukee store is at 3737 S. 27th St.
Nationwide, Kohl’s has more than 1,100 stores.


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Agency: Quiet Storm
Client: Richmond Sausages
Kerry Food’s Richmond Sausages has launched a new national TV and print campaign.
The work from Quiet Storm is the first for the brand from the agency, which won the account last year.
Senior Brand Manager at Kerry Foods, Mark Brown, said, “Richmond has not been on TV for a number of years so l am very excited about the launch of this new campaign.
“Quiet Storm have managed to distill a key emotion which people experience when they eat Richmond Sausages and they have turned it into a very impactful creative idea.
Jo Wallace Quiet Storm, added, “We wanted to capture the real truth of this product, which is that many of us grew up on Richmond Sausages and when we taste them as an adult we are instantly reminded of our childhood, and a time when life was less complicated, which ties in perfectly with Richmond’s core brand values of simple, honest food.”


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Sportswear brand Adidas has announced a new initiative to provide free design resources to high schools around the country looking to remove their current Native American mascots.
Sports can change lives. Were honored to visit the @WhiteHouse Tribal Nations Conference today to support high school mascot name changes.
adidas (@adidas) November 5, 2015
The initiative has gained support from President Obama, but has unsurprisingly been slammed by the most resistant name change team in pro sports – the Washington Redskins, who released the following statement:
The hypocrisy of changing names at the high school level of play and continuing to profit off of professional like-named teams is absurd, team spokesman Maury Lane said in a statement. Adidas make hundreds of millions of dollars selling uniforms to teams like the Chicago Blackhawks and the Golden State Warriors, while profiting off sales of fan apparel for the Cleveland Indians, Florida State Seminoles, Atlanta Braves and many other like-named teams.
Lane also suggested that Adidas next targets would be those professional teams, but spokesman Michael Ehrlich said the company wouldnt pressure the franchises to change.
The Adidas initiative is great. Most schools around the country do not have the financial resources to change their mascot, team uniforms, redesign school gyms. Uniforms alone can cost thousands of dollars so it will be interesting to see how many schools take them up on their offer.


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A partnership between a Nigerian-American legal and business firm, Menes Konsult, and Asian Franchise Academy (AFA) has ushered in African businesses to benefit from franchising opportunities and also to take their brands beyond borders.
The new company formed by the partnership, Africa Franchise Academy, will trade as Africa Franchise Alliance and will be incorporated in Singapore and Menes Konsult will own majority shares in the new company. The parties had been discussing and negotiating for many months before eventually reaching a consensus on all terms of the partnership.
The agreement was signed on behalf of Menes Konsult by its president, Attorney Jude Menes of Dallas, Texas, while the Founder and CEO of Asian Franchise Academy, Patrick Mauser, signed on behalf of AFA.
Attorney Menes stated that, through the African Franchise Academy, African entrepreneurs who have invested to build their brands will have the opportunity to take their businesses across Africa, because many homegrown African brands can do beyond their borders, adding that he is convinced that his firm’s partnership with the Asian Franchise Academy will accomplish the intended goal of making African brands popular outside the continent.
On the other hand, Mauser expressed that Menes Konsult is well positioned to best serve existing and potential clients of AFA in Africa. He stated that the newly formed partnership is a strategic development which will allow AFA to sustainably grow in Africa.


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Loss of Duty-Frees Blamed for EUR 1.4 Million Q2 Loss of Emona Obala Koper
Ljubljana, 31 August - Retailer Emona Obala Koper recorded a loss of SIT 316m (EUR 1.4m) in the first six months of the year, pinpointing last year's closure of duty-free shops as the main reason for the loss of revenue. 2001 was the worst year in the company's history, the management said, disappointed with the sluggish performance of its 24/7 chain of stores which was expected to make up for the lost income.
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