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Today’s Creators Can Generate Substantial Engagement And Add Value To The Projects Or Ventures They Support.
Social media has gone through multiple iterations since it first took shape in the 1990s, but the current cohort of social media influencers and creators stands out from the rest. This unique class is blessed because they have the most advanced technology to date at their disposal and the most history to learn from, so it is no surprise that this cohort’s elite have made the fewest mistakes and are on track to change the world.
Venture capitalists view creators as worthy investments.
This class, per the New York Times, is the group that forced investors to “finally embrace the influencer economy as a legitimate business.” Another news outlet recently reported that “REMUS, an early-stage venture capital firm, recently hired an 18-year-old TikTok star, as a venture partner,” as an indication that Silicon Valley elite are finally realizing that there is something different about the incoming batch of creators. Influencers have previously tried to cross over into the Silicon Valley bubble and have had only moderate success. Content-creator trailblazers like Cameron Dallas and Jake Paul teamed up with a funder to form TGZ Capital but didn’t stick together for a second fund. Creators have power through their numbers. In 2021, social following is a kind of currency, but the key difference between a creator’s reach compared to a traditional celebrity’s is the level of engagement, which is where the real value is. Today’s creators can generate substantial engagement and add value to the projects or ventures they support.
Tech companies recognize influencer status.
Several technology companies are also legitimizing these creators by developing software and partnerships that acknowledge them as substantial business owners, including:
- Stir, a back-end CFO suite for creators.
- Karat, a credit card company that allows creators to obtain a credit card with significant credit despite what FICO scores might dictate to a traditional lending service.
- Breakr, a music marketplace that allows influencers to seamlessly pair with independent artists and get paid. It had its round led by A16Z’s TxO fund, which invests solely in marginalized founders.
- PearPop, the Cameo-like company that allows creators to monetize their TikTok audiences through duets, creators to run charity fundraisers creatively and fans to become instantly famous.
- Versus Game, a company that allows creators to monetize, at scale, this or that questions.
These technology companies are starting to pop up and garner investments from some of the biggest VCs and angel investors. Karat raised $28 million in its series B in May of 2019, and that is just the start for the rapidly developing creator tech space.
Wall Street acknowledges that social media creators can be formidable.
After the fiasco with GameStop’s stock due to social media platform Reddit, Wall Street is now also being forced to take social media influencers seriously. People follow with their wallets, and now that hedge fund managers have lost billions, it behooves them to delve into trying to understand social media and its top users. Waving off creators as futile children was an understandable first reaction a year ago, but at this point, an investor ignoring the creator economy is being grossly irresponsible. This only proves that besides the power to create a new marketplace, creators can produce seismic shifts in the economy over time as well because trends change and technology advances, as in a split second.
The future is creators.
In a forever-changing world, the internet is certainly playing a big part in driving the future. The internet has offered widely available access to information, decentralized media and opened the doors to the creator economy. In turn, society now has a hunger for a wide variety of content that will only continue to grow. It is only logical that creators who are native to the internet will have an advantage over traditional talent.
This news was originally published at Forbes


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India on Monday lifted the one-month ban on Chinese toys, after the country's toy dealers became angry over the ban and said they were threatened with going out of business.
Indian Minister of Industry and Commerce Kamal Nath signed the order lifting the ban, said officials of the Ministry, adding that the lift came into effect as of mid-day Monday.
Indian government said in a statement earlier that China could resume toy exports to India on condition that the products are tagged with world consumer safety certificates like that of the International Standardization Organization.
India imposed the ban in January on excuses of public safety and health. China rejected the ban, calling it act of protectionism.
Indian toy dealers have complained that they risk going out of business after toy prices soared by as much as 100 percent following the ban. Many say they are running out of stocks.

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Erode Textile Mall's Texvalley to open destination mall for B2B and B2C trade in Tirupur
Erode Textile Mall Private Limited plans to turn Texvalley in Tirupur into a destination mall for both business-to-business and business-to-customer textile trade in the region.
Texvalley, which is currently a textile wholesale trading centre located in Erode, Tamil Nadu, will be developed into a mall with large format stores, the business announced on June 3 on Facebook. The business has designated around four lakh square feet within the Erode complex to this project and aims to launch a multiplex, 500-seat food court, and hypermarket in the retail space to draw customers.
“The grand makeover is in alignment with our vision of promoting the business of our customers and boosting the experience of our visitors,” said Devarajan C, Erode Textile Mall Private Limited’s vice chairman, the Press Trust of India reported. “Since inception, we have set several new benchmarks in the textile industry in India. The new Texvalley as South India's only B2B and B2C integrated destination mall is in line with global retail trends. We expect that there will be a symbiotic relationship between B2B and B2C segments thus boosting business, enhancing customer experience and future proofing the asset.”
The project will create 2,000 direct job opportunities in the area as well as 15,000 indirect jobs. The retail space will also branch out from textiles to include other lifestyle products.
“The footfall of Texvalley is expected to grow multifold from about 60,000 visitors a month to over five lakh business people, consumers, and tourists in the next two years,” said Erode Textile Mall’s managing director P Raajashekar, ET Bureau reported.
Texvalley is owned by Erode Textile Mall Private Limited and promoted by Lotus Group and construction firm URC Group. The Ministry of Textiles initiated the Texvalley project.
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Does the D.C. area's bio/local venture capital gap matter?
- Bill Flook
In today's Business Journal, I wrote about how Washington-area life sciences companies rarely succeed in winning capital from local investors. But does that matter, so long as deals are getting done?
Most of the region’s venture capital firms steer well clear of biotechnology, focusing instead on information technology, infrastructure and social Web companies. New Enterprise Associates Inc., in fact, is rare in that it comfortably straddles both worlds.
Even with NEA, the area’s huddle of life sciences investors is a small one, noted Bruce Robertson, who himself is the only Rockville-based managing director of H.I.G. BioVentures LLC, which is based in Atlanta and Miami. So a few investments every year into area life sciences companies, he said, isn’t necessarily a bad track record.
For the entire venture capital world — IT included — geographic proximity to portfolio companies appears to be a “nice to have” instead of a “must have.”
Having “the ability to have a cup of coffee to take on an issue” has definite advantages, said Todd Klein, founder and managing partner of Chevy Chase-based Legend Ventures LLC, particularly for the younger companies. But he didn’t see the coast-to-coast cross-pollination of venture deals as a negative. Legend Ventures focuses mostly on media and telecom startups.
“Washington is on the radar screens of great companies in other geographies. It’s not like terrific firms from Silicon Valley or Boston or New York or Los Angeles don’t work hard to stay tapped into this community, they do,” Klein said. “The idea that someone would reach into our community to look at great deals and interesting entrepreneurs — frankly, I view it as a positive thing.”
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Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. settled — for now — one activist battle and stepped up its efforts in another one.
Dutch paint and chemicals company AkzoNobel on Wednesday announced a truce deal with the sometime-activist firm, agreeing to a variety of steps, including the separation of its specialty chemicals unit. Elliott also agreed to support the appointment of chief executive Thierry Vanlancker to the board of management at the company’s extraordinary general meeting on September 8 and to support two new nominations to AkzoNobel’s supervisory board. AkzoNobel and Elliott also agreed to suspend all ongoing litigation for at least three months.
The battle began when Elliott urged AkzoNobel to discuss a takeover offer from competitor PPG Industries. Akzo rejected several offers and PPG abandoned its overtures in June. Elliott subsequently lifted its stake in the company to 9 percent. “Elliott is pleased to have entered into today’s standstill agreement with AkzoNobel,” states Gordon Singer, CEO of Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited, in a joint press release. “We believe AkzoNobel will benefit from the addition of the Supervisory Board nominees.”
Separately, Elliott raised its “economic interest” in BHP Billiton’s London-listed shares from 4.1 percent to 5 percent, according to Reuters. This threshold enables Elliott to call a general meeting of shareholders of the miner and submit a resolution for shareholders to vote on. Elliott said it holds a small economic interest in BHP’s Australian shares, according to the report. “BHP appears to have already taken steps toward a smarter, more value-generative way of conducting business, and we support and encourage continued progress,” Elliott said, according to the report.
Boothbay Fund Management, a multistrategy firm headed by Ari Glass, disclosed it owns 400,000 shares of Atlantic Acquisition Corp., or 7.5 percent of the total. The blank-check company, which went public a week ago, was created to do some sort of deal with a company or companies being operated by and/or serving ethnic minorities in the United States, especially within Asian-American communities in the consumer industry.
Call this a stealth investment. Pershing Square Capital Management’s Bill Ackman said on a conference call he had a sizable position in hotel operator Hilton Worldwide Holdings but sold all his shares after the stock zoomed to an all-time high, according to Bloomberg. The hedge fund firm started buying the shares in 2016. At one point they accounted for more than 5 percent of Pershing Square’s assets. However, the firm sold the stock over the past 45 to 60 days.
“Our big disappointment here is we were not able to make it as large as a position as we would have liked,” Ackman reportedly said. Pershing Square never disclosed this investment in any regulatory filings, presumably receiving a waiver from the Securities and Exchange Commission.


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Just a few days back Bollywood actor Rahul Bose brought to everyone’s notice that he was charged Mumbai’s ₹ 442 for two bananas by the JW Marriott, Chandigarh. And now Mumbai’s Four Seasons hotel has charged ₹ 1700 for two boiled eggs.
Well, this is not the question here. The question is the amount charged for just two boiled eggs.
A Twitter user posted a bill with the caption: If you take a close look at the bill, you will notice that even an omelette was charged for ₹ 850.
The twitter user also tagged Rahul Bose with the caption saying, “Bhai Aandolan Karein (Shall we protest)?”
Some of the comments under the bill reads-
Not to forget, after Rahul’s complaint, the hotel JW was charged with a fine of ₹ 25000.
The hotel is yet to issue a statement on this.
With food being the everyday necessity, how fair is it for big hotels to charge this humongous amount for a mere commodity? No doubt the luxury and the ambiance served by them would not be applicable to that of a roadside place, but charging such a huge amount is clearly not done.


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Just about this time last year, in support of First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let’s Move!" campaign, we proudly announced that America's leading beverage companies had come together to voluntarily make the calories in their products even more clear and consumer-friendly by putting calorie information at consumers’ fingertips-on the front of every can, bottle and pack as well as on company-controlled vending machines and fountain equipment.
Many of you already have spotted the new labels. More of you will in the coming days, weeks and months. We hope you’ll tweet us a picture of the labels when you spot them and share your thoughts with us on Facebook and Twitter.
The new labeling initiative, which will be completed in 2012, drew immediate kudos. First Lady Michelle Obama, who launched her "Let’s Move!" campaign the same day, saluted our initiative in her remarks. "This is exactly the kind of vital information parents need to make good choices for their kids," she said.
We even got thumbs-up from some unexpected quarters:
"I don't find myself in the position of applauding them very often, but in this case I do," Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, said in The Hartford Courant.
With calorie labels on the front of beverages, it will be even easier for consumers to make informed choices for themselves and for their families.
Our industry recognizes that it will take all of us—government, school administrators, the public health community, health professionals, parents and industry – working together to address the complex obesity challenge facing our nation. Through a series of concrete, meaningful actions, the non-alcoholic beverage industry is doing its part to help reduce childhood obesity.
In addition to Clear on Calories, we’ve changed the beverage landscape in America’s schools by removing full-calorie soft drinks and replacing them with more lower-calorie and smaller-portion options. That action has slashed beverage calories shipped to schools by 88 percent since 2004.
America’s leading beverage companies follow responsible practices regarding marketing to children that recognize the central role that parents and other caregivers should play in making choices for their children. Under guidelines applied globally, companies do not advertise any beverages other than 100 percent juice, water or dairy-based drinks on programming predominantly aimed at children under 12.
And the industry has cut the overall beverage calories produced for the marketplace by 21 percent from1998 to 2008. Our industry, through product innovation, continues to meet the evolving tastes of the American consumer.
These bold actions will have a meaningful and lasting impact for generations to come.


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A California startup received patents last year to produce plastics from methane gas produced by animals and from industrial waste, specifically volatile organic compounds. Armed with seven awarded patents, Newlight Technologies (Cosa Mesta, Calif.) is building production capacity with the claim that its technology can make useful plastics at lower cost than plastics made from fossil fuels.
The company describes its approach this way on its Web site:”Inspired by carbon-capturing processes found in nature, Newlight has developed, patented, and commercialized a thermoplastic manufacturing technology that extracts carbon and oxygen molecules from air containing greenhouse gas and re-arranges those molecules into long-chain thermoplastic polymers that can out-compete oil-based commodity plastics on price, performance, and sustainability.”
VOCs are fed into a reactor with microorganisms that synthesize the methane enzyme, a microorganism growth medium, and microorganisms that convert the brew into a bioplastic called polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA).
A major commercial effort (Telles) to produce PHA from corn sugars ended in failure a year ago because of high costs. Waste methane figures to be a cheaper feedstock (and with no food burden) if the technology can be proven on large scale. It seems that every company with skin in the PHA game claims its bugs are better.
Newlight is calling its PHA “Airflex” and says it is available in grades that can replace polypropylene (homopolymer, glass-filled, and impact co-polymer), polyethylene (HD, LD, and LLD), ABS, high impact polystyrene, PMMA, and TPU. Airflex resins can be used in extrusion, blown film, cast film, thermoforming, fiber spinning, and injection molding applications, according to the company.


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Lyft shares jumped 62% after the closing bell Tuesday thanks in part to a typo in the ride-hailing company’s earnings release that appears to have sent investors’ auto-trading algorithms — or “bots” — into a buying frenzy.
Lyft’s fourth-quarter report initially forecast that an important profit metric was expected to climb by 500 basis points, or 5%, in 2024. However, the company informed investors about five minutes after the original release that there was one zero too many in that number and corrected it to 50 basis points, a much more realistic 0.5%.
Shares retreated after the correction, but remain more than 37% higher — at $16.69 per share — in early Wednesday trading because the company topped most Wall Street expectations for the quarter.
Lyft's gross bookings beat Wall Street forecasts, rising 17% year-over-year to $3.7 billion. Lyft's guidance for first-quarter bookings between $3.5 and $3.6 billion also came in higher than projections.
The San Francisco company earned 19 cents per share in the period, more than doubling the 8 cents that industry analysts were expecting.
Lyft has appeared to turn things around since the last quarter of 2022, when it posted a whopping loss of 76 cents per share. In the four subsequent quarters of 2023, Lyft has easily beat profit targets, twice posting profits when Wall Street was expecting losses.
The company has long played second-fiddle to rival Uber, which softened the pandemic ride demand slump by expanding rapidly into food delivery.
The profit metric that contained the typo on Tuesday is referred to as adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margin expansion, which is calculated as a percentage of gross bookings, according to Lyft.
With Wednesday's boost, Lyft shares are now in the green for 2024, up more than 11% to date.
Matt Ott, The Associated Press


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Eastern Consolidated’s James Famularo heads to Meridian
He will head the retail leasing division at the brokerage
Famularo and his team of sales agents will start at Meridian next month, Commercial Observer reported. His title will be president of retail leasing — and he’ll work out of the 800 Third Avenue office, where the investment sales team is located.
“Everyone who’s there is transaction heavy and deal-focused,” Famularo, who was on Eastern Consolidated’s retail team, told CO.
Earlier this month, Eastern Consolidated’s founders said the commercial brokerage will shut down permanently in July, citing a downturn in investment sales, large overhead and no sign of sunnier days. Amid larger consolidation in commercial real estate, founders Peter Hauspurg and Daun Paris sought a buyer but couldn’t find a deal with favorable terms.
Eastern Consolidated was a top 10 investment sales shop in New York as of last year. But the firm was recently surpassed by competitors like Meridian Capital. In 2015, the company lost top agents including David Schechtman, Lipa Lieberman and Abie Kassin to Meridian.


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When it comes to the smartphone market, OnePlus is still a relatively new company compared to others like Apple or Samsung, but the most recent OnePlus 3 smartphone a lot to offer – enough that it has a good chance of becoming a household name. It boasts that it specs are able to compete with the HTC 10 or Galaxy S7, and it has a friendly price tag at $399. Here’s all you need to know relating to the OnePlus 3, with this detailed breakdown.
After months of rumors and information leaks, OnePlus 3 was finally announced that their new 2016 “flagship killer” is a smartphone that every Android users should consider. In 2014 and 2015 OnePlus made excellent phones but they were difficult to buy, and the company has since been able to learn from these mistakes and so this phone is being made available today.
A different approach
So instead of months of waiting, with long pre-orders, or invite systems that devices were sold out on, and none being available, this year OnePlus has taken a different approach. The new 5.5” powerhouse smartphone is available now for the very reasonable price of just $399 with 64GB of storage and 6GB of RAM. This beats anything we have seen from other Android manufacturers during 2016.
In May the OnePlus company confirmed that this year they would not use an invite system with the OnePlus 3, which fans of the brand found very exciting, but no one expected it would be available the same day as the announcement was made.
The new models
The new OnePlus 3 sports a large 5.5” 1080p HD AMOLED display, promising to be far better than what was seen last year. A Quad-core Snapdragon 820 processor powers it, which is thesame as the Galaxy S7 uses, along with 6GB of RAM for incredibly fast multi-tasking, and 64GB of internal storage, USB Type-C port for charging, optical image stabilization 16 megapixel rear camera, an improved lightning fast fingerprint scanner, and a new “Dash Charge” technology that can charge the 3,000 mAh battery from 0% to 60% in just 30 minutes.
It has all the features of a high-end flagship phone but it costs about half the price.
On June 14th the announcement for the new OnePlus 3 happened using a Google Play Store virtual reality app, and the release date was said to be June 14th the same day as the announcement, which was a bit of shock. There were no invite systems, no long lines, and no failed attempts for those that wanted to get the phone this year – you could simply buy it from the Loop VR app, and on OnePlus.net/3.
Basically the screen size of the OnePlus 3 is the same as the Galaxy S7 Edge, and they ahve similar internals but the OnePlus 3 has more RAM, more storage, fast charging, a pretty good camera, a fingerprint scanner, and an aluminum unibody design – there’s more and the price is only $399. This makes it in direct competition with the Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge, which costs $800. Just the difference in price point should catch the interest of potential buyers in the market. It’s important to note it does not have a micro-SD slot and it has no water-resistant features.


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According to Statistics, the Solar Power will soon become one of the biggest contributors to India’s huge appetite for power. Solar Power will help in meeting the ever increasing power demands of our shining nation. Company is the first company to generate & sell Solar REC in the country from its solar power plant of 2 MW commissioned in March 2012 at Rajgarh (Madhya Pradesh). Now the company has the market cap of Rs 500 Cr.
TACL is the leader in the domestic gaskets market (38%) and has been in this business for 7 decades. It has set up three JVs with world leaders, all of which support the auto sector. The company is expected to increase its profit at a CAGR of ~23.9% over next two years has entered into joint ventures with 3 international corporate.
Ashok Leyland is looking at investing Rs 400-500 crore in its electric vehicle business over the next three to five years.“We are preparing ourselves for the electric vehicle movement that is going to happen over the next five to 10 years… it’s a question of survival… so (we will invest) at least Rs 400-500 crore over the next three to five years,” Managing Director Dasari said.
NSE has market share of ~100% in the derivatives segment, and ~84% in the cash segment. BSE has been losing market share in the cash segment to NSE since 2006, but this has now stabilised in the last 3-4 years. In FY17, BSE had ~16% market share in the cash market. BSE/NSE cash turnover increased at CAGR of 5.5/13.2% over FY05 FY17 respectively. The Central Depository Services Ltd (CDSL) is the 2nd largest depository in India, with 44% market share. BSE holds 24% stake in CDSL. EBITDA has witnessed 22% CAGR over FY13-17 . CDSL revenue/EBITDA/PAT to increase at CAGR of 19/23/17% over FY17-20E.
“Mutual funds are growing at a rate of 15 per cent annually in the country,” KMF National Head. The Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) is gaining immense popularity among investors. SIP has been a key focus area at KMF. Our SIP books have grown almost 10 times in the last three years. “Indian mutual fund industry is in a growth phase with investors willing to test equity mutual funds. The Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) is gaining immense popularity among investors as an efficient tool for regular and disciplined investments. With SIP, one need not worry about market volatility or timing of market,” he said.
Dilip Buildcon Ltd, a Bhopal-based road developer, has announced the sale of 24 road assets of a total project value of ₹10,500 crore to the Chhatwal Group.The deal, which could emerge as one of the largest in the sector, is estimated at ₹1,600 crore.The road developer has invested a total of ₹682 crore (both in equity and debt) while ₹841.6 crore is yet to be invested.
New Delhi, Nov 17 (PTI) Regulator Sebi has banned Swarnabhumi Agritech India Ltd and its four directors from the securities market for at least four years and has directed...
A majority of IT business will come from digital transformation projects in coming years, says C P Gurnani, Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Tech Mahindra . Gurnani is confident that the IT industry will achieve 11-11.5 percent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next five years and will meet the 2020 revenue target of USD 225 billion.
Textile industry in india provide 21 percent employment (105 million – second largestemployment provider next...
The Economic Survey 2015-16 has stated that India has emerged as the fastest growing economy among other economies. India has become a dream market for most marketers across many products segments. In textiles and apparel specifically, domestic consumption has grown at over 13 percent per annum over the last five years, fuelled by the demographic advantages of India’s population, increasing urbanization, growing disposable income and higher marked penetration of organized retail. India’s export of textiles and apparel has also grown at over 11 percent in the last five years. The Ministry of Textiles is in the process of redrafting the new Textile Policy 2016 which is likely to offer impetus to the Industry to grow further.
Vedanta profit up 43% in Q2. Revenue was 21,590 crore, up 37% from a year before. " Key contracts on our announced oil& gas projects are at advanced stages of being awarded and the next two quarters will see an increased trend of protection from this business" Kulidip kaura, chief executive. Free cash flow of 3,280 crore in the September quarter Gross debt reduced by 11,466 crore to 55,798 crore.
TRIGO Group has started its aerospace cluster development program in cooperation with the Confederation of Indian Industry to uplift India's small and medium enterprises' quality standards and production. The goal of...
Mobile data traffic in the country is expected to grow the fastest globally at 15 times by 2021, according to a report. The country also grew the most in terms of net additions in mobile subscriptions during the March quarter at over 21 million, followed by Myanmar and Indonesia with 5 million net additions each and US and Pakistan with over 3 million net additions each, the Ericsson Mobility Report said. Between 2015 and 2021, the number of IoT connected devices is expected to grow 23 percent annually, of which cellular IoT is forecast to have the highest growth rate. Of the 28 billion total devices that will be connected by 2021, close to 16 billion will be IoT devices, the report said.


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Google has announced that passkeys, touted by the tech giant as the “beginning of the end” for passwords, are becoming the default sign-in method for all users.
Passkeys are a phishing-resistant alternative to passwords that allow users to sign into accounts using the same biometrics or PINs they use to unlock their devices, or with a physical security key. This removes the need for users to rely on the traditional username-password combination, which has long been susceptible to phishing, credential stuffing attacks, keylogger malware or simply being forgotten.
While security technologies multi-factor authentication and password managers add an extra layer of security to password-protected accounts, they are not without flaws. Authentication codes sent via text messages can be intercepted by attackers, for example, and password managers can (and have been) hacked.
Passkeys, on the other hand, are made of two parts: one part is left on the app or website’s server, and the other is stored on your device, which allows you to prove that you are the legitimate owner of the account. This also makes it near-impossible for hackers to remotely access your account, given that physical access to a user’s device is needed, even in the event of a server breach.
Google has been an early backer of passkeys. The technology giant first pledged its support for the password alternative in May 2022, and announced support passkeys in Android and Chrome. In May, Google announced that support for the passwordless technology was rolling out to Google account owners globally.
On Tuesday, the company took a step closer toward killing off the password with the announcement that it’s making passkeys the default authentication method for all Google Account holders.
“This means, next time you sign in to your Google Account, you’ll start seeing prompts to create and use passkeys, simplifying your future sign-ins,” said Google product managers Christiaan Brand and Sriram Karra. “Our goal is the same as it has always been, giving you technology that is secure by default, so that you have the strongest security but without the burden.”
Google says that since the launch of passkeys for Google accounts, 64% of users have said they find passkeys easier to use compared to traditional methods like passwords and two-step verification.
Google says that it encourages all users to start using passkeys as their primary sign-in option. TechCrunch recommends this too, as while setting up passkeys might seem like a chore, it’s an investment that can save you from a potential security disaster down the road. It could save you valuable time, too, as Google claims that logging in via passkeys is 40% faster than using a password.
Read more on TechCrunch:
- Windows 11 gains support for managing passkeys
- Apple will automatically assign an Apple ID passkey for users
- GitHub launches passkey support into general availability
- Safari will soon make it easier to share phishing-resistant passkeys
- PayPal rolls out support for passkeys on Apple devices
- iOS 17 includes these new security and privacy features


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Japanese label Tatras keen to be big in Europe
As an off-calendar event during Paris Fashion Week, Japanese label Tatras, led by designer Masanaka Sakao, staged its first international show at the Salle Pleyel in Paris on June 22. It was a spectacular event in three acts.
Sakao’s men's fashion blends streetwear, military influences and a laid-back Californian mood. The show opened on a skateboarding ramp, a reference to one of Tatras’s style staples since 2012, and featured a series of skateboarding stars picked by Steve Berra, founder of The Berrics, a benchmark name in skate culture. Tatras teamed up with Barra to produce the Tatras X The Berrics capsule collection.
Beneath giant screens broadcasting images of Californian palms to an ear-splitting hard rock soundtrack, the Tatras extravaganza continued with a catwalk show, featuring the label's distinctive brand of uber-casual streetwear, big on Japanese nylon outfits in soft, delicate hues like beige, sage green and coral red, mixed with technical apparel of vintage and military inspiration, with a handful of flowing back urban looks and a series of printed items, the result of a collaboration with British artist Nick Walter.
In the third and final act, the giant screens broadcast loud and clear Sakao’s philosophy, “I don’t like popularity based on lies, my dream has always been to have a reputation based on truth,” ending the first Tatras menswear show in Paris on a conceptual note.
Tatras operates in Japan and Italy, and from its inception its trademark has been “a combination of Japanese style and cuts with first-class Italian fabrics.” The label first caught the fashion world’s eye with a collection of down jackets in Polish goose feathers. Tatras was bought by Japanese group Yagi & Co. in 2014, and since then it has expanded its range, developing the label in Japan and Italy and keeping a production site in Poland.
The label operates four monobrand stores (two in Tokyo, one each in Osaka and Milan), with a new opening scheduled in Tokyo for late 2019. And it is distributed via 350 multibrand retailers worldwide (120 in Japan). It is now keen to accelerate its expansion in Europe. “The European market is clearly one of our targets, and we will boost our presence there next winter with a down jacket collection, followed by a men’s and women’s ready-to-wear line,” said Angelo D’Arcangelo, marketing and commercial director.
The label recently hired an agent in Paris and it will run a retail corner at the Galeries Lafayette department store from November.
Copyright © 2023 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.


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Study: Long-term walnut consumption thwarts CVD riskStudy: Long-term walnut consumption thwarts CVD risk
New research found people who regularly eat walnuts early in life have better diet quality and a better CVD risk profile later in life compared to people who don’t.
November 2, 2022
Heart disease is the leading killer of men and women in the United States, causing about one in 5 deaths in 2020, according to Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC). Heart disease is also the leading cause of death worldwide, killing 18 million people in 2019 and accounting for one-third of all global deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Walnuts, which were recently dubbed a superfood, have been studied for their heart healthy effects. One study found eating five or more servings of walnuts per week lowered the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease (CVD) by 25%, compared to people who didn’t eat walnuts.
New research builds on these findings, looking specifically at how long-term walnut consumption is tied to CVD risk factors, compared to consumption of other nuts or no nuts at all (Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2022;S0939-4753(22)00302-7).
For the study, published in Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases, researchers tapped data from 3,092 young adults who were enrolled in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, a long-term study that aims to identify CVD risk factors that start early in life. Over 20 years, information about the participants’ dietary intake, including walnut and other nut consumption, was collected, and CVD risk factors were measured at multiple exams. Researchers evaluated the linkages between consumption of walnuts, other nuts or no nuts with CVD risk factors over 30 years of follow-up.
Compared to people who eat other types of nuts, those who eat walnuts had significantly higher Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores, indicating their diets closely followed the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Specifically, walnut consumers ate more servings of whole grain products, fruit, vegetables, legumes and fish, and fewer servings of refined grain products, red meat and processed meat. Further, walnut eaters had a lower body mass index, waist circumference and triglyceride concentration compared to people who eat other nuts.
Overall, researchers found walnut consumers had a better CVD risk factor profile compared to the other groups, even after they accounted for the higher diet quality seen in walnut eaters.
Walnuts are nutrition powerhouses, wielding 4 grams of protein, 2 grams of fiber, 45 milligrams of magnesium and 2.5 grams of essential omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) per 1-ounce serving. Walnuts, in fact, are the only tree nut that serves as a valuable source of ALA. This nutritional profile, researchers contend, could be the reason behind the heart health-boosting effects.
“A rapid beta-oxidation of ALA was observed in human studies compared with other fatty acids, and this trait of ALA may play a role in improving insulin sensitivity by decreasing the accumulation of lipid in skeletal muscle and liver, which would explain better blood pressure as well as glucose metabolism in addition to the influence of melatonin,” the researchers explained.
Based on the findings, researchers support the health claim to include walnuts as part of a healthy diet.
Rachel Adams joined Informa’s Health & Nutrition Network in 2013. Her career in the natural products industry started with a food and beverage focus before transitioning into her role as managing editor of Natural Products INSIDER, where she covered the dietary supplement industry. Adams left Informa Markets in 2019.
About the Author(s)
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We’ve talked before about how augmented reality (AR) may be the biggest investment opportunity ever. Augmented reality hardware is a huge part of enabling this opportunity, and until we get to AR enabled contact lenses, we need to make do with modified glasses. One startup playing in this space is Osterhout Design Group (ODG).
Founded back in 1999, Osterhout Design Group (ODG) closed a $58 million Series A funding round this month, the largest initial funding round for any company in the wearables, augmented reality, and virtual reality industries. Their flagship product, the ODG R-7 AR headset, has been shipping since the end of 2015 and has received positive reviews from early adopters. ODG is competing in an increasingly crowded augmented reality glasses industry that includes products like the Vuzix M-100, and Microsoft HoloLens.


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Yahoo! Gets Personal With New Social and Local Experiences
Play, share, shop, eat, tweet — whatever you want to do, Yahoo! has
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Today at the Web 2.0 Summit, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) unveiled a host
of product and content offerings to deliver consumers a more personally
relevant Web experience with new social and local features. Updates
include Twitter and Zynga integrations across Yahoo!, the global rollout
of Yahoo! Messenger Beta with new social features, the launch of
Yahoo!'s Local Offers program, and new local Search apps for taking
action right from the Yahoo! Search results page. This news follows
yesterday's launch of the Yahoo! Contributor Network, inviting people to
publish content on Yahoo!.
"Our job is to connect you with the people, places and things that
matter most to you — whether that's making a restaurant reservation,
finding a discounted tee time, or playing popular online games with
friends," said Blake Irving, executive vice president and chief product
officer, Yahoo!. "By enhancing Yahoo!'s most popular sites and services
with social experiences like Zynga and Twitter, great local content, and
a new platform for sharing your voice with the world, we're making
Yahoo! an even better place for everyone to stay entertained,
productive, and informed."
Today's announcements include the following partnerships and product
Share More With a Social Dimension Everywhere on Yahoo!
Yahoo! Messenger Beta — With the new Yahoo! Messenger Beta
available today, people can now play social games from publishers like
Zynga, ELEX and OMGPOP, share their status across networks, and view,
comment on, and "like" updates from Yahoo!
Facebook, and Twitter — all from their instant messaging client.
Interoperability with Facebook Chat also broadens the group of friends
that people can instantly connect and chat with on Yahoo! Messenger.
To get the new version of Yahoo! Messenger, visit
here and click "Download Now."
Yahoo! Contributor Network — Announced yesterday, Yahoo!'s new
platform enables people to reach an audience of millions by publishing
their creative content on Yahoo!. The Yahoo! Contributor Network is an
evolution of the Associated Content platform and will bring
contributions from more than 400,000 writers, photographers, and
videographers to the Internet's largest media destinations, including Yahoo!
Sports, and even the Yahoo!
homepage, among many others. For more information, see
Zynga — Starting this week, the first phase of integration with
Zynga will allow people to launch, play, and share Zynga's popular
games like Mafia Wars and FishVille on Yahoo! Messenger,
Toolbar, and Yahoo!
Twitter — Building on Yahoo!'s Facebook integration, people can
now also connect their Yahoo! and Twitter accounts globally to see and
share Twitter updates on the Yahoo!
Mail, and Yahoo!
Discover Local Treasures With Yahoo!
Local Offers — Yahoo! is launching its Local Offers program
with more than a dozen partners to provide a wide selection of local
deals, coupons, and other offers — from nearby spas, restaurants and
other local retailers. Currently in limited beta in the U.S., Yahoo!'s
Local Offers program will make it easy for millions of people to find
the best local deals and savings on Yahoo!. Launch partners include
Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt City, BloomSpot, BuyWithMe, DealOn, Zozi,
CrowdSavings, Lifebooker, FreshGuide, Scoop St, Goldstar, HomeRun,
Tippr, Coupons.com, and Valpak, with more partners to come. For more
information, see related press release here.
Local Search Enhancements — Locally relevant "Quick Apps" will
empower people to find restaurants they want and take action on things
they discover in a more productive Yahoo!
Search. Apps launching later this week include a new and improved
Yahoo! Sketch-a-Search for visually zeroing in on a street or
neighborhood to find local restaurants — now available across
connected devices, including PCs, iPhones, and iPads. Other new apps
will enable easy comparisons of local restaurants and let people make
reservations through OpenTable right on the Yahoo! Search results
page. For more on these and other Yahoo! Search enhancements launching
this week, go to Yahoo.com
and search on "New Yahoo! Search."
All of these new features are built on Yahoo!'s cloud and technology
platforms, allowing for in-depth partner integrations and broad
distribution across Yahoo!'s consumer products. For example, the
integration with Zynga is enabled by the Yahoo! Application Platform
(YAP), which facilitates easy social sharing of game notifications
across Yahoo!'s massive audience.
Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) is an innovative technology company that operates
the largest digital media, content, and communications business in the
world. Yahoo! keeps more than half a billion consumers worldwide
connected to what matters to them most, and delivers powerful audience
solutions to advertisers through its unique combination of Science + Art
+ Scale. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more
information, visit pressroom.yahoo.com
or the company's blog, Yodel Anecdotal (yodel.yahoo.com).
Yahoo! is the trademark and/or registered trademark of Yahoo! Inc.
All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their
The OutCast Agency
Erica Billups, 1-415-345-4770
Sheila Tran, 1-408-349-6455
Source: Yahoo! Inc.
News Provided by Acquire Media
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Business email compromise (BEC) is big: the second-largest cybercriminal threat in fact, with losses totaling $2.7 billion in the US alone. And one threat actor, in particular, has played a massive role in driving BEC attacks worldwide. Their alias is W3LL, and they created an entire secret ecosystem of phishing tools helping threat actors break into corporate Microsoft 365 accounts. Group-IB believes that the damages caused by threat actors using W3LL’s tools are in the thousands, if not millions, of euros per victim.
W3LL’s operations remained hidden for six years but have now been uncovered by Group-IB in its recent report called W3LL DONE: HIDDEN PHISHING ECOSYSTEM DRIVING BEC ATTACKS. Below is an insight into W3LL’s activity.
As you can see, W3LL is very secretive. They run an invitation-only illicit online marketplace called W3LL Store, which they do not actively advertise, and they even ask their customers to refrain from spreading the word about it. In order to become a W3LL Store customer, new users need to be referred by existing users.
W3LL Store offers managed phishing solutions for criminals of any level of skill who want to carry out BEC phishing campaigns: compromised email accounts, lists of victim emails, access to compromised servers and websites, custom phishing lures, VPN accounts, phishing kits, and more, in other words, everything one might need to carry out a BEC phishing campaign. According to our conservative estimates, W3LL Store’s turnover for the last 10 months may have reached $500,000.
W3LL Store provides “customer support” through a ticketing system, live web chat, and video tutorials. At present, it has more than 500 active users. Group-IB identified over 3,800 items sold via the marketplace between October 2022 and July 2023; over 12,000 items are currently on sale.
The heaviest weapon on W3LL Store is W3LL Panel, arguably the most advanced phishing kit in its class designed to specifically harvest Microsoft 365 accounts, featuring adversary-in-the-middle functionality, API, source code protection, and other unique capabilities. A subscription to the phishing kit costs $500 for the first three months and $150 per month subsequently.
In addition to W3LL Panel, the store offers 16 other fully customized tools entirely compatible with each other that all together constitute a complete setup for BEC attacks. They include an open redirect scanner called OREDIR, a vulnerability scanner called OKELO, SMTP senders (PunnySender and W3LL Sender), and a malicious link stager (W3LL Redirect). The tools are available on a licensing basis and cost between $50 and $350 per month. This is what a W3LL Store purchase page looks like (OV6 is W3LL Panel).
W3LL regularly updates their tools, adding new functionalities and improving anti-detection mechanisms. They also create new ones. For instance, in July 2023, W3LL released CONTOOL, a program for automating Microsoft 365 account discovery and monitoring designed specifically for BEC attacks. CONTOOL costs $550 for the first three months and $200 per month subsequently.
Phishing campaigns involving W3LL tools are highly persuasive and usually cover almost the entire kill chain of BEC attacks with a high level of automation and scalability. Once threat actors compromise an account, they can steal data, carry out fake invoice scams, impersonate the account owner, or distribute malware using the compromised email account. Consequences for victim companies extend beyond financial losses and can include data leaks, reputational damage, compensation claims, and even lawsuits.
Group-IB identified approximately 850 unique phishing websites attributed to W3LL Panel, with at least 56,000 corporate Microsoft 365 business accounts targeted (more than 8,000 of them compromised) between October 2022 and July 2023, but the actual impact and number of victims could be even higher.
While W3LL tools are designed to target companies regardless of their origin, most of the identified targets are organizations in the US, UK, Australia, and Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, and the Netherlands), and the most frequently targeted industries identified by Group-IB are manufacturing, IT, financial services, consulting, healthcare, and legal services.
“What really makes W3LL Store and its products stand out from other underground markets is the fact that W3LL created not just a marketplace but a complex phishing ecosystem with a fully compatible custom toolset that covers almost the entire kill chain of BEC and can be used by cybercriminals of all technical skill levels.”
Anton Ushakov, Deputy Head of Group-IB’s High-Tech Crime Investigation Department, Europe.
We’ve barely scratched the surface here. If you’d like to learn more, see our report W3LL DONE: HIDDEN PHISHING ECOSYSTEM DRIVING BEC ATTACKS, where in addition to the wealth of information about W3LL we provide recommendations on what companies can do to prevent and investigate BEC attacks.
Stay cybersafe, everyone!


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Going beyond Corporate Social Responsibility
Posted by Paul May on 9 September 2013
As companies respond to growing consumer expectations around green credentials, businesses are looking to partnerships that bring together development know how and commercial expertise to help secure future supply, as well as offering an engaging CSR story.
Many companies are increasingly concerned that ensuring a consistent supply of quality coffee to the standard their customers expect is a medium, rather than a long-term challenge. In the past, the chief risk management strategy was to diversify supply, which seemed to make sense in global coffee supply chains. However, the impacts of climate change coupled with rising consumption and consumer expectations from a booming middle class in BRIC countries, means that demand may one day outstrip supply especially in climate sensitive, luxury commodities like coffee and cocoa.
Even Tesco boss, Philip Clarke, recently broke corporate ranks to concede that price rises in the UK were inevitable, saying "over the long run I think food prices and the proportion of income spent on food may well be going up… it is the basic law of supply and demand."
As the recent horsemeat scandal highlighted, food provenance is more than a good CSR claim for stakeholders or ethical credential on products – it's about managing reputational risks from nasty surprises popping up further down the supply chain. This is especially important for companies making green claims, which invite an ethical spotlight onto business practices. Knowing your suppliers and forging meaningful, long-term relationships makes good business sense in terms of ensuring reliable supply and meeting quality requirements.


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The 118th Canton fair launched during October 15th, 2015 to November 4th, 2015. Canton fair attracted more than 600 enterprises from 45 countries and regions landing in Guangzhou with their best quality products. Among which trailer concrete mixer pump C3 and fully hydraulic mixer pump C5 successfully won the praise of merchants from South America, Egypt and Mexico. Orders for products poured forth.
Linuo in Canton fair won the praise of merchants from other countries and regions.


text: Cartel crack-down team strengthened The Office of Fair Trading will [today] announce a reorganisation of its competition division in preparation for its key role in enforcing tough new legislation banning cartels and abuse of market dominance. The changes are intended to strengthen the OFT’s investigation and administrative capacity before the implementation in March  of the 1998 Competition Act, which allows the OFT to fine companies up to 30 per cent of UK turnover. The revamped division will be lead by Margaret Bloom, the current director of competition policy, confirming her as the most important enforcer after Mr. John Bridgeman, director general of fair trading. Mrs. Bloom has been given approval to hire an extra 60 staff, giving her about 180 people to enforce the new rules. About 50 of the extra staff are expected to be in place by January . The most important change is the creation of a cartels investigation branch. Until now, cartels have been dealt with by a broadly based restrictive trade practices branch. The cartels branch will be headed by Adrian Walker-Smith, a senior OFT official who advised the colonial government of Hong Kong on competition policy before the colony was handed over to Chinese rule. Under the new act, the branch will be able to launch investigation into alleged price-fixing, including searching premises and seizing documents. Executives who obstruct investigators can be fined or jailed. The competition division will have six other branches, of which four will have responsibilities for policing a range of sectors. Gisela Davis, a senior civil servant and former OFT and City lawyer, will head the branch covering media, telecoms, postal services, music publishing, information industries, consumer electronics, sport, leisure, entertainment and gambling. Steven Wood, a senior OFT official, will lead the branch for financial and professional services, personal and business services, investment business, financial markets, transport, travel and trade. Alan Williams, a Treasury official seconded to the Competition Commission will manage construction, timber, paper, glass, steel, chemical and rubber industries, energy, water, packaging, engineering and motor industries. Donald Mason, deputy head of the OFT’s mergers branch will be responsible for agricultural products, food, beer, pharmaceuticals, textiles and consumer goods. Two branches will have broad cross-sectoral responsibilities. These are policy – headed by Edward Whitehorn, a senior official enforcing the existing Fair Trading Act – and mergers – led by Andrews White, the top merger official under the existing system.


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That’s what LibraryCity suggested in a 2011 post calling for book-related art to adorn walls in homes (and schools, too, obviously).
Significantly the “Everywhere Library” campaign didn’t just stop with the idea of running images of personal “libraries” as ads in popular newspapers–collections of spine-out book covers that Ugandans could snip out, with new sections added weekly, over four weeks.
No, the campaign even supplied cellphone codes that people could key in to retrieve actual e-books on mobile phones, even phones that weren’t “smart” models. With book-related images on walls or elsewhere, the displayed books are more likely to be social objects inspiring friends and family members to “check” them out, whether or not the original ad-snippers do.
Might this not be something for libraries, schools and others to try here in the U.S., in partnership with interested members of the media and its advertising communities? Perhaps using a variety of technologies to bridge the gap between print and the Web, not just the less sophisticated ones in Uganda?
But please, keep these efforts ongoing, beyond four weeks. And don’t repeat a huge mistake of the MTN Group in Africa and talk up e-books as a replacement for the construction and maintenance of physical libraries. That’s not all. The MTN experiment had its noble side, but it was also an image-enhancement exercise by a company with its share of negative publicity and presumably an interest in obtaining favorable treatment from rate-setters and on tax matters.
While U.S. libraries and schools would be naive to expect corporate participation without the related goals of image-polishing and -protection, let’s hope that educational needs rather than business ones would be the real drivers.
Regardless of the greed factor, however, the “Library Everywhere” project in Uganda was Don Draper-brilliant on the whole despite the simple-minded treatment of brick-and-mortar libraries, and I hope that it will inspire well-intentioned variants here in the States. Perhaps the BiblioTech project down in the San Antonio area could experiment with such techniques in partnership with local newspapers–both their online and print editions. People could download featured e-books from library servers.
The online editions and library servers could not only offer direct links to books but also printable PDF files that showed users’ collections of least highlighted books and even featured “badges” and other ways to honor heavy readers. Kids without color printers could use library machines and come back again and again to update their wall posters. More library visits! Via QR codes on the spines of the e-books in the colorful printouts on your wall, your friends could immediately call up the books, so that, with the right smartphones and software on them, they didn’t even have to type in brief Web addresses to download (although the addresses should be there as well). KISS! The experiment if need be could begin with unencumbered books, although I’d hope that ways could be found to add copyrighted content later on if this were not easily possible at first. In effect the campaign might turn millions of young people’s bedroom walls into the equivalents of the “power walls” that some libraries use to let visitors browse collections by way of touch screens.
Ideally the U.S. newspaper industry would see opportunities here. The book-reading habit is one way to build the patience needed for serious newspaper reading, especially of longer articles. Something for the Washington Post and its new owner, Jeff Bezos, to consider? I would about to add “for Anacostia.” But then I remembered all the young people even in well-off neighborhoods in my area who shun newspapers in any format.
A “must” is to do this as a genuine literacy campaign rather than a promo in disguise for Amazon or another company, and the library books should be available from different sources, not just one corporation.
Librarians and educators, not Amazon, the Post or any other newspaper, should set the direction the campaign. But if Bezos and his employees and other corporate types can offer technology and the related expertise–not to mention the space to run the ads, for the minority of teens and poor people now reading print newspapers!–that’ll be terrific. Amazon has used scanning technology for smartphones to help customers find better prices than they could at brick-and-mortar bookstores. Now here’s a less controversial use for it.
“E-Book Walls,” anyone? That’s as logical a name as any for the printouts (and, yes, young people are welcome to drop the hyphen).
Editor’s note – this article was re-published with the author’s permission from his blog, Library City.


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The opposition has also pledged not to sign any trade deals that waive labour market testing
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has agreed to conduct market testing
of US-based storage and information management services company Iron Mountain Inc.'s (NYSE: IRM) proposed undertaking to divest its Australian business in a stock sale, the company said.
He said that the market testing
, seeking private sector cost comparisons, will prove he has a good value service.
"I'm pleased to announce that a formal market testing
and due diligence process is underway, aimed at identifying the best model for leveraging in that additional private sector investment.
Any scheme which commenced operation before 2004is now likely to have undergone some form of benchmarking or market testing
pre-market and-post market testing
. (34) That may be a good thing, at
The agreed market testing
process being undertaken is the means by which we will satisfy this request.
He says that "Metro's track maintenance system will not be subject to market testing
of Madison, Wis., to develop continuous off-line treatment and priming of wood-HDPE products for market testing
. Reacted fluorine gases are removed after use by scrubbing with activated alumina.
The Commission last year gathered comments from interested parties on the commitments and following further scrutiny and market testing
will decide at its weekly meeting on February 22 whether it accepts them.
Many health plans, we found, have launched new products without explicit market testing
to confirm their value.


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Apple sees strong demand for iphone 11 in china iphone 11 pro in the us report
Apple recently launched its new iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max globally and according to various sources, these products are selling very well. Now, according to an Apple analyst Dan Ives at Wedbush via 9to5Mac, the overall demand for iPhone 11 series is much higher than expectations.
Dan states that the overall demand is pretty strong in China, whereas, the demand for the iPhone 11 Pro is exceeding estimates in the United States. According to Wedbush Apple will sell around 185 million iPhones, which will reflect in the upcoming Apple fiscal year.
Apple will reveal its quarterly earning on October 30, which will provide us with a glimpse of the new iPhone sales performance as it would include two weeks of iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro sales. However, the holiday quarter, which is October, November and December is when we will get to see how the new iPhones really perform in terms of sales.
To recall, Apple missed estimates last year due to weaker demand for the iPhone XS and iPhone XR in China.
Dan Ives in his report states that Apple will be launching four new iPhone models in 2020, each of which will come with 5G support, a rear 3D-sensing system and motion controls.
He also stated that Apple’s services ventures like Apple Arcade and Apple TV+ will be extremely successful. And Apple could accumulate 100 million subscribers for Apple TV+ within five years.


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Retail stocks headed lower Wednesday after the Commerce Department reported an unexpected decline in April retail sales in the U.S., and retailers said outlooks remain uncertain.
Liz Claiborne Inc. shares tumbled 24% after it posted a wider-than-expected first quarter loss. Macy's Inc. lost 6.6% of its value after it didn't raise its full-year outlook despite posting a smaller-than-expected first-quarter loss.
The S&P Retail Index $RLX fell 3.2% to 314.38.
U.S. consumers pulled back again in April, as retail sales dropped a seasonally adjusted 0.4%, the eighth decline in the past 10 months. March sales also were revised lower. See full story.
Liz Claiborne, LIZ hurt by reduced mall traffic as consumers curtailed discretionary spending, said Wednesday that its first-quarter loss widened to $91.4 million, or 97 cents a share, from $31 million, or 33 cents, a year earlier. Sales tumbled 29% to $780 million. The latest loss excluding nonrecurring items was 37 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet, on average, projected a loss of 22 cents a share.
The New York-based company also forecast a second-quarter loss with sales declining at a similar rate to the first quarter. See full story.
The company said it's keeping its previous profit forecast for the year of 40 cents to 55 cents a share with sales declining 6% to 8% in the face of what it described as "continued uncertainty" in the economic environment. Analysts estimated profit of 61 cents a share, according to FactSet. See full story.
Home Depot Inc.
Anne Taylor Stores Corp.


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Last updated on May 13th, 2019 at 02:40 pm
Fishermen who ply the waters of Lake Michigan, other lakes and rivers or the great blue ocean should be familiar with products bearing the Dotline name. Dotline is the registered trade name given products made by Mengo Industries Inc. The Kenosha-based company has been manufacturing fishing, tackle and marine products since 1966..
Mengo sells more than 300 of its own products. The company is best known for its nets, used for landing fish that are too big to reach down and grab. The Dotline nets are made in many different sizes and shapes, and the net bags are offered in a variety of materials.
Most of the Dotline fishing-related products are sold through large national retailers such as Wal-Mart, Bass Pro, Cabella’s and Gander Mountain. The company’s marine products are sold through retailers such as Overton’s and West Marine.
Most of the newer Dotline products are fishing-related. Its lure retriever, a long pole with a corkscrew-shaped tip, is designed to help fishermen retrieve lures that have become stuck on logs or in weed beds, said Gerald Mengo, the company’s president.
“The idea came to us from one of our buyers,” he said. “They gave us the information, the quantity they wanted and the price they were looking for. Now we have all of our accounts using that product.”
The idea for Dotline’s Push-N-Glide Pole, used to propel boaters in marsh and swamp conditions, also came from a customer. The pole’s collapsible bottom enables a boater to push off from a marshy area without sinking into it, Mengo said. When the pole is retracted, the collapsible foot design prevents it from snagging onto underwater vegetation.
Many of the new Dotline products and product modifications come from customer feedback, Mengo said.
“We rely on our reps for new and interesting product ideas,” he said. “We question them about it every year. And we’re in constant talks with our customer base. Some of them have helped in developing new products.”
The company also recently introduced a line of fishing nets with rubber bags attached to them, Mengo said. The bags are completely hook-proof, he said, and are made in a wide variety of sizes. The bags were introduced in 2005, but sales have increased substantially this year, Mengo said.
Mengo also manufactures fishing downriggers, used for holding multiple fishing poles. Many of thee downriggers are used on Lake Michigan charter fishing boats.
Other Dotline products include collapsible ladders for boats, gaff hooks and boat hooks. Mengo also does some private-label manufacturing for original equipment manufacturers that use Dotline equipment on their boats.
Mengo has 23 employees in its Kenosha headquarters, where it manufactures 70 to 75 percent of the goods it sells. The remaining 25 to 30 percent of its products are imported as final assemblies from China. The company imports about 50 percent of its raw products and semi-assembled goods from China as well, Mengo said.
“All of our net bags are hand tied, which is labor intensive,” Mengo said. “In 1966, when we started, we were buying from Japan. As their economy lifted, they moved (the production) to Korea, then to Taiwan, then to China. Vietnam will be next.”
The company has been doing business with one of its Chinese suppliers for about 20 years, Mengo said. The company has had very positive experiences with quality, price and on-time delivery from China.
Mengo Industries and its Dotline brand were started by Mengo’s father, Alfred Mengo Sr., after he purchased a fishing tackle goods company in the Chicago area. Gerald Mengo and his two brothers were offered a chance to work in the company, which was moved to Silver Lake, about 18 miles west of Kenosha. There, the family began manufacturing fishing nets, downriggers, gaff hooks and rod cases.
The company has moved several times throughout the years. Its current location is at 4611 Green Bay Road in Kenosha. The facility has been expanded and renovated several times and now has about 90,000 square feet of space.
In 1975, Dotline began manufacturing ladders and plastic accessories for residential above-ground swimming pools. Although it was outside of the company’s niche expertise, Dotline and Mengo Industries was able to greatly expand, reaching a peak of 41 employees.
However, Mengo Industries shuttered its pool accessories division in 2004 after losing two court cases. In those cases, a diving accident victim sued the manufacturers of the deck, swimming pool and all related accessories, Mengo said.
“When the pool industry got hit by attorneys, that was what killed us,” Mengo said. “We had two lawsuits in one year. The ladder did not cause the accident but we (the manufacturers of related products) all got sued.”
Because it closed the pool accessories division, Mengo Industries experienced 30 percent lower revenues in 2004 and 2005. However, 2006 has brought a return to growth for the company, which has increased its revenues by about 6 percent this year.
The company is considering two new products for its 2007 season, said Mengo, who expects 15 to 20 percent revenue growth and a need to hire two to three more employees.
Because large customers like Wal-Mart, Cabella’s and Gander Mountain require quick delivery, Mengo Industries will build large quantities of goods beginning in October and November, which it stores for its busy months
“That’s how we built our business – through service,” he said. “To make it happen, your inventory is in excess dollars.”


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Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP 06-08-2022
Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP
-The road to auto plastic recovery: recommendations for recycling plastics from end-of-life vehicles
Late in 2021, the Automotive Recyclers of Canada (ARC) was retained by Environment & Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to study the current practices related to the recovery of auto plastics from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) in Canada. The purpose of the study was to develop a potential road map to contribute to Canada’s 2030 target of zero plastic waste.
In 2019, a plastics report produced by Deloitte and Cheminfo Services estimated that the auto sector produces approximately 309,000 tonnes of plastic waste annually, about 9 percent of the total amount of plastic waste worldwide. This represents the second largest sectoral producer of plastic waste after plastic packaging, which accounts for 47 percent of all plastic waste. Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP
About 1.6 million vehicles are retired annually in Canada, and each of these ELVs contain about 175 kg of various plastic resins. Recycling rates for the plastics in ELVs tend to be low since there are very few end markets for these materials. Plastics from ELVs are often contaminated with other plastics and metal components, and there are not currently technologies capable of recycling all of the different plastic and multi-resin parts found in vehicles.
Zara, the global fashion brand and part of Inditex Group, is collaborating with Renewcell to create a capsule collection using Circulose®, a branded material produced entirely of recycled textiles.
A biodegradable raw material called Circulose®, created by Renewcell, is used to make textile fibers for clothing like viscose and lyocell. Circulose® fibers assist brands in limiting the use of virgin textile fibers, minimizing the climatic and environmental effects associated with the manufacturing and disposal of raw materials.
Patrik Lundström, CEO of Renewcell, said that Zara is one of the most well-known fashion companies in the world, demonstrating its ability to affect significant change within the sector. Without partners like Zara supporting this transformation, their mission to redefine fashion at scale would not come to reality through collaborations with such major brands, and their rapid development would not be conceivable. They’re excited to announce this collection created with Circulose® as the most recent development in our ongoing partnership. Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP
The 100% textile-to-textile recycled material Circulose® by Renewcell, which will soon begin operating at a commercial scale in their new facility in Sundsvall, Sweden, continues to divert waste from landfills by generating value through circular supply chains with brands all over the world, including now Zara.
Frigel will use K 2022 to showcase a number of developments in process cooling, including new and expanded lines of central and machine-side chillers, as we as advanced control platforms.
Frigel will highlight its MiND 2.0 platform, which it describe as an evolution of its Industry 4.0 offering. The company says MiND 2.0 provides a supervision and maintenance tool for all Frigel equipment and accessories, including central and machine-side chillers, monitoring and managing all working parameters and events, while tracking performance and energy consumption through a multifunctional user interface that can be accessed locally and remotely. Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP
Frigel has also updated its 3PR control, originally released in 2015. Designed to control its central cooling systems, Frigel says the new 3PR 4.0 platform allows processors to supervise and manage the entire cooling system from a single point. All the connected central system components are controlled via a unique control panel that has been designed specifically for Frigel systems. 3PR 4.0 is available in two versions—Lite and Premium—depending on the size of the system and the equipment to control.
As resin prices continue to slide, buyers have been floating low-ball bids to see if sellers will chase them. Some did.
The slide continues in the spot resin market, as prices for both polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) declined as July drew to a close. Overall lackluster demand is a result of ample supply and buyers’ calculations that prices have yet to find a floor, according to the PlasticsExchange.
Despite the drop in resin pricing and slowdown in activity, domestic railcar offers keep coming for both prime and off-grade materials, and the heavy flow of offers only bolstered buyers’ expectations of further declines. Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP
They have been floating low-ball bids to see if sellers will chase them; in some cases they do, reports the resin clearinghouse in its Market Update.
Still, the week did see some good demand from traditional spot buyers and others in need of material to fill in supply gaps partly due to logistics snafus, it added. There was also export demand from Mexico, while some domestic processors, pleased with the discounted pricing, also locked in supply through September.
The slowdown in spot trading and activity came alongside higher monomer spot levels, which began to rebound during the latter part of July. Rising monomer costs will not be enough to offset the overhang in resin supply, as suppliers have to deal with rising warehouse storage and packaging costs and brand-new resin units coming online in North America, said the PlasticsExchange. Rail logistics have improved in the West Coast, but the embargo on traffic heading into California, which was set to end in July, will continue into August.
Contract resin prices down
July PE and PP contracts were on the brink of being finalized with decreases from the June price while dismissing producer price increases in the process. The July PE contract will wipe away the $0.03/lb increase seen in May and is essentially the first true decline for contracts since December 2021. July PP, on the other hand, is on track to see its fourth consecutive monthly reduction, which will include both a polymer-grade propylene (PGP) cost decrease pass-through of $0.04/lb rather than $0.03/lb, as well as a likely margin decrease in the vicinity of $0.03/lb. Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP
-Hydrogen works, word from Hyundai (on trucks)
There has been a lot of discussion about the technology of hydrogen motor propulsion, with the use of fuel cells. In fact, many consider it a valid alternative to pure electric mobility, even better in some respects, but certainly the car manufacturers are investing much more in new EV models rather than Fuel Cells.
Hyundai, however, believes in hydrogen, not only for cars like the Nexo but also for heavy vehicles: thanks to a joint venture with the Swiss company H2 Energy, Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility was born, whose flagship product is the XCIENT Fuel Cell trucks. 47 of them are already on the road in Switzerland, with more than 4 million kilometers traveled in total since its launch in 2020, and now seven logistics companies in Germany are equipping themselves with these vehicles. Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP
As equipped with Fuel Cell technology, in which hydrogen fuel cells create energy to power an electric motor, the XCIENTs benefit from a 180 kW cell system and particularly high performance: the engine offers 350 kW (475 hp) of power and 2,237 Nm of torque “available immediately”, guaranteeing smooth and dynamic restarts even at full load.
The seven large tanks can hold up to 31 kg of hydrogen to be transformed into electricity, but as an additional stored energy source there is a set of three 72 kWh batteries. The declared maximum autonomy is about 400 km, while the time required for a hydrogen refueling is around 8 minutes and 20 seconds, depending on the ambient temperature.
Germany: the ideal market
The landing of these trucks in Germany is a sensible choice, because it is the country with the largest commercial vehicle market in Europe.
And in fact it was the German Ministry of Digital and Transport (BMDV) itself that financed the integration of 27 XCIENT on seven logistics companies in Germany, as an “extra step” towards the country’s carbon neutrality. Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP
Food and Beverage Giant Orders 30 Thousand Additional Shipping Pallets “Made with UBQ(TM)” and Introduces the Novel Material to Lay’s Chips Displays Across Europe
UBQ Materials, climate tech developer of advanced materials made from waste, announced today that PepsiCo is expanding its use of UBQ(TM) across its supply chain with the launch of eco-friendly Lay’s display stands, “Made with UBQ(TM),” throughout Europe.
Following PepsiCo’s successful pilot incorporating UBQ(TM) to reduce the carbon footprint of shipping pallets, the company is deepening its collaboration with UBQ in additional categories across the supply chain.
The new Lay’s Chips displays will be made in part with UBQ(TM) substituting conventional oil-based plastics.Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP
UBQ(TM) is a bio-based thermoplastic, made from 100% unsorted household waste, including all organics. Use of UBQ(TM) diverts waste from landfills and incineration, preventing emissions from being released into the environment. For every ton of UBQ(TM) produced, up to 12 tons of CO₂eq are prevented from polluting the environment.
Beyond the new product extension, PepsiCo has also expanded on the initial logistics pilot, ordering 30 thousand more shipping pallets made with UBQ(TM). These pallets also feature recycled PP resin and recycled BOPP – the plastic film used in the company’s snack packaging – to complete the circular economy cycle.
“Our goal is to transform our entire supply chain to tackle the sustainability challenges the world faces. UBQ Materials’ waste-based thermoplastic reduces landfill waste, prevents emissions, and takes us towards circularity, which is why we are working towards scaling use of UBQ(TM) globally,” said David Schwartz, VP, PepsiCo Labs. “We are putting sustainability and innovation at the heart of our operations.
Achieving these goals is integral to the future of our business, our customers, our consumers and the planet.” Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP
Cepsa, a leading international company committed to sustainable mobility and energy, and Ohmium International, a company specialized in the design, manufacture, and deployment of PEM electrolyzers, have announced an agreement to develop highly efficient green hydrogen projects in the Iberian Peninsula, said the company.
The companies will collaborate to develop and build initially small scale projects aiming to develop a green hydrogen platform using Ohmium’s advanced modular PEM electrolyzers, with the possibility of providing Cepsa up to 300 MW of installed hydrogen production capacity. Under the agreement, the two companies will also work together on green hydrogen research and development initiatives.Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP
The inclusion of bold goals for green hydrogen production in Cepsa’s Positive Motion plan is an explicit acknowledgement that green hydrogen is an ideal way to decarbonize multiple industries, including complex sectors such as heavy transport, aviation, and maritime traffic. Replacing “gray” hydrogen with cost effective renewable hydrogen – no-carbon hydrogen made from water electrolysis using renewable energy sources – will be critical to meet the world’s carbon targets.
Further, green hydrogen can directly improve local and regional energy security and independence. Whereas conflicts can disrupt global energy supply chains, green hydrogen can be cost effectively produced locally where the appropriate renewable energy resources are available. Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP
The company’s labeling protocol applies to rigid PP tubs, bottles, jugs and jars recycled in the United States, but Greenpeace USA questions the impact of the move.
How2Recycle, the North American packaging recyclability labeling system, has announced it is upgrading the eligibility of rigid polypropylene (PP) tubs, bottles, jugs and jars from “check locally” to “widely recyclable” in the United States.
The group says it was provided data from The Recycling Partnership’s Polypropylene Recycling Coalition as well as other industry investments and notes it is “confident this progression in eligibility continues to be aligned with the Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides.” Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP
“The efforts of the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition are a great example of the impact that can be made with collaborative action focused on supporting the full recycling system and we are honored to have been in an advisory role since its inception,” How2Recycle Director Caroline Cox says in a statement announcing the upgrade.
She adds, “As rigid polypropylene access, sortation and end markets are on an upward trend across the U.S., we are excited to upgrade this packaging format. … Thanks to the strength and efficacy of the national data provided, How2Recycle is confident that this change in eligibility continues to be in line with federal law,” and notes, however, the entire value chain should continue investing in improving the recyclability of all materials and packaging formats.
The milestone comes as the coalition marks its two-year anniversary. Launched in July 2020, The Recycling Partnership, based in Falls Church, Virginia, formed the coalition to bring together stakeholders across the PP value chain to improve recovery and recycling in the U.S. and further develop end markets for recycling PP.Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP
Green-Hydrogen – Recycled-PP


