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Luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Bergdorf Goodman and Browns have opened or will open new restaurants this year in cities globally.
It’s a continuation of fashion’s interlinking with food, but the strategy has changed: restaurants bring new customers in and help secure top-client loyalty.
Two businesses are difficult to run simultaneously, and restaurants can take up to two years to break even.
The operations of luxury houses and restaurants have little in common. That hasn’t stopped fashion brands from opening eateries through which they can find new ways to woo customers.
In February, Louis Vuitton ventured into the culinary world for the first time, opening a café and restaurant, Le Café V and Sugalabo V, atop its new Maison Osaka Midosuji in Japan. Bergdorf Goodman opened Goodman’s Bar, a Parisian-inspired bar and restaurant inside its Fifth Avenue men’s store, at the beginning of the year. While its New York location temporarily closed, Tiffany & Co. opened The Blue Box Café on the ground floor of Harrods in February. Details are scarce, but Browns’ new location in London’s Mayfair will include a restaurant when it opens this summer.
With upscale menu items, like Goodman’s $40 roast duck or Sugalabo V’s $59 glass of Krug Grand Cuvée champagne, the restaurants all serve to appeal to — and make more money from — the brands’ target, affluent clientele.
These new eateries join long-standing fashion restaurant plays, including Ralph Lauren’s Polo Bar and 24-year-old Freds, the restaurant inside Barneys’ Madison Avenue flagship that is living on even after the store closed its doors. What’s new is the role these restaurants and cafés play in luxury retailers’ strategies. Faced with online competition, brands need to give customers more of a draw to make a visit. For top customers, they can also host exclusive experiences.


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Toyota and GM recall 662,000 vehicles
Detroit, April 10, 2008
Toyota Motor Corp and General Motors Corp are recalling more than 662,000 vehicles sold in the United States due to defects in power windows, the two companies said.
Toyota will recall 539,500 Corolla and Matrix vehicles for the 2003 and 2004 model years, it said in a statement.
GM said it would recall 122,598 Pontiac Vibe hatchbacks, which share the same platform with Toyota's Matrix and are built by GM in a joint venture with the Japanese automaker.
On vehicles equipped with power windows, the driver and front passenger glass bolts may loosen and cause the door glass to separate from the window regulator, Toyota said. Vehicles equipped with manual windows are not subject to the recall.
Toyota will notify vehicle owners by mail, beginning in late April. It advised owners to contact their local Toyota dealer for inspection and repairs.
Replacement of the driver and front passenger door glass bolts will be done at no charge, Toyota said. - Reuters
More Motoring Stories
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- RAK yacht club enters new partnership
- VW lists recommended retail prices in GCC
- Nissan to recall 841,000 vehicles
- Volkswagen’s new Golf GTI launched in ME
- Nissan ME posts 26pc sales growth in FY2012
- Oman 'must adopt smart road technologies'
- BMW launches the new Z4 in Mideast
- Mannai opens Chevrolet centre in Istanbul
- Aston Martin marks centenary in style

domain: news


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Today marked a significant development in the world of digital securities, as the Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX) announced the immediate listing of tokenized securities on their platform.
The GSX has indicated that the following products will be supported through the use of distributed ledger technologies.
- Corporate Bonds
- Convertible Bonds
- Asset Backed Securities
- Derivative Securities
- Open-Ended Funds
- Closed-Ended Funds
This move is significant, as it marks one of the first major exchanges, globally, to bring official support for such products. The move clearly speaks to the growth and interest in such products occurring worldwide. With digital securities being noted as hot trends for 2019, this announcement comes as no surprise.
Support for these financial instruments was made possible through the STACs protocol – a product of a GSX joint-venture ‘Hashstacs’
“This is a historic moment for GSX, we have worked incredibly hard to reach this point, and we are now at the precipice of a truly transformational period for the capital markets. We now have an unparalleled opportunity for the GSX to become a frontrunner in the emerging digital securities market. We’re pioneering meaningful change, for the betterment of the global financial industry, we have come so far already, and this is only just the beginning.”
Hashstacs is a joint venture that was formed between a trio of companies in late 2018. This venture was undertaken with the goal of expediting the development of blockchain technologies necessary for future industry growth.
Upon launch, Nick Cowan stated,
“This joint venture represents a major step forward in realising the GSX Group’s vision to build a trusted global financial services group for the new digital era, facilitating more efficient scaling and deployment of solutions as we see the tokenisation of financial markets develop. I’m very excited to work alongside the esteemed teams at Chong Sing Fintech and Prime Fintech Co. Ltd. as we collectively strive for blockchain development excellence.”
In the time since its creation, Hashstacs has successfully developed a full suite of services tailored towards lifecycle management of digital securities.
Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX)
The Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GSX) represents the mother company of multiple subsidiaries. These include the Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange (GBX) and GSX Global Markets. As a whole, these companies comprise the GSX Group Ecosystem.
The GSX is overseen by CEO, Nick Cowan.
In Other News
The Gibraltar Stock Exchange, and their subsidiaries, are clear leaders in the world of blockchain. Over the past year, we have seen them announce various partnerships and developments. Below are a few of the times we have detailed such announcements.


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Download our latest podcast here.
Dell optimistic about PC sales
Companies have started to replace PCs they’d put off updating during the recession, and that cycle will take off in the third and fourth quarters as enterprises spend on new hardware while trying to reduce support and maintenance costs, Michael Dell said on Thursday. Client PC purchases took a backseat as enterprises froze IT budgets during the recession, leaving companies with aging hardware and outdated software, the Dell CEO said during the company’s analyst conference in Austin, Texas, which was also webcast.
DRAM makers settle up for price fixing scheme
Thirty-three states, including California, have reached a US$173 million settlement with six DRAM makers alleged to have fixed prices for their products between 1998 and 2002. California and the other states — including Massachusetts, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania — filed a class-action lawsuit against the DRAM makers in July 2006 alleging that a price-fixing scheme hurt consumers, state agencies, universities and other groups. The DRAM manufacturers named in the lawsuit are U.S. companies Micron Technology and NEC Electronics America, as well as Infineon Technologies from Germany, Hynix Semiconductor from South Korea, Elpida Memory from Japan, Mosel Vitelic from Taiwan and their American subsidiaries.
Twitter pays heed to security complaints
Social-networking giant Twitter has agreed to settle a complaint from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission alleging that the company deceived users and put their privacy at risk by failing to take appropriate security safeguards. Hackers were able, on two occasions in early 2009, to gain access to Twitter messages, called tweets, that users had designated as private, and they were able to send out phony tweets pretending to be from U.S. President Barack Obama, Fox News and other organizations, the FTC said.
Google kills two Android apps
Google disclosed in a blog post on Thursday that it remotely removed two applications from Android phones that ran contrary to the terms of the Android Market. A security researcher built and offered the free applications “for research purposes,” wrote Rich Cannings, Android security lead, in the blog post. The application descriptions misrepresented their purpose in order to encourage downloads. The apps weren’t used maliciously and didn’t have permission to access private data.


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Economic development committees could soon be looking in their own back yards to generate more dollars as the High Ground of Texas and the Texas Cattle Feeders Association collaborate to bring value-added beef processing to this region.
Cattle feedlots are a prevalent scene across the region, and of late, heat-and-eat beef products are filling the grocery meat cases. The idea is to bring the processing to the raw product, officials with the two organizations said.
"One of the hottest consumer trends in recent years, at least in the beef industry, is convenient, value-added heat-and-serve beef items," according to Jim Waterfield of Canadian, TCFA chairman. "These items solve a busy mom's biggest problems: How to provide a fast but nutritious and tasty meal for her family."
Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico has long led the nation in fed beef production. Last year, the region produced 7.3 million head - 30 percent of the nation's fed beef, Waterfield said.
"The supply of raw product is here in abundance," he said. "It made sense to us to see if we couldn't attract some value-added processing to our area."
TCFA approached Texas Tech University about doing a feasibility study last year, said Burt Rutherford, TCFA communications director.
Kary Mathis at Texas Tech University produced an economic feasibility study that showed promising numbers, said Lorie Vincent of Stratford, High Ground executive director.
High Ground is a consortium of economic development specialists in many communities in the High Plains and South Plains regions, Vincent said.
She said while many communities have adopted the half-cent sales tax as a way to generate much-needed economic development funds, they don't have the staff or resources to do widespread economic development work.
Vincent said by pooling their talent and resources, the High Ground can represent the region at major trade shows and other events where valuable economic development contacts can be made.
"The (Tech) study has been reviewed by industry professionals, and we're in the process of producing a final product that we can roll out to High Ground communities to use to attract value-added beef processing plants to our area," Vincent said.
Rutherford said, "I think initially we would target the major packers because they already have packing plants located here in the region. They already have a supply of the raw product, boxed beef.
"That was the whole thought behind this project. We have the beef here and in a good supply," he said.
Most packers are moving in the direction of branded beef, and they have been doing so by buying some of the smaller companies, Rutherford said.
"The thought is that although there will be some incentive for an individual entrepreneur to start a company, the trend would be for packers to make this a part of their product line," he said.
The other side is to approach the individual companies to expand their production into this part of the country, Rutherford said.
"The beauty of the Texas Tech study is the economic developer can take this shell, and if they have a company that is generally interested in pursuing relocation to this area, they can sit down and do a confidential feasibility study with that company at essentially no cost," he said.


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E-commerce giant Amazon is putting a substantial amount of resources into making its own AI chatbot called Olympus. Insiders familiar with the matter told Reuters that the company is investing millions of dollars in training its ambitious Large Language Model (LLM) that will rival Google Bard and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Olympus is meant to be integrated with its online store as well as its Alexa smart speakers. It could be unveiled as soon as December as the company looks to catch up with the ongoing AI arms race.
Reuters’ sources report that Olympus has 2 trillion parameters, which puts it ahead of OpenAI’s GPT 4, which reportedly has 1 trillion. Needless to say, this would make Olympus one of the largest AI models available. The people reporting this chose to stay anonymous since this information is not publicly available as of yet.
In Language Model Models (LLMs), parameters refer to internal variables that aid AI in making decisions and predictions. These parameters collaborate to encode linguistic information and interpret intricate language data. Modifying these parameters throughout the training process can improve the AI’s proficiency in language processing and comprehension of new concepts.
The development team for Olympus is led by the former head of Alexa, Rohit Prasad. In his role as the head scientist of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) at Amazon, Prasad assembled a team of researchers previously involved in Alexa AI and the Amazon science team. This collaborative effort aimed to focus on training models and consolidating AI initiatives across the company with dedicated resources.
This isn’t the first time Amazon is working on AI models as the company has also developed similar models in the past such as Titan. Titan’s launch was reportedly delayed due to technical issues and the announcement of ChatGPT, which Amazon executives thought was far superior to Titan.
Amazon has been also working with AI startups as well including Anthropic and AI21 Labs, offering them to Amazon Web Services (AWS) users. Amazon invested a substantial $4 billion into Anthropic back in September this year.
More information about Olympus should surface as its launch date draws near. Stay tuned.


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ABC adds control tower to oversee cargo movements
19 / 12 / 2017
AirBridgeCargo (ABC) has established a new round-the-clock control tower (CT) operation to oversee cargo movements.
The control tower will monitor consignments of special cargoes and respond to service disruptions to ensure the airline "consistently meets customers’ delivery deadlines".
The tower will be managed by a team based in Moscow and provide monitoring of all cargo movements throughout the entire transportation process "from booking to final customer delivery".
The team is responsible for identifying and resolving any potential disruption to planned shipment deliveries, such as schedule disruption, documentation issues and the influence of bad weather conditions.
The control tower team will focus on special cargoes such as time- and temperature-sensitive products, live animals, off-size & heavy cargoes, e-commerce shipments and other commodities requiring extra attention.
ABC general director Sergey Lazarev said: “Our new Control Tower is a ‘point of convergence’ which will accumulate all of our cargo movement data to consistently meet our service commitments, and to take preventative or corrective actions as appropriate when they see a potential disruption developing.
"This will be the foundation of our next step forwards in the arena of special cargoes, and is ultimately designed to provide benefits to final consumers, be it medicines or vaccines for their health and well-being, aircraft engines to resolve AOG situations and ensure passengers reach their destinations in good time, or the on-time delivery of cross-border ecommerce purchases for special occasions."
ABC said its special cargo volumes have grown by 12% year on year in 2017.
Read more freighter operator news


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Dealer group Squire Furneaux has placed two of its showrooms into administration which both held the Saab franchise.
The companies are made up of a Saab automotive dealership in Welwyn Garden City and a Saab automotive dealership and Vauxhall service centre in Dunstable. The companies employ approximately 45 people. Squire Furneux has six other dealerships in the group and they are not affected.
Squire Furneaux has sites representing Vauxhall and Volvo across the Home Counties with sites in Guildford, Hersham, High Wycombe, Maidenhead, Leatherhead and Slough.
Administrators Zolfo Cooper said the administration of Saab GB in November 2011 followed by Saab AB filing for Bankruptcy in December 2011, as well as the current economic climate, has left the companies with "no viable prospect of continued trading".
The majority of staff have been made redundant with immediate effect, while a handful will remain to help wind up the affairs of the companies.
The Administrators will now enter discussions with any interested parties to secure a sale of the companies' assets.
Kevin Coates, at Zolfo Cooper said: “The companies are part of an established business, supported by a team of high quality individuals.
"However, given the ongoing difficulties faced by Saab and Saab GB’s recent administration, we have been left with little alternative but to cease trading the business. We will now enter discussions with interested parties and endeavour to maximise the companies' assets for creditors."


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In the not-too-distant-future, Nicola Pizza will be moving to Route 1 near Lewes, but it hasn’t happened yet, which means the restaurant was able to celebrate one more milestone in downtown Rehoboth Beach – 50 years of business.
“It feels great. It’s gone by so fast. It feels like we’re celebrating the first year,” said Nick Caggiano Sr., who founded Nicola Pizza in 1971 with his late wife Joan. “It’s been a great run. It feels like it’s all just happened.”
The Caggianos opened the original Nicola Pizza on North First Street, which quickly became famous for its Nic-o-Bolis, and then opened a second location on Rehoboth Avenue in 2010.
To celebrate its golden anniversary, Nicola Pizza was giving away T-shirts, pens and postcards June 11. Both restaurants had a display of red and yellow balloons with a big 50 on top, while the original location on North First Street had more red and yellow balloons inside, and a spot set up outside for people to take pictures on the special day.
The anniversary gift customers were most happy about was the rolled-back price of a large cheese pizza, because Nicola was offering it at the price when it opened in 1971 – $2.25.
Kelly Munyan, longtime general manager and the daughter of Joan’s twin sister Janet, helped organize the 50 days of Nicola Pizza trivia that took place on the restaurant’s Facebook page in the lead-up to the big day.
“Even I learned stuff about the restaurant,” said Munyan. “Some of our customers know the history of Nicola better than the family and employees who have been here a long time.”
Munyan was busy handing out goodies. She knew the pizza special would be a hit, but not how big of a hit.
“I’m not sure how many pizzas we’re going to sell,” she said, laughing. “It’s summertime, on a Friday. That’s why we didn’t advertise it too much.”
Tom Graham and Scott Forman aren’t decades-old customers, but they have been coming to Nicola Pizza regularly since 2012. Finishing up one of the cheese pizzas, Forman said the pizza always tastes good.
“It’s even better when it’s at the special price,” he said.
Graham estimated they come at least once a month – especially for Eagles games. Due to COVID, the day of the anniversary was the first time Graham and Forman had eaten in the restaurant for over a year.
“It feels good to be eating in the restaurant,” said Graham. “I’m going to miss this place.”
Waitress Pat Mutchler has been at Nicola for 43 of the restaurant’s 50 years. She said she hadn’t planned on being around this long, but it’s been a place she’s felt comfortable for a long time.
“I wouldn’t still be here, if I wasn’t,” said Mutchler, in between serving tables.
Ed Colodny and his family weren’t in town specifically for the celebration, but when the 95-year-old heard it was happening, he made sure to visit – he had eaten at Nicola the summer it first opened. It’s been a lot of hard work and dedication, said Colodny to Caggiano, who returned the compliment.
“It’s been a success because of customers like you,” said Caggiano.


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Nokia 3310 Is Relaunching At Mobile World Congress 2017 This Month
Forget all about the Nokia Android smartphones expected to be launched at Mobile World Congress, which kicks off later this month. The legendary Nokia 3310 is making a comeback!
It will literally steal the show at MWC 2017, where Nokia’s expected to relaunch the much beloved 3310 handset -- easily the most popular (Nokia) phone in history! Not only that, we have no doubt that the Nokia 3310 is also the sturdiest phone ever made -- just ask this ex-British Army man, who’s Nokia 3310 has survived war and washing machine to still work amazingly well even after 17 years! It’s unreal.
Multiple reports are claiming that the Nokia 3310 will reappear on the stage at MWC 2017 and be available for purchase around the world soon after. For example, it’s European price is being reported to be set at 59 Euro, which is just over Rs 4,000 in India (as a direct comparison). Not a bad price, either.
There’s no word yet on what the exact specs will be on the new Nokia 3310, or if it will sport any “smartphone” features, but we won’t have to wait for too long to find out what the renewed Nokia 3310 will be like.
Apart from the Nokia 3310, HMD (which is manufacturing the new Nokia phones now) will also reveal other new smartphones at MWC 2017 – the Nokia 3, 5 and 6, which are all expected to run on Android OS.


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ZURICH (Reuters) - LafargeHolcim has completed the sale of its Indonesia business in a deal which valued the unit at $1.75 billion, the cement maker said on Friday.
Proceeds from the sale to Semen Indonesia will be used to pay down LafargeHolcim's debts, the company said. LafargeHolcim held 80.6 percent in the business, giving it $1.41 billion from the sale.
LafargeHolcim said last year it wanted to raise around 2 billion Swiss francs ($2.01 billion) from selling assets and could leave two or three countries to concentrate on the United States, Latin America, India and Africa.
($1 = 0.9953 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by John Revill; editing by Thomas Seythal)


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Sydecar, a California-based frictionless deal execution platform for venture investors, announced that it has secured $8.3M in seed investment funding led by Deciens Capital. Other investors, including Pipeline Capital Partners, Anthemis Group, and Hustle Fund VC, participated.
Additional angel investors and strategic operators also participated in the round, including Mike Vaughan, (Former COO at Venmo); Shai Goldman (XIR Lead at Brex); Nik Milanovic (General Partner at The Fintech Fund); Rohini Pandhi (Product Lead at Square); Daniel Khan (Open Finance Lead at Plaid); Samir Kaji (CEO & Founder of Allocate); Karim Bhalwani (Head of BD & Sales at Remitly); Anil D. Aggarwal (Founder & CEO at Fintech Meetup); Winter Mead (CEO & Managing Partner at Coolwater Capital); Jonathan Weiner (Founder of Money 2020); Maia Bittner (Voice of the Member at Chime); and Hayden Simmons (Founder at Rally Cap Ventures).
How will the funding be used?
The latest capital will enable the company to hire talents across product and engineering, customer experience, marketing, and operations. The company is also planning to expand its product offerings, including an upcoming enterprise integration.
What does Sydecar solve?
The opportunity in venture capital is greater than ever. But for aspiring investors, getting started can be intimidating, expensive, and time-consuming. Sydecar was founded based on the idea that anybody should be able to fund entrepreneurs who are changing the world.
“After launching a venture fund with my co-founder David in 2018, I became aware of how painfully clunky and unnecessarily complex the fund formation process can be,” says Nik Talreja, founder & CEO of Sydecar. “There was an immense amount of friction between putting capital to work, establishing relationships, and backing founders.”
The company aims to make private investing simple so the entrepreneurs can focus on what matters most.
“We created Sydecar to be the product we wished we had when we were starting out,” says co-founder and Sydecar’s CBO, David Meister. “Our goal is to help anyone invest in the entrepreneurs they believe in, without needing a personal team of lawyers and accountants.”
Frictionless deal execution platform
Founded by Nik Talreja and David Meister in 2021, Sydecar is a frictionless deal execution platform for venture investors.
The company’s platform handles back-office operations for venture investors, automating banking, compliance, contracts, and reporting.
As per the company’s claims, this streamlines the entire ecosystem by removing friction from the deal-making process. The US company has already supported deals from $25k to $100M for thousands of investors.
To date, they have helped thousands of investors close over $350M in deals, both through direct deals on their platform and through partnerships with companies like Stonks and Allocate.
In terms of the investment vehicle, Sydecar platform supports special purpose vehicles (“SPVs”) established in the state of Delaware. Further, the platform allows venture investors to keep up with the pace of the market, launching investment vehicles in minutes rather than days or weeks.
Based out of San Francisco, Deciens Capital is a venture capital firm that focuses on making angel and seed investments. The company invests time and money in founders who are seeking to reduce inefficiencies in large industries with demonstrable disruptive information technology.
“At Deciens, we believe in building the next generation of financial services,” says Daniel Kimerling, Founder & Managing Partner at Deciens Capital.
He adds, “Sydecar sits at the intersection of financial, legal, and technological innovation. With their product-first approach comes the ability to push the boundaries of the possibility of private investment through thoughtfully architected investment structures. We’re excited to not only support them as investors but to see how their product changes how we operate and work ourselves as a VC.”


text: Independents struggle to find a place in TV distribution market December 15, 2004 12:00am Source: Reed Business Information - US Weekly Variety: NEW YORK Jeff Smulyan tells anyone who will listen that he=20 has a plan to take the TV distribution business=20 back from cable and satellite. Smulyan, CEO of Indianapolis-based Emmis=20 Communications, decries the "middlemen" ---=20 cable, satellite, and soon the Bells --- that=20 "take our product and profit from it." Here's his plan: Broadcasters were granted reams=20 of digital spectrum back in 1996 by the U.S.=20 government to convert to digital broadcasts. It's=20 enough spectrum for a company like Emmis to=20 provide a low-cost, terrestrial pay TV service=20 that would have local channels plus about 25 of=20 the top cable channels. Best of all, the service would cost about $25 a=20 month, about half the cost of most cable bills. But after months of talks with local=20 broadcasters and the networks, the plan remains=20 in limbo, a new competitor has launched a similar=20 service, and it's starting to look like the Baby=20 Bells are going to get into the pay TV business=20 before local broadcasters get their act together. More than 80% of the American public receive=20 their local broadcasts by subscribing to cable or=20 satellite. And each year the cable guy raises=20 rates and takes a bigger bite of local=20 advertising --- the lifeblood of local=20 broadcasters. But Emmis commissioned a study that found a=20 low-cost pay TV service would have strong=20 national appeal. In a survey of 1,000 households,=20 the Monitor Group found 29% of those subscribing=20 to cable and 26% of satellite customers would=20 consider a switch. Even more encouraging, 20% of those who=20 subscribe to neither cable nor satellite said=20 they were "likely" to give such a service a try. "There's a huge hole in the market," Smulyan=20 told a recent investor conference in Gotham. "I=20 haven't had one person who has studied this and=20 not fallen in love with it." The trouble is, getting fiercely independent=20 broadcasters to work together is something akin=20 to herding cats. Broadcasters such as Citadel=20 Communications, E.W. Scripps and Media General=20 signed on to Smulyan's plan last spring, but=20 talks have stalled with the networks, which are=20 owned by conglomerates that also own cable=20 channels. The first digital TV service to test such a=20 business model has already launched on a small=20 scale. Salt Lake City-based startup U.S. Digital=20 Television has partnered with local broadcasters=20 around the country to launch it's own terrestrial=20 pay TV service and recently signed its 10,000th=20 customer. USDTV sells a digital antenna at Wal-Mart for=20 $99 and then offers a $20 subscription for local=20 channels and 12 top cable channels, including=20 Discovery, ESPN and Lifetime. USDTV, which operates in Salt Lake, Albuquerque=20 and Las Vegas, signed seven-year agreements with=20 cable channels and leases spectrum from=20 broadcasters. USDTV shares revenue with=20 broadcasters and pays retransmission fees. <<Weekly Variety -- 12/13/04, p. 33>> << Copyright =A92004 Reed Business Information - US >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.


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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Personal-computer stocks searched for direction Tuesday after J.P. Morgan lowered its PC growth outlook due to weakness in the consumer market.
Morgan analyst Bill Shope said, in a research note, that he lowered his year-over-year growth forecast for the consumer PC segment in the December quarter to 20 percent from 22 percent because recent order checks "suggest the holiday season will remain muted." Shope also reduced his consumer growth outlook for 2005 to 4 percent from 7 percent.
Shope said it appears Dell Inc.
Shope also lowered his rating on H-P to "neutral" from "overweight" because of the company's broad exposure in the consumer PC market. H-P gets about 30 percent of its total PC revenue from the consumer market.
H-P fell 8 cents to close at $18.98, while Dell rose 44 cents to $36.10.
Separately, Shope raised his rating on IBM Corp.


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Attorney General Bondi's Weekly Briefing
Working with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office this week, we stopped a massive smash and grab theft ring responsible for nearly one million dollars in property loss. Members of the crime organization face charges connected to burglaries of at least 14 businesses, spanning several Florida counties.
According to a multi-agency investigation, the crimes occurred from May through September and followed a similar pattern. The method of operation involved members of the ring smashing a hole in the wall of a business, rushing inside, disabling the security system and fleeing with thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise.
The investigation estimates the ring is responsible for more than $830,000 in stolen goods and property damage. Businesses targeted include boating, discount, liquor and tire stores among others. The burglaries occurred in Hillsborough, Manatee, Pinellas and Polk counties. Most of the defendants reside in Miami. Stolen items include cigarettes, liquor, tires, a hand gun, boating and fishing equipment, and a digital video recorder system.
Law enforcement arrested multiple suspects in this case. All face charges of armed burglary, conspiracy, grand theft, grand theft firearm, grand theft motor vehicle and RICO. My Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Rita Peters will prosecute these defendants.
For more about this case, click here.
Burglaries can wreak havoc on businesses but there are steps owners and employees can take to protect their property. For tips about preventing business burglaries, please visit my website.
This week, Attorney General Pam Bondi participated in the very first Florida Commission on the Status of Women’s Lead, Lunch and Learn event in Tampa. The Commission honored Attorney General Bondi for her service to the state of Florida. Attorney General Bondi also chatted with Commissioner Karin Hoffman also about her experience as Florida's Attorney General.
Attorney General Bondi, Attorney General-elect Ashley Moody and the Florida Commission on the Status of Women pause for a picture during the event.
Attorney General Bondi and Attorney General-elect Moody answering questions during the luncheon. Commissioner Hoffman moderated the event.
Attorney General Bondi wants to thank everyone donating to help survivors of Hurricane Michael. As part of the Florida Highway Patrol’s Stuff the Charger Food Drive, Attorney General Bondi’s Office collected canned goods, water, baby supplies and more. All the donated items collected through the drive will be given to families in need just in time for Thanksgiving.


