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The latest edition of the China Competition Bulletin reports on the state of affairs in Chinese public procurement markets, where inadequate rules and procedures seemingly fail to ensure value for money as a result of a lack of transparency and accountability.
According to the report,
The principles of openness and transparency, fair competition, impartiality, and good faith are required to be observed in government procurement. China’s government procurement system provides general rules on competition, transparency, and fairness. However, the implementation of the rules is less than ideal. Insufficient disclosure of information, conflicts of interest, discriminatory treatment of enterprises, excessive prices, and poor quality purchasing have been frequently reported and raised the public’s concern in recent years. The newly released Blue Book of Rule of Law: Annual Report on China’s Rule of Law No. 11 (2013) provides an empirical report on the current state of government procurement.
Remarkably, other than the difficulties in having access to comparable data (and, generally, to data), the report evidences that
Data and price comparison results revealed that certain government procured goods can be much more expensive than average market prices. An extreme example mentioned in the report was a desktop computer that was procured at a cost of CNY 98,730 when the average market price for a computer with the same specifications was CNY 2,649. [...] In the end, the prices of 19,020 items were compared. These goods covered 29 product categories such as uninterruptible power systems, laptops, dehumidifiers, printers, and fax machines. The results show that the prices of 15,190 items were higher than the average market prices and that taxpayers had paid an extra CNY 20,743,897.50. On the positive side, the price comparison results show that 68,025 items purchased through the centralised procurement of the Central Government had saved taxpayers CNY 5,543,185. The 68,025 items, covering desktops, workstations, and printers, were chosen from 85,963 records collected for the research.
In view of such findings,
the report notes that transparency is the foundation of fair competition, impartiality, and good faith. Transparency can effectively facilitate fair competition, deter corruption, and prevent China, the world’s largest procurement market, from turning into the world’s largest market for public corruption.
It seems that the Chinese public procurement system would benefit from a revision along the lines suggested by the report itself, which includes recommendations for the revision and improvement of the legal system for government procurement; which should be coupled with those in the OECD July 2012 Recommendation and, more generally, it offers a clear example of the interaction between public procurement and competition, as well as the need to consider effects of public procurement regulations on competitive markets, as Prof. Yukins and Lt. Col. Cora have just emphasised in their featured comment in Government Contractor, March 6, 2013, Vol. 55, No. 9, ¶ 64.
When analysing the situation in the USA, Yukins and Cora conclude that
a substantial body of literature confirms that procurement rules can have a significant negative impact on competitive commercial markets. Procurement rules can, for example, raise new barriers to entry in the commercial marketplace, facilitate collusion in the commercial space, or artificially buoy commercial prices. Federal procurement regulators have not, as a regular matter, assessed those possible impacts in past rulemaking, but sound practice and legal authority, including an executive order, seem to call for such assessments. Assessing procurement rules’ likely impact on competitive markets would be in accord with best practices in rulemaking, and would help ensure that the federal procurement system integrates efficiently, and not disruptively, into the broader economy.
Their views and recommendations, which I fully share [Sanchez Graells, Public Procurement and the EU Competition Rules (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2011)], are relevant for procurement reform in all major jurisdictions, such as the USA, the EU and China. Hopefully, too, such revisions can lead to an exchange of best practices and, to the extent desirable, certain global convergence.


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Whole Foods sets grand opening; to offer pre-opening tours
by MBJ Staff
Published: January 10,2014
JACKSON — Whole Foods Market will open its doors Tuesday, Feb. 4, at 9 a.m. at Highland Village in Jackson, according to release from the company.
The 34,000-square-foot store will feature an organic salad bar, in-store smoked barbecue, fresh-made gelato, natural body care and nutritional supplements, beer growler filling station and the Yazoo Bend Coffee & Taproom with 4 beers on tap.
“We really look forward to finally opening our doors and being part of the Jackson community,” said Marty Cribb, store team leader for Whole Foods Market, Jackson.
Whole Foods Market will also offer an early look at its first Mississippi store with sneak-preview tours. For a $5 donation to The Literacy Garden at the Mississippi Children’s Museum, curious customers can take a pre-opening tour of the store at a specified time slot. Tours are scheduled between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sat., February 1. Tour attendees will be the first to get a glimpse of the new store, learn a bit about Whole Foods Market and the store highlights, taste samples and receive a goodie bag.
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Apple is expected to launch refreshed 13-inch new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models this October.
|MacBook Pro 16
Apple fresh its MacBook Air and killed its entry-level MacBook Pro (non-Touch Bar) and also the 12-inch MacBook, earlier this month. In February this year, well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reportable that Apple is working on a 16-inch MacBook Pro model. A recent report currently claims that Apple might launch a 16-inch MacBook Pro as early as October this year. Apple is additionally expected to update the 13-inch MacBook Pro and also the MacBook Air with retina display throughout a similar month.
A recent report from the Economic Daily News, initially noticed by 9to5Mac, cites sources from the supply chain claiming Apple can introduce a 16-inch MacBook Pro in October. the larger MacBook pro is predicted to feature a show with a native resolution of 3072×1920. The report states that the LG show is going to be activated the LCD panels for the new 16-inch MacBook Pro model.
A previous report had hinted at a September launch for the Apple MacBook Pro 16 model. However, October sounds like an additional possible timeline since it lines up with Apple’s usual fall unharness cycle.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro is ready to become the foremost costly MacBok 16 pro model with a beginning value of around $3,000 (roughly Rs. 2,07,000), per the report. there is no word on the key specifications of the approaching MacBook pro model nonetheless. The new model is predicted to sit down between the iMac and also the macintosh pro.
Apple’s fresh MacBook Air model that launched earlier this month another a brand new True Tone show whereas keeping a similar processor. A fresh model in October might speed things up with a brand new processor.
The company is additionally expected to change to new, scissor-switch keyboards for MacBook Air this year and MacBook pro models someday next year. Apple 16 hasn’t had any luck with its Butterfly keyboards and has been systematically increasing its keyboard repair program.
Thanks for Reading, Cheers…


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Mobile phones are not biodegradable. They contain small amounts of potentially harmful substances such as cadmium, lithium, among others, in their batteries which, if not managed properly, can damage the environment.
D Shivakumar, VP and managing director, Nokia India, told Business Standard: "We will be using biodegradable phone covers, recyclable battery designs that use less harmful toxic materials and energy efficient accessories for all our forthcoming phones. Already, we have eliminated the use of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) in all our phones."
In markets like the US, Nokia encloses a pre-addressed, postage-paid envelope in sales packs, providing customers an easy method for returning used products for recycling, at no cost to them.
"The consumer simply places the contents in the bag and then puts it in their mailbox. We are evaluating similar refurbishment processes for India, which is the second-largest telecom market," added Shivakumar.
Nokia uses biomaterials, such as polylactic acid (PLA) plastics with plant or other biomass-based modifiers that help reduce the use of non-renewable materials. An additional bonus is that the energy required to produce PLA "" from raw material to plastic pellet "" is minimal.
Elastomers based on biomaterials can be used as rubber-like materials to seal off the battery case. Nokia's Eco Sensor concept is rooting for the phone and detector units that will be optimised for lower energy consumption than phones in 2007 in both the manufacturing process and use. Alternative energy sources, such as solar power, will fuel the sensor unit's power usage.
Nokia is also investing in green bins across all its priority dealer centres, where customers can drop their old phones, and plans to extend this service across all Nokia centres. It had earlier launched its first eco-friendly phone, the 3110, which is claimed to be more around 65 per cent recyclable. "The green phones, which we will launch this year, will be introduced across all price ranges," said Shivakumar.
The company is also aiming to reduce amount of energy consumed by mobile chargers. "We are also hopeful of reducing the no load power consumption "" the power wasted when a charger is left in a live power socket "" by a further 50 per cent by 2010."
Nokia will also be focusing on training and awareness programmes designed to ensure that those working in care centres operated on behalf of Nokia take-back programme can advise consumers on recycling issues.
There have been similar attempts by other researchers and companies too. A revolutionary biodegradable phone cover exhibited by researchers in London contained a sunflower seed. The cover, when biodegrades in compost, releases important nutrients that nurse the growing sunflower seedling.
For instance, biodegradable plastic "" developed by Sony "" is a polylactic acid derived from natural sugars extracted from corn starch. It comprises around 60 per cent of the outer surface area of the phone's case and battery cover. And a revolutionary biodegradable phone cover exhibited by researchers in London contained a sunflower seed.
They used a biodegradable polymer as the mobile phone cladding and implanted a sunflower seed inside. The cover, when biodegrades in compost, releases important nutrients that nurse the growing sunflower seedling.
Incidentally, Nokia missed the top spot in this year's Greenpeace 'Guide to Greener Electronics', while Motorola rose from the 14th to 12th position. "Testing of Motorola's take-back programme by Greenpeace revealed improvements in Motorola's take-back service in the Philippines, Thailand, and India," note Greenpeace findings.
With around 10 such take-back stores in India, according to Motorola website, the company encourages consumers to drop Motorola products into an EcoMoto take-back bin from where authorised contractors collect and transport these items to approved recycling facilities.
Greenpeace ranks electronics companies based on toxic chemicals use and e-waste regulations. Nokia is targeting to have all new products launched after the end of 2009, free of restricted flame retardants (all brominated and chlorinated compounds and antimony trioxide).


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Google owns the information and entertainment platform Android Auto I donated a long time ago a major reboot that should cover all areas: use on the infotainment screen, on a smartphone and as a car operating system. But the smartphone version of all things stopped and it is today Google Assistant driving mode Fear more than needed. Should Google take a step back?
Android Auto and all the apps and platforms associated with it are not rocket science, as it is basically an alternative launcher that is displayed on either a smartphone or tablet in the car and runs apps optimized for that mode. Nothing more, nothing less, so it should be assumed that such a project should not pose any major challenges to a company like Google.
The small reboot of Android Auto in the car took place in the second half of 2019 and was very well received by users. The planned parallel reboot on the smartphone had to be canceled shortly before the start of the boot for unknown reasons. The change from Android Auto to Google Assistant Driving Mode in May 2019 appears to have caused major problems shortly before release and had to be withdrawn. But since Android 10 was already on the way and Android Auto was no longer available for this operating system, other apps were created as a temporary solution. A little bumpy, but it worked well.
Two years later, the Google Assistant Driving Mode is finally finished and he wants to replace the classic Android car on the smartphone with it. The release is still in progress, but once the new mode arrives (as with Android 12), the original Android Auto app can no longer be used. This is exactly where the problem lies.
Google Assistant driving mode causing problems
After the initial hype, Google Assistant’s driving mode very quickly turned into a disappointment, as many users aren’t used to the concept, have problems or struggle to start the mode at all. A long list of problems including a report on suffering can be found in this article. Teething issues are nothing unusual, but the situation has been broaching for months and you have been working on the app for at least two years. You should be able to expect a bug-free application, especially for in-car use.
Should Android Auto be back?
The question is why they said goodbye to Android Auto in the first place and dedicated everything to Google Assistant. The mode is part of Android, can only be played via Google Maps, and as usual, the Assistant is more of an add-on than a base. You simply have to call it “Android Driving Mode”, provide a shortcut in the quick settings and some issues will be resolved. Google Assistant is everywhere anyway and users don’t have to be bullied into using it.
In my opinion, going back to Android Auto on smartphones would be the only right step. It will support the platform module which is controlled in the background by the same engine on the smartphone. You will have the stable and bug-free version (on the smartphone). I can imagine there will be at least one renaming in the near future, because trying two to three years ago to squeeze Google Assistant everywhere has already moved a bit too far.
Note: If you don’t feel snug with the drive mode, but depend on it, you should take a look at the replacement head unit that has been reloaded.
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TORONTO – HelloFresh agreed to purchase all shares of Chefs Plate Inc., a meal kit company based in Canada. Details of the transaction were not disclosed, but the combined companies pegged targeted revenues of approximately C$200 million.
Chefs Plate is a leading provider of meal kits in Canada. In March, the company launched 15-minute meal kits featuring fresh, par-cooked and pre-cut ingredients to help consumers get dinner on the table in less time.
“Since our launch in 2014, we have pioneered the meal kit market following our clear mission to create meaningful human connections through food,” said Jamie Shea, co-founder and CEO of Chefs Plate. “Now, we have the unique opportunity to further accelerate our plans and create an offering that attracts even more customers. We are more than delighted to have found a partner in HelloFresh that shares our passion for food and quality at all levels. The partnership will allow us to leverage the strength of the most successful global player in the market and at the same time continue to build a sustainable Canadian food system and support the community around us.”
In addition to the United States, HelloFresh operates in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Australia, Austria, Switzerland, Canada and New Zealand. The Berlin, Germany-based company was founded in November 2011 and went public on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in November 2017. This year, HelloFresh delivered 48.9 million meals to 1.84 million active customers worldwide between April 1 and June 30, according to the company.
“The integration of Chefs Plate is a big leap for our ambitious plans for the Canadian market. Together, we are not only the largest player, but we also create a superior offering. In the future, we can serve the widest range of individual consumer needs with two strong brands,” said Ian Brooks, CEO of HelloFresh Canada. “We are more than happy to have the talented Chefs Plate team on board and are looking forward to working together on many exciting projects.”


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Biggest Scratch Card Ever Debuts In Britain
Nothing says “I was born British” quite like pork pot pie, Yorkshire pudding and a propensity to profusely apologise even when one isn’t at all in the wrong. A recent addition to the list, confirmed as worthy of being associated with being truly British by the amount of money spent by Brits on this particular commodity every year, is your good old tried and trusted scratch card. As in, the instant win (in-store) or play-online variety.
To celebrate the recently-released statistic that almost a quarter of all Brits go out and buy at least one scratch card every single month, British Lottery operator Lottoland has launched what may very well be the largest scratch card jackpot in the world. To be precise, a £20 scratch card puts the holder in line to win a life-changing £20 million jackpot. According to information released by the national Lottery operator, users may either opt to purchase instant win scratch cards or to participate by playing online.
Not A British-Only Thing
The release of the new £20 million jackpot scratch card was prompted by the yet-to-be-matched success of the smaller-by-half £10 million scratch card released early last year. Lottoland CEO Nigel Birrell believes that the super success enjoyed by high-value scratch card isn’t limited to the borders of Great Britain, but instead is a movement that is prevalent the world over.
Birrell said that Lottoland is looking very much forward to the pleasure of making and meeting a new breed of scratch card multi-millionaires real soon. He referred to the success enjoyed by last year’s £10 million scratch card launch as nothing short of “phenomenal”.
Lottoland Not Shy To Pay
Birrell has more than enough reason to look forward to the future of scratch cards. Lottoland has after all been shown to be more than just mildly generous with the size of the prizes handed out to lucky players over the course of the past couple of years.
Moreover, the operator holds the record for the largest-ever payout made. The payout was made via its online Lottery platform and the total of the prize came to an incredible £79 million. The lucky player turned out to be a 36-year-old cleaner from Berlin named Christina.
Word on the street is that Christina has since having received the life-changing news, quit her job as a cleaner.


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Guardian, March 19 2012
Graeme Moran, fashion writer at Drapers, the industry magazine, praised what he called the Duchess of Cambridge’s tendency to “recycle” clothes.
“She is known for recycling coats, shoes and dresses. I think it is a good message, personally.
“She sends the message that fashion should not be throw-away and wear once and never wear again.”


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(Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday classified Philips' expanded recall of certain ventilators late last year as Class 1, or the most serious type of recall, saying they could lead to injuries or death.
The Dutch medical equipment company initiated the recall of 215 Trilogy Evo ventilators and 51 repair kits in the United States in December due to potential health risks from a type of foam used in the devices.
So far, there have been no reported injuries or deaths from the products, which were distributed in the United States and Korea, the FDA said.
This is the latest recall by Philips to be labeled Class 1 after it pulled back up to 4 million breathing-aid machines last year amid concerns that a polyurethane foam used in the devices could degrade and become toxic.
Earlier this month, the company raised that estimate by 1 million.
Philips was not immediately available for comment.
A Philips supplier had incorrectly used the polyurethane foam, which is intended to reduce sound and vibration, in one of the parts of the Trilogy Evo ventilators - an issue that was identified during lab testing, according to the regulator.
The foam could break down and potentially enter the device's air pathway, leading to the user inhaling chemicals or other harmful materials, the FDA said.
($1 = 0.8880 euros)
Reuters Health Information © 2022


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HUNDREDS of people enjoyed flavours of the district and beyond during the fourth Brackley Food Festival last weekend.
More than two dozen stalls filled Brackley Piazza and Town Hall on Sunday, including many local businesses and an Italian Market.
The festival is organised by the chair of the Community Carnival committee Julie Moore who said: “It just gives people the chance to see what’s out there. For example Belflair Chocolate, they have a shop in Banbury but they live and have a factory shop in Brackley. It’s good for them to be in the town centre showing people what they do.”
Ms Moore said moving the festival to a Sunday meant Brackley Butchers were also able attend and a good crowd gathered to watch their sausage making and butchery demonstration.


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CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Chattem Inc. said Tuesday it would voluntarily stop shipping a certain brand of the popular appetite suppressant Dexatrim because it might increase the risk of a stroke.
The move was prompted by a request from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, which issued a public health warning on Monday.
Chattem CHTT a maker of over-the-counter drugs, cosmetics and toiletries, said the decision would affect current inventories worth roughly $9 million. For the fiscal year ending Nov. 20, the company said sales of the weight-loss drug are anticipated to reach $20 million.
Shares of Chattem fell nearly 15 percent, closing at $4.97.
On Tuesday, the FDA reported that certain forms of Dexatrim containing phenylpropanolamine, or PPA, might increase the risk of brain hemorrhaging in both women and men.
PPA is also an active ingredient in cough and cold medications. The FDA said it is taking further steps to remove the element from all pharmaceutical products.
The agency based its decision on a recently completed Yale University medical study that studied the effects of PPA on women.
In a statement, Chattem said it disagreed with the FDA's findings, noting that Dexatrim is a safe and effective way to treat moderate obesity when consumed following directions.
The company said it would continue to ship a brand of Dexatrim that does not contain PPA. That form of the brand is expected to rake in fiscal 2000 sales of approximately $10 million.


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Economic Survey tabled; Growth target 7.5%
New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tabled the Economic Survey Report for 2017-18 on Tuesday in the Lok Sabha. The growth rate for the coming financial year has been estimated to rise from 6.5% to 7.5%.
Tabled a day before the Union budget, the Economic Survey report features major economic development indicators and the Finance Minister cited examples from the survey regrading the growth path of the country.
As per the Survey by the Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramaniam, India would remain the fastest growing major economy in the upcoming financial year. The Central Statistical Organisation had estimated a GDp growth of 7.1 % earlier and ignored any impact of demonetisation on the economy growth. While it was assumed by most sources that the GDP growth continued at 7.6% it has now been confirmed that the growth rate has been reduced to 6.6% by International Monetary Fund (IMF).