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Annual Report 2020: Last year, a range of unrelated factors inhibited flooring growth - May 2020
Introduction by Darius Helm
In 2019, various issues up and down the supply and value chains restrained a market rife with innovation and design. For the year, the U.S. flooring market-consumption of flooring at mill sell price-fell 4.4% to $22.485 billion, according to Market Insights.
On the supply side, tariffs imposed on flooring made in China in September 2018 sent ripples through the market, generating volatility both globally and domestically. Flooring imports from China surged that fall, as U.S. flooring businesses rushed to buy up inventory. And there were other repercussions in the market, as U.S. buyers-from flooring manufacturers to distributors to importing companies-chose between absorbing the tariffs or passing them on, or, more often, meeting in the middle. Others hunted for new manufacturing partnerships outside of China, looking for more stable pricing conditions.
In late summer 2019, exemptions were made for click-system LVT because it was determined that there was nowhere near enough capacity outside of China to serve U.S. demand. In the same month, the Chinese ceramic industry, the largest supplier of tile to the U.S. market, was hit with countervailing duties up to 222%. Imports of Chinese tile, and in particular the huge volume of entry-level tile priced below what U.S. tile manufacturers can manage, fell off a cliff. That import volume can’t be replaced by domestic manufacturers due to insufficient capacity, but unlike rigid LVT, there are plenty of other nations more than eager to try to fill the void, including Spain, Mexico, Turkey and Brazil.
At the manufacturing level, the surge in rigid LVT has created a dynamic, innovative market. Several manufacturers built facilities in the U.S., and for all of them the learning curve took longer than they expected. At Shaw, Mohawk and Mannington, products are rolling off the lines at varying rates. Others are on the verge or in the early stage of investing.
And while rigid LVT is taking huge flooring marketshare, the other flooring categories, all but area rugs, are losing their share. So they’ve been busy, too, figuring out new ways to recapture consumers’ attention or at the very least to break the spell that rigid LVT has over them.
There were also issues along the value chain that made last year problematic. For instance, SPC might be a hugely popular product, but it’s priced at the low end, and the explosion of capacity in China-now extending to its neighbors-has only made it more of a pressure cooker for commoditization. Lower-priced goods make for meager margins, and when demand slows, as it will, profitability could become an issue.
Among consumers, a major factor last year was their unquenchable thirst for what everyone from vendors to retailers is increasingly simply calling “waterproof flooring”-the catch-all for rigid LVT in every form. It’s particularly frustrating for the ceramic tile industry, which is in fact the only flooring category whose product and installed systems are legitimately waterproof.
The higher-end WPC category, while not growing at the same pace, is still roaring through the market, mostly in residential remodel, and it’s gaining traction in upscale multifamily and even to some extent in hospitality.
Innovations, sometimes to make products cheaper and sometimes to make them better, include direct digital printing on the rigid core, adhering wood veneers to the top of cores and producing different types of cores. For instance, the biggest trend is toward magnesium oxide composite cores (MgO), which are lightweight and rigid and can work well with non-vinyl polymers. Also, some rigid LVT is glued down instead of floated, and this could help the category gain real traction in the specified commercial market, where performance is often paramount, with heavy foot traffic and rolling loads.
With Shaw Industries already established as the carpet leader, the firm’s resilient gains helped it pull ahead of Mohawk Industries last year as the largest player in the U.S. flooring market. Mohawk, meanwhile, is the largest player in the world, with sales of nearly $10 billion. The two firms have very different strategies. For instance, Mohawk is more heavily focused on making its own products, while Shaw is comfortable with a healthy dose of manufacturing partnerships. And while Mohawk is covering as many flooring categories as possible, Shaw’s focus is on the dominant ones, having dropped rug and laminate in recent years and increasingly outsourcing its solid hardwood program.
The biggest flooring category in the U.S. market is carpet, and it was down about 5% last year and lost a little more marketshare. On the commercial side, broadloom has shrunk to a minor position compared to carpet tile. On the residential side, there’s very little carpet tile, and broadloom is losing share to hard surface, most recently to rigid LVT. Now that the bulk of the carpet in today’s homes is upstairs, in the bedrooms and sometimes the corridors, manufacturers are trying to refine the category. The new homeowner trend is to do one room at a time, and that means a lower price tag than the hard surface flooring going down across most of the rest of the house. It’s also an opportunity for customers to consider higher-end carpet.
Manufacturers have started pouring more styling and design into those better goods and also leveraging new technology-most notably, Tailored Loop by Card-Monroe, which offers a complete variable loop height, with advanced precision and control, enabling the creation of, among other things, convincing woven looks in tufted carpet. New yarn systems have also been developed, and bolder, more dynamic colorways are increasingly available.
A critical development in carpet last year was home centers reducing their carpet offerings and increasing hard surface. The move significantly impacted carpet sales in that channel. Also, Lowe’s started branding practically all of its carpet, regardless of whether it is made with Invista carpet fiber, as Stainmaster.
Hardwood is another category under pressure-down over 13% last year-with SPC in the builder channel speeding up its share loss. And with that trend unlikely to abate any time soon, the one silver lining may be the development of wood-topped rigid core products, which can be as waterproof as any rigid LVT. Thanks to their classification by the National Wood Flooring Association as composite engineered wood, those products count as wood flooring sales. Also, hardwood’s higher end is relatively immune to the rigid LVT threat.
Laminates, though, are priced competitively with SPC, and their susceptibility to water makes them an easy target, despite their higher performance in scratch and dent resistance. Laminates were also hurt by the tariffs on Chinese flooring, with imports down nearly 22%, and domestic consumption down over 13%. Research on new core compositions and edge treatments for enhanced water resistance is a particular focus for the category.
Last year, a range of national and global events influenced U.S. consumers. The year began with the longest government shutdown in history. This directly impacted public workers, but it also left many consumers, who were generally confident about the health of the U.S. economy, with an impression of instability.
Once the shutdown was over and spring arrived, massive floods in the Midwest held back regional activity. More uncertainty came in the form of tax refund worries (that turned out to be overblown), political investigations and intrigue, and global instability. To what degree this impacted consumers and their willingness to spend is hard to say, but the residential market underperformed over the summer months, and the housing market continued to lag but gathered some momentum in the latter part of the year.
Overall, the commercial market outpaced residential last year. (For more, see next month’s Commercial Market Report.) And within the residential market, the retail channel-residential remodeling-had a soft year. The multifamily market remained healthy, but it’s mostly in apartment turns now, which is a high-volume, low-margin business, so its high activity level belies a relatively meager stream of profits.
It was the builder channel that gathered the most momentum over the course of the year, though it still fell below expectations overall. While low unemployment, low mortgage rates and sustained economic growth should have been the recipe for a robust market, high debt, uncertainty and a lack of affordability at the low end of the market minimized gains.
Last year, single-family home sales were up from 2018 by about 10% to 682,000 units, and new home starts were up 3.2%.
One trend in the single-family housing market is large property management companies expanding beyond traditional rental units into the single-family market, and already hundreds of thousands of properties have shifted from private ownership to rental properties. This is anticipated to impact the fortunes of independent flooring retailers, because large firms can leverage for better prices and tend to buy through multiple channels.
The momentum closing out 2019, by most accounts, continued into the first quarter of this year. Flooring sales were up in both the residential and commercial market. Existing home sales were strong in January and strengthened in February, and new home sales also showed strong growth. The market faltered in March, with the advent of the pandemic. Although the course of the rest of this year is unclear, the March to June home-selling season, which accounts for 40% of annual sales, according to the National Association of Realtors, will likely be the slowest selling season since at least the 2007 recession.
While it’s impossible to predict how this pandemic will play out and the way in which society will right itself and get the economy going again, including the timeline, current conditions have many Americans largely sheltering in place. It’s a safe bet that this will lead to growth in the DIY market. And that includes flooring that can be delivered to homes and installed by homeowners.
This generally means products that click together for floating installations like laminates and rigid LVT, but now it also means ceramic. Mohawk’s new RevoTile is installed by clicking tiles together with only an underlayment underneath, and then grouting. It’s currently priced at a premium, but depending on how consumers rationalize the savings from doing their own installation, it could gain good traction.
Another product that needs professional installation is broadloom. Carpet tile does not, but it has never found widespread traction in the residential market, despite early efforts by Milliken and Interface’s existing Flor brand. But conditions are different now. Appreciating this, Shaw is putting a lot of marketing muscle behind its Floorigami line of carpet tiles. Installation is easy-as it is for Flor. Shaw is currently shipping displays to retailer partners.
This could be the moment for residential carpet tile. It’s a product well suited to online ordering, direct shipping and DIY installation. And it’s solving a real need. And, like any transactions during this crisis, it’s adding fuel to the economic engine.
For the complete Annual Report, see the May 2020 issue of Floor Focus Magazine.
Copyright 2020 Floor Focus


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Ram is Planning an Electric TRX!
Ram is going electric. It unveiled its first battery-powered concept truck: the 2024 Ram 1500 Revolution. The automaker hopes to put some form of this vehicle into production by 2024. But what about Ram’s flagship vehicle? Ram’s CEO recently promised an electric TRX. We expect this supertruck to be even more powerful than the Hellcat-powered generation.
The Banshee will be the new Hellcat
We already know what Ram’s next supertruck’s powertrain will be called. Dodge has released an electric Charger Daytona concept wearing a “Banshee” badge. The automaker revealed that the Banshee will be the Hellcat of the future. It will be a high-output version of Stellantis’ electric powertrain shared across the company’s American brands.
Dodge has said the Banshee powertrain will feature class-leading 800-volt charging speeds. We don’t know horsepower numbers yet, but we do know that Stellantis’ most powerful electric drive units make 442.5 horsepower. The electric concept vehicles–both the Charger and the Ram Revolution–have a drive unit for each axle. Therefore, the Banshee varients could conceivably offer 800+ horsepower.
Ram will continue offering a TRX supertruck
Ram brand CEO Mike Koval introduced the new 1500 Revolution electric concept truck at the Consumer Electronics Show. When he said he hopes electric Rams go into production in 2024, he won’t limit his Ram EVs to one model.
Koval specified, “We’ll have something for everybody from the entry level or what we call the Tradesmen, which is decidedly work-oriented, all the way up through our Longhorn and Limited Premium models, to the off-road king of the hill, the TRX.”
There has been some speculation that an on-road supertruck, much like the Ram 1500 Revolution concept, could become the brand’s electric flagship. But Koval insists that Ram will continue focusing on off-roaders.
Koval said to Motor Authority that Ram’s electric technology is engineered with off-roading in mind. “The EDMs (electric drive modules) that we’re designing for this are protected for higher-performance applications, so I think you’ll see a very similar go-to-market strategy.”
A Ram 1500 TRX EV will join the crowded electric supertruck segment
Even before Ram launches an electric TRX, the EV supertruck segment is growing. General Motors resurrected the HUMMER nameplate to release its first electric truck, a true supertruck.
In addition, Rivian’s quad-motor R1T was the first electric truck to market. The Rivian electric truck’s marketing is more focused on sustainability than supertruck capabilities. That said, its four motors allow it to reach 60 mph in just 3.1 seconds. It easily dethroned the Hellcat-powered Ram 1500 TRX as the world’s fastest truck. Perhaps an electric TRX will someday reclaim the title.
Next, find out every factory-built supertruck available or watch the traditional TRX drag race the electric Ford F-150 Lightning in the video below: