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There has been a lot of news about the tariffs imposed by the current administration. But the one thing I haven’t seen is that those of us in the industry have seen the cost of the materials we use double in the last couple of months.
Here at LaVanway Cutler a custom CNC machining manufacturer in Chico, we have seen the cost of raw material sky rocket. All these tariffs have just lowered our profit margin. We are just getting started and had hoped to hire some employees soon, but now that’s on hold while we try our best to do it all ourselves. I just wished someone would explain to me how this is going to help our everyday person if companies like ours cannot hire or must let go of employees to stay competitive in the market.
The simple facts are China can lower their cost per product because the companies there are subsidized. Now Canada is setting out 2 billion to help their companies in this industry. All this means they can maintain the current cost of their products and services, while we in the U.S. have to raise cost or close the doors. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad, but we are in a global market not just a local one, and our customers overseas will be seeking services from these lower cost companies.
Good luck to all of you metal workers out there. I’m becoming afraid many of our industries wont be able to weather this storm.
— Barry Cutler, Chico


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8 years of impeccably curated craft beer and finely smoked eats – calls for an extraordinary celebration. Join the festivities as the original... more >>
Omnia, a Hakkasan Group property, will take over the space formerly occupied by Stingaree nightclub in San Diego after undergoing a full venue... more >>
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OLE.com.ar, Gran DT and Canchallena.com Lead as Most-Visited Sports Destinations
Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 21, 2011 - Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study on the online Sports category in Argentina based on data from its Comscore MMX service. The study found that Argentina ranked as the tenth largest global market by percent reach of sports sites with more than half of all online users in the country visiting a sports destination in May 2011. The study also found that OLE.com.ar ranked as the most-visited sports destination with more than 2 million visitors, followed by Gran DT and Canchallena.com.
“Argentines’ passion for sports is apparent both on the field and online,” said Sebastian Yoffe, Comscore country manager for Argentina and Uruguay. “Many fans utilize the online channel to receive instant updates on scores, matches and their favorite players and teams. These users are also highly-engaged, with an average Sports category visitor spending nearly 50 minutes a month consuming sports content online.”
Argentina Ranks among Top Markets for Sports Category Reach
Analysis of top online sports markets based on the percentage of users that visited the Sports category showed that the U.S. led markets in May 2011. During the month, 70.7 percent of U.S. online users age 15 and older visited a sports site from a home or work computer. Ireland closely followed with 70.3 percent of its online audience accessing sports sites, while 69.0 percent of New Zealander visited the category. Leading all South American countries, 61.5 percent of online users in Brazil visited sports sites during the month, while 52.7 percent of Argentina’s online population frequented the Sports category making it the tenth largest global market by percent reach.
Top Global Markets by Sports Category Percent Reach of Unique VisitorsMay 2011Total Audience, Age 15+ - Home or Work Location*Source: Comscore MMX
*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
OLE.com.ar Leads Sports Category in Argentina
In May 2011, nearly 6.9 million Internet users age 15 and older visited a sports site in Argentina from a home or work computer. OLE.com.ar ranked as the most-visited sports destination with 2 million visitors, reaching 15.4 percent of the entire online population in Argentina. Gran DT followed as the second largest sports site with 964,000 visitors, followed by Canchallena.com with 950,000 visitors.
Top Sports Sites by Unique VisitorsMay 2011Total Argentine Audience, Age 15+ - Home or Work Location*Source: Comscore MMX
Total Unique Visitors (000)
Total Internet : Total Audience
FOXSports.com on MSN
Demographic Analysis of Sports Visitors
A demographic analysis of Sports category visitors in Argentina revealed that, perhaps unsurprisingly, males account for a larger share of visitors than females to the category. During the month, males accounted for 57.8 percent of category visitors, while females accounted for 42.2 percent of visitors. Males ages 15-34 accounted for not only the largest share of visitors to the Sports category (32.4 percent), but also averaged the most time on sports sites at 70 minutes per visitor in May.
Demographic Analysis of Sports Category VisitorsMay 2011Total Argentine Audience, Age 15+ - Home or Work Location**Source: Comscore MMX
Total Audience (000)
% Composition Unique Visitors
Average Minutes per Visitor
Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.


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In a sign that the mobile payments market is still in its infancy, Walmart appears to be taking an approach that many issuers are also taking which is to align and integrate with as many of the current mobile payment players as possible until such time that a winning or dominant solution emerges. Fortune reports that Walmart is having conversations with several mobile wallet providers even after the roll out of its own Walmart Pay and an announced partnership with Chase Pay:
Walmart is in talks with several mobile wallet companies to offer more payment options in its Walmart Pay app, an executive at the world’s largest retailer said, after signing up J.P. Morgan Chase last week.
One reason for the outreach to be more inclusive is that the mobile payment environment has been unpredictable, including who the primary users are. Many have adopted mobile payments and mobile payments marketing thinking that millennials will be the primary users:
Daniel Eckert, senior vice-president of services at Walmart U.S., said in an interview late on Friday that the retailer would tweak its marketing for the app after the most frequent users turned out to be Gen X customers, born from 1965 to 1967, and baby boomers born from 1946 to 1964.
“The target demographic during the launch of a technology product tends to be younger, more male, so we have had that target market in mind,” Eckert said.
Some early data on Walmart Pay use was also included:
Eckert also said more than 90% of transactions on the app involve customers are using the service more than three to four times a month. He declined to give the overall number of users who use Walmart Pay.
Walmart Pay was launched in December 2015 and can be used in all of the retailer’s 4,600 U.S. stores. Customers at the checkout counter must choose the payment option within the app on their smartphone, and activate the camera to scan the code at the register. An e-receipt is sent to the app.
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
Read the full story here


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Quality Models Ltd. is expanding its Orangeburg, S.C., injection molding plant.
Quality Models will invest $4 million in Orangeburg, including its warehouse. The company anticipates it will complete the project in the fourth quarter of this year. The expansion is expected to create 20 jobs.
``During the past four years, since the original construction [of the plant], we have enjoyed the opportunities for the growth that were available in this region,'' Quality Models operations manager Dave Meloche said in a news release.
The expansion will allow the firm to serve current customers better and expand into new markets, he added.
Quality Models already has invested more than $10 million in the Orangeburg facility and created 60 jobs since the facility opened in March 2004.
A major customer of the Orangeburg plant is Honda of South Carolina Manufacturing Inc. in Timmonsville, S.C.
Quality Models of Tecumseh, Ontario, operates five plants: three in the Windsor-Tecumseh area, one in Orangeburg and one in Melvindale, Mich. The firm supplies plastic parts to the power sports, industrial, automotive and vehicle aftermarket industries. It also manufactures components for the recreational marine industry.
Quality Models officials were unavailable to comment on Orangeburg's expansion.


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From filling us in on the state of the 3D printing industry with helpful data reports to the best way for fabricating a quality Rubik’s cube, Sculpteo is one of those companies we always look forward to checking in on. With their energy matched only perhaps by their passionate making community, this international force was founded in 2009 by industry visionaries whose growing and dedicated team has created one of the leading 3D printing services and online marketplaces in the world.
‘Obsessed with simplicity,’ their mission is to see 3D printing technology become accessible to all—and to offer superior 3D printing services, as well as ongoing new features for their community of users and designers. Now they are sharing with us a new smoothing process that will be unveiled today at RAPID 2016 in Orlando. This ‘revolutionary physicochemical process’ is called Smoothing Beautifier, and undoubtedly will be responsible for transforming the texture of many SLS 3D printed parts in the future. If you are looking for a smooth and glossy finish, akin to that injection molded look, you will want to check out this new method which Sculpteo is going to be offering in a beta testing program beginning today, May 17th.
And if you are indeed one of the many visitors attending RAPID today (with the show running in Orlando from May 16-20), you will see Sculpteo unveil a display of parts that have been treated with the new Smoothing Beautifier, including electronic enclosures—all to be viewed at booth #639.
“Our customers are constantly looking for ways to close the gap between prototyping and production to accelerate their own business growth,” said Sculpteo co-founder and CEO Clément Moreau. “This new finishing technology gives SLS-parts the look and feel of high end production parts which means they can be used as part of the production process, saving time and the expense of injection molding.”
The Sculpteo team created this new process with many applications in mind, to include 3D printed fashion and art, and they expect the new technology to set a new standard in the industry for finishing. If you are 3D printing prototypes or small batch productions that will require a high quality surface finish, Smoothing Beautifier is recommended.
“The Smoothing Beautifier process from Sculpteo gives 3D printing a new touch,” said Serge Renouard, CEO of Invoxia, a maker of innovative telecommunications products, speakers and connected devices. “Prototypes and small series can now be manufactured using 3D printing with a finish as good as with injection molding. Once again Sculpteo offers the fastest solution to go from the idea to the final product.”
Currently, Sculpteo has factories in both Europe and the US, and they offer on-demand 3D printing of objects as well as that of short-run manufacturing. The online 3D printing marketplace offers 45 materials, colors, and finishes, along with superior file analysis and repair. They also offer worldwide delivery of prototypes and parts, promising fast turnaround. Based in San Francisco and Paris, the company was founded in 2009 by Eric Carreel and Clément Moreau. Do you want to try this new smoothing process? Discuss in the Sculpteo Smoothing Beautifier for 3D Printed Objects forum over at 3DPB.com.
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In her 30 years working in Portugal’s clothes-making sector Maria Emilia has honed her movements sufficiently to allow her to operate on auto-pilot.
With Ed Sheeran blaring out across the Porto factory, she reaches for another navy cotton top from the heap next to her without looking and deftly rotates it through a sewing machine. Ten seconds later the top has sleeves.
Around 80pc of the garments produced are for British casualwear brand Jack Wills, which has taken the rare step of opening up its supply chain in response to the factory scandals that have been a blemish on the retail industry and further tainted perceptions about overseas manufacturing.
The high-profile Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh in 2013, in which 1,138 workers died, has been followed by a spate of deadly warehouse fires in the country, prompting many nervous retailers to move production to Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam, where wages still tend to be cheaper than in China.
But these regions are not without concerns of poor worker treatment. Last month it emerged that 14-year-old children were employed in Myanmar to make clothes for Western high street names such as New Look and H&M. Meanwhile, in Britain, a public backlash over Sports Direct’s treatment of its workers at its Shirebrook warehouse drew comparisons with Victorian workhouses.
The negative coverage has heightened fears in the retail sector that the public sees its factories and warehouses, the overseas ones especially, as nothing more than modern-day sweatshops.
Peter Williams, the founder and chief executive of Jack Wills, is on a mission to prove this is far from the case. Around 50pc of Jack Wills’s clothing is made in Portugal, with the remainder in China, using British fabrics such as Abraham Moon wools and Linton tweed.
“We are at the other end of the spectrum when it comes to how we operate and our supply base,” he says. “Retailers and brands are being tarred with the same brush and it’s assumed that a foreign supply base means there’s kids on the bench and terrible conditions, but I am proud of all of our factories, where we have long relationships.”
Jack Wills has the capacity to produce 20,000 pieces a week in Porto and local suppliers have a relationship with the retailer stretching back 15 years. Williams is equally evangelical about its relationships with factories in China, which he says are leagues ahead of their rivals when it comes to investment in infrastructure.
As part of Williams’s plans to open up the supply chain, Jack Wills is launching pictures and videos on its website from inside the factories where its hoodies, jackets and T-shirts are made.
“To my knowledge, no one in the UK has done this so far – we’re calling on them to raise the bar. For years, Marks and Spencer has been fantastic in leading the way, but you don’t have visibility as a consumer into their supply chain, whereas our customers will be able to see exactly where and how our products are made.”
However, Jack Wills T-shirts that bear such slogans as “Fabulously British” risk undermining the company’s push to be transparent. Williams initially defends the decision by arguing that the label states where a garment is made, while the retailer’s deep UK roots and domicile help to offset any misunderstanding, before admitting that he may rethink such logos.
A “Made in Britain” label clearly appeals to shoppers who associate it with a level of heritage and quality, but since the majority of retailers moved production overseas in the Nineties, British manufacturing has shrunk to a tiny scale.
Jenny Holloway, chief executive of Fashion Capital and a former buyer for M&S, is a rare example of someone whose UK factory business is booming.
It produces 8,000 garments a week for Asos, M&S’s Best of British line and collections for designer of the moment, Molly Goddard. The company’s strength is that its north London base can deliver clothes to the British market faster than any supplier in Asia.
The slump in the pound since last summer’s EU referendum vote has made manufacturing in Britain cheaper relative to overseas factories, which is driving calls for more production in the UK. However, Holloway says plants are already close to capacity.
The boom in online shopping has increased pressure on retailers to deliver fashion trends faster than their rivals, fuelling demand for even shorter production lead lines. To meet deadlines, many suppliers have been subcontracting to other factories without telling buyers.
“In this way, complete orders may be shifted to unknown suppliers,” a report by the Dutch Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, known as Somo, has said. These factories, which are invisible to retailers’ supply chains, often fall far below normal standards for workers.
It isn’t just a problem with overseas plants. In January it emerged that British factory workers in Leicester were being paid as little as £3 an hour to make clothes for high street chains such as New Look and River Island. Both companies blamed it on orders being passed on to a rogue factory without their knowledge.
The allegations have shaken the reputation of UK manufacturing and of Leicester itself, which accounts for a third of the UK’s garment manufacturing industry.
“Unapproved subcontracting is a huge issue, risking exploitation of workers and damaged reputations for retailers,” says Peter McAllister, executive director of the Ethical Trading Initiative. “We are concerned that for some retailers prices are so keen that it is almost impossible for a supplier to produce the item in a factory and under conditions that meet the required standards and still make what they would consider a decent margin; hence they sub-contract out.”
Harriet Harman, the Labour MP and chair of the joint committee on Human Rights and Business, visited Leicester last week to investigate poor working conditions and believed there was “an epidemic”.
“We found between a third and three-quarters of workers were either not paid the minimum wage, did not have employment contracts or were in unsafe working conditions,” she said. “The growth of instant fashion, whereby a consumer can expect to cheaply buy something they have seen on the catwalk in a matter of days, has brought clothes production closer to home. But we must make sure that we do not reintroduce unacceptable working practices.”
But whether customers will base their purchases on ethics remains to be seen. “The majority of people will say it is reprehensible that workers are not paid the minimum wage, but their behaviour tells a different story,” says Richard Hyman, a retail consultant.
“History tells us that when there were concerns about Primark’s working conditions, its trading still didn’t miss a beat,” adds Jonathan Pritchard, a retail analyst at Peel Hunt.


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WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — That same old Pennsylvania grown produce many crave each summer is back, again, on Wilkes-Barre Public Square. Many of the produce, food and craft vendors have been coming to the Wilkes-Barre Farmers’ Market for decades but for Manning’s Mobile, it’s their first. “It’s busy and business is going really well. It’s hot and I think everybody wants some ice cream,” said Julie Dougherty who served as a dipper at the ice cream truck.
Something else the crowd wanted were cupcakes. The Sweet Lush Cupcakery has your sweet tooth craving covered at the Farmers’ Market for a second year. “They look really good so I’m excited,” said teenager Lily Hebda of Forty Fort. Her friend, Gabby Razvillas added, “The icing is literally the best icing I’ve ever had. Sorry, mom.” Mike Sabia, the general manager of The Sweet Lush Cupcakery, said the sweet success of the first year brought him back again. “Any time you can be a part of something that’s such an ingrained part of the community it, it’s a really nice feeling.”
Also new is the increasing diversity among food vendors. Sammy’s Caribbean Grill which specializes in Jamaican food is back for a second year with something brand new. “The truck is new for sure. Yes, that’s for sure,” laughed restaurant operator Sam Jones. He believes his restaurant on wheels is a win-win. “It’s more convenient for the customers and myself, you know, because everything is in place and you don’t need to be running around doing in there.”
Something else new at the Farmers’ Market comes courtesy of Zimmerman Farms in Pitman. No, not them. They’ve been coming to the Market now for 35 years. It’s their peas — freshly picked less than 24 hours earlier. Ray Zimmerman is proud to participate. “You know you’re bringing something good for the people and they can buy it fresh off the farm.” When asked if that feeling ever gets old Mr. Zimmerman responded, “Not really. I mean it makes you feel good.”
The Wilkes-Barre Farmers’ Market is held on Public Square each Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through the Thursday before Thanksgiving.


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FPA U.S. Core Equity Fund Com News
4 cheap pharma stocks to buy no matter who is elected
Greg Nathan, portfolio manager for the FPA U.S. Value Fund, is ignoring the clamor over drug pricing with these choices.
Ignore the Political Debate and Buy These 4 Cheap Pharma Stocks
McKesson is down 10 percent year-to-date due to the heated political debate over drug pricing but the stock is too cheap to ignore.
Fund Openings, Closings, Manager Moves: Two New Tech Funds Roll Out
New funds concentrate on the Internet and wireless. Also, Vanguard drops fees.
Cisco Systems Stock Leaps On Q4 Earnings Beat, 2023 Sales Outlook As Supply Chain Pressures Ease
"Overall supply constraints began to ease slightly at the back half of the fourth quarter and continuing into the start of the first quarter," said CEO Chuck Robbins.
Apple Preparing For iPhone 14 Launch On September 7 - Report
Bloomberg reported late Wednesday that Apple is eyeing a September 7 launch date for its new iPhone 14 series.
Bed, Bath & Beyond Stock Dives As Ryan Cohen Moves to Sell Entire Stake
Ryan Cohen, who pushed for changes at Bed, Bath & Beyond including the ouster of CEO Mark Tritton, is looking to dump his entire 11.8% stake in the struggling home retailer.


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Poll: Americans mostly favorable about digital banking choices
Americans are a little most likely to trust physical banks over digital banks, although they have actually mostly welcomed virtual banking choices, according to a brand-new study commissioned by UserTesting. The company surveyed bank clients in the U.S., U.K. and Australia and discovered Americans were the most likely to trust digital banking. Thirty-3 percent of U.S. participants stated they put more rely on physical banking compared to 29% who chose digital banks. However, 67% of American participants stated they trust digital wallets and mobile banking apps, with the portions greatest amongst Gen Z and millennials and most affordable amongst child boomers.
The study likewise discovered that 79% of American digital bank users wanted their banks used a few of the very same benefits as physical banks, with 43% desiring the capability to talk with people for consumer assistance. Still, 55% of American participants stated they have actually not really consulted with a bank teller deal with to face in the previous 2 weeks.


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Textile Exchange announced that more than 45 textile, apparel and retail companies have signed a pledge to increase their use of recycled polyester (rPET) by at least 25 percent by 2020.
The pledge has been adopted by major brands such as adidas, Dibella, Eileen Fisher, Gap Inc., H&M, IKEA, Lindex, MetaWear, Target and Timberland.
A 25 percent increase in rPET production by 2020 is projected to provide the following benefits:
- 2.9 billion bottles diverted from landfills.
- 35,329,509 kilogram reduction in human toxicity.
- 1.85 million megajoules saved on primary energy demand.
- 122,823 kilograms Co2 emissions avoided.
“We believe that supporting, on a precompetitive basis, investment in further developing rPET production around the globe will lead to more efficient supply chains and increase the availability of more sustainable fiber choices in the market,” said Karla Magruder, Textile Exchange board member and sustainability consultant, who led the nonprofit’s rPET Working Group.
Zachary Angelini, Timberland’s environmental stewardship manager, said, “We believe rPET can go beyond environmental impact to have social benefits for vulnerable populations.” Timberland currently partners with Thread, “a B corporation that transforms trash from the developing world into recycled polyester.”
A 25 percent increase in rPET production by 2020 is projected to provide a reduction in human toxicity, primary energy demands and carbon dioxide emissions, as well as divert from landfills 2.9 billion plastic bottles.
The companies’ commitments will be tracked via participation in the Polyester Module of Textile Exchange’s annual Preferred Fiber and Materials Benchmark Survey.
Founded in 2002, Textile Exchange is a global nonprofit organization that works with all sectors of the textile supply chain to find the best ways to create positive impacts on water, soil, air, animals and the human population.


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The hackers that breached Twitter’s security and promote a fake bitcoin giveaway using the accounts of high-profile figures and organizations have moved the funds to an address that has previously interacted with Coinbase and BitPay.
According to Israel-based blockchain intelligence startup Whitestream, as first reported by Cointelegraph, the funds are now consolidating on the hackers’ “1Ai5” legacy bitcoin address, which has in the past interacted with both Coinbase and BitPay, two cryptocurrency firms that provide merchant solutions.
— whitestream – Blockchain Intelligence (@whitestream5) July 16, 2020
The address was the first one hackers started using, but then, later on, switched to a Bench32 address that was used in the fake bitcoin giveaway that used the Twitter accounts of high-profile figures like Bill Gates, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama, and the accounts of firms like Uber, Apple, CoinDesk, Coinbase, and Binance.
The 14.75 BTC the giveaway netted the hackers, at press time worth $134,100, have been moved to the 1Ai5 bitcoin address that has in the past made three transactions associated with Coinbase and BitPay. The first and largest was made in May 2020, when 1.2 BTC were moved to a BitPay address. The other two were for smaller amounts to a Coinbase-related address.
The transactions sent to Coinbase are harder to trace because the address changed with every input. The hackers’ identity could now be exposed thanks to interactions with these firms, although an investigation could be hard if the transactions were sent to merchants that accept crypto with these firms.
Security experts have warned that the fake bitcoin giveaway on Twitter could be covering “other malicious activity.” The microblogging platform has revealed it was looking into any other potential damages. If the hackers stole Twitter users’ data they could, for example, sell it on the dark web. As reported, hackers are currently trying to sell the data of 142 million MGM Resorts guests for either BTC or XMR.
Featured image via Unsplash.


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A drop in demand for wool products as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic could severely impact prices for the next 12-18 months, British Wool has warned.
The crisis has had a significant impact on the global wool market, which affected British Wool before the rest of the UK due to the reduced demand from China in January.
The global cross bred wool market slowed significantly in February and then shut completely at the beginning of March and remains closed.
February to May is normally the busiest selling period of the year and, as a result, British Wool has circa 7 million kgs extra of unsold 2019 clip wool.
This is on top of the circa 3m kgs that would normally be carrying at this time of year, the group said.
The market closed in New Zealand at the same time, meaning NZ wool agents and auctions will also be carrying significant unsold stock.
Joe Farren, CEO at British Wool, said the Covid-19 pandemic would make the objective of repositioning British Wool as a premium product 'more challenging'.
"However, finding new demand for our wool in China at attractive prices will be a key driver of the early stages of recovery in British Wool prices," he said, adding that British Wool must be 'more determined than ever' in this objective.
“Wool producers can be assured that British Wool will be at the forefront of leading the growth and renewal of wool values, but this will take time," Mr Farren added.
"We will emerge stronger from this period, in particular because our China based product development strategy will be further advanced and helping to pull prices up out of the trough."
During the coronavirus pandemic, British Wool is maintaining service to producers, working with the industry on the shearing shortage and moving to a remote online auction.


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- A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine shows that fruit and vegetable consumption increased as a result of new federal standards for healthier meals imposed on schools in 2012.
- The new standards from USDA aimed to improve the nutritional quality of school meals by making whole grains, fruits, and vegetables more available, requiring the selection of a fruit or vegetable, increasing the portion sizes of fruits and vegetables, removing trans fats, and placing limits on total calories and sodium levels.
- The study was based on 1,030 students in four schools in an urban, low-income school district both before (fall 2011) and after (fall 2012) the new standards went into effect. Following the implementation of the new standards, fruit selection increased by 23% and vegetable consumption increased by 16.2%.
Just as they you can lead a horse to water but can't make him to drink, you can lead children to vegetables, but can't force them to eat them. Even while applauding the results of the new standards, the study's plate waste data underscored that fact. Students discarded roughly 60%-75% of vegetables and 40% of fruits on their trays. Those are significant percentages that should have the people who plan the lunches consider how to make their produce offering more appealing to the children who have been throwing them out.
Perhaps they will have to get the recommended daily amounts of fruits and vegetable in liquid form. Fruit and vegetable juices without added sugars are permitted under the new guidelines for drinks that kick in this summer.


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Triclosan isn’t effective
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began drafting guidelines for the use of the popular antibacterial, triclosan, about 40 years ago.
Two years ago they announced they were ready to implement some much-needed oversight of this chemical. They asked the manufacturers of soaps and body washes to provide more evidence of both its effectiveness and safety.
Well, those companies came up short. Last week the FDA made its final decision to ban triclosan and some other chemicals used in “antibacterial” soaps.
Manufacturers haven’t shown that these ingredients are any more effective than plain soap and water in preventing illnesses and the spread of certain infections.
I’ve posted before that plain soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizers are the least expensive and most effective products for killing germs.
Related post: Hand Washing 101
And it might not be safe
Cost and effectiveness aside, the FDA also cautioned about the safety of triclosan and the other chemicals.
The manufacturers haven’t proven that those ingredients are safe for daily use over a long period of time.
Triclosan is an incredibly common ingredient found in thousands of products besides soap, such as toothpaste, deodorant, fabric, toys and cleaning products, to name just a few. It’s so common, in fact, that it can be detected in the urine of 75% of people tested. Yuck!
Triclosan has already been banned from many products in Canada and Europe. There is evidence that it not only interferes with hormonal function, but also contributes to the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
So why isn’t triclosan being banned from other products? I don’t know, but I’ve refused for a long time to use toothpastes that contain triclosan.
Related post:What’s in your toothpaste?
Colgate Total, for example, is marketed as reducing gum disease (gingivitis). It costs a lot more than regular fluoride toothpaste (I like plain Crest paste), and I doubt any benefit outweighs the safety risk or extra cost.
As one horrified consumer remarked after learning the FDA had banned triclosan in hand soaps but not toothpaste,
“It doesn’t make sense. You can’t put it on your skin, but you can put it in your mouth?”
My thoughts exactly.
Soap manufacturers have another year to remove triclosan from their products. Until then, if you want to avoid that chemical or any of the others recently banned by the FDA, read the product’s label before you buy it.


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Than 400 stations will produce editorial
Back to Home Page.
I think he can get a lot better, especially with defensive mastermind Vic Fangio as his head coach.
Los Angeles Rams NFL $3B 12.
According to MiLB, 81% of people in America live in market with a MiLB club.
We only played two quarters today.
The set is expected to include the rookie cards of No.
New York Yankees MLB $5B 3.
Yadier Molina, St.
‘Wasn’t that terrible?’ generally isn’t a phrase that appears in creative briefs.’ And even setting aside the question of quality creative, the survey brings into harsh relief the more important question being articulated: Does the ad buy actually do anything for the brand’s bottom line?
Athletes and brands have been using the site to drive awareness make your own jersey online promotions and contests and then easily cross-promote one another, as well as run their contests seamlessly across Facebook and Twitter, maximizing the audience that each property reaches, according to LockerDome.
Proceeds will go to historically Black colleges and universities.
Rawlings is the official baseball, helmet, face guard and glove for MLB, the official baseball for MiLB and the official baseball and softball for the NCAA and the NAIA.
The work ethic that season, it took my thinking to another level.
It felt like deja vu at times.
• AP: Short-video app Quibi said it is shutting https://www.fanscustom.com/ just Custom Authentic Baseball Jersey months after its early April launch, having struggled to find customers.
Full story here.
Rodgers likes to spread the ball around but this past season he keyed in on Adams in particular mostly because he was usually the only guy open.
Upper Deck has shared details regarding its first golf release since 2014, Artifacts Golf.
Chicago Cubs MLB $3B 17.
Cristiano Ronaldo $105 million $60 million $45 million Soccer 3.
5 • Super Bowl LVIII Mercedes-Benz Superdome New Orleans Feb.


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Inside The Studio With Jay-Z And Samsung
The Samsung and Jay-Z 3 minute long viral-video, which premiered during the Spurs Heat Game 4 on ABC finals game, has garnered close to 8 million views online in 3 days time. In addition to be being served as an ad for YouTube videos, it was seen by the roughly 16.2 million people watching Sunday’s game. So far the seemingly lower-budget yet, precisely shot and edited piece, has proven to be a well-worth-it anchor for Samsung’s latest campaign.
Rather than producing a big budget commercial which would lack this video’s intimate, organic feel — which is essential to why it’s become so viral. Yes, the video drops big news: Jay-Z is releasing an album July 4th and, in a brilliant move, has reportedly sold 1 million copies of it to Samsung for $5 apiece — who will in turn, give it away to Samsung smartphone users 72 hours before anyone else gets it. But, one of the most distinguishing parts of this carefully deployed announcement, is the video’s contrived “insider access;” a type of voyeurism by which everyday hip hop fans can feel like they are witnessing greatness in the making. It’s shot in behind-the-scenes fashion: peeking out from behind speakers, through window panes, seconds shot through a cracked open door and other angles throughout the studio.
The video also non-nonchalantly introduces hip-hop producing icons Swizz Beatz, Pharrell, Timbaland, and Rick Rubin (fresh off Executive ”reducing” Kanye West‘s ‘Yeezus’). It is shot and edited in a natural and candid way; the viewer feels almost lucky to have the privilege of seeing these music mammoths work together for a few seconds at a time — when in reality this is most likely highly produced with each cut thought-out and crafted to give us just that impression. It doesn’t feel like an ad –sharing only a few frames with the Samsung products themselves.
- Brian Petchers, Forbes Magazine
Lead Compositor + VFX Supervisor
72 and Sunny


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In today’s top stories, Morgan Stanley downgrades Airbnb on falling demand, TSMC announces that it will triple investment in its US plant, and Microsoft tries to sweeten its proposed deal with Activision Blizzard. MongoDB’s share price soars on positive earnings results, and Tesla delivers 100 electric trucks to PepsiCo.
Morgan Stanley downgrades Airbnb
The short-term rental market is under pressure as inflation sees fewer people taking holidays. Morgan Stanley has downgraded Airbnb [ABNB] from equal weight to underweight with analyst Brian Nowak citing “occupancy headwinds and lower room night demand” as the reason. The investment firm calculated that its 2022 occupancy rate has been 35%, in line with 2021, but believes it had previously been too optimistic about its forward demand for 2023 and 2024.
TSMC triples Arizona investment
President Biden hailed Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TMSC) [TSM] as a “game-changer” when he visited the chipmaker’s Arizona plant on Tuesday. The visit coincided with TSMC’s announcement that it was tripling its investment at the facility to $40bn. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple [AAPL], TSMC’s biggest customer, says the investment will help “usher in a new era in advanced manufacturing” in the US semiconductor industry, reported the Financial Times.
Microsoft offers Sony 10-year deal
All eyes in the gaming world are on whether Microsoft [MSFT] will acquire Activision Blizzard [ATVI]. If it does, then it’s willing to offer Sony [6758.T] a 10-year contract to make releases of video game ‘Call of Duty’ available on the Playstation platform. A similar agreement with Nintendo [7974.T] was announced on Tuesday. Serkan Toto, CEO of consultancy Kantan Games, told CNBC that the offer to Sony “might calm down [antitrust] regulators” concerned about the Microsoft-Activision deal.
Speed bumps ahead for Tesla’s electric truck
EV maker Tesla has delivered the first of 100 electric trucks ordered by PepsiCo [PEP] back in 2017. “If you’re a trucker and you want the most badass rig on the road, this is it,” exclaimed Elon Musk at a launch event last week. However, the Wall Street Journal has pointed out that the long-range truck will have to “fill up on subsidies,” and even then it could be too expensive. Short-range trucks are more likely to be a commercial success, the paper’s writers argued.
MongoDB’s adjusted profit surprise
After disappointing results from software companies, MongoDB [MDB] has surprised with its earnings. Adjusted profit was $0.23 per share versus a loss of $0.17 as expected by analysts. President and CEO Dev Ittycheria said strong numbers were a result of “Atlas [cloud database] consumption trends and continued strength in new business activity.” The MongoDB share price was up as much as 30% in pre-market trading on Wednesday.
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From a Venice Beach-inspired fashion entrepreneur to a famous actress to an artificial intelligence whiz, meet the newest members to join Forbes’ list of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs, executives and entertainers.
The stock market rout of spring 2022 caused some real reverberations but fortunately didn’t hold back a crop of successful women entrepreneurs, executives and entertainers. Seven newcomers joined Forbes’ 2022 list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women, building fortunes in industries from technology to fashion to banking.
The newcomers range in age from 27 to 80 and hail from five states. Each is worth at least $215 million, the cutoff to make this year’s list of 100 women; together the newbies are worth a combined $2.3 billion, Forbes estimates. The best known is superstar actress Sandra Bullock, who has spent more than three decades in front of the camera in hits such as 'Gravity' and 'The Proposal,’ and at age 57 is still making millions for starring roles in movies.
Also new to the list is 80-year-old Betsy Cohen, one of the first female bank CEOs in America, who in recent years has invested in multiple financial firm SPAC mergers and acquisitions.
Three newcomers successfully tapped stuck-at-home-during-the-pandemic consumers. Paige Mycoskie found millions of customers for her Aviator Nation, an American-made clothing company known for selling retro-looking rainbow-striped hoodies for $190 a pop. The brand blew up by outfitting entertainers such as Jennifer Lawrence, Jay-Z, Robert Downey Jr. and Selena Gomez; sales jumped from $70 million in 2020 to $110 million in 2021. Rachel Drori, aiming to change the frozen food industry through her plant-based food delivery company Daily Harvest, also secured investments from multiple sports idols and a celebrity chef. Emma Grede, the first Black woman investor on ABC’s Shark Tank show, was a founding partner and is chief product officer of Kim Kardashian’s shapewear and loungewear firm Skims, among other entrepreneurial ventures.
Two of the richest newcomers on this year’s list earned their fortunes through technology—one who is deeply involved in the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence and another whose company took off with the rise of personal computers. Lucy Guo, age 27, cofounded Scale AI in 2016; venture investors valued the company at $7.3 billion in 2021. Guo left Scale in 2017 but held onto a stake of just under 6%. Patricia Gallup cofounded computer reseller PC Connection in 1982, when most Americans didn’t own personal computers. She and her cofounder started with $8,000 in savings and turned it into a publicly-traded firm with $2.9 billion in sales last year.
Here are the newcomers on Forbes’ 2022 list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women:
*Net worths are as of May 13, 2022.
Net worth: $440 million
Source: Artificial Intelligence
Guo debuts thanks to a nearly 6% stake in artificial intelligence startup Scale AI, which was valued by private investors at $7.3 billion in 2021. She studied computer science at Carnegie Mellon University but dropped out to become a Thiel Fellow; while working at Q&A website Quora, she met Alexandr Wang, with whom she cofounded Scale. The pair made the Forbes Under 30 list in 2018, the same year Guo left the company. She cofounded earlystage venture capital firm Backend Capital in 2019 and in April 2022 launched startup Moment, which she describes as a “web3 platform for creators.”
Net worth: $360 million
Source: IT reseller
In 1982 Gallup founded PC Connection, a computer reseller based in Merrimack, New Hampshire, with David Hall. The two backpackers had met while working as support crew on the Appalachian Trail. They used $8,000 in savings to launch the company, catching the growing PC market. It went public in 1998 and reported nearly $2.9 billion in sales in 2021. Now called Connection, its clients include small businesses and public sector departments. She has a 27% stake and serves as chairman.
Net worth: $360 million
Grede is the CEO of Good American, the size-inclusive fashion brand she launched with Khloe Kardashian in 2016. She is also a cofounder of plant-based cleaning brand Safely with No. 93 Kris Jenner and a founding partner and chief product officer of No. 16 Kim Kardashian’s Skims, for which Grede’s husband is CEO. Raised in East London by a single mother, Grede started a paper route at age 12 and saved her pennies to buy fashion magazines. She founded marketing agency ITB Worldwide in 2008 and is the first Black woman to serve as an investor on the popular ABC series Shark Tank.
Net worth: $350 million
Source: Meal delivery service
The former Gilt Groupe marketing executive started frozen meal delivery service Daily Harvest in 2015, funding it with $25,000 from her savings. She began making smoothies on weekends in a commercial kitchen leased in the New York City borough of Queens, paying her teenage nephews $20 a night to deliver them in Manhattan. Pregnant with her first child, she pledged that she wouldn’t quit her day job until orders from strangers outweighed friends and family’s purchases fivefold. It took two months. In November, Daily Harvest, which now sells frozen bowls, parfaits, flatbreads and more, raised $100 million from private investors at a $1.1 billion valuation; Drori owns an estimated 35% stake. Celebrity investors include Gwyneth Paltrow, Serena Williams, snowboarder Shaun White and chef Bobby Flay.
Net worth: $350 million
While working at a surf shop in Venice Beach in 2007, Mycoskie founded Aviator Nation, the company selling 1970s-inspired smiley face-branded pricey sweats that took off during the pandemic. The company hit $110 million in sales last year and has expanded to 17 retail stores across the U.S., including a fitness studio in Los Angeles. Mycoskie has never taken outside investments for Aviator Nation and relies solely on growing lines of bank credit.
Net worth: $230 million
Source: Banking, investments
A lawyer by training, Cohen founded Philadelphia-based Jefferson Bank in 1974, becoming one of the first female bank CEOs in America. She sold Jefferson in 1999, then founded Delaware-based bank The Bancorp, which she ran as CEO until the end of 2014. More recently, she and her son Daniel have completed SPAC mergers with seven companies—including financial advisory firm Perella Weinberg Partners, which began trading on the Nasdaq in June 2021.
Net worth: $225 million
Bullock owes her fortune to more than three decades in front of the camera, appearing in blockbusters over the years such as Speed (1994), Gravity (2013), and Ocean’s 8 (2018). In youth-obsessed Hollywood, she has defied the odds by notching some of her biggest roles—and heftiest paychecks—after age 50. (She’s now 57.) She reportedly nabbed $20 million for her latest movie, this year’s The Lost City. She owns more than $60 million of real estate, including a townhouse in Manhattan, a Beverly Hills mansion and a Malibu estate.


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Frito-Lay’s upcoming sweet cinnamon snack Cheetos Sweetos will help the company latch on to a younger consumer base interested in sweet snacking, says Euromonitor International.
PepsiCo has slammed a campaign from Sum Of Us against its Doritos brand that suggests the chips contain unsustainable palm oil.
Frito-Lay’s 2014 TV ads for Lay’s in the US were the most effective across the snack and confectionery category, staving off competition from Hershey and Mars, according to analysis firm...
PepsiCo has cut about 100 employees from its Chicago, Illinois office, home to the company’s North America Nutrition division, which handles the Gatorade, Quaker, and Tropicana brand lines.
Two major snack brands have made it into the UK’s top 20 best-selling food and beverage list with above-market growth, according to IRI data.
Nacho cheese Doritos-flavored Mountain Dew soda - a taste combination dubbed 'Dewitos' - is being road tested by PepsiCo at colleges across the US.
Frito-Lay has opened a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station in the US as part of its move to convert 20% of its diesel fleet.
Frito-Lay Japan has developed an array of limited edition snacks for October, from avocado and cheese tortilla chips to burdock and soy flavored extruded snacks.
Frito-Lay held sturdy Q3 sales but lost market share to premium competitors – a loss PepsiCo chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi admitted was far from ideal but not a long-term concern.
Frito-Lay has developed a method to adhere large, three-dimensional food flakes such as meat and vegetables to regular snacks, to emulate pizza, nachos and tostadas.
PepsiCo is seeking to patent a method of making chewy granola bars, bites and other snack products containing carbonated ‘fizzy’ candy.
PepsiCo’s Quaker business is continuing its marketing partnership with the US National Football League (NFL) for a third year despite concerns raised by CEO Indra Nooyi over its handling of...
Frito-Lay has filed a global patent to make snacks with high fruit content that combine crunch with a melt-in-the-mouth sensation.
Improved supply chain productivity using automation and better go-to-market delivery systems has driven core operating profit up 6% CAGR, says the president of Frito-Lay North America.
Sports Nutrition 2014 explores the market and future opportunities for the sports nutrition industry, valued at more than $30bn globally, and you can join the action for free!
PepsiCo chairman Indra Nooyi has pledged to double the company’s investment in its Indian food processing operation to add to the sizeable sums it has already spent in the country....
The Grocery Manufacturers Association awarded PepsiCo for its Do Us A Flavor campaign.
Following more than three years of litigation, Quaker Oats has settled the class action lawsuit bought against it over the trans fat content and labeling of products.
Frito-Lay posted steady growth for Q2, fueled by excitement and consumer engagement through flavor competitions, says PepsiCo’s chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi.
Grupo Bimbo’s Q2 net profit surged 72.6% on the previous year as sales rose slightly, whereas PepsiCo’s net profit dipped 2% despite steady sales.
Frito-Lay has been granted a US patent for its manufacturing process to bake snacks that maintain the taste and texture of a fried product using a hydration step.
PepsiCo has inaugurated its first R&D facility in Mexico – a baking innovation center that will be dedicated to strengthening its better-for-you portfolio across brands like Quaker, Lay’s and Sabritas....
Eating instant oatmeal for breakfast may help to manage hunger better than the leading oat-based, cold cereal, says a new study funded by Quaker Oats with implications for weight management.
PepsiCo gobbled up more global interest last year, fueled by three ‘star’ brands – Lay’s, Doritos and Cheetos, according to Kantar Worldpanel's Brand Footprint report.
Frito-Lay’s Doritos Jacked ‘bold flavor experiment’ asking consumers to vote on mystery flavors will create buzz and drive brand engagement, the snack titan says.


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Open up your wallet and see the number of notes within – while most of us can just think about preserving and growing that amount, many others would prefer to indulge in their whims and fancies when the going is good. Emmanuel James thinks otherwise though as this Sierra Leonean student from the Makeni Polytechnic Institution came up with a device that juices up cellphones without the need for electricity. No, that doesn’t mean he stays under a storm as a conduit for the lightning to a gadget, but he used local bank notes (Leones) in tandem with a couple of component circuits in between the two circuit’s poles terminal to produce electricity. Don’t think this will be commercialized anytime soon as battery companies have the most to lose when that happens.
Next Story: Yeti microphone is THX certified


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Just hours after Apple Watch first reached early-bird buyers in Australia, a device teardown hit the Web revealing a litany of miniature parts and an unannounced data port thought to be used for diagnostics work.
As with every major Apple product launch, the team at iFixit dutifully began to tear down a 38mm Apple Watch Sport less than five hours after some of the first consumer units were delivered to Australian customers.
The teardown is currently underway as of this writing, but so far the repair firm has managed to remove the display and pry out the 205mAh battery. Images show off the Digital Crown, Taptic Engine module and the enclosed case of Apple's S1 system-on-chip.
Also seen is an unannounced data port hidden under a cover located in one of the strap attachment grooves. The data port's purpose is unknown, though a report in March claimed the six-pin connector is capable of transferring data and possibly power to Watch.
Interestingly, an identical port can be found on the underside of Apple Store demo displays holding working Apple Watch units.
As for repairability, iFixit found what it calls the "tiniest Tri-wing screws we've ever seen" holding component brackets in place. Along with specialized screws, Apple relied on adhesive material to keep everything in place, a space and cost saving technique used in other products like iPhone and iPad.


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3D Printers: Prices Down, Demand Up
Michelle Philippon - Business Development Specialist
Decline in Prices
In February, IBISWorld estimated that the price of 3D printing machines would fall 6.4% throughout the rest of this year and continue to decline at an annualized rate of 6.1% through 2019. This is due to a number of factors including: the decline of raw material inputs (aluminum, for instance) on account of weaker demand, growing import penetration, technological advancements, and the continuous flux of new vendors. Technological advancements in particular allow manufacturers of 3D printing technology to manufacturer and assemble these devices at lower costs.
Rise in Demand
There has been an increase in private investments in new equipment and machinery for industrial manufacturers and B2C retail companies which, in turn, has led to the rise in demand for new 3D printing technology. R&D expenditure has also risen recently, with similar results. Additionally, many companies are also beginning to adopt rapid prototyping, and consequently, the changes and innovations being made to 3D printers have brought about a decrease in manufacturing costs.
Questions or comments? Please contact Michelle Philippon at mphilippon@teamCOACT.com


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Starbucks is offering a Black Friday deal that keeps on giving.
The coffee company announced it will be selling a "brewed refill tumbler" that will afford the owner free coffee or tea refills through the month of January.
Supplies are limited and Starbucks Reserve coffees are excluded from the deal, the retailer said.
The grande-sized gray travel cup will be available at company-operated and licensed stores beginning November 26 for a cost of $40.
Starbucks will also be offering gold-foil tumblers and special edition gift cards as part of Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions.


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The Financial Planning Association announced Wednesday that it has released an updated version of its online planner search tool in order to help American consumers find financial planners more easily.
The enhanced version of the FPA’S PlannerSearch service now allows consumers to look for a planner based on criteria such as:
- How planners charge, whether using fee-only or other compensation methods
- Whether a planner offers a free initial consultation
- What specialization is offered, in areas ranging from budgeting to retirement planning
“FPA’s research shows that nearly 90% of consumers who have a comprehensive financial plan feel that they have clear financial direction in their lives,” said Denver-based FPA Chief Executive Marvin Tuttle (right) in a statement. “PlannerSearch is designed to help even more Americans connect with an expert planner to help them secure a path for their financial future.”
Interviewed in New York about the updated PlannerSearch, Tuttle compared it to online, user-friendly search tools for doctors. As the certified financial planner profession matures, he said, the FPA is studying new ways to help CFPs refine their practice management.


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On December 2, 2019, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced the timeline for a proposal to impose up to 100% tariffs on up to $2.4 billion in French goods. The details for this proposal were published in a Federal Register notice. According to the notice, USTR determined that “France’s Digital Services Tax [DST] is unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce.” The French measure, approved this past summer, charges a 3% tax on companies earning more than 25 million euros in France and would affect prominent U.S. tech companies such as Facebook, Apple, and Amazon.
In the wake of the French Government’s first proposal for the DST in March 2019, USTR initiated an investigation this July pursuant to section 302(b)(1)(A) of the Trade Act of 1974, which grants the President authorization to take retaliatory measures to remove unfair foreign trade practices. The proposed retaliatory tariffs cover 63 unique products and include popular consumer items such as French champagne, cheese, and handbags. The French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has called the U.S. tariffs “unacceptable” and assured that “the European Union would be ready to retaliate.”
The USTR will hold public hearings and accept written comments from interested parties. To be assured of consideration, USTR requests that parties adhere to the following schedule:
- December 30, 2019: Due date for submission of a request to appear at the public hearing and a summary of testimony.
- January 6, 2020: Due date for written comments.
- January 7, 2020: The Section 301 Committee will convene a public hearing in the main hearing room of the U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20436 beginning at 9:30 am.
- January 14, 2020: Due date for submission of post-hearing rebuttal comments.


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Airlines and travel companies responsible for almost. If you like you share profits to go with a Whoosh, check out supermarket giant Tesco's new delivery drive MIDAS SHARE TIPS UPDATE: Coinbase reported revenue of $2.03 billion, up by a whopping 1040% year-over-year.
With this in mind, would you consider investing in COIN stock? Which is why we've put together some top tips so you can invest in cryptocurrencies strategically, with the right information and see a return on your investment. For example, China banned cryptocurrencies in 2017.Then, a series of hacks from crypto exchanges brought prices down due to fear.
That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. Vacationers in Euro zone can make conversions at the current exchange rate. Which is why we've put together some top tips so you can invest in crypto strategically and make money. Which is why we've put together some top tips so you can invest in cryptocurrencies strategically, with the right information and see a return on your investment. Put simply, it is a financial technology company that provides end-to-end financial infrastructure.
You need to understand the basic mechanics of Bitcoin trading. Stock market experts reveal what company they would invest their money in. There are reports that this has proved hard for some people.
Baillie Gifford US Growth's Kirsty Gibson Investing in the best of British smaller companies can pay off in the Covid recovery: How investors can tap into the country's recovery under a new PM and its 'cheap' stock market From Black Monday, to Lehman's collapse and the Wall Street crash, markets have had a rough autumn ride. A time of market stress could lead to people being locked in and unable to trade.Read our guide to How to be a successful investor, which looks at the far less high octane world of long-term investing and how to make it a success. The hunt for exceptional companies that bring disruption and big returns: Lloyds banker Vim Maru is leading contender for role as.
The Markets Insider currency calculator offers a currency conversion from Bitcoin to Ugandan shilling within seconds. RIOT) Let us kick start the list with one of what are good investments the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, Coinbase. If you like profits to go with a Whoosh, check out supermarket giant Tesco's new delivery drive MITON GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES:
Green fund is a sustainable investment BLACKROCK GREATER EUROPE INVESTMENT TRUST: 'The halving is a big part of the bullish Bitcoin narrative; it's helping to drive prices higher because it's got a lot of people excited.'But in a fundamental sense, it doesn't have as big an impact as many people seem to believe. Yes, Bitcoin enthusiasts will probably hate on me for saying that.
If lithium becomes the new frontier in automobile fuel, should investors be keeping an eye on these lithium battery players? Midam and any data provider in this website Yroo earn money will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website. Putting your eggs in one basket can be a grave mistake. Blue Whale manager: We are no longer accepting comments on this article.
If lithium becomes the new frontier in automobile fuel, should investors be keeping an eye on these lithium battery players? It appears that the construction of four additional buildings, totaling approximately 240,000 sq/ft, has commenced at the Whinstone site. Our tip Learning Technologies goes up 12-fold in just seven years MIDAS SHARE TIPS: Unlike in stocks trading, the crypto sphere has no central body that offers guidance to investors. The trust that's forever seeking new frontiers EDINBURGH WORLDWIDE INVESTMENT TRUST:


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News : 68 People Laid Off as Call Center in Carbondale Closes
Jackson, County, IL, Jan 15, 2015 -- A call center in Southern Illinois has ceased operations as of Tuesday, leaving 68 people out of work.
Andrea Staub, spokeswoman for NTBY, a vitamin manufacturer, confirmed the company’s call center in Carbondale has closed. She said the facility was the backup call center to the main center in New York.
She said both centers were frequently impacted by bad weather at the same time, so NTBY made the decision to keep the New York center and move the Illinois center to a place with a better climate.
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Laid off workers will continue to receive salary and benefits for 60 days and will receive a severance package afterward, Staub said.
"It is always hard when you have to close a facility," Staub said. "But from a business standpoint, and the amount of calls we were receiving, we want to make sure we gave our customers the best service possible."
Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Today's Tip of the Day - Ask For Ideas
NBTY, Inc., formerly known as Nature's Bounty, Inc., is an American manufacturer of vitamins and nutritional supplements which are distributed under many third party brands in the United States and internationally.
Published: Friday, January 16, 2015
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Horizon is an on demand international Contact Center and (BPO) Company.
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We thrive on delivering critical customer service solutions that go beyond transactional interactions. As such, our goal is to enhance lifetime customer value, providing support that is a reflection o...
For over 30 years, CGS has enabled global enterprises, regional companies and government agencies to drive breakthrough performance through business applications, enterprise learning and outsourcing s...
|Competence Call Center|
CCC is a BPO companies in the field of Customer Care in Europe and has been offering high quality international customer care solutions for 19 years. More than 5.500 service professionals at 18 locati...


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Why Electronic Arts’ share price plunged on Wednesday
Today’s video focuses on Electronic arts (NASDAQ: EA) and how its stock price fell more than 5% on September 15, over rumors that its Battlefield the match was going to be delayed. After the market closed on Wednesday, EA confirmed the rumors to be true. Either way, the gaming market continues to grow at solid levels, so the decline in stock prices could provide long-term investors with a buying opportunity. Here are some highlights from the video.
- A report by The NPD Group shows that total US video game sales increased 7% year-over-year (year-over-year) in August, and to date they have increased by more than 13%. Many investors worry that gaming revenues will decline as lockdowns loosen across the country, but that’s not the case when looking at year-over-year growth.
- Battlefield 2042 has been confirmed as delayed until November. The original release date was October 22. The upcoming holiday season could be the main reason for the drop in stock prices, as investors would have preferred an earlier date to give consumers ample time to purchase the game for the holidays.
- Initially, Battlefield 2042 would have been released before his competitor Call of Duty through Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI). With the date change, consumers will be able to purchase Call of Duty first, which could be why Activision investors were so enthusiastic on Wednesday, causing the stock price to end in the green.
Click on the video below for my full thoughts and analysis.
* The stock prices used were the closing prices of September 15, 2021. The video was posted on September 15, 2021.
This article represents the opinion of the author, who may disagree with the “official” recommendation position of a premium Motley Fool consulting service. We are heterogeneous! Challenging an investment thesis – even one of our own – helps us all to think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.


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Along with the brand new debut trailer for Bethesda's upcoming game, Dishonored, they have released a slew of new screens for the game.
I'm waiting for this game right here.
It's like a crazy mix of Assassin's Creed, Bioshock, and I don't know what else. It looks very interesting.
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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A Norfolk couple have won a battle with one of the world’s richest men over the name of their home and gardening business.
A tribunal ruled in favour of Victoria and Lawrence Osborne, L V Bespoke, this week after the French luxury goods giant LVMH launched a trademark dispute against the couple.
LVMH, whose brands include Louis Vuitton and Dior, is owned by Bernard Arnault who vies with Elon Musk for title of the world’s richest man.
Victoria and Lawrence Osborne registered the name of their business, L V Bespoke, as a trademark in 2021 after setting up the company during the pandemic.
However, they subsequently received a legal letter objecting to their trademark on behalf of Louis Vuitton which claimed the couple’s logo could cause “consumer confusion”, according to legal documents.
If you don’t defend a trademark then it ceases to exist as a trademark (in essence at least). Which always does mean that there will be cases over the edge into silliness.
For decades you’d see letters in the papers . “Sir, you reporter referred to biro, it is Biro, a registered trade mark of….” etc. That’s just what is necessary to keep Bito as a trademark. Gotta defend it.


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Icahn Automotive recently celebrated the opening of an updated technical training facility at Alfred State College of Technology.
Icahn Automotive this week unveiled renovated classrooms and hallways at Lincoln Technical Institute’s (Lincoln Tech) Philadelphia campus. The classrooms are part of a larger, national “Race to 2026” program.
Icahn Automotive Group announced a new program designed to invest in and support promising future automotive technicians, as they make their way from the classroom to the service bay.
Icahn Automotive Group announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire RPM Automotive’s 10 locations in northeast Florida.
Icahn Automotive Group LLC has announced its latest offering for vehicle owners: Pep Boys Mobile Crew, a traveling trailer and service bay that will provide on-location preventative maintenance and repair services.
Icahn Automotive Group has purchased 19 independently owned service locations across the U.S.
Pep Boys, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Icahn Automotive Group, has acquired Newpark Auto Service in Newark, Cali.
Icahn Automotive Group today announced several major investments in the Detroit metropolitan region, including further investments in Pep Boys locations as well as several acquisitions.
Icahn Automotive Group LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises L.P., has has completed the acquisition of automotive service company Precision Auto Care, Inc.


