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GameMaker: Studio, the cross-platform game engine that is popular among indies and widely used in educational institutes, now supports publishing to Linux via Ubuntu Export.
Using GameMaker: Studio’s Ubuntu Export, developers can export their new and pre-existing games as Ubuntu Software Center-ready applications from a single code base and at the touch of a button.
“This is the first time GameMaker has supported Linux publishing and it couldn’t have come at a better time,” said YoYo Games CEO Sandy Duncan.
“The Ubuntu Software Center provides a new marketplace to distribute and monetize games, a substantial opportunity for our development community.”
GameMaker: Studio allows developers to distribute their games on platforms including the Amazon App Store, Chrome, Facebook, Google Play, the Apple App Store, Steam, the Windows Store and the Ubuntu Software Center.
The software’s simple to use drag-and-drop interface has made it a hit with indies, professionals and those looking to get into coding for the first time.
Canonical’s director of consumer software David Pitkin added: “As the third most popular desktop operating system Ubuntu reaches 20 million users around the globe. With GameMaker: Studio, it couldn’t be easier to publish games to the Ubuntu Software Center and take advantage of the opportunity to reach a new audience. We can’t wait for all of the awesome GameMaker: Studio games to arrive for Ubuntu in the coming weeks and months.”
GameMaker: Studio Ubuntu Export can be purchased from YoYo Games website, www.yoyogames.com and is coming soon to Steam’s Software Store for $99.
The Ubuntu Export is free for existing and future purchasers of GameMaker: Studio Master Collection. GameMaker: Studio Professional and the Ubuntu Export module are required for publishing to the Ubuntu Software Center.
To find out more about GameMaker: Studio Ubuntu Export, visit YoYo Games’ website.


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Consumers Believe SUV Criticism Is Hype According to New Study
New Poll of In-Market Car Buyers Reveals Consumer Views of SUVs, Media and Terrorism
A New Vehicle-Buyer Attitude Study on SUVs released today shows more than half of its respondents feel the negative press around SUVs is hype and more than 70 percent felt that groups criticizing SUVs ignored the vehicle's positive aspects. The study was conducted by Kelley Blue Book (KBB), the trusted resource for used and new car information.
Journalist Arianna Huffington, activist group Earth Liberation Front, and Chairman of the National Highway Transportation Safety Association (NHTSA), Jeffrey W. Runge, have said that SUV owners are making our country oil dependent and creating unsafe highways, and in extreme cases -- claiming consumers purchasing SUVs support terrorism. Other statements imply that SUV drivers are vain, self-absorbed and have little interest in their community. NHTSA's Runge urged consumers in a Jan. 15 speech to 'educate themselves' before purchasing these rollover prone vehicles. The Kelley Blue Book study shows six out of 10 shoppers still feel positively toward SUVs and of those considering an SUV the number rises to eight out of 10.
Currently, large utility vehicles account for most of the manufacturer's annual earnings. The negative comments have auto manufacturers worried that consumer demand for the SUVs would decline. While sales of SUVs declined one- tenth of a percent in January, analysts say the drop is minor in comparison to the overall decline in vehicle sales last month.
When it comes to the attitudes of current car shoppers, survey results show that manufacturers have little to worry about at this time. Based on the study results, rollover statements made by Runge may be the only issue reaching consumers. The Kelley Blue Book study shows shoppers rank rollovers as their No. 1 concern in purchasing an SUV. Four out of 10 surveyed say that concerns of rollovers could even keep them from buying an SUV, yet more than half rate the vehicles high for safety.
"We have not seen an effect on SUV values or sales due to recent news. Any effect thus far can be attributed to uncertainty in the economy," said Charlie Vogelheim, Executive Editor, Kelley Blue Book. "We do expect to see a drop among larger SUVs but attribute the decline to market saturation as well as the growth and popularity of crossover vehicles, not necessarily criticism or hype."
The other issues appear to have been dismissed by in-market car-buyers. Kelley Blue Book survey respondents, who represent the opinions of one out of every four new car-buyers in America, disagree with the assertion that SUV drivers are vain and have little interest in their community. Results show the No. 1 attribute assigned to SUV drivers is "family oriented" with "safety oriented" coming in at number three out of 12 attributes. Few shoppers believe SUV drivers are selfish or irresponsible.
With the looming possibility of war, oil dependency issues have become a major topic in the press, but those currently shopping for SUVs ranked environmental concerns and oil dependency issues last among their concerns in buying an SUV. In-market car-buyers understand SUVs are less fuel efficient than compact vehicles, however it does not appear to be a deterrent to purchase.
"America saw a major decline in vehicle sales and values during 1991's Gulf War. We expect to see similar trends and a drop in SUV values should we go to war in coming weeks," said Vogelheim.
The issue of terrorism arose in the press through journalist Huffington, as well as activist group Earth Liberation Front (ELF). The ELF organization, religious groups and Hollywood celebrities link gas-guzzling vehicles to oil dependence on the Middle-East and the support of terrorism. The groups point out that U.S. oil imports have increased 60 percent since the Gulf War. On terrorism, only one in 10 survey participants felt purchasing an SUV actually supported terrorism.
The KBB New Vehicle-Buyer Attitude Study on SUVs was administered on the company's Web site www.kbb.com , the No. 1 Internet site among car-buyers who are within 90-days of purchasing a new vehicle. Survey respondents include those considering buying an SUV as well as those that are not. The study was completed over a four-day period at the end of January 2003 to determine the attitudes and views of SUVs amidst heavy criticism of the vehicle segment by influencers.
"The targeted nature of our visitor base allows Kelley Blue Book to uncover factors important to in-market car buyers in the middle of their purchase decision process," said Rick Wainschel, Director of Marketing Research at Kelley Blue Book.
For more information on future KBB New Vehicle-Buyer Attitude Studies or the complete results of this study, please contact Robyn Eckard at 949-770-7704 x8349.
About Kelley Blue Book
Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com has been named first visited and No. 1 automotive site according to J.D. Power and Associates five years running and is the most trusted vehicle information resource, providing comprehensive automotive research tools and up-to-date pricing on thousands of used and new vehicles. Since 1926, car buyers and sellers have relied upon Kelley Blue Book for timely and accurate information to make well-informed automotive decisions. The company also offers objective vehicle pricing via products and services for both the auto industry and consumers, including the famous Blue Book Official Guide, software and the Internet. Rated No. 1 automotive information site by Nielsen//NetRatings, no other medium reaches more in- market car-buyers than kbb.com; one in every four people who purchase vehicles visit Kelley Blue Book.
Safe Harbour Statement
This release contains factual data from recent news reports as well as a Kelley Blue Book New Vehicle-Buyer Attitude Study and does not reflect the opinions of Kelley Blue Book employees, management or any person associated with the company. The data presented herein reflects only the attitudes and opinions of consumers and in-market car-buyers participating in the online survey.
SOURCE: Kelley Blue Book
CONTACT: Robyn Eckard of Kelley Blue Book, +1-949-770-7704, ext. 8349,
Web site: http://www.kbb.com/
Director, Public Relations
|For general or customer service inquiries,
please call 1-800-258-3266.

domain: news


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Personalization is among the hottest 2019 prom trends
Customization is in, and unique, personality-driven floral designs will be among the top choices this spring for prom season according to Emily Campen, an expert on prom trends and arrangements.
Emily is the owner of the Flower Pot and Betty’s Florist in Knoxville, Tennessee, and she expects to be very busy this spring, helping to accessorize high school girls and boys for their big nights. With 20 high schools in the surrounding area where her shops are located, and a solid customer base she draws from including 10 schools that are near her two shops, Emily typically receives many orders throughout the prom season. She expects the prom rush of 2019 to be more of the same.
“Our customers are fun!” she says. “They are excited for a big, special night and are ready to have the time of their lives! They have been pouring over Instagram and Pinterest and they come in with some creative ideas. We love seeing their thoughts turn into reality.”
The ideas continue to trend toward personalization. Customers are expected to be looking for unique, expressive designs again this year as they did last year.
“We have seen more and more prom goers want something that expresses their unique personality,” Emily says. “They want something customized for their colors and preferences and ideas. They don’t have much interest in ordering a ‘traditional’ corsage or boutonniere.”
As tastes evolve, and in keeping with the personal touch that is currently popular among prom-goers, Emily forecasts a significant change this year: the boys will play a more active role in choosing floral designs for their proms. She states that flowers aren’t just for females in gowns anymore, and one of the biggest trends in 2019 will be the popularity among boys regarding a specific type of floral creation to be worn on the pocket of a jacket.
“We have seen a lot of gentlemen who are accenting their formal wear with silk or even floral pocket squares,” Emily says. “I think they like the idea of a colorful accent that doesn’t need to be pinned on, and yet is very unique and speaks to their style.”
Emily also suggests that there are likely to be customers looking for simpler prom accessories, some with even less flowers…with more emphasis on other varieties of botanicals.
“Incorporating succulents and airplants is growing in popularity, along with amping up the texture and depth of the designs with foliage and dried accents,” Emily says. “I enjoy incorporating different elements into designs and challenging myself to look around the shop and see something in a new light and incorporate those into a design.”
The Flower Pot has been in Knoxville since 1972. Emily bought her stores from her sister in 2015. With each passing year, Emily has found that her customers, even those in high school, get more sophisticated and savvy.
“We see students getting ready for prom beginning in early spring,” she says. “The school system helps them stagger the dates of their events so there may be a few that are on the same weekend, but not all of them at once. During the week of prom we see a lot of customers coming in to order and they will bring samples of ribbon or fabric from a dress or other piece of clothing they want to accent.
“We spend the week before and event making the structures for boutonnieres and corsages like wristlets or other accessories that can be made ahead of time,” Emily says. “We have used everything from Oasis flat wire to hot glue in a fondant mold to create foundations for prom accessories.”


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Nintendo is celebrating the company’s launch of “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” on the Nintendo Switch this week, and the new title is already breaking records. Nintendo confirmed that more than 459,000 combined packaged and digital titles were sold in the U.S. on launch day alone (April 28), making “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” for the Nintendo Switch system the fastest-selling game in the long-running Mario Kart series. That certainly wasn’t an easy record to break, the previous record holder for the highest first-day sales in the franchise was Mario Kart Wii, with U.S. sales of approximately 433,900 when it launched in 2008.
The solid sales numbers for “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” (available on Amazon for $59) equate to an attach rate of 45 percent – meaning nearly one in two Nintendo Switch owners in the U.S. purchased a copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the first day it was available. To date, more than 2.7 million Nintendo Switch systems have been sold globally. That’s a lot of Switch systems, and when you consider that almost half of all users bought “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” in its first week, that’s a lot of races. The game was also our pick of the week this week in our entertainment guide last week, and should give players plenty of enjoyable hours on the couch throughout May. This week’s pick went to “Prey,” the latest horror-thriller for the PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has also received more perfect review scores than any other Mario Kart game ever. With a current Metacritic score of 93, the critically acclaimed title is the highest-rated game in the series in 15 years – tying the overall review score of Mario Kart: Super Circuit for Game Boy Advance.
To continue this strong momentum into the summer, a series of great games will launch for Nintendo Switch over the next few months, including Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (May 11), Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers (May 26), ARMS (June 16) and Splatoon 2 (July 21).


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Jewish National Fund | May 13, 2020
The Jewish National Fund USA (JNF), just launched virtual tours, taking people to Israel and showing them iconic places.
People buy seats on virtual buses, they have a professional tour guide all via Zoom.
Business Bureau consistently award Jewish National Fund with their highest ratings, indicating the organization’s trustworthiness and fiscal responsibility.
Since the stay-at-home orders have been put in place so many of us have canceled our travel plans, domestically and internationally.
In fact, according to the World Tourism Organization, international tourism could decline by 60-80% over the entire year and that means billions of dollars in lost revenue. However, some San Diegans are finding different ways to travel.
The Jewish National Fund USA (JNF), just launched virtual tours, taking people to Israel and showing them iconic places like the Old City of Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and much more.
Here's how it works
People buy seats on virtual buses, they have a professional tour guide all via Zoom. Just last week, a San Diego group finished their five-day virtual trip. JNF board member, Lauren Lizerbram, and her husband Sol, who is the national president of JNF, experienced the virtual trip.
It's really really a fun, exciting, emotional, motivating trip. It was a fabulous idea. It really took off beyond our wildest expectations and, like I said, we have over 700 people signed up. We really want to support these licensed tour guides in Israel
The five-day experience is $50. All of the money goes to the tour guides in Israel who aren't working right now. The virtual tours are an hour a day. Seven hundred people have already registered.
Learn More: WHAT POSITIVE TRAVEL TRENDS COULD COME FROM CORONAVIRUS?
TripActions | January 11, 2021
Corporate travel management platform TripActions said in an official statement that its TripActions Liquid payments and cost framework presently incorporates with driving corporate finance systems.
Among the enterprise resource planning (ERP) frameworks with which TripActions Liquid communicates now are NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage Intacct, SAP and Xero, according to the release.
"This integration automates and integrates [travel and entertainment (T&E)] and ERP data to help finance teams experience an entirely new level of visibility over financial data," Michael Sindicich, general manager of TripActions Liquid, said in the release. "An automated link with ERP systems will improve analytical capabilities and provide executives with true spending intelligence across the greater organization."
Among the advantages of the integrations TripActions promotes in the release about the new mixes is that account groups will have the option to follow costs as they're caused instead of when representatives submit them.
TripActions states in marketing materials that a major preferred position it offers business travelers is a powerful online platform combined with admittance to human travel agents 'round the clock.
TripActions' contributions incorporate the Liquid payment card, which PYMNTS detailed kills frustrations that arise — in any event, during seasons of limited travel — that come from having employees working from remote outposts.
Microsoft | August 09, 2020
Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) has partnered with Microsoft to further streamline data-driven services offered to stakeholders. The move will also enhance the e-learning platform for the Dubai College of Tourism (DCT) and adopt an innovative approach towards showcasing the city as a must-visit destination.
The wide scope of collaboration between Dubai Tourism and Microsoft is largely based on leveraging the Azure cloud platform, which provides a range of services from computing to networking, databases to analytics, and artificial intelligence designed to help organisations run their digital systems and processes more efficiently. Dubai Tourism's goal is to create a strong data analytics platform on the cloud that will help it share valuable business insights via online dashboards to facilitate managerial decision-making and to constantly update public and private stakeholders with critical industry-related information.


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Are a dozen database companies in one city too many?
Much of the money flowing to big data startups seems to flow West to Silicon Valley, but the East Coast has its share of innovators. The following 12 database startups from Boston represent $150 million worth of investment in their niche alone, said Kyle Alspach, in his profile in The Boston Business Journal today.
Only one of these 12 companies was on the list of 58 companies identified in our article today, another indicator that the list from Wikibon is, as they acknowledge, incomplete and a work in progress.
Some of these Boston companies may not be considered big data pure-play companies, but as Alspach said, they are all database companies. However, they are all planning "to begin an aggressive sales push into the [big data] market." And they are attracting good money to do it with.
In the article, John Partridge, CEO of Tokutek, said that while it may seem that a dozen database companies in Boston alone is an oversupply, that isn't necessarily the case."The number of big-data problems and the huge diversity of big-data problems creates an opportunity for all of us," he said.
Here are the 12 companies. You can get more details on the companies, their funding and their founders here:
- Akiban Technologies--developed a way to physically store information called table grouping
- Basho Technologies--created a cloud-based NoSQL database called Riak
- Cloudant--enables distributed data across the cloud
- EnterpriseDB--developed the low-cost relational database called PostgreSQL
- Hadapt--looks to create a hybrid architecture for merging Apache Hadoop and relational databases
- NuoDB--created a NoSQL database built to scale for the Internet of things
- Paradigm4--developed a scalable array database for complex analytics
- ParElastic--created a database virtual engine that scales on demand
- Scalebase-- made a middleware for scaling existing databases
- Sqrrl--developed an enterprise version of Apache Accumulo for control of sensitive data
- Tokutek--created TokuDB, a storage engine for MySQL and MariaDB
- VoltDB--performs analytics on high-velocity data
- see The Boston Business Journal article


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KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) is again holding the MOSTI Commercialisation Conference and
Exhibition 2015 (MCCE2015) to achieve the target of 360 high impact research and development (R&D) products by 2020.
The two-day exhibition at the Putra World Trade Centre here starts tomorrow, its minister, Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau said. The MCCE2015 is a platform for the people to get a closer look at opportunities of commercialising innovative products.
“Many have ideas to produce something innovative but they have no suitable platform to commercialise their inventions. Therefore through MCCE, researchers and inventors will have the opportunity to get business matching to enable their products marketed widely apart from getting MOSTI ready towards Malaysia Commercialisation Year 2106 (MCY2016) next year,” he told reporters at Parliament House yesterday.
Madius said even though MOSTI is targeting 60 products annually, 65 products were commercialised in 2014.
“It was a major success for MOSTI for organising MCCE last year and MOSTI hopes to surpass the target again this year,” he said. – BERNAMA


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This luxury cat hotel in Barnsley is a retreat for pampered pets
Inset Jennifer Ryder began making plans for her five-star cat hotel in Barnsley in 2018 and, after noticing a dramatic increase in the number of pet owners since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic , the site is operating almost at full capacity in its first year.
In an effort to create a home-from-home experience, each of the 12 bedrooms has underfloor heating, handmade pine beds, and large windows overlooking a garden specially created for cats.
A lifelong cat lover, Ms. Ryder decided to build her dream cat hotel after noticing behavioral changes in her own pets when they were sent to catteries during their annual vacation.
When she and her family moved to the rural village of Cawthorne, she began to put her plans into action, turning part of the land surrounding her home into her dream cat hotel, built to her own specifications.
The new entrepreneur turned to Launchpad, the Sheffield City Region Growth Hub’s free business support program, which helps new entrepreneurs unlock the potential of their ideas.
Working with an experienced business advisor, Ms. Ryder began formulating plans to turn her dreams into reality and participated in a series of workshops, as well as one-on-one training sessions, helping her reach lovers. cats throughout the region and develop a clear business plan.
Her efforts paid off and before the hotel even opened, Ms. Ryder was crowned Aspiring Entrepreneur of the Year at the Launchpad Business Awards, an event that showcased and celebrated the accomplishments of new owners. company in the region.
Despite a tough first year in business due to travel restrictions limiting family vacation plans for much of 2020, the company exceeded expectations and managed to make a small profit by tapping into the vacation market. while providing a safe. paradise as homeowners turned to tackle DIY interlocking projects.
So far this year, Ms. Ryder said the business has been in high demand, attracting bookings from both repeat and new customers.
She said, âI decided to start the business because I felt I had spotted a niche in the market. We are a family of animal lovers with a lifelong experience in the care of cats.
âWe have recognized that many people treat their feline friends like family and can often feel guilty about sending their cats to a cattery when they go on vacation.
“I wanted to create a relaxing and enjoyable environment that mimicked the environment of their own home.”
She added, âAs a small business, we wanted to replicate the love and care cats receive in their own homes with lots of interactive play, hugs and treats, and throughout their stay we keep owners regularly updated by sharing photos of their adventures, which brings comfort and reassurance, allowing them to enjoy their vacation without worrying about the welfare of their pets.
Support the Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today.
Your subscription will help us continue to bring quality information to Yorkshires. In return, you will see fewer ads on the site, have free access to our app, and receive exclusive member-only offers.
So please – if you can – pay for our work. Only Â£ 5 per month is the starting point. If you think what we’re trying to accomplish is worth more, you can pay us what you think we’re worth. In doing so, you will be investing in something that is becoming increasingly scarce. Independent journalism that cares less about good and bad than good and bad. Journalism you can trust.


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The International Surface Event (TISE) was held in its familiar home of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, but with the 350,000 square-foot expansion of the convention center TISE for the first time showcased the industry’s latest products all on one floor.
To tackle the expansive show floor, appointments and everything else in between, retailer David Arita, president of American Carpet One in Honolulu, brought a team of five employees to Surfaces to see what is trending in the industry and reconnect with industry partners along the way.
“We come to Surfaces every year, and we always stay until the very end. We never have enough time to visit all the vendors we want to see.”
For Arita, attending the show is a fun opportunity to meet with the suppliers he enjoys doing business with—some for over 40 years. A World Floor Covering Association (WFCA) Gold Standard Award recipient for excellence in retailing, Arita and the American Carpet One staff know first-hand the importance of offering a wide variety of products to meet consumers’ demands and needs.
“We are always looking for new products, including new products from our present manufacturers and maybe finding new suppliers and manufacturers to work with,” said Arita.
Seeing new trends is also what brings Barbara Lofton, owner of RemodelMe Showroom & Cabinet Design in Martinex, Calif., back to the show year after year. According to Lofton, events during Design & Construction Week including Surfaces are the ideal place to find products that “do everything from the foundation to the rooftop.”
In addition to TISE veterans, this year’s show welcomed many first-time attendees, as well as some who had taken a hiatus.
“I haven’t been to Surfaces in years,” admitted Shelly Versteeg-Smit of Fishtrap Creek Interiors in Lynden, Wash. For Versteeg-Smit, her absence from the show, like many others, was due greatly to 2008’s economic crisis, which slowed down business for several industries.
But as the economy continues on a steady uphill climb, service providers are once again in demand and design industry professionals like Versteeg-Smit are eager to hit the ground running and get back to business as usual. “Now it’s time to get back with it, and see what’s happening in the industry for the store,” she said.
Accompanying Versteeg-Smit was interior designer and first-time attendee Kathy Jansen, also from Lynden, Wash. For Jansen, attending Surfaces provided the opportunity to see what’s trending in the industry. However, she wished there were more tile and stone products on display.
Be it vinyl, tile or stone, innovation was not lacking at booths as manufacturers showcased their products in eye-catching, elaborate ways. From aerial acrobatics and string quartets, to a Great Dane and a magician, manufacturers pulled out all the stops to display their products in unforgettable ways befitting of the Vegas location.
“The booths present an image of the manufacturer/brand,” stated Lena Thomas of Corona Hardwood in Corona, Calif. “At this show, one really sees who is a player in this industry. Branding and image are very important.”
A regular attendee, Thomas and her team enjoy attending Surfaces to connect with manufacturers and distributors outside of an everyday setting—and to make sure Corona is on the right track with the products it carries.
“Seeing new products laid out in the booths and the excitement the booths create gives us confidence about the products we carry,” she said.
There was no shortage of buzz and excitement at this year’s show; excitement about what’s happening in the industry and excitement about what’s to come.
For more information on TISE 2016, visit tisewest.com.
Retailers Sit Down with Mohawk and Google
Making its return to Surfaces this year with a lavish multi-booth party, Mohawk Industries’ presence was felt both on and off the show floor.
Teaming with FloorForce, a digital agency for the flooring industry, Mohawk hosted a Lunch and Learn with Google’s Ben Tyson.
“The reality is, I don’t know anyone that’s bored, sitting at home on the weekends looking at tire websites because they don’t need tires,” said Tom Lape, president of Mohawk’s residential division. “It’s the same thing for flooring—there are not a lot of people out there that are looking at flooring websites that don’t need flooring.”
In fact, every month, Google counts 90 million searches for the word “flooring” according to Tyson, head of sales enablement at Google.
During the hour-long presentation, Tyson educated retailers about the imperativeness of digital marketing and the role it plays in capturing customers online.
“The point of marketing is to create engaging content that moves someone to an action,” he said. “Engage, engage, engage.”
From social media to search engine optimization, Tyson stressed the importance of hiring a knowledgeable team of digital marketing professionals to create engaging web content and to strengthen the web presence of retail operations.
“The days of ‘I got a guy that handles this’ are over,” said Tyson. “The days of ‘my brother’s son’s best friend’s college roommate takes care of this’ are done as well.”
Retailers Robin Whipple and Tim Hyland of Cash N Carry Flooring in Traverse City, Mich., hired a marketing firm to handle their digital and social media marketing efforts, and they haven’t looked back.
“We changed our entire website,” said Hyland. “It took about three months, but we are right back on top again.”
Although there is always room for continued growth and improvement, the Lunch and Learn was confirmation for Whipple that Cash N Carry is heading in the right direction when it comes to digital marketing.


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Welcome to the jungle, its not fun and games
If you haven’t traded or managed money in the years 2007 to 2009, then welcome to the jungle.
Many of the same problems of the Great Financial Crisis are prevalent today:
1. Politicians and central bankers have the ability to move markets dramatically. This was slightly more important during the GFC, although central banks tended to help rather than add to the misery.
2. Liquidity is abysmal, creating movements disproportionate to the news itself. This is comparable to GFC.
3. Incredible disparity in the views of well-known, usually good, tipsters. The range of opinions could be wider than during GFC.
4. Raw material bubbles. With inflation getting all the attention right now, it’s important to remember that commodity prices (the CRB index) rose 58% between early 2006 and mid-2008. fell precipitously from there, taking stocks with them. For now, this market seems to appreciate the drop in commodity prices, but does not know how long this will last.
Additionally, we have a few issues that are unique to the current environment:
1. The war in Ukraine and the persistent nuclear threat from Russia.
2. China is aggressively competing for raw materials and turning more inward, no longer being the supplier of cheap goods. From a national security perspective (broadly defined to include technology, intellectual property, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, etc.), the US government is backing down and many companies are following their lead.
Managing this market is and will be a daunting task.
After spending the better part of two weeks on the road, seeing major asset managers, government agencies, and corporations, two things kept coming up and both were troublesome:
Consumer goods manufacturers of all sizes seem to be concerned not only about building inventory in their sellers’ channels, but also their own. Orders for next year, which will boost economic activity, are uncertain at best. Manheim’s used car price index is now down year over year and judging by the spam I get from auto manufacturers I’ve seen a change from “we want to buy your used car” to “we can buy your used car and you can trade” to “we have vehicles for sale.
Currency volatility is difficult for businesses to manage. When currencies like the Euro behave like penny stocks (a slight exaggeration), companies find it difficult to hedge and make business plans. Add UK government bonds (gilts), which behave like penny stocks, and you have more fear about the stability of other developed country bond markets (stable is a relative word, as every bond market swings rapidly, but none, however, are as bad as the UK market).
So far, central banks have shown no ability to coordinate and we are seeing ad hoc efforts to support currencies, leading to increased pressure in the US bond market (other countries are likely selling their Treasury to raise dollars to buy their own currency).
Enough context: what to do!
1. Keep it small. Use options whenever possible. Enjoy good trades, taking profits when and where possible.
2. Avoid China. No matter how cheap Chinese stocks look, they remain reversible. This has been my point of view for almost two years and it remains my point of view.
3. Nibble energy, energy infrastructure and Latin America. This is not an OPEC+ trade, but adjusting to the fact that the “green power” push as we know it is changing. Yes, green and sustainable energy will be a big part of our future, but developing enough baseload energy for decades is crucial as this grows. The only reason I say “nibble” is that the current administration seems slow to embrace this reality. Maybe after the mid-terms we will see more progress on this. I don’t see a future where nuclear doesn’t play a bigger role, but it still seems to be blocked by various anti-nuclear groups (Maybe, as bitcoin struggles, some of the marketing geniuses behind it, can get behind nuclear and we will finally see rapid development).
4. Rates. I am in the camp that the Fed has gone too far. That the Fed should talk “wait and see” instead of rallying in data that is undoubtedly slowing as higher yields weigh on spending (I’m keeping an eye on rising auto loan defaults and home prices ) . I like to buy bonds when the 10-year goes above 3.90% and sell around 3.65%. We had an opportunity to go back and forth over the past month, and I would add to the treasures here. It makes me uncomfortable to say this given the Fed, quantitative tightening, European debt markets, but I’m too negative on the economic outlook not to.
5. Semiconductors. Maybe trade for a bounce here, but I’m still nervous about this sector for two reasons I’ve mentioned many times and a new reason:
- To what extent was crypto, and in particular crypto mining, responsible for the demand for chips? Check eBay for used (and new) mining rigs. I think that was an important and under-discussed source of demand.
- How many start-ups and disruptive companies that had carte blanche to spend on technology, including semiconductors, now have to be careful with their spending?
- Finally, and this is new, how have companies, faced with the shortage of chips, managed this? I talk to companies that have found ways to reduce their flea addiction. Many seem to be stepping back and using less specialized and less advanced chips, and replacing them with more chips, but basic chips. For example, instead of 10 specialized chips, they use 20 generic chips. It’s slightly less efficient, but not only cheaper, it makes their supply chain much more manageable.
Stay focused. Have a plan. Plans will go awry in this market (as Mike Tyson once said, everyone has a plan until they’re punched in the face), but a plan will help.
Do NOT panic or put yourself in a position where you might be forced to panic. This is what will get us through this market mess!
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(Bloomberg) – Tesla Inc. stocks were less correlated to big U.S. tech companies ahead of the electric vehicle maker’s earnings report, and Bitcoin could be the reason.
The 20-day correlation between Tesla’s stock price and the Nasdaq 100 index fell from 0.83 on June 17 to 0.14 on Wednesday. A decline has also been seen in the relationship between the EV company’s stocks and the NYSE FANG + index, which includes the largest tech companies such as Facebook Inc., Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Netflix Inc. Tesla reports profits on July 26.
“Tesla has a strong correlation with megacap technology,” and “that relationship has really decoupled in the near future,” said Amy Wu Silverman, derivatives strategist at RBC Capital Markets, in email comments. “When I do a survey, I get the feedback that this is related to your Bitcoin exposure and how it should be taken into account when you report income.”
Tesla announced a $ 1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin in February after CEO Elon Musk made positive comments about the largest cryptocurrency. The move sparked speculation that other companies would follow suit – although few have. Tesla has since sold some of the inventory, and Musk has emerged as a critic of Bitcoin for reasons of energy usage, among other things.
Tesla is down nearly 4% this month while the Nasdaq 100 is up more than 2%. Bitcoin has fallen from a high of nearly $ 65,000 in mid-April to around $ 32,500 as investor appetite for speculative assets like cryptocurrencies has largely decreased.
Silverman noted that Tesla also has an “extremely steep” skew, a measure of how expensive bearish options are compared to bullish options.
“This is very unusual for Tesla, which spends a lot of time on ‘inverted skews’ because both institutions and retailers love to buy out-of-the-money call options on their behalf,” she said. Those looking for bearish trades might do well to take advantage of put spreads to take advantage of high skew, Silverman added.
The story goes on
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It's a company-wide effort, as Cook said the company's design, engineering, packaging, and operations teams as well as its suppliers are working on the project.
In Canada, INKSmith, a startup that was making design and tech tools accessible for kids, has now moved to making face shields and is hiring up to 100 new employees to meet demand.
Coronavirus: Britons go on rampage, destroy 5G masts over 'baseless' conspiracy theory
Assuming COVID-19 isn't the invention of Bill Gates , another fanciful theory asserts that 5G networks are in some way to blame. Although the finger is being pointed at social media, those concerned about fake 5G conspiracy theories could start with Google.
Due to the growing cases of coronavirus in the world's largest economy, medical-grade masks, face shields, and ventilators are in short supply.
The first delivery of Apple face shields had already been sent to Kaiser hospital facilities in the Santa Clara valley in California earlier this week, according to Cook.
While sourcing millions of face masks is great, Apple is doing something better by deciding to manufacture face shields using its own resources.
Apple aims to ship over a million of the face shields by the end of this week.
Actress-activist Shirley Douglas, daughter of medicare's Tommy Douglas, dies
In the '60s and '70s, while living in California, Douglas campaigned against the Vietnam War and protested for various causes. She was an ally to immigrants, advocated for women and established the fundraising group "Friends of the Black Panthers".
"Teams across Apple have been working hard on ways we can support our heroic frontline medical professionals", said Mr Cook.
Apple is working with medical professional sand government officials across the USA to determine where the shields are most needed, and is looking to expand distribution beyond the United States soon.
Apple's Covid-19 app and website allow users to answer a series of questions about risk factors, recent exposure and symptoms for themselves or a loved one. And the plan is to quickly expand distribution of these face shields to other countries.
It's the latest effort Apple has made to combat the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 8,000 people in the U.S. and infected more than 300,000 across the country.
Lady Gaga announces virtual concert with Elton John, Lizzo and more
The trio will be in the front One world: together at home with lots of A-list stars on Saturday, April 18 between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.


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TJX Companies Inc (NYSE:TJX) – Analysts at Northcoast Research issued their Q1 2020 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for TJX Companies in a research note issued to investors on Friday, according to Zacks Investment Research. Northcoast Research analyst N. Mitchell expects that the apparel and home fashions retailer will post earnings of $1.12 per share for the quarter. Northcoast Research currently has a “Buy” rating and a $90.00 target price on the stock. Northcoast Research also issued estimates for TJX Companies’ Q2 2020 earnings at $1.23 EPS, Q3 2020 earnings at $1.35 EPS, Q4 2020 earnings at $1.53 EPS and FY2020 earnings at $5.23 EPS.
TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The apparel and home fashions retailer reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.10. TJX Companies had a net margin of 7.27% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The business had revenue of $10.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year.
TJX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Co downgraded shares of TJX Companies from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $86.00 price objective on shares of TJX Companies in a research report on Friday, December 15th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of TJX Companies from $88.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 15th. BMO Capital Markets set a $85.00 target price on shares of TJX Companies and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 15th. Finally, Cowen set a $88.00 target price on shares of TJX Companies and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. TJX Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.30.
Shares of TJX Companies (TJX) traded down $0.42 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $81.88. 4,086,008 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,680,050. TJX Companies has a twelve month low of $66.44 and a twelve month high of $84.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $52,145.99, a P/E ratio of 20.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.68.
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CCM Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in TJX Companies by 1,393.0% in the 4th quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC now owns 59,466 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $4,546,000 after purchasing an additional 55,483 shares in the last quarter. Xact Kapitalforvaltning AB lifted its stake in TJX Companies by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Xact Kapitalforvaltning AB now owns 117,337 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $8,972,000 after purchasing an additional 6,417 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in TJX Companies by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 378,996 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $28,977,000 after purchasing an additional 13,867 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in TJX Companies by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 369,684 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $28,266,000 after purchasing an additional 19,511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in TJX Companies by 58.8% in the 4th quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 70,730 shares of the apparel and home fashions retailer’s stock worth $5,408,000 after purchasing an additional 26,179 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.07% of the company’s stock.
In related news, Director Amy B. Lane sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.81, for a total transaction of $82,810.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,998 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,324,794.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ernie Herrman sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.00, for a total transaction of $840,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 65,020 shares of company stock worth $5,446,635 over the last 90 days. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
TJX Companies announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 28th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the apparel and home fashions retailer to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.
COPYRIGHT VIOLATION WARNING: This article was posted by The Lincolnian Online and is owned by of The Lincolnian Online. If you are viewing this article on another website, it was illegally stolen and republished in violation of United States and international copyright & trademark law. The correct version of this article can be read at https://www.thelincolnianonline.com/2018/03/14/tjx-companies-inc-expected-to-earn-q1-2020-earnings-of-1-12-per-share-tjx.html.
About TJX Companies
The TJX Companies, Inc (TJX) is an off-price apparel and home fashions retailer in the United States and across the world. The Company operates through four segments: Marmaxx, HomeGoods, TJX Canada and TJX International. T.J. Maxx and Marshalls chains in the United States were collectively the off-price retailer in the United States with a total of 2,221 stores, as of January 28, 2017.
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Relish adds dinner
New River Oaks neighborhood restaurant adds dinner service with classic favorites
Although it’s been open for almost two months, Relish Restaurant & Bar, the River Oaks restaurant that replaced The Bird & The Bear on Westheimer, still hasn’t demonstrated to diners the full vision of what owners Addie D’Agostino and executive chef Dustin Teague intend for it become. That all changes Monday night when the restaurant begins dinner service.
At lunch, Relish has built on its reputation with a mix of salads and sandwiches. Dinner takes another step forward with a range of classic dishes like fried chicken, New Orleans-style BBQ shrimp, lamb chops, and steaks. Vegetable sides include roasted potatoes, maple bacon Brussels sprouts, and glazed carrots with pumpkins seeds.
“As you can tell, our dinner menu is quite simple. It’s hopefully done well with good ingredients,” D’Agostino tells CultureMap. “Things you want to eat more than once a week. You can come in and get a nice piece of fish one night or a steak frites the next night.”
Keeping things classic reflects Relish’s goal of becoming a neighborhood staple. The restaurant’s newlywed owners took some of their inspiration from Houston’s. While a chain restaurant may seem like a strange choice for an independently owned neighborhood spot to emulate, D’Agostino explains what she and Teague like about it.
“It’s one of those places that’s familiar. It’s consistent. You just know what you’re going to get when you go there in terms of how you’re treated by the staff and the hospitality,” she says. “We’ve always liked that kind of setting. I don’t want to say we’re doing that by any means, but the simplicity of it is what we’re trying to focus on.”
In addition to the entrees, the restaurant’s desserts taken a step forward thanks the addition of to Tony’s veteran Zach Sendukas. Relish has always been known for its cookies, and Sendukas has already made some slight tweaks to those recipes. At dinner, the pastry chef will introduce more creative dishes like a plum tart and buttermilk panna cotta.
Adding dinner also means expanding on the "and bar" portion of the restaurant's name with new beverage options. Relish will feature a selection of classic cocktails and a well-priced wine list centered around French and Italian vintages.
“It will be a good variety and good price points,” D’Agostino says. “We don’t want to break the bank. We want to be approachable.”
So far, Relish’s move has been successful. D’Agostino reports that old customers have embraced the new space, and they’re winning new fans. Adding dinner should only boost things. When brunch rolls out, diners will have the opportunity to see the full breadth of what Relish can be.


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AKRON, Ohio, June 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Faith Stewart, community affairs manager for The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ: GT), was honored today by the Women's Network of Northeast Ohio with a 2013 Woman of Achievement award.
Last year, Hyundai was the first automaker in the world to sell a vehicle powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. Hyundai Vice Chairman Woong-chul Yang makes it clear the automaker plans to be a trailblazer in hybrids as well as fuel cells....More
We call out vehicles with problematic fit-and-finish, materials, ergonomics or unfortunate design choices. Each of these items resulted in points deducted as WardsAuto editors selected the 2016 Wards 10 Best Interiors.


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SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Qordoba, the world’s first UX content management platform, has received the honor of being named to the Forbes Cloud100 list for 2018 in the Rising Stars category. Rising Stars represent category-lead cloud companies who have raised less than $25M thus far.
Founded in 2014, Qordoba provides software development teams with an AI-driven platform to manage and optimize UX copy across multiple apps and products. The platform integrates with core design and development apps so that text updates can be made without help from engineers. As Qordoba CEO and co-founder May Habib explains, “This is something that used to be done completely manually, one string at a time. Very slow, very tedious, very error-prone, and we automated it.”
Habib attributes Qordoba’s success to a lean mentality, key early hires and the fact that their customers—Marriott, the NBA, Postmates and Sephora, to name a few—just can’t get enough of Qordoba’s unique offering: the ability to easily create personalized product experiences that speak to their customers.
The Forbes Cloud100 list recognizes the top 100 privately-held cloud computing companies in the world. This year, the top honors went to heavy hitters like Slack, Zoom, and Stripe, companies who have changed the way millions of people communicate, make payments, and do business with the world. To be included with this group of trailblazers is “very exciting,” says Habib.
The way Forbes tells it, “The Forbes Cloud100 represents a who’s who of the biggest and best private companies in the cloud, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Right behind this year’s winners is a new crop of underdogs, breakout up-and-comers in cloud computing who are looking to follow in their footsteps—or even come for their laurels.”
Despite remarkable early success, Habib and the growing Qordoba team have no plans to rest on their laurels. “Here at Qordoba, we’re both honored by the distinction from Forbes and also inspired to continue our work to enable companies to create and update their UI content with incredible ease.”


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Palm Pre 2 may be going to AT&T and Rogers as well
The Palm Pre 2 was officially unveiled by HP yesterday, and it’s going to be available in France from SFR on Friday. HP’s announcement only mentioned that the first smartphone to be powered by WebOS 2.0 will be on Verizon in the US and will also be sold in Canada – but no timelines were given, nor were any Canadian carrier-partners named.
But someone digging through the source code for Palm’s Canadian site found this commented-out line:
If the picture isn’t clear enough, here’s the important tidbit:
<!–p>The Palm Pre2 phone is available on the Rodger’s network.

Funny typo aside, this may indicate that the Pre 2 is headed to Rogers, and not Bell like its predecessors. Then again, it may end up on multiple Canadian carriers. We’ll just have to wait and see.
In another piece of commented-out code, there was even a mention of AT&T, which certainly makes things interesting.
rel=”/us/assets/data/products/pre2_wtb.json” id=”aux-wheretobuy” href=”#wtb”>

 Buy now <img

Available on Verizon Wireless

and AT&T network

So it looks like the Pre 2 may also be sold, at some point, by AT&T.
Now whether or not these lines are relevant in any way is anyone’s guess. But they have to have been added there for some purpose, right?


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Brace yourself: The 2.0's are coming!
The Web 2.0's, that is. Here's the rundown on all the social media IPOs in the works. Exciting times to be in the market.
There Will Be Froth.Skip to next paragraph
Joshua has been managing money for high net worth clients, charitable foundations, corporations and retirement plans for more than a decade.
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Good, it's a wake-up call for investors and inventors and I love it. In late December, I was on CNBC talking about 3 Investment Themes for 2011 and this Social IPO Explosion was the first thing I mentioned (video here).
I'm so not a naysayer about this stuff, I'm actually really excited about the Web 2.0 IPOs. Let's do a quick rundown of what we can expect as the social media start-ups come to market...
Groupon, without having done even $500 million in sales yet, turned down Google's ($GOOG) $6 billion offer and is now attracting a pre-IPO valuation of $15 billion! Goldman's Lloyd Blankfein hopped a flight to Chicago this week to meet with the kids running this two-year-old company in the hopes of edging out Morgan Stanley's deal team for the IPO.
This is coolness, guys.
There's another name out there, LivingSocial, said to be a baby Groupon in the making. They've just raised like $180 million with Amazon ($AMZN) having put in $175 million of it. Web 1.0 e-commerce companies like Amazon can't afford to miss this boat and Jeff Bezos knows it.
How about LinkedIn? This will probably be the first of the social media IPOs of 2011. BofA / Merrill Lynch is said to be lined up as lead underwriter and valuation talk is somewhere north of $2 billion. I'd bet the shares open with a nice premium as there will be insatiable demand for the lead stock in the category. Fundamentals we'll worry about down the road. By the way, don't be surprised to see a Bloomberg or a Thompson Reuters or even Dow Jones make a run at this thing or take a big stake before the offering.


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Developer Atlus has released a new update for Soul Hackers 2, introducing a number of new functions and improvements to the action. The update, version 1.02, is the first major post-launch patch for the supernatural post-apocalyptic JRPG since it was released earlier this year.
Players will find some new additions as part of the latest update. These include a new “dash” function for protagonist Ringo’s movement skills. Dash mode can be toggled on or off for players to speed up their exploration and combat in-game. While in this mode, Ringo’s walking and slashing speeds will be boosted, as opposed to being in normal mode. To complement this enhanced level of pace, battles will now have a “speed up” mode that players can toggle at will, to experience high-speed combat or keep things at their normal rate. The effect of the Summoner Skill “Assassin’s Steps” has been changed as a result of the addition of the “dash” function. It’ll now be set to “for a given distance, enemies will ignore Ringo.”
Four new demons are also heading into Soul Hackers 2 as part of the new update. These are Pixie (Devil Summoner Soul Hackers Ver), Neko Shogun, Aitwarasu and Isis. Other improvements and adjustments to the title include adjustments to improve loading times and adjustments to enemy spawn rates in dungeons. Players will also see adjustments to skill inheritance rates during demon fusion, alongside a new ability to teleport directly to shops from the in-game city map. Other minor changes and improvements to the game will also come as part of the new patch, which is free for all players.
It might not be a bad time to add in some new content, as it was recently revealed that the game isn’t quite living up to publisher SEGA’s sales expectations. As spotted in Gaming Bolt, a recent question and answer session relating to SEGA’s quarter 2 financial results presentation highlighted the game’s somewhat lacklustre performance to date. Although the publisher clearly sees potential for Soul Hackers 2, a title that it believes can improve sales “over the long term,” SEGA president and CEO Haruki Satomi and director and Chief Financial Officer Koichi Fukazawa explained that Soul Hackers 2 is “currently struggling to reach the expected sales level.”
Whether or not the new changes will have an effect on the number of people playing Soul Hackers 2 remains to be seen. Either way, the game is available now on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC.


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New Honda EV Concept: next HR-V preview
Honda has released a teaser for an all new EV concept, and it does look familiar, doesn’t it…
The new teaser shows a concept version of the all-new HR-V for the Chinese market. China also has an XR-V, which is basically the HR-V with different lights and other details.
The concept will be an EV, which means an EV version of the next HR-V is in the cards. At least for some markets.
The 2022 HR-V photos I have been posting for a couple of days were, unlike all the “know-it-all” were commenting, in fact, a Honda. (“Absolutely NOT a Honda product”, “non-Honda-Esque grille” etc…)
Our HR-V might have a few small differences, but it will basically be the same car. Or very close to it.


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DS Smith asks ABB to deliver its ABB Ability OPTIMAX Steam and Energy Optimization software to its paper mill in the Tuscany region of Italy. ABB’s Steam and Energy Optimization solution helps lower natural gas consumption and CO2 emissions by 4%.
Smurfit Kappa is launching its latest “SupplySmart” digital solution, which helps businesses adapt their packaging to increase efficiency and reduce emissions across supply chains. SupplySmart has evolved to tackle increased supply chain complexities and uncertainties.
SIG is celebrating the official opening of its €10 million Packaging Development Center, located at the site of the company’s packaging plants in Linnich, Germany. The center will accelerate new and most sustainable packaging developments and offer SIG customers added value.
“Mats Rahmström has informed the Board of Directors of Atlas Copco that he wishes to step down,” the company said, adding it would begin looking for a new CEO to take the reigns at the end of April next year. Rahmstrom has worked at Atlas Copco for 35 years, out of which seven were as CEO, the company said.
Technology group Bühler has launched an innovation hub in Uzwil, Switzerland. This new development integrates four specialized Application & Training Centers (ATCs) — the Flavor Creation Center, Food Creation Center, Protein Application Center and Energy Recovery Center — under one roof.


text: E3 2010 is almost here! In this episode of the Bonus Round, Gametrailers is back in the LA studio talking about the biggest convention in gaming and what to expect from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Will Sony introduce a brand new PSP and attempt to enter 3-D gaming? What about Microsoft’s Project Natal – will it be a part of a new Xbox 360 slim redesign? Will Nintendo’s mysterious game-changing 3DS steal the show? All that, plus the experts weigh in on this year’s biggest upcoming games and rumors.


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If Hollywood were to make a movie about Cineworld’s downfall it would be fast and full of plot twists, villains and with a spectacular punch-up at the end.
Corporate failures, in reality, are usually slow tales of overambitious management and debt-fuelled acquisitions punctured by events beyond the bosses’ control.
Mooky Greidinger, Cineworld’s boss, has turned the group into the second largest cinema operator in the US. But it has racked up $8.2bn of net borrowing, including leases, which even before the pandemic was close to five times the group’s 2019 ebitda. Now coronavirus has stopped the group in its tracks. Cinema-goers aren’t going, studios are delaying blockbuster releases and screen operators are being forced to draw the curtains.
After the James Bond movie launch was postponed again, Cineworld said on Monday it would suspend screenings in its primary US and UK markets. The top 20 releases represent about half of annual box office takings across the industry. The next 20 bring in nearly another fifth. Takings in the US from the Avenger’s Endgame out in 2019 totted up to more than $850m. The Bond delay, following Wonder Woman 1984 and Marvel’s Black Widow, sounds suspiciously like a death knell. Cineworld’s shares fell more than 40 per cent to a new low on Monday.
Closing cinemas will reduce Cineworld’s cash burn, estimated by the company at about $50m a month. But the company has to service the interest on its borrowings. The group, which made a pre-tax loss of $1.6bn in the first half of the year to June, looks almost certain to breach its loan covenants at the year end.
Cineworld is looking at funding options to tide it over until the studios resume production and start releasing pictures next year. Whatever it is, it will come at a high price. The interest on $250m in privately placed debt issued last month, and backed by the Greidinger family’s 20 per cent equity stake, is 11 per cent. Last week, rating agents Moody’s downgraded the group’s credit rating to Caa3 while uprating the chances of a default. It muttered about Cineworld’s unstable capital structure, the likelihood that it will run out of liquidity and the probability of a debt-for-equity swap.
Cineworld may hope for a waiver from lenders and that a vaccine will arrive early next year helping to draw crowds back to its theatres. Truth is, that would be an eleventh hour reprieve that even Bond movie writers might think far-fetched.
Handbags at dawn
Mulberry always wanted it to be handbags at dawn with UK fashion rival Burberry, Cat Rutter Pooley writes. Back in 2012, when Mulberry had a market cap of £1.5bn, it looked like it could get within swinging distance. No chance these days. Its shares are now worth less than £100m all-up; Burberry’s market capitalisation is £6.4bn. Luxury minnow Mulberry’s problems are more high street than high fashion.
Like other retailers, it is London rents and business rates that trouble boss Thierry Andretta. Locked into expensive leases, Mulberry wrote down the value of its retail outlets by £32m on Monday leading it to a £48m pre-tax loss for the 12 months to March. Though its addresses are upmarket — for instance, London’s Bond Street, where its tenancy isn’t up until 2025 — the problem is commonplace enough. Chocolatier Hotel Chocolat took £6.6m in similar impairments on leases last week. And small businesses across the capital have complained about the crippling cost of business rates if they are reinstated in 2021 as expected, after a year-long reprieve.
Mr Andretta laments empty office blocks as city desk dwellers have stayed working in the suburbs. Those affect sales of Pret A Manger’s £2-plus coffees as much as they do Mulberry’s £1,000 handbags. PwC reckons universal working from home could cost the UK economy £4.3bn in lower spending by office workers, even before accounting for knock-on effects down the supply chain.
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True, some of Mulberry’s problems aren’t shared by other retailers. Burberry wrote down its own store portfolio by £157m in May. Both will suffer from the global decline in tourist traffic, which analysts say usually accounts for around half the world’s luxury sales. Mulberry’s exposure to the government’s decision to end VAT refunds for overseas travellers to post-Brexit Britain hardly hurts the likes of H&M and Primark.
But many of Mulberry’s woes stem from its enduring overexposure to the UK. Two-thirds of sales were made in the country last year, a quarter of which were in London. Around 40 per cent of its sales in the capital come from overseas buyers. At Burberry, only £320m of £2.6bn in revenues came from customers in the UK during the year to March.
Burberry is FTSE 100 material. Mulberry is right where it should be — on Aim, the UK’s home for small and midsize companies. But Aim is also meant to be for growth companies. To deliver that, Mr Andretta may have a fight on his hands.
Get alerts on Cineworld Group PLC when a new story is published


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Yesterday, Panda Security was hacked, defaced and had a bunch of data leaked by Anonymous hackers flying the LulzSec flag. Tghe attack which is said to of happened due to claims that panda worked with fbi to help bring down certain people that have been involved in recent attacks. Not long after the attack Panda Security announced a short press release on their Facebook page that makes some strong claims that the hackers didn’t get very far and didn’t even deface the main site’s.
Panda Security On March 6th the hacking group LulzSec, part of Anonymous, obtained access to a Panda Security webserver hosted outside of the Panda Security internal network. This server was used only for marketing campaigns and to host some of the company’s blogs. Neither the main website www.pandasecurity.com norwww.cloudantivirus.com were affected in the attack. The attack did not breach Panda Security’s internal network and neither source code, update servers nor customer data was accessed. The only information accessed was related to marketing campaigns such as landing pages and some obsolete credentials, including supposed credentials for employees that have not been working at Panda for over five years. We continue investigating the cause of the intrusion and will provide more details as soon as they become available. Meanwhile we assure all our customers and partners that none of their information has been compromised and that our products and services continue functioning as normal.
As a response to this press release there have been the typical taunts from anonymous supporters that we have seen in the past from the stratfor attacks. Surprisingly they have been fair vocal in the response’s to some questions people are asking with answers like " Hi David, we are pretty sure that the info of our customers or products have not been compromised. The info published about passwords are no longer valid, but not only passwords, but also e-mail addresses are fake. Anyway, and this is not an excuse, nobody is safe. Bigger companies have also suffered from attacks like this. Back in 2010 some other groups tried to attacks Panda as well." So as you can see Panda is claiming the emails were fake and the accounts was no longer active, is this true? its really anyone’s guess unless some one comes forward with further proof. Read panda’s release here


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Samyang AF 14mm F2.8 for Sony E-mount set to ship in September
Samyang Optics has completed its launch of five new lenses over the summer with the announcement that its full-frame 14mm F2.8 autofocus lens for Sony E-mount is ready to hit stores.
The Samyang AF 14/2.8 FE, as it is known, includes 14 elements in 10 groups, 3 of which being aspherical and two extra-low dispersion. The lens has nearly a 114° field-of-view when mounted to a full-frame body and about 90° on a crop body. The 14mm has a minimum focus distance of 20cm/7.9in and sports 7 circular aperture blades.
The lens will be available in September for €699. US and UK pricing was not available at press time.
Samyang Announces the Release of AF 14/2.8
August 15th, 2016, Seoul, Korea – The global optics brand, Samyang Optics (http://www. samyanglensglobal.com) today announced the long-awaited release of autofocus lens: 14mm F2.8 for Sony E mount Mirrorless cameras with full frame sensor size. The new Samyang AF 14/2.8 FE is the widest lens in its class offering superb quality images to photographers. This launch follows the recent availability announcement of Samyang AF 50/1.4 FE.
Optimised Optical Design for Full Frame Mirrorless Camera Lens
Samyang AF 14/2.8 FE is specifically designed to work in harmony with full frame mirrorless cameras in Sony E mount. The flow of light is devised based on the uniqueness of the distance from glass to sensor in mirrorless cameras to create optimal performance. Along with portability of mirrorless lenses, the 14mm F2.8 is compatible with full frame sensors to deliver the wideness and sharpness of image to photographers.
The 14mm F2.8 is the widest angle available in the market in its class, broadening the sight of photographers to capture the world. Based on Samyang Optics’ exceptional optical technology, Ultra Multi Coating and three aspherical lenses have been included among 14 glasses in 10 groups to minimise aberration and unnecessary light dispersion, delivering high resolution from the centre to the corners of the image.
AF Performance and Ergonomic Design Based on Class-Leading Technology
This new product will be one of the first autofocus lenses in over 40 years of Samyang’s class-leading core optics technologies. Samyang has captured the essence of world leading image technology with their manual focus lenses and reinterpreted it into autofocus lenses. Photographers now can enjoy the prime manual lens image quality and autofocus lens. Samyang AF 14/2.8 FE is compatible with both phase detect and contrast detect sensors to operate fast and accurate focus detection.
The 86mm of maximum diameter is also the result of years of R&D for best handling, by adding stability. Also the minimal and sleek design and metal-housing solidify the build quality with the internal focus system.
Available from September 2016
This launching expands the boundaries of Samyang Optics photo lens line-up from manual focus only, to now include autofocus lenses. With the addition of 14mm to 50mm, Samyang now has two autofocus lenses along with 39 manual focus photo & cine lenses and 6 professional cine lenses, XEEN. The lens will be globally available from September, and the suggested retail price is EUR 699.
More information will be released soon on Samyang Optics official website (http://www.samyanglensglobal.com), Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/samyanglensglobal) and Instagram (http://www.instagram.com/samyanglensglobal).
Samyang AF 14mm F2.8 specifications
|Lens type||Prime lens|
|Max Format size||35mm FF|
|Focal length||14 mm|
|Lens mount||Sony FE|
|Number of diaphragm blades||7|
|Special elements / coatings||3 aspherical elements + Ultra Multi Coating|
|Minimum focus||0.20 m (7.87″)|
|Weight||505 g (1.11 lb)|
|Diameter||86 mm (3.37″)|
|Length||98 mm (3.84″)|
Cooperative of Photography, more commonly referred to as COOPH, has shared a video on its YouTube channel showing five inexpensive ways to take unique macro photos.
RawTherapee version 5.6 adds a new Pseudo-HiDPI mode, a new 'Unclipped' processing profile, and hundreds of other improvements and bug fixes to speed up editing.
Astronaut Terry Virts may have had the coolest photography job in the world – or outside of it – shooting over 300,000 photos during seven months in space. On this Earth Day, Virts tells us what it's like to be a space photographer.
Frans Lanting has inspired generations of artists and ecologists with his photography and environmental advocacy. To mark Earth Day 2019, we caught up with Frans to speak about his career and his hopes for the future.
The lens features a 1:1 maximum magnification ratio, a minimum focusing distance of 30cm (11.8in) and weighs 570g (1.3lbs).
Seattle-based photographer Neil Buckland has been working with University of Washington scientist Dr. Tony Irving to photograph, in incredible detail, slices of meteorites that have fallen to earth with his Pentax K-1 and a custom-built rig. Get a look into space, and into the past, with some of Buckland's images.
They say that the best camera is the one you you have with you. Senior Editor Barnaby Britton has been taking the Ricoh GR III with him a lot recently.
The Fujifilm X-T30 and Sony a6400 are two of the newest, most exciting mid-range mirrorless cameras on the market. Chris and Jordan break down the differences between these models to see which comes out on top.
Brian Ach shoots everything from rock and roll world tours to automotive ads. What follows is a detailed look at his workflow.
Nikkei Asian Review says the increasing capabilities of smartphones are at least partially to blame for the downturn in sales.
One of the main features that defines Instagram is its like count. Jane Manchun Wong, who is renowned for her reverse engineering skills, recently discovered that the service is considering hiding like counts.
Leica is facing backlash in China following the publication of a video called 'The Hunt' set in 1989 during, among other things, the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests.
Back in March 2019, Facebook said only 'tens of thousands of Instagram users' were affected; that number has now ballooned to 'millions of Instagram users,' according to Facebook's latest update.
The Reframe system offers a user-friendly way of displaying your smartphone photos neatly framed on a wall.
We've spent a little more time shooting with Sony's new a6400, and as we work towards the completion of a full review, we've updated our initial gallery of sample images with additional shooting in and around Seattle.
Fujifilm has released a firmware update for its X-T30 midrange mirrorless camera. It tries to address one of the most frustrating things about the camera: how easy it is to accidentally press the Q.Menu button.
The new Photobooth mode uses AI to automatically detect the best moment to trigger the shutter during selfie capture.
Canon has released the latest firmware for its EOS R camera, bringing with it eye-detection autofocus in servo mode and other incremental updates.
World Press Photo has, for the first time ever, disinvited an award-winning photographer after reports of 'inappropriate behavior.'
AI super slow motion is a software-based method for generating super-slow-motion video from existing footage.
The 12th year of the World Photography Awards, in partnership with Sony, had a record-breaking number of entries. The winners have been revealed in this prestigious, global competition that gives burgeoning artists exposure and funding to develop personal projects.
For most of Managing Editor Allison Johnson's photography, smartphones have already replaced a traditional camera. But a recent trip reinforced a couple of key reasons why she's not ready to quite ready to leave the dedicated camera at home – yet.
In the final part of our beginners' guide to camera fundamentals, we look at the trade-offs you contend with when you choose a sensor size. We hope it helps you find the balance that works best for you.
The roof and spire of Notre Dame Cathedral were destroyed in a devastating fire this past Monday. Drone footage shows the extent of the damage done to the historic Parisian landmark.
Fujifilm's latest firmware update for its X-T3 camera includes an improved AF algorithm for enhanced face detection, better subject tracking and more.
Zhong Yi Optics has released its new Mitakon Speedmaster 50mm F0.95 III lens for Sony FE, Canon RF, and Nikon Z mount camera systems.
You can now see the artwork on your wall without the need to order it first.
Nikon's Z6 offers 24MP full-frame image quality in a tough and lightweight body. Photographer Diego Rizzo took a Z6 to Guatemala recently to shoot the Fuego volcano - watch our video to see how he got on.
The Fujifilm X-T30 is a $900 camera that's an incredibly capable stills/video hybrid. Image and 4K video quality are top-notch and, aside from some ergonomic and autofocus stumbles, the X-T30 does just about everything right. Learn more in our in-depth review.
In part two of our beginners' guides to the fundamentals of cameras, we're going to look at the benefits that a larger sensor can bring. Part three will look at the trade-offs that this brings.


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Destination NSW is inviting leading brands to help shape Vivid Sydney 2024 as a commercial partner in the world-renowned annual festival of Light, Music, Ideas and Food.
Vivid Sydney is the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest and most innovative festival of art, culture and creative industries. The theme for this year’s celebration of creativity, community, innovation, and technology is “Vivid Sydney, Humanity”.
As the owner, manager and producer of Vivid Sydney, Destination NSW is collaborating with global sports, events and representation company, IMG, to identify and secure relevant brand partners who will leverage Vivid Sydney’s international exposure and world-class programming.
“Vivid Sydney is Australia’s largest event, attended by millions of people each year from across Australia and the world and features boundary pushing artists, thinkers, musicians, and culinary experts,” said Destination NSW CEO Steve Cox.
“Vivid Sydney is at the forefront of major international events by continually presenting a unique, diverse, and evolving range of experiences. The fresh ideas, perspectives, and creative opportunities our commercial partners bring to Vivid Sydney play a critical role in its continual evolution”.
“Vivid Sydney offers companies and brands an incredibly compelling promotional and engagement platform from which to promote their brands at scale, while leveraging the festival’s unique DNA celebrating the best of human expression,” said IMG SVP, Asia Pacific and managing director, Australia and New Zealand Chris Gilbert.
“We are excited to work with Destination NSW to further unlock the intrinsic partnership value that accompanies such a special community event” .
Destination NSW partnered with IMG to launch elements of the newest event pillar, Vivid Food, at Vivid Sydney 2023, producing three incredibly successful events celebrating Sydney’s world-class food, top chefs and extraordinary culinary experiences: Vivid Residence headlined by Daniel Humm, Vivid Chef Series and Vivid Fire Kitchen.
Vivid Sydney 2024 will transform the city for 23 nights from 24 May – 15 June.
Last year, Siddarth Shrikanth published The Case for Nature: Pioneering Solutions for the Other Planetary Crisis. Catherine de Clare caught up with him at the Jaipur Literary Festival in India this year. Shrikanth currently works as a director on the Investment team at Just Climate, a sustainability-focused investment fund chaired by former US vice president Al […]


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Government's drive to boost electric car sales falls flat
A government plan to make 2011 "the year the electric car took off" appears to have stalled, with uptake of a scheme to promote sales of environmentally friendly vehicles falling dramatically.
The "plug-in car grant", conceived under Labour and launched by Philip Hammond in January when he was Transport Secretary, offered an incentive of up to £5,000 to buy an electric car.
The number of vehicles sold through the scheme has dropped significantly since its launch, with only 106 being bought in the third quarter of 2011, down from 465 in the first quarter of this year, and 215 in the second. Despite an increase in the total number of electric cars being sold in Britain – from 167 in 2010 to 940 in 2011 according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders – environmental campaigners have criticised a lack of infrastructure for its failure.
The Coalition Government agreement promised a "national network" of charging points, but a subsequent report by the Department for Transport said such a network would be "under-utilised and uneconomic", and recommended that consumers should charge at home instead.
Lewis Merdler, Environmental Protection UK's healthy air campaign manager, said the scheme's slow adoption showed the Government "needs to do more to incentivise consumers, like introducing tougher low-emission zones in cities, to make zero-emission vehicles a more attractive option".
Transport minister Norman Baker blamed the poor figures on the lack of suitable electric cars. "It is the availability of qualifying cars rather than the public appetite for them that is the main challenge we face in developing the electric car market," he said.
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TalkTalk today (3 October) unveiled its new ‘This Stuff Matters’ campaign, which aims to move away from ‘loud and gimmicky’ advertising by focusing more closely on its existing customers.
The main ad, which was created by CHI&Partners, documents the life of a real family from Blackpool, and how TalkTalk-enabled technology and connectivity influences their lives. These include the daughter getting a text from a boy and ‘Aunty Julie’ being taught how to use her tablet.
The campaign’s ten ads were filmed over two weeks, with 16 unmanned cameras, in order to create ‘authentic’ family moments. The ads will be rolled out nationwide across TV, digital, social, cinema and press channels.
The ads aim to move away from celebrity above the line activity, and to instead promote the provider’s ongoing rebrand, which aims to prioritise handling its customers’ biggest frustrations.
Tristia Harrison, MD for consumer at TalkTalk, told Marketing Week: “We have realised customers are increasingly fed up of our market. They are fed up of being confused, fed up of loud advertising and fed up of deals that shoot up mid-contract. And the thing they hate the most is seeing the best deals saved for new customers.”
Choosing a family from Blackpool and listening to people “outside of the London media bubble” was also important in order for TalkTalk to portray ‘real people living their lives’, according to Harrison.
To coincide with the campaign, TalkTalk has rolled out wider changes to its business including:
- Reward existing customers’ loyalty by giving them the same best-value deals previously only available to new customers.
- Allow customers to switch TalkTalk packages to a better deal if they have been a member for more than three months.
- Allow customers to fix their broadband price for 18 months to avoid price rises.
- Put an end to separate line rental charges.
Bouncing back following hacking scandal
The high-profile hacking scandal suffered by TalkTalk in 2015, which led to nearly 157,000 of its customer’s personal details being compromised, has forced it into changing its marketing strategy.
“The cyber attack was very challenging for our customers and for the organisation. From it, we have learnt to trust our instinct and listen to customers,” she admitted.
“The attack really put this in focus and we have moved away from loud, shouty, gimmicky type advertising, instead using real people in our ads.”
Tristia Harrison, managing director for consumer, TalkTalk
Although marketing remains important to TalkTalk in its bid to win back the trust of customers impacted by the data leak, Harrison is also quick to stress that this isn’t the only factor.
“Advertising is only one part of it. We have put more into the customer experience people have with TalkTalk by asking questions such as, does the service work, it is simple, is it easy to understand, is it straightforward and affordable? Advertising is then a great way to magnify these changes.”
Improving or not improving?
Since the cyber attack, Harrison claims the internet and TV provider’s customer satisfaction has risen, complaints are down and it is seeing an increase in new and current customers. But she still remains cautious: “This is the start of the journey. We know we have not been perfect and we know there is a lot to do. We know that customers are not just fed up of Talk Talk, they are fed up of the industry as a whole, which is why we are being quite radical today in the changes we are making.”
However, data from YouGov’s BrandIndex appears to contradict Harrison’s claims TalkTalk has experienced a rise in customer satisfaction.
Over the last year its brand index, which includes consumer’ perceptions of reputation, value, quality, buzz and whether they’d recommend a brand to friends, has fallen 1.7 points to a poor score of -9.6. Its reputation score, meanwhile, has dropped by 0.7 points to a score of -9.9.
In fact, it is currently bottom on a list of 28 of the UK’s biggest tablet and broadband providers for both ‘index’ and reputation’.


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Twitter has a new account @AppleTV created for TV apps Apple. This was reported by 9to5Mac.
Journalist Zach Hall reported that the iPhone maker has refused the account @iTunesMovies and renamed it @AppleTV.
Apple uses the new Twitter profile to embed the latest news about the products associated with TV and movie. The first tweet of the new account was the announcement of the release app Amazon Prime Video for TV set-top box Apple TV fourth generation and Apple TV 4K. With the new service, users can watch exclusive TV shows, Amazon.
“Meet the Apple TV App. Everything you see in one place. Now with support for Prime Video. For your iPhone, iPad and Apple TV”.
The updated profile is to subscribe to all Apple TV owners to learn about new television and connected TV services.
Follow the news of the Apple in our Telegram-channel, as well as in the app on iOS MacDigger.


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Survey: Payments fraud increasing
A survey revealed that more than 80 percent of organizations – including financial institutions and other businesses – suffered from payments fraud in 2018. Fraud was also more common among larger institutions: 87 percent of those with revenue more than $1 billion experienced fraud compared to 69 percent of those with less revenue.
In addition, business email compromise (BEC) scams increased last year, with more than half reporting financial losses as a result. BEC scams are used to gain access to a business email account and imitate the owner's identity in an effort to defraud a company.
While checks are most likely to be impacted by fraud, organizations reporting check fraud continues to decline. Fraud activity related to ACH debit and credit is on the rise.
The report, released by the Association for Financial Professionals and sponsored by J.P. Morgan, included responses from more than 600 treasury and finance professionals.
For those interested in fraud prevention resources, tomorrow, the Federal Reserve is offering a webinar on synthetic identity payments fraud. NAFCU also has fraud and cybersecurity compliance resources available online.
NAFCU continues to engage with the Fed regarding its work to make the payments system faster and more secure and has met with Fed staff to discuss the strategy for achieving more secure payments. The association in December shared how credit unions could benefit from faster payments services.
The Fed has also launched a group among industry stakeholders aimed at improving payments security; learn more about the Fed's payments priorities here.
Get daily updates.
Subscribe to NAFCU today.


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Amid a rising clamour for a rate cut, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cautioned markets against an ‘early celebration’ over a falling inflation and said there are still inflationary pressures in the economy.
“There are structural issues regarding protein inflation and base effects, and rural areas are also seeing inflation,” RBI deputy governor HR Khan said on Friday. He said the battle against inflation has a long way to go as input costs and wages remain elevated. Equity and bond markets are already pricing in an early rate cut, with the benchmark Sensex hitting an all-time high of 28,010.4 and bond yields touching a 15-month low of 8.19%.
Earlier this week, at an economic summit, Indian corporates called for a rate cut and finance minister Arun Jaitley also backed such a move, citing the recent fall in retail inflation.
Retail inflation eased to 6.46% in September, led by a drop in food and fuel prices. The RBI has said that it aims to bring down inflation to 8% by January 2015 and to 6% by January 2016. The RBI will release its bi-monthly policy on December 2.
Inflation is likely to ease further due to the drop in global crude oil prices besides easing domestic food prices. However, Khan downplayed the recent sharp fall in commodity prices and said that although this is a boon for India, there are geopolitical risks lurking. “But one cannot be sure…people say this is the bottom, but I don’t know. There are risks like a collapse in (oil-producing) countries like Libya, geopolitical tensions or (drop in) US production,” he said.
Brent crude has fallen nearly $20 per barrel over the last two months. The soft oil prices, along with a stable currency, augurs well for domestic inflation as well as the current account deficit position.
Khan said while an improvement in sentiment is good for the economy, a pick-up in growth is yet to show in hard data. “Growth sentiments are good, the savings investment equilibrium is improving. But capex cycle is yet to pick up, investments are yet to pick up, and exports are showing an up and down trend because of global growth,” he said.
RBI to impound Rs 10,000 cr from banks via cash management bills
After a gap of a year, RBI will impound Rs 10,000 crore from the banking system through cash management bills. RBI in a notice on Friday said it would auction 42-day cash management bills on Monday. The move comes at a time when the banking sector has moved to a neutral liquidity position from a deficit.
Borrowings from the daily repo window have fallen and rates on money market instruments like certificates of deposit and commercial papers have eased around 20 basis points.


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Shoppers and employees of H-E-B speculate that it brought in a million dollars in sales in its first day according to a Dallas Morning News article. They say,
“H-E-B executives probably thought they’d seen it all after selling groceries in Texas for more than a century, but apparently not. The retailer’s new 118,000-square-foot store on the northeast corner of Main Street and Legacy Drive in Frisco is setting records.
The buzz around the store over the weekend from employees and shoppers was that first-day sales reached $1 million. To put that in perspective, industry group FMI says the average weekly — not daily — sales for a U.S. supermarket was $638,756 in 2021.”
However, the anticipation and the hype made it all unsurprising according to a Local Profile article. They say,
“Part of that speculated million dollars is not surprisingly from a Texas classic. The store shared on Instagram that the True Texas BBQ restaurant inside H-E-B sold 1,000 pounds of brisket on opening day and fed many hungry shoppers. Wine lovers also visited the store and a $4,800 Taylor Fladgate Port 1896 from Villa Nova de Gaia, Portugal sold.”
The H-E-B store is located at 4800 Main Street in Frisco and is open everyday from 6am to 11pm.


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Threads, the social media app launched by Meta as a rival to Elon Musk’s Twitter, has been facing criticism from users who claim that it is draining their mobile phone batteries.
According to reports, several users have voiced their frustration, stating that Threads is consuming their smartphone’s battery at an alarming rate. Discussions about the issue have surfaced on Twitter, with one user mentioning that the app is depleting their phone’s battery at a “lightning-fast” speed.
One user shared a list of battery-consuming applications, revealing that Threads occupied the top spot, utilizing around 53% of the phone’s energy, while Twitter only accounted for 12%.
Despite these user claims, Meta, the parent company of Threads, is yet to comment on the battery drain issue. Meanwhile, the app’s user base continues to grow rapidly. The New York Post reported an 11% decrease in Twitter’s traffic compared to the same period last year, indicating the impact of Threads’ surge in popularity.
Relevant Read: Meta’s Threads App Faces Criticism and Legal Threats
Threads’ impressive growth has propelled it to become the fastest online platform to reach the milestone of 100 million users, surpassing ChatGPT’s previous record. However, tensions have risen between Twitter and Meta, with Twitter announcing its intention to sue Meta, alleging the unlawful use of trade secrets and confidential information. Elon Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, has accused Mark Zuckerberg of “unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.”
In response, Meta has denied the allegations, stating that the Threads engineering team does not include any former Twitter employees. The legal battle between the two tech giants is expected to unfold in the coming days.
As the user base of Threads continues to expand rapidly, the issue of battery drain remains a concern for some users. It remains to be seen how Meta will address this issue and ensure a smooth user experience on the platform.