text:
On the occasion of its 22nd anniversary, LG Electronics India organised a mega blood donation drive across 47 cities on May 11. The CSR initiative was conducted in association with National Blood Transfusion Council, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. The blood bank partners were Army Command Hospitals, Red Cross Society of India, Rotary Club, Lion’s Club, government hospitals and others. Chandigarh Superintendent of Police Niharika Bhatt was the chief guest at a camp organised in Chandigarh and she also donated blood on the occasion.
MMTC’s gold festival on Akshay Trithiya
On the occasion of Akshay Trithiya, MMTC organised a festival of gold exhibition-cum-sale from May 4 to May 8 with new medallion designs inspired by religious deities. Silver medallions in 50 gm were also available in eight different colour representations of gods and goddesses. The company also introduced its best-selling 8 gm gold coin for the first time in 22 carat. The festival was inaugurated by MMTC’s CMD Ved Prakash. The event was also held at MMTC’s sales outlets at SCOPE Complex, Cross River Mall and Delhi Regional Office, Jhandewalan.
New industrial courses at Rayat Group of Institutions
Rayat Group of Institutions, Ropar campus, recently organised a seminar on industry and job-oriented new courses which are being started from this session. Dr Suresh Seth, campus director, said to make the students fit for the industry and to keep pace with changing technology, the group has signed MoUs with Google, Ansys, Red Hat, Siemens and IBM.
Samsung launches digital campaign #IndiaReadyAction
Samsung has launched a digital campaign — #IndiaReadyAction — empowering Gen Z and millennials to break stereotypes about India by capturing and sharing videos of real India through their smartphones. The company has received a phenomenal response for its recently-launched Galaxy S10 line of flagship smartphones. Galaxy S10+ has also helped Samsung consolidate its market leadership in the January to March 2019 quarter (Q1). The company had 68.9% volume market share and 65.9% value market share in the first quarter of 2019, according to GfK data.
Lenovo unveils digital smartwatch EGO
Lenovo has launched digital smartwatch EGO. Bridging the gap between smartphones and wearables, EGO offers comprehensive health and fitness features on your wrist while offering the services of a smartphone. It has features like 20 days battery life, 24X7 heart-rate monitor, scientific sleep monitor and is water resistant up to 50 metres. It also has smart features like remote camera and vibrating notifications along with alerts for phone calls, emails, text messages, and other social media apps. Priced at Rs 1,999, it is available on Flipkart and Croma.
Harrdy Sandhu performs at PDM University, Bahadurgarh
Paradigm 2019, a two-day techno-cultural annual fest of PDM University, Bahadurgarh, was celebrated recently. Famous Punjabi singer and actor Harrdy Sandhu performed in the star night as a part of the event. He enthralled the audience with his famous foot-tapping numbers.
Monte Carlo launches special collection for Mother’s Day
Monte Carlo has curated a special gifting collection to commemorate Mother’s Day. The collection is made from premium quality fabrics which are perfect for summers. The whole collection is crafted using finest raw material to suit the weather and balancing the need of comfort with style. The assortment includes variety of kurtis, tunics, dresses, shirts, tops and jeans in bold colors with simple and unique designs which make them look stylish yet elegant.
Harnoor wins Elante’s ‘Ticket to Happyness’
Elante Mall has announced the winners of ‘Ticket to Happyness’ contest. Chandigarh resident Harnoor Kaur has won an all-expenses-paid trip to England to watch Team India play at the Cricket World Cup. She was announced a winner from over 16,000 entries which were received over the past six weeks. The ‘Ticket to Happyness’ contest commenced on April 5 and will conclude on May 19.
Students of SVKM’s CNM School shine
Students of SVKM’s CNM School, Mumbai, once again brought laurels to their institute in board exams. At the ICSE Board exams, Sumeet Motwani topped the results with a score of 98.8% while Sakshi Fadia secured 97% in the ISC (Commerce). A total of 266 students appeared for ICSE Board Exams and 171 students scored 90% and above marks with average percentage of the school being 90.67%.
IIP organises conference on innovative packaging methods
The Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), Delhi, recently organised a national conference on innovative packaging techniques for food products and its safety aspects. The chief guest was Dr Anup Wadhawan, Commerce Secretary, Govt. of India, and the guest of honour was Ashok Goel, CMD, Essel Propack. The conference witnessed presence of many prominent names as speakers and participants from the industry.
Gravity Creation targets 100 stores by 2021
Men’s wear brand Gravity is looking to expand pan-India with plans to open 100 stores by 2021 with an investment of Rs 20 crore. The Mumbai-based apparel company is now expanding in North India with the opening of an outlet in Gurugram. “We are targeting to have our brand store in all district headquarters in India in the next 5 years and will evaluate our IPO plans once we hit 100 stores,” said Vikram Shah, director, Gravity Creation.
New SCOPE chairman Rakesh Kumar calls on CVC of India
Rakesh Kumar, CMD, NLC India Ltd and new chairman of SCOPE, along with Dr UD Choubey, Director General, SCOPE, made a courtesy call to CVC of India, KV Chowdary. He also took this opportunity to discuss wide-ranging issues related with preventive vigilance in public sector enterprises. T Venkatasubramanian, CVO, NLC India Ltd., was also present on the occasion.
Procter & Gamble Health revenue increases 22%
Procter & Gamble Health Ltd (formerly Merck Ltd) has announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31. The company has recorded a revenue of Rs 249 crore, up 22.2% vs. year ago (sales from operations up by 17%) driven by a strong performance across brands, growth in exports, higher interest income and improved execution. The profit after tax was Rs 40.7 crore versus Rs 22.7 crore from continued operations driven by high interest income and operational efficiencies.
Volvo Car India holds women-only car drive
Volvo Car India recently flagged off an all-women drive under the global ‘Equal Vehicles for All’ initiative to promote gender equality. The initiative centres around safety for all and not just safety developed by testing the traditional ‘male crash test dummies’.
International Nurses Week celebrated at GMCH, Chd
Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, celebrated International Nurses Week 2019 from May 7 to 13 on the theme “Nursing: The balance of mind, body and spirit”. The chief guest on the inaugural session was Director Principal Prof BS Chavan and Medical Superintendent Prof Ravi Gupta. During the week various competitions, awareness programmes, nukkad natak, health talks, plantation drive and save electricity campaign were organised.
Aditya Puri honoured by American Indian Foundation
HDFC Bank’s managing director Aditya Puri was recently honoured by American Indian Foundation for his corporate and philanthropic leadership at their annual New York gala. He was recognised for transformative initiatives undertaken by HDFC Bank under his leadership.
Castrol unveils super mechanic contest
Castrol has launched the third edition of its highly successful and much awaited ‘Castrol Super Mechanic’ contest — India’ largest mechanic testing and training initiative. The event supports car and bike mechanics across the country to test their skills and gain recognition nationally by displaying their knowledge and talent.
Zorgers organises run at Sukhna Lake on Mother’s Day
Zorgers Home Healthcare — a Mohali-based home healthcare service provider for elders and babies — celebrated Mother’s Day by organising a run at Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh, on May 12. It was attended by a large number of people. A medical camp was also organised where over 300 morning walkers were examined. Varun Gupta, founder director, ZHH, said the objective of the event was to aware people about the importance of fitness.


text:
Is this the vérité part of Elon Musk’s endorsement that Apple used to publicize Twitter? The new information is known about the context between the two sociétés.
One of the documents consulted by the Washington Post, Apple has received more publicity from Twitter during the first quarter of 2022. With a price of $48 million on this year’s three premiers, Apple accounted for 4% of all Twitter revenue .
Apple is a major customer of Twitter
In the first quarter, Apple announced the Prime Minister on Twitter, spent $48 million on social media publicity, did a Washington Post document search, and collected a number of Twitter internees. Apple departments accounted for 4% of Twitter’s Q3 revenue.
It is clear that Elon Musk has been named, the loin, the plus large contributor of Twitter après avoir acheté la société pour 44 billion dollars in October. Depuis, Musk confirms that Apple is a practice that was never publicized on Twitter. Pathmatics novelties compare publicity purchases from Apple a few weeks ago and après-de-conclusion of the agreement with Elon Musk.
In Pathmatics publicity, the company is more important in a global environment of $131,600 and publicity on Twitter between Nov. 10 and 16, versus $220,800 between Oct. 16 and 22, so last week’s conclusion of the deal with Elon Musk.
Two estimates represent a significant 40% base, with a $48 million outlook published by Apple in publicity on Twitter between January and March. Abuse, it is difficult to get acquainted with the sale of publicity on Twitter, estimated at $ 4 million per week, it is routine for Apple.
Apple has largely stopped advertising on Twitter. Does she hate free speech in America?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
Apple has not commented on the social patron’s statements. Musk n’a pas non plus montré de données pour étayer son propos. Twitter’s PDG has accused Apple of not approving the new versions of the application on the App Store.
Apple’s App Store has been given an approuvé and subscribed to the application of Twitter by Elon Musk, who owns the company. This is the note of the November 5th version that contains the notes assez drôles:
New features of Twitter Blue are currently available, and there are several features available.
Get Twitter Blue for $7.99/mois vous vous inscrivez maintenant.
Coche bleue: Le pouvoir au peuple: Votre compte sera marqué d’une coche bleue, tout comme les celébrités, les entreprises et les politicians que vous suivez déjà.
– Twice as many publicity moments and two meilleures of publicity actions: you can use Twitter as a soutenet against robots, everyone you know will compensate you for advertising campaigns and other relevance.
-Publish videos plus longues: You can publish all videos plus longues to Twitter.
-Classement prioritaire pour le contenu de quality: You can be contenu sera classé en prioritaire in the comments, the mentions and the surveys. Cela makes it possible to check the visibility of escroqueries, spam and robots.
Availability: Twitter Blue with verification available on iOS at US universities, in Canada, in Australia, in Nouvelle-Zélande and in Royaume-Uni.
Elon Musk has been cleared to launch Twitter Blue, and a response to the launch date from seniors reiterated the assessment of the full level of certification a vrai bazaar deserved. Elon Musk has announced a new sale, noting three colors of badges and identity verifications.
How much publicity Apple has shown on Twitter can be seen in the form of tweets sponsored in the response to this article.
Download the app for free Twitter