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The number of terminated staff reached over 300
Delivery service company Gorillas has confirmed reports that they’ve terminated workers for joining unauthorised strikes in Germany, defending that they’re only enforcing their rights. Gorillas confirmed to Euronews that they’ve sacked several of their workers for participating in a strike over the weekend but did not disclose how many people they dismissed. They attributed their decision to the legal framework surrounding the strike, as German law prohibits such movements unless from workers sanctioned by a recognised trade union.
"We are compelled to enforce our rights in accordance with the existing legal framework and have decided to dismiss the employees who actively participated in these unauthorised strikes and blockades," Gorillas said as quoted by Euronews.
The confirmation comes amid reports that the company fired 350 delivery riders for joining strikes over the weekend. According to the Gorillas Workers Collective, a group that represents the company's non-unionised drivers, the sacked workers first received the news via call before receiving a termination letter.
Read more: Strike ends on victorious note
The workers who joined the strike were lamenting the poor working conditions in the company, such as payment issues, understaffing, and unjustified terminations. Duygu Kaya, a terminated employee, told Deutsche Welle that the company were not paying its workers, not providing safety equipment, and were not giving legal schedules. Kaya attributed the poor working conditions to the company's goal of accomplishing more orders in less time. She said this led to the staff overworking and losing proper breaks.
Gorillas said that they hired more workers to address staffing issues, provide safety equipment, and add a new bonus system for its riders - a claim that the Workers Collective said they were not aware of. Gorillas is an on-demand grocery delivery company, that targets a 10-minute delivery service. To meet its goal, the service heads over to dark stores - or outlets that cater exclusively for online shopping.


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New French cars are doing it tough Down Under.
The top-secret prototypes were seen in Townsville this week as they completed a Down Under durability trial, part of a regular test program in Australia for all the French carmaker's new models.
The cars were heavily disguised. All badges had been removed and false panels covered noses and tails, but they were the Laguna Coupe and the successor to the current Megane hatchback.
The two-door Laguna is expected to break cover next month at the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix but the Megane will not be ready for showrooms until late next year.
The delay on local deliveries will probably be 12 to 18 months for both cars.
Renault Australia refused to confirm the identity of the cars, or even any involvement in a program with the Megane and Laguna Coupe, but their escort was a giveaway.
They were pictured leaving a Townsville motel after an overnight stop with the latest Renault Koleos four-wheel drive, undisguised, carrying the support crew for the French engineering team.
“We do not discuss future products,” Renault Australia spokesman Craig Smith says.
But he admits Renault is using Australia to test its future models, for final certification and advanced engineering on hand-built prototypes.
“Every product we bring out in Australia from now on will have an element of local testing,” he says. “The new Laguna did about 30,000km of testing in Australia before it was launched in Europe.”
The five-door Laguna hatch will be in showrooms here in June, first with a diesel engine as the company's local flagship.
It will be followed several months later by a petrol-engined model. The Laguna Estate wagon will go on sale in September.
Testing of the Laguna Coupe is part of the car's durability certification, which includes hot-weather running and trials on rough-road conditions with cars built on the regular production line in the build-up to full capacity.
The Megane will probably be an engineering prototype, hand-built and undergoing much more fundamental test work.
The car is at least 12 months from its European debut, though it could break cover at the Paris Motor Show in October.
Smith was more open about the Koleos, which Renault Australia will introduce to the Australian motoring press in Morocco next month.
“The Koleos will be on sale here in September,” he says. “It will be available in petrol and diesel, starting at just over $30,000.”


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Following the Version 3.0.0 update for Splatoon 3, Nintendo has announced that they’re already working on Ver. 3.0.1. This is due to some bugs that were accidentally introduced in the Version 3.0.0 patch.
While Nintendo didn’t say when Ver. 3.0.1 would be released, they did share notes on what it will include. You can read the details on this upcoming patch below.
- fixes an issue impacting the friend notifications function in the Lobby and Grizzco Industries (feature is disabled in the mean time)


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It was just yesterday when we reported about the first spy shot of the 2020 BS 6 TVS Apache RR 310. While we were still contemplating the details, a video of the bike surfaced confirming that the new bike will indeed get a revised instrument console!
It can be clearly seen in the video that the new instrument console has slightly larger dimensions when compared to that of the current model of Apache RR 310. It appears to be elongated and looks like a smartphone.
TVS has also changed the welcoming screen with some new animations and graphics. The new dash is also a fully-colour unit and is expected to be loaded with new functions and features such as Bluetooth connectivity, navigation, calls, etc.
Apart from the new dash, the video also revealed the bike’s new dual-tone colour scheme.
We don’t have any official figures for the updated BS 6 engine but most likely they could see a slight drop. The current model has 34 bhp of max power and 28 Nm of torque. Expect the new bike to be launched sometime early next year.
Do let us know in the comments whether the new dash would suit the looks of the RR 310 or not.


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Mobile operators add 12 lakh customers in August
Mobile network operators added about 12 lakh new customers in August as the country's mobile subscriber base continued to grow for the eighth month in a row.
The overall number of subscribers reached 18.86 crore in August, up from 18.74 crore a month earlier, according to data from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.
In July, operators acquired a total of about 14 lakh customers, registering the biggest monthly jump in over a year.
Robi Axiata, Banglalink and Grameenphone shared in that growth while state-run Teletalk ended up losing customers.
Faster internet speed facilitating a superior video experience is drawing customers to Robi's network, according to its Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer Shahed Alam.
"We have continued investment, network optimisation initiatives and are deploying 2600 band spectrum which the company acquired in an auction last year," he said.
"Robi has deployed 2600 band spectrum in 50 percent of the sites that were dealing with high levels of data traffic. And doubling the network capacity helped to improve data speed by 50 percent," he added.
On a year-on-year basis, Robi's subscriber base grew by 2.9 percent.
Customers of Banglalink, the third largest operator, rose by about 4.2 lakh in August, taking its total subscriber base to 4.27 crore.
"Banglalink has been focused on ensuring better quality of service and maintaining its speedthrough spectrum acquisition and by extending network coverage throughout the country," said Taimur Rahman, chief corporate and regulatory affairs officer.
"In fact, our network coverage increased by more than 50 percent over the past 18 months. Our aim is to not only continue increasing customer satisfaction through better quality of services, but also by providing innovative digital services through our MyBL app and Toffee platform."
On a year-on-year basis, its customer base grew by 10.21 percent in August.
Top operator Grameenphone saw its subscriber base rise by 2.5 lakh in August, taking its total number of customers to around 8.21 crore.
But on a year-on-year basis, its subscribers decreased by 1.2 percent.
This is because the company is yet to recover fully from a slump in customers between July and December last year due to a ban on its SIM sales.
On June 29 last year, the telecom regulator banned sales of Grameenphone SIM cards until it "improves its quality of service, including bringing down the call drop rate".
The ban was lifted on January 2 this year.
During the six-month ban, Grameenphone lost almost 50 lakh customers.
Meanwhile, state-owned Teletalk lost about 50,000 customers in August, bringing its total down to 64.5 lakh.


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Richard Fain Named to UK Travel Hall of Fame – Other Cruise News: Viking Ocean Cruises Goes To Italy – Does Princess Listen To Its Passengers?
by Kevin Griffin
Royal Caribbean Cruises chairman and ceo Richard Fain was inducted into the British Travel & Hospitality Hall of Fame last week. As an executive, he spent thirteen years in London with the Norwegian shipping company Gotaas-Larsen, an early one-third shareholder in Royal Caribbean and owner of Eastern Cruise Lines. In Miami since 1988, Fain has been involved with Royal Caribbean for thirty-three years and at its head for almost twenty-five. His biggest regret must be having lost to Carnival a decade ago in his attempt to take over P&O and Princess Cruises. But his success in expanding Royal Caribbean worldwide into half a dozen brands and building the world’s largest cruise ships must far outweigh that set-back. Elsewhere, Viking Ocean Cruises have moved from France to Italy to build their two, option three, new oceangoing cruise ships, which will be slightly larger, at 998 berths and delivered slightly later. Finally, two Panamanian fishermen died in the Pacific last month because the master of the Star Princess was not informed that their small fishing boat was in trouble after some of his passengers reported their plight to a crew member. One has to ask, does Princess Cruises listen to its passengers?
THIS WEEK’S STORY
Richard Fain Named to UK Travel Hall of Fame
Richard Fain, chairman and ceo of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd was last Tuesday inducted into the British Travel & Hospitality Hall of Fame at London’s Savoy Hotel. Created in 1994 to recognize individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the travel and hospitality industries, past recipients have included low-cost airline pioneer Sir Freddie Laker, Sandals founder Butch Stewart, Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson and Carlson chair Marilyn Carlson Nelson.
Other inductees for 2012 include Abercrombie & Kent founder and executive chairman Geoffrey Kent, British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh and Stagecoach Group ceo and co-founder Brian Souter.
Fain joined Royal Caribbean in 1979 as an outside director, and became company chairman and ceo in 1988. Under his leadership, the business has grown to become the world’s second-largest cruise operator, with its brands Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara Club Cruises, Spain’s Pullmantur Cruises, Croisières de France and a half interest in Germany’s TUI Cruises.
Prior to joining Royal Caribbean, Fain spent thirteen years as treasurer, chief financial officer and joint managing director of Gotaas-Larsen Shipping Corp, a London-based owner and operator of cargo ships.
At a breakfast hosted by Pricewaterhouse Coopers and law firm Gates and Partners on Wednesday, Fain was questioned about the development of Royal Caribbean and the industry in general. One of the first questions was about the extent to which cruise lines now rely on increasing their on board revenues to maintain their profits in these days of slow economies and discounted fares.
Fain’s response was agile, as he said that even if 30% of revenue came from on board spend “and other revenues,” this still meant that they depend on fares for 70% of their revenue. This may be true, but just a few years ago that figure was probably closer to 80% of revenues and a 30% proportion is still 40% extra on top of fares.
Fain then went on to volunteer how much more Royal Caribbean was dependent today on the children’s market. He suggested that once you had kids on board, they, being at an impressionable age, would keep coming back – his phrase was “we own them.”
With the presence of Shrek and other Dreamworks characters on Royal Caribbean ships, not to mention rock climbing walls, ice skating rinks, flow riders and Johnny Rockets, this is probably quite true. The average age of Royal Caribbean passengers is now 40.
Another point he made was that when he first started with Royal Caribbean in Miami, the line had only four ships, all sailing from within sight of his office, whereas today more than half of the company’s revenue comes from outside of North America. This is especially true since recent years’ advances into Europe, South America, the Far East and Australia and the addition of new brands in Spain, France and Germany.
On the subject of getting more people to cruise, Fain made the comment that negative impressions and imagery collected early in life were hard to change and that previous cruisers were five times more likely to book a cruise than non-cruisers. Stressing how important the travel agent was to Royal Caribbean, he maintained that “first time cruises are sold and not bought.”
And when it was suggested by the interviewer that once people book a cruise the cruise lines “don’t need agents any more,” Fain was quite emphatic that this was not the case, and that Royal Caribbean relies upon agents to supply the bulk of its business.
While some in the UK think that Carnival UK, having cut agents commissions to 5% this year, want to cut out agents and take more direct bookings, Fain, however, said that Royal Caribbean “will take no precipitate action” on commission levels.
And on the subject of UK agents rebating, a field that was largely inhabited by P&O agents in the past, Fain pointed out that he did not think the system was broken, and that the people who benefited from rebating accounted for only a small percentage of the overall. With Royal Caribbean and Celebrity each bringing one more ship to the UK in 2013, Royal Caribbean lines will keep their options open while continuing to pay the usual minimum commission level of 10%, as do other lines in the UK. Carnival UK, i.e. P&O, Princess and Cunard, on the other hand, are holding to 5%.
Finally, Fain stressed how Royal Caribbean’s modernization programs for older ships were designed to bring those ships up to the standards of newer tonnage so that its lines deliver a consistent product. This is especially necessary as the majority of the company’s passengers continue to cruise on older ships. He added that while “Oasisization” was a little more difficult to pronounce than “Solsticization” that was indeed what was happening as older ships go to shipyards for some quite extensive updates that go well beyond mere refurbishments.
In fact, on top of the recent Celebrity “Solsticization” work, Royal Caribbean is spending $300 million on its own “Royal Advantage” program of ship updates, a sum that is itself enough to build a moderate sized cruise ship.
OTHER CRUISE NEWS
Viking Ocean Cruises Goes To Italy
We brought you the news late in December that Viking Ocean Cruises, the oceangoing sister company of Viking River Cruises, had negotiated a contract with STX France of St Nazaire, who had built the eight Renaissance ships, Crystal Serenity and Regent’s Seven Seas Mariner and are now building Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ Europa 2.
This agreement called for two 41,000-ton 888-berth ships for delivery in the spring of 2014 and spring of 2015, with an option for a third. News came early this month however that negotiations had come to an end, evidently as the subject finance could not be completed.
Now on Thursday comes news from Viking Ocean that it has signed a new memorandum of understanding with Italy’s Fincantieri for two slightly larger 45,000-ton 998-berth ships, with option for a third, for delivery in late 2014 and late 2015. Fincantieri have recently built the latest Oceania ships Marina and Riviera, as well as a number of other upmarket ships.
According to Torstein Hagen, chairman of Viking, “The ship designed by Fincantieri has a fresh and innovative design well suited to deliver the award-winning Viking experience.”
Being a Fincantieri design will presumably mean that these will be quite different ships from those that were originally planned from STX France. If anything, they are expected to be very outward-looking vessels, influenced to a large degree by Viking’s experience with river cruising.
While the dimensions for the STX design were stated at 755 feet by 87 feet, those of the 66,000-ton 1,258-berth Riviera and Marina are 785 x 106 feet, the main difference being that the Oceania ships are much wider, being of present Panamax beam.
The last line to have made this kind of shift was Regent, which had the Mariner built at St Nazaire and the Voyager built at Mariotti (not Fincantieri) in Genoa. The 48,000-ton 708-berth Mariner has dimensions of 713 x 95 feet while the 42,000-ton 708-berth Voyager is somewhat shorter at 673 x 95 feet.
It will be interesting to see the eventual release of the new Viking Ocean design. As we said in December, although the ships will be built to a more human scale, it will be interesting to see whether they will have all the traditional marks of a comfortable ship, i.e. forward-facing observation lounges, walk-around promenade decks and tiered decks aft, in addition to today’s usual outfit.
Does Princess Listen To Its Passengers?
A month ago, on the morning of March 20, some hundred miles from land, Princess Cruises’ Star Princess was en route from Ecuador to Costa Rica, on a Round South America cruise, when she passed a small 26-foot fishing boat with three men on board named the Fifty Cents.
Not noticed by those on the bridge of the Star Princess was that the Fifty Cents, about a mile away, was adrift without power, and that its crew, having no radio, was trying to signal their distress to the Star Princess.
Elsewhere on the Star Princess, a group of three birdwatchers using binoculars and telescopic lenses, managed to spot the drifting Fifty Cents and noticed that one of its crew members, Adrian Vasquez, 18, was waving a red shirt. The Panamanian fishermen had been adrift in the Pacific for sixteen days and had no food left when the Star Princess came into view.
The fishermen waved for help and the birdwatchers alerted the crew, but to the amazement of both groups, the Star princess carried on. Later that day, Fifty Cents’ Capt Oropeces Betancourt, 24, died of dehydration, and five days later, Fernando Osorio, 16, succumbed to dehydration, sunburn and heat stroke.
The sole survivor, Adrian Vasquez, 18, was not rescued until twelve days after the Star Princess passed, when he was found by a larger fishing vessel near the Galapagos Islands, six hundred miles from Rio Hato, Panama, from where the little fishing boat had set out. After pushing his friends’ bodies into the ocean, Vasquez had managed to survive on rain water, raw fish and floating coconuts
Despite the birdwatchers having reported the boat in distress, the master of the Star Princess, Capt Edward Perrin, a veteran who had previously served in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, was never informed and was later said to be devastated when advised of the men’s fate.
Press reports stated that Judy Meredith, one of the birdwatchers, from Bend, Oregon, described seeing a man waving a red T-shirt. She said: “You don’t wave a shirt like that just to be friendly. He was desperate to get our attention.”
She was apparently not allowed to go to the bridge to tell the captain, and the only crew member she could find was a member of the ship’s sales team. The birdwatchers said they showed the crew member the drifting boat through a telescope. When the liner did not stop they thought the crew must have alerted the authorities.
A statement issued by Princess Cruises on Thursday said that it “deeply regrets that two Panamanian men perished at sea after their boat became disabled in early March. Since we became aware of this incident, we have been investigating circumstances surrounding the claim that Star Princess failed to come to the aid of the disabled boat, after a crewmember was alerted by passengers. The preliminary results of our investigation have shown that there appeared to be a breakdown in communication in relaying the passenger’s concern. Neither Captain Edward Perrin nor the officer of the watch were notified.”
I am sure that spurious press reports speculating that the ship had to proceed in order to meet her schedule are just that – spurious. But we now wait to hear the results of this investigation as to specifically how it was the master was not informed of this serious report by passengers on that cruise. Does Princess not listen to its passengers?
Or is there some other explanation?
(Kevin Griffin is managing director of specialist cruise agency The Cruise People Ltd in London, England. For further information concerning cruises mentioned in this article readers can visit his blog)


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After months of waiting, Samsung finally decided to announce that Galaxy Note 9 is going to be unveiled in August. The tech giant is going to host an “Unpacked” event at in Brooklyn, New York and that’s where Galaxy Note 9 will be unveiled. Considering that Galaxy Note 9 will hold the title of being Samsung’s flagship smartphone, the expectations for the smartphone are set really high and Samsung needs to deliver.
Although, this doesn’t mean that Galaxy Note 9 is going to be the only device that Samsung fans will want to hear about during the upcoming event. There have been many leaks which showcased some unique features such as a triple lens camera setup that next year’s Galaxy S10 might be equipped with and fans are hoping that Samsung might confirm some of them. Nonetheless, today we are going to check out everything there is to know about Galaxy S10 and get a glimpse of what’s to come.
Three Different Models
One of the most reoccurring rumors regarding Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S10 is that there are going to be three models of it. This rumor is also being backed by the folks at ET News which is a Korean publication that claims to have insider knowledge.
Moreover, the three models will be different in size and hardware specs. The reason why Samsung is doing this is that it wants to cater to all budget-ranges so that everyone can purchase the company’s flagship smartphone. This will also help Samsung get the upper hand over Apple which is renowned for charging a premium price for its products.
Triple Lens Camera System
If there’s something we all know about Samsung, then it just the fact that the tech giant loves to equip its smartphones with high-end cameras. Samsung’s smartphones are becoming more camera-centric as times passes and ET News is reporting that Galaxy S10 will feature a triple lens camera system.
This unique feature is probably going to be available only on the premium model of Galaxy S10 and even though we might not know what type of improvement it brings, we can be sure that it will snap better pictures than the standard two lens camera system that Galaxy S9 currently sports.
Just like Apple’s latest iPhone X, the upcoming Galaxy S10 will feature 3D advanced face scanning technology which will help users unlock their smartphone simply by looking at it. In addition, Samsung will probably remove the rear-mounted fingerprint scanner now that Galaxy S10 will have facial recognition software.
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