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DENVER, April 11, 2017 — Bext360, a technology company that develops technologies to streamline critical supply chains in emerging economies, today announced that it is launching out of stealth with its first product, along with its “Bext-to-Brew” platform. This platform uses blockchain, artificial intelligence, and IoT to revolutionize the coffee supply chain and bring more equity to coffee farmers. “Bext360 is transforming the coffee supply chain, while bringing consumers and farming communities together to improve product quality, community livelihoods, and the consumer coffee experience,” said Bext360 CEO Daniel Jones.
Additionally, the company announced this week that it has secured $1.2M in funding, led by SKS Venture Partners. “Bext360 hit a number of our investment criteria,” says SKS founding partner, D. Mark Spencer. “What excites us is that Bext360 bridges the gap between a coffee farmer and your morning cup of coffee. Knowing the farmer receives a fair payment on the spot through their smartphone based on volume and quality of beans is exciting technology.”
Bext360 develops technologies that strengthen local businesses and communities in emerging economies by increasing access to capital and streamlining supply chains. Bext360 technology builds upon the fundamental shift in mobile access, microfinance, and mobile/digital payments in developing countries.
About the Coffee Industry
Coffee production employs 25 million people directly and supports 100 million people indirectly worldwide. Coffee companies like Starbucks, Nestle, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Krispy Kreme have increased investment in supply chain transparency.


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LAKELAND, Fla. – Through a collaboration with North American Properties, Publix announced its first Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified store in Sarasota Fla.
The 28,000-square-foot store opened in April 2009. North American Properties developed the store as part of its green initiatives and supported Publix’s commitment to responsibly grow and maintain a successful business without sacrificing its present viability or the planet’s future.
As one of the highest-scoring LEED certified grocery stores in the nation – 40 out of a possible 69 points – Publix demonstrated sustainable practices, including
- construction waste recycling
- LED light fixtures and skylights
- low-emitting vehicle parking
- low-flow plumbing fixtures
- low VOC (volatile organic compounds) building products such as paint and adhesives
- reclaimed water system and
- reflective roof systems.
“We learned a lot about sustainable building through this store,” said Publix Director of Media Relations Maria Brous. “We continue to look for ways to conserve resources and be responsible citizens in our communities while finding the best value for ourselves and our customers.”

domain: news


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Honk Kong, Oct.11 (ANI
): Mentioning the increase of new jobs and contribution of consumption and service industry to overall economic growth, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang
said on Tuesday that the China's economy is better than expected so far this year.
The state-owned Xinhua news agency quoted Li, as saying "On the whole, Chinese economy this year, especially in the third quarter, is better than expected."
He was addressing the opening of a cooperation conference between China and Portuguese-speaking countries in Macao. China
has created more than 10 million jobs in the first nine months in the cities with the urban surveyed unemployment rate in 31 big cities lower than five percent in September, the first time in recent years, said the premier. (ANI


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City unveil new home kit
- Credit: Archant
Norwich City have revealed the club’s new home strip for the 2020/21 season.
The first of three new kit launches ahead of the upcoming season was unveiled on Friday morning. Carrying the yellow and green colours, the shirt features a white, yellow and green collar and sleeve trim along with jacquard fabric, which in a club press release suggests ‘gives the shirt a premium classic feel’.
The club also produced a promotional video to coincide with the release of the new shirt featuring renowned violinist Sally Potterton performing Symphony No. 40 by famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the centre circle of the pitch at Carrow Road.
Sam Jeffery, City’s head of commercial operations, said: “When we set out designing this season’s home kit in collaboration with Errea we had a classical, classy concept in mind, and I think that’s been delivered.
“A huge amount of time and effort has gone into this across our retail, marketing and communications teams, with the result being a launch campaign and shirt that we’re incredibly proud of.
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“This also marks the second season of partnership with Dafabet, who continue to support us in the Championship, and the start of a new partnership with Bidstack and BADU Sports – we’re thankful for the great support from these partners. “
“Furthermore, we’re extremely grateful and excited about the evolution of Norwich City’s partnership with Lotus, with their brand now adorning all youth and academy shirts”.
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- 4 'Blown away' - Gibson reveals how City wooed him for Premier League push
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- 10 Norwich City v Watford: everything you need to know
Principal club partner Dafabet will once again feature on the front of the home shirt with BADU Sports, courtesy of Bidstack, appearing on the lower back of our match shirts for the first time.
Kayleigh Coverdale, City’s head of retail, added in the statement on the official site: “We are delighted to launch our new kit for the upcoming 2020-21 Championship season. This kit has been a year in the making with our technical kit partner Errea and the elegant look and feel is brought to life by the special jacquard fabric - this is a process used for the first time in our 10th season with Errea.
“The jacquard process is one where the pattern has been incorporated into the weave of the fabric rather than printed on.
“This gives the shirt the subtle silky stripes that add to the texture of the fabric.
“For personalised shirts, supporters can now have their name and chosen number in our club colours for the upcoming season.”
The new kit is available to purchase online and the usual retail outlets. The club’s official Carrow Road store reopens on Friday at 9.30am.


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We might not realize the influence they have on us, but junk food advertisements are capable of changing our beliefs. Remarkably, ads for healthy food don’t do the same thing, a new study showed. Researchers wanted to see just how much junk food ads can influence our emotions. They found that these ads can have a pretty big impact on our expectations.
Food and beverage companies spend billions of dollars promoting unhealthy foods, especially for kids. Studies have found strong links between more ads for junk foods and rates of childhood obesity. In fact, junk food marketing can increase the amount of unhealthy food choices kids make within as little as 30 minutes of exposure.
Now, researchers have found that adults aren’t immune either. In adults who didn’t have strong beliefs about how food affects their emotions, ads for junk food makes people think they’ll feel better while eating that type of food. However, the same didn’t happen for adults exposed to ads about eating healthier products.
“Many people think that eating highly processed foods like cheeseburgers and French fries will make them happier, and these beliefs are especially strong in people struggling to control their intake of highly processed foods,” Jenna Cummings, lead author and former research fellow at the University of Michigan, said in a statement.
Influential junk food ads
The study involved 718 participants, who were tested on how food ads affected their food-related emotional expectations. The researchers also assessed how the effects changed with individual levels of food addiction symptoms. Food addiction is marked by cravings for junk food, reduced control over their intake and overconsumption.
Participants were randomly split into four groups. The groups had to watch a 15-second video ad for either:
- highly processed foods;
- minimally processed foods;
- both food groups;
- or ads for cell phones (this was the control group).
The food products were picked from the menus of fast food chains. Participants also had to complete questionnaires about beliefs, feelings, and behaviors.
In individuals with fewer symptoms of food addiction, viewing highly processed food video ads increased expectations that one would feel positive emotions while eating those foods, the researchers found. This fits with previous research.
Cummings said the findings show that regulating junk food ads as well as changing beliefs about how highly processed foods affect emotions could help people eat more nutritious foods. She suggested further studies to look at how longer exposures to food ads changes beliefs about the emotional effects of food and how long changes endure.
Around the world, governments are cracking down against fast food ads, especially concerned about their impact on children. Canada has recently laid out plans to restrict TV and digital media that promote unhealthy food, while Germany’s agriculture minister has called for a ban on all ads accessible by children on unhealthy food.
The study was published in the Journal of Health Psychology.
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Some deride the trials and travails of pro gaming as "childish" and a "non-sport". However, impoverished citizens worldwide are finding a way to raise their families out of poverty thanks to a very different kind of professional gaming -- gold mining and character leveling services.
In the strange and constantly shifting global economy one topic that's always brought up is outsourcing. With many companies shipping jobs overseas, the issue is a hot topic. Companies love it, and look for better ways to do it; many workers hate it. Professor Richard Heeks, head of the development informatics group at Manchester states, "The Indian software employment figure probably crossed the 400,000 mark in 2004 and is now closer to 900,000."
However, a major silent industry has been creeping up, particularly in China -- online gaming services. According to Professor Heeks' studies, 400,000-800,000 people are employed in gold-farming business alone, with 80 percent approximately in China. While Professor Heeks says the business has a much lower profile than outsourced jobs, he says, "Nonetheless, the two are still comparable in employment size, yet not at all in terms of profile."
He describes, "I initially became aware of gold farming through my own games-playing but assumed it was just a cottage industry. In a way that is still true. It's just that instead of a few dozen cottages, there turn out to be tens of thousands."
Professor Heeks discovered that on average gold farmers made about $145 (£77) per month in 2008, creating a $500M USD industry. In countries like China, where the average income is $150, such employment can provide poor with a lucrative second job and means of rising up out of poverty. The industry is buoyed by tight demand in games such as World of Warcraft (WoW) in which online game currency is scarce.
One interesting part of the booming market is that it is quasi-illegal (and perhaps by extension, quasi-evil). Most massively multiplayer online (MMO) games have strict user contracts which prohibit such activities. Users are regularly deleted when they're caught engaging in such activities. However, the gold miners continue to find a never-ending stream of customers.
Another major emerging market is for character leveling services. Many Chinese businesses are offering to level players' WoW characters and get powerful items for them, which busy users would never have time for.
The phenomenon of a booming black market is described by Professor Meeks who states, "I was drawn to write about gold farming due to my perception that it's a significant phenomenon that academics and development organisations are unaware of. It is also a glimpse into the digital underworld. Or at least the edges of a digital underworld populated by scammers and hackers and pornographers and which has spread to the "Third World" far more than we typically realise."
Steven Davis, chief of game security firm Secure Play said gold farming is nothing new, but is just now coming into its own. It meets a basic need of online gamers, he believes. He states, "When you get people with more money than time and time than money the two will find a way to meet."
Some gold farming businesses have risen to employ hundreds. Sales are generally managed through secret underground sites associated with the game of choice. MMO providers make halfhearted attempts to crack down on these sites and their users, but there's little that can be done to stop the trend. Some MMO's like EVE Online have deployed complex economic systems, which have helped limit gold farmers, but typically the most popular games like WoW have simpler systems, which incidentally make it easier to farm gold.
Just like outsourcing, gold farming is moving down the chain to more impoverished nations. Some wealthier players in China are now paying people in Vietnam to farm gold at cheaper rates. One undesirable side effect is some crime gangs in China have taken to stealing people's credit cards to finance accounts. Some of the more tech-savvy gangs also hack into people's accounts stealing their gold, which they then sell online.
Prosecution of such crimes is difficult. Often its near impossible to locate gold farmers in the real world. And many MMO users support the gold farmers. Says Mr. Davis, "You could get rid of it, but you would get rid of one of the most fundamental parts of player-to-player interaction."


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The goods can be authenticated as unique using nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, which use blockchain (the transparent and secure digital ledger) to uniquely identify items. NFT-based collectibles can be verified as one-of-a-kind items, and that means they can be auctioned off as rare items.
Genies is using NFTs to create items that will memorialize the entertainer’s biggest life moments, said CEO Akash Nigam in an interview with GamesBeat. The one-of-a-kind item that Genies has created for Mendes is a virtual guitar. It will also create a necklace, vest, and earrings. The sale will take place on the OpenSea platform starting Friday. Nigam spoke recently about virtual beings at our GamesBeat Summit: Into the Metaverse event in January.
“Our deck talked about NFT’s in 2018,” Nigam said. “We wanted to release digital goods as NFTs and maybe release them in 2023 and 2024. Obviously, everything is accelerated. And so here we are.”
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Genies gets a cut of the revenue, but Mendes will donate all of his proceeds to The Shawn Mendes Foundation Wonder Grants. Fans can in turn sell their collectibles to others, turning the NFTs into a kind of investment. If you can’t afford to buy the whole thing, you could buy a piece of it, as you can get fractional ownership of a digital item.
“What we’re able to do is not only allow the celebrities to memorialize a moment and own it forever through their journey, but their fans can own a piece of that moment through the form of digital identities,” Nigam said. “Shawn Mendes doing an activation with us on OpenSea, which is the largest NFT marketplace in the world. It will be their first drop.”
Genies creates cartoon-like avatars, or digital characters, who represent celebrities and athletes like J.Lo, Offset, Rihanna, DJ Khaled, Justin Bieber, Cardi B, J Balvin, and more.
“People can own something that they’re able to use to express to themselves to other people,” Nigam said. “We see this as unlocking the potential of digital goods. Mesut Ozil announced his transfer to a Turkish club and he announced it through his Genie avatar. We actually spoke to a family in Turkey, who stayed up for the drop. And they said that they were borderline crying, saying that these digital goods encapsulated so much of the emotion that they were feeling about Mesut Ozil coming back home to play for their home country.”
Nigam said that through a Genies’ marketplace partnership, Shawn Mendes’ digital good wearables will drop on OpenSea on Friday. OpenSea is the largest NFT marketplace to buy, sell, and discover rare digital items. Mendes will also be giving away some of the digital wearables to fans through an exclusive offer.
NFTs are spreading in games, art, and other collectibles. The New York Times wrote a story this week about an artist named Chris Torres, who sold the Nyan Cat (that’s the flying kitty in the shape of a Pop-Tart) for $580,000. Since the token can be verified, the buyers will know whether the art is a fake or if it’s real. CryptoKitties maker Dapper Labs is reportedly in the midst of raising $250 million at a $2 billion valuation, and the company’s NBA Top Shot collectibles have hit more than $123 million in sales.
“The digital goods economy is massive, with NFT’s generating billions now,” Nigam said. “The NFT space is booming because people see that they’re able to capitalize on it. It’s booming because it feels like the start of the Bitcoin revolution, where people are coming around this idea of like an internet currency. That was really cool, but there were way more naysayers back then. Now, I think because of the pandemic because people have been accelerating the internet because they’ve seen the rise of cryptocurrency. They’re way more malleable to understanding a concept like NFTs and why it’s valuable and why it’s cool to collect.”
Because it’s become such a mania, some people may buy NFTs to flip the assets and make a profit. But Nigam believes the assets have an underlying value, and that it’s not a fad.
“People want to collect different digital goods for their avatars because they’re collecting things that are memories in their lives,” said Nigam. “So Justin Bieber releases a Christmas album, he maybe sells a limited edition Christmas hat, and you’re able to buy that Christmas hat to memorialize that moment. The philosophy of Genies is about collecting digital goods for your own memories and own cultural moments.”
The Mendes guitar is an image of a 360-degree rotating 3D model of his SMF Fender guitar. As a reward for owning this item, collectors will receive an exclusive earring of the guitar, redeemable to wear on their Genie.
“Anytime Shawn wants to memorialize a key life moment, he can use Genies to do it,” Nigam said. “We’re building out this long narrative.”
The Mexico City Vest, from one of Mendes’ memorable performances, can also be purchased and worn on the buyer’s own digital character, or Genie. You can show off your Genies on platforms such as Giphy, which has 700 million daily active users.
The Autographed Shawn Mendes Foundation T-Shirt is a digital shirt that shows the Shawn Mendes Foundation logo, with an official digital signature from Shawn across the sun emblem on the back. This 360-degree rotating model of the shirt can be redeemed to be worn on the owner’s Genie.
Similar to CryptoKitties, collectors can now participate in Genies’ “Digital Goods Drops,” which have been described as the “Pokemon of Culture” — collecting pieces of cultural moments from Genies celebrities such as album releases, philanthropic initiatives, new team announcements, and more.
Nigam thinks that sports will drive a lot of the growth for NFTs, as fans who save their tickets will think about the memories they have from going to the games. Those tickets could be embedded with NFTs and even gain value over time.
NFT art is so new that some people are buying it and finding they have no way to show it off, except perhaps through a gallery in Decentraland. But Nigam said that Genies avatars can display the NFT digital goods that people purchase. He said that Mendes will have a variety of both expensive and inexpensive digital goods, and that this kind of variety will help spread NFT technology to the mainstream.
“I think that NFTs are really the next social wave,” Nigam said.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings.


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Tune in to watch the brand’s 24/7 livestream where they will attempt to contact extraterrestrial life by offering Earth’s finest liquid: HARD MTN DEW BAJA BLAST® Mix Pack
Beam us up! HARD MTN DEW® is coming in peace just in time for Alien Abduction Day on March 20, as the brand aims to become the first beverage abducted by aliens. That's right, HARD MTN DEW is offering our alien visitors an example of peak human innovation guaranteed to get us on their good side: an entire pallet of the newly permanent HARD MTN DEW BAJA BLAST Mix Pack. And to top it off, we're livestreaming the whole thing.
In honor of the HARD MTN DEW BAJA BLAST Mix Pack rolling out now and the expected extraterrestrial return to Earth on Alien Abduction Day, HARD MTN DEW is celebrating big by luring UFOs to the custom-built, alien friendly "HARD MTN DEW BAJA BLAST Beam Up" alien abduction site. Built in a remote area of the Arizona desert, the alien abduction site is near the home of one of the most witnessed and documented mass UFO sightings in modern history: The Phoenix Lights, and home to the state with some of the most reported sightings in the U.S., according to the National UFO Reporting Center.
Specifically designed for easy UFO landing, the site features UFO landing lights, custom alien-inspired graphics and an easy-to-follow bullseye pointing to our offering: 100 HARD MTN DEW BAJA BLAST Mix Packs atop a raised platform for spotting from space.
Beginning today through Alien Abduction Day on March 20, alien enthusiasts, fans and the extraterrestrial-ly curious can tune in to (hopefully) witness HARD MTN DEW make first contact. Head to HARD MTN DEW's YouTube to catch the 24/7 livestream of the alien abduction zone. As fans tune in, the brand will also be surprising a few lucky drinkers with custom swag to commemorate the occasion: HARD MTN DEW-branded tinfoil-inspired bucket hats.
"We've captured the hearts and minds of HARD DEW Nation here on Earth, so it's only fitting we continue the wildly passionate fandom by setting our sights to the skies," said Erica Taylor, senior brand director for HARD MTN DEW. "Our fans will agree, the HARD MTN DEW BAJA BLAST Mix Pack is out of this world delicious, so to celebrate its now year-round availability, we wanted to launch in a big way – and there's nothing bigger than reintroducing it through an intergalactic exchange."
Rolling out now and available all year long, the HARD MTN DEW BAJA BLAST Mix Pack features fan favorite HARD MTN DEW BAJA BLAST, plus three ridiculously refreshing variations aliens won't be able to resist: HARD MTN DEW BAJA BLAST Pineapple, HARD MTN DEW BAJA BLAST Mango and HARD MTN DEW BAJA BLAST Punch. HARD MTN DEW is currently available for purchase in Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Las Vegas, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Wyoming – with expanded availability coming soon.
For more information and the latest details on our alien abduction, visit HardMountainDew.com and stay tuned to @TheRealHardMtnDew on YouTube. Plus, follow along @HardMountainDew on X, Facebook and Instagram.
About HARD MTN DEW:
Bold, delicious flavor with the added bite of 5% ABV, HARD MTN DEW brings the big citrus flavor fans of the soft drink know and love, now with the hard kick of alcohol. Available in a variety of flavors, including HARD MTN DEW®, HARD MTN DEW BAJA BLAST®, HARD MTN DEW Livewire® and more, HARD MTN DEW offers no caffeine, zero sugar, 100 calories per 12oz. serving and a whole lot of flavor. For more information, please visit hardmountaindew.com.


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There is a strong trend for MVNOs to address business markets. Independent analyst firm, Ovum, predicts nearly 24 percent of all new subscriber connections over the next five years will come from MVNO subscribers. Additionally, although the current enterprise market represents less than 10 percent of these connections now, Ovum expects it triple to 30 percent by the end of 2016.
Growing MVNO Enterprise Trends
Mobile developers, cloud providers, integrators, and MVNEs are offering more mobile enterprise solutions and infrastructure, enabling MVNOs to provide business solutions packages and more services addressing the enterprise market. The pay-as-you-go consumption model, combined with the increasing flexibility of mobile service options now available to MVNOs, is driving this growing trend. Ovum expects to see many different usage models and service bundles with integrated mobile service offers across many different verticals and in all segments of the enterprise market.


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Photo by Christopher Bulle
Fix a faulty zipper? Or patch up a rip in a jacket? If you live in Sweden, these simple acts of repair could result in a lower tax bill. In a bid to reduce materials consumption, the country’s ruling Social Democrat and Green party coalition has proposed tax breaks on repairs for everything from bicycles to footwear. In plans drawn up for the fall budget, Swedish officials suggested dropping, from 25 percent to 12 percent, the value-added tax on getting these items fixed. A second proposal will allow Swedes to claim back on their income tax up to half the labor costs of fixing appliances such as washing machines, fridges, dishwashers, and stoves.
Photo by Billie Grace Ward
MAKE DO AND MEND
“We believe that this could substantially lower the cost and so make it more rational economic behavior to repair your goods,” Per Bolund, Sweden’s minister for financial markets and consumer affairs, and one of six Green party cabinet members, told the Guardian.
While the measure is expected to cost about 740 Swedish kronor ($86.4 million) in tax revenue to implement, Bolund estimates that slashing the VAT will reduce the costs of repairs enough to stimulate a new service industry in Sweden, boosting employment.
The government has also budgeted 43 million SEK ($5 million) on a campaign to encourage people to repair their goods more often.
The idea, Bolund said, isn’t necessarily about consuming less but consuming better.
“I believe there is a shift in view in Sweden at the moment,” Bolund said. “There is an increased knowledge that we need to make our things last longer in order to reduce materials’ consumption.”
If greenlit, the proposals will become law from January 1 next year.


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CBT News, Sept. 17, 2021 – The shortage of new vehicle inventory has led to a decline in sales and an uptick in stress for many of you. Cox Automotive is reporting that August was the fourth consecutive month of slowing sales for new vehicles. On this episode, Charlie Chesbrough, senior economist and senior director of Industry Insights at Cox Automotive, joins Jim Fitzpatrick to walk us through what is happening and how dealers are responding in the Q3 Cox Automotive Dealer Sentiment Index.
With August behind us, Chesbrough says one of the positive take-ways is that there is still interest from consumers for vehicles. Demand remains high for both new and used. It’s just market constraints on the supply side. Chesbrough says what dealers need to get ready for, is that the problem isn’t going away anytime soon.
The sales pace we saw in August was 13.1 million, far below what we expected for a 17 million market says Chesbrough. You’re going to have a difficult time if you’re a picky buyer out there trying to find exactly what you want. Chesbrough says he’s finding that successful dealers are able to get their customers to order their vehicles. He thinks as the products start to come back in, he’s see the consumers coming back to buying vehicles because they’re going to want them.


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IBM’s $33 billion all-cash deal for Red Hat is expected to literally reset the cloud landscape says IBM CEO Ginni Rometty. “This now changes the cloud battle to open, which is what we both are together, to proprietary. This allows them to move mission-critical work safely and securely,” said Rometty.
Oracle’s Larry Ellison introduced the Generation 2 Cloud at Oracle OpenWorld 2018 yesterday with a primary emphasis on security. “Other clouds have been around for a long time, and they were not designed for the enterprise,” Ellison said.
An explosive Bloomberg Businessweek report details how China was able to pull off the most significant supply chain attack ever against American companies.
Microsoft is competing with Amazon for the enterprise cloud by focusing on being more than just a technology provider says Julia White, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Azure Marketing.
The recent massive data breach at Facebook have brought to focus that if one of largest technology companies in the world can have their data compromised then any company, large or small, is vulnerable.
Identity as a platform on the cloud is hot, hot, hot. Companies of all sizes are seeing identity management in the cloud as the future of online security.
Here is a quick tutorial that will help you easily deploy IBM MQ on AWS as a managed service on AWS. Waleed (Woz) Arshad shows you how quick and easy it is to get started.


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UNION activists picketed an Ellesmere Port Peugeot dealership in protest over the French company's plans to axe a car plant in Coventry.
Around a dozen demonstrators gathered outside Brazier Brothers in Dock Street between 10am and midday on Saturday to en-courage people not to buy cars from the franchise.
The protest was also intended to send out a strong message to Vaux-hall Motors which recently axed 900 jobs at the North Road plant in Ellesmere Port.
However, general manager of Brazier Brothers, David Ramsay, was highly critical of the protestors and said the action led to a 'very frustrating morning' of trade.
Amicus and the Transport & General Workers Union also organised pickets outside selected UK Peugeot and Citroën dealerships across the region in protest over the closure of the company's Ryton plant with the loss of 2,300 jobs.
Amicus regional secretary Kevin Coyne said: 'This is a wake-up call for the company. They are jeopardising their sales and their reputation by pushing ahead with their plans to close Ryton.
'We believe that consumers will want to punish them for their decision to close their profitable and productive UK site and consign 2,300 workers to the dole.
'Peugeot depend on UK sales so they have to show a commitment to UK workers.
'This action is also aimed at sending a strong signal to car manufacturers like Vauxhall that if they expect to sell cars in the UK then they should support UK jobs otherwise they too may face similar action.'
Mr Ramsay said: 'The demonstration did affect us and it was a very frustrating morning although we don't yet know to what extent.
'I don't know what they were trying to achieve but it was against the law and they were moved on.'


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New Zealand is on track to vote on cannabis legalization in 2020.
The New Zealand government on Tuesday released a draft Cannabis Legalization and Handle Bill (Bill) for public debate.
The Bill proposes a regulatory model that covers the production, provide, and adult-use of marijuana in New Zealand.
The government has published the draft of the Bill to make certain that New Zealanders are informed and educated on the situation ahead of they cast their vote on a referendum in 2020.
Justice Minister Andrew Tiny says that it is vital for voters to go into the 2020 Common Election informed on the referendum.
“By producing the referendum queries and the initial draft Cannabis Legalisation and Handle Bill obtainable early the intention is to encourage public awareness and discussion,” says Justice Minister Tiny. “It is vital that the public really feel they can meaningfully participate in the referendum procedure.”
Tiny says that he aims to have the final draft of the Bill obtainable by early 2020 so there is time to argue for modify.
The referendum divides cannabis into recreational, medicinal, and hemp categories.
Whilst recreational marijuana is presently illegal, medicinal cannabis merchandise are obtainable in New Zealand with a prescription, and the present scheme governing the production and sale of hemp has been in location in the nation considering the fact that 2006.
Beneath the guidelines of the Bill, adults more than the age of 20 would be permitted to buy, possess, and consume recreational cannabis merchandise with no a prescription.
The Bill would ban all promoting and marketing of cannabis merchandise, limit consumption to private residences and licensed premises, set restrictions on potency, limit sales to particularly-licensed brick-and-mortar shops, and establish a licensing program for all stages of production from seed to sale.


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An East Village boutique owner who last July was shot by his schizophrenic neighbor — and then accused Craigslist of selling the man the gun — has lost his court battle with the online service provider.
In a decision to be published tomorrow, Manhattan federal court judge Richard Berman wrote that Craigslist wasn’t at fault for the gun purchase because it was not the publisher of the ad. Publishers of “third party content” are immune from prosecution under the Communications Decency Act of 1996.
Boutique owner Charles Gibson’s complaint claimed Craigslist “is either unable or unwilling to allocate the necessary resources to monitor, police, maintain and properly supervise the goods and services” sold on its site. Gibson was shot six times, and sued Craigslist for $10 million dollars.
Of course, the real question in this case is this: how a schizophrenic man from New York was able to qualify for a permit to purchase a gun in the first place? This seems to fly in the face of New York’s strict gun laws and Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s efforts to prosecute out-of-state gun dealers for selling guns that end up getting trafficked to New York.
Even if Craigslist isn’t legally responsible, clearly founder Craig Newmark takes it to heart when people use his site for the wrong reasons. Not long ago, and amidst public pressure, he attended the funeral of a woman who was murdered after she went to the home of a man who placed a baby-sitting ad on the site.
But there’s a big difference between this lawsuit and the “Craigslist Killer” cases. In this case, we think Craigslist should bear some responsibility. A gun is a known lethal product, and a seller of guns must have a license to do so.
While it would be almost ridiculous to expect them to vet the backgrounds of people who put ads up on their site, Craiglist could easily check gun licenses, and it should. Its service is an ideal medium for anyone who might try to bypass gun laws and sell to people like Jesus Ortiz — the man who shot Charles Gibson last July.


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Something is going on at Foxconn. Do any Slashdotters know of a good source for news about Chinese labor disputes?"
Cybercriminals had infiltrated insecure supply chains and introduced counterfeit versions of Microsoft Windows embedded with malware on the new PCs, Richard Domingues Boscovich, assistant general counsel for Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit, wrote in a blog post Thursday. The discovery prompted Microsoft to obtain a U.S. court order allowing it to take down an emerging botnet called Nitol, and disrupt more than 500 other strains of malware.
How many product quality disasters do there have to be before we work out that China is not a reliable supplier?"
A dispute of unclear origin sparked a riot at a Chinese Foxconn plant, in which as many as 1,000 workers participated. For two hours, the workers threw bottles at security and destroyed property in the plant’s dormitory area before ultimately being subdued with the help of local law enforcement.
Retribution will be swift and terrible. I can only assume that conditions in the factory must be very bad indeed."
All the simple programs have been written.


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All grant arnott
Click Frenzy, the online shopping mega-sale held in November, is launching a new event, Mayhem, on Tuesday May 19 to kickstart the mid-year online shopping frenzy.
The team behind Click Frenzy has unveiled Click Mania, Australia’s newest online shopping destination, an eye-catching year-round bonanza of offers.
With the website holding up under pressure, this year’s Click Frenzy event is already being hailed a success by retailers witnessing record-breaking results.
Click Frenzy is powering up for its flagship event, the Sale That Stops A Nation starting Tuesday November 19, with a close to full roster of super brand name Australian retailers.
Click Frenzy Mother’s Day has been live for well over 12 hours. Here’s our update on crashes, piggybackers and Twitter commentary.
After dusting off from a dramatic launch last year, Click Frenzy is back for 2013, rolling out a calendar of seasonal events and new plans for November.
The year 2012 marked the continuing growth of the online retail juggernaut in Australia. We take a look at some of the trends and highlights of another frenetic year.
Popular pureplay footwear retailer, StyleTread, appears to be in the market for potential suitors to assist with enhancing its performance.
Last Tuesday 20 November, Click Frenzy became one of the most talked about stories in Australian media. In an effort to set things straight, here are my personal views on the Click Frenzy story.


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2015 Maruti Swift Dzire to be launched in India on February 25
As Maruti Suzuki India has already started dispatching units of 2015 Maruti Swift Dzire to its dealerships, the prices of the 2015 Swift Dzire is already known to our readers. The company will formally launch the 2015 Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire on February 25.
All variants of the 2015 Swift Dzire is priced between Rs. 5.07 lakhs to Rs. 7.81 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi prices). Compared to the 2014 Swift facelift, the 2015 facelifted model sports extensive cosmetic changes. The exteriors of the 2015 Dzire facelift sport a new front bumper, chrome enclosures for the foglights, smoked headlights and a new chrome grille. The rear profile sports new rear bumper withour foglights and the car sits on a new set of alloy wheels.
The 2015 Dzire facelift will be offered in a new Dark grey shade and besides that color option of blue and red shade will also be available.
The interiors of the top end ZXi (top petrol variant) and ZDi (top diesel variant) get Bluetooth-enabled music system, electrically-adjustable and folding wing mirrors, keyless entry with push button start, steering-mounted buttons for answering/ending phone calls and a power socket (at the rear).
Mechanically, the 2015 Swift Dzire do not get any changes, however, the engines have been finetuned using a new lubricant for the car’s diesel motor and with this, the car will now deliver 10 percent more fuel efficiency. The automaker will continue using the 1.2-liter petrol and 1.3-liter diesel engines.
Maruti Suzuki will launch the 2015 Swift Dzire on February 25 in India and after its launch the facelifted compact sedan will compete with Honda Amaze, Tata Zest and Hyundai Xcent. Maruti Swift Dzire was first launched in India in 2008, after which the company incorporated few changes to the car’s dimensions and exteriors to its 2012 model. The compact sedan segment is one of the most popular segments in India with many automakers getting into this particular segment.


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Fashion retailer The Limited in St. Clair Square mall will close Jan. 7, an employee at the store confirmed Saturday morning.
Though higher-ups at the New Albany, Ohio-based company would not confirm the closure, the Fairview Heights location, along with all other St. Louis region locations, will all close in the next few weeks, the St. Louis Business Journal reports. The Fairview Heights store employee declined to provide her name.
The store’s website advertised discounts of 50 percent off with a banner reading, “All sales final. Please allow 10 business days for processing.”
In late November, the company warned the state of 246 possibly permanent layoffs at its headquarters, saying, “It is even possible that we could close our home office altogether.” Missed sales goals combined with “financial obligations” mean the company will either have to “wind down” its operations or sell itself off, according to a letter from the company to state officials.
Limited Stores is rumored to be planning for bankruptcy and liquidation, Bloomberg Markets reported in December. The company struggled recently to keep up with online sales and a consumer shift away from malls, Bloomberg reports.
There are also Limited stores at St. Louis Premium Outlets in Chesterfield; West County Center in Des Peres; Saint Louis Galleria; Chesterfield Mall and Mid Rivers Mall in St. Peters, according to the St. Louis Business Journal.
The Limited was founded in 1963 in Columbus, Ohio, according to the company’s website. The company went public in 1969 and opened its 100th store in 1976. It was acquired by investment firm Sun Capital Partners, Inc. in 2007. The firm is focused on leveraged buyouts, private equity, debt and other investments.


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Insurance regulator IRDA has asked life insurance companies to introduce the Saral Pension Scheme from April 1 this year. Under the Saral Pension Plan, insurance companies will have the option of giving only two annuity (annuity). According to the guidelines issued by IRDA, it will not get maturity benefits under Saral Pension Plan. However, it will have an option to refund 100% of the purchase price.
The regulator has said in the guidelines that the policy can be surrendered at any time after six months from the date of commencement of policy. According to the guidelines, the minimum annuity amount will be one thousand rupees per month, three thousand rupees per quarter, six thousand rupees per half year or 12 thousand rupees annually. IRDA has stated that it will meet the needs of an average customer in order to maintain uniformity in plans of insurance companies and provide products on behalf of all life insurance companies. IRDA has stated that it is necessary to introduce individual immediate annuity products with common features and standard terms and conditions. Experts say that this initiative of IRDA will make it easier for consumers to choose the plan.
What is an annuity? The
companies that promise to pay an annual amount in lieu of your deposit in a pension plan are called annuity (annuity). There is an option to choose the period on a monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly basis. This is available under the pension plan for regular income after retirement.
According to the more convenient and beneficial IRDA, the simple pension plan will come with a life annuity with a 100 percent refund of the purchase price. This means that the annuity will be paid to the customer for a lifetime and after his or her death, the spouse will continue to receive the annuity until his or her death. After this, on the death of the spouse, the legal heir will get 100% of the purchase price back. more read : Easy formula to become a millionaire, become rich by investing only 900 rupees
Why the need for a simple pension plan On the
instructions of the insurance regulator IRDA, insurance companies have started offering a simple insurance policy from January 1. In this, the name and condition are one so that consumers do not have trouble in the election. Insurance companies sell pension plans under different names like insurance policies and claim to be the best. It is very difficult for consumers to choose among them and such products are also sold by pretending to have similar names. In view of this, Irda has asked to introduce a simple pension plan with one-of-a-kind conditions and facilities.


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Wednesday 2nd November 2011
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Small, independent electricity retailers are the losers under new Electricity Authority rules governing the pre-payments that local electricity network monopolies can levy before allowing power to be sold on their network.
The new Electricity Authority rules, which come into force in May 1, next year, will require local network monopolies to accept two weeks’ payment or a third-party guarantee equivalent to two weeks’ line charges, if they don’t have a credit rating of at least BBB- from Standard & Poor’s.
Networks will, however, have discretion to seek up to two months’ line charges in total, as long as they pay interest on the difference between the total sought and the two-week estimate.
While the credit rating requirement has long been a bugbear for the major electricity retailers because of its prohibitive cost if the network required a new rating analysis, small independent retailers were once again victims, said the managing director of low-cost retailer Pulse Utilities, Dene Biddlecombe.
Many network companies were owned by local community trusts and should be welcoming new entrants to the market as they helped push power prices down in the areas where they operate, said Biddlecombe.
Instead, they imposed prudential payment requirements that stifled competition from small, independent retailers.
“There’s an inherent imbalance between networks and small retailers,” Biddlecombe told BusinessDesk. “The networks hold all the cards. They will give a breach notice within minutes, threatening to kick you off their network.”
Pulse has struggled to meet an array of up-front prudential payment requirements covering not only network companies but also the NZX-administered wholesale electricity market and recently took Buller Electricity, a network owner, as a major shareholder in order to gain critical mass and access to working capital to meet such payments.
Major electricity generator-retailers don’t suffer the same stresses because they are backed by billion dollar-plus balance sheets.
With its latest decision, Biddlecombe said the EA had backed the big industry players and the lines company monopolies, to the detriment of retail electricity competition.
“The gen-tailers have had a great win because our growth could be restricted by our ability to fund growth,” he said. “The Electricity Authority has let new retailers down. They came out with a mandate to promote competition, and everything they have done has been to maintain the status quo.”
Biddlecombe conceded that network companies had previously been able to charge up to six months’ anticipated network charges, rather than the two months now proposed.
These regulations will apply from December for new use-of-system agreements and from May next year for existing agreements.
Also potentially helpful to major generators is the EA’s proposed new “stress-testing” regime, which will require major consumers to provide regular, confidential information about their hedge positions, to determine the market’s overall level of risk management in the event of wholesale market price volatility.
The EA says unhedged major users can enjoy prolonged periods of stable spot market prices, punctuated by periods of much greater volatility than in other commodity markets.
This in turn “provides fertile ground for lobbying for intervention and for arguments the electricity market is uncompetitive”, and creates incentives for major users not to hedge their exposure appropriately. Ad hoc political intervention becomes the risk, the EA says.
By introducing stress-testing, it will be clear that “parties buying electricity on the spot market do so knowing the risks they are taking are accordingly accountable for the consequences of those decisions.”
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Monopoly comes to Lagos, Nigeria's biggest city
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - December 12, 2012 (WPVI) -- Nigeria's largest city of Lagos is no boardwalk, but now Monopoly is taking inspiration from the city's sprawling chaos.
Officials unveiled a Lagos-themed Monopoly board game Tuesday in the city. Officials walked past a massive display of the new board game on the floor at Lagos' City Hall on Lagos Island, showing the familiar spaces with their new themed names.
The most expensive property is not Boardwalk, but Lagos' Banana Island, which is an artificial island with mansions and exclusive apartments. The cheapest is Makoko, a waterfront slum of homes on stilts. There's still chance and jail, with the option of just visiting as always.
Hasbro Inc., which owns the rights to Monopoly, said Bestman Games Ltd. would distribute the Lagos version of the game under an exclusive license.
africa, bizarre bazaar
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9 min ago


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A former vendor of raw dairy products at the South Pasadena Farmers’ Market pleaded guilty Friday to a misdemeanor count of selling unsanitary and improperly labeled milk, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office.
Ventura County farmer Sharon Ann Palmer originally faced nine counts of selling products that were not processed in accordance with health codes, including a charge stemming from a sale of her products at the South Pasadena Farmers’ Market on May 13, 2010. That count was one of the eight dismissed as part of a plea deal, according to district attorney’s office spokeswoman Jane Robison.
Palmer, 52, was sentenced to three years of probation, 40 hours of community service and was fined $1,300.
She operated Healthy Family Farms in Santa Paula and sold products at a variety of locations, most notably the Venice raw food emporium Rawesome.
Eugenie Victoria Bloch, 59, a Healthy Family Farms volunteer, also pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count and was sentenced to two years probation.
James Cecil Stewart, who operated Rawesome, is awaiting trial in cases in both Ventura and Los Angeles counties, according to the district attorney’s office.
-- Bill Kisliuk, Times Community News


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FedEx is forecasting another record holiday season with an 8.8% increase and December 15 as the busiest day
FedEx Corporation (FedEx Express) (Memphis) is forecasting another record holiday. The company expects to move more than 290 million shipments between Black Friday and Christmas Eve, an 8.8 percent increase in overall year-over-year Peak seasonal volume.
The season is expected to be bolstered by three volume spikes throughout December, occurring the first three Mondays of the month and each expected to surpass 20 million in volume.
December 15 is projected to be the busiest day in company history, with a forecasted 22.6 million shipments moving around the world. Peak projections are included in FedEx earnings guidance for FY15.
Copyright Photo: Ken Petersen/AirlinersGallery.com. An upgraded McDonnell Douglas MD-10-30F (DC-10-30F) registered as N321FE (msn 47836) arrives in Las Vegas.
Arrow Cargo (3rd) McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30F N526MD (msn 46998) MIA (Bruce Drum), originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.
Arrow Cargo (3rd) (Miami) operated its last cargo flight last night. There are no flights scheduled for today and the fleet is sitting at Miami. This version of Arrow commenced operations on May 9, 2002.
The company issued the following press release:
Arrow Air Holdings Corp. (“Arrow”) today (June 30) announced the company will cease scheduled service operations, effective immediately. Arrow issued the following
“Like many companies in our industry, Arrow Air has experienced significant operating losses as a result of increasing operating costs and declining revenues. The decision to wind down the company’s schedule service operations was a difficult one. This decision
was not made lightly, and was a last resort after the company exhaustively searched for other options including financing or a sale of the business. Arrow is now focused on helping to smooth the transition for the company’s hard working, dedicated employees
as well as its customers, suppliers and other stakeholders.”
Arrow Air Holdings Corporation, operating under the trade name of Arrow Cargo, is a U.S. certificated all cargo air carrier operating out of Miami International Airport.
Read the full media report from the South Florida Business Journal:
Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum. Arrow Cargo operated a mixed fleet of McDonnell Douglas DC-10s and new Boeing 757-200 freighters. DC-10-30F N526MD (msn 46998) taxies at the MIA base.


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A company that offered US$25,000 for the first virus that automatically spreads among Apple Computer computers running the OS X operating system cancelled the virus writing contest and retracted the offer of cash, citing concerns about legal liability.
DVForge said on Saturday that it would not offer cash for a Mac virus, after legal concerns were raised about the contest and in the wake of complaints from Apple security experts. The contest was announced Friday and was intended to raise awareness of what Jack Campbell, chief executive officer of DVForge, considers fear mongering by antivirus company Symantec which said last week that threats to the Apple platform were on the rise, Campbell said.
DVForge makes a variety of peripheral devices for Apple products, such as the "JamPod," a small guitar amplifier module that plugs into iPod portable music players and allows their owners to play along with the songs stored on the device. In addition to selling products for the Apple platform, the company uses Apple computers internally and is a bastion of Apple technology experts and loyalists, Campbell said.
The idea for a contest to create the first self-propagating virus for the OS X platform was the result of frustration over a widely publicized report from Symantec last week, which said that the Mac OS is increasingly a target for malicious activity that is more commonly associated with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows and Unix-based operating systems.
The Symantec warnings were baseless and intended only to "scare the hell out of people," Campbell said. Company employees, including Campbell, "lost our minds" when they read about Symantec's claims, and saw the report as a threat to DVForge's business, as much as Apple's.
The idea of a contest grew out of conversations with technical staff at DVForge last week and was intended to call Symantec's "bluff," Campbell said.
"We have just as much incentive as Apple to fight back," he said.
The company placed two G5 PowerMac computers running OS X 10.3 Panther on the Internet and issued a statement on its Web page that challenged Internet users to create a virus that would spread between the two machines on or before July 31, 2005. In a dig at Symantec, DVForge offered double the reward, US$50,000, to any employee of Symantec who won the contest, Campbell said.
Campbell was confident that the security features in OS X would prevent anyone from creating a self-propagating virus that moved between the two machines before the deadline expired, he said.
However, after word of the contest quickly spread online, Campbell was contacted by senior Apple employees who were experts on the security of OS X who said that it was possible to create such a virus, though doing so would be difficult. The Apple employees encouraged Campbell to end the contest. He was also contacted by an intellectual property attorney and Mac enthusiast, who warned him that writing a virus could be considered illegal, and that DVForge could be considered to be aiding and abetting an illegal activity by sponsoring the contest.
Worried about the prospect of embroiling his company in a legal battle, Campbell cancelled the contest Saturday. However, he also issued a strongly worded statement on the DVForge Web site that railed against Symantec and "the rest of the fear-breeding folks who (prey) on the lack of knowledge about how viruses work."
Companies such as his have a responsibility to take a stand on matters such as the relative security of operating systems, and to counter what he considers untruths, such as the often articulated opinion that the lack of viruses and worms that target the Mac platform is due to the relatively small number of Mac users, he said.