domain: news


text:
Today FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and two other commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received a standing ovation after voting in favor to apply 1930’s era regulations to the internet. It’s doubtful any manufacturers were in the audience. (continue reading…)
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will hear from industry and academic experts during a hearing today entitled “The Connected World: Examining the Internet of Things.” One of the expert witnesses participating is Douglas Davis, Vice President and General Manager, Internet of Things Group, of NAM member company Intel Corporation.
Manufacturers are leading the Internet of Things (IoT) revolution and Intel is one of those leaders. Not only is it a company producing the interoperable building blocks of the IoT platform and solutions that we find in many of the connected devices, Intel is a manufacturer leveraging the IoT on their own shop floors. (continue reading…)
In an op-ed today in Wired Magazine, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler confirmed today he plans to regulate the open internet. He intends to apply 1930’s era telecommunications law to 21st century technology. This is discouraging news for all manufacturers that depend on a robust internet to run their shopfloors and deliver superior products. As members of the NAM said in a joint letter to Congress and NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons said in USA Today, this regulation will result in a disincentive to invest in our broadband infrastructure which will chill innovation in the manufacturing sector. The NAM will continue to work closely with both sides of the aisle and Capitol Hill on their efforts to update our nation’s telecommunications laws to reflect our innovative industry.
Staff of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a report today entitled: Internet of Things: Privacy and Security in a Connected World. This report is based on an Internet of Things (IoT) workshop hosted by the FTC in November of 2013 and includes recommendations on how to protect consumers as this emerging technology continues to develop. (continue reading…)
The Department of Treasury and IRS released new guidance last week on the ability of a company to claim the R&D tax credit on computer software that is developed primarily for the company’s internal use.
Manufacturers may be pleased with the guidance since companies are currently unable to count computer software research intended for the company’s own use as a qualified research expense for the purpose of the credit. The proposal more clearly specifies what types of software would be excluded from using the R&D credit (i.e. software used for administrative functions), and provides examples that may be helpful in determining which activities would qualify for the credit. (continue reading…)
Once again, the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was a showcase of the intersection of technology and manufacturing. Safety innovations in vehicles, the connected home, healthy lifestyle applications, smart appliances, 3D cameras, and high-tech robotics were all on display by members of the NAM. Policy issues were also front and center this week. Leaders in Congress and the Administration addressed the open internet, outdated regulations, and the policy impacts of the internet of things. The NAM was right there in the middle of it all. (continue reading…)
The NAM is once again traveling to the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas – the largest trade show of the year in this city that is no stranger to big events. We are proud that CES is hosted by NAM-member the Consumer Electronics Association and we are excited to see some of the most recent intersections of manufacturing and technology.
While manufacturers will have their latest and greatest technology on display, CES is not just about making your gadget wish list for your factory floor. Some of the nation’s leading voices on the policy issues impacting our industry will be in attendance sharing their views on what they see happening in Washington in 2015.
On the agenda includes a debate on the privacy issues surrounding the Internet of things, how a 20th century regulatory structure is impacting 21st manufacturing innovation, and discussions on what IP and IT laws that need to be updated to encourage investment and growth.
If you can’t make it out to CES this year, the NAM will give you access behind the velvet rope – something everyone strives for while in Vegas.
NAM and Over 100 Companies and Organizations Sign Letter Highlighting the Importance of the Open Internet
Today, National Association of Manufacturers sent a letter to Director of the National Economic Council Jeffrey Zients, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Jason Furman, House and Senate leadership, members of the FCC and Commerce Secretary Pritzker that focuses on the important role the open internet has played in ensuring manufacturers are able to incorporate cutting-edge technologies into their products and processes. (continue reading…)
As manufacturers look to sell their products to customers around the globe they count on the quality of their goods to make the sale. Earning the trust of the customer, however, can help close the deal. If for any reason that trust is undermined, it can shut the door to current and future business. That’s why the NAM is supporting the Law Enforcement Access to Data Stored Abroad Act, or LEADS Act, (S. 2871), introduced by Senators Hatch (R-UT), Coons (D-DE), and Heller (R-NV). (continue reading…)
As Members of the 114th Congress descend on Washington for orientation, and the 113th Congress convenes for the upcoming lame duck session, manufacturers stand ready to work with our leaders to advance policies that will enable us to continue to grow and create jobs. Manufacturers believe that now is the time to set aside the differences that have resulted in gridlock, and focus on the pro-growth policies that brought voters to the polls. Simply put, it is time to govern and grow. (continue reading…)


text:
For the second time in a week, hackers have utilized the matchAdvancedOrders feature of the OpenSea Seaport protocol to sell stolen NFTs despite the mark’s efforts to prevent the transaction. OpenSea’s security policy (blocking cannot be sold) is circumvented via this feature, although the offer can only be made if there is a willing buyer.
Franklin, a Bored Yacht Ape Club holder, was the one who broke the news to the general world via his Twitter account. Franklin tagged OpenSea on January 20, requesting that they modify their policy in some way.
It would seem that the holder of BAYC had paid 65 WETH for a stolen ape NFT; however, he is unable to resale the NFT since it has already been tagged as stolen before the transaction takes place.
The cryptocurrency community on Twitter is slamming OpenSea for this, and the company has not yet responded to the criticism or made any attempt to smooth things up.
Interestingly, OpenSea’s CEO Devin Finzer has said that he intended to dissociate non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from cryptocurrencies since the industry is being impacted by the knock-on effect of a number of scandals.
In July 2022, the firm laid off twenty percent of its workforce due to Finzer’s expectation of a sustained decline in market conditions, bringing the total number of workers at OpenSea to about three hundred right now.
According to information obtained from the analytics platform Dune in December 2022, the second-place NFT marketplace Blur passed the first-place NFT marketplace OpenSea in terms of the amount of sales. The market of NFTs saw a particularly steep decline in 2022, although it began to climb again toward the end of that year.


text:
ZOVOO, the innovative leading brand of disposable e-cigarettes, has recently released a preview on its official social media. It is noted that ZOVOO will officially launch its new product of VINCIBAR series on November 3rd.
We all know that the VINCI collection has been a hit with fans around the world for its
fashionable looks and excellent taste.
According to the preview, this new product follows the classic VINCI look, which is also very similar to the hot-selling VINCIBAR F2500.
However, there are some obvious differences, such as the slimmer look, compact body, and the attractive gradient colors. It is not hard to see that ZOVOO is determined to break into the fashionable female VAPE group. After all, ZOVOO has never stopped innovating in the field of disposable e-cigarettes.
As shown on the preview, the surprisingly thin appearance is a major feature of the new VINCIBAR. This reminds us of another product previously launched by ZOVOO, DRAGBAR Z700 GT, which also focuses on ultra-thin appearance.
It seems that this time the new product is more colorful, then this will be very much in line with the needs of urban fashion women, portable and easy to carry around in pocket or handbag, just like they carry their lipsticks.
According to ZOVOO insiders, in addition to its attractive appearance, the new release also applies skin-friendly materials, with a great feel and a more pleasant atomization experience, and will become the new favorite of fashionistas.
So excited toward 3 November and let’s unveil the new VINCIBAR together.
Who is ZOVOO?
Launched in 2020 to high acclaim, ZOVOO now has a complete product line covering user scenarios, with VINCIBAR, CUBEBAR and POD series in addition to the star product DRAGBAR.
The current slogan of ZOVOO is “By your side”, which reflects the warm and vibrant tone of the brand, as well as the trendy user orientation.


