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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promises that his growth policies will revive the nation’s industrial might. For Takumi Tanaka at auto parts maker Uchida Co., times are worse than after the 2011 quake-tsunami catastrophe.
Tanaka, managing director of the company, which was founded in 1955 and whose 94 employees supply Honda Motor Co. with parts molds, is contending with higher costs after an 18 percent drop in the yen over the past nine months drove up the price of imported metals and energy. At the same time, he’s under pressure from clients to build factories near their overseas plants.
“We see very little benefit” from “Abenomics,” Tanaka said in an interview in Miyagi, where two of the company’s three factories are located. The prefecture suffered some of the worst damage from the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
“Even today, we are being asked to build plants in Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. There is little relief that manufacturing can stay in Japan,” he said.
While the yen’s drop is giving exporters a boost as the Bank of Japan increases the money supply to tackle deflation, the currency benefits aren’t enough to reverse the effect of decades of stagnant growth that forced companies to seek expansion overseas. The success of Abenomics may rely as much on the health of the global economy as on fiscal and monetary stimulus at home.
“Currency isn’t the biggest factor in where companies make investments for new factories,” said Masamichi Adachi, a senior economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Tokyo who worked at the BOJ for 15 years. “They are trying to reduce currency volatility on their profits, and it’s better for them to make products closer to local markets.”
With the currency rebounding about 7 percent since May 28, Abe is under pressure to implement stronger incentives for companies to stem the migration of production to faster growing markets.
The yen gained 1 percent to reach ¥95.04 per dollar at 3:51 p.m. Thursday in New York, after hitting its strongest level on a closing basis since April 3.
Japan’s overseas units almost tripled sales from 2002 to 2012 and nearly doubled employees to around 15 million, trade ministry data show.
Japanese manufacturers were forecast to have made a record 33 percent of their products abroad in the fiscal year through March, up from 14 percent in fiscal 1989, according to a December survey by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. In the next three years, the lender predicts the proportion will reach 38 percent.
Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., the nation’s largest nickel producer, JFE Holdings Inc., the second-biggest steel maker, and Sharp Corp., Japan’s No. 3 maker of televisions, are among the businesses building or evaluating new operations abroad, swelling an exodus that almost tripled dollar revenue from overseas units in the decade through 2012, trade ministry data showed.
The profit-to-sales ratio for foreign affiliates was 5.9 percent, compared with 3.3 percent for domestic producers in the year that ended in March 2012, according to government statistics.
The trend to build factories in destination markets helps explain why the yen’s slump is doing less to boost the economy than in the past. Japan exported ¥5.8 trillion worth of goods in April, the same amount as in February 2006, when the yen was 17 percent stronger and Abe was chief Cabinet secretary, before serving his first stint as prime minister.
The effect of the weak yen, which declined from around ¥85 when Abe took office in December to around ¥95 by noon Friday in Tokyo, will be felt on exports from now on, BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda said Tuesday, after deciding at a two-day meeting not to alter the central bank’s plan for monetary stimulus.
In addition to the gain from booking profits in yen from overseas units, shipments overseas are forecast to rise around 5 percent next year, according to lenders that include JPMorgan and Bank of America.
While exports are recovering after logging dips in nine months last year, the gains may be influenced more by the world economy. The International Monetary Fund in April pared its 2013 global growth outlook to 3.3 percent from 3.5 percent.
“Exports will be boosted by global demand that will pick up moderately in the second half of this year and continue in 2014,” said JPMorgan’s Adachi. “The impact of the yen will not be so significant.”
History indicates a diminishing boost to exports from a weaker currency. When the yen fell 20 percent in seven months in 1995, monthly exports grew 8.4 percent on average in the ensuing three years, even as the domestic economy hardly expanded.
A lower yen couldn’t save Japanese trade in 2001 as the U.S. tipped into recession and exports tumbled 5.2 percent. Shipments picked up in 2002 and 2003 as the global economy rebounded, despite the yen embarking on a three-year climb.
Today, the trade-off between a cheaper yen, higher raw material costs and global demand is illustrated by Mitsui Chemicals Inc., Japan’s fifth-largest chemical company by sales on the Topix stock index.
Operating profit at the company rises by ¥600 million with each ¥1 deprecation of the yen, as the value of goods sold in dollars and earnings booked at overseas units are higher when repatriated, said Yuri Matsunaga, a company spokesman in Tokyo.
At the same time, the cheaper yen raises the import price of raw materials such as naphtha. “We are under pressure to pass on the higher costs, but so far we’ve failed” because of weak global demand and increased competition, Matsunaga said. “Demand in Asia won’t recover unless conditions pick up in China.”
The company lost ¥10.3 billion in the year through March. In 2013 it plans to open a factory in Singapore to make material for eye lenses, and a textile plant in Tianjin, China, according to Matsunaga.
For some domestic manufacturers that face higher costs without the export benefit, the situation is worse than after the global slump triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008, said Tanaka at Uchida, the auto parts maker, which logged ¥1.6 billion in sales last year.
“Over the past 20 years, we’ve gone through deflation, the Lehman shock and the earthquake, but we are currently in the most difficult time,” he said.
To help domestic industries, Abe has promised to loosen business regulations and increase government support as part of the “third arrow” of his three-pronged strategy to end deflation, following radical fiscal and monetary stimulus.
The prime minister pledged to return capital spending to the level before the 2008 financial crisis, and to increase support for companies operating abroad. Excluding software, expenditure fell 5.2 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier and 0.9 percent from the prior three months — the quarter when Abe came to power for his second stint at the government helm.
“Deregulation is the cornerstone of the growth strategy,” Abe said June 5 in Tokyo. “Japan has regulations that are out of sync with the times.”
Still, the effort to loosen legislation won’t begin before the autumn, after July’s Upper House election.
Meanwhile, the effect of Abenomics on the yen hasn’t been enough to stem overseas expansion plans by some of the nation’s biggest companies. With the population set to decline around a third by 2060 to 86.7 million, based on government projections, producers are looking overseas for markets and labor.
Sumitomo Metal is considering building a ¥30 billion smelter abroad by 2021, said Masashi Takahashi, a company spokesman. President Nobumasa Kemori told reporters in February that the company needed the option to reduce risks, including rising domestic power charges.
Sharp’s plan to open a plant in Karawang, Indonesia, by the end of 2013 to make washing machines and refrigerators also hasn’t been affected by the currency, said spokeswoman Miyuki Nakayama in Tokyo. “We expect growing demand for appliances in Indonesia, where GDP growth is high,” Nakayama said.
JFE is considering building an integrated steel mill in Vietnam, its first outside Japan, as part of a push to be closer to customers in markets where demand is rising for Japanese cars and other products, according to company spokesman Kaoru Ando.
Japanese manufacturers aren’t the only ones with a global footprint. Germany’s BMW AG makes sport utility vehicles in South Carolina, South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co. produces Sonata and Elantra sedans in Alabama, and General Motors Co. makes millions of vehicles a year in China.
Still, the yen’s decline has spurred some companies to consider bringing production back home. Panasonic Corp., the nation’s largest appliances maker, will decide this autumn whether to shift some fabrication of household equipment back to Japan if the yen falls to between ¥105 and ¥107 versus the dollar, Kazunori Takami, head of Panasonic’s appliance unit, said June 3 in Osaka.
More may follow, or defer plans for overseas production, if the yen resumes a decline. The full effect of a depreciation usually takes around 12 to 18 months to show, said Takatoshi Ito, a professor at the University of Tokyo and a former member of the government’s council on economic and fiscal policy.
“You’re going to see both a strengthening of investment, exports and production for a growing amount of consumption here in the country and you’re going to see companies investing more abroad,” David Lipton, first deputy managing director of the IMF, said in an interview in Tokyo on May 31.
The weaker yen also can benefit the economy in other ways, said Martin Schulz, a Tokyo-based economist at Fujitsu Research Institute who has done work for the BOJ. Currency gains booked by overseas subsidiaries encourage investment in stocks, he said. The Topix index reached a five-year high May 22, before shedding 18 percent.
Shares of Tokyo-listed businesses that get more than half their revenue from foreign markets have risen an average 19 percent this year, compared with 11 percent for those with mostly domestic sales, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
The cheaper yen also reduces the cost of overseas investment in Japan. Foreigners were net buyers of more Japanese stocks in the seven days through April 12 than in any other week since Bloomberg began compiling comparable data in 2001.
That bullish trend isn’t shared by some of the country’s manufacturers, which have been coping with one setback after another in the two decades since the property bubble burst.
“We worked feverishly over the past 20 years while the economy went up and down and clients accelerated overseas relocations, and we managed to tide things over,” said Hiroto Yokoyama, managing director of auto parts maker Iwaki DieCast Co. in Miyagi Prefecture, which has four domestic factories and one in Arizona. “But I feel that we will go downhill from now.”
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Posted By Paul Tate, November 17, 2011 at 2:54 PM, in Category: Factories of the Future
UK high performance car maker McLaren, best known for its racing heritage, is aiming for a bigger slice of the global sports car business with a new $79 million, 32,000 square meter, state of the art production facility.
Opened today, the new production plant aims to assemble around 1,000 of McLaren’s recently launched 200 mph, MP4-12C, high performance sports cars a year, with additional capacity to rise to 4,000 by mid-decade. Initial demand isn’t an issue. Despite a starting cost of around $265,000 per car, McLaren says it already has around 2000 units on the order books.
Guesting the opening event, UK prime minister David Cameron noted that although many may suggest the “glory days of science, engineering and manufacturing are behind us, and that from now on it’s going to be about buying from the world rather than selling to the world. What McLaren does is a powerful rebuke to that view. It’s the technology, it's the invention, its the patents, it's all of that innovation that is going to lead to so many other great businesses in the future,” he added.
It's also about the way McLaren has approached the development of the new plant that’s different. “The thing that's really special about the McLaren Production Centre is that it's probably the first time that anybody has ever designed a production facility around the construction of the car”, explained Antony Sheriff, CEO of McLaren’s Automotive division, who has a background with Chrysler, McKinsey and Fiat.
Traditionally he adds, auto plants are ‘rife with compromises that are made trying to fit certain technologies into existing production facilities.”
“But we’ve been able to design the perfect production process around this car so everything from the paint shop to the flow of the body line, to the flow of the assembly line, is designed to make sure the technology we've put into the car gives the best results and the best quality,” he added.
This is made easier as the car is built around a single, lightweight, carbon fibre moulded MonoCell chassis. This is claimed to be the first time such an approach has been used in the sub $300k volume production car segment, and is helping to create a car at only a third of the cost of similar competitors, says McLaren.
“It’s an incredibly flexible platform that can produce a whole range of variants,” says Sheriff. It needs to be. There are an estimated 14 million customer options on the new car, from individually contoured seats, to the perfectly matched colour of the driver’s lipstick (yes, it’s already happened!).
But more importantly, the whole layout is designed so that each of the different assembly and testing stations can be easily moved around, allowing the company to almost entirely reconfigure the main plant floor within a few hours. As two new models are likely to be readied for production over the next few years, this plant floor flexibility will become increasingly essential.
The new building – which is remarkably quiet, clean and airy for an active plant floor - also aims to be sustainable in both looks and function. It has been designed as a low-profile, 11 meter high, one storey building, but with an additional 11 meter deep, second level underground which is used for storing parts, materials, and paint mixing for the car’s 56-stage paint process on the floor above. This sunken structure also cuts down heat loss, and the whole building is further cooled by the running waters of a nearby lake.
The building has also been heavily camouflaged by extensive tree planting – over 800 so far - and special landscaping which has kept all soil deposits created during construction onsite.
“We are always asking ourselves, ‘how can we do this better, faster, or in an innovative or new way that challenges the traditional?” explained Alan Foster, McLaren Automotive’s Operations Director.
* More To Come: Watch out for the full Dialogue interview with McLaren’s Alan Foster in a special ‘Factories of the Future’ issue of the Manufacturing Executive Leadership Journal in January 2012.
Written by Paul Tate
Paul Tate is Research Director and Executive Editor with Frost & Sullivan's Manufacturing Leadership Council. He also directs the Manufacturing Leadership Council's Board of Governors, the Council's annual Critical Issues Agenda, and the Manufacturing Leadership Research Panel. Follow us on Twitter: @MfgExecutive

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Christmas trees could be at a premium this year in Marin amid supply chain issues and the effects of extreme heat.
Deann DaSilva, co-owner of Cousins’ Christmas Trees in Novato, said shoppers need to know that the inventory might run out early and shipping costs have been high. She said trees measuring 7 feet and taller will be particularly hard to come by.
“Trucking and transportation is a big, big issue,” DaSilva said. Although the business owns its delivery truck, she said the cost of transporting trees is a major factor for those who must pay for hauling from other states.
“Prices go up every year,” she said, adding this year her business’s prices have increased by about 15%.
John Pronzini, owner of Pronzini Christmas Tree Farms in San Rafael and Greenbrae, said he grows at least 500,000 trees per year and blamed the heat wave for decreasing numbers of trees in Oregon and Washington.
Pronzini estimated that 25% to 30% of trees grown in the Pacific Northwest this year were burned due to excessive temperatures. He said that on days hotter than 100 degrees, trees are green in the morning and red by mid-afternoon.
“The market is short this year, I think retailers will run out early,” he added. “We think we have enough trees to cover the board, but we don’t know.”
DaSilva said, ”Wherever you get your tree, get it early.”
Some Marin shoppers began their search for a tree on Friday as local lots opened.
Christina Shay bought 7-foot noble fir at Cousins’ Christmas Trees. She said she gets a tree there every year.
“They have an amazing selection,” she said.
Jessica Nolan, also shopping at the Novato lot, said her family had its tree delivered last year because of the pandemic. She said it was “really exciting” to be shopping outdoors again.
“I like that it’s not too crowded and there’s a lot of fun things to see here,” she said.
Marin tree lots and hours:
• Cousins’ Christmas Trees, 7416 Redwood Blvd., Novato. Open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Information: 415-250-6117, cousinschristmastrees.com.
• Don’s Christmas Trees, 399 Entrada Drive, Novato. Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Information: 415-382-1231.
• Pronzini Christmas Tree Farms, Bon Air Shopping Center, Greenbrae. Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday; open until 8 p.m. Sundays. Information: 707-778-3871, pronzinitrees.com.
• Pronzini Christmas Tree Farms, 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael. Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Information: 707-778-3871, pronzinitrees.com.
• San Rafael High School Christmas tree lot fundraiser, 150 Third St. Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday through Dec. 12. Information: sanrafael.srcs.org/treelot.
• Sausalito Farms Christmas Trees, Dunphy Park, Bridgeway and Napa Street. Open noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. Information: sausalitofarms.com.


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"Kalypso Media have today announced the release of Tropico 3 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®."
More developers jumping in are always welcomed.
Never heard of the series. Hope its good. The name reminds me of a juice we used to buy. Tampico
...it was like a quirky Caribbean Sim City... it was fun, I dunno...
N4G is a community of gamers posting and discussing the latest game news. It’s part of NewsBoiler, a network of social news sites covering today’s pop culture.


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These crossovers are not available in showroom quite yet, but the first batch of Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell vehicles has made it to California. Hyundai is promising retail availability, "within the next several weeks," which means early June or so for the $499/month CUVs. We previously heard in January that these
For Hyundai, the fuel cell market is a global affair. Built in Korea and launching now in Europe, Hyundai's first production hydrogen vehicle is the ix35 Fuel Cell, a CUV t
It's a European kind of debut for the hydrogen-powered Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell (which will be known as the Tuscon Fuel Cell when it arrives in the US). Hyundai showed off the first production ix35 in Geneva earlier this year and this week delivered 15 of the H2 SUVs to the City
In what is likely the largest recall campaign for Hyundai and Kia, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced a recall of more than 1.6 million models due to a faulty brake switch. This is in addition to almost 700,000 Hyundai and Kia models Jeffrey N. Ross
In places that aren't the United States, Hyundai calls its Tucson compact crossover the ix35. And as part of its Geneva Motor Show presence, the Korean automaker has debuted this freshened version of the C-segment CUV, showing some minor tweaks to an otherwise attractive package.
It looks as though Hyundai has readied a facelifted version of its ix35 crossover (known as the Tucson here in the U-S-of-A) for the Geneva Motor Show next week. While we haven't been able to get the Korean automaker to cough up the official details – or more than one image – r
Lo and behold, folks: Hyundai has wowed the crowds in Paris with what it says is the world's first serial production hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. Honda may disagree, but the Korean automaker says it
Always looking for ways to one-up its Japanese competitors, Hyundai has announced that a brake override system will be standard equipment on its full line of vehicles, starting this month.
To prove that it can be done, Hyundai recently drove a 28-day road trip across the U.S. using zero gallons of gas. The Hyundai Tucson company reps took for the ride was fueled by hydrogen. Even without adequate fueling stations around the country, the company wanted to show that the technology is ready for prime time. The infrastructure just needs to catch up.
2011 Hyundai Sonata 2.0T – Click above for high-res image gallery
Motor Trend getting ready to announce its 2011 Sport/Utility Vehicle of the Year Award...on Facebook
Motor Trend has been around since 1949, and during that time it has handed out a fair share of awards to various automakers and vehicle models. More recently, the print publication has gone online by way of its web site, Youtube page and various social media networks. One network in particular has stuck a chord with the buff book and it's choosing to leverage th
2010 Insurance Institute For Highway Safety rollover tests – click above for high-res images
Sarah Goodner was killed in Texas in 2007 when her 2005 Hyundai Tucson rolled over and she was thrown out the back window. The culprit for that odd circumstance – even though she had her seat belt fastened – was her seat, which was reclined so far back that she was able to slide out of it.
2010 Hyundai Tucson - Click above for high-res image gallery
2010 Hyundai Tucson – Click above for high-res image gallery


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Google withdrew the Chrome OS 86 update it started distributing in early October. While the company does not make any statement regarding the issue, it is thought that this situation is caused by a significant problem.
US-based technology giant Google started distributing the latest version of Chrome OS with 86 codes in early October. In addition to the innovations it brought, the new version provided performance improvements and increased user safety. Interestingly, however, the company seems to have decided to withdraw this stable version update.
According to information from Google Chromebook users, most of the devices had not already received the new version update. While the reason for this delay is unknown, the latest development suggests that a critical problem has been detected in Chrome OS 86. The fact that Google does not make the slightest explanation about the issue makes the event even more mysterious.
On the blog page created by Google for Chrome OS, we see that there is no information about Chrome OS 86. In addition, the team points to the last stable version of the operating system as Chrome OS 85. Although no official statement has been made, it seems that there will be an important problem under this situation.
Google briefly mentioned a vulnerability in Chrome OS 86. In fact, a patch was sent to users who bought the latest version of the operating system. So the problem seems not to be caused by any security vulnerabilities. However, since no explanation has been made by Google, questions such as why the update was withdrawn and whether the redistribution will start remain unanswered.


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Combining one of the biggest themes of the fall fashion season — heritage — with its own milestone, Hong Kong retailer Lane Crawford plans to mark its 160th anniversary with a wide-ranging...
July 20, 2010
Lane Crawford to Celebrate 160 Years
Hong Kong retailer Lane Crawford plans wide-ranging program of events and special products.
Ads by Google


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Women now have a more positive impression of the Axe body spray brand than men do, according to YouGov BrandIndex.
The uptick in perception is completely counterintuitive, because if there's one thing everyone knows about Axe it's that teenage boys use too much of it and no one else wants to smell like them.
Axe's change in fortunes came after Unilever launched Anarchy, a product that caters to both men and women, at the end of January. The campaign for Anarchy — “Unleash the Chaos” by BBH London — shows the attractions that are unleashed when both sexes wear Axe.
Even more surprisingly YouGov’s data show that women have liked the Axe brand more than men for years, despite the brand having solely focused on men in the past. This, despite the fact that many of their ads feature barely clothed women cat-fighting as they run for the attention of one man.


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SJP's unexpected strategy to face celeb fragrance fallout.
August 26, 2016
• Rachel Strugatz
Obituary: Herbert Mines, Exec Search Pioneer
NEW YORK — Herbert Mines, the dean of the executive search profession and an early advocate of out-of-the-box retail recruiting, died Friday afternoon at a hospice in Jupiter, Fla., following a long bout with cancer.


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CASA-OC and Junior Kids for CASA will be displaying 3,100 pinwheels representing the number of children in the Orange County foster care system on Saturday, May 11th at Fashion Island in conjunction with Foster Care Awareness Month happening in May. YOU can sponsor a pinwheel for only $5 or with a donation of $25+ receive a benefit card to receive discounts at select stores at Fashion Island valid from May 9th - 16th (digital benefit card will be emailed to you on May 3rd).
Junior Kids for CASA is a group of children between the ages of 8 and 13 who are learning philanthropy through volunteer work with CASA-OC. This year, Junior Kids for CASA will be leading the fundraising efforts for the 3rd annual Pinwheel Project happening at Fashion Island.
The 2019 Pinwheel Project is being Chaired by Christy Flanagan and her daughter Bridget and Nicole Joseph and her daughter Ava. Junior Kids for CASA will be helping to make this event successful through mini fundraisers and awareness events leading up to the big day at Fashion Island on May 11th, at which they will all be on hand to volunteer and help out at this special fundraiser. CASA is tremendously proud of these youth who are learning about giving back to your community and helping those who are not as fortunate.


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When you buy a tomato, an ear of corn or even a jar of salsa at your local farmers market, it's easy to find out anything you'd like to know about it -- who produced it, where it was produced and what went into producing it. And, if you don't like it, the next week you can go back to the stand and let the grower know what you didn't like about it.
That personal interaction between consumers and producers is exactly what Foodzie (foodzie.com), an online marketplace for small producers and growers, seeks to re-create in cyberspace.
"When a producer has to put their own face behind something, it gives them a sense of responsibility for making it good," said co-founder Emily Olson, who wears many hats at Foodzie, including office chef, taste tester, community manager and tasting event coordinator.
The site allows users to cull through its more than 100 producers by searching via category (of which there are 14, including cheese, meat, sauces, salsas and condiments) or by location. Each producer's personalized page features a company profile, as well as a link to e-mail feedback.
The idea for the site came to Olson while she was working at a North Carolina specialty grocer after graduating from Virginia Tech in 2005.
"I saw a number of small producers with high-quality products who couldn't make it into the store, which seemed sort of funny -- I thought there had to be a better way," she said.
Working with two of her former college classmates, Olson launched the site, which offers producers such as Tim Bode, the lone full-time employee of La Grange Park-based Wayne's Fine Foods, a platform to sell their foods.
Bode, who founded Wayne's (named for his father-in-law) with his wife five years ago, produces just two products: green tomato relish and hot green tomato relish. Though he sells jars of the relish in about 100 stores throughout Illinois and Texas, as well as on the company's Web site, Bode said Foodzie enables him to reach more consumers.
"For someone to find our Web site they have to either already know us or be looking for green tomato relish," he said. "But on Foodzie, there are a lot of other specialty food manufacturers, so if someone decides they want to try something new, they can dig around and find us."
Producers such as Bode pay nothing to open a store on the site, although Foodzie collects a 20 percent commission on sales.
Foodzie caters to small vendors with limited distribution who produce foods that offer a "personal touch" and are made with high-quality, natural, organic and/or local ingredients.
"If they're selling their food at Wal-Mart or other large chains, they're probably not the right fit for us," said Olson. "We believe we're part of a movement. People want to know where their food comes from, they care about buying high-quality foods, and they're excited and eager to keep these small producers in business."


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Campaigners have welcomed changes introduced on New Year’s Day, forcing energy companies to simplify their tariffs so it is easier for customers to find their best deal.
Ofgem has banned power suppliers from offering complex tariffs – telling them they must offer only four for gas and four for electricity – as part of reforms to make energy prices easier to understand.
From April, energy firms will also be expected to tell their customers which tariff is cheapest for their needs when they send out bills and annual statements.
Jean Walker, founder and chairman of Bradford and District Senior Power, said many older people in the district struggled to understand energy prices and the move was a “step in the right direction”.
“I welcome anything that makes things easier for older people. It can be quite a chore when you’re on your own and in this technological age to deal with things like tariffs.
“To be honest, you can be put off and think ‘I just won’t bother’ and that can mean you end up paying more.
“I think energy companies need to look at other ways of making things easier for customers.
“It’s such a serious issue.”
The ban on complex tariffs follows the introduction of Ofgem’s rules for fixed-term tariffs in October, which ban suppliers from increasing prices on fixed-term tariffs.
Companies were also banned from automatically rolling householders on to another fixed-term offer when their existing one ends.
Andrew Wright, Ofgem chief executive, said: “It is getting easier for consumers to get a better energy deal and by April further help will arrive in the form of much clearer and personalised information.
“The aim of our simpler, clearer, fairer reforms is to ensure competition bears down hard on prices. Profits are not an entitlement. They should be earned by companies competing keenly to offer consumers the lowest prices and the best service.
“Now it is up to suppliers to build on our reforms to restore consumer confidence in the energy market. There are good signs that they are taking up this challenge.
“Ofgem will produce an annual report to consumers on the health of competition in the market. We will not hesitate to take further action if we see evidence of further barriers to competition.”


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Investment banker of the week: Frank Quattrone, Qatalyst Partners
The specialist advisory boutique Qatalyst Partners will end a record-breaking week with almost $20bn worth of deal credit under its belt, after being hired to advise UK software company Autonomy on its sale to a US rival, making founder Frank Quattrone our banker of the week.
Qatalyst Partners is acting for UK software company Autonomy on its sale to Hewlett-Packard. The US technology company said in a statement yesterday that it had agreed to acquire Autonomy for £25.50 per share in cash and that it is exploring a spin-off of its PC business. The deal values the UK group at £6.7bn ($11bn).
The mandate win for Qatalyst comes in the same week that it was named, alongside rival Centerview Partners, as adviser to smartphone company Motorola Mobility on its $8.8bn sale to Google. The Motorola deal represented the biggest mandate win to date for Qatalyst, according to data provider Thomson Reuters, but this has now been topped by the Autonomy mandate.
Qatalyst was unavailable for comment.
Autonomy said in a statement that Qatalyst Partners acted as lead financial adviser but that it also received financial advice from Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, UBS and JP Morgan. UBS is corporate broker to Autonomy.
The Qatalyst bankers who worked on the deal were Quattrone, Jonathan Turner, Ian MacLeod, Brian Cayne in San Francisco and Jean Tardy-Joubert and Nadja Gehriger in London.
Quattrone, the legendary Silicon Valley banker who helped the likes of Amazon and Cisco come to market in the early 1990s, established technology-focused boutique Qatalyst in the US in March 2008.
He boutique made an instant impact, picking up mandates advising Google and Brocade Communications Systems, and in February 2009 announced plans to open a London-based office to be led by former Merrill Lynch banker Jean Tardy-Joubert.
- write to firstname.lastname@example.org


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Pocofino together with the Italian Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ICCPI) launched the first Pocofino Coffee Socials last October 7, 2022. The event was honored with the presence of Hon. Italian Ambassador to the Philippines, His Excellency, Marco Clemente and His special guest the Ambassador Expo Roma 2030, Prof. Romeo Orlandi. Also present in the event was the CEO of StellaDelNord, Inc. Mr. Peter Angliongto and his daughter the Director of Pocofino, Ms. Tuesday Angliongto.
The event brought an unmatched coffee experience in the local scene for all its attendees brining a taste of Italy in a cup located just at the heart of BGC. With its retro-modern interior design, Caffe Pocofino’s trendy but intimate set-up is perfect for a meet-up, study date, work meeting, or place where one can simply say ‘Ciao!’
Come and visit them at 30th Street, cor. Lane A, BGC. For more information, check out our Instagram (@pocofino) and visit our website at https://pocofino.com.
Written by: Gabrielle Hahn Lopez, November 7, 2022, ICCPI


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FP TrendingJun 15, 2020 12:26:54 IST
Realme has announced that Android 11 Beta 1 update will be rolled out to its X50 Pro 5G (First Impressions) in early July. The smartphone maker has said that Android 11 Beta 1 will be available on more Realme smartphones in the future.
The company has also informed that due to the production disruption because of the lockdown, there was a shortage in the supply of Realme X50 Pro 5G. It added that Realme will soon be resuming the production of its best 5G flagship smartphone Realme X50 Pro 5G.
Realme X50 Pro 5G will again be up for grabs from 9 July.
— realme (@realmemobiles) June 12, 2020
Google has recently released the Android 11 Beta 1 update for its Pixel phones. The new OS claims to focus on three aspects – people, control, and privacy.
The options for people will focus on communication. A new bubble feature will be introduced which will allow users to access chat easily while they work on something else.
Android 11 is expected to bring improvements around controlling connected devices. The update will make it easier to control privacy settings as it will offer more granular controls for the most sensitive permissions.
“With one-time permissions, you can grant apps access to your microphone, camera, or location, just that one time. The next time the app needs access to these sensors, it will have to ask you for permission again,” said Google.
Realme launched X50 Pro 5G, the first 5G smartphone in the Indian market, in February. The phone comes in three variants - 12 GB, 8 GB and 6 GB RAM. Equipped by a 4,200 mAh battery, the device is available in Rust Red and Moss Green colour options.
Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset, Realme X50 Pro 5G sports a super AMOLED display with a 90 Hz refresh rate and a pill-shaped hole-punch. The chipset's onboard Snapdragon X55 LTE ensures that the phone offers dual-mode (NSA+SA) 5G connectivity.
The smartphone comes with a quad-camera setup with a 12 MP telephoto lens, 64 MP primary lens, 8 MP ultra-wide-angle lens and a B&W portrait lens. It has a 32 MP wide-angle and an 8 MP ultra-wide-angle lens on the front camera along with a Nightscape 3.0 with an ultra nightscape mode.
Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison.


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Lava, the Indian smartphone and accessories brand, is quieter these days, but things go excited as soon as the company announced that a 5G smartphone is coming soon, before Diwali. LAVA officials revealed in an earlier interview that the company will release a 5G phone.
On this website, we already posted about the LAVA premiere event that hinted at the launching of the new phone of LAVA. Now a new Lava smartphone (LF3401) receives the Indian BIS certification which could be the Agni 5G.
The Lava Agni 5G appears to feature a modern appearance, a departure from Lava’s previous dull-looking phones. The phone has a 90Hz display with low bezels and symmetrical punch-hole at the top. The phone has a triple-camera arrangement on the back, with a 64-megapixel primary camera and two additional lenses. We don’t know the specific camera combination because the product page has been removed.
Under the hood, the phone will be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 810 SoC. It could come standard with 4GB of RAM as well as extensible storage. The phone is claimed to include a 5,000mAh battery with rapid charging capability. It will ship with Lava’s unique skin and pre-installed apps, and it will run Android 11 out of the box. A 3.5mm headphone connector and a speaker configuration will be located at the bottom.
Let’s wait for more information for the phone and we will be updating it on our website. In the meantime, you can stay current by reading our other news stories. Till then keep checking our news column to get updated. Follow Technozix on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Subscribe to Technozix.com for the latest Tech News.


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When Samsung unveils its highly anticipated flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone later this month, it will likely be one of the most impressive handsets the world has ever seen. Rumors suggest it will have an amazing Super AMOLED display that measures 5.25 inches diagonally and packs 2K resolution for crystal-clear viewing. It will also supposedly feature either a cutting-edge quad-core Snapdragon chipset or Samsung’s own eight-core Exynos processor, as well as a huge battery, an impressive 16- or 20-megapixel camera and the latest version of the Android operating system. As great as that all sounds, however, you probably shouldn’t buy Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 when it launches in the weeks to come.
Samsung plans to take the wraps off of the new Galaxy S5 during a press conference in Barcelona, just before the annual Mobile World Congress trade show gets underway. Millions of smartphone fans around the world are waiting with bated breath, and it will undoubtedly be a gorgeous device.
But those who can fight the urge to purchase one the instant it launches will be rewarded, according to the results of a recent study.
Consumer electronics price comparison specialist Idealo on Wednesday published the results of its research into the price trends of recent Galaxy S flagship phones in the months following each release. By analyzing the data it gathered, the firm was able to predict that the Galaxy S5’s price will decline substantially following its launch, which is expected to take place next month.
Samsung’s Galaxy S II, Galaxy S III and Galaxy S4 all followed remarkably similar trend lines in the long run in terms of unlocked price trends following launch. In the short term, however, the prices of Samsung’s flagship phones have been dropping faster with each new generation.
Within three months of being released, the prices of the S II and S III had each dropped by more than 10%, and the S4 fell by nearly 20%. According to Idealo’s projections, the average retail price of the Galaxy S5 will dip by 24% after just three months on the market.
That’s a discount of nearly one-quarter for those who can manage to wait just three months.
“The average price of the Samsung Galaxy S2 had reduced by 13% of its initial value after three months of being on sale,” Idealo explained in a post on its blog. “Its successor, the Galaxy S3, experienced a price decline of 14%. One generation down the line, we notice an even more significant price decline. The Galaxy S4, which was released in May 2013, was 18% cheaper by August 2013.”
The post continued, “Based on this data, we can predict that after just 3 months, the new Galaxy S5 could be available for just 76% of its original release price, which makes up a price reduction of almost a quarter, just three months on from market release.”
It’s always difficult for gadget enthusiasts to hold off on purchasing a new device the moment it launches, especially one that’s as highly anticipated as the Galaxy S5. Those who can exercise some self-control and wait a bit, however, stand to be handsomely rewarded.


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Carrefour acquires 127 shopping centres
Supermarket giant Carrefour has unveiled plans to acquire 127 shopping centres across Europe.
The retailer has signed a memorandum of understanding with Klépierre to acquire the sites in a €2 billion deal.
Spread across France, Spain and Italy, the shopping centres have a gross annual rental income of around €135 million and many of them are close to Carrefour’s existing stores.
The acquisition will lead to the creation of a company that will encompass 172 shopping centres including Carrefour’s 45 existing centres in France.
Controlling over 800,000 sq m of retail space and assets of €2.7 billion, the company will be financed through €1.8 billion in equity with 42% held by Carrefour and the remainder held by institutional investors. It will also be supported by €900 million in debt.
The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the first half of 2014.
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Last year, internet retail sales were up 24 per cent year-over-year and we had our first $100bn-plus year in e-commerce with overall online retail sales at $102bn for 2006. Next year, online advertising is expected to rise from $18bn to $24bn and still be a single-digit percentage of overall advertising, implying there is heavy growth ahead.In the same report, we read that many profitable e-Commerce companies have decided to remain private. (Several examples are given in the report.)
Altucher summarizes his observations this way:
[F]irst, there are many internet companies that are generating enormous profits and revenues and have decided for now to stay private. They will go public eventually. Maybe this year, maybe next, maybe in 2009. Expect about $10bn-$20bn worth (or more) of profitable dotcom companies to go public within the next two years.
Second, because of the value being created, and because none of these companies has yet gone public, expect demand to go up for the shares of the companies that do so. What happens when demand goes up but supply doesn’t increase? Stocks go up.


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Ooredoo Maldives announced today that Viber messenger becomes a new social media channel for its Ooredoo Next digital engagement platform developed in partnership with FastForward.ai, a Silicon Valley tech company revolutionizing engagement in the 4-billion customer pre-paid mobile market.
Supported by FastForward NXTTM real-time API platform featuring artificial intelligence and machine learning, Ooredoo NEXT allows mobile users in the Maldives to easily engage with Ooredoo inside social media channels such as Viber, Facebook Messenger and to check best offers, best data add-ons or just manage their Ooredoo services using real-time automated answers.
Ooredoo Maldives CEO, Najib Khan said: “With the launch of Ooredoo Next, we pioneered digital transformation and opened up this innovation to all mobile users in the Maldives. In just 5 months from launch, Ooredoo Next features fast-paced growth, attracting more and more users, and significantly increasing accessibility to our brand. Today, we are pleased to launch Ooredoo Next on Viber, one of the most popular social platforms in the Maldives.”
Head of Customer Care, Gulnaz Mahir said: “Our customers can reach Ooredoo inside social media to check best offers, view our product portfolio and to manage their Ooredoo services. We continue to engage with our customers in new ways, where ever they are, on different platforms which they are comfortable using. We look forward to supporting our customers on Viber, through Ooredoo Next.”
Augie K. Fabela II, Co-Founder and CEO, FastForward.ai Inc. said: “We bring Silicon Valley user experience to the Telco world. We enable mobile operators to give their customers 100% control of their choices: they decide the services they want to use, how and when they want to use them.” said Augie K. Fabela II, Co-Founder and CEO, FastForward.ai Inc. “We are delighted to enable Ooredoo on its journey to engage their customers and now to extend this reach inside Viber messenger.”
“We changed the customer user experience to 1-swipe and 1-click.” said Romeo S. Ganescu, Co-Founder and CPO, FastForward.ai Inc. “Our results with Ooredoo Next show that the future of mobile engagement lies inside social and messaging networks and our patent-pending FastForward NXTTM platform makes this possible to every mobile carrier world-wide.”


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It has been confirmed that Samsung will unveil their latest phone at the Samsung Mobile Unpacked event in Berlin on August 29th. The Galaxy Note 2 release date has yet to be confirmed but is expected to be imminent and will see Samsung beating its largest rival Apple, who is set to launch the iPhone 5 in the autumn. Rumours about the specifications and features of the Galaxy Note 2 are rife and we’ve compiled a collection of the latest one’s for you to take a look at.
It is expected that in line with the trend for increasing smartphone screen sizes, that range from 3.5-inches to 4.8-inches, that the screen will increase in size from 5.3-inches to a slightly larger 5.5-inch flexible and allegedly unbreakable super AMOLED display with 1280 x 720 resolution. Many believe that this may exceed the practical smartphone size and be yet another step towards the phone becoming more of a tablet than a smartphone, but this was a concern voiced after the launch of the original Galaxy Note and that phone was hugely successful.
The smartphone is expected to have a faster, quad-core processor for all round better performance using the same Exynos 4412 chip that is built into the Galaxy S3, but may be overclocked to 1.6 GHz.
Many are wondering whether the Galaxy Note 2 will be launched with Android 4.0 Icecream Sandwich, which was previously anticipated or whether Samsung will manage to have the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system preinstalled on its release. If they manage to have the latest OS on the phone, it will surely result in more sales as people will want to be able to experience not only the phone but also the latest operating system too. Latest reports doubt that this will be achieved, but we can at least hope that this rumour materialises.
Rumours suggest that the camera may increase in quality from 8-megapixels to 12-megapixels, but these mirror similar rumours to the camera upgrade between the S2 and S3 and this failed to be realised.
The Galaxy Note 2 is a premium piece of technology and is expected to launch with a price tag to reflect this. The original Galaxy Note launched at around £600, but with recent launches including the Google Nexus 7 at under £200, it is expected that Samsung will have to price the Note 2 more competitively in order to penetrate the market and be accessible to a larger number of consumers.
Samsung have has a successful year and seen sales of their phones increase in the last quarter, compared to Apple who have seen sales fall by 26% during the same time as new potential buyers await the launch of the iPhone 5.
So whilst you’re waiting to hear the release date, why not use that time to see how you could maximise the value that you could receive for your existing phone through mobile phone recycling or through a mobile trade in deal.


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Internet Explorer hole: attacks are likely to increase
According to a blog post by anti-virus vendor Websense, of all places, the web site of Amnesty International has apparently been infecting visitors with malicious software, including an exploit for the still unpatched hole in Internet Explorer. According to the report, criminals manipulated the web site to put the exploit in an iFrame. Political sites are apparently in fashion among criminals at the moment. Just two weeks ago, still unidentified parties placed a zero-day exploit for Firefox on the web site for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The new attacks confirm observations of the exploit in commercial packages sold to criminals – which means attacks will probably soon become more frequent. Exploit packs fire on visitors to manipulated web sites from different directions to increase the success rate of infection attempts. In addition to the exploit for Internet Explorer, the AI site also contained modules for holes in QuickTime, Flash, and Shockwave.
Microsoft is still working on a patch but has not yet said whether there will be an emergency patch before the next Patch Tuesday. Until then, Microsoft recommends enabling Data Execution Prevention (DEP) for Internet Explorer on Windows 7, Vista and XP. In Internet Explorer 8, DEP is already enabled by default.
To activate DEP in Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft offers an online Fix-it tool. Another Fix-it tool switches on user-defined CSS to send attacks down a dead end. Furthermore, DEP and other protective mechanisms can be activated via the Enhanced Mediation Experience Toolkit (EMET) on Windows. The article "Damage limitation - Mitigating exploits with Microsoft's EMET " at The H Security explains how the tool works and how to use it.


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October 13, 2017 4:40 a.m.
Umqpua Brew Fest is happening Saturday.
Umpqua Watersheds is hosting the 8th annual event from 1:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. Those attending will enjoy craft beer from Douglas County and around the region. Ciders, meads and wines will be available as well, along with non-alcoholic beverages. Food will be for sale too.
The event features music from Cast of Clowns, Phamous Phaces, and Antonucci Collective. The festival also features the Iron Chef Competition, where local breweries and culinary artists pair up to create brew/food combinations.
Admission to the Brew Fest is $10 which includes a glass and four tasting tickets. This is a 21 and over event. Umpqua Watersheds will provide information about the Umpqua River System, and the importance of clean water.
For more information, go to www.umpquabrewfest.com.


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Other top X posts last week came from Protein evolution’s collaboration with Stella McCartney for a recycled collection and the European Commission giving the green light to Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation.
As discussions at COP28 continue, the Textile Exchange Materials Market Report hopes to guide the textile industry’s efforts to align raw material production and limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Claire Bergkamp, CEO at Textile Exchange, underscored the urgency and said: “As global leaders come together at COP28, this report only reinforces the urgent need to double down on our collective efforts to accelerate the adoption of production practices that support our planet, its ecosystems, and its communities while focusing internal investment on strategies that decouple value creation from the extraction of new materials overall.”
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Protein Evolution created the parka by transforming rigid packaging and industrial textile waste into textile-grade polyester. The polyester was then spun into yarn and woven into new fabric by Stella McCartney’s team.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament and the Council have reached a provisional agreement on the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation which promises to redefine product standards and make sustainable products the “new norm” in the EU.
The legislation empowers authorities to progressively establish performance and information requirements for key products entering the EU market.
Unlike its predecessor, the new Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation expands its focus beyond energy efficiency, emphasising circularity.
Luxury fashion brand Hugo Boss has claimed to be the “first company” to invest in Collateral Good Ventures Fashion I, a climate-first venture capital fund designed to accelerate sustainability in the fashion industry.
The brand explained the fund will use its contribution over a period of five years to subsidise several portfolio companies that are in the startup, early growth and potential stages, and are developing innovative sustainability solutions and technologies.
Hugo Boss pointed out the purpose of this initiative is to subsidise the growth of these companies and further strengthen its commitment to a more sustainable future.
Our signals coverage is powered by GlobalData’s Thematic Engine, which tags millions of data items across six alternative datasets — patents, jobs, deals, company filings, social media mentions and news — to themes, sectors and companies. These signals enhance our predictive capabilities, helping us to identify the most disruptive threats across each of the sectors we cover and the companies best placed to succeed.


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Auto suppliers are responding to automakers' needs for better fuel economy, claiming half of this year's Automotive News PACE Awards with innovations that cut weight or make powertrains more efficient. Fourteen game-changing products and processes from 12 suppliers were honored at a ceremony in Detroit tonight.
Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram dealerships in North America will sell significantly more vehicles in 2018 than now, the automaker said today. Each dealership sold an average of 566 vehicles last year, the company said. That will increase steadily to annual sales of 798 units per dealership in 2018, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles projected today.


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|Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from one of RetailWire’s recent online discussions. Each business morning on RetailWire.com, retail industry execs get plugged in to the latest news and issues with key insights from a “BrainTrust” panel of retail industry experts.|
UPS is making special deliveries this week to residents in five test markets around the U.S. The packages contain discount coupons and samples from a wide variety of retailers and consumer goods marketers including Bed Bath & Beyond, Johnson & Johnson, Sephora, Williams Sonoma, Zappos and others.
The UPS Direct to Door program will begin its test to consumers in zip codes in Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Miami, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. Each package delivered to consumers contains roughly 12 offers and samples.
“As marketing channels evolve and consumer choices increase, we need new touch points to connect with customers,” said Pat Connolly, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Williams Sonoma, in a press release. “With a UPS Direct to Door delivery, we’re reaching an active consumer, an important factor for increased response rates.”
“Retail marketers are looking for ways to make their messages stand out,” said Casey Chroust, executive vice president of retail operations, Retail Industry Leaders Association. “UPS Direct to Door serves as a very unique and targeted marketing approach because messages are personally delivered to the door, which makes the delivery special.”
BrainTrust panelists applaud the idea and approach, and can clearly see the potential. “This is an innovative approach to direct mail from UPS which recognizes the challenge that marketers have in reaching consumers in this cluttered environment,” says Mark Price, Managing Partner, M. Squarted Group, Inc. “Over the past 10 years, coupon redemptions have consistently declined, as newspaper subscriptions have diminished and some of the direct mail co-ops have gone out of business.”
“Share the cost of delivery among a group of advertisers,” says John Boccuzzi, Jr., Managing Partner, Boccuzzi, LLC. “Rather than receiving something that looks like standard junk mail, the UPS Direct to Door program gives the package more importance and the household may in turn take the offers more seriously.”
“This has potential,” says James Tenser, Principal, VSN Strategies. “ Similar to the way that direct-mail coupon packets spread delivery costs across multiple brands, a UPS-delivered sample pack can make direct-to-home sampling more economical.”
Tenser says he will be interested in learning more about how UPS supports fulfillment of these sample packs and how customizable contents will be. “You can visualize the potential of this: Samples and offers might target specific delivery routes or block groups,” he says. “Even individual households could be targeted, where the offering brand has some ‘one-to-one’ information about purchase behavior.”
Panelists also express concern that marketers may be trying to find a new way of doing the same old thing. “Though not UPS, these types of co-op programs have been around for decades,” says Gene Detroyer, Independent Advisor. “The question that has to be asked is, ‘how are the target consumers chosen and delivered?’ Unless, EACH package is matched to a particular consumer, the marketer is wasting effort and resources. The days of dropping coupons to those who don’t use them are numbered.”
“The UPS approach of a direct door delivery will be very effective the first time it is used, undoubtedly,” says Price. “Over time, though, consumers will eventually regard the package as yet another gimmick and, if the offers and samples inside are not personalized, they will begin to discard them wholesale, just like other vehicles. UPS must strive to leverage consumer insight for personalization, or their novel approach will soon be on the discount rack, like all the rest.”


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The release of Google Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a is hardly a surprise right now. After all, these smartphones have been leaking a lot lately to the point that we knew basically everything about them before the launch. The most interesting details about the duo of devices are the presence of a 5G-enabled chipset, new ultra-wide camera modules, and Android 11 straight out of the box.
Google Pixel 5 specifications
The vanilla Google Pixel 5 is coming as the sole 2020 “flagship” from Google this year. The XL role is in a certain way, played by the Pixel 4a, since it’s biggest than the Pixel 4. However, Pixel tries to offer the usual premium feeling with the Pixel 5.
The new handset flaunts a 6-inch display with FHD+ resolution. However, to our surprise, Google is jumping on the high-refresh-rate display trend with a 90Hz panel. This isn’t whopping as the 144Hz like the Mi 10T series released early today. However, it’s a good thing to see Google adopting current trends, since previous rumors were pointing to a standard 60Hz display.
An upgraded camera setup
The camera also gets treatment here. We have a main 12.2MP camera with 1.4um pixel size. The secondary snapper is a 16MP ultra-wide angle snapper with f/2.2 aperture and 1.0um pixel size. The setup may not be jaw-dropping for our audience, used to insane and complex camera systems from Chinese firms. However, Google has Google Camera and a set of AI algorithms that will make this phone easily one of the best devices for photography. Google also brings OIS, and finally 4K @ 60fps video recording.
Under the hood, the handset packs Snapdragon 765G chipset which ensures seamless 5G connectivity. It brings 8GB of RAM and 128GB of Internal Storage. Unfortunately, the phone offers Wi-Fi 5 only. It ships with Android 11 out of the box which is hardly a big surprise. Lights are kept by a 4,080mAh battery. It’s awesome to see a battery with this capacity on a Pixel smartphone. The Pixel 4 XL, for instance, had a 3,700mAh capacity which is not on par with current trends.
The phone has IP68 certification which ensures water and dust resistance. It brings a recycled aluminum body. Interestingly enough, there is a textured finish to hide fingerprints and ensure a better grip. Despite the aluminum body, the phone brings wireless charging and reverse wireless charging. Google sells the phone in a new Sorta Sage (Mint Green) color alongside Just Black color.
Gizchina News of the week
Google Pixel 4a 5G specifications
The Pixel 4a 5G is a refreshed mid-range smartphone with 5G connectivity. It’s a large smartphone packing a 6.2-inch OLED panel with FHD+ resolution. Unfortunately, Google is cutting some corners with a 60Hz refresh rate display.
Under the hood, we have the Snapdragon 765G paired with 6GB of RAM and the same 128GB of Storage as the Pixel 5. Another point where the Pixel 4a is identical to the 5 is in the camera department. it brings the same 12.2MP camera joined by a 16MP ultrawide unit. It comprises a single 8MP snapper on the front-facing punch hole.
The phone also brings Android 11, but the battery is a 3,885mAh. It’s sad to see Google, once again, sticking with the sub-4000mAh battery strategy. The wireless charging is absent, but the 18W fast-charging is present here. The phone isn’t water or dust resistance.
It’s a better phone than the LTE Pixel 4a, but not as good as the Pixel 5. Just slightly bigger.
Pricing and Availability
Google Pixel 5 is already up for pre-order start today. However, it will arrive in eight countries on October 15, and in the US only by October 29. The phone retails at $700/€630/£599. The company is giving a free pair of Bose QC 35 II wireless headphones for those pre-ordering the phone before October 14. The offer is available in Germany, France, Ireland, the UK.
The Pixel 4a 5G retails at $500/€500/£500. However, pre-orders will only start by November 5. The actual sales will happen on 19th November. Japan, is getting the device a little earlier on October 15.


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Few things represent Yahoo’s missed opportunities more than its mishandling of Flickr, especially in mobile. While Facebook built an empire largely around photos and added Instagram, a mobile-first photo sharing service, Flickr’s iPhone app has resisted a lot of mobile and social innovation. And its #104 ranking in the App Store photo and video category reflects that.
But Yahoo is ready to compete again in the mobile photo market, which continues to heat up with Twitter’s addition of photo filters this week. Flickr is rolling out a new iPhone app which it hopes can make the photo service a daily destination for mobile users. The overhauled app is packed with upgrades and design changes like better social sharing, photo editing (yes, filters) and discovery tools that finally make Flickr competitive in mobile. But is it too late? I worry that it is, but there’s enough there to make me wonder.
Here’s a look at some of the upgrades:
Taken together, this is a huge set of improvements for Flickr. It’s amazing that the previous iPhone app was basically untouched for the last year. The new improvements help Flickr reassert itself as a player but the market has moved on in a lot of ways. People have flocked to very simple mobile photo sharing services like Instagram, Mobli and others. Facebook and Twitter are also very much in the mix. Flickr is still popular with serious photographers but it has to work hard to remind people it’s great for the kind of fun sharing that is the norm now for many smartphone users.
Markus Spiering, Flickr’s head of product, understands that Flickr has fallen behind in mobile. But he said the team has been working to get it right in mobile, which he said is now a huge focus for Flickr. And Flickr is still a popular destination for photo lovers, with 80 million monthly users and more than 8 billion photos. The challenge is for Flickr to regain some relevance in mobile while still being known as a great place to store and manage big, quality photo collections.
“We see Flickr as a place where people want to share photos for the community around photography but we really take care about the image quality and integrity,” Spiering told me. “While we have a lot of these value that are unmatched, what we are now doing is creating a compelling mobile experience for that.”
This is something Flickr should have done from the start. It was a leader in photos before Facebook and Instagram, but it didn’t embrace mobile and social. Doing so now is necessary but I’m doubtful if Flickr can make up for lost time. But it’s nice to see Yahoo shipping some solid updates now. That’s two in two days along with yesterday’s Mail update.


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|By RealWire News Distribution||
|February 11, 2014 11:03 PM EST||
Bluetooth® Technology Innovation and Internet of Things Take Center Stage at Must- Attend Wireless Industry Event
Kirkland, Washington - February 11, 2014 - The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) released the agenda for Bluetooth World 2014 today, taking place in San Jose, California on April 8 and 9. Building upon the success of Bluetooth Smart technology, with more than 500 million devices in the market at the end of 2013 and a projected 3 billion products to be shipped by 2018, the second year of this premiere wireless event will feature the incredible expansion of Bluetooth technology, hands-on technical trainings and can't miss conversations on the trends, challenges and opportunities impacting the industry.
"If you're even thinking about wireless technology for your idea or product, Bluetooth World is the one-stop shop for everything you need. Not only will you see the breadth and depth of innovations already taking place in the Bluetooth ecosystem, you will also gain a greater understanding of the wireless industry and the role Bluetooth is playing in connecting millions of people with billions of products and applications they count on to make their life better with Bluetooth," said Suke Jawanda, Bluetooth SIG CMO. "Innovators will walk away from this year's event empowered to turn their ideas into reality, and media and industry experts will see firsthand the Internet of Everything boom that Bluetooth is powering today and its bigger role moving forward."
Bluetooth World is the place where the brightest minds — industry experts, wireless innovators, developers and OEMs, media and analysts, and current and prospective Bluetooth SIG members - will come together to exchange powerful visions and gather new knowledge. Come hear from established companies including PayPal and Polar, groundbreaking start-ups such as Goji and Pancreum and industry leaders like Dialog Semiconductor and Nordic Semiconductor about their insights and experiences across markets such as health, fitness, automotive, home automation, consumer electronics, industrial and the Internet of Things.
Join us at Bluetooth World 2014 to explore and learn about the business and technical opportunities arising from the Bluetooth explosion. Registration, along with speaking, sponsorship and exhibition opportunities for Bluetooth World 2014, is now open at http://www.bluetoothworldevent.com/.
You can see the full agenda at http://bluetoothworldevent.com/agenda/, with highlights including:
- Keynotes and panel discussions exploring the hottest industry trends and the market opportunities made possible by Bluetooth Smart
- Case studies and presentations providing in-depth looks at how Bluetooth technology empowered innovations from industry veterans and entrepreneurial start-ups alike
- Indiegogo Startup Innovation Sessions featuring some of the industry's most innovative startups, plus tips for implementing a successful crowdfunding campaign
- Technology sessions offering insight and strategy on development processes, testing and interoperability, qualification and creating successful Bluetooth implementations
- Networking events bringing together the best industry minds and vendor exhibitions showcasing cutting-edge Bluetooth enabled applications, devices and tools to help you succeed
The Bluetooth SIG, along with event partner Informa, will also be hosting Bluetooth Asia in Shanghai, China, August 19 - 20, 2014 and Bluetooth Europe in Amsterdam, Netherlands, September 16 - 17, 2014.
About Bluetooth® Wireless Technology
Bluetooth wireless technology is the global wireless standard enabling simple, secure connectivity for an expanding range of devices and serves as the backbone of the connected world. Bluetooth Smart technology, through an updatable platform and low power consumption, creates new application opportunities for the mobile phone, consumer electronics, PC, automotive, health & fitness and smart home industries. With over two billion devices shipping annually, Bluetooth is the wireless technology of choice for developers, product manufacturers, and consumers worldwide. Backed by industry leading companies, the Bluetooth SIG empowers over 20,000 member companies to collaborate, innovate and guide Bluetooth wireless technology. For more information, please visit www.bluetooth.com.
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SYS-CON Events announced today the Kubernetes and Google Container Engine Workshop, being held November 3, 2016, in conjunction with @DevOpsSummit at 19th Cloud Expo at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. This workshop led by Sebastian Scheele introduces participants to Kubernetes and Google Container Engine (GKE). Through a combination of instructor-led presentations, demonstrations, and hands-on labs, students learn the key concepts and practices for deploying and maintainin...
Sep. 26, 2016 10:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,664
Cognitive Computing is becoming the foundation for a new generation of solutions that have the potential to transform business. Unlike traditional approaches to building solutions, a cognitive computing approach allows the data to help determine the way applications are designed. This contrasts with conventional software development that begins with defining logic based on the current way a business operates. In her session at 18th Cloud Expo, Judith S. Hurwitz, President and CEO of Hurwitz & ...
Sep. 26, 2016 09:45 PM EDT Reads: 2,956
SYS-CON Events announced today that Tintri Inc., a leading producer of VM-aware storage (VAS) for virtualization and cloud environments, will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Tintri VM-aware storage is the simplest for virtualized applications and cloud. Organizations including GE, Toyota, United Healthcare, NASA and 6 of the Fortune 15 have said “No to LUNs.” With Tintri they mana...
Sep. 26, 2016 09:30 PM EDT Reads: 2,731
In his keynote at 18th Cloud Expo, Andrew Keys, Co-Founder of ConsenSys Enterprise, provided an overview of the evolution of the Internet and the Database and the future of their combination – the Blockchain. Andrew Keys is Co-Founder of ConsenSys Enterprise. He comes to ConsenSys Enterprise with capital markets, technology and entrepreneurial experience. Previously, he worked for UBS investment bank in equities analysis. Later, he was responsible for the creation and distribution of life sett...
Sep. 26, 2016 08:45 PM EDT Reads: 3,379
Fifty billion connected devices and still no winning protocols standards. HTTP, WebSockets, MQTT, and CoAP seem to be leading in the IoT protocol race at the moment but many more protocols are getting introduced on a regular basis. Each protocol has its pros and cons depending on the nature of the communications. Does there really need to be only one protocol to rule them all? Of course not. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Chris Matthieu, co-founder and CTO of Octoblu, walk you through how Oct...
Sep. 26, 2016 08:45 PM EDT Reads: 2,150
Fact is, enterprises have significant legacy voice infrastructure that’s costly to replace with pure IP solutions. How can we bring this analog infrastructure into our shiny new cloud applications? There are proven methods to bind both legacy voice applications and traditional PSTN audio into cloud-based applications and services at a carrier scale. Some of the most successful implementations leverage WebRTC, WebSockets, SIP and other open source technologies. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Da...
Sep. 26, 2016 08:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,590
SYS-CON Events announced today that ReadyTalk, a leading provider of online conferencing and webinar services, has been named Vendor Presentation Sponsor at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. ReadyTalk delivers audio and web conferencing services that inspire collaboration and enable the Future of Work for today’s increasingly digital and mobile workforce. By combining intuitive, innovative tec...
Sep. 26, 2016 08:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,888
Major trends and emerging technologies – from virtual reality and IoT, to Big Data and algorithms – are helping organizations innovate in the digital era. However, to create real business value, IT must think beyond the ‘what’ of digital transformation to the ‘how’ to harness emerging trends, innovation and disruption. Architecture is the key that underpins and ties all these efforts together. In the digital age, it’s important to invest in architecture, extend the enterprise footprint to the cl...
Sep. 26, 2016 07:30 PM EDT Reads: 332
SYS-CON Events announced today that Secure Channels will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. The bedrock of Secure Channels Technology is a uniquely modified and enhanced process based on superencipherment. Superencipherment is the process of encrypting an already encrypted message one or more times, either using the same or a different algorithm.
Sep. 26, 2016 05:15 PM EDT Reads: 1,595
Vidyo, Inc., has joined the Alliance for Open Media. The Alliance for Open Media is a non-profit organization working to define and develop media technologies that address the need for an open standard for video compression and delivery over the web. As a member of the Alliance, Vidyo will collaborate with industry leaders in pursuit of an open and royalty-free AOMedia Video codec, AV1. Vidyo’s contributions to the organization will bring to bear its long history of expertise in codec technolo...
Sep. 26, 2016 05:15 PM EDT Reads: 2,605
Traditional on-premises data centers have long been the domain of modern data platforms like Apache Hadoop, meaning companies who build their business on public cloud were challenged to run Big Data processing and analytics at scale. But recent advancements in Hadoop performance, security, and most importantly cloud-native integrations, are giving organizations the ability to truly gain value from all their data. In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, David Tishgart, Director of Product Marketing ...
Sep. 26, 2016 05:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,837
SYS-CON Events announced today that Bsquare has been named “Silver Sponsor” of SYS-CON's @ThingsExpo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. For more than two decades, Bsquare has helped its customers extract business value from a broad array of physical assets by making them intelligent, connecting them, and using the data they generate to optimize business processes.
Sep. 26, 2016 05:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,727
If you’re responsible for an application that depends on the data or functionality of various IoT endpoints – either sensors or devices – your brand reputation depends on the security, reliability, and compliance of its many integrated parts. If your application fails to deliver the expected business results, your customers and partners won't care if that failure stems from the code you developed or from a component that you integrated. What can you do to ensure that the endpoints work as expect...
Sep. 26, 2016 04:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,621
Digitization is driving a fundamental change in society that is transforming the way businesses work with their customers, their supply chains and their people. Digital transformation leverages DevOps best practices, such as Agile Parallel Development, Continuous Delivery and Agile Operations to capitalize on opportunities and create competitive differentiation in the application economy. However, information security has been notably absent from the DevOps movement. Speed doesn’t have to negat...
Sep. 26, 2016 04:30 PM EDT Reads: 2,119
The Transparent Cloud-computing Consortium (abbreviation: T-Cloud Consortium) will conduct research activities into changes in the computing model as a result of collaboration between "device" and "cloud" and the creation of new value and markets through organic data processing High speed and high quality networks, and dramatic improvements in computer processing capabilities, have greatly changed the nature of applications and made the storing and processing of data on the network commonplace.
Sep. 26, 2016 04:15 PM EDT Reads: 1,035


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Optoma has displayed its new HD141X projector at the UK's biggest gaming festival.
Over the August bank holiday, the Ricoh Stadium in Coventry was transformed for the Insomnia, which saw technology companies show off their latest innovations.
Around 25,000 people were in attendance at the event and Optoma was among the exhibitors, with the company giving people the chance to see its new HD141X and GT1080 projectors in action.
Optoma's head of product marketing Justin Halls said: "The HD141X is an all-round home entertainment projector, combining high brightness with cinematic picture performance to produce a big bright image in any living space."
It was added by the company that its HD141X projector is the ideal choice for people who want to use a device for watching TV shows, live sports and movies or even playing action-packed games on a massive screen.
The device even has 3,000 lumen brightness, which means it delivers a great picture without the need to dim the lights.
Tom Hindle from retailer Box said: "Using a projector really does improve the experience for gamers as it fills their field of vision to make them feel at the centre of the action."
Optoma recently revealed its latest home entertainment projector, the HD26, which has 3,200-lumen brightness and has been designed by the firm to be another all-round home entertainment projector.


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Increase of imports of footwear and finished leather goods from China have caused Indian leather businesses to worry.
The industry representatives have demanded the Government to impose higher import tax on these items to boost exports.
India is a net exporter of leather hides to China but these hides are manufactured into finished products and exported back to India. The trade imbalance between India’s exports and China’s imports has led the businessmen to take necessary steps.
Chinese exports make up 68 percent of India’s footwear imports and 91 percent of imported leather goods were value-added finished products.
“We have raised our issues and the ministry is reviewing it,” said a leather industry representative following a meeting with the Department of Commerce. “We have asked the import duty on Chinese footwear to be increased from 25 per cent to 35 per cent because of a negative trade balance on footwear.”
In another suggestion, China decreasing its taxes on imports of finished leather skins from India was also put down. It may be noted here that India does not charge import duty on the same.
Import duty in China currently stands at 5-7 per cent for bovine finished leather, 5.6 percent for sheep or lamb finished leather, and 9.8 percent on goat finished leather under the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement which India is part of.
The government has recently been promoting Indian leather internationally to try and increase exports in partnership with the Council of Leather Export.
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At Microsoft's GDC presentation this morning, while the company announced exciting mixed reality news, the more important announcement for the immediate future for developers is the brand-new Xbox Live Creators program. As ID@Xbox director Chris Charla explained, unlike the ID@Xbox program, the Creators Program is completely open, with fast certification, no approvals to ship, and no NDAs. Literally anyone who owns a retail Xbox One is now able to develop games for Windows 10 and Xbox One with integrated Xbox Live sign-in, presence, and social features.
"This means their title can see exposure to every Xbox One owner across the Xbox One family of devices, including Project Scorpio this holiday, as well as hundreds of millions of Windows 10 PCs, and millions of folks using the Xbox app on mobile platforms," Microsoft said in a statement to the media.
Anyone interested in making games through the Creators Program can download the SDK here. It's important to note that developers who want additional promotional and marketing support or wish to include gamerscore/achievement functionality should apply to the actual ID@Xbox program.
Looking back at the progress ID@Xbox has made since its inception, Charla revealed that hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties have been paid out to developers, there are over 1000 active games in development, 450+ games have been shipped, 2200+ studios have dev kits, and there have been 1 billion+ hours of ID@Xbox games played in 2016.
The Universal Windows Platform (UWP) now has more than 200 games coming from ID@Xbox devs, and Charla said to expect more convergence between the Xbox and Windows platforms.
"We wanted to make sure that when players turned on their Xbox One, they got access to the most awesome, diverse lineup of fantastic games possible. And to do that with one simple guiding principle: make life easy for developers. The more we can enable developers to focus on their game versus working on platform support issues or technology or business negotiations, the more games would come to Xbox One and the better those games would be," Charla said, reflecting on the growth of ID@Xbox.
Charla enthused that the program is bringing back the feeling that developers had back in the Commodore 64 days. The fresh blood from indies entering the games space has been inspiring. "I honestly believe that in the next few years we're going to see developers at GDC who got their start with the ID@Xbox program," he said.


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Deezer has yet to launch inside the US but continues to expand its streaming service nevertheless — the company has announced that it has acquired popular talk radio and podcast app Stitcher.
As the Fire phone continues to sink, Amazon's Fire TV claws for more space in the streaming marketplace, announcing it's app count has tripled since launching in April, and piled on new apps including Spotify, NFL Now, and more.
Part case, part stand, and part wireless stereo speaker system, OIO's new Amp is a beautiful add-on for your iPad Air, designed to take the portable media experience to the next level.
Microsoft has announced that it is discontinuing the free Xbox Music streaming feature on December 1 in all countries where it is currently offered. A subscription pass remains.
The Vamp aims to turn any speaker in your arsenal into an autonomous wireless sound system, at a price that pretty much anyone can afford.
Remember the ‘80s? Gary Numan does, and he’s ready for something new. The electronic music pioneer talked with us about hi-res recording, the magic of the piano, and why he’s running alongside today’s electronic crowd – not in it.
New music is dropping all the time. It's time to get some new tunes in your ears. Here are our favorite new releases for the week, including Jessie Ware, Aretha Franklin, Gwen Stefani, Smashing Pumpkins, and more!
Google Play Music harnesses the power of Songza to give you context-based listening suggestions. The redesigned app is available on Android, iOS, and the Web.
The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack will be released on cassette tape this November. It's a limited edition and can only be found at a few record stores.
Spotify today released an update to its iOS app which supposedly added Apple CarPlay support. Unfortunately, CarPlay support isn't actually new for Spotify, and even worse, the app still doesn't work with CarPlay.
Spotify now offers family plans for music streaming at a much lower price than paying for individual subscriptions. Spotify aims to convince casual users to subscribe with the new plans.


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Heavy rains have flooded parts of Henan province in central China, raising tens of millions of lives and leaving at least 12 dead. More than 20 cm of rain fell in an hour in Zhengzhou, the regional capital, flooding the city’s subway system and major roads. Heavy rains began on July 17 before heavy rains on July 20
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On 10 July 2015, Belgian specialty chemicals company Solvay opened a S$50 million alkoxylation plant on Jurong Island, which is its third and largest in Asia. The plant will complement existing facilities in India and China.
Solvay opens S$50m specialty chemicals plant in Singapore
The plant produces special alkoxylate surfactants, which give liquids certain characteristics such as cleansing or emulsifying properties. They are used in agrochemicals, coatings, and oil and gas, or for home and personal care product. The large scale plant receives ethylene oxide, a key raw material, via a dedicated pipeline from Shell and can produce up to 50,000 tonnes of surfactants a year.
Second Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr S Iswaran, who was guest-of-honour, said at the opening that the collaboration between Solvay and Shell is an example of how specialty chemical companies can leverage Singapore’s established petrochemical sector.
"Riding on these trends, Singapore is well placed to capture the strong growth opportunities in speciality chemicals," added Mr Iswaran, who is also Second Minister for Home Affairs
"This new plant in Singapore is contributing to the growth momentum that Novecare is bringing to the group,” said Mr Emmanuel Butstraen, president of Solvay Novecare. “(It has a) very strong location also, close to our customers, the major consumers located in Southeast Asia."
In addition, Solvay also announced the expansion of oil and gas research unit at its research and innovation centre in Biopolis.
- 10 July 2015


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A group of Texas businessmen that launched a $1 billion plan to redevelop the Plano, Texas, headquarters of J.C. Penney Co. say they have been tripped up by the reluctance of lenders to get involved with a project that depends heavily on the health of the struggling retailer.
The group led by Sam Ware and Jeffrey Blakeley bought the 1.8 million-square-foot building and about 45 acres of land from J.C. Penney three years ago in a deal valued at $453 million, including planned upgrades. Its strategy was to improve the sprawling building and add over $500 million of new retail, housing and hotel development. J.C. Penney agreed to continue to occupy and pay rent on two-thirds of the building until 2032.
Now the project, named the Campus at Legacy West, is running into trouble refinancing $384 million of debt because prospective lenders are concerned about J.C. Penney’s future. “The sentiment of the lending community is that they’re just not crazy about bricks-and-mortar retail,” Mr. Ware said in an interview last week.
The venture was supposed to repay the debt it borrowed from Nevada-based Beal Bank USA and its affiliate, CLG Hedge Fund LLC, by Jan. 2. The money wasn’t paid, prompting the lenders’ agent to file a foreclosure action in Collin County District Court two weeks ago, according to court papers.
Mr. Ware predicted that his group would be able to refinance the debt and that the project would be a success. He said that J.C. Penney is current on its rent and faces a bright future now that it has closed unprofitable stores and is focusing on new retail strategies.
“We’ve got a spectacular asset,” he said. “Anybody on this planet would love to own it.”
A spokesman for Beal Bank and CLG declined to comment. The bank was founded and is controlled by billionaire Andy Beal, a friend of President Trump’s and a major contributor to his political campaigns.
The financial headwinds facing the J.C. Penney headquarters development show how the repercussions from upheaval in the retail world are rippling through the financial system. As online sales continue to surge, banks and other lenders have become increasingly skittish about making loans to some bricks-and-mortar retailers as well as owners of the shopping centers and office buildings that house them.
Loans backed by retail properties accounted for only 13% of all private-label commercial mortgage-backed securities issued in 2019, according to data and analytics provider Trepp LLC. That is down from 18.6% in 2018 and 31.5% in 2013, Trepp said.
Lenders have good reason to be cautious. In December, 4.42% of all the commercial mortgage securities backed by retail properties were delinquent, compared with 2.34% for all CMBS debt, Trepp said.
Underwriting an office building with a struggling retailer as a major tenant is tricky because prospective lenders have a hard time evaluating and pricing the risk, said Manus Clancy, Trepp’s senior managing director. Uncertainties include whether or not the retailer will survive through the term of the lease and whether or not they could be replaced if they vacated early.
“You have all this hair,” Mr. Clancy said.
Founded in Wyoming in 1902 by James Cash Penney, J.C. Penney was one of the country’s dominant retailers for decades. But the retailer has suffered years of decline, hit by a series of new competitors, first like Walmart and T.J. Maxx and most recently by internet shopping. J.C. Penney shares, which traded over $80 in 2007, have fallen below $1.
Jill Soltau, who took over as J.C. Penney’s chief executive in late 2018, said on an earnings call in November that the company was making progress in understanding its customers, adding new merchandise and improving its shopping experience. “We will restore J.C. Penney to profit, growth and our rightful place in the retail industry,” she said.
J.C. Penney moved its headquarters to a corporate campus in Plano from New York City in 1992. Since then, the area has boomed, attracting other big-name tenants and adding thousands of units of housing and millions of square feet of retail.
J.C. Penney took advantage of Plano’s growing popularity in 2014 by selling 240 acres of land around its campus which had greatly increased in value. Three years later, it sold its other land and headquarters to Mr. Ware’s group.
Mr. Ware’s group last year ran into opposition at the Plano City Council with its planned sale of two parcels for rental apartment development. Since then, the group has reduced the number of planned units and made other design changes, increasing the chances that the zoning will be approved and the land sales will close, according to Mr. Ware and former opponents of the rezoning.
Mr. Ware said that even if J.C. Penney moves out of the building before its lease expires, his group won’t have trouble leasing the space because the office market is hot and the company has been paying below-market rents. He said the property has been appraised for $200 million to $300 million more than the existing debt.
“There’s nothing but upside here,” he said.
Write to Peter Grant at [email protected]
The post Upheaval in Retail World Sets Stage for Texas Foreclosure Battle appeared first on WSJ.


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CINCINNATI (AP) -- Beam Global Spirits & Wine says it plans to close its Cincinnati bottling plant in two years, shedding 184 jobs.
The company said Tuesday processing at the DeKuyper Cordials plant will be moved to two plants in Frankfort, Ky. and Clermont, Ky.
Beam Global says the decision was based on a company review of global demand and existing plant capacity.
The company says it will begin bargaining with the United Food and Commercial Workers -- which represents most of the Cincinnati plant's employees -- over terms of an agreement governing the plant transition.
Beam Global also bottles Jim Beam Bourbon, Sauza Tequila, Canadian Club Whisky, Courvoisier Cognac and other liquor brands.


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Happy Friday! This week, tech.eu tracked 11 technology M&A transactions and 37 funding deals (totalling €159 million) in Europe, Turkey and Israel.
Like every week, we listed every single one of them in our free weekly newsletter, along with interesting news regarding fledgling European startups, tech investors old and new, a number of good reads published elsewhere, government and policy news, as well as an overview of interesting lists, facts and figures from a wide variety of sources.
You can subscribe to our newsletter below to receive all this information in your inbox every Friday afternoon for free, but here’s an overview of the 10 biggest European tech news items for this week:
1) Google has failed in its latest attempt to appeal against a Russian competition over its mobile operating system, and faces a $6.8 million fine.
2) Uber has launched legal action against new rules in London such as written English tests for its drivers, in the latest battle between regulators and the company.
3) France-based Essilor is to acquire the UK’s MyOptique Group, an online platform for sales of prescription glasses, contact lenses and sunglasses, in a deal worth more than €100 million according to our sources.
4) Berlin-based startup Outfittery, which helps men shop for outfits online with the help of style experts, has raised $22 million in funding from Octopus Ventures, U-Start Club and prior backers.
5) The Netherlands-based Takeaway.com has shuttered its British business and sold its assets to competitor Just Eat, after buying the latter's business in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
6) Alipay, an affiliate of Alibaba, is pushing forward with plans to expand in Europe, unveiling a partnership with Ingenico that paves the way for hundreds of continental retailers to accept China’s biggest mobile wallet in popular destinations.
7) Israeli startup SAIPS was bought by Ford to advance autonomous cars.
8) US-based companies have been slow to sign on to a new international data-transfer agreement with the EU for reasons that include uncertainty that the terms will survive legal tests in the bloc.
9) UK antivirus maker BullGuard is acquiring Israeli startup Dojo-Labs to expand its portfolio of security products to the Internet of Things.
10) Exclusive Nokia-licensee HMD has appointed Pekka Rantala, a former CEO of Angry Birds publisher Rovio, as its CMO to head the relaunch of the Nokia brand on the mobile phone market.
Bonus link: 15 potential European tech IPOs (Dealroom)


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The Fox Sports 2020 app is now available for download on Apple TV, Apple TV Mini, Apple TVs and Amazon Fire TV.
The app, which allows users to access live and on-demand programming on Fox Sports and Fox Sports 2, is available on the Apple TV 4K/UHD, Apple Watch and Apple TV 5K models, as well as Amazon Fire TVs and Fire TV Stick.
Fox Sports 2020 also features the new NFL on Fox, NBA on Fox and NBA Playoffs on Fox.
It also has the option to view local broadcasts of the NBA Playoffs.
Fox sports on the iPhone and iPad also get access to Fox Sports on demand, as do Fox Sports Go.
There’s no word on when the Fox Sports App will be available to buy.
The Apple TV and Apple Watch versions of the app are only available for $9.99 per year and are available to download from the App Store, Google Play and AppleTV.
The $4.99 Apple TV model is currently only available in the US, but a US version is also available in Australia.
Apple’s app, while a bit less detailed than the 2018 edition, has been praised for its features.
Fox’s new app also has some new features for the 2021 season, such as live game replays, more local and national coverage and a new sports app in the News app.