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Critical Path Lists Cutbacks / Office closures, layoffs planned
Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, April 11, 2001
San Francisco e-mail outsourcing firm Critical Path said yesterday that it is laying off 450 employees and closing two-thirds of its worldwide offices in an effort to stem its losses.
The company recorded a loss of $1.85 billion in 2000, including a noncash impairment charge of $1.3 billion due to the diminished value of companies acquired in a buying spree during the past two years.
Yesterday, Critical Path also fired Diana Whitehead, who had recently been promoted to president; and Mari Tangredi, an executive vice president involved in business development and sales. The executives were removed because they disagreed with founder and executive chairman David Hayden about the cost- cutting measures, Hayden said.
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This is the second executive shakeup at Critical Path in the past two months. President David Thatcher and William Rinehart, vice president of sales,
were fired, and chief executive Doug Hickey resigned in February after the company said it had significantly overstated some 2000 revenue reports. The year's revenues were later lowered by $19.3 million to $135.7 million.
Whitehead and Tangredi were not involved with the accounting problems that led to the restated revenues, Hayden said.
Critical Path stock closed at 87 cents yesterday, up 0.03 percent. The company had already lost most of its value since its 52-week high of $87 last April.
The company, which has 1,050 employees worldwide, did not say where jobs would be cut. In a statement, Hayden said the company would be "reducing personnel who are not involved in Critical Path's core business" of e-mail and related online and wireless services.
The Securities Exchange Commission's investigation into the circumstances surrounding Critical Path's accounting problems is still ongoing, Hayden said.


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IMD International Adds Compass in Singapore
September 7, 2011 – The IMD International Search Group has appointed Compass in Singapore as its Asia Pacific region partner. Compass has been providing executive search services to clients in Singapore for the past 12 years spanning sectors such as IT/telecom, consumer and industrial. “We are very proud to be a new partner of IMD as we view IMD as a global organization of carefully selected experts who deliver exceptional value in the field of executive search,” said Alexander Hascher, managing director of Compass. “The annual global conferences and workshops with the other IMD partners are exceptionally insightful into global trends providing partners with new ideas and strategies to improve our local business. We look forward to working closely with IMD partners around the world and will also focus on increasing IMD’s footprint in Asia by introducing additional partners to the group.” Founded in 1972, IMD International Search Group is a global search organization, with offices in major markets and business centers throughout the world.

domain: news


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Microsoft is going good on numbers these days. From selling more than 40 million Windows 8 licenses in the first month to more than 25 million people actively using its Outlook.com service, things are on a good note for the software giant based in Redmond.
Adding to this are the recent updates from Major Nelson from the Xbox team announcing the following stats:
- During the Black Friday weekend, more than 750,000 Xbox 360 consoles were sold in the U.S alone!
- Xbox LIVE Gold Subscription sales increased more than 50 percent when compared to last year’s Black Friday week.
- This Saturday, more than 14 million people from all across the world were active on Xbox LIVE chipping more than 72 million hours of use in just one day!
- There was a 43 percent increase in U.S. entertainment application hours logged on Xbox LIVE during the week of Black Friday as when compared to the precious year.
These are some impressive figures coming in which underline Xbox 360 as the best-selling console out there in the market. Though it faces stiff competition from Sony’s PlayStation and Nintendo’s Wii U consoles but Xbox 360 has managed to hold the grip and further rise on the sales chart, becoming an all-time favourite for a majority of gamers all over the world.
With luring deals, discounts, numerous prizes and addictive games such as Halo 4 and others, Microsoft seems to be treading on the right path with regards to Xbox 360.
Let the gaming begin!


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Cigar Aficionado: D.C. Judge Delays FDA WarningsJuly 6, 2018
In a decision that has significant implications for the many beverage alcohol retailers who also sell cigars, a Washington D.C. judge issued an injunction yesterday postponing the looming effective date for the FDA’s onerous warning label scheme for cigar packaging and advertisements—marking a huge victory for the cigar industry. While the order does not outright ban the new warning label requirements, which were scheduled to go into effect on August 10, it should delay their implementation for at least a year, if not longer. Cigar Aficionado has the full story.—Andrew NagySubscribe to Shanken News Daily’s Email Newsletter, delivered to your inbox each morning.
Tagged : Cigar Aficionado


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It's clear that the vaping-related respiratory illnesses reported in recent months overwhelmingly involve cannabis products, typically purchased on the black market. But the specific chemical culprits remain uncertain, as demonstrated by a new study of lung tissue samples from 17 patients across the country, 71 percent of whom admitted vaping cannabis extracts.
One theory floated by state and federal researchers is that inhaling vapor from oil-based THC fluids can lead to lipoid pneumonia, a rare condition caused by fat particles in the lungs. In particular, concern has focused on the additive vitamin E acetate, which was detected in most of the cannabis products tested by the Food and Drug Administration and New York's state lab. But the new study, which was reported in a letter to The New England Journal of Medicine yesterday, found no evidence to support that theory.
Mayo Clinic researchers examined lung tissue from 17 patients, including two who died after developing respiratory symptoms. "Much recent attention has been given to the possibility that vaping-associated lung injury may represent exogenous lipoid pneumonia," the researchers report. "However, none of our cases showed histologic evidence of exogenous lipoid pneumonia and no radiologic evidence thereof has been found."
Rather, the injuries were consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals. "While we can't discount the potential role of lipids," surgical pathologist Brandon Larsen said in a press release, "we have not seen anything to suggest this is a problem caused by lipid accumulation in the lungs. Instead, it seems to be some kind of direct chemical injury, similar to what one might see with exposures to toxic chemical fumes, poisonous gases, and toxic agents….Based on what we have seen in our study, we suspect that most cases involve chemical contaminants, toxic byproducts, or other noxious agents within vape liquids."
These 17 patients represent a small sample of the 805 cases of vaping-related lung disease, including 12 deaths, counted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of September 27. Lipoid pneumonia may account for some of those patients' symptoms, while others may be due to toxic additives or contaminants.
"Black market THC products and counterfeit vape cartridges sold over the internet and by street dealers are very susceptible to contamination," notes Boston University public health professor Michael Siegel. "Unlike legal THC oils, the black market products are not tested, and therefore might contain pesticides, residual solvents, other noxious chemicals, or synthetic cannabinoids, each of which could potentially cause a direct chemical injury to the lung."
In a report on black-market THC vape cartridges, Leafly describes "a contaminated supply chain that begins in the manufacturing centers of China, runs through the wholesale markets of downtown Los Angeles, disperses to regional pen-filling operations, and finally ends up in the hands of unsuspecting consumers." Along the way, it says, "each vape cartridge….may pick up lead (the toxic heavy metal), pesticides, unsafe additives like vitamin E oil, and the residual solvent butane."
Although most of the patients who vaped cannabis extracts used black-market products, two people in Oregon who died after vaping THC reported that they bought cartridges from state-licensed shops. Whatever the agents responsible for these acute reactions, it seems likely that they are relatively new. While people have been vaping THC and CBD for years in states where such products are legal for medical or recreational use, the reports of respiratory illnesses began to emerge only last spring.
"The results of this study add to the growing evidence that contaminated black market THC oils or counterfeit, bootleg vape cartridges are the primary, if not sole, cause of the outbreak," Siegel writes. "In two cases, legally purchased THC oils from dispensaries in Oregon were implicated. However, there are no cases that have been shown to be associated with the use of store-purchased nicotine e-liquids, and it seems extremely unlikely that these products have any involvement in the outbreak."


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Reveals at The Game Awards
Did you catch the LawBreakers reveals at The Game Awards? We premiered our newest trailer and made some big announcements. From a sneak-peek at a couple of brand-new characters to glimpse at a never-before-seen map, we wanted to give everyone a taste of what we’re going to showcase in 2017. The team at Boss Key Productions has heard the community loud and clear since the conclusion of LawBreakers’ summer 2016 Alpha and we can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on, featuring new maps, modes and characters. More news soon, don’t worry.
If you missed the trailer, we got you covered -- you can watch right here:
Along with the launch of the new trailer we’re thrilled to announce that the Beta phase of development will begin in 2017. We’ve spent the last few months incorporating all the feedback from the Alpha tests and are almost ready to open the doors for the next round of testing. We’ll need you (heck, bring some friends) to jump into the playtests and give feedback so we can dial-in the game before launch.
The Lawbreakers Team


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Heritage Ridge Creamery and its parent company, the Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA), is responding to increased need at food banks in the Great Lakes region with dairy product donations.
In Indiana, MMPA is donating cheese from Heritage Ridge Creamery to Second Helpings, an organization focused on providing meals to individuals and families in need, with particular emphasis now amidst the COVID-19 issue. MMPA is also donating one-pound packages of cheese to the Food Bank of Northern Indiana, an organization that provides food assistance in a six-county area in Northern Indiana.
In Michigan, MMPA, along with Kroger’s Michigan Dairy plant, will donate over 2,020 pounds of milk per day to the Food Bank Council of Michigan throughout 2020. In total over 85,000 gallons of milk will be donated to reach all 83 counties of Michigan. The first load of milk was delivered at the end of March. MMPA has donated over 333,000 gallons of milk since 2015 and last year donated around 18,000 pounds of cheese from Heritage Ridge Creamery.
The health and well-being of our customers and employees is our top priority. Out of an abundance of caution related to the spread of COVID-19, the Heritage Ridge Creamery retail store was closed on March 16 until further notice. Customers are welcome to shop for their favorite cheese and butter products online. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. For more information about how MMPA is responding, visit mimilk.com/covid19.


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Tuesday, September 27, 2011
By Pranjal Gera
Maruti Swift's production goes back to normal and the bookings figure crosses the 1 Lakh mark
After facing a loss of 18,000 units, or Rs. 900 crores, Maruti Suzuki's production at the Manesar plant has come back to normal. The workers' strike, which started on August 29, has not yet ended, but the company has hired new workers and started production of its highest selling car Maruti Swift. The bookings of Maruti Swift have reached the figure of 1.08 Lacs, and the company is keen to produce and deliver these cars as soon as possible. For the same reason, Maruti Suzuki has hired 800 experienced new workers and moved 90 engineers to Manesar plant from its Gurgaon plant. All in all, around 1,300 workers are presently working at the two Manesar plants of Maruti Suzuki.
The company is now, on an average, producing 700 units of Maruti Swift daily. The total production output of the car is thus projected to reach around 17,500 units per month. The company has showed confidence in meeting the huge demand and said that it hopes to take the sales figure to 17,000-18,000 units per month mark, which was earlier 12,000 units per month. Maruti Suzuki is also offering heavy discounts (20% more than the last year) to its buyers, in order to increase the sales.
The company, on an average, manufactures 1,200 units per day of Maruti Swift, Maruti SX4 and Maruti A Star. The total number of workers at the Manesar plant are 2,500. 950 of these workers are permanent workers. The company said that the supply of its cars, for the forthcoming festive season would not be affected by any means. The company is now planning to start the production of SX4 and A-Star, at the Manesar plant.


text: Kano has partnered with Warner Bros. to release a Harry Potter Coding Kit, or in other words, a programmable wand that teaches you about coding. It includes a computer board with an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, and programmable sensors, which enable users to do things like cast spells as well as explore coding challenges embedded within the included six Wizarding World settings. “This is not a carbon copy of anything in the series. There’s a small, secret group of wizards in our world who can move objects and who operate behind a veil of secrecy. They’re called programmers, and their powers are only given to a select few by design. But you can learn those powers and create your own magic,” said CEO and cofounder Alex Klein. Click here for the first image in today’s viral picture gallery. Continue reading for the five most popular viral videos today, including one of someone casting an iPhone X in liquid glass.


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- Despite recent economic turbulence, the beauty industry continues apace and is on a path to grow sales 6% annually through 2027, according to a report on the state of the business from McKinsey & Company and The Business of Fashion.
- Global retail beauty sales are expected to grow from $427 billion in 2022 to about $583 billion by 2027, according to the report. North America and China, with estimated sales in four years of $115 billion and $96 billion respectively, will remain drivers of the industry.
- E-commerce beauty sales should account for 26% of the total worldwide market by 2027, representing a steady increase that spiked during the pandemic and continues to rise.
Between 2015 and 2022, global e-commerce beauty sales grew at a compound annual growth rate of 20%, leaping from just 8% of the market to 21% last year. E-commerce sales now exceed those of specialty retail which, in 2022, was 20% of the overall industry.
Online sales of beauty products in the U.S. are projected to reach $45 billion by 2027, according to the report. China’s e-commerce sales are anticipated to be even higher, increasing to $55 billion over the next four years, at which point almost 60% of all beauty sales will be digital.
While many sectors of the economy have stuttered during the past two years, the beauty industry has continued to prosper both domestically and internationally. DTC brands have proliferated and some, like Glossier, have expanded their reach by opening their own brick-and-mortar stores and signing wholesale partnerships with the likes of Sephora.
But the crowded space has also made it difficult to thrive. Glossier underwent multiple rounds of layoffs last year, beauty subscription box brand Birchbox struggled to fill orders and pay vendors ahead of its sale to Retention Brands this year, Morphe owner Forma Brands filed for bankruptcy in January and more recently, beauty brand Wldkat announced it was going out of business.
Despite the challenges for brands, the beauty market will continue to grow and bring in new players over the next few years, according to the report. While the U.S. and China maintain their positions as leaders, emerging markets in India, The Middle East and Africa are expected to see dramatic growth.
India, with half its 1.4 billion population being under the age of 30, is on pace to see beauty sales increase to $21 billion by 2027, according to the report. The Middle East and Africa should see sales of about $47 billion by the same year.
The definition of beauty will also expand. The report indicates a “steady march into wellness,” which is already a $1.5 trillion industry. Beauty and wellness will become more connected, and the report projects a compound annual growth rate of 10% for the wellness industry.
“Wellness is an opportunity more broadly across all beauty categories,” said Larissa Jensen, Circana beauty industry adviser, in an email. “While physical wellness remains important, consumers are focusing on their mental wellness more than ever before. This is a shift that began in 2020 and has only accelerated since, contributing peripherally to the sales of beauty products.”


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If you check online, you may come across listings from moms who are selling breast milk to other moms. For some, this may sound like a foreign concept; bizarre even. But this is, in fact, a thing online. Everything that you need to know about this somewhat unconventional commercial activity, you can learn in this article. The American Pregnancy Association reported that breastfed babies tend to stop feeding when they are full; on the other hand, babies who are fed with a bottle are more likely to continue even when full. On the other hand, the World Health Organization said women should give their infants breast milk during the first two years of life.
Moms Claim Scammer Sold Their Breast Milk for Profit | himmelpforten.info
The primary school teacher sells her breast milk to families whose babies were also born via a surrogate who is not willing or unable to provide their own. Despite the massive backlash Ms. Dennis is facing for her unusual way of making money, the mother-of-two says:. The Florida mom shares that those who blame her for selling something that she gets for free do not understand that the process is similar to a full-time job.
Mom Makes Thousands of Dollars Selling Breast Milk to Bodybuilders Online & Has Zero Shame
Most mothers who produce breast milk simply feed it to their babies, end of story. But when it comes to breast milk overproducers, it would be a shame for extra milk to go to waste. Some mothers give extra milk to friends; others donate it to mothers in need. And then, there are mothers who sell their extra breast milk to men , for a variety of reasons. For example, Rafaela Lamprou, 24, recently fell into one such business — and she's making a fortune off it, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Last Updated: December 9, References. She has over eight years of lactation consulting experience. There are 16 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 37, times.


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MANILA, Philippines – Samsung had, at several times in the past, made fun of the fact its main rival Apple – and to a lesser extent, Huawei and several other phone makers – removed the headphone jack from some of their phones.
This week, Samsung finally joined the fray. Their new phone, the Samsung Galaxy A8s, ditched the traditional 3.5 mm audio port, leaving users to either use a Bluetooth or USB-C pair or use a USB-C-to-3.5 mm adapter.
In the past, Samsung had touted the fact their phones retained the use of the headphone jack. That changed on Monday, December 10, the date of the reveal of the A8s at an event held in China, as reported by GizmoChina.
The A8s isn’t only the first Samsung phone to lose the jack. It’s also the first phone to feature a laser-drilled hole on one corner of the screen, containing the camera. Samsung calls it the Infinity-O display, which it announced earlier in November.
It’s Samsung’s solution to the same problem that the notch solved: having a spot to put a front camera on a display with no bezels.
Apple popularized the notch with the iPhone X back in 2017, with several other phone makers following the design. Samsung wasn’t one of them, however, likely as Apple was their biggest rival.
While this is the first modern Samsung smartphone to not have an audio jack, some future models may still get the jack, including the upcoming Galaxy S10 flagship.
The A8s’ other key features include a Snapdragon 710 chip, a 6.4-inch display with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 6 to 8 GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and Android 8.1 Oreo. It has 3 rear cameras: a standard one, a telephoto lens, and one for bokeh. A 24-megapixel camera resides in the front hole.
No price and availability details have been announced. – Rappler.com
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Two groups of companies accused of raking in $120m from fake antivirus scams have been put on ice by a court.
The Florida-based businesses distributed free software that scanned computers for malware or performance issues. That software would then make bogus or misleading claims that the machines were infected or broken, urging marks to buy a "full" package to repair the damage, US watchdog the FTC claims.
Anyone who bought the full antivirus application would be told by the software to call a toll-free number to activate it – but users would end up on the line to a high-pressure sales team who would bully victims into ordering repairs and other stuff they did not need, the FTC added.
Today the State of Florida and the FTC announced they have won temporary restraining orders against the companies after alleging in court documents that Americans were pressured into purchasing software they did not need.
As much as $120m has been banked from the scam since 2012, it's claimed. The operations taken to court in the southern district of Florida were grouped into two lots:
- Software distributers PC Cleaner Inc.; Netcom3 Global Inc.; Netcom3 Inc., also doing business as Netcom3 Software Inc.; and Cashier Myricks, Jr. The telemarketing defendants include Inbound Call Experts LLC; Advanced Tech Supportco. LLC; PC Vitalware LLC; Super PC Support LLC; Robert D. Deignan, Paul M. Herdsman, and Justin M. Wright [PDF].
- Software distributers Boost Software Inc. and Amit Mehta, and the telemarketing defendants include Vast Tech Support LLC, also doing business as OMG Tech Help, OMG Total Protection, OMG Back Up, downloadsoftware.com, and softwaresupport.com; OMG Tech Help LLC; Success Capital LLC; Jon Paul Holdings LLC; Elliot Loewenstern; Jon-Paul Vasta; and Mark Donahue [PDF].
"These operations prey on consumers' lack of technical knowledge with deceptive pitches and high-pressure tactics to sell useless software and services to the tune of millions of dollars," FTC consumer protection bureau director Jessica Rich said in announcing the legal win.
"There's no excuse for it, and we are pleased the court has taken steps to temporarily shut down these scams while our lawsuit proceeds."
The restraining orders temporarily bar both groups of companies from doing business while the FTC and State of Florida pursue legal action. ®


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Emaar Malls, the Dubai-based shopping malls and retail business, has appointed Emaar’s Chief Strategy Officer Hadi Badri as Chairman of the Board of Namshi, the company announced today. This comes three weeks after Emaar Malls fully acquired Namshi by purchasing the rest of 49% stake from Rocket Internet for $129.5 million. Emaar Malls had previously acquired 51% stake in the online fashion ecommerce platform in May 2017 for $151 million.
Emaar Malls will now establish a new Board of Directors for Namshi, consisting of global digital and e-commerce industry experts, to drive its growth strategy, the company said in the statement, adding that the board will be chaired by Hadi Badri.
Hadi Badri, said, “The success story of Namshi is truly inspirational. Going forward, Namshi has tremendous growth potential, and now that it is fully owned by Emaar Malls, there are significant opportunities to accelerate the full potential of Namshi, for the benefit of its customers in the region and beyond. Our Board of experts will provide guidance and support to Namshi’s leadership team to achieve its ambitious growth plans.”
Founded in 2011, Namshi is currently the leading online fashion ecommerce platform in UAE & Saudi, featuring products from over 700 global, regional and local brands.
It is not clear if the company has also appointed a new CEO after the departure of Hosam Arab who announced his decision to leave Namshi last week.
- ZoodPay acquires Pakistani consumer lending fintech Tez - May 23, 2022
- Colabs raises $3 million seed to make it easy for entrepreneurs and freelancers to build and grow businesses in Pakistan - March 30, 2022
- FlapKap – A fintech revolutionizing e-commerce and SAAS growth in MEA – Launches and completes $1.2 Million fundraise - March 23, 2022


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Keyssa has come out of stealth mode, announcing it has reinvented the connector, that long-overlooked but essential component in computers and mobile devices.
Keyssa's "Kiss Connectivity" represents a new way to transmit huge amounts of data and video rapidly between devices in close proximity, with virtually no battery drain, according to a company press release.
The way it works is two Kiss Connectivity devices simply "kiss" when they are positioned close together and can exchange data in a few seconds. Keyssa says its connector can operate at transfer rates of up to 6 gigabits per second, meaning that when supporting protocols like USB 3.0, DisplayPort, SATA and PCIe, Kiss Connectivity can download a 1 GB movie in as little as two seconds.
Because the coffee bean-sized connector uses extremely high frequency (EHF) signals to transmit information securely using standard protocols, it avoids the manufacturing and consumer challenges of today's other wired or wireless-network options for connecting devices, according to Keyssa.
The company says its connector has a power consumption that is "orders of magnitude lower" than wireless solutions, so it preserves battery life. It also gives people a much more secure data-transfer environment because Kiss Connectivity is a point-to-point connection, unlike network-based solutions like WiFi or WiGig, the release states.
Keyssa envisions the connectors will enable these use cases: mobile device-to-mobile device to share content in seconds; mobile device-to-mobile device dock to add keyboard, monitors and storage; mobile device-to-dock to quickly and easily sync data, songs and movies; mobile device-to-kiosk to download movies in seconds; and mobile device-to-display to stream 4K video.
Keyssa's chairman is Tony Fadell, co-founder and CEO of Nest. Before Nest, he led the team that created the first 18 generations of the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPod and the first three generations of the Apple iPhone.
The company first started out as Waveconnex in 2009, founded when Frank Chang, Ira Deyhimy and Gary McCormack set out to change how data is transferred and directly tackle the challenges of speed and cost. After years of struggling with the liabilities of conventional connectors, McCormack formulated a new way to enable connectivity and combined with Chang's foundational research at UCLA to create a cost-effective method for electronics to connect, according to the company's website.
Since then, Keyssa hired Eric Almgren as CEO, changed the company name to Keyssa, raised additional capital and deployed Kiss Connectivity to key partners across multiple industries. The company says it made more than 100 patent filings during the past five years.
Almgren told Bloomberg Businessweek that the technology will eventually enable users to download movies and music albums almost instantly from kiosks at airports and concert venues.
Partners are building prototypes with early samples of the connectors. The startup expects to ship its first hardware in the first half of 2015, with the first Kiss-embedded gadgets making their way on to shelves in the second half of the year, Gigaom reports.
MachNation: Will carriers become irrelevant in the Internet of Things?
Verizon teams up with Georgia Tech on Internet of Things, wearables
UWB: Back from the dead, bound for IoT location-based services
NWave joins Weightless SIG to drive IoT specification


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Facebook saw revenue sky-rocket 60% to a colossal $2.02bn (£1.26bn) in the third quarter: Primarily due to a significant surge in ad sales.
In total, revenue generated from advertising was up 66% to $1.bn, with a big chunk of the figure down to mobile advertising.
Speaking about the figures in a conference call, Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said: "For nearly ten years, Facebook has been on a mission to connect the world.
"The strong results we achieved this quarter show that we're prepared for the next phase of our company, as we work to bring the next five billion people online and into the knowledge economy."
Mobile is definitely where the firm sees its future, with Zuckerberg himself describing Facebook as a 'mobile company', and with 874 million users now using their phone to access the site, that is a point hard to dispute.
In a Facebook statement issued to coincide with the conference call, it was revealed revenue from mobile advertising accounted for 49% of the firm's total advertising in the third-quarter - around $880m in monetary terms. This figure is a huge leap on the $150m the firm generated from the ads when it first really started to develop its mobile advertising strategy.
Although ads seem to be making a large portion of the firm's revenue, chief financial officer, David Ebersen, told analysts he did not expect the level of adverts appearing in people's news feeds on the the social networking site.
The firm seemed positive with the current user engagement with ads however, suggesting the average user already engaged with more than one ad per week.
Internet Marketing News from ClickThrough - an integrated digital marketing agency offering web design services, web development, SEO, PPC, content, online PR and conversion optimisation.


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Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner has abandoned triple-A development to go Indie for his latest project.
To be released on PSN and XBLA later this year, “story-drive” fighting game Karateka is a re-imagining of his first ever title for the Apple II.
In an interview with Develop, Mechner said he decided to go indie for his latest project and work with a small team as he wanted to recapture the simplicity of the original Karateka, whilst wanting to move away from the large production teams involved with the Prince of Persia games and film.
“The original Karateka was such a simple, linear game. Even little kids could instantly understand the story and what they had to do, pick up the controller and start playing,” Mechner told Develop.
“I wanted to recapture that simplicity. Expanding Karateka into a huge retail console title didn’t necessarily seem like the right way to honour what was most special about it.”
He added that despite the benefits of triple-A, developers are “constrained to deliver a product that market research suggests will appeal to millions of people, and that second-guessing can be frustrating”, whilst Indie development allowed for more individual creativity.
He also revealed that talks took place early on in development with publishers, and that a potential deal was “close” to being done, but felt he would be giving up creative control of the title.
“I had a very specific idea for how I wanted to do Karateka that was a bit unusual and not easy to explain,” he said.
“It’s hard to describe something that doesn’t exist yet; everyone pictures it in a different way, and publishers aren’t set up in a way that encourages leaps of faith.”
Mechner said that the industry was facing an “exciting time” with the rise of independent developers, and was happy to join in on a sector where the next game-changing hit could be just around the corner.
“We’re in an exciting time, when it feels like the next game-changing crazy breakout hit could really come from anywhere,” said Mechner.
“It could be social, mobile, hardcore, it could be on Xbox 360 or Android or facebook. At the same time, there are plenty of solid niches where enough people are playing different kinds of games to give designers the opportunity and incentive to experiment.
“It’s an uncertain time for business but a great time for creativity.”
For more details on the Jordan Mechner’s decision to return to develop and why he chose to go indie, you can read our full interview here.


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FileMaker has announced the appointment of Tech Pacific as its sole distributor throughout Australia and NZ, a move that will bring relief to a currently dry channel.
Dealers will be able to order stock from Tech Pac as of today, with the first orders conservatively expected to roll out by July 31.
The contract, which was stitched up in a lightning fast deal, will put $3 million in Tech Pac's coffers, not accounting for FileMaker's stable 30 per cent annual growth.
"Tech Pacific is a good bid for us," said Steve McManus, FileMaker general manager, Asia Pacific. "It is a lot larger than Dataflow but give excellent coverage. It's very strong in the SME area and very strong in business licensing. Our product is focused on business work groups and that's a very good fit with the distribution model Tech Pacific has."McManus believes the appointment of Tech Pac will mean an improved level of service for resellers. "The service to the dealers definitely dropped off with Dataflow from September last year, so I expect the dealers will welcome this appointment," he said. "One of the processes in deciding which distributor we went to was to canvas key dealers both on Windows, in the business area, and on Macintosh, and see who they would recommend...They told us themselves that they like Tech Pac's marketing strategy."As the demise of Dataflow left the software developer without a major link in its channel five weeks ago, FileMaker has been selling products out of its customer service group on a box-by-box basis, just to get stock to dealers.
McManus says he has a few more grey hairs following the frantic hunt for a replacement distributor. "The leadup to the introduction of the GST was the most unprecedented sales period that I can recall ever," he told ARN. "We were doing more than $200,000 a week in the leadup to the end of June, which is a lot of box-by-box sales."An additional bonus to the Tech Pac partnership is its possible fit in the Asian markets but McManus said this is not in the immediate future.


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A high school science teacher took on the challenge of following a strict McDonald’s diet for 90 days. The catch? He could consume only 2,000 calories a day and had to stay within the FDA’s recommended daily intake of nutrients.
John Cisna, 56, lost 37 pounds within the first three months of trying out the McDonald’s diet.
According to NYDailyNews, Cisna came up with the idea when he challenged several of his students interested in entering the medical field to an intriguing science experiment.
He came up with this hypothesis: “Is it possible for a person to become better off eating nothing but McDonald's for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 90 days?"
From there, Cisna’s students created 56 different combinations of McDonald’s meals that stayed within 2,000 calories and met FDA guidelines for daily allowances of fat, sugar, protein, carbohydrates and other nutrients.
Cisna also added exercise to his weekly routine, walking 45 minutes a day, four to five times a week.
The results spoke for themselves: Not only did Cisna lose 37 pounds in the first 90 days, but his cholesterol also decreased from 249 to 170.
Given this positive experience, Cisna decided to keep going for another 90 days.
In total, Cisna lost more than 60 pounds. Dropping from 280 pounds to 219, he proved that finding healthy options at fast-food restaurants is possible.
Today, the science teacher is an official brand ambassador for McDonald's, ABC News reports. He travels the world sharing his experience and teaching people how to make conscious decisions about what to eat.
Cisna explains that his talks are not about encouraging everyone to try an all fast-food diet.
“I want people to know this was nothing more than an experiment," he told NYDailyNews. "I’m not pushing McDonald’s. I’m not pushing fast food. I’m pushing taking accountability and making the right choice for you individually.”
Cisna now has his own mini-documentary, “540 Meals: Choices Make the Difference,” and a book, “My McDonald’s Diet.”


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Already on the incline pre-pandemic, online ordering and payment has become an industry mainstay in the last two years.
Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s clear that technology saved the day for many restaurants, allowing them to pivot to increased off-premises dining, contactless payment and new models for engaging with customers.
More than eight in 10 operators say the use of technology in a restaurant provides a competitive advantage, according to the National Restaurant Association’s 2022 State of the Restaurant Industry report.
Emerging technologies that were nice to have in 2019 have become essential for many operators. “Five years ago, the industry could not have adapted so quickly to off-premises business because some of this technology didn’t even exist,” says Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the National Restaurant Association’s Research & Knowledge Group.
Here are five technology trends highlighted in the 2022 State of the Restaurant Industry report:
1. Online ordering and payment: Already on the incline pre-pandemic, online ordering and payment became an industry mainstay over the past two years as consumers turned to delivery and curbside pickup. Seven out of 10 adults report that they’re likely to order and pay using a restaurant website or pay using contactless or mobile payment options. A good proportion of operators plan to ramp up technology this year, and they indicate that they’re most likely to invest in service-based technologies, including online or app ordering, mobile payment and delivery management.
2. Virtual assistants: Younger consumers are ready to ask Amazon Alexa and iPhone’s Siri to place their takeout and delivery orders. Seven out of 10 Gen Z adults and six out of 10 millennials report that they would likely order through voice-enabled platforms if offered by a restaurant that they patronize. Older consumers aren’t as willing to adopt this technology, with only 26% of baby boomers saying they’re likely to turn to a virtual assistant.
3. Tableside tablets, self-service kiosks and QR codes: Technology-enabled ordering is becoming common even on-premises. Two-thirds of consumers say they’re apt to use a tableside tablet for ordering and payment, if available. Gen Z adults and millennials are especially welcoming of this technology, with roughly 80% ready to use tableside tablets. Self-service kiosks are also gaining acceptance, with 61% of consumers reporting that they’re likely to use this technology. As for QR menu access, this became popular pre-vaccines to help minimize contact. While paper menus have reappeared in many locations, QR technology still has its uses, and the majority of restaurant operators say QR codes will either become more common in ’22 or remain about the same.
4. App-powered rewards: Loyalty programs have come a long way from the days when customers carried paper cards to be punched or stamped. Over the past couple years, operators have invested heavily in integrating loyalty programs into their apps, allowing customers to easily earn and redeem rewards. Some programs even allow consumers to automatically accrue points by paying with a pre-registered credit or debit card. Given the perks and ease of use, it’s no wonder that eight in 10 adults (including nearly nine in 10 Gen Z adults and millennials) say they’d probably join a loyalty program if offered at a favorite local restaurant.
For operators, these programs encourage repeat business, while providing consumer data and an avenue for customer engagement. Limited-service operators see the most promise in rewards programs, with 65% of quickservice operators and a majority of coffee & snack and fast-casual operators reporting that they expect loyalty programs to become more common within their segment in ’22.
5. Robots to the rescue: While 2020 was all about surviving shutdowns and dining restrictions, 2021 brought a historic labor shortage that threatened operators’ ability to resume full operations. Some restaurants are turning to technology to ease staffing challenges. White Castle recently announced it’s installing a robotic fry cook in 100 locations, and Buffalo Wild Wings is testing a similar robotic cooking assistant.
Roughly two-thirds of operators expect the use of technology and automation to become more common in their segment in ’22, as operators continue to face staffing shortages. The trend appears strongest among quickservice operators, with 78% saying they expect to see more technology and automation use this year to counter the employee shortage.
The National Restaurant Association’s 2022 State of the Restaurant Industry report is considered the authoritative source for restaurant industry sales projections and business trends. The report is free to members (a $349 value).
Get the report today!


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Wish is the latest Disney movie to hit theaters, and you’ll need to add it to your DVD collection afterward. When will that be possible?
Are you looking for something to watch with the kids over Thanksgiving weekend? There is some great news as Disney has us all covered. It’s all about Wish, which focuses on Asha, who needs to find a way to save her kingdom from the evil King Magnifico.
The movie is sure to be one that the kids want to watch over and over again. It’s a Disney animated movie after all. The question is now all about when you’ll be able to add it to your DVD collection. Yes, it will go to Disney+, but you want to add it to your DVD collection, right? The good news is that it shouldn’t take too long.
Wish DVD release date prediction
The movie doesn’t have a DVD release date just yet. That’s not too surprising when you consider that it is only just out in theaters. So, we’re looking at when it could arrive on DVD, and we’re looking at Elemental and Haunted Mansion to give us an idea. While The Little Mermaid was a 2023 Disney release, that one took a while to head to DVD due to the success in theaters.
It took a little more than three months for Elemental to head to DVD, while Haunted Mansion took just less than three months. There’s a good chance that we’re looking at around three months for Wish.
That would suggest that we’re looking at around Tuesday, Feb. 20 or Tuesday, Feb. 27 for the DVD release. That’s a reasonable wait, and it suggests that Disney is looking at getting back to the 90-day exclusivity window for theaters.
What about the digital release? That tends to take a little less time by as much as a month or six weeks. We could be looking at the start of the new year for this release.
Wish is currently out in theaters.


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Intel Corp.’s push into low-power processing chips has been years in the making, but the giant company is gaining ground with its latest generation of products. The new Atom C2000 family will compete in a range of markets that include dense servers, low-power storage devices and more power-efficient network equipment.
All the new products have strong ties to the company’s Austin engineering center on South MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1), where much of the design takes place on key components — called processing cores — for the new chips. Intel employs more than 1,000 workers in Austin, many of them chip designers.
No precise performance figures are available yet, but the company has said broadly said that the new chips are expected to deliver about four times the performance of the previous generation at the same power consumption level.
Some of the gains come from advanced manufacturing processes and new transistor designs. And some are from advanced design features, such as internal circuitry that monitors the chip for hot spots and can rapidly adjust the chip’s operation for higher performance or greater power savings.
For engineers who have been with Intel for years in Austin, being part of a well-regarded new product generation is heartening. The first engineering work on the new generation started in Austin in 2008.
“The morale at the Austin (company) site is probably about as high as we have every seen it,” said Belli Kuttanna,an Intel Fellow and chief architect for low-power processors. Kuttanna was among the first engineers to join Intel when the company opened its Austin design center in the late 1990s.
“These are exciting times,” he said. “It is a good time to be here.”
Intel built much of its business by being the critical technology supplier to the personal computer market. That still accounts for a huge part of its business, even though PC sales are in the middle of a historic slump.
So the company is pushing into new markets where it hasn’t dominated in the past. And it is going up against tough new competitors, many of whom are allied with ARM Holdings, the company that makes the basic designs that go into most smartphones and tablets made worldwide.
Shannon Poulin, Intel’s general manager for the data center marketing group, said the explosion in mobile devices has created the need for new kinds of servers, storage devices and networking gear to handle the surge in Internet traffic that smartphones and tablets create.
The company expects it can create the new server products without undercutting demand for its flagship Xeon server chips, which analysts estimate sell for an average price of about $600 each. The Atom-based server chips are expected to cost far less.
Intel expects the new class of low-power servers that is just emerging will account for about 10 percent of the global server market. Several companies that are technology and business allies of ARM are pointing toward the same market.
Makers of performance-oriented servers will tend to gravitate toward Xeon, Poulin said.
“We are doing nothing to hold back the Atom” server, he said. “We will develop the best products in both (Atom and Xeon) families and we will let the market pick.”
Analyst Patrick Moorhead with Moor Insights & Strategy says the performance gains with Intel’s new family of chips is “pretty stunning.”
“With this new lineup, they are looking for new worlds to conquer, but they are also looking to plug a competitive hole as well,” he said.
The chipmaker’s path toward progress with Atom has been painstaking, the analyst said, but the company has shown the fortitude to keep making improvements.
“You keep trying,” he said. “You throw a ton of money at it and you learn from your mistakes. That approach has worked out for Intel in the past.”


text:
Leaked Images, Specs of Samsung Galaxy S IV Hit the Web
March 5, 2013 9:48 AM
comment(s) - last by
Leaked images offer hardware details
Samsung has previously announced that it will officially unveil the Galaxy S IV on
in New York City. Samsung went so far as to invite everyone to Times Square to watch the official unveil of the new smartphone live. Although Samsung is hoping of keeping things under wraps until next week, supposed rendering of the device have already leaked courtesy of
One of the leaked images even shows a few of the hardware details for the phone. The first image, which you can see to the right, shows the S IV compared to other smartphones in the Galaxy S series. The S IV is clearly larger than the S III and the previous devices in franchise. The second image also tips some of the features of the smartphone.
This image notes that the S IV has a Super AMOLED screen with 1080p resolution. It's unclear exactly how large that screen is, but it appears to be larger than the one used on the S III. The image also tips the smartphone will be available in 16 GB, 32 GB, or 64 GB storage versions and all will have two gigabytes of RAM. The phone is also tipped to have a 13-megapixel rear camera with autofocus and LED flash. The operating system is reportedly Android 4.2.
While that's all the detail the leaked photographs offer, the new Samsung smartphone is also rumored to support technology that tracks the users eyes to automatically scroll pages. The feature is reportedly called “Eye Scrolling” and will track the user’s eyes to automatically determine when to scroll a page.
These details have come from an anonymous Samsung employee. According this employee, when the user reads an article and their eyes get to the bottom of the page, the phone will automatically scroll allowing the user to read the rest of the content.
Samsung previously filed a trademark in Europe for "Eye Scroll" and has filed for a trademark on "Samsung Eye Scroll" in the U.S. Both of those trademarks appear to support the unnamed Samsung employee's claims. Interestingly, Samsung also filed a trademark for a technology called "Eye Pause" but there's no mention of that tech in the leaks.
Samsung has already stated that the software features of the S IV will be more important than hardware innovations.
New York Times
, EV Leaks
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
3/11/2013 4:26:46 PM
You're right, Apple doesn't make products from thin air. They make products from aluminum, stainless steel, and glass. Products that feel amazing in your hands and are easy to use.
Meanwhile, Samsung and the rest of the industry make cheap plastic junk, in a race to the bottom. Just like Wintel PC's, it's a competition of who can make the cheapest mass-market Walmart special. Every 6 or 12 months, it dies, you throw it in the trash, and go buy a new one. Rinse. Repeat.
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Hundreds of companies are being forced out of business because of the government's failure to come up with a credit insurance rescue package, construction industry leaders claimed yesterday. With insurers withdrawing or reducing loss of payment cover, the business secretary, Lord Mandelson, had been expected to outline a plan four weeks ago to underwrite up to 50% of any loss.
Michael Ankers, chief executive of the Construction Products Association, which represents some of the biggest names in the building trade, including Lafarge, Travis Perkins and Wolseley, said: "Many of the biggest construction companies are now effectively self-insuring themselves, but the real risk is the smaller companies who can't afford to lose cashflow."
Ankers met government ministers last week to reinforce his concern. "The government has indicated they are looking to develop a scheme and we are urgently waiting to see results," he said.
Ian Cheshire, chief executive of B&Q owner Kingfisher, hit out at the credit insurance industry, accusing the insurers that have withdrawn cover of making the credit crunch worse. "They took money off people for years, but when the climate changes they withdraw," he said. "How does that business model work?"
Cheshire's comments echo those of other retailers including Bill Grimsey, chief executive of rival DIY business Focus, who last month branded credit insurers "fairweather friends". Grimsey has written to Mandelson asking for an investigation into the withdrawal of credit insurance. He said less than 5% of stock is covered by credit insurance. Cheshire said B&Q did not yet have a serious problem with suppliers being refused cover, which he said was down to B&Q being "big enough and ugly enough" to cope with the downturn. But he added: "I genuinely think this is an issue. By withdrawing credit insurance they are making things much worse."
Chris Pateman, managing director of the Builders Merchants Federation, said: "Businesses trading successfully for several years find a fax from their credit insurer saying that as of today there is no cover ... The ABI insist their members have not unilaterally decided to exit the construction sector. That's not how it feels."
A business department spokesman said: "We understand the problem faced by those companies relying on credit insurance. It's important that any intervention allows businesses' breathing space to reach new arrangements with lenders and suppliers while also protecting taxpayers. We are looking carefully at these issues."


text:
A British smartphone company that releases devices under the brand name CAT and Motorola has entered into a partnership with MediaTek on a phone that offers satellite-to-mobile messaging.
When Bullitt Group launches the device in Q1 2023, it could be a game changer for anyone in a rural area where sending text messages is not possible due to lack of mobile signal.
“We’ve known for a long time that the answer lay in the satellite, but an ‘invisible’ and seamless integration into a smartphone creates enormous technical challenges,” said Richard Wharton, co-founder of the Bullitt Group. “MediaTek and Bullitt share a pioneering spirit and a history of innovation, so now, nearly two years into our relationship, together we are at the forefront of a new era in telecommunications and the fastest, easiest way for our carrier channel partners to to offer total peace of mind to their customers.”
This will be the first phone to use MediaTek’s 3GPP NTN (Non-Terrestrial Network) chipset, which enables the phone to send messages via satellite. The software in the device knows whether the phone is connected to Wi-Fi or cellular and will only send messages via satellite if none of the traditional messaging connections are available.
It sounds like sending messages won’t take long, as Bullitt says the time to connect to the satellite and send a message is about 10 seconds. That’s slower than cellular or Wi-Fi, of course, but it’s still a manageable time frame.
If you live in a metropolitan area and don’t have the inclination to backpack in the mountains, the importance of this innovation may escape you. Still, this phone can be a big deal for people who struggle to send a simple message when they’re not connected to their home Wi-Fi network.
Of course, we have a lot more to learn about the device before we can pass judgment. We’ll need to see what the device looks like, learn more about its specs and how much it costs to send messages via satellite before we can determine if it’s worth getting excited about.
The company did say it will provide one year of emergency SOS support for its new device, similar to the iPhone 14.
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text:
After testing a beta version in India, WhatsApp has launched in-app payments in Brazil.The payments are enabled through Facebook Pay, which parent company Facebook said last year it would be rolling out to Instagram, Messenger, Facebook, and eventually WhatsApp.
“Payments on WhatsApp are beginning to roll out to people across Brazil beginning today and we look forward to bringing it to everyone as we go forward,” the company said in the post. WhatsApp says its digital payments are an open model that will allow it to add more partners in the future.
There will be no fees for consumers to use the payments service, but merchants will pay a processing fee to receive payments. Users need to link a credit or debit card to their WhatsApp account, and transactions are secured with either fingerprint or a six-digit PIN. The company says it will support debit or credit cards from Banco do Brasil, Nubank, and Sicredi, and it’s working with Brazilian payments processor Cielo.
WhatsApp has had peer-to-peer digital payments in the works for some time. It launched a closed beta in India in 2018, and many expected that country to be the first official site for WhatsApp payments. But as TechCrunch notes, Facebook has dealt with a number of regulatory issues in India and has a somewhat complicated history there; a 2017 plan to provide free Facebook access drew criticism and led to accusations of digital colonialism.
Facebook acquired WhatsApp for about $19 billion in 2014. As of February, the messaging service had more than 2 billion users.


text: When Nokia introduced its first Internet tablet, all geekdom rejoiced at the prospect of an open source palmtop — complete with VGA camera — dedicated to hopping on a wireless connection and surfing the Web. Users flocked to the forums, wrote programs for the device, even went so far as to optimize aspects of its operating system. But Linux n00bs were largely unable to take full advantage of the gizmo's capabilities. More than two years and a couple of product generations later, it's not just the hacker crowd that's psyched about the Nokia N810. This is a far more polished and consumer-friendly version, thanks to all those nerds and their suggestions. The reengineered tablet kept its predecessors' 4.1-inch, 800 x 480 pixel touchscreen but picked up a full slide-out keyboard. And no, that didn't make the thing any bigger. In fact, it's 8 percent smaller. The new kid also got a bump in processor speed and added a preloaded Skype client. For the truly restless, a built-in GPS receiver and maps nix the need to pack a nav system in the old gear bag. The N810 is a rad gadget, to be sure — and the geeks will probably find a way to make it even better.


text:
It's not just for the novelty of it that 1,000 worms burrow into a container of dirt inside the Andersonville neighborhood offices of Mightybytes, feeding on banana peels and turning the waste into compost.
And it isn't a public relations ploy that Solberg Manufacturing turned a 200-foot-long strip of land next to one of its Itasca parking lots into a garden that produces onions, eggplant and zucchini for employees.
The worms and garden are part of larger, voluntary efforts by the two companies to pursue social and environmental good, even as they seek profits. Both companies, along with 11 others in Illinois and more than 550 nationwide, have been certified as B Corporations — the "B" is shorthand for "benefit" — after a rigorous outside evaluation.
"We're basically wanting to do these kind of things because we think it's how one should behave and ought to behave," said Tor Solberg, president of Solberg Manufacturing.
Think of it this way: Just as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification provides third-party verification that a building adheres to energy-efficient design, B Corporations are certified based on how well they stack up on their social and environmental impact. The certification, proponents say, helps companies follow their values, attract like-minded employees and, of course, potentially win more business.
Evaluations are conducted by a Pennsylvania nonprofit called B Lab and measure five areas: community activity and investment, accountability and governance, consumer benefits, employee treatment and workplace culture, and the company's effect on the environment. Points accrue for specific practices, depending on the size of the company and its sector. Companies must also amend their governing documents to specify that they consider interests beyond those of shareholders.
Certification fees vary, starting at $500 annually for companies with sales of less than $2 million.
B Lab also says it conducts reviews every year on about 10 percent of its certified firms to ensure compliance.
Still, certification has its limits. Because it's a voluntary undertaking, it has no formal structure within state law, which governs the organization of corporations. That's one reason why some states, including Illinois, are moving to codify a new corporate structure that requires companies to weigh considerations that go beyond pure profit.
Under a measure signed Thursday by Gov. Pat Quinn, companies can incorporate as a benefit corporation, tasked with creating a "general public benefit."
The law takes effect Jan. 1.
"This is definitely a movement that is standing for the better way to do business. It's definitely not against anything …," said Jay Coen Gilbert, 44, a co-founder of B Lab, which helped craft the language for the Illinois legislation. "This is pretty old-school stuff, which is that businesses care about the people who work for them. They care about the local community and want to make sure these communities are great places to live."
Tim Frick, 45, the owner of Mightybytes, said he plans to incorporate as a benefit corporation after the law takes effect.
"It certainly makes me feel good that I live in a state where this kind of thing can become law, and you have the ability to work and derive profits with a purpose," Frick said.
Sen. Mike Frerichs, D-Champaign, said he introduced the bill in the Senate after a Republican constituent brought the legislation to his attention.
"It was important that corporations can have other missions, other than just maximizing shareholder value, and that they can pursue those without fear of lawsuits," Frerichs said. "Hopefully, it gives corporations a more socially responsible option."
Existing and new companies will be able to register as a benefit corporation with the secretary of state. As such, they would be required to file an annual report detailing how they are achieving a public benefit based on standards defined by a third party, such as B Lab, the Illinois Green Business Association or the Green Chicago Restaurant Coalition.
While a benefit corporation would not have to undergo a certification process, said Jen Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, which lobbied for the bill's passage, it would have to measure progress according to those outside standards and make its report available online.
Not everyone is convinced that a new corporate structure is necessary — or even a good idea.
"Any time there is an organization that is expressly dedicated to saving the world or some aspect of it, that's a great opportunity for crooks and schnooks to exploit it," said Daniel S. Kleinberger, 61, a professor at the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn.
He fears that the structure could make it easier for leaders to "justify incompetency" by blaming losses on their spending on social good.
Besides, companies that want to prove their adherence to environmental and social standards can do so through private certification, he said, like the process offered by B Lab.
"I think it's a really, really, really bad idea for the government to get into the process of branding things," he said.
Count Nancy Goldstein, founder of Compass(X) Strategy, a branding and marketing firm, among the supporters. She plans to register as a benefit corporation because it's "very exciting and very cool that the idea of making money and having a positive impact didn't have to be mutually exclusive ideas."
Goldstein, 45, spent about a week going through B Lab's certification process for her one-woman company based in the Wicker Park neighborhood.
It took longer for Solberg Manufacturing to attain B Corporation certification because the nature of its business and its size (it employs more than 100 people). Tor Solberg said the company went through a six- to nine-month process to get certified in 2010.
"To me," said Solberg, 49, "it was an elegant way of telling the world at large that we are doing a lot of these practices, and we are certified to prove it.
"We've passed these real tests, and we'd rather do that than beat our chests and say how great we are. That seems a little silly to us."
He also is planning to pursue a benefit corporation structure.
Steve Sherman, chief operating officer of GreenChoice Bank, a certified B Corporation based on the North Side, said the certification process is particularly important because its standards set it apart from several of the numerous green and organic seals that exist.
"It's a tough situation because of greenwashing, or having these sort of meaningless or vague product claims," said Sherman, 39. "It just creates a lot of confusion in the marketplace. … The best way to battle that or overcome that is to continue to talk about what a certified B Corporation is and that it is a really legitimate certification process."
Before Solberg became certified as a B Corporation, the company had already installed 210 solar panels atop the roof of one of its two buildings to help generate about 15 percent of the company's electric usage, according to Travis Solberg, 31, Tor's nephew and the company's corporate social responsibility officer.
Other practices, like the writing of environmental and charitable contribution policies, as well as the installation of motion detectors that would turn lights off in unused parts of the building, came as the Solbergs were evaluating more ways to adhere to the standards set by B Lab. The new vegetable garden also counts toward certification, as do forms of recycling.
In a packaging section of the company's main building on a recent day, employees Maria Camacho, 41, and Araceli Arreola, 52, practiced something called upcycling, or using something that would otherwise have been tossed away.
The paper they were using to package filter parts came in a big roll from a nearby company that would have thrown it away. Arreola said it made her feel good that she works for a company that cares about reducing waste, saying in Spanish that it's "good for our future and for our children."
At Mightybytes, whose offices boast bike parking, regular lunches featuring food from the local farmers market and those 1,000 composting worms, Sarah Best, the company's new content and social media director, said she was attracted to the company in part because of its care for the community and environment.
"The worms freaked me out a bit, I'm not gonna lie. But I've always been someone that cares about the environment," said Best, 31, citing a milk and juice box recycling program she started at her elementary school. "It's really good that they're incorporating this into the company culture. All this stuff definitely factored in. It's like, 'What's a sustainable career?'"
Sherman, of GreenChoice Bank, said he envisions a burgeoning community of B Corporations doing business with one another. He traveled with Goldstein to Springfield this spring to advocate for the benefit corporation legislation — the first time he listened to a state legislature debate since he was in grade school, he said.
"The (B Corporation) certification is particularly meaningful because of the things you have to demonstrate to achieve it," he said, "but I think the legal structure is important to have too, not only for Illinois as a way to be a more business-friendly state, but just in general, to give that outlet, that legal protection, for entrepreneurs who want to have some sort of additional bottom line besides the financial bottom line."


text:
- Looks like: The offspring of a Volkswagen Touareg and a Jeep Grand Cherokee
- Defining characteristics: Diesel plug-in hybrid drivetrain, rugged styling, three rows of seats, exterior power outlet for small devices
- Ridiculous features: Hood air intakes, 21-inch wheels
- Chance of being mass-produced: It's only a matter of time before VW sells a three-row crossover
The CrossBlue concept provides an idea of what a three-row crossover from Volkswagen might look like. The concept's styling builds upon the design theme of the automaker's Touareg crossover, which has two rows of seats, by adding a little more ruggedness. It also features a unique plug-in hybrid drivetrain that incorporates a diesel engine; that's something that could potentially appear on a production model, though likely with a significant price premium.
Like a number of VW's newer models, the automaker says the CrossBlue was designed for the U.S. market, a place where three-row crossovers have proliferated in recent years. Interestingly, VW says a production model would slot between the compact Tiguan and the Touareg, which suggests that despite its seating advantage over the Touareg, it might have a lower starting price than the Touareg's nearly $45,000 base price.Where the Touareg has some softness to its design, the CrossBlue is more muscular. Large fender flares recall those on the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the overall look is boxier and more truck-like while still retaining good overall proportions. The concept is 7.5 inches longer than the Touareg and nearly 3 inches wider but no taller; it's roughly the size of a Dodge Durango.
The concept has seating for six in three rows, but Volkswagen says a three-person bench seat could go in the second row to raise total capacity to seven passengers. The two-person third row has stadium-style seating. Like the gear selector in Jaguar cars, knobs in the CrossBlue's cabin for lighting, air conditioning and the drivetrain rise from a flush position when the crossover is started. Technology features include a 10.2-inch touch-screen, a rear entertainment system with iPad minis mounted in the back of the front-seat head restraints, and a Fender premium stereo.
The CrossBlue is built on a new modular vehicle architecture from VW, and it's a showcase for various elements of the platform. They include a 190-horsepower diesel engine, a six-speed dual-clutch transmission, a lithium-ion battery pack, and front and rear electric motors. Operating as a hybrid, VW says the CrossBlue gets 35 mpg in combined driving and can go from zero to 60 mph in 7.2 seconds. When E-Mode is activated, VW says the CrossBlue can go up to 14 miles on electric power alone.
Volkswagen is making an aggressive sales push in the U.S. market with new models like the Beetle and Passat, and the brand saw a 35% increase in sales last year. It has big ambitions going forward, and a three-row crossover like the CrossBlue would go a long way toward achieving them.


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The Washington Network Group (WNG) hosted a panel of experts to discuss cybersecurity for small businesses. Our Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Jane LeClair, sat on the panel with a host of other experts including;
Panelists from right:
- TK Eppley – Vice President of Operations, Silent Circle
- Danyetta Fleming Magana – President/Founder, Covenant Security Solutions
- Vern Mosley – Federal Communications Commission, Senior Cybersecurity Engineer, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau
- Nnake Nweke – Branch Chief, Federal Communications Commission, and Chairman of the WNG Technology Roundtable (moderator)
- Dr. Jane LeClair – Chief Operating Officer, National Cybersecurity Institute
- Andy Pendergast – Co-Founder and Product Director, Cyber Squared
- Sipa Sikaulu, Consultant, Cybersecurity Risk Management, Securely Yours LLC (Panel Lead)
The panel discussed cyber attacks and their impact on small businesses. Small businesses are often more vulnerable to data theft due to lack of information, resources, and strategic partners. More than ever before, small businesses heavily rely on the Internet to conduct day-to-day business activities. They utilize computers and information, financial records, personal files, contracts, invoices, payroll, employee data, and proprietary information. Small businesses need to trust that the information they store and transmit electronically is secure and protected against internal and external threats, data loss, downtime, or disaster, such as flood and fire.
The event was convened by the WNG Technology Roundtable, which supports leaders and innovators in the technology sectors.
If you are interested in how the National Cybersecurity Institute can help your small business email NCI@excelsior.edu or call (202) 601-1200


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No link between new Pampers diapers, rashes
Parents, you may want to keep an eye out for this if you use New Pampers. The AP (9/2) reported that The US Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada haven’t yet found a link between Pampers Dry Max diapers and some babies’ unusually severe diaper rash. Claims that the new version of Procter & Gamble’s biggest-selling brand can cause severe rashes triggered lawsuits as well as the government probes. CPSC says it cannot rule out that some babies may react differently to the new product, especially those who are sensitive to materials in Dry Max.


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The Chief Executive Officer of Orange Liberia, Mr. Mamadou Coulibaly has announced a robust new initiative to roll out hundreds of new Orange Money kiosks at strategic points across Liberia. The new kiosks are intended to make access to Orange and Orange Money products and services far more convenient and accessible, while at the same time employing several hundred Liberians in support of the government’s pro-poor agenda.
Mr. Coulibaly officially unveiled one of the kiosks earlier this week and stated that the kiosks were part of a larger plan by Orange Liberia to significantly transform the Liberian telecommunications market and fast track the use of mobile devices not only as a means of communicating, but also to provide easy, accessible and secured banking and decentralized financial services to the masses.
Mr. Coulibaly explained that the kiosks which are already being rolled out in Monrovia, and shortly throughout the country, would offer “increased service availability and visibility for Orange Money and more locations for cash in and cash out services.” He went on to note that the kiosks would also offer various telecommunications services such as SIM cards sales and registrations, e-recharge, and a wide range of mobile devices.
Mr. Coulibaly detailed that the new Orange Money kiosks would be an addition to existing Orange stores and Point of Sales (POS) already deployed across the whole country. Mr. Coulibaly elaborated: “we already have Orange stores and Orange POS at Total Service Stations across the country, but we felt like we needed even more points where customers can easily access Orange services.”
In addition to the ease of access, Mr. Coulibaly noted that the new kiosks will employ more than five hundred Liberians in 2018. He highlighted that this was also an opportunity for Orange Liberia to support the government’s agenda by creating employment opportunities. Said Coulibaly: “for this project, we will create five hundred and twenty-five new opportunities.” Five hundred Liberians will be employed as kiosks operators while twenty-five will be employed as supervisors and monitors.
Furtherance to the commitment by Orange to participate and empower business and economic growth of the Liberian communities, Orange is extending invitation to business people or organizations who can become partners in deploying kiosks across Liberia and especially in the rural market. Orange can be directly contacted for this project through 077777062.
The Orange Money platform is currently the largest and most efficient mobile money service across the African region and Orange Liberia will draw on its global knowledge base of expertise to ensure that its Orange Money services will have a major impact on the Liberian economy. Orange Money currently has approximately 37 million customers in 17 countries and recorded over $17.8 Billion in transactions in 2016. The company projects rapid growth in 2018 in Liberia and elsewhere.


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Harley-Davidson announced a two-week suspension of vehicle assembly and most shipments, citing a regulatory compliance issue with one of its suppliers.
Shares tumbled almost 8% Thursday.
The decision was made Wednesday “out of an abundance of caution" after the company received information from a supplier of one of its component parts, Harley-Davidson said. The company did not name the supplier or provide details on the part in question and said the assembly and shipping suspension would not affect its LiveWire electric motorcycle.
The company, like most global manufacturers, was already struggling with supply issues. It reported in April that its profit was trimmed by rising costs and chip shortages, which hurt sales in North America.
Harley-Davidson shares have lost nearly one-third of their value in the past year and Thursday, stock in the Milwaukee company fell $2.76 to $32.97.


text: The Animal Food Bank Support UK, a Facebook organization, is changing lives by supplying free pet food to those in need. Pete Dolan, a grateful cat owner, praises the group as "Angels without wings" for their invaluable assistance. Anita Arthur, the founder of Animal Food Bank Support UK, leads a network of over 160 pet food banks across the UK, run by volunteers and sustained by donations. With the number of pet owners increasing during the pandemic, the high cost of living poses challenges for many. Some resort to cheaper pet food or feeding leftovers, while 42 percent struggle to cover pet care expenses due to the economic crisis. Helen MacAffer, co-founder of the Isle of Man's Pet Food Pantry, recognizes the impact of pet ownership on mental health and provides support to families in need. Blue Cross has also launched a nationwide response, offering assistance through various channels, including pet food contributions and behavioral treatments. Animal welfare activist Dominic Dyer urges government involvement, proposing solutions such as integrating pet food sections into food banks and reducing VAT on pet food. In the face of the cost-of-living crisis, volunteers and compassionate strangers come together to ensure that pets remain with their owners. Thanks to the support of Animal Food Bank Support UK and similar initiatives, beloved pets like Frankie and Charlie can stay happy and well-fed in their loving homes.


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Apple bets iPad Mini will bring more tablet users
Bigger may be better according to a lot of tablet users, but Apple is betting their new product - the iPad Mini - will pull even more tablet users into the Apple fold. This afternoon the software giant announced its Mini version - 7.2mm thick, 7.9 inch screen - will be on shelves in time for the 2012 holidays.
The price-point for the iPad Mini is set at $329; Apple says it's not just the size setting this one apart. It's the screen resolution which is compatible with apps for larger iPad devices, it's lighter and uses a dual-core A5 Chip - and a 10 hour battery life.
What are experts in the mobile space saying about the new addition?
"What excites me about the iPad mini is that it should give marketers genuine mobile conversion," said Greg McAllister, Co-Founder and CEO, PushPoint Mobile. "Right now, some studies show that up to 90% of mobile conversions come from tablets, but that's not necessarily true. Those conversions could come from someone sitting on their couch (and in most cases, probably do), so labeling those transactions as 'mobile' is a misnomer. The iPad mini's portability means that mobile tablet conversions will be, for the first time, truly mobile. This will open up an entirely new level of conversion analytics, and in turn, the potential for a much deeper understanding of the consumer."
Data from Velti suggests iPad Mini could be the hottest selling tablet according to customer engagement. Full screen, rich media ads have higher engagement rates, notes the company, and the Mini screen will be larger than Kindle's Fire but smaller than larger iPads. Kindle Fire CTRs for 300X250 banners, for example, is 3.34% - nearly double the CTR for iPad 3.
Kurt Hawks, General Manager, Greystripe said, "What's important to marketers about the iPad mini is this: there is going to be an increase in high-quality mobile users as a result of the iPad mini's debut. We know from industry studies that 56% of tablet owners make over $75K, and 46% have made a purchase after interacting with a tablet ad, so this creates a new, potentially very lucrative frontier for digital marketers."
iPad Mini will be available for pre-order October 26.
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Trees, US Inflation, and Bad Bunny
Welcome to Latinometrics. We bring Latin American insights and trends through concise, thought-provoking data visualizations.
Thank you to the 175 new subscribers who have joined us since last week! We reached the front page of Reddit again, generating over 4.5M impressions on that platform alone.
Where are the world’s trees?
US inflation broke a record last month
Bad Bunny is breaking all records
Make sure you check out the comment of the week at the bottom!
Latin America is Earth's largest lung. With 978M green hectares, the region contains around 30% of the world's trees (1T). Over half of that area is located in Brazil as part of the Amazon rainforest. However, the Amazon has lost 17% of its biome cover in the last 50 years.
According to data by Plant-for-the-Planet, an NGO leading a global movement to restore forest ecosystems, there are 3T trees in the world today, and there's room for an additional trillion. Why do we want more trees? In short, trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, enriching the soil with carbon as they grow.
Trees are one of the most effective tools we can use to help cut down on carbon emissions. And, there's more. Reforestation helps improve local water quality, reduces erosion, and helps avoid the loss of plants and animals—especially for a region home to over 10% of the world's species and 350 ethnic groups.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the average price change over time of a basic basket of consumer goods and services, otherwise known as inflation.
During the pandemic, central banks across the world lowered their interest rates and printed large sums of cash to stimulate the economy. Interest rates neared 0%, and governments distributed stimulus checks across developed countries. Since people were at home and not spending much, their savings increased significantly. All these factors caused the supply of money to grow and its value to decline.
Additionally, as factories closed down and trade slowed, the supply of goods was affected, which caused an increase in prices. To top it all off, the invasion of Ukraine and the West's response to impose tariffs on Russia caused a spike in oil prices and other commodities. Although not one thing can be blamed for causing inflation, a combination of all these circumstances has likely contributed to it. According to the most recent data, inflation in the US reached 9.1% in June, a figure not seen in four decades.
So, what are most countries doing to battle inflation? The universally preferred mechanism to control it is raising interest rates via central banks, which almost every country is currently doing. When rates increase, borrowing becomes more expensive (which can lead to an economic slowdown). However, this is a way to tighten the money supply and increase the purchasing power of a currency again. Additionally, Mexico's government stopped charging consumers the "IEPS tax" on gas, which has worked similarly to a subsidy and has helped the country's inflation to stay lower.
The FED will announce new interest rate metrics today, and Mexico's Banxico is scheduled to follow up on Aug 11.
Bad Bunny used to bag groceries to pay for school. Today, he’s the world’s most profitable touring artist.
Benito Martinez was born to a lower-middle-class family in Puerto Rico. Son to a truck driver and a teacher, he was interested in music from a very young age. Growing up, Puerto Rican Reggaeton began to hit the mainstream, and Benito loved it. He went from singing in his local church’s choir to quitting at age 13 to write his own songs using the low-cost recording software Fruity Loops. Benito would then try his mixtapes with friends at school. He also had a peculiar fashion sense, sometimes wearing his mom’s clothes to create unique and colorful outfits.
A few years later, Benito worked bagging groceries to afford his way through college at the University of Puerto Rico. In his spare time, he continued to record music and upload it to SoundCloud as Bad Bunny, with no particular goal other than enjoying the creative process and getting better. One day, he returned home from work and saw that one of his singles, which he wrote and recorded entirely on his own, went viral around the island and ended up getting 1M+ listens in one week. Shortly after, in 2016, the local label Hear This Music signed the young artist. Bad Bunny then catapulted into fame with professional YouTube video productions alongside top Latin artists.
Bad Bunny recalls a concert in Rome in his early days when he realized that people who didn’t speak Spanish were into his music. Indeed, his albums are now global sensations, breaking so many records that he may be on his way to becoming LatAm’s most famous artist in history. He was Spotify’s most streamed artist in the world in 2020 and 2021 and released the first-ever All-Spanish album to top Billboard’s Top 200 chart.
This year, he’s already breaking another record: his tour has generated an estimated $120M so far, way more than any other artist. For perspective, the only Latin artists’ tours who have come closer since 2010 are Aventura at $24M, Luis Miguel at $44M, and Shakira at $40M. Bad Bunny tops them all, combined, in just the first half of a year. Whether you like his music or not, Bad Bunny is a force to be reckoned with by bringing Spanish music to the masses like no one else has.
Realize Latin America’s Potential 🚀
Hand-selected job opportunities based on what we know about our audience
This week’s opportunity:
Plant-for-the-Planet 🌳 has 6 open positions in Mexico, including Project Advisor, Ecologist, Strategic Director, and Web Designer. Join their mission and help plant 1 trillion trees! Apply here.
Hiring Managers: Reply to this email if you’d like to feature an open role in our newsletter.
That’s all for this week 👋
Here’s the comment of the week in response to our Life Expectancy vs. Healthcare chart on Reddit:
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As another year shaken by the lingering COVID-19 pandemic ends, stakeholders are still exploring how virtual care trends that accelerated in 2020 will affect the healthcare industry long term.
Though telehealth use spiked out of necessity during the early months and remains higher than pre-pandemic levels, utilization has slowed over the past two years. Meanwhile, big retail companies and pharmacies are offering more care options to patients.
Sanjula Jain, senior vice president of market strategy and chief research officer at Trilliant Health, sat down with MobiHealthNews to discuss the future of virtual care, how big retail entrants will affect the industry, and the importance of care coordination between traditional health systems and emerging retail players.
MobiHealthNews: What are some of your big takeaways from 2022 when you’re thinking about telehealth, digital health and other tech-enabled care?
Sanjula Jain: A big thing that I’m thinking a lot about is that patients aren’t coming back to care, despite all the investments in more supply or access points, whether that be virtual care access points or new retail entrants or traditional urgent care.
We’ve just had this huge mismatch between supply and demand. We’re kind of post-vaccines; we have Americans returning to work to some extent. A lot of folks are going into an office a couple of days a week, folks are traveling, yet they’re not going back to see their doctors. We’ve tried to make care more convenient and more accessible. And some of these new supply points are lower cost, and yet, they’re still not engaging.
I think there are many reasons for that. COVID scared away a lot of patients, and I think we’re starting to see signs of more distrust in the healthcare system. And then cost and affordability, with a lot of the price pressures and inflation and recession discussions. That’s going to continue to be a factor. There’s a lot of health consequences for when patients don’t actually engage in necessary healthcare.
MHN: What do you think is the future of virtual care when you’re looking at 2023 and beyond?
Jain: The market for virtual care is a commoditized market. So, we’re seeing that generally it’s being used amongst a discrete subset of the population. And we have to think about, who are the individuals who like to use virtual care and what are they using it for?
Primarily, as a health economist, I think a lot about substitute goods. We are seeing that virtual care is really only a substitute good for behavioral health. It’s both a clinical and financial substitute, right? Clinically, having some distance between you and your provider in a behavioral health interaction is probably preferred when you’re talking about your feelings and being very vulnerable. And there’s no lab work or poking and prodding that actually needs to happen. So it’s a viable clinical alternative.
Financially, we’ve been talking a lot about payment parity. Because behavioral health interactions often don’t need imaging and lab work, you’re kind of making the same amount for an office visit that you are in a virtual care environment. For other use cases like primary care, we see that’s not actually the case. The patient goes in for a virtual care visit, and then what really ends up happening is the physician says, “I need you to come in to get some imaging done or get some lab work done.”
The payment parity, despite the policy incentives to increase telehealth payment rates, it’s not true parity. And so, that’s why we don’t see the full substitute effect. When you boil the ocean down, you see that the market for telehealth continues to be pretty discrete and concentrated to a handful of consumers. That’s really where I think the future is, thinking about whether they will continue to use it. The data shows that, in the pandemic, we’ve seen this tapering. When Americans are given the option for in-person or virtual, they’re still preferring to go in-person with that exception of behavioral health.
So, I think the market is going to have to be more realistic about the total addressable market size in terms of discrete number of users, the number of visits per user, and then invest accordingly. I think that’s a large part of why we’ve seen a lot of struggling amongst some digital health players, because I think they’ve overestimated the amount of utilization of virtual care modalities. But the number of discrete users just isn’t up to par with what individuals had estimated it to be.
MHN: Going back to those retail entrants, Amazon made a ton of news this year. Walgreens, CVS, Walmart — they’re also boosting their care delivery operations. How do you think these moves will affect the healthcare industry overall?
Jain: It ultimately comes down to, who is your customer or your consumer or patient persona?
Who is Amazon actually going after? Who is their target patient population, and for what services? Amazon is really focusing on more low-acuity services, and health systems are particularly good at the higher acuity things like surgeries.
What Amazon and other new entrants mean is that they provide the consumer with more care options. But it also creates a need to coordinate care better and create these really strong referral relationships.
To go back to my earlier point about patients not coming back, of the patients we do see coming back, we’re seeing them really seek out care in these low-acuity, commoditized care settings. They’re going in for flu and strep, but they’re not getting their screenings. It’s going to be really important for groups like Amazon to coordinate with health systems to actually get patients to go follow up for those necessary services and figure out how to refer them out.
MHN: How do you think the growth of these retail players will affect patients?
Jain: I think it’s a bit of a toss up. For some patients, they’re going to view it as a better experience, because they can get what they want when they want it. But I think from a clinical perspective, it creates a lot of risks and challenges for the health of the patient. There really isn’t someone owning the care or steering the patient through their healthcare journey. Have you gotten this lab workup? Have you gotten this mammogram?
For some of these more retail players, it’s consumer-directed. You can walk into urgent care and you can go to a telehealth visit, and it’s really up to the consumer. But healthcare is complicated, and the average consumer may not have all the necessary information to go make those decisions.
I think that there’s a lot of positives to retail players in terms of catering to consumer preferences and providing care in a more convenient way. But for a lot of complex care, acute care — that every American is going to need at some point in their life — there is a little bit more fragmentation.
MHN: Do you think there’s an appetite among health systems to partner with Walgreens or CVS or Amazon and say, “If you see someone, send them to me when they need a cancer screening?”
Jain: Absolutely. So, I actually just this week was with one of the health systems, talking to their leadership team. That’s very much a conversation that is happening in the boardrooms — what is the right partnership structure with some of these new entrants and primary care providers?
I think the challenge is, you could have those great partnerships. But ultimately, it’s the consumer and the patient that’s still having to make the decision. Are they going to follow up on those recommendations? Where are they going to go next? So, I think it’s something that we’re going to have to spend more time thinking about as an industry, how to coordinate that care for that patient over time, but with more choice and options in the market.
More regional news
Healthcare staffing startup ShiftKey raises $300M
Q&A: Former VA Secretary Shulkin on digital health refining patient-first care
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Source: Read Full Article


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By Abhrajit Gangopadhyay
KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian private-equity company Navis Capital Partners has sold its majority stake in India’s financial-services company Andromeda Sales and Distribution Pvt. Ltd. for an undisclosed sum, a statement from Navis said Monday.
Navis — which bought a controlling stake in Andromeda in December 2007 through its Navis Asia Fund V — sold its shares to Casa Capital Management Pvt. Ltd, a financial-services holding company, the statement added.
“The sale of Andromeda marks the fourth exit of a Navis’ portfolio company over the last six months and demonstrates that even in difficult times it is possible to sell a quality asset,” Managing Partner Nick Bloy said in the statement.