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The families of two young men filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Amazon. The lawsuit alleges that the multinational technology company sold so-called “suicide kits,” which the young men later used to take their own lives.
Amazon filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, but the motion was denied.
What are suicide kits?
So-called suicide kits are comprised of the following:
- Sodium nitrite. Sodium nitrite is an inorganic compound that can cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. If taken in large doses, sodium nitrite can cause death.
- Cimetidine. Cimetidine (sold under the brand name “Tagamet”) is a drug used to treat acid reflux and other stomach issues. Cimetidine can be used to prevent vomiting that may occur when sodium nitrite is ingested.
- Personal-use scale. A personal-use scale can be used to measure the amount of sodium nitrite necessary for the dose to be lethal.
- Peaceful Pill Handbook. The Peaceful Pill Handbook is a book that contains a chapter with clear instructions on how to administer sodium nitrite and cimetidine together to cause death.
At the time of the lawsuit, all of the items above could be purchased from Amazon (through a third-party seller in some cases). What’s more, the lawsuit alleges that Amazon “bundled” or “recommended” purchasing the above items together.
More about sodium nitrite
Sodium nitrite was developed in the 1960s. It is a food additive responsible for the characteristic color and flavor associated with cured meats. Though a successful food additive in small doses, sodium nitrite can be lethal if ingested in large doses. The sodium nitrite sold on Amazon is 98 percent pure.
The wrongful death lawsuit against Amazon
Tyler Muhleman, 17 years old, and Mikael Scott, 27 years old, died after consuming sodium nitrite and cimetidine, which they ordered from the Amazon website.
On December 12, 2022, the families of the two young men filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Amazon.
The lawsuit alleges that Amazon sold sodium nitrate even though the largest online retailer knew it was being used by children to commit suicide. What’s more, the lawsuit alleges that regulators warned Amazon that the sodium nitrite they sold had no household use.
“They know it’s killing people,” Mikael’s mom Ruth Scott said in an interview with the New York Times. “They are fully aware. They just don’t care.”
Notably, other online retailers, including Etsy and eBay, stopped selling sodium nitrite after learning that it was frequently being used for suicide.
Can Amazon be held liable for selling suicide kits?
Courts have struggled to decide whether online marketplaces (like Amazon and eBay) can be held liable for selling products directly or through third parties.
In 2020, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that Amazon could not be held liable for an Ohio teenager’s death from caffeine powder. The coroner determined that the 18-year-old died of cardiac arrhythmia from acute caffeine toxicity caused by ingesting the caffeine powder. The Court found that because Amazon never possessed control of the product, it did not meet Ohio’s definition of a “supplier” under Ohio’s product liability laws and, therefore, could not be held legally responsible.
On the other hand, a California court of appeals ruled that Amazon could be held liable for damages caused by a detective laptop battery that caught fire and caused a woman to suffer third-degree burns.
The parents who filed the suicide kit lawsuit may have a strong case, given that sodium nitrite arguably has no legitimate household use other than to assist in suicide.
On January 9, 2023, the King County Superior Court denied Amazon’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The court can now examine the question of whether Amazon can be held liable for selling so-called suicide kits.
Enjuris will keep you posted on any developments.
A 12-year-old was bullied relentlessly. She died by suicide. Now her parents have recovered a $9.1m settlement from her school for failing to protect her.


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While most of us would recoil at the idea of embracing being called a snake, Taylor Swift has wrapped her brain and brand around it, writes Omeshnie Naidoo.
Turning comments about her “reptile” reputation on its head, Taylor Swift drew inspiration from a Bulgari serpant necklace in her latest video.
While most of us would recoil at the idea of embracing being called a snake, Swift has wrapped her brain and brand around it.
In her latest video Look What You Made Me Do, released at the VMAs recently, she plays up all the stereotypical versions of herself.
The video, directed by Joseph Kahn, is rife with symbolism and designed to address all the hate Swift has received in recent times, but phenomenally turns it on its head.
According to YouTube, Look What You Made Me Do had the biggest debut of any video in its history, with 43.2 million views in 24 hours. It hit 100 million views in just four days. Make no mistake, its CNN and Forbes that are writing about the artist, not just bloggers - she's big industry business.
What's bound be be a trend though is all the high-end reptile-inspired jewellery she sported in the video.
There's a long, ugly and hurtful history but #TaylorSwiftIsASnake was the hashtag for those on Twitter wishing to take the singer to task, which is why it's awesome that the talented songwriter and singer has chosen to rock reptile.
Most memorable is a shot of her being served tea by a snake, while she sits on a throne in a red cutout Balmain dress with a 22-carat Bulgari Serpenti necklace.
The necklaces themselves have an iconic history and are highly coveted pieces of jewellery.
Snake as a villain, becomes sexy.
The serpent's use by the distinguished Italian luxury brand is reflective of Bulgari’s Greco-Roman heritage, where it is a symbol of rebirth, seduction and power.
Serpentiform, which is on exhibition in Singapore at the moment, shows off diamond, rubies and sapphires among enamelled scales. The brand describes their snakes as creations pulsing with beauty, designed to adorn a contemporary goddess.
No doubt these jewels are in for a celeb revival, sure to encircle the wrists and coil around the necks and fingers of some of the world's most wealthy women.

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Blockchain-based fantasy football platform Sorare has announced a league-wide non-fungible token (NFT) partnership with the German football league, Bundesliga, that extends to the first and second divisions. This is the second substantial league deal that Sorare has landed, following Spain’s LaLiga last month. In a major business expansion, it will also offer video moments for matches as NFTs.
Until now, Sorare’s focus area was fantasy football with more than 200 team partnerships. Fans purchase players’ cards minted as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and use them to create a weekly lineup for fantasy games where the outcome is based on the player’s actual performance on the field. Fan line ups compete against each other and Sorare rewards top performers with cryptocurrency ETH. Users can also trade the cards and participate in more collector-like behavior.
The fact that Sorare’s offer was so entrenched in the fantasy football rhetoric as opposed to NFTs and blockchain meant it perhaps wasn’t perceived as a competitor to some emerging sports NFT platforms. That’s despite its global presence and unicorn valuation – it just raised $680 million in funding. The Bundesliga partnership changes things.
Kickstarting video moments
In addition to the traditional player’s cards that can be used on Sorare’s app, the company will also begin minting video highlights (moments) of the games as NFTs and enable users to trade them on the platform. That’s very similar to Dapper Labs’ main product NBA Top Shot.
It is unclear whether Sorare also tried to land a moments deal with LaLiga. Because the Spanish league recently a signed fantasy card partnership with Sorare but announced an agreement with Dapper Labs for LaLiga game highlights.
In terms of sheer numbers, NFT player cards limit the revenue that Sorare can make from the direct sale of digital assets. To maintain the value of the product, the cards need to be scarce and there are only so many players in a club. The addition of moments to Sorare’s portfolio considerably expands its revenue opportunities because every player can be involved in several moments.
“Germany usually attracts the highest average attendance in football stadiums. It is football as it’s meant to be, where fans engage with their favorite players and club each weekend. We’re thrilled to allow Bundesliga fans in Germany and globally to come together online and to feel ownership of the sports they love.” said Sorare’s CEO Nicolas Julia. “The Bundesliga is one of the best leagues in the world, home to some of the most exciting clubs and footballers on earth. We are very proud to partner with them to launch our first NFT Moments – we are building the future of fandom together.”
At the end of September, Sorare also announced the launch of a collection of legendary football players who are no longer active in the sport. This collection moves away from Sorare’s fantasy football specialism and competes with other offers that target iconic athletes’ intellectual property.
Meanwhile, Dapper is also making solid moves in the industry. It landed a deal with the NFL for minting highlights as NFTs and closed an additional $205 million funding round at a reported $7.5 billion valuation.


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Index of U.S. Leading Indicators Rises More than Forecast [View all]
The index of U.S. leading economic indicators climbed more than forecast in July, a sign of sustained expansion in the world’s largest economy.
The Conference Board’s gauge of the outlook for the next three to six months increased 0.4 percent after a revised 0.4 percent drop in June, the New York-based group said today. Economists projected the gauge would rise by 0.2 percent, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
Retail sales rose more than forecast last month, showing households are looking beyond the slowdown and increasing consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy. The housing market also has signaled improvement. At the same time, unemployment remains above 8 percent, which is consistent with the Federal Reserve’s view that economic growth will “remain moderate over coming quarters.”
“What we’ve seen so far is a decent batch of July numbers, not necessarily convincing to the point that we’re going to see a sharp turnaround in the economy, but it is putting at bay concerns that we’re heading for another recession,” Sean Incremona, senior economist at 4Cast Inc. in New York, said before the report. “Housing is improving -- that’s helping the bottom line. But it’s still a very slow recovery.”


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Why Walmart needs grocery pickup to work
After years of rapacious store growth, Walmart Stores (NYSE:WMT) is turning to a new idea for building sales — online grocery pickup. The program, which allows customers to order groceries online and pick them up at a dedicated station in the parking lot, has been in testing for two years; Walmart expanded it to a number of new markets last fall, including Atlanta, Nashville, Tucson, and Colorado Springs.
The move comes as Walmart has been losing share to rivals like Kroger (NYSE:KR) and Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST), which have put up consistently strong comparable sales growth numbers while Walmart's have been nearly flat.
Historically, Walmart had a simple formula for increasing sales — opening new stores and converting discount stores, locations without a grocery department, to supercenters, which included the trappings of a supermarket. However, that strategy seems to be approaching its natural end.
Walmart's real estate growth is a far cry from where it was a decade ago. In the company's go-go pre-recession years when overall percentage sales growth was in the teens, its U.S. footprint was expanding consistently by 8% to 9%. This year, it's set to grow by just 1.5%.
That slowdown has come as the company has saturated much of the country with its supercenters, and as competition from Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) has threatened its competitive advantages built on low-cost leadership and the convenience of a wide selection. Building new stores won't protect Walmart from Amazon, which is why the company has been gradually shifting investment dollars to e-commerce rather than building physical stores.
Why grocery is so important
Founded in 1962, Walmart's roots are as a discount emporium, not a supermarket chain. Recognizing the opportunity in groceries, the company opened its first Supercenter — a combined discount store and supermarket — in 1988, and rapidly expanded the concept through the 1990s and 2000s, adding new Supercenters and converting discount stores. By fiscal 2005 it had more Supercenters than discount stores, and today it has less than 500 discount stores and more than 3,000 Supercenters nationwide.
In other words, groceries fueled much of its domestic growth during its heady expansion years in the 1990s and 2000s. From 2008 to 2015, grocery sales at Walmart's U.S. division have contributed 100.4% of its sales growth, or $48.7 billion worth, increasing its share of overall revenue from 47% to 56%.
While Walmart is known for selling virutally everything, including electronics, apparel, and furniture, those categories have remained flat altogether in recent years. When it comes to growth, groceries are the only category that matters.
It's clear why groceries are so important to Walmart, but examining the company's past strategies will help explain why it is turning to online grocery pickup.
In recent years, Walmart's three drivers for growing grocery sales have been opening Supercenters, opening Neighborhood Markets — smaller-format stores that have a limited selection of non-groceries — and converting discount stores to Supercenters. At their peak, Walmart's discount stores numbered nearly 2,000 nationwide; however the vast majority have already been converted to Supercenters, leaving that opportunity mostly tapped out. Neighborhood Markets looked like a promising growth avenue a few years ago. The segment has consistently delivered high-single-digit comparable sales growth, and in fiscal 2015 the company added 235 of the grocery stores, touting its success. However, last year that number shrank to under 170, and the retailer only expects to open 85-95 Neighborhood Markets in the current year. Supercenter expansion has also slowed dramatically as the company plans to add just 50-60 this year, down from more than 100 in 2011-2015. Competitive threats along with a decision to invest in current assets and e-commerce seem to be the reason why new store expansion has slowed.
All bets are on grocery pickup
The company's newest idea for increasing grocery sales is its new online grocery pickup service. Launched last year, the program allows customers to order online and then pick up groceries in as little as two hours at no additional charge. Some markets also allow for delivery.
According to the company, the program is overwhelmingly popular: users rate it 4 or 5 stars, and 85% are repeat customers.
With the program only available in a small minority of Walmart stores, it won't move the needle on sales until it's expanded significantly. However, in addition to winning over customers, it also offers protection from Amazon and Costco. Amazon has struggled to scale up its own AmazonFresh delivery service as the logistics of transporting delivering groceries have proven difficult, while Costco, with its warehousing model, says it prefers to get people in the store rather than sell through the online channel.
Groceries are one of the few retail categories in which Walmart's massive store base gives it an advantage. As the company slows down its store expansion and runs out of discount stores to convert, grocery pickup seems like its best bet for continued growth.
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Workhorse Group lower its income and supply steerage for 2022 on Tuesday, saying that it might not be capable of ship as a lot of its electrical business autos as deliberate due to ongoing supply-chain points.
Workhorse stated that it now expects to ship between 150 and 250 of its autos for the 12 months, producing between $15 million and $25 million in income. It had stated in Could that it anticipated to ship “not less than 250” autos this 12 months, producing “not less than $25 million” in income.
Workhorse’s shares had been down about 11% in early buying and selling after the information was launched.
Workhorse introduced the steerage modifications as a part of its second-quarter earnings launch. Listed here are the important thing numbers.
- Income: $12,555 for the quarter, down from $1.2 million within the year-ago interval.
- Web loss: $21.2 million, versus $43.6 million within the year-ago interval.
Workhorse is within the strategy of transitioning to a brand new product lineup, to be constructed on electric-truck chassis provided by GreenPower Motors. The corporate stated it obtained its first cargo of chassis from GreenPower in July and is on observe to start manufacturing of its GreenPower-based chassis-cab autos by the tip of September, with supply vans following earlier than the tip of 2022.
Workhorse is utilizing GreenPower’s chassis whereas it really works to develop two new electric-truck platforms of its personal. The primary of these, referred to as W56, remains to be on observe to enter manufacturing within the third quarter of 2023, the corporate confirmed on Tuesday, with about 75% of supplies already sourced.
This can be a creating story. Please examine again for updates.


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Gamers from Gran Turismo’s GT Academy took second place in the Pro-Am class at the 2015 Dubai 24 Hours race; also finishing fifth place overall. The all gamer team had earned their drive by winning the Gran Turismo national finals in their respective countries, showing that video games can teach people how to race fast cars.
MWC 2015 will definitely be an extremely exciting event to look forward to. Among the many mobile devices that are expected to be unveiled – Samsung Galaxy S6, Sony Xperia Z4, HTC One Hima and more, it looks like Samsung will unveil a special version of the Galaxy S6, which will come with two edge displays.
The cyber-attack on Sony pictures still has a few more twists to the story. New documents from whistleblower Edward Snowden have revealed that the American National Security Agency had already hacked into the North Korean government systems, and was watching everything it was doing.
Claiming itself as an “independent entity that is not linked to any telco companies“, Don’t Bodoh looks like a nifty, professionally-done website that apparently allows users to “compare” telco plans and determine which one is most suitable to them. As we dug deeper in our effort to learn more about this particularly secretive “independent entity”, we learned that Don’t Bodoh is misleading users into believing that the site is actually giving sound advice to them.
In fact, Don’t Bodoh can be considered as a fraud depending on how you look at things.
Maxis recently launched a brand new MyMaxis app that makes it a whole lot easier for its subscribers to manage their Maxis accounts, as well as exclusive new features. As someone who has lots of bills to pay and tend to forget about them (hence overpaying whenever I remember), I think it’s an extremely useful app that puts your Maxis account at your fingertips, allowing you to view and pay your bills, check your usage, purchase additional data and view rewards.


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Four Avon Products International (Avon) employees (including the President and Chief Financial Officer of the China operations) have been suspended after an internal investigation into improper payments (bribery) to Chinese officials. Avon has asked three executives in Asia and one employee in New York to take administrative leaves of absence pending the outcome of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigation.
The current investigation stems from a June 2008 voluntary internal investigation into Avon's China operations over an allegation of improper expenses for items like travel and entertainment. The alleged improper payments under investigation include purchases of trips to France, New York, Canada and Hawaii for Chinese government officials with ties to Avon's business
Since the start of the June 2008 internal investigation, questions have arisen relating to payments in other jurisdictions (other than China). Avon has not said how many countries are covered by their internal investigation. The Wall Street Journal reported that the probe now involves a dozen or more countries.
Avon is the world’s largest door-to-door cosmetics seller. The products include cosmetics and various beauty lotions, creams and potions. These are not the kind of consumer products that one would normally think about when pondering bribery of foreign public officials. This is was makes the story so important --- bribery can be a problem for any type of business.
A small number of company officials burdened by sales targets and business stress may cross the line and damage the reputation of a well-known and respected organization. The recent economic crisis may have caused employees to take serious risks.
Enforcement of ant-corruption laws are on the rise. Recently, a number of Western companies, including Daimler (DAIGn.DE), Avery Dennison Corporation (AVY.N) and telecommunications company UTStarcom (UTSI.O), have become ensnared in China-related FCPA probes. In a separate case that turned a spotlight on corruption issues in China, a Shanghai court convicted four employees of mining firm Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) (RIO.L) of taking bribes and stealing commercial secrets, handing out sentences ranging between seven and 14 years in prison last month. More surprising news about bribery should be expected to be revealed in the future.


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Yahoo! has recently launched a new keyword and search comparison tool called Yahoo! Clues. This tool allows search marketers to study patterns followed by users while conducting a search. It also gives information about what terms were searched just before and after a particular keyword. The tool however, has made some glaring omissions.
Internet users often have to wait through pre-roll ads or look past overlay ads when they want to watch online video. This can be quite irritating to some users. Microsoft and Yahoo! are reportedly thinking of ways to make this less of an irritation.
Reports of the quarterly earnings of various companies during the second quarter of 2010 have recently been published. These reports indicate an overall recovery in ad-generated revenue in most of the Internet, media and advertising companies.
Yahoo! and Microsoft had struck a deal for a search and advertising partnership last July. The integration of the two search engines has finally started last month.
Last week Yahoo! Japan confirmed that Google will be their local partner for search and ads. The announcement was made by the CEO of Yahoo! Japan, Masahiro Inoue.
Foresee Results and the American Customer Satisfaction Index, have recently conducted a study to find out how customers in the U.S. feel about various social media sites.
Yahoo! and mobile handset manufacturer Nokia have recently announced that they have teamed up to deliver enhanced mobile Internet services.
Data released by comScore, reveals that Facebook has outdone Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo! to become the top display advertisement publisher in the first quarter of 2010.
A white paper released by scientists from Yahoo! Labs sheds light on the changes in search user behaviour.
Evan Williams, the co-founder of Twitter, said at the Chirp conference recently that Twitter users carry out about 600 million searches per day. Twitter’s director of search Doug Cook added that the number of queries reaches the 750 million mark on certain days and he expects it to cross 1 billion fairly soon.
Google announced yesterday that they have acquired the photo editing site Picnik right from under Yahoo!’s nose, while Yahoo! seems to have done nothing about it!


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Amazon announced earlier to make the biggest announcement in Stockholm at a press conference. Rumors that Amazon would open their own service also in the nordic countries.
the Rumors proved to be true when Amazon announced this morning that it would open the AWS-network services in Sweden. Matter news, the Swedish site you Market and Breakit.
the Swedes can communicate soon in their own language online store without, that data must deal with the country's borders. In addition to this, Swedish companies get their products more easily in the Amazon online store.
Amazon.it site control still the user's amazon's German site, and sweden yet to find the Amazon list.
Still not confirmed it, is Amazon about to open their services also in Finland. Amazon Nordic and Baltic director of the Guido Bartels spoke, however, the expansion in the nordic countries, which suggests that Amazon would arrive in the future also in Finland.
– we Will continue our expansion in the nordic countries, Bartels said.
the Swedish online store opening can also help amazon's through tilaileva Finnish consumers. Logistics centers located in Sweden, can delivery costs may be calculated.
Amazon has already purchased from Amazon.fi-network-address, which controls trade in the German-speaking pages. On the other hand, the usual is that the major companies reserve the addresses already to be sure.


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Google Gemini AI, the tech giant’s most powerful multimodal general AI model yet, is now available to users worldwide via Bard, some developer platforms, and even the new Google Pixel 8 Pro devices. The new flexible AI model, which will be available in three sizes — the yet-to-be-released Ultra, Pro, and Nano — is being viewed as Google’s answer to ChatGPT, which has been ahead of the game in terms of GenAI so far.
Demis Hassabis, CEO and Co-Founder of Google DeepMind, describes Gemini as “AI that feels less like a smart piece of software and more like something useful and intuitive — an expert assistant or helper.” Google teams collaborated to build Gemini from the ground up. It is also multimodal, which means it is not limited to the type of information it can process and can work with text, code, audio, image, and video. ChatGPT, on the other hand, does not currently support video, at least not natively.
It is also far more powerful than current models. According to Google, Gemini Ultra “exceeds current state-of-the-art results on 30 of the 32 widely-used academic benchmarks” used in large language model (LLM) research and development. Gemini Ultra is the first model to outperform human experts on massive multitask language understanding (MMLU), which tests both world knowledge and problem-solving abilities by combining 57 subjects such as math, physics, history, law, medicine, and ethics.
Google Gemini AI can also “understand, explain, and generate high-quality code in the world’s most popular programming languages, such as Python, Java, C++, and Go,” according to the company.
Google Gemini AI Availability
Google has currently integrated the new Gemini Pro with its chatbot Bard, which is a direct competitor of ChatGPT. You can interact with Gemini-powered Bard via text, but Google promises support for other modalities “soon.” The new update is available in 170 countries and territories, but only in English.
Will Google Gemini AI have an impact on Google search?
Google stated that Google Gemini AI will be expanded to include more products and services such as Search, Ads, Chrome, and Duet AI. Google stated that it is already experimenting with Gemini in Search, “where it is making Search Generative Experience (SGE) faster for users, with a 40% reduction in latency in English in the United States, alongside quality improvements.”
Why is Google Gemini AI available in three sizes?
Google Gemini AI will be available in various sizes so that it can be scaled as needed. The largest and most capable model, Gemini Ultra, will be designed for highly complex tasks. Because this model is still undergoing trust and safety checks, it is currently only available to a limited number of customers, developers, partners, and safety and responsibility experts for early experimentation and feedback. Early next year, it will be made available to developers and enterprise customers.
Gemini Pro will excel at scaling across a wide range of tasks, and it is now available in Bard for regular users worldwide. On Bard, you’ll find a “specifically tuned version of Gemini Pro in English for more advanced reasoning, planning, understanding and more” . Gemini Pro will be available to developers and enterprise customers via the Gemini API in Google AI Studio or Google Cloud Vertex AI.
Gemini Nano will manage on-device tasks and is already available on the Pixel 8 Pro, powering new features such as Summarise in the Recorder app and Smart Reply via Gboard, which will begin with WhatsApp. Android developers will be able to build with Gemini Nano via AICore, a new system capability available in Android 14, beginning with Pixel 8 Pro devices, beginning on December 13.
How does Google Gemini AI deal with hallucinations and safety concerns?
According to Eli Collins, VP, Product, Google DeepMind, while they have worked hard to improve factuality in Gemini, the LLM is still capable of hallucinating. “When we integrate these models with products like Bard, we have additional techniques to improve the accuracy of responses.”
Concerning security, Google stated that it is implementing “new safeguards to account for Gemini’s multimodal capabilities,” as well as considering potential risks and working to test and mitigate them at each stage of development. The company claims to have conducted the “most comprehensive safety evaluations of any Google AI model to date, including for bias and toxicity” and has conducted research into potential risk areas such as cyber-offense, persuasion, and autonomy. It is also collaborating with a diverse group of external experts and partners to stress-test our models across a variety of issues and identify gaps in Google’s internal evaluation approach
So, is Google Gemini superior to ChatGPT 4?
At the moment, it’s difficult to say, but Gemini appears to be more adaptable than GPT4. Its ability to work with video and on devices that do not have Internet access also gives it an advantage. Another difference is that Gemini is now free to use, whereas ChatGPT4 is only available to paid subscribers.


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In the ever-evolving world of finance, one technological leap stands out, poised to transform how we handle money – Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). These digital forms of traditional fiat currencies, backed by central authorities, have taken the financial world by storm. With promises of improved payment efficiency, financial inclusion, and streamlined cross-border transactions, CBDCs are set to reshape the very foundation of our financial systems.
The Rise of CBDCs: A Revolutionary Leap
The rise of CBDCs has sparked immense interest among policymakers, businesses, and individuals. CBDCs offer the best of both worlds, unlike decentralized cryptocurrencies – digitization combined with centralized regulation. But what exactly sets them apart, and why are they generating so much buzz?
Faster, Cheaper, and Inclusive: CBDCs Redefining Payments
One of the most promising applications of CBDCs lies in their potential to revolutionize how we make payments. Traditional systems often come with limitations in terms of speed, cost, and accessibility. CBDCs offer a faster, cheaper, and more inclusive alternative, enabling seamless transactions within a country.
Moreover, as highlighted by many, CBDCs have the power to extend financial services to the unbanked and underbanked, driving economic growth and reducing income inequality.
Cross-Border Transactions Reimagined: The CBDC Edge
All across the globe are closely watching the game-changing potential of CBDCs when it comes to cross-border transactions. Long plagued by high fees, lengthy settlement times, and complex intermediaries, cross-border payments could become a breeze with CBDCs. By enabling direct transactions between central banks, CBDCs can potentially eliminate costly intermediaries, thus reducing overheads and enhancing overall efficiency.
Central Banks Empowered: A New Era of Monetary Policy
With CBDCs, central banks gain unprecedented visibility into real-time money flow. This newfound data-driven approach to monetary policy implementation empowers them to make informed decisions, impacting interest rates, money supply, and overall economic stability. CBDCs could even pave the way for more effective implementation of negative interest rates during economic downturns, stimulating spending and investments.
Strengthening Financial Resilience: The Safe Haven in Digital Form
In times of crisis, individuals and businesses seek refuge in safe assets like cash. However, the physical nature of cash poses risks of loss and theft. It is believed that CBDCs can offer a secure and digital alternative, ensuring the public’s access to risk-free assets even during financial instability. This could prevent bank runs and provide a much-needed safety net for the financial system.
A Step Towards Transparency: Reducing Black Market Activities
CBDCs introduce an opportunity to combat illicit financial activities head-on. As transactions are recorded on a secure digital ledger, it becomes increasingly challenging for illegal activities like money laundering to thrive in the shadows. The enhanced traceability and transparency offered by CBDCs could strike a significant blow to black market operations.
Challenges to Embrace, Solutions to Forge
However, amidst the excitement, we cannot overlook the challenges that accompany this financial revolution. Privacy concerns and data security top the list. Striking a balance between transparency and individual privacy will be crucial to gaining public trust. Furthermore, robust cybersecurity measures must be implemented to safeguard against potential cyberattacks.
User adoption remains a pivotal challenge. To unlock the true potential of CBDCs, widespread public, and business acceptance is necessary. Governments, central banks, and financial institutions must collaborate to ensure seamless integration and transition.
A Glimpse into the Future
The future looks promising as CBDCs take center stage in the global financial arena. Experts envision a transformed payment ecosystem, with CBDCs driving economic growth, financial inclusion, and a disruption of traditional banking intermediaries. Additionally, geopolitical implications could arise as nations seek to be early digital currency adopters.
The age of Central Bank Digital Currencies has arrived, and their potential to reshape the financial landscape is awe-inspiring. With the promise of improved payments, financial inclusion, and cross-border efficiency, CBDCs have already garnered significant attention. The challenges are real, but the opportunities they present for a transparent, inclusive, and digitally-driven financial future are far-reaching.
As we embrace this financial revolution, governments, institutions, and individuals must collaborate in harnessing the full potential of CBDCs and shaping a future where payments are seamless, financial services are inclusive, and economies thrive on the wings of digital innovation.


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Nokia plans to aquire withings to accelerate into digital health
July 13, 2016 Editor 0
Nokia plans to acquire Withings to accelerate entry into Digital Health Nokia has announced plans to acquire Withings S.A., a pioneer and leader in the connected health revolution with a family of award-winning digital health products and services to help people all over the world lead healthier, happier and more productive lives. Withings will be part of our Nokia Technologies business.
We have said consistently that digital health was an area of strategic interest to Nokia, and we are now taking concrete action to tap the opportunity in this large and important market said Rajeev Suri, president & CEO of Nokia. “With this acquisition, Nokia is strengthening its position in the Internet of Things in a way that leverages the power of our trusted brand, fits with our company purpose of expanding the human possibilities of the connected world, and puts us at the heart of a very large addressable market where we can make a meaningful difference in peoples’ lives.”
World Health Organization figures show cardiovascular disease as today’s number one cause of death, with more than a billion adults around the world living with uncontrolled hypertension. Diabetes now affects more than one in twelve adults worldwide, a four-fold increase since 1980. Healthcare is expected to be one of the largest vertical markets in the Internet of Things, with analysts forecasting that mobile health, with a CAGR of 37%, will be the fastest growing health care segment from 2015-2020.
“Withings shares our vision for the future of digital health and their products are smart, well designed and already helping people live healthier lives,” said Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies. “Combining their award-winning products and talented people with the world-class expertise and innovation of Nokia Technologies uniquely positions us to lead the next wave of innovation in digital health.”
Withings was founded by Chairman Eric Carreel and CEO Cedric Hutchings in 2008 and is headquartered in France, with approximately 200 employees across its locations in Paris, France, Cambridge, US and Hong Kong. Withings’ portfolio of regulated and unregulated products includes activity trackers, weighing scales, thermometers, blood pressure monitors, home and baby monitors and more, and is built on a sophisticated digital health platform, providing insights to empower people to make smarter decisions about the health and wellbeing of themselves and their families. Withings’ own products are complemented by an ecosystem of more than a hundred compatible apps.
Since we started Withings, our passion has been in empowering people to track their lifestyle and improve their health and wellbeing, said Cédric Hutchings, CEO of Withings. “We’re excited to join Nokia to help bring our vision of connected health to more people around the world.”
The Nokia brand continues to be recognized, valued and trusted by consumers, built on a heritage of beautifully designed, innovative and reliable technology in the service of people around the world to help real human needs.The planned transaction values Withings at EUR 170 million and would be settled in cash and is expected to close in early Q3, 2016 subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
The post Nokia plans to aquire withings to accelerate into digital health appeared first on TTalents.
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With Chinese New Year less than a month away, it comes to no surprise that many families may already be caught up in the furor of their festive preparations. From the obligatory bright-red and yellow decorations to usher in prosperity, to festive cookies and soft drinks to welcome guests, most homes will be replete with all the trappings of the festive season come 1st February.
Mad dash for soft drinks in supermarket
But for some shoppers, festive preparations appear to have gone awry after video footage recently surfaced showing a flock of men and women wildly crowding around a pallet of soft drinks, making a mad-dash attempt to grab them for themselves. The incident, which took place in a supermarket located in Sitiawan, was said to have been sparked by a promotional price that was being offered on the beverages, which are a popular staple during Chinese New Year.
Despite obvious calls for social distancing in the country, what with the rise of the more transmissible Omicron variant in the country, shoppers appeared caught up in a complete frenzy as they attempted to fight in a mad grab for the drinks. In one of the videos shared by community Facebook page Inforoadblock, the man filming behind the camera laughs, describing the scene as being akin to a ‘robbery’.
“Look at this! It’s like a robbery. Coke being sold for RM20.88.” he said.
In fact, a video posted by netizen Sing Jia showed how some shoppers didn’t even wait for the stocks of soft drinks to be unloaded from their pallets, choosing instead to grab for them as they were being moved out of the warehouse by supermarket employees!
For comparison’s sake, the price for Coca Cola Less Calories in a pack of 24 cans was being sold for RM44.40, which has already been sold out.
However, this mad frenzy for soft drinks didn’t come without consequence as according to Harian Metro, the Royal Malaysian Police has issued a RM1,000 compound under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 to the supermarket for flouting COVID-19 SOPs.
According to Majung Regional Chief of Police Assistant Commissioner Nor Omar Sappi, the supermarket’s management had been called in to provide an explanation and assist in investigations.
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The dispute between two of the biggest technology brands seems to be getting sore with each passing day. The latest reports state that Apple will no longer use Qualcomm's modem chips and instead it will go ahead and use Intel's or MediaTek's chips in its upcoming devices.
The report comes from The Wall Street Journal and this isn't the end of it. Qualcomm is allegedly holding back the software that Apple needs to test the LTE chips used in its iPhone and iPad prototypes. It has also come to light that Qualcomm stopped sharing the software after Apple filed the lawsuit against it. This has not only drawn Apple further away from Qualcomm in professional terms but it has also disrupted Apple's development efforts.
Qualcomm has stated, "The modem that could be used in the next generation iPhone has already been fully tested and released to Apple." Qualcomm also claims that it is committed to supporting Apple's new devices as it does for others in the industry.
Apple and Qualcomm have been giving each other some really hard time and it seems their business relation isn't getting better any sooner.
Qualcomm has faced a lot of trouble lately and the world's leader in chipset manufacturing has been on target for its terms and conditions that benefit it highly. Recently, one of the Taiwanese fair trade association had fined Qualcomm heavily for its term agreements with smartphone manufacturers in Taiwan.
The brand has already faced similar allegations in South Korea and the US as well.


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Afetr a rough start to the week, Tesla rebounded on Tuesday. Shares of the electric car maker closed up 5%, at $US265.
Tesla fell on Monday due to broad industry concerns over a slowdown in China’s luxury car market, according to various analyses.
In recent weeks, luxury car makers such as Audi have scaled back Chinese sales projections.
This is mainly due to the country’s slowing economic growth and an anti-corruption campaign that has put a damper on sales of flashy luxury cars.
In China, Tesla is exclusively a luxury car marque and is thought to be vulnerable to slowing market demand.
In other markets, the brand’s $US100,000 Model S is not seen as a pure luxury product, but rather an innovative alternative to Mercedes and BMW that operates in its own niche.
Until recently, shares of the car maker had been on a steady three-month long climb, after the stock declined to $US185 in late March.
On Monday, shares had closed at $US253.
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More than 80% of healthcare executives express concerns about a post-pandemic reopening with the threat of a second wave looming.
Resuming deferred procedures as the nation's healthcare sector emerges from the two-month-and-counting coronavirus pandemic lockdown will not be as simple as flipping a switch, a new survey suggests.
Deloitte Consulting, LLP, queried 50 executives from health systems, hospitals, and ambulatory surgery centers and found that, although April 2020 procedure volumes were only 16% of those seen in April 2019, the vast majority (82%) expressed unease about reopening too soon.
With the threat of a second wave of the pandemic looming, the executives said their organizations are taking steps to mitigate patient and caregiver safety concerns. Notably, 88% of respondents have implemented some form of virtual health, and 10% are planning to implement use of virtual health for non-procedure visits.
Pre-pandemic surveys from Deloitte found that only 5% of surgical specialists used video visits in their practice.
"If the primary concern is a second wave, health systems are going to have to be extra diligent about testing, social distancing and infection control and this will create additional steps and inefficiencies to get back to full productivity," said Deloitte Principal David Betts. "This whole process of reopening may be more complicated and take longer than we think."
Even with the tremendous backlog created by the pandemic lockdown, executives don't expect to see elective procedures return to pre-pandemic levels for at least two to six months. In part, that is owing to patient unease about the risks of returning to healthcare venues.
More than half (54%) of respondents cited low patient demand as another big roadblock for reopening, and 50% cited an inadequate supply of materials, medications, equipment, or testing.
Clinical leaders also reported concerns about supply chains, including inadequate testing capabilities (74%), not enough personal protective equipment (PPE) (68%) and shortages of other medical and surgical supplies (58%).
Other fully or partially implemented steps include: additional cleaning and disinfecting measures (88%); training or retraining staff on infection control procedures (80%); acquisition of PPE (94%); and developing internal (92%) and external (70%) communications strategies. Only 36% have begun measuring consumer sentiment.
“This whole process of reopening may be more complicated and take longer than we think.”
David Betts, Principal, Deloitte Consulting, LLP
John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.
Executives don't expect to see elective procedures return to pre-pandemic levels for at least two to six months.
More than half (54%) of respondents cited low patient demand as another big roadblock for reopening.
50% cited an inadequate supply of materials, medications, equipment, or testing.


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MIDLAND, Texas — The Kent Cos., the parent company of Kent Kwik convenience stores, has acquired Connell Oil Co., Mineral Wells, Texas. The deal includes six company-operated, Chevron-branded Mr. C’s convenience stores, a group of branded and unbranded dealer supply accounts and a bulk plant.
The newly acquired stores will be rebranded as Kent Kwik and align with the chain's growth plans, the company said. The Kent Cos. continues to expand their businesses in Texas as well as out of state.
The acquisition increases the Kent Kwik portfolio to 59 company-owned and -operated stores throughout Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Tennessee. The company also supplies more than 100 contract dealers in Texas and Louisiana. In addition, the company has three new Kent Kwiks under construction, along with a new Kent Lube Fast Oil Change Center, two new Huddle House restaurants, one new Rustic Café and two new Kent car washes.
The company expects all of the new units to open by fall 2021, it said.
In late 2020, The Kent Cos. purchased the four Buy Fast c-stores and one Big Chicken truckstop in Fayetteville, Tenn., from Parsons Oil.
Founded in West Texas by Buck Kent in 1957, The Kent Cos. began as Kent Oil and Kent Distributors and remains a family-owned business under second-generation ownership of Bill Kent. The Kent Cos. includes Kent Kwik, Mr. Payroll, Rustic Café, Huddle House, Baskin Robbins, Kent Car Wash, Kent Tire and several other entities. Kent Kwik, the Midland, Texas-based company’s largest entity, has 59 locations in four states.


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Frontier Bank has announced they have made the difficult decision to close the Stella location of Frontier Bank effective December 31, 2021.
The 1616 Harlan Street in Falls City location will remain open. Bill Niedfeldt, Stella Vice President and Loan Officer will continue to serve customers from Falls City. Customers can call Stella or Falls City for help navigating the change.
See the ad on Page 18 of the August 11, 2021 Falls City Journal for more information from Frontier Bank.


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Motorola Solutions is offering voluntary buyouts "to a few select grades" of North American employees as the communications equipment maker struggles through a year of soft sales.
The Schaumburg-based company said the buyout packages are "part of an ongoing effort to regularly evaluate the workforce and make appropriate organizational adjustments where needed." They are being offered to less than 20 percent of its global workforce, which numbers 22,000 people, and the company declined to offer a target for how many employees it's expecting to accept the package.
"We expect this proccess to have no impact or disruption to our normal business operations," and Motorola Solutions is still hiring "in many areas," the company said.
Motorola Solutions' enterprise business, which makes equipment such as rugged handheld computers and barcode scanners for sectors ranging from retail to logistics, has seen weak sales this year as customers defer orders or opt for product trials rather than purchases. Motorola Solutions, which reports third-quarter earnings next week, has cut its 2013 revenue forecast twice this year. Its government business, which makes two-way radios and other communications gear for public safety agencies, has shown more resilience.
The buyouts were first reported by Crain's Chicago Business.
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Editor’s note: The Dealer Lab project is a joint effort between Dealernews and PowerHouse Dealer Services, a consulting firm run by former dealer Bill Shenk. In July, he took over management of Florida Motorsports, a two-store network that wasn’t in good shape: It lost nearly $1 million in 2008. Shenk will share data as he works to bring the business back to profitability. Our transparent reports will cover these efforts, good, bad or ugly.
Following a successful October, our Dealer Lab dealership earned $5,290 in November even though revenue declined in all five profit centers from the previous month. However, there were four fewer business days in November than in October: 19 days compared to 23 days. Total revenue in the Naples, Fla., store was $653,786 in November, off nearly $85,000 or 12 percent from the $738,661 posted in October. Unfortunately, we can’t compare November’s performance with that of November 2008 because the accounting systems and management’s treatment of revenues and expenses were different.
Gross profit in November was $170,291, off $26,000 or 13 percent from the $196,456 reported in the previous month. Cost of sales in November was down by about $60,000, however, and gross profit as a percentage of sales was about even at 26 percent. There were 78 units sold in November, compared to the 82 units sold in October. F&I revenue was off $13,147 in November compared to October because the sales process wasn’t efficient — primarily because of illness of F&I sales personnel. The F&I profit contribution dropped from $32,660 in October to $22,718 in November.
P&A performed poorly in November, generating only $19,394 in gross profit, down from $24,189 in October and only about half of what it should be based on the dealership’s performance in service and sales. “We left $20,000 in gross profit on the table in P&A,” Shenk notes, “which would have created another $7,000 in payroll for the P&A team and would have dropped $13,000 more to the bottom line.”
Gross profit per vehicle sold was up, going from $905 in October to $1,014. But F&I suffered and only produced $385 PVS. At $300 PVS left on the table times the 78 major units retailed, it would be $23,400 more gross for the month of November, creating more than $13,000 on the bottom line. Service performed well at $776 per vehicle sold in labor sales, but is still around $4,000 over budget on payroll.
Unit inventory improved in the last five months, going from about $4 million to almost half that in November. Flooring costs also are dropping, but they still remain too high based on sales volume. At a current Top Gun average of $140 per vehicle sold, Shenk points out, the dealership is still $75 high per vehicle sold, or $5,000 high on flooring. “With all cylinders firing, we could have put as much as $35,000 more to the bottom line even in these tough times,” Shenk says. “That would be a 6 percent net profit before tax and depreciation.”
Shenk is working with Jose Juarez, owner of Victory Solutions, a six-year-old Florida company that specializes in developing follow-up calling and telephone marketing programs for dealers. Victory has 62 dealers nationwide that average about 1,000 unit sales annually. Some might call Victory’s work customer satisfaction surveys, but Juarez’s team goes beyond that, calling nonbuyers as well. “If I were an owner,” Juarez says, “I would want to know why a visitor to the dealership didn’t buy.” He adds that customers are more apt to tell an outsider why they didn’t buy the day of a visit, and what else would be required to secure a sale.
A few things Victory did for the store in November:
- Followed up on the customers entered into the dealership’s Victory Guest Log. Interviewed 51 percent of them. Thirty-one percent of the customers who left the store without making a purchase told Victory they wanted to purchase within the next 30 days.
- Followed up with all customers who were entered into the log as phone callers looking for a product. Completed interviews with 46 percent of these 26 prospects. Three eventually made a purchase.
- Followed up on customers who purchased within the past 30 days. Interviewed 52 percent of them. Almost all contacted said they would recommend the dealership and would buy again. Two said no to both of the questions, and this information was sent over to the managers and owner as an upset/hot customer. All hot leads and upset customers are e-mailed to the owner and managers; Victory Solutions also calls the managers when it feels there is a need for immediate attention.
- Followed up on all service customers 24 hours after an R.O. is entered into Lightspeed and uploaded to Victory. Interviewed 56 percent of them. Ninety-one percent said they’d recommend the service department; 9 percent said they weren’t satisfied with the service department; 15 percent requested a call from the service manager.
Overall service CSI score (on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being poor, 10 excellent) went from 8.9 in the first three months (June, July, August) to 9.2 for September, October and November. Of the service customers contacted in June, July and August, 20 percent said they would not recommend the service depart. In six months, that number was cut in half.
Victory will soon be calling previous customers who purchased in the past three years and getting them to return to the store to trade in the old bike for a new one. Next month: the first six months.
This story originally ran in the January 2010 issue of Dealernews


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Struggling Wishaw town centre businesses have spoken of their fears for the future - as the fallout from the ongoing streetscape project shows no sign of abating.
Several retailers have witnessed a significant drop in trade since phase two of the controversial programme began at the start of the year. Frustrated shop owners fear they may be forced to close their doors for good unless fortunes change.
Denholm Bakers, which has been providing quality home baking in the town for over 100 years, have cut all staff contracts by 20 per cent per week after a sales slump of a third since January.
Manager David Dunion , who has worked at the bakery for 34 years, said: “We are struggling to make ends meet at the moment and I had no other option but to cut staff hours. If I hadn’t, I would have struggled to be able to afford our monthly rates.
“The staff understand why and don’t blame us in anyway – but the atmosphere in the shop has definitely changed. Everyone is worried about the security of their job and I don’t blame them. Each week we are seeing fewer customers coming through the door and less money going through the till.”
David added: “I just wish this nightmare would end and we could get back to the way things used to be. I hope it is all worth while but at the moment I am struggling to understand why North Lanarkshire Council are doing this.
“The extensive work carried out on the Main Street doesn’t seem to have improved things for businesses.”
Assistant Jessie Wallace, who has worked at the bakery for eight years, said: “I was gutted when we were told our hours were getting cut. Times are tough without losing a couple of hundred pounds a month.
“I’m fed up looking outside and seeing the construction workers standing about doing nothing. It is very frustrating . I just wish they would get a move on.”
Jillian Petrie, manager at children’s clothing boutique Young Trend said: “I have been on the phone to the council several times to ask them to reduce my rates but I have been told it is outwith their control. They have told me on several occasions to bear with them – but I don’t know how much longer I can survive. If our sales get any worse I don’t think my shop will be around by the time they finally finish.
“Pregnant women or mums with prams and children are scared to walk on the street incase they get injured. They are now choosing to shop elsewhere to save any hassle and I am worried that we might lose passing trade we rely on.”
Wishaw councillor Marion Fellows expressed her concerns. She said: “Every journey in and out of Wishaw has to be carefully planned and extra time added because of the amount and variety of roadworks in the centre of town. The measures taken by North Lanarkshire Council to support local businesses needs to be looked at again. Restrictions on who qualifies and a realistic compensation scheme for local businesses should be brought forward urgently.
“I would urge local residents to support their local businesses through this difficult time as if they don’t these businesses may not be there long term.”
Lorna Bowden, business manager, strategic planning at NLC, said: “We have had to carry out more work to the water and gas mains in Stewarton Street than originally planned, which means this part of the phase two streetscape project is a few weeks behind schedule.
“However, this extra work will not affect the original overall project timescale which will see the work in Stewarton Street, Kirk Road and Caledonian Road complete by the end of November.
“We are working with our contractor to identify ways to make up the time. This could involve re-opening sections of Stewarton Street where possible and completing the work using temporary traffic lights instead of a full road closure. Now that the main utilities work is complete, we plan to improve the pedestrian routes in Stewarton Street while the remaining work is finished. When the rescheduled programme of work is agreed, we will write to residents and businesses with an update.”
She added: “We recognise the impact of the streetscape project on the town centre and we are working with Town Centre Activities Ltd to run a series of promotional events from April. This is designed to encourage more people into the town and to support local businesses and shops.
“The council have met with the Scottish Assessors Association to highlight the impact of the project on businesses in Wishaw, and we have written to all local businesses advising them to seek a rates reduction from Lanarkshire Joint Valuation Board.”


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As more shopping moves online, the user base of buy now, pay later (BNPL) schemes has grown. But The Strawhecker Group's new payment gateway directory reported that fewer than 20 percent of gateways can support BNPL transactions.
It's not as bad as it seems, however, since that majority of online transactions flow through just a handful of gateways, and those gateways offer BNPL functionality, noted Alex Ferguson, market intelligence manager at TSG. "One of the main difficulties some gateways are grappling with in offering BNPL functionality is primarily debt liability that they don't have an appetite to deal with," Ferguson said.
Banks and credit unions are leveraging digital technologies to deepen customer relationships, according to new studies by Engageware and J. D. Power. Engageware released its second annual Engage 2023: Customer Engagement in Banking, Annual Trends Report.
Based on surveys conducted by Infosurv, the study examined the efficacy of current customer service initiatives across the U.S. financial services landscape, according to Caroline Platkiewicz, senior marketing manager at Engageware. "In today's challenging economic climate, financial institutions need to be closely attuned to the changing needs and preferences of their customers," Platkiewicz said.
A bipartisan bill that would dictate how credit card payments get routed appears to be dead for now. Nevertheless, a conservative business group launched a seven-figure advertising campaign that likens the proposal to a ban on credit card rewards.
"Millions of American families and businesses rely on their credit card benefits for travel, dining, shopping and cash back," said Gentry Collins, CEO at American Free Enterprise Action. "The Credit Card Competition Act would strip American consumers of billions of dollars a year in benefits—resulting in less travel and less spending. It will also hurt the millions of American small business owners and local towns that rely on these benefits the most."
The Credit Card Competition Act was penned ostensibly to lower merchant processing fees through competition in the form of network choice.
While lawyers were sorting out disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's extradition status, partners in the O'Melveny & Myers law firm shared perspectives on potential fallout from the situation. Bankman-Fried, known as SBF, founded the now bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange and related hedge fund Alameda Research.
SBF was indicted and arrested in the Bahamas and is facing multiple counts of investor and consumer fraud in the United States, along with civil lawsuits filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Sid Mody, a partner in O'Melveny's White Collar & Corporate Investigations Group, offered views on the charges against SBF and what might come next in prosecution.
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Severfield, the Thirsk-based structural steel group, has seen its order book reach £230 million as revenues and profits rose.
For the year ended 30 September 2018, the group saw revenue rise by 9% to reach £149.1 million – up from £137.1 million from H1 2017.
Underlying profit before tax, meanwhile, was up 2% to £13.1 million compared to a “particularly strong” H1 2017 profit of £12.9 million.
During this period, the group has undertaken over 7o projects in key markets, including the new stadium for Tottenham Hotspur FC and the retractable roof for Wimbledon No. 1 Court.
The group also put in a strong performance in India, citing its joint venture, as well as its overall market position. As of 1 November 2018, its Indian order book stood at £124 million.
“Our continued operational and strategic progress has resulted in another period of growth for the Group,” said CEO Alan Dunsmore.
“In addition to a high quality and stable UK order book, we continue to see good progress in India and have established exciting new organic opportunities for growth.”


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The Western Communities Business Group will kick off the 2013-14 season on Saturday, Nov. 23 from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Wellington Equestrian Gallery and Mall.
The Wellington Equestrian Gallery and Mall has relocated and is now open in its beautiful, new location at 13920 Wellington Trace, Suite 44, in the Wellington Marketplace.
Last year, local business owners banded together and formed the Wellington Business Group, which successfully utilized common advertising, promotions and creative marketing to reach out to members of the equestrian industry. The growth and success of last year’s group has proven that there is a definite need for such a group, and this year they are planning on expanding membership numbers and geographic base to include all of the western communities. In order to reflect this, the group has been renamed the Western Communities Business Group.
Maureen Gross will be joining the leadership team of the Western Communities Business Group. She brings extensive experience in meeting the needs of area businesses and business owners. “I am looking forward to growing the outreach and targeted programs that this business group will provide to the local businesses that are its members, and to increase the group’s economic impact in our local communities,” Gross said.
Members of the local business community are invited to stop by the Wellington Equestrian Gallery and Mall on Saturday, Nov. 23 for the reception. The afternoon will include refreshments, networking and a place to catch up with fellow, local business leaders.
While there, they can get information on the Western Communities Business Group’s member benefits or suggest benefits that they would like to see added to the current programs.
Guests will be able to either renew their current membership or sign up as a new member this year at a cost of $150 per business membership.
The group’s mission is to focus on local, community-rooted businesses and to provide them with the tools and programs that will help their businesses thrive. This will ultimately strengthen the community and build a vibrant, durable local economy.
To RSVP for the reception, call the gallery (561) 333-3100 or Gross (561) 714-0887.


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Perhaps the camera hole will be the most prominent modification that Apple will add to its iPhone 13 pro max and iPhone 13 Pro, according to leaks by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
In a video broadcast on his YouTube channel, Ming-Chi Kuo said that the iPhone 13 Pro Max will come with an ultra-wide camera.
According to the leak, the iPhone 13 pro max camera has been upgraded from 5P (f/2.4) and fixed focus (FF) to 6P (f/1.8) and autofocus (AF).
The camera may be the most prominent update in the iPhone 13 Pro Max and iPhone 13 Pro, but it is not the only one, as the new phones from Apple, according to the leaks, will use LTPO technology.
The LTPO technology, which Apple will add to the iPhone 13 pro max, is the most energy efficient.
Apple will also support the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, with a screen refresh of 120 Hz.
iphone 13 pro max specifications
According to the leaks, the most prominent specifications of the iPhone 13 Pro Max are that it runs on the iOS 15 operating system, and the screen measures 6.7 inches.
The iphone 13 pro max comes with an Apple A15 processor, 8 GB of RAM, 512 GB / 1 TB internal space, and a quad camera: 12 + 12 + 12 + 3D mega-pixel.
The dimensions of the iPhone 13 Pro Max are 159.6 x 76.1 x 7.2 mm, and it weighs 230 grams.
iPhone 13 pro max comes with a single SIM (Nano-SIM and/or eSIM) or two nano-SIMs.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max is distinguished by the fact that the front and back glass are made of “Corning Gorilla” material, and the frame of the phone is made of stainless steel.
The leaks expected that the iPhone 13 Pro Max will come in three colors: blue, black and bronze.
As for the phone battery, it is a non-removable lithium-ion battery, and iphone 13 pro max supports 25W fast battery charging.
iPhone 13 Pro Max price
The iPhone 13 pro max is expected to be officially announced at the end of September 2021 in India, and its price in India is about 90,899 rupees ($ 1,300).
iphone 13 pro max price in Egypt
While it is expected that the price of the iPhone 13 Pro Max in Egypt, after it was officially announced next September, will be about 19,999 Egyptian pounds.
iPhone 13 Pro Max price in UAE
It is expected that the price of the iPhone 13 pro max in the UAE, which will be launched by the American company Apple next September, will be about 5039 dirhams.
In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the iPhone 13 Pros phone will come at 5,129 riyals, when it is launched next September.


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Design changes, improved component miniaturization, lower prices, and consumers' obsession with weight are pushing mini-notebooks to the forefront of the market, according to executives and company representatives at PC Expo here.
One executive went so far as to muse that the future will bring just two general classes of notebooks: 4-pound portables with large screens and full-sized keyboards that act as desktop replacements--essentially lighter versions of today's upper-class notebooks such as IBM's ThinkPad 600--and three-pound minis with nearly life-sized keyboards, slightly smaller screens, and sub-$2,000 prices.
"The trend is that everything will get thinner and lighter," said Adalio Sanchez, general manager, IBM Mobile Computing. "The hardest decision we had to make was not to come out with a big, 15-inch screen notebook. This is not a notebook," Sanchez added to emphasize the importance of portability.
Compaq Computer's upcoming product plans are indicative of the trend. Next month, the PC manufacturer will release two 3-pound, magnesium-cased notebooks, a Presario consumer system, and an Armada portable for the business market, according to Compaq executives at PC Expo. Both will measure a little less than an inch thick, feature Intel Celeron and Pentium II processors and 11-inch screens, and will sell for under $2,000.
But Compaq is only the latest company to enter the field. IBM earlier this month started selling the ThinkPad 240, a 3-pound notebook with a 300-MHz Celeron, 64MB of memory, a 6.4GB drive, and a 10.4-inch screen for a $1,999. Big Blue differs from others by offering a carbon, rather than magnesium, case.
Last year at Fall Comdex, Dell Computer announced an ultraslim Latitude, but the notebook came with a last-generation Pentium MMX chip. Sony kicked off this new wave of portables with its Sony Vaio 505 and Toshiba followed quickly with its Portege.
Miniaturization has been one of the major factors toward this trend. IBM, for example, is well versed in these designs, already making them for years in the Japanese market, said IBM's Sanchez. Moreover, tiny hard drives can now offer gigabytes of data storage, making ultraslim portables true notebooks, not just companion devices. Fast processors, meanwhile, have become more power efficient, allowing them to be inserted into smaller designs. Price declines have further helped dropped bottom line costs and retail prices.
The current wave of mini-notebooks differ significantly from those of two years ago. The first generation of products, like the Toshiba Libretto, came with significantly smaller footprints. By contrast, today's models come with keyboards that are closer to the size of standard keyboards.
Separately, both Compaq and IBM recently announced Windows CE products that mimic the size of mini-notebooks. Although both the Aero 8000 from Compaq and the WorkPad z50 from IBM can only run CE-based applications, each sells for under $1,000.
Brooke Crothers reported from New York and Michael Kanellos from San Francisco.


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on May 16, butler Hospitality, an on-demand room service and amenities platform, sent an email to suppliers that might be seen as reassuring under other circumstances. “We are writing to inform you [that] room service and catering will continue as usual. All collateral is still functional,” the email read. “We appreciate your loyalty to stay with us through these times.”
The problem was that Butlers had laid off about 1,000 staff just days earlier. Most were even told the company had been wound up — according to interviews gotechbusiness.com had with some former employees, and confirmed in a report. last week by industry blog Restaurant Dive.
Butler’s demise is a cautionary tale about both the opportunities and the challenges that exist in the world of on-demand startups. There may be obvious gaps in the market for services that in theory resemble easy sailing. Yet they can inevitably be plagued by economic, social and, recently, extreme public health headwinds. And in the midst of all that, those who work there are the first to transfer.
Delivery on request
New York-based Butler was founded in 2016 as a “haunted kitchen” operator with a simple business model. Butler would rent a hotel kitchen on one property and use it to deliver meals to internal guests there and at other nearby hotels.
Butler founder and CEO Premtim Gjonbalic has experience in the hospitality industry. According to according to a Forbes profile, he opened his first restaurant in New York City at the age of 19 — located in a “big-box” hotel. Gjonbalic is too mention as an advisor to Fast Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company that unsuccessfully attempted to disclose Fertitta Entertainment, a restaurant, hospitality and gaming giant.
“We come in and show what the experience should be,” Gjonbalic told Crunchbase in an interview in 2020. “You don’t need a cart in the room or a $20 service charge to deliver food. Guests want good packaging, a good menu, price transparency and to be able to track their order. This should have happened a long time ago.”
Butler owned five different restaurant concepts, including Standard by Butler (a casual bar and grill), Prime by Butler (an American brasserie), and Super Franc (a Tuscan steakhouse). Hotels could choose which concepts they wanted to make available to their guests; Butler took care of the integration, experience, menu design and packaging. To customers, it promised to deliver orders — including “convenience” items on the side like chargers and shaving cream — in less than 30 minutes, straight to their hotel bill.
After a seed round and bootstrap funding from Gjonbalic, Butler went on to raise $15 million in Series A contributions from The Kraft Group, &vest, Scopus Ventures and Mousse Partners. The company then raised $30 million from backers including Shamrock Holdings, Maywic Select Investments and Platform Ventures, bringing Butler’s total to “north of” $50 million.
In a press release Released in October, Butler said it was looking to more than double its presence to 12 markets in the US, with plans to serve rooms in cities including Boston, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (expanding from its New York bases). , New Jersey, Chicago, Miami, Denver, San Francisco and Washington, DC). The company said Hilton, Hyatt, IHG and Marriott were among its more than 400 hospitality partners, which was a big win for the small operation.
But some ex-employees say there are problems brewing behind the scenes.
Signs of instability
Butler was undoubtedly dealt a blow as the pandemic sapped spending on service and hospitality. In April 2020, the company heeft receive a $600,000 loan through the Paycheck Protection Program. But Butler, eager to expand, continued to negotiate expensive new leases for hotel restaurants.
At one point, Butler was… sacrifice $500 prepaid Visa cards for each hotel partner successfully referred to them.
“Butler expanded its national footprint in 2021, hoping to capitalize on the travel recovery,” Gjonbalic told gotechbusiness.com via email. However, the startup found that COVID-19 had both direct and indirect lasting effects, he added, including labor shortages and supply chains, closed international borders and ongoing business and group travel delays.
When travel recovered at the end of the first quarter of 2022, Butler’s challenges did not go away, with inflation, geopolitical issues (e.g., the war in Ukraine), interest rate hikes and the increased pressure on tech finance all creating a challenging fundraising environment for created the startup. This led to pledges falling “abruptly,” Gjonbalic said.
But Gjonbalic and the rest of the company’s senior leaders have not communicated the seriousness of the situation, according to ex-employees who spoke to gotechbusiness.com on condition of anonymity. Just weeks before the mass layoffs, an ex-employee claimed they were told Butler had no cash flow problems and that “the next [financing] round came.” Another says they were confident that the company’s board of directors would give a six-month runway no matter how the next fundraiser went.
Some complaints were more public and open. Kelly Buerger, a former launch manager for Butler, filed a class action lawsuit against the company in June arguing that Butler had not adequately notified employees of their termination. Under the New York WARN Act and the federal WARN Act, companies with 50 or more employees are generally required to provide mass layoffs several weeks in advance.
“From or about April 22, 2022 and within 90 days thereafter, [Butler] has laid off hundreds of its employees,” the lawsuit states. †[Butler] was required under the WARN Act to [Buerger] and alleged class members give at least 60 days notice in writing of their termination… [Butler also] not paid [Buerger] and each of the alleged class members their respective wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, accrued vacation pay and accrued vacation for 60 days after their respective termination, along with other compensatory benefits accrued during the 60-day period.”
Some ex-Butler employees who had been promised health benefits until August received an email a week after the dissolution saying their plans would be terminated early.
Butler began to take extraordinary measures to preserve the remaining capital. An employee of one of Butler’s hotel customers said the company was beginning to discontinue services and introduce new rates without prior warning. For example, Butler started charging for supplies that were previously free.
At the start of the year, there was a round of layoffs at Butler – fewer than 20 people – that management described to employees as “a one-time thing”. A few weeks later, about 50 people were given leave in what Butler internally called a response to “challenges.”
“We are sorry to inform you that as a result of… circumstances in which [Butler] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the critical need to conserve our cash resources, we have made the very difficult decision to place you on temporary leave,” reads a message received by a former Butler employee . “We are hopeful that [Butler’s] financial condition will improve and we hope to be able to recall you from temporary leave to resume your position with [Butler] no later than 9 November 2022.”
The large-scale layoffs began in May, shortly after Butler hired a new COO and Chief Revenue Officer. The company disbanded on May 13.
Gjonbalic claims that the board and Butler’s legal counsel at Cooley, a Palo Alto law firm, explored “various options” to save the company, but ultimately decided to close and dissolve the company on May 12.
“On May 13, Delaware counsel was hired to assist with the shutdown and liquidate the company’s assets, and the employees were laid off on May 13,” Gjonbalic told gotechbusiness.com in an email. “Butler is not operational. The board agreed… to close the business, but this isn’t something that happens overnight, so several excess liability hubs were assigned or reverted to hotel ownership to help achieve this as quickly as possible.”
Employees laid off during the latest round, including operations staff at Butler leased restaurants, were briefed in a three-minute Google Meet call. An ex-employee told gotechbusiness.com that the service ended abruptly after the company’s dissolution; hotel guests with a Butler contract suddenly couldn’t order room service.
Traces of the company remain. An ex-employee with knowledge of the matter said people previously employed by Butler were messaging directly the company’s Instagram account, which remains active, asking about missing payments. Much of Butler’s senior leadership has not updated their profiles on LinkedIn to reflect the shutdown, and Butler’s website makes no mention of it.
“Hotel owners and hotel management companies took most of [Butler’s] lease obligations, and luckily my father agreed to take over two of the company’s remaining lease obligations and debts,” said Gjonbalic [in an email to TechCrunch]† “There is an assignee in place and he will handle all matters after the dissolution.”
While it’s an extreme example, Butler isn’t the only food delivery startup to have gone through some rough times of late. Instagram last month cut his appreciation by almost 40% and delayed hiring† Publicly traded DoorDash and Deliveroo have seen their stock prices fluctuate wildly over the past year. gorillas, Getir, ZappJokr and gouff include delivery startups that have let staff go in recent months despite fundraising. And some are forced to stop completely, like Fridge No More1520 and Buyk.
Beyond food tech, stories like Butler’s are increasingly playing out as investors tighten their belts for fear of a downturn. As one ex-Butler staffer put it, VC financiers maintained an insatiable demand for growth, encouraging expansion that later proved reckless. Valuations were inflated, leading to unrealistic expectations and changes in direction – and initiatives.
“Butler is a great example of what’s happening in technology right now — except instead of just making 20% layoffs, the entire company went under,” the executive said.


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It is worth a price reduction for an ad based kindle?
The first generation Amazon kindle in 2007 cost $399. The price deduction never involved ads before this. Doing this, the e-reader market could be breached making the iPad competition. The Kindle with Special Offers is slated to ship May 3. The ad-supported version can be found in Best Purchase and Target for the Kindle 3.
Founder and CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos say it is a "chicken in every pot" move. Everybody will want the Special Offers $114 kindle:
"We're working hard to make sure that anyone who wants a Kindle can afford one," he said via a statement.
An ad-based kindle might bright out typical concerns. These concerns were displayed as responders on a Christian Science Monitor article on price cuts. With 99 cent books, one reader would be okay as long as the ad based e-kindle was free. The price of books becomes a different issue then. Another reader concurs that a $25 discount isn't enough to make up for the presence of ads, however one thing experts believe Amazon has done right is to isolate the advertisements to the Kindle's screensaver and the bottom of the home screen.
"It's very important that we didn't interfere with the reading experience," Kindle director Jay Marine told the Associated Press.
Importance of a price
Getting to the $99 Kindle for Christmas 2011 is important, TechCrunch believes. That is what the $114 Amazon Kindle is leading up to with its Special Features. According to traditional marketing, 99 is magical number.
The Columbia Business School in New York did research on this though. It showed this is probably not the case anymore. The Columbia study showed that the "dollar-minus" approach bringing it down to 99 cents was not almost as effective as bring it up a penny for a "dollar-plus" approach. Sales of goods that used the dollar-plus method increased by 3 percent, and customers felt greater trust for dollar-plus brands since the prices were perceived as being less manipulative.
Christian Science Monitor
Columbia Business School
Knowing and Making
Kindle sales tripled after last price drop
Source for this article - Amazon to release ad-supported Kindle for $114 by MoneyBlogNewz.
Article Source: JS2 Article Marketing


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YouTube personality films 'style' show at Palmetto Goodwill
Beth Jones scanned the dresses on the wall at the Palmetto Goodwill before selecting her favorite. She then went to her cart, explaining the find on camera, filming her adventure one piece of clothing at a time.
“This is a cute dress,” she said as she placed a long denim dress near the camera. “It is really cute with the buckle straps. I could chop it off and make it short.”
Jones, a YouTube celebrity and Bluffton native, lives in California, but came back to the Goodwill store in Bluffton on Thursday to donate items from her childhood home. She filmed an episode for her channel, B. Jones Style, while on the trip.
She made the trip to the Palmetto Goodwill because her family had recently moved from Moss Creek into the downtown Bluffton area. Her family was finishing their move and had some items to donate to the thrift store. She is the daughter of Richard and Barbara Turner of Bluffton. Her father has been in real estate in the Bluffton-Hilton Head area for more 60 years as a part of Engels and Volkers Real Estate Company.
“This is my home still, but I do live in California right now,” she said. “I do visit home a lot, I have to get my southern fix, the ocean, the air, and it’s a happy place for me.”
Jones has been a fashion blogger for the last 10 years and has had her YouTube channel for the last two years. She has about 13,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel.
The episode in Bluffton, she said, should be uploaded to her channel on May 10; new episodes are usually posted each Thursday. Her focus is on thrifting in thrift stores around California and also in the South, including Bluffton, and visits various Goodwill stores in the area. She was first approached to do the filming in her hometown by the international branch of Goodwill.
“They reached out to me as a part of their spring cleaning campaign,” she said. “I told them that I would be in Bluffton and would be going to Palmetto Goodwill and they liked the idea of me filming my visit.”
Jones said she was amazed at Goodwill stores and all they offer. She said it's one of her favorite places to thrift and find great clothing.
“It is amazing what Goodwill does,” she said. “They are able to help people find jobs and do so with the help of all of the donations that they receive. The stores allow people who might not always have other opportunities an opportunity to work for them.”
Denver Merrill, public relations coordinator for Palmetto Goodwill, said Jones’ visit will benefit the store and allow people to see exactly what it has to offer.
"Goodwill’s mission is to help people overcome barriers to employment,” Merrill said. “We accomplish this by providing job training and employment services throughout the territory in which we operate. The revenues generated at our Goodwill thrift stores fund the mission and the Bluffton store itself is integral to providing these services to people throughout the area, including Beaufort and Jasper counties.”
Latrelle Drayton, a Hardeeville resident and new Goodwill employee, said it was wonderful to have a job so close to her home. Goodwill has been helping her with tuition as she has been pursuing a degree in human resource management. She said she would like to advance in her career at Goodwill.
“I live about three miles from the store and I love it,” she said. “It is great to have someone coming in and filming the store so that more people can see what we have to offer. This is great for Goodwill and it will help others to see what we are all about.”
Jones shopped around the entire store, filming various segments. She said she plans to return to the area and thrift in Bluffton.
Merrill said while most people knew about what Goodwill had to offer, it was important to have the store highlighted by Jones as she helped her viewers to see what the store in Bluffton had to offer.
“Most people understand Goodwill is a thrift store and that you can find some great bargains and finds by shopping there,” he said. "That’s really what Beth is focused on through her YouTube Channel. We also hope to shed some light on how important donations are and get people to consider donating to their local Goodwill throughout the year – whether it’s spring cleaning, a relocation, an estate contribution, a holiday clean-out or for any other reason. The donations are put to good use by helping put people to work.”


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Some of the world’s best designers, architects and engineers will gather at the Italian Pavilion de Fira at Barcelona’s Montjuic Exhibition Centre from June 21-23 to discuss how 3D printing can change this world.
Barcelona City Council has pledged support for this groundbreaking symposium through its Barcelona Activa Department. It’s just another example of government getting behind 3D printing and after decades on the periphery, it is exciting to see additive manufacturing given this level of attention.
Big names in attendance
The major players are taking it seriously, too. HP, Hofmann, Renishaw, Nexeo Solutions and Arburg are just a few of the exhibitors scheduled to attend. HP will give the Jet Fusion 3D printer its European launch and it will take its place alongside the likes of Axis Prototypes, Biotech Dental, Olivetti, Poly-Shape, Repro 3D and Ultimaker.
The event is neatly separated into four main sectors: Health, Automotive and Aeronautics, Consumer and Retail and Architecture and Habitat.
It is combination of a trade show and presentations from leading industry experts that tackle the big questions facing 3D printing. The assembled crowd will hear how 3D printing could help to build homes on the moon, create the next generation of aircraft and help to cure cancer.
One of the doyennes, the fathers of the internet, Vinto Cerf, will give the keynote speech. It’s a measure of the event’s gravitas that such major speakers will give their thoughts to industry heavyweights that will fly in from around the world.
Gaudi’s work finally finished
New Zealand born Burry will explain why he has turned to 3D printing to complete the Sagarada Familia, Gaudi’s iconic unfinished temple in Barcelona. The legendary architect was struck and killed by a tram before he had a chance to finish the building. Now modern technology will finally get the job done.
Belgian architect Xavier de Kestelier is one of the men charged with building houses on the moon. The simple cost of material transport means that we’ll have to make use of the material on the ground if we want to colonise the moon. The Belgian will take to the stage to explain how 3D printing has brought us closer to a life on other worlds.
Carnegie Mellon Universtiy in Pittsburgh is focused closer to home. Donald K Carter, director of the Remaking Cities Institute, will show the crowds how 3D printing can be used to transform America’s skylines before too long.
German architect Patrik Schumacher will also introduce the conference to the work of the late Iranian architect Zaha Hadid. The 2004 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner added the Stirling Prize in 2010 and 2011. Now Schumacher is incorporating 3D printing in the continuation of her geometric work that includes the Broad Art Museum in Michigan and the Guangzhou opera house in China.
Greek architect Areti Markopoulou is now the head of the Institute of Advanced Architecture in Catalonia. Along with Jorge Duro and Laia Mogas, who work with the iconic MIT’s Media Lab, they will lay out the future of 3D printing in the construction industry.
Exciting advances in healthcare
In the healthcare segment, prominent neurosurgeon Bartolome Oliver, an early adopter of 3D prosthetics and implants for facial reconstruction surgery, will share his knowledge. Dr Lucas Kruel will share groundbreaking cancer research that is due to 3D printing technology implemented by the Hospital of Sant Joan de Deu in Barcelona.
Fashion designer Danit Peleg has turned consumer grade 3D printers into a real asset in his studio and he brings a hacker element to the show. New York architect Francis Bitonti took a break from his usual routine to 3D print a dress for burlesque star Dita von Teese and he will join Peleg on stage.
People that have come for the automotive and aerospace developments will get to listen to Jose Manuel Martin Vazquez, an engineer at Airbus Defence and Space. This European aviation group is at the forefront of 3D printing and Vazquez will undoubtedly have some illuminating commentary for the assembled throng.
Electric cars go open source?
Open source hardware will also come under the microscope as Simone Cicero, from OS Vehicle, will take to the stage to explain how 3D printing can bring the price of electric vehicles right down.
Rounding off the show will be a presentation by Fab Lab Barcelona’s Tomas Diez, who will ask for the support from the cutting edge for the maker community that can help drive additive manufacturing forward. The Fab Lab will have its own area at the show and will demonstrate a variety of 3D printers, host workshops and provide a meeting space for those at the show.
This show promises to take on some mighty big subjects and will also introduce small businesses in the region to the potential of 3D printing. It’s a big deal for Barcelona and the industry as a whole.
We’re looking forward to it.