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Are low-cost Blu-ray Disc players coming to Europe in the near future? They are if claims that local consumer electronics company Alba has ordered 4000 players a month from January are to be believed. Chinese-language newspapers Commercial Times and Economic Daily News today quote the head of Chinese manufacturer Forworld …
I See alba - Think Jessica!
I see alba - Think Scotland!
Hopefully it's region-free.
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The government has been working relentlessly to build "Digital Bangladesh", an integral part of its "Vision 2021". The country's IT companies started exporting software around two decades ago, joining the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) bandwagon.
The Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services, which started its journey with 17 companies in 1997, now stands at 1,200 plus companies involved in software development and providing IT services.
The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) exports by 250 plus companies, to 60 plus countries around the world, accounted for $800 million in 2017, which was 2.2 percent of the country's total export value. According to USAID, North America is Bangladesh's main export destination.
Bangladeshi IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS) firms generate almost 35 percent of its export revenue from the US, 15 percent from the UK, followed by several EU countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands.
Some local enterprises also export IT and ITeS services to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Malaysia and Singapore. This is the result of one million people's hard work. The government had set an export target of $5 billion by 2021 for technology products.
In Bangladesh, there are more than 100 software houses, 35 data entry centres, thousands of formal and informal IT training centres and numerous computer workshops. Plus, the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority was formed with the vision to ensure sustainable development and proliferation of IT or Hi-Tech Industry in the country. Given the potential of the ICT sector in Bangladesh, it can work as a major economic driver.
During the late 90s, the e-commerce industry started its journey in Bangladesh. However, it did not witness any growth up until the last decade. The development of banking facilities, infrastructure, and electronic payment methods enabled the e-commerce sector to grow.
Over the past years, the country's shopping behaviour shifted dramatically with a change in the living standard of people. Now many are making transactions of products and services online.
In 2019, according to a German research firm, the size of Bangladesh's e-commerce market was $1.6 billion and it is expected to be $3 billion by 2023.
The government imposed a 7.5 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) on this sector. And the industry insiders say that this move may adversely affect the government's ongoing digitalisation agenda and hurt the employment rate in the sector.
In terms of revenue from e-commerce, Bangladesh is ranked 46th in the globe, according to market and consumer data provider Statista. Growing smartphone penetration and popularity of 4G networks along with the increasing purchasing power of consumers are driving the e-commerce industry across the world including Bangladesh.
With the advent of Covid-19, the e-commerce industry is witnessing an unnatural upsurge globally. But with the world heading into an inevitable global recession, the industry is bound to slow down.
Covid-19 possesses a unique challenge for the IT industry of Bangladesh as it is only in growth stage now. Industry insiders expect the overall revenue for the 2020 year to fall by 20-25 percent due to the pandemic.
Companies that deal with the BPO of medical and legislative data for North American companies – such as Therap, Augmedix – are somewhat stable in their business now, given the heightened respiration of the medical industry.
However, the industry players that mainly focus on outsourcing of software development are at a disadvantage. India, for example, serves 16 percent of the global market and is already predicting a lower growth rate than the previously estimated 7.5 percent for this year, says the Indian IT industry body Nasscom.
Although the industry can operate remotely by its nature, the impact of the pandemic is still felt due to stuttering business orders from the end clients. Since Bangladesh's ICT export is mainly dependent on businesses of North American and European companies, there has been a general fall in outsourcing given the spread of Covid-19 in these regions.
As most global tech companies are now shuttered with employees working from home, their business growth has stagnated and the ripple effect has been felt in the local outsourcing industry. Other than a few large tech companies in Bangladesh, most companies do not operate on a retainer basis and are dependent on project basis business generation.
Due to the cancellation or postponing of projects, business continuity is in serious trouble, resulting in local companies facing cash crunches. This applies to at least those companies that do not have a force majeure provision in their contracts.
Maintaining steady cash flow the biggest challenge now
Software companies that mainly serve the local market are facing more challenges compared to the ones focused more on outsourcing. Due to the economic halt, local clients are stalling payment, leading to cash flow challenges for these companies.
North American and European companies are sourcing locally for now – especially on security monitoring and disaster recovery – since delivery of work from offshore services, namely China has come to a screeching halt.
However, Raisul Kabir, co-founder and chief executive officer of Brain Station 23, says that there is a growth potential too if companies are agile and willing to pivot fast. "Video streaming, machine learning and online learning are strong business vertices to explore now. There has been a strong upsurge in demand for Moodle, an open-source learning platform, from clients in the education sector due to the sudden increase in online classrooms. Government contracts – where foreign governments are seeking software solutions about the pandemic – are also a potential growth area."
However, layoffs are yet to happen in the industry but smaller companies with limited cash-flows might have to rely on pay cuts to survive if the pandemic persists.
Most companies are having issues with remote work as loss and delivery of data over unprotected internet connections is a big challenge.
On a micro level, since tech companies operate on an agile methodology of delivering work in a predetermined deliverable schedule, accountability due to remote work has disrupted the delivery cycles.
However, large companies operate through their own protected servers and systems. But data sharing and assurance of data protection on an open system is a big challenge for most of them. In India, for example, some companies have begun to install corporate desktop computers at their employees' home. But this is hard to sustain and implement on an industry-wide scale.
Another systemic challenge reported by the industry is the lack of internet bandwidth when operating from home. Due to sudden upsurge of demand for home internet consumption, the infrastructure is strained and its impact is also being felt in the IT industry.
The only silver lining in such a situation is that the outsourced service desks will have to support huge volumes of end users trying to access systems remotely. But it also comes with a challenge for engineers to facilitate overwhelming demand for technology stacks with which they have no training or familiarity.
In a time such as this, the e-commerce and e-service industries are facing similar challenges. Initially, with most of the urban population of Dhaka put in isolation and following social distancing, the number of online purchases in the B2C e-commerce platforms including daraz.com, Pathao, and Chaldal.com experienced an unnatural spike.
However, food delivery services saw a sharp downturn in just last week with orders falling by 75 to 80 percent, an industry representative from Shohoz says. Consequently, 40 to 50 percent of restaurants also closed down, leading to the fall in business.
As per a Bangladesh Road Transport Authority directive, ridesharing by Uber and Pathao had been banned to limit the spread of Covid-19.
Deliveries of e-services have also come to a halt due to the enforcement of quarantine and social distancing.
Online grocery stores are experiencing double-digit growths in online deliveries with Chaldal's average 5,000 orders per day jumping to 10,000 to 15,000 on an average. And along with other food delivery services, it has replicated the contactless delivery system.
The digital e-health service industry is facing a sudden surge in phone call consultation with Telenor Health reporting a 30 percent increase in phone consultation services. Similarly, Praava Health launched a low-cost video consultation services to tackle the upsurge in healthcare advice demand.
As the e-services and e-commerce industries are highly dependent on daily-wagers or contractual earners, the sudden outflow of workers from the city also led to a serious workforce shortage.
With the challenges now apparent for the IT and digital sector, the government must pay significant attention to its third-engine in a post-coronavirus Bangladesh.
On a B2C level, e-service companies such as food delivery and ridesharing ones need to create a safe and hygienic environment in their operations by ensuring that all the delivery men, riders and drivers take safety precautions seriously.
On a B2B level, tech companies need to support their staff by providing proper work from home initiatives and creating accountability through better management and delivery techniques.
The companies also need to reassure their clients that the work from home will not impact business significantly and precautionary measures are being taken to ensure business continuity.
The coronavirus stands to wipe out 1.1 percent of Bangladesh's gross domestic product, resulting in 894,930 jobs being lost as per a projection of the Asian Development Bank.
It is highly likely that the IT and digital industry will fall into this crunch along with the readymade garment industry. And for long term growth assurance, provisions should be made for the industry in the recently sought $1 billion in support from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank by the government.
Admittedly, it will be impossible to not feel the impact of the pandemic in any industry but precautionary and supportive policies will ensure that the tech and digital industry will not be crippled in a post-Covid-19 economy.
The author is Principal Business Consultant, LightCastle Partners


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Google To Apply For .Google, .YouTube And More TLDs, While Facebook And Pepsi Say No
Posted in: Domain Names at 09/04/2012 18:34
Google will be applying for several TLDs for a number of their trademarks a company spokesperson told Ad Age, while Facebook and Pepsi both said they will not be applying.
"We plan to apply for Google's trademarked TLDs, as well as a handful of new ones," a company spokeswoman said in an emailed statement to Ad Age. "We want to help make this a smooth experience for web users -- one that promotes innovation and competition on the internet."
More details were not provided, but as the report notes, expect applications for .Google and .YouTube, among others.
The report also notes, and which has previously been reported, that Deloitte will also be applying for a TLD, along with Canon. But few other companies contacted by Ad Age would comment on their plans, with even those that are applying most likely not wanting to tip off their competitors.
Brand names that told Ad Age they will not be applying include Facebook and Pepsi.
The costs of acquiring and operating a TLD were reasons given for not applying for a TLD by Shiv Singh, global head of digital at Pepsi. Singh also told Ad Age he believed consumers' browsing habits will take years to alter.
"Consumers are always going to think about first going to MountainDew.com or Pepsi.com before they think about Drink.Pepsi," Mr. Singh said. "And that's not going to change anytime soon, and maybe not for a few years."
To read the Ad Age report in full, see:


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“Inflation is certainly impacting consumer behavior, but the financial constraints caused by inflation should not be expected to impact all purchases, especially those that have deep emotional connections,” said Jorge Abram Barraza, an assistant professor of consumer psychology at USC Dornsife. “The price of a turkey varies substantially, but a 7% increase translates to only a few dollars more for a bird. It is hard to believe that a few dollars will get in the way of tradition and nostalgia.
“In fact, what we should expect is that grocers will be willing to absorb a bit of that increase in order to strengthen consumer relationships and bring more holiday shoppers into their stores. Walmart, Aldi and a few others have already mentioned they are keeping prices at 2021 levels or lower than inflation.
“Where we might expect consumers to be hit are those that wait longer to get a bird. If costs do not lead to a drop in consumer demand and supply is not keeping up with demand, there will be many families seeking alternatives for the holiday. That can result in a break in tradition. Since traditions are similar to habits (behaviors we do without much deliberate thought), many families may start to move beyond the turkey this holiday season.”
Pent-up demand expected to spark consumer interest, though product availability will be uneven
“With consumers worried about inflation, there will probably be considerable pressure on retailers to make good deals available to consumers,” said Lars Perner, an assistant professor of marketing at USC Marshall. “Many retailers committed to large order quantities a year or more ago, and may even have locked in prices, since manufacturers often give retailers large discounts for ordering so far in advance.
“Availability of different types of products may be uneven, so shoppers who are more flexible in their choices will likely be more successful. With a lot of pent-up demand from last year, when supply chain problems limited the assortment of gifts available, there may be considerable consumer interest in holiday gifts this year.
“In post-pandemic times, more consumers who liked to shop in person before will have come into the habit of shopping online. It is likely that sales will continue to start earlier and earlier, with Amazon already having a second Prime Day earlier this fall.”
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CHICAGO — Dec. 5, 2018 — Product innovation in the consumer packaged goods industry has become increasingly more challenging due to the ever-changing needs and wants of consumers, the impact of e-commerce on product assortment and pricing, and the success of smaller companies, which has leveled the playing field in the industry. Most of the new product success has been driven by smaller companies that can rapidly develop new and unique products to meet specific consumer and shopper needs. This has resulted in many of the larger CPG companies looking for innovation through mergers and acquisitions to accelerate their own innovation pipelines and capture some of this growth.
In fact, M&A activity among the top 50 CPG companies marked a 15-year high in 2017 — a 45 percent increase compared to the previous year. The spike in M&A activity isn’t surprising, as consumers’ needs and wants are very diverse and personal — and rapidly changing — and brands must move swiftly and surely to keep pace. For these reasons and others, making informed and strategic M&A decisions is critical. To win, CPG companies must invest in companies and brands that really hit the mark and bring sustainable incrementality to existing portfolios.
The latest IRI® Point of View, “Bigger Can Be Better: Maximize Speed and Impact With Benefits-Based M&A,” examines how CPG companies can increase the chance of M&A success by shifting away from strategies that are based on traditionally defined categories to a benefits-based approach through a consumer and shopper lens. By taking an unbiased, strategic approach to examining how, where and why shoppers look across categories, departments and aisles to solve for their needs and wants, CPG companies can quickly and accurately:
- Establish initial marketplace boundaries.
- Understand and size up the shopper-defined marketplace.
- Pinpoint incremental long-term growth opportunities and build a fact-based business proposition.
“Today’s M&A strategy is no longer about increasing efficiency and cutting costs but is instead used as a tool for getting the right product on the shelf quickly in order to meet consumer demand and create high-potential growth opportunities,” said Thomas Juetten, executive of Product Innovation for IRI. “In order to create those growth opportunities, CPGs need to keep an eye on consumer and business trends, but really home in on the benefits that are driving shopper loyalty, such as natural, organic and authentic.”
CPG manufacturers wanting to identify white-space opportunities with speed and confidence can employ IRI’s industry-leading, machine-learning and artificial-intelligence innovation solution, IRI Hendry™. This model is based upon unbiased shopper perspective (i.e., actual shopper behavior) and utilizes a proprietary switching analysis that identifies what products are being purchased to satisfy the same need across a broad, cross-category landscape. Through technology and advanced analytics, this approach enables market-potential forecasts with an accuracy rate of 90 percent, as validated by IRI clients’ post-new-product-launch analyses.
“The market has indelibly changed, and consumers are unquestionably steering market evolution,” said Robert I. Tomei, president of Market and Shopper Intelligence for IRI. “To win, CPG companies absolutely must adopt a shopper lens to M&A evaluation. By shifting from a category or type focus to a benefits-based approach, CPGs will see market opportunity more clearly. Then they can shift their strategies accordingly.”
About the Report
“Bigger Can Be Better: Maximize Speed and Impact With Benefits-Based M&A” is a free report available from IRI. To download the report, visit:
About IRI Hendry™
IRI Hendry™ helps you size white-space opportunities and forecast new product concepts by building broad-based shopper-defined category definitions. The tool uses a proprietary switching model instead of basic regression analysis or judgment-based groupings, which indicates less reliance on robust data. The foundation of this model is actual shopper behavior augmented with attitudinal and usage data or even data that is custom collected. Neuroscience research at the University of California, Berkeley suggests 95 percent of decision-making is done subconsciously. By relying on actual shopper behavior over claimed behavior, the Hendry model uncovers the unconscious trade-offs behind purchase decisions, producing more reliable and more specific results. This allows you to innovate early and accurately, double your new product success, and avoid expensive failure.
IRI is a leading provider of big data, predictive analytics and forward-looking insights that help CPG, OTC health care organizations, retailers, financial services and media companies grow their businesses. A confluence of major external events — a change in consumer buying habits, big data coming into its own, advanced analytics and personalized consumer activation — is leading to a seismic shift in drivers of success in all industries. With the largest repository of purchase, media, social, causal and loyalty data, all integrated into an on-demand, cloud-based technology platform, IRI is empowering the personalization revolution, helping to guide its more than 5,000 clients around the world in their quests to remain relentlessly relevant, capture market share, connect with consumers, collaborate with key constituents and deliver market-leading growth. For more information, visit www.IRIworldwide.com.
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Phone: +1 312.474.3675


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Michaels Q1 earnings top Street; outlook disappoints
The Michaels Companies Inc. beat first-quarter profit expectations, but missed on same-store sales and provided a downbeat second-quarter outlook.
The arts and crafts retailer’s net income fell to $26.9 million, or 15 cents a share, for the quarter ended May 5, from $72.2 million, or 38 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings per share came to 39 cents, just above analysts’ estimates 38 cents.
Revenue inched down to $1.156 billion from $1.159 billion, beating estimates of $1.151 billion. Same-store sales edged up 0.4%, less than expected, with an increase in the average amount of a transaction partially offset by a decrease in customer transactions.
The company said it expects second-quarter same-store sales to be about flat, compared with Street forecasts of a 0.7% rise.
It expects to see EPS in the range of $0.12 to $0.14, compared to estimates calling for $0.19 per share.
Michaels owns and operates more than 1,200 stores in 49 states and Canada under the Michaels, Aaron Brothers and Pat Catan’s banners.