text:
- The first time the Russian watchmaking industry experienced sanctions was in 1770.
- High import duties discourage official imports of cheaper watches.
- In 2014 many retailers started talking about a new crisis and a decline in sales.
- The mid-range sector is now showing mid-range results.
- Watch imports from Switzerland to Russia increased by 70% between 2004 and 2013.
- The state will actively promote the “buy Russian” idea, and we can expect to see an expansion in Russian watch-assembly plants.
- The main result of the current crisis will be the appearance of new consumers.
Exports to Russia are still good, but the mood of retailers is worsening. Where does the Russian watch market stand right now? Where did it come from, and where is it heading?
This year, the economic sanctions against Russia made it a popular topic of conversation in Europe. But this is by no means a new situation.
In fact, the first time the Russian watchmaking industry experienced sanctions was in 1770. The first watchmaking factories were established under the reign of Catherine the Great. Francois Freinet de Fermat was given 6,500 roubles by the Russian state to buy the necessary equipment and find skilled watchmakers in France. At the time, however, the French government had placed a ban on craftsmen leaving the country, so de Fermat and the eleven artisans he hired were arrested, and his tools and machines were confiscated.
The next conflict between Russia and Europe arose at the start of the Soviet era in the 1920s; the Soviet government had decided to build its first watchmaking factory, but European companies refused to sell equipment to Russians. The Soviet Union’s first watch plant did not appear until several years later. Restrictions on sending equipment and technology to Russia lasted throughout the Soviet period, and some were still in place at the end of the 20th century.
I mentioned these examples to remind readers that the economy is always subject to political pressure. If we are to predict what will happen to Russia’s economy and marketplace, it is vital to understand the political situation. I could be wrong about some things, and some of my assessments of the actions of the Russian government could be inaccurate, but I hope this report will help readers to understand the basic trends.
The major thrust of Russia’s political and economic policies over the last decade has been to maintain self-sufficiency, not in order to enforce isolation but to reduce economic dependency on other countries, and to strengthen the government’s popularity. Consequently, most of the decisions we have seen over recent years that affect the Russian market are simply a continuation of the policies established in the early 2000s.
Russian leaders appear to believe that the global economic crisis was initiated in the US, when the economic bubble burst. They have attempted to minimise the impact of the crisis on Russia by protecting their market from its negative effects. Nevertheless Russia’s 145 million population is not big enough to make the majority of its industries profitable. That’s why, as well as pursuing its isolationist policy, the Russian government has also sought market expansion and integration with other countries, notably through customs union.
However, the course to restoring the self-sufficiency of the old Russia, as it was in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, was set around 2002. To achieve this goal two elements were essential: resources must be concentrated in the hands of the state, and the country must be made more manageable.
In 2003 the “Yukos affair” hit the headlines. The financial goal of the trial from the government’s point of view was to profit from the oil business. Prior to this the Russian government received almost no income from oil exports because of the Production Sharing Agreement, and because no taxes were paid. In 2003 oil export revenues represented just 15% of total state revenues, rising to 33% in 2004, and 42% in 2005. At the same time, the arrest of Khodorkovsky signalled the departure of oligarchs from government, and the state became more manageable. In the 1990s most goods were imported into Russia illegally, but the clampdown on smuggling did not begin until 2005. The following diagram shows how official Swiss exports to Russia changed beginning in 1999. We can see that in 2007 the export value was 77% greater than in 2004. In reality, sales volumes were not growing quite so fast. According to Russian retailers, the peak in luxury watch sales occurred in 2004–2005, at a time when the majority of shipments were being smuggled into the country. The reason why the peak represents the beginning of the anti-smuggling campaign is that in 2005 a proportion of goods began entering Russia by official channels.
In 2012 the next wave of economy restructuring started. The government adopted a rearmament programme and began to fight corruption, which restricted the consumption of luxury goods. Then followed a process of “deoffshorisation”, along with a crackdown on capital flight and against the political opposition. All of this created frustration among the public and a negative media backdrop.
Now let’s discuss how political processes influence today’s watch market, and how they will influence it in the future.
Russia moved from socialism to capitalism in the 1990s. It was a time of blatant, often illegal, accumulation of capital. Russia’s first rich people – the so-called “new Russians” – were businessmen and gangsters. They had money and ambition, but no experience in consumption. Russian consumers had no idea about brands; they were ready to buy anything just to stand out from the crowd. This situation created unique conditions for the development of many brands in Russia that were almost unknown in the rest of the world.
In the 2000s the typical consumer of luxury goods changed, with corrupt officials and members of the security ministries becoming the main customers, despite having often modest official salaries.
Russians tend to make most of their purchases abroad, and this is not just because of high prices at home. Since the two main categories of buyers purchase goods with money from illegal income, they prefer to buy goods abroad, or through trusted agents. As a result, up to 90% of watches came into Russia via smuggling. This was not a problem for manufacturers, although it did create difficulties for distributors. For example, most brands calculate their advertising budgets on the basis of local sales volume, so these budgets were lower than they should have been.
As a side note, the typical image of Russians abroad, based on visitors to upscale boutiques in Zurich or Hong Kong, does not correspond with reality: fewer than 15% of Russians have passports, which means that 90% of Russian have never been abroad. Around 40% of Russians survive on a monthly income of $500 or less, and cannot afford expensive watches. Moreover, high import duties discourage official imports of cheaper watches, with the result that around 75% of watch sales in Russia take place on the black market.
This is a significant problem, for both the cheapest and the most expensive watches. Russian market volume is estimated to be between 16 and 24 million pieces per year, but only 2.5 to 3 million of these are official imports. Two million timepieces are assembled by Russian companies from imported movements, but components are quite often sourced through illicit channels.
Watch sales in Russia grew during the 1991–2013 period. Even the crises of 1998 and 2008 merely slowed growth a little, and did not lead to any significant changes for the market. In 2014 many retailers started talking about a new crisis and a decline in sales.
Consumption began to decline in 2013 as a result of preconditions formed in 2012, including a deceleration in GDP growth and the strengthening of the state sector, which in turn reduced the income of private business. However, there were also subjective factors affecting demand in various sectors.
The biggest impact on the luxury market was the government’s crackdown on corruption – after all, in most cases people were buying tourbillons with money from bribes. When the government realised that the high level of corruption was a serious threat, it took active measures. These days it is not so easy to accept bribes, and spending “dirty” money has become far more risky.
Over the last two years it has become dangerous to show off expensive watches. Of course, sometimes this just leads to a change in demand. As the head of one watch company noted, “Putin has forbidden officials to wear rose gold, so we now have increasing demand for white gold and platinum.” But the fact is that the consumption pattern for luxury goods is changing.
The second reason for the decline is consumer nervousness. Many wealthy Russians have had their assets in Cypriot banks frozen. The United States’ adoption of the “Magnitsky Act” in 2012, news about the freezing of Ukrainian oligarchs’ assets, and the recent economic sanctions against Russia have shown that it has become dangerous to keep deposits in American and European banks.
As a result, many Russians are trying to transfer assets to Asian countries or repatriate their money to Russia. This process is also being facilitated by the Russian government, which continues its fight against offshore companies.
The v now showing mid-range results. 2011–2012 represented a turning point in demand among the middle classes. The income level of many Russians reached the point where an increase of even twenty or thirty percent no longer brought significant changes to their lifestyle or satisfaction.
Consequently, those who were no longer satisfied with mere consumption began to take part in protest rallies and demonstrations as a way to give meaning to their lives. Their consumption patterns moved towards less flashy and less expensive products, intended not for showing off but for personal pleasure.
A negative mood has dominated among consumers since 2013. Incomes continued to grow – average salaries increased from 26,700 roubles in 2012 to 30,000 roubles in 2013 – but consumption decreased. This was related to, on the one hand, the sharp rise in mandatory payments, and on the other, nervousness. Even at the peak of the crisis in 2008–2009 the Russian authorities continued to claim that the situation was under control, and many people believed them. However, in May and September of 2013, both the President and the Prime Minister officially acknowledged that the crisis had reached Russia, which immediately led to a drop in sales of all types of goods. There is also an opinion that the government welcomed this opportunity to adopt tougher measures, particularly against the political and financial elite, and those who disagreed with state policy.
Interestingly, as of July 2014, Russian banks reported an increase in personal savings, which suggests that people have disposable income but prefer not to spend it. At the same time some sectors, such as cinemas and computer games outlets, continue to grow.
One of the causes of the negative mood among consumers was expressed by former finance minister Yevgeny Yasin, who claimed that since 2000 incomes had grown far in excess of the economy. Now, as the ratio returned to normal, people felt as if their quality of life was declining.
Although retailers have been talking about a crisis since last autumn, the volume of imports into Russia is still growing. One of the real reasons for retailers’ complaints is a surplus of stock. Watch v increased by 70% between 2004 and 2013, while over the same period the number of specialised watch stores increased threefold.
A simple calculation shows that the turnover of each store can be expected to halve. Moreover, the business is starting to becoming concentrated in the chain stores and monobrand boutiques. More than 40% of watch stores are owned by the 25 largest operators, each of which holds from 10 to 65 stores. Last year, Richemont built its own dedicated shopping street in Moscow, and is now no longer dependent on retailers. Thus, the turnover of independent shops can be expected to decline further, despite growth in the market as a whole.
Most outlets in Russia are located in shopping malls, where cookie-cutter shops stock a virtually identical brand portfolio. This inevitably leads to price competition and makes retail business unprofitable.
The second wave of the crisis hit the Russian watch market in 2014. Although it is frequently associated with events in Ukraine and economic sanctions, the real situation is more complicated, with evidence of both negative and positive effects.
• There has been a general decline in consumer demand in Russia, estimated at 5–30% across different sectors. The main reason for this is the mood of uncertainty, not income levels. While small and medium businesses experienced a real drop in revenues and have been forced to lay off employees, state companies continued to increase expenditure and salaries. As a result, the average salary grew in the first half of 2014, albeit more slowly than before. Personal savings also grew. Some retailers are saying that their revenue now depends on the news: a peaceful day in Ukraine will translate into better sales.
• The Olympic Games in Sochi and the annexation of the Crimea led to a rise of patriotism, which will be an important factor in the years to come. Many Russians feel nostalgic for the USSR; they remember it as an era of high social welfare and confidence about the future. They are the ones currently running the country, and are trying to bring back the best features of the socialist past. A rise in patriotism is likely to make Russians more tolerant of a slight drop in living standards and the narrowing of the market. At the same time we can expect a change of attitude towards money and luxury goods: Orthodox Christianity and 70 years of socialism have laid the foundations for a negative perception of wealth. The privatisation of the 1990s is still seen as a gross injustice in Russian society. We can expect to see a change in consumer attitudes towards foreign goods and the tightening of state import controls, up to the point where Russia may withdraw from the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
• The crisis in Ukraine has also brought with it some positive effects: some researchers suggest that it could increase Russia’s GDP by 3% or more. Russia will benefit by shifting orders from Ukraine to domestic plants, revitalising agriculture and industry, reducing smuggling, accelerating modernisation and developing its own independent financial market. Lastly, more funds will be spent within the country rather than abroad. As far as the watch market is concerned, the crisis has certainly created a negative mood. But on the other hand, there are some advantages. Ukraine has traditionally been a source of smuggled goods into Russia: in some years, import figures for certain goods into Ukraine have equalled imports into Russia, despite a wide variance in the capacities of the two markets. This year many distributors note that the decline in consumer demand has been offset by the disappearance of smuggling, resulting in no decline in sales. This summer the number of Russian visitors to Europe dropped by 40%. This, combined with many watch brands’ decisions to equalise prices between Europe and Russia, also supported domestic demand. Industrial output in the April–July period increased by 1.5%. As a result, the demand for watches is growing in a number of industrial cities.
Watch imports into Russia continued to grow up to the end of July. The fastest-growing category was watches with an export price of over 1,500 euros (which translates to a retail price of 4,000+ euros). It is difficult to say whether this reflects a real trend in demand or not, as the increase is partly a result of the rise in official transactions and a reduction in smuggling. Another reason is that some major brands are trying to increase the stocks of their Russian subsidiaries.
What can we expect from Russian market in the next year or two? In all probability, there will be a drop in both income and demand. This will affect the luxury sector far more than the mass market, as the state will try to prevent a serious fall in the standard of living of the general population.
The state will actively promote the “buy Russian” idea, and we can expect to see an expansion in Russian watch-assembly plants. The strategy of rebuilding the manufacturing sector will force the government to promote a new set of values: creation rather than consumption, something that watch brands would do well to note when it comes to devising their marketing strategies.
The greatest changes can be expected in luxury goods and “status symbols”. A significant proportion of past buyers will drop out of the market: some will encounter business difficulties, some will be forced to adopt a low profile as they dodge anti-corruption campaigners, and some capital owners will leave the country. The rest will start buying more simple and less flashy goods. The drop in demand will force brands to concentrate on their own boutiques, making many retail stores unprofitable.
Foreign purchases will decrease: fewer Russians will keep money abroad and the number of foreign trips will decrease accordingly. VISA has already noted a fall in purchases from Russia. Companies interested in selling goods to Russians will be forced to develop their presence in Russia.
Well-known brands with effective advertising will suffer less, while new, unknown products will find it much more difficult to break into the market.
Most experts do not expect a major upheaval in the Russian economy. The structure of the industry, exports and foreign exchange reserves will help to reduce the negative fallout. However, some observers feel the next few years will be psychologically difficult for Russians. While we have become used to dramatic boom/bust cycles, we now face a slow decline and accompanying loss of perspective. The low plateau into which we are heading is new to us, and may be worse than the sharp shocks we have experienced previously.
Who will be the main consumers over the next one to three years? Just as consumer profiles in the 1990s were different from those of the 2000s, the main result of the current crisis will be the appearance of new consumers.
For example, although the ban on food imports from the EU has seriously affected many companies, it has opened up new opportunities for Russian farmers and importers from the BRICs nations. In six months’ time they will have collected their earnings, and will be looking for new, more prestigious cars, apartments and watches. An increase in orders for Russian industry has already led to an increase in demand for industrial workers. Salaries in certain professions have risen from $1,000 last winter up to $3,000 by the end of the summer. These people will be new consumers too.
All this means that brands should not stop their advertising and marketing activities. To have a good business in a year or two, it’s important to prepare the ground today.
Source: Europa Star October - November 2014 Magazine Issue


