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Australian tourism shines at national awards
Darwin rolled out a warm welcome for the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards on 28 February 2017, bringing together outstanding tourism businesses from around the country in a celebration of the quality and diversity of Australian tourism.
The Hon Steven Ciobo MP, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, said the continued passion and commitment from the hard-working Australians honoured at the Awards was crucial to further growth and attracting more visitors to Australia. “2016 was a remarkable year for Australian tourism and, whilst these awards may focus on 26 individual category winners, the whole industry deserves a collective pat on the back for the record-breaking level of performance it has delivered,” said Minister Ciobo.
John O’Sullivan, Managing Director Tourism Australia added that the impressive list of winners confirmed the diversity and depth of talent within Australian tourism. Find out more.
More Chinese Tourists to Australia
China has overtaken New Zealand to become Australia's largest inbound visitor market for the first time.
Butcher Aspire - put some meat on your career bones!
Interested in starting your butchery career? HTN is looking for individuals to undertake the HTN Aspire Program at Granville TAFE with the opportunity to score a butchery apprenticeship with HTN at the end.
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Cookery & Wine Courses - sound like your thing?
Do you have a passion for food or wine? A chef or sommelier course will put you in the world of great taste.
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QTIC Salute to Excellence Awards
The QTIC Salute to Excellence Awards recognises Year 11 and 12 students that are under-taking or have recently completed vocational education and training in tourism, food and beverage and cookery.
QTIC Tourism Indigenous Employment Champions Network
The QTIC Tourism Indigenous Employment Champions Network, supported by The Star Entertainment Group, aims to support tourism employers to recruit and retain Indigenous employees. The Network is a group of volunteer tourism operators that have exhibited best practice in the recruitment and retention of Indigenous employment.
Together with the Champions, QTIC have developed a range of resources for tourism operators, presented at numerous industry conferences, facilitated industry forums, provided tourism industry career path information to Indigenous students and job seekers, and identified Indigenous employment placements within the industry.
Click on image below.
Tourism Research Australia State Tourism Satellite Accounts 2016-17
Tourism Research Australia has released its latest State Tourism Satellite Accounts report which provides a comprehensive set of data outlining the value of tourism for all states and territories in Australia.
Boosting Business Events Bid Fund delivers first win
Tourism Australia's new multi-million dollar Boosting Business Events Bid Fund Program has helped secure the world’s largest public transport event, the Union International des Transports Publics Global Public Transport Summit 2021.


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Collaboration: The Key to Progress for Digital Officers in Pharma
Today’s Big Pharma companies are being challenged by Big Tech companies like Apple and Google, who are entering the healthcare market – predicted to be worth $10 trillion by 2025 – with large investments, and access to previously unseen amounts of data thanks to the proliferation of consumer devices.
Both competitors have their own strengths and weaknesses – for example, Big Pharma companies tend to have higher quality data (such as clinical trial data), plus the knowledge, regulatory experience and industry relationships needed to discover new cures and drive development. Big Tech companies, on the other hand, tend to have the capabilities needed to handle huge, complex datasets, as well as resources like UX experts, security experts, cloud experts and developers in house.
For these reasons, instead of going head-to-head in the battle for dominating the healthcare market, Big Pharma and Big Tech companies should find a way to collaborate, and draw on each other’s respective skill sets in order to scale quickly, and bring Pharma’s digitalisation up to speed as quickly as possible. Ultimately, we believe that this collaborative model will be the answer to bringing successful, patient-facing digital products and services to market.
The question is: who should be leading the charge in fuelling the collaboration between these two, traditionally distinct worlds – and who should be responsible for creating the value proposition for a successful engagement in digital business?
One prime candidate is the Pharma CDO.

domain: news


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My spin: If you are in the market fora new printer(s), Xerox has unleashed a slew of new printes that can fit just about any budget and need. Check out their Web site for all the details. Then check out their competition – Lexmark, Epson, and HP.
Remember, the most expensive part of a printer are the consumables.
News Factor is reporting in part that: Beleaguered by major accounting problems less than two years ago, Xerox is attempting to build up steam, touting a group of new offerings unveiled late last week as “industry innovations.”
Five new printing and imaging systems, ranging from US$979 to $99,000, “fundamentally change the competitive dynamics of today’s markets,” says Anne Mulcahy, Xerox chairperson and CEO. The new platforms will result in “faster product development cycles and lower manufacturing costs,” she said in an address to customers at Xerox headquarters last week.
Latest posts by Ramon Ray (see all)
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- Zoho Enables Real Time Messaging with Cliq - October 1, 2017


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This Beloved Burger Chain Is Making Drastic, Permanent Cuts to Their Menu
Gourmet burger chain Red Robin has fallen on hard times, and questions about its future started swirling after the company reported a greater-than-expected sales loss for the first quarter ending on April 19. During the coronavirus pandemic, the company was forced to close all of its restaurants and rely on takeout and delivery operations, which couldn't account for the full loss in sales.
In order to simplify operations and bounce back from coronavirus losses, fast casual chains are moving to simplified, reduced menus, and Red Robin recently announced that their removal of 55 menu items during the pandemic is going to be a permanent one (McDonald's is considering a similar move as franchises advocate to make the reduced menu permanent).
The company confirmed they have cut menu items in all categories—appetizers, entrees, desserts, shakes, and kid's meals. Some of the most popular things you won't be able to enjoy at Red Robin again are NachO.M.G., Classic Wedge Salad, Chili Chili Cheeseburger, Smoky Jack, Tavern Double, Bruschetta Chicken, Shrimp & Cod Duo, Chocolate Fruffles, Freckled Lemonade Smoothie, and Swirly Twirly Pasta.
The chain opened roughly 65% of its company-owned restaurants by June 7, with reopenings of the remaining restaurants expected by the end of July or early August. With 62% of their sales currently coming from off-premise dining (takeout and delivery), the company said they won't be rushing to reopen dining halls across all 550+ nationwide locations.


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Research based on 200 previous studies worldwide says frequent drinkers less likely to get diabetes, heart disease, dementia and some cancers
People who drink three to four cups of coffee a day are more likely to see health benefits than problems, experiencing lower risks of premature death and heart disease than those who abstain, scientists have said.
The research, which collated evidence from more than 200 previous studies, also found coffee consumption was linked to lower risks of diabetes, liver disease, dementia and some cancers.
This post was syndicated from Health | The Guardian. Click here to read the full text on the original website.


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Online holiday sales up 13% so far over last year
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- Staff Triad Business Journal
Reston,Va.-based comScore Inc. is keeping track of holiday e-commerce sales, and in its latest report, it says online sales are up 13 percent over last year.
The new data covers Nov. 1 through Dec. 7, with total online sales at $26.8 billion.
The most recent week saw online sales top $1 billion on three individual days — Dec. 3, Dec. 4 and Dec. 5 — bringing the total number of billion-dollar spending days for the season to seven.
Dec. 10 was Green Monday, a name given to the second Monday of December which has traditionally been the heaviest online shopping day, though that is no longer the case.
ComScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) says Green Monday has not assumed the top position for e-commerce holiday sales since 2007.
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A look at the day's business stories from media outlets around the greater Triad area.
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AN Alibaba-backed payments company spun off from Thai conglomerate CP Group may launch an international remittance business in Singapore as early as next year, its top executive said on Wednesday.
This is part of Ascend Money's ambitious push into the South-east Asian...


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New finance chief in Nokia revamp
NOKIA has appointed Rick Simonson as chief financial officer as part of a reorganisation which the Finnish group says will help it maintain its position as the world's largest maker of mobile phones. It is also keen to develop its mobile multimedia and networking businesses.
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a distributed database spread across nodes of a peer-to-peer network to journal transactions, and uses digital signatures and proof-of-work to provide basic security functions, such as ensuring that bitcoins can be spent only once per owner and only by the person who owns. In afternoon trade, bitcoin, (btcusd) the worlds largest digital currency, was changing hands at 4,139. Benzinga 15 hours ago, bTC/USD Grinding Higher Above 4,100, a building bearish momentum is currently testing the lower trendline of the channel. It was designed to work as a decentralized digital currency without a central bank or single administrator, though in practice many aspects of it use are centralized. All transactions are public and stored in a distributed database which is used to confirm transactions and prevent double-spending.
Why hasn't bitcoin crashed, Bitcoin price analysis today reddit,
BTC/USD is currently extending gains above 4,100. Bitcoin is accepted here. Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer implementation of Wei Dai's b-money proposal and Nick Szabo's Bitgold proposal. Close adj Close volume, apr 01, 2019 4,112.79 4,147.40 4,082.20 4,144.88 4,144.88 39,941,404, mar 26, 2019 3,924.55 3,943.20 3,902.52 3,942.22 3,942.22 93,805,733, mar 25, 2019 3,994.11 4,005.29 3,887.68 3,924.55 3,924.55 136,398,998. Best Answer: Bitcoin is a digital currency created in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. MarketWatch 11 hours ago, bitcoin prices climb above 4,100, nearing 2019 high. Bitcoin has been criticized for its use in illegal transactions, its high electricity consumption, price volatility, and thefts from exchanges.
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The BMF has published its latest Builders Merchants Industry Forecast Report, highlighting the impact of a no deal Brexit on merchant sales within the industry.
This comes in the week that the Prime Minister heads to Brussels in a final bid to agree a trade deal with the European Union.
The BMF report analyses the key factors affecting builders’ merchants’ activity to project future sales from October 2020 to the end of 2021. The difficulties posed by both the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit have made the final quarter of this year and the coming year difficult to predict.
With Government restrictions still in place, this has resulted in the forecast for an 11.1% decline in average year on year growth for 2020.
In addition, the outcome of the Brexit trade talks dominates the forecast for 2021, with the Report analysing two scenarios, the first based on Brexit with a deal, the second on Brexit without a deal.
Under the first scenario, Quarter 1 2021 performance shows strong growth (+8%) if a trade deal is agreed, alongside the implementation of the Covid vaccination programme helping to boost confidence. However, Q1 2021 growth is limited to +3.3% under the no deal scenario.
The forecast shows the outcome of the trade deal affecting sales during the whole of 2021. Furthermore, the forecast with a trade deal shows encouraging growth of 16.8%, but a more pessimistic increase of 12.5% if no deal can be concluded.


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Hershey launch includes national and retailer-specific activity tied to Winter Olympics
Hershey Co. debuted its Hershey’s Gold peanut and pretzel caramelized creme candy bar ahead of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
The manufacturer had concocted the new bar – the first Hershey’s bar ever to not contain chocolate – with an eye to its sponsorship after signing a five-year deal in 2015 to support the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams as the official confectionery partner of Team USA.
To firmly tie the Gold candy bar to the excitement surrounding the Winter Games, the manufacturer executed a robust national campaign that included a coupon giveaway via social media each time the U.S. won a gold medal in February or March. Former Olympians Apolo Ohno (speed skating) and Simone Biles (gymnastics) and current sled hockey Paralympian Rico Roman helped promote the product as ambassadors.
Hershey also enlisted retailer support, with the heaviest account-specific activity occurring in the convenience store channel.
7-Eleven served up a cappuccino flavor inspired by the new bar. The Hershey’s Gold cappuccino flavor “mimics the rich, buttery, salty-sweet taste of its namesake candy,” according to a media release from the retailer. The Institute first spotted the cappuccino flavor in January. However, the retailer began working months before the candy bar launched to develop the exclusive cappuccino flavor.
“When Hershey approached us about creating a new cappuccino drink flavored like a delicious new candy bar, we jumped on board,” Shawn Barnes, 7-Eleven senior category manager, said in the release. “Our customers choose 7-Eleven cappuccino and hot chocolate drinks to treat themselves, and our goal is to offer rich, decadent flavors you can’t find anywhere else. Hershey’s Gold is exactly that, and people love it – both as a candy bar and a cappuccino.”
A carousel ad on 7-Eleven.com and in-store translite signs touted the hot beverage. The retailer drummed up additional excitement by offering shoppers a free Hershey’s Gold candy bar with purchase of two same-sized bars. The offer was valid through Feb. 28.
Channel rival Speedway dedicated an in-store rack to stocking the product, outfitting the display with a flashy, gold-colored signage kit communicating a purchase incentive of one free regular-size Hershey’s Gold candy bar with purchase of two king-size versions. The retailer additionally used its social media channels to tout the new product and incentive. A Jan. 11 Facebook update received the most audience engagement, supported by Twitter and Instagram activity.
Meanwhile, Circle K hosted a sweepstakes awarding a Hershey’s Gold cornhole board to one winner; four others get a PopSocket, multicharging cable and stress ball. Consumers entered from Feb. 9-28 by replying to a Feb. 9 Facebook update with the #TasteTheHersheysGold and #SweepstakesEntry hashtags. Posted across Circle K’s regional Facebook pages, the update asked consumers to explain how they’d reach for the gold when they team up with a Hershey’s Gold candy bar. Tampa, Florida-based Social Forces administered.
Earlier, Circle K included Hershey’s Gold among other brands participating in the chain’s “12 Days of Circle K” holiday promotion, which extended a daily offer to loyalty members between Dec. 13-24, 2017. Loyalty members redeemed the offers by scanning a coupon found within the retailer’s mobile application. Sidekick headers and counter rack signs provided in-store support.
While Hershey’s latest launch got a lot of love in the c-store channel, drugstores, dollar stores, mass merchants and supermarkets also provided support.
Walgreens made room for a custom counter unit and sidekick providing prime merchandising space for the bar in its stores. CVS/pharmacy joined with Hershey to run local radio spots and national display ads promoting the launch.
Floorstands dedicated to the bar also were spotted at CVS, ShopRite, Family Dollar and multiple Kroger banners.
Meijer merchandised the product on sidekicks and an endcap outfitted with a dedicated header.
Walmart sampled the bar at select locations from Jan. 25-28, according to an email blast the retailer sent to some customers that was posted by various coupon bloggers.


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BERLIN (AP) — German automaker Volkswagen AG says its 2012 group sales hit a record high as growing demand around the world more than offset sluggish sales in Europe.
It says Monday that more than nine million vehicles were delivered for the first time. The total of 9.07 million was up 11.2 percent from the 8.16 million delivered in 2011. December sales were also up 20.7 percent over the same month last year.
Geographically, North American sales spiked 26.2 percent to 841,500 vehicles, while those in South America rose 8.2 percent to 1.01 million. Asia-Pacific sales were 23.3 percent higher at 3.17 million.
Those increases helped offset a 6.5 percent drop in western Europe, excluding Germany, to 1.85 million vehicles. German sales rose 1.9 percent to 1.18 million vehicles.


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Maryanna Saenko, senior analyst at Lux Research, explains why the idea of an automated, driverless vehicle cruising down the streets may still remain a dream for the time being.» Read More
Discussing retailers' attempt to get customers in stores during the summer, with Jan Rogers, J. Rogers Kniffen Worldwide CEO, and CNBC's Courtney Reagan.
Rideshare services like Uber and Lyft are butting heads with regulators over laws that they claim are outdated and hurt their companies.
After 16 years, Starbucks is finally beginning to see real progress in China, and it's only the beginning, says CEO Howard Schultz.
Investors are honed in on consumer companies that use cocoa as a raw ingredient to see how they manage costs to protect the bottom line.
The first-ever CNBC Tech Crowd battle of crowdfunding projects pitted a drone against a 3-D printer. The New Matter MOD-t 3-D printer took the title.
As more business operations shift to the cloud, here's how some technological devices are offering greater mobility for business on the go.
CNBC's Jane Wells introduces a sprawling 6,600-square-foot estate in central Los Angeles to the Million Dollar Homes competition. Real estate "super broker" Dolly Lenz critiques the property.
Matt Maloney, GrubHub CEO, discusses the company's investment in TV advertising and market strategy for increasing viewership.
A workers' revolt at Market Basket supermarkets has led to empty store shelves, angry customers and support for a boycott from politicians.
Luxury stocks sold off on Friday after LVMH results disappointed and concerns over a slowdown in Asia continued to worry investors.
Here are three key questions to answer before deciding whether it makes sense for you to lease or buy a car this summer.
The repairs, paid for by GM, are modestly profitable, dealers say, helping to pay expenses as well as bringing in customers who might have been lost.
Chinese brides and Indian festivals will drive diamond demand into new year, the CEO of De Beers told CNBC.
Cato Stonex, fund manager at THS Partners, comments on BskyB's acquisition of Sky Deutschland and says that the long-term prospects in Germany are "excellent".
Werner Husmann, President for Asia Pacific at Steinway & Sons, highlights the rise of wealthy individuals in China as one of the factors fueling its business in the mainland.
Douglas Benjamin, Co-founder of Raoul and COO of FJ Benjamin Group, tells CNBC how the Singapore fashion label plans to make further inroads into international markets.
Fashion label Raoul's plans to go global got a royal boost when Britain's Kate Middleton donned its pieces during her visit to Singapore in 2012.
Over the past five months, Marvel Comics has reimagined mainstay characters in new religions, races and genders.
Pandora reported a 38 percent rise in quarterly revenue.
The Seattle-based coffee company posted fiscal third-quarter earnings of 67 cents per share on $4.14 billion in revenue.


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Bakers — start your mixers. October 16 is World Bread Day
No matter how you slice it, bread is an important part of nearly every culture, race and religion around the world. World Bread Day was founded to celebrate those products from all around the globe. While man cannot live on bread alone, wheat foods do make up 20 percent of world’s calories, according to the United Nations.
Kansas farmers grow more of that wheat than those of any other state – making them America’s breadwinners. One grain of truth – Kansas wheat farmers produce enough wheat each year to bake 36 billion loaves of bread, which would mean everyone in the world could break bread together for about two weeks. In fact, a family of four could live for 10 years off the bread produced by a single acre of wheat.
In the Philippines, Kansas Wheat partner U.S. Wheat Associates helps promote wheat consumption through Mabuhay Tinapay (Celebrate Bread!). The campaign’s Facebook page has tasty Filipino recipes and wheat foods facts.
And, if you are really a gluten for punishment, check out the official 2017 World Bread Day recipe round-up submitted from bakers around the world.
You had butter get on a roll, bake some bread and join in the World Bread Day celebration.


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The good news about the Federal Trade Commission’s recent proposal for a Do-Not-Track mechanism is that it could give Web users much needed control over their online data. The bad news: That same proposal threatens to disrupt the delicate value-exchange that’s still emerging between Internet users and content publishers.
In December, when the FTC unveiled its do-not-track proposal as part of a comprehensive privacy report, it asked for public comments on the document.
This morning, ClickZ submitted feedback on behalf of its readers. The document we sent the FTC summarizes the observations of 17 readers, contributors, and experts regarding the feasibility and potential impact of such a mechanism. It was supplemented with our own extensive reporting on online ad tracking, and the industry’s self-regulation efforts.
Interested readers can download our feedback to the FTC in .pdf form at this link. Among the key points:


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Nov. 30, 2010— -- Matthew Klint might have just landed one of the best travel deals ever.
Next month, Klint, his brother and his uncle are all flying to Las Vegas and staying in two rooms at a five-star hotel. The total cost: $44. Throw in a $200 food and drink credit and they are actually making $156 off the trip.
How did Klint score such a deal? The 24-year-old Philadelphia law student saw a promotion -- possibly an error -- on Expedia's Canadian website and snagged it quickly.
Then he started booking other trips for friends and family. Ultimately, Klint purchased 15 tickets, most of them for free.
"I always recommend to people: book now and ask questions later," said Klint, who also has a blog about flying called Live and Let's Fly.
A few hours after Klint booked the tickets, Expedia caught the error and changed its promotion requiring all trips to start in Canada.
Stay Up to Date on the Latest Travel Trends from ABC News on Twitter
Savvy travelers had caught on to a promotion where Expedia was offering $300 off any air and hotel package to Cancun, New York or Las Vegas. The deal was originally supposed to be just for Canadian travelers and aimed at longer vacations. But deal watchers saw it and word spread quickly on the Internet.
Besides his one-night Vegas trip, Klint is taking two mileage runs from his parents' house in Los Angeles to New York, just to get the frequent flier miles needed to re-qualify for elite status next year. The cost: completely free.
"This deal was so lucrative. There was no minimum stay," he said. "It just seems that Expedia dropped the ball and should have put a minimum night requirement."
Expedia declined several requests for an interview and only would say that it is honoring all bookings.
Secrets to Getting Travel Deals, Discounts
Gary Leff, who runs the blog View From the Wing and re-posted the Expedia offer, said such deals come around from time to time but travelers need to act fast.
"They're usually human glitches, working with computers," Leff said. "They seem to happen every so often. But not as often as they used to."
While they might not be as frequent, thanks to social media and the Internet the number of travelers taking advantage of such deals seems to have grown.
Some favorites that Leff has taken advantage of have involved currency conversion issues.
Le Méridien Hotels in Thailand priced its rooms once in Ugandan shillings. Leff got a $1,500 a night, 3,100-square-foot presidential villa for 60 cents.
And there was a buy two nights, get the third free -- plus breakfast -- offer.
The hotel realized its mistake, but gave him the room for $50 a night, with the third one free.
When Hilton took over Starwood properties in French Polynesia, somebody improperly typed in the currency code. CFP, is the proper code for the franc in French Polynesia. But CDF -- the code entered into the reservation system -- is the official currency of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Rooms were being offered at only 10 percent of the price.
Airlines also make mistakes and tend to honor such errors.
"Hotels are more iffy," Leff said. "Sometimes, you win, sometimes you lose."
Most often, these deals come when something gets entered into a computer incorrectly, said Rick Seaney, CEO of airfare-search site FareCompare.com and an ABCNews.com columnist.
For instance, a couple of years ago, United was trying to match Southwest fares. By mistake, somebody set Southwest's one-way fares as United's roundtrip prices.
"So for a full part of the day, they were selling tickets at half price," Seaney said.
United quickly caught the error and fixed the fares but not before thousands of tickets were sold, all of which Seaney said the airline honored.
One New Year's Eve, Air Canada was switching over its Website and for a brief time was offering tickets for zero dollars.
"There's been a variety of things that occurred," Seaney said.
Perhaps the best deal of them all came from Italian airline Alitalia. Seaney recalls the airline was trying to offer unrestricted business class tickets from Toronto to Cyprus for $3,300. Thanks to a mistake, tickets were sold for $33.
But it gets better, the tickets allowed long layovers. Some savvy travelers got to fly business class to Rome or Milan on the way to or from Cyprus.
Alitalia started canceling the tickets but then people complained to Orbitz, where they bought the tickets. The airline started re-booking tickets but messed up the tickets so much that they had to allow one free change for everybody.
Delta once forgot to add the fuel surcharge on round trip fares, Seaney said, making roundtrip travel to Europe extremely cheap.
Airlines realize the problems pretty quickly and try to fix it as soon as they can. With domestic airfare, the prices can only be changed in computers three times daily.
"If they have a problem at 8 p.m., they can't fix it until 10 a.m. the next morning," Seaney said. It's even better for travelers on weekends, when the domestic prices only update once, 5 p.m. ET. International fares can be updated hourly.
To take advantage of the deals, follow blogs like Leff's or the popular FlyerTalk forum, where these deals are often found in the mileage run section. Seaney also suggests keeping track of Twitter feeds.
Several travel sites offer nightly or weekly deal alerts, but Seaney said as soon as his computer system at FareCompare.com identifies an anomaly, it automatically emails out an alert to subscribers.
"In order to take advantage of mistakes," he said, "it has to be in real time because they are fleeting."


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Elon, Decentralized Twitter and the Ghosts of Facebook Past
Facebook Platform, Twitter-as-a-Protocol and the problems that tokens can/cannot solve.
Zuck’s Jack’s Dream
Stop me if you’ve heard this, but the world’s richest man closed a deal to buy Twitter last week.
If you’re interested in the implications of this deal for free speech, there are about 10,000 articles you can read. So I’m going to steer clear of that debate.
I’m more interested in an adjacent topic that has surfaced in light of Musk’s takeover. What if Twitter stopped seeing itself as an ad-supported social media product? What if, instead, it reimagined itself as an open protocol for global conversation?
Jack Dorsey, himself, added fuel to this fire with his tweet last week:
Musk’s plans for Twitter are opaque, but he has done little to quell the idea of a more open Twitter.
At TED, he suggested that he sees Twitter as a public good and is not worried about the economics. He tweeted that the Twitter algorithm should be open-sourced. In leaked investor pitches, Musk suggested Twitter could open new non-ads revenue streams. Each of these plans would line-up with the idea of an “Open Twitter.”
We don't know exactly what that means. But for our purposes, I’m going to imagine that Jack and Elon's vision could look something like this:
The Twitter graph and Twitter content are opened as a protocol. This allows any developer to build on them with equal standing to Twitter.
Twitter's ranking algorithm would be open sourced allowing developers to launch competing sites.
Twitter would still have an ad-supported site. But it would monetize its protocol through developer adoption and user payments.
These are all interesting ideas. But I can’t shake the feeling that they’re also… a bit familiar.
You may not remember the aughts... But there already was a controversial social media billionaire CEO that tried to remake his site as an open platform.
Mark Zuckerberg once believed that users should be able to take their friends with them to any product.
He believed that developers should treat Facebook's data as an open resource.
He believed that Facebook would be the underlying social protocol, but other apps would outperform Facebook's own.
He even believed that major changes to the policies of that platform should be governed by user vote... like, say a DAO.
The Facebook Open Graph platform was, in 2007, the most optimistic version of an open Twitter.
Now, it’s a Silicon Valley truism that, “Early is just another word for wrong.” So it’s possible that Twitter can now succeed where Facebook failed. But what would be different this time? Are there lessons that Zuck can teach Elon?
Thanks for reading Charterless! Subscribe for weekly deep dives into the most interesting questions about DAOs.
The Rise and Fall of the Facebook Platform
In September 2006, Facebook was a fledgling competitor of MySpace. But Zuck’s team was preparing two big releases that would catapult Facebook into the big leagues. First, they unveiled the News Feed. Next, they opened up the site from students to anyone over the age of 13.
The bets worked. Between 2006 and 2007, the site grew from 12 Million monthly users to 58 Million. By 2009, it would have 360 Million. But these bets not only grew the user base. They set up Zuck’s vision for Facebook as a platform for other developers.
As David Kirkpatrick recalled in The Facebook Effect, Mark Zuckerberg had always harbored an ambition to build a platform. In 2006, he saw his opportunity.
Facebook’s Photos and Events products were the most popular apps of their kind on the internet. And this was despite being jankier and less full-featured than competitors. As Zuck explained:
“So why were photos and events so good? It was because despite all their shortcomings they had one thing no one else had. And that was integration with the social graph. [...] We have the most powerful distribution mechanism in a generation.”
Zuck believed he could offer this social graph as a platform to other developers. If he succeeded, Facebook would no longer have to out-compete every social startup. They would move from social app to social infrastructure.
If successful, it would entrench Facebook as the center of the social web. It would also unleash a new wave of social app entrepreneurs.
“Zuckerberg decided that what Facebook did uniquely well was maintain your personal profile and your network of friend connections. Ultimately, almost everything else will be done by competitors.”
Look - a company owned platform is not exactly the same as a community-owned protocol, but we have to credit where it's due. This was the closest execution of an open social protocol possible in 2007. It was visionary.
And developers responded. Zuck had hoped that they might attract 5,000 developers in the first year. Instead, they attracted 250,000 developers and 25,000 applications. By the end of 2008, 95% of Facebook’s users were utilizing at least one Facebook Platform app.
This was the era of Farmville and Superpoke. It was the era of Bumper Stickers and iLike. Each month brought a new hit social app built on Facebook.
But the spectacular growth obscured an important reality. Facebook’s platform developers were undermining Facebook the product.
The business hypothesis for Platform had been simple.
1.Platform apps attract users to Facebook.
2. This generates more page views and more data.
3. Ads will monetize both of those assets.
On the surface, then, Facebook and its developers were aligned. Developers wanted user engagement and so did Facebook. Both sides would stand to gain from monetizing user attention.
But in reality, Facebook misread its value proposition to developers. Facebook believed its core value to developers was social data. But its actual core value was a high signal distribution mechanism. Facebook offered access to this channel as a public good. But if you give everyone access to a public good, there’s a tragedy of the commons waiting to unfold.
Developers virally grew their apps by making each user send invites to their friends. Suddenly, News Feed had less photos from parties and more requests to join your friend on Mafia Wars. If sending all this spam made Facebook less attractive to users... well – everyone else was doing it, too.
What Facebook began to see was that these app developers did not share the same interests as the company. Developers would happily extract growth from the site until the channel collapsed.
Facebook, of course, was focused on its own sustainability. As anyone familiar with social media will tell you, the company changes its mind about who gets distribution on a whim.
So Facebook began to shut off channels for distribution. They revoked the ability of developers to reach users through high signal channels like notifications.
Of course, this was not the only factor in the platform's demise. In the same year that Facebook introduced Platform, Apple had introduced the iPhone. The mobile platform proved more powerful than the social one.
Apple’s own platform rules prevented Facebook from offering embedded apps and games. As mobile took off, the Open Graph accelerated its death spiral. The platform would linger in the back-pages of facebook.com for years.
It finally died an ignominious death in 2018. The Cambridge Analytica scandal recast Facebook's original vision of an open, portable data platform as an Orwellian nightmare. No one much noticed when it was killed.
Lessons for the Twitter Open Protocol
With that cautionary tale in mind, we can now ask: why would this time be different? Let’s start with the bullish points:
The Possibility of New Business Models
Facebook believed its Platform could strengthen its nascent ad business while opening new revenue streams: Virtual goods! Gift cards! A marketplace!
But in 2007, those businesses were far from proven. College kids at that time were just not going to buy that much online. Meanwhile, Google had shown that advertising could build an empire.
An ads business model demands a product that can reliably attract customer attention. This, in turn, necessitates a tightly integrated product. After all, if I can get Facebook content or interact with my friends on other platforms, why should I log-on to Facebook.com?
If Twitter is going to open their network, they will need a new business model. Here there's reason for optimism. 2022 is not 2007.
Twitter, for example, could unbundle the “layers” of its platform. Each layer would have its own monetization possibilities.
It's not a clear slam dunk. It's hard to imagine these services outperforming the Facebook ad juggernaut. But Twitter has never been as good at playing that game, anyway. This might be a game it could win.
Tokens Provide for More Aligned Incentives
Maybe the biggest lesson of Facebook's Platform is that developer incentives need to align with the platform's.
The simplest way to align incentives is to share ownership. And, so, of course, we need to think about tokens. Traditional equity-share arrangements are too onerous for an open ecosystem of >10k developers.
But Twitter could create tokenized ownership of its protocol. Popular developers and creators could earn tokens for positive contributions. Lay-users could pay for premium services or subscriptions with Twitter tokens (giving them innate value).
Twitter might even be able to use a "staking" mechanism. This could require developers to collateralize tokens and forfeit them if they violated policies.
Of course, tokens are not exactly a proven mechanism for encouraging long-termism. If the goal is long-term alignment rather than speculative WAGMI energy.... well, there are not a lot of great examples to follow.
If Twitter can figure that one out, the entire web3 ecosystem would follow their example.
It's not the protocol. It's distribution, stupid.
The real challenge is that Jack's vision makes a similar mistake to Zuck's.
Twitter's value is not as a technical protocol. It’s not its unique 140 character format. (Seriously, that's just a really short email.) Nor is it in a list of contacts. (I have that in my phone contacts...) Its value is the reach of the platform. It's in my ability to Tweet @elonmusk and hope he replies.
A social protocol is only valuable if it allows creators to reach their audiences.
And this creates an unavoidable conflict between creators and consumers. Developers desperately want to be heard and users desperately want to be left alone.
"OK," you might counter, "But an open Twitter will allow many new surfaces to bloom! This will enable developers to reach excited followers and leave the rest of us alone."
Maybe. Over the long run. But on Day 0, Twitter will still be the place that protocol users get their updates. And to attract those users for their app, developers will have to reach into Twitter. So Twitter’s algorithm will continue to control distribution to the Twitter graph.
The challenge that needs to be solved for an open social platform is not how to decentralize data – but how to decentralize distribution. And here, the inspiration needs to look less like Twitter and more like Email or Texting. Problem 1 for an Open Twitter needs to be how do I reach my followers off of Twitter.
Unless and until there is a viable way to reach that audience, an “open protocol” is just good marketing copy.
And, unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that Tokens are going to fix that.


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AllThingsD reports today that Apple has successfully concluded negotiations with Sony regarding the issue of iRadio. iRadio has been rumored to be unveiled at WWDC 2013, and this most recent report would back up such rumors.
Sony was the final major label that Apple had to sign in order to offer iRadio with a full library of music. Both Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group, the other two major music labels, were signed earlier this year.
iRadio is supposedly more of competitor to Pandora than to other streaming solutions, such as Rdio or Spotify. An ad-supported version of iRadio is also on track for a WWDC unveil.


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All of which will be ignored by the critics of the pharmaceutical industry, most of whom are now paid for by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. Rather, they will use Azar’s speech as a pretext to flood Twitter with statements about the skyrocketing rate of price increases, how drug companies are making medicines unaffordable and how marginally effective there high priced products really are.
Critics only want to talk about value in terms of how they would set prices and limit access of new medicines based on their measure of how much a life is worth. Using ICER guidelines, the experts defend hepatitis C drug limits that have cut cure rates from 99 percent to 80 percent or assessments of drugs for cystic fibrosis and treatment resistant high cholesterol that would cut prices by 80 percent but still require patients to pay thousands out of pocket. As a study I am wrapping up will show: If they had their way, none of the new medicines introduced since 2000 would be considered valuable at their initial prices.
To be sure, newer drugs are a growing part (46 percent) of total drug spending. But the critics ignore the reason such novel therapies are a bigger part of treatment for more diseases: they are not just worth it; they are indispensable in making staying healthy more affordable and easier:
Prescription drug spending has reduced the cost of treating disease. Every dollar spent on new medicines reduces expenditures on costlier and less effective care by $6.
The more we spend on prescription drugs as a percent of health expenditures to treat or the less we spend on that condition overall. Nearly 100 percent of health expenditures on polio, measles, pneumonia tuberculosis, HIV, etc., is spent on prescription drugs. In their absence, the cost of treating each patient with those diseases would be much more if we were spending less on medicines. Recent studies have found that in the absence of new medicines, health insurance premiums would be on average 15-20 percent higher each year than they are now.
The newer medicines the healthier we become, the more productive we are and the less expensive health care becomes. Critics claim that new medicines, especially for cancer, cost more and more yet they do not add much to people living longer and healthier lives. This ignores the cumulative effect of medicines. The first and second generation of HIV medicines, measured in isolation, did not seem to increase well-being or life expectancy. The same goes for new drugs for a wide variety of tumors and rare diseases. So how do people with HIV live a healthy life with the same life expectancy as someone without the disease? How has the average life expectancy of someone with cystic fibrosis increased from 20-60 in two decades? And how has the number of cancer survivors increased from 9.8 million in 2001 to over 16 million in 2017?
It is true that the sticker price of new drugs has increased, so has the price of lots of things, including other medical procedures and services that prescription drugs have eliminated. The cost of being hospitalized with breast cancer has increased 200 percent since 2004. The cost of an allogeneic bone marrow transplant has increased from $750K to $900K between 2008 and 2016.
At the same time, the out of pocket cost for most medicines has remained the same or declined because 90 percent of our drugs are generic.
A small percentage of Americans who use new medicines pay more out of pocket each year. But that is largely because health plans and PBMs are collecting rebates while charging the sickest patients a bigger and bigger share of higher retail prices. The net price of newer medicines has increased less than 2 percent a year since 2013, yet the average out of pocket patient cost has jumped 53 percent due to higher list prices and higher cost sharing.
Last year I published a study showing that 2 percent of all patients, using 2 percent of prescriptions, paid nearly 25 percent of all out of pocket costs and generated 30 percent -- $39 billion of the nearly $130 billion in rebates. Critics like to claim that eliminating the out of pocket cost of the newer drugs will do nothing to reign in drug prices. But they ignore that out of pocket spending has increased by over 50 percent even as the rate of increase in net spending for the most expensive medicines (meaning net of rebates) declined.
It begs the question of why cost sharing for drugs goes up even as it stays the same for other procedures and services that cost more over time.
And most important, it boggles the mind and the conscience, that they only care about controlling drug prices rather than ensuring access to new medicines, the proven source of value in health care, is made affordable.
Count how many times the critics mention these facts. It will take a minute at most. By comparison, counting the number of tweets that ignore the value of medical innovation and distort the data, ignore the context or outright lie to do so, could take months.


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Book fairs take children on adventures
Strawberry Park and Soda Creek elementaries host events to get children excited to read
Visitors to Strawberry Park Elementary School’s library and media center may not believe someone could be more excited about a book fair than library information specialist Sherry Holland — until they see the ear-to-ear smiles of students entering the fair.
Holland worked hard last week to keep the attention of class after class of students who were in awe of shelves filled with thousands of new books, posters and pencils.
It’s all part of this fall’s Scholastic Book Fair, which is being held at Strawberry Park and Soda Creek elementary schools this week.
“We have book fairs really for the kids,” Holland said Thursday, while surrounded by thousands of purchasable books ranging in subjects from tooth fairies to Italian cuisine. “It’s a setting that’s really built around growing readers.”
Students tend to gobble up that setting, as second grade teacher Tracey Tyson knows well.
“The kids ask all day long when they can go to the book fair,” Tyson said.
Book fairs are annual or semi-annual staples at many elementary schools across the country. As students return to fairs year after year, it can be seen how their reading levels and interests change with experience and age, Holland said.
And perhaps most importantly, the fairs are a way to help get children excited about reading and owning their own books, she said.
“It’s very special to have a book of your own that you read over and over and treasure,” Holland said.
Each elementary school class visits the book fair individually to preview books and hear librarians and authors introduce new choices.
“I want kids to really spend time making a choice they really want,” Holland said.
Children can come back to the library with money from their parents to purchase books during the fair, and parents are welcome to come to the fair anytime during book-fair hours to purchase books or to browse selections.
Activities coinciding with the book fair are designed to help children become readers and writers, not to mention adding the exciting possibility of winning a new book of their choosing.
“It’s all about fun,” Holland said shortly before reading one her favorite new books to Celia Dunham’s first-grade class. “Anything it takes to get kids to read is good for me.”
The book fair also provides a rare opportunity for school libraries to raise money, she said. Revenue generated from hosting book fairs has funded visiting authors and other literary programs.
“We couldn’t do those (things) if we didn’t have the extra money we’re able to earn,” Holland said. Strawberry Park will host two visiting authors in January alone.
Children aren’t the only ones who might be interested in book fair selections. Titles for young adults and adults also line the shelves and tables.
“It allows families to come look at books and celebrate literature together,” Holland said.
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Legalization is moving steadily across the African continent, and last week Rwanda, a landlocked country in East Africa, announced the start of cannabis production. This is a poor and densely populated state, and the average age of Rwandans is shockingly small - only 19 years. Cannabis is one of the most profitable crops, which is why many African countries see great potential in this plant. The pandemic and its aftermath have hit their economy hard, and legalization is one way to raise additional capital. They change the legal status of marijuana and start officially exporting it to Europe and the US.
The more players enter the race for cannabis, the lower the cost will become. But at the moment, its price is quite high, and growing cannabis in African countries is very cheap, so countries like Rwanda will benefit greatly from it. It is obvious that those who first started cannabis production will benefit the most, but this industry can still grow for a very long time, because besides the buds, hemp has additional economic potential, since the rest of the plant can be used in a completely different industry. In the meantime, before hemp takes over the entire planet, we can celebrate that another country has joined the cannabis club!


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The digitization of the financial industry has accelerated in recent years, and investment in fintech has emerged as an attractive wealth-building opportunity for investors.
In 2020, global investment in fintech totaled US$105 billion, according to KPMG. While that’s a big number, overall investment was down compared to the previous year, largely due to the impact COVID-19 had on most industries on a global scale.
By comparison, the fintech market saw US$168 billion of investment in 2019. Aside from the coronavirus, KPMG attributes 2020’s decline to “the lack of mega-M&A deals” in first half of the year.
Despite the setbacks of 2020, the global fintech market is anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of around 20 percent between 2020 and 2025, states Research and Markets, and is expected to reach a market value of around US$305 billion in that time.
Growth in venture capital investment, investor interest and private equity investment have all helped fuel innovation and investment in fintech. Read on to learn more about this flourishing market.
Investment in fintech: Global market breakdown
2018 and 2019 were banner years for investment in fintech. These years were marked by a number of major fintech deals that were characterized by their size and geographic diversity.
Many private equity firms took notice during this time and placed their money into fintech. Among others, Blackstone invested US$17 billion in Refinitiv, while P2 Partners and Silver Lake, a global financial technology business, acquired Blackhawk Network for US$3.5 billion.
In 2020, venture capital investment in fintech was strong despite global uncertainty. In fact, KPMG reported that fintech investment from venture capital sources totaled US$42.3 billion, marking the second highest venture capital investment year after 2018.
The digital banks sector saw the most venture capital investment in 2020, with Sweden-based Klarna raising US$650 million, Revolut taking in US$580 million and US-based Chime scoring US$533.8 million.
More mature companies also made large raises, including wealthtech player Robinhood, which brought in the largest venture capital investment in H2 2020: US$1.3 billion across two deals.
Corporate participation in venture investment remained high in 2020, due in part to the strategic nature of these investments. Corporate investment in fintech came to US$21 billion globally during the period.
US corporations are also investing more in fintech capabilities as a means to support their business strategies. KPMG notes that “the pandemic showcased the value of many fintech sub-sectors as consumers and businesses shifted to digital solutions to meet their financial needs.” Fintech investment in the US totaled US$75 billion in in 2020, and investors see fintech as a key growth vehicle.
In the Asia Pacific region, while fintech investment fell to a six year low of US$11.6 billion in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, corporate investment remained resilient. KPMG said this was “in part due to corporates looking to accelerate their digital transformation efforts in the face of COVID-19.”
In Europe, venture capital investment in fintech remains strong, although funding remains a challenge for early stage companies. However, the region experienced a record US$4.8 billion in venture capital funding for fintech companies in 2020.
Investment in fintech: Current market status
As the sector continues to mature, a number of trends are characterizing the fintech industry.
For its part, management consulting firm McKinsey & Company states that four trends are shaping the capital markets infrastructure side of fintech: distributed ledger technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics, quantum computing and post-trade products.
The financial technology sector is advancing in many ways, both locally and internationally, in areas like real estate, peer-to-peer lending, cross-border payments and general lending. Both the wealth management sector and portfolio companies are recognizing the benefits of fintech.
According to the Fintech Growth Syndicate, paytech accounts for the largest segment of the Canadian fintech ecosystem, standing at 25 percent of the industry. A paytech company is defined by Payments Canada as a company that uses technology to enable the electronic transfer of value.
KPMG highlights in its report that emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain and cybersecurity will continue to play important roles in shaping the future of the fintech industry.
A number of firms, including Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), are applying cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to their operations.
Recently, S&P Global said in a report that “even in the teeth of the pandemic, there has been a steady flow of financial technology mergers over the $1 billion mark.”
The report highlights global credit card networks such as Mastercard (NYSE:MA) and Visa (NYSE:V) as important drivers of this activity. “Mastercard and its peers are using fintech acquisitions as a way to reinvent themselves and to signal to the market that they are more than just a set of payment rails, industry observers say,” states the firm.
Visa started off 2020 with a US$4.9 billion cash acquisition of California-based Plaid, which provides application programming interfaces (APIs) that are central to open banking technology. In mid-2020, Mastercard bought API specialist Finicity for US$985 million.
In another report, S&P Global notes that the Asia Pacific region is on track to become a major hotbed for fintech startups as large banks in the region beef up their financial technology platforms. “For banks, the value of working with these platforms lies in the potential to unlock a new customer segment,” it states.
Investment in fintech: How to start
If you’re serious about making an investment in fintech, there are a number of ways to step into the sector, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and stocks.
ETFs provide exposure to multiple companies at once. Fintech-focused options include:
- The Global X FinTech Thematic ETF (NASDAQ:FINX) was launched in September 2016; contrary to its name, 65 percent of its holdings are US companies.
- The ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARCA:ARKF) launched in early 2019. The fund’s stated goal is to capture “the introduction of a technologically enabled new product or service that potentially changes the way the financial sector works.”
- ETFMG Prime Mobile Payments ETF (ARCA:IPAY) launched in 2015 and focuses solely on mobile payments stocks.
- The Tortoise Digital Payments Infrastructure Fund (ARCA:TPAY) began trading in February 2019 and contains companies that are focused on the digital payments sector. It tracks the Tortoise Global Digital Payments Infrastructure Index.
Fintech companies are popping up left, right and center, and it might be overwhelming for some investors. As a starting point, check out our list of 12 Canadian fintech stocks, learn more about what Australia has to offer and see which US fintech stocks warrant investor attention.
Whichever investing path you choose, it’s clear the fintech sector has grown considerably in recent years as more private equity and fintech investors enter the space. Companies continue to innovate in finance and ultimately the capital markets. The industry looks likely to keep expanding in the future.
This is an updated version of an article originally published by the Investing News Network in 2016.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
The post Why Consider Fintech Investing? appeared first on Investing News Network.


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Now it seems for many men in Wales, being well groomed is more important than it's ever been before. Research by a body representing hair and beauty salons says that male grooming is the industry's biggest growth sector.
Here in Wales tanning treatments are particularly popular, with men topping up their colour every two weeks. Richard Morgan went to find out more.
More top news
A mild night ahead with mist and hill fog.
In week two of the brand new series of The Voice on ITV a Welsh artist stole the show for the second time!
The council plans to turn the building into what they're describing as a 'cultural hub'.


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The 2015 print bestseller list was topped, not surprisingly, by Harper Lee’s first new book in 55 years, Go Set a Watchman, which was announced in February and went on sale in July. It would go on to move more than 1.5 million copies at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan, besting two of the other big books of the year: E.L. James’s fourth novel in her wildly popular erotica series, Fifty Shades of Grey, and the 10th title in Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.
GNC Holdings Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with plans to close at least 800 to 1,200 stores as it looks to cut its debt and restructure amid the COVID-19 crisis.
The struggling, 85-year-old vitamin and supplement retailer said it has reached an agreement with the majority of its secured lenders and key shareholders to pursue a dual-path restructuring process that will allow the company to emerge as a standalone business or for it be sold as a going concern. The plan allows GNC to restructure its balance sheet and accelerate its store optimization strategy. Last July, GNC, which is saddled with nearly $1 billion of debt, announced plans to shutter approximately 900 stores. As of March 2020, GNC had 7,300 locations globally, including 5,200 in the U.S.
more at source: https://chainstoreage.com/gnc-files-bankruptcy-plans-sell-itself


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New Balance steps into retail outlets
SARASOTA -- Sneaker-maker New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc. is trying something new on for size: retail stores.
While New Balance has been a staple in stores such as Sports Authority, Champs and Foot Locker for years, the Boston-based manufacturer is seeing its profile rise with a growing string of independently owned retail outlets.
The concept stores carry a broader range of New Balance shoes exclusively.
At the end of 2001, there were 55 stores operated by independent retailers, which generated about $46.4 million in sales or 4 percent of New Balance's $1.16 billion in total revenue.
By the end of this year, the company expects to have 90 stores around the country, said Katherine Shepard, a spokeswoman for the privately held company.
David Jackson, a 12-year shoe business veteran, expects to open the latest outlet this weekend at the Sarasota Pavilion, on South Tamiami Trail at Stickney Point Road.
Jackson has exclusive rights to operate stores in Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto and Hardee counties. He said the brand's reputation for comfort is a strong selling point.
"If you get these shoes on somebody's foot, they pretty much sell themselves," Jackson said. "We're not a fashion brand -- we're not chasing 16-year-old girls -- we're a fit-and-function brand."
Jackson spent the last seven years peddling New Balance, the last three as the single national supplier to Champs, the Bradenton-based chain owned by Foot Locker. He said the store has given him a chance to get back into the retail side of the business.
New Balance's niche is comfortable shoes for people with finicky, hard-to-fit feet. Jackson's store will carry men's sizes 6 to 18 in widths 2A to 6E and women's sizes 5 to 13 in widths 2A to 4E.
The store will also sell New Balance apparel, accessories and the Dunham line of casual shoes.
New Balance's sales, projected to hit $1.2 billion this year, puts it in the stomping grounds of the likes of Reebok International Ltd. but behind Bigfoot sneaker rival Nike Inc., which does about $10 billion in annual sales.
The concept of branded retail outlets or "banner stores" are hardly new in the footwear industry, said Teresa Meyer, an analyst with D.A. Davidson in Portland, Ore.
"It's not the promise of growth, but the chance to showcase its full brand," Meyer said. She said a shoe company can use its sales statistics from its own stores to influence how department and specialty stores stock their shelves.
She noted that Nike Inc. is launching a second line of banner stores under the name "Nike Goddess," which will sell only women's apparel.


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Evolution becomes first to bring live casino games in Colombia. The company has released its portfolio of live casino games into the newly controlled Colombian online gaming market. The arrival of Evolution’s games on the market makes the business the first operator of live casinos in Colombia to see its games go live. Its full portfolio will be available to players at Zamba.co as part of the launch.
Vicca Group CEO, Rodrigo Afanador, commented “Following major regulatory reforms in the Colombian gaming market, we are now ideally positioned to lead the way in online services, while also leveraging our long-established leading position in the land-based casino market.
“In Evolution we have another international online casino gaming partner and, of course, access to a fantastic range of world-class solutions with which to further enhance our core suite of online products and services from GAMING1. Adding Evolution’s Live Casino games will ensure Zamba is the online casino market leader in Colombia.”
Johan Nordstrom, chief executive officer malta and chief commercial officer at Evolution, added “We are delighted to have entered the Colombian market with Zamba at what is an exciting time. We are confident that our world-class games portfolio is the perfect fit to add to Zamba’s offering.”
Nordstrom continued, “We launched our First Person range of games earlier this year in Colombia and they have performed extremely well. We are thrilled that we have now been able to launch our Live Casino offering and look forward to releasing our games with more operators over the coming months.”
[image: Flavia Carpio]


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[embedded content] Tweet Since the rising price of fuel has stormed India, those who were stuck with the petrol were left behind, and very... ...http://www.indiandrives.com/toyota-to-produce-diesel-engine-in-india-from-2016.html
Jigani, a place on the outskirts of Bengaluru, where Toyota's new diesel engine plant is being readied. The plant is built at an investment of INR... ...http://www.rushlane.com/toyota-india-localization-levels-2015-12152914.html
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We are the Second world largest...


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Mississippi stores prepared to meet fans’ College World Series fix
OXFORD, Miss. (WCBI) – Celebrating a College World Series victory is quickly becoming a Mississippi tradition.
So local businesses are adjusting accordingly.
Ginnie Brown, the store manager for B-Unlimited in Oxford, says they got their national championship shirts at around 8:30 a.m. Monday, after the Ole Miss baseball team completed their CWS sweep of Oklahoma the day before. Brown says they got about 1,500 shirts in their first order and had a second order of their custom merchandise scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. Brown says they were even more prepared for the high demand after the rush of Bulldog fans who hit their Starkville store after Mississippi State brought home the 2021 College World Series.
“I think last year we got a good test run in Starkville about what to sort of expect,” Brown says. “We needed to be ready right away. We needed to have the shirts right when we opened today.
Brown says close to a third of their shirts sold within two hours of opening. Plenty of Rebels fans could be seen wearing them as they welcomed the team home at the Grove Monday.
“[That] experience is helping us to get things out of the door quicker and get shipped to people faster,” says Brown.


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Peering into the cheese case at Scardello in Dallas’s Oak Lawn neighborhood, it’s hard to know where to begin. There’s everything from goat to gouda, cave-aged cheddar to creamy Brie, stinky blue to even some varieties made from water buffalo milk. The big wheels and little bundles have come from around the world, the country, and the state. It would be a little overwhelming if not for the guiding presence of Rich Rogers, Scardello’s owner.
Rogers grew up in Dalhart, a tiny town at the tip of the Panhandle, where he says “the fanciest cheese was out of a squirt can.” Today, he’s one of the most knowledgeable cheesemongers in the state, if not the country. For nearly a decade, Rogers has served on the judging and competition committee for the American Cheese Society’s annual awards, the largest competition of its kind for American-made cheeses. Over the years, as more and more Texans have taken home awards, Rogers has watched others realize a truth he already knew: Texas has standout cheese.
The key to great cheese is great milk. Currently, Texas has 378 producer dairy farms and is among the top five dairy-producing states in the country. While some cheesemakers double as dairy farmers and harvest their own milk, others rely on outside sources. When one dairy closes, it can significantly impact production and take cheesemakers months or even years to find a suitable replacement.
Last May, new statewide rules made it easier for dairies to distribute raw milk, a move that many cheesemakers (who produce the cheese) and mongers (who sell the cheese) supported because it opened up a new revenue stream for dairies.
“There were several cheesemakers who were part of the effort to change the rules regarding raw milk sales,” says Judith McGeary, executive director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, which lobbied for the changes. “They took part because they want to see dairy farmers succeed, and they know that retail sales of raw milk can be a vital way for dairy farmers to make a fair living . . . The new rules will indirectly help cheesemakers, by supporting the continued existence and hopefully new establishment of small, high-quality dairies who can choose to also get a producer’s license and sell their milk to cheesemakers as well as consumers.”
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, there are 54 facilities with a milk-for-manufacturing permit, the permit required to make cheese from scratch. (This does not apply to anyone who buys cheese and then smokes it or adds flavor to create a new product.) This number is on par with the number of cheesemakers in Vermont. And yet Texas cheeses do not enjoy the same level of nationwide consumer recognition.
Cheese experts around the state have different explanations as to why that is. Some states, like California and Wisconsin, offer more governmental support and have dairy marketing boards that use a certain percentage of sales to help market cheeses. Distribution is also difficult, especially for smaller cheesemakers in remote locations that struggle to safely transport their cheeses at a reasonable cost. But Texas does have several things going for it, including lots of land and warmer temperatures.
In the Northeast and Europe, many milk-producing animals head indoors and subsist on hay during the winter months, but Texas animals are able to graze outside year-round. This makes for a cheese that is more consistent in color and taste and also makes Texas an attractive locale for dairy farmers and big cheese manufacturers. Earlier this year, Ohio-based Great Lakes Cheese broke ground on a new, state-of-the-art facility in Abilene and the world’s largest manufacturer of mozzarella, Leprino Foods, announced it will open a new facility in Lubbock in 2025.
“The decision to locate our newest facility in Lubbock was based on a number of factors, such as a reliable milk supply, which is essential to the placement of a new facility of this size, a well-educated workforce, and a top engineering school in Texas Tech University, which we plan to partner with in the future,” said a press representative for Leprino.
Big Cheese may have just started to take notice, but several smaller makers have called Texas home for decades. Back at Scardello, Rogers cuts me off a chunk of Queso Menonina, one company’s take on queso menonita, a cow’s milk cheese named for Mennonites who moved to Mexico and started making cheese. This version is flecked with jalapeños, and I expect it to be spicy, tongue-numbing even, but it surprises me. You can clearly taste the jalapeño but the creaminess of the cheese shines through.
“When I’m looking at flavored cheeses, one of my biggest criteria is balance, because I don’t want it to just be overwhelmingly the [added] flavor,” Rogers tells me. Next, he pulls out the Hoja Santa, a goat cheese wrapped in Mexican pepperleaf. This one’s flavor profile is harder to decipher, but Rogers gives me a hint: sarsaparilla.
While both of these cheeses are Mexican-influenced, they’re actually made at Mozzarella Company, just a few miles away from Scardello in Deep Ellum. Below the big, bold letters of the sign out front, there’s a picture of a smiling, older woman with a white bob and red glasses. It’s Paula Lambert, one of America’s artisanal cheese pioneers. Lambert grew up in Fort Worth but spent five years in Italy, studying Italian and art history. In 1973, she returned to Texas and got married, but she missed Italy. Opening a cheese factory was her way of coping.
“I had loved fresh mozzarella when I lived in Italy and back home no one had even heard of an insalata caprese—a mozzarella and tomato salad—and I thought that they oughta know about it,” Lambert says, laughing. “I’ve been in the cheese business ever since.”
While Lambert’s operation has grown substantially over the past four decades (her cheeses are sold at major grocery stores across Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas) and she’s branched out beyond mozzarella to make other varieties like an aged blue and a Texas version of Monterey Jack, her methods are still largely the same. “[Our cheese] has been made by hand from fresh, local milk since 1982,” Lambert says. “We are considered a big cheese factory, but we are completely artisanal. We have no machines other than a couple of pumps and a pasteurizer.”
As a result, Mozzarella Company has racked up nearly 150 awards, making Lambert arguably the most decorated cheesemaker in Texas. So she’s not scared of a little competition. In fact, she welcomes it. “It’s a gigantic world out there and there’s room for everybody,” she says.
Case in point: the number of goat-cheese makers across the state that have managed to support one another while also making names for themselves. Laura and Jeff Vanderbilt started making goat cheese in their fifties, after Laura visited her future son-in-law at Haute Goat Creamery, then located in Lubbock.
“The minute I walked into that small cheese-making room, I just fell in love with the smell. I was hooked,” Laura says. “Three years later, when I found out the owner was selling the equipment, we bought it [and the name].”
Knowing next to nothing about cheese-making, Laura spent the next two years immersed in classes, books, and hours of conversation with other producers. Amelia Sweethardt of Pure Luck Farm & Dairy became the couple’s mentor. Now the Vanderbilts are known for their flavored chèvres and are happy to share their knowledge with anyone who walks through the door of their White Oak shop.
It’s easy for Texas cheese makers to have this “pay it forward” mentality because they know they’re not necessarily in direct competition—they serve different customers, with tastes as varied as the cheeses. A plain goat cheese made by Marfa Maid Dairy in West Texas can have a distinctly different tang than a plain goat cheese made by the Vanderbilts some 650 miles away. And a lot of that has to do with the terrain.
“Cheesemakers [often] call themselves grass farmers because really, the makeup of their pasture has so much to do with the quality of the milk that they get,” says Lindsey Schechter, owner of Houston Dairymaids. When she opened her small cheese shop in 2006, she wanted to introduce Houstonians to artisanal cheeses, specifically those made with unpasteurized milk and, in accordance with a rule issued by the Food and Drug Administration in 1949, aged for over sixty days. Pasteurization—the process by which raw milk is heated in order to kill bacteria—for cheese-making has long been debated in the United States, and many cheese lovers, including Schechter, argue that raw milk is safe in cheese production and makes for better natural flavor.
“When you pasteurize you kind of create a blank slate. You lose a lot of the microorganisms that would create flavor in your cheese that come through the soil and are unique to your farm and dairy,” Schechter says.
Texas natives Chadley Hollas and Kathryn Ivey see great potential in their home state’s terroir, so much so that they decided to move back from Vermont, where Ivey was lead cheesemaker for an award-winning goat dairy, to open Cadence Creamery, scheduled to start selling products in 2022.
“We think Texas has the potential to develop its own cheese identity, unique from other cheese regions in the United States,” Ivey says. “As we’ve seen with the growth and recognition of Texas winemakers, brewers, and others, there is a culinary future here worth promoting.”
The couple is interested in exploring varieties specifically suited to the state, especially aged hard cheeses. Ivey and Hollas are also excited about the prospect of incorporating more of the sustainable practices they picked up back East and developing a robust herding program “unique to Texas but inspired by the world’s shepherds,” says Ivey.
“Goats, like Texas’s other native ruminants—deer, and bighorn sheep, depending on where you are referring to—have a great potential to help sustain Texas’s landscapes, especially as we adapt to a changing climate,” she says. The couple plans to work with local farmers to graze goats over large swaths of land, eliminating the need to buy up massive acreage.
Texas cheesemakers are innovating in other ways, too. Veldhuizen was the first to successfully experiment with raising sheep, researching breeds that would acclimate to the warmer climate, and finding a winner in the Asian Awassi. The company’s resulting Manchego-style Fat Tailed Tomme is one of Rogers’s favorite Texas cheeses. Then there’s the corporate lawyer turned rancher at OroBianco Italian Creamery who is working to expand beyond gelato to produce fresh mozzarella and burrata made from water buffalo milk. Some cheesemakers are producing vegan alternatives from cashews. Hill Country maker Nut Monkey popped up at local farmers’ markets last year, and since opening in 2020, Rebel Cheese—an all-vegan cheese shop and cafe in Austin—has earned national recognition for its Chebrie, a cheddar-Brie hybrid.
As for how cheese aficionados feel about vegan cheese? According to Rogers, it can be somewhat controversial.
“It really depends on how you define cheese. At the American Cheese Society, cheese is defined as being made from milk,” he says. “But I think non-dairy-based cheese substitutes are a fantastic innovation. And I’m glad that’s available for people that want or need it. It’s cool, just different.”
For now, Texas cheeses can mostly only be found inside state lines, and that’s partly what makes them special. Just don’t expect it to stay that way much longer.


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Space is going fast for Reifen 2012
The international tire show Reifen is growing steadily. Organizers say that 20% more is now reserved for the 2012 event than was at the same time for the last one in 2010. The show takes place July 5-8, 2012 at Messe Essen, Germany.
The next show’s focus will be in the areas of disposal and ecology. Germany’s federal ministry of economy has made Reifen 2012 part of its program for fostering the participation of young, innovative companies in international trade fairs.
The ministry’s program offers support to young German companies exhibiting at Reifen 2012. Specially designated community booths will be available for them alongside other companies of the same sector. The German government will pay up to 80 percent of the cost of booth rental and set-up. The application, as well as further information, may be viewed at www.bafa.de.
The registration deadline for Reifen 2012 is on Oct. 1, 2011. For more information, see Reifen 2010 draws 18,000-plus attendees.


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Tesla got off to a slow start with the Lotus-based Tesla Roadster, but a decade has now passed since we first drove that car – in fairly shabby two-speed prototype form, straight out of the gates of Potash Lane, Hethel, as it happened.
And there has certainly been some water under the bridge since then.
The Roadster, now long discontinued, reached fewer than 3000 homes over its four-year life cycle; by way of contrast, Tesla delivered more than 76,000 other new cars last year alone.
So while only a brave few were willing to risk their motoring happiness on an electrified sports car at the turn of the current decade, some 50,000 buyers a year are now switching their preference from fossil fuels to battery power and buying a Tesla Model S executive saloon.
Growth of that kind doesn’t tend to come easy, and there have, of course, been safety controversies, recalls and a few corporate scandals to keep the gossip mill spinning. But the Model S has emphatically succeeded, and it is now a bigger-selling car than almost any other full-sized limousine in the world.
Tesla, being at once a long way from done and ever-keen to talk of its plans, already began talking up the Tesla Model 3 compact saloon before its first seven-seater had rolled out of the factory. That will make Tesla ownership about twice as affordable as it currently is.


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Twitter Stories September 12
Twitter Stories September 2
Update: Apple so far is using the account only for a promoted/sponsored tweet campaign not visible from its main profile.
An @apple Twitter account has existed for more than five years, but until today has been completely dormant, with blank profile and header images. That’s now changed: there’s an Apple logo for the profile image, and the iPhone 7 event graphic as the header. So far, though, no tweets.
It’s looking likely that Apple plans to start tweeting in time for next week’s launch of the iPhone 7, with some speculating that the company may live-tweet the event …
Twitter Stories August 22
Twitter Stories August 18
Twitter today has announced an update to its iOS app that gives users more control over what they see in their timeline and who is able to interact with them. Announced on the official Twitter blog, the changes come to notification settings and a new quality filter setting. The update specifically brings more control to users who are not lucky enough to be verified on the service.
Twitter Stories August 2
Twitter’s latest iOS update, released today, now includes iPad-compatible keyboard shortcuts. Users with paired Bluetooth keyboards or Smart Keyboards will now be able to use their keyboards to create new tweets, or move between tabs.
Twitter Stories August 1


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KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 – Hovid Bhd, a Malaysian-based pharmaceutical company producing more than 400 products, recently announced that its Chemor manufacturing facility has been awarded the Therapeutic Goods Administration Good Manufacturing Practices (TGA-GMP) certification.
Receipt of this certification is an essential requirement for the export of Hovid’s therapeutic goods into countries such as Australia and New Zealand. It also verifies that Hovid’s manufacturing processes have been developed to produce quality products that meet international standards.
TGA-GMP is an international recognised certification by the Australia’s regulatory authority for therapeutic goods such as medicines, medical devices, and diagnostic tests, granted only to companies whose manufacturing procedures and facilities demonstrate a high degree of consistency, safety, and quality.
The certification enables Hovid to pursue international distribution opportunities, especially in Australia and New Zealand, as well as in other global markets that accepts TGA-GMP certification fort market access. Hovid is one of the very few pharmaceutical companies in Malaysia to be granted the TGA-GMP.
“At Hovid, we are committed to providing patients worldwide with high quality products backed by our dedicated R&D facilities,” said Hovid Bhd managing director David Ho.
“By obtaining TGA-GMP certification, we can now embark upon our strategy and ambitious for expansion into more key international markets, aiming for rapid global growth and getting more Malaysian made products available globally.”
As the largest pharma exporter in Malaysia with a global sales and distribution network, Hovid will continue to aim for product excellence especially in quality. It will continuously innovate to improve manufacturing lines and R&D-based products that can penetrate market segments worldwide.


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The cigarette company said it now has support from investors representing 74% of Vectura shareholders.
PMI revealed it now has support from investors representing 74% of Vectura shareholders – above the 50% threshold for the deal to go through – and is urging the remaining shareholders to accept the deal.
The company said: “All remaining conditions to the offer have been satisfied or, where applicable, waived.
“Accordingly… the offer has become unconditional in all respects.”
Jacek Olczak, PMI’s chief executive, said: “We have reached an important milestone in our acquisition of Vectura and are pleased to have secured over 74% of the company’s shares, in excess of the 50% required to make our offer unconditional and PMI the majority shareholder.
“We are very excited about the critical role Vectura will play in our Beyond Nicotine strategy and look forward to working with Vectura’s scientists and providing them with the resources and expertise to grow their business to help us achieve our goal of generating at least one billion dollars (£720 million) in net revenues from Beyond Nicotine products by 2025.”
The board of inhaler maker Vectura had previously unanimously recommended shareholders approve the £1.1 billion takeover by PMI.
Following the recommendation, PMI started buying shares on the open market, securing a stake of 29.9%.
Remaining shareholders were asked to approve the deal and sell their shares in principle. For the deal to complete, 50% needed to agree and the threshold has now been reached.
It makes the deal all but certain, with remaining shareholders expected to fall into line.
The deal has faced controversy, with smoking charities and medical groups warning the board against selling up to a cigarette business.
Future research for the firm could also be hit, with several universities having rules that block them from taking funding from cigarette businesses and their subsidiaries.
Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation said: “Vectura has sold out millions of people with lung disease, and instead prioritised short-term financial gain over the long-term viability of Vectura as a business.
“Vectura is now owned by a tobacco company, and this could cause considerable problems, such as the firm being excluded from research and clinical networks.
“It creates perverse incentives for Philip Morris International to sell more of its harmful products so they might then profit again through treating smoking-related diseases.
“There’s now a very real risk that Vectura’s deal with big tobacco will lead to the cigarette industry wielding undue influence on UK health policy.
“We call on the Government to stand by its commitment to the World Health Organisation framework convention on tobacco control to prevent this happening.”


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The 25 Most Stylish Event
Still working on your weekend plans?
Charlotte STYLE Magazine kicks off STYLE Week this weekend with the 5th Annual 25 Most Stylish Event at Suite in the Epicentre.
The Junior League of Charlotte, Inc. and our Cornerstone Project, Charlotte’s Reid Park Community, will be the beneficiary of this year’s event, with 20% of all tickets sold going to the JLC.
The event features fashion shows as well as the announcement of the 25 Most Stylish.
Buy your tickets online today for $35.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Suite, 210 West Trade Street, Epicentre
Red Carpet Begins at 6:30
Event Begins at 7:30


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Faiss Foley Warren Public Relations & Government Affairs is sending a huge congratulations to Senior Account Executive, Susie Black as she celebrates the 25th anniversary of her first [...]
Governor Brian Sandoval Unveils Nevada’s 150th Logo
We are very proud to announce that FFW PR designed Nevada’s 150th anniversary logo!
Fashion Show Plaza
Fashion Show will debut an exciting new ‘front door’ facing Las Vegas Boulevard this year, adding Kona Grill, two yet to be announced restaurants, an iconic Cloud Bar and seven free-standing shops. The redevelopment is expected to be complete by year-end.
Symphony Park in downtown Las Vegas is home to The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, a world-class performing arts center that will enable Southern Nevada to take its place on an international stage.
Summerlin recently broke ground its first new village in more than a decade. The Cliffs is the community’s 21st village and will eventually include 11 neighborhoods and more than 1,700 homes – all spectacularly framed by a ruggedly beautiful ridgeline to the west.


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Fast fashion brand Shein is set to make its second entry in the country in partnership with Reliance Retail
The company has secured an approval from the Indian government for its partnership with Reliance Industries
Under this partnership, Reliance Retail would sell Shein products in offline stores operated by the retailer as well as through its ecommerce app Ajio
Three years after its ban in India, fast fashion brand Shein is making its second entry in the country in partnership with Reliance Retail.
The company has secured an approval from the Indian government for its partnership with Reliance Industries.
Under this partnership, Reliance Retail would sell Shein products in offline stores operated by the retailer as well as through its ecommerce app Ajio.
To diversify its supply chain, Shein reportedly will be sourcing goods from India for its global operation in the middle east and other markets.
Due to geopolitical issues, the Indian government banned 59 Chinese apps in India in 2020 including fashion platform Shein which gained immense popularity among young Indians during its operation in the country.
After its ban in India, Shein relaunched in India on Amazon during its annual Prime Day sale in 2021. A petition was later filed before the Delhi High Court saying the Chinese brand would have “access to personal and sensitive data of several millions of Indian citizens”.
Centre told the Delhi High Court that Shein was banned in the interest of India’s sovereignty and security of the State but a blanket order against the sale of its products on third-party platforms could not be passed under the IT Act. It added that the sale of Shein’s products on a third-party platform is not covered under the Section 69A.
However, days back, the fast-fashion startup raised $2 Bn at a valuation of $66 Bn. It competes against the global fast fashion brands Zara, H&M.
After Shein’s ban in India, London-based Urbanic tried to tap into the Genz user base in India, however it could not disrupt the market as Shein did. Fashion marketplaces such as Myntra have also started to bring genZ targeted features on their platforms. Besides, a number of D2C startups such as FabAlley, FableStreet, Souled Store are also trying to tap millennials and GenZ.


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Mediterra SA, a subsidiary of the Union of Mastic producers of Chios and manager of the mastihashop chain of stores founded in 2002, is implementing a three-year investment plan worth 2.5 million euros.
Yiannis Mandalas, Mediterra's CEO, speaking to reporters at an event on Wednesday, said the company completed 15 years of successful operation, presenting stable growth rates, making investments based on innovation and expanding to new markets, promoting the Chios mastic gum around the world.
"Τhe company is still alive despite an economic crisis. We invest in Chios, where mastic gum and shipping still hold the island at a relatively good level. We plan to invest around 2.5 million euros in the next three years, along with a 3.5-million-euro investment programme run by the parent company," Mandalas said.
The company will set up a Mastic Research Center in Chios in 2018, expand its existing production facilities in Kallimasia and participate in research projects, aiming to develop innovative and high added-value mastic gum products.
The Union of Mastic Producers of Chios, Mediterra, Iasis Pharma, Farma Group and Farm Gnosi will be shareholders in the Research Center.
Mediterra signed an agreement with Jam Joom, the fourth largest pharmaceuticals distributor in Saudi Arabia, for the distribution of food supplements and mouth hygiene products Mastiha Art of Nature in Saudi Arabia.
"The company has great expectations of this deal," Mandalas said, adding that the launch of products is expected between May and June 2018. Mastihashop launched its first shop in Doha, Qatar in November, the sixth in the region.
Mediterra operates a network of 17 shops in Greece and abroad.


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PUBG Mobile players are enjoying Mad Miramar for a while now. The revamped version of Miramar came out with the 0.18.0 update and players are loving it. However, most players are now ready to move on to the next major PUBG Mobile update. They want to see some new content that PUBG Mobile has already teased in the beta version of the game.
However, it looks like players will have to wait a little longer for the PUBG Mobile 0.19.0 update. That’s because the next update is expected to release by the end of the second week of July.
PUBG Mobile 0.19.0 Speculated Release Date
In Season 13, which launched with the 0.18.0 update, PUBG Mobile released Toy Playground Royale Pass. Now, if you visit the Royale Pass page on PUBG Mobile, you can see its expiry date, which is July 12, 2020.
The Royale Pass for the current season can only arrive with the release of the next update. So, it’s safe to say that PUBG Mobile will release the 0.19.0 update in the second week of July.
It’s confirmed that the PUBG Mobile 0.19.0 update will launch a brand new map, which players are calling ‘Forex.’ Along with that, there will be the new TDM ‘Library Mode.’
Moreover, there are a lot more features that’ll release with the 0.19.0 update. So, it’s understandable why PUBG Mobile players are desperate for the next update.
Nevertheless, these are just predictions, and there’s still no official statement on the release date for PUBG Mobile 0.19.0 Update. So, it’s better not to put a stamp on this information too early.


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BMW Expands Diesel Engine Recall
Dec. 3, 2019—BMW has extended its diesel car recall, according to Motoring Research. The recall campaign had extended to 1.6 million cars around Oct. 2018, with affected cars in Europe and Asia.
In some diesel cars, glycol leakage from the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) cooler can occur. In combination with soot deposits and high temperatures, this might result in smouldering particles.
The recall has now been expanded by 232,000 vehicles worldwide.


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The high street coffee chain has rolled out a nice little PR exercise this afternoon, having agreed a deal with tax authorities to pay an extra £20m into the exchequer.
This is despite the fact that it has spent the last two weeks denying any wrongdoing in its existing tax arrangements, saying that it paid exactly what the tax system required it to pay. Incidentally, it paid no corporation tax whatsoever in 2011, and says that its UK operation has been a loss-maker for the last 14 out of 15 years.
The firm’s chief financial officer, Troy Alstead, said that he appreciates that being compliant with UK legislation ‘isn’t enough’. He said: ‘So the changes you’ll hear about – that will come in more depth – are about recognising that we need to do more than [is] required today.’


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Top latest Five CPAP Masks Urban news in Chicago IL 60680
Continual favourable airway stress (CPAP) therapy is a typical cure for obstructive sleep apnea. A CPAP equipment employs a hose and mask or nosepiece to deliver constant and continual air force.
two Providing premium comfort and ease of use without the need of compromising stability, the AirFit P10 also sports a singular break up-strap headgear structure for minimal facial contact and a true feeling of independence. It’s so comfy and efficient, it received a earth-coveted Pink Dot Award for fantastic item design.
CPAP Supplies in Chicago Illinois
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No injuries after small jet slides off runway at Chicago Executive Airport, leaks fuel
No one was injured Wednesday night when a small jet slid off a runway at Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling and began leaking fuel. The Learjet went off the end of Runway 30 ab ...
Chicago business curfew, other restrictions imposed to curb sharp rise in COVID-19 cases, Lightfoot says
Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a curfew on businesses in Chicago to go into effect on Friday due to a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in the city.
Mayor Lightfoot restricting bars and restaurants again as cases surge in Chicago (LIVE UPDATES)
Here’s the latest news on how COVID-19 is impacting Chicago and Illinois. Follow here for live updates. Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times Chicago on Friday is reimposing restrictions on bars, restaurants ...
Chicago Mayor Sets Business Curfew As Coronavirus Cases Spike
Chicago bans indoor drinking at bars, sets 10 pm curfew for non-essential businesses and ends liquor sales at 9 p.m. beginning Friday.
Illinois governor orders police patrols amid COVID spikes
The Illinois governor says sanctions are in store for bars and restaurants that disregard serving restrictions meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus ...