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Fee Simple? Utility Board Directors Get Less Than Peers
How do fees for utility board directors match up to those at other companies? Not too shabbily, as the following data show, but...
Options, that is, as they pass the nationwide median in long-term pay incentives (em more than their counterparts at transportation or industrial firms (em but still less than execs at automotive and consumer companies.
Among CEOs (chief executive officers) at consumer products companies, industrial concerns, and transportation firms, top executives at energy companies can now boast of long-term pay incentives accounting for some 44 percent of their overall annual pay packages. That gives energy CEOs almost $950,000 in annual long-term pay incentives (44 percent of annual pay) compared with $503,000 (28 percent) for industrial CEOs, only $225,000 (26 percent) for transportation CEOs, but a whopping $2.07 million (53 percent) for top execs at consumer products companies. The median figure nationwide comes in a about $838,000 (41 percent), as measured across eight industries (automotive, chemicals, consumers products, energy, food and beverages, industrial products, retail, and transportation).
On the other hand, a higher proportion of long-term incentives (which usually means stock options) can be seen as placing cash compensation more at risk.
Those are some of the findings from a recent study, Executive Compensation Practices in Manufacturing, Retailing & Distribution Companies, by KPMG Peat Marwick, the international accounting and consulting firm. The KPMG study found that consumer products, industrial products and energy companies are placing greater emphasis on annual and long-term incentives rather than base salary, a trend that increasingly places the pay of CEOs and other top officers at risk.
The study is based on information disclosed in 1996 proxies and annual reports put out by KPMG. The study examines base salary, annual incentive, and long-term incentive practices from 182 top publicly-held companies by KPMG in eight industries: automotive, chemicals, consumer products, energy, food & beverage, industrial products, retail, and transportation.
In terms of base salary, the study revealed that CEO pay increases for 1995 typically ranged from seven percent to nine percent above the prior year for the entire survey population. Energy companies were fell below the average, with an increase of 6.1 percent. CEOs at consumer products companies (7.4 percent) fell within the normal range, as did industrial product CEOs (7.6 percent).
The study also found that stock options, the core long-term incentive tool in most companies, were awarded to CEOs in 78 percent of all companies surveyed, with a median grant value of $3.3 million (# of shares x fair market value at grant). The median grant value for the highest-paid CEOs within energy companies was approximately $3.5 million ($4.2 million for the highest-paid at consumer product companies; $3.1 million at industrial firms).
Overall, total cash compensation (base salary plus annual incentives) increased 9.5 percent in 1995 as compared to the prior year, with CEOs at energy companies (14.5-percent median increase) falling in between their counterparts at consumer products firms (15.5 percent) and industrial products companies (13.3 percent).
Does all of this mean that energy is becoming more of a consumer product, and less of an element of infrastructure? t
Source: KPMG Peat Marwick. For a copy contact KPMG's Publication Center at (201)-307-7781.
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PCSO holds another exciting digit draw today, Feb. 1, 2014. May this brand new month will bring to everyone good luck and prosperity.
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January 24, 2014 - Thank God it’s Friday. Time runs fast, isn’t it? Check out the PCSO Lotto Results for the digit games and the Megalotto.

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Henley home scores suburb's highest sale!
According to the Maroondah Leader, a Ringwood East home has sold for more than $1.38 million, making it the highest selling house in the suburb this year and guess who built it? We did!
Publically identified as a Henley home as part of the campaign, it was sold at auction on May 13, and attracted lots of locals, couples and families, according to the article.
Boasting phenomenal resale value and appeal, we believe it’s an incredible testament to our reputation and the quality of our design and building standards.
Henley home at 1 Isabel Ave, Ringwood East sells for $1.38 million
Barry Plant Heathmont agent and auctioneer Jacob McGlinchey told Maroondah Leader that the house attracted a lot of interest because of the living areas, entertaining spaces and pool.
“The most positive feedback was for the layout, it was a big talking point in the campaign,” he said. The home, boasting two master suites, similar to our current Grenville design, held its value at resale, scoring the suburbs highest sale this year.
Henley's Grenville design has master suites on both levels of the home, similar to the Ringwood East home
“We expected it to be a very popular house,” he said. But few modern, large homes like it were on the market in the area, Mr McGlinchey said.
“Houses of this quality are few and far between,” he said.
Undercover alfresco leading to the pool at the rear of the property.
Mr McGlinchey said more buyers may have been opting for Ringwood East recently.
“I think perhaps more buyers are looking at Ringwood East, and also parts of Heathmont, as it's a bit out of the busyness of Ringwood and in a more leafy area,” he said.
“It’s quieter and still has access to transport and schools.”
View the full article here.


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Apple is developing a competitor to Google Now, according to a new report from 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman. The system is apparently codenamed “Proactive,” and will leverage the company’s suite of iOS apps, including Siri, Contacts, Calendar and Passbook, as well as a host of third-party apps to provide iPhone and iPad owners with timely information based on how they use their devices.
Where it will differ significantly from Google Now is with the inclusion of an augmented reality component. According to Gruman’s sources, Proactive will work with the company’s Maps application and an augmented reality interface to display interesting and relevant local information. He also says that Proactive will replace the current pulldown implementation of Spotlight; on that note, accessing Proactive will be done by swiping to the left of the main home screen, though that may change by the time the service launches.
Once they’re on the Proactive screen, users will see a search field that will work much like the current Spotlight. Underneath search, though, is where things become interesting. This section of the screen will be populated with information pulled from a variety of sources within iOS, including first and third-party apps, as well as one’s contacts and the Maps maps, and will provide users with the ability to act upon the information the system displays. For example, Proactive may see that the user has an appointment within their Calendar app and will provide a map with directions, estimated time of arrival and details on any disruptions that may delay the user.
Beyond the usual calendar and maps plugins systems of this type usually have, Proactive will also react to a person’s app usage. The example Gruman gives is of a person that opens Facebook when they wake up in the morning. In this case, Proactive will note that usage and provide a widget in the morning for that user to quickly get into Facebook.
Many of the features Proactive leverages rely heavily on Apple’s own Maps app, which is well know to have its share of issues. The company has apparently invested significant time, energy and money into improving the app.
Proactive may be announced as marquee feature of iOS 9 at next month’s Worldwide Developer Conference. Previous reports on what to expect from iOS 9 suggested that Apple’s plan was to focus on improving the performance and stability of the operating system before introducing significant new features. Apple executives are apparently not in agreement whether the company should launch Proactive as a single feature all in one go, or whether it should be released incrementally.


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Retail Loyalty in the Digital Age is Focus of Retail Insights Southeast (RISE) Event
CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Leading shopper marketing agency birdsong gregory has announced details for the region’s first annual Retail Insights Southeast (RISE) shopper marketing event. Held in Charlotte, NC on September 18(th) at Byron’s South End, the luncheon will focus on how retailers and brands are encouraging loyalty in the digital age. Details are at www.attendrise.com.
The three hour luncheon will include a full agenda of presentations and discussions including:
Lawrence Lobpries, Consumer Marketing Director for Lowe’s, will talk about how Lowe’s is revolutionizing the shopping experience for its customers with its innovative MyLowe’s program.
Adam Fine, Senior Director of Shopper Marketing at MaxPoint Interactive, will showcase examples of how brands and retailers are leveraging digital to target consumers at the neighborhood level.
“The southeast represent a robust and growing nexus for retail marketers,” stated Jim Cusson, president of birdsong gregory. “As we’ve worked with our retail clients, we’ve recognized a genuine thirst for a regional event to allow professionals to come together and discuss common challenges, and this subject of loyalty in the digital age is certainly timely.”
Additional presentations are expected to be added. To register and view event details with topics, times, and speaker information please go to www.attendrise.com.
About birdsong gregory
birdsong gregory is an innovative and agile shopper marketing and advertising agency in Charlotte, NC that provides retailers and brands with insightful strategy and impactful retail activation. The agency’s clients include Chobani, Lowe’s Food Lion, Husqvarna and Resolute Forest Products, among others.
Contact Jim Cusson, President
715 N Church Street, 101
Charlotte, NC 28277
SOURCE birdsong gregory


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New Delhi, Aug 4 : Indian startups have substantially improved their profitability in FY24, and going forward, about 50 per cent of unicorns in India will be profitable by FY27, a report showed on Friday.
However, the story is bleak for 20 per cent of unicorns who will likely struggle due to regulatory challenges, plummeting demands and unclear business models, according to market research firm Redseer.
These unicorns could pivot to new models, get acquired by other companies or close for good.
India is likely to have up to 40 listed/IPO ready new-age companies or startups, which can grow to 90 by FY28, according to the report.
With an increased focus on profitability, startups are poised for a promising road ahead, including potential IPOs, according to Rohan Agarwal, partner at Redseer.
In contrast to FY21, nearly twice the number of Indian unicorns are on their way to profitability in FY23.
“SaaS, B2C Product Companies, and FinTech are among the most promising categories to produce IPO-ready companies,” said Agarwal.
These companies have sizable revenues, sustainable growth, a strong EBITDA, and operate on defensible business models, making them strong candidates for IPO.
IPO-bound companies need to focus on three key areas. Firstly, they should prioritise building strong investor relationships and trust, emphasising reputation and transparency.
Secondly, companies must proactively engage with potential investors well in advance of the IPO to establish rapport.
“Lastly, providing clarity on business models and key metrics is crucial to enable investors to make informed decisions about their investment. By addressing these areas, companies can increase their chances of a successful IPO,” said the report.


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In today’s Western society, where gender identity stereotypes are becoming increasingly frowned upon, the “shock factor” related to gender fluidity and its many nuances seems to be on a steady decline. But for even the most progressive of thinkers, the latest buzzword in parenting might pose a conundrum. According to The Cut, the upbringing of the “theyby” — also known as a baby born and raised free of the constraints of gender designation — is on the rise.
Millennials are one of the strongest consumer forces today. They are a large, powerful generation with a unique focus on life that is much different from their parents and grandparents. Millennials are less likely to be married, put off having children, and want to manage their careers in their own way. It's common to hear that millennials are responsible for killing off an industry, service, or experience. The fact is, this isn't true.
Pointing to the strength of its HomeGoods stores unit, TJX Cos. CEO Ernie L. Herrman said Wednesday the company is poised to launch a second home decor concept. “Our customers are passionate about HomeGoods, and we are confident they will love our new home concept too.” TJX added that HomeGoods could eventually span 1,000 stores nationwide, not including the new U.S. home concept.
Cars are parked in driveways. Roads are paved. Patio furniture is in place.
Shoppers meander up and down aisles inside Whole Foods. Someone is getting a buzz cut at Floyd’s 99 Barber Shop. Mendocino Farms is in the middle of a lunch rush.
Shoppers at the new Pirch flagship store in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood don’t have to wonder how its pricey appliances and plumbing fixtures will work in their homes. A chef stands at the ready, eager to whip up a dish on that nifty six-burner professional-grade stove you’ve been eyeing.
Walgreens is piloting a retail vision care center at one Walgreens location within its flagship Magnificent Mile store in the Wrigley Building here, the company recently revealed, taking what has been a successful page out of its U.K.-based Boots Pharmacy division and applying that strategy to the U.S. market.
Patagonia saw an astounding $10 million in Black Friday sales ― five times its own expectations ― and, as promised, will donate every cent toward helping save the environment. The high-end outdoor apparel and gear retailer announced the record-breaking haul Monday, saying the “enormous love” its customers showed to the planet will benefit hundreds of grassroots environmental organizations around the world.
Herman Miller, America's most famous design brand, opened its only retail store in North America this week, and there's plenty to ogle within the 6,000-square-foot space. Filled with furniture, lighting, and accessories—manufactured not only by Herman Miller but also by independent designers and sourced from the Chicago auction house Wright—the store in New York is designed to embody the Herman Miller lifestyle.
J.Crew Group, Inc. announces that Nordstrom will sell an edited assortment of the J.Crew collection at select Nordstrom full-line stores and at Nordstrom.com beginning September 12th. The assortment will include women's apparel, accessories and petites (online only).
TUSTIN, CA—Coming up with architecture that works for all of the uses is one challenge in developing mixed-use projects, Regency Centers Corp.’ SVP, senior market officer, John Mehigan tells GlobeSt.com. As we recently reported the firm recently has closed on the land that will become the nearly $40-million, ground-up development known as The Village at Tustin Legacy here. The center, which will sit at the core of the new 1,600-acre master-planned community of Tustin Legacy, will be neighbored by a 130,000-square-foot medical complex, 1.9 million square feet of office space and more than 6,800 new residential homes at total build-out. We spoke exclusively with Mehigan about the project and the benefits and challenges of working with such a wide variety of mixed uses.
They say good things come to those who wait. This expression resonates with fashion retailer, Three Bird Nest, at Dublin, California's Persimmon Place. With only two spaces remaining at Persimmon Place, Three Bird Nest was a great fit for the stylish Dublin community and blended seamlessly into the merchant lineup.


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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Support for Terre Haute Police Detective Greg Ferency is coming from outside the community as well.
Officer Charlie Kingery owns "Thin-Line Apparel." It's a clothing company that focuses on supporting first-responders.
The company was just founded in April. Since then, they've donated a portion of their sales to a first responder charity each month.
Officer Kingery announced that a portion of July's sales would go to Detective Ferency's family each month.
Kingery said he knows just how hard it can be for families like Ferancy's.
"Being a police officer myself, being a father myself, being a husband myself, that's such a huge loss to a family," Kingery said.
He told us he would hand-deliver the money at the end of the month.


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Apple's profit soars on iPad, iPhone sales
Apple overnight said its fiscal third-quarter net income rose 78 per cent, thanks to sales of its iPhone and the new iPad tablet computer.
Apple said it sold about 3.3 million iPads in April through June, the gadget's first three months on the market.
IPhone unit sales rose 61 per cent, with a boost at the end of the quarter from the launch of the iPhone 4.
Apple's net income jumped to $US3.25 billion ($A3.74 billion), or $3.51 per share, from $US1.8 billion ($A2.07 billion), or $2.01 per share a year ago.
Revenue increased 61 per cent to $US15.7 billion ($A18.08 billion), from $US9.7 billion ($A11.17 billion) last year.
That's better than Wall Street expected.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast net income of $3.11 per share in the quarter on $US14.7 billion ($A16.93 billion) in revenue.
Apple shares rose $7.29, or 2.9 per cent, to $259.18 in extended trading after the release of the results.
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Apple is pushing back on claims it’s going to discontinue the iPad Pros line of products, after its CEO Tim Cook said the company’s future products would not include the pool accessory.
In an interview with CNBC, Cook said that while Apple was planning to introduce an “iPhone 6 Plus” version of the iPad in the future, it would not be a standalone device.
“The iPhone 6 is not going to be the iPad,” Cook said.
“It’s going out as a tablet.”
Apple declined to comment on the report.
While the Apple Watch has not made it onto the iPad, it has been an iPhone accessory for years.
The iPhone 6 Plus is Apple’s most premium iPhone model yet, with a 4.7-inch screen, a 5-inch display, and a 256GB internal memory.
The new iPad Pro features a 5.7.2-inch Retina display, a higher-resolution display, dual cameras, a quad-core processor, and up to 64GB of storage.
It also comes with the new AirPods wireless earphones.


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Revealed: The key topics and brand attributes driving reputation in print, online and social media
Singapore, 8 April 2020 – CARMA ASIA, the leading provider of integrated media intelligence solutions, published a report today evaluating how top automotive brands in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong were reported in Q1 2020. The report includes a case study on COVID-19 communications during the period.
The analysis reveals the overall prominence and favourability of automotive brands in local publications and on social media and details the leading brand attributes and key topics of discussion impacting their reputation.
The report also includes a case study of COVID-19’s impact on the motoring brands. CARMA’s proprietary Favourability Rating pinpoints the degree to which statements from CEO’s had a bearing on the overall tone of coverage.
“The variance in product attributes and brand messages that resonate across markets highlights the importance of localised communications planning” said CARMA ASIA’s Managing Director, Andrew Nicholls. He continued, “This report also demonstrates the impact CEO’s can have on the overall perception of a brand at a time of crisis. For example, Håkan Samuelsson at Volvo and Proton’s Dato’ Radzaif Mohamed both made valuable contributions to the coverage of their brands”.
BMW had the highest share of voice in Singapore and Hong Kong and the most favourable traditional media coverage in Singapore. Much of BMW’s positive coverage referred to their advanced technology and impressive driving dynamics.
In Malaysia, local brand Proton had the most favourable coverage in traditional media while in Hong Kong, Lamborghini was the most favourably reported car brand in traditional media and had the highest percentage of positive social media comments.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact: Vivienne Van
+65 9238 4118
About CARMA ASIA
CARMA ASIA is the leading provider of integrated media intelligence solutions in the Asia Pacific region. Headquartered in Singapore, CARMA ASIA is part of CARMA International, on the ground in 48 countries across 5 continents, we deliver what matters.
CARMA provides media monitoring and analysis across all media formats, including print, online, social, TV, and radio. Combining unrivaled human insight from our team of researchers and analysts, with our proprietary technologies, CARMA’s solutions provide valuable, actionable data that is presented with powerful visualisations and flexible reporting functions.


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China's energy storage network: according to foreign media reports, Akasol has announced the launch of a semi-automatic battery manufacturing plant in Langen, which provides high-performance lithium-ion batteries for commercial vehicles.
The company has invested 10 million euros ($11.8 million) for the new plant.
As the demand for batteries increases, the amount of investment in the future will double.
The plant, which has been mass-produced by Akasol, can produce as much as 600 MWh a year, and is now Europe's largest assembly line for commercial car batteries.
Akasol recently announced that it will provide lithium battery systems to two of Europe's biggest customer manufacturers in the future.
Under the terms of the agreement, the plant will complete the production of nearly 10,000 buses in the next few years.
At present, Akasol also provides technology and consulting services to VDL bus & bus companies, Alexander Dennis, alstom, bombardier and Bucher Municipal.
According to the factory's current annual production capacity, the production of high performance battery systems can be configured at most 3000 cars -- hybrid or electric cars or other commercial vehicles, Langen factory will be responsible for commercial vehicle manufacturing truck or bus system with AKAsystem OEM batteries.
Currently, as the only European manufacturer that has realized lithium battery production, Akasol can offer a wide range of battery solutions, all of which are in line with the reliability and safety standards of the industry.


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The UAE Central Bank on Tuesday rolled out new rules governing stored value facilities in an effort to boost the country's digital payments services.
Stored Value Facilities (SVF) are channels through which users can store money digitally and use it to pay for goods and services. Examples of SVFs include e-wallets on mobile phones or other wearable technology, top-up cards and gift cards, among others.
The UAE's banking regulator said that through the new regulation, it aims to facilitate easier market access to FinTech firms and other non-bank payment providers while ensuring that customers' funds are safe.
It added that the scope of the new regulation includes licensing, supervision and enforcement provisions applicable to the companies, which are licensed to provide SVF.
The central bank first introduced a regulatory framework for Stored Values and Electronic Payment Systems three years ago.
The scope of the new law covers licensing, supervision and enforcement provisions. Firms that are already licensed in the UAE to provide SVFs will be given a year to comply with the new rules, the regulator said.
"The new regulation constitutes an important milestone in the continued development of a robust regulatory framework for stored value facilities and the digital payments industry as a whole," Abdulhamid Alahmadi, governor of the Central Bank of the UAE, said.
"This regulation will ensure a level playing field for market participants and will help maintain the UAE’s status as an international financial centre and a leading payment hub.”
Consumers in the UAE are increasingly opting for digital payments – a trend accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, Standard Chartered revealed in a survey issued in September.
The lender found that almost two-thirds of people in the UAE, or 64 per cent, expect the country to become fully cashless by 2030.
The survey, which was conducted globally among 12,000 respondents aged 18 and above in August, showed that UAE respondents increasingly prefer making online payments over using in-person card or cash payments.
As digital payments gain pace, the UAE mobile wallet market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 24 per cent and reach $2.3 billion by 2022, according to a report by US-based TechSci Research.


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A Kroger store manager lost his job after he confronted a shoplifting suspect who was holding a knife.
Cell phone video shot by a shopper shows the manager taking on the suspect in the parking lot of a Kroger store in Arlington. The manager eventually takes the knife from the man and throws the suspect to the ground.
Kroger said in a statement to FOX4 the manager's actions were "not a reflection of our company's fraud prevention protocol, procedures or training."
Arlington police said the shoplifter, Claude Medlock, 51, had a lengthy criminal history that includes theft and robbery convictions. Police told FOX4 they didn't consider the manger's actions criminal.
The Kroger store manager had worked in loss prevention for 13 years and believed he handled the situation properly.
Video from myfoxdfw shows the scuffle in the parking lot and also has a statement from Krogers
Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com


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When 3D printing technologies were first adopted for manufacturing decades ago, they were referred to as rapid prototyping machines because compared to old methods, they were able to churn out parts with remarkable speed. But even today’s 3D printing technology has room for improvement, and a new technique that involves printing only simple wireframe models should expedite the earliest stages of prototyping a new product.
Researchers at the Hasso Plattner Institute in Germany and Cornell University have proposed a new approach called WirePrint that uses a 3D printer to recreate the wireframe 3D models most often seen in 3D modelling software. Instead of the printer having to slowly produce a solid model layer by layer, it can simply extrude the thin struts and empty polygons of a wireframe version.
What you’re left with is a version of a model that has the same size and shape as the final product, but made with considerably less plastic, and at roughly ten times the speed. The wireframe printout can be used to test ergonomics, how a given product feels to hold, or even how it fits into existing other products. And it makes producing revised copies while a product’s form factor is being tested and refined a more streamlined and cost-effective process. [Stefanie Mueller]


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No castles were stormed. No governments were overthrown. We’ve been experiencing a revolution in the worlds of engineering. It’s just been a quieter one than expected.
When open-source platforms and the maker movement started ramping up five years back or so, change came with its chants of “power to the people.” Indeed, the two trends that see individuals or groups of individuals create and possibly market products often without corporate intervention aim to do just that: give power of design to the masses.
As often accompanies change, fear came, as well. Fear that these self-proclaimed makers would take jobs from professional engineers, that open-source designs would work their way into high-level systems and leave them unsecure, that the design process would become a convoluted mess with every Tom and Sally Maker interfering and revising without end while flooding the market with underdeveloped consumer contraptions.
To be true, there has been some of that occurring. However, largely what we’ve seen is a flourishing interest in engineering brought by an easier approach to design. And while Tom and Sally Maker have created their share of flippant devices, we’ve also seen the rise of serious makers, sometimes call Pro Makers, like this month’s Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) keynote speaker Kipp Bradford.
Bradford, a MIT Media Lab research scientist, comes to ESC with numerous patents for his inventions and a background founding start-ups in the fields of transportation, consumer products, HVAC, and medical devices. Bradford actively pays forward STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) knowledge through open source and education. He’ll share his views on American Innovation and the gains of the maker movement on April 13, 2016, in Boston during ESC, an event owned by Design News’ parent company UBM. Find out how to attend ESC here and watch DesignNews.com for coverage of Bradford’s keynote.
Alongside engineers like Bradford who have come up through the maker movement, the clearest gains are what Design News Senior Technical Editor Chuck Murry describes as a “trickle-up” effect in his recent feature, ”The Maker Community Is Going High-Tech with FPGAs.” Beyond individual makers, industry leaders have backed open-source and maker designs, including Atmel’s strong support for Arduino and National Instruments alignment of maker and open-source practices into its broader design philosophies. As makers and students become more engaged with engineering techniques and disciplines, they’re likely to use them as tools in their professional careers, a trickle up, if you will.
The change that many feared when open source and the maker movement began to take hold has proved not to be a negative but a positive, growing STEM abilities, understanding, and careers. Engineering stands stronger than ever. The revolution has come without scorched castle doors or protests at state offices. It’s been much quieter than we thought, but don’t mistake quiet with unimpactful.
As you likely noticed by now in this column’s read, Design News has also experienced a change. As I step in as its new Editor-in-Chief, I look forward to meeting as many Design News readers as I can and learning what makes you, the 21st century design engineer, work.
You can find me at ESC this month or at [email protected] any time. Do reach out and do share your thoughts on the maker movement.


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Brand owners in the natural products sector have been giving their verdict on yesterday’s Budget speech by George Osborne.
A BBC news crew who visited Viridian Nutrition filmed the reaction of MD Cheryl Thallon (pictured above) to the Chancellor’s Budget live as it was delivered. On product taxation and health, she commented: “I am pleased to see increases in the tax on cigarettes, but am disappointed that there is so little otherwise on health or the environment. There is a health crisis in the UK in diabetes, cancer and heart disease. I’d like to see a sugar tax introduced and perhaps grants and incentives for businesses working in the health and environmental sectors.”
Thallon said she was disappointed little was included in the Chancellor’s speech on the issue of the minimum wage rising. “We claim to be a classless society, but there is still a huge gap between the lowest and highest earners. As a business, your staff are your greatest asset, taking care of them includes paying a Living Wage, not just a minimum wage. Remember that wages spent in Britain, boost our wider economy.”
“George Osborne said that his budget was for Makers, Doers and Savers, – well, Viridian Nutrition is a Maker but I didn’t hear any support or incentives for small business”
On business stability and exports, Thallon told BBC News: “George Osborne said that his budget was for Makers, Doers and Savers, – well, Viridian Nutrition is a Maker but I didn’t hear any support or incentives for small business. We have found the banks willing and able to lend us money to expand, so don’t need government loans, what we need is extra tax breaks for exports, stable interest rates and a stable Pound.” Her verdict overall? “Frankly, a disappointing budget”.
Talking ahead of the Budget Sarah Brown (pictured left) – founder of Pai Skincare – told the BBC’s Matthew Amroliwala that she especially wanted to see action on business rates. “I’d like to see business rates cut, but I’d also like to see reform of the way they are calculated. Currently they are a tax on expansion for us. We moved into new premises last year and our rates in that year were 10% of our total revenues – and that’s crippling for small, young businesses like ours who are trying to manufacture!”


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The CEO of the Binance.US cryptocurrency exchange, Brian Schroeder, has resigned from his position. He was temporarily replaced by legal chief Norman Reed, Bloomberg reports.
The resignation of the CEO occurred in parallel with massive layoffs. The American exchange laid off about a third of its employees, or about 100 people.
Schroeder joined the company in 2021. Previously, he was head of business development at Ant Group and head of strategy and business development for Asia Pacific at Uber.
According to the publication, this is the second staff cut at Binance.US in 2023.
“Aggressive attempts SEC harm our industry and the resulting impact on our business has a profound impact on American jobs and innovation,” a company spokesperson said.
On June 5, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao. The commission brought 13 charges, including the sale of unregistered securities. On June 6, the regulator sent a request to freeze the digital assets of the American division of the exchange.
On June 9, users of the platform lost the ability to deposit dollars, which caused sales from those wishing to withdraw funds in fiat. Against this background, a discount has formed on the platform in Bitcoin quotes paired with the US dollar – the figure reached ~$2200 (7.3%).
On June 17, the SEC and Binance entered into an agreement regarding client funds in the United States. The exchange resumed the withdrawal of assets, but the company warned that the situation could change.
Let us recall that at the beginning of September, the director in Eastern Europe, Gleb Kostarev, and the director in the CIS, Vladimir Smerkis, announced their departure from Binance. Both were also responsible for running the company’s business in the Russian Federation.
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Travel is expected to boom over the Thanksgiving holiday this year, according to AAA estimates.
The American Automobile Association predicts 53.4 million people will travel for the Thanksgiving holiday, which is up 13% from 2020.
"As restrictions continue to lift and consumer confidence builds, AAA urges travelers to be proactive when making their travel plans this season," an AAA news article reads.
AAA's estimates bring travel volumes within 5% of pre-pandemic levels in 2019 and air travel almost completely recovers from a sharp fall during the pandemic, up 80% over 2020.
The U.S. borders opened recently to fully vaccinated people, leading to around 6.4 million more travelers over last year.
Traveling on the roads will still be the most used, as AAA predicts 48.3 million people using automobiles, despite gas costing more than a dollar more than it did a year earlier.
Another 4.2 million will use airplanes to get to their destinations and 1 million people are predicted to use other means, such as trains and buses.
This year's forecast marks the highest single-year increase in Thanksgiving travelers since 2005, AAA notes.
“This Thanksgiving, travel will look a lot different than last year,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel. “Now that the borders are open and new health and safety guidelines are in place, travel is once again high on the list for Americans who are ready to reunite with their loved ones for the holiday.”
Area weather forecasts for the Thanksgiving weekend are calling for a mix of rain and snow rain with fluctuating temperatures ranging from the 20s to the 40s.
Twidale said the re-opening of international travel will give the country a "much-needed boost" to the economy.
"But it also means airports will be busier than we've seen, so travelers must plan for long lines and extra time for TSA checks," she said.


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Waynesboro, VA – Waynesboro Tourism has received $10,000 from the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s (VTC) Recovery Marketing Leverage Program (RMLP), designed to help local and regional tourism entities attract more visitors by leveraging limited local marketing dollars through a local match of the state grants funds.
More than $860,000 in matching grant funds were awarded to 64 local tourism initiatives through this program. This funding cycle, local partners will provide more than $2.2 million in-kind marketing value to match the VTC grants. The grants will ultimately impact 384 statewide tourism entities. The RMLP is designed to increase visitor spending by stimulating new tourism marketing through partnerships and extending the “Virginia is for Lovers” brand.
Waynesboro will use the grant funds to design and print a new Visitor Guide, commission new photography, and continue to market Waynesboro as a desirable tourist destination. The new Visitor Guide will utilize strong new imagery to drive people to the tourism website, and ultimately to drive visitation to Waynesboro. The current Visitor Guide was printed in 2019 and became outdated quickly with the onset of the pandemic. A new, condensed design will give people a teaser of what they could experience in Waynesboro, and invite them to visit the tourism website to find more details, trip ideas, and a calendar of events.
“We are grateful to VTC for the ongoing support through grant funding, and we are excited to use this grant to produce a much-needed refresh of our Visitor Guide,” says Jennifer Callison, Tourism and Marketing Manager for the City of Waynesboro. “The grant also affords us the opportunity to market Waynesboro to a larger audience, which will help drive recovery from the pandemic.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the tourism and hospitality industries in Virginia. As the Commonwealth slowly reopens for business, VTC offered these grant funds as a first step to re-entry into the marketplace to spur economic activity and future travel across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“The tourism and hospitality industries have been among the hardest-hit by the pandemic, experiencing decreased revenue and job loss, along with the temporary closure of many tourism-related businesses,” said Governor Ralph Northam. “These funds will help to revive Virginia’s tourism economy, which will help spur new economic activity and inject critical funds back into its communities.”
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Say hello to Cara, our new virtual assistant
Debt Manager’s chatbot addresses the needs of organizations and consumers
Chatbots are a given today for any customer-facing business.
For companies – especially banks and utilities – they reduce operational costs and inefficiencies and can easily resolve complaints. For agents, they manage the mundane tasks and free up staff to focus on more complex interactions.
Customers like chatbots because they provide quick replies to simple questions, they’re available 24/7, and they improve the customer experience. What’s more, customers in 2022 expect a chatbot to pop up and help them. Only if the virtual assistant can’t provide the right level of support will they then speak to a human agent.
When it comes to collections, customers who might feel embarrassed by their predicament often prefer to engage with a chatbot to help them resolve their situation. Agents, too, will have more time to dedicate to supporting vulnerable customers because the chatbot takes care of the more menial tasks, like ID verification.
With that in mind, Debt Manager’s AI-powered virtual assistant Cara is the self-service chatbot solution that’s fully automated and configurable for collections. Cara – which stands for “collections and recovery assistant” – has eight built-in intends and more than 570 conversation flow boxes, meaning she can easily verify ID, help customers make payments, update demographics, present offers to customers, and create a payment plan. For example, Cara can securely provide a payment link for the desired balance.
“This new automated channel Cara is addressing the need that organizations have to treat their customers fairly and provide self-service options,” says Chris Hopkins, Senior Director of Product Management at C&R Software. “Banks and other organizations are there to meet the demands of consumers, otherwise consumers will go elsewhere.”
In the longer-term, integrating Cara into Debt Manager is beneficial because it can increase collection rates, automate business processes, predict customer behavior, and further streamline the customer experience.


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Apple offices raided ahead of iPhone X launch in S.Korea
"Investigators visited Apple's HQ earlier this week to ask questions about its business practices ahead of the launch of the smartphone," the report said.
Apple, UIDAI, NASDAQ among first-timers at IIT Madras final placements this year
Traditional recruiters such as Microsoft, Samsung R and D, Goldman Sachs, Eaton, Schlumberger, Mahindra, Intel, Bajaj, EXL, Citi, Larsen and Toubro will also be coming to IIT Madras for recruitment.
China orders Skype withdrawal from Apple's app store, other platforms
Skype owner Microsoft told the BBC the app had been "temporarily removed" and the company was "working to reinstate the app as soon as possible".
Why Apple's HomePod is three years behind Amazon's Echo
Apple engineers bought Echos so they could take them apart and see how they were put together.
Apple says illegal student labour discovered at iPhone X plant
Labour rights groups have previously criticised Apple and Foxconn for excessive overtime, hiring underage workers and failing to provide health insurance.
Investment not a problem, but we need to tackle regulatory hurdles: Suresh Prabhu, Commerce Minister
There are a large number of countries where markets are open and India has invested in the past strategically geopolitically, by putting human resource or money, added Prabhu.
From Apple to Uber, here's a list of massive hacking scandals that rocked the world in the past
The hacking in 2016 of data on 57 million Uber riders and drivers, unveiled on Tuesday, is among the biggest ever thefts of online users' personal information.
Students working overtime to build Apple iPhone X: Report
Students in the age group 17-19 were hired as interns in September and were told to work at the assembling unit in Zhengzhou, China
DoT exempts feature phones from GPS installation diktat
The Department of Telecommunications, which said in April last year that all mobile phones must have GPS capability, has now scaled down the mandate.
Apple cuts iPhone X retailers’ margins
“Apple has cut margins on the iPhone X from 6.5% to 4.5% for large retailers like us, and if a customer pays by card, which is usually the case, the margin reduces to almost 1.5-2%.”
Food-bloggers are now turning authors to help you rustle up perfect dishes
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Apple served with search warrant over Texas church shooting
The gunman Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, walked into the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs on November 5 and opened fire. He later killed himself.
Apple to hunt for talent at IIT Bombay this year
Applications to take the preliminary short-listing exam were circulated on November 12 and that test would be held before the semester exams take place in the last week of November.
Skype joins list of apps on China blacklist
Skype is no longer available for download on the China Apple Store or Android sites, with Chinese web-users saying it had been gone for weeks.
The Black-Friday sales battle is on full throttle: Here's how the super stores are vying for your attention
For the holiday shopping season, malls are hosting gingerbread decorating sessions, visits from the Grinch, and more.


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Denver – Faced with a fiscal second quarter decline in store traffic, softened somewhat by growth of digital projection and flat-panel televisions, Ultimate Electronics reported a wider net loss in the three months, coming in at $1.8 million, compared with a loss of $929,000 in the year-ago period.
The retailer, which earlier reported a 9 percent increase in sales for its fiscal second quarter, to $154.2 million, up from $142 million in the second quarter of 2002, claimed a widening market share in television and other core categories. Yet, Ultimate, which said it has found overall industry performance to be a challenge, registered a 10 percent decline in comp-store sales in the second quarter, as reported earlier.
‘The first six months have been challenging for our company, and we continue to concentrate our efforts on increasing sales and gross profit margin, while reducing expenses,’ said Ed McEntire, CEO.
Gross profit margin in the second quarter, ended July 31 reached 33.9 percent, 10 basis points above the 33.8 percent recorded in the same three months last year. However, selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses climbed 90 basis points, to 35.8 percent, from 34.9 percent year-on-year. Ultimate blamed the increase in SG&A to rising fixed general and administrative expenses and rising insurance and training costs, offset by lower pre-opening expenses and reduced advertising monies.
‘For the first 26 days of the third quarter, comp-store sales have shown improvement [over the second quarter] and are currently down 5 percent. Our internal plans call for a continued improvement in gross profit margin in the second half of the year,’ said McEntire.
Ultimate remains on schedule to open seven new stores in the next three months and to ‘re-grand open’ its remaining Audio King locations as Ultimate Electronics. This coincides with the opening of its seventh store in the Minneapolis/St. Paul market.
During the second quarter, the retailer reported that its television/DBS category, the chain’s largest, claimed 42 percent of overall sales, up from a 37 percent share year over year. Losing ground during the second three months were the video/DVD category, down to a 13 percent share, from 16 percent; mobile, down one percentage point, to 11 percent; and home office, coming in at a 3 percent share, compared with 4 percent in the year-ago period. The audio category was unchanged, at an 18 percent share of second quarter sales. The ‘other’ category also remained unchanged, at 13 percent.
Ultimate said it plans to substantially complete its exit from the computer category in the third quarter, resetting its stores with products expected to increase store traffic — namely Playstation, portable electronics and cordless phones. In addition, the retailer plans to test a number of concepts related to the sales of DVD software. These are designed to increase store traffic, customer retention and incremental revenue opportunities.
For the third quarter, Ultimate anticipates comp-store sales to be down in the mid-single digits, with total sales up slightly. In the fourth quarter, it expects comp-store sales to be down in the low single digits, with total sales up about 10 percent, due to the planned opening of six new stores in the third quarter and one in the fourth.
In the six months, the retailer reported a net loss of $3.2 million, compared with a loss of $1.3 million in the year-ago period. The loss for the six months in 2002 includes a $1.6 million charge. Comp-store sales were down 9 percent in the six months, while overall sales increased 9 percent, to $309.9 million, up from $284.2 million year over year.


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Ahead of the inaugural Miami Grand Prix this weekend, IWC has dropped its first official team watch for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team.
The sandblasted grade 5 titanium IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 Edition “Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team” adopts the team’s signature Petronas green for its luminous Arabic numeral hour markers, indices, hands and date window against its black dial.
IWC Schaffhausen has been official engineering partner of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team since 2013.
“Both fine watchmaking and racing are all about precision, craftsmanship and performance engineering,” says Christoph Grainger-Herr, IWC CEO. “But it’s the human factor – the passion the love and the dedication that make all the difference between good and great. This notion perfectly describes our long-standing partnership with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team and we are celebrating this partnership with the launch of the new team watch in Miami.”
Powered by an IWC 69385 calibre column wheel chronograph movement, the watch is supplied with both a calfskin and a Petronas green rubber quick change straps and is available exclusively online via IWC,
IWC reinforces its partnership with Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team with a new issue of a team watch – one to be worn by all members of the Formula 1 team: the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 with team colours. We got our hands on a preview sample watch, and bring you this hands on review.
The Retail Price for the IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 Edition “Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team” is SGD 11,700 inclusive of GST.
IWC and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team have been in partnership since 2013, and IWC has issued many watches in the theme of this relationship. Here are links to our coverage to the latest edition from 2021, which is in encased in titanium, but measuring 43mm. Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “AMG” REF. IW377903 press release and the full hands on review of the IWC Ref. IW377903.
However today, on the occasion of the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, the partnership develops one level deeper with the release of the first official team watch. The new watch is based on the IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 with special livery to celebrate the partnership. This watch will be worn by the team, including designers, aerodynamicists, race engineers, strategists and mechanics.


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The Consumer Council are hosting five free workshops over the next six months for frontline workers in the community.
The Consumer Council welcomes today’s announcement from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) that enforcement action taken against three major airlines has resulted in better support and information for passengers during instances of flight disruption.
Colin Sure Start are holding an open day on Friday 11 September at Diary Farm Centre from 10am - 12pm. The Consumer Council will be there to provide consumers with information regarding to energy switching, as well as any consumer issues relating to transport, water, money affairs and postal services.
The Consumer Council will be attending the Young at Heart Retirement Living Exhibition on the 25 May 2016 and staff will be available to members of the public who have any queries on consumer issues, including switching energy supplier. Visit us for advice on complaints you may have in relation to water, energy or transport and take away various leaflets packed full of useful information for consumers.
The workshop is aimed at anyone who is retired in Northern Ireland and includes exhibitors relevant to their life style.
The Consumer Council’s weekly home heating oil survey has revealed that prices in Northern Ireland are at their lowest in six years.
A guide for passengers with a disability and less
The Enquiries and Complaints report 2014-15 provides an insight into our complaints handling work.
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Costa Crociere veteran Gianni Onorato, who resigned the presidency to ‘pursue a new career direction,’ is going to MSC Cruises, several independent, well-placed sources in Europe and the US told Seatrade Insider.
Gianni Onorato, president of Costa Crociere has announced his decision to leave the company with immediate effect in order to pursue a new career direction.
Princess Cruises chief executive Alan Buckelew summed up Royal Princess—the brand’s first new capacity in five years—as ‘a ship that is at once familiar and welcoming while at the same time, innovative and exciting.’
Celebrity Xpedition’s license to enter the Galápagos National Park is being reinstated and the ship will return to service for the June 30 sailing. However, Celebrity Cruises informs it will be necessary to cancel the June 23 sailing of Celebrity Xpedition.
New figures released by Amadeus, show that there are great opportunities ahead for travel agents to capitalise on UK travellers’ appetites for cruise holidays, with many being tempted by far-flung destinations and the thought of exploring the world.
Total ships: 18
Total berths: 57,331
Total Order Book Value:$12,857,800.00
Average Price Per Berth:$245,706


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What’s on tap: Denver’s rep for craft beers
For the first 13 years in business, Falling Rock Tap House co-owner Chris Black couldn’t understand why no one else wanted to open another beer bar/restaurant offering more than 100 brands in Denver — a city known as the “Napa Valley of Craft Beer.”
Then, beginning in mid-2010, they started opening at a rapid pace. Rich Grant, communications director for Visit Denver, estimates there have been more than 220 beer tap handles added to downtown and surrounding neighborhoods since then.
This fast growth of tap houses — which are bars and restaurants that serve a large variety of craft beers but don’t brew their own beer — is more than just a trend.
Grant and business owners say it adds another aspect to Denver’s beer tourism culture to draw people to the city and downtown. It also boosts the state’s 110-plus breweries, giving them more places to sell their beer, and to serve unique and rare beers to a public increasingly thirsting for them.
“I really think it’s an extension of the growth in craft beer itself,” said Jason Forgy, co-owner of 1½-year-old restaurant Freshcraft, referring to Brewers Association statistics showing that craft brewery sales nationwide grew 15 percent in the first six months of 2011. “When you have any sort of a product that’s grown the way craft beer has, I think it’s normal to have an adjacent market that people are trying to grow with it.”
Tap houses began popping up in cities from Seattle to Philadelphia in the 1990s.
But when Black decided to open one at 1919 Blake St. in 1997, it was because “there were about 60 breweries in the state, and nobody was pouring them,” he said. Falling Rock, with 88 taps, specialized in local and national craft beers, and it built a national reputation that made it a gathering spot during the annual Great American Beer Festival in Denver.
Ed Sealover covers government, health care, tourism, airlines, hospitality and restaurants for the Denver Business Journal and writes for the "Capitol Business" blog. Phone: 303-803-9229.
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This article originally appeared as part of ongoing coverage in our premium Motley Fool Hidden Gems service...we hope you enjoy this complimentary peek!
It's been a rough summer for discounters, but now the market turns to see if Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE) has the secret formula for keeping penny pinchers close this dicey season. The fast-growing retailer reports its fiscal second quarter results on Wednesday afternoon.
True to its moniker, Five Below sells a wide range of merchandise priced at $5 or less. It's not fair to call it a dollar store. It stocks items including t-shirts, backpacks, and sneakers that you're never going to see for a buck. It closed out its first quarter with 323 stores, and it's expanding quickly. Its store count has increased by 25% over the past year.
Analysts are holding out for another quarter of trend-bucking growth. The pros are holding out for a profit of $0.14 a share, up from $0.11 a share a year earlier. They also see net sales climbing 30% to $152.3 which implies another period of modest comps growth on top of its brisk expansion. Analysts may seem aggressive here, but Five Below has actually blasted through Wall Street's quarterly profit targets more often than not since going public at $17 two years ago.
Momentum is building at Five Below. Net sales rose 28% in its fiscal year that ended in February as a result of new store openings and a 4% uptick in comps. It followed that up in fiscal 2014's first quarter with sales climbing 32% on a 6.2% spike in comparable-stores sales growth. Clearly the chain is holding up better than the two largest discount department store operators, Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) and Target (NYSE:TGT) that have been posting flat or negative comps during the past few quarters.
Five Below initially saw sales growth of 26% to 27% in fiscal 2014, with adjusted earnings climbing slightly better than that. It boosted its top-line guidance slightly during its first quarter report, and naturally it will do so again if it comes through with another strong showing.
The weakness we've seen earlier this earnings season at Wal-Mart and Target should be -- wait for it -- discounted. Wal-Mart's never been a good match. Five Below appeals to teens and young adults that don't want to shop where their parents or grandparents shop when they want to stretch a dollar. Target's a closer fit given its "cheap chic" panache, but Target's been stumbling suffering an embarrassing data breach late last year.
A strong report won't necessarily mean that Five Below skyrockets higher on Thursday. The fast-growing retailer is trading at 46 times this fiscal year's projected profitability, and simply meeting or slightly beating expectations isn't always enough to keep the gains coming. Five Below will have to justify its substantial market multiples, but there are plenty of scenarios were it can make its own luck.
- Five Below can surpass Wall Street expectations by a wider margin than it has in the past. It hasn't beaten analyst profit prognostications by more than $0.02 a share in any quarter over the past year.
- Five Below can once again juice up its guidance, perhaps taking its adjusted earnings forecast higher in the process.
- It can step up the pace of expansion, growing the number of new stores it expects to open this year beyond the current slate of 62.
Then again, just proving that it shouldn't be lumped into the same pool as larger discounters could be enough to remind investors that everything's fine. One way or another, the fireworks are set to go off after Wednesday's market close.
Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Five Below. The Motley Fool is short Five Below. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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San Diego Studios released the patch notes for today’s MLB The Show 20 update. Below you will find the complete patch notes for this update on June 26.
The MLB The Show 20 Update 1.15 can be downloaded and installed around 3 AM PT on Tuesday 7/14/2020, for all platforms.
MLB 20 Update 1.15 Patch Notes
MLB 20 The Show version 1.15 changelog, the latest brings quality of life improvements. Apart from this, MLB The Show 20 patch 1.15 also includes stability improvement
- Fixed an issue that would cause the Swing Feedback Analysis to temporarily display as Perfect/Perfect on a poorly timed swing that usually resulted in a foul ball.
- Fixed an issue that would prevent the Catcher throwing meter from appearing in a timely manner.
- Fixed several community reported crashes.
Source: MLB 20
MLB The Show 20 update 1.15 is now available for download. Stay tuned to TheGameRoof for the latest Star Wars Battlefront 2, and content drop news for the game.


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This year is projected to be one of the busiest Thanksgivings in a dozen years for travelers. Whether you’re driving, flying or sitting on the couch and waiting for relatives to come to visit, here’s what you need to know about one of the busiest travel times of the year.
Nearly 51 million people will travel for Thanksgiving this year, the highest volume in nearly a dozen years, according to AAA projections. Due to the high travel volume, up 3.3 percent from 2016 with 1.6 million more people, travel times could take up to three times longer than normal.
The Thanksgiving holiday had the most car accidents in 2014, the most recent year for which data was available, with 2,878 accidents from Nov. 26 to Nov. 30 in Illinois. Thirteen were fatal crashes, four of which were alcohol related.
Illinois State Police announced several campaigns aimed at keeping roadways safe over the holiday. Illinois State Police are running their Click It or Ticket campaign, which aims to reduce injuries and deaths during car crashes by reminding motorists to wear a seat belt. ISP will be stepping up patrols and seat belt enforcement zones through Nov. 27, according to an ISP press release.
ISP will also have a trooper places every 20 miles on interstates 55, 57 and 80 on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m, a press release from ISP said. On Thursday and over the weekend, troopers will be enforcing the “Fatal Four” violations; speeding, DUI, distracted driving and seat belts.
“There is a direct correlation between driving while intoxicated, lack of proper restraint use, distracted driving, and reckless operation of an automobile when related to traffic fatalities,” ISP Captain Timothy Tyler said.
Meanwhile Lambert International Airport in St. Louis anticipated one of the busiest holiday travel periods in years, and launched a new Starbucks in Terminal 2 in preparation — the seventh Starbucks location in the two-terminal airport.
Lambert projected a 7 percent increase in the 10-day Thanksgiving travel period, according to their website. The airport predicted approximately 175,500 passengers will pass through the security checkpoints between Nov. 17-26, a 12,000-passenger increase over the usual rate.
The day before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after are generally predicted as the heaviest days for airlines, with 21,000 Friday check-ins and 23,400 Sunday departures. Flights are expected to run at 90 percent capacity or higher, and connecting traffic is 30 percent higher than usual this year.
In fact, the largest growth in holiday travel this year is by air: 5 percent, with 3.95 million travelers this holiday, according to AAA. Consumers also will be paying the cheapest average airfare since 2013. Approximately 50.9 million people will travel more than 50 miles from home by some transportation method, AAA predicts.
And once again, the two top destinations for Thanksgiving are Orlando, Fla. and Anaheim, Calif.
The Transportation Security Administration is recommending that passengers arrive two hours before scheduled boarding time, especially if checking luggage or taking an international flight. TSA guidelines for what can and cannot be brought through security checkpoints can be found on their website, as well as appropriate forms of identification and whether to wrap holiday gifts carried through security (in short: no.).
Picking up a passenger at Lambert? Use a free cell phone lot instead of the parking garage. And whether you’re flying or you’re picking up tired relatives, you can check flight status at Lambert on their website.
For more tips on cheap and stress-free travel, check out these holiday tips.


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Miller denies ‘hoarding’ sugar
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Crystal Sugar Company Inc., one of the biggest sugar millers in the country, denied on Thursday the government’s claim that it was supposedly “hoarding” sugar and causing an artificial sugar shortage.
“That’s a big lie,” said Javier Sagarbarria, vice president for administration of Crystal Sugar, who also manages the company’s sugar mill in Maramag, Bukidnon.
Sagarbarria particularly took exception to reports by state-run Radyo Pilipinas that painted the company as a sugar hoarder.
“We are not hiding sugar. We can prove to you that Crystal is not hoarding even a single bag [of sugar],” Sagarbarria told reporters in Maramag on Thursday.
He added that they were wondering where reporters got the information that the company’s warehouse in Cagayan de Oro City was raided on Tuesday.
The “raid” was an inspection conducted by the Bureau of Customs and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), upon orders of President Marcos, to flush out sugar stocks that were being held in warehouses in anticipation of a further surge in sugar prices.
“We do not have a warehouse in Cagayan de Oro,” Sagarbarria said, adding that its storage facilities are all located within its milling site, a 57-hectare compound in Maramag.
Sagarbarria said the company was surprised that government agents claimed Crystal was hoarding sugar when he already explained the matter and offered to take them to the company warehouse.
Sagarbarria explained that, under the prevailing “quedan” system, 66 percent of the sugar in warehouses are owned by planters and 34 percent belong to the miller.
He said that as of Thursday, Crystal Sugar warehouses contain some 390,000 50-kilo bags of sugar (about 19,500 metric tons) of which 170,000 bags are owned by the company, and the rest owned by planters who may have also sold them to traders.
“[But] once sugar is acquired by traders, Crystal has no business whether they bring these to hell, purgatory, or heaven,” Sagarbarria said, adding that the company has been “regulating the outflow of their own sugar stocks.”
In its bid to stem what the government concluded to be an artificial shortage, law enforcers are continuing its inspections of sugar warehouses while the SRA approved measures to stabilize prices.
Recently appointed SRA Administrator David Alba said the SRA board, in a meeting chaired by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., passed two measures in an apparent bid to make traders lose money on the sugar they are hoarding.
Sugar Order (SO) No. 1 sets aside all sugar production from crop year 2022-2023 for domestic use. No allocation will be provided for the US quota under an agreement with the World Trade Organization.
SO 2, which has yet to be finalized, may also allow the importation of at least 150,000 MT of refined sugar, which could arrive before November 15.
Alba said the SRA would determine how to divide the 150,000 MT of sugar between the bottlers and the consumers.
The SRA on Tuesday admitted there was a shortage of premium, bottler’s grade refined sugar used by Coca-Cola. Alba said Pepsi and RC Cola still have available supply as far as SRA records show.
The President only appointed Alba as acting SRA administrator on August 20, or six days ago, along with Pablo Luis Azcona, who represents sugar planters; and Mitzi Mangwag, who represents sugar millers.
Alba, Azcona, and Mangwag took their oaths of office before Negros Occidental Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer at the SRA Training Center in Bacolod City on Wednesday afternoon.
“Our target is to have the SO2 released by mid-September so its arrival will not interfere with the resumption of operations by our sugar refineries that normally starts mid-November,” Alba said in his speech during the Philippine Sugar Technologists Association convention in Bacolod City.
The SRA chief emphasized that importation will always remain an option, but this would be the “last priority” of the Marcos administration.


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Babies exposed to cannabis in the womb show a significant improvement in their ability to track moving objects at age four, according to a study published in the most recent issue of the journal Scientific Reports. “We were surprised with this initial finding,” says Ben Thompson, a professor at the University of Waterloo’s School of …
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Want to grow your own? Click here for high quality Dutch Cannabis Seeds
Cannabisowl.com offers marijuana seeds reviews and price compare. Find and compare cannabis seeds prices.
Cannabis news and information.


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Cedar Fair CEO says staycations here to stay
Matt Ouimet, CEO of Kings Island parent Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., says vacationers have warmed up to sticking close to home – and his company is reaping the benefits, the Associated Press reported.
“I think staycations are here to stay,” Ouimet said in the report, “because people have rediscovered that it’s more fun, less complicated and less expensive to get in your car and drive to Cedar Point or other parks.”
Ouimet made the comments during a tour of Clermont Steel Fabricators LLC in Batavia, AP reported. The plant is working on a new $25 million roller coaster, called GateKeeper, for Kings Island sister park, Cedar Point, in Sandusky.
Ouimet told AP that investment at Kings Island is on the agenda, too. He did not give specifics.
The staycation trend took hold during the weak economy of the last few years. Now growth is returning, but Ouimet believes people still appreciate close-to-home entertainment.
The majority of Cedar Fair’s customers come from within a couple hundred miles of its properties, which include 11 amusement parks and four water parks.
Ritchie covers Procter & Gamble Co. and health care.
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Even with the creation of a USDA label for bioengineered foods, the Non-GMO Project continues to pout about scientific food labeling.
A science think tank filed a petition challenging the use of The Non-GMO Project’s logo, saying that it misleads consumers in violation of the federal law.
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation filed a Citizen Petition to prohibit the use of the term “Non-GMO” on consumer foods.
I have a crisis of conscience. Because of a tick-borne disease I contracted last year, I am no longer able to eat beef, pork, or dairy products without getting an allergic reaction. The past few months have been spent searching for alternatives, which often means selecting vegan options that tend to be inferior in taste […]
Farmers and food experts reveal which food labels are the most misleading.


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24 May 2010
(MENAFN) Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) reported that the total exports by its member firms saw a year-on-year 13 percent hike in April, Khaleej Times reported.
According to the chamber, Dubai’s total exports of 4,645 members during April grew to $4.57 billion compared to the corresponding period a year earlier, but the current value is 10 percent lower than previous monthÂ’s $5.1 billion exports.
The Gulf countries remained the biggest export destination of Dubai Chamber members with nearly $2.2 billion exports, or 48 percent of total value during the month. But compared to March’s $2.6 billion exports, it saw a contraction of 16 percent in the value. Dubai Chamber members exports to Saudi Arabia shrank by 17 percent to $216 million compared to March exports.
In the first three months of the year, the chamber membersÂ’ exports grew by $1.8 billion to $13.8 billion over the $12 billion the companies reported in the year-earlier corresponding period.
24 May 2023
Empowering Success: BBK and BIBF honor 24 graduates of the BBK’s Women on Board Programme
16 Mar 2023
BBK partners with Four Seasons Private Residences Bahrain Bay to offer ownership financing for 112 waterfront homes.
01 Mar 2023
You could be the next lucky winner.. BBK: BD 1.9 million prizes from Al Hayrat this year


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We already reported that iRiver demonstrated the Unit2 all-in-one home media center at the CES 2008. Today the media player company revealed lots of new stunning photos of the iRiver Unit II showing it's cool style and extreme versatility.
The iRiver UNIT II combines hifi audio, DVD player, TV tuner, Wifi access and a detachable display. The display is actually a full fledged PMP with SD card slot that also can be used as a calendar and news display in a stand.
The remote control of the iRiver Unit II features a color display. The Unit II also is connected via WiFi and supports VOIP phone calls.
We still do not know when iRiver is shipping the Unit II, but it gets more interesting everytime the company shows the system. See the new iRiver Unit2 photos.
Via the iRiver site (Korean).
Read all the latest CES 2008 News.
Don't Miss: The Best HDR TVs


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Apple has launched a new ad promoting the iPhone 12 durability. It’s not the first time the company has emphasized this, as in its iPhone keynote last year, it said that this model has four times better drop performance.Expand Expanding Close
Apple has today shared a new ad, ‘Growth Spurt’, showcasing the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. Throughout the short clip, the main character is taking pictures of various items and pets, seeing them grow exponentially after the photo is taken.
Apple has just shared a pair of new ads on its Mexico YouTube channel. The new ads relate to the App Store and the new Portrait Lighting effects found on the iPhone X.
Apple today has shared a new advertisement on its YouTube channel. This one focuses on support for sticker packs in iMessage. While the ad is part of Apple’s iPhone 7 “Practically Magic” series, support for stickers in iMessage is an iOS 10 feature, thus meaning they’re supported on most recent devices, not just the iPhone 7.
The ad depicts the idea of bringing sticker packs to the real world…
Apple has just posted the latest iPhone 7 ad on their YouTube channel today, entitled ‘Balloons’ for obvious reasons. The video follows a balloon throughout various scenes as it eventually finds it way to other balloons, and into someone’s window. It’s only clear at the end that the ad spot is for the iPhone 7 with the balloon tie-in promoting the new Messages features on iOS 10.
Taylor Swift and Apple Music have today launched another commercial on Twitter promoting Apple’s $9.99 streaming music service, featuring song ‘The Middle’ by Jimmy Eat World. It is unclear if the minute-long ad will be exclusive to online promotional channels or also be shown on TV.
Apple Music featuring commemorative anniversary playlist, songs from Apple ads over the last 40 years
Continuing the celebrations of its 40th birthday, Apple has posted a special Apple Music playlist featuring songs from Apple ads over the last four decades. The playlist contains 38 songs in total, with music from The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Coldplay, Gorillaz and more.
Apple turns 04. Forty songs from Apple ads to celebrate 40 years of ideas, innovation and culture.
Unfortunately, the playlist has little accompanying context so you don’t know which songs correspond to which ads. Most the songs appear to be derived from old iPod commercials, like this one.
It’s been a while since Apple used its ‘Think Different‘ slogan. Launched with a one-minute TV ad in 1997 when Apple was trying to persuade people to buy a Macintosh instead of an IBM PC, it hasn’t been used since 2002.
But Patently Apple notes that the company has expanded the European trademark filing to cover seven new product classes.
Apple’s International Classes for ‘Think Different’ have greatly expanded from one class to eight. The classes now cover Apple Watch (Horological and chronometric instruments; watches), Apple Pay (financial services); Apple Pencil, iPad, (computers, stylus), games, business management, subscription services, telecommunications, broadcasting, music, television, educational services and Siri (maintenance of proprietary computer software in the field of natural language, speech, speaker, language, voice recognition, and voice-print recognition) …
Apple today has debuted a pair of new ads for its iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. The two ads, one simply titled “Live Photos” and the other titled “Less Time,” are fast-paced 30 second spots that quickly jump between using a pair of features that differentiate the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus from their predecessors…
Apple this evening has shared a new advertisement for its Apple TV set-top box. This ad continues the trend of the company highlighting the tvOS App Store that is available on the device, showcasing a handful of the most popular applications available so far. The ad is entitled “Apple TV – The Future of TV is Apps,” which is a slogan Apple has used since the launch of the device back in October.
Apple today has shared yet another new iPhone 6s ad focusing on the device’s always-lisnteing “Hey Siri” feature. Earlier this week, Apple debuted two new advertisements for the iPhone 6s, one focused on the device’s improved performance and another on “Hey Siri.” This ad stars highly acclaimed director Jon Favreau and showcases the iPhone 6s being used on a film set.
Apple today has debuted two new TV ads for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. These ads come just a week after the company unveiled its new holiday ad featuring Stevie Wonder and Andra Day. The two new iPhone ads are entitled “Hey Siri” and “Ridiculously Powerful,” and focus on exactly what you would expect them to.
Ahead of the device’s availability on Wednesday, Apple today has shared the first video advertisement for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. In a video entitled “A Great Big Universe” shared on its YouTube channel, Apple shows of the benefits of the device’s larger form factor, as well as apps that are optimized for it.
Apple today has continued its barrage of new advertisements for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. This company this evening shared yet another new video to its YouTube channel promoting the device. This ad, called “Prince Oseph,” features SNL star Bill Hader.
Much like the ads debuted over the weekend, this ad focuses on the ‘Hey Siri’ functionality of the device. Hader can be seen using Siri and asking her to read him his unread emails. Hader then uses Siri to reply to an email that claims it offers a “once in a lifetime opportunity for the making of millions of currency.”
The description for the video reads:
The iPhone 6s is here, and the only thing that’s changed with Siri is everything. Because now you just say “Hey Siri” and Siri’s there, hands-free. Which can come in handy.
Over the weekend, Apple debuted four new advertisements focusing on ‘Hey Siri’ and the new camera features iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. The weekend ads featured stars such as Jamie Foxx and NBA player Stephen Curry. Today’s new advertisement is a 30-second spot and can be seen below:
Apple tonight premiered a new Apple Music ad during the 2015 Emmy Awards focusing on the “For You” feature of the service. The ad stars actresses Kerry Washington and Taraji P. Henson, as well as singer Mary J. Blige.
Apple has published some of the videos from today’s keynote event on YouTube for replay, including the first TV spot for the iPhone 6s and the introduction video presenting 3D Touch on the new phone. The keynote itself isn’t yet available, but should be soon.
You can watch the new videos below.
Further expanding on its recent “If it’s not an iPhone, it’s not an iPhone” ad campaign, Apple today has uploaded a new iPhone ad to its YouTube channel. This ad highlights Apple Pay, Apple’s contactless payment solution. The ad marks the first time Apple itself has advertised Apple Pay, although some banks and credit cards have run Apple Pay ads independently.
Apple, just a week and a half after initially introducing its new ad campaign, has today shared another new iPhone ad. The video advertisement is part of the “If it’s not an iPhone, it’s not an iPhone” campaign and focuses on the App Store that comes along with owning an iPhone. In the ad, Apple touts that there are more than 1.5 million apps available for iPhone, all of which are “hand-picked, awe-inspiring, and just plain surprising.”
Apple today uploaded a pair of new ads to YouTube. The first ad, entitled “Hardware & Software,” showcases the fact that Apple is responsible for both major aspects of the iPhone, making for a more seamless and stable experience. The obvious goal here is to advertise the fact that with an Android device, you get hardware made by a manufacturer and software made by Google.
Luxury car-maker Bentley last year shot an ad for the Mulsanne (a mere $298,000 to you, Sir) on the iPhone 5s and iPad Air, and has this year upgraded to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Its new ad is for a driving jacket rather than a car, and it has again produced a behind-the-scenes video (below) showing the kit and software used …
Belgian shop selling Tetris mugs & electric razors promises Apple Watch on Valentines’ Day, “subject to availability”
The Apple Watch isn’t shipping by Valentine’s Day— a date that many speculated could make an ideal launch date– and there won’t be an event this month showcasing Apple’s new device ahead of preorders, but that’s not stopping anyone from using the Apple Watch as prime marketing material.
European department store chain Cora has chosen Apple Watch to grace the cover of its latest flyer this month hyping a February 14th date “subject to availability,” even though the Watch is on track to be released sometime in April, according to the latest from Apple CEO Tim Cook.
While we’ll have to wait and see who is more in the know on this matter (joking!), the September unveiling of the Apple Watch has spawned a new market of cheap knock offs and even promised competition from legacy watch industry insiders.
Alongside Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Fallon has become the voice of the iPhone 6 with Apple releasing a continuous series of ads featuring both entertainers. Fallon also sits behind a MacBook on the set of The Tonight Show on NBC, something that he brought over from his time hosting Late Night on NBC.
Now Fallon’s Tonight Show is giving the gift of Apple, specifically to the studio audience from last night’s taping as each attendee was gifted with a brand new iPad Air 2 as part of this week’s holiday gift giveaway segment. See the clip above (and wish you were there!) …
(We know Hulu works in a very limited number of countries and will post the YouTube clip when available.)
Continuing its ‘From one gift come many’ campaign, Apple has published a new commercial entitled ‘The Song’. The ad depicts a young woman listening to a song on a record player, from her youth. The girl then learns the tune using their guitar, recording the tune on a Mac.
The girl then leaves an iPad preloaded with the same song for an older relation, her grandmother, provoking the same emotions of her childhood and memories. The ad concludes with a Happy Holidays message from the company. Apple describes the ad with the following prelude on its website:
Some gifts create a million more. Watch as one budding musician uses Mac and GarageBand to make a heartfelt song for her grandmother.
Following the release of two new iPhone ads earlier this week, Apple has put out yet another commercial for the iPhone 6. Like the others, “Voice Text” features Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon and pop star Justin Timberlake discussing the newest features on Apple’s smartphone.
In this ad, Fallon and Timberlake demonstrate the many uses for the new voice messaging feature included in iOS 8, such as including sarcasm or difficult-to-spell words in a reply. You can check out the full ad below:


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Retailers with mobile strategies to have stronger holiday revenues: Yankee Group
Mobile retail offerings will transform the behavior of consumers this holiday shopping season, according a new study by the Yankee Group.
The new study, “’Tis the Season: Mobile Retailing Will Transform 2009 Holiday Shopping,” also found that 63 percent of American shoppers will spend less this year. Yankee Group said that 31 percent of smartphone users have used their devices to compare products and prices while shopping in a retail location.
“Because of the economy, because of the obvious decline in consumer confidence, the loss of wealth and other economic challenges, consumers will have a much stronger considered-purchase behavior,” said Christopher Collins, senior analyst at Yankee Group, Boston. “The way people shop for homes and cars as a multistage process is what I believe consumers are going to do for everything this holiday season.
“The way consumers shop emotionally and visually is out the window,” he said. “People are going to be really be much more deliberate and conscious about their approach.”
“You have the availability of these incredibly powerful mobile apps for product and price comparison that are changing the retail experience, taking the power away from retailers who had control.”
Yankee Group is a research firm that is focused on connectivity and technology.
Connect with the consumers
Mr. Collins predicted that consumers will spend more time considering purchases, leading to a cut down on impulse purchases.
Mobile will help consumers make more informed purchases.
Mr. Collins said that with the increase in smartphone usage and Web-enabled mobile devices, consumers will be comparing prices and products looking for the best bang for their buck.
Retailers need to embrace mobile technology in order to emerge from the recession as a stronger entity.
Yankee Group predicts that retailers that engage consumers with mobile coupons, mobile loyalty programs and mobile marketing will have stronger holiday-season revenue.
Mr. Collins said that retailers that fail to embrace mobile will be punished by the success of competitors that do so.
Of the 31 percent who comparison-shopped on a smartphone, 40 percent said that they changed their behavior either by buying a cheaper item or making the purchase from a different retailer.
However, despite online advertising, product reviews and shopping blogs, 70 percent of purchase decisions are still made in the store.
Mr. Collins said that retailers need to reimagine the customer experience and expand the customer relationship.
For example, Mr. Collins said that an electronics retailer needs to change the experience so that it can interact with customers over a longer period of time. Mr. Collins suggested video-game-playing rooms and charging stations as a way to engage the consumer and establish a better in-store experience.
“Retailers really need to recognize mobility as a very big part of the shopping process,” Mr. Collins said. “They need to embrace it and look for ways to become part of that process like having a mobile Web site that compliments the retail establishment and gives consumers incentive to use them.”
“Historically, retailers had tremendous amount of control in purchasing decisions,” he said. “They had an enormous influence in purchasing decisions, but this year we’re really going to see a big change.
“Consumers are still making decisions in-store, but they are making them with additional information at their fingertips through smartphones.”


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|Day's Range||1,308.47 - 1,323.69|
Barclays Senior Autos Analyst Dan Levy explains Tesla's stock rating outlook ahead of the EV developer's first-quarter delivery figures, while also commenting on vehicle prices and headwinds stemming from CEO Elon Musk's involvement with Twitter.
In August of last year, electric vehicle powerhouse Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) executed a 3-for-1 split that increased the number of shares on issue threefold and shrank its stock price from $891.30 to $297.10. The stock split alone isn't a reason to buy Tesla because it hasn't changed the value of the underlying company, but the company's fundamentals certainly might be. Ark Investment Management, led by technology investor Cathie Wood, believes Tesla stock could soar to $1,533.33 by 2026 on the back of growing demand for electric vehicles, plus the rise of fully autonomous robotaxis.
(Bloomberg) -- BYD Co.’s profit more than quintupled last year after the Chinese automaker sold a record number of electric vehicles and intensified its battle with Tesla Inc. for market share. Most Read from BloombergFBI Releases Files on Ivana TrumpSchwab’s $7 Trillion Empire Built on Low Rates Is Showing CracksBanks in France Face More Than $1.1 Billion Fines After RaidsBinance and Its CEO Sued by CFTC Over US Regulatory ViolationsMarkets Are Wrong on US Rate-Cut Bets, BlackRock SaysNet incom


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Plus, the best of the rest in new beauty out this week.
If you’re a beauty fan, you may well be familiar with the evolution of Boots’ makeup and skincare offering in recent years. While the retailer has always been a go-to for drugstore faves, it’s recently been introducing cult mid-range brands to its line-up one by one, making it a haven for beauty lovers hoping to pick up everything under one roof. And their latest acquisition is sure to excite many, as skincare brand Drunk Elephant has dropped in Boots this week.
Drunk Elephant joins the likes of The Inkey List, The Ordinary, and Dr Jart at Boots, whose skincare offerings are now wider than ever. Beloved for its no-B.S. approach to skincare, DE was founded by Tiffany Masterson, and each skincare and haircare product promises not to contain any of the so-called “suspicious six”: drying alcohols, silicones, SLS, chemical screens, essential oils, or fragrances/dyes. The brand is a favourite of skincare experts and influencers alike, making it a must try; its introduction into Boots arguably makes this easier than ever before.
But that’s not all that’s new to beauty this week. In hair care, there’s a soothing new scalp product and a rich, tropical hair mask, as well as a new cult SPF from American shores and a dreamy eye cream in skincare. Keep reading to learn more about each one.


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The vast majority of Americans would spend more online if they were offered an easier and more secure way to pay than credit and debit cards, according to a survey from Javelin Strategy & Research.
The poll of over 2000 people, carried out for mobile payments and billing outfit PaymentOne, shows that four out of five respondents would take advantage of safer and simpler methods of buying on the Internet.
Asked about their concerns related to using cards to buy online, 55% are worried about receiving junk mail, 54% that their personal information will be sold on to other merchants and 51% that their data will be intercepted.
These worries mean that nearly 60% of consumers say they are more likely to visit and buy from sites that offer "no-credit-card-required" payment options.
Quizzed about alternatives, by a margin of almost four to one consumers believe direct carrier billed mobile payments are more secure than using credit and debit cards for online digital purchases.
Phil Blank, MD, Javelin, says: "If digital merchants simply offered consumers an alternative way to pay, such as mobile carrier based payments, 79% of decisive consumers indicated they would spend more, driving significant new incremental revenue from subscriptions, transactions and purchases."
Recent global research from KPMG revealed that PayPal has overtaken credit cards as a preferred form of payment for consumers shopping on the Web.


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- Articles tagged "google cloud print"
Canon announces six new inkjet printers and four new additions to their ImageClass laser printer line as well. But that's not all; there's also the LE-5W, which is an ultra-portable LED multimedia projector. If you are looking to update or replace your older devices, do check out what's new from Canon.
- M1's SIM-only postpaid plans aim to deliver value, flexibility and generous data
- Microsoft reveals Windows 10 local pricing
- Trend Micro for Windows 10 is a step ahead in more ways than one
- Ouya developers picking up the pieces after Razer's acquisition
- Qualcomm's WiPower wireless charging technology can now charge metal phones
- Razer gobbles up Ouya
- Plextor's M6V is the latest entry-level SSD to hit the stands
- Ultra tough RugGear Apex RG702 coming to Singapore


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Published in News
A-Data readies football themed USB drives
Cebit 2010: Just in time for the World Cup
Good looking USB sticks are always far more popular than dull, run of the mill USBs and unusual design themes can help vendors rake in some cash and distinguish their products from the rest of the pack.
Just in time for the FIFA World Cup in South Africa A-Data came up with a series of small USB drives sporting the football colors of several nations that will take part in the competition. A-Data did a great job creating cute, small players showed on the picture below. Their capacity is 4GB and they should end up on the cheap side.
However, be sure to keep it out of sight when approached by a gang of football hooligans, as they don't appear to be stab proof, much like real humans.