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Sometimes, discovering a free app is like finding gold; other times, it’s more like finding a rock covered in gold paint. Case in point: While we really dig the free version of HoursTracker HD for iPad, the freebie of the iPhone version is severely hobbled — and not nearly as useful.
Apple may be looking to bring iWork document editing to the cloud as it hunts for an iWork Software QA Engineer with a new job listing on its website. Based at Apple’s Cupertino campus, the successful candidate will work on “the next generation of Desktop, Mobile and Web application/services.”
The poor working conditions in Foxconn’s Chinese factories have been widely documented for some time now, but the reports have seemingly done very little to dissuade workers from applying for Foxconn jobs.
Thousands have reportedly turned up to the company’s Chengdu and Zhengzhou plants in the hope of securing a “summer job” that is likely to involve the assembly of Apple’s new iPhone, and possibly even an “iPad mini.”


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The XFM website has kindly informed us that, if we so desire, we could be the proud owners of a giant blue sofa that once belonged to Damon Albarn.
The "unique electric blue 12 piece sofa" has been placed on ebay by the owners of Albarn’s former residence on Chesterton Road. According to the seller the sofa is "Comfortable, stylish, and funky [and] comprises of six base pieces and six sausage cushions and is light in weight, with removable covers in Blue fabric."
We're also told that the covers of this unique item "are worn out and stained from use."
The Albarn sofa, complete with Albarn stains, is currenty at £272, and you have until 8:21 tonight to get your bid in.


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Playboy’s European mobile product will offer video clips, mobile TV and games
Understanding global consumer trends and the new digital movement, the Playboy Media Group has a particularly large mission – to deliver the Playboy experience to anyone, anytime, anywhere, and in a format and product-set that its audience demands.
To accomplish this goal, Playboy distributes its products globally, with a strong focus on regional differences and local nuances to deploy successful strategies.
“As one of the most iconic consumer brands in the world, we constantly challenge ourselves to offer more interactive experiences for our customers across all platforms,” said Ed Lang, senior vice president and general manager of mobile and international online at Playboy Enterprises, New York.
“Our target audience demands anytime, anywhere, on-demand and on-the-go delivery of sexy, sophisticated and stylish products and services that reflect the depth and breadth of the Playboy brand,” he said.
“We target existing customers seeking an exciting and unique mobile experience and new consumers who are interactive with social media and digital forms of expression.”
Another road to the Playboy Mansion
In North America and in the United States specifically, Playboy has been working hard to extend its brand onto the mobile platform. The company has been aggressively pursuing a multi-pronged strategy toward this end.
Playboy Mobile has launched several new programs nationwide that deliver content through both proven and emerging mobile-distribution channels.
The company has focused much of its efforts on generation “D” [digital] consumers ages 18-24.
Making a scene
That focus includes direct-to-consumer products, premium and ad-supported service offerings and new content and programming.
“We plan to extend offerings from our domestic Playboy franchises and media divisions, all edited for mobile, as well as produce new programming developed specifically for the mobile device and on-the-go audiences,” Mr. Lang said.
“This focus has broadened our heritage-rich brand’s reach created by our magazine and television properties,” he said.
“By creating new and engaging lifestyle-focused content and programming, delivered in new ways, we have exposed more facets of the Playboy brand and created a new, loyal and active user-base.”
In September 2007 Playboy Mobile launched an ad-supported, lifestyle-inspired WAP site.
It all began when the brand realized that it needed to move beyond just premium content sales through other channels. It launched the WAP site, delivering a variety of content offerings including the best of Playboy’s TV, print, online and international content and programming.
Playboy got together with mobile site developer and ad network Quattro Wireless to deliver a back-end technology that could support its development and delivery needs.
The site launched last fall with a full suite of non-nude, lifestyle-based content. Within the first 45 days, Playboy exceeded all of its launch metrics.
Playboy sold the majority of its ad inventory, attracted more than 2 million visitors and delivered 60,000-plus daily impressions.
Mobile site advertisers include Sony Pictures, DirectTV and Lionsgate Films.
In spring 2008 Playboy invested further in its WAP offering, developing and delivering an advanced user-interface – an optimized version for iPhones. It also launched new content offerings, such as more original mobile programming, videos and other multimedia assets.
“We plan to increase our promotional offerings to our sponsors and advertisers,” Mr. Lang said.
“These include the addition of branded microsites, sponsor-specific premium content delivery and sophisticated messaging solutions, all expected to be available by Q4 of this year,” he said.
Prior to that, in February 2008, Playboy Mobile had launched the Miss Playboy Mobile nationwide model search.
Playboy Mobile invited women, 18 and older, to register and build online profiles in their quest to be crowned the inaugural Miss Playboy Mobile 2008.
The contest received more than 900 entrants for the competition within the first week and launched a four-week promotion with 100 girls.
Selected entrants were encouraged to promote themselves to friends and fans through their social-networking profiles, both on their own and by leveraging a promotional widget tool created and launched by Playboy Mobile.
Nine finalists were selected and flown to Las Vegas for a finale event held at the Hugh Hefner Sky Villa located in the Palms Casino Resort.
Seattle stunner Amber Jay, 25, won the 2008 crown, a $5,000 cash-prize and a professional photo shoot at the world-famous Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.
Soon after, in April 2008, Playboy Mobile launched the Playboy Audience Network.
The company announced a suite of digital partnerships introducing the Playboy Audience Network (PAN), which initially includes YouTube, Break, Veoh, Howcast and Metacafe.
“This is a deliberate strategic effort to expand our existing audience into greater demographics and networks by making our content, particularly video, available in more places online,” Mr. Lang said.
“On the mobile front, we launched mPAN with an initial content deal with MixerCast, a social-media marketing tool and services provider, who also created our Miss Playboy Mobile social-media widget,” he said.
Additionally, Playboy partnered with mywaves, a leading mobile video destination, to deliver Playboy lifestyle-inspired video content.
Mywaves is Playboy’s first ad- supported mobile video distribution deal to handle syndication of a content channel. Similar deals will be announced later this year.
Playboy Mobile measures the effectiveness of its mobile initiatives, considering metrics such as unique visitors, overall impressions, views of multimedia content, sales and downloads, as well as via brand awareness among consumers and media.
“Playboy Mobile’s 2008 strategy is to extend the Playboy brand to a broader audience via mobile, demonstrate the depth of the brand through its existing and growing lifestyle offerings, and enhance our partnerships to deliver new mobile applications such as mobile games with THQ Wireless and greater touch points that better expand and integrate into consumers’ lifestyles,” Mr. Lang said.
These initiatives include new community-centric, social-networking applications that will leverage Playboy’s global partners, and original mobile content, such as animations and localized entertainment recommendations.
Playboy Mobile in the U.S. will become a hub complementing its existing online destination for interacting with Playboy properties on other mobile devices.
Playboy’s mobile marketing effort towards new and existing customers comprises a three-pronged strategy.
First, Playboy aims to leverage mobile technology as brand extensions, i.e. taking existing content, applications and events from other parts of Playboy’s businesses and presenting them in mobile form.
Next, the brand will expand its mobile services to advertising partners by providing cross-platform opportunities such as mobile ads on mobile sites, sponsorship of mobile-originated promotions, and microsite content portals offering exclusive content.
Lastly, Playboy plans to investigate “product-marketing” of its mobile content and services directly to consumers as it extends its distribution geographically and through evolving business channels.
“Playboy’s decision to bolster its mobile efforts stems from a strong desire to broaden its audience and continue engaging with Playboy aficionados in non-traditional ways,” Mr. Lang said.
“Playboy Mobile helps extend online content, as well as the magazine – the world’s best-selling men’s monthly publication and the backbone of the brand – in real-time, making it more timely and accessible,” he said.
Benefits of mobile
Generally speaking, mobile presents challenges to all media companies, but also creates opportunities if used correctly.
In a time when information changes by the minute, Playboy can make its content available in more places and more quickly by leveraging the growing number of mobile consumers.
“By example, mobile is the best channel for many of our lifestyle campaigns, because it allows us to take the initiatives on-the-go and on-demand, while hitting our target demographic and driving higher brand engagement,” Mr. Lang said.
Mobile entertainment in the U.S. appears to be in transition from an emerging personalization business, to a credible ad-supported model creating many hybrid business opportunities.
This creates an opportunity for brands and media companies to leverage another digital platform for the profitable distribution of experiential entertainment content.
Playboy’s philosophy on mobile is shared between these two models: selling its content in premium offerings and services similar to other content producers, while also expanding through mPAN to generate growing ad revenue.
As industry experts predict, the next 12 months to 18 months should see noticeable growth in ad revenue.
“We aim to position ourselves in such a way to be in an early place to capture significant spend on mobile by having a compelling and engaging mobile offering including our mobile site, mobile messaging and alerts, social-media offerings accessible via mobile devices and interactive communities and online extensions,” Mr. Lang said.
In addition, Playboy is exploring product bundles and purchasing options for consumers using mobile payments – as an extension to the publisher’s existing ecommerce businesses – by using mobile-billing integration.
Leveraging the success of the inaugural Miss Playboy Mobile 2008 competition, which targeted only the U.S., Playboy will expand its search next year with a global competition.
For the worldwide contest, Playboy will be tapping its international-publishing and digital partners, using the online community and coupling it with the hundreds of millions of mobile-phone users worldwide.
“Our intent is to create a broader brand interaction play engaging a very large young male and female audience with Playboy in a new way around the globe,” Mr. Lang said.
“We plan to leverage social media in new and exciting ways to create repeat engagement and build brand affinity with new consumers,” he said.
For its partners, Playboy plans to deliver a promotional program to drive in-territory revenue opportunities and deepen local brand affinity.
In September 2008 Playboy will re-launch PlayboyMobile.com.
The re-launch will result in a new comprehensive Internet portal featuring a storefront offering personalization content, as well as expanded multimedia content such as “Playboy on the Scene,” “Miss Playboy Mobile” and “Playboy Around the World.”
Users also will be able to register for free subscriptions to video content delivered weekly, which will be sponsored by Playboy Mobile advertisers.
PlayboyMobile.com will serve as the hub for Playboy Mobile’s Web and mobile Web sites. Community features will be added, providing a social experience between the PC and mobile platforms.
Also, Playboy Mobile will launch a suite of mobile messaging services in September.
The strategy encompasses text and multimedia messaging and spans obvious offerings such as text alerts when Internet and mobile properties are updated, as well as audio and video delivered via MMS.
“Messaging gives Playboy an opportunity to grow a database of users who are interested in finding out about new and exciting products, services and contests, as well as a quantifiable user base which will be used to monetize the messaging channel,’ Mr. Lang said.


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With a prestigious Elle Décor 2011 design award tucked under their belt, PILINGPALANG designers Judy Kim and Deng BingBing solidified their status as a frontrunner in the ceramics industry and, another milestone reached, opened up shop earlier this year in one of the labyrinthine alleyways making up Shanghai’s artsy Tianzifang. The first brick and mortar home for PILINGPALANG, the small space is every bit as bright and colourful as the brand itself, with pastel and printed products lining the glossy white shelves, and floor-to-ceiling windows inviting onlookers in.
With their 2010 collection debut at the renowned Maison&Objet Paris, Kim and Deng’s range of ceramic, lacquer, and cloisonné objects has always been handmade and inspired by Oriental symbolism, with key motifs like lanterns, Chinese drums, and gingko leaves influencing pattern and form of classic items like teapots and snuff boxes. But with PILINGPALANG’s commitment to quality from creation to delivery, the result is conversation-starter everyday objects like cloisonné Tiffin stacks, geometric-printed tableware, and colourful ceramic vases with painted caricatures originally sketched by Deng at the ripe age of 8. And with infinite inspirations pulled from centuries of history and creative renditions of classic themes, these objects also make exquisite gifts for the upcoming holiday season. Home is where the art is!


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Snakes, hedgehogs, sheep and dogs. Pet Expo is a 2-day consumer tradeshow that is open to the public at the PNE showing all sorts of werid and wonderful pets. Check out these photos to see just some of the hundreds of pets at the show.
Six of the 10 highest paid public servants in B.C., including one who makes $1.2 million, work for an agency many British Columbians have probably never heard of: the B.C. Investment Management Corporation. Data from the latest version of The Vancouver Sun’s exclusive public-sector salary database reveals the six, who invest money on behalf of public-sector pension plans, got year-over-year raises in 2012 of at least 20 per cent each.


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Following limited access since late 2010, Microsoft have opened up the Office 365 beta on to a widespread global audience. To many Office 365 is a new product – but for a few million already running Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), Office Live Small Business, and Live@edu – it is a successor to those products.
Office 365 is a cloud offering delivering a bundle of the latest versions of Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Lync, and Microsoft Office via the Internet. And as I reported last year, Microsoft have dramatically reduced pricing on their cloud offerings compared with the point they started at. It is understood that Office 365 pricing will be even more compelling that current BPOS pricing in most cases.
Monthly subscription prices will start at US$6 per user with local pricing varying by region (approx $9 is anticipated starting point in NZ). Expect higher pricing (up to $US25) for enterprise versions – some of which include the full version of Microsoft Office for local installation on a PC or Laptop. It is also likely there will be a small discount available for charitable/not-for-profit organisations.
In initial testing I have been extremely impressed with Office 365 – a dramatic difference to other online suites such as Zoho Office Suite and Google Apps. I’ll feed back more as I put it through it paces a little more.
Follow @Office365NZ on Twitter for New Zealand specific news about Office 365.


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ManpowerGroup named a top company for women entrepreneurs
- Sarah Hauer, The Business Journal
ManpowerGroup, the Milwaukee-based staffing giant, has been named one of America’s top corporations for women’s business enterprises by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.
The 14th annual list recognizes 32 corporations for developing and driving best practices across their organizations that result in productive business partnerships with women entrepreneurs and valuable products and services for their customers.
“Thanks to the extraordinary leadership of our Top Corporations, women’s businesses are generating strategies and solutions for meeting the fast-changing needs of today’s marketplace,” Pamela Prince-Eason, president and CEO of WBENC said in a press release Friday. “Together they are driving the innovation that fuels a stronger economy and creates jobs.”
The corporations will be honored at the WBENC Summit & Salute to Women’s Business Enterprises March 13-14 in Baltimore.
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Reputation is 100%-dependent on landscape comprehension, so brands in Africa need to understand cultural diversity across the continent...
Africa is an ideal market for brand holders and counterfeiters as growth in brand investment creates demand...
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has released a report on Malawi which is trying to establish on how monetary policy instruments can be used to encourage Malawi onto a path of employment-generating growth. The report titled Macroeconomic policy for employment creation: The Case for Malawi released last month has identified three policy areas for consideration.
Gregory Gondwe: @Kalipochi 2 Nov 2011
The Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) has sought assistance from established firms or advertising agencies to provide currency public sensitisation service throughout the country on its behalf after the country has been badly hit by fake currency circulation.
Gregory Gondwe: @Kalipochi 27 Oct 2011
Fresh Living, the food magazine on South African shelves, continues to expand on its African footprint as it goes on sale this month in Mauritius.
10 Oct 2011
Malawi's central bank has issued a warning to the country after being severely hit by counterfeit notes of its biggest bill of 500 kwacha, a situation the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) governor Dr. Perks Ligoya has described as undermining the integrity of the national currency.
Gregory Gondwe 30 Sep 2011
One of Malawi's two mobile phone companies, Telekom Networks Malawi Limited (TNM), which is incorporated in Malawi as a licensed mobile telecommunications operator has announced a 23% growth which the company has attributed to various innovative product offerings and promotions.
Gregory Gondwe 12 Sep 2011
Mozambique's newest privately-owned full service bank, Banco Único, opened its doors to the public this week as a sign to further confide in foreign investors interest of the country and in southern Africa's growth potential.
1 Sep 2011
The newly appointed chairperson of the African Association of Central Banks (AACB), Perks Ligoya who is also governor for the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM), said he will now fast track the establishment of African Central Bank which has been on the card for some time now.
Gregory Gondwe 19 Aug 2011
Packaging Industries Malawi (PIM) Limited has been allowed by the commercial court to delist from the Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) following a decision from the company's minority shareholders to sell their shares to South African-based Transmar Limited. PIM, established in 1969, was listed on the Malawi Stock Exchange in 1998.
Gregory Gondwe 13 Jul 2011
British Petroleum (BP) Malawi has become part of a US$296 million acquisition of Trafigula Group's PUMA Energy that bought BP assets in five Southern African countries of Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, and Tanzania. BP Malawi was co-owned by BP Africa and Malawi's conglomerate Press Corporation Limited (PCL).
Gregory Gondwe 17 Jun 2011
CAPE TOWN: The first phase of setting up a free trade area across 26 countries in Africa is expected to come into effect in three years, trade and industry minister Rob Davies said on Monday, 13 June 2011.
14 Jun 2011
Malawi's position paper presented at the 10th African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) forum in Lusaka, Zambia has asked the US government to simplify its import approval procedures - without in any way sacrificing safety - in order to facilitate greater trade from Africa.
Gregory Gondwe 13 Jun 2011
Traders and consumers were last week surprised to find that fifty kwacha bank notes that were purportedly meant to be circulated on 30 June 2011 were already on the market. The Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) confirmed that it has indeed released millions of 50 kwacha notes into circulation over one month ahead of due time.
Gregory Gondwe 6 Jun 2011
Malawi's finance minister Ken Kandodo delivered the 2011/ 2012 budget speech last month, which aims at ending the forex shortage which has scared away investors and is threatening Malawi's economic growth. In the K307bn budget, Kandodo said government acknowledged the forex problems within the country.
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The pulling out of donors in Malawi forced President Bingu wa Mutharika to announce on Monday, 23 May 2011 that, for the first time ever, Malawi will run a zero-deficit national budget. The announcement was made during his state of the nation address for 2011 which signaled the opening of the 2011/2012 budget meeting in Lilongwe.
Gregory Gondwe 25 May 2011
The European Union, mid last week, announced the approval of €161 million (approximately MWK 34 billion) that will go towards a package of six strategic programmes. This assistance is in line with Malawi's 2010 Annual Action Programme under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF). About €12 million (approximately MKW 2.8 billion) of this money will go towards a new Capacity Building Programme for Trade and Private Sector Development.
Gregory Gondwe 23 May 2011
A billion Africans and 50 million bank accounts. In South Africa, credit cards are used by only 16.5% of the population (2008). No African country comes close to 1% of total retail spend spent online - the magic figure which constitutes the tipping point for digital retail growth. No wonder, then, that the ecommerce market in Africa hasn't bloomed.
Herman Manson: @marklives 12 May 2011
Driving through Malawi's capital, Lilongwe, it is difficult to miss the imposing building under construction in the city centre. It's the country's first five-star hotel, US$90 million worth of well-appointed rooms, a state-of-the-art conference centre and 14 opulent presidential suites.
Claire Ngozo 28 Apr 2011
If there were any doubts that the future of tobacco, which is Malawi's top forex earner, is bleak, this year's goings at the country's tobacco auction floors have strengthened this case. Over 70% of Malawi's annual foreign exchange is accrued through tobacco exports while government also rakes in over 40% of its taxes and fees revenue from the crop.
Gregory Gondwe 7 Apr 2011
LILONGWE: An ardent listener to the radio, small-scale cotton farmer Mercy Kaduya from Chikhwawa in Nsanje in southern Malawi has just heard an item during the international news segment that cotton prices have hit a record high on the international market.
Claire Ngozo 30 Mar 2011
NEW YORK, US: Consumer confidence fell in 25 out of 52 countries in Q4 2010 as hope for a global economic recovery evaporated at the end of last year, according to the latest edition of the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index, which tracks consumer confidence, major concerns and spending intentions among online consumers.
27 Jan 2011
The Banker, a global banking and finance industry journal, has named Standard Bank 2010's Best Bank in Africa and best bank in South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
8 Dec 2010
NEW YORK, US: After an upbeat start to the year with two consecutive quarters of increases in optimism, global consumer confidence fell three points in September to an Index of 90 as consumers' hopes for a full economic recovery this year fades in most parts of the world, according to the latest edition of the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index.
27 Oct 2010
BLANTYRE: The Malawian government has again stood firm in the face of calls by the European Union (EU) to sign an economic partnership agreement (EPA) - even after top-level EU officials visited southern Africa to convince it to put pen to paper.
Claire Ngozo 2 Aug 2010
LILONGWE: The Malawian government's new cost-cutting prohibition on the hosting of conferences, training sessions and workshops on the shores of Lake Malawi has hit small-scale merchants who ply their trade on the roadsides and beaches of the fresh-water lake.
Claire Ngozo 27 Jul 2010


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Modex 2012 show floor map
Get the lay of the land around the Georgia World Congress Center for Modex 2012, February 6-9.
Latest NewsState of Logistics 2016: Pursue mutual benefit Cranes going higher at Port of Oakland’s largest marine terminal Robotic Industries Association announces winners of Engelberger Robotics Awards FedEx, USPS extend air transport contract to 2024 U.S.-NAFTA freight rises for third time in five months in December, reports BTS More News
Latest ResourceThe Internet of Things and the Modern Supply Chain Learn today how the internet of things is transforming supply chain operations.
Held for the first time ever, in Atlanta, MODEX 2012 is the nation’s newest expo for material handling, supply chain and logistics solutions. The Georgia World Congress Center will host more than 20,000 visitors to the industry’s premier trade show and educational conference, sponsored by the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA).
Spread over four days, attendees will find more than 500 exhibits, three keynotes, 70 show floor educational seminars, and no fewer than 30 different educational sessions and networking events presented by 17 different co-located partners. MODEX is not only a new show for MHIA, but a new format in a new town.
Modex 2012 is scheduled to be held February 6-9, 2012 in Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center. The tradeshow will showcase the latest manufacturing, distribution and supply chain solutions in the material handling and logistics industry. Modern’s complete Modex 2012 coverage.
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In this festive season, the Indian real estate market is abuzz with festive deals that promise not only financial benefits but also the fulfilment of homeownership dreams.
New Delhi: Starting from Dussehra to Diwali, this festive season is not just a time for joyous celebrations and family gatherings, but also heralds a period of delightful opportunities within the Indian real estate sector. For both potential homeowners and investors, this time signifies a propitious moment to make substantial decisions and financial commitments. It is during this season that developers and real estate firms roll out special offers and incentives to attract prospective home buyers. This season, the Indian real estate market is abuzz with festive deals that promise not only financial benefits but also the fulfilment of homeownership dreams. In this article, lets discuss how exciting offers and investment prospects in the Indian real estate scenario helps prospective home buyers.
Speaking to India.com, Sarveshaa SB, Managing Director of BHADRA Group, said with a surge in bookings as well sales in residential space in the last couple of months, developers and property advisors looking forward to a better sales and increase in buying.
He said beyond the allure of new beginnings and cherished traditions, the festive season brings a lot of offers and incentives which actually translates from contemplation to actually purchasing.
“The possibility of obtaining tax benefits makes this investment choice particularly attractive. This auspicious festive season, homebuyers are not merely interested; they are also keenly interested about finalizing their property during the market’s shift towards committed buyers,” he said.
Jajit Menon, Director – Sales, Marketing, CRM & Product, Shriram Properties Ltd, emphasized the importance of customer-centric approaches during this festive season, saying, “In our commitment to prioritizing our customers, especially during the festive season, we have curated special offerings for customers making bookings across all our projects in Bengaluru and Chennai. Moreover, in Kolkata, we’re excited to present a unique opportunity with Zero FRC and Clubhouse charges.”
Karishmah Siingh, VP – Sales, CRM & Marketing, Sattva Group, highlighted the growing enthusiasm in the market, stating, “The months of August and September observed a notable increase in sales and bookings throughout India’s major cities, a trend we anticipate will persist through the current festive quarter i.e. September-October-November.”
He said as the festive season unfolds, the residential market is bracing for new launches accompanied by lucrative deals, thereby representing an ideal moment for customers to secure their ideal residences.
“In this festive period we are poised to witness a substantial surge in our sales and our commitment is centred on the delivery of projects that meld modern aesthetics with environmentally conscious living. It’s a time when we bring forth some of our most exciting offers, understanding that these festive purchases hold a sentimental value for our customers. Special pricing, attractive payment schemes, complimentary benefits and add-ons are not just promotions, but our way of being a part of their celebration.”


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NM ski areas extend hours, closing dates
Heavy mountain snowfall has helped extend the ski season across most of New Mexico. Many ski areas are expanding their hours and/or extending their respective seasons.
Ski New Mexico, the nonprofit trade organization that promotes the ski industry in New Mexico and outside the state, is reporting impressive late season snow totals. Ski areas across the Land of Enchantment are extending seasons into late March and early April.
Vincent Thome, marketing director for Ski New Mexico, says anecdotal information so far this season is encouraging.
“The things that we’ve heard [from ski areas are] that the spring skiing is probably the best it’s been in five to 10 years,” Thome said.
He said once the ski areas close, precise numbers will become available.
“ Everybody, especially Ski Apache, is doing better than they’ve done in 10 years,” he said.
Thome said the smaller ski areas are seeing more overall sales and that lodging at the Angel Fire Resort is solidly booked for spring break, something that hasn’t happened in recent memory.
“The underlying success story this year is that everyone is expecting the numbers to be higher than last year," he said.
Thome partially credits the upswing in the state to people taking “Staycations” and New Mexico’s proximity to Texas and Oklahoma for easy auto travel.
The following is the most updated information from Ski New Mexico’s Web site and the respective ski areas’ own Web sites as of March 12:
•Angel Fire Resort, 12” in past 48 hours, current snow depth 68-75”, 75 of 75 trails open, 7 of 7 lifts operating, closing March 28
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BMW may build Toyota-based model in UK
* Front-wheel-drive model pencilled for Oxford factory * Could share parts with Toyota iQ * Car may have a name, not a number...
BMW will build a front-wheel-drive car - to sit below the 1 Series small family car - at its Mini factory in Oxford.
The Rocketman concept car, revealed at the 2012 Geneva motor show, could give clues to how the car might look, and it could share many of its mechanical parts with the Toyota iQ.
Last week, BMW and Toyota signed a memorandum of understanding pledging to expand their existing co-operation, which was announced in December 2011.
Speculation is mounting that this new car could be the first modern BMW to have a name rather than an alphanumeric - rumours suggest that Isetta, the name of its 1950s bubble car, is being considered.
Pete Tullin/Iain Reid


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Archive for January 4th, 2011
Vogue gave us a first look into Tom Ford’s Spring/Summer 2011 womenswear collection back in November 2010. Now comes out a video of the whole fashion show, which was only open to a select few editors and fabulous fashion friends of his.
Featuring models such as Natalia Vodianova, Chanel Iman, Karlie Kloss, Karen Elson and Liu Wen, the show also included celebrities such as Daphne Guinness, Beyonce Knowles, Julianne Moore, Lou Doillon, Rita Wilson and Rinko Kikuchi. The video is set to Karen Elson’s ‘Pretty Babies’.


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Gabriner Named To Adap.tv Prexy Post
Adap.tv, creators of OneSource, a platform to help publishers better monetize their online video content, on Tuesday is expected to name Toby Gabriner as its new president.
Gabriner comes from Tribal Fusion -- Exponential Interactive's online ad network and rep firm -- where he served as president for just over a year.
Amir Ashkenazi, co-founder and CEO of Adap.tv, said Gabriner's industry relationships were of key importance, adding: "Toby will be a key figure in guiding Adap.tv's market positioning for our core offerings and expansion into new markets."
At San Mateo, Calif.-based Atap.tv, Gabriner will be responsible for managing the company's business development, sales, account management and marketing groups.
Using Adap.tv OneSource, online publishers can extend the functionality of display management systems such as DART and Atlas.
The Adap.tv OneSource video ad-serving solution has no setup fees or integration costs. For publishers that want to sell and manage their own video ads, this may represent a considerable amount of savings over installing a dedicated video ad server.
Prior to Tribal Fusion, Gabriner was CEO of Adzilla. He has held executive leadership positions as the CEO of [x+1], a marketing optimization and media company, and president of Freestyle Interactive, an interactive advertising agency acquired by Carat Interactive in 2003. Gabriner served as COO before taking on the role of president of Carat Fusion, where he managed the interactive division of Carat in the U.S. market, including five offices, 275 employees and clients including Adidas, Kodak, Pfizer, Philips and RadioShack.
To date, Adap.tv has raised $23 million in venture capital. Most recently, it closed a $13 million Series B round of funding in late 2008. New investor Spark Capital led the round. Existing investors Redpoint Ventures and Gemini Israel Fund also participated in the round.
The two VC firms pumped $10 million into Adap.tv during a Series A investment round in mid-2007.


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The company’s US arm launched PlayStation Direct to sell consoles, games and accessories direct to consumers in September 2019.
A job advert posted last December suggested SIE was seeking to “build on the successful launch” in the US by bringing the store to Europe – a plan it confirmed during an investor relations event on Thursday.
During Sony’s current business year (FY21) ending in March 2022, the company intends to launch PlayStation Direct in Germany, the UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
“PlayStation Direct has achieved significant revenue in the US market within little more than a year of starting operations,” SIE president and CEO Jim Ryan said during a presentation.
“We plan for 300 percent further growth within this fiscal year, helped by our upcoming launch in Europe.”
In a presentation slide, Sony said PlayStation Direct generated over $5 million in FY19, over $200 million in FY20, and is expected to bring in over $600 million during the current business year.
According to the aforementioned job advert, the director of the PlayStation Direct Europe business will be based at the company’s London office.
They will report to the San Francisco-based VP of PlayStation Direct and be responsible for leading the European sales strategy.
Sony also claimed on Thursday that the standard PS5 model will break even beginning in June 2021, while its presentation documents revealed plans to make Uncharted 4 one of its next PC releases.


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Jimmy John's $1 subs attract hordes of hungry folks for customer appreciation day
Nearly 70 people were lined up inside and outside the Jimmy John’s in north Elkhart to purchase a $1 sub sandwich Thursday.
Their Customer Appreciation Day promotion attracted hordes of hungry people to the two Elkhart locations: 155 C.R. 6 and 4542 Elkhart Road. The promotion allowed each person to purchase one sub sandwich for $1 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at participating locations.
Customers in line said they couldn’t pass up the deal for the $1 sandwich.


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Chinese alcohol producer Jinggui Liqour Co. has now joined a long list of companies under investigation in China after an independent food testing company found that bottles of baijiu, China's "white spirits" liquor, allegedly contained toxic plasticizers that produce various health risks, including cancer.
Food safety scandals keep occurring in China, likely because the official testing facility is largely bound by countless governmental restrictions. As cancer rates continue to rise in China, more effective food regulations are necessary in order to avoid more health problems.
The Shanghai Daily reported that a bottle of liquor that was tested contained three variants of plasticizers, one of which was 260 percent above the acceptable level.
Plasticizers are reportedly added to the alcohol in order to improve taste and appearance, but are extremely hazardous. The plasticizers found in Jinggui liquor could have found their way in the product because of plastic containers used in the distilling process. The chemical can change hormone levels, damage the digestive system and even cause liver cancer.
Jinggui Liquor responded to the allegations by denying claims that their drinks are contaminated. Jinggui Vice President Fan Zhen has disputed the findings and refused to recall their products, claiming that the testing company's findings do not match those of the nation's quality supervision board, which found no plasticizers in the product.
According to The Shanghaiist, the original investigation was done by Chinese news website 21cbh.com, which was acting on a tip given by people within the Jinggui company. The news site sent over bottles to the National Food Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, the official food-testing facility in China, where the bottles were refused because tests "require authorization from the production company." The bottles were then sent to Shanghai-based independent food-testing company, Intertek Co., where tests found that the liquor contained the various toxins.
Here are some examples of the nation's already lengthy list of foods containing carcinogens and other harmful agents:
1. In 2008, infant milk formula and other dairy products were found to be contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical used in fertilizers, killing six children and leaving 300,000 sick. The whistleblower of the contaminated milk scandal, Jiang Weisuo, mysteriously died recently, raising concern over the consequences of investigating food safety.
Earlier this year, the Shanghai Daily reported another baby formula company, Yili, had products that contained mercury and has since suspended selling Yili products in supermarkets.
2. Earlier this year, Chinese media uncovered a national food scandal, where contaminated black-market cooking oil was being distributed across the country. The oil was said to be produced from garbage, food scraps and even animal carcasses. The illegally bought and sold 'Digou oil', loosely translated means 'sewage oil', cut costs for restaurants and street food vendors. This April, over 100 arrests were made across several provinces relating to the illegal production of Digou oil. Over 3,200 tons of the oil were seized and later destroyed.
3. In 2010, artificial green peas were found in Hunan province, which contained various toxins and artificial additives that is sometimes used as a bleach. The China Daily reported that "the peas were an unnatural color and had a penetrating odor. After 20 minutes of cooking, the peas did not turn soft but the water [turned] green." The fake green beans that were found in local farmer's markets were produced in two illegal workshops.
4. In October, the Shanghaiist reported over 11,000 students in Germany fell ill due to abdominal influenza; 32 of them being hospitalized. The cause of the outbreak was traced to frozen strawberries that were imported from China, according to the Robert Koch Institute, which conducted tests on the fruit. However, the Chinese Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine refuted the claims, saying tests found no disease-causing viruses on the China-exported strawberries.


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TOKYO, Oct 12 (Businesshala) – The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to halt Japan’s fragile economic recovery by making rising commodities even more expensive, with the yen falling to its lowest level in nearly three years.
The Japanese currency fell to 113.495 per US dollar on Tuesday, a level not seen since December 2018, after its sharpest fall in five months and four consecutive weeks of declines on Monday.
Over the past month, the yen has weakened against each of its G10 counterparts, partly driven by an oil rally, as the yen moves out of the country to buy increasingly expensive crude.
In fact, for the first time in three years, Brent crude reached a peak of $ 85 per barrel on Monday.
Japan buys almost all the oil it needs abroad. A weaker yen makes those imports more expensive, reducing company profits as companies try to absorb higher costs instead of raising prices for homes, struggling with weak wage growth over a long period of time. have been.
“A weaker yen in oil when a rally in oil is gaining momentum will help national income flow overseas,” said Daisuke Karakama, chief market economist at Mizuho Bank in Tokyo.
“Given Japan’s limited domestic production facilities, the benefits of exports will be limited, so for the economy, you can call this a ‘bad’ yen weakness.”
Stock investors are already taking a serious view of the yen’s sharp fall.
Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.94% on Tuesday, while the broader topex slipped 0.70%, with importers’ stocks being particularly hard hit.
Electric and gas companies – the big energy importers – fell the most in the Topix sub-sectors, losing 2.2%, followed by airlines and retailers.
Automakers, the traditional beneficiaries of currency weakness, gained only 0.5%.
A combination of higher oil prices and a weaker currency pushed wholesale inflation to its highest level in 13 years last month, Bank of Japan data showed on Tuesday, resulting in a painful squeeze on profit margins.
Tohru Sasaki, Tokyo-based head of Japan market research at JPMorgan, said, “Japanese consumers are very price sensitive – if they see that the price of something has gone up, they don’t buy it – so companies absorb higher costs.” Huh.” Joe predicts that the yen will be at 114 per dollar by the middle of 2022.
“The question is how much more they can absorb,” he said. “It’s already painful.”
This does not mean that consumers are completely insulated. Prices are climbing at gas pumps, and staples from coffee to beef are rising for the first time in years.
Osamu Takashima, head of G10 FX strategy at Citigroup Global Markets Japan, sees the possibility of the yen falling to 114.50 per dollar in the near term. But instead of causing harm, he said it would fuel much-needed inflation in a country that has been battling falling prices for decades.
“Any inflation is ultimately good for the economy,” Takashima said.
“Of course, high oil prices are negative for the economy of Japan and for every economy globally, but I don’t think the current levels pose a serious threat.” (Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Ana Nicolasi da Costa)


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Insight Data, the co-organisers behind The Glazing Summit, is proud to announce the addition of a new awards event, focusing on organisational excellence within the industry.
The Glazing Summit Awards has been announced as the newest addition to the must-attend conference, which takes place on Thursday, October 8th at Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham.
Andrew Scott, Founder of The Glazing Summit and CEO of organisers Insight Data and Purplex explains:
“The Glazing Summit is all about raising standards and focusing on industry excellence and we’re delighted to announce the Glazing Summit Awards as an exciting addition.
“The Glazing Summit Awards are designed to recognise and celebrate organisation excellence, providing a valuable platform for businesses across the entire supply chain to really showcase both themselves and the industry to the outside world.
The list of categories are as follows:
• Sustainability Award
• Employer of the Year Award
• Outstanding Achievement Award
• Customer Experience Award
• Family business of the Year
• Start-up business of the Year
• Fast-Track business of the Year
• Entrepreneur of the Year.
The awards are free to enter with eligible companies able to enter multiple categories. Entries open on March 1st and close on June 30th, allowing for the transparent, independent judging process to begin.
The awards ceremony will take place in the evening at the Glazing Summit’s Leaders Dinner in the Edgbaston Banqueting Suite, with the industry’s most influential and visionary leaders attending.
“The Glazing Summit is well established as one of the most important dates in the industry calendar. We really wanted to progress the event further and take it to the next level. We believe recognising the industry’s trailblazing businesses does just that,”


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Renowned US competition lawyer Howard Shelanski has pushed back against moves by regulators to treat Facebook and Google as publishers, saying any laws dictating how the tech giants display content or refer users to news sites would be overreaching.
Mr Shelanski, who is in Melbourne this week for a Melbourne Law School conference on market competition laws, said some regulatory reform was necessary, particularly around data privacy and mergers and acquisitions, but he urged the competition regulator and the federal government to take a slowly-but-surely approach to any changes.
"It [the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission] is treating the platforms, particularly Facebook, like a media outlet and refers to it having a news referral market ... but that conclusion needs some careful thought because a lot of what Facebook does is let news sources reach an audience and let individuals share content they themselves have taken action to find," he told The Australian Financial Review.
"A lot of news traffic Facebook has very little to do with – it's just the locus of exchange for people on the edge of the platform.
"We have to be very careful in saying that Facebook is taking action to affirmatively refer people to news sites. That needs a closer look."
Mr Shelanski, who is a partner at law firm Davis Polk and former regulatory tsar under the Obama administration, advises Facebook on competition law.
His comments come in response to the ACCC's preliminary report from its digital platforms inquiry, which stated that Facebook and Google curate content served to consumers and in doing so make their own decisions regarding the trustworthiness of content.
While the ACCC's preliminary recommendations stopped short of suggesting any changes to Facebook or Google's algorithms, it raised concerns about the "risk of under-provision" for traditional media, while ACCC chairman Rod Sims said there were frustrations about the tech platforms promoting stories that had ripped off the work of other journalists.
But it was in the aftermath of the Christchurch massacre, which was live-streamed on Facebook, that the tech giants started to be called out as publishers, not just platforms.
Earlier this month the government legislated three-year prison sentences for social media company executives and hefty fines if the platforms do not expeditiously remove violent and extremist content, in the wake of the Christchurch mass shooting. While Mr Shelanski would not comment directly on whether he believed these laws were ill thought out, he cautioned against a "top-down" approach to reform.
"There also needs to be greater recognition of the value of competition and innovation when thinking about mergers."
— Howard Shelanski
"We feel like we've been living with this technology for a long time, but a dozen years ago we weren't using it in the fundamental ways we do today," he said.
"These platforms have made some mistakes, but we want to maintain what's good about them. Strong top-down regulation at this point is premature.
"Regulators need to work with industry and the large platforms to understand what the best practices are and how to implement them. That's something that can't be done with top-down governance," he said.
While Australian politicians have been focused on how to manage the growing power of the tech giants, so, too, are their international counterparts.
In the United States, would-be Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has proposed breaking up the likes of Google and Facebook, saying they have too much power over the economy, society and democracy.
Senator Warren would implement laws that make it illegal for the tech giants to own both a utility, or marketplace, and a business that operates on the utility. For example, Amazon would no longer be able to sell its Amazon Basics products on Amazon Marketplace.
Under Senator Warren's proposal, some big mergers would also be undone, including Facebook's purchase of WhatsApp and Instagram.
But Mr Shelanski said the break-up of AT&T and Bell Operating Companies in the early 1980s demonstrated that splitting up businesses was incredibly complex and impractical.
In the case of Facebook, he said Instagram's success may also not have occurred unless Facebook had taken control of the company, contesting the idea that the social network buying Instagram had stopped a competitor from emerging.
Value of competition
However, Mr Shelanski acknowledged that competition watchdogs globally needed to stop being so risk-averse when it came to blocking M&A activity.
"If we were to take the tools we have in anti-trust enforcement and be less hesitant to make mistakes in terms of over-enforcement, then we'd have a more rigorous and careful merger enforcer that would preserve a more vibrant marketplace going forward," he said.
"There also needs to be greater recognition of the value of competition and innovation when thinking about mergers. That's reasonable."
As part of the digital platforms inquiry, the ACCC made the preliminary recommendation to change merger laws to take into account the removal of a potential competitor, as well as the amount and nature of data which the acquirer would likely gain.
But the local start-up sector is concerned these changes could prevent even young start-ups from being acquired by the tech giants – an exit that many founders aspire to.
"The problem with regulating this level of M&A is that it will create uncertainty as to whether any Australian start-up can achieve a liquidity event," the co-founder of online used car marketplace Carbar, Desmond Hang, said.
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Site offers smaller-quantity orders, Escrow and PayPal payments.
Global wholesale website Alibaba.com has launched a platform dedicated to small businesses called AliExpress.
AliExpress is tailored to small businesses and allows smaller-quantity orders, instant online transactions through PayPal and an Escrow service to protect buyers and sellers.
The new platform was launched as a test site in September but the finished website officially launched yesterday.
Alibaba.com chief executive David Wei said: “AliExpress is designed to help even the smallest businesses to be more competitive because they can offer customers more unique products, at better prices through the benefits to global trade.
“Our work with companies such as PayPal is crucial, because we want to make sure we are meeting the needs of our customers by making payment as fast, safe and easy as possible.”
AliExpress contains a wide selection of watches, fine jewellery, fashion jewellery and loose beads.


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Apple Taps Google Cloud Platform To Manage iCloud Infrastructure
Apparently this was a deal Apple inked with Google last year, and since that time it's been able to reduce its reliance on Amazon Web Services to a large degree for its iCloud
Knowledge of the deal was provided to CRN from "multiple sources," all of which asked to remain anonymous. Those sources claim to have heard Google executives say that Apple's deal is worth somewhere between $400 million and $600 million, though it's not clear if that's an annual cost or for a specific amount of data.
Considering that Apple and Google are rivals in the mobile space, it might seem unusual to some that they would forge a business relationship that's in large part tied to mobile. However, Apple has shown an willingness to work with competitors when terms of the deal make sense. Also related to mobile, Apple has long tapped rival
In this case, it's estimated that Apple pays Amazon in the neighborhood of $1 billion per year for AWS. If the $400 million to $600 million figure for Google's cloud platform is correct, then it would appear that Apple's getting more bang for its buck by working with a rival.
For Google, the benefits are obvious. First and foremost, it lands a client that's spending hundreds of millions of dollars, a sum that's hard to ignore even if you're Google. And secondly, having Apple as a customer gives Google's cloud platform some serious street cred that could help it compete with AWS and Microsoft's Azure.


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X-Box will be present at Gamescom 2022 Cologne, which as we know this year will take place from August 22 to 28, has been promised the occasion Small updates on me Toys Currently under development.
Jez Corden predicted that Xbox will participate in Gamescom 2022 with a live event, and his prediction turned out to be correct: Microsoft I will be at the German exhibition and I will use this stage to express something.
It’s best to keep expectations low though: The Xbox message is clear enough, No mention of new ads But only (small!) updates on projects that have already been made official, which will arrive in the next twelve months.
“We’ll be back on the Gamescom show floor!” , read the post published in Twitter. “This year we will be dedicating our booth to celebrate you, the community. We will be giving some small updates on our current games.”
Meanwhile, rumors continue to circulate about cloud-based Xbox mobile devices, but there is no evidence that they exist.


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If you thought adidas’ $300 Futurecraft 4D sneaker was pricey, the upcoming Sneakersnstuff x adidas Consortium4D collab will blow that out of the water.
Last week, we reported that four of the world’s major sneaker boutiques were getting adidas Consortium4D collaborations. What we didn’t know where how much these shoes, which flaunt midsoles printed using light and oxygen, were going to cost.
Now, Sneakersnstuff has officially unveiled its adidas Consortium4D sneaker, along with tech specs, and its price makes several WearTesters staff roll their eyes: $450. The shoes ride atop a single-component midsole that features over 20,000 struts that can be individually tuned to maximize energy return. The multicolor knit upper appears breathable with padding at the heels and Consortium4D patches at the “tongues.”
The raffle for the Sneakersnstuff x adidas Consortium4D sneaker is open now but only several sizes remain. The raffle closes in just over four days on June 20 at 10:00 CET. Although no release date has been announced, the shoe will presumably drop once the raffle is over.
You can learn more about the construction of these 4D midsoles by checking out our piece on the Carbon-adidas partnership.
Do you think this pricing is obscene? Sound off in the comments below.
Images via SNS