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Hotel at WaterWalk hopes rewards partnership levels competition
02/01/2013 8:18 AM
02/02/2013 7:11 AM
Hotel at WaterWalk has joined a program that allows its customers to earn points, allowing it to compete with larger hotel chains’ rewards programs.
Steve Butcher, asset manager for Consolidated Holdings, the company that owns Hotel at WaterWalk, said the partnership with Stash Hotel Rewards will be especially beneficial to the hotel’s corporate business clients.
According to Stash Hotel’s website — stashrewards.com — about 200 independently owned hotels in 38 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and the Virgin Islands participate in its rewards program .
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Grand Theft Auto is still the king. We’re in the middle of that part of the year where companies do all their financial updates for investors, and now it’s Take Two’s turn. The publisher revealed that Grand Theft Auto V has shipped 60 million copies across all platforms.
Of course, shipped doesn’t mean bought, but I can promise you there aren’t 59 million copies of GTA V sitting in a warehouse somewhere.
While the game shipped originally back in 2013, Take Two has kept it in the spotlight with a 2014 release to the new consoles and a Spring 2015 release on PCs, ensuring that it keeps finding new customers in order to stay atop the charts of sites like YouTube.
Not only does Grand Theft Auto V keep selling well, but Grand Theft Auto Online continues to do well, too, with this holiday season bringing Take Two the highest revenue yet for the game, according to CEO Strauss Zelnick. The period also saw the highest number of players yet for GTA Online.
All of this has helped the publisher beat expectations in this most recent quarter. When Take Two releases a game like Grand Theft Auto V, there are high expectations for sales, and those taper off over time as investors expect seasons without mega-hit releases to be less profitable. The company used to lose money during these periods which, really, wasn’t so bad, because when they were making money, it was by the dump truck.
While analysts had expected revenues of $452.8 million, Take Two managed to pull in $486.8 million. Spending on things like GTA Online currency, downloadable content, and other online content grew by nearly half over last year, and digital revenue overall accounted for 44 percent of total revenue. Helping this along is a strong stable of other, non-GTA titles like NBA2K16, WWE2K16, and the Borderlands games.
For 2016, Take Two currently has XCOM 2 hitting on February 5, as well as Battleborn in May and Mafia III sometime in Fiscal Year 2017. And we’re keeping our fingers crossed that this is the year they announce Red Dead Redemption 2, or Red Dead Revisited, Red Dead Remastered, or something. I want to sit on a horse and shoot at guys in cowboy hats, is what I’m saying.
Regardless, Take Two is doing well, and as usual Grand Theft Auto has played a big role in that.


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New York — August 25, 2008 — Working capital optimization is a high priority for a majority of companies, and increasing numbers of organizations are looking to leverage both financial and supply chain strategies and technologies to aid these initiatives, according to a new research brief from Aberdeen Group.
Seventy-one percent of companies identify working capital optimization as a high priority, Aberdeen reported in a research brief based on a series of surveys conducted by Aberdeen on working capital optimization and supply chain finance.
The survey showed that 11 percent of companies faced supply chain disruptions in the past year due to lack of working capital, and 13 percent experienced disruptions due to suppliers' deteriorating financial situations.
Aberdeen said that the results of the research show that best-in-class companies in managing working capital metrics are able to obtain the following competitive advantages:
- Four day advantage in days payable outstanding compared to average companies;
- 19 day advantage in days inventory outstanding versus average companies;
- 6.5 times as likely as peers to have decreased end-to-end financing costs in the supply chain in the past year; and,
- 5 percentage points higher return on working capital versus average companies.


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You were right to avoid artificial sweeteners.
As reported by UPI, a new study links sucralose, sold as Splenda, to significantly increased risk for leukemia, as well as overall risk for cancer.
The study published in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health showed that mice who were given large amounts of sucralose throughout their lives, developed leukemia and cancerous tumors.
As a result of these findings, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CPI) is now recommending that you avoid the sweetener.
What makes the study so important is that it was funded without special interests in mind. “For most food additives, the safety studies are conducted by the manufacturers who have financial incentives,” says Lisa Lefferts, MSPH, senior scientist at the CSPI. (1)
How Much Splenda Is Too Much?
The doses of sucralose used in the study were roughly equal to 10 cans of diet soda per day. While nobody really drinks that much, splenda is found in over 4,500 foods and beverages. It’s not hard to see how eating a lot of processed foods could increase your risks.
And don’t go thinking that eating just a little bit of it every day is fine.
“[E]ven if you consume less, that doesn’t mean there’s no problem,” Lefferts says. “When something causes cancer at high doses, it generally causes cancer at lower doses, the risk is just smaller.”
It’s Better To Quit Artificial Sweeteners
Even if you disregard this new study, there are still plenty of other reasons to quit using sucralose or aspartame.
- Artificial sweeteners may actually cause weight gain, not weight loss. (2)
- Diet soda linked to increased belly fat. (3)
- Every can of diet soda you consume increases your obesity risk. (4)
- Sucralose disrupts your blood sugar and insulin levels. (5)
Foods To Use As Sweetener Instead
- raw honey
- fruits (dates, bananas, apples, etc.)
- sweet vegetables (carrots, beets, caramelized onions, etc.)
- maple syrup
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Now fraudsters can hack your child's teddy: Tech bosses warn that criminals could exploit security flaws in the latest gadgets
Warning: Simon Segars, chief executive of chipmaker ARM Holdings
Tech bosses have warned that criminals may be able to hack in to the latest gadgets, including toys, to steal information.
Simon Segars, chief executive of chipmaker ARM Holdings, told the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, that technology linking together household items and toys posed a security risk.
The so-called internet of things means fridges, central heating and TVs can be run by apps on smartphones.
The first connected devices are already available, with apps such as Nest allowing homeowners to control their heating remotely.
But Segars warned of a sinister side, with even a child’s teddy bear vulnerable to hackers. He said: ‘That really is something to worry about.’
Mattel’s Fisher-Price smart teddy bear, an interactive cuddly toy that can learn a child’s name, was hacked a few weeks ago.
Researchers at Rapid7, a Boston-based security company, found that the toy’s app had flaws that allowed hackers to steal a child’s name, date of birth and gender.
Segars said: ‘The moment we start connecting everything up we have to worry about security. In something as innocuous as a connected toy, such as a teddy bear, there are security implications. A lot of the data that is at risk is becoming very, very personal,’ he said.
‘Nothing could be more personal than your healthcare records.’
Speaking about connected cameras that allow users to monitor their homes from their phone, he added: ‘Having a camera around should be a good thing.
'But a hacked camera is going to have the reverse effect. If someone can work out when you’re not home, they can work out when to rob your home.’
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Pokemon TV has now officially been released by Nintendo for iOS and Android; in turn making a lot of Pokemon fans happy.
A while back Nintendo accepted that their presence on smart phones was needed and that they would be bringing out numerous wonders for the platform. The release of Pokemon is probably just the start. The step also helps Nintendo in further promoting their Miiverse.
The Pokemon app has so far been well received by users. It currently boasts more than 50 episodes and spans about 15 seasons. Nintendo has promised new episodes each week and even entire Pokemon movies later.
The best part of the app is that it’s entirely free. You can well imagine every Pokemon fanatic going nuts over it right now. One complain that consumers have registered so far is that the app does not include the first series. A pretty minor inconvenience in the long road ahead I’d say.
Nintendo has not announced any plans to bring the feature on their 3DS but hopefully it will happen in the future.


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Popular music streaming service Spotify will appear in Russia this summer. About it writes RBC with reference to analysts of Sberbank CIB.
Sources report that the cost of a monthly subscription is 150 rubles, which is slightly cheaper than the competitors that have already entered the Russian market subscribe to «Yandex.Music» Apple Music and Google Play Music is 169 rubles a month.
Initially, the developers planned to release service in Russia this spring, tentatively in may, but the date was extended because of the conflict with the owners. The app has already started to partly switch to Russian language: translation of some interface elements, error messages, and so on.
Today Spotify used in 79 countries around the world. In the fourth quarter of last year, the average monthly audience platform was 207 million users and 96 million of which were Premium accounts, and revenues for the entire 2018 5,259 billion euros.


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Snapchat’s expiring messages make it the perfect platform for sharing saucy snaps. But you can’t save them without the sender being notified. You will also be tattled on if you attempt to save a video using iOS 11’s new screen recording feature.
Apple has today announced that its iTunes Store has set yet another record as it surpasses more than 25 billion songs sold. The 25 billionth song to be downloaded was “Monkey Drums” by Chase Buch, and it was purchased by Phillip Lüpke from Germany, who will receive a €10,000 iTunes Gift Card from Apple.
Carrier IQ CEO Larry Lenhart and vice president of marketing Andrew Coward have revealed in an interview that despite the company’s assurance that no personal data is recorded by its software, a “bug” did unintentionally collect users’ text messages. What it does collect intentionally — particularly for the Federal Bureau of Investigation — is yet to be clarified, with the FBI refusing to disclose this information.


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More public input has been gathered regarding the proposed single-use plastic ban bylaw that was proposed to council during Monday evening’s meeting.
Coun. Douglas Judson, who authored the bylaw, said he received feedback from individuals who stressed the need for people with disabilities to have access to plastic straws.
“I believe there is a fairly straightforward amendment through the addition of one sentence that could accommodate that and I will bring that forward to planning and development based on feedback from those residents,” he noted.
Another issue that arose through consultations with the public and businesses was clarifying what constitutes a reusable bag.
The definition of a reusable bag in the draft bylaw is drawn from legislation in Nova Scotia where there is currently a single-use plastics ban.
“It’s crafted very broadly so that a wide range of alternatives can be used,” Coun. Judson explained.
The definition is a bag with handles that is intended to transport items purchased or received by a customer, is designed and manufactured to be durable and capable of many uses, and can be washed or disinfected.
It’s also important to note that the bylaw is only concerned with certain products distributed at the point of sale to transport goods or hold prepared food.
Retail businesses can continue to sell bulk plastic bags such as garbage bags or plastic cups.
If passed, the bylaw will go into effect in Jan. 2021, which gives businesses enough time to exhaust existing supplies of single-use plastic items.
The purpose of the bylaw is to modify town residents’ behaviour to be more eco-friendly amidst growing concerns around climate change.