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E-commerce sales are rising in India. Have you set up your online shop yet?
If you are retailer, big or small, you should already have an online e-commerce presence. If not, you could be losing out on an extra 10% in sales revenue. The Interactive Media Group reports that online shoppers spent 5.7 billion pounds in April 2012, which is a 10% increase over figures for the same period last year.
Specifically, these are the main industry sectors recording high activity:
Health and Beauty: 40%
Consumer Electronics: 26%
Clothing, footwear and accessories: 1%
Beer, wine and spirits: 1%
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Internet Retailer confirms that U.S. e-commerce sales totaled $50.27 billion in the first quarter, up 15.4% from $43.58 billion in the first quarter of 2011, according to an estimate released today by the U.S. Commerce Department.
What makes the above even more significant is that itâ€™s the first time e-commerce sales have exceeded $50 billion outside the 4th quarter, the busiest quarter for online sales because of holiday and vacation shopping.
â€œThis change means sales attributed to food and beverage stores are now included in the calculation, as grocery shopping can be done online in many areas. Consumers last year spent an estimated $479 million with online grocer Peapod LLC, No. 52 in Internet Retailerâ€™s 2012 Top 500 Guide, for example,â€ said Internet Retailer.
Getting an e-commerce online shop up and running is now easier than ever, with a variety of plug-and-play tools being made available by leading UK web hosting companies. They even include social media integration, including Facebook, via drag and drop interfaces which allow users to deploy widgets in one-click.
They are also optimized for mobile platforms, including the iPhone and iPad. By 2013 most users will access the web from their Smartphone devices leading to new opportunities and challenges for online retailers.
Consider recent news that UK PayPal users can pay via a mobile app at 230 Coast, Oasis, Warehouse and Karen Millen stores. This is just one example of the rapid innovation taking place in e-commerce and mobile platforms generally.
â€œE-commerce is growing gradually; retail shopping is sort of flat. But whereâ€™s thereâ€™s the most activity is in smartphone shopping on the high street,â€ said PayPal.
Even Google likes these optimized online shopping carts that provide flexible layouts and search-engine friendly meta tags and product descriptions. Sitemaps round off powerful SEO features, allowing search engines to easily crawl your site and product areas.
Plus, you will not need to know any HTML or programming languages to implement your custom shopping cart solution.
By 2013, e-commerce sales may rise by another 10-20%. In these tough times, launching an e-commerce store with a few mouse clicks seems like a no brainer!
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If you bought a new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus, chances are you paid at least $199 or $299 with a new two-year contract, respectively, for the devices. If you bought one off contract, chances are you paid a whole lot more. But how much do these devices cost Apple to build? A new report from IHS provided to Re/code suggests that Apple isn’t spending as much as one might think, which means larger margins for Cupertino.
The iPhone 6 costs Apple about $200 to build, IHS said, though that’s for the entry level 16GB model. The price increases as you increase the internal storage for each unit. The iPhone 6 with 128GB of storage costs Apple about $247 to manufacture, for example. Sadly, that still doesn’t quite explain why Apple didn’t decide to offer a 32GB entry-level iPhone 6. The storage costs between 16GB and 32GB shouldn’t be much. “They seem to be configured and priced to encourage you to buy the models with the higher memory,” IHS analyst Andrew Rassweiler told Re/code.
IHS found that the iPhone 6 Plus, despite its larger display and optical image stabilization, had a starting cost that was just $16 more than the iPhone 6. The added 128GB of storage brought its total cost to $263. Labor costs came in between $4 and $4.50 per handset, according to the research firm.

domain: news


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A fifth of Britons refuse to bank online and just one in six older customers are interested in internet banking, says report
One in five savers who have a bank account and access to the internet have no interest in using online banking, a report has found.
Research by the Payments Council also reveals that only one in six of older customers who do not already use internet banking are interested in doing so.
Banks are encouraging customers to move online as they close branches to save money.
Moving online: 70 per cent of people who could access online banking for their main accounts already do so
But campaigners fear the elderly and those who do not have the internet are missing out on the best deals as a result.
The Payments Council found that people were worried about security and feared they would be unable to remember their passwords.
However, it also found that 70 per cent of people who could access online banking for their main accounts already do so.
Maurice Cleaves, the Council’s interim chief executive, says: ‘Millions are potentially losing out because they could do with a little help or reassurance.’
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Korg USA Acquires Spector Basses
Korg USA has acquired Spector Bass Company, the former has announced. Korg, which has been managing the bass company’s import bass distribution since 2015, says they will be able to help bolster the company’s expansion.
“We’ve been the distributor for four years and we knew the history and potential of this iconic brand,” said Korg USA president Joe Castronovo. “We also knew we could drive the future growth and expansion of the brand as an owner. Once Stuart Spector decided the time was right to entrust us with the operation of his legacy brand, we worked out the acquisition and are now proud owners.”
Bass builder Stuart Spector began building basses in 1976, collaborating with Ned Steinberger to create the NS-1 bass in 1977. “When the time came to transition to the next phase of life for the Spector brand, choosing KORG USA was an emotional and simple decision all at once,” he wrote of the merger. “With the team in place at KORG USA, Inc., we are leaving the Spector brand in the best of hands and I am excited to see what the future holds.”
Korg will hit the ground running with the brand, says product manager John Stippell. “Our plans for Spector have already started to breathe new life into the brand. The very first new models will be shown at NAMM and we are excited to have our dealers, press, artists, and anyone who loves bass guitar come see what’s new.”
We’ll report more from NAMM next week.


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Home Depot (HD) - Get Home Depot, Inc. (HD) Report gave activist shareholder Relational Investors a board seat, ending a brief proxy skirmish that focused on the struggling leadership's management and strategic direction.
Atlanta-based Home Depot said David H. Batchelder, a principal of Relational, will join the Home Depot board Feb. 22. San Diego-based Relational began militating for change at Home Depot in December, just a month before CEO Bob Nardelli agreed to depart with a widely criticized $210 million payout.
In announcing the agreement, Ralph Whitworth, principal of Relational, and Frank Blake, chairman and CEO of The Home Depot, said: "We are very pleased to have reached this understanding, which will give The Home Depot the benefit of Relational's strategic business advice without a costly and distracting proxy solicitation by Relational."
When it started making noise in December about the need for a strategic rethink at Home Depot, Relational said it owned more than $500 million worth of the stock. Relational also recently played a role in a shakeup that led to Jay Sidhu's departure from


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Tin deficiency can lead to an increase in the cost of material
Despite the persistent drop in prices for many metals and alloys in recent times, tin, sowing the sad fate has passed. In modern industry, there has been a persistent deficit of such material for several days already, which promises to ensure a constant and steady rise in the cost of such raw materials. According to the Bloomberg research center, the price for tin has now reached a record figure over the past few years, which amounted to forty thousand US dollars for each ton of material. The source of such a favorable forecast of analysts was the reassurance of one of the largest suppliers of tin concentrate in Malaysia. The management of the metallurgical sector Malaysia Smelting Corp is very optimistic and believes that the rise in prices for tin will continue for a long time.
The price of the material in the light of a persistent deficit does not frighten the buyers. Even the commissioning of new production lines will not significantly affect the change in the cost of tin raw materials, at least five years. After all, the technology of mining such a product is very complex and time-consuming. Therefore, the capacity expansion in this area is a long process. If we add to all of the above the constant decline in the quality of ore and the drop in the quality indicators of the finished trade unit associated with this fact, then the optimism of well-established manufacturers is understandable.
Last year, the heyday of the tin industry left almost all the non-ferrous metallurgy behind. By the way, the primary factor that led to the growth in the cost of tin was the development of certain types of industry in China and African countries associated with the use of scarce material. Interruptions with Indonesian supplies of an important product further added to the piquancy of the situation. Not so long ago, Indonesia announced the forthcoming reduction of its capacity for the production of tin. This decision is associated with unfavorable climatic conditions in the Asian territories and the prevalence of torrential rains throughout the continent. The decline in supplies of tin from Indonesia worked to the benefit of all other producers of the scarce product. By the way, we can somewhat reduce the bright prospects for enriching Malaysia Smelting Corp can establish supplies of such demanded raw materials from Russia and Australia. The tin production of these countries is gradually gaining strength and increasing its turnover.
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+38 (095) 209-60-73


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Federal Minister for Commerce, Syed Naveed Qamar Thursday said that Iran and Pakistan would give final shape to the proposed bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the coming six months.
After signing the FTA between the two countries, free trade would increase and the volume of bilateral trade would reach $4 billion, he hoped.
Syed Naveed Qamar stated this while talking to the media persons along with Iranian Minister for Roads and Urban Development Rostam Ghasemi after the 21st session of the Pak-Iran Joint Economic Commission (JEC) which was held here from August 16 to 18.
Iranian Minister for Roads and Urban Development, Rostam Ghasemi along with a delegation of 57 dignitaries participated in the 21st Session of Pak-Iran JEC.
Federal Commerce Minister, Syed Naveed Qamar said that in the FTA, both sides would negotiate to reduce tariffs and there would be an exchange of trade lists in different sectors of the two countries.
He said that an agreement would be signed for promoting transit trade in the next three months, through which free economic zones would be established in the two countries.
Naveed Qamar said that for the promotion of transit trade, it had been decided to establish six border markets, in which, the work on the establishment of three border markets had already been started and work would be started on the other three soon.
The initiative would promote free trade on both sides of the border and increase mutual trade, he said.
The minister said that it was time for final agreements and practical work for which both the countries had agreed.
He said that the national airlines of the two countries had expressed their willingness to promote cooperation.
The minister said that relations between the two countries were deep-rooted, adding
“We share the bonds of history, religion, geography, culture and traditions”
He said that Iran was the first country to recognise Pakistan as an independent state in 1947.
“We believe that the relations between the two governments and the people provide a platform for greater bilateral economic cooperation,” he said.
The minister said that the Pakistan-Iran Joint Economic Commission provided an institutional framework for a regular review of economic relations and the identification of new opportunities for mutual cooperation.
“Since its inception in 1984, we are now holding the 21st Session of the JEC, which is a clear indication of the endeavours of both the countries to sustain and foster our economic relations”, he added.
Syed Naveed Qamar said the government was also well aware of its future challenges, which encompassed knowledge economy, inclusive growth, institutional reforms, entrepreneurship led-growth and regional connectivity with state-of-the-art infrastructure.
He said that Pakistan was experiencing continued growth momentum for the last four years.
The minister said that trade and economic relations between the two countries were based on diverse areas such as energy, infrastructural cooperation, financial assistance and commercial exchanges.
He said that Pakistan placed Iran at a very high level of importance and appreciated its direction toward market-based reforms.
He said that Pakistan looked to the Iranian market and Iranian investors as it offered a very friendly trade and investment environment in the special economic and industrial zones under CPEC.
Moreover, the current trade volume did not commensurate with its true potential, he added.
The minister said it was a favourable sign that both sides were collaborating on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
“I request the two sides to implementation Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) in letter and spirit, and remove Tariff and Non-Tariff Barriers to boost trade volume between both countries,” he said.
He said that the five Years Strategic Trade Partnership Plan needed to be renewed for the next five years (2022-2027) and both sides were working in that regard in this 21st session of JEC.
Talking to media persons, the Iranian minister for roads and urban development said that the 21st JEC would play a very important role in the promotion of mutual trade between the two countries and there were fruitful discussions in many fields including energy and trade.
He said that the two sides had finalized the time frame and the promotion of transit trade was very important.
He pointed out that transport, trade and energy were very important for the economies of the two countries.


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Breaking: Suzuki Buys Ford
By Chris Haak
In a move that surprised nearly every industry analyst, Japanese automaker Suzuki has entered into an tentative agreement to purchase Ford Motor Company’s worldwide operations. Included in the deal are Ford’s US operations, Ford Europe, Ford Asia-Pacific, and Ford Latin America. Suzuki has tendered an offer to purchase all 3.78 billion outstanding shares of Ford at a price of $14.91 per share.
If the transaction is approved by Ford’s shareholders, Suzuki would instantly transform from an also-ran in the US market to a top-tier player, holding similar dominance in the US market to what it enjoys in India with Maruti Suzuki. Since Suzuki is not a full-line automaker in the US, the addition of the Ford vehicles will certainly bolster its lineup, particularly on the truck front.
The upcoming end of domestic Ford Ranger production will allow Suzuki (which is completely dropping the Ford Blue Oval logo and name) to fill that hole in the lineup with the Nissan-sourced Equator pickup. The former Ford F-Series trucks will become the Suzuki S-Series trucks. Kevin Saito, Suzuki America’s President, noted that he expects “the Suzuki S-150 to claim the title of the bestselling vehicle in America,” which would be quite a twist of fate for Suzuki, which has had its struggles over the years in the US.
On the car side, all Ford models will continue through their current lifecycle, but will get new names, many of which leverage Suzuki’s extensive heritage with two-wheeled vehicles. Since they’re bigger than the cycles and ATVs that donated their names, the motor vehicles all get the “Grand” prefix. Get it?
- Ford Mustang becomes the Suzuki Grand Hayabusa
- Ford Taurus becomes the Suzuki Grand Grand B-King
- Ford Fusion becomes the Suzuki Grand Gladius
- Ford Focus becomes the Suzuki Grand V-Strom
- Ford Fiesta becomes the Suzuki Grand Gurgman
- Ford Expedition becomes the Suzuki Grand XL7
- Ford Explorer becomes the Suzuki Grand King Quad
- Ford Flex becomes the Suzuki Grand QuadSport
- Ford Edge becomes the Suzuki Grand Boulevard
- Ford Escape becomes the Suzuki Grand Bandit
Lincoln models will continue under the Lincoln brand, but the Lincoln brand will be shuttered on December 31, 2012.
Suzuki plans to leverage its strengths in small cars, and Ford’s strenghts in large vehicles, to build some of the most desirable, capable vehicles on the road. The combined company is expected to challenge General Motors, Toyota, and Volkswagen AG for the spot of the world’s largest automaker within the next few years.
Morgan Stanley advised Suzuki on the transaction, and Goldman Sachs served in an advisory capacity for Ford. Once the transaction closes – which is expected to occur sometime in the fourth quarter of 2011 – Ford’s current President and CEO Alan Mulally and Executive Chairman Bill Ford will retire from the company.


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TAUNTON - There is extreme couponing and then there's this. An alleged counterfeit coupon ring raking in nearly $27,000 in goods has resulted in charges for two women from Taunton.
The Plymouth County District Attorney's office said 41-year-old Jacqueline White and 40-year-old Crystal Travis, ran a months-long ring of buying and making fake coupons that worked in Stop & Shop stores.
The indictment alleges from March to June of 2023, White and Travis entered more than a dozen grocery stores and used fraudulent coupons to purchase household items such as hand soap, laundry detergent, toothbrushes, and more. The Plymouth District Attorney's office said the pair would then use the goods they purchased and sell them online for profit. They often sold the goods on social media sites like Facebook, per the indictment.
The corrupt couponing duo hit Stop & Shops in Quincy, Weymouth, Raynham, Plainville, Whitman, Abington, Pembroke, Norwell, Hingham, North Dartmouth, New Bedford, Sandwich, Brockton, East Providence, R.I. and Pawtucket, R.I.
In one shopping trip, the indictment alleges the women purchased 366 items for a total of $1,658.28. The pair then used coupons to reduce the price by $1,655, shrinking the amount owed to Stop and Shop down to $3.28.
These types of counterfeit couponing schemes can get complex, according to Bud Miller with the Coupon Information Corporation. The non-profit works to get rid of fraudulent operations like the one White and Travis are accused of operating. "The goal is to get as much product as you can and convert it into cash as quickly as you can," said Miller. "And of course, it is unlikely they will report these sales to their local tax boards or as part as their income tax."
White and Travis face several larceny charges as well as an offense for organized retail theft.
They are both due in Brockton Superior Court at a later date.


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A hugely popular design, the 1960s-style Goldhawk waffle knit by Art Gallery Clothing returns in original white and plenty of other shades too.
The title says it all. If you want a bargain, have a look at the Baracuta Harrington Jacket clearance in the Stuarts of London Sale.
Rather than feature one retailer, I have picked out a bunch of Fred Perry sales bargains currently available at different places.
The Adidas Gazelle trainers bowling shoe edition has landed on the shelves – and I think that’s the first time it has happened.
Of course, this isn’t a cheap item. But the Ace Suede Coat by Connection Knitwear is a dream of a (Mod) design.
A welcome reissue a couple of months back and now the 1970s Adidas Cadet trainers are in the sale.
A rundown I will be adding to in the coming weeks, but for now, I’ll just go for 10 of the best Mod and 1960s t-shirts.
As I hinted at on social media, a limited edition charity Modculture t-shirt is now available. Read on for the full details.


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The customer insight initiative will see the business create a network of outlets over the next three years that either currently sell or have the potential sell its brands. The platform, developed in partnership customer insight agency Serendipity2 Marketing Group, garners sales and volume data which Coke will combine with its own before mapping it against external consumer, workplace, competitor and retail geo-demographics.
The insights will used to spot what brands are selling well and where they are in most demand with Coke looking to roll-out tactical campaigns, at a localised level. It is hoped the push will ultimately increase volume sales across the UK and lift the ROI for its brand activations.
Previously, the brand has worked with existing retail partners to develop sales strategies using lifestyle and behavioural data on shoppers. The latest phase aims to scale-up the approach and create a clearer, more informative database that accelerates Coke’s ongoing efforts to create a single customer view.
The company says the update will allow it to develop this approach further and make “consumer geo-demographics” a more prominent part of how it plans campaigns in the UK.


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Professionals with families are moving further from their workplaces, shifting the boundaries of suburbs into rural areas – ‘ruburbs’ – and creating new types of
consumers with a taste for country life on a city salary.
Families have long sought to get more for their money by swapping urban living for life in the suburbs. Thanks to
increasing digital connectivity and better commuting options, however, the suburbs are spreading into rural areas, creating the new phenomenon of ‘ruburbs’, according to Experian.
Read the whole story at Marketing Week »


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To make money these vendors need to be selling products though. Rackspace seems the most mature in its OpenStack powered cloud. As one of the original founding members of OpenStack, the company has continued to be a leader in the project and now is one of the first to roll out new features added to the OpenStack code in its commercial offering. HP has made its public cloud generally available, while Red Hat, Dell, IBM and a variety of smaller companies like Nimbula - which is founded by OpenStack pioneer Chris Kemp - are all expected to make major OpenStack product news in 2013.
In addition to this ecosystem of vendors and users coalescing around OpenStack, the project's code continues to mature as well. Twice a year, OpenStack holds a design summit in which more than a thousand developers, users, vendors and cloud-watchers gather to discuss the latest trends in OpenStack and plan for the project's next bi-annual release. The latest Folsom release added a virtual networking component named Quantum, which was developed by software defined networking company Nicira, now owned by VMware. The project's Grizzly release, the seventh code release since it was founded in 2010, is expected in April 2013, with another code release slated for late 2013. Recent reports have hinted that identity and access management, as well as supporting multiple cloud platforms from OpenStack's management portal could be in the works for the Grizzly release.
There are some concerns for this project though. Perhaps chief among them is a perception by some that it is simply a marketing project by some of these big-name vendors and that users have not been drawn to the project as fast as the vendors. Staten, the analyst, says it is early enough in the project's development that adoption can still take off.
Another vulnerability could be more mature offerings on the market. VMware, for example, has an extremely mature and widely-used public and private cloud platforms in vSphere and vCloud Director. Microsoft is looking to do the same with its combination of Windows Server 2012 and its Azure public cloud platform. And then there's Amazon Web Services. Can OpenStack-backed service providers bite into AWS's market share and will users trust a still-developing open source project compared to Amazon's massively scalable cloud? Perhaps 2013 will be the year when answers to some of these questions will become clearer.
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The new Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature card, in partnership with Chase, will be offered exclusively to Amazon Prime members. It offers a 5 percent back on all Amazon.com purchases, and 2 percent back at restaurants, gas stations, and drugstores. It also grants 1 percent back on every other purchase, the companies said in a press release Wednesday.
Amazon currently offers a rewards credit card to all account holders with 3 percent back on all Amazon.com purchases. Prime members with this card will be upgraded to the new card — made with metal, similar to the popular Chase Sapphire Reserve card — and start earning rewards immediately.
Those who are not eligible Prime members will now benefit from no foreign transaction fees and a refreshed card design, in addition to 3 percent back at Amazon.com, 2 percent back at restaurants, gas stations and drugstores, and 1 percent back on every other purchase. You can join Amazon Prime to earn 5 percent back at http://amazon.com/prime.
The new Amazon-Chase rewards card follows Chase’s announcement last week that it was cutting its 100,000-point sign-up bonus in half for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, effective January 12.
Here’s a summary of the key benefits of the new Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card:
- 5% Back on all Amazon.com purchases
- 2% Back at restaurants, gas stations and drugstores
- 1% Back on all other purchases
- No cap on rewards earned
- Rewards never expire and are redeemable on hundreds of millions of products at Amazon.com
- No foreign transaction fees when traveling abroad or for cross-border shopping
- No annual credit card fee
- Zero fraud liability
- Benefits including travel and purchase protections, as well as 24/7 concierge service, through Visa Signature


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Intel reported a surprisingly strong set of Q2 earnings last week. Revenue came in at $12.9 billion, above expectations, and they turned a profit of $0.36 per share, while the Street was expecting them to lose money. The company also guided Q3 EPS above estimates, while their revenue guide was a bit light.
With a guidance like that, most companies would have faced a mixed reaction from the stock market, but Intel is not a normal company in normal times. Consequently, their stock soared in after-hours trading. Despite this positive news, it's important to remember that Intel is not out of the woods yet.
Guest author Jonathan Goldberg is the founder of D2D Advisory, a multi-functional consulting firm. Jonathan has developed growth strategies and alliances for companies in the mobile, networking, gaming, and software industries.
Our thesis on Intel holds that the company faces three sequential challenges: rectifying their manufacturing process, reigniting their product portfolio, and subsequently populating their fabs with Intel Foundry Services (IFS).
The Intel team gave a pretty solid update on that first challenge. Their process plan – 5 nodes in 4 years – is on track. Their first EUV node is now entering production, and the crucial 20A node seems ready for imminent production. This is significant progress for the company, addressing a key existential issue. Although it's still two years away before we can conclusively say they've achieved these 5 nodes, the management's confident tone on the call was noteworthy, suggestive of a return to Intel's old form. As we've consistently stated, the company undoubtedly has the talent to accomplish its goals, which now seems to be finally manifesting.
Of course, this leaves the two remaining challenges. It is premature to discuss IFS at this stage. While we believe good progress is being made, it will be several years before we can begin to evaluate Intel's performance in providing customer services to other companies. We expect to hear announcements this year about customer signings, but we must view these as early endorsements. None of the major fabless chip companies will commit substantial volume to IFS until their manufacturing processes are fully refined, which likely won't happen until later this decade. Thus, we regard progress on challenge #3 as initial, but it's too early for a final assessment.
This brings us to the company's next challenge – can its products compete? Here, we are left with more questions than answers. Honestly, we heard more concerning than comforting comments during the call. We now return to the traditional analysis of company statements, reading the tea leaves and interpreting subtle hints of their comments.
Intel was eager to assure investors that demand for their products was stabilizing. However, this 'normal' situation includes a myriad of reasons why it appears weak. The surge in China's demand hasn't materialized. Inventory has significantly improved, yet remains high in the channel. Our latest favorite phrase, "demand should recover in the second half of 2023", is one we've heard from many companies lately.
Most worrying for us was their assertion that the demand for AI semiconductors is displacing demand for other chips. We are confident that this is a misconception. There's indeed a short-term issue as customers shift their remaining 2023 budgets to accommodate AI demand, but this is a temporary situation. We have substantial data suggesting that budgets are actually increasing. While Intel's management might be hinting at something similar, their Data Center segment continues to decline and lose money. Intel's latest financials have many moving parts, and it seems that the company's core CPU products are still struggling. Nothing in their outlook provided us much confidence that this situation would soon change.
However, we believe Intel appears to be in a significantly improved position. They still face a mountain of challenges, but they're beginning to demonstrate their capability to overcome them.


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Bitcoin Cash: Currency Soars to $700, Lawsuit Looms
It is therefore not recommended to install a Bitcoin Cash full node wallet on the same computer.The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network is almost a month old and seemingly growing stronger as the days continue.
Bitcoin Cash is currently the hottest topic of conversation in the cryptocurrency world.
While cashing out a user should be smart, as the exchanges charge huge hidden fees.
Blockchain fork will create new digital currency called
Bitcoin cash came out of left field, according to Charles Morris, a chief investment officer of NextBlock Global,.
How to Buy Bitcoin Cash? - finance.yahoo.com
Bitcoin Cash and KeepKey | KeepKey
JP Buntinx is a FinTech and Bitcoin enthusiast living in Belgium.
How To Buy Bitcoins With Cash In Any Country [Tested Methods]
According to a recent write-up published by Panos Mourdoukoutas, Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics at LIU Post in New York who is also contributing to several professional journals and magazines, such as Forbes and The New York Times, until its dive, bitcoin will make many more people millionaires.If you belong to an exchange, cashing out can be as simple exchanging your BTC for fiat.When my girlfriend became pregnant I decided to sell my bitcoins to decorate a nursery.
Bitcoin Exchange Rate — Bitcoin Live Converter — Preev
However, if you have some cash on hand, there is a bunch of available methods.Contenders to solve the scalability problem are referred to as Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Classic, Bitcoin Unlimited, and SegWit2x.Bitcoin Cashout, Cashin Bitcoin, Bitcoin to instant Cash, Convert Bitcoin to paypal bank wire western union payoneer skrill payza Perfect Money Okpay.
Bitcoin Cash (BCC) : Everything You need to know about
The fact that there is a huge amount of debt connected to the Chinese Yuan and the Japanese Yen, makes the confidence of the investors disappear.
Who support Bitcoin Cash (the complete list)
The bitcoin offshoot, bitcoin cash, soared Friday after indications it could achieve its goal of speeding up transactions.This past week FEE held a three-day gathering in Atlanta, Georgia, that saw a broad range of freedom lovers from all around the world.Many individuals were looking to learn all they could from talking with us, and we were thrilled to guide them every step of the way.Bitcoin investors will receive a new digital asset called Bitcoin Cash after the blockchain supporting the cryptocurrency is forced to split in two.
Why the Bitcoin Cash Price Is Hanging Tough
According to a recent write-up published by Panos Mourdoukoutas, Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics at LIU Post in New York who is also contributing to several professional journals and magazines, such as Forbes and The New York Times, until its dive, bitcoin will make many.There were many organizations providing educational resources such as Freedomfactor.org, Atlas Network, the Ayn Rand Institute, the Bastiat Society, and of course Bitcoin.com was there to provide information on the many benefits the Bitcoin network has to offer.As a result, a split in bitcoin on August 1 at 8:20 AM EST, the.From August 1, things could change forever for Bitcoin enthusiasts.When bitcoin cash forked away from the main bitcoin blockchain, one of the most significant obstacles the new coin faced was attracting hashpower.This issue is not new, but it seems like it is about to reach its climax.On the surface, Bitcoin seems to be a great way to hide cash.
Bitcoin Price | BTC USD | Chart | Bitcoin US-Dollar
After ongoing debates over how to scale the digital currency called bitcoin, some.Coinbase decided not to recognize the bitcoin fork that resulted in bitcoin cash earlier this week, and users fled.In order to find some middle ground, some business executives and.In exchange for this apparently foolhardy decision, Campbell was sent 1400 bitcoins.On August 1st 2017, We the People will breathe new life into Bitcoin.
What is Bitcoin Cash and How Does it Differ From Bitcoin
Buy bitcoin instantly, sell bitcoin, spend and accept bitcoin.
It might seem hard to get Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies.
A Beginner’s Guide to Claiming Your “Bitcoin Cash” (and
How to Claim Your Bitcoin Cash From Your Wallet and Sell
On one side of this war, there are the so-called core developers.


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HONOLULU (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture says a Honolulu company is recalling more than 4,000 pounds of ground beef products distributed to Oahu restaurants because the products may be contaminated with E. coli.
The department's Food Safety and Inspection Service said Monday Higa Meat & Pork Market is recalling 10 pound bags of "Higa Market-Ground Beef Bulk."
The products were produced last Wednesday and distributed to restaurants on Oahu.
Each case is marked with the establishment number "EST. 12457M" inside the USDA mark of inspection. It also features an identifying case code number "291."
The service and the company haven't received any reports of anyone getting sick because they ate the beef.
E. coli is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration and kidney failure.


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Chipmaker Intel settles FTC antitrust lawsuit
Published: 4th Aug 2010 15:56:08
US chipmaker Intel has settled an antitrust lawsuit filed against it by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Charges that Intel had "illegally stifled competition" have been resolved, the FTC said.
Intel had been accused of "a systematic campaign to shut out rivals's competing microchips by cutting off their access to the marketplace".
Intel is the world's largest chipmaker, making 80% of the microprocessors for the world's personal computers.
There were no details on any money changing hands as a result of the settlement.
Intel had been accused of bullying computer makers into avoiding rivals' chips. The practice was said to be harmful to consumers.
It had also been alleged the chip giant had sabotaged rivals' attempts to get their chips to work with Intel's, in what the FTC had said was a deliberate move to "hamstring" competitors.
Announcing the resolution of its action, the FTC said: "Intel has agreed to provisions that will open the door to renewed competition and prevent Intel from suppressing competition in the future."
The FTC said its settlement applied to central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs) and chipsets.
The resolution also prohibits Intel from "using threats, bundled prices, or other offers to exclude or hamper competition or otherwise unreasonably inhibit the sale of competitive CPUs or GPUs".
In addition, the settlement "prohibits Intel from deceiving computer manufacturers about the performance of non-Intel CPUs or GPUs".
At the time when the action was launched, in December 2009, Intel said the FTC's case was "misguided".
In November 2009 Intel settled a dispute with US rival Advanced Micro Devices (ADM).
The two firms said the settlement covered all anti-trust litigation and patent disputes.
In December the New York attorney general also launched a lawsuit against Intel.
In that case, New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo accused Intel of using "illegal threats" to dominate microchip sales.
Intel is also still fighting a record $1.45bn antitrust fine in Europe and a separate cases in South Korea.
In July Intel announced net profit of $2.9bn for the three months to 26 June, against a loss of $398m a year before.
And revenue for the period was $10.8bn, as a result of what the company called "strong corporate demand".
At 03:55:40 in EnglandTen coastal towns have been given £8.5m in government cash to help create nearly 1,400 jobs and repair storm-damaged areas.
At 03:34:43 in England
At 03:19:03 in Northern IrelandA former army intelligence officer has said he was ordered to stop investigating allegations of child sexual abuse at a boys' home in the 1970s.
At 02:56:39 in HeadlinesWith numerous inquiries into alleged child abuse either up and running or poised to begin, is there a risk the individual voices of victims might get lost? One survivor believes so. This is his story.
At 02:40:14 in BusinessChina's factory activity grew at its fastest pace in more than two years in July, indicating that the country's economy may be stabilising.
At 02:22:35 in HeadlinesPeople with learning disabilities can find themselves in care hundreds of miles from home and loved ones, with little or no choice on how they should be cared for, campaigners say. Now there are calls for a change in the law to allow disabled people and their families the statutory right to decide what treatment is best.
At 02:13:54 in EntertainmentWhen artist Mark Andrew Webber spent months walking the streets of Berlin, he wasn't sightseeing - he was sign seeing.
At 02:05:58 in EnglandEngland has about 30 remaining Victorian piers that have undergone varying amounts of restoration down the years.
At 02:02:21 in EntertainmentThe diaries of war poet Siegfried Sassoon are being published online for the first time.
At 01:46:28 in HeadlinesA Sudanese woman who fled to Italy after being spared a death sentence for renouncing Islam has arrived in the US.
Harvard CitationBBC News, 2010. Chipmaker Intel settles FTC antitrust lawsuit [Online] (Updated 4th Aug 2010)
Available at: http://www.ukwirednews.com/news/79707/Chipmaker-Intel-settles-FTC-antitrust-lawsuit [Accessed 1st Aug 2014]
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PUMA announced Tuesday that its latest collaboration with North American esports organization Cloud9, PUMA x Cloud9, will be released on Nov. 12. The collaboration is the result of a multiyear deal announced in May of 2019, which in turn was an expansion of a partnership signed in January of the same year that covered only the League of Legends Championship Series Cloud9 team during the spring season.
The collection includes the Future Rider, RS-X, “Active Gaming Footwear” (AGF). PUMA says that this collection was designed for “the casual gamer at home and for those who compete on the big stage.”
The full PUMA x Cloud9 collection will be available on PUMA’s website, the Cloud9 site, and at the PUMA NYC Store starting Nov. 12. Select items from the collection will also be sold at Footlocker, Amazon, and Pacsun.


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Three years ago, Yahoo and Microsoft signed an agreement to search for outsourcing to the Bing, but retains the right to sell search ads on its Web site. At that time, Yahoo is the second largest after Google's search service provider. Many people believe that this transaction will help Yahoo to reduce costs, increase revenues. This is also an agreement between Yahoo and Microsoft reasons.
But the reality is not the case. Yahoo is currently the third largest search provider, to give up search technology initiative, while the revenue is not a substantial increase, the cost has not dropped significantly.
Yahoo's search business revenue has been rapidly declining. Last year, Yahoo's search revenues fell from $ 3,200,000,000 to $ 1,900,000,000, fell 7 percent in 2010. Yahoo's search business revenue of approximately $ 4,000,000,000 in 2008, accounting for 52% of total revenue, further landslides last year to 37%.
Over the past four years, Yahoo showed basically no change in advertising revenues of $ 2 billion in 2008, $ 2.2 billion last year. View of the search business, only half of display advertising business on the rise, the importance of Yahoo's revenues rose from 28 percent in 2008 rose to 43 percent last year.
Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson (Scott Thompson) how to deal with the search business? , A prominent blogger Carla Siwei Shen (Kara Swisher) two weeks ago reported that the current "anything is possible. Yahoo is considering measures including the possible sale or a substantial reorganization of the advertising technology business, affected employees will reach 10 According to the negotiations with Microsoft and Google, the search business of 1500 employees may also be affected. "
Industry insiders estimate that Yahoo will soon be selling advertising business. Yahoo may not be able to recover $ 524 million acquisition of Right Media in 2007, but the sale price may be higher than many people expected.
In addition to Siwei Shen, insiders mentioned Yahoo to abandon Microsoft in favor of cooperation with Google, the reason may well be that no one thinks that Yahoo and Google.
U.S. Department of Justice has halted cooperation between Yahoo and Google, Microsoft seems to be the only possible partner in Yahoo. But Yahoo can at any time to suspend cooperation with Microsoft.
Yahoo may partner with Google? Yahoo is currently the world's third largest search provider, the power of the search market is far less in 2008.
Yahoo may renegotiate with Microsoft? May, of course, so far, the deal for Yahoo is very bad. According to the calculation of Siwei Shen, Yahoo's search business still has 1500 employees, but revenue came in rapid landslides. Microsoft and Yahoo, to extend the life of the transaction, it is the Bing, not Yahoo favorable.
Insiders pointed out that Yahoo should be completely out of the search business. The following reasons:
· Investors in the sale and purchase of Yahoo shares, not the search business. At present, the market value of all of Yahoo's core business is negative. Close the search business will not have any impact on stock prices.
Yahoo will now save the cost of 1500 employees of the search business. This will make Yahoo last week, laying off 2000 employees, saving $ 375 million on the basis of further savings of $ 300 million.
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Tarter: Carp fishing begins to get serious
The Asian carp story — just like the fish, itself — isn't going away anytime soon. While news of a Flying Fish Tournament was announced recently for this area in July that involves the Bass Pro Shop in East Peoria and bow hunters, we've received plenty of feedback on the ubiquitous carp.
Gray Magee, CEO of American Heartland Fish Products, weighed in with this note:
"Our company has almost completed the construction of a fish processing plant in Grafton (near Alton in southern Illinois) that will be processing large volumes up to 60,000 pounds per day on one shift of the invasive Asian carp into finished products of dry, high-protein fish meal, omega 3 fish oil and bone meal that will be marketed both domestically and exported," Magee wrote.
"We already have three domestic feed plants that have expressed interest in buying all three of our finished products. We are planning to be operating by late February or early March," he stated.
Magee said that American Heartland is working with Falcon Protein Products out of Birmingham, Ala. "Their patented process and technology will allow our plant to operate as a 100 percent green facility with no malodorous odors and no waste water problems," he said.
Once the Grafton plant is up and running, American Heartland plans other plants along affected waterways, he added.
"We are offering the federal and state governments the least expensive, quickest and most efficient solution to the Asian carp problem. Also our solution would help revitalize the commercial fishing industry along the inland waterways and create many jobs," noted Magee, who said a plant can be built for $2.5 million.
American Heartland considered exporting frozen carp to China but said logistics costs were too high.
"We also researched the human consumption concept in the United States but we found that the labor involved and expense of marketing the Asian carp did not give us a positive proforma," Magee stated.
John Hamann, rural economic director for Peoria County, who's been working on the Asian carp problem for more than a year, reported that an announcement may come soon regarding setting up a processing plant in this area.
Asian carp, we're coming for you.
Coming in 2014
The Economist recently looked into its crystal ball and suggested the following will happen this year:
► America will surpass Saudi Arabia and rival Russia in oil production by producing almost 11 million barrels of oil in 2014.
► Nissan will resurrect the Datsun brand in India.
► Volvo will bring out an SUV that not only can park itself — after the driver has gotten out — but return on command.
► After years of hand-wringing over the Internet, the music industry will have something to sing about in 2014 as digital music rings up profits.
Steve Tarter is Journal Star business editor. Tarter's phone number is 686-3260, and his email address is firstname.lastname@example.org. Follow his blog, Minding Business, on pjstar.com and follow him on Twitter @SteveTarter


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Turbulence on the Horizon for the Foodservice Industry?
With the potential downfall of one of the largest restaurant holding groups coming to a head, Nike Air Max 90 Dames does this mark a trend in the foodservice industry that could change the way that everything from fast-food to traditional restaurants? Learn more about the potential changes ahead and Francorp CEO Don Boroian’s statements on the changes coming in foodservice.
It was recently announced that Darden Restaurants is cutting somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 corporate jobs including a handful of executives as well as another 25 open positions.
The move will save the Orlando-based organization, nike pas chers Nike AIR Max 2017 which includes Olive Garden, buy bns gold LongHorn Steakhouse, Fjallraven Kanken Sale Big Bahama Breeze, nike air max 2017 pas cher Solde adidas zx flux buy ffxiv gold Seasons 52, ffxiv gold The Capital Grille, Nike Air Max 2016 Dames Grijs Eddie V’s, Fjallraven Kanken Mini and Yard House, air max 1 pas cher Fjallraven Kanken Mini an estimated $20 million per year, Nike Air Max 2016 Heren grijs with $10 million directly in 2014.
Don Boroian, Fjallraven Kanken Sale Kids CEO and Founder of Francorp, Air Jordan 10 Uomo kanken baratas a franchise consulting and development company; feels this might be a precursor of things to come in the food sector.
“This is the first shoe to drop in what I believe will be a major restructuring in the foodservice business,” Boroian said. Joe Panik Jersey air max pas cher cheap ffxiv gold “This will be the direct result of the combination of the soft economy, nike air max pas cher cheap ffxiv items Air Max 2016 Goedkoop Nike Air Max 90 CamouflagDame increasing minimum wage, New Balance Dames Nike Air HUARACHE Pas Cher Nike Darwin Goedkoop Obamacare (Affordable Care Act), Goedkoop Nike Air Max 2017 bns gold Nike Air Max 2016 Dame Nike Air Max 2017 Dame Goedkoop anticipation of a major inflation ahead, Nike Max UK and the highly competitive nature of this industry.”
As the industry continues to change, Compra Mochilas Kanken Baratas Nike Air Max 90 Honeycomb Dame it is important that you get the right advice. Nike air max 1 pas cher nike air max 2016 zwart Developing your strategy will help your business to proactively see the changes in the marketplace, Asics Pas Cher Nike Air Max 2014 Dame Nike Air Max 90 Honeycomb Heren grow more at the right times, Air Max 2016 Goedkoop nike air max 1 Nike Air Max 2017 Goedkoop and recognize complexities before they harm your business. Scarpe Nike Italia Nike Air Max 90 Hyperfuse Dames Learn more about the strategic assistance that Francorp provides each of its clients,


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At a glance
When Britain announced in March this year that it would introduce a tax on soft drinks in 2018, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver cheered and challenged other countries to follow suit. “Pull your finger out, Australia,” he urged.
Countries around the world, from Finland to France to Fiji, have adopted this interventionist approach as obesity continues to defeat individual willpower and corporate responsibility.
Soft drink companies continue to promote soft drinks. Many people struggle with restraint, especially the young. A 2015 study by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that almost half of Australian children aged between two and 18 consume sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) on an average day.
Health researchers at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) say the evidence suggests that under the right conditions, taxes seem to be able to encourage consumers to switch away from SSBs to more healthy drinks.
Making a drinks tax work
Australia’s major political parties have so far not supported such taxes (although the Australian Greens do support a 20 per cent tax). The major New Zealand parties have not supported the tax approach either.
However, the proposal is being examined seriously in Malaysia, which according to a study in The Lancet has had Asia’s highest obesity rate.
Meanwhile, US cities continue to move toward taxes on sugary drinks: Berkeley, California introduced a tax in 2014; Philadelphia, has announced a tax proposal; and Boulder, in Colorado, is heading toward a referendum on the issue.
Ensuring these taxes work may not be so simple. Food and beverage industry critics say that such imposts will cost jobs while having little effect on obesity. Australian Beverages Council CEO Geoff Parker tells INTHEBLACK that a sugary drinks tax would cost “a significant proportion of the 30,000 Australian jobs directly involved in manufacturing soft drinks”.
Outside the industry, sugar tax critic Chris Snowden, from the UK’s Institute of Economic Affairs, has a different criticism: so far, he says, taxes have been so low that they are ineffective as health measures and instead work merely as “stealth taxes”.
So what does it take for food taxes to not only raise revenue, but also deliver measurable health benefits – reduced consumption, followed by reduced rates of obesity, diabetes and tooth decay?
Experts point to the following conditions as essential for success, assuming a food tax is just one element of a comprehensive public health strategy:
1. Consumers need to be sufficiently price-sensitive.
“Price elasticity” is a concept that measures how much people will change their behaviour when prices change.
Studies conducted by senior research fellow Dr Anurag Sharma at Monash University’s Centre for Health Economics suggest the average price elasticity of demand for sweetened drinks is around -0.63. This means that for every 10 per cent increase in price, consumption will drop by 6.3 per cent.
This makes soft drink consumption a little more responsive to price change than alcohol, which has a price elasticity of -0.5, and tobacco, which has a price elasticity of -0.4.
However, Sharma points out that heavy consumers of SSBs are less responsive to a price hike, with an elasticity of just -0.2. It makes sense that those hooked on their sweet hit will find it more difficult to kick the habit – and the evidence is building that sugar is addictive.
“Although heavy consumers of SSBs – who also tend to be from low-income households – have the least elastic demand, they will experience greater health gains,” says Sharma, referring to his research findings published last year.
2. The taxes must be high enough.
Based on predictive modelling and real-life observation, a 20 per cent tax or equivalent is just enough to start impacting health.
A modelling study published in The BMJ (formerly British Medical Journal) predicted that a 20 per cent tax on sugar-sweetened drinks would lead to a reduction in the prevalence of obesity in the UK of 1.3 per cent.
The only real-world data comes from Mexico, which imposed a 10 per cent tax on soft drinks in September 2013. On average, a 6 per cent drop in sugary drink purchases was achieved in 2014. In the poorest households, sales decreased by 17 per cent.
“Obesity experts are arguing for a higher rate, but taxes need to be introduced slowly to make them acceptable,” says Sharma.
“They can be increased over time according to the evidence, which is what happened with cigarettes.”
3. We should tax food volumes, not prices.
When Sharma compared the tax burden and potential health gains of a sales (or valoric) tax of 20 per cent of the retail price versus a volumetric tax of A20 cents per litre, he found that the tax burden would be lower and weight reduction higher under a volumetric tax.
This was especially true for heavy purchasers in low-income households, who would lose an average 3.2 kilograms of weight and pay A$13 in taxes per year with the volumetric tax, compared with an average 2.6 kilograms of weight and A$17 tax with the sales tax.
4. Consumers should pay the tax.
“You need a clear price signal to the consumer if you want to reduce consumption,” says Jane Martin, executive manager of the Obesity Policy Coalition.
The Greens’ proposal and the UK Government’s plan is to tax manufacturers rather than retailers of SSBs. Food and beverage manufacturers and retailers, however, normally pass on the full price increase, according to a 2015 World Health Organization report, Using Price Policies to Promote Healthier Diets.
5. Revenue raised should be dedicated to promoting health.
The Australian Treasury has long opposed the idea of dedicating revenue from a particular tax for a particular purpose. Martin argues that governments need to accept this “hypothecation” in certain situations so that changes to laws can actually be passed and health can be improved.
The Mexican Government, for example, promised to ensure free drinking water in schools where previously only soft drink was available.
6. Provide cheap, healthy alternatives.
This helps to reduce substitution where, for instance, people react to a tax on sugary soft drinks by seeking out alternative cheaper sweet drinks, such as flavoured milk.
7. Beware unintended consequences.
One of the reasons Denmark abolished its tax on saturated fat after only one year was that the Danish Chamber of Commerce claimed the tax was harming business. Consumers started buying their fatty foods internationally, encouraged by German retailers who sent brochures to Danish households encouraging them to spend up outside the country.
Boosting national health
In a best-case scenario, health gains from a tax on SSBs could be substantial.
Research conducted in 2016 by Dr Lennert Veerman, from the University of Queensland School of Public Health, estimates that in Australia a 20 per cent tax on SSBs could:
- reduce new cases of diabetes by 800 per year
- after 25 years, result in 1600 fewer deaths, 4400 fewer people with heart disease and 1100 fewer people living with the consequences of stroke
- raise an estimated A$400 million a year and reduce annual health expenditure by up to A$29 million
- cost the government A$27.6 million to implement
A matter of conscience?
“When we look back on how we managed the obesity crisis in Australia, the thing we will most rue and regret is the appeasement of the food industry.”
– Professor Rob Moodie, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. Moodie chaired the National Preventative Health Taskforce in Australia that first recommended taxing soft drinks.
“I am not prepared to look back at my time here in this Parliament, doing this job and say to my children’s generation ... ‘I’m sorry. We knew there was a problem with sugary drinks. We knew it caused disease. But we ducked the difficult decisions and we did nothing’.”
– Former UK treasurer George Osborne, announcing the UK’s tax on soft drinks.
The economic rationale
The underlying rationale of taxing products (such as alcohol, tobacco and certain food products) for public health reasons is that consumption of some products is associated with “negative externalities” that can result in costs to society that neither the producer nor consumer covers.
In such cases, a government may want to correct for the tendency of the market to encourage the consumption of products with a documented negative impact on health.Source: Using Price Policies to Promote Healthier Diets, World Health Organization, Europe Office, 2015


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Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed the importance Vietnam attaches to its comprehensive strategic partnership with India, and rejoiced at the strong development of the bilateral ties over the past time while receiving Indian Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar in Hanoi on October 16.
Vietnam and India boast huge potential to further foster cooperation in trade and investment as both sides have many young and proactive businessmen who are able to create wonderful business opportunities between the two countries, Vietnamese General Consul in Mumbai Le Quang Bien has said.
The Indian Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has initiated an anti-dumping investigation into welded stainless steel pipes imported from Thailand and Vietnam, according to details given by the Trade Remedies Administration under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).
The World Trade Organization has halved its estimate for exports growth around the world this year as manufacturing industries are hit by a slowdown and rising geopolitical tensions cause trade patterns to fragment.
Vietnam’s overseas investment approximated 416.8 million USD during the first nine months of 2023, rising 4.6% year on year, reported the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.


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You searched for: navigator
Lincoln unveiled a Navigator Concept at the 2016 New York Auto Show that forecasts what’s to come for the forthcoming redesigned production Navigator. The new look of the Concept matches the design motif of the recently unveiled 2017 Lincoln Continental and 2017 MKZ.
Chicago radio legends Steve and Johnnie take the 2015 Lincoln Navigator for a video test drive. What did they think of their test vehicle? Watch and find out.
2015 Lincoln Navigator 4WD
Dates tested: 11/13/2014-11/20/2014
Miles Driven: 174
Fuel Used: 13.2 gallons
Driving mix: 60% city, 40% highway
Much like its Ford Expedition sibling, the Lincoln Navigator receives a thorough freshening for 2015 that includes revised styling – both inside and out – and a new engine. It also adds a new top-line trim level called the Reserve along with some newly available features. Carried over are short- and long-wheelbase versions offered with either rear- or 4-wheel drive. A third seating row is available in both lengths to accommodate up to eight passengers.
Lincoln today revealed the redesigned 2015 Navigator. Presented here is the unedited press release that accompanied news of the new luxury SUV.
The Lincoln Motor Company introduces the new 2015 Navigator, offering a fresh interpretation of a classic vehicle that has long defined the full-size luxury sport utility segment.
At Consumer Guide Automotive, our editors attend manufacturer-hosted press events around the country to get our first-drive opportunities of soon-to-arrive new vehicles—that’s how we produce most of our First Spin test-drive reviews. However, we also participate in regional press events hosted by the Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA) for additional new-vehicle drive opportunities. One of the best of these events is the annual MAMA Spring Rally, a journalist-only event held at the excellent Road America race track in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.


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The US Department of Justice (or DOJ, for its acronym in English) will sell $56 million equivalent in cryptocurrencies confiscated by the public prosecutor responsible for the Ponzi crypto BitConnect scheme case, to compensate victims of fraud.
According to a DOJ announcement, the government will sell the cryptocurrencies and keep the proceeds in US dollars to “provide restitution to victims seeking a future restitution order by the court at trial.”
The cryptocurrencies were confiscated from Glenn Arcaro, 44, who pleaded guilty to participating in a $2 billion conspiracy to defraud BitConnect investors. Arcaro will be sentenced on January 7, 2022 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Potential victims of the BitConnect scam are invited to visit justice.gov to obtain information about their rights, identify themselves as victims, and submit an impact statement.
What was BitConnect?
As one of the most infamous crypto scams of all time, BitConnect advertised itself as a cryptocurrency investment platform that offered high returns based on its own trading bot.
In fact, the bot didn’t exist; it was a Ponzi scheme that rewarded participants based on the number of people who joined the scheme.
Driven by the pyramid scheme, BitConnect’s BCC cryptocurrency has soared to become one of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, priced at approximately $400.
After investigations by regulators in Texas and North Carolina, BitConnect suspended its lending and trading platform, causing BCC’s price to collapse to less than $30.
In May 2021, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (or SEC) accused five BitConnect prosecutors, signing a $12 million settlement in August.
In September, the SEC sued BitConnect, its founder Satish Kumbhani and Arcado in the first action against BitConnect’s management.
US government confiscations of crypto
This is not the first time the US government has sold confiscated cryptocurrencies.
In 2014, the US Marshals Service (US Marshals or USMS) sold more than 30,000 BTC (at the time equivalent to $19 million) confiscated from the now-defunct Silk Rod illegal market.
Bitcoins were acquired by venture capitalist Tim Draper, whose amount now equates to more than $1.8 billion.
The USMS sold another 4,000 BTC confiscated in February 2020. At the time, equivalent to $37 million, its value had already skyrocketed to more than $240 million.
*Translated and edited by Daniela Pereira do Nascimento with permission from Decrypt.co.


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Apple (AAPL 0.81%) has been making undeniable progress in marching toward its services goal of hitting $50 billion in 2020, even as the core iPhone business has hit a wall. In an effort to accelerate the shift in narrative, Apple has now changed its financial reporting structure. The company no longer discloses unit sales data for any of its hardware product segments, but does provide information around gross margin for products and services. However, Apple could take things a step further by introducing even more granular statistics for its services business -- metrics like average revenue per user or number of transacting accounts.
Lacking official figures, third-party estimates will have to do for now.
U.S. iPhone users are spending more and more
TechCrunch reports that iPhone users in the U.S. spent $79 last year, citing a forthcoming report from mobile app analytics specialist Sensor Tower. The average in-app spending continues to climb higher each year, more than doubling since 2015.
Average In-App Spending Per U.S. iPhone
Gaming has long been the biggest driver of spending on mobile platforms, representing over half of all spending. However, other categories are now starting to see upside, particularly subscription-based apps, according to the report. In fact, the entertainment category posted the strongest growth in 2018, with average spending skyrocketing by 82% to $8, making it the second-largest category behind gaming. Music came in third, representing an estimated $5 worth of the spending.
Apple's push to grow paid subscriptions on its platform, which now total 360 million, appears to be working.
Check out the latest Apple earnings call transcript.
What about outside the U.S.?
The data gives investors some potential insight into Apple's U.S.-based services business, which is clearly very strong. The company has an estimated 189 million active iPhones in the U.S., according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP). Cross-referencing the estimates would suggest that U.S. iPhone users generated over $14.9 billion in high-margin services revenue for Apple last year, or over a third of the $41 billion in worldwide services revenue that Apple posted, despite accounting for approximately a fifth of the global installed base of 900 million.
Getting a geographical breakdown of user spending would be extremely useful for investors. Other services companies provide geographical breakdowns of user monetization, for example. While the U.S. services business is chugging along, 62% of all revenue last quarter came from international sources. Being able to compare user spending in emerging markets compared to developed markets would also give a better sense of how much upside Apple has if it can improve monetization in those regions.
There are plenty of other open questions. Where are paid subscriptions concentrated? Based on 360 million paid subscriptions and an installed base of 900 million, the global average would be 0.4 subscriptions per user. How many transacting accounts are there? CFO Luca Maestri vaguely said transacting had hit "a new all-time high" after growing "strong double-digits," but investors have no frame of reference.
More granular disclosures would go a long way toward getting the market to better appreciate the services business.


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At the launch event of the Galaxy S10 smartphones in India, DJ Koh, the President and CEO of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung revealed to a select media that the brand will bring the Galaxy Fold to India. He, however, did not reveal the timeline for the launch. That being said, the Galaxy Fold could launch in India following its release in other countries.
According to Gadgets360, DJ Koh said “Indian market is, I clearly said, most important market — not only investment and everything, my long-term commitment is towards the market. In this market, why will I not deliver my newest technology innovation? Yes, I will do.” He revealed that the brand wants to manufacturer the Galaxy Fold in India to keep the costs low, for which, he added: “Because of taxes, we must make it in India, to sell in India.” Furthermore, DJ Koh said that the brand wants to consolidate the manufacturing at one place.
That isn’t all, DJ Koh has also hinted that the brand could launch the Galaxy S10 5G in India, provided that the 5G network becomes available in the country. According to Gadgets360, DJ Koh said “We are working with the carriers here (in India). Depends on their progress. Samsung is ready to support all 5G frequencies – not only sub-6 [GHz] but millimeter wave as well,” when the media asked about the readiness of the Indian market for 5G smartphones.
Samsung Galaxy Fold
For those who do not know, the Galaxy Fold is the first foldable smartphone from Samsung. It has a 4.6-inch HD+ Super AMOLED screen at the front, and a 7.3-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED screen when you open (unfold) the device. Thanks to this foldable design, the Galaxy Fold can be used as a smartphone when folded, and as a tablet when you open it up.
The Samsung Galaxy Fold is powered by the Qualcomm’s flagship processor for 2019, the Snapdragon 855, which has an octa-core CPU, and Adreno 640 GPU. The device comes in only one configuration – 12GB RAM + 512GB storage. The smartphone has Android 9 Pie operating system along with One UI from Samsung. The brand has customized the OS to support dual-display usage.
The Samsung Galaxy Fold has a total of six cameras — three at the back, one at the front, and two when you open up the device. When you are using the device in folded mode, you can use the camera at the front to take selfies, and when you open the device, you can use the cameras above the display to take selfies. The camera at the front has a 10MP resolution, while the dual-camera when you open up the device has 10MP + 8MP configuration. The 10MP camera is the main unit that captures images and records video, while the 8MP unit is a depth-sensor. The triple-camera at the rear has 12MP + 12MP + 16MP configuration. The first 12MP camera has a conventional FoV. The second 12MP camera has 2x zoomed FoV for telephoto images, and the 16MP camera has ultra-wide FoV for capturing wide sceneries. The rear camera setup can record 4K videos at 60 frames per second.
The Samsung Galaxy Fold packs a 4380mAh battery that supports 18W fast charging. Unlike most Android smartphones nowadays, the Galaxy Fold supports only one SIM card. The device comes with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, and all the standard connectivity options including dual-band Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth v5.0, and GPS.


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Volkswagen has given the green-light to its I.D. BUZZ concept, with plans to put the electric VW Microbus into production. The decision, announced at the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance today, will deliver one of the automaker’s most well-received concepts to dealerships, atop its brand new electrified platform. According to VW, the demands to build a production version of the I.D. BUZZ have been frequent and vocal since the concept bus was first shown off.
That happened back at the Detroit Auto Show, earlier this year. Then, the I.D. BUZZ was intended to demonstrate the flexibility of the Modular Electric Drive kit (MEB). Previously that had been used as the underpinnings of the first VW I.D. concept, a Golf-sized hatchback, but the automaker wanted to show that its brand new architecture was flexible enough to suit a variety of cars.
The I.D. will still be the first car to get a production version, mind, currently scheduled for around 2019 when it will launch as a model year 2020 vehicle. The I.D. BUZZ production version will follow on in 2022, VW said today. It’ll be targeting drivers in the US, Europe, and China.
To do that, it’ll combine a brand new, emissions-free platform with a healthy dose of nostalgia. Though clearly a modern concept, the I.D. BUZZ is unmistakably related to the original Volkswagen Microbus that epitomized the Sixties. “After the presentations at the global motor shows in Detroit and Geneva,” Volkswagen CEO Dr Herbert Diess said of the decision, “we received a large number of letters and emails from customers who said, ‘please build this car’.”
The result will be a zero-emissions vehicle intended for flexibility. Its iteration of the MEB will have all-wheel drive as an option, VW has suggested, with final power, range, and other specifications yet to be confirmed. The concept Microbus had AWD, 369 HP, and a 111 kWh battery pack that is said to be good for close to 300 miles of range. A 150 kW fast-charging system would get it from 0- to 80-percent in 30 minutes.
Inside, meanwhile, VW is promising full-size SUV capacity on a midsize SUV footprint. That’s helped by the drivetrain and batteries being low down, under the floor. For the concept there was seating for eight or 162.5 cubic feet of cargo with the seats folded. The production version will come in minibus and I.D. BUZZ CARGO forms for work hauling.
Whereas the concept car promised full autonomous driving, VW says the production model will have Level 3 support. That, defined as “conditional automation,” will be mostly self-driving but expect the human driver to step in as a fallback should issues arise. The automaker says that the “I.D. Pilot” Level 4/5 autonomy won’t be ready until 2025 at the earliest; similarly, the high-tech and minimalistic cabin is unlikely to make it through to production unscathed.
Still, this is a welcome decision for a car which has possibly generated the most enthusiasm among VW fans in recent years. Pricing isn’t known at this point, unsurprisingly, but VW’s Diess says the I.D. BUZZ will be “much more affordable” than the competition.


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Hurricane Harvey ravaged Texas, dumping more than 50 inches of rain — a record high from a single tropical storm. Texas Governor Greg Abbott estimated the damage at $150 billion to $180 billion, eclipsing the previous Hurricanes, Katrina or Sandy. The devastating storm also had an adverse impact on the plastics industry as the Gulf Coast is the epicenter of the U.S. specialty chemicals and petrochemicals industry that provide the building blocks for plastic products.
Harvey Crippled the Foundation of Packaging Industry
Texas accounts for about 70% of U.S. production of ethylene — one of the most important chemicals used for producing plastics. Ethylene is a basic ingredient for final products ranging from plastic bottles to tires to polyester fabric. Industrial ethylene is derived from petroleum or natural gas, and many chemical plants producing ethylene are located near the Gulf Coast’s concentration of petroleum facilities.
Hurricane Harvey has led to the shutdown of around 37% of U.S. production capacity for ethylene, which includes 55% of capacity in Texas. Producers such as The Dow Chemical Company , ExxonMobil Corporation (XOM - Free Report
) , LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (LYB - Free Report
) , Chevron Phillips Chemical, among others have shut or cut back ethylene production. These disruptions have affected 37% of U.S. capacity for making chlorine and caustic soda, salt-derived chemicals used to make vinyl and PVC pipe.
Consequently, a critical part of the supply chain for the industry has been paralyzed with petrochemical plants not in operation and the rail companies that ship them still restoring service. This situation has led to supply shortages and consequently higher prices for U.S. manufacturers.
Raw Material Supply at Stake, Costs To Rise
It will likely take months to resume normalcy. In the meantime, prices for raw materials for plastics are already beginning to rise. The more material impact for the plastic packagers from Harvey will be on resin prices, since the Gulf supplies around 70-75% of the resin in the United States. This could weigh on earnings for the plastic stocks in the next few quarters.
In line with this, Newell Brands Inc. (NWL - Free Report
) trimmed earnings guidance for 2017 on increased inflationary pressures due to low resins’ supply. Nearly all of Newell’s resin suppliers with facilities in Texas and Louisiana have declared force majeure, with many facilities shut for more than a week and some still not operating. The company expects the impact to persist through fourth-quarter 2017 as well as resin inflation to build through the remainder of 2017 and in to 2018. Likewise, Greif, Inc. (GEF - Free Report
) slashed fiscal 2017 adjusted earnings per share guidance to factor in $2.5-million headwind impact related to Hurricane Harvey.
Performance and Zacks Industry Rank
Year to date, the Zacks Containers – Paper and Packaging
industry has underperformed the S&P 500. The industry has clocked a gain of 11.5%, lagging the S&P 500’s increase of 16.5%.
We have 265 industries in our Zacks Coverage Universe, which we put into two groups: the top half (i.e., industries with the best average Zacks Rank) and the bottom half (the industries with the worst average Zacks Rank). (To learn more visit: About Zacks Industry Rank
The industry occupies a space in the bottom half of the Zacks classified industries with a Rank of #205.
So, it would be prudent to stay away from packaging stocks that carry an unfavorable Zacks Rank now and have been witnessing negative revisions.
(ATR - Free Report
) is one of the leading providers of consumer product dispensing systems. Its products are primarily used in the beauty, personal care, home care, prescription drug, consumer health care, injectables, food and beverage markets. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
The estimates for third-quarter 2017, fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018, have moved south in the past 60 days, reflecting the negative outlook of analysts. For the third quarter, the estimate has gone down 12% to 80 cents per share. For fiscal 2017, the estimate has dipped 3% to $3.35 in the past 60 days. For fiscal 2018, the estimate has gone down 4% to $3.60 per share.
Further, AptarGroup stock has gained 10.1% in the past year, underperforming the industry's gain of 11.9%.
Bemis Company, Inc.
(BMS - Free Report
) , a principal manufacturer of flexible packaging products and pressure sensitive materials, carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). The estimates for third-quarter 2017, fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018, have moved south in the past 30 days, reflecting the negative outlook of analysts. For the third quarter, the estimate has gone down 11% to 64 cents per share. For fiscal 2017, the estimate has dipped 6% to $2.40 in the past 30 days. For fiscal 2018, the estimate has gone down 6% to $2.67 per share.
The Bemis stock has dipped 7.6% in the past year, grossly underperforming the industry's gain of 11.8%.
More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!
It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.
Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.


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One of the popular features of WhatsApp is group chats, where users can create groups for different occasions and different groups of friends, family members, colleagues, and so on. However, according to security research firm, Check Point Research, it seems that they have discovered a security flaw that could be problematic.
One of the features of Adobe Photoshop for the desktop is called Select Subject. This is a feature that is powered by Adobe’s Sense AI engine where it makes it easy for users to select images of their subjects in the app. Given that not all subject matters are regular-shaped, this can be a tricky process for those who aren’t too adept at using selection tools like the lasso.
Last week, a music app designed for the iPhone made the headlines. Dubbed Rewound, this is an app that basically transforms your iPhone into the iPod Classic, giving it the classic scroll wheel that the iPod is known for. It was surprising that the app was even allowed given how strict Apple is when it comes to third-parties using their product images.
Apple Arcade currently costs subscribers $4.99 a month. It’s not particularly expensive, but if you do have multiple subscriptions to other services running, we imagine that it will all add up to be quite a lot. The good news is that Apple is now giving you a chance to save some money if you’re willing to commit.
One of the problems with electric cars is that they need to be charged, and unlike gas stations, EV charging stations still aren’t quite as ubiquitous just yet. To make matters worse, there still doesn’t seem to be a standard connector, meaning that depending on the car you drive, you may or may not be able to find an EV that supports it.
Want to speed up how fast your Mac starts up? You can do this by managing the various apps that automatically launch when your computer boots. This guide will take you through the process of doing just that.
As many of you know, Facebook owns several prominent social media platforms and messaging apps, such as Instagram and WhatsApp. For the most part, they have all managed to stay separate and somewhat independent of each other. However, earlier this year it was reported that Facebook could actually be planning on unifying them.
While Apple’s CEO Tim Cook wants the company to be remembered for its contribution to health care, it’s probably safe to assume that there are many who would remember Apple for their contribution to music, especially with the iPod which kind of led the charge on the digital music front.
WhatsApp is one of the most used messaging apps in the world today. Given that it is free and can be used as long as there is an internet connection, it’s not surprising that is a very popular choice. However, come 2020, it seems that millions of WhatsApp users could potentially lose access to the app.
Waze does an excellent job at letting drivers know which are the best routes to take to avoid the jam, road blocks, accidents, tolls, and so on. However, sometimes during the winter, roads become covered in snow which in turn creates problems as well, but Waze is here to help with a new feature.
Due to the nature of how iOS has been designed, it isn’t quite as “open” compared to Android where accessing files on an iOS device can be a bit tricky and slightly convoluted. This means that when it comes to using photo editing apps such as Adobe’s Lightroom isn’t as straightforward.
When Epic launched Fortnite for Android, the company made a somewhat controversial move where they decided to bypass the Google Play Store. Instead, the company chose to launch the game through its own website where users had to download the game and sideload it, which some expressed concern over due to possibility of malware.
Calculator apps are a dime a dozen but for the most part, you need to know how to solve the problem first. However, what if you don’t know how to solve a math problem? It seems that Microsoft is here to help as the company has since launched a new app called the Microsoft Math Solver.
It’s not that difficult to turn photos into animated GIFs, but if you’ve ever wanted to be inserted into an existing GIF, well, that would be kind of tricky. However, Snapchat has you covered as the company seems to be testing out a new feature called Cameo that would basically insert your face into a GIF.


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Looks like we’ll be waiting a little longer.
A PC port of Bloodborne is something gamers have been clamoring for since the game originally launched in 2015. While we still don’t know anything official, a recent update provided by a trusted insider might just give us a slight glimmer of hope, or at least explain why it hasn’t happened yet happened.
GamesBeat reporter and insider Jeff Grubb recently appeared on Xbox Expansion Pass podcast and talked about various topics, including Bloodborne. Speaking about a possible PC port, he said: “I think the answer to that is that there’s nothing going on with Bloodborne right now. And I think the reason for that is still that FromSoftware is very busy with Elden Ring”.
He continued, saying that a port couldn’t be made without the involvement of the original developer: “FromSoftware made that game in such a way that you can’t just hire a team to go in there and do the work for them. You’d have to work together with FromSoftware”. Given that a port would require a lot of hand-holding, Grubb believes that FromSoftware simply doesn’t have the time for it right now. While this is far from confirming a PC version of Bloodborne, it does hint at why it hasn’t happened yet. happened.
Grubb also suggested that Sony might hire another development team to help work on a possible PC port as well. This is possible now more than ever, not only because Bloodborne is a PlayStation exclusive, but also because Sony and Tencent now jointly own 30 percent of FromSoftware. Sony even bought Nixxes to help it work on PC ports.
To make up for the lack of the PC version, fans have modified aspects of the game in Elden Ring. For example, a recent mod introduced Bloodborne’s iconic gun to the game, while another went a step further and added Bloodborne’s combat mechanics. What’s more, players have even figured out how to recreate the infamous ‘Father Gascoine’ as a build in Elden Ring. If that wasn’t enough, a Minecraft player even recreated the world of Yharnam as a tribute to the game.
NEXT: Nintendo Switch is more than ripe for Yakuza


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Google’s drone leaves the nest
August 29, 2014 11:14 AM
The Google Inc. drone has landed—or, rather, successfully delivered a package. Google released a YouTube video yesterday showing a prototype drone from Project Wing, the 2-year-old drone at Google’s research lab (Google X), successfully delivering a package of dog food.
The test took place in Australia because its regulations surrounding flights of unmanned aircraft are more lenient than those in the United States. “The goal of being here is to show that the hard work over the last two years has resulted in a reliable system that can do autonomous delivery,” Nicholas Roy, the founder of Project Wing, said in the video. “It’s years from a product but it is sort of the first prototype that we want to stand behind.”
In the video, the 3-foot-long, white drone takes off vertically, sitting on its rear end, and then transitions to flying horizontally, similar to a commercial airplane. This allows it to move faster, Google says.
At the delivery spot, the drone transitions back to a vertical position and hovers, similar to a helicopter. It drops the package, which is housed in a space between the wing’s two sides. The package is attached to the drone by a cord with a sensor at the end of it. When the sensor detects that the package has hit the ground, it disconnects and retracts back into the drone. The drone transitions back into a horizontal position and flies away.
Google’s ambitions for the project are big; the company calls endeavors such as drone deliver “moonshots” for that reason. “Throughout history, there have been a series of innovations that have each taken a huge chunk out of the friction of moving things around,” Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots at Google X, said in the video. “Project Wing aspires to take another big chunk of the remaining friction of moving things around in the world.”
The subject of drones is not new in e-commerce. Amazon Inc. has been testing its drones, which are built more like traditional helicopters, inside its research and development lab in Seattle.
Earlier this summer, the e-retailing giant petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration to allow it to test outside the use of drones for commercial purposes. Amazon is currently limited to testing the drones indoors in the United States.
Amazon says it has been able to develop drones that can travel more than 50 miles per hour and carry packages up to five pounds. Amazon says that weight limit covers more than 86% of products sold on Amazon.com. Google did not release details about the delivery capabilities of its drones or the speed with which they can fly.


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As evidenced by the nearly $1.1 billion spent on holidays last year, the luxury travel industry is expanding quickly. Travel businesses are placing greater emphasis on adventure, which is planned to appeal to younger consumers who prefer adventure over things. However, some of the luxury travel experiences are facing new obstacles in their quest for growth. The newest obstacle to high-end travel is the latest coronavirus outbreak.
A number of luxury travel companies have already announced major expansions in areas outside of the Caribbean due to the recent outbreak. In many cases, vacationers from the younger generation – aged 29 and below – are cancelling future vacations in response to the current outbreak. In a number of locations, adventure travellers have even been instructed to forego the use of traditional antibiotics, opting instead for natural remedies and alternative health care practices. The result is a major shift in the way that younger travellers are viewing luxury vacations.
Luxury travel companies have long had a difficult time competing with chain establishments for the attention of younger travellers. However, with so much focus on adventure and safety during travel, many luxury resorts are finding themselves having to step up their marketing strategies in light of the recent developments. Some luxury properties have already added in-house boutiques and shops to address the needs of the growing younger traveller. While these efforts are beginning to pay off, others are finding themselves struggling to find enough excitement and attention within the industry to help promote their brand names. This issue is particularly troubling for younger travellers, who have grown accustomed to skipping the mall and sticking to well-secured stores.
In response to this growing demand, luxury properties are turning to innovative payment solutions to help make their vacations affordable. Some of these luxury vacation clubs offer all-inclusive discounts on travel, accommodation, tours, and activities without the need for any additional membership fees. However, many of these programs require members to pay their own separate fees in order to join. With so many adventure travellers choosing these new all-inclusive programs, it is no wonder that the industry is looking toward innovative payment solutions to address the needs of savvy travellers.
It is clear that there is a strong need for innovative pricing solutions to help bridge the gap between the older generation that made a tradition out of taking expensive vacations, and the younger travellers of today that prefer to pay only the bare minimum when it comes to expenses in order to fully enjoy their luxury vacations. As the millennial generation ages, and the number of luxury properties that cater to the younger generation increases, the once exclusive club that was available only to the elderly will become even more restricted, and expensive vacation spots will likely be more difficult to find. Fortunately, innovative solutions are available, and luxury vacationers do not have to look too far when it comes to finding affordable luxury vacation spots.


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LIMA — A general merchandise retailer that sells everything from pet supplies and houseware to sporting goods and groceries celebrated its grand opening Wednesday in Lima.
Big R Stores, located at 945 N. Cable Road, opened in the old Wal-Mart building in Lima’s Clocktower Plaza. The 110,000-square-foot facility joins existing businesses such as Planet Fitness, Dollar Tree, Gamestop and Pet Supplies Plus.
“We felt like Lima was our type of town,” Big R Stores Co-Owner Joda Crabtree told The Lima News in August. “There’s a lot of retail there which is good for us because of the regional draw, and we liked the old Wal-Mart building. Just everything about it felt good.”
The Lima location is the first Big R outlet in Ohio, though a Findlay store is set to open in spring. Johnie Skeen, an area manager for Big R, said Wednesday’s grand opening “went very well.” He said a steady stream of customers had been filtering in since 8:30 a.m.
“We’ve had some great customers who have been very receptive,” Skeen said. “We’re glad to be in Ohio.”
With 80,000 items, Big R has a wide variety of products for Lima-area shoppers to choose from. The store sells lawn and garden items, apparel, pet products, sporting goods, houseware, farm supplies, tools, food and more. Many of the products are from name-brand companies such as DeWalt, Milwaukee Tool, Under Armour, Levi Strauss, Cub Cadet and more.
“We pretty much have every category covered, so we’re a one-stop shop for a lot of things,” Crabtree said.
Big R is also pet-friendly, as dogs are welcome to accompany their owners on shopping trips. In the spring, the store will sell baby chicks.
According to Skeen, Big R has the inventory of big box stores such as Wal-Mart and Meijer, but places a greater emphasis on customer service.
“We offer the same kind of selection, but we set ourselves a part because of the people we have in the store,” he said. “We really service the customer.”
Skeen added that, compared to other big box stores, Big R has a more welcoming atmosphere for customers. He described it as “your neighborhood store.”
“It’s just a down-to-Earth store,” he said. “People think of it as a big box store, but it’s not really. Yes, it’s a big store, but it’s got that down-home feeling when you come in.”
Big R Stores has been family owned since it began serving the farm and home community in 1965. The company, now in its second generation of ownership, is headquartered in Watseka, Illinois, and operates 20 stores in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.
The Lima store employs 46 workers, but Skeen said the company “is always looking to hire more people.” Those interested in employment may apply online by clicking the ‘careers’ link at BigR.com.
Big R is open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays.
Reach John Bush at 567-242-0456 or on Twitter @bush_lima.


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Apple’s new update stops apps from tracking user activity on iPhones via cookies. Experts have said the feature could significantly affect Facebook’s business, which relies heavily on advertising through said cookies
NEW DELHI: Social media giant, Facebook, is telling users that allowing it to track users across the Internet helps keep its apps free. Users who have downloaded Apple’s newest software update — iOS 14.5 — reported getting notifications on the Facebook and Instagram apps about the same. The notification is part of the company’s campaign against the iPhone maker’s newest software update, which allows users to stop apps from tracking user activity across the Internet.
According to the notification, Facebook users “information about your activity" that it receives from other apps to deliver personalized ads, keep its platforms free of charge and “support businesses that rely on ads to reach customers". The last one is a claim that the company has made through front page advertisements in newspapers before, as part of its ongoing battle against the iPhone maker’s newest privacy feature, which could affect Facebook’s business dramatically.
The company had announced that it would be showing this notification last week, which is when Apple started rolling out the new update. “As Apple has said that providing additional content is allowed, we will show an educational screen before presenting Apple’s prompt to help people make an informed decision about how their information is used," the company said in a blog post on April 26.
Apple’s new update stops apps from tracking user activity on iPhones via cookies. Experts have said the feature could significantly affect Facebook’s business, which relies heavily on advertising through said cookies. The social media giant itself had acknowledged, in the past, that over 80% of users will choose to stop the Facebook and Instagram apps from tracking their activity across the Internet.