text:
Weekly Market WATCh
November 20, 2020
Abroad, COVID-19 continues to rage across the Northern Hemisphere, with the number of cases accelerating strongly in the US forcing more states to re-introduce containment measures. US initial jobless claims rose last week, while US retail sales growth decelerated in October. Chinese economic data signalled ongoing recovery.PDF Download PDF
At home, the October labour force survey printed a surprising rebound in October, helped by Victoria re-opening and ongoing recovery elsewhere. Victoria re-opening also pushed October retail trade higher. Growth in the wage price index was the slowest on record in Q3.
November 13, 2020
Abroad, ‘stage 3’ test results point to a 90% efficacy of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Infections continue to surge across the Northern Hemisphere, with data releases pointing to the downward impact of the second wave of the pandemic on the European economy. The US labour market recovery continues, albeit at a slower pace.PDF Download PDF
At home, the NAB business conditions and confidence indices improved in October as Victoria started to re-open. Consumer sentiment continues to climb, with the Westpac gauge hitting the highest level since 2013.
November 6, 2020
Results point to a Joe Biden victory in the Presidential election, a Republican Senate and a Democratic House of Representatives. This diminishes chances for a large fiscal stimulus, particularly in the coming two months.PDF Download PDF
The public health crisis remains severe in the Northern Hemisphere. The UK government announced a new national lockdown last weekend and the Bank of England increased the size of its quantitative easing program on Thursday. At home, the RBA cut its interest rate targets to near zero and embarked on purchasing longer-term government bonds, including semis. Data released this week pointed to a stagnation in the labour market, a fall in consumer demand and an ongoing rebound in the housing market, helped by low interest rates and government incentives for construction.
October 30, 2020
In Australia, the CPI rebounded in Q3, helped by the end of free childcare and a rise in petrol prices. Export prices continued to fall in Q3, dragged down by the strong Australian dollar. Private sector credit growth remained weak in September. In the US, GDP rebounded strongly in Q3, core capital goods orders saw further strong growth in September and jobless claims continued to fall. The ECB signalled further easing is coming as COVID ravages Europe.PDF Download PDF
October 23, 2020
In Australia, the weekly payrolls suggested that the labour market recovery stalled in late September, while the preliminary retail sales report pointed to ongoing contraction across all states last month. The flash PMI report signalled an acceleration in output growth in October. The RBA Board minutes opened the door to a reduction of its interest rate targets to near zero and, possibly, the start of longer-term government bond purchases as early as next month. Abroad, Chinese economic activity data confirmed an ongoing recovery, with steel output at near record highs.PDF Download PDF
October 16, 2020
In Australia, the RBA Governor suggested further interest rate target cuts and, possibly, longer-term government bond purchases beyond the yield curve control policy. The September labour force report indicated that the recovery in Australian employment stalled in September amid the Victorian lockdown and a slowdown in job creation in some other states. Consumer confidence continued to improve. The labour market recovery has also slowed in the US, yet regional Fed surveys point to ongoing recovery. Chinese exports surged to all-time highs in September. The pandemic continues to accelerate across the advanced economies.PDF Download PDF


text:
GTA Online: Lowriders Trailer
GTA Online: Lowriders offers new customizable vehicles and a Lowrider scene to Los Santos. The update arrives on October 20.
Videos You May Enjoy
Articles You May Enjoy
- Latest PlanetSide 2 Update Rolls Out with GU13
- PlanetSide 2's Game Update 13 (GU13) is now live, and Sony Online Entertainment has exciting new updates that are sure to fire up battle-...
- Forsaken World Mobile Update Babel Ascending Launches
- Fedeen Games announced today that it has launched Babel Ascending, the brand-new update to the hit mobile MMORPG, Forsaken World.


text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
Boston hotel recovery gains momentum
- Lisa van der Pool
With demand for hotel rooms back to prerecession levels, rates are increasing locally — but hotel operators say they’re still cautious in their optimism.
The summer tourism season is in full-swing and numbers for local hotels have been strong this year. But reservations continue to be last minute, making business much less predictable. The bright side for consumers: Hotels often are offering deals, and free parking is almost always a given.
Despite having to make inducements, operators are happy at least that room rates are finally growing. Downtown Boston hotels in May saw a 3.3 percent uptick in average daily room rates to $215.74 compared to May 2010. Occupancy in May hit 86.3, which was essentially ...
Read more: Hotels gaining traction as room rates rise
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.
Android Mobile Developer Buildium | Boston, MA
Visiting Assistant Professor of Social Entrepreneurship Hampshire College | Amherst, MA
Sales Engineer/Solutions Architect Expedient Data Centers | Medford, MA
US – Director of Sales (Coated Label Products) Green Bay Packaging Inc. | Green Bay, WI
Executive Vice President Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center | Boston, MA
- Most popular
- Carpenter buys Christian Science parcels for $65.6M
- Ariad nabs $77.5 million in licensing pact
- MassDOT to select Back Bay air rights project developer by end of year
- Ten Mass. companies we're watching in 2015 (BBJ photo gallery)
- It's been a bad week for Uber in Boston
- New Balance sues Converse in federal court, alleges trademark risk
- Boston Medical Center sells three properties for $80M
- Staples says data breach affected 1.16M cards
- Aspen Dental to pay $1M settlement over deceptive advertising
- Newton mortgage company files Ch. 7 bankruptcy
Stay up-to-date with the latest real estate news from Boston every day.


text:
Zenreach plans 350 jobs for Biltmore area
- Zenreach of San Francisco signed a lease at 24th Street and Camelback Road
- The company uses wireless internet to help businesses market to customers
- The company already has about 90 people working in the area
A San Francisco company called Zenreach will bring about 350 workers to a Camelback Corridor office, according to Colliers International.
Zenreach, which helps restaurants, retailers and other businesses market to customers through wireless internet on site, has been running a Scottsdale office and has about 90 workers in the area.
The company has signed a lease for more than 30,000 square feet of space at the northwest corner of 24th Street and Camelback Road to be used as a sales division. It was scheduled to take occupancy Monday.
“This makes a major win for Phoenix and the Biltmore Center property,” said Ryan Timpani, vice president with Colliers International, who represented Zenreach in the lease. “The tech company attracts talented Millennial workers.”
ViaWest Group, owner of Biltmore Center, was represented by Phil Breidenbach, Timpani, Todd Noel and Kathy Foster of Colliers International in Phoenix.