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Beginning in 2015, Imperfect Foods blazed a trail to the forefront of the “ugly food” movement with striking graphics of misshapen vegetables that turned cosmetic defects into heart-tugging symbols of the fight against food waste. The company bought produce seconds in bulk and delivered the not-supermarket-pretty fruits and vegetables directly to consumers at discounted prices.
Over time—and in pursuit of its mission to reduce food waste and better the entire food system—Imperfect expanded to additional grocery categories, including dairy, meat, and seafood. But Imperfect’s use of the word sustainable for the off-size cuts and scraps of farmed salmon from European company Hofseth doesn’t sit well with many industry and sustainability experts, and leaves some wondering where Imperfect’s priorities really lie.
Sustainability in the seafood industry is more a spectrum than a widely accepted standard, but Hofseth and Imperfect both call the salmon sustainable. Commercial fisherman and sustainable seafood consultant Amy Grondin disagrees: while many of the company’s practices are a great improvement, open-water net pens can’t control for the waste from farming salmon and simply can’t guarantee protection for wild salmon against potential net pen breaks, especially with the uncertainty of changing weather patterns. “Until they put those farmed salmon in closed-containment systems (on land or barges),” says Grondin, “I don’t think that product is sustainable.” (Hofseth does have land-based farms in the works, and Imperfect hopes to use them in the future.)
Imperfect Foods believes that the Hofseth facilities are environmentally sound, and “[s]almon is a really popular fish for customers,” says Seth Rosenberg, who heads up seafood sourcing for the company. A pre-established supply line and the large volume available made it easy to weave into their offerings.
Jill Lightner, author of Scraps, Peels, and Stems: Recipes and Tips for Rethinking Food Waste at Home, balked at the idea. Lightner lives in Seattle, where native fish were recently affected so adversely by issues with salmon farms that the practice was banned last year. On top of that, she says, “I really, really struggle with the idea that raising fish in Norway to ship to a U.S. distributor… is a sensible way to reduce the massive environmental impact of seafood waste.”
Alternative supply lines already exist for seafood—these scraps might otherwise go into salmon burgers, supplements, or pet food—but as Rosenberg notes, selling to Imperfect provides a more lucrative option for Hofseth. And while seafood is one of the main sources of food waste in the U.S., USDA studies show that while consumers waste about two times as much fresh fruit as retailers, they waste almost four times as much fish and seafood than the retail level.
To Lightner, who does see companies like Imperfect as user-friendly (though flawed) ways to avoid produce waste, there are simply better ways consumers can reduce seafood waste. She says people can start by eating canned varieties instead of fresh but farmed fish. “It’s the least pressure, and a good tuna melt is a great gateway to the joys of fish,” she says. For more advanced cooks, Lightner suggests making homemade seafood stock and learning to cook delicious “scraps” like fish collars. “The former will save you money and get a second use from things like shrimp shells, and the latter will help fishmongers sell their odds and ends in a way that is much like the undersized salmon fillet idea, but rooted in your community stores.”
Like Lightner, Grondin is a huge proponent of eating fish scraps, but the best way she sees to reduce waste is by companies simply taking fewer fish out of the water. “How many fish do they really need to raise to run their business and pay their people?,” she asks. “Are they really using all of it? What percentage of what they grow becomes waste?”
Rosenberg admits the flaws in Imperfect’s current system and hopes they can eventually source their fish domestically. Plans for the future include using bycatch (unwanted seafood caught while fishing for a different species), undervalued species like sole, and buying up inventory excess. “It’s challenging,” Rosenberg says, of sticking to the company’s mission when sourcing seafood. Despite Imperfect’s insistence that the salmon farm meets company standards, his points about tapping into an existing supply chain with an appealing product make it feel overwhelmingly like a business decision that sidesteps the stated mission. Rosenberg recognizes the room for improvement, though, and says that going forward he plans to target more wild, domestic seafood. Where the salmon partnership falls on the balance between mission and profit, he says, is more “about setting a minimum and then aiming really high.”
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—Retailers reuse and recycle the way to increased growth
—Why Gap Inc. torpedoed its Old Navy spinoff
—How Ganni used tech-world tricks to grow from cult fashion label to global brand
—Consumers are turning away from real fur, but faux fur isn’t a perfect fix
—The World’s Most Admired Companies in 2020
Follow Fortune on Flipboard to stay up-to-date on the latest news and analysis.


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When a superstar is paired opposite a lesser known actor, seldom do we experience issues between them. But, when a brand approaches two big stars to team up together then it becomes a matter of concern for the stars as well as for their respective teams. After all, who would want to get overshadowed by another talented actor?! It happens, doesn't it?
Now, our source informs us that Ranbir Kapoor is in talks with an aerated drink brand to become their brand ambassador soon. The deal is almost final. But there is a catch to the story. Apparently, the brand has approached Ranbir Kapoor and Ranveer Singh to appear together in their commercial once Ranbir is on board officially, since Ranveer Singh already endorses the same aerated drink brand.
Ranbir Kapoor has however denied the offer for reasons best known to him--- but the brand has offered him more time to think again and are also ready to pay him an extra moolah if he agrees to do it.
Just a few days ago, reports of Ranbir Kapoor and Mrs Singh all set to work together in a commercial after 4 years, had grabbed headlines. Now, let's wait and watch if we will see Mr Kapoor with Mr Singh as well.
Image Source:- Wooden-boats-plan/instagram/ranveersingh/ranbirkapoor
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Gatik, a Silicon Valley startup that's developing an autonomous fixed-route robotic delivery service, secured its biggest cash infusion to date with an $85 million round led by Koch Industries’ investment arm that will help it expand operations, add staff and build up its truck fleet.
The Palo Alto, California-based company, which already generates revenue hauling consumer goods and groceries in robotic trucks for Walmart in Arkansas and Louisiana and for Canada’s Loblaw supermarkets in Toronto, said it’s also expanding delivery services for companies in Texas. The plan includes operating autonomous 20- and 26-foot box trucks out of facilities it’s setting up near the Fort Worth airport as part of the state’s “Mobility Innovation Zone.”
With the Series B round Gatik has raised $114.5 million since its founding in 2017 and the new financing “positions us to scale nicely from here,” says cofounder and CEO Gautam Narang. “The way we look at the business, the technology, the companies we work with, we have all the key components in place.”
Trucking and delivery services have been the fastest-developing area of the autonomous driving industry over the past two years as the application is viewed as somewhat easier than robotaxi services and likely to generate more revenue in the next few years. Unlike competitors such as TuSimple, which focuses on developing robotic semis for long-haul highway trucking or startup Nuro’s small, street-legal grocery and food delivery robots, Gatik’s focus is hauling goods for businesses on repetitive, fixed routes, with little variation. (Waymo, which is developing robotic big rigs as well as robotaxis, is also testing so-called middle-mile deliveries to commercial customers in suburban Phoenix.)
The funding round gives the closely held company “a runway of at least two and a half, three years,” Narang said. The company has been approached by potential partners about going public via a SPAC merger, but there are no immediate plans to do so, he said without elaborating. The fact that Gatik’s revenue from delivery services is rising also reduces the pressure to list its shares or pursue an even bigger funding round.
“We have meaningful revenue coming in. Last year we did revenue in the millions, and this year, we are projecting to increase that by 400% year over year,” he said, without elaborating.
Koch’s investment arm, Koch Disruptive Technologies, led the funding round that included existing investors Innovation Endeavors, Wittington Ventures, FM Capital, Dynamo Ventures, Trucks VC and Intact Ventures, among other participants.
“Gatik’s transformational autonomous technology and world-class team are defining the standard in B2B short-haul logistics by addressing the most prominent issues facing today’s supply chain,” Chase Koch, president of Koch Disruptive Technologies, said in a statement. “We believe Gatik will be the first to commercialize autonomous technology at scale for the North American medium-duty trucking market.”
Gatik is working with truckmaker Isuzu to launch a line of commercial autonomous delivery vehicles by 2023, and intends to expand its current 20-vehicle fleet to about 100 units by year’s end, says Narang. The company has made significant technological progress in the past year, to the point where it’s now operating some trucks in Arkansas in fully driverless mode, with no human behind the wheel as a backup.
“These are not one-off demos or one-time runs. We are doing these runs repeatedly on public roads,” Narang says. “On the technology front we are at a point where we have validated the technology in one market and now the focus is to scale from here.”
(Gatik was also named to Forbes’ AI 50 2021: America’s Most Promising Artificial Intelligence Companies)


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Indian entrepreneurs and investors expect the penalty imposed on search giant Google by the country’s competition regulator on Thursday to ease what they term as the American company’s stranglehold over local digital businesses.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI), which slapped a fine of Rs 136 crore on Google, ruled that the company “indulged in practices of search bias” which harms both competitors and users.
“It is a milestone verdict,” wrote Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of India’s largest mobile payments company Paytm, in a post on microblogging site Twitter. “Sending billions of tax free $ out of India and blocking Indian startups to build solutions for India. That’s Google for you!” tweeted Sharma, whose company competes with Google’s digital payments service Tez.
While the quantum of the fine “maybe a pittance” for the global media giant, the ruling has stirred hope of a more level playing field for Indian digital startups that are feeling the heat from Google’s dominance of online search. The ruling is regarded as particularly significant as the American giant prepares to expand services across areas ranging from payments to food delivery in India.
“The Google Play store too should be a level playing field,” said Rahul Khanna, managing partner at Trifecta Capital, a venture debt firm, which has backed startups such as hyper-local services provider UrbanClap, grocery seller BigBasket and furniture portal Urban Ladder.
“No one is regulating the likes of Google and Facebook on how they present content because they are monopolies. So having global regulatory bodies or guidelines to regulate such global digital media companies is key to ensure a level playing field,” said Rahul Khanna of Trifecta Capital.
About half a dozen leading entrepreneurs that ET spoke to welcomed the judgement, but declined to be identified fearing the impact on their business relationships with Google.
“Google is an innovative company which offers pioneering products. However, our contention is to ensure that (it) does not abuse its scale and other advantages to the detriment of the Indian Internet ecosystem and customers,” said Murugavel Janakiraman, founder of Matrimony. com.
The CCI ruling followed complaints filed by Matrimony.com and Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) in 2012 against Google LLC, Google India Pvt Ltd and Google Ireland Ltd.
While the CCI order said Google abused its dominant position on three counts that largely relate to search, it found no foul play in the case of advertising.
Chennai-based Matrimony.com had filed an appeal in the state high court against Google, contesting the need to pay for trademarks in a bid to boost traffic in 2012, the same year when the appeal was made to the CCI as well.
That case in the state high court is still underway and a verdict is awaited.
SHOT IN THE ARM Entrepreneurs whose businesses compete with Google believe the CCI order, which came after an agonising six-year wait, is a shot in the arm for digital businesses and will encourage Indian startups.
In its ruling, the competition regulator cited existence of search bias where Google privileged its own vertical while delivering results for searches on airline flights. Google Flights competes with local travel portals such as Make-MyTrip, Cleartrip and Yatra. The CCI order noted that it “amounts to an unfair imposition upon users of search services as it deprives them of additional choices”.
This ruling, said entrepreneurs, will have ramifications on Google’s treatment of other verticals as well. Legal experts are of the view that the Competition Act allows for aggregators in various verticals — that compete with Google — to claim compensation from the search giant for the loss in traffic.
“The significance of this order is that both the majority and minority have found Google to be dominant, and once you are dominant, you have special responsibility in the competition law,” said Naval Chopra, partner at law firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, which represented Matrimony.com before the CCI.
“Google has spent a lot of time trying to dispute the fact that it has this special responsibility and that it is dominant,” he said.
The CCI order, say legal experts, lays the foundation for a level playing field and makes Indian startups aware of their rights.
GOOGLE EXPECTED TO APPEAL Google is expected to appeal against the CCI order. “The Competition Commission of India has confirmed that, on the majority of issues it examined, our conduct complies with Indian competition laws. We are reviewing the narrow concerns identified by the commission and will assess our next steps,” a representative for Google said in response to detailed queries from ET.
Digital entrepreneurs also cite the need for self-regulation. “Both Google and Facebook enjoy a duopoly, where they can dictate who sees what and how often. It is on them to ensure that the algorithms don’t discriminate,” said Sattvik Mishra, cofounder of ScoopWhoop, a digital media and news startup backed by Kalaari Capital.
The tenth and series finale workshop of the Reimagining Tech in 2022 series was titled Accelerate productivity with no-code app development. It explored how no-code app development solutions can empower citizen developers and business users with zero coding knowledge, to build apps that are secure, flexible, and scalable without putting a strain on engineering or IT resources.


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Baton Rouge entrepreneur hopeful unique golf clubs score with buyers
Fry began the lengthy procedure of prototyping the clubs although still in LSU law college. … It took four years of prototyping just before Fry knew his notion would operate. Back in … The heads, which weigh about 30 % less than standard, are made in China.
Study much more on The Advocate
What's next for Apple?
And the cutter that you can see there in this CNC machine is now machining incredibly accurately– the form– at the back of the watch– …. Tim Cook has spent a lot of the final decade expanding Apple's attain around the planet, nowhere far more than in China.
Read more on CBS News
Hardware startups and products: founder guidelines for making hardware significantly less tough
Hardware startups are now starting to get pleasure from the kind of interest that their software program counterparts have enjoyed. “The decreasing expense of prototyping is lowering the barriers to entry and producing it more feasible to create a physical item inside …
Study much more on YourStory.com


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Players of Ubisoft’s The Crew 2 will be the first to get their hands on the latest British sports car. The 2019 TVR Griffith, built as part of the brand’s revival, will make its racing game debut in the massive open-world racer.
Announced on the official site, the new Griffith will be the latest Vehicle Drop in the game. The Griffith will slot into the Street Race class and will provide an exciting option for players as they speed across America.
Packing a Cosworth-tuned 5.0-liter V8 engine and 500hp, the Griffith has more than enough power for tackling the high speed U.S. freeways. Weighing in at just 2,755lb, the light weight should provide agile handling for the mountainous winding roads.
The Griffith is now available to Season Pass holders, with general release coming on November 7. With the real Griffith not on sale yet, the virtual version will provide an early glimpse of what to expect from TVR.
For more on The Crew 2, be sure to drop by our dedicated forum section.
See more articles on TVR Griffith.


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Royal Enfield may be preparing to buy out Italian super bike maker Ducati, says report
Ducati may be valued at Rs 10,500 crore
Is India's own Royal Enfield preparing to buy out super bike maker Ducati? According to a report in The Times of India, the Indian bike company has been approached for a possible acquisition of the Italian company.
A report in Reuters last month said Volkswagen is considering a possible sale of Ducati as the group streamlines operations to help fund a strategic overhaul following its emissions scandal.
The report said VW has tasked investment banking boutique Evercore to evaluate possible options including a sale of the Ducati brand, which its Audi division acquired for about 860 million euros ($935 million) in 2012.
The report also said VW has started reaching out to potential buyers to sound out their interest, but no decision has been taken on whether the brand will be sold.
According to the report in TOI, Ducati may be valued about Rs 10,500 crore. Eicher Motors, of which Royal Enfield is a part, did not comment on the development but Siddhartha Lal, MD & CEO of Eicher Motors, told the newspaper that the company is "open to thoughts and ideas".
The report quotes sources as saying that the Indian company is keen to explore any possible acquisition of Ducati.
According to the Reuters report, Ducati's annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) stood at roughly 100 million euros.
The report had said the motorbike maker may appeal to peers in China, India's Hero or investors such as the consortium that bought British sports car maker Aston Martin in 2007.
Royal Enfield had last week said it plans to invest Rs 800 crore during this fiscal on various activities including its upcoming manufacturing facility near Chennai and new product development.
"We will be investing Rs 800 crore in FY 2017-18 towards our upcoming manufacturing facility at Vallam Vadagal near Chennai, product development, two technical centres in the UK and India and towards market expansion," Lal had said in a statement.
The new plant is expected to be operational by August 2017 taking the combined capacity of Royal Enfield to 8,25,000 motorcycles in 2017-18.
During the fourth quarter of the last fiscal, Royal Enfield posted its best ever performance, selling 178,345 motorcycles, up 20.8 percent over 147,618 motorcycles sold in the same period last year.
The two-wheeler maker also posted its highest ever quarterly income from operations at Rs 1,888 crore for the fourth quarter ended 31 March, a growth of 23.2 percent over the corresponding period last year.
Royal Enfield now has 25 exclusive stores in international markets.
With inputs from PTI
Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison.


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Just about a month ago, HTC announced their intention to unlock bootloaders for the Sensation, EVO 3D and other devices and that it will no be as easy as “flipping a switch.” I gotta give it to the Taiwanese company for actually listening to their fans unlike some other competitors who just “talk the talk and not walk the walk”. HTC just updated their Facebook page with the following statement:
Since our last update, many of you have asked how the bootloader unlocking process will actually work, and in particular why HTC’s most recently released devices still have a locked bootloader. Rest assured we’re making progress toward our goal to roll out the first software updates in August to support unlocking for the global HTC Sensation, followed soon by the HTC Sensation 4G on T-Mobile and the HTC EVO 3D on Sprint. Because unlocking the bootloader provides extensive control over the device and modifications may cause operation, security and experience issues, new devices will continue to ship locked but will support user-initiated unlocking using a new Web-based tool.
So how will this work? The Web tool, which will launch this month, requires that you register an account with a valid e-mail address and accept legal disclaimers that unlocking may void all or parts of your warranty. Then plug in your phone to a computer with the Android SDK loaded to retrieve a device identifier token, which you can then enter into the Web tool to receive a unique unlock key via e-mail. Finally, apply the key to your device and unlocking will be initiated on your phone.
We’re excited to bring bootloader unlocking to developers and enthusiasts, and we feel this new Web tool will meet your needs and continue to provide customers with the best experience. Thanks to the community for supporting these efforts!
So bacically, HTC will launch a web-based unlocking tool where users will have to sign-up for using their emails and follow the given instructions. Updates will start rolling out this month to the non-U.S. version of the Sensation and then the U.S. one as well as the EVO 3D will follow. These updates are supposed to get the devices above ready to for the bootloader unlocking procedure.
It would have been better if HTC just released their phones with unlocked bootloaders out of the box but you take what you get. What do you guys think?


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Ludlow Town council has now cancelled the market.
Reduced stalls, non-food markets cancelled. But you can still get a cup of tea. That’s the future of Ludlow Market during the coronavirus crisis. This is vital. Not everyone wants to shop at a supermarket. Not everyone feels comfortable with crowded aisles and queues to the checkout. Many people prefer to buy from independent traders rather than the international retail giants.
Ludlow Market will be a socially distanced market from Wednesday. Only every second stall used.
I observed behaviour in town today. It was very different from that even on Saturday. People stood at a respectful distance.
We are in unknown territory. We have not had a peacetime crisis like this in our lifetimes. We don’t know how to react to something we barely understand.
It is ironic that the growing concern over Covid-19 has led to people cramming into crowded supermarkets aisles and rushing into overly busy open spaces, including mountains and beaches.
People need exercise. They need to get out of their homes to shop. One of the realities of this crisis that the most vulnerable people are least able to live and work online. Help is available across our town and its hinterland. Your first port of call is Pulling Together Ludlow (01584 817250).
Ludlow Town Council is now working with our communuty to keep our town alive in the coming months. That’s the reason behind the socially distanced market.
The market is central to our town. It has taken decades to build up support from traders as well as residents. I could not imagine Ludlow without it.
Statement from the Mayor of Ludlow, Tim Gill
“The footfall in Ludlow has severely reduced which is exactly what is needed to help combat coronavirus, but there is a balance to be struck to make sure Ludlow’s residents can get adequate food and household supplies.
“At a time when extreme pressure is being exerted on supermarkets, Ludlow’s local butchers, bakers, smaller specialist food retailers, and Ludlow market have a part to play. Some people prefer shopping in the open rather than being part of the supermarkets’ scrums.
“Things are very difficult and we want to preserve Ludlow market as a source of food and household goods. We have waived the rent for a three month period and adjusted the way the market is laid out so that an empty stall is left between each trader to assist with social distancing.
“Ludlow Town Council would not encourage anyone to travel other than for essential journeys for food and other supplies. And it is important that self-isolating is observed and anyone over seventy, or with underlying health conditions should not leave the house at all.
“Community spirit is as strong as ever in Ludlow, and this is very heartening. Victoria Harris has set up a Facebook group called Pulling Together Ludlow. This is a coalition of GPs from Portcullis and Station Drive, Hands Together Ludlow, Ludlow Area Virus Volunteers and many others. The group enables people to volunteer to help with food shopping, and important errands for people who are self-isolating.
“If you live in Ludlow and need help during this period of social isolation call Pulling Together Ludlow on 01584 817250 Mon-Fri 9 am to 5pm: Saturday and Sunday 9 am to 3 pm. There is a website to visit https://pullingtogetherludloworguk.wordpress.com/
“These are difficult times and even the smallest kindness means a great deal.”


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July 11, 2022 Ubisoft has clarified that current owners of Assassin’s Creed Liberation will retain access to the game when online features are ‘decommissioned’ September 1.
The only Assassin’s Creed game with a black female protagonist has been pulled from Steam. Ubisoft has delisted the Assassin’s Creed Liberation Steam edition, so the action-adventure game can no longer be purchased on Valve’s storefront.
After confusing language led players to believe the game would become unavailable even for people who had already purchased it, Ubisoft made a clarification, and now says current owners will continue to be able to play the base game, but that online features and DLC will not be available after they are ‘decommissioned’ September 1.
Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD, the remastered version of the PS Vita game that ties into the events of Assassin’s Creed III, was released in 2014 and is unlikely to be anyone’s favourite Assassin’s Creed game. Ubisoft didn’t include it in the list of games it’s pulling support from in 2022, but it has now been delisted from Steam “at the request of the publisher.”
Now, normally when a game gets pulled from sale, you can still play it if you already own it. Rockstar’s GTA trilogy, for example, can be downloaded and played by anyone who bought them. The Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD Steam page, on the other hand, states that the game “will not be accessible following September 1st, 2022.”


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Right about now, some 800 Apple retail employees would be packing their suitcases and heading home from Phoenix (Ariz.) after the company’s annual Retail Team Conference. Instead, the conference was abruptly cancelled last week on short notice, and all the participants stayed home to put in a routine work-week. The five-day conference has always been a key annual get-together for top-level retail team members from around the world. Participants spend time reviewing store operations over the past year, attend training classes, receive recognition and strategize for the coming year. But sources say this year, just days before participants were to travel, they were notified the gathering had been cancelled. The sources said this week’s new product event was the reason given for the cancellation. However, they noted Apple has previously scheduled product debuts during the week of a retail conference without conflicts, including last year’s iPhone 4s launch during the Chicago conference. That raises questions about the real motive for the cancellation. Previous reports have documented various cost-cutting measures instituted by Sr. V-P Retail John Browett, hired by Apple earlier this year. The cuts were aimed at retail store employees, and ostensibly intended to streamline store operations. But sources said the motive was really to reduce retail segment expenses, thereby improving the unit’s profit margin. The sources speculate that this week’s conference cancellation is part of Browett’s continuing move towards a leaner retail operation. If true, it means that even upper-level, veteran executives and staffers are not immune to Browett’s search for cost savings. In this case, even with substantial no-show penalties for airline tickets, hotel rooms and meeting spaces, sources said that canceling the event would still be considered a money-saver.
Annual Retail Conference Cancelled on Short Notice
Previous post: Solid Financials for Stores, Record Sales of Macs


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It's not just HP and Lenovo that are targeting the education market with their Google Chromebooks. Today Acer announced the C710-2055 Chromebook, a $279 system running Google's mostly-online operating system, which it hopes will appeal to students looking for a portable and inexpensive notebook.
The C710 will be powered by 1.1-GHz Intel Celeron 847 processor, and will have 4GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive. The notebook weighs 3.1 pounds, which includes an 11.6-inch display, three USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, VGA and a 2-in-1 card reader.
The C710 is very similar to the 11.6-inch C7 Chromebook that Acer released last year, in that it has the same processor and hard drive. However, in the press release, Acer says that the C710 will have a 6-cell battery that it claims will provide up to 6 hours of battery life, roughly an hour and a half longer than what we saw with the C7.
While this Chromebook will be available for anyone to purchase, Acer touts its portability and cloud features as beneficial for students, who need something they can carry around easily and collaborate with other students and teachers. The company says the low cost of the system, both to purchase and maintain, will also appeal to IT administrators.
The C710 is available now for $279; stay tuned for our full review.


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Entries in '360' (593)
Although the actual Expo itself doesn't start until later today, yesterday E3 was opened in spectacular fashion, with Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft and Virgin press conferences.
Microsoft has confirmed at today's E3 press conference that Forza 3 will get support for Kinect; the 360 motion controller formerly know as Natal.
Microsoft laid out an ambitious stall of products, service updates and new hardware at E3 today - all part of a drive to reach hundreds of millions of gamers.
Don Mattick opened today's Xbox 360 E3 briefing by declaring 2010 a year of 'transformation' for Xbox 360.
A flurry of web reports and leaks tonight have confirmed that Microsoft has renamed Natal to Kinect - and that it will unveil a redesigned 360 at E3 this week.
And the news just keeps tumbling out about Microsoft's Kinect.
Microsoft's new game controller Kinect could steal the show at E3 this week - and the firm couldn't have done it without Nintendo.
Microsoft's Project Natal seems to be definitely called Kinect.
An Italian only ad has outed the new slim-line Xbox 360 and given away the final name of motion-sensor controller Natal.
The Halo: Reach Xbox 360 beta attracted more players on day one than Halo 3 did during its complete beta period, it has been revealed.
Rockstar’s latest sandbox action title Red Dead Redemption could sell 4m copies globally within its first year on sale.
PC peripherals firm Sandisk has released its first Xbox 360 branded USB memory drives in North America.
The latest instalment of EA’s MySims franchise – SkyHeroes – has been scheduled for release this autumn and is heading to Xbox 360 and PS3 for the first time, as ...
Microsoft has announced a revised release date for Xbox 360 exclusive Alan Wake in May – one week earlier than expected.
Electronic Arts has hinted that upcoming motion consoles Natal and Move could offer FIFA players “a different experience waiting to be uncovered”.
2K Games has announced an autumn release date for its upcoming open-world mobster action game Mafia II.
The sequel to popular third person Red Faction: Guerrilla is scheduled for a March 2011 release, according to reports from GDC.
RUSE will be released in the UK on June 4th for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, Ubisoft has announced.
F1 2010 will speed onto retail shelves in September, Codemasters has announced.
Activision’s upcoming racer Blur will be the first game to allow PS3 and Xbox 360 players to compete against each other AND the first to offer online multiplayer for Silver ...
Upcoming third-person shooter Vanquish has been scheduled for a winter release in Japan.
Gamers spend more time playing the Xbox 360 online than any other console, with an average 7.3 hours spent per week, a new NPD report claims.
Accompanying the long-awaited release of Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell: Conviction in the UK on April 16th, a hardware bundle including a 250GB limited edition Xbox 360 has also been announced.


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Mark Cerny today used his Develop Conference keynote talk to reiterate Sony’s commitment to indie, admitting lessons had been learned from Sony’s past.
"We feel it is essential to bring these [indie] games to our platforms, because we know that variety of experience is a key part of the appeal of the PlayStation," said the PS4’s lead system architect on stage.
Cerny stated that in 2006 at the Playstation 3’s launch there were many obstacles to indies – both in the publishing models and the overtly ‘exotic’ hardware.
"In some cases this became inspiration, however," he continued. "Flower and Pixel Junk Shooter were in many ways born out of the question of how CPUs can be used to create distinct visuals and unique gameplay. But more often than not, the architecture of the hardware in the early days of the PlayStation 3 hampered indie development on the platform.
"We’ve therefore worked hard to make the PlayStation platforms more revenant place for indie developers."
Cerny repeatedly expressed his belief that hardware and technology has been streamlined and made easier for in indies with the PS4, claiming that discoverability and the PlayStation store are also to be optimised for smaller studios.
"With the release of the PlayStation 4, we understood that we had an opportunity to fundamentally alter the landscape of gaming," he said.
"On the technology side the supercharged PC architecture of the platform has made it both easier to bring titles to PlayStation 4 and easier to develop original titles directly on the platform."
"On the business side we’ve had a bit of an epiphany," Cerny later added. "Since Adam Boyes has joined SCE, pretty much the whole process has been overturned. He wanted us to consider a day in the life of an indie developer, and challenged us to explain whether our processes were helping or hindering the creation of the diverse titles that we were looking for.
"As a result, we ended up radically simplifying the process of concept approval, and we wholly support self-publishing across all platforms, so it is now possible for developers to maintain complete creative and financial control. We now support almost any business model."
Cerny also stated that the the PS4’s share button, along with other functionality in the console’s storefront system, will serve to better spread the indie games the platform apparently strives to foster.
He additionally pointed out that as many indie games were shown at the PS4’s February reveal as tripe-A games.


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Spotlight on Small Business: Grandpa Barry’s Guitars
An Ottawa couple’s passion for stringed instruments led to a new business venture at the start of the new year: the owners of Grandpa Barry’s Guitars, Barry and Eileen Spickler, will take over the building that currently houses Papa’s Antiques when its owners, Mark and Debbie Cation, will retire at the end of December.
Grandpa Barry’s started out as a booth in the old Incubator’s store at 129 S. Main Street in 2018, but when the Ottawa Main Street Association decided to end its lease on the building, the Cations took over. relay and opened Papa’s Antiques. Grandpa Barry remained in the building, which also houses the antique store and a booth operated by potter Kelly Pinet, who will remain in the building after the transition.
The Spicklers arrived in Ottawa from the Washington, DC area in June 2018. They decided to be closer to Barry’s children after their house was destroyed in a fire and Barry, who works for the FDA, been put on leave during a government shutdown. Barry had taken guitar lessons shortly after his 50th birthday and thought his instrument was in shambles after a piece broke, but when he saw how the store was able to bring it back to life, he says he’s “fell in love” with repairing guitars and decided to try and do it himself.
Barry began selling and repairing guitars at his home in Ottawa, and when space became available at the Incubator’s Store in December 2018, the Spicklers decided to take the plunge and open a storefront. “It felt like a place with opportunity because the Ottawa music store had closed a few years before we arrived,” Barry explained. He met former Ottawa Music owner Calvin Rosey when he arrived in town and Rosey told him everything he needed to know to be well prepared to open his own store. When it came time to name their new company, it was obvious. Barry is a 15 year old grandfather and loves the role. “Other people’s kids run up and call me grandpa,” he said, “I’m everyone’s grandfather.”
“What sets us apart from other music stores in the region is that we are your place in Ottawa for everything string-related,” Barry explained. Grandpa Barry’s sells everything a string player in Ottawa could possibly need, from acoustic and electric guitars to amps, picks and hybrid instruments like the banjolele, a banjo-ukulele cross. “I’m kind of talking to people who collect guitars because I love unique guitars,” Barry said. One of his favorites is a guitar that was used in a production of The color purple at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. “Anyone who knows guitars is going to get this one first,” Barry said. “People can tell exactly what it is – it’s not your ordinary, ordinary guitar,” Grandpa Barry also offers guitar and banjo lessons and does repairs, which are Barry’s specialty because he was unable to play much due to his psoriatic arthritis.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cations closed the building for several weeks in the spring of 2020. Meanwhile, Barry, who also still works for the FDA, was able to keep his guitar business afloat by making deliveries at home, often to parents who were helping their students learn from a distance and wanted to organize their own home music class. “During the pandemic, we prospered because we made deliveries. We put on a mask and gloves and left a guitar for someone who was homeschooling.” Hobbies like the guitar also grew in popularity during the pandemic, which was great news for Grandpa Barry. While doing commercial research, Eileen Spickler was intrigued to find out how the pandemic had impacted music stores. “In 2018 or 19, the business outlook was not good,” she said. “Growth had really stabilized, and since the pandemic it is growing exponentially again”
On January 1, the Spicklers have big plans to convert the space from an antique mall into a full-fledged guitar store. “We’re going to have more guitars, we’re going to open up the floor plan a little bit so that we can have a bigger acoustic guitar section, a bass guitar section, traditional instruments and that sort of thing, and more rooms. music to teach, “Barry explained. “We’re still trying to flesh it out, but we want to have at least once a month and maybe even once a week, jam sessions – bring people in and jam,” Eileen added. The goal of the weekly jam sessions is to have them in a relaxed and relaxed environment where people can have food and drinks while listening to music.
The Spicklers plan to cut the ribbon for the new store in January. Papa’s Antiques will be open until the end of December.
If you have a local small business that you would like to see featured in our Small Business Spotlight, please send an email to [email protected]


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Overview of this campaign
Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH), Asia's leading media organisation, has for many decades been Singaporeans’ main news source.
However, the surge in tablet and smartphone usage has changed media consumption habits and drastically reshaped the media landscape. The increasing number of competitive news channels meant increased alternatives for consumers and advertisers.
To stay relevant and resilient, SPH has, over the years, undergone major transformation of its media offerings to include a comprehensive suite of digital platforms to complement its print, broadcast and out-of-home businesses. This provided readers with more touchpoints to consume news and advertisers with an integrated media solution to reach out to their target audiences.
As SPH celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2014, it provided the perfect landscape for SPH to leverage on this opportunity to reconnect with Singaporeans and to showcase the efficacy of its multimedia platform solutions to both agencies and advertisers.
The challenge was to think of a proprietary one-of-a-kind campaign that was not only engaging and relevant to Singaporeans but could demonstrate the power of SPH integrated media solutions to advertisers.
With that, the idea titled “See The Big Picture” was born!
Stephen Wiltshire, an autistic savant and a world-renowned architectural artist, was commissioned to draw the Singapore skyline from memory in full view of a LIVE audience over 5 days on a 4mx1m canvas. The unique skyline is relatable to all Singaporeans and to be able to witness it being immortalised up close was simply awe-inspiring.
The event, which included an exhibition of his past works and life story, was held at Paragon, SPH's upscale retail mall along Orchard Road and was publicised entirely using SPH owned media platforms – from print, outdoor, radio, online to mobile. SPHRazor, SPH’s video production arm, undertook the video documentation of the entire event. This all-encompassing marketing effort that utilises all of SPH’s media business units to bring about the unique skyline to Singaporeans was the pinnacle of SPH’s 30th anniversary celebration.
Results for this campaign
The awareness went through the roof with over 150,000 people witnessing Singapore’s largest Live Drawing event over five days. It was an unprecedented turnout. President Tony Tan Keng Yam, Ambassadors, Ministers, CEOs of various government bodies and corporations graced the occasion.
It created a world’s first with our President being the first to ink on a Stephen Wiltshire panorama.
With only S$1.8 million worth of media dollars, the campaign generated over 80 million media impressions across all platforms. This would mean every Singaporean would have read about it 14.5 times! Simply incredible!
And for the first time ever, this campaign elicited 99% positive comments on the event and the brand on the social and digital platforms.
More importantly, enquiries for SPH’s integrated media solutions grew by more than 20% within weeks after the event concluded.
There was also overwhelming PR coverage with his Singapore panorama story appearing as the main cover story in major newspapers and it trended in all key social media platforms and created conversations in countless blogs and forums.
The campaign also benchmarked SPH as an inclusive and responsible corporation touching countless lives with Stephen Wiltshire’s interaction with students from Pathlight (first autism-focused school). Families with autistic children (or children with disabilities) were grateful to SPH for sponsoring such an inspirational event that brought hope and courage.
Reprints of the artwork autographed by President Tony Tan Keng Yam raised $220,000 for the President’s Challenge. SPH also gave exclusive rights to Pathlight School to produce reprints and merchandise to raise funds for Autism Resource Centre. The merchandise were sold at all Tangs outlets and the Pathlight School’s eMall.
Finally, as a follow up on this historical event, the 4-metre long Singapore skyline panorama was presented by SPH to President Tony Tan later as a gift to celebrate Singapore’s 50th birthday in 2015.
Inspirational, relatable and emotional, this campaign reconnected with Singaporeans and showcased to advertisers’ SPH’s integrated media offerings‘ ability to help consumers to “See The Big Picture”.


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Bed Bath & Beyond, Walgreens and PetSmart are among the retailers selling through Google’s voice-activated devices.
The amount of data that retailers are collecting is creating demand for web-based storage systems that make information instantly available.
Shoppers today want flexibility in how, when and where they shop, and many retailers oblige them with a growing range of online and offline options and services. At retailers who have figured out how to execute these offerings well, this has increased customer satisfaction levels and driven up sales.
It also has created a ton of customer buying data. And that, in turn, has created a booming market for data storage technology-a market projected to grow 30% a year for the next five years. “We’re seeing a lot of storage growth, because companies really want the agility to react quickly to changing business,” says Phil Goodwin, a storage technology analyst with Meta Group Inc., Stamford, Conn.
As retailers learn how customers shop in different channels-and how they shop across channels-the whole area of customer data is emerging as an invaluable tool for perfecting multi-channel strategies. Customer relationship management applications, highly segmented marketing campaigns, loyalty programs and customer lifetime value calculations are only a few of the many different kinds of data that retailers are collecting now that they weren’t a few years ago.
That massive build-up of data is also becoming a major challenge for retailers’ back-end storage systems, many of which were not designed to support the kind of multi-channel shopping activity that many merchants are now experiencing. Storage isn’t sexy, but without it, retailers lose out on a gold mine of information.
Demand from retailers is part of the reason that research and analysis firm Hurwitz Group, Framingham, Mass., projects sales of storage resource management technology to grow a compound annual growth rate of 30% between 2001 and 2005, from $397 million to $1.47 billion.
Much of the data captured by retailers relate to customer buying behavior, showing streams of shopping preferences for individual customers. Retailers mine these data within each selling channel for insight on how to better market products within each selling channel. But to make the most use of the data, retailers need a central storage environment where the data can be combined with data from other channels, including catalog, web and stores.
“This data avalanche has to be centralized and consolidated,” says Liz Thibeault, global manager, retail industry, EMC Corp., Hopkinton, Mass. “There is not a retailer that doesn’t bring up customer data today, and particularly the amount of data coming from online, where it accumulates much faster than offline.” Noting that multi-channel shoppers generate substantially more revenue than single-channel shoppers, retailers recognize a need “for any multi-channel retailer to pull information from all channels,” she says.
The rise of the Internet is what’s behind the rise in data storage needs, analysts say. The Internet has made it possible for retailers to gather extremely detailed information about how their customers shop. And since that information is important to understanding how to relate to customers, it can’t just be analyzed and dumped. It’s all got be stored somewhere. “Web-enabled applications are always hitting servers, and every time you do that, storage is involved,” says Stephen Elliott, research director for storage management technology at Hurwitz Group.
Trends in brick-and-mortar stores are also increasing the importance of storage systems, as retailers move into such developments as self-checkout and self-service kiosks used in several areas, including researching and purchasing products, e-learning programs and job applications. These are trends that will continue, causing data to grow at an increasing rate, says Brian Slaughter, manager of retail industry storage systems for Dell Computer Corp., Austin, Texas, a major provider of storage hardware systems as well as a big user of storage to supports its own online retail operations. “Information will drive retailers’ business more than ever before,” he says.
A tripling in capacity
The demands for storage are growing so rapidly that retailers are taking more than just incremental leaps as they boost their storage capacity. Sears, Roebuck and Co., for example, tripled its data storage capacity earlier this year to 140 terabytes from 45 terabytes. The increase allows Sears to better manage data among several applications, enabling it to more tightly integrate data on customer buying behavior with point-of-sale data and inventory data. “The result is that we can better correlate various data points and improve our decision-making about assortments, promotions, margins and inventory,” says Jonathan Rand, director of merchandise planning and reporting at Hoffmann Estates, Ill.-based Sears.
Effective data storage systems require more than just larger capacity, however, and retailers are beginning to recognize and demand greater interoperability among their storage servers.
If retailers can organize data on an integrated infrastructure of storage hardware and software, experts say, they can reduce the cost of managing information while increasing the amount of data they can manage.
Sorting though the alphabet soup of options, though, can be daunting. For starters there are SANs- storage area networks-that companies use for extensive storage capacity. SANs, which can be networked via the web, tap the power of multiple storage servers. For specifically storing fixed content, such as customer receipts and medical prescriptions, there is content addressed storage, or CAS. Then to make all that data work together, SANs and CAS applications can be combined in automated network storage-or ANS-platforms.
Learning from history
The combination of these technologies in an ANS platform, such as from EMC Corp., can play a key role in maintaining multi-channel retailing strategies. For example, product pricing can be updated on one server and replicated to multiple servers in real time, so that each channel can have instantly updated information. The same advantage in real-time multiple server updates is also used at retailers like Home Depot Inc. in employee training and support systems, which can distribute updates in product specifications to salespeople on the floor as well as to back-office managers.


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In 2018, the Sappi Group updated its Woodfibre Procurement Policy to set clearer parameters for our wood, chip and pulp procurement operations as well as to establish clearer direction to our suppliers. The policy requires that all wood and pulp sourced for Sappi globally must come from well-managed forests and be third-party verified that it is from controlled and noncontroversial sources. The policy reflects Sappi’s inclusive approach to support all three of the leading international forest certification systems, namely the FSC, SFI and PEFC programs.
It’s natural to talk about how we’re all doing more: innovating more, making more investments, having more to say in more areas of expertise. But while at the Aspen Ideas Festival earlier this summer, I was challenged to share where General Mills is doing less.
It made me think.
Many of the things we’re doing less of are just as important as – or more important than – the things we’re doing more of.
Here are the top five things I’m proud to say General Mills is doing less of today.
Cycling 44,000 kilometers to work to reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions
As part of Tetra Tech’s 2019 International Bike to Work Week (BTWW) Challenge, 697 participants from more than 61 teams around the world cycled to work to reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions. The 2019 BTWW Challenge had the highest participation since the event began in 2012 as a friendly competition between our offices in Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Our 697 riders pedaled a total of 44,326.3 kilometers (km) across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Malawi, New Zealand, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
At Cisco, we are committed to accelerating the transition of our business to the circular economy. We aim for all of our resources to follow a circular model – where we reduce our consumption of natural resources and design waste out of our value cycle, enabling products and packaging to be used and reused longer. This work goes beyond a series of projects or initiatives that eventually end with people shifting to work on new topics.
Five-year campaign concludes with record philanthropic contributions to empower businesses and consumers, identify new opportunities to expand the impact of fair trade, and improve the lives farmers, factory workers, and fishermen around the world.
OAKLAND, Calif., July 29, 2019 /3BL Media/ – Fair Trade USA, the leading third-party certifier of fair trade products in North America, has announced the successful conclusion of its first-ever Capital Campaign, which raised $25 million to launch new fair trade products, reach new producer communities, and channel millions of dollars in cumulative additional income to farmers, workers, and fishermen.
Residents in NYC and Paris can now get refillable laundry detergent and mouthwash to their doorstep.
A new zero-waste e-commerce platform called Loop started testing in New York City and Paris in May, so many residents in those cities no longer have to worry about stacking up empty detergent containers and shampoo bottles in the recycling bin.
As plastic’s harmful impact on the environment becomes more widely understood, companies like P&G are rethinking how they can be more sustainable through platforms like Loop that encourage reusable materials.
HP’s annual sustainability report is out, and they are making impressive progress. I’m fascinated by the fact that as the US Government pulls back on sustainability, US businesses are stepping up and HP appears to be leading the pack. What drove this is that investors, customers, and employees are becoming far more aware of issues like pollution and climate change and want the companies they work for, invest in, and buy from to step up to helping assure the future of the planet.
At Sappi, we believe in taking an integrated approach to value creation. We understand that the long-term sustainability of our business will only be ensured by delivering sustained value for our customers, community, employees and the environment. To be successful, we invest in our employees and our communities where we do business, and embrace the principle that reducing our environmental footprint makes sound business sense.
At Sappi, we are known for our history of paper innovation—but we don’t stop there. This past year we’ve launched an unprecedented amount of investments and initiatives all to support our customers and business. With our portfolio of high-quality sustainable products, including our new paperboard packaging, along with our outreach and marketing efforts, Sappi is here to serve its customers for the long haul.
Sappi educates on the power of paper
Our new site, POP from Sappi, celebrates the inspiring power of paper, print, and packaging.


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MIAMI -- Edward Archbold was willing to do anything to win an exotic python -- even eating bugs both crunchy and slimy.
His competitive spirit ended in tragedy. After downing more than 20 giant creepy-crawlies, Mr. Archbold vomited, collapsed and died. The grand prize has been put aside in his name and will be given to his estate.
Friday night's contest at a Deerfield Beach, Fla., reptile store started with a party atmosphere, with food and drink -- besides the bugs. The insect-eating began with an eye on the prize: a female Ivory Ball python that sells for $700.
Mr. Archbold, 32, wasn't a "snake enthusiast" himself, said shop owner Ben Siegel, and it was the first time the West Palm Beach man had been in the store. Mr. Siegel described Mr. Archbold as someone who would be "up for anything."
"He seemed like kind of a wild guy -- he was wearing a bandanna, wrist bands and a shirt that said 'Event Staff,' " Mr. Siegel said. "He was brought there by his friend, and he was trying to win the snake for him."
According to rules posted in an online forum, the prize would go to "the guy or gal that eats the most bugs in four minutes without vomiting."
Mr. Archbold was a crowd-pleaser, downing discoid roaches and worms one by one and winning the contest. But he started throwing up before he was able to collect the prize python. He collapsed outside the store and was taken to Broward Health North, where he was pronounced dead.
His body was taken to the Broward Medical Examiner's Office, and investigators with the Broward Sheriff's Office are awaiting an autopsy report to determine what killed him.
The store owner said it wasn't the food. Discoid roaches, Mr. Siegel said, are "eaten by people all over the world." The roaches served up at the contest were domestically raised. "They're clean -- raised for exotic pet feed," he said. "We sell expensive animals, and these bugs are perfectly safe."
Nearly 30 people participated in the contest Friday night, according to Mr. Siegel.nation


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Retailers, consumers and prices
Wal-Mart Proud (insert applause here)
Upon entering Wal-Mart Stores annual shareholder meeting, an observer might be forgiven for thinking they had just walked into a lively, national political convention.
Patriotic red and blue buntings covered the 16,000-seat arena at the University of Arkansas, the music hardly stopped and the crowd was treated to a constrant stream of well-tuned public relations bullet points — in this case, sustainability, community relations and saving shoppers money.
Associates — the word the world’s largest retailer uses to describe its 2 million employees – whooped and hollered at every chance, especially whenever an executive uttered the word “proud.”
(An associate later told Reuters that staff had been told to react whenever they heard that word — even when it meant interrupting the speaker, presumably.)
“We’re just having fun!” said Mike Miller of Scott Depot, West Virginia, whose group of fellow Sam’s Club associates donned funny hats with stars and stripes, reminiscent of a patriotic Dr. Seuss character.
Large balloons emblazoned with the company slogan “Save People Money So They Can Live Better” bounced back and forth between the bleachers, and enthusiastic associates waved flags.
Even Master of Ceremonies Queen Latifah seemed moved by the euphoria. After a number in which singers sang “One World” as representatives from different countries took to the stage in a mini-U.N, the performer beamed and sighed: “One world — a Wal-Mart world.”
The associates’ enthusiasm waned somewhat during presentations by the companies’ financial mucky-mucks — shares up 26 percent since January, ho hum, etc — but revived somewhat with a performance by Dreamgirls’ Jennifer Hudson (picture at right).
She sang, fittingly, “And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going.”
Just like Wal-Mart. – Reporting by Alexandria Sage


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A flock of “birds.” (Via Emojipedia)
Today is an important day in emojiverse history. With the launch of Windows 10 comes an updated set of everyone’s favorite illustrated characters. And with that updated set comes the first major implementation of the middle finger emoji. Yes, it’s finally here.
We first learned about the specimen in question in June 2014, when our emoji overlords — a little-known regulatory group named the Unicode Consortium—released Unicode 7. Whenever the UC approves a new set of standards for symbols and characters, major tech companies like Apple, Google, and Adobe almost always fully incorporate them into their operating systems. In this particular update the consortium opted to add more than 200 new emoji. Tucked in alongside the “Om Symbol” and the “Beamed Descending Musical Notes” was “Reversed Hand With Middle Finger Extended.” Also known as the middle finger.
The tech companies were not amused. As they adopted the new standards, all of them quietly left the middle finger out. This was clearly by choice and not general lethargy; Apple’s recent rush to implement newer and more diverse emoji under pressure shows it can easily add new illustrated characters whenever needed. The middle finger was snubbed simply for being … well, itself. And the Internet, which had wholly celebrated its premiere, was left without a convenient way to express this particular sentiment via text or Twitter.
That is, until this week’s launch of Windows 10. Because we are living in a new era of edgy, devil-may-care Microsoft, where everyone wears a Hololens and flips each other off with abandon. Do your pathetic Apple and Android phones let you do that? No! I didn’t think so. So watch out, world. Microsoft Windows 10 is here, and it’s giving you the middle finger.
The bad news? Microsoft declined to include the symbol among the hundreds of emoji on the Windows 10 onscreen keyboard. The only way to deploy the bird is to copy and paste the image into apps, says Emojipedia founder Jeremy Burge. Even then, it won’t work with every program, or may only show up as a text outline in apps like Microsoft Word or Notepad.
“To the best of our testing, the full Windows 10 middle finger emoji only works in Microsoft Edge,” says Burge. “Windows’ color emoji support is still very spotty.”


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Pay TV STB shipments to fall in 2010Monday, September 20th, 2010
According to Screen Digest, shipments of pay TV set-top boxes reached a record high of 127 million in 2009, though revenue fell in the year to €9.2 billion. In 2010, both volumes and revenue are expected to decrease, to 120 million and €8.7 billion respectively. Growth is expected to return in 2011.
Screen Digest names Motorola as the top pay TV Box supplier by volume with Pace plc second and Technicolor third.


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Live! Casino & Hotel have announced that Jennifer Kearns has been promoted to Executive Director of Relationship Marketing.
Sonesta has announced Stephanie Ford as the General Manager of Sonesta ES Suites Oklahoma City.
Live! Casino & Hotel have announced that Beth Perlman has joined the team in the key leadership position of Chief Information Officer.
Absheron Hotel Group has named Scott Mawhinney as its new Cluster General Manager.
Kognitiv Corporation is proud to announce that David Chestler, a well-recognized hospitality and travel executive with more than 28 years in the industry has joined their global management team.
Wine company Sula Vineyards have announced the appointment of Nick Pringle as its Chief Operating Officer with immediate effect.
Minor Hotels has announced the appointment of Pieter van der Hoeven as Area General Manager for Vietnam, effective April 2017.
The Somerset on Grace Bay, a five-star luxury resort on one of the world’s best beaches is pleased to welcome new General Manager Kevin Reeder.
As the brand's current executive Vice President of hotel & operations, Jon Lucas will now serve as Chief Operating Officer for Hard Rock International, overseeing Hard Rock International operations.
Aspen Skiing Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Alinio Azevedo as the new Chief Operating Officer for the company’s hospitality division.


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NEW YORK (AP) More U.S. credit card users fell further behind on their payments in November, Moody's Investor's Services said Tuesday.
The charge-off rate on U.S. credit cards, as measured by Moody's Credit Card Index, rose to 10.56% last month after falling for the two previous months. October's charge-off rate was 10.04%.
The charge-off rate measures those credit card account balances written off as uncollectable, as an annualized percentage of total outstanding principal balance. The record-high of 10.76% was reached in June.
The delinquency rate also rose, reaching 6.2% in November from 6.1% in October. That includes all credit card payments that are between 30 days and 180 days late, but have not yet been written off. This figured peaked at 6.4% reached in March.
One positive sign was that while the number of people who are late paying rose, the dollar amount of delinquent balances is lower than a year ago for cards issued by three of the six largest card issuers.
The early stage delinquency rate, which measures payments that are 30 to 60 days late, slipped to 1.6% from 1.66% in October. Moody's said this measure is volatile and the improvement may not indicate any consumer trends.
Moody's expects delinquencies to continue to rise through the winter. The charge-off rate is forecast to peak at between 12% and 13% in mid-2010.
The principal payment rate, or the average amount of principal cardholders repay each month, slipped to 16.42% in November from 17.31% in October.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Like the flagship Packaging Company category, this award recognises smaller packaging suppliers that have combined outstanding financial, business and production performance. To qualify, entrants must have had an annual turnover of less than £10m during the year under review
There’s just a week until the deadline for the UK Packaging Awards 2016. If it’s looking like you may narrowly miss the 10 June deadline, then Natalie Packham is on hand to help with any queries. Contact her on firstname.lastname@example.org or call 020 8253 8702.
This year’s awards will be judged by a stellar line-up of judges from a wide range of big name brands and retailers including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Coca-Cola, Heineken, Mars, Marks & Spencer, Weetabix and Waitrose, Müller, Nestlé and Bacardi.
The UK Packaging Awards 2016 will be presented at a glittering awards ceremony on Wednesday 27 October 2016 at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane. The event has grown enormously in recent years and now attracts more than 750 people from across the packaging supply chain.
To enter go to www.ukpackagingawards.co.uk
Source: Packaging News | Jobs | Production | Design | Innovation » News


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High pork prices facilitate Cherkizovo Group to deliver outstanding results. This year might become the best in history of the company.
Following the results of 2014, the revenue of one of the country’s largest agricultural holdings, Cherkizovo Group, could rise
[After returning to “average profit indicators” in the second quarter], the company continues to show “strong performance”, according to comments to the group’s financial results for the first nine months of 2014, which were published yesterday. During this period, Cherkizovo’s net profits according to US GAAP jumped tenfold, to $228.1 million (8.1 billion roubles), and half of this sum is a “contribution” by the third quarter. EBITDA ended up 2.8 times higher as revenue grew by 15 per cent in dollar terms (EBITDA tripled and revenue increased by 29 per cent in rouble terms).
The pork division remains the position of Cherkizovo’s driver: in the first two quarters its EBITDA margin increased from 7 to 46 per cent. At the end of nine months it was 49 per cent (compared to 12 per cent for the same period in 2013). The division’s revenue also rose by 44 per cent.
“Such a substantial improvement in the
“The pork prices growth is common trend of the market as a whole,” said Sergey Yushin, head of the Executive Committee of the National Meat Association (NMA). “At the beginning of the year, Russia banned the import of pigs and pork from the European Union, being a major supplier of this type of meat to Russia. As a result, since then and through late September, pork prices have only gone up: early in the year, pork sides cost 110 roubles/kg, and peaked
This year, all pig farmers are doing well: the year is ending with record profits, according to the representative of a large agricultural holding from Belgorod Region. Rusagro, another large pork producer, is confirming the trend. According to the company’s operational report for the first nine months of this year, Rusagro’s revenue in the meat division increased by 2.5 times, reaching 12.5 billion roubles. In the third quarter, the group’s pork prices were by 1.5 times higher than before — 110 roubles/k, while the average price for pork
However, according to Ludmila Mikhailova, Cherkizovo’s CFO, the company expects a slowdown in growth and fall in profitability in the fourth quarter. Cherkizovo’s management cites as reasons for this the sharp devaluation of the rouble, lower consumption and increased bank financing rates. Mr. Yushin also points out the market instability, saying that an additional reason to worry is an increase in the price of grain, comprising around 35 per cent of the pork cost. Mr. Yushin would not forecast its
High pork prices will benefit for Cherkizovo.


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39 billion litres of beer were produced in the EU last year.
That’s 400 million more than 2015, the European Statistics Office Eurostat revealed on Friday. That’s the equivalent of 76 litres per habitant. Belgium alone produced 2.3 billion litres (6%), the sixth highest production rate.
Two thirds of all the alcoholic beer was produced in six member states, with Germany coming top with 8.3 billion litres (21%). Next is the UK (5.1 billion, 13%), followed by Poland (4 billion, 10%), Spain (3.7 billion, 9%) and the Netherlands (2.6 billion, 7%).
The Netherlands is the biggest exporter of beer, at 1.9 billion litres. They are closely followed by Germany (1.7 billion) and Belgium (1.5 billion).
The US is by far the biggest import market for the EU (1.1 billion, 34% of the total European export), followed by China (525 million, 16%) and Canada (202 million, 6%).
The import of non-European beverages remains low. Member states opt mainly for Mexican beers (179.5 million litres, just over half of the imports). The next popular are Siberian beers (46.9 million, 13%), then American beers (36.5 million, 10%), Belorussian beers (20.6 million, 6%), Chinese beers (16.4 million, 4%) and Russian beers (11.6 million, 3%).
900 million litres of beer containing less than 0.5% or no alcohol came from European breweries in 2016.


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Guwahati, May 22 (ANI):A young entrepreneur from Assam has been trying to change the conventional method of weaving silk.
Dipak Bharali has come up with a new weaving device to boost productivity and incomes in the weaving sector.
Sualkuchi is the richest silk pocket in Kamrup district of lower Assam.
For years, weaving here has followed conventional methods.
Now, Bharali, a science graduate who started his own weaving venture in 1998, has developed a device called "Extra Weft Insertion in Handloom for Frugal Handloom Design".
It will help to increase the output of conventional looms three-folds. And, for this achievement he got the prestigious President's State Award in 2009.
"When this machine will be available in the market then income of weavers will be three times which is near about Rs.6000. So, I believe the unemployed can reap benefit out of this industry," said Bharali.
Conventionally, the task of insertion of weft threads to make a variety of designs is done manually by tying knots.
This is tedious and cumbersome.
Dipak's device reduces the insertion time to one-third the time required in a traditional loom.
"I would like to fulfill the requirement of my village. I want to spread this work in all over the country. So that other people can also reap profit out of this, which leads to increase in the economy of the country as a whole," he added.
Dipak used the new device in his looms on an experimental basis and got wonderful results with the productivity of his looms going up by three times.
Sualkuchi has around 8,000 handlooms and Dipak is confident that his device will boost productivity that in turn will generate better incomes for the weavers. By Peter Alex Todd(ANI)