text:
Two weeks ago we asked "when will the US finally feel the pain from trade wars" and answered: as soon as the $200BN in "phase II" tariffs are implemented, which happened just after midnight on Monday at which point is is only a matter of time before rising prices catch up with ordinary Americans. Today, we reverse the query and ask a similar question for China, which unlike the US has already suffered substantially in its capital markets (and the slumping currency), if not so much where it really matters - at least according to Trump - its exports, the reason behind the US trade deficit.
In other words: When will the trade war affect China's exports?
Echoing the above observations, Deutsche Bank, which once again deconstructs the answer, notes that while the US-China trade war has caused "visible damage" to China's stocks, it seems to have had no impact on China's exports so far. But now that the US has announced a tariff on US$ 200bn of China's exports, when will the actual pain to exporters, corporates, and consumers start to be felt?
Well, according to DB's Zhang Zhiwei, the damage of the trade war has already shown up in disaggregate data. Specifically, after the US imposed a 25% tariff on $34bn of Chinese exports on July 6, US Customs data show that the imports of this group of goods dropped by 10% yoy in July. However, disaggregate data on this level is only available with a lag of about two months, which is why DB expects imports in August for this group of goods to drop further.
The flipside, of course, is that aggregate US imports from China were strong in July, because of interesting "front running" behavior as traders rushed to lock in deliveries, and prices, ahead of the next tariff round. The US government announced on June 15 that a 25% tariff would be imposed on another group of Chinese goods worth US $16bn, which came into effect on August 23. This caused a surge of imports for this group in July, up to 40% yoy, which in turn helped to offset the slump of imports for the US$ 34bn of goods already facing tariffs in July. Meanwhile, the headline trade data, which is the total US imports from China, remained strong at 8% yoy in July.
Read the entire article


text:
Full profile →'">
The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.
Does your manager inspire you? Are you proud about where you work? Such questions have become an American workplace ritual in the past 15 years. Tracking how workers feel about their jobs has become a niche industry in its own right, with more than $1.5 billion a year being spent on "employee engagement surveys."
For Ryan Smith, the chief executive of Inc., this market is too juicy to resist. Smith's Salt Lake City-based company has emerged in the past few years as a hugely disruptive presence in the opinion research realm. The company has been expanding its product line, targeting various types of users for its sophisticated, cut-price surveys that are done entirely online. Qualtrics this month announced a push into employee surveys, providing a basic survey platform that companies can customize with whatever specific questions they want.
Until 2006, Qualtrics was a small family business, helping business schools and other university researchers conduct the sorts of public-attitude surveys that could turn into publishable research papers. Demand was brisk but academic budgets were annoyingly tight. So Qualtrics began targeting more the more affluent corporate market, running market surveys for the likes of eBay and Heineken, as Forbes writer Victoria Barret chronicled in June 2012.
Why stop there? During a Silicon Valley visit this week, Smith explained Qualtrics's latest growth push. His starting point: Qualtrics serves what he calls "insight seekers." By building a survey platform that's cheap and simple to use, Qualtrics is catering to a corporate world that's "full of insight seekers," looking for survey-based knowledge of all varieties. In some companies, as many as 1,500 people are authorized to run Qualtrics surveys themselves, Smith says.
Asking employees how they like their jobs isn't just a way to keep the human-relations department busy. As Smith sees it, such data becomes a powerful tool for top level executives to track morale within different clusters of employees -- and to figure out which front-line managers are making things hum, and which ones are barely keeping a mutiny under control. Gather those "insights," and suddenly it's a lot easier to promote or reassign the right people.
Early customers for the employee-engagement product, dubbed Qualtrics 360, include and Crate & Barrel. Qualtrics is entering a crowded field; a study last year by Bersin & Co., now part of Deloitte, found that at least 30 vendors are competing to run companies' employee-engagement studies.
Right now, most employee-engagement specialists compete by developing unique survey questions and scoring systems. But that isn't Qualtrics's plan. Instead, it will provide basic survey methodology -- and let corporate users plug in whatever question sets they want. For those that want a ready-built package, Qualtrics has partnered with Development Dimension International of Bridgeville, Pa., and will offer DDI's Leadership Mirror assessment system as one option. But Smith says he expects many corporate users to build their own surveys.
"We're a technology company, not a consulting firm," Smith says. He's studiously neutral about the relative merits of long surveys (45 questions or more) versus short ones (10 questions or fewer.) Qualtrics technology will enable them all, he says. He does say that Qualtrics itself is surveying its own employees twice a year, rather than the traditional annual cycle. Change happens fast, he explains. In an era where an unhappy employee can go out to lunch and come back with a new job offer, letting a whole year pass between employee surveys may be too long.


text:
Smartphone start-up Nextbit dropped plans to offer a CDMA version of its Robin smartphone, admitting it was “too optimistic, too bullish” in its plans.
Tom Moss, CEO of the company, said that while the company did not originally plan to offer such a device, during its Kickstarter campaign “we had many folks reach out to us…so we decided to take a look”. It said that “many of us have worked on devices that have shipped on US CDMA carriers previously, and had a rough understanding of the issues involved”.
“What people at the carriers, in good faith given our need for quick answers, thought would take ‘weeks’ has turned into ‘months’. What they thought would cost ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars’ has turned into ‘millions’. And we’re still not there,” Moss continued.
Nextbit is now fully refunding CDMA device buyers, and providing discount codes for the GSM version of the device.
The company, which has former Google and HTC staff among its management, smashed through its Kickstarter target last year. Its sales proposition is based around the integration of Android with cloud services, promising to make device storage capacity issues a thing of the past.


text:
Store shelves normally stocked with staples such as corn meal, cooking oil and sugar were empty on Tuesday as the Zimbabwe government threatened to take over manufacturers and retailers who failed to slash prices by half. Smaller shops shut down after running out of stock.
Store shelves normally stocked with staples such as corn meal, cooking oil and sugar were empty on Tuesday as the Zimbabwe government threatened to take over manufacturers and retailers who failed to slash prices by half.
Smaller shops shut down after running out of stock, while at least 190 supermarkets countrywide have been charged with pricing violations, police said on Tuesday.
In Harare, police raided 40 open-market traders on Monday, detaining them for allegedly hoarding sugar, soap and cooking oil for sale on the black market, police said.
The raids by government inspectors and police—both uniformed and plain clothes—began on Friday after a June 26 government directive ordering that prices for goods be halved in Zimbabwe.
Authorities arrested 20 businessmen and a ruling-party senator over the weekend on charges of overpricing.
During other recent shortages, many stores installed additional security to guard against looters. On Sunday, a shop manager was hospitalised after a near riot involving a mob of shoppers grabbing reduced items from a suburban store. At another store, shoppers fought over scarce sugar, tugging and tearing at packages until police intervened.
The government said on Tuesday the price cuts would not be revoked.
“If anything, the government wants to see prices further reduced,” said Vice-President Joseph Msika, who was acting for President Robert Mugabe while he was at the African Union summit in Ghana.
“Those found on the wrong side of the law will be punished severely,” Msika said, according to state radio. “We will take their businesses; we will take their licenses. They have raised prices to a level the people cannot afford so they can die in agony with hunger.”
Msika and Elliot Manyika, head of a new government task force on prices, accused businesses of deliberately fuelling inflation as a political ploy to bring down Mugabe, the state Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday.
“The campaign is political, and our detractors through business and industry have been trying to bring down the government the Yugoslavia way. We have a real war ... We will overcome them,” Manyika said, according to the Herald.
Manyika said state-owned enterprises—including Air Zimbabwe, the railroad and the telephone company—were ordered to cut fares and charges, and a long-defunct state trading corporation was being revived to take over businesses that collapsed or were seized due to what he called “delinquent” manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers.
In its worst economic crisis since 1980 independence, Zimbabwe faces official inflation of 4Â 500%, the highest in the world, though real inflation on basic goods is estimated at closer to 9Â 000%.
Disruptions in the agriculture-based economy have led to acute shortages of hard currency, food, gasoline, medicines and most basic goods.
The United Nations estimates about one-third of the population will need food aid over the next year.
At one supermarket’s 10m shelf on Tuesday, the only two packages of goat meat on offer sold within minutes of the store’s opening.
One of the capital’s main butcheries, usually open on weekends and holidays, was among the shops closed on Tuesday for lack of supplies, no longer honouring the pledge on its shop-front sign: Open 365 days a year.—Sapa-AP


text:
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow is preparing to announce an expansion of her proposed $5 million "Grow it Here, Make it Here" initiative during a press conference today in Dearborn, where she will be joined by officials from Ford Motor Company.
First introduced in October, Stabenow's Senate bill would extend an existing 30 percent renewable energy tax credit to bio-based manufacturers working on new or expanded projects here in Michigan and across the nation.
Stabenow is expected to announce three new provisions of the proposal today at the Henry Ford Soybean Lab Agricultural Gallery at Greenfield Village, where the auto pioneer developed a method to use Michigan-grown soy in his vehicles.
Ford currently uses soybean material in the seats of several vehicles, including the new Focus. The automaker also developed a new process to use soy oil in rubber vehicle parts.
Stabenow, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, announced the "Grow it Here, Make it Here" initiative last year at a Zeeland company developing several soy-based products.
Advocates say manufacturers who use soy oil instead of petroleum are effectively reducing the nation's dependency on foreign oil while creating domestic jobs.
More than 80 Michigan companies manufacture bio-based products, according to Stabenow's office, while manufacturing and agriculture account for more than half of the state's jobs.


text:
Updated from 8:21 a.m. EDT
third-quarter earnings rose 17% from last year, spurred on by double-digit sales growth in its industrial segment. But the bottom line fell short of Wall Street estimates and the company issued guidance that also trailed the analyst consensus.
The stock fell $4.08, or 5.2%, to $73.90 early Monday.
3M earned $775 million, or 97 cents a share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, up from $663 million, or 83 cents a share, last year. Revenue rose 8% to $4.97 billion. Analysts had been expecting earnings of 98 cents a share on revenue of $5.05 billion.
The company expects to earn 90 cents or 91 cents a share in the fourth quarter, excluding a possible tax reserve and an accounting change that will together reduce earnings by 6 cents a share. Analysts were forecasting earnings of 92 cents a share in the quarter.
By segment, third-quarter sales rose 10.5% in 3M's industrial division; 7.7% in consumer and office; 6.6% in display and graphics; 6.4% in safety, security and protection; 3.7% in transportation; and 1.5% in electro and communications. Sales fell 0.8% from a year ago in health care.
"We are optimistic about the strength of our diverse business and technology portfolio, but remain cautious on the global economy," 3M said. "We have achieved strong earnings, cash flow and economic profit growth in 2004 despite increasing raw material price pressure, and are confident in our ability to leverage our corporate initiatives to drive sustainable revenue growth."


text:
No, I'm not asking for your phone number.
I'm asking for how much you think your company is worth.
Nick Bilton writing for the New York Times:
A few weeks ago, over dinner with half a dozen entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, the question came up again. The table, which included a few people already worth more than $100 million, went quiet. One man in his late 30s twirled the stem of his wine glass as he thought. Then he tipped back his head, downed his pinot noir and said, “one billion,” his glass landing back on the table with a thud. “That’s it. That’s my number. One billion dollars.”
Over at Snapchat, Mr. Spiegel, who is 23, apparently thought $3 billion was not enough for a company that, as yet, does not turn a dime of profit. But here’s another question: When is your number big enough? The most expensive homes in the Bay Area top out at around $30 million. Pick up a few fancy cars at $100,000 a pop. Throw in a Bentley for $175,000, a weekend place in Sonoma for $5 million, a modest pied-à-terre in Manhattan for around $5 million — fine, make it $10 million. And a top-of-the-line private jet for around $50 million. With expenses, taxes and what not, you’re barely past $100 million.
$100 million put into an accessible savings account in a Canadian banking institution, compounded monthly and yielding a 1% return, would generate $1 million in interest revenue per year. And you would earn that interest by waking up in the morning.
Or you could negotiate for an amount greater than $3 billion, like Mr. Spiegel, and you might need to hire someone to spend your money for you.
In all seriousness, $19 billion is mind-bending. As Nick correctly points out, many new startups will use this acquisition to inflate their own values.
At what point does that value plateau?
Our industry has reached a chilling point where the biggest players are so big, with so much cash, so much to lose, and effectively zero regulation, that they can simply buy anyone who threatens their dominance.
There is a bubble being created here. At some point it has to pop. When we talk "billions" instead of "millions", the stakes grow that much larger.


text:
On Sept. 13, New York City’s health board approved a regulation that will limit sugar-sweetened beverages served in restaurants, delis, movie theaters, stadiums, food carts and other venues to 16 ounces. For anyone old enough to remember soda in glass bottles, that’s the portion.
(And for anyone who grew up as humbly as my family did, that portion might have been split three or four ways. No kidding.)
Convenience stores and supermarkets—where 20 ounce portions are the norm—aren’t on the list. But those who let it flow from fountains and into open cups, those are the bad guys.
The regulation is the brain child of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who believes limiting fully sugared drink consumption will help in the battle against obesity.


text:
Susan J. Demas
Michigan will begin pilot testing an app in East Lansing that will aid the state in COVID-19 contact tracing.
Use of the system is voluntary. Once a device owner enrolls, their device communicates with other nearby devices through Bluetooth.
If a device owner later tests positive for COVID-19, the other users they had contact with receive a notification that they may have been exposed to the virus.
No identifying information is shared with other users, Apple or Google, as each device is given a random ID that changes every 10 to 20 minutes. The system does not collect users’ location information; rather, it uses Bluetooth to check the proximity between devices, regardless of where the two devices are.
Users will be able to opt into the Exposure Notifications System on iOS devices in the device’s settings. Android device users can enroll by downloading their state’s app from the Google Play store.
The app is part of a joint effort between Google and Apple.
The pilot program is a partnership between the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and Michigan State University.
Because use of the app is voluntary, its effectiveness depends largely on its adoption rate.
Students will be encouraged to enroll in the program during the pilot test through a communication campaign, which will also focus on increasing perceptions of the importance of contact tracing and the value of the app in more effective and efficient exposure notification.
Contact tracing plays a key role in safely reopening Michigan’s economy and slowing the spread of COVID-19.
Currently, the state relies on traditional investigations and phone calls to alert people that they may have come into contact with someone who tested positive.
Ten other states already use the system, and at least eight more have apps currently in development.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.


text:
AutoNation Inc on Thursday unveiled an additional $1 billion share buyback program as the largest U.S. auto retailer reported a quarterly profit that nearly doubled, benefiting from higher car prices due to surging demand and tight inventories.
Consumer preference for personal transportation since the pandemic outbreak and a global chip shortage that has led to auto production cuts across the globe have been driving car prices higher. Stimulus checks and personal savings have also contributed to the demand for new and used cars.
AutoNation, which reported another quarter of record income, said new vehicle inventory remained at historically low levels leading to a marginal rise in new vehicle revenue in the third-quarter ended Sept. 30.
Used vehicle revenue, on the other hand, rose to $2.32 billion compared to $1.51 billion a year earlier.
Net income from continuing operations was $361.7 million, or $5.12 per share, for the quarter, compared with $182.6 million, or $2.05 per share, a year earlier. Adjusted net income per share was $5.12. Also read:
The biggest impact was on the workshop revenue of dealerships, where 70% of the service revenue comes from the body shop, according to the executives. As a result, very few workshops retained the entire staff – many were furloughed.


text:
A flawless 102-carat diamond, about the size of an egg or a large lollipop, is expected to fetch up to $30 million at an auction in Hong Kong next month.
Photo Credit: ReutersThe rare 102-carat diamond is expected to fetch $12 million or $30 million.
Hong Kong: One of the world’s rarest diamond will be up for auction next month at Sotheby’s. The diamond, about the size of an egg or a large lollipop, is expected to fetch $12 million or $30 million.
Sotheby’s said that the 102.39-carat diamond is the second-largest oval diamond of its kind to be offered at auction. The largest, a 118.28-carat diamond, was sold at a record price of $30.8 million in 2013.
“More and more people have come to understand that something billions of years old and of the size of a lollipop can store as much value as a Rembrandt self-portrait or a Basquiat,” Gary Schuler, worldwide chairman of jewellery at Sotheby’s, said in a statement.
The flawless diamond will be sold in a single-lot auction without a reserve price in Hong Kong on October 5.
Previously, only seven such diamonds, of over 100 carats, have been sold at auction. Such diamonds are known as D colour flawless or internally flawless white diamonds in the trade.
“Diamonds of this caliber and size have sold anywhere between $11.9 million to $33.7 million,” Quig Bruning, head of Sotheby’s New York jewellery department, was quoted as saying by AFP.
The rare gem was cut from a 271-carat rough that was discovered at the Victor Mine in Ontario, Canada in 2018. It was cut and polished for over a year.


text: June 30th, 2010. Today, KDE has released a new version of the KDE Software Compilation (KDE SC). This is expected to be the final bugfix and translation update to KDE SC 4.4. KDE SC 4.4.5 is a recommended update for everyone running KDE SC 4.4.4 or earlier versions. As the release only contains bugfixes and translation updates, it will be a safe and pleasant update for everyone. This update is now available from the PCLinuxOS Synaptic Package Manager.


text:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The post office is offering a sneak peek at some of the stamps it plans to issue next year.
The stamps can be previewed on Facebook at facebook.com/USPSStamps, through Twitter (at)USPSstamps or on the post office website, Beyond the Perf, at www.beyondtheperf.com/2012-preview.
Beyond the Perf is the Postal Service's online site for philatelic news.
The first designs up for preview are a double-stamp featuring the spring Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington and a stamp honoring Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs.
New stamps will be added in the next few days.


text:
This year's iPhone refresh may come slightly earlier than last year's, but still within the general fall timeframe. Not one, but two publications cited sources claiming the device could launch as early as mid-September, with a special Apple event happening earlier in the month. But it wouldn't just be the iPhone that would see a refresh at that time—the rumored "iPad mini" is also supposedly nearing launch, not to mention the first major iPod touch bump in two years.
iMore was the first to name September 12 as a potential date for Apple's fall event. The site has been correct in the past about Apple event dates, though Apple deciding definitively on a September date this early on seems almost too early from our perspective. Still, iMore believes Apple plans to announce a new iPhone as well as the iPad mini, and that the new iPhone would be available to the public on Friday, September 21.
iLounge then followed up with more information from a source about what they believe will be updated in September. iLounge supports iMore's assertion that the new iPhone will indeed launch in September instead of October (like it did last year), but it seems much more ambiguous about a potential iPad mini launch. "The iPad mini will apparently not be ready to ship at the same time as the new iPhone, and might have its own debut event," wrote iLounge Editor-in-Chief Jeremy Horowitz. "Our source says that it could ship by November, which we noted would be really close to year’s end, during a month that typically doesn’t see new hardware releases from Apple; our source stood firm on the target date."


text:
Justice Department Declines to Endorse Pot Taxes (Except by Implication)
Yesterday Rob Corry, head of the campaign against Colorado's proposed marijuana taxes, got a response from U.S. Attorney John Walsh to his October 9 letter asking about the Justice Department's position on the issue. "The U.S. Attorney's Office does not take a position on state initiatives," wrote Jeff Dorschner, Walsh's spokesman. "However, the Department of Justice has made it clear in recent guidance on marijuana enforcement that there is an overriding importance of a strong and effective state regulatory system with sufficient resources to be effective in practice, not just on paper."
Although Walsh is not endorsing Proposition AA, which would authorize a 15 percent excise tax and a special sales tax of up to 15 percent, Dorschner's response lends support to the argument that approving the initiative will help discourage federal interference with marijuana legalization in Colorado. Brian Vicente, chairman of the pro-AA Committee for Responsible Regulation, puts it this way in a recent Denver Post op-ed piece:
In a memo issued by Deputy Attorney General James Cole last month, detailing how the federal government will respond to the marijuana measures passed in Colorado and Washington, he wrote that a "robust" system of regulations could address federal enforcement priorities by "replacing an illicit marijuana trade that funds criminal enterprises with a tightly regulated market in which revenues are tracked and accounted for."
But the U.S. Department of Justice was not giving Colorado carte blanche to move forward with its regulated system. Rather, the memo provided a stern warning that the federal government would be monitoring the state to ensure that there were "necessary resources" to enforce the regulations that exist.
The acknowledgment of the benefits of regulating marijuana is a dramatic shift by federal law enforcement officials, and we are grateful for the respect they have given our state and its voters. In return, we are firmly committed to respecting their concerns by ensuring that the necessary resources they desire are available.
The Committee for Responsible Regulation warns that "without the funding from Prop AA, the Colorado marijuana industry will be in peril, and without the proper resources to establish a strict regulatory system, at risk of federal prosecution." It calls Proposition AA "an opportunity to show the federal government that Colorado is fully capable of responsible, effective, and reasonable regulation of retail marijuana," adding that "the passage of Proposition AA will ensure that Colorado has the necessary resources to implement this robust regulatory structure."
The committee also responds to Corry's argument that the taxes authorized by Proposition AA (and Question 2A, a Denver initiative that would allow a municipal sales tax of up to 15 percent) will perpetuate the black market, thereby undermining effective regulation:
It is unlikely. The combined taxes on retail marijuana sales will add about 22 percent to the retail cost of marijuana products. This is a relatively small premium to pay for the convenience of purchasing high quality, tested, and labeled marijuana and marijuana products from regulated stores. By comparison, the total tax on marijuana and marijuana products in Colorado is far lower than in the state of Washington, where the combined taxes may add 35-40 percent to the retail cost.
That 22 percent estimate tracks a projection that researchers at Colorado State University (CSU) made in a report last April, based on an excise tax of 15 percent, a special sales tax of 15 percent, and the standard 2.9 percent statewide sales tax. It does not take into account local sales taxes, which in Denver (the center of the cannabis industry) total around 5 percent, or Denver's proposed municipal sales tax, which could end up being as high as 15 percent. Furthermore, as I mentioned yesterday, the CSU estimate is based on questionable assumptions about production cost and markup (as well as an apparent error in applying the excise tax to the premarkup production cost rather than the wholesale price, although that does not matter as much). Projections by BOTEC, the consulting firm hired by Washington's marijuana regulators, assume substantially higher production costs, which have an important impact on the post-tax retail price.
The Committee for Responsible Regulation says Washington's combined taxes "may add 35-40 percent to the retail cost," but that is not quite right, at least according to BOTEC's numbers. BOTEC calculates that taxes will represent about 37 percent of the retail price, which is not the same as raising the retail price by 37 percent. Rather, in that scenario, the taxes raise the retail price by 58 percent. That makes Colorado's taxes look even more modest by comparison. But if you include local as well as state taxes, the combined impact in Denver, where most of the state-licensed pot stores will be located, is to raise the retail price by around 43 percent, or almost twice the number cited by Proposition AA's supporters. And if you assume a production cost of $900 a pound (as BOTEC does in one scenario) rather than the $600 estimate used in the CSU report, the after-tax price for marijuana in Denver could be more than $300 an ounce, compared to an average price of $238 reported by current buyers of high-quality marijuana in Colorado. So prices for legal marijuana in Denver could very well end up being substantially higher than black-market prices if the proposed taxes are all approved by voters next month and set at the maximum authorized rates.
If that happens, will the Colorado General Assembly and the Denver City Council lower rates to help legal pot shops compete with black-market suppliers? Or will they be tempted to keep taxes high in the hope of generating more revenue? Reducing rates might actually boost revenue by allowing licensed sellers to attract more business. But will legislators be wise enough to take advantage of that dynamic, especially with two levels of government competing for revenue and each reaping some of the benefit from the other's tax cuts? Proposition AA's backers, which include many of the dispensaries that next year will be serving the recreational market, are putting a lot of trust in politicians' ability to learn from experience and anticipate unintended consequences.


text:
In recent years, a movement for “buying local” has resurfaced in the food industry. Farmers markets and farm-to-table restaurants, for instance, have often been heralded as ideal choices over massive supermarkets and chain restaurants, suggesting positive outcomes with local food consumption. Because of this rhetoric, many people have adopted a sense of moral righteousness aboutContinue reading “Why Should We Keep Food Dollars Local?”
Sophie Bernstein – Utilizing a 3.25-acre hydroponic food production greenhouse, Green City Growers (GCG) is the largest production greenhouse in an urban area and the largest covered greenhouse in an urban core in the country. They produce millions of heads of lettuce and specialty greens and hundreds of thousands of pounds of herbs in ClevelandContinue reading “Green City Growers: The Largest Production Greenhouse in an Urban Area”
Some industries that fall into the category of ag-bioscience include crop and livestock production, waste capture, biomaterials production, food processing safety, and biofuels and energy production. Ag-bioscience is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think about which industries could contribute most to economic growth. However, this industry creates unrivaled jobs and revenue in comparison to other industry clusters!
Since 2010, Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) have cost Ohio over $815 million. In addition, they have caused the deaths of Lake Erie pets, wildlife and plants and has caused illness in humans through physical contact or consumption. This cost includes damage and devaluation of lakeshore property, loss of tourism, loss of recreation, and additional municipalContinue reading “Harmful Algal Blooms cost Ohio over $815 million”


text:
BestBlackFriday.com is one of those websites that gets its hands on Black Friday ads before they're officially released by stores. The Kohl's ad is the first major leak of the season.
According to the leaked ad, Kohl's will open at 5 p.m. Thanksgiving Day — an hour earlier than last year.
Many of the offerings from the circular will be available at kohls.com starting at 12:01 a.m. Central Time on Nov. 20. Doorbusters — including all those electronics mentioned above — will be available at kohls.com starting at 12:01 a.m. Thanksgiving Day.
>> Black Friday 2017: Macy’s, Big Lots, GameStop to open on Thanksgiving (updated)
Ready to shop?
Follow Georgea Kovanis on Twitter: @georgeakovanis


text:
With Christmas in Finland less than a week away, Yle found that a Christmas tree could set consumers back a hefty 100 euros or as little as 10 euros.
Many homemakers are on the prowl for a lush Christmas tree that can weather seasonal festivities, so Yle went out to visit tree merchants at market squares and garden stores and to compare prices around the country.
The resulting price comparison is based on an indoor tree of about two metres. Priced at just 10 euros, the cheapest trees were on sale in Mikkeli in southeast Finland. By contrast the most expensive trees in the unofficial study could be found in Oulu, where the price tag was 100 euros.
Story continues after table.
In the west, Pori’s Liisantori hosts a traditional Christmas tree market every year. Tapani Kopio from Kauvatsa in Kokemäki said he has been selling the seasonal centrepiece for 40 years. He said that consumers increasingly appear to be looking for more compact firs.
"Smaller trees are easier to handle. Larger trees could also fit in homes in the past," he observed.
The trees are left to grow until they are harvested during a growing phase.
"A tree that is about two metres tall would have been growing for about 10 years before it is harvested for sale. Larger trees about three metres tall can be up to 20 years old," he noted.
Story continues after photo.
Leo Suutari was one of the shoppers on the hunt for a Christmas tree in Kuopio on Tuesday. He said that there are specific criteria for a good living room centrepiece.
"The tree must be small enough, not too wide and a rich green colour. And it must be Finnish. I have never bought an imported tree," he declared.
He added that Christmas trees have been part of the Suture family celebrations for more than 60 years – there would be no Christmas without it.
"The smell of a fir is what makes Christmas."


text:
BRAZIL/US: General Mills "agrees to buy food firm Yoki"
General Mills is reported to have agreed to buy Brazilian firm Yoki
General Mills has reportedly agreed to buy Brazilian food manufacturer Yoki in a transaction worth BRL2bn (US$1.16bn).
Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo today (13 February) cited sources close to both companies that said a deal had been struck.
According to the Yoki website, it sells around 600 products including popcorn, peppers and condiments from nine manufacturing sites across Brazil.
When contacted by just-food, General Mills refused to be drawn on the report. "As a standing practice, we don't respond to rumors or comment on speculation," the company said.
General Mills has a mixed record in Brazil. Three years ago, it closed its local pasta and bread businesses, which made products under brands including Forno de Minas. It sold the Forno de Mias brand to local dairy firm Laticínios Condessa. At present, it imports global brands like Haagen-Dazs ice cream and Nature Valley snack bars into Brazil.
Companies: General Mills
General Mills has decided to pull out of the Philippines after its sales in the market missed targets....
- Why Arla upbeat about LatAm prospects
- Sweets & Snacks Expo: just-food's pick
- M&A Watch - Could Cloetta be takeover target?
- Focus: Why Dairy Crest needs to offload dairies
- Premier Foods to push on with range revamp
- Weetabix gets new private-equity investor
- Yildiz eyeing further deals - reports
- PAI, Pamplona "eyeing Bakkavor stake"
- Food industry news of week: GMOs, Arla, Mondelez
- Wal-Mart acts on animal welfare, antibiotics


text:
Australian slot supplier Aristocrat Technologies reported a 44.7 percent rise in revenue for the year ended September 30, 2018, driven by record results from its North America and ANZ markets.
Reported net profit after tax amortization (NPATA) reached A$655.3 million, up 20.6 percent. Normalized NPATA was up 34 percent to $730 million in the financial year.
Aristocrat said it saw record results from its America’s business, with earnings up 16 percent year-on-year. The company noted growth in gaming operations combined with strong ship share levels - a term given to the measure of its games’ popularity compared to the games of other slot manufacturers.
The company said it also maintained leading market share across ANZ and APAC.
Profit from ANZ was up 8.9 percent, however, profit from its international segment fell 10.9 percent. Aristocrat said lower revenue and profit from its international segment was due to prior year new casino openings.
The company also reported a huge jump in earnings from its Digital business, up 244.7 percent to US$330.8 million.
Looking at the 2019 fiscal year, Aristocrat says it expects incremental gains in attractive North American adjacencies, expansion in its land-based gaming operations, and further growth in its digital segment.
FY19 earnings are expected to be skewed to the second half, reflecting the timing of digital game releases and corresponding user acquisition investment, said the company.
Asia Gaming Brief is a news and intelligence service providing up to date market information for worldwide executives on relevant gaming issues in Asia.
ASIA GAMING BRIEF
PO Box 1139, Macau SAR
Tel: +853 2871 7267
Fax: +853 2871 7264


text:
Gitex Shopper 2011, the region’s largest retail shopping event took off with a great start. Organized and hosted by the Dubai World Trade Centre at the Airport Expo Dubai, the event showcased world class brands of gadgets and gizmos. About 160 technology retailers in the Middle East participated in the biggest electronic bargain of the year.
The mega event offered more than 25,000 electronic devices with hundreds of participating brands, some of which included top electronic giants like Acer, Emax, Etisalat, Jacky’s, Jumbo, Samsung, Nokia Corporation, Sharaf DG, and Plug-Ins.
|GITEX Shopper 2011|
“This year Gitex Shopper has a different tone to it; it’s far more festive, very busy. We’ve got a lot more choices, lot more exhibitors, lot more brands participating. People actually come to Shopper because they look for great bargains and products and Shopper delivers that to them,” said Mr. Hemesh Chandavarkar, Exhibitions Director, Dubai World Trade Center and organizer of Gitex Shopper.
“We have put this show together, and the buzz on the show is brilliant, there’s lot of sales happening, people are happy and that’s what the show is all about.”
Visitors plunged in on the last two days of the exhibition, making great deals on top electronic brands in the Middle East.
Mr. Abbas Fardullah Al Ali, Assistant Manager, Sharaf DG has pointed out that the demand for Smart Phones, LED T.V’s, Digital Camera and Laptops has been more this year. Only three years old in Gitex, Sharaf DG has emerged more successful this year, having over 20 percent increase in the total sales turn over compared to the previous year, while Jumbo Electronics has been a part of Gitex since its inception, noticed a 10 percent increase in sales.
|Over 160 technology retailers at GITEX 2011, Airport Expo Dubai|
Etisalat which has been a part of Gitex for four successive years offered great deals. Some big names in electronics were a part of Gitex this year, including Dell, Virgin Mega store, Lenovo, Panasonic SanDisk and Toshiba. Most of the brand organizers said demand for smart phones was immense. Consumers insisted on buying Blackberry and IPhones’, also 3D LED televisions, DSLR Camera’s and Notebooks had better sale this year.
According to a recent survey, local newspapers have reported that 1,66,521 visitors attended Gitex last year, out of which 45 percent were between the age group of 25-35 years. A profit of AED 170 Million was made last year; reveal that 90 percent of the visitors made purchases. Statistics for this year are yet to arrive.
Report and Photos by Fatima Layeek


text:
A new Destiny 2 The Witch Queen trailer is all about Savathûn’s Throne World, a new location coming alongside the new expansion.
Tag - Bungie
Gayle d'Hondt has stepped down as head of HR at Bungie following a damning report by IGN that painted the developer as a toxic workplace.
A Destiny 2 Halo crossover looks extremely likely, assumedly timed for the 30th anniversary of Bungie, the creator of both franchises.
An Xbox and Halo 20th anniversary digital broadcast will take place on 16 November here in Australia, honouring the launch of Microsoft's first console and the...
A Halo Infinite multiplayer surprise launch may take place as early as 16 November here in Australia, new reports suggest.
A new, free Destiny 2 Be True emblem is now available in support of Transgender Awareness Week.
Halo Xbox 360 servers including Halo 3's original batch will be shut down on 14 January 2022, Microsoft has today revealed.
Destiny 2 Witch Queen Dungeons will not be included as part of the expansion's Standard Edition or Season Pass, Bungie has recently advised.
The Destiny 2 Halloween 2021 event, Festival of the Lost, is on now and runs until 2 November.
Destiny 2 Trials of Osiris matchmaking changes have been detailed and have some players up in arms.
Halo and Destiny composer Marty O'Donnell has been found in contempt of court and owes former studio Bungie nearly $100,000 USD in legal fees as a result.
The Ager's Scepter Exotic Quest is now available within Destiny 2 as part of its Season of the Lost. Find out more -- including how to nab the weapon -- inside.
Destiny 2 Season of the Lost and The Witch Queen will bring a number of changes to the popular looter shooter, including new weapons and the return of both...
A Destiny 2 Witch Queen reveal has teased a towering 21 foot tall Savathun.
Destiny 2 cross-play will arrive in Australia on 25 August alongside a new season, Bungie has today announced.
The Destiny 2 transmog system will do away with the Synthstrand consumable from late August with Season 15, developer Bungie has confirmed.
Bungie will reveal details of Destiny 2 The Witch Queen in August, the developer has today confirmed.
The Destiny 2 Solstice of Heroes 2021 event was today detailed by Bungie and will run betweeen 6 July and 3 August 2021.
Bungie has advised Destiny 2 players that they shouldn't buy Spicy Ramen Coupon emblems online as the item will be given away to all players, for free, next...
A Destiny 2 cross-play beta is on now, offering the chance for Guardians to try out the looter shooter with friends on other platforms.


text:
TRSA, the leading global textile services trade association, announced that an independent study conducted earlier this year found workers who routinely use shop towels had no increased health risk above regulatory levels of concern.
The study, commissioned by TRSA and conducted by Arcadis U.S., Inc., measured heavy metal exposures in laundered shop towels sampled from 10 laundering facilities. Shop towels are reusable, natural fiber cloths used as rags in various workplaces for wiping engines, mechanical parts, work surfaces and other equipment.
TRSA commissioned the study in response to research suggesting shop towels contained concentrations of metals that exceed established regulatory toxicity criteria.
“This study definitively demonstrates reusable shop towels do not put workers at risk,” explained TRSA President and CEO Joseph Ricci. “Prior findings to the contrary used a variety of ad hoc approaches that produced questionable results. Our study uses a methodical, risk assessment model based on a high-end, reasonable level of towel usage that sets the bar for this type of industry research.”
Twenty-seven metals were evaluated in the TRSA study with hazard indices (HI) calculated for three exposure pathways: towel-to-hand and subsequent hand–to–food or hand–to–mouth transfers. In each instance, the highest HIs for all metals were at least 10 times lower than the regulatory level of concern.
While the TRSA study confirmed previous reports of low, but measurable levels (i.e., part-per-million) concentrations of several heavy metals in reusable shop towels, these trace residues do not pose a concern to worker health based on minimal regulatory health standards.
The full study is available by contacting TRSA by calling 703.519.0029, Ext. 109.
For more information on TRSA, visit www.trsa.org.


text:
MoviePass escalates its battle with AMC Theatres by dropping 10 cinemas — and customers are not happy
Subscription film ticket company MoviePass has ratcheted up its longstanding battle with AMC Theatres by dropping its service from 10 of the chain’s busiest cinemas, including major locations in Los Angeles and New York.
New York-based MoviePass, which offers one movie ticket a day to customers who use its red debit cards, has soared in popularity since it dropped its monthly fee to $9.95 last August. But AMC, the world’s largest cinema operator, blasted the new pricing, saying the startup’s model was unsustainable and could do long-term harm to the film industry. It also threatened legal action to block the service from its theaters.
The feud has only intensified since then. MoviePass, majority owned by data firm Helios and Matheson, now wants a cut of theater owners’ box-office and concession sales, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment. MoviePass is seeking $3 per ticket sold through its app, and 20% of concession sales to its customers, these people said.
MoviePass, which counts more than 1.5 million subscribers (up from as little as 20,000 in December 2016), says it has significantly increased attendance at theaters, driving increases in concession sales for exhibitors at a time when domestic admissions are in decline. MoviePass wants to participate financially in that bump.
“We’ve pulled 10 AMC theaters — less than 2% of theaters,” said Ted Farnsworth, chairman and chief executive of Helios and Matheson. “Other theater companies have seen this attendance resurgence and have approached MoviePass to collaborate. Since the get-go, AMC has not been interested in collaborating with MoviePass — a move that is not in the interest of our subscribers and AMC theater-goers.”
Theaters no longer available on the MoviePass mobile app include AMC Century City 15, AMC Mercado 20 in Santa Clara, AMC Mission Valley 20 in San Diego and AMC Empire 25 in New York. The change also affects locations in Chicago; Boston; Orlando, Fla., and other metropolitan areas.
The latest flareup comes just months after AMC publicly stated that the idea of forking over a cut of its sales to MoviePass was a nonstarter. AMC Chief Executive Adam Aron in November told analysts that MoviePass paid AMC $11.88 for each ticket it purchased in September, but he ruled out the possibility of a revenue-sharing agreement.
“We appreciate their business, but I think it’s also important to make clear that, despite claims they’ve made to the contrary, AMC has absolutely no intention — I repeat, no intention — of sharing any — I repeat, any — of our admissions revenue or our concessions revenue with MoviePass,” Aron said.
MoviePass customers on Thursday began to notice that their local theaters had gone dark on the service, before MoviePass had publicly disclosed its decision. Many customers tweeted their frustration on both companies’ social media accounts, demanding answers.
“I don’t understand why you would take my favorite movie theater away from your service,” one Florida user tweeted to MoviePass’ Twitter account.
Many vented their frustration at AMC, before MoviePass put out its statement on the decision to drop theaters from its network. An AMC spokesman declined to comment on the matter Friday, but the theater chain’s customer service Twitter account replied to angry customers, saying the restriction was not AMC’s fault.
“AMC has not restricted MoviePass acceptance at our theatres, nor have we heard from MoviePass about this,” the Leawood, Kan.-based company told customers on Twitter. “MoviePass customers should contact MoviePass for clarification.”
Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc., a publicly traded company based in New York, said in August it agreed to pay up to $27 million for a controlling stake in MoviePass, which then dropped its price to $9.95 a month from roughly $40. The company’s rapid growth caused a backlog of orders, and customers complained when it took weeks for the company to send their cards in the mail. Helios in November said it would raise $100 million in capital to invest in MoviePass.
MoviePass has recently expanded its business to partner with independent film distributors to help acquire movies and promote them on its app when they hit theaters. At the Sundance Film Festival this week, MoviePass teamed with distributor the Orchard to acquire the distribution rights for filmmaker Bart Layton’s latest movie “American Animals.”
“As we continue to strive for mutually-beneficial relationships with theaters, the list of theaters we work with is subject to change,” said MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe, who previously sparred with Hollywood studios as an executive at Redbox and Netflix. “We advise customers to always double check the MoviePass app for the most up-to-date list of participating theaters.”
Inside the business of entertainment
The Wide Shot brings you news, analysis and insights on everything from streaming wars to production — and what it all means for